The subordinates were busy, and Leng Yun and Zhù Ying were even more so, without a moment’s rest. Zhù Ying was directing the scene on one hand, while already planning the next steps on the other.
Leng Yun could not sleep, and there was nothing else for him to do. After inspecting the underground jail, he had no more desire to wander around the rural estate, and he pulled up a chair to sit beside Zhù Ying and doze.
Zhù Ying told him to go rest — there were plenty of empty rooms, and they could clear one out for him, heat some water in the Huang family kitchen to soak his feet, and get a proper night’s sleep.
Leng Yun said: “It’s fine. Let’s handle the case first. Besides the concealed land and households, what else has been found?”
Zhù Ying said: “Those can all wait. As long as we let people see that the court is determined to punish illegal conduct, more people will come forward with complaints, and then there will be no shortage of evidence. Here are the matters I just mentioned — please affix your seal, my lord.”
“Which matters?”
“First, stabilizing the situation. This was my oversight — I hadn’t expected his influence to have grown this large, putting you in a dangerous situation. Had I known, I would have come alone. I will be more careful in future. Now that it’s dark, it would not be wise to travel back to Fulu County at night, so we must…”
Leng Yun did not like hearing that and cut her off: “I came of my own accord. If I hadn’t come, I would never have known!”
Zhù Ying said: “If we are not going back, we must make proper arrangements. First I ask for an official document from you — let me draft it now.”
“What sort?”
Zhù Ying spread both hands: “Investigating Huang the Twelfth can still be called my own case. But the case-within-a-case that has arisen from it falls outside the duties of the county magistrate of Fulu County. My lord, we are no longer at the Court of Judicial Review. Without your order, I cannot proceed with what comes next.”
If this were the Court of Judicial Review, once a case was assigned to Zhù Ying, she could liaise with counties and circuits in all directions as needed. But now she was the county magistrate of Fulu County, and in principle her jurisdiction extended only over her own county — she could handle civilian affairs, military affairs, and so on, but only within Fulu County.
Going to Sicheng County on another person’s case was already a stretch. This was why, when Captain Chang had sent men to Fulu County to arrest a fugitive without notifying her, she had been able to confront them so directly.
Leng Yun slapped his forehead: “I nearly forgot about that.”
This was easy enough. He carried his official seal on his person and untied the ribbon from his waist. Zhù Ying then explained to him that what she was currently handling was the case of Huang the Twelfth, but that from the look of things, she might need broader authorization — for instance, for tallying Huang the Twelfth’s concealed land and households: if someone in Sicheng County was providing cover, she would not be able to use local people and would need to bring in people from outside. Furthermore, if someone locally had colluded with Huang the Twelfth, she would need to summon those people for questioning.
She listed out the authorizations she needed one by one: “Beyond these, I have no other requirements.”
Leng Yun listened carefully, raised his hand, and stamped the seal, issuing a directive putting Zhù Ying in charge of the matter.
With his authorization, Leng Yun was given the first real chance to see how Zhù Ying worked. Back at the Court of Judicial Review, Leng Yun had never had an experience like this.
Zhù Ying dashed off a series of documents almost casually — guarding the estate, clearing and preserving evidence from the estate, deploying troops, summoning personnel, calling on the Southern Prefecture supervising official and the Southern Prefecture garrison troops to bring men over. She also asked Leng Yun for permission to send word to Master Dong, so that he could be prepared as well — to audit the accounts.
In a spare moment she had Captain Ding send men to Fulu County to summon Gu Tong and other county school students, as well as county office staff like Chief Clerk Mo. At the same time, she had Huajie bring half of the female jail wardens over, while leaving Xiao Jiang in Fulu County to keep an eye on developments regarding Li Fujie and the others.
She also gave Xiang Le instructions to roughly sort through the Huang family’s account books. Zhù Ying could not review them all at once and could only spot-check the most important ones. Xiang Le’s family were merchants, so he had some understanding of accounts; she had him categorize them and compile a list, so they could examine them more carefully later on. She instructed him specifically to tally up the current stock of grain in Huang’s household accounts.
She also did not forget to send people with Leng Yun’s seal to formally “invite” Magistrate Qiu and Captain Chang to come. The tone was carefully one of sincere invitation rather than reproach.
There was also the memorial to the court — she needed to start forming ideas about it now. She could not wait until the case was completely resolved before writing it. Even if she would be leaving the actual writing to skilled writers at the Prefectural Governor’s office, she needed to provide them with material. By the time they were ready to write, there would be no time to dig it all up.
Although Leng Yun had given her the authorization, she showed him each document as she drafted it and had him personally affix his seal before it was sent out.
Leng Yun’s eyes blurred as he held up the seal — pressing it up, pressing it down, on to the next one — and he occasionally asked: “Why are we tallying the grain stores?”
