Chapter 15: Righteousness

A hubbub erupted below, and the crowd both on and off the dais surged with indignation. But to Pang Yu's surprise, no one was condemning the Punishment Office clerk who had skimmed the silver — instead, they unanimously denounced Jiang Guoyong. Jiang Guoyong stood there looking utterly bewildered, as if he couldn't understand why speaking the truth, trying to secure the runners' wages, had made him a public enemy.

The Zhang Changyu that Jiang Guoyong mentioned was the Punishment Office clerk. The clerk pocketed the runners' wages, then issued them license tickets, sending them out to the countryside to earn money on their own. Once the runners went out, they naturally wouldn't stop the moment they'd earned exactly their wages. If they'd paid for the license ticket, they'd not only recoup their costs but make several times that — and in the end, it was the common folk who footed the bill.

Take a Runner like Jiao Guozha, for example. His official duty was to catch murderers and thieves, so he had no chance to go out to the countryside. If he wanted to go squeeze money from the villages, he'd have to buy a license ticket from the Household Office out of his own pocket. In the past, the Punishment Office, relying on the backing of County Magistrate Gu, had issued its own license tickets and poached the Household Office's business. Now that County Magistrate Gu was gone, it was time to settle accounts.

But exchanging wages for license tickets was an open secret in the county yamen — everyone did it. The clerks and runners in every office profited from it. Even the County Vice-Magistrate, in settling his personal scores, only attacked specific problems in each office, never daring to declare war on the rule itself. That would offend every clerk and runner, making it impossible for him to effectively manage his subordinates. Someone like Jiang Guoyong, who not only refused to adapt but actually brought it up in public — he was trying to smash everyone's rice bowl.

Seeing this, the County Vice-Magistrate conferred quietly with the Advisor standing behind him, then slammed the Alarm Wood. Once the noise below subsided, he declared loudly, "Jiang Guoyong deceived his superiors and issued license tickets without authorization. When his crime was discovered, he resisted arrest and assaulted the bailiffs, then shifted the blame onto others — his crime is compounded by one degree. Twenty strokes of the cane. The remaining Punishment Office personnel, ten strokes each."

A chorus of praise rose from below, acclaiming the County Vice-Magistrate for enforcing the law impartially and rendering a brilliant judgment.

And so, half the Punishment Office staff were hauled up. There wasn't enough room to swing the staves inside the Main Hall, so two of them were laid out directly on the Moon Platform. After a flurry of strokes, five pale, bare buttocks were reduced to bloody pulp in moments. Wails of agony rose one after another in the hall. Only Jiang Guoyong, who took the most strokes, clenched his mouth shut and didn't make a sound.

"Jiang Guoyong's tough as nails, I'll give him that. Too bad he's so inflexible." Beside him, Jiao Guozha wiped off sweat and sighed quietly.

"What's his deal?"

"His old mother's bedridden at home. His elder brother's family is poor, so he's the only one looking after her. At a time when he needs money most, he just has to be inflexible in the yamen — where's he supposed to earn any silver? If you ask me, those few years he spent in private school as a kid just rotted his brain."

Hearing this, Pang Yu got the general picture. This Jiang Guoyong had probably studied the classics, and when his family fell on hard times, he'd had no choice but to become a runner. He hadn't yet adapted to the runner's trade.

Listening to the howls from up above, Pang Yu asked curiously, "Does getting caned on the butt really hurt that much? My old man used to whack me all the time when I was little."

"Second Brother, don't play dumb with me. You've been watching the canings for ages — you can't possibly not know. Your old man using a bamboo strip is nothing. When one of these Water-Fire Staves comes down, having your skin split and flesh laid open counts as a light injury. If it's heavy, the flesh gets pulverized, leaving you with a chronic leg ailment. If they're really vicious, they aim a few inches higher at the waist, and if it damages your internal organs, who are you going to complain to? What about that Xu the Second the year before last? He dragged on for thirteen days and died at home."

"That serious?" Pang Yu's heart gave a jolt. He hadn't known that caning runners was utterly routine in the county yamen. In the early Ming, runners were considered base servile labor. After the Single Whip Tax Reform, being a runner gradually became a profession, but in the eyes of officials, they were still menials to be beaten at will.

After the caning was done, there was another round of tidying up in the hall. The Punishment Office had also offended the County Vice-Magistrate, and by now everyone knew he was settling personal scores. Those who hadn't offended him were all relieved. Pang Yu had no memory of any of this; he just watched the County Vice-Magistrate unleash his official might. After his initial nervousness passed, he now felt a twinge of excitement. Around him, quite a few runners and scribes were also letting out gloating snickers.

