Chapter 231: Sing Before, Dance After

"The Ba people rebelled because the officials broke faith first?"

The sky was gradually darkening. Torches on the city wall were lit, and Yidao's war preparations proceeded methodically under the county clerks' organization. The county soldiers nervously watched the upper reaches of the Yi River, while Hei Fu also learned from Ba Zhong the "inside story" of this Yidao Ba rebellion.

Ba Zhong said, "Indeed. The leader, chieftain Fan Qin, claims that Yidao's officials originally agreed with the local Ba tribes that each tribe would count its people, and every Ba person would pay 56 cong coins as a labor-service substitute tax, so they would not be conscripted for corvée labor..."

Hei Fu knew that "cong" was what the Ba called money. This sum was levied as a "corvée substitute tax." In addition, each household paid a poll tax of eight zhang and two chi of cloth, which, converted according to the Statute on Gold and Cloth, was worth about 113 coins — less than half of the Qin people's head tax of 240 coins per person. As for the thirty pheasant tail feathers used for arrow fletching, for the Yidao Ba, who mainly fished and hunted, it was no difficult matter either.

The economic burden borne by the Yidao Ba was far lighter than that of ordinary registered households. This was Qin's conciliatory policy to stabilize the frontier, which had ensured that no major rebellion occurred in Yidao over the past several decades.

Ba Zhong continued, "However, last year, when Qin and Chu fought at Qingyang and Chanling, Yidao was short on manpower and temporarily conscripted the various tribes to serve as garrison soldiers to fight the Chu people. At that time, a minor chieftain named Fan You was serving at Chanling. Hearing that his wife was about to give birth, he fled with his fifty men. Afterward, the Yidao County Commandant led men to arrest Fan You and brought him back to Yidao, handing him over to the County Assistant and the Prison Clerk for trial."

The Prison Clerk was right there. Hei Fu called him over. As soon as the matter was mentioned, the Prison Clerk's expression turned awkward. "I indeed adjudicated this case. Since Fan You and his subordinates had already been conscripted as garrison soldiers and had accepted the conscription documents, they were to be regarded as soldiers under the Commandant's jurisdiction, regardless of whether they were barbarians. They failed to reach the garrison post and fled midway — this already violated military law."

That Ba chieftain named Fan You did not simply wait for death either. Although he did not understand the law, he found a "Xia son" who understood Qin law to defend him. They invoked the Statute on Dependent States and the Statute on Barbarians, which Qin used to govern minority peoples, arguing that the statutes clearly allowed the Ba to be exempt from labor service, and that chieftains who broke the law could have their crimes reduced. Therefore, even if he was to be punished, a fine would suffice...

The Prison Clerk, however, said, "That may be so, but the Statute on Barbarians only mentions exemption from corvée labor, not exemption from garrison service, and the Statute on Dependent States does not pardon capital crimes. Moreover, the authorities had already issued conscription orders. Fan You and his men, as garrison soldiers, were to be governed by the Statute on Garrison Service. Fleeing is a crime and must be severely punished! In the end, the Yidao county court could not decide this case and reported it up to the commandery court, requesting the commandery's ruling..."

Hearing the Prison Clerk's account, Hei Fu now understood the whole sequence of events. Looking at the entire trial process, it was legally proper and fair in procedure: after Fan You was brought to justice, the Yidao officials, during the interrogation, cross-examination (refutation and debate), pronouncement (the judge reading the conclusions of the court investigation), and appeal (reporting upward for sentencing deliberation), all focused on the party's act of "absconding" and the relevant provisions of the Statute on Garrison Service.

The person the defendant had brought to assist in his defense argued by citing the legal articles of the Statute on Barbarians and the Statute on Dependent States. In the end, when the Yidao officials could not determine the defendant's crime and punishment, they reported it upward as a doubtful case according to the appeal procedure.

On the third day of the first month of this year, the Nan Commandery Assistant rendered his verdict, sentencing Fan You to be cut in half at the waist. The fifty men who had fled with Fan You were also all captured and beheaded as deserters...

This case, which killed over fifty Ba people, was like throwing a large rock into a pond already on the verge of overflowing — it instantly raised towering waves!

In the eyes of the Qin officials in Nan Commandery and Yidao, they had merely executed a group of lawbreakers according to the statutes. But in the eyes of the Ba, this was utterly incomprehensible. They believed they had been deceived by Qin — the promised benefits of labor exemption and crime reduction were all lies!

Chu envoys seized this moment and entered the various tribes to lobby them. The Ba chieftains heard that Qin had suffered a great defeat north of the Huai River last year, losing seven Colonels. Counting on their fingers, they figured that Nan Commandery's troops amounted to no more than three or four Commandants at most! So they hardened their hearts and actually rebelled against Qin to join Chu.

So, this was a rebellion triggered by a single lawsuit...

Ba Zhong nodded and said, "That is why, when Fan Qin agitated the Ba to rebel against Qin, his pretext was Qin's perfidy and avenging his blood kin."

As a Ba himself, Ba Zhong strongly advocated that both sides should ideally not fight. So he was still trying to persuade Hei Fu: "Left Scribe of the Troops Section, from my rough observation, it is mainly Fan You's elder brother Fan Qin who is fiercely agitating. Not all chieftains wish to oppose Qin. If you let me go and lobby them again, perhaps I can make many change their minds..."

