Chapter 305: Zhu Youjian's Butcher's Blade Is Charging Up

The so-called special list wasn't really all that special.

From the perspective of the New Policies, this list was perfectly logical and came about naturally — not even worth mentioning.

Ever since the capital's Tax Office took over all tax collection in the capital,

certain practices that fit the spirit and habits of the New Policies had naturally been rolled out step by step.

And sorting through and compiling statistics on the taxpayer population was precisely one of them.

Among the many tax categories,

the land-tax audit involved the vast expanse of Shuntian Prefecture's various departments and counties, and still had to wait for each locality's chief official to complete their cadastral surveys.

Meanwhile, the various miscellaneous taxes, corvée levies, transit duties, and the like still had to wait for the completion of the household census.

Relatively speaking, the fastest progress had actually been made on the commercial taxes in the capital region.

The Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard had each produced a not-entirely-precise "Capital Merchant Wealth Ranking."

And the Tax Office, based on tax-payment records, had compiled a "Capital Merchant Tax-Payment Ranking."

Once the three lists were cross-referenced, it was only natural that certain merchants would need to present themselves at the capital's Tax Office to explain a few things.

It wasn't that having money was a crime in itself; rather, since Director Li Zhizhong had a question in his mind, summoning a mere merchant like you to ask about the situation was perfectly normal. As long as you could explain yourself clearly, with the Great Ming Code standing right here — did you really think it would lead to your household being broken up and you being sent into penal exile?

And this Wang Jing, who had just approached the Qian couple,

was precisely a textbook case of such "taxes not matching wealth."

"A coincidence?"

Qian Changle stared at the merchant's retreating back, a vague unease stirring in his heart.

Director Li Zhizhong's meaningful parting words from earlier surfaced unbidden in his mind again.

His Majesty intends to personally select outstanding officials... This official sees you... do not stray or misstep...

At that thought, Qian Changle narrowed his eyes, turned around, and asked seriously:

"Elder Brother, what were you two talking about just now?"

Qian Changping, not noticing the shift in his younger brother's demeanor, still replied cheerfully:

"Ah, that fellow was quite the warm-hearted sort. He saw you entering the office wearing the white feather and guessed you were a newly selected official, so he came over specially to ask about the latest goings-on under the New Policies."

"He had a pleasant way of speaking and was perfectly courteous, so I couldn't very well brush him off. I just picked a few unimportant things to tell him."

"Nothing more than how much the salary is, how promotions work, how evaluations are done, that sort of thing — and when the next round of official selection exams would be."

At this point, Qian Changping seemed to still be savoring the feeling of being flattered by a wealthy merchant: "Toward the end, he even insisted on taking me out for drinks one of these days..." Before the words had fully left his mouth, he finally caught sight of Qian Changle's face, so dark it looked about to drip water.

Qian Changping's heart lurched, and he immediately sensed something was wrong: "Wh-what? A-Le, is there something off about this man?"

Qian Changle was silent for a moment. He did not answer directly, only slowly shaking his head:

"I'm not certain either, but Elder Brother, remember this: if this man comes looking for you again, you must absolutely pay him no heed."

Seeing how gravely his younger brother spoke, Qian Changping dared not ask further and quickly nodded: "Don't worry, A-Le. Your elder brother knows what's important. I won't cause you any trouble." Qian Changle nodded and made to leave.

But he had barely taken half a step when a sensation like thorns pricking his back made him stop dead in his tracks.

No.

This was far too wrong.

He spun back around abruptly and fixed his eyes on his elder brother: "Elder Brother, you said the things he asked about... were all common knowledge for new officials?"

"Then after you told him, what was his reaction?"

Qian Changping was caught off guard by the question and answered reflexively: "He said... he said this information was extremely useful to him, a great gain — that's why he absolutely had to treat me to a drink..."

At those words, a smile couldn't help but spread across Qian Changle's face.

I've caught your slip!

Which of the merchants who could make that list wasn't a figure who could turn clouds and rain in the capital's commercial world?

For someone like that, if he wanted to know the regulations for new officials — was the "New Policies Official Training Handbook" really something he couldn't get his hands on?

If he wanted to dig deeper, all he had to do was find some old clerk in the yamen and buy him a round of drinks — what couldn't he find out?

Yet he had to stop a white-feather official's family member on the street and ask this and that?

When someone shows you excessive courtesy, they surely want something from you!

This wasn't asking about matters — this was clearly aimed at me, the person!

No — this was clearly aimed at that list that only white-feather officials have the authority to see!

Excellent! On the first day of the new year, merit comes knocking! Truly a heaven-sent opportunity! Qian Changle was overjoyed. He turned around and called out to his elder brother and sister-in-law, who were just about to leave.

