Chapter 1930: Failing to Maintain Integrity in His Later Years

Under the night, inside Chuigong Hall, Emperor Liu leaned against the desk in a languid posture, reading a memorial that had been reviewed and forwarded by the Hall of State Affairs. His eyesight was truly poor, so he held it very close, nearly pressing it against his face.

Beside the desk lay a pair of glasses, with lenses of glass and frames of jade—refined and luxurious. These had been crafted by the skilled artisans of the Palace Treasury at Emperor Liu's request. After dozens of trial frames, they had finally produced a barely usable pair, though the experience was far from pleasant, and his eyes could hardly bear it.

At this moment, Emperor Liu's expression was not particularly pleasant, somewhat gloomy, all because of the contents of the memorial in his hand. This was a case-closure report submitted for imperial review, requiring Emperor Liu's personal attention for two reasons: first, the case was of grave importance; second, the person involved held a special identity—the offender was Hai Jin, Earl of Changning.

Hai Jin was originally of the Xi people. From a young age he had been brave and skilled in battle. During Yelu Deguang's southern campaign to destroy the Jin, he had been a common soldier in the Xi contingent accompanying the army. Later, when Liao lost control, the Central Plains erupted in chaos, Hedong raised its banners, and the Khitan withdrew northward, Hai Jin failed to escape. In the Battle of Luancheng, he became Emperor Liu's captive—at that time, Hai Jin was only twenty years old.

Because he was a Xi, as a prisoner Hai Jin endured a long stretch of hardship and suffered no small amount of humiliation. And equally because he was a Xi, Hai Jin was later able to join the Han army.

In the campaign to suppress Du Chongwei's rebellion, he voluntarily joined the "dare-to-die squad" and charged Yuancheng. The assault ultimately failed, and he was severely wounded, but after receiving medical treatment, he survived.

And because of his valiant performance in killing five enemy soldiers during the assault on the city, at the subsequent reward ceremony for the troops presided over by Emperor Liu, he was formally absorbed into the imperial army.

From that point on, Hai Jin started as an ordinary imperial soldier and strove diligently in martial affairs. He participated in nearly all of the Great Han's early series of wars and performed outstandingly—in every battle he charged through blood and slaughter, fearless of death. The name of "Xi Boy" for his ferocious bravery gradually spread throughout the army.

By the time the realm was unified, Hai Jin had accumulated merit and risen to Deputy Chief Commander of the Hujie Army, with the second-rank title of Earl of Changning. Though he could not compare with the top military meritocrats, he was absolutely a pillar general of the Han army.

His Xi origins made him one of the Great Han's few non-Han meritorious nobles. In the Kaibao northern expedition, Hai Jin naturally received the imperial edict to lead troops into battle, participating in the bloody battle at Jinzhou. Later, he was transferred westward from the Liaodong front and, together with Wang Yanchao, attacked the Xi tribes north of the Yan Mountains. In this process, his Xi identity played no small role, as he persuaded and brought many Xi tribes into submission.

After the northern expedition succeeded, his title was elevated by one rank. The court established the Yan Mountains North Circuit, and Hai Jin remained in the region as Deputy Chief Commander of the Yan Mountains Circuit, pacifying the obedient and suppressing the rebellious, keeping the various tribes in check. Later, he was smoothly promoted to the top post, guarding the Yan Mountains North Circuit for the court, defending the frontier for over a decade.

Of course, on the surface Hai Jin had retired to a secondary position due to advanced age, but in truth it was because he had grown arrogant from his achievements, rough in his ways, quick to anger and fond of killing. Having long garrisoned the frontier with great power in his hands, he had become increasingly overbearing and violent.

He was first assigned to manage the militia of the Yan Mountains North Circuit. Within a year, he was transferred away. Two years later, he was completely retired, stripped of all authority, and forcibly required to live out his years in Qingzhou, Henan.

One should note that Hai Jin was only sixty years old even now—a retirement in the prime of life. During these years of retirement, his mood was naturally poor. He frequently voiced grievances, was filled with resentment, grew ever more eccentric in temperament, and his conduct became increasingly extreme.

Last year at the autumn harvest, Qingzhou suffered an insect plague, and harvests were generally poor. More than a dozen tenant households under Hai Jin's estate, in order to pay their rent, mixed old grain with new wheat and submitted the combination.

Because the appearance was poor, and because Hai Jin was already furious about the tax reform and land survey being pushed in Henan Circuit at the time, upon learning of the situation he flew into a rage and had all those dozen-plus tenant households seized and interrogated.