“With such a major event in Sicheng County this year, the county will certainly be shaken. It’s not far from autumn now, and when the harvest comes in poorly, the people will go hungry, and that will lead to trouble. If the tax grain cannot be fully submitted either, it will affect your performance review, my lord. And with an unplanned case-within-a-case dragging things out longer than expected, expenses have also increased. We need a backup reserve — something in the way of income to cover all of this, and that’s exactly what this is.”
Leng Yun nodded, then pointed to something and asked: “Do we have to be this polite to this useless wretch?”
Zhù Ying said: “If he comes here willingly, the situation outside is left without a focal point, and it becomes harder for anyone to give him bad advice that leads to more harm. Once there is no longer a leader, it also becomes easier to deal with those below him.”
Leng Yun said: “Good!”
All the orders having been issued, Zhù Ying again asked Leng Yun to rest. He still said there was no need. Zhù Ying thought for a moment and pulled out two volumes from the seized correspondence accounts to give him to look at for distraction. Leng Yun did not know much about accounts, but he could read what was written on the pages — things like: “On such-and-such date, in connection with such-and-such matter, gave such-and-such official such-and-such sum.” Huang the Twelfth’s ledger had a separate line of expenditure for bribery — not the kind of seasonal gift-giving to officials that was normal practice, but something explicitly itemized as a separate category of expenditure.
He made monthly payments to the county office, supplementing the income of everyone there. What Zhù Ying did at the Court of Judicial Review and in Fulu County was analogous to this, but Zhù Ying was the official in charge; by analogy, the person playing that role in Sicheng County should have been Magistrate Qiu himself. From what the ledgers showed, Magistrate Qiu had only known about it — the actual grain and money was sent monthly by a Huang family steward to the county office. In an entire county office, the number of people collecting that money was not large, and Huang the Twelfth could afford it.
Leng Yun read on, growing angrier by the moment, and cursed Magistrate Qiu: “What a dead man! He knew all this and still did nothing!”
……
Magistrate Qiu was certainly not a dead man — his movements were quite swift, in fact.
The incident had been sudden, and the Huang family estate had been in considerable chaos for a time. The head steward had been killed by Captain Ding, and the able-bodied estate workers had scattered. Hearing that Huang the Twelfth was dead, many people in the estate began fleeing with their elderly relatives and children in tow, while many others stayed, trembling and yet nursing a small hope, waiting for dawn.
Among those who had fled, some were simply confused and disorganized, while others knew exactly what was happening. The confused ones came back the next day when nothing seemed to have happened. Those who knew better fled through the night, and after the city gates opened at dawn ran straight to the county seat, burst into the yamen in a single breath without pausing, and reported the case: “Our household has been robbed by bandits!”
The runner was midway through his morning snack, and said thickly: “What robbery? Catch your breath and tell me slowly.”
The messenger said: “No time! There are hundreds of them, with weapons in hand!”
The runner felt like rolling his eyes. He had been in this job for twenty years and had heard more than enough exaggerated claims from ignorant villagers… wait a moment!
The runner’s morning snack fell to the ground: “Aren’t you one of the Huang family’s people?!”
“That’s right!”
The runner’s heart gave a start and he suddenly felt not the least bit hungry. He threw down the snack: “Tell me everything!”
“I don’t know either! They swarmed into the estate just after dark, surrounded the young master’s house — the people inside are all hemmed in!”
“Goodness, come with me quickly!”
The messenger was exhausted and parched. After being ushered through two sets of doors, he said one word: “Water.” Only then could he wet his throat.
Meanwhile, it was also the time when Magistrate Qiu was eating his morning meal. His table was set with a more refined spread — four platters and eight bowls — and he was eating with his concubine at the same table. When someone came looking for him outside, Magistrate Qiu continued eating without a word. The concubine set down her chopsticks and said: “What is it? What is all this fuss? The magistrate is eating.”
“Please have the magistrate come out — something has truly happened this time!”
Magistrate Qiu felt a twinge of puzzlement; in truth, he had never before encountered a “something has truly happened.” He rinsed his mouth, wiped his lips, washed his hands, indifferently handed the towel back to the servant, straightened his collar, walked to the door, and asked: “What is the matter?”
“The Huang — Huang — Huang family estate has been — been — been stormed by people! Somebody — somebody is dead!”
Magistrate Qiu was startled: “What?! Where did this news come from?”
“An estate worker from the Huang family escaped and came to report it — he’s right out front!”
Magistrate Qiu’s face went grave: “Come.”
He went to the front, called the Huang estate worker over, and questioned him carefully. The estate worker was in tears: “We don’t know what god or spirit we provoked — they surrounded the whole place without a word of explanation.”
Magistrate Qiu asked: “Who did this?”
