Chapter 240: Shall Shine a Thousand Li

"I report to the Commandery Governor: the Arms Section has withdrawn all soldiers from every part of the city, and the evening market has opened as usual."

In the afternoon, after completing the tasks the Commandery Governor had assigned, Heifu returned to the Governor's residence to report. When he had come that morning, Governor Ye, already awake, was loudly cursing Chief Clerk Lu Dang for being a "muddle-headed fool" and had ordered Heifu to withdraw the soldiers outside, relax the armed patrols and searches in the city streets and alleys, and let Jiangling City return to normal.

This was in fact a strategy of outward relaxation and inward tension: the Arms Section still dispatched large numbers of soldiers to guard every city gate, while the Bandit Section pressed on urgently with arresting the assassins' accomplices…

"What is the public sentiment among the common people?"

Ye Teng, dressed in everyday clothes with his leg wrapped in hemp bandages, lay on a sickbed attended by two maidservants, yet he was not idle. He had a clerical assistant holding bamboo scrolls, continuing to read them aloud to him while he gave corresponding instructions, and officers from various sections came and went to request his decisions.

Heifu replied, "The news that the Commandery Governor appeared at the government office at noon has already spread, and the people are no longer buzzing with speculation."

Ye Teng's complexion was not good. He let out a breath and said, "Accumulated feathers can sink a boat; many light things can break an axle; when all mouths speak with one voice, even metal and stone can be melted. The human heart is the hardest thing to fathom. If the authorities appear too nervous, it will only make people suspect that I am gravely wounded or dead, giving the villains an opening to exploit."

"The Commandery Governor speaks truly."

Ye Teng then raised his eyes. "Regarding the assassins' accomplices, has anything been discovered?"

Heifu said, "The Arms Section, the Bandit Section, and the Prison Section are working jointly on the case and have already arrested several people who may have aided the assassins. Though it has not yet been fully verified, we infer that the mastermind behind this matter is very likely the Chu State!"

This was an era of rampant assassins, from Zhuan Zhu's assassination of King Liao of Wu, Yu Rang's attempt on Zhao Xiangzi, and Nie Zheng's killing of Xia Lei centuries ago, to Jing Ke's attempt on the King of Qin just a few years prior — assassinating political rivals and eliminating enemy heads of state was a proven and effective method.

"The Chu State?"

Ye Teng, however, laughed, showing not the slightest fear but rather a touch of contempt — disdain for those who sought to take his life.

"This old man has experienced no small number of assassination attempts in this lifetime. Back when I led the Qin army into Xinzheng, the princes of the Han royal clan, hating me for betraying the state, hired reckless swordsmen with a hundred gold pieces to assassinate me. In those years, men coming to my door seeking my head were an unending stream on the road."

"After I came to Nan Commandery as Governor, because I brought those clans who ran rampant and broke the law in the localities to justice, the local powerful chiefs and great clans sent their retainers to assassinate me. The most dangerous time, the sword was only a few feet from me…"

"And now, even the Chu State wants to kill me. The Chu nobles, who pride themselves as descendants of Zhurong, can only think of such a base method to finish this old man?"

He could not help but laugh heartily, stopping only when the pain in his leg cut the laughter short.

Heifu responded, "Last month, Chu incited the Ba people to rebel and fiercely attacked Yiling with overwhelming momentum. Had the Commandery Governor not been stationed at Jiangling, swiftly dispatching soldiers and officers to reinforce them, I fear the Chu people would not have given up so readily. Add to that the Commandery Governor's impeccable governance of Nan Commandery — the Chu people fear the Commandery Governor, and that is why they are desperate to eliminate you!"

This was not flattery; the facts were indeed so. Heifu had been at his post in the commandery for several months now, and although Governor Ye's methods of political maneuvering and his way of employing people gave Heifu a somewhat uncomfortable sense of constraint, Ye Teng as a regional grand administrator was flawless in his performance. He caught bandits and thieves, pruned the great clans, rectified official conduct, promoted agriculture, and encouraged sericulture. Over the course of a few years, the governance of Nan Commandery was completely renewed.

This year, Ye Teng had also boldly employed methods of composting and retting fertilizer and promoted the water-powered trip hammer. Any other commandery governor would have been unlikely to combine the two qualities of meticulous caution and swift decisiveness.

A general who betrayed his mother state and then led an army to destroy it, a traitorous minister whose morality was widely condemned — yet he was precisely a capable and effective official. This was worlds apart from the later standard of an "incorruptible official." Such a minister would never be entrusted with heavy responsibility again except by an extremely self-assured sovereign.

When Heifu finished his official duties and returned to the Commandery Commandant's residence in Ying County, Li You was also there, discussing with Feng Jing and Heifu the Commandery Governor's composure in the face of assassination and his unhurried handling of the aftermath.

Hearing from Heifu that the Commandery Governor had already resumed work, Li You sighed and said, "I once heard my father tell a story. It was over a hundred years ago, when King Wei of Qi and King Hui of Wei made an appointment to hunt together. During that time, the two rulers began comparing their respective treasures. King Hui of Wei said that he possessed ten Sui Marquis pearls, each capable of illuminating twelve chariots in front and twelve behind. Qi is a state of ten thousand chariots — what treasures, he wondered, did it possess?"

