Chapter 245: The Gecko Severs Its Tail

The Li clan patriarch, Li Ping, was already past sixty, stooped with age. Though he still held the honorary title of one of the Three Elders, he had long since ceased to care about the affairs of officialdom, his mind set solely on how to keep the clan growing and enduring.

The night before, a clansman, Li Xian, had come to report that the county magistrate and the county commandant needed to discuss a certain local youth who had repeatedly failed to graduate from the academy and was suspected of evading military service—a matter requiring Li Ping to go to the county seat in person to confer.

"There's actually such a thing?"

Li Ping was highly respected in his home district; even the district bailiff would come pay a personal visit if he had business. But a summons from the county magistrate and commandant at least demanded some face be given, so the old man, reluctantly, set off toward the county town in a covered carriage with his son accompanying him. Li Xian volunteered to drive. Along the way, Li Ping chatted idly with this most promising of the clan's younger generation...

"Li Xian, how old is your son, Li Cang?"

"Five."

Li Ping nodded. "I can see that boy is clever, just as you were at his age... You live in the county town and rarely come home. Why not let him come often to the main clan residence, spend more time with his older clan cousins, and pick up some reading and writing along the way."

"I'm grateful for the patriarch's trouble," Li Xian said. Though he did not turn his head, his hands tightened on the driving reins.

They left the village and, upon reaching the familiar Huyang Post, found a squad of crossbow soldiers already waiting there—it was Platoon Chief Xiao Tao and his men.

Seeing the Li clan carriage approach, Xiao Tao nodded to his handpicked subordinates, and they silently closed in, flanking the carriage on both sides as if forming a protective escort.

"The county commandant is too much. I'm no outsider; did coming to the county town really warrant such courtesy?"

Li Ping found it a little odd but took it merely as special treatment from the county and thought nothing more of it.

Gazing at Huyang Post as they passed, he began to reminisce, remarking that he truly hadn't seen it back then—that Heifu would prove so capable, rising from a lowly post chief all the way to Grandee of the Officials. Though his rank was only two hundred bushels and he was still an assistant officer, his standing was far higher than that of any bureau head in the county.

"A pity, though, that the marriage alliance never came to pass."

The old man felt a twinge of regret. After Heifu had refused the proposal last year in the twelfth month, he had sulked for an entire month. Only when he learned that Heifu had been recommended by the commandery commandant for a commandery post did he feel some remorse. He had wanted Li Xian to help arrange a match between his own family and Heifu's younger brother, only to discover that the Yan clan of Yunmeng Village had already beaten them to it...

"Heifu's family may well become this county's third great house, after the Yun and Li clans! Even if my family cannot befriend them, at least we are not enemies." The patriarch could only console himself thus.

They traveled slowly onward. By afternoon, the last post station before the county town was already in distant sight when Li Xian, who had been silent for a long while, suddenly spoke. His terrible words pierced the old man's heart like a sword!

"Patriarch, your secret correspondence with the Dou clan of Chu has been exposed..."

Li Ping thought his old age had made him mishear and stared blankly at Li Xian ahead.

"You... what did you say?"

Li Xian said, "Dou Ran has already confessed everything. The matters the patriarch divulged to Dou Ran in his letters nearly exposed Heifu's identity, nearly caused the feigned surrender at Tongyang to fail, and nearly put Commandery Commandant Li You in mortal danger. Now, with the commandery governor assassinated and Jiangling conducting a massive manhunt for assassins and internal spies, this affair has been thoroughly investigated by the commandery. Commandery officers will come to make arrests any day now. The county magistrate and commandant summoned the patriarch today not for some academy disciple evading military service, but to interrogate you about this!"

The old patriarch was so shocked he nearly lost his seat. It took him a long moment to grasp the implication. Only then did he look again at the soldiers flanking him—what protection! They were clearly escorting him at bow-point, delivering him for trial! And Li Xian, even more so, had been ordered to deceive him!

"Li Xian!"

Once he recovered his senses, Li Ping pointed at this most promising of the younger generation and cursed: "How did I never see it before—you have the heart of a beast!"

"Patriarch, keep your voice down."

Li Xian continued driving steadily and sighed. "If I truly had the heart of a beast, I would not have told the patriarch any of this. The reason I'm telling you is that I want to make one last effort to save the patriarch's sons and grandsons. Does the patriarch know what crime it is to act as an internal spy and to collude with the feudal lords?"

Li Ping had, after all, served as a district Three Elder and understood Qin law. The Statute on Banditry stated that for plotting rebellion or acting as an internal spy for an enemy state, apart from the offender being cut in two at the waist, their parents, wife, children, and siblings—regardless of age—were all to be executed without exception. As for the crime of colluding with the feudal lords, the offender would be executed in the marketplace, while their parents, wife, children, and siblings would be tattooed and condemned to hard labor as wall-builders and grain-pounders!

Judging by the current situation, he might perhaps clear himself of the internal spy charge, but "colluding with the feudal lords" was inescapable. Li Ping could already see the fate awaiting himself and his family.