The man looked completely blank: “I — I don’t know!”
All Magistrate Qiu could get out of him was that two or three people had been at the front, all looking like tough fighters, all on horseback, and not resembling bandits come down from the mountains.
Magistrate Qiu’s heart was pounding. Governor Leng had just been in Fulu County not far from here, and hundreds of mounted bandits had descended upon his territory and chosen the largest estate in the area to commit murder and robbery…
Magistrate Qiu said: “Quickly! Send for Captain Chang!”
Captain Chang had only just gotten out of bed as well. The two of them put their heads together, and Captain Chang said: “Don’t panic. I’ll take men to go.” In normal times, soldiers were not afraid of outlaws, because ordinary outlaws could not withstand a proper army.
Magistrate Qiu discussed things further with him: “This should not be reported upward for now — if it turns out to be a false alarm, the embarrassment would only make things worse.”
Captain Chang agreed. The two quickly came to a decision, and Captain Chang mustered over a hundred soldiers. He did not believe that several hundred cavalrymen could have suddenly materialized here. As a military man, he knew how much it cost to maintain hundreds of mounted soldiers — he did not even have that many under his own command. How could anyone in this vicinity have fielded so many mounted men? Even in the year of the tribal uprisings, those tribespeople had never put this many cavalry into one raid. The tribespeople were hard to suppress because they would disappear into the mountains the moment anything happened, retreating when you advanced and advancing when you retreated — they were never fully wiped out and required heavy troops. But this was different.
Magistrate Qiu listened to Captain Chang’s analysis and felt much reassured, saying: “Even so, we should still go and see.”
Captain Chang had the same thought. His forces outnumbered Captain Ding’s, and he also hoped to earn some extra reward — rescuing the Huang estate would bring a report of merit to the court, and Huang the Twelfth would certainly offer him a gift on top of that.
The two of them raised a great cloud of dust as they raced toward the Huang family estate.
They rode hard through the heat of the day until the outline of the estate came into view in the distance. Captain Chang ordered scouts ahead while the rest dismounted and rested.
The scout went to reconnoiter the outer perimeter and was thoroughly puzzled: where were the bandits?
There was no fire at the estate, no dust and commotion. What kind of bandits didn’t loot and make a bonfire? There was food and drink at the Huang estate — what bandits wouldn’t light a fire and help themselves?
He edged a little further in, and was immediately spotted by one of Captain Ding’s scouts keeping watch from the estate wall: “Seize him!”
Captain Ding had originally been under Captain Chang’s command, and the two sides knew each other on sight. When they recognized each other, both sides relaxed. Captain Ding brought the scout to see Zhù Ying and Leng Yun. Zhù Ying had no particular wish to use Captain Chang, but since he had delivered himself to her doorstep, there was no reason to avoid him. She asked: “Have both of you arrived? How is it you came in this fashion?” — creeping around like that.
The scout said: “We heard there were bandits…”
Leng Yun said: “Didn’t the messenger I sent explain things clearly?”
The scout said: “What — what messenger? It was the Huang family’s estate workers who came to the county office to report the case.”
Zhù Ying asked: “Did only Captain Chang come?”
The scout said: “The captain brought a hundred men, and Magistrate Qiu brought forty yamen runners. They’re all waiting outside for my signal.”
Hearing Magistrate Qiu’s name made Leng Yun furious. After what he had been through in this past day and night — dangerous, exhausting, and enraging — he had no patience left to think about why his own messenger hadn’t reached the county office while the Huang family’s messenger got there first. He said: “Have them come in.”
Zhù Ying said: “Brother Ding, sorry to trouble you to make another trip.”
Captain Ding said: “All right.” He turned his back to Leng Yun and let out a huge yawn, then dragged the scout away with him.
Upon learning that it was not bandits but Leng Yun, Captain Chang felt somewhat deflated. Magistrate Qiu, on the other hand, was seized with anxiety — Leng Yun had come to his territory without any notice, and had gone straight to Huang the Twelfth’s estate. He could not guess what was behind it, but it certainly was not good. A superior conducting an unannounced inspection was never something a subordinate would be pleased about.
Captain Chang said: “Brother Qiu, let’s go.”
Magistrate Qiu had no choice but to steel himself: “Right away.” He turned and whispered a few words to the yamen runners traveling with him, then turned back to walk alongside Captain Chang. But he noticed that Captain Ding and Captain Chang were whispering to each other.
Captain Ding pulled Captain Chang aside. Captain Chang was somewhat annoyed, but Captain Ding’s face was working with expressions, and Captain Chang finally leaned over: “What is it?”
“None of this has anything to do with us — don’t go poking your head into it!” Captain Ding felt he had done his duty as a fellow soldier; if Captain Chang still wouldn’t listen to his good advice, then Captain Chang’s misfortune would be no one’s fault but his own.
