Chapter 69: The Prefectural Yamen

The person kneeling at the very front was Wei Bifu, the former vice-prefect of Guangzhou. Seeing the Australian official get out of the sedan chair, he quickly reported in a loud voice, “Wei Bifu and the other surrendered civil and military officials of Guangzhou pay their respects to Master Liu.”

Only then did Liu Xiang notice the crowd of people in front of the screen wall. He saw that there were dozens of people kneeling below, all prostrating themselves on the ground, not daring to breathe. He couldn’t help but feel his “official addiction” swell. He coughed and said, “Who is kneeling?”

Wei Bifu quickly said, “Your guilty subject, Wei Bifu, is leading the surrendered civil and military officials of Guangzhou’s one prefecture and two counties here to await an audience with Your Excellency.”

Liu Xiang saw that Wei Bifu had white hair and a beard. A man of his age was still trying to put on a fawning and servile appearance. He couldn’t help but sigh in his heart: fame and fortune are indeed good things for wearing people down! He said, “You may all rise and speak.”

Wei Bifu took the lead and stood up tremblingly. The group of surrendered officials behind him also got up, all bowing respectfully and not daring to look up.

The vice-prefect was the assistant official of the prefect, and he was generally in charge of specific affairs in a certain area. He was a not-so-small official in a prefecture. However, the highest-ranking official who surrendered in Guangzhou was only a vice-prefect, which made Liu Xiang a little disappointed. Although the Foreign Intelligence Bureau had said that there would probably not be too many local officials who would surrender, Liu Xiang still hoped that the prefect of Guangzhou would surrender.

“Where is the prefect?”

Wei Bifu’s body trembled slightly, and he said, “Reporting to Your Excellency, Old Master Dong… the stubborn rebel resisted the heavenly soldiers and has already committed suicide by taking poison in the rear yamen…”

This Prefect Dong had been in office for less than half a year. To be able to come to Guangzhou to be a prefect was a good job in both the Ming and Qing dynasties. No one had expected that it would become a death warrant.

“There are quite a few officials in the entire Guangzhou Prefecture, right? Why are there only a few of you?”

“Reporting to Your Excellency, many of them are stubborn people. Some have committed suicide to resist the heavenly soldiers, and some have abandoned their posts and their whereabouts are unknown.”

Liu Xiang nodded and said, “Let’s go, let’s go in and have a look.”

When Zhu Yuanzhang was in power, he formulated the “national standard for the construction of yamen at all levels,” so the yamen of prefectures and counties throughout the country were basically built according to the same model. When Liu Xiang had traveled in the past, he had visited the Hongtong County Yamen and the Nanyang Prefectural Yamen. After coming to this time and space, he had also visited the county and prefectural yamen on Hainan Island. Except for the differences in size and the exquisiteness of the architecture, the basic models were similar.

But this was the first time he had received a prefectural yamen as a victor. The feeling was different.

Wei Bifu quickly said, “Allow your humble subject to lead the way for Your Excellency.”

So Wei Bifu led the way in front. The front of the screen wall was a memorial archway with the words “Chengxuanfang” written on it. On the left and right were the “Shenming Pavilion” and the “Jingshan Pavilion.” After entering the gate, there was a screen wall, the so-called Xiaoqiang. After bypassing the Xiaoqiang, they came to the courtyard. Then they saw the second ceremonial gate. There were two courtyards on the left and right of the ceremonial gate. The east side was the Yinbin Hall, and the west side was the Siyusi, as well as a land temple. Liu Xiang saw five or six corpses lying in front of the Siyusi gate, was startled, and asked, “What’s going on here?”

“Reporting to Your Excellency, the heavenly soldiers came to the prefectural yamen and released all the prisoners, and killed a few of the jailers and jailers…” Wei Bifu said uneasily.

“What about the prisoners?” Liu Xiang heard that something was wrong. This was not in the reception plan.

“The heavenly soldiers have already released them all…”

Liu Xiang’s face changed, and he couldn’t help but say in a low voice, “Nonsense!”

Although Wei Bifu didn’t hear what he said, he saw that his face suddenly became very ugly. He didn’t know what had touched his reverse scale, and he was afraid in his heart. He quickly bowed his body even lower.

Liu Xiang didn’t have time to waste words with him. He called a native cadre beside him, “You go to the garrison headquarters immediately and convey my order: anyone who is seen on the street wearing prisoner’s clothes or is not fully clothed, and is suspected of having escaped from prison, will be arrested.”

“Yes! Chief!”

Whenever there was a rebellion, every time a city was captured, they would often “release all the prisoners” to show their contempt for the old authority and embody benevolent governance, and at the same time, they could strengthen their own forces. But for the Senate, it was not like this. Although many innocent people were imprisoned in the prison, and many were imprisoned for trivial “crimes,” there were also a large number of genuine “criminals,” from robbers and bandits to murderers and thieves… Besides, the Guangzhou Prefectural Prison was different from the county prisons of Shunde and Nanhai. The prisoners imprisoned there came from more than a dozen prefectures and counties in the entire Guangzhou Prefecture. Once these people were directly released into society, they would have no money to go home and no food or clothing, and they would immediately become unstable factors in social security.

When formulating the plan to enter the city this time, Liu Xiang specifically instructed that the reception policy for the prefectural and county prisons was “to receive them as they are and not to deal with them for the time being.” Unexpectedly, someone still messed it up.

He asked again, “Which unit is responsible for receiving here? Bring me the leading officer!”

Seeing his unkind expression, Wei Bifu quickly took another step back. But he saw the “imitation short-hair” military officer who had first entered the prefectural yamen run over, stand at attention in front of the chief, and raise his hand to his forehead—this was the military salute of the short-haired rebels. He only heard him say loudly,

“Platoon leader of the 1st platoon of the 4th company of the 4th infantry battalion, Second Lieutenant Wu Baliu.”

