Chapter 278: Slaughtering Beasts, Smearing Blood, and Swearing an Oath to High Heaven

Winter in Hebei is hard.

The sun had just poked out a tip, hanging low over the bare treetops.

Its light was a ghastly white, falling on people without a shred of warmth.

Bare branches stabbed at the grey, murky sky; whenever a gust of wind passed, the dead limbs lashed each other, cracking out crisp "snap—snap" sounds. Yet despite the bitter cold, a crowd had long since gathered in front of the Shenming Pavilion.

Several hundred men, wrapped in puffed-up, tattered cotton jackets, hands tucked in their sleeves, huddled together in twos and threes for warmth.

"You heard the news? The yamen is getting serious this time!"

An old man, sniffling with a red, frost-nipped drinker's nose, kept his voice very low: "The new official's only been in office ten days, and the old clerks in the county yamen have been swept out wholesale! This is… this is Hai Qingtian reborn!"

"Who doesn't like an honest official? The key is how they measure the land." A young fellow beside him, his hands jammed deep in his sleeves, stamped his numb, frozen feet while jutting his chin toward the imposing compound of grey-brick, tile-roofed houses at the east end of the village, his face full of scorn.

"I just want to see if they can shake loose those several hundred mu of 'flying fields' this time."

"Hard." Someone else took up the sigh. "That Magnate Zhang has connections reaching to heaven in the county. Every year, doesn't he just sprinkle out gleaming silver and smooth everything over?"

"Reaching to heaven? Ha! You blockhead, can't you think before you speak?" The young fellow couldn't help snorting a laugh. "Heaven changed long ago! Have you forgotten? That bunch of 'heaven' in the county… they're all gone now!"

At these words, a burst of suppressed snickers rippled through the crowd.

"Shh— here he comes! Zhang the Skinner is here!"

Someone's tight-throated shout cut off the laughter at once.

A fat, middle-aged man in a thick silk-and-satin padded gown strode into view, surrounded by a cluster of household servants.

His complexion was ruddy, sleek and glistening with oil; standing among a crowd of sallow, emaciated villagers, he looked like a creature from another species.

Only now, those triangular eyes accustomed to giving orders were full of gloom and ill-concealed irritation.

The bully of Zhangge Village, Zhang Youcai.

In days past, whenever the villagers saw him, they would hurry over early to fawn on him with a few "Master Zhang."

But today, though people still greeted him with smiling faces, those smiles held nothing but barely-contained schadenfreude.

Zhang Youcai swept a cold glance around, the skin of his face twitching twice.

The ill-intentioned stares of these paupers made him want to hit someone, but the thought of that living King of Hell in the county yamen forced him to swallow his rage. Where the hell had this dog-fart County Magistrate come from!

The silver he sent over was accepted without fail, but when it came to discussing "accommodations," not a single word of follow-up came back.

At first he thought their appetite was just too big, but then he was slapped with another 200 taels of water-conservancy levy!

Damn it all, is there no law left? Is there no such thing as good faith anymore?

In a foul mood, Zhang Youcai found a random spot to stand, his face dark, and said nothing.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The urgent clang of a gong suddenly exploded.

On the high platform of the Shenming Pavilion, two figures in blue robes ascended the steps.

The one on the left was the government student surnamed Li who, after classes let out yesterday, had been shooting his mouth off at the gate; he was a man of the Zai-Cheng Li.

The so-called Zai-Cheng Li really did mean "within the city"— that is, the li whose fields and homes lay inside the county seat.

Similar to it, there was also an "Erli Li," the li two li from the county seat.

(Note: Historical fact— Laoting really had these two li; other places in the Ming dynasty may have had them too. Could this be the origin of "city folk"?) The one on the right, the government student surnamed Zhou, was born in Zhangge Village's own li and was a local through and through.

The two were a powerhouse team that Liu Boyuan had specially selected to take charge of this area after comprehensively weighing the students' temperaments, abilities, connections, and backgrounds.

Li Heng stood still, gave only a cursory sweep, then fixed his gaze on the out-of-place Zhang Youcai.

That look held no attempt at concealment; it was pure loathing and wariness.