Jiao Guozha, seeing the County Vice-Magistrate make no further move, finally began to calm down. He muttered to himself, "Why would His Excellency the County Vice-Magistrate make the Punishment Office point out their own people?"

Pang Yu gave a snort. "By making the Punishment Office clerk point them out himself — His Excellency knows perfectly well who the clerk's trusted men are. He insisted the clerk personally name them before he'd accept it. He was specifically targeting the Punishment Office's trusted men. Anyone who isn't one of the clerk's trusted men, His Excellency wouldn't even bother to beat."

"What if the Punishment Office had refused to name anyone?"

"Then he'd beat the clerk. If the clerk had any guts, he'd take it all on himself. But now, by making him point people out, only the underlings in the Punishment Office got beaten, and the clerk got off scot-free. Tell me, what do you think those beaten men in the Punishment Office are thinking now? Who'd be willing to follow that clerk anymore? The clerk's managed to alienate every single one of his trusted men. From now on, who in the Punishment Office will still listen to him? Even in the whole yamen, no one will respect him anymore. That's the real ruthlessness."

"Oh, so that's how it is." Jiao Guozha smacked his forehead, then turned to look at Pang Yu. "Wait, that's not right. Aren't you Pang the Second Fool? Even I didn't get it — how come you do?"

"Hmph, your Second Brother here knows everything."

Jiao Guozha sneered. "If you know everything, why are you still a runner?"

Pang Yu said seriously, "I'm a runner now, but I won't be a runner my whole life. I've been mulling over what career to pursue for days now, and I only just figured it out today."

"What career?!"

"Wangle myself an official post. Be a good official."

Jiao Guozha couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing with a "pfft." Afraid of being spotted from the dais, he had to crouch down, cover his mouth, and laugh in stifled "mm-hmms," until his face was red and his neck bulging. Pointing at Pang Yu, he cursed through his laughter in a low voice, "You, an official? Oh man, you're killing me!"

Pang Yu rolled his eyes at him. "You're sick."

Just as Jiao Guozha was laughing heartily, he suddenly heard the County Vice-Magistrate on the dais say, "Zhou Shen and Jiao Guozha of the Fast Squad — where are they?"

"I…" Jiao Guozha's wide-open grin instantly froze, then slowly morphed into a bitter grimace…

…

This Morning Session lasted the better part of an hour. His Excellency the County Vice-Magistrate held court to settle personal scores, caning nearly twenty people — mostly from the Document Receiving Office, the Punishment Office, and the Fast Squad. There were clerks, runners, gatekeepers, and even one of the floor-sweepers got beaten. Who knows how he'd managed to offend His Excellency; maybe he'd failed to sweep clean enough for the County Vice-Magistrate one time.

Fortunately, Pang Yu hadn't become a target of the County Vice-Magistrate. Probably he'd been too foolish before, and the County Vice-Magistrate couldn't be bothered with him. But Jiao Guozha's luck wasn't so good. After taking ten strokes, he was dragged out through the Ceremonial Gate.

His great vengeance achieved, the County Vice-Magistrate was brimming with satisfaction. He didn't even assign any duties, just flicked his sleeve and adjourned the session. He didn't go to the rear hall, but headed east, back to the County Vice Magistrate Office.

When the drum signaling the end of the session finally sounded, everyone, who'd been on edge for half the day, at last knew the matter was largely settled and scattered like birds and beasts. On his very first day at work, Pang Yu had run right into the County Vice-Magistrate's "intimidation stick." He let out a long breath of relief; he'd been deathly afraid that this fool had offended the County Vice-Magistrate in the past.

The session finally adjourned without incident. Pang Yu followed the crowd out through the Ceremonial Gate and paused briefly at the door of the Yamen Runner Room. He found it completely empty. It seemed everyone had been too shaken up today to be in the mood for work. Pang Yu was happy about that — it meant he could temporarily avoid facing that jailer's brother-in-law, Wang Dazhuang, the head of the Runner Squad.

Hearing the noisy clamor outside, Pang Yu was worried about Jiao Guozha and also remembered his own Female Aide. So, ignoring whether he was supposed to be on duty or not, he headed straight for the Eight-Character Wall. When he reached the main gate, he found a sea of people — packed in layer upon layer, impenetrable. He could hear endless jeering and cursing, but had no idea what was going on inside.

Pang Yu circled the crowd once but didn't see Zhou Yueru. Hearing another burst of laughter from within, he casually pulled aside two onlookers beside him and shoved his way into the inner circle.

Inside the circle, he saw over a dozen men in blue laid out on the ground — all runners and scribes who'd been beaten earlier. They lay there moaning, bare-bottomed. These lower ranks of the yamen, after their beatings, had been dumped at the county yamen gate with their bloody buttocks still exposed, put on display. Ostensibly, they were waiting for their families to take them home, but in reality, they were being paraded before the common folk — a humiliation beyond all measure.

