Chapter 147: Death by a Thousand Cuts

Upon receiving the Chongzhen Emperor's decree, Chen Qiyu immediately sent men to Fengyang and Xuzhou to summon the Fengyang Guard and Xuzhou Camp, who had participated in the Battle of Shouzhou, to come to Huai'an, in case of possible civil unrest.

The reason Chen Qiyu went far rather than near, not using the large forces of the nearby Huai'an Guard, Yangzhou Guard, and other guard stations, was mainly that he knew the ins and outs of the matter all too well.

The guard station troops of the interior had long since rotted away. The Grain Transport Governor-General nominally commanded over twenty guards and more than twenty thousand men, but Chen Qiyu believed that the actual troop strength of all these guard stations combined would never exceed ten thousand, and their combat effectiveness was questionable.

The hereditary military households in the Huai'an Guard and Yangzhou Guard were already no different from ordinary commoners. They had long since cast aside the regulations concerning guard stations formulated by the Founding Emperor. Over the years they had all kinds of dealings with the local residents, and were no longer simply hereditary military households farming military land and raising troops. The sons of guard station households were spread across all trades, and not a few had intermarried with commoners.

Since these things had not happened all at once but had developed gradually over more than a hundred years, the local authorities had issued no measures to stop the situation from spreading. As time went on, the guard stations in the Jianghuai region existed in name only. Chen Qiyu had already submitted a memorial proposing that the more than twenty guards under his jurisdiction be abolished, keeping only a few at key points along the canal—for example, the Yangzhou Guard, Huai'an Guard, and Gaoyou Guard.

Besides having no regard for the combat effectiveness of these guard stations, Chen Qiyu knew even better that if the worst-case scenario truly occurred, using local troops to suppress local people would be like the old birthday star hanging himself—courting death out of a surfeit of life. At that point, the two sides might even join forces and turn a situation that could have been controlled into an utter mess.

After the messengers departed separately for the two places, Chen Qiyu chatted idly with Liang Qi.

The two sat facing each other in the second hall. A servant brought fragrant tea, and Liang Qi raised his cup, took a sip, and praised loudly: "Excellent tea!"

Although Chen Qiyu was a high official of the second rank (Governor of Fengyang), Liang Qi's special status was right there—he was one of the Emperor's own soldiers. His rank was not high, but he was not subject to anyone's jurisdiction. So Chen Qiyu sat facing him as an equal, to show respect for the Emperor.

Chen Qiyu raised his teacup, inhaled the fragrance wafting from the hot tea, then took a light sip, narrowed his eyes to savor it, and remarked with feeling: "It has been a long time since I drank such fine tea! In those days when I commanded the empire's armies and campaigned in all directions, never mind drinking tea—sometimes I could not even get a mouthful of hot water!"

Liang Qi clasped his hands and said solemnly: "Your Excellency Governor, I have heard something of your achievements in those years, and I am deeply admiring! I heard that after Your Excellency took up the post in Fengyang, you trained a fine force and personally led it into the battle to suppress the roving bandits at Shouzhou. I was filled with longing, wishing I could take the field myself to slay the bandits and repay His Majesty's gracious favor!"

Chen Qiyu secretly sneered: You, take the field and slay the enemy? You only throw your weight around at us bookish types who cannot truss a chicken, and pocket a fat haul on the side.

He waved his hand and said: "Centurion Liang flatters me. Having been raised to high position by His Majesty's favor, I naturally must do my utmost to relieve His Majesty's worries. Centurion Liang is exceptionally loyal and brave, and will surely find a place to display his talents in the future. For now, it would be best to see the imperial commission properly done!"

Liang Qi chuckled: "To be frank with Your Excellency, since the Northern Provost's Office was revived, everyone above and below has devoted themselves wholeheartedly, officers and men have done their duty, and we have handled no small number of corruption cases—not a single error or omission! Once my Northern Provost's Office sets its sights on someone, escaping is a thousand times difficult! I have already sent men out in plain clothes to investigate. Within a few days, no small amount of evidence of graft and corruption in the Customs Bureau will come to light! Under the three wooden instruments, who would cling to life? Your Excellency need only wait for the good news!"

While secretly alarmed, Chen Qiyu's disgust deepened as well.

