Chapter 373: An Explanation

The outer duty room held a few guards. Guo Fengyou, whom he had met before, came up to size him up, then led him into a second duty room. Inside were bookshelves and a desk, with two clerks busy at work. Past a third door was a room that was not spacious at all. Wu Dacai saw Vice Regional Commander Pang behind his desk, reviewing and signing documents. Without waiting for the guard to prompt him, he immediately set aside his crutch and knelt.

Pang Yu did not look up. "Wu suffered battle injuries in the Garrison Battalion. His body is inconvenienced — exempt him from kneeling and give him a seat."

"Th-thank you, Your Excellency."

Guo Fengyou came over and helped Wu Dacai up. Another guard brought over a chair with a backrest. Wu Dacai glanced at Guo Fengyou and, seeing him nod, carefully sat down, his spine still ramrod straight, not daring to let it touch the backrest in the slightest.

Pang Yu was still intently reading documents. No one in the room spoke. Wu Dacai felt utterly ill at ease, not even daring to breathe loudly. Though he had only sat for a brief moment, both his hands and feet seemed to have frozen stiff; even the chair seat felt like it was chafing his backside.

At last, Pang Yu put away the document. The sheet of petition paper rustled faintly as it came to rest atop a pile of documents at the edge of the desk.

Vice Regional Commander Pang's gaze turned toward him. Wu Dacai's already straight spine stiffened even further, then bent forward again.

"Wu Dacai, of the five Centurions wounded this time, two went to the Advisory Room, two to the Martial Academy. Only you left the military register and went to a fortified village. What do you think is the reason?"

Wu Dacai froze for a moment, licked his parched lips, and said in a trembling voice, "This lowly one... this lowly one arrived late because of his leg wound. The other destinations were all waiting to use people."

Pang Yu's face showed no expression. He fixed his eyes on Wu Dacai. "There are nearly ten thousand men in the ying now. The affairs this officer must handle daily are beyond counting. If it were companycratic falsehoods and empty words, there are plenty of those piled on the desk — no need to call you in to ask. This officer's chance to see you alone comes only this once. What I want to hear is the truth, honest words. Say whatever is in your heart."

Under Pang Yu's gaze, Wu Dacai's face turned pale. Before arriving at this doorway, he had not known he would be meeting Vice Regional Commander Pang today. He was utterly unprepared for all of this, and Pang Yu did not look like a man with time to wait for him to think it through. Gritting his teeth, he raised his head and said, "It is because this lowly one offended the Clerk Officer. This time, when Lord Pang went to reinforce Jiangnan, the placement of disabled officers and soldiers was handled by the Document Team. The good positions were naturally not kept for this lowly one. The Martial Academy not only took two Centurions, but also five Banner Commanders, and even seven team leaders went. Not one of those people recognizes two hundred characters, yet they just didn't keep a spot for this lowly one. They didn't even allocate me a house."

Pang Yu's expression still showed no change whatsoever. "Then what do you think caused you to offend the Clerk Officer?"

"It was in the Second Division, when I rebutted the Clerk Officer, which implicated Mr. Hou and the other Clerk Officers and got them reprimanded."

Occupying the seat of authority that had once been Zhang Guowei's, Pang Yu said unhurriedly, "Where do you think the Second Division's Clerk Officer was wrong?"

Wu Dacai swallowed a mouthful of saliva and steeled himself. "The Clerk Officer still treats the superior officer in his heart as a Minister. This lowly one believes the Garrison Battalion has only one Minister. The Clerk Officer is also Lord Pang's Clerk Officer — his elbow must not bend outward. He should handle matters exactly according to Lord Pang's instructions."

"If he handles them according to this officer's instructions, then how should the assignments sent down by the superior officer be dealt with?"

"Military Law clearly states that a soldier's bounden duty is to obey orders. Just handle it as Lord Pang instructs. As for the superior officer, naturally Your Excellency will deal with him."

"So what you mean is, just let this officer and the superior officer lock horns directly?"

