Chapter 418: Popular Fury Runs High, Public Trial of the State Elder

Scholar Zhou said slowly, "Wen Tiren is the serving Chief Grand Secretary, holding the position of prime minister. Instead of thinking of serving the state loyally, he has usurped power and silenced dissent, corrupted official governance, deceived the sovereign, framed the loyal and good, and stirred up fierce factional strife."

"He is truly the chief culprit in ruining the state and harming the people — Heaven's mandate demands his death, and the bonds of ethics will not tolerate him!"

None of the assembled officials present raised any objection.

Everything Scholar Zhou said was the plain truth. Wen Tiren's fawning flattery of his superiors, cultivation of a personal clique, use of his authority to purge those who disagreed with him — these had long filled the other ministers with deep disgust.

Scholar Zhou continued, "Of these six men, Wu Zongda and Xue Guoguan are both Wen Tiren's fangs and talons, and they too must be settled accounts with."

"Zhang Yixian violated ancestral institutions — as a eunuch, he encroached upon the great powers of the ministries and courts, skimmed off funds and grain, undermined frontier defense, suppressed those who differed from him, and blocked the channels of remonstrance. He too must be severely punished."

"household retainers Earl Zhou Kui and Funing Marquis Zhu Guobi sold offices and bartered ranks, trafficked in official connections, annexed commoners' farmland, embezzled military pay, and preyed upon the people. They are the foremost villains among the consort kin and hereditary nobles, and they will not escape either."

Scholar Zhou's list of accounts to be settled happened to encompass the chief culprits among all four groups: civil officials, palace eunuchs, hereditary nobles, and consort kin.

Every one he had selected was a figure of immense popular outrage. Executing them carried minimal side effects and would only make court and commoners alike clap their hands in approval.

The assembled officials exchanged glances, then all cupped their hands in assent, declaring themselves willing to serve the new dynasty with all their might.

Scholar Zhou said, "In that case, I ask you all to assist the Qingping Bureau in seizing case files and verifying evidence of corruption, so that these wicked villains may be brought to justice at the earliest opportunity."

Several days later, public trial notices were posted at the major execution grounds throughout the capital.

The capital's martial law was not as strict as when the Xia army first entered the city, but the common folk still dared not linger long before the notice boards. They cast a hasty glance, bought their rice and vegetables, and scattered on their separate ways.

By evening that day, in Chunshu Hutong in the outer city, residents gathered in the alley after their meals to enjoy the cool air and chat about what they had seen during the day.

"Did you all see the notice at the execution ground?"

"Saw it — the calligraphy was truly fine!"

"What did it say?"

"Don't know. The southern soldiers all carry spears and clubs — who would dare ask? Offend them, and maybe — crack!"

The elder who spoke made a chopping motion with his hand, and everyone around him shuddered.

Just then a scholar walked out of the alley — around forty years old, wearing a blue cloth scholar's robe and a flat-topped square cap, his measured strides perfectly proper, the very picture of scholarly dignity.

This man was named Zhang Shouyu. In earlier years he had been a government student in the prefectural school, but after taking the examinations for many years without ever passing the juren level, he had opened a small school in his own home to make a living. In his spare time he also wrote legal petitions and letters for his neighbors. His days were hard-pressed, yet because he was a scholar and taught the neighborhood children their characters, he was much respected by those around him.

The elder who had mimed the "chopping" called out, "Master Zhang!"

The men enjoying the cool air all waved and called out, "Master Zhang, do come over and chat with us!"

Zhang Shouyu paced over, cupped his hands, and said, "I intrude upon you."

"It is we who must trouble Master Zhang for guidance again." Someone made room on a stool and set it behind him. "Master Zhang, sit and speak."

That elder asked impatiently, "Did Master Zhang see the notice posted at the execution ground this morning? What did it say?"

Zhang Shouyu sat upright on the stool and sighed. "That is a trial notice. In five days, ministers of the Great Ming are to be publicly tried before the Chengtian Gate."

"The bandits are about to raise their butcher's blade again. No doubt the Jiangnan massacre will soon be reenacted in the capital."

