Chapter 267: Shameless

"Magistrate Tang, please rise quickly. We must not neglect the proper courtesies between civil and military officials."

In the second hall of the Penglai county office, Chen Xin raised the kneeling Penglai Magistrate with both hands. This Magistrate Tang had been captured by the rebels when the city fell. Although someone as prominent as Sun Yuanhua was there to bear the brunt, as the Penglai Magistrate, he could hardly escape blame for losing the city and its territory. Now that Chen Xin was receiving him personally on this day, it was as if he had grasped a life-saving straw.

"My lord Chen is a military official of the principal second rank, while I am but a county magistrate of the seventh rank. The ranks are distinct; how could the court's protocol be disregarded? I have always disdained associating with those self-righteous civil officials and only admire generals like Your Lordship, who wield the hooked blade to sweep away injustice."

Seeing that the man was quite sensible, Chen Xin smiled and invited him to sit. Magistrate Tang assumed the posture of a subordinate, perching on a corner of the seat, not even daring to touch the teacup. "Thanks to General Chen's mighty prestige, Dengzhou was preserved..."

"Magistrate Tang, no need for pleasantries." Chen Xin waved a hand, cutting him off. "Dengzhou was not preserved. The city had already fallen. I fought a bloody battle to recover it under the orders of Army Supervisor Lü, yet the entire prefectural city was ravaged, the common people displaced and suffering. Seeing it, I could not help but shed tears. Although I am merely a military official and by rights should not casually comment on the affairs of my superiors, this matter of losing the city and its territory has disgraced the court's face. In such a matter of great principle, there are certain lords who must bear their share of blame. I will not help cover it up."

With a thud, Magistrate Tang knelt again, two streams of tears rolling down. Without the slightest regard for dignity, he began kowtowing. "Wuwu, I am but a county magistrate. Sun Yuanhua ignored Regional Commander Zhang's dissuasion and insisted on letting the routed troops into the city. I opposed it too. But, but my words carried little weight. Sun Yuanhua would not listen, ah. I am wronged, ah, wuwu..."

With Magistrate Tang's political awareness, he had long understood that Sun Yuanhua's power had collapsed. He also knew that Chen Xin and Sun Yuanhua were at odds. Now he even dropped the honorifics. After the city fell, his home had been ransacked by the mutinous soldiers. Several of his concubines and daughters had been violated, two of whom threw themselves into a well and died. Thinking that he might face the extermination of his entire clan, he almost wanted to curse the Sun who had dragged him down. Perhaps the Embroidered Uniform Guard's riders were already on the road. Once taken to the capital, it would be a single stroke at the Vegetable Market execution ground, or perhaps even death by a thousand cuts like the former Grand Coordinator of Jiliao. His wives, concubines, and children would be sent to the Court of Imperial Entertainments as prostitutes. Unable to restrain his grief, he broke into loud sobs, his face streaked with tears and mucus.

Chen Xin did not tell him to rise. After he had cried for a while, Chen Xin clicked his tongue. "My lord Tang, do not be like this. You do bear some blame, but what you just said also has merit. There were still the Provincial Governor, the Department Magistrate, the Prefect, as well as the Deng-Lai Circuit and the Liao-Hai Army Supervisory Circuit in the city. Naturally, a mere county magistrate like you could not make the decisions. Still, the court has its own laws. When the time comes and you reach the capital, explain yourself properly to the lords of the Three Judicial Offices. They will surely understand."

Magistrate Tang collapsed onto the floor, staring blankly at Chen Xin.

"However, I took an immediate liking to you, Magistrate Tang, and have thought of a way for you to avoid the Three Judicial Offices. If Magistrate Tang were to render meritorious service during the recovery..."

As if struck by lightning, Magistrate Tang scrambled up and clung to Chen Xin's leg, the drool hanging from his chin smearing onto Chen Xin's trousers. "I beg Your Lordship to save my entire family. In the days to come, I will repay Your Lordship by toiling like an ox or a horse."

