Chapter 204: The People Do Not Fear Death—How Then Can You Frighten Them With It?

In the Tang dynasty, if a horse was lost and one sought to recover it, was that a difficult matter or a simple one?

It depended on where the horse was lost, who had lost it, and to whom the horse belonged.

If it was a private horse, then lost was lost; following the principle of "the less trouble the better," the local government would simply file a record and consider its duty done.

But if a prefectural yamen's horse was lost within the borders of the prefecture, then generally it could be recovered, and even recovered quickly, because every horse bore a branded mark unique to the prefectural yamen.

Moreover, a horse was not some inconspicuous little creature like a mouse; it was classified as "military equipment" and was especially sensitive.

Locally, if any household suddenly had an extra horse, it was plain as day in the eyes of the locals.

Even if one wanted to fence the stolen goods, one would have to find a horse dealer, and no matter where a horse dealer was from, they were all registered with the local government. Tracing them by that lead was no difficult task.

In fact, the severity of this matter far exceeded Fang Chongyong's imagination.

When Gao Shang came to the Sanshui County yamen to report the case, the matter instantly escalated to the political heights of "scoundrels attempting to assassinate a key central official," making Sanshui County Magistrate Yang Yiming so nervous he was about to explode!

an Investigating Censor who had come to Bin Prefecture on official business, using a horse belonging to the prefectural yamen, had it stolen within the jurisdiction of Sanshui County!

To put it mildly, this was a failure of governance in Sanshui County, with a vicious populace and bandits running in packs.

To put it seriously, this was the prelude to assassinating the Emperor's favored minister, only the subsequent conspiracy had not yet been uncovered!

Given all this, it absolutely had to be investigated, and investigated ruthlessly!

Yang Yiming was no ordinary county magistrate. His rank was small, but that was because he had been demoted all the way down before ending up with such a minor post!

In fact, even the very first office he held upon entering officialdom was higher than the magistrate of Sanshui County, a county in a central prefecture.

From county magistrate to county magistrate, shuffled from place to place for years, never promoted for years—the bitterness in between was known only to Yang Yiming himself.

Yang Yiming came from the Hongnong Yang clan. In the fifth year of Kaiyuan, by virtue of hereditary privilege, he was appointed as a student at the Chongwen Pavilion. The Chongwen Pavilion—that was not somewhere ordinary people could attend classes. Even the likes of the Imperial Academy were mere runts compared to the Chongwen Pavilion.

His starting threshold was very high. He served as Armory Officer in the Right Gate Guard Command, specifically responsible for protecting the former Crown Prince... Li Ying.

So it was obvious that when Brother Ji killed three sons in one day back then, Yang Yiming also met with terrible luck, going from a rising star in politics to a rat crossing the street.

First he was demoted to Armory Officer in the Right Valiant Guard, working in the Right Valiant Guard, a "unstaffed" department of the Southern Command imperial guards. Yang Yiming's duty was to watch over the storehouses, with less authority than an ordinary minor clerk collecting taxes in Chang'an.

Soon after, he was sent out as Assistant Magistrate of Zhi County, stripped to the bottom. Then he was laterally transferred to Magistrate of Xinping County, and again laterally transferred to Magistrate of Sanshui County to this day. One could say his official career had been full of bumps.

Barring any surprises, his next stop would likely still be serving as a county magistrate in some county, then moving to another place as a county magistrate, and finally dying in office.

Yang Yiming had also been prosperous in his day. If Li Ying had not been deposed and killed, there was a high probability that after the latter ascended the throne, he would have held a position such as a Minister of the Six Ministries. This was the rule of "a new emperor brings new ministers."

Yang Yiming, who knew well the cruelty of political struggle, upon learning that Fang Chongyong's horse had been stolen, immediately dispatched every available person in the county yamen to post notices in every village and every ward. The two county lieutenants went door to door knocking and questioning. The heads of every ward were summoned and given search orders, determined to catch the thief and clear County Magistrate Yang's name.