Zhang Youcai felt a chill run down his spine under that stare and instinctively averted his head.

Li Heng gave a cold laugh but paid him no further mind. Resting a hand on the sword at his waist, he raised his voice:

"Fellow villagers!"

"Now a sage sovereign has ascended the dragon throne and is vigorously implementing the New Policies! All matters are to begin from Northern Zhili."

"And His Honour Lu, as a disciple of the Son of Heaven, in a mere ten days since taking office, has swept away the accumulated abuses of the county yamen and intends to launch the New Policies. Are you aware of this?!" "We… we know," came a scattered response from below the platform.

Li Heng, unbothered, suddenly raised his pitch: "Since you know, then keep your hides tight! This land survey is no child's play! It's not one of those sham, going-through-the-motions affairs from before!"

"His Honour has decreed: in every li of Laoting, the land survey and the equalization of corvée shall be carried out uniformly!"

"The li that does well and does it fast will get more quotas for water-conservancy laborers next year! The one that does it slow and does a botched job— its quota will be halved! Or even— simply none at all!"

At these words, the crowd instantly erupted.

Three catties of cotton, three mace of silver— this saying had spread throughout Zhangge Village in just a single day.

Everyone was eyeing that quota covetously; how could they bear such a threat.

"Li xiucai, stop beating around the bush, just tell us straight how the land's to be measured!" someone shouted in urgency.

Li Heng raised a hand and pressed it down for quiet.

"Today I will speak of only three matters!"

"First, the rules; second, rewards and penalties; third, public election."

He raised one finger: "First, the rules! Although this time we follow the old Wanli precedents, there are some points that differ from the past. Listen carefully, all of you!"

"When you return home after this assembly, every household that owns property shall erect a wooden placard in each of its fields, clearly stating the acreage and the four boundaries, and await inspection. If you hold fields in another locality, fill out a separate register and hand it to your Jia Head. This matter must be concluded today!"

The crowd's reaction was indifferent.

Putting up placards and fixing quotas— that was old hat, nothing new.

Those who couldn't write would find someone to write for them; if all else failed, they'd go to the Jia Head. These were well-worn routines.

Li Heng continued,

"What comes next is different from before."

"Tomorrow the formal survey begins, but no longer will a single team work alone. Instead— we split our forces into two routes!"

"One team goes south to north, the other goes north to south."

"Merge household by household, calculate field by field. Submit daily results to the supervising government student; not a single scrap of paper or a single word may be taken home."

"Both teams shall measure Zhangge Village in full, and only afterward will the accounts be compared."

"After comparing accounts, if discrepancies are found, each must be seized and questioned — to see whether it is greed, concealment, or whether some are colluding to evade one another!"

The crowd stirred faintly.

This tactic had some bite to it — two teams cross-checking, each watching the other; colluding to cheat was indeed harder now than before.

Li Heng continued:

"After the two teams have completed the merger, Scholar Zhou and I will conduct a preliminary spot-check — this is the first verification."

"Next, we will seek a survey team from another li to verify — this is the second verification."

"Finally, His Honor the Magistrate will personally come down to the villages, pace the fields and tally them, and settle the registers once and for all! This is the third verification!"

"Wah—!"

This time the crowd truly erupted.

The idea of the magistrate coming down to the villages for spot-checks was, in truth, something everyone was thoroughly familiar with.

It was simply that some magistrates were more diligent, some more slipshod, and some even seized the chance to skim a little more off the top...

In the end, none of this exceeded what anyone already knew.

But that "cross-checking between two li" in the second verification...

Who would do the cross-checking? Surely not those bastards from Gao Family Village, who fight us tooth and nail over water?

If it fell into the hands of those grandsons, could it possibly end well?

The crowd looked at one another, at last grasping what made this cadastral survey different.

Zhang Youcai, standing where he was, wore an expression uglier than ever.

His network of connections could reach up and reach down, but it absolutely could not reach over to his mortal enemies, the Gao family.

Li Heng finished speaking, stepped back, and yielded the floor to Zhou Tong.

Zhou Tong walked forward beaming, cupped his hands, and said:

"Brother Li has laid down the rules, so allow me to speak now of the rewards and penalties."

