A prince who is not fierce is no member of the Yang Family.
This was actually a very simple principle. If members of the imperial family could be bullied into submission, then what dignity would the imperial family have left to speak of? What standing would remain?
Never mind that they had genuinely harbored murderous intent against Xiahou Zuo and had struck with killing blows — even if the target had not been Xiahou Zuo but merely some random servant of the prince’s residence, Prince Yu would not have let the matter pass as though nothing had happened. Of course, a mere servant would not be worth the personal attention of someone of his status.
Let yourself be bullied once without response, then twice, then three times — and eventually no one would take a prince seriously at all. That is simply human nature: people become accustomed to whatever you permit them.
Before anyone in the prince’s residence had shown their hand, many had assumed the prince’s residence would never show one. But the truth was this: by the time you saw the prince’s residence act, it was already too late.
In a single night, the winds and waves rose over Jizhou City.
Jizhou Prefecture.
Lian Gongming, the prefectural administrator, stood cautiously to one side, looking so frightened he dared not even draw a full breath. Jizhou Prefecture’s dozen-odd officials of sufficient rank were also standing in the study — fortunately, the room was not small.
Prince Yu Yang Jixing sat behind the writing desk, holding a thick volume he was reading — one he had casually taken from the bookshelf behind him. It was a new book, its pages bearing no creases or fold marks.
He said nothing. Every official in the room, large rank or small, dared not speak either, dared not even breathe loudly. The silence cut at people like a blade.
After a long, long time, having waited in vain for Prince Yu to say something, Lian Gongming ventured a probing question: “Your Highness, this matter was indeed this subordinate’s oversight. Whatever Your Highness sees fit to do — could you give the word? This subordinate will see that the matter is handled properly.”
“Hmm?”
Yang Jixing raised his head and glanced at Lian Gongming. “What matter are you referring to?”
He had arrived suddenly before nightfall, and once he arrived he simply sat in Lian Gongming’s study reading. He had already read nearly half the volume, and from the moment he sat down he had not uttered a word. Yet how could Lian Gongming not know why the prince had come?
That hour of torment was no different, for Lian Gongming, than being thrown into a torture chamber and subjected to every kind of suffering.
That Yang Jixing had replied with “what matter” made Lian Gongming’s expression turn even more wretched.
“This subordinate… this subordinate’s prefectural office has experienced certain… incidents. This subordinate is currently in the process of handling them. When Your Highness arrived so suddenly, this subordinate—”
Lian Gongming’s throat had gone so dry it ached, and his words came out rather haltingly.
“You are the prefectural administrator. Matters within your office are naturally for you to handle at your own discretion. You attend to your affairs, and I will read my book. I merely wished to read.”
Prince Yu’s gaze returned to the volume, as though he found its contents very much to his liking.
Lian Gongming swallowed with great difficulty; his Adam’s apple bobbed as though he were forcing down a whole egg.
“Yes, yes, very well — this subordinate will attend to official business.”
Lian Gongming turned to face the assembled officials, cleared his throat, and said: “Certain individuals within this office have had the audacity to collude with rebels. This official has investigated the matter thoroughly. The chief constable Li Changxing accepted silver from rebel forces with the intent of releasing their confederates held in prison. To this end, they arrested an innocent person to serve as a scapegoat. Such conduct — deceiving superiors, concealing matters from above, and defying the law of the land — these men have done it all. They are utterly unfit to serve as officials, and unfit to call themselves human beings!”
The assembled officials all kept their heads lowered. None dared speak — and even if one had wanted to, what could possibly be said?
Lian Gongming continued: “The criminal legal advisor Yu Hai has colluded with Li Changxing in flagrant disregard of national law. His crimes are unpardonable. This official has decided to cast this man into prison, to be charged equally with the rebels. His family property shall be confiscated, and his kinsmen shall be detained along with him.”
Having said this, he looked toward Prince Yu. Prince Yu’s gaze remained on the volume; he did not even lift his eyelids.
Lian Gongming felt a faint ache in his chest. He was silent for a moment, then continued: “If it were only subordinates committing crimes, this official would not be so angry. But among you present, there are also those who have acted with such brazen audacity! The judicial officer Zheng Chun, who oversees the prefecture’s prison, is also a key offender in this case — his culpability surpasses even that of Li Changxing!”