That was right—if the thief was not found, Yang Yiming would be in huge trouble! Indeed, "landed in a major disaster" would be a more fitting description. Because he had originally been a trusted aide of the former Crown Prince Li Ying, and his failure to win promotion all along was precisely due to this.

A disgraced official's ability to withstand risk was even lower than that of an official with no background whatsoever!

One day later, in the main hall of the Sanshui County yamen, three ragged middle-aged men knelt, beaten black and blue. They were the ones who had led the horses away, "swiping" Fang Chongyong's and Gao Shang's horses by the Jing River.

With the entire Sanshui County government mobilized to "find the horses," the "horse thieves" were quickly found, and the horses belonging to the prefectural yamen were also found... except they had already been turned into cooked horsemeat simmering in a pot!

The facts of this case could not have been simpler.

In a certain village in Sanshui County—specifically, the village where Fang Chongyong had been surveying the coal mine pit—there were three idle discharged soldiers. To put it nicely, they were "wandering knights"; to put it bluntly, they were local thugs and ruffians. When they went to the banks of the Jing River to chip ice and catch fish, they spotted two "ownerless" horses.

Since they were ownerless, leading them back and then finding a horse dealer to sell them—that was understandable, wasn't it?

So the three of them led the horses away without even checking whose horses they were or whether they could be stolen. After all, it was not the first time they had done such a thing.

Before the three had even made it home, one of the blockheads noticed that near the horse's hindquarters, there seemed to be a blurry official seal!

After looking carefully, they discovered that both horses belonged to the Bin Prefecture yamen! This terrified the three of them!

These three blockheads had originally wanted to sell the horses for some wine money and live it up at a tavern in the county seat. They never imagined the horses actually belonged to the Bin Prefecture yamen. There was nothing for it then—they could only go all in, slaughter the horses, and eat some horsemeat to recoup their losses.

Otherwise, wouldn't it all have been for nothing? Even if they returned the horses now, they had still committed a crime, and would have drawn trouble upon themselves without even getting to eat the meat. They might as well eat the horsemeat and bury the bones somewhere inconspicuous. Given enough time, who would bother investigating such trivial matters?

As it turned out, by the time the county lieutenants found the three of them, the horsemeat was already simmering in a large pot at home. All three were discharged veterans, none of whom could find a wife—each was his own family, and a full belly meant no hunger for anyone. Short of not readily killing people, there was nothing they dared not do and nothing they held back from.

These three were themselves registered troublemakers in the Sanshui County yamen, and their usual petty thievery was nothing new.

This matter put Fang Chongyong in a somewhat awkward position. He had come to Bin Prefecture on official business in a low-key manner, never expecting to be caught flat-footed by three thugs with neither power nor status!

The Tang dynasty's official rank system was quite fantastical. The same official title, when applied to different people, would vary according to the combination of other titles that person held, sometimes with vastly different effects.

For example, the title of "Censor-in-Chief": the head of the Censorate in the central court was the Censor-in-Chief, but many Military Commissioners also carried the title of "Censor-in-Chief."

This did not mean they could exercise the authority of a Censor-in-Chief; rather, it meant that a rankless Military Commissioner's status and weight of authority were equivalent to those of a central "Censor-in-Chief."

Same official title, different authority—very typical.

The same principle applied to Investigating Censors.

So although Fang Chongyong held the title of Investigating Censor, whether he could actually use it depended specifically on what his "commission" was and whom he was to "investigate." There was the question of whether he actually held that "divine weapon" in his hands.

Applied to the current matter, this meant: Fang Chongyong had come to Bin Prefecture on "official business"—what exactly had he come for? Local officials needed to form a basic judgment on this.

And this unwritten rule of officialdom was to look at whether Fang Chongyong had with him the "subordinate officials" that the court assigned to an Investigating Censor.

One Investigating Censor had at least twenty-odd subordinate officials! Once they truly mobilized, it was not one person but an entire group!

If Fang Chongyong had come to the Bin Prefecture yamen with a large entourage to conduct official business with the Inspector, then his stance was to investigate and correct wrongdoing in the Bin Prefecture officialdom.

