Chapter 286: Traitor, You Had Better Come to Your Senses!

This was a rather secluded main street within Yangzhou city, not far from Baozhang Lake (Slender West Lake), lined entirely with the residences of wealthy and noble families. On both sides of the street stood deep compounds behind high walls, giving off an air of stern solemnity. In the middle of them was one great mansion of unfathomable depth and breadth. Before its main gate sat a pair of guardian stone lions, carved with startling lifelike detail, and above the gatehouse hung a brand-new plaque bearing four large characters — Southern Bureau Branch Residence.

Wu Xiang, Wu Sanfu, and the plainclothes Embroidered Guard riders accompanying them all dismounted. The riders stood in neat ranks before the gate, each with a hand on his waist saber. The lead Centurion stepped up and knocked on the great gate several times. Only after a while did the gate crack open a sliver, and a head poked out from within — a young man. Seeing the riders in plain clothes, he smiled and said, "This is the Southern Bureau Branch Residence. Where do you gentlemen come from?"

The lead Centurion answered, "We come from the Southern Bureau main compound."

He produced a wooden tablet carved with the four characters "Striking Awe into Wicked Men" and handed it to the young man at the gate.

"So it is the honored inspectors!" The young man examined the tablet, hastily pulled open one leaf of the gate, and returned the tablet with both hands.

So this place was a covert station established in the two prefectures of Huai'an and Yangzhou by the Southern Pacification Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

"Two Dukes, after you!" The lead plainclothes rider turned, made a gesture of invitation toward Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu, then led the way into the great mansion.

Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu exchanged a glance, dismounted together, and followed the lead rider inside.

The interior of the "Southern Bureau Branch Residence" was extremely spacious, courtyard nested within courtyard, one entry after another of unknown depth. Yet few Embroidered Guard riders and strongmen moved about within; the Wu father and son walked through the courtyards for quite a while without seeing more than a handful of living souls.

At last, following the lead rider, Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu arrived outside a somewhat gloomy inner courtyard gate. Before they had even stepped through the moon gate, they heard the sound of agonized screams.

"Stop beating me! I'll never dare be a traitor again."

Wu Xiang found the voice somewhat familiar. He turned his head to glance at his son, and Wu Sanfu said, "It's Zu Kefa!"

"Ah," Wu Xiang muttered to himself, "so he is being tortured!"

Just then, from within came a laugh that sounded sinister no matter how one heard it: "Heh heh heh, who told you to be a traitor? This official hates traitors most of all."

Wu Xiang recognized the voice — it was Zhang Tao, "King Yan" Zhang, Chiliarch of the Huaiyang Station of the Southern Pacification Office of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!

This King Yan Zhang had formerly been a rider of the Northern Pacification Office of the Embroidered Guard, famed for his savage use of torture, a man everyone feared. Later he had followed Zhu Cilang and risen to become torture-enforcing Chiliarch. At the start of the tenth month he had vanished without a trace; no one expected he had been sent to Yangzhou.

Wu Xiang shook his head and hurriedly stepped into the courtyard. The moment he entered, he heard a grown man wailing and sobbing. He looked up and saw a big-bearded, "bald-headed" muscle-bound brute of a man, stripped down to nothing but a pair of underpants, hanging upside down from a door-shaped torture frame, his two thick arms bound behind his back, apparently in manacles.

The skin exposed on his body was covered in dense red welts — he had clearly been beaten badly.

This man, needless to say, was Zu Kefa!

Seeing Wu Xiang and the others enter, Zhang Tao, King Yan Zhang, tossed the thorn switch in his hand to a strongman beside him, then came forward beaming and cupped his hands in salute: "This humble official greets the two Dukes!"

Wu Sanfu cupped his hands in return, then pointed at Zu Kefa and said, "How did he get beaten into this state?"

Zhang Tao smiled. "It's all because those two traitors Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun are tight-lipped and refuse to confess."

It turned out that the two envoys sent by Dorgon had also been arrested by the Southern Pacification Office and were likewise held in this very "Southern Bureau Branch Residence."

But those two were small-framed civil officials, not well suited to harsh torture. If they were beaten to death, that would be troublesome — Zhu Cilang still needed them for a great matter!

Wu Sanfu frowned. "Those two traitors keep their mouths shut, so you beat Zu Kefa?"

"Exactly," Zhang Tao said with a smile, looking at Zu Kefa with an appreciative gaze. "He's so sturdy, so able to take a beating!"

Wu Xiang felt the hairs on his body stand on end. "What does that have to do with anything? Even if you beat him to death, those two traitors won't lose a single hair!"