"There is no time."

Hei Fu shook his head. "If it were before today, there might still be room. But now that the Yidao County Magistrate and County Commandant are both dead, this dead knot is tied tighter and tighter. You have been running around all day. Go down and rest first. The matter of persuading surrender can be discussed later."

After letting Ba Zhong go down to rest, Hei Fu said to the Hundred-Man Commander and county clerks on the city wall, "The Ba have just won an ambush, killing the County Magistrate and County Commandant. They are bound to be arrogant from victory. Sending someone to urge surrender now would have little effect and would instead make the authorities look cowardly. When the Ba come to attack the city, deal them a head-on blow! Let the various Ba tribes know that breaking the city is wishful thinking. When reinforcements arrive the day after tomorrow and the Ba begin to feel regret, then send someone to offer amnesty. Only then can the tribes be made to crumble..."

The clerks all deeply agreed. Just then, someone shouted, "Firelight in the distance!"

Hei Fu and the others turned to look and saw a great mass of light moving this way from the upper reaches of the Yi River. Every hamlet they passed along the way, they set ablaze. One village after another ignited, as if they were signal fires being lit...

"Thankfully, the Left Scribe of the Troops Section had already sent people to bring those Qin folk into the city." The County Assistant and Prison Clerk and the others felt a lingering fear.

Hei Fu said, "The Ba's morale is high, and they have Chu people aiding them. They certainly won't wait until tomorrow morning to attack the city."

As he spoke, he carefully counted the approximate number of those torches. There were nearly a thousand. Calculated by the Qin army's rule of one torch per squad of five, that would be four to five thousand men, wouldn't it? The total number of able-bodied adult males across all the Yidao Ba tribes was roughly that figure, right? Of course, they might also be deliberately stretching out their marching column to make the numbers appear larger, to intimidate the city's defenders.

To be prepared, Hei Fu also said to the clerks beside him, "Have the elderly and women below the city wall hurry and prepare materials for defending the city!"

Even after mustering all the able-bodied men in the city, they only had just over a thousand. To withstand an assault by so many enemies would still be somewhat strenuous. They had to turn the entire populace into soldiers to hold this small city.

As they spoke, the Ba drew closer and closer. Illuminated by the blazing torches, it seemed as if the entire Yi River was burning. In a daze, the tiny Yidao city seemed like a solitary reef in a boundless, endless river of flowing fire, trying to resist its tide. An indescribable pressure spread through everyone's hearts.

The Ba vanguard had already reached the moat outside the city. Their appearance and dress were much the same as the Ba Hei Fu had seen on Ba Zhong's boat: all were either barefoot, with crude cloth or animal skins wrapped around their waists, their hair in mallet-shaped buns or cut short.

These warriors held wooden shields in one hand and willow-leaf spears or willow-leaf swords in the other. At the loud shouts of the various tribal chieftains, they halted before the moat. But unlike the deathly silence before a Qin army assault, every man struck his shield with his sword, shouting in the Ba language while dancing and gesticulating wildly...

Though it looked utterly chaotic, with such numbers, it possessed an extraordinary momentum.

Amid the clamorous demonstration, the faces of those around him all turned rather grim. A few even involuntarily stepped back half a pace...

Hei Fu also grew solemn. "A thousand sing, ten thousand join in chorus; the mountains and hills tremble for it, the valleys ripple for it... So these are the legendary Ba warriors who sing before and dance after?"

At that moment, the Ba automatically parted to both sides. A mounted Ba chieftain wearing a flamboyant feather crown and draped in leopard skin came before the moat. Though his features were unclear in the night, the man held a willow-leaf spear high in one hand, and impaled on the spear tip was a bloody human head...

"That man is Fan Qin."

The County Assistant, gnashing his teeth, spoke from the side. Then he rubbed his eyes, stared at that head, and said in horror, "That head, could it be..."

It was indeed the Yidao County Magistrate!

Fan Qin bellowed in the Ba language, laughing heartily at the same time. The Ba behind him also leaped and danced with him, even more jubilant and boisterous, as if they were not going to a battlefield but attending a festival.

The Prison Clerk, who understood both languages, translated for Hei Fu: "Fan Qin says he has come today to avenge his younger brother Fan You, who was treacherously executed by Qin officials! If the people in the city wish to live, they must surrender at once! Otherwise, the Yidao County Magistrate and County Assistant will be their fate!"

"Tell him!"

Hei Fu looked at the arrogant Fan Qin below the wall and the singing and dancing Ba, and said to everyone on the wall, "Qin has generals who expand the realm and open new lands, but no officials who abandon territory and surrender to barbarians! We would rather be shattered jade than intact tile. Tonight's affair — only a fight to the death!"

PS: Sorry it's a bit late. I'll try to get the second chapter out before 12. The case prototype in this chapter is selected from the Book of Submitted Doubtful Cases in the Zhangjiashan Han bamboo slips, which occurred in the 11th year of Emperor Gaozu of Han (196 BC) in Yidao, Nan Commandery.

(End of Chapter)