"Elder Brother, Sister-in-law, wait for me just a moment!"

"This matter isn't so simple — I need to go inside and report it to Director Li!"

With this turn of events, Qian Changping and his wife, however slow they might be, now understood the gravity of the situation.

Watching Qian Changle go back inside, Qian Changping couldn't help but grow uneasy in his heart.

Though the Qian family had a modicum of family tradition, their father had died too early, and their instruction had been far too scant.

The two brothers were natural and unpolished by nature; they had occasional flashes of insight and could hold to the upright path, but in the end, they had seen too little of the world.

And the fact that his own younger brother had passed the exam to become a white-feather official was the happiest thing that had happened to Qian Changping since he'd grown up.

So when that merchant just now had poured down a few cups of intoxicating flattery — "your younger brother's future is boundless," "elder brother, your guidance has been superb" — he'd become utterly light-headed, unable to tell east from west, north from south. How could he have remembered to be on his guard?

"This rotten mouth of mine!"

Qian Changping gave himself a fierce slap across the face. The crisp sound drew sidelong glances from passersby.

"How could I... how could I have lost my wits like that!"

Madam Wang at his side was also deathly pale, twisting her handkerchief as she offered quiet consolation: "Husband, you didn't say anything secret, did you? You just... just boasted a bit about how A-Le is valued by his superiors..."

Was that a serious matter?

The two exchanged a glance, neither of them certain. They could only sigh and fret as they waited.

After a long while, a figure finally hurried out from the yamen.

Beads of sweat glistened on Qian Changle's forehead — he had clearly come running.

"A'le… just now, your brother…" Qian Changping hastily rose to his feet, about to recount the earlier conversation in full detail.

But Qian Changle waved his hand, and his face once again wore that hearty, open smile he usually carried.

"Haha, Big Brother, it's nothing. I was overthinking it."

Qian Changle laughed easily, as if the earlier tension had been nothing but an illusion:

"Merchants like that are always keen to befriend us yamen folk — it's how they survive. Nothing unusual."

"He was just dredging up those old imperial calendars as a pretext to get familiar."

"Later on, if he ever gets you to a dinner table, that's when all the tricks and bribes start coming."

"It's fine. As long as Big Brother ignores him from now on, that's the end of it."

Hearing this, Qian Changping and Madam Wang felt as if a thousand-jin weight had been lifted from their shoulders, and they both let out a long breath of relief.

"Good, good…" Qian Changping wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "A'le's made something of himself now. Your brother will sew his mouth shut from now on — I'll never bring trouble to your door!"

"Yes, yes, A'le's different now. We must be careful in word and deed!" Madam Wang nodded vigorously in agreement.

Qian Changle laughed heartily and stepped forward to take his elder brother by the arm:

"It's hardly come to that… I'm just a lowly fourth-class clerk who hasn't even passed his probation — what kind of important figure am I?"

"Come on, it's getting late. Let's hurry to Guangqu Gate — if we're late, we won't be able to squeeze in."

With that, he waved a hand and strode off with great sweeping steps at the head of the group.

Seeing this, the Qian couple hurried after him.

What they could not see, however, was that the moment Qian Changle turned around and walked ahead, that hearty, open smile on his face faded away inch by inch. Qian Changle had not deceived his elder brother.

The matter of Wang Jing was indeed unimportant.

Because that man was already destined to be a dead fish on the chopping board.

But what worried him was not this trifling affair.

It was another, far greater matter, one that branched out from Wang Jing.

A matter that would inevitably implicate Wu Yanzuo — and the entire Wu family!

The list of merchants went far beyond this one copy. It was the other list that was deadly.

By the time this was dealt with, time was already extremely tight. The three of them exchanged no further words and hurried on their way.

The moment they neared Guangqu Gate, an immense wave of noise washed over them.

The stretch of empty ground outside the city wall, normally desolate, was now a sea of fluttering banners and a din of gongs and drums.

As far as the eye could see, it was a dense, dark mass of heads — even livelier than the City God Temple fair by a good measure.

Wooden stands of every description were arrayed across the open ground in an orderly fashion. Vendors selling sesame flatbread, peddlers brewing large bowls of tea, and even hawkers carrying shoulder poles and crying "Investigate-the-Things Vigor Pills" squeezed into every gap in the crowd.

Even more quick-witted merchants had erected over a dozen simple wooden platforms around the perimeter, hanging signs that read "Viewing Stands" and selling seats at clearly marked prices. They had the sense, at least, not to compete with the court's viewing business atop the wall, which charged one tael of silver or a hundred taels.

They dared only charge ten wen, and even threw in tea, wine, and broad beans — but by targeting a different class of customer, they were doing a roaring trade, with not a seat left empty.