"Ah?" The surrounding commoners immediately erupted in an uproar.

"Then what do we do? We — we run?"

"The city gates only open for four hours each day. How can we run? Hide in a dung barrel?"

"Disaster! Disaster! Those heaven-cursed bandit soldiers!"

"Keep your voices down — if someone hears you, that will be the real disaster!"

At this reminder, the crowd quieted down, though worry was written on every face.

Xiao Ma, the peddler among the neighbors, said, "I heard people say the bandit soldiers have strict discipline. When they entered the city they didn't enter people's homes, they swept the streets, and they treated the wounded. They don't seem like the sort to slaughter the common folk."

Lao Chen, the paper-figure craftsman, said, "That's all a show put on by the bandit soldiers. I heard that in the southern markets everything is desolate — except the paper-figure makers, who are rolling in money. Think about why that is?"

Paper-figure work meant making paper effigies, paper horses, and soul banners — normally only commissioned for funerals.

Lao Meng, who ran the flatbread stall, sighed and said, "Speaking of that, Chengzu hasn't come back for a long time either. His old mother cries all day long. I was thinking — perhaps we neighbors should pool together and hold a funeral — to see him off."

At these words, the faces of the neighbors all darkened. Wang Chengzu, though he had been an officer in the Capital Camps, was a kind man who doted on his old mother and got along well with all the neighbors.

Now he had gone out of the city to fight, and not even his bones remained. Everyone felt a pang of sorrow in their hearts.

Since the Great Xia had sealed the city, grain prices, vegetable prices, and firewood prices had climbed higher and higher, leaving Wang Chengzu's old mother alone at home, with no telling how she would survive from now on.

Lao Chen, the paper-figure craftsman, said, "I'll make his paper offerings — no charge."

"Alas!" Old Liu the carpenter sighed. "Those bandit soldiers truly are worthless scum!"

Then the neighbors went on to share all the rumors they had heard — some said the bandit soldiers ate human hearts and livers, some said the Xia King was the King of Hell reborn, and some said the Great Xia was going to confiscate all the land in the realm.

Though the neighbors told these tales with great vividness, they were all hearsay. Many of them had never once left the capital in their entire lives, and deep down they had little confidence in whether such rumors could truly be believed. After chatting for a while, someone asked, "Master Zhang, are the bandit soldiers good or bad?"

At once, everyone's gaze turned toward Zhang Shouyu.

Zhang Shouyu said, "All I know is that the Xia King slaughtered many people in Jiangnan — from the court to the streets, he killed until the blood flowed like rivers and every man feared for himself."

"Scholars who spoke out for justice were cruelly suppressed — their dignity trampled, their examination credentials stripped away, decades of bitter study at a cold window all come to nothing."

"The practice of punishing people for their words that prevailed under the Wei eunuch's rule is flourishing once again under the rule of the roving bandits."

The capital's common folk could not truly empathize with Jiangnan, the court, or the scholars — but speak of the Wei eunuch's rule, and that was something they knew all too well.

At the height of Wei Zhongxian's power, even if you dared mutter a single word against him while eating dinner at home, the secret police of the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard would smash through your window that very instant, drag you away, and torture you to death.

It got to the point where if commoners bore a private grudge, they would falsely accuse their enemy of speaking ill of the Depot Director — and the enemy would be found dumped in a foul ditch the very next day. It was more efficient than taking revenge with one's own knife.

As Wei Zhongxian's home base, the capital was where his reign of terror flourished most. The people feared him like snakes and scorpions — let alone gathering to chat, they barely even dared leave their own homes.

Coming from the learned Master Zhang's mouth, these words carried great credibility. At once the neighbors all began discussing how to escape the city.

Even hiding in a dung barrel no longer seemed quite so unacceptable.

Old Liu the carpenter asked worriedly, "Master Zhang, what do you plan to do?"

Zhang Shouyu said with solemn resolve, "When the state is broken and the family destroyed, death is the only answer. What is there to fear?"

"Master Zhang, why not run with us! My third uncle's family lives in Baoding — we can take refuge there. The farmland isn't much, but we can survive. Once the Roaming King arrives and drives off the bandit soldiers, we can come back."