To put it bluntly, he was here to make trouble! To impeach officials!

In that case, not only would the Bin Prefecture yamen not cooperate with his work, they would instead "handle matters strictly by the book" and trip him up at every turn.

At that point, let alone surveying coal mines, Fang Chongyong would have to worry about the safety of his own neck every time he stepped out the door.

But if Fang Chongyong came alone, then it was plainly obvious he was not here to investigate local officials for wrongdoing.

That was why Bin Prefecture Inspector Li Qiwu had received Fang Chongyong as warmly as if meeting an old friend, given him the fullest cooperation, and even recommended his trusted aide Gao Shang to serve as Fang Chongyong's assistant. The reason was precisely this: the other party had come here with no ill intent, and it was instead a fine opportunity to establish communication and connections with the central authorities and secure a backer.

This was a mutually beneficial arrangement advantageous to both sides, with an unspoken understanding between them. Who could have expected that a few horse thieves would shatter the tranquility of Bin Prefecture's officialdom.

"Censor Fang, the men have been caught, and the horses were from the Bin Prefecture yamen. How do you think this matter should best be handled?"

In the rear hall of the county yamen, the forty-something Sanshui County Magistrate Yang Yiming cautiously clasped his hands in a bow and asked Fang Chongyong, who was young enough to be his son. In officialdom, the older one was, the less one's usefulness and potential. A nearly fifty-year-old Yang Yiming being humble before a teenage Fang Chongyong was merely the norm in official circles.

Do not mock the young for being poor. If the young are no longer poor, you should be even more courteous, for in the future they will not only continue to be wealthy but may also hold power!

"What charge does horse theft carry?"

Fang Chongyong feigned ignorance and asked with some puzzlement.

Yang Yiming chuckled dryly and said, "The thief who steals a horse shall die; the Tang code spells it out plainly."

In fact that statement isn't entirely correct, because Tang criminal law varied with circumstances. For example, why the offender stole the horse—was it for official business, or was it motivated by profit?

After stealing the horse, did he eventually return it, sell it, or slaughter it for meat?

Different situations lead to different scales of punishment. The offender's "subjectivity" carries great weight.

The lightest penalty is merely fifty lashes; heavier ones include exile for three thousand li, amputation of both hands, and so on, while the severest is beheading.

Yang Yiming says "the horse thief shall die" because those people deserve death anyway! Under normal Tang law they face the death penalty, and moreover they are idle wanderers who do not contribute to production!

"Soldiers recruited or former militia who retire to the countryside cannot farm and become wanderers, stealing chickens and dogs all day. Is this common in San Shui County?"

Fang Chongyong asked with a smile, though his expression seemed rather portentous.

Yang Yiming thought him a greenhorn when he first entered office, not realizing that Fang, whether busy or idle, constantly studies the Tang bureaucracy's explicit and hidden rules, and has now become a very seasoned "old bureaucrat."

Yang Yiming was startled, but from that remark he knew Fang Chongyong was no pretender; he has abundant experience dealing with people like Qiu Ba.

In fact, when former militia returned home, they caused serious social problems locally; this was not a martial legend but a real historical occurrence. Ji Ge ordered the abolition of the militia system, partly for this reason.

It's not only because service terms were usually limited to five or six years, leaving them detached from farming and losing agricultural skills; it's also because they grew accustomed to the blood‑soaked life of the army and no longer wish to return to ordinary existence, subject to others' whims.

Thus retired militia and even recruited soldiers causing disturbances in the countryside is no news, let alone merely stealing chickens and dogs!

"Not to hide from Censor Fang, these incidents… are actually quite numerous."

Yang Yiming muttered, unable to lift his head under Fang Chongyong's pressure, and could only say that.

"Then if we execute those three on the charge of horse theft now, will that deter those who, driven by hunger, take reckless risks?"

Fang Chongyong sighed helplessly and retorted.

Yang Yiming thought for a moment and lowered his voice:

"The sage ordered the He‑di policy in Guanzhong, sending all the grain from each prefecture and county to Chang'an, leaving no surplus at home. These wanderers are already decent if they don't steal from the government granaries. Their daily petty theft is practically unstoppable; the county office never has many men to chase thieves."