His eyes rolled and he smiled: "As long as Centurion Liang is confident, that is well—let us not speak of it! Ah, since Centurion Liang was just praising the tea you drank so highly, I will give you some shortly. A few days ago, when I was inspecting the various places under the canal's jurisdiction, I rested briefly at the customs houses in Huai'an and Linqing. The two directors each presented me with this fine tea. Tea of this quality I could never afford to buy! Since Centurion Liang has had the good fortune to encounter it, I shall borrow the flowers to offer to the Buddha and give it to you to enjoy! Haha!"

For Liang Qi, whose specialty was investigating smuggling and gathering intelligence, professional habits were ingrained in his very bones.

When he heard Chen Qiyu say the words "could never afford to buy," his curiosity was immediately piqued. Although he knew that Chen Qiyu, as a Governor, could hardly be unable to afford a bit of tea, he imagined this tea must be quite expensive, and so he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Little did he know he had already fallen into Chen Qiyu's scheme. The other man wanted to exploit the Embroidered Uniform Guard's weakness for claiming merit and use him as a weapon—to have him bring down these two customs houses, make the Ministry of Revenue look foolish, and then, under the pretext of closer oversight, submit a memorial to take control of the customs houses.

In truth, even if Liang Qi knew Chen Qiyu was scheming against him, he would not have cared. As the Emperor's hawk, he would naturally never miss an opportunity that offered both merit and money. This time, coming to the Jiangnan region, he had used the pretext of the many guilty officials to issue several extra arrest warrants—arresting people was perfectly legitimate.

Liang Qi hastily asked: "If I may inform Your Excellency, I am a rough man and do not ordinarily know good tea from bad. I was only praising it offhandedly just now. Could this tea be very precious? Otherwise, how could even a man of Your Excellency's high position and great power be reluctant to drink it?"

Chen Qiyu sneered inwardly: Cunning as a ghost you may be, but you will still drink my bathwater!

"Take a look! This tea is called Tianmu Qingding, produced on Tianmu Mountain near Hangzhou Prefecture. Its shape resembles a sparrow's tongue, with thick, plump leaves; the buds show fine down, the color is deep green, glossy and lustrous; the flavor is fresh, mellow, and refreshing, and the aroma is clear and long-lasting. Truly the finest of teas!" Chen Qiyu praised.

Liang Qi raised his teacup and looked closely, and indeed found it just as Chen Qiyu had said—after steeping in boiling water, the glossy leaves unfurled, their shape exactly like so many sparrows' tongues.

He pressed further: "Governor Chen, what is the price of this tea? Surely it cannot be better than the tribute tea?"

Chen Qiyu laughed: "Centurion Liang does not know—tea all comes from the south. The tea used by the honored ones in the palace is indeed precious, but after being shipped to the capital, it absorbs moisture on the journey and loses its original flavor. This place is not far from Hangzhou; after the leaves are picked and fired, they can be delivered within a few days. The salt merchants and great magnates of Yangzhou and Huai'an all adore this tea. But its yield is scarce, and its price rivals gold!"

Liang Qi reached up and stroked the short whiskers on his chin, his mind beginning to race.

Chen Qiyu, meanwhile, calmly raised his tea and sipped it.

After nearly a month of long overland travel, the prison carts carrying Gao Yingxiang and Gao Ying'en finally arrived in the capital.

To ensure safety on the road, Sun Chuanting had dispatched two hundred cavalry from the Governor's personal camp and three hundred infantry to escort them all the way, ensuring Gao Yingxiang would not be snatched away midway by other roving bandits.

Practice proved he had worried needlessly.

Gao Yingxiang's elite forces had been virtually wiped out in the Battle of Shouzhou. The remnants he had barely managed to gather were almost entirely annihilated at Black Water Valley; only a handful of roving bandits escaped over the mountains toward northern Shaanxi. Even if someone knew Gao Yingxiang was being escorted to the capital, who still had the ability to organize a large force to intercept the prison carts midway?

Gao Yingxiang had long since recovered under the treatment of a famous local physician in Xi'an. All along the road he sat in the prison cart with utter composure—sometimes muttering to himself, sometimes gazing up at the sky, and for the most part wearing a very serene expression.

