Chapter 558: Reception (III)

When Master Niu suddenly lunged forward, the most nervous were naturally the hall guards.

Although Li Dazui at the very front had trained personal bodyguards beside him, and Master Niu's target was not Lord Li, his target Zong Dongshi was standing not far behind Lord Li… If Master Niu were an assassin, Lord Li would have been hard-pressed to avoid being approached today.

If Lord Li were approached by an assassin, then no matter the outcome, the guards would have failed in their duty — and that would be a great calamity.

So the moment Master Niu grabbed Zong Ben's leg, he was seized by the arms by the guards who had rushed over. At the same time, Li Dazui's personal guards instantly drew their black Glock pistols and assumed a four-direction alert stance.

But the misunderstanding on the scene was quickly cleared up — after all, Master Niu was already under the control of the furious guards. Li Dazui, who had been slightly startled at first, was now waving his hand to signal the guards to release Master Niu.

The guards, their faces full of reluctance, had no choice but to let the fellow go.

Dusting off his copper-colored robe embroidered with large silver ingots, Master Niu rose and hurriedly bowed low with clasped hands in salute: "This commoner pays respects to Your Lordship, and begs you to render justice."

Master Niu certainly recognized Li Dazui. That day, as General Interpreter, he had been seated among the Portuguese contingent in the Municipal Hall during the city entry — how could he not know this lord? He had not expected to run into him while making trouble today; Master Niu, who had been fretting with no place to seek redress, certainly could not miss this fine opportunity.

Li Qing, hearing this, fixed his gaze on Master Niu for a couple of glances, then rubbed the stubble on his chin and gave a sardonic laugh: "Right before getting off work and I still have to settle a dispute. Fine — since you've blocked my path, then speak. What's the story?"

Once the big boss spoke, the scene naturally shifted into case-hearing procedure. Among the clerks watching from the side, the person involved promptly stepped forward.

This person involved was old of limb, his face full of the marks of age, wearing a pair of thick-lensed tortoiseshell-frame glasses and clutching a wooden deed box to his chest. Judging by his cringing, timid manner, this bespectacled fellow was likely from the lowest rung of the literati — the sort who told fortunes and wrote family letters on the street.

Fortunately, case-hearing did not depend on one's background. Though the bespectacled clerk was somewhat shabby, his speech was clear. Using a "Cantonese-Mandarin" accent that was about twenty percent Cantonese, he explained the dispute from just moments ago in a few succinct words.

The course of events was this: after the King's Army entered the city, the "government office" had posted a proclamation stating clearly that all properties for which new deeds were not exchanged within the deadline would be confiscated without exception. So Master Niu had come to the Municipal Hall today bringing all his family's old deeds to process the paperwork.

At first it went smoothly; the bespectacled man recorded, checked, and registered Master Niu's old deeds one by one. But when they reached the last few deeds, a problem arose.

The last several deed papers in Master Niu's box were none other than the properties he had bought from Shopkeeper Zong Ben before the war. These properties included not only the former shop premises and courtyards of Zong's Trading Company, but also warehouses and other real estate near the port.

There was a catch here.

Through every dynasty, the government's practice regarding private property transactions was, in fact, much like later generations — it collected a deed tax. For any real estate transaction formally registered with the Household Office of the yamen, the government would issue the owner a "Red Deed."

Correspondingly, to save on deed tax, many private transactions among the people were never registered or filed with the government; such contracts were called "White Deeds."

Although White Deeds were also in common use, whenever any kind of property dispute lawsuit arose, they certainly lacked the legal force of a Red Deed. After all, if you did not pay taxes to the government, then the government had no necessity to go to great lengths to protect your property.

And the several deeds Master Niu produced were, precisely, White Deeds.

One must understand that when the buyer and seller signed the contract that day, the Ming-Portuguese War was already imminent. Immediately after that came the great Portuguese retreat, the city-wide curfew, and the army's battle preparations.

By the time Master Niu had finished inventorying and taking over Shopkeeper Zong's properties, Macau City was already under curfew, and the Portuguese clerks of the Municipal Hall had all retreated by ship. Even if he had wanted to transfer the titles, he could not find anyone — moreover, as General Interpreter, he had numerous "official duties" to attend to; how could he have bothered with such trifling matters?

And so the matter was left unresolved, until today when Master Niu came to exchange the deeds and was denied by the bespectacled man according to regulations — the new rules established by the Transmigrators: any property that previously had no Red Deed on file with the Municipal Hall was to be confiscated without exception…

To put it another way, because the feudal system was implemented rather thoroughly, it was unlike the Ming state where bureaucrats held power. Everywhere in Europe, from marquises and viscounts at the top down to country gentry and knights at the bottom, all these lords great and small were extremely diligent about collecting taxes. After all, a noble was in substance a king within his own fief, able to openly raise armies, and taxation was the single most important right of a lord.

This system was equally effective in seventeenth-century East Asia. Macau City, built and autonomously administered by the Portuguese, naturally operated under Western governance principles.

In Macau City, there was no such thing as a White Deed; all citizens' properties had to be registered with the Municipal Hall, and taxes paid upon transaction — this, too, was one of the Municipal Hall's important rights.

And precisely because the property archives left by the Portuguese in the Municipal Hall were quite complete, and because Macau had been "liberated" peacefully with the archives handed over smoothly and undamaged by war, Li Dazui, after entering the city, followed the property management methods of later generations and ordered that all untaxed White Deeds were to be voided — the Transmigrators had long been unable to stomach the Ming people's tax-evasion practices, and the Cabinet had previously issued a special file on this matter.