Li Ping looked at the county soldiers escorting him all around, and at his eldest son up ahead, still completely in the dark, and knew there was absolutely no escape today. Somewhat dejectedly, he asked, "How do you plan to save them?"

"If, among the parents, wife, children, and siblings, someone reports the crime to the authorities in advance, they can be spared from the punishment of collective liability."

"Patriarch, if you want your sons and grandsons to escape blame, then when we stop at Ten-Li Post to use the latrine, instruct them to go into the county town and be the first to denounce you!"

Li Xian stopped the carriage and, for the first time, turned around to look directly into Li Ping's despairing eyes. He bowed with clasped hands and said:

"Let this be Li Xian's repayment for the patriarch's teachings and care since I was a child!"

An hour later, inside the Anlu County office compound, a dramatic scene unfolded.

Just as Li Ping and his eldest son stepped into the hall, and the county magistrate, assistant magistrate, right commandant, and left commandant exchanged glances, preparing to spring their trap, Li Ping's son suddenly threw himself to the ground and declared on the spot that he was reporting his father for having secret correspondence with the Dou clan of Chu!

"This matter was actually first discovered by me, and I reported Li Xian..."

Li Ping's eldest son's eyes were red. Though his heart felt as if it were bleeding, earlier in the latrine, his father had practically knelt to him, leaving him no choice but to recite the lines Li Xian had taught him...

County Right Commandant Zheng Shou cast a meaningful glance at the silent Li Xian. "If one reports to the authorities first, all those implicated shall be absolved"—there was something fishy here... But since Li Ping had smoothly walked right into the trap, he said nothing.

"Unfilial wretch!"

Li Ping, as if he had not anticipated this turn, raised his turtledove-headed staff with a trembling hand and brought it down heavily on his son, striking him again and again as old tears streamed down his face.

He recalled how, decades ago, when Qin had seized Anlu, several Li clan sons who had resisted the Qin forces under the Ruo'ao clan's orders had returned home wounded, only to be bound up by the clan patriarch at the time—Li Ping's own grandfather.

His grandfather had personally cut off their heads and presented them to the Qin army as a token of his sincerity in surrendering.

Li Ping, then not even ten years old, had stared at those bloody heads, utterly stunned.

Afterward, his grandfather had sighed and told him that for local clans and great houses like theirs, survival or extinction involved hundreds, even thousands of lives. It had long ceased to be a matter of one man's loyalty or the honor and disgrace of a few.

"Do you see that gecko?"

He still remembered his grandfather pointing at a gecko crawling on the dim wall. Suddenly, his grandfather reached out and seized the gecko's tail! Startled, the gecko released a foul, sour mess and then violently snapped off its tail, darting forward swiftly and vanishing into a crack in the wall...

"Those clansmen who were beheaded—they were this gecko's tail."

His grandfather, his hand soiled, picked up the still-writhing tail and showed it to Li Ping. "Only by sacrificing some can the clan endure."

Over centuries of development, every clan had learned the trick of "the gecko severing its tail"—when the clan was threatened, they sacrificed a portion of their members.

But Li Ping had never imagined that a day would come when it would be his turn to become the severed tail...

After being pulled away by the officers, he turned to the four county officials and bowed angrily. "The statutes say: when a son reports his parents, a wife reports her parents-in-law, or a slave reports their master or their master's parents, wife, and children—these are not public indictments. They shall not be heard, and the accuser shall be executed in the marketplace. I implore you gentlemen to execute this unfilial wretch of mine in the marketplace! I have no such son!"

At this, County Left Commandant Yun Man, who had been watching coldly for some time, spoke up: "Sir Li claims to be well-versed in the statutes, yet you are so aged you've forgotten the clause that follows. The statutes also say: for crimes such as using a city, town, post, or fortress to rebel, surrendering to the feudal lords, acting as an internal spy, or colluding with the feudal lords—these are not subject to that restriction!"

Watching the farce before him, Anlu County Left Commandant Yun Man could not help but feel amused.

Two tigers cannot share one mountain. Though he had no major conflict with the Li clan, they had never been on good terms. To see this old fossil, who always looked down his nose at him, meet such an end—abandoned by family and followers alike—was deeply satisfying to Yun Man.

"It seems coming to the county office today wasn't entirely fruitless."

He recalled how, at noon, when he received the notice summoning him to the office, his suspicious nephew, Yun Xiong, had blocked his path and earnestly pleaded: "Uncle, please think this over carefully. This matter is highly suspicious. Li Xian is Heifu's trusted man—what could he be after, suddenly reporting his own clan patriarch? And how did the Li clan suddenly acquire a charge of colluding with the feudal lords? Could it be that their dealings with Dou Ran have been discovered? If so, it might implicate our family as well! Uncle, you must not go rashly!"

Yun Xiong knew all too well that their own family was not clean either. Before the war between Qin and Chu broke out, they had traded frequently with Chu, exchanging leather and feathers for the gold and tin that Nan Commandery lacked. But in recent years, with the two states at odds, they had greatly reined themselves in. After hearing that Dou Ran of the Ruo'ao clan had been captured, they had not dared to take a single step out of line.