Pang Yu circled around, searching for Jiao Guozha. As he went, he observed the expressions of the beaten runners. Nearly every face held a trace of venom beneath the cringing. Runners usually threw their weight around and bullied the common folk; now, suffering such a huge loss of face, those in the crowd who bore grudges were loudly mocking them.

In just a moment, he spotted Jiao Guozha. Jiao Guozha normally looked big, burly, and fiercely imposing, but this time, after just ten strokes, he was nearly unconscious. He lay sprawled on the ground, his head drenched in sweat, groaning continuously. In contrast, Jiang Guoyong, lying next to him, had his teeth clenched and didn't make a sound, though his body trembled uncontrollably, like chaff in a sieve.

Two men, one in a black straight-robe and the other in purple, were standing right beside Jiao Guozha. The man in black was patting Jiao Guozha's face and mocking him. The other, in purple, was toying with Jiang Guoyong. Seeing Jiang Guoyong on the ground trying to pull his pants up by himself, the man in purple went over and yanked them back down, then pointed at his buttocks and cracked jokes to his several companions.

Jiao Guozha was dazed and seemed oblivious to any humiliation. But Jiang Guoyong, lying on the ground, was ashen-faced. He was crawling laboriously outward, trying to escape this place of extreme degradation. After crawling a short distance, the man in purple stepped in front of him. Jiang Guoyong changed direction, and the man shifted too, blocking him again. The man in purple and his gang roared with laughter.

Jiang Guoyong gave up trying to crawl away and reached again to pull up his pants. The man in purple grabbed his hand and jeered, "What are you pulling them up for? Weren't you saying a few days ago you were going to report our Wu family for hiding fields? How come you've ended up like this today? Hey, let everyone have a good look."

Not a single runner dared to shout at them or curse them. Pang Yu's blood rushed to his head. Just yesterday he'd experienced the yamen's might, and his confidence was at its peak. How could he tolerate these idlers bullying his sworn brother right at the gate? He stepped up and shoved away the man in black who was taunting Jiao Guozha, cursing, "You motherfucker, daring to run wild at the yamen gate? Believe me or not, I'll arrest you right now."

Hearing the commotion, the man in purple abandoned Jiang Guoyong and turned to face Pang Yu. His several companions slowly gathered around too, their faces showing mocking sneers. Far from being afraid of a runner, the group was spreading out, preparing to surround Pang Yu.

At that moment, He Xianya appeared on the other side of the crowd. Seeing Pang Yu speak up, he quickly circled around and ran to Pang Yu's side, hastily pulling him aside. He beamed a fawning smile at the man in purple. "Brother Zheng, don't take him seriously. He just injured his head — the wind got in and he's talking crazy. If you don't believe me, look at his head…"

The man in purple stared coldly at He Xianya's smiling face, then suddenly slapped him across the face. A sharp crack rang out. He Xianya spun and fell to the ground. He rolled once on the ground, then, with an agility that exceeded anything Pang Yu imagined, leaped up and fled out of the crowd.

Seeing this, Pang Yu's anger surged. This was unheard of — actually striking a government employee right at the yamen gate! If this could be endured, what couldn't be? He rolled up his sleeves and called out to the surrounding runners, "They dare bully one of our own from the office! Everyone, get them together — arrest them!"

None of the many runners and aides watching responded. Instead, they slowly backed away. Pang Yu stared in shock at the scene before him. The imposing image of runners he'd built up just yesterday had completely collapsed. Who were these people, that even the runners didn't dare provoke them?

The man in purple and his gang laughed loudly and slowly closed in. Two of them were big and burly, clearly the type who relished violence. Pang Yu quickly calculated the combat values and faced the enemy with a calm expression.

Jiang Guoyong shouted from the ground, "If you've got the guts, come at me! Don't go after innocent bystanders."

Pang Yu was slightly taken aback, then it clicked. Jiang Guoyong must have mistaken him for standing up for him and was worried about dragging Pang Yu into trouble, so he wanted to take it all on himself. Pang Yu didn't bother to explain. He just gave Jiang Guoyong on the ground a thumbs-up. "You've got guts!"

Jiang Guoyong looked up at those words. From his angle, Pang Yu stood with his head high and chest out, calmly facing five or six thugs. He seemed exceptionally tall, as if no force could knock him down. Combined with the righteous help he'd just offered, his entire being seemed bathed in an aura of integrity. Jiang Guoyong felt certain he could defeat those evil forces closing in and rescue the suffering runners at the gate.

Under Jiang Guoyong's expectant gaze, Pang Yu spun on his heel and vanished in a flash back inside the yamen's Ceremonial Gate.