Zheng Chun was standing right there. He had already been so frightened his face had gone white. Hearing Lian Gongming call out his name, he jerked his head up, and for a moment he was seized with a sudden resolve to go down fighting.
Under the administrative law of Dachu, criminal and civil matters were not separated, nor were judicial and prison affairs. The prefectural administrator held virtually supreme authority over local governance, and the position of judicial officer was by no means low — the common people half-jokingly called this the Fourth Master. The prefectural administrator came first, followed by the prefectural deputy, then the assistant administrator, and then the judicial officer. This ranking applied not only at the prefecture level but at the county level as well, where the judicial officer ranked after the county magistrate, county deputy, and head clerk.
In a large prefecture like Jizhou, the official ranked fourth was already a person of considerable standing. For Lian Gongming to call out his name so directly now was a clear indication that the pressure from Prince Yu had bent him to breaking.
“Prefectural Administrator!”
Judicial officer Zheng Chun stepped forward, fixing Lian Gongming with a furious glare, about to challenge him — but how could Lian Gongming give him that chance? With a wave of his hand he ordered: “How dare you bellow in this official’s presence! Someone come — dislocate his jaw. He cannot be permitted to disturb His Highness’s peace. What a disgraceful wretch!”
Two guards immediately stepped forward. One drove his fist into Zheng Chun’s abdomen; Zheng Chun doubled over in pain. The other seized his jaw, worked it back and forth, then yanked down, and Zheng Chun’s jaw was wrenched out of its socket.
Lian Gongming said: “A man like you, wearing official robes while colluding with rebels — Dachu’s laws are strict and severe. How can you be pardoned!”
He pointed toward the door. “Take him to prison.”
He turned to the prefectural deputy Liu Hongming and said: “Deputy Administrator, I would ask you to personally lead troops to search and seize Zheng Chun’s residence at once. There will certainly be correspondence providing evidence of his ties to the rebels. Search thoroughly — you must!”
Prefectural Deputy Liu Hongming inwardly thought: this counts as being spared. How could he not be moved? He immediately bowed deeply. “I will go at once. Even if I have to dig up the floors of Zheng Chun’s home tonight, I will find evidence of his collusion with the rebels. I certainly will!”
One said he certainly must; the other said he certainly would.
Every official remaining in the study felt the ground shifting beneath their feet. Even the judicial officer had been taken down — who among them could claim to be safe? Lian Gongming was obviously sacrificing a pawn to protect the king, but what could they do? That is simply how people are: when disaster has not yet fallen on their own heads, they cling to hope. When they see others fall, they only watch — they dare not intervene, they have no desire to intervene, and no one wishes to embroil themselves in trouble.
Lian Gongming’s subordinates dragged judicial officer Zheng Chun away. Prefectural Deputy Liu Hongming seized the opportunity to excuse himself and leave. As he walked, he reflected that he had escaped with his life; the moment he stepped outside he let out a long, long breath.
In truth, Lian Gongming was himself trembling with fear. He had been deceived by Prince Yu’s eldest son Yang Zhuo — he felt like a man who had handled falcons all his life, only to be pecked blind by one. That day, Yang Zhuo had spoken in vague, ambiguous terms, leading him to mistakenly believe that Prince Yu had been lured to the capital by Yang Zhuo’s deception…
And besides, he had not thought there was anything particularly significant about lifting a finger against some wild young nobody. That fellow called Li Chi was an orphan, a boy of humble origins. Someone like that — if Lian Gongming wished to have him killed, it really was only a matter of lifting a finger.
Yet he had never imagined that this one insignificant person would leave every official in Jizhou Prefecture feeling now as though they had been cast into a pit of ice.
After handling one legal advisor, Lian Gongming had turned to ask Prince Yu a question, but Prince Yu had not even lifted his eyelids. He then handled a judicial officer, thinking that should be sufficient, and turned once more to Prince Yu with a question: “Your Highness, do you find this handling appropriate and within the bounds of law and propriety?”
Prince Yu this time did look up at him — but it was only a single glance before his gaze returned to the book.
At that, nearly every person in the room felt their heart clench simultaneously. Lian Gongming’s forehead broke out in a sheen of sweat.