Seeing that he had been pushed far enough, Chen Xin called over the adjutant behind him to help Magistrate Tang up. "Ah, my lord Tang, what are you doing? When the city was breached, you sent your household servants to rally righteous civilians and participated in the battle at Zhenhai Gate, rendering great service for our army's recovery of Dengzhou. Naturally, I will not omit this in the official battle report. I will also explain matters to Lord Lü on your behalf."

Magistrate Tang's mouth gaped wide, as if bewitched. Chen Xin smiled and nodded at him, and only then did Magistrate Tang react. He kowtowed three times with resounding thuds, knocking his forehead red. He knew, of course, that Chen Xin would not give him benefits for nothing. Straightening his expression, he said solemnly to Chen Xin, "Henceforth, my lord Chen shall be my patron teacher. I shall treat Your Lordship with the rites of a disciple all my life. Should Your Lordship have any orders, I would not refuse even ten thousand deaths."

"My lord Tang speaks too seriously. I am but a military man; how could I serve as your patron teacher? In truth, like Your Lordship, I merely seek to relieve the court's worries and seek blessings for the common people. Speaking of the common people, there happens to be a great matter beneficial to them. Here is a name register." Chen Xin tilted his head, and the adjutant handed over a booklet. Magistrate Tang opened it and saw it was filled with names, many of them rustic village names like San'er or Gousheng.

He looked up at Chen Xin, somewhat puzzled. Chen Xin took a sip of tea and said flatly, "Could Magistrate Tang tell me how much arable land Penglai County has in total?"

Still kneeling on the ground, Magistrate Tang replied respectfully, "For Your Lordship's clear discernment, Penglai is mostly mountainous terrain. The arable land is less than five hundred thousand mu, and that includes some poor fields up in the hills."

"Is the amount of land paying the annual grain tax also this much?"

"Your Lordship jests. The land paying grain tax is just over two hundred thousand mu."

Chen Xin nodded. "You know all the great households in the city. Most of them suffered in this recent turmoil. The people in this register all purchased land with silver from those great households before the chaos of war. Who would have thought those great households, seeing the rebels coming, intended to make the people in this register bear the losses? Now, although those sellers are gone, the transactions must still be completed. I must trouble Magistrate Tang to transfer all that land into the names of the people in this register. Have all the title deeds prepared within five days."

"This..." Only now did Magistrate Tang understand what Chen Xin wanted: the tax-exempt fields of those great households. He had no idea who the people in this register were. By his estimation, most were likely just names with no actual persons behind them. The title deeds would all end up in Chen Xin's hands, and who would dare to inquire clearly? He probed cautiously, "How much does Your Lordship want?"

"It is not how much I want. It is that those common people bought two hundred thousand mu. Bought with genuine gold and silver. Not one mu less. I will send people to assist you in handling this matter. It must be settled within five days."

After speaking, Chen Xin watched Magistrate Tang's darkening face with inward amusement. He added, "Let us not speak empty words. These fields are indeed what I want, but they are all for resettling the common people afflicted by this disaster. Magistrate Tang shepherds this region; this act will save thousands of commoners and is also a good deed."

Magistrate Tang did not believe for a moment that Chen Xin possessed such a bodhisattva's heart. He assumed Chen Xin merely wanted to become a local land baron himself, only with an exceedingly ugly manner of seizing. After thinking carefully, he said, "Yes, what Your Lordship says is true. Only... only if some of those great households in the city still have people alive, I fear I may not be able to gather that amount of acreage."

Chen Xin smiled amiably. "I believe there should be none left. If there truly are still people, just inform the person I send to assist you and let him screen them clearly. Do not allow anyone to impersonate them. As I said, not one mu less."

Though it was deep winter, dense beads of sweat appeared on Magistrate Tang's forehead. He understood exactly what this "screening" meant.

Chen Xin said flatly, "I must also urge Magistrate Tang to treat this matter with urgency. His Majesty will surely be enraged by the fall of Dengzhou. Should the mounted guards arrive too quickly, I will be unable to stop them either. Once inside the Northern Pacification Prison, Your Lordship is a man of letters; you may not endure until I can report your meritorious deeds."

Magistrate Tang wiped the sweat from his forehead. "I understand. I understand."

