Chapter 78: Killing to Establish Authority

Liu Xiang sneered, “The peace of Guangzhou is guarded by my Senate. You, a scoundrel in the officialdom, dare to say that you can protect the peace of a region? Go and say it to the King of Hell and the people you have killed. Seize him!”

Since ancient times, those who served as clerks were ruthless and merciless. Hearing Liu Xiang’s words, Zhao Xian no longer hesitated. He immediately said, “Master Bi, I’m sorry!” After speaking, he threw the chain over his head, locked Bi Wusi, and dragged him down the hall.

Bi Wusi struggled with all his might. Seeing that his disciples and grand-disciples were either silent as cicadas in winter or as dumb as wooden chickens, and not a single one of them stood up for him, he looked at the Japanese warrior in the bright red jinbaori on this side, who was grinning and showing a mouthful of uneven teeth, as if he was smiling at him—he only felt a chill run down his spine and spread throughout his body. Seeing that he was being dragged closer and closer to the public desk, and that this reckless young man would shout, “Drag him down and behead him!” not a single person in Guangzhou would dare to plead for him! He suddenly realized how insignificant he was. Without the Ming Dynasty, he was nothing. In an instant, it was as if he had woken up from a dream. He trembled like a sieve, knelt down with a plop, his face covered in cold sweat and tears, and said in a choked voice, “I beg… I beg Your Excellency to see… to see… to see…” He said “to see” several times, but found that he had no relationship with this Master Liu at all. It was also because his mind was quick, “…for the sake of my past service to Dongzhu Guo, please… please… please raise your noble hand… I have eyes but no pupils and have offended Your Excellency’s tiger-like might. My crime… my crime… my crime deserves ten thousand deaths.”

The clerks present were in an uproar again. Bi Wusi was usually tyrannical, insidious, and ruthless. He murdered for money as if it were a daily meal, and he could be called a man with a heart of stone. Now, being locked with a chain, he was kneeling on the ground, crying and begging for his life with a face full of tears and snot. The contrast was too great!

Liu Xiang smiled and said, “Dongzhu Guo doesn’t need you to worry about him.” He said sternly, “Seize him!” The few yamen runners of the detective team had long lost their fear of him after his crying and pleading. They immediately pounced on him like wolves and tigers, tied Bi Wusi up tightly with ropes, and stuffed a hemp core into his mouth. They pressed him down under the eaves of the corridor to await his fate.

Lu Yizhong watched with a palpitating heart. He knew that Liu Xiang was “killing the monkey to warn the chicken.” He thought to himself that only in this way could he rectify this group of “cunning clerks.” He immediately pulled himself together and read out the names one by one.

“Zhu Huifei!”, “Zhai Shini!”, “Zhang Dejin!”, “Gao Chenfeng!”… Following Lu Yizhong’s rhythmic chanting of the names, the detective team arrested people according to the names, pulling them out of the queue one by one, tying them with ropes, and gagging them with hemp cores. They knelt densely under the eaves of the corridor.

The air in the yamen suddenly froze. These more than a thousand yamen runners were usually bossy and tyrannical. Who had ever seen such a scene? Seeing them being pulled out of the queue one by one, tied with ropes, everyone was so scared that their legs trembled and their faces were pale. Some were so scared that they simply fainted.

There were more than a hundred people on the list. Most of them were captured. Those who did not come to the roll call were arrested by the detective team. Here, reports came in one after another. Some were caught, and some were not. Liu Xiang did not ask any questions, but only ordered that those who were not caught be marked in red and wanted.

At this time, a few more detectives came back. It was Wu Duoduo who had led people to arrest the fast-shift yamen runner, Bu Dailu—this person had committed many evils and had colluded with the “big shots” outside the city to carry out countless kidnappings and had obtained countless money and property. This time, knowing that his crimes were great, he did not dare to come to the roll call.

Wu Duoduo came up and reported, “Your Excellency, Bu Dailu is not at home. His family said that he went out last night and has not returned. His whereabouts are unknown.”

Liu Xiang nodded and said, “I know his whereabouts.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Wu Duoduo and the others all trembled. They saw two soldiers of the National Army push out the tightly bound Bu Dailu from behind.

Wu Duoduo and the others were greatly shocked and immediately collapsed to the ground, kowtowing like pounding garlic.

“Come! Search!”

At Liu Xiang’s command, a few yamen runners quickly went over and pressed them to the ground. In a short while, several Delong’s silver notes were found on Wu Duoduo and another yamen runner, Lu Rui, totaling five hundred taels.

Liu Xiang looked at it, nodded, and sighed, “I have long heard that the wealth of the clerks is shocking. Now I know what’s going on—they really scoop up money from a pot of oil.” He said to Wu and Lu, who were kowtowing and begging for mercy below, “I originally thought that you two had not done much evil in your daily duties and still had some conscience. It seems that I have no ability to judge people. Mr. Lu!”

Lu Yizhong knew that he was going to kill people to establish his authority. He quickly stood up and replied, “I am here!”

“What crime should Wu Duoduo and others be charged with according to the ‘Law of Suppressing Rebellion’ for their crimes?”

“Reporting to the chief: accepting bribes and privately releasing wanted criminals. Death penalty!”

“Wu Duoduo and Lu Rui accepted bribes and released them. The two who went with them did not know about it and are acquitted.”

“Where are the executioners?!” he suddenly shouted sternly. The yamen runners around him shivered in their hearts and almost reflexively replied in unison, “Summon the executioners!”