Wu Dacai's mouth went dry and his tongue parched; for a moment he could not speak. Involuntarily, he tugged at his collar. "This lowly one wouldn't dare. This lowly one means... on this, this great matter of right and wrong, Your Excellency naturally has your own judgment. There's no need for the Clerk Officer to meddle blindly."

Pang Yu narrowed his eyes and watched Wu Dacai for a moment. "Then what do you think the Clerk Officers are meddling in? And how do the various divisions view these Clerk Officers?"

Wu Dacai's heart pounded wildly, his fingertips trembling ceaselessly. He pressed his hands against his thighs and raised his head. "The other garrisons have no Clerk Officers. But this lowly one believes there is reason in Lord Pang establishing the post of Clerk Officer. The army truly does need such a post. Yet the Clerk Officers in each department are either mediocre and accomplish nothing, or handle matters unjustly. In the eyes of the soldiers and officers, the Clerk Officer has become a mere clerk who writes and does sums under the Chief Official. In the end, it is because the Chief Clerk Officer does not understand what a Clerk Officer is supposed to do."

"Then what do you think a Clerk Officer should do?"

"A Clerk Officer must first be fair-minded and have blood and spirit to win the trust of all. Second, he must bring benefit to the army to gain a foothold. Third, a Clerk Officer must understand how to use authority. When Your Excellency established the Clerk Officer post, it was not to have them write and keep accounts for superior officers. Your Excellency gave the Clerk Officers authority, not so they could recklessly meddle in military affairs, but even more so, not so they would fail to use it. Otherwise, assigning a few clerks to each division would suffice — how could they be called Clerk Officers? The most crucial point is to let every officer and soldier in the army know that the Garrison Battalion has only one Minister, and that is Lord Pang."

Pang Yu straightened his body slightly, his tone noticeably gentler. "This officer asks you one final question. Have you ever done anything to betray the Garrison Battalion?"

Wu Dacai could sit no longer. With a thud, he dropped to his knees on the floor. The movement was so forceful that his kneecaps struck with searing pain. For a moment, he dared not raise his head. Just as he prostrated himself, an ant happened to pass by. Wu Dacai did not want anything moving before his eyes; in his nervousness, he casually pressed it down with his index finger. Then he dared not move a muscle, just kept pressing. Beneath his fingertip, the ant struggled desperately.

Up to this moment, he still did not know whether Pang Yu meant to settle old scores with him today, or to put him in an important position. The question just asked — did Lord Pang already know something? It could be to convict him of a crime, or it could be to assign him another heavy responsibility. His mind was a tangled mess. The Minister was right there above him. What exactly did he want? The figures of Jiao Guozha and Mr. Hou flickered ceaselessly before his eyes.

After a moment, Wu Dacai steeled his heart and said, "At the battle of Beixia Pass, this lowly one hid a piece of silver by the riverbank. But later, fearing Military Law, I did not dare go retrieve it. Yet this lowly one did harbor selfish intent — selfish intent. At the battle of Puzikou, this lowly one's subordinates privately transported a bed made of Huali Wood. This lowly one feared rejecting my subordinates' goodwill and foolishly accepted it in a moment of confusion. But I never dared sleep on it for a single day. I chopped it up and used it for firewood..."

As he listened, Pang Yu dipped his brush in ink. Guo Fengyou smoothed out a sheet of paper and held it down with a paperweight. Pang Yu began to write, unhurriedly.

Only when Wu Dacai had finished speaking did Pang Yu write the final character. The room was utterly silent, save for Wu Dacai, head buried, panting for breath, watching the ant's slender legs flail ceaselessly.

Pang Yu blew on the ink marks on the paper before speaking. "Get up. Report to the Military Office tomorrow."

Wu Dacai's heart pounded madly. He knew he had guessed right. In his excitement, his heart swelled with elation, and his finger pressed down with force, crushing the ant he had been holding into a flat cake.