Captain Chang, as it happened, was no fool either, and sensed something was off. He said quietly: “What is going on?”
Captain Ding said: “That Huang the Twelfth — it’s going to go badly for him.”
“Ah?”
Captain Ding wrapped an arm around Captain Chang’s shoulder: “Brother, we’ve been posted together all these years — do you trust me?”
Captain Chang drew a long breath: “Huang the Twelfth, ah… what a pity.”
“What he’s sent us over the years isn’t worth getting cut open for him now.”
Captain Chang nodded slowly, and Captain Ding felt a small measure of relief. Huang the Twelfth was a rather interesting character — his gifts to military officers had gone mainly to Captain Chang, with very little trickling down to Captain Ding. But once Captain Chang had accepted, the men below him did not dare not follow, so one in the grip pulled the whole group along with him.
With the county office staff, however, he had taken an entirely different approach.
……
Zhù Ying stood at the door and said to Magistrate Qiu and Captain Chang: “Gentlemen, I have been expecting you.”
A look of anger flashed across Magistrate Qiu’s face involuntarily: “Magistrate Zhù, what is the meaning of this?”
Captain Chang had a generally neutral opinion of Zhù Ying. He said nothing, watching Magistrate Qiu walk into that confrontation.
Zhù Ying said: “I have been waiting for you both since last night.”
Captain Chang quickly said: “You two are both civil officials — I’m just a rough soldier. You can speak your minds inside. We’re here to listen, isn’t that right, Old Ding?”
Captain Ding thought to himself: it’s too late for you to start distancing yourself now. Still, Prefectural Governor Leng probably won’t hold it against you at the moment — count yourself lucky.
Zhù Ying said: “Please.”
Leng Yun went first, and Magistrate Qiu dared not make a show of shaking out his sleeves and leaving, so he had no choice but to follow.
It was now daytime, and daylight brought back courage. Leng Yun yawned and waited for Magistrate Qiu to come in. Both Magistrate Qiu and Captain Chang came and paid their respects. Leng Yun did not invite them to sit, simply letting them stand straight where they were, and the atmosphere immediately became tense.
The two men had come in alone; their people were still outside. Zhù Ying was not worried — though she was indeed puzzled about why the messenger she had sent had not found the county office. After all, it had been one of Captain Ding’s men!
Captain Chang glared hard at Captain Ding. Captain Ding gave a small cough. Zhù Ying whispered to Leng Yun: “If you wish to question Magistrate Qiu, shall we first have the captain take a seat? Military matters are outside his purview.”
Leng Yun pointed to a chair: “Captain, be seated.”
Then he proceeded to berate Magistrate Qiu furiously. By now he had actually run out of new words for it, and it was all variations on: “A do-nothing holding down a post!” “A betrayal of the emperor’s trust!” “What use are you?!” and the like.
Magistrate Qiu, having been subjected to this tirade for so long, was starting to find it intolerable. In the eyes of the circuit’s officials, Leng Yun was decidedly inferior to Prefectural Governor Lu. He only resented that Leng Yun had Zhù Ying to back him up, which was why he himself had ended up on the losing end. Magistrate Qiu was not prepared to simply concede defeat. He looked hard at Zhù Ying, then turned to Leng Yun and said: “We officials serve a posting to protect the territory and care for the people. I would like to know, my lord, what it means to be lured in this fashion to burst uninvited into a citizen’s home?”
Leng Yun was provoked to fury, took a deep breath, pointed at Zhù Ying and said: “Did I not already order you to handle this case? He is now under your jurisdiction too!”
Magistrate Qiu was not satisfied: “What crime have I committed?!”
Zhù Ying’s face turned stern. She strode forward. Magistrate Qiu was not tall, and Zhù Ying stood just slightly above him. With lightning speed she shot out her hand, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him to the ground! While he was still dazed from the fall, she flipped her right hand and, gripping him by the back of his collar, dragged him toward the door. Leng Yun stared in something like shock, and the sleep-deprived subordinates also stood gaping.
Captains Ding and Chang both cheered inwardly: fine technique! Then they both had the feeling that something was slightly off.
Magistrate Qiu was also scared witless. Like an overturned tortoise he struggled several times, trying to right himself, and reached a hand up and grabbed Zhù Ying’s wrist in a bid to save himself. Zhù Ying gave her arm a shake and sent him tumbling back into order.
Zhù Ying dragged Magistrate Qiu all the way to the underground jail, tossed him in front of the “imitation official hall,” and only then did Magistrate Qiu understand how serious things were. It could have been covered up, of course — but that would have required Zhù Ying and Leng Yun to agree to it. Why on earth would they? Magistrate Qiu hated Zhù Ying for being so merciless; he believed she had come down so hard on him just because of the dispute over a single case.