Hai Jin believed these tenants were passing off old grain as new rent—cheating and deceiving, showing contempt for his Earl of Changning estate. He further felt these base people were using the Henan Circuit land reform to disregard Hai Jin entirely.

Faced with such accusations, the innocent tenants naturally denied them, begging for mercy ceaselessly. But Hai Jin would not listen. In a blaze of fury, his mind heated up, and he actually ordered his household slaves to beat those dozen-plus tenants to death on the spot...

After the killings, Hai Jin's mood finally eased somewhat. He didn't treat it as anything major—tenants, after all, were merely base people who depended on the earl's estate for their meals. He didn't take it too seriously. He had the bodies sent back and, considering himself generous, gave each family ten strings of cash as hush money.

However, what Hai Jin never expected was that two families refused to accept this. They carried coffins and held funerary processions to the county office to file complaints. After learning the full story, the County Magistrate of Linqu dared not be negligent. He suppressed the news and immediately reported it to the Earl of Changning estate.

Upon learning that those ignorant commoners were so blind to the times that they actually dared to file suit with the authorities, Hai Jin was thoroughly enraged. That very night, he led men to slaughter all ten-plus members of those two households. After wiping out the families, he set fire to the corpses to destroy the evidence, making it look like an accidental fire.

After this incident, Linqu fell silent. However, the Earl of Changning estate's crimes against heaven and reason, so reckless and unbridled, naturally stirred indignation in some people. In the current Great Han realm, though oppression and inequality existed everywhere, a basic clarity was still maintained. No matter how much filth lurked in the shadows, certain moral bottom lines were laid out in the open. Hai Jin's brutal conduct had thoroughly breached those lines.

Nothing can be completely concealed. With such vile behavior, so many people dead, and the Earl of Changning estate's subsequent handling so crude, the matter was soon reported by a clerk of the Linqu county office to the circuit authorities—not through the Henan Surveillance Commission channel, but directly to Deputy Administration Commissioner Zheng Qi.

Zheng Qi, who could be ranked alongside Pan You, was naturally a formidable character. Upon learning of the case, he did not publicize it at the circuit office. Instead, he sent men to investigate Linqu in secret. After confirming the facts, he immediately notified Administration Commissioner Li Fang, and then the arrest warrant from the circuit office came down.

Faced with the arrival of circuit officers to arrest him, Hai Jin did not even have time to react. The authority of the Henan circuit office was not something a mere Earl of Changning could contend with. Yet upon realizing the gravity of the situation, Hai Jin's choice was surprising—he actually resisted arrest.

Not only did he resist, he organized the household servants and retainers of his estate, gathering over two hundred men to defend his stronghold. That the circuit arrest officers could not handle him was secondary; what mattered was that the nature of the matter had escalated—from "ordinary" disregard for human life to gathering a mob in rebellion. In the end, a thousand troops were dispatched from Qingzhou to surround and capture him, only then forcing Hai Jin to surrender.

By deep winter of last year, Hai Jin was transported to the capital in a prisoner cart. As a privilege of military merit nobility, though the circuit office could arrest and interrogate him, it lacked the authority to pass sentence. Upon arrival in Luoyang, a joint trial by the Three Commissions awaited him—this would truly decide Hai Jin's fate.

Back and forth, the trial dragged on for several months. Only today was a conclusion finally reached. This was only because Emperor Liu happened to remember a few days ago that the case remained unresolved, sent someone to urge it along, and then the efficiency immediately improved.

In the case-closing statement, the Three Judicial Commissions indicated that Hai Jin had harmed the people and treated human life like grass—crimes unforgivable. As for gathering a mob to resist arrest and defending a stronghold, while certainly arrogant and overbearing, convicting him of rebellion was somewhat excessive. They deliberated that the sentence could be reduced by one degree, sparing him the punishment of clan extermination.

Therefore, the final punishment given by the Three Judicial Commissions was: execution of the entire household...

At this moment, reviewing such a disposition, Emperor Liu wore a look of indifference. He pondered for a long while, then picked up the vermilion brush and drew a checkmark at the end of the memorial, signifying his approval of the Three Commissions' joint verdict.

Yet after setting down the brush, he could not help but sigh, and said softly: "Hai Jin was of the Xi tribe, but for decades he was loyal and brave, with great merit to the state. It's only a pity that... he failed to maintain his integrity in his later years..."