Hearing this, Fang Chongyong instantly understood that Chang'an's "inflation export" indeed affected the surrounding Guanzhong region.

The He‑di method means "procure grain locally"; fundamentally it is "light goods for heavy goods," exchanging Jiangnan cloth for food. When Chang'an's grain becomes cheap, grain prices around Chang'an rise, making life harder for the homeless wanderers.

Along the way, Fang Chongyong saw that the people of Binzhou, from post riders to those three horse thieves, were clearly malnourished. Compared with Chang'an's residents, the gap was far from negligible.

These people lack travel permits, so they cannot freely go to Chang'an; how they endure hardship locally is left to imagination.

When well‑fed, one thinks of lust; when starving, one thinks of theft. Those who steal horses are not born thieves; they are shaped by reality's "education."

It's no surprise Binzhou lacks grain; Chang'an's abundance does not mean Guanzhong is well‑supplied.

Fang Chongyong grasped the He‑di method deeply, even using it as "financial credit" in Shazhou. The character "di" denotes private grain entering the government granary; the modifier before it is the policy's crux.

How the authorities obtain grain from the populace, and for what purpose, are key questions that must be answered.

Is it to stabilize prices, to prepare for war, or to support the capital? The matter is profound; a tiny error leads to huge misjudgment. At present, Chang'an's "He‑di officials" likely force‑purchase grain from the people, allocating quotas to each county.

As for whether the allocated shares are fair, and what methods the county office uses to levy grain, history shows that central‑local bureaucratic quality and structure inevitably produce many injustices.

One should not hold these people to overly high expectations.

Horse‑stealing bandits certainly deserve death, but the greater "thieves" reside in Chang'an, in the court, in the imperial palace!

If the horse thieves should be executed, should those greater "thieves" be executed as well?

Fang Chongyong let out a silent sigh and decided to spare the three horse thieves.

"Since they stole horses to eat them, exiling them to Hexi to raise horses should also conform to Tang law, right?

I think letting the horse‑eaters raise horses as penance is better than the crude act of killing them.

What does County Magistrate Yang think?"

Fang Chongyong asked calmly.

Yang Yiming thought for a moment and said, "Indeed so."

Fang Chongyong was adept at the flexibility of the Great Tang penal code; the typical official character with two mouths controls life and death. Seeing an even higher‑ranking official wield such skill left Yang Yiming speechless.

"Hahaha, then let's do it. I came to San Shui County to survey coal pits; in the future many places will need County Magistrate Yang's cooperation."

Fang Chongyong patted Yang Yiming's shoulder and laughed, clearly no longer concerned with the stolen horses.

"Censor Fang truly is magnanimous, with the breadth of a prime minister."

Yang Yiming couldn't help but clasp his hands in a bow, praising him, and felt a weight lift from his heart.

When Gao Shang previously visited the county office, he brandished a tiger‑skin banner, causing chaos in the county as if the magistrate would be dismissed for any mishap.

Unexpectedly, Fang Chongyong raised his tablet high and gently set it down, even the horse thieves were dealt with lightly. Indeed, a young man becoming a favorite of the Son of Heaven reflects exceptional talent.

"Alright, I'm returning to Chang'an now. As for horse compensation, coordinate with Inspector Li."

The offenders' sentences are set; the compensation scheme must be codified so that after these people perform corvée and repay debts, they can be sent to the frontier to raise horses as punishment.

Fang Chongyong waved his hand and said.

Minor cases should be handled simply, without unnecessary complications; this is an experience Fang Chongyong honed as prefect of Shazhou, now proving useful.

"Hey, fine, I'll see you off."

Yang Yiming said politely.

"No need, I'll go on my own."

Fang Chongyong finished speaking, turned, and left without lingering a moment. This trip to Binzhou, with its myriad chaos, left him deeply disappointed.

Counties in Guanzhong are all the same; beyond Guanzhong, one can scarcely imagine.

(End of Chapter)