He said: “You are too ruthless! Since you knew, why didn’t you tell me? If you had told me, why would I have refused to act?”
Zhù Ying kicked him into the underground jail and asked: “How would you have handled it? Pretended nothing had happened? Or handled it for your own sake?”
Leng Yun followed along the whole way, watching the spectacle. He had no objection whatsoever to Zhù Ying handling things this way — in fact, he found it deeply satisfying. Getting rough with a couple of worthless stewards — what did that amount to? Prefectural Governor Leng felt it was beneath him and wished he could grab the entire county office along with Huang the Twelfth and put them all through a good interrogation.
Zhù Ying then pulled Magistrate Qiu back out of the underground jail and dragged him to a clean courtyard.
The people rescued from the underground jail had not yet gone home. Captain Ding had said their injuries were too serious, and in the dark it would have been too easy to accidentally injure them further during transport, so they remained here.
Zhù Ying said: “These people were pulled out of the underground jail just last night. Are they human? They are the court’s subjects. You allowed Huang the Twelfth to subject them to private torture — how can your conscience be at peace? Whom did you protect, and whom did you keep safe? Is Huang the Twelfth the only person who counts as a human being? Are the others not people?”
Leng Yun cheered loudly: “Well said!”
Zhù Ying was not as emotionally worked up as he was. For one thing, she felt that even if she did get worked up, Magistrate Qiu, in his current state, would be thinking mainly about how to save his own skin, with no time to reflect on anything. For another, if she raised her voice in agitation, it would be easy to slip into that eunuch-like pitch.
She simply tried to speak as loudly as she could. In truth, this scolding was for the benefit of the yamen runners and soldiers to hear. They had been engaged in this raid and seizure for a full day and night and were already exhausted, with more still to come — they needed to have their spirits lifted. As for Magistrate Qiu, she had no interest in trying to reform him.
The runners and soldiers cheered along with Leng Yun, and everyone’s spirits immediately picked up.
Leng Yun, seeing Magistrate Qiu beginning to weep and repent, felt a measure of satisfaction but also a slight loss of interest: “Put him in custody first, and interrogate him at leisure. Ha! I’ll have Huang the Twelfth detained too — that way he won’t be able to escape. And this case will still be yours to handle…”
His words trailed off into vagueness — he was genuinely falling asleep. Zhù Ying said: “The people are all detained now. I will wait for the others to arrive and draw up a plan for your review. Would you like to rest first?”
Leng Yun said: “All right.” He was so drowsy he did not even want to eat, found a spot at random, and finally fell asleep.
Zhù Ying then turned to Captain Chang: “This counts as a local matter, and I have troubled the captain. Captain Chang —”
Captain Ding jumped in eagerly to show off: “Old Chang and I were saying the same thing, Magistrate Zhù, you see…”
Zhù Ying nodded, then said to Captain Chang: “I have been entrusted by the Prefectural Governor to handle this case here, and I am temporarily in charge of affairs on this patch of ground. If the captain has anything to discuss, please feel free to raise it. If I am unable to respond in time, I will reply at the earliest opportunity.”
Captain Chang looked at her and vaguely guessed what she had been doing for the past day and night, then glanced at Captain Ding, and felt a certain reluctant admiration. Bowing to the prevailing circumstances, he nodded: “You have worked hard, Magistrate. If everyone were like you, how would Sicheng County have come to this state?”
The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and then Xiao Wu came running up: “Magistrate! Magistrate! They’re here! They’re here!”
The people summoned from Fulu County had arrived. The people she had dispatched were more reliable than those sent by others and had ridden through the night back to Fulu County. Upon seeing Zhù Ying’s handwriting, Gu Tong and the others had gone without a second thought to the relay station to select horses and set off. They had arrived at just the right time.
Captain Chang suppressed all the complicated feelings in his heart and said quietly: “If there is anything you need from us, just say the word.”
Zhù Ying nodded: “Xiang Le, first distribute firewood and grain for everyone to cook food, and prepare fodder. See what’s available in the kitchen — plain vegetables and tofu are fine, as is fish or meat if there is any. Find space for everyone to rest. First settle Captain Chang’s men, then those who were on duty last night, and finally Gu Tong’s group.”
Xiao Wu said: “I’ll help! He can’t manage alone. I’ll take one section and he takes another.”
Zhù Ying said: “Come back when you’re done — I have a task for you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Captain Chang had half expected this show of goodwill to be just for appearances — a few polite gestures and that would be that. But when he saw that whether those on duty last night or those who had just arrived, not a single one showed any trace of complaint even with hands still trembling from exhaustion, he suddenly felt a real respect: “Thank you.”
Zhù Ying said: “Please. You — come here.”