Zhang Shouyu felt a momentary temptation, but after thinking it over carefully, he shook his head. "The situation is dire. I cannot burden your family. And as a scholar, I certainly cannot hide in a dung barrel and lose my integrity."

He paused, then added, "Your Liu Xiaocao is clever and learns her characters quickly. When you reach Baoding, do your best not to let her schooling lapse."

"Ah!" Carpenter Old Liu responded, his voice a little choked.

The sun was setting; after bidding each other farewell, the neighbors each went home.

Early the next morning, Carpenter Old Liu found Night-Soil Man Li, pulled him into an alley, and said in a low voice: "I want to ride your cart out of the city. How much?"

"Two taels of silver per barrel."

"That expensive?"

Night-Soil Man Li said with a hint of pride: "Even at this price, plenty of people want to ride, and they don't even have the connections."

After the public trial notice was issued, more than one household of common folk, wealthy merchants, and minor officials wanted to flee the city—Night-Soil Man Li's people-smuggling business was already well-oiled.

Carpenter Old Liu weighed it for a moment; in the end, his life mattered more than silver. He gritted his teeth and said: "Two taels it is, then. I want two barrels!"

Night-Soil Man Li praised him: "You and your wife each in a barrel, each holding a child in your arms, eh? You know how to manage. Hand over the silver and wait."

Carpenter Old Liu had already pulled out the silver, but before handing it over, he hesitated: "Still have to wait?"

"There are only so many barrels, and so many people wanting out of the city. What else can we do but wait?" Night-Soil Man Li took the silver, walked out of the alley, and went door to door collecting night soil again.

Carpenter Old Liu waited in fear for two days, but Night-Soil Man Li never showed up again. When he asked other night-soil men, he learned that Night-Soil Man Li had been caught by the rebel soldiers guarding the city for smuggling people out, and was now under arrest.

Carpenter Old Liu panicked and hurriedly sought out Zhang Shouyu for a solution.

After hearing him out, Zhang Shouyu sighed, moved a stool to sit at the mouth of the alley: "You were leaving the city because of my advice. If any constable comes to arrest you for questioning, I'll go with you!

I want to ask them face to face—what kind of world is this! Detaining the whole city's people at will—is there no justice or law left?"

Carpenter Old Liu shook his head repeatedly: "No, it was me who wanted to leave the city—how could I drag others down? Mr. Zhang, go back to your room. This has nothing to do with you!"

Zhang Shouyu was middle-aged but still retained his scholar's spirit, his heart filled with a sense of mission to uphold the Way, mixed with fury at the new dynasty's humiliation of the literati and its oppressive rule. Once he sat down at the alley mouth, he refused to leave, and no amount of persuasion could move him.

Hearing the news, the neighbors feared the fire would spread to them and dared not go out, but they all kept watch by peeking over the walls, calling out warnings whenever rebel soldiers approached.

It was better than nothing, but at least it was a show of goodwill.

Zhang Shouyu sat dryly at the alley mouth all day. By dusk, his backside was aching terribly, yet still no yamen runner came to make an arrest. He couldn't help but find it strange.

Suddenly he saw Peddler Xiao Ma from the lane returning, and stopped him to ask about the situation on the streets outside.

Peddler Xiao Ma said: "I didn't see any yamen runners or rebel soldiers—maybe they've all gone to Chengtian Gate."

Only then did Zhang Shouyu remember that today was the day of the public trial. He asked casually: "Did you go watch the rebels' trial?"

Peddler Xiao Ma nodded excitedly at once: "I went! I went! Quite a crowd watching—all the odds and ends I'd stockpiled before the siege, I sold every last one!"

Then he dragged over a small stool, and before anyone could press for details, began recounting the day's events: "Mr. Zhang, guess who Great Xia tried today?"

The notice had listed six prisoners' names, but since no one asked, Zhang Shouyu hadn't mentioned it.

"Who?" Carpenter Old Liu played along.

"Zhou Papi!"

Carpenter Old Liu was startled: "Zhou Kui?"