Zhang Tao smiled. "Duke Who Protects the State, this official has a measured hand. I won't beat Zu Kefa to death. Why don't you settle in first, and this official will beat him a while longer."

"You — you — you —" Wu Xiang did not know what to say.

By this time Zu Kefa had recognized Wu Xiang. As if seeing a savior, he wailed, "Uncle, save me! Uncle, save me!"

He was the adopted son of Zu Dashou, and Wu Xiang was Zu Dashou's brother-in-law, so he had to call Wu Xiang "Uncle" — Wu Sanmei was his cousin, which made Zhu Cilang his cousin-in-law. But since he had become a traitor, he still deserved a beating!

"Save you from what!" Wu Sanfu stamped his foot. "When you went over to the Tartars, you should have known this day would come!"

What? They were not here to save him? Zu Kefa's eyes were red from weeping as he looked pitifully at Wu Xiang. "Uncle, save me."

Wu Xiang sighed. "Kefa, this old man cannot save you. You can only save yourself!"

"Save myself?" Zu Kefa wept. "How do I save myself?"

"You must confess!" Zhang Tao said from the side in a strange, mocking tone. "Confess, and the beating stops!"

Zu Kefa stared at Zhang Tao: Why didn't you say so earlier? If you had said so earlier, I would have confessed long ago. I'm a relative of the Crown Prince — could being a traitor really get me beheaded?

Zhang Tao smiled. "But this crime is a big one!"

"What... crime?" Zu Kefa asked guiltily. "What crime do you want me to confess?"

Zhang Tao smiled. "It is not you confessing — you must confess on behalf of the Tartars!"

"What crimes do the Tartars confess?" Zu Kefa was even more confused.

"The Tartars' crimes are many!" Zhang Tao counted on his fingers. "First, land enclosure; second, seizure of houses; third, forced enslavement; fourth, the fugitive law; fifth, the shaving of heads; sixth, the slaughter of cities; seventh, the destruction of Confucian teachings — seven great crimes in all!

Not only must you confess, you must also make Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun confess as well! The two of them must not only confess the seven great crimes on behalf of the Tartars, they must also admit to being ringleaders of the eunuch faction! Then you shall live, and live well."

"But — but —" Zu Kefa's face was mournful. "How am I supposed to make Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun confess so many crimes?"

Zhang Tao smiled. "There is of course a way. His Highness the Thousand Years set it all out in the writ he sent this official. You must make Jin Zhijun and Sun Zhixie believe that the Count Who Pacifies the West and your adoptive father Zu Dashou have already turned back to the Ming because of the eastern barbarians' seven great crimes — land enclosure, seizure of houses, forced enslavement, fugitives, head-shaving, city slaughter, and the destruction of Confucian teachings. Right now the region of Northern Zhili is already swarming with righteous armies, and the Tartars are retreating beyond the passes. If the two of them want to live, their only choice is to cooperate with the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Refuse to cooperate, and the only road left is death!"

Hearing Zhang Tao say this, Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu finally understood what Zhu Cilang was scheming. So the reason he had detained the two envoys Jin Zhijun and Sun Zhixie for so many days was to make them the "thief whose one bite cuts three inches to the bone"!

Moreover, His Highness the Crown Prince wanted these two traitors to bite the Great Qing, to use their mouths to smear and stink up the Great Qing... to make the Great Qing the mortal enemy of the southeastern literati!

"What? Commander Zu, what is the meaning of this?"

By this time Zu Kefa had changed into Ming official robes, though his head was still shaved bare, with a queue like a coin-rat's tail hanging down behind. He sat before Sun Zhixie with the swagger of a great general.

Sun Zhixie and Jin Zhijun were held separately. He had been detained by the Embroidered Guard for over a month, cut off from all outside news — the Guard strongmen watching him were impervious to both blandishment and bribery, and would not exchange a single extra word with him. Moreover, he had been searched before being brought in, and had nothing of value with which to bribe anyone.

Thus they had no idea what had happened on the northern battlefields, nor did they know that Dorgon had implemented the three policies of land enclosure, house seizure, and forced enslavement in Beijing.

So when Sun Zhixie now saw Zu Kefa appear before him in full Ming military dress, he was immediately shocked.

Zu Kefa stroked his great beard and laughed heartily. No one could have told that only yesterday Zhang Tao had hung him upside down and beaten him half to death!

"This official, this official's adoptive father, and this official's cousin the Count Who Pacifies the West, Commander Wu, have all along been in the Tartar camp in body but with our hearts in the Ming. This time we finally found the chance — while the Tartars ran amok, lost all popular support, and fought the roving bandits to mutual exhaustion — to turn back to the Ming in one stroke!"

(End of Chapter)