Gu Tong and the others stepped forward as one. Zhù Ying said: “Lin Balang? What are you standing there for? Keep up.”
Lin Balang was caught in a dilemma. He had been called here to help seize the estate of his own brother-in-law. He knew that his brother-in-law had acted in certain ways that were not entirely legal, but having him thrown in prison was something he had never imagined. He disliked his brother-in-law, but what about his sister? How was this going to turn out? And his two young nieces?
And yet what Zhù Ying was doing was not something he could say was wrong. He had been swept along here by his classmates and now stood before Zhù Ying, unwilling to step forward. He murmured: “Magistrate, I… might not be the right person for this. I need to recuse myself.”
Zhù Ying said: “What are you recusing yourself from? You’re not here to rule on the case! I need you to register the household census! Just know right from wrong yourself. Your surname is Lin, not Huang. You are a student of Fulu County, not a prisoner of Sicheng County. Come here!”
She also ordered that Huajie and the others be found a quiet residence in a secluded part of the compound to stay in.
……
Summoning the students from Fulu County’s county school was itself an act of necessity on Zhù Ying’s part. Fulu County was the closest place, and she needed to get this matter organized quickly, because she still had things to do back in Fulu County! Sicheng County was fairly close to Fulu County; the number of literate people in the county was also not large — probably fewer than in Fulu County now. She genuinely had no other people to call on.
Once the group arrived, Zhù Ying herded them into the account room courtyard: “Rest here for a bit first.”
She herself pulled up a chair and sat with eyes closed to recover. Everyone was utterly exhausted — some were falling asleep where they stood. Before long, Xiang Le and Xiao Wu had the food ready. Xiao Wu padded his way in, and Zhù Ying opened her eyes at once: “Done? Go eat as well. I’ll give you your assignments in a moment.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She shoveled a bowl of rice and a dish of food down her throat and went to report to Leng Yun.
Leng Yun had forced himself to get up and wash his face, suppressing his irritability, and asked: “How are things?”
Zhù Ying said: “More or less in order. A first contingent of people is ready. My lord, please bear with things for two more days. Once we have put the broad outlines in order here and have people to leave behind to tally the household census and the like — you still have your retinue and entourage back in Fulu County, and it would not be fitting to remain here alone like this. This is an unexpected detour, and when we get back, we still have our real business to attend to.”
“Ah?”
“Winter wheat.”
“Oh! Then what about this place?”
“Let them stay here to take complaints for the time being. I will go back first and settle Li Fujie’s case with a judgment.”
Leng Yun nodded: “Did you always work like this on cases?”
Zhù Ying said: “I’m impatient by nature, and I was also worried someone might tip him off — that is why I did not deliberate and simply invited you to come along. I acted too rashly.”
Leng Yun’s brain was already turning to mush after two days of exhaustion. He said: “Just manage things.”
Zhù Ying said: “I intend to have Fulu County’s school students come and assist with surveying the land and registering the household census. Sicheng County’s clerks will be suspended temporarily. Those who had no choice but to go along with things will be allowed to serve under a charge of misconduct; those with proven wrongdoings should be arrested or executed as the case warrants, and any vacancies can be filled with newly recruited personnel. Captain Chang can maintain order in the meantime. As for the officials, there is no choice but to report to the court. I will get the case details in order and leave the judgment to your decision, my lord. The matter has become rather large.”
A local landlord concealing land and households was not particularly serious in itself, but a private court of punishment would have hard-to-predict consequences going forward.
Leng Yun said: “Fine.”
Zhù Ying hesitated a moment. Leng Yun said: “Speak your mind.”
“We need to work quickly. I was entrusted by you, my lord, to tour the Southern Prefecture before the autumn harvest to prepare for arrangements regarding winter wheat. We must finish before the harvest. After the harvest, you will have no time — you will need to collect tax grain from the whole circuit, tally the figures, and submit them to the court. There is also the Ministry of Personnel’s performance review. You, the Adjutant, and the Chief Secretary — at least one of you needs to go.”
Leng Yun said: “If only you were posted at my place!”
Zhù Ying said: “Let me first get things sorted out here for you, my lord.”
“Good.”
Another day passed before the Southern Prefecture supervising official arrived together with the Southern Prefecture garrison commander, Major Mei, and their troops. Both of them were utterly worn out from the journey — there was a world of difference between riding alone at full speed and keeping a large contingent orderly on the march. They dared not complain, and upon arrival, it was Zhù Ying who received them. The supervising official had run out of anything to object to with this subordinate. Major Mei looked at this young, pale-faced fellow with genuine curiosity.
Zhù Ying briefed them quietly, explaining that the current situation was an unexpected discovery arising from a case-within-a-case.