Thus, the bespectacled man, acting on the spirit of the higher-ups' file, declaring Master Niu's several deed papers invalid was the correct response for a civil servant.

Yet Master Niu was also completely innocent. As a wealthy merchant, it was not that he could not afford that bit of deed tax… it was simply that special circumstances — the war — had delayed things. Now that he had come to process the paperwork, he could perfectly well make up the previous deed tax; surely his property should not be confiscated on the basis of White Deeds? That would be far too harsh!

And so the two sides began arguing over these several deed papers.

The next moment, realizing that his arm could not twist the thigh, Master Niu happened to see the original owner of these deeds, Shopkeeper Zong, appear. So a sudden idea struck him, and he rushed over to grab Shopkeeper Zong's leg: seeing that Shopkeeper Zong had hitched himself to the Cao Family and was about to rise in the world, a mere few land deeds — if Shopkeeper Zong spoke up, wouldn't it be a trivial matter?

After hearing the full story, Li Dazui did not express an opinion. Instead, he turned his face and asked, "Zong Dongshi, is this how it happened?"

Zong Ben, upon hearing this, did not rush to answer. He first reached out to take the several deed papers, lowered his head, and skimmed through them. Then he nodded: "My Lord, this is indeed the transaction I made before the war. It was mutually agreed, at a clear and fair price — nothing improper about it."

"Hehe." Master Niu, the moment Zong Ben finished speaking, was immediately delighted. Cupping his hands toward Li Dazui, he said: "I beg Your Lordship to see clearly — these several deeds were truly only transferred right before the war, which is why they were never converted to Red Deeds. One cannot blame a man for this."

"Alright, I've heard enough. You shut your mouth first."

Li Dazui had now fully understood. However, he drew no conclusion; waving his hand to cut off Master Niu's rambling, he instead asked with keen interest: "Zong Dongshi, I never imagined these properties were bought from you. And sold right before the war, at that — is there some story behind this?"

"Ah." Zong Ben's face at this moment carried a trace of melancholy. He gently patted the several yellowed deed papers in his hand and smiled bitterly: "My Lord, the first reason is that, back then, in order to scrape together silver to invest in the South Seas Company for General Staff Tang, I had no choice but to sell this trading firm, which I had run for many years, to Master Niu… This was my entire life's fortune."

"The second reason — well, was it not that I had received advance word that the Grand Commandant was going to teach the Red Hairs a lesson… Heh heh, this one — Your Lordship surely understands."

"Haha, haha." Li Dazui, hearing this, burst out laughing and clapped Zong Ben heavily on the shoulder: "I understand, I understand — risk-hedging capital flight. This, I understand all too well."

"But speaking of which," Li Dazui's face was wreathed in smiles, "to stake your entire fortune on Tang Qiao's South Seas plan, which had nothing to do with you at all — Lao Zong, you've got guts. Your support for our cause is tremendous. This is very good!"

"Rest assured, those who follow our path will certainly be rewarded!"

After Li Dazui spoke this last line, he turned his face and looked toward Master Niu.

Having fixed his gaze for another couple of glances on Master Niu, whose face was piled with ingratiating smiles and full of eagerness, Li Dazui — who had originally intended to send this fellow on his way — once again revealed that earlier contemplative expression: "Hey, is the Intelligence Bureau liaison here? I want this man's file."

Provisions go before troops and horses. For the Macau War, the Intelligence Bureau had long since planted various types of espionage personnel within the city. Now that the city had been opened, there was a liaison permanently stationed at the Municipal Hall, responsible for coordinating with other government departments.

Hearing Li Dazui's words, a middle-aged man quickly squeezed through from the outer edge of the crowd.

This man had an ordinary face, wore his hair in a topknot, and was dressed in a dusty, coarse cloth robe — the kind of Ming person you could throw into a crowd and never find again.

However, the document folder tucked under his arm gave away his identity. Opening the folder and flipping through a few pages, the man pulled out a sheet of pure white Yizhou paper and handed it to Li Dazui. Then he quietly whispered a couple of sentences into Li Dazui's ear.

"Well now, no wonder you looked so familiar." Li Dazui, after reading the words on the paper, let out a scornful laugh: "So you were an interpreter… What are you so smug about, you traitor?"

"Men!" Li Dazui turned hostile in an instant: "Seize him!"

The next moment, the utterly stunned Master Niu was once again pinned by the arms behind his back by the sneering guards and forced brutally to his knees.

"The people of this era have such a weak sense of nationhood… Ah, a heavy burden and a long road!" Li Dazui shook his head and uttered a strange remark that no one around him quite understood, then immediately ordered: "Open a file at once on this collaborator who aided the enemy and surrendered to a foreign race during wartime. The Intelligence Bureau is responsible for providing the data; the office will compile it. All property of the aforementioned person within Macau City is to be confiscated, and the file is to be reported to the Special District Government as well."

As Li Dazui's words fell, a uniform "Your subordinates obey!" rang out through the hall.

"Throw this piece of trash out of Macau." Li Dazui waved his hand, paying no more attention to Master Niu as he was dragged out. He stepped forward, took Master Niu's deed box from the bespectacled man's hands, and placed it heavily into Zong Dongshi's arms: "Men! Transfer all of these into Zong Dongshi's name. How can we let a patriotic merchant bleed and shed tears too?"

"Your subordinates obey!"