However, because Dou Ran had been secretly transported to Nan Commandery and only a handful of people knew about the interrogation, Yun Man was still under the impression that Dou Ran remained detained in Nanyang Commandery.

So he said dismissively, "Douran has been captured for over half a year already. If the matter had leaked, an Inspector would have come with commandery troops to our door long ago. Now it's only Liping being denounced by his own family — dogs biting dogs. The Li clan is at least a local magnate; this affair has already alarmed the County Magistrate and the County Deputy. Now the three senior officials are to jointly interrogate Liping and have summoned me. How could I possibly be absent?"

With this mindset, Yunman took his seat in the official temple. His old rival was now a prisoner in the dock — the feeling pleased him immensely.

But that feeling was fleeting. What followed next was the fox grieving at the hare's death.

Though he had told his nephew not to worry, that their own household would be fine, Yunman was still deeply afraid of reprisal from Heifu.

He now regretted it beyond measure — why had he made such an enemy in the first place, and then failed to crush him with a single slap? Now that scoundrel's backer and patron was even tougher than his own family's.

"Fortunately, the Li clan got into trouble first. At least that will draw the commandery's attention..."

Just as Yunman thought the day's business was over with Liping's arrest, the County Right Commandant Zheng Shou, after a few whispered words from the Commandant Clerk Li Xian, suddenly rose, stopped everyone from leaving, and announced something.

"There is one more matter that has not yet been reported to the County Magistrate and County Deputy. The commandery already knows of this case and has dispatched a Grand Master to conduct a thorough investigation. He has now arrived outside the city."

At these words, the County Magistrate and County Deputy were greatly surprised, and Yunman's face changed drastically.

Wait — from the commandery seat to Anlu takes at least ten days on foot. How could a Grand Master sent from the commandery already be outside the city?

That meant this case had been investigated at the commandery level first?

Only then did it suddenly dawn on him: at some point, a squad of county soldiers bearing crossbows had taken up position outside the main hall of the official temple, standing by the door. Their eyes were not fixed on Liping, but on him! And that Li Xian, Heifu's trusted man, was also watching him with a faint, mocking smile.

Yunman sensed grave danger. Sweat beaded on his forehead, but before he could excuse himself to the privy and slip away, a burst of footsteps sounded from outside.

The "Grand Master" the County Right Commandant had spoken of had arrived!

Seeing that escape was now impossible, Yunman could only rack his brains, frantically guessing who this Grand Master might be. His family had wide connections, and they had ties with everyone of the Grand Master rank and above.

By now, the arrivals had reached the lintel of the hall. They came with a great entourage — quite a crowd! And walking at the very front was, unmistakably, a dark-faced Qin official wearing a double-paneled tall cap. Only the black tassel beneath his chin had been replaced with a yellow one...

Yunman's eyes nearly burst from their sockets. That Qin official — who else could it be but Heifu?! Since when had he become a Grand Master!

Heifu held his sword with one hand and raised high the official dispatch tablet the commandery had issued him with the other. He strode into the hall, and everyone present, including the County Magistrate, rose and bowed to him — for Heifu bore the commandery's mandate!

"By order of the Commandery Governor and the Commandery Commandant!"

Heifu swept his gaze over the assembly. All were familiar old faces, and all, except Yunman, bowed with clasped hands to receive his orders.

"Pursuant to a thorough investigation by the Prison Section and the Bandit Section, Yunman and Liping are suspected of illicit dealings with a foreign state, having engaged in treasonable intercourse with the Chu state's Duke Hu Douran that exceeded the proper bonds between lord and vassal. Left Arms Section Clerk Heifu is hereby ordered to arrest the two and deliver them to Jiangling for trial!"

Having spoken, he turned to Yunman, who had neither bowed nor saluted and whose face had been ashen as death the entire time, and said with a smile, "Lord Yun, don't just stand there in a daze. Hand over your official seal, cap, and robes — all of them — and come with me for a little trip!"

(Chapter 2 in the evening)

PS: "Statutes of the Second Year: Statutes on Banditry": Those who use walled cities, towns, or frontier watchtowers to revolt, surrender to the feudal lords, or who, when defending such places against attacking feudal lords, fail to hold firm and abandon them or surrender, as well as those who plot rebellion — all shall be executed by waist-cut. Their parents, wives, children, and siblings, regardless of age, shall all be publicly executed in the marketplace. If those implicated in the rebellion can arrest all co-conspirators, or preemptively inform the authorities, all implicated persons shall be exempted from punishment.

"Statutes of the Second Year: Statutes on Theft": Those who abduct persons or plot to abduct persons for ransom — even if they have not yet succeeded or carried out the abduction — shall all be torn apart by chariots. Their wives and children shall be punished and made wall-builders and grain-pounders. If the wives and children who are implicated can arrest all co-conspirators, or inform the authorities so that the authorities capture them, all implicated persons shall be exempted from punishment.

(End of chapter)