Chapter 87: A Night of Blood in the Capital (Part One)

Since the Jiajing era of the Ming dynasty, Beijing had formed a layout of "nine inner, seven outer, and four imperial city gates."

"Nine inner" referred to the nine gates of the inner city, "seven outer" referred to the seven gates of the outer city, and "four imperial" referred to the four gates of the imperial city. Thus, old Beijing also had a colloquial name—the "Forty-Nine City."

With the imperial city at the center, the inner and outer cities formed four districts—east, west, south, and north—and residents of different districts each had their own characteristics. As the saying among the people went, "The east is wealthy, the west is noble, the south is lowly, and the north is poor."

Because of the grain transport along the Grand Canal, the Chaoyang Gate was called Qihua Gate by old Beijingers, and it was the "grain gate" among the capital's nine gates.

Goods from north and south were all shipped from Tongzhou, the terminus of the canal transport, to Chaoyang Gate, then concentrated in the eastern part of Beijing. Thus, the eastern district had a great many granaries, and many places were named after warehouses—such as Haiyun Granary, New Taicang Granary, Lumi Granary, and Nanxin Granary.

To facilitate commercial transactions, merchants, wealthy traders, and well-to-do families gradually put down roots in the eastern district. Over time, this gave rise to the saying "the east is wealthy."

Around the New Taicang Granary in Beijing, merchants gathered, shops stood in rows, and goods and people thronged the area. There were numerous grain depots and pawnshops, and most of the granaries in the capital belonging to the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants were distributed here.

On the third day of the eighth month, at the third watch's second quarter, as the evening drum sounded, several thousand soldiers of the Yongwei Camp stationed at the imperial city drill ground raised torches and jogged in formation straight toward the New Taicang Granary.

The several thousand troops of the Yongwei Camp formed orderly marching columns, stepping in unison through the streets. Iron boots struck the blue-stone avenues, producing a single, thunderous rumble.

Some residents along the street were startled awake and cautiously peered through doors and windows at this army, wondering what it intended to do.

The Yongwei Camp's main barracks were less than five li from the New Taicang Granary. Before long, a sea of torches illuminated the entire New Taicang alley, and a great host of soldiers surrounded all the granaries in the capital belonging to the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants.

At one of the Fan family's granaries, the warehouse manager saw this and cried out in alarm, "Who are you people? Why are you breaking into my family's granary?"

A Mobile Corps Commander of the Yongwei Camp declared in a loud voice, "By order of the Crown Prince, we are seizing all granaries of families that collude with the enemy and betray the nation. Anyone who dares to resist—death without mercy!"

"Our Fan family's loyalty is plain for all to see! For a hundred years we have made tremendous contributions to the Great Ming!"

"Pfft!"

The Mobile Corps Commander slowly sheathed his sword, kicked the Fan family manager's corpse aside, and roared, "Break the door!"

"Bang! Bang!"—the sound of battering rang out continuously as Yongwei Camp soldiers carried thick, pointed hardwood rams and, chanting work songs, slammed them again and again against the heavy granary gates.

The Fan family retainers guarding the granary had no idea what was happening outside. They snatched up whatever weapons they could and piled up in front of the granary gates. In these chaotic times, grain was more precious than gold, so those guarding the granaries were the Fan family's most loyal retainers.

Before long, the gate burst open with a loud bang. A rank of Yongwei Camp shield-bearers raised their shields and surged in swiftly, while behind them stood rows of Yongwei Camp soldiers in neat formation, gripping firearms.

Seeing men inside the granary holding weapons and preparing to resist, several ranks of Yongwei Camp musketeers fired a volley at the doorway—pop, pop, pop—riddling the Fan retainers inside like sieves, without even giving them a chance to surrender.

This same scene played out before every granary in the New Taicang area, punctuated by the occasional crack of gunfire.

Faced with the Yongwei Camp's ferocious assault, the guards in the Eight Great Shanxi Merchants' granaries could hardly put up any resistance at all. They either died or surrendered—and those who surrendered too slowly were sent straight to meet the King of Hell.

To prevent retainers from launching sneak attacks, Yongwei Camp soldiers searched through the granaries one by one, dragging them out and driving them to the open ground in the middle. Anyone who tried to flee was shown no mercy—each was shot dead.

Before long, another contingent arrived at the New Taicang Granary, several hundred strong. They wore blue-green embroidered uniforms and carried brocade-wrapped sabers.

The men at the head wore bright red flying-fish robes. The moment they reached the New Taicang alley, each led several dozen members of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and charged toward the mansions of the eight traitors.