"That old scoundrel!" Xiao Ma set down his goods box on the ground, his face beaming, "When Zhou Papi first came on stage, he was still wearing patched clothes, playing poor, saying he spent his days drinking coarse rice porridge and wearing a patched robe to get by.

Great Xia's Chief Inspector Huang stood right beside him with a list, reading out the crimes one by one.

Xiao Ma normally walked the streets and lanes, making his living by his glib tongue. Now, imitating Huang Daozhou reading the list of crimes, he was actually quite lifelike.

Zhou Kui was the first relative of the imperial family by marriage in the Chongzhen court, enormously wealthy, and greed incarnate—the entire court and country hated him to the bone.

Hearing that Zhou Kui was on trial, all the neighbors in the lane carried out their stools and folding chairs, ready to enjoy the show.

They heard Xiao Ma say: "——So this old scoundrel had twenty-seven thousand mu of farmland outside the capital, with nearly five thousand tenant households, all seized by force and extortion.

In the capital itself, he had three mansions and seven pawnshops. His usury loans charged three percent monthly interest, with compounding—those who couldn't repay were forced to sell their children, and had their houses demolished and land seized.

Before the Xia army attacked the city, the emperor launched a 'donation drive to support the troops,' and Zhou Papi donated three thousand taels. Empress Zhou sold her imperially bestowed jewelry and gave him three hundred taels of gold to donate—and he donated two hundred.

He even skimmed a hundred taels off his own daughter's jewelry money! What an utter bastard!"

"Hey! Names can be wrong, but nicknames never are—he really is Zhou Papi!" Paper-Flower Craftsman Old Chen said.

The other neighbors all cursed Zhou Papi without pause. The Zhou family's power in the capital overshadowed everything, and their household slaves were extremely overbearing—practically everyone had been bullied by them directly or indirectly, so naturally they all hated the Zhou family to death.

But until today, everyone knew the Zhou family was rich, just not how rich. Only after Chief Inspector Huang explained did they gain a real sense of it.

Flatbread Stall Old Meng sighed: "What a shame—if I'd known they were trying Zhou Papi today, I'd have gone to watch too!"

Peddler Xiao Ma said: "Haha! There were plenty of people outside Chengtian Gate today. If you went late, you couldn't see or hear a thing—better to just hear it from me."

Carpenter Old Liu urged: "Enough with the clever talk—what happened after?"

"After that, Chief Inspector Huang said that the Qing—whatever office searched the Zhou residence and found over five hundred thousand taels of silver alone.

Farmland, mansions, shops, and jewelry totaled nearly a million taels!

In the four years Zhou was empress, the Zhou family bled the capital's people dry—over two hundred tenant households and debtor households were hounded to death. Utterly rotten!"

"Didn't the emperor and empress know about all the evil he did?" Carpenter Old Liu asked.

Xiao Ma slapped his thigh: "How could they not? Were the spies of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot eating dry rice?"

"Watch your words!"

"Mind your tongue!"

Even under the new dynasty, with the Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard swept into the trash heap, the people of Beijing's alleys still dared not gossip carelessly about the Depot and Guard—that was Wei Zhongxian's fearsomeness.

Xiao Ma looked around with lingering fear, then lowered his voice: "Eunuch Cao has defected to the new dynasty. He presented the Depot and Guard's archives to Chief Inspector Huang, which clearly recorded how much Zhou Papi had embezzled and when.

Alas! So the emperor knew everything all along—he just didn't want to deal with it!"

The moment those words were spoken, the neighbors' faces darkened.

Zhang Shouyu looked up at the sky: "The emperor was extremely harsh with his ministers, yet utterly indulgent with his relatives——and in the end, the realm collapsed. Alas!"

Carpenter Old Liu asked urgently again: "And then? What happened after?"

"After that, just reading the list of crimes took an entire morning. In the afternoon, Zhou Papi said he was a relative of the previous dynasty's imperial family, and that since ancient times punishment has not applied to the gentry. He also said that when the new dynasty entered the capital, he opened his gates and submitted, which was meritorious; that he had assisted in managing the clearing of the palace; and that he had presented the previous dynasty's crown prince—in short, his merits and faults should cancel out——"

"This old bastard is dreaming!" Carpenter Old Liu roared.

