Chapter 502: He Who Steals a Hook Is Executed

"I refuse to accept this."

When Zhou Gao, still completely in the dark, was summoned to the hall in high spirits, hoping to act as matchmaker between the Commandery Governor and the Tian Guang family, he was stunned to find no cheerful clinking of cups and convivial harmony — only the Tian clan patriarch pinned to the ground.

While still in shock, he too was trussed up tightly on Cao Can's orders and shoved before Heifu.

Now everything became clear. Zhou Gao, that old campaigner, felt the fury of one who has been deceived. He lifted his head stubbornly and repeated those words: "I refuse to accept this!"

Heifu sat behind the desk and said, "You took bribes and embezzled, violating the statutes. The evidence is conclusive, and you yourself confessed. The statutes say: one who takes a single coin in bribes shall be dismissed from office; a keeper who steals from his charge, where the value reaches ten jin of gold, shall be executed in the marketplace. This official detains you — what is there to refuse?"

Zhou Gao retorted, "Commandery Governor, don't bother citing statutes at me. That day, you spoke to me of how the character for 'official' has two mouths, and that taking bribes is a kind of flexibility. From what I heard, the Commandery Governor is well-versed in that way himself! I've also heard that the Commandery Governor, though young, already has a household worth a thousand jin of gold. I refuse to believe you have never embezzled. You and I are both men who love wealth. If the Commandery Governor wishes to punish me, why not first judge himself?"

"Insolence!" Cao Can beside him was furious and wanted to have this wretch's tongue cut out to stop him from biting people recklessly.

Heifu stopped Cao Can, however, set down his brush, and paced over to Zhou Gao. He smiled and said, "You're not wrong. I am young and my household has amassed a thousand jin. I'm ashamed to say I truly did exploit loopholes in the statutes — opening businesses in my mother's name and having relatives manage them on my behalf. Over these few years, from His Majesty down to the common people, everyone knows that the so-called Tang enterprise is the Wei enterprise. Due to my status and reputation, the customs markets dared not make trouble, and petty clerks dared not offend, so the way was cleared all along. Brown sugar was thus able to spread throughout the land — there was a bit of leveraging my authority to overawe others, true."

At this, Heifu's expression turned stern: "But I dare say this: every coin my family earned, every single transaction, was a willing sale and a willing purchase, profits accumulated bit by bit. I neither embezzled the fat and marrow of the people, nor stole from what was in my charge. Moreover, while securing my household, I did not neglect the government offices. The cane fields and sugar workshops in Nan Commandery and Yuzhang provided livelihoods for many local people and increased tax revenue for the local government — beneficial to all under heaven and doing no harm. In these ten years of official career, above I have not failed my sovereign, below I have not cheated the people! I walk upright and sit straight!"

"The Way of the Official says: 'Incorruptible and free of greed — this is the excellence of an official. Holding office and being fond of taking, esteeming goods and valuables over integrity, securing one's household while forgetting the government — this is the failing of an official.' I possess the excellence of an official; you possess the failing of an official. I am certainly qualified to bring you to justice by the statutes — to rid Jiaodong of a great pest!"

Zhou Gao's mouth opened and closed, speechless. In the end, he could only hang his head and say in a low voice, "I have nothing to say. But Commandery Governor, just as you told me that day — far from Guanzhong, to think one can govern the regions strictly by the statutes is absolutely impossible!"

"It is true that I took money and goods from Tian Guang and his son. But even if I hadn't taken them, could the government-run salt works have turned a profit? They would have fallen into ruin just the same under the harassment of sea raiders. I had neither the manpower to smash the illegal salt operations, nor could I do anything about those Qi fishermen-raiders who come and go like the wind on their boats. What's more, without cooperating with the Tian clan, the officials I sent into the countryside could not even measure the size of the fields, nor could they collect the land taxes!"

"Even if I were, as the Commandery Governor says, incorruptible and free of greed, never failing my sovereign above — what then? Would the people below, those Qi folk, see me as their father-and-mother official? So long as the court's taxes are not reduced by a single day, and the poll taxes and corvée are not relaxed, they will forever see Qin officials as greedy rats, thinking day and night of driving us out!"