"First: if any concealed, unreported fields are discovered, a fine of ten taels of silver per mu! No upper limit!"

A stir at once rippled through the crowd; many turned their heads toward Zhang Youcai's face.

Land in Northern Zhili was poor; even the finest irrigated fields fetched only a little over five taels.

At this rate, the fines on Zhang Youcai's concealed fields would nearly match his entire fortune.

Zhou Tong continued:

"Second: if any surveyor or any jia head knows of concealment and fails to report it, covering it up on another's behalf, they shall suffer punishment by collective liability!"

"However much is concealed, that much shall be paid! One mu of land carries a fine of twenty taels — the landowner pays ten, and the one who covered it up... pays the other ten!" At these words, the faces of the jia heads whom Zhang Youcai had approached turned thoroughly grim.

The cross-checking survey up front was already trouble enough, and now collective liability on top of it...

No matter how much sway Zhang Youcai held in this village, who would truly be willing to ruin his family's fortunes for him?

With this penalty and reward announced, Zhang Youcai's position grew even more precarious.

His eyes darted about... he was just thinking whether he should have the tenant farmers he had arranged in advance stir up a ruckus.

But then he saw the smile on Zhou Tong's face grow ever brighter, as his tone shifted.

"Gentlemen, do not panic. How could the court have a principle of only punishing and never rewarding?"

"Third: if a jia head, an impartial surveyor, or the like uncovers concealed fields and reports them, half the fine silver goes to the public treasury, and half... goes to the individual as a reward!" "Fourth: if anyone reports a landowner or jia head for concealment, likewise... they shall receive that half of the fine silver!"

Silence. A deathly silence.

Even the whistle of the north wind through the bare branches could be heard with perfect clarity.

Everyone's breathing grew heavy in that moment.

The jia heads began to feel their hearts stir...

And in those hundreds of eyes that had been cringing and timid, two ghostly flames called "greed" suddenly blazed up.

Half the fine silver?

Report one mu of land and get five taels of silver? That was nearly what a whole family earned in half a year!

This was no cadastral survey — this was a mountain of gold and a sea of silver, a chance to get rich overnight! Countless gazes instantly, in unison, stabbed toward Zhang Youcai.

Those gazes no longer held the old subservience; they were naked, undisguised hunger — like a pack of wolves surrounding a fat, strayed sheep.

Zhang Youcai felt a chill run through his whole body, his teeth chattering.

He wanted to curse, wanted to rage, but his throat felt as if it were stuffed with a wad of rotten cotton; not half a word could he force out.

An open conspiracy!

This was a naked, undisguised open conspiracy!

This was paving the way with silver!

Damn it all! Encouraging informers — what of this village's pure moral customs? What of Confucius's moral teachings on righteousness and profit?! Zhou Tong looked at Zhang Youcai's face, as stricken as if he were mourning his own mother, and the satisfaction in his heart was beyond words.

He had been born and raised in this li, and he knew its ways as clearly as the lines on his own palm.

In the past, though he had passed the examinations to become a government student, before he succeeded, because his was a minor surname and his clan was weak, he had suffered no small amount of grief at the hands of this old moneybags. Today, at last, he had gotten a little of his own back.

But personal grudges were, after all, personal grudges. If he could avoid trouble, Zhou Tong still preferred to avoid it.

In the cadastral survey across the twenty-seven li of Laoting, whoever could measure both quickly and well would have his name shine before His Honor the Magistrate!

He was not about to deliberately wreck this matter over a trifling grudge.

Zhou Tong continued:

"As for this last item, it concerns the cadastral survey and the water-conservancy quotas."

"If our Zhangge Village can place first in the survey among all the li..."

"Then for the water-conservancy works after the month's end, you can supply five hundred laborers, and the county office will put up a reward of one hundred taels of silver, to be shared specifically among the surveyors, the village chief, and the tithing heads." "If you come in second, you can supply four hundred laborers, with a reward of eighty taels."

"If you come in third, you can supply three hundred laborers, with a reward of sixty taels."

"But if you come in last…"

He smiled faintly.

"Then this winter's water-conservancy quota has nothing to do with us."