The supervising official said in astonishment: “How could anyone be so brazen? Are there people like this in other counties too? How has it never come to my attention?”
Zhù Ying said: “I don’t know about other places. In Fulu County, I recently had people make inquiries and found that long ago there had been a wealthy household that had not yet reached the point of setting up a private court, but was beheaded by the former prefect on charges of brewing venomous poisons to harm people. The whole family was scattered and dispersed. That is why Fulu County has wealthy households, and quite a number of moderately well-off ones, but has not yet produced another truly great magnate. The affair was not flattering, so it was not recorded in the local gazetteer — it was passed down by word of mouth among the old people.”
Major Mei was left speechless by this. The supervising official also said quietly that Magistrate Qiu was unfortunate in his own way.
Zhù Ying said: “Huang the Twelfth made monthly supplementary payments to the county office.”
The supervising official fell silent.
Zhù Ying said: “Governor Leng has had almost no sleep for the past two days. His temper is a little sharp.”
“Understood.”
When the supervising official met Leng Yun, he was promptly berated: “You were stationed in Southern Prefecture and you knew nothing about this? And I have to come here and deal with it myself?”
The supervising official said: “Since the previous prefect left, there has been no prefect in this prefecture…”
Leng Yun was about to continue berating him, then suddenly realized that going any further would implicate the level above — meaning himself. He calmed down a little and said: “Did you bring people? You help with the case too.”
The supervising official understood that in this matter, Leng Yun’s trust lay with Zhù Ying. So he placed his people at Zhù Ying’s disposal.
Zhù Ying, aware that her rank as county magistrate was technically lower than that of the prefecture officials, asked the supervising official to preside as well. The supervising official said: “I already have a charge of dereliction of duty against me — it would not be fitting. No, no.”
Zhù Ying said: “I couldn’t even travel the whole of my own county. It was only this year that I learned Huang’s family had concealed land even in Fulu County. If a single county can be in this state, how much more a whole prefecture? Get this case resolved, my lord, and you will have something to say for yourself.”
The supervising official grumbled a few complaints, was talked around in a couple of sentences, and recognized the force of circumstances — there was nothing for it but to roll up his sleeves and work alongside the rest. Zhù Ying watched out of the corner of her eye: this gentleman had apparently stopped being ill!
Major Mei was the superior of both Captains Chang and Ding. The three of them conferred together, and he asked what he was needed for. Zhù Ying said: “Please stand by. There is indeed one matter that may require your help.”
The ideal, in fact, was to avoid using soldiers at all — as the military and the civilian administration were separate, and a local official casually deploying the army was something that could easily attract criticism. Zhù Ying first established a justification: the reason they were needed was that the Huang household’s estate workers had resisted arrest, and local manpower was insufficient. She then had drafts prepared, stamped with Leng Yun’s seal and submitted to the court as proper procedure. At the same time, Major Mei submitted supplementary paperwork through his own channels, making all documents complete.
With this, responsibility was clearly established for both sides. She then asked them to keep some troops on standby.
It was around this time that the messenger previously dispatched to find Magistrate Qiu finally returned — he had gotten lost. In the darkness, riding with his head down, he had taken a wrong turn and almost ridden out of Sicheng County, and by the time he doubled back, it was too late.
Assignments distributed, after three days of consecutive nights awake, Zhù Ying was finally able to sleep a solid and satisfying night. Her plan upon waking was to go back and first settle the matter for Li Fujie.
The next morning, sunlight crept up to the window lattice. Zhù Ying got up and pushed open the door. Xiao Wu was walking over carrying a basin of water: “Magistrate, you’re finally awake! Things are more or less sorted.”
Official documents had gone out to all parties. Master Dong, despite his advanced years, had come with Leng Yun’s formal retinue and was just arriving at the gate.
Zhù Ying said: “Let’s go.” The situation had shifted — Leng Yun’s retinue had arrived, and dragging a large train of people back to Fulu County would no longer be appropriate.
……
Master Dong had suspected from the start that Zhù Ying had done all of this deliberately. After arriving at the Huang estate, he still intended to raise the matter, and first asked the runners to fill him in on what had happened. After hearing about the “private court of punishment,” he said nothing more of that sort; then when he heard about the “concealed land and households,” he dropped the subject of the case entirely and said simply: “This is a good thing.”
But good things must be handled well. Master Dong then asked Leng Yun whether he had informed the court. Leng Yun said: “Everything is taken care of.”
Master Dong continued to ask questions. Leng Yun was growing impatient — too many questions from the aide!
It was just then that Zhù Ying arrived. She exchanged courtesies with Master Dong: “You have worked hard, sir.”
Master Dong, finding her to be a person with whom one could reason, planned to have a private word with her later and was similarly courteous: “You are the one who has truly worked hard, Magistrate.”