"In addition to the great merit at Zhenhai Gate, I have also heard that Magistrate Tang's own home suffered from the military disaster, with great loss of property. Fortunately, my men happened to recover the jewels that Your Lordship lost. Items lost from the homes of the clerks and underlings at the county office, I have also retrieved. In a moment, Your Lordship may follow my personal guards to claim them. But I will say this upfront: if any clerk still dares to enrich himself, do not blame me for being impolite."

With that, Chen Xin gently raised his teacup. Magistrate Tang understood clearly now. Chen Xin intended for him to embezzle the jewels under the pretext of returning them to the victims. The quantity would certainly not be small. After kowtowing respectfully, he stood and said, "I will go handle this matter immediately. It will be settled for Your Lordship within five days."

"I will say it once more: it is to be settled for those common people. They too are victims. They all bought the land with silver before the military chaos. Your Lordship is merely addressing the urgency of the common people."

Magistrate Tang cursed Chen Xin inwardly for his shamelessness, but he understood his own situation. Never mind his official post; even his life was in Chen Xin's hands. And Chen Xin did not even need to act himself. Even if Chen Xin demanded he produce five hundred thousand mu, he could only go and produce it.

Still, this man Chen Xin did not send people on errands for nothing. Gritting his teeth, Magistrate Tang cast aside his last shred of integrity and said in a lowered voice, "My lord Chen, I have a suggestion. The land in Dengzhou is barren. If one speaks of good land, it would be west of Laiyang. Laiyang has over a million mu of arable land, but for that, one would need to trouble the Dengzhou Department Magistrate... However, the place with the best and most land is still Pingdu Department, with over twenty million mu of arable land. I hear that Li Jiucheng has headed that way..."

Magistrate Tang stopped there. Chen Xin stared at him for a long moment and suddenly realized this man could be of great use. Putting on a professional smile, he said, "Magistrate Tang has a bright future ahead. I believe this time you should do more than just retain your original post. In the future, we may cooperate on other matters as well."...

"Have them search thoroughly. The silver hidden by the mutinous troops must be found." Liu Minyou, his eyes red-rimmed, instructed Dong Yu. "Don't sort those jewels and such yet. I checked your jewelry register last night; it was all randomly categorized. Emeralds written as green stones, coral written as red jade."

Dong Yu said awkwardly, "My lord, the quartermasters under me are all just soldiers. Being literate is already considered good. They've never even heard the names of those jewels. There are many things even I have never seen, so naturally we could only register them haphazardly."

"You should still free up people to count the silver and cloth. I've already sent word for Wang Erya and Lao Cai to bring people from the trading company. They are experienced and knowledgeable, far more reliable at this than you."

Dong Yu wished for nothing more. Each of those jewels was dazzling, stirring desire just by looking. But now, entering and leaving the warehouse area required body searches, and carrying anything in or out was forbidden. The military judges, training officers, and quartermasters supervised each other. The guards at the entrance were from the Central Army Guard Unit; no one could entertain any ideas. It made one's heart itch yet unable to act. Dong Yu himself dared not act either. People in all three Company Commander divisions had already been caught hiding personal stashes. The Chief Military Judge, Nie Hong, had reported to the entire army the previous day that the offending officers and soldiers were detained and would be severely punished according to military law upon returning to Wendeng, very likely by beheading.

"Mister Liu, you had best have them come quickly. The value of these jewels is too high, and the items are not large. Every day I fear that losing a single piece will implicate who knows how many people."

"If you've done nothing wrong, what are you afraid of?" Liu Minyou walked outside the tent, grabbed a handful of snow, and scrubbed his face vigorously, his spirit invigorated.

The endless tents of the Mishen Shan main camp before him looked more and more pleasing to the eye, because the things stored inside could shelter more refugees, allowing them to survive this chaotic world.

"Land. Still need land." Liu Minyou murmured softly to himself. Without land, the long-term livelihood of the refugees would never be resolved. People's hearts could not be settled either. For the farmers of this era, land was everything—a concept he could not change. The reality was indeed so. No matter how developed Wendeng's trade and industry became, grain was the foundation of everything. After visiting Jiangnan, Liu Minyou was even more worried about the grain problem.