The Qian couple had only ever seen such a spectacle at the Lantern Festival. Now, they were utterly dazzled.

"Good heavens… last time we came to see that 'hemisphere' thing, it wasn't this terrifying," Madam Wang said, her mouth agape. "It's only been twenty-some days — how have they already put up platforms?"

Qian Changping was equally full of feeling. "Just now I was saying setting up a stall in the city was a good way to make a living, but looking at this, the real goldmine is outside Guangqu Gate!" "If A'le hadn't brought us here today, we'd never have known the demonstration site the newspapers talk about has become this prosperous." Among the three, only Qian Changle's expression remained relatively calm.

White-Feather Clerks rotated on duty at the nine gates of the capital, with no fixed assignment.

Over the past month, he had happened to draw duty at Guangqu Gate twice, and had watched with his own eyes as this desolate stretch outside the city gate transformed, step by step, into the bustling, clamorous place it was today.

Early in the month, the Academy of Sciences had staged the "Capital Hemisphere Experiment" here for seven days straight. Popular interest had just begun to gather then — there was a bit of life and color, but it still fell short of being a top-tier attraction.

But after that, things began to change.

The Academy of Sciences rested for three days — or rather, spent three days setting up — and then promptly unveiled the "Gas Well."

Ah, no — according to the fashionable term now circulating in the capital, it was to be called the "Yongchang Well."

For those several days, the Great Ming Times had run page after page, all filled with diagrams of that well.

From the craftsmanship to the structure, to comparisons of water-lifting efficiency — they wrote of it as though it were a thing of magic.

All the idle gentlemen and commoners in the capital, with nothing better to do, flocked over to catch the latest craze. Some were even invited up to try pumping the water themselves. After that came another three days of rest and adjustment.

This time, the Academy of Sciences made an even grander gesture, directly hauling out a long-neglected, dust-covered old-style Fa Gong cannon from the Ministry of War's armory.

A massive wooden frame was erected, fitted with a tangle of hemp ropes and "pulley carts."

Once again, ordinary commoners were invited onto the platform. And then, a scrawny fellow, using only one hand, actually hoisted that thousand-jin cannon clean off the ground! That sight dropped more jaws than anyone could count.

It was after that that His Majesty personally bestowed a name, changing the term "pulley cart" to "pulley."

They were even divided into what were called fixed pulleys and movable pulleys.

The Great Ming Times followed closely behind with another massive wave of articles.

"Fixed pulleys change direction, movable pulleys save effort," "However much effort is saved, so much distance must be expended" — they wrote at great length, accompanied by all manner of mechanical diagrams, stirring the entire city into a frenzy over this new branch of learning.

This was also why… the Investigate-the-Things Vigor Pill had suddenly become all the rage.

Ignorant fools and simple women could hardly tell pneumatics from mechanics — they heard a rumor and took it as fact. Catching a name here and there, they convinced themselves that the Vigor Pill was indeed in accord with the principles of heaven and earth and had ancient origins.

Each bought some on the bandwagon, to put to vigorous use in the bedchamber.

Then, before the New Year, the newspapers once again let slip word:

On the first day of the first month of the first year of Yongchang, the fourth scientific demonstration would be held outside Guangqu Gate.

And they declared with absolute certainty that this demonstration was destined to be recorded in the annals of history — a feat never before attempted by any predecessor!

This proclamation utterly set the capital ablaze.

It was precisely for this reason that the Qian family had broken with their old tradition of burning incense and praying to Buddha at the Western Hills, and instead, all three of them had come out together, just to join this earth-shaking spectacle.

As for the wooden platforms, the peddlers, and the stalls crowding every inch of space before his eyes — to Qian Changle, these were perfectly ordinary things.

After a full month of commotion outside Guangqu Gate, if these merchants still couldn't smell the money in it and pile up a scene like this, they'd have no business scraping a living in the capital.

Only…

This sort of chaotic prosperity could probably run wild for just one more month at most.

The capital's Tax Office had long had its eye on this juicy cut of meat. They had already decided internally that after the new year they would join with Shuntian Prefecture to regulate this spontaneously formed market.

Collect the taxes that ought to be collected, and set the rules that ought to be set.

After all, in the Tax Office's eight-character strategic maxim,

the four characters "collect everything due" still took precedence over the principle of "leave every hand clean."

This impenetrable sea of people was, to ordinary commoner families, naturally a cause for despair.

Those who came late would just have to catch one of the later sessions over the next few days.

But Qian Changle had backing here.

His eyes swept the edge of the crowd, and he quickly spotted a familiar figure from behind, by the base of the wall on the right.

The man also wore a white plume in his hat and was dressed in a clerk's uniform.

Qian Changle drew a deep breath and pushed down the worries in his heart.