The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Xiao Wu came running over: “Magistrate, there are more complainants who want to bring charges against Huang the Twelfth!”
The words Zhù Ying had used to upbraid Magistrate Qiu had spread over the past few days. Among the male and female servants still being held at the Huang estate, some also wanted to come forward, and outside, the tenant farmers also had charges to bring. Since there were now more clerks on hand, Zhù Ying had Gu Tong handle the tallying.
Leng Yun laughed: “You said as much — sure enough, more cases have come forward.”
They stayed on in Sicheng County for several more days, finishing the seizure of the Huang estate. Zhù Ying asked Major Mei to leave a contingent of men to guard the Huang family’s main estate, and particularly to keep a watch on the “imitation official hall.” She left Gu Tong there to continue accepting complaints, and divided the county school students and the others among various areas to verify the population and land figures.
She herself then went with Leng Yun to Sicheng County’s yamen, and upon arriving the first order of business was to seal the accounts and then conduct a thorough examination. Having Master Dong present at this point was considerably more convenient than when Zhù Ying had been working alone. Zhù Ying used the opportunity with Leng Yun to look over the farmland figures for Sicheng County. Leng Yun could not discern much, but comparing against the Huang family’s ledgers, Zhù Ying could see plainly: only one third of Huang the Twelfth’s landholdings appeared in the county yamen’s official register.
So there was indeed a saying in Fulu County that he owned half the land in Sicheng County. That was, of course, a rough figure.
Leng Yun made a public show of hearing complaints in Sicheng County. At first no one dared come forward. Zhù Ying had experience with this and knew what to do: first have the head steward’s head paraded through the city streets in a public display; sure enough, complaints began to arrive after that.
Leng Yun was in his element. As each complaint came in he read it himself, but gradually the volume became too much to keep up with. The people bringing complaints shifted from preparing written petitions to gathering and shouting their grievances out loud in groups, and Zhù Ying called in more scribes to take down their words.
Leng Yun read on, growing more and more troubled: “How could one person commit so much evil? I absolutely must punish him!”
Zhù Ying said: “Then let’s come back to do that later. We should first go to Southern Prefecture.”
Leng Yun said: “What about the case? You’re just going to leave it?”
Zhù Ying said: “The complaints keep coming in — it will take ten days to half a month for everyone to finish telling their stories, and then they need to be organized, which will likely take over a month all told. Time is precious and mustn’t be wasted. Let’s first look at the land. Southern Prefecture has four counties under its jurisdiction; you have already looked at two. When the remaining two are done, the complaints here will more or less have been gathered as well.”
In truth, it was more like one and a half, since the figures for Sicheng County were not yet tallied.
Leng Yun wanted to see the case through — having personally supervised and endured hardship for this case, not getting an immediate result was unbearable to him.
Master Dong, however, had other ideas. He was a man focused on tax grain, and thought tax grain was the more important matter. He urged Leng Yun strongly: “You keep saying Magistrate Zhù does things clearly. Now that he has a suggestion, you should hear him out. The case — all the suspects are under arrest; surely a clean round of sentencing at one go later would be satisfying enough?”
Only then did Leng Yun agree to head to Southern Prefecture.
This leg of the journey was arranged by the supervising official, and neither the supervising official’s arrangements nor being around Leng Yun sat well with Zhù Ying. It was the same with a superior: if Magistrate Qiu had treated Prefectural Governor Lu this way, it would be normal for Prefectural Governor Lu to know nothing. Prefectural Governor Lu was rather to be pitied in that. By making an inspection tour that was just a rush through the surface appearances, nothing of substance could be seen. Leng Yun could not see through it, and even Zhù Ying could see very little.
The group toured the county where Southern Prefecture was located, then looked in on the territory under Magistrate Wang’s jurisdiction, and then turned back toward Fulu County. Leng Yun had no affection for Sicheng County; he would have preferred to sentence Huang the Twelfth right back at the Huang family’s main estate. But there was no suitable venue there, and in any case you could not very well hold a sentencing in the “imitation official hall.” Besides, there was Magistrate Qiu to consider — you could not humiliate a court-appointed official too severely, so a proper venue was needed. With Sicheng County still being reorganized, Leng Yun chose Fulu County instead.
When Zhù Ying had left, she had not imagined she would be away for a full month before returning.
When she came back, the hearts of the people in the county town settled back into place. After Huang the Twelfth was arrested, the Lin family had been sighing and groaning, and not a few of the local gentry had felt a sort of “when the hare dies, the fox grieves” unease. But the arrest had been on Leng Yun’s order, and Zhù Ying had very quickly left again — now, at last, she was back.
To reassure people’s hearts, Zhù Ying took a brief respite and then convened the court, intending to conduct a public hearing on the case of Huang the Twelfth.