"After all, if you can't even survey your own fields properly, either powerful families are obstructing things, or the people's hearts are divided. Does a village like that deserve to eat the emperor's grain?" When he finished, he cast a meaningful glance at Zhang Youcai.

That single glance was the last straw that broke the camel's back.

Zhang Youcai stood there, mouth agape, utterly unable to think of any countermove.

If protecting his own few hundred mu of land cost the entire village's able-bodied men their water-conservancy quota, those red-eyed brutes would dig up his ancestral graves!

"Enough!"

Li Heng stepped forward again, cutting through the murderous tension hanging in the air.

"The rules have been stated, the rewards and punishments made clear. Now we begin electing the fair-minded men from each tithing!"

"Zhangge Village, First Tithing — whom do you publicly nominate?!"

After a brief silence, the crowd erupted.

"I say Zhang Qingshan can do it!"

"Right! Brother Qingshan can write and do sums, never uses a big measure for lending grain and a small one for collecting — his heart is straight!"

"Him it is! We trust him!"

Amid the clamor, a middle-aged man in a thick, neat padded jacket was shoved bodily to the front by several rough, large hands.

Zhang Qingshan's face was full of bitterness; he waved his hands like a windmill, desperately shrinking back. "I can't, I can't. Uncles and brothers, please find someone more worthy…" "Brother Qingshan, stop refusing!"

"Besides you, who else can we trust?"

The crowd blocked his retreat from all sides, as if afraid he might run off.

Zhang Qingshan was already cursing inwardly.

Damn his ancestors! If I'd known this day would come, why the hell did I bother being a good man all these years!

This wasn't a public nomination — this was roasting him over a fire!

If he surveyed carelessly, the collective-punishment fines would ruin him utterly; if he surveyed too rigorously, he'd give Zhang Youcai mortal offense.

Right now, Magistrate Lu the Clear-Sky was still here, so there was nothing to fear — but Magistrate Lu would have to leave one day, wouldn't he?

What would he do then?

He stole a glance at Zhang Youcai, whose face was ashen and whose eyes were venomous, and his mouth filled with a bitterness as though he were chewing goldthread root.

This really was a sin he'd brought on himself…

But the tide of events was overwhelming — where was there room for him to shrink back?

Li Heng looked at him, nodded coldly, and made the final decision on the spot:

"Since this is the people's will, then you it is!"

"Second Tithing! Whom do you publicly nominate!"

The sun climbed higher and higher, the cold wind still biting, but the surveyor selections for Zhangge Village's ten tithings were swiftly settled amid the din.

After Li Heng and Zhou Tong had finalized the roster, each taking charge of five men, their expressions abruptly turned solemn.

"The men are chosen! Set up the incense altar! Invite the Earth God to bear witness!"

The long-prepared offering table was carried forward — pig's head and sheep's head still steaming, the three sacrificial offerings laid out in full abundance. All of this had been paid for through official county accounts, with funds specially disbursed to purchase them on the spot from within the village.

The incense was lit, and thin green smoke curled upward, lending the winter wilderness a mysterious solemnity that inspired awe.

Li Heng lifted the hem of his robe and was the first to kneel before the incense altar, Zhou Tong following close behind.

Zhang Qingshan and the other nine unlucky souls dragooned into service, along with the village chief and tithing heads, also dropped to their knees one after another with a series of thuds, forming a row. The villagers, who moments before had been clamoring noisily, gradually fell silent.

In times like these, the gods might be blind, might be unjust, but in the end they were something lodged in every heart that no one dared disbelieve.

Li Heng raised three sticks of pure incense high and declared in a ringing voice:

"The August Heavenly Thearch above, the Sovereign Earth and Grain below!"

"I, Li Heng, government student of Laoting!"

"I, Zhou Tong, government student of Laoting!"

"I, Zhang Qingshan, reckoner of Zhangge Village's First Tithing!"

"I, the public deputy of Zhangge Village's Second Tithing…"

After every name had been called, Li Heng drew a deep breath and shouted the oath:

"This day we swear an oath before Heaven! All those engaged in this survey shall work with one heart, act impartially, diligently, and prudently, and shall not accept bribes or corrupt the law!"

"August Heaven and bounteous Earth, bear joint witness! Should any violate this oath, may the gods strike him dead!"

