Chapter 303: Two Faces

Inside the second hall of the Suzhou prefectural office, aside from Prefect Fang Wen, the several other senior officials and the clerks of the six departments were discussing how to handle the riot that had broken out in the city.

As the highest-ranking official in the Suzhou prefectural office below Prefect Fang Wen, Vice Prefect Ren Yuanshan unceremoniously took the seat of honor that Fang Wen usually occupied.

"At present, chaos is spreading throughout the city. The majority of the populace has flooded into the streets, numbering in the tens of thousands, and according to reports they are converging on the prefectural office. This matter involves a great many people—if mishandled, the consequences would be unimaginable! As the Prefect is indisposed, the affairs of this office shall be temporarily administered by myself. I have always upheld the principle of pooling collective wisdom, so I invite you all to speak boldly and strive for an excellent plan to quell the disorder in the city!"

After a light cough, Ren Yuanshan, with the composed bearing of Mount Tai, spoke unhurriedly.

As the second-in-command of the prefecture, Ren Yuanshan had never been on good terms with Fang Wen and habitually obstructed him at every turn. Under his lead, Assistant Prefect Wu Zhiqun, Judge Jiao Yunfeng, and the clerks of the various departments had successively joined in the effort to sideline Fang Wen. The result was that Fang Wen's first fire as a newly appointed official was extinguished before it could even be lit.

The reason Ren Yuanshan did this was simple: jealousy.

Ren Yuanshan, who had already served four years in the Vice Prefect position, had long coveted the Prefect's seat. He had assumed that once the current Prefect's term expired and he was transferred elsewhere, the position would be his. But unexpectedly, a stumbling block appeared out of nowhere—Fang Wen, not yet thirty, who had been serving as a County Magistrate of the sixth rank in a remote backwater, descended from the heavens and snatched away the position that should have been his. This left Ren Yuanshan, who had been brimming with confidence and determined to win the Prefect's seat, both humiliated and furious. He then attributed all his hatred of the court to Fang Wen.

Ren Yuanshan had long known about this market closure in Suzhou. Judge Jiao Yunfeng had already hinted at it to him in advance and, under the pretext of visiting his ailing wife, had delivered five hundred taels of silver, inviting him to sign a routine memorial requesting the repeal of the commercial tax surcharge. Ren Yuanshan accepted the gift with pleasure and readily agreed.

He had thought the matter through very clearly: once chaos erupted in Suzhou, even if it were quickly suppressed, when the court later investigated and assigned blame, someone would have to bear responsibility—and Prefect Fang Wen was the perfect scapegoat.

With the forceful testimony of himself, Wu Zhiqun, and Jiao Yunfeng—several senior officials of the prefectural office—could the officials sent by the court to investigate the cause of the incident possibly doubt it? Whether Fang Wen was ultimately dismissed or transferred, the Prefect's seat would once again fall vacant. All he needed was to spend generously on lobbying, and wouldn't that position he dreamed of day and night ultimately belong to him?

Appointments and removals of officials in South Zhili and Jiangxi were decided by the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing. With Jiao Yunfeng as a colleague at his side, as long as the silver was sufficient, Xu Wenyuan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing, would have no difficulty accomplishing this matter.

The Ren family was a prominent clan from the Jingxiang region. Their ancestors had produced officials such as Prefects and Vice Bureau Directors of the Six Ministries. The family had exploited these connections to engage extensively in commerce. Thanks to capable management, they had accumulated considerable wealth over the span of a century or so. Since he had passed the examinations and risen step by step to the position of Vice Prefect of Suzhou, the clan elder had intended to shift the family's business toward the more prosperous Jiangnan region in pursuit of greater profits.

However, because there were too many wealthy merchant families with powerful backgrounds within Suzhou Prefecture, his Vice Prefect position was not a particularly significant post in the South Zhili region. Thus, the Ren family's business expansion in Suzhou had not been very successful—currently they had only one cloth shop and one tea shop in the city, yielding meager profits. It was precisely for this reason that Ren Yuanshan desperately craved the position of Suzhou Prefect. Only by becoming the chief official of a prefecture would his authority and influence grow greater, allowing the family business to advance further.

Ren Yuanshan was naturally well aware of Jiao Yunfeng's background. Xu Wenyuan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing, was Jiao Yunfeng's maternal uncle by marriage, and Huang Zhi, a major Suzhou merchant, was the eldest son of Xu Wenyuan's paternal aunt's family. The Jiao, Xu, and Huang families relied upon and traded with one another in many business ventures—the interests of the three families were tightly interwoven.