It was the New Year season; there was no need to trouble a friend. Some questions could wait until tomorrow.

He put on a smiling face, walked quickly over, and clapped the man lightly on the shoulder.

"Brother Mengju! I'm here!" Wu Yanzuo had been staring blankly at the seething crowd outside the city.

Jolted by the clap, he snapped back to his senses. Seeing it was Qian Changle, he couldn't help breaking into a smile.

It was the New Year season; there was no need to trouble a friend. Some problems, in the end, could only be solved by oneself.

"Yong'an! I've been waiting for you!"

His gaze swept over the two people behind Qian Changle, and he hurriedly cupped his hands in salute: "These must be your elder brother and sister-in-law? Forgive my discourtesy."

After the pleasantries, Wu Yanzuo grabbed Qian Changle by the wrist: "Come on, come on, the demonstration is about to start. You've arrived just in time." Without waiting for Qian Changle to reply, he pulled him along and headed straight through the city gate.

When they reached the horse ramp, Wu Yanzuo waved at an old clerk guarding the entrance: "Brother Zhang! Brother Zhang!"

The old clerk ambled over.

Wu Yanzuo gestured at the three people behind him and lowered his voice: "Brother Zhang, it's these three. I'm counting on you."

The old clerk swept a glance over them and chuckled: "Don't worry! Since Master Wu is asking, leave this trifling matter to me."

"The gate tower is a place for dignitaries — I wouldn't dare let them up there. But finding a spot on the city wall with a good view, that's easy enough." Qian Changle listened from the side, somewhat dumbstruck.

He had assumed that Brother Mengju's "way" meant some proper, aboveboard channel. He never imagined it would be this kind of…

"Brother Mengju… this…"

Wu Yanzuo, however, laughed heartily and cut him off: "No 'this' or 'that' — just get up there! I'm still on duty today, so I can't stay to watch the show with you."

"When you come back down, you must tell me in detail just what earth-shattering scientific principle today's demonstration is all about."

With that, he half pushed, half bundled Qian Changle and his family onto the horse ramp.

A moment later.

The old clerk surnamed Zhang came clattering down the ramp, his face wreathed in smiles, and sidled up to Wu Yanzuo.

"Master Wu, just to let a friend watch a show — you're certainly generous with your purse."

Wu Yanzuo's expression was calm. He drew a silver ingot from his sleeve and slipped it silently into the old clerk's hand.

Five taels of silver.

For three people to watch the ceremony from the city wall, three taels was the actual fee paid. The other two taels were the old clerk Zhang's performance fee.

"The friendship of a gentleman is as plain as water."

Wu Yanzuo said, "If he knew I'd spent silver to invite him onto the city wall, with that temperament of his, he'd certainly refuse to accept it."

"I had no choice but to resort to this clumsy stratagem."

"The extra tea money is to thank Brother Zhang for making things convenient."

The old clerk Zhang hefted the ingot, weighing it, and grinned so wide his eyes nearly disappeared: "Easy enough, easy enough! Master Wu is a true stand-up fellow! Next time you have a job like this, just say the word!"

Wu Yanzuo waved a hand, in no mood for further talk, and walked back to stand in the shadows of the gate archway.

After a while, a succession of gong beats rang out from outside the city, shaking the heavens.

The crowd erupted in an earth-shattering roar of cheers.

The New Year's Day spectacle that the Academy of Sciences had been trumpeting for days had at last begun, right on time.

Yet Wu Yanzuo did not even lift his head.

He had not the slightest interest in that so-called demonstration destined for the history books, and he was even more deaf to the boiling cheers.

He stood there alone, his eyes dark and unreadable, his mind echoing only with the news he had received the night before.

The Ministry of Personnel and the Tax Office were jointly beginning to compile a list of the capital-debt merchants.

But — was this the Ministry of Personnel's intent? The Tax Office's intent? Or… the intent of that sage sovereign upon the throne?

Just what level of project was this matter, and just how much weight was being placed on it?

More crucially…

This time, what path should the Wu family take?

No! What path to take was not a question that needed pondering.

The real question was, what exactly would the Wu family have to pay this time, and could they even escape this calamity!

At this thought, Wu Yanzuo could not suppress a quiet sigh from the depths of his heart.

Only at this moment did he finally, truly understand his father's agitation.

"A single day out of office, and you are nothing but meat on the chopping block!"

"You three brothers have no hope in the civil examinations. What use is it, no matter how great a family fortune I build!"

The cold wind of New Year's Day, laden with the clamor from beyond the walls, howled through the gate tunnel.

The wind cut like a knife.

It set the white plume atop Wu Yanzuo's head—the emblem of the New Policies' glory—shuddering violently in the gale.