Flatbread Stall Old Meng said: "He seized so much silver and ruined so many families—he can't be let off!"

The paper-figure craftsman Old Chen said grimly, "That old villain deserves death by a thousand cuts! After he dies, I'll make ten paper soldiers and send them down to keep punishing him!"

Xiao Ma sighed and said, "Alas! It's just a pity——"

Old Liu urged, "A pity what? Tell us!"

The paper-figure craftsman Old Chen said with disgust, "Did the court let him off? Officials protect their own! It's always been like this! A new court is just the same medicine in a different bowl—what a pity my paper soldiers can't beat real ones——"

Old Meng of the flatbread stall said, "If you ask me, we still have to wait for the Rebel King to come. When the Rebel King arrives, none of these corrupt officials will get away!"

Seeing everyone anxious and lamenting, Xiao Ma broke into a mischievous grin: "Hahahaha, I was fooling you! He was sentenced, and heavily at that!

Grand Secretary Zhou of Great Xia said Zhou Kui's crimes were enough to kill him ten times over. Opening the mansion to surrender, assisting in the inspection of the palace, and handing over the Crown Prince—these three great merits spared him three deaths, leaving seven. He's to be beheaded seven times!

But considering he was a relative of the previous dynasty's imperial house by marriage, they'll use poisoned wine instead, to leave him a whole corpse. His family members are all to be exiled to the South Seas.

Half of his property is to be confiscated, half used for disaster relief. The civilian farmland registered outside the capital is to be catalogued by Minister Bi of the Shuntian Prefecture office, and once verified, returned to its original owners!"

At these words, the neighbors burst into cheers.

The carpenter Old Liu laughed: "You rascal! You really fooled us all!"

Old Meng of the flatbread stall said, "Returned to original owners? How can they manage that? That's all stale millet and rotten sesame by now."

Xiao Ma spread his hands: "It's only been four or five years. The Eastern Depot has archives, Shuntian Prefecture has land registers. As long as the court wants to investigate, it can always be sorted out."

One neighbor sighed in admiration: "How wonderful! This is the first time I've seen money come back, even if this land isn't being returned to me, it's worth it. Looking at this, Great Xia isn't necessarily a bandit army!"

The carpenter Old Liu hesitated slightly and looked toward Zhang Shouyu; the other neighbors also all looked at him, waiting for Zhang Shouyu's assessment.

The neighbors were all ordinary people, deceived by the court too many times, born with distrust toward the court—they all wanted to hear what the only educated man in the alley had to say.

Zhang Shouyu pondered a moment, then said: "In Jiangnan, Great Xia first slaughtered the gentry, then slaughtered the scholars and common folk. This one trial is merely a trick to win people's hearts. We can't take it at face value."

The neighbors all nodded together, feeling he made sense.

By now the sun had fully set and darkness surrounded them. The carpenter Old Liu slapped his thigh: "Damn! It's already curfew!"

Only then did the neighbors realize they'd been so absorbed in listening that they'd forgotten the curfew. Fortunately, they were chatting right at the mouth of the alley, not far from home. They dispersed in different directions and made it back before the soldiers' patrol arrived.

The next day, at first light, the peddler Xiao Ma rose early, preparing to go listen to the trial again. The night before, he'd had his wife fry up some soybeans at home, planning to sell them while he listened.

His trade was inherently walking the streets and alleys—wherever the crowds were, that's where he sold. He'd already made up his mind to attend every one of the remaining public trials.

Just as he reached the mouth of the alley, he saw the paper-figure craftsman Old Chen waiting for him there: "The city is full of unease, and fewer people are holding funerals. I thought I'd go with you to watch the public trial."

The peddler Xiao Ma promptly invited him along.

On the way, they saw more neighbors from the same street—Old Feng who ran the tailor shop, Old Li who was head chef at Drunken Immortal Tower, and others. All were trades that had been sluggish during the martial-law period, and having nothing to do, having heard about yesterday's satisfying trial of Zhou Kui, they all came along today to watch.