“Was it you who smashed the prefectural prison, killed the jailers, and released the prisoners?”

“Yes!” Wu Baliu said loudly, “It’s simply not a place for people to stay inside. It’s simply a living hell. The prisoners’ hands and feet are shackled in shackles and are rotten and infested with maggots. I saw a few corpses wrapped in rush mats in the back, all bleeding from the seven orifices—the prisoners said that the jailers had taken money and secretly killed people these past few days… I was so angry, is there still any justice in this world? So I killed the jailers and released all the prisoners!” After speaking, he was a little proud, as if he had acted on behalf of heaven.

“You are muddle-headed!” Liu Xiang shouted. Seeing the other party’s astonished look, he realized that he had overreacted. He softened his tone and said, “The jailers abused the prisoners and killed them. They have their due punishment. The prisoners have been wronged and have suffered grievances. They must also be screened one by one. This is the job of the national police and the court, not your job!” He took a breath, “There are good people and bad people in this prison. You released all the prisoners at once. Who will the victims whose relatives were killed and whose money was stolen and robbed go to? Who told you that all the people in the prison are good people?”

“This…” Wu Baliu scratched his scalp and said懊恼, “I thought wrong.”

“How many prisoners did you release?”

“No… no count…” he stammered, “As soon as the prison door was opened, a lot of people rushed out. Now, now, there are only a dozen or so people with criminal injuries and illnesses left in the prison. Chief… chief… chief, did I make a mistake…”

Liu Xiang said, “Your mistake will be dealt with by the army. You will now return to your unit and wait for the National Army to take over.” After speaking, he turned back to Wei Bifu and said, “Let’s continue.”

Wei Bifu was slightly relieved and did not dare to make any more random attempts to please him. He just led the way in front. After passing the ceremonial gate, they could see a pavilion in the middle of the courtyard’s central path, called the “Jieshi Pavilion.” This was also a model established by Zhu Yuanzhang. Liu Xiang knew that on the inside of the stone facing the main hall were carved the words: “Your salary and emoluments are the fat and grease of the people; the common people are easy to abuse, but heaven is hard to deceive.” On the outside were carved the three words “Gong Sheng Ming.”

The east and west sides of the main hall’s courtyard were lined with clerks’ quarters. The east side was the Jingli Division (in charge of receiving and sending documents); the west side was the Zhaomo Office (in charge of inspecting the files of the six rooms). Behind the main hall was the Jiage Library, which Liu Xiang was most concerned about—it had already been sealed and guarded by soldiers. The other places had also been sealed.

Liu Xiang asked a few questions and learned that the Yongping Warehouse (prefectural warehouse) had also been sealed and guarded by soldiers. He was relieved that the two places he was most concerned about in the prefectural yamen had not had any problems.

After the main hall was the second hall, which was used for hearing general cases on weekdays. After passing through the second hall, they came to the flower hall—this was already the residential part of the yamen. The flower hall was a place where the head of the yamen held public and private banquets and received guests. Some cases that were not suitable for public trial were sometimes held here. Therefore, the layout was more life-like and not as solemn as the main hall and the second hall.

However, at this moment, the seats in the flower hall were in a mess and in chaos. There were several corpses on the ground, all covered with white cloth. There were native clerks guarding them.

“This is—”

“This is the body of Old Master Dong… the rebel and his family, waiting for Your Excellency to inspect,” Wei Bifu said quickly.

Liu Xiang nodded. The coroner who was waiting on the side lifted the white cloth and said flatteringly, “Your Excellency, please look. It is indeed poisoning.”

The deceased prefect was a middle-aged man, not fat, and even a little old. He probably did not come from a wealthy family. Liu Xiang remembered that Lin Baiguang had told him that Old Master Dong had a close relationship with the Guangzhou station and had received Guo Yi’s “gifts” and “subsidies” without hesitation. He turned a blind eye to the Senate’s affairs in Guangzhou. He had originally thought that a person like Old Master Dong would surrender, but he did not expect that he would commit suicide so decisively.

“Old Master Dong’s attendant is waiting in the corridor. Do you want to call him over for questioning?” Wei Bifu asked.

“Good.”

Wei Bifu quickly waved his hand towards the bottom of the steps of the flower hall. A middle-aged man ran in from the corridor, knelt on the ground first, and kowtowed to Liu Xiang, “Greetings to Your Excellency.”

“Get up,” Liu Xiang waved his hand and said, “Are you Old Master Dong’s attendant?”

“Yes, your slave, Dong Qing.”

“Do you recognize the few corpses here?”

“Yes, they were all collected by your slave and your slave’s wife personally,” Dong Qing said with a sad face. “It’s Old Master Dong, Madam Dong, and Madam Dong’s personal maid and Old Master Dong’s nephew. They all committed suicide by taking poison.”

Liu Xiang sighed, waved his hand, and instructed, “Find a few coffins and have them encoffined as soon as possible.”

“Yes, thank you for your grace, Your Excellency,” Dong Qing knelt down and kowtowed a few more times.

Liu Xiang asked again, “Are there any other people in his family?”

Before Dong Qing could answer, Wei Bifu rushed to say, “There is also a governess and a young lady. And a few other maids and female servants. They are all detained in the back. Your humble subject has sent people to guard them and not allow them to commit suicide, waiting for Your Excellency’s disposal.”

“Oh?” Liu Xiang was a little surprised. He had participated in security battles and had broken many landlords’ and powerful people’s forts. Every time a fort was broken, not only the master’s family, but also the maids and female servants would commit suicide for fear of being humiliated. Therefore, every time a fort was broken, a special team had to be sent to intercept and persuade them.