Dong Yu followed behind. Ox and horse carts were still coming out from the city gate. He said quietly to Liu Minyou, "This batch today is the treasury silver and the gold-flower silver. My lord Chen kept it in the barbican for several days. Today he finally dares to transport it out."

As for the government's silver, Liu Minyou actually felt it was rightfully theirs. The Wendeng Battalion's military pay had never been paid in full over the years. Even when received in full, a large portion had to be returned to the superiors. Although it was already much better compared to other frontier troops, Liu Minyou felt this was exactly the subsidy owed to the Wendeng Battalion.

Liu Minyou had not closed his eyes for two days, yet his spirit remained highly agitated. Dong Yu was a quartermaster, but he was under dual management. He was an army officer, yet for supplies and funds, he constantly had to seek out Liu Minyou. Thus, both the military and civilian sides treated him as a subordinate.

Since Liu Minyou had arrived, he had dragged Dong Yu along to double-check the supplies. Dong Yu had likewise not slept for nearly two days and was now barely able to hold on. Thinking of the military, Liu Minyou turned and asked Dong Yu, "Dengzhou administers two military garrisons. How much military materiel did you seize this time?"

Dong Yu forced his eyes open and replied, "There is a lot, actually. Piles of swords, spears, clubs, bird guns, and three-eyed guns. The usable ones have been sorted out and placed in the south gate barbican, to be given to those garrison village guard teams later. The best are the cannons. I went to inspect them personally. Thirty large and small red-barbarian cannons. One on the east gate was also destroyed. My lord Chen won't allow it to be moved, saying this item is not very useful but draws much attention. He wants to discuss it with Army Supervisor Lü before deciding."

"Just cannons?"

"There are also some suits of armor, but the good ones were all looted by the rebels. Over a thousand pieces were stripped from the captured ones, of varying quality. Many other things too. The gunpowder bureau has several rooms full of saltpeter and sulfur raw materials, and several hundred thousand jin of iron stock. The iron is not easy to transport; my lord Chen says to leave it for last."

Liu Minyou began calculating in his mind, comparing it against the material budget he had made for this year. Seeing Liu Minyou standing outside in a daze, Dong Yu quickly slipped back into the tent, sprawled atop a pile of silver chests, and in moments was fast asleep.

Liu Minyou remained oblivious. He watched the ox and horse carts in the distance and sighed with relief. "These things can also cover tens of thousands of taels of silver. Especially the saltpeter, which is hard to come by, and the iron stock, which we use more and more of each year. It would be best if we could keep all of these. Also, just building relay stations isn't enough. If Laiyang and Penglai can have garrison villages, we'll need to build roads. With roads, commerce can flourish. Our southern goods, cigarettes, and farming tools can sell more into Qingzhou. Last time, my lord Chen brought back over ten thousand refugees from Jinan. They aren't eligible for land distribution this year. We can use them to build roads. With good roads, the army can also move faster. Looking at all this silver now, if Chen Xin plans to expand his influence across the entire Deng-Lai region, this silver probably won't be enough. We can only hope the Liao Sea thaws early, so our sea trade, Liaodong trade, and Tianjin trade routes can all open. Only when silver moves can we earn more, and let more people have a way to live."

After Liu Minyou finished speaking, there was no sound behind him for a long while. He turned his head and saw no one. Running into the tent, he grabbed the loudly snoring Dong Yu and shook him vigorously. "Get up quickly! We haven't checked the cloth and silk yet. I need to see whether your quartermasters have correctly sorted the brocade, satin, and damask."

Dong Yu opened his eyes groggily. "Mister Liu, let me sleep a while before going, alright? The Central Army Guard Unit is watching over it; it won't fly away anyway."

"No. I need to know the approximate figures as soon as possible. The quantities of these items all affect this year's budgeted expenditures. A day earlier means we can rationally allocate the gold, silver, and supplies a day earlier."

"Just half a shichen of sleep... Aiyah!" Kicked by Liu Minyou, Dong Yu jumped up and led the way toward the cloth and silk encampment.