Ren Yuanshan heartily approved of the market closure secretly orchestrated by Jiao Yunfeng and his associates. Although the Ren family's business was mostly concentrated near their ancestral home, with little need to transport goods via the Grand Canal, the Emperor's sudden imposition of commercial taxes on the canal made Ren Yuanshan smell danger. He keenly sensed that if the Emperor dared to levy commercial taxes on the canal today, his next step might well be to impose commercial taxes throughout the Ming realm. Only by resisting this taxation could they break the Emperor's overreaching hand and thoroughly discourage his other unrealistic notions.

"Though the city shows signs of unrest, if one traces it to its root, its essence is caused by the court disregarding popular will and recklessly imposing taxes! Every dynasty has regarded the gentry as the foundation of the state—especially here in Jiangnan, where markets have always flourished and gentry gather in multitudes. Since ancient times this region has been the source of tax revenue for every dynasty—truly the foundation of a thousand years of statehood. Your subordinate believes the civil unrest in the city is not an insoluble problem. To quell the disorder, one must first investigate its root cause. As long as the court rescinds the decree imposing the commercial tax surcharge, the so-called civil unrest will vanish like spring snow in an instant!"

Assistant Prefect Wu Zhiqun casually clasped his hands toward Ren Yuanshan and voiced his opinion.

"The Assistant Prefect's words have identified the source of this calamity and also spoken the hearts of Jiangnan's gentry and common folk—truly penetrating words! Consider the people of our Jiangnan: from the founding of the dynasty by the Grand Ancestor to this day, they have contributed incalculable grain and money to the court. Without the two hundred years of offerings from Jiangnan's gentry and populace, how could the court pay the wages of its officers and soldiers? How could it provide disaster relief? How could the important ministers and clerks in the capital receive their salaries? And is there a single item the honored ones in the palace eat, drink, or wear that is not supplied by our Jiangnan? Now there are great villains working evil in the court, deceiving His Majesty into issuing this poisonous scheme, causing the people of our Jiangnan to wail across the land. In desperation they have risen up to fight for their own survival. We are court-appointed officials—we should treat the people's grievances as our foremost duty. Seeing such a prosperous land on the verge of becoming a place the people flee in droves, how can we, as officials charged with governing on heaven's behalf, fail to speak for the people—would that not shame our own consciences?"

Judge Jiao Yunfeng, past forty with a refined countenance, looked around the room and fired off a series of questions with impassioned words.

Although Jiao Yunfeng had a very close connection with Xu Wenyuan, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel in Nanjing, because he had passed the examinations too late, his current rank was still low. But if this time he could seize the opportunity to drive out Fang Wen and install Ren Yuanshan in his place, with Wu Zhiqun moving up to fill the Vice Prefect position, then Jiao Yunfeng would naturally rise to the Assistant Prefect's seat—a situation that would please everyone.

"Zhifeng's argument is most brilliant! We who study the books of the sages and enter officialdom to govern the people—what is our purpose? The welfare of the people! And at this very moment, villains are plotting to harm the very foundation of the people to satisfy their own selfish interests. Can this be tolerated? It cannot be tolerated! To harm the foundation of the people is to harm the foundation of the state! Zhifeng, do you have any plan you might share with us for our appreciation?"

Ren Yuanshan spoke with righteous indignation, and as he grew excited, his face seemed to be shrouded in a layer of holy radiance that made it difficult for others to look directly at him.

The clerks of the six departments, who had remained silent all along, were inwardly filled with contempt: prattling on about serving the country and the people, while behind the scenes wishing they could scrape the earth three feet deep for their own gain. Truly, they were worthy of being officials who had passed the examinations—changing between two faces from day to day in a way ordinary men could hardly imitate.

"Your subordinate believes that the fire of civil unrest within the city is not yet sufficient to shake the hearts of the great villains in the capital. Only by intensifying the disorder, allowing it to spread to the other prefectures of South Zhili, and bringing Jiangnan to the brink of collapse, will the great villains in the capital be moved! Then we officials of South Zhili will jointly submit a memorial petitioning on behalf of the people, forcing them to rescind their reckless decree—only thus can the people of Jiangnan return to a state of peaceful livelihood!"