The executioners of the prefectural yamen came out in response. They naturally had all kinds of “bad rules” on weekdays, but the four words “committing many evils” did not apply to them. They prided themselves on being “technical personnel” and thought that they should be fine, so they were not very panicked. Now, hearing that Master Liu was going to carry out an execution, they quickly pulled themselves together and came up to take the job.

“Take Wu Duoduo and Lu Rui out and behead them, and execute them on the spot!”

“Yes!”

The executioners replied in unison, grabbed Wu and Lu from the ground, tied them with ropes in an instant, and pushed them out. These two people were just “detectives” newly promoted by the Senate a moment ago, and in an instant, they became death row prisoners. Wu and Lu cried and begged for mercy, repeatedly pleading that they “were blinded by silver and begged Your Excellency to give them a chance to reform.”

Liu Xiang was unmoved, “I have already given you a chance.” He said slowly in an extremely terrifying atmosphere, “Execute!”

They only heard three cannon shots outside. In a short while, the executioners brought two heads on a tray to the foot of the steps, half-knelt, and held them up, “Your Excellency, please inspect the execution!”

Liu Xiang glanced at the bloody heads and felt a wave of nausea. He averted his gaze and calmed himself down. Seeing that the clerks and yamen runners below were all so scared that their faces were pale, he said slowly, “Hang them outside the gate as a warning!”

Seeing the heads being taken out, Liu Xiang took a breath and said slowly, “Since you have all pledged your allegiance to the Great Song and the Senate, you must do your work diligently and not have any selfish thoughts. Otherwise, Wu and Lu will be your example!”

The clerks below were so confused and dizzy by this turn of events that their three souls and seven spirits were no longer in place, and their bodies were numb. At this moment, with a soft question, they trembled like autumn grass blown by a sudden gust of wind. The people in front knelt down with a plop, and they didn’t know what they were saying. When the people behind saw the people in front kneeling down, they also knelt down together. In an instant, a large group of people were all prostrating on the ground.

Seeing that this series of arrests and killings had achieved its effect, Liu Xiang announced that all the arrested people would be imprisoned and await interrogation—the Planning Institute still had to make a fortune from them. As for the others, from now on, they would all be the subordinates of the Australians.

“Tomorrow the army will enter the city. You should do your work diligently. Let me see who is the most fawning,” Liu Xiang said with a smile. “There will be no shortage of promotions in the future.”

Below, a hundred people replied in unison, “Thank you, Your Excellency!”

After the roll call, Liu Xiang instructed to post notices in various places in the city, telling the yamen runners and clerks of the various yamen who had not come to report to report within three days. Those who did not report would be considered “hiding,” and after being captured, they would be dealt with as “enemy spies.”

Those who came to report were registered on the spot. First, they filled out the “old personnel registration form,” and then they were photographed for the record. This time, all the registration used the latest cameras developed and manufactured by the Ministry of Science and Technology. Because magnesium powder was not easy to process, several photography lighting lamps were specially equipped to ensure the effect of the photos.

After the photo registration was completed, they were asked to write a self-statement. Those who were illiterate had others write for them, so that everyone had a file to check. After the file was established, their intentions were asked. Those who were not willing to continue to serve signed and fingerprinted the pre-printed “resignation letter” and were then issued a certificate to be a commoner.

Because serving as a yamen runner had the benefit of tax exemption, many people spent money to buy a white member position, but they did not actually serve. Now, most of these people resigned and did not do it anymore.

Those who were willing to continue to serve, whether they were regulars or white members, first read out an oath to pledge allegiance to the Senate; then they had their hair shaved. After shaving their hair, they were assigned to various departments according to their usual duties.

The personnel of the three shifts were received by the municipal and county police departments. These people were not given police ranks and were uniformly incorporated into the detective brigade to be used as public security auxiliary personnel. The household registration clerks, grain tax collectors, river inspectors, and tax collectors were mostly assigned to the tax department… Those who really didn’t know where to assign them were first assigned to the comprehensive governance office to be used.

According to the policy formulated by Liu Xiang, all officials at all levels of the new Guangzhou municipal government were all native cadres from the northbound team, and important positions were also held by native cadres. The surrendered people only served as auxiliary personnel. The surrendered clerks all wore the old Ming official uniforms, but they changed to wearing a brownish-yellow copper basin hat—made of pressed concrete pulp—and wore a blue armband on their arms, with the name of their department written in Song typeface. On the front and back, like soldiers, the character for “Auxiliary” was written in large Song typeface.

Liu Xiang requested that all personnel, whether they were official cadres served by native people or “auxiliary personnel” served by surrendered clerks, be issued with work permits, which must have a photo and a fingerprint.

After dealing with the whereabouts of the old personnel, the next step was to establish his own new organization. Although he had received the clerks of the old Guangzhou’s one prefecture and two counties, in terms of government department settings, the Senate did not intend to follow the organizational structure of the prefectural and county yamen. This kind of organization was too simple and completely unsuitable for the ruling needs of the Senate.

The newly established Guangzhou Municipal Government was located in the Guangzhou Prefectural Yamen of the Ming Dynasty. It had two districts under it: Nanhai District and Panyu District, and the administrative divisions were also roughly the same.

Because it was in the initial stage, the institutional setting under the municipal government was very simple. It only had the municipal government office, the police department, the tax bureau, the civil affairs bureau, and a comprehensive governance office that managed everything. The district government settings of Nanhai and Panyu districts were also roughly similar.