After he finished reciting, the dozen-odd others repeated it in unison.

"August Heaven and bounteous Earth, bear joint witness! Should any violate this oath, may the gods strike him dead!!"

After that, several hundred sturdy men roared their assent, repeating the oath once more.

"August Heaven and bounteous Earth, bear joint witness! Should any violate this oath, may the gods strike him dead!!"

The crowd's mighty shout echoed across the open wilderness and lingered long before fading.

After the three oaths had been shouted, the terror in Zhang Qingshan's heart, as he knelt on the ground, miraculously dissipated by more than half.

Since he had already kowtowed before the gods and sworn a deadly oath, there was only one road left — straight ahead to the end!

Zhang Youcai… damn you to hell!

This damned survey is the county office's will — I had no choice in the matter either…

If you… if you ever try to settle scores afterward, I'll stake my life against yours and fight you to the death!

At the outer edge of the crowd, on a distant, inconspicuous little earthen slope.

A lone rider and horse stood silently in the wind.

Liu Boyuan, accompanied by several civilian conscripts, observed the entire village covenant assembly from the sidelines.

"It seems… passable enough."

He gave a slight nod, a long breath of relief escaping his heart.

Over these three days, apart from interrogating the petty officials under torture to expose their embezzlement, everyone had followed County Magistrate Lu's instructions and listed out the powerful figures in each ward one by one, explaining the resistance they might encounter during the cadastral surveys in each ward.

After taking stock, the most overbearing of them all was this Old Moneybags Zhang of Zhangge Village.

That was why, for his first stop in the countryside, he went nowhere else but brought civilian conscripts here specially to observe and prepare.

If the situation turned sour, they would immediately summon the county yamen's civilian conscripts and even His Honor the Magistrate himself, and start slaughtering chickens on the spot to warn the monkeys.

But as things now appeared, the effect of all those rewards and punishments was truly quite good…

Or was it that Old Moneybags Zhang lacked the nerve? Or perhaps he planned to stir up some tricks later on?

None of that mattered anymore. The hardest first hurdle had been cleared; if problems arose later, they would deal with them later.

"Let's go. On to the next hamlet."

Liu Boyuan called out to the civilian conscripts behind him, swung himself onto his horse, and fiercely cracked his riding whip.

"Hyah!" The fine steed neighed, its four hooves churning, kicking up a trail of yellow dust as it galloped into the distance.

According to the cadastral survey regulations they had discussed together.

In the first two days, he, Liu Boyuan, would first make a circuit of all twenty-seven wards of the former county.

Wherever trouble broke out, the government students and civilian conscripts standing by at the county yamen would be swiftly pulled over there.

At the very start of this cadastral survey, absolutely no mishap could be permitted!

Because once they weathered the opening phase, matters afterward would only roll forward faster and faster!

Once a ward's survey was finished, were the government students supposed to return to the county and report their task complete?

How could that be?

Once a ward's survey was done, the freed-up government students would first go to other wards to conduct cross-surveys.

After the cross-surveys were complete, if any ward's progress was slow, or if anyone stirred up trouble, they would all be mobilized and dispatched there in support.

To take the most extreme case, if a certain ward truly became the unfortunate last-place finisher.

Then, into that tiny lijia unit would pour forty-five blue-robed government students in a single breath.

The clacking of abacus beads would likely be denser than New Year's firecrackers, and even the field ridges would be trampled flat by that surging tide of men and horses!

On the open wilderness, the biting wind knifed in through his collar, making Liu Boyuan's greatcloak snap and flutter, the cold piercing to the bone. Yet he felt none of it, only sensing a fire as if burning in his chest, stoking his eyes red and his whole body feverishly hot.

Complete the cadastral survey in one month? That was talk for the higher-ups!

Since the fire had been lit, let it burn thoroughly, burn cleanly and decisively!

If he could not nail this cadastral survey down as firmly as an iron plate before the year's end, then on what grounds could he, Liu Boyuan, a mere government student, reach the imperial ear directly and seize wealth and rank?

Surely he could not rely on that muddled father of his, who had missed his chance and to this day still lingered outside the New Policies, unable to find a door in?