Bang — the door slammed. A crutch thudded against the floor, and Wu Dacai darted into the room at a speed no slower than an ordinary man.

The woman was mending a pair of trousers. Wu Dacai grabbed his son by the clothes and shoved him out the door, then immediately shut it.

"What's gotten into you?"

The woman had just stood up when she saw Wu Dacai plop down onto the floor, his mouth wide open but no sound coming out.

"Husband, what's wrong with you now?" The woman hurriedly supported Wu Dacai. "Did the Military Office mistreat you again?"

Wu Dacai threw his arms around the woman and finally let the sound of his weeping escape. Because the door faced directly onto the street, his sobs were still suppressed, very low.

The woman said anxiously, "Is the posting at the fortified village gone too? Gone is gone, we still have silver. Let's go back to the countryside, fix up the house. I'll farm and support you. They bully people like this — doesn't Lord Pang care?"

"Lord Pang cared. He cared!" Two clear streams of mucus ran from Wu Dacai's nose. He did not wipe them away, tilting his head up. "Lord Pang cared. I've been promoted. Your man has been promoted."

The woman sat bolt upright with a whoosh. "What official post did my man get?"

Wu Dacai's face was streaked with tears and mucus, yet he broke into a grin. "I'm the same rank as a Vice Battalion Commander now, hahaha! What Centurion, what Company Commander — they're nothing. The Martial Academy is nothing."

The woman happily thumped Wu Dacai a few times. "Then how much is the monthly pay?"

"Monthly pay is nothing. Look." Wu Dacai fumbled inside his clothes for a moment, then carefully produced a sheet of paper.

The woman snatched it away, crumpling the paper in her grip. She unfolded it and saw only a few characters written on it. Her eyes lit up. "A silver note."

Wu Dacai, enraged, slapped her across the face. The woman cried out. Wu Dacai took the paper back and cursed, "What silver note? This is Lord Pang's calligraphy treasure! Look, you've gone and crumpled it. How am I supposed to mount it now?"

As he was speaking, Wu Dacai had not noticed the mucus hanging from his nose. With that movement just now, a strand dropped down and landed squarely on the paper. Wu Dacai burned with fury and kicked out hard, sending the woman reeling sideways.

The woman did not take offense in the slightest. She crawled back over on the floor and looked at the paper. "Husband, what's written on it? Just how much silver is it?"

"What's written? Your man is a scholar. I'll read it to you." Wu Dacai looked down, his face showing an expression of satisfaction and reverence. "No flaw in great integrity — but mind the method."

The woman said, somewhat disappointed, "I can't even understand it. What use is it?"

This time, Wu Dacai did not hit her, because in his view, if this woman could understand such words, that would be what truly surprised him, and would also severely undermine his sense of scholarly superiority.

"What use is it, you ask? This was personally written by Lord Pang. The first line means that I, as a person, am generally correct, and the things I've done all suited Lord Pang's intentions — that's why he could promote me. The second line says to mind the method. Hmm, method... it probably means that when I scolded the Clerk Officer, I didn't say it nicely enough. That's likely what it means."

Wu Dacai fell into thought again for a moment. "It could also mean reporting Wai Lian. What's wrong with reporting Wai Lian? Definitely not that."

The woman looked at him, utterly baffled. "So just how much is the monthly pay?"

Wu Dacai extended one hand, then slowly spread his fingers one by one. With each finger that opened, the woman's eyes grew wider. After all five fingers were spread, Wu Dacai added a second hand, finally stopping at six fingers.

"Six taels!" The woman threw her arms around Wu Dacai and laughed heartily. Wu Dacai laughed heartily along with her.

After laughing for a good while, the woman finally remembered to ask, "Husband, just what official are you?"

"I am the Deputy Chief Clerk, Deputy Chief Clerk — do you understand?" Wu Dacai stopped laughing and wiped the mucus from his face. "Lord Pang said, though I'm the deputy, I manage affairs independently. Some matters don't need to be reported to that fellow Hou — I report directly to him."