At the Fan mansion, hearing the bursts of gunfire outside, Fan Yongshan—who had just fallen asleep with his concubine in his arms—suddenly leaped up and shouted, "What's happening at the granary?"

A retainer rushed in, panic-stricken: "Fourth Master, the army has sealed off all our granaries!"

Fan Yongshan gave a start, shoved the concubine—who had just woken and was still clinging to his arm, playfully coaxing him—off the bed without even a glance, and pressed the retainer: "Speak clearly. What exactly is going on?"

"Fourth Master, the court sent troops to seal off all the granaries at New Taicang! The place is crawling with soldiers! Any retainer guarding the granaries who showed the slightest resistance was killed on the spot without a word!"

"They're really playing for keeps?" Fan Yongshan muttered to himself. Without even dressing, bare-chested, he rushed out the door with a large crowd of retainers.

He had just reached the front gate when he suddenly saw a group of Embroidered Uniform Guard members smash through the door and surge inside. Seeing Fan Yongshan and the others, the Chiliarch at their head gave an order, and all the guards pounced forward, cutting down anyone in sight!

Fan Yongshan turned and ran without a second thought. He had no interest in explaining himself—when you run into the Embroidered Uniform Guard, what the hell was there to explain?

Fan Yongshan ordered his retainers to hold the line while he slipped out through the back gate. As long as he escaped the capital and made it back to the Fan family's stronghold in Taiyuan, Shanxi, even the Embroidered Uniform Guard would have no chance of catching him.

Driven by a fierce will to survive, Fan Yongshan ran for his life. He had just burst out of the Fan mansion's back gate when he found it already ringed with soldiers in iron armor—tall, fierce, and burly, every one of them leveling pitch-black muskets, their dark muzzles all trained squarely on him.

Fan Yongshan, sweating profusely from his sprint, felt his hot little heart turn half cold. He forced a faint smile and said, "Gentlemen soldiers, what is the meaning of this?"

None of the soldiers before him answered. Fan Yongshan asked again, and the troops opposite still gave no reply. They simply stood there with their muskets trained on him, leaving him hanging.

Fan Yongshan was deeply frustrated. He desperately wanted to run, but feared that the moment his front foot moved, his back foot would be followed by a volley that would riddle him like a sieve. And so he stood there, bare-chested, under the gaze of a crowd of men, for a long, awkward while.

Just then, the group of Embroidered Uniform Guard members caught up from the back gate. Their bodies were splattered with blood—clearly they had fought fierce battles with the Fan mansion's retainers.

The crowd parted, and Li Tingbiao, resplendent in his flying-fish robe, appeared before Fan Yongshan.

Fan Yongshan looked at this high official of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and said in a trembling voice, "What crime have I committed that you want to arrest me?"

Li Tingbiao barked, "Take this traitorous, nation-selling cur into custody!"

Fan Yongshan immediately cried out, "Nonsense! The Fan family has been merchants for generations, loyal and devoted to the nation! Our righteous hearts can be witnessed by the sun and sky!"

Li Tingbiao sneered coldly: "Save that drivel for the Imperial Prison! Originally, you weren't even qualified to enter the Imperial Prison, but His Highness is merciful—he specially reserved a suite for you eight traitors!"

Fan Yongshan shouted, "We have committed no crime! On what grounds do you seize us? We do not accept this!"

Li Tingbiao barked, "Bind him! Drag him away!"

The one who had brought the Yongwei Camp to surround the Fan mansion was Sun Yingyuan. The Embroidered Uniform Guard had too many people to arrest tonight and was severely short-handed. Zhu Cilang, feeling uneasy, had specifically ordered the Yongwei Camp to dispatch part of its forces to surround the mansions of all eight traitors.

Sun Yingyuan said to Li Tingbiao with a smile, "Brother Li, since the man is caught, we'll withdraw to the granaries."

Li Tingbiao clasped his fists toward Sun Yingyuan and said, "Thank you for your help, General Sun!"

Sun Yingyuan waved a hand and said, "Brother Li is too polite. I'm not trying to help you—if it weren't for the capital, and concern for the Crown Prince's reputation, I would have led my men long ago to slaughter these half-Tartar bastards to the last. When would it ever have been your Embroidered Uniform Guard's turn to act?"

Li Tingbiao gave a helpless smile: "His Highness is also worried about sullying the Yongwei Camp's reputation, isn't he? So the dirty work has to fall to us of the Embroidered Uniform Guard!"

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