In the other prison cart, Gao Ying'en was utterly dejected, his spirits at rock bottom, and he frequently lost control of his emotions and burst into loud sobs.

The Shaanxi soldiers escorting them did not mistreat the two along the way; their food was exactly the same as the soldiers' own. After all, they had commanded thousands upon thousands of troops—heroes of their generation. Though they were rebels, they had not groveled and begged for mercy after capture, and for this everyone admired them.

Gao Yingxiang and Gao Ying'en were locked in the Ministry of Justice's prison. After resting in the capital for several days, the escorting officers and soldiers each received ten taels of reward silver and returned to Xi'an in high spirits. The trip had not been in vain—though they had not, as they fantasized, been granted an audience with the Emperor, ten taels of silver was no small income.

The Chongzhen Emperor forcibly suppressed the urge to go see this famous great bandit of history himself. For the sovereign of a nation to go look at a bandit chief would indeed be beneath his dignity.

No matter how spectacularly you raised havoc, no matter how many people in later generations sing your praises, the mere fact that countless innocents died directly or indirectly at your hands demands severe punishment.

Knowing that Gao Yingxiang had been escorted to the capital, the Chongzhen Emperor, who had originally felt that death by a thousand cuts was too cruel, found images involuntarily flooding his mind: towns broken by the roving bandits blazing with fire, countless bandits swarming in like locusts, women screaming and resisting being violated, able-bodied men trying to flee having their heads chopped off, defenseless children pierced by spears and hoisted into the air.

This bandit deserves death! He ought to be destroyed by the most severe punishment in the world!

Several days later, Gao Yingxiang and his younger brother Gao Ying'en were executed by slow slicing in the marketplace. The spectators were as numerous as a mountain but their faces were grim; the execution scene was too horrible to behold. The scene of the crowd cheering that everyone expected never appeared—all were terrified.

Stripped naked and bound in fishnet, the Gao brothers had several hundred cuts inflicted by the veteran executioners of Shuntian Prefecture before they finally expired. During the process, the supervising officials from the Ministry of Justice and Shuntian Prefecture vomited uncontrollably, and some commoners watching fainted on the spot.

In the end, the Ministry of Justice officials could bear it no longer and firmly demanded the executioners put both men out of their misery with a single stroke, then hurried back to report completion of their duty.

When the Chongzhen Emperor heard the news, he too felt nauseated for a long while, and inwardly felt a faint regret—he should not have used such a cruel punishment on the two men. Though their crimes warranted death, decapitation would have sufficed. It seemed the punishment of slow slicing ought to be abolished.

The two were rebels who had received the ultimate punishment—they had gotten what they deserved. But the previous one to suffer slow slicing, Yuan Chonghuan, truly should not have.

Whatever the case, the man was a proper jinshi by examination, a second-rank official who had governed Liaodong as Governor-General. It was not as if he had committed treason or one of the ten abominations—why punish him so?

Thinking it over and over, the only explanation was fury born of humiliation.

You, Yuan, boasted before the Emperor, saying you would pacify Liaodong in five years. The Emperor, bewitched by your words, believed it, and before many court officials praised you to the skies, granting you supreme glory and full trust, and mobilized the full strength of the Great Ming to support you unconditionally. And the result? In less than two years, the Jianzhou barbarians had reached the capital!

You were slapping the Emperor in the face before everyone. The Emperor, who had been on the throne only a few years, was precisely using this opportunity to establish an image of discernment in judging men, and you, Governor Yuan, destroyed it in one stroke. Then you even found all manner of excuses, trying to deceive the Emperor again—you were plainly insulting the Emperor's intelligence! How could the Emperor let you off?

News that the great bandit chieftain had been executed by slow slicing spread rapidly through the city. While the common people clapped their hands in satisfaction, a deeper awe of the court welled up within them. Better to live peacefully—the fate of those who opposed the court was truly too terrible. That Dashing bandit had endured so many cuts without uttering a single sound—he was a man of mettle, after all. But in the end he was a rebel, and he deserved to die.

As time passed, the matter gradually faded from public view after several days. Chen Qiyu's memorial on grain transport and Liang Qi's report on the chaos at the customs houses were placed one after another on the Chongzhen Emperor's desk.