"Lord Pang truly understands things. Husband, serve Lord Pang well as an official. We're not going back to the countryside." The woman's face was full of smiles.

"We're not going back to the countryside. We're not going back to that damned fortified village in Qianshan either. I've got another piece of good news to tell you."

"What's the good news?"

"A house. Lord Pang gave our family a three-courtyard compound, inside Jixian Gate, inside the City Wall."

The woman let out a shriek, and the two of them hugged and wept again. Wu Dacai wept as he spoke, "He assigned me a guard and a clerk. They're coming tomorrow to help us move. Silver for hiring a maid and a servant girl is given separately. We're going to live in a big house."

The woman held Wu Dacai's face in her hands. "Our family is going to have good days now."

Tears on his face, Wu Dacai looked at the woman. "You've suffered all these years. When I was down and out, you were the only one I could truly count on. From now on, I'll live a steady life with you, and hide nothing from you. That silver from Beixia Pass — I did find it. I gave some to Mr. Hou when I came back, and kept some to take a concubine. Before, I was thinking of taking a concubine, finding another household to bear a few more children. But the silver and the house were never enough. Now I won't think about it anymore…"

The woman shook her head and said, "None of that matters. I don't hold it against you. Whatever else there is, tell me everything. From now on, we'll be good to each other."

"At Puzikou, I scavenged some loose silver. I broke the tip off my sword and hid the loose silver inside the scabbard. Those Garrison Inspector soldiers don't usually search officers anyway. When I got back, I invited the Deputy Battalion Commander from the Second Division to a brothel. He said he'd definitely promote me. It cost seven taels of silver." As he spoke, Wu Dacai leaned in closer.

The woman said gently, "I don't hold it against you… Aiya, what are you doing? Who does this sort of thing in broad daylight? What if someone hears… Aiya."

……

Early the next morning, Wu Dacai yanked the door open in a huff.

A woman's shout came from inside. "Wu Dacai, I'm telling you — if you ever dare hide silver from me again, I'll fight you to the death! Still dreaming of taking a concubine, you wish! Look how little silver this family has!"

"That's all in the past, and you're digging it up first thing in the morning to make a scene! You yourself said yesterday you wouldn't hold it against me!"

The woman, hair disheveled, chased him to the doorway. "You hid silver and didn't tell me, and you still have the nerve to say I shouldn't hold it against you? That's silver, not some random object! Everything this family eats and uses costs money. Is our son going to marry a wife or not in the future?"

Wu Dacai turned his head in anger, but the woman pulled him back. He glanced at their son, still sound asleep as usual, and lowered his voice in fury. "When have I ever shorted you on silver?"

The woman glared, went over, and slammed the door shut. "What use was it giving silver to that man surnamed Hou? What use was it giving it to that Zhou woman? Giving here, giving there — so generous to other people's families, only shortchanging your own. All these years, I've been buying leftover vegetables at the market. You have the nerve to go around giving silver away. Not only did you hide the silver, you took it to a brothel — seven taels! Seven taels! Do you know how long it takes to save that? You've shorted me a whole lot of silver, you tell me."

"If I hadn't told you, you wouldn't even know! We'd still be living the same life!"

"You still won't talk! Still dreaming of taking a concubine, you wish!" The woman yanked hard at Wu Dacai a few times and cursed, "Today we're going to get this straight. From now on, I'm the only one managing the silver. Hide it from me again, and I'll fight you to the death."

Wu Dacai shoved her away and hurried out the door before she could catch up. The woman only chased him as far as the doorway, cursing at his retreating figure. "Wu Dacai, if we don't get this straight, I'm not done with you."

Wu Dacai stormed off at a rapid pace, not stopping to rest until he reached Zongyang Gate. The more he thought, the angrier he got. He muttered to himself, "Shouldn't have said it. Really shouldn't have said it. I was careless. Mm. Mm. Lord Pang was right. You have to have a method. You absolutely have to have a method."