When the group arrived before the Chengtian Gate, it was still not yet the second quarter of the Hour of the Tiger. Quite a few commoners had already gathered near the public trial platform, and several breakfast stalls had been set up around it, all doing brisk business.

The tailor Old Feng waved his hand grandly and treated everyone to rice-starch porridge—a broth made from the byproducts of starch production, coarse in flavor but cheap and refreshing. Rice-starch porridge with fried dough sticks was the standard breakfast for the capital's common folk, available at nearly every breakfast stall.

The neighbors casually found a spot to sit and told the stall owner to bring out the breakfast.

"Coming right up!" The stall owner brought over four bowls of rice-starch porridge.

Everyone held a fried dough stick in one hand and a bowl of rice-starch porridge in the other, eating until they broke a sweat with satisfaction.

The paper-figure craftsman Old Chen said, "I just heard someone say that Zhang Yixian is on trial today?"

The tailor Feng said through gritted teeth: "That's right, that eunuch dog! Today I've come to see his downfall!"

Compared to Zhou Kui, Zhang Yixian's main victims were hereditary military households and merchants.

This man used his authority to brazenly skim military pay. When the Xia army arrived at the city walls, the Capital Camps could only muster five thousand men—and Zhang Yixian had contributed to that.

With the Capital Camps right under the Emperor's nose, Zhang Yixian had to show some restraint in skimming money there, but his embezzlement from the border troops was utterly unscrupulous.

The sand-mixed gunpowder and moldy rough rice that Mao Wenlong received before defecting to Xia—that was Zhang Yixian's handiwork.

During the naval battle at Poyang Lake, Yuan Chonghuan's marines wore padded jackets stuffed with black-hearted cotton and shivered in the autumn wind—also Zhang Yixian's masterpiece.

At the same time, Zhang Yixian also oversaw the Ministry of Works General Office, tasked with raising funds for Chongzhen, and naturally lined his own pockets plenty. His most important method was extorting the capital's merchants.

That was why small shopkeepers like Tailor Feng hated him with a passion!

Once the floodgates opened, Tailor Feng began his tearful indictment: "Just last autumn, the Shuntian Prefecture office ordered two hundred padded jackets for the border troops.

At the time I thought, work from the government—even if I earned less, at least the silver would come reliably. I fronted the cotton padding, fronted the labor, worked with my apprentice and wife for a whole month, and made a fine batch of padded jackets. Come the delivery day—

Guess what happened? Not a single coin did they pay me!

The Shuntian Prefecture office said the order had been transferred to the Ministry of Works General Office. After the General Office took in all two hundred jackets, the eunuch in charge found a dozen or so flaws, docked every bit of the labor payment, and threw me out!

I'd fronted a full twenty taels of silver! Twenty taels! My tailor shop was gone just like that—my apprentice ran off, my wife ran off too——"

The neighbors all comforted him, and some even took the initiative to pay the bill. No one had known that Tailor Feng, who looked so well-off, had actually been through such misery.

If he was that badly off, it wouldn't be right to make him pay for everyone's breakfast.

As Tailor Feng spoke, he began wiping his tears: "At least I managed to keep my life. Shopkeeper Zhou of the Eastern District Silk Shop couldn't hold his anger and argued a couple of words—those eunuch dogs had his home ransacked, and his whole family was hanging from the trees that very night——"

The peddler Xiao Ma hurriedly said: "Stop, stop——"

Tailor Feng said, "Why should I stop? There's a new court now—that eunuch dog Zhang has no power anymore. I want to air out every filthy thing they did!"

"Someone's coming—shut up!" The peddler Xiao Ma kept signaling with his eyes, gesturing behind him.

Tailor Feng understood, and turned his head—instantly a chill shot from his tailbone to the crown of his skull, every hair on his body standing on end! For a moment, he seemed to see Shopkeeper Zhou of the silk shop beckoning to him.

Not far away, a squad of Great Xia soldiers was heading straight for them.

He hadn't expected Great Xia to react so fast—no sooner had he badmouthed the previous dynasty than they'd come to arrest him!

Yahei

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