Zhou Gao felt utterly wronged in his heart. The commandery's annual reporting deadlines pressed hard; if he failed to deliver enough, he would be reprimanded and lose his post.

After much thought, sticking to principle would end up pleasing neither side. Better to cooperate with the local powerful and great clans, rely on them to govern the commandery and counties, and at least satisfy the annual reports. As for what happened below — so long as no rebellion broke out — once his term ended, he could pat his backside and leave, letting the next county magistrate worry about it!

This was the "Way of the Official" that countless Qin officials learned after being air-dropped into Guandong.

A thousand-li dyke collapses from an ant hole. Once compromise begins, it cannot be stopped. So what Heifu faced was not just one or two greedy rats, but the Qin laws and Qin officials themselves, gone to waste and corrupted by maladaptation.

"Oranges grown south of the Huai are oranges; grown north of the Huai, they become trifoliate oranges. The leaves are similar, but the fruit's taste is different. Why is this so? The water and soil differ..."

Heifu could not help recalling this passage from Yanzi's Embassy to Chu. How to solve it — that was truly a great conundrum.

Zhou Gao also understood that no matter what he said, he was doomed. He lifted his head and said:

"Commandery Governor, do not forget — in Xiami, in Jiaodong, I am not the only one who has embezzled. Can the Commandery Governor arrest every last one of them?"

Heifu's face was stern: "Those who took bribes from the Tian clan of Yeyi will naturally all be severely punished."

Along his journey, he had seen clearly: the officials of Yeyi and Xiami had been thoroughly corrupted over the past five years, like a tree whose roots have rotted. Merely pruning the insect-infested branches is useless — they must all be pulled out!

Zhou Gao laughed, however: "The Commandery Governor also said that if you sweep away all the officials of Jiaodong, who will you use to govern the people? What of those half-built traveling palaces, roads, and gold mines? When His Majesty comes on his eastern tour, what he sees will likely be a complete mess! The Commandery Governor's attempt to curry favor will fail, and you will bring disaster upon yourself instead!"

Heifu laughed heartily: "You lot as officials were hoodwinked by the lower-level local clerks anyway, with government orders never reaching the ground. With you or without you, what difference is there? As for His Majesty's eastern tour..."

"One who welcomes the honored must hold a broom. If I do not sweep this house of Jiaodong clean inside and out, and exterminate vermin like you, am I to let you continue harming the region, embezzling government property, merely throwing a cloth over it and pretending Jiaodong is bright and clean, thereby deceiving His Majesty?"

Heifu had thought it through very clearly: rather than be timid and constrained, afraid to act for fear of collateral damage, it was better to risk breaking the vessels and drive the rats out.

With that, he waved his hand impatiently and ordered Cao Can to take the man away and interrogate him thoroughly. They must get to the root of it, make it a major case, an ironclad case — sweep the Xiami officialdom clean, so he could install people he trusted and firmly control this treasure trove that produced Quzhan salt...

"As I said before — sweep the house clean before inviting guests!"

Afterward, Heifu had Tian Guang brought forward and announced his crimes: bribing government officials, colluding with rebel factions, bringing in sea raiders, harassing the salt works, plundering government property, privately boiling and selling salt, and conspiring with the gallants of Chunyu to assassinate the Commandery Governor!

In short, he had committed the crimes of bribery, organized banditry, fomenting disorder, and plotting rebellion. Extermination of his three clans was unavoidable.

Tian Guang, however, acted as though he had heard a great joke. He beat his head on the ground and laughed uproariously:

"Organized banditry? Rebellion? The Commandery Governor jests well. This Yeyi was originally the fief my family received for our service in restoring the state. Three generations built it up over more than fifty years — it is tantamount to a house bearing our family's name."

"The ten thousand households under these eaves were also our family's dependents. I have remembered my grandfather's words: respect and love them, lighten corvée and reduce taxes, let them flourish and multiply, making Yeyi prosperous, no less than Jimo. And the Xiami salt works were an enterprise the King of Qi permitted my family to run — just like your family's cane fields and brown sugar."