Adding one judicial officer to the first legal advisor — and it was still not enough?
He deliberated for a moment, then said: “The runners in this prefectural office were largely recruited by Li Changxing. Only today have I discovered that he had the audacity to pocket considerable sums in falsified salary payments. Judicial officer Zheng Chun was no different — the men under his authority are all a pack of parasites! Someone go — catch up with the Deputy Administrator and have him dispatch troops. Tonight, every constable and every clerk, accountant, and jailer in the prison are to be seized. Leave not one!”
He declared loudly: “Tonight, this official will personally oversee matters and see how many corrupt elements can be rooted out! Regardless of who they are — anyone who has violated Dachu law, this official will show no leniency!”
With that, he looked once more toward Prince Yu. Prince Yu rose. He closed the volume and set it face-down on the desk, patting it with his hand.
“This is a fine book. Does Administrator Lian enjoy reading?”
Lian Gongming quickly lowered his head. “To answer Your Highness — this subordinate does indeed enjoy reading.”
Prince Yu smiled slightly. “There is a poem in this book, with two lines that read: ‘Drooping and fallen, bleak and bare, obscured and dense, drifting apart.’ What do you make of those two lines, Administrator Lian?”
He patted the book once more, then turned and walked out.
The moment Prince Yu stepped out the door, Lian Gongming rushed over to pick up the book. He turned to that page, read those two lines, and immediately handed the book to a subordinate: “Take it outside and burn it!”
The moment those words left his mouth, his head swam with a sudden dizziness. His body swayed; had he not gripped the nearby writing desk, he would have collapsed.
“All of you, get out — get out, all of you…”
Lian Gongming steadied himself against the desk and slowly lowered himself into the chair. His head ached as though something were trying to burst out of it, pounding outward one surge at a time.
That night, Jizhou City was alive with commotion.
Prefectural Deputy Liu Hongming mobilized the city garrison troops overnight to make arrests — not just one or two people. The constables from the prefectural office, the assistants and apprentices below them, numbering several hundred all together; the officials and jailers throughout the prison; the family members of the implicated officials — the total number likely exceeded a thousand.
Why had Lian Gongming gone to such lengths? Not only because Prince Yu had come in person, but because the military commissioner had mobilized five thousand garrison troops standing in full readiness.
The entire night, the streets of Jizhou City were full of patrolling garrison troops, their torches strung together in long lines like massive fire serpents crawling back and forth through the city.
Early the next morning, the people at the academy also heard about the incident. Li Diudiu looked at Xiahou Zuo, who was eating his congee, opened his mouth — but said nothing.
“Something to say?” Xiahou Zuo asked.
Li Diudiu said: “With Prince Yu’s fury unleashed like this, a great many people are going to die.”
Xiahou Zuo shrugged. “Did you think everyone in the prince’s residence is like me? He doesn’t act when it isn’t worth acting. When he does act — if fewer than a thousand people die, then it wasn’t worth acting in the first place.”
Xiahou Zuo found nothing troubling about this, but Li Diudiu felt it was somehow cruel. Perhaps half of those thousand-odd people were innocent.
Xiahou Zuo felt there was nothing at all wrong with his father killing a thousand people. Whether innocents were among them was also not a problem — they had brought it on themselves.
This was the difference between Xiahou Zuo and Li Diudiu. Li Diudiu was that loach — not the carp.
He lived at the very bottom of the pond. Looking up, all he could see were the carp swimming back and forth. He could not see the flood dragon above the carp.
What was a prince? The common people said they were sons of dragons.
For a loach, a carp was already lofty and beyond reach. For a carp, the dragon dwelled in the heavens.
So when Xiahou Zuo learned that so many people might die, he remained unmoved — utterly unmoved, as was only natural.
Looking at Xiahou Zuo’s calm, unhurried expression, what stirred in Li Diudiu was not an indulgent complaint that he showed no concern for the thousand-odd arrested people. Rather, it was because in that instant he recalled something Xiahou Zuo had once said.
*”I do not kill people because I believe human life is of greater worth. The day I no longer believe that — no one will dare kill me either.”*
After this incident, something in Xiahou Zuo’s inner world had… changed.
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