"King Wei of Qi replied that the things he regarded as treasures were quite different from those of the King of Wei. Qi has a minister named Tanzi: send him to guard Xue City, and the Chu people dare not raid the border, while all twelve lords of the Si River region come to pay court. Qi has a minister named Panzi: send him to guard Gaotang, and the Zhao people dare not fish east of the river. Qi has a minister named Qianfu: send him to guard Wudi, and the Yan people sacrifice at the north gate, the Zhao people sacrifice at the west gate, and over seven thousand households migrate and join Qi. Qi has a minister named Zhongshou: send him to guard against bandits and thieves, and on the roads of Linzi no one picks up lost articles."

"King Wei of Qi said, 'These four men, they shall shine a thousand li — how could they merely illuminate twelve chariots?'"

Having finished, Li You said with admiration, "Commandery Governor Ye can benefit the people's livelihood, guard against bandits and thieves, and maintain military preparedness. The officials respect him, the commoners love him, the powerful chiefs fear him, and the enemy state dreads him. Is he not Qin's Tanzi, Panzi, Qianfu, and Zhongshou? He is a pillar minister, one who shall shine across the thousand li of Nan Commandery. No wonder His Majesty said that in coming to Nan Commandery as Commandery Commandant, I should learn much from Commandery Governor Ye…"

Li You recalled how on the day of the assassination he himself had been briefly dazed and at a loss, and could not help feeling ashamed. By this comparison, he was still too young and lacking in wisdom.

"If every superior were as domineering and clever as Ye Teng, would he leave any room for the people below him to live?"

Heifu voiced his assent, but inwardly he was grumbling to himself.

Just then, the Bandit Section Clerk hurriedly came to the door and reported excitedly to Li You, "Commandery Commandant, the assassins' accomplices have been caught!"

Li You's spirits were roused — this was the matter of greatest concern to him at present — and he immediately ordered the Bandit Section Clerk to report in person.

The Bandit Section Clerk said, "We have found that there were five assassins in total, most of them posing as merchants or hired farmhands entering the city. Their identification tallies and travel permits were all forged."

Although Qin had a strict household registration system, the methods were, after all, too primitive. An ordinary person forging an identity document would be seen through at a glance, just like that youth who impersonated Feng Jing's younger brother and swindled his way around Nanyang Commandery. But if it was an enemy state's spy, using certain methods, they could produce forgeries that were indistinguishable from the real thing.

"Apart from the two assassins who died that day, three more were arrested while trying to slip out of the city. Two resisted and were killed on the spot; the remaining one, after a day of torture, has spilled everything!"

"The five assassins came from the Chu State, but within Jiangling City, there were also people who gave them aid! So far we have found a diviner-shaman and two soldiers who were on duty that day, all of whom had contact with the assassins. The three have been arrested and have all confessed. The shaman claims he was resentful of the Commandery Governor for banning illicit cults; the two soldiers had taken bribes…"

At this point, Heifu spoke up.

"This matter will by no means end here!"

Everyone looked at him, and Heifu explained, "This assassination was surely planned over a long period. From forging identities for these Chu assassins, to providing crossbow weapons that are strictly forbidden among the common people, to being able to scout the Commandery Governor's travel route in advance… no single part of this is something ordinary people could accomplish!"

He said to Li You, "This subordinate, in the Wu Sunzi that the Commandery Governor lent me, read the chapter on the use of spies, which distinguishes among native spies, internal spies, double spies, expendable spies, and surviving spies. So-called native spies are those who use villagers of the enemy state as spies. So-called internal spies are those who use officials of the enemy side as spies!"

"What the Bandit Section has uncovered so far are nothing more than ordinary native spies — mere gnats and mosquitoes. But in my view, the true bloodsucking leeches have yet to be tracked down!"

Li You's expression grew grave. "You mean that within Jiangling City, there may be internal spies of Chu?"

"Not just Jiangling. This subordinate believes that in the other counties of Nan Commandery as well, there are not a few officials and powerful chiefs who, for various reasons, remain entangled with the Chu people and have become internal spies for Chu! They may occupy high positions, hiding among the many Qin officials, appearing no different from ordinary officers, yet in reality they are writing letters to betray the true state of the commandery and counties, aiding and sheltering assassins and spies! They may even be ready at any moment, when the Chu army attacks, to kill the officials, open the gates, and surrender!"

Having spoken, Heifu bowed again and implored earnestly, "It is now midsummer, and the Qin and Chu states have already begun hostilities in Nan Commandery. To prevent more assassins from leaping forth to assassinate the Commandery Governor and Commandery Commandant, and to prevent the true state of Nan Commandery from being fully known to the Chu people, this matter must be investigated to the very bottom, and not a single internal spy let slip!"

PS: The second chapter will be in the evening, quite late. No time to make up the missed update today; we'll talk about it tomorrow.

(End of chapter)