"But now, Qin officials come here and, without any justification, seize my family's house as their own, take my family's salt works and turn them into government operations, and furthermore impose heavy taxes and corvée on the people! May I ask the Commandery Governor — you Qin officials and my Tian clan, who are the real thieves? These five years of painstaking planning by this old man were nothing but gradually reclaiming what rightfully belonged to my family! You wish to convict me by Qin law? Bah! I have always been a man of Qi. I know only the laws of Guanzi; I know nothing of your damned Qin laws!"

Tian Guang had carelessly spoken the plain truth. Heifu shook his head with some regret:

"You see it clearly enough. Indeed — entering another's orchard and stealing their peaches and plums, seizing another's dogs, pigs, chickens, and swine, entering another's pens and stables and taking their horses and cattle, robbing another's houses, occupying another's wives, daughters, and property — all these are thieves and robbers. But they are only petty thieves."

"Whereas stealing another's state, encroaching on another's territory, seizing another's altars of soil and grain — this is the great thief!"

"The ancients said: 'He who steals a hook is executed; he who steals a state becomes a lord.' This saying of Zhuangzi refers to how your Tian clan once stole Jiang Qi and made yourselves feudal lords, does it not? Those words are true insight. No matter what the Tian clan did, having stolen a state and become kings, with power in their hands, none could bring them to justice."

"But fortune's wheel turns. Now, it is Qin's turn to have seized the lands of Qi. The descendants of yesterday's kings and lords have become the remnants of a fallen state. Power rests in the hands of Qin officials."

"Having lost your privileges, to say nothing of attempting to restore a state — even stealing a hook has become a crime. You petty thieves are naturally to be executed by us great thieves."

Tian Guang's righteous interrogation was shut down by Heifu. He laughed bitterly in spite of himself: "The Commandery Governor is truly a ruthless minister, not even ashamed to admit he is a thief."

"Even thieves have their way."

Heifu had never considered himself a champion of justice. He stood before Tian Guang, looked into his despairing eyes, and said, "The victor becomes king, the loser an outlaw — there is no one else to blame. But Tian Guang, do you know what ultimately doomed your entire family? It was not these things, nor the bribery. I am not a man incapable of flexibility. At the very beginning, had you actively engaged with me, there might well have been a possibility of cooperation."

When he seized Yuzhang, he called the local power Wu Rui his brother. When governing Beidi, he got on intimately with the Rong people, the Wu clan, and the various factions of the Liangjiazi, finding ways to make the wool cake bigger so everyone could prosper together.

Only toward the Tian clan of Yeyi did he not hesitate to strike with ruthless severity!

"Because a single wrong thought of yours led you to commit a grave mistake."

Heifu drew close to Tian Guang and said coldly, "The moment you conceived murderous intent against me and sent men to assassinate me on the Wei River, your family's destruction was sealed! At this very moment, the commandery troops from Huang County should have already surrounded Yeyi. A pity — the descendants of Lord Anping, a hero of his generation, are about to be left without a single survivor!"

Tian Guang's hair stood on end in fury, his face turning savage: "Heifu, do you truly believe the commandery troops from Huang County are reliable?"

Cao Can was shocked at these words, but Heifu merely turned back calmly, as if this too was within his expectations:

"Indeed, Huang County neighbors Yeyi, yet the Jiaodong Commandery Commandant turned a blind eye to what you and Zhou Gao were doing, and the scourge of sea raiders grew worse year by year. Thinking on it, he is probably unreliable as well. But he would not go so far as to make an enemy of the court for your family's sake. On the contrary, he will take the lead, striving to annihilate your family before I arrive, to avoid being implicated."

"But I dare not stake my personal safety entirely on the commandery troops. So this time, I also invited outside aid..."

Just as he spoke, Gong Ao, who had been gone for nearly ten days, strode into the hall and prostrated himself before Heifu:

"Commandery Governor, Gong Ao is fortunate not to have failed in his mission. The two thousand troops requested from Linzi have reached Pingdu!"

(本章完)

(End of chapter)