Chapter 563: Do Not Harm Me

On the second day of the fourth month, in the thirty-second year of the First Emperor of Qin, a major event occurred in Di County of Linzi Commandery.

Tian Dan, the greatest local strongman in the county, bound one of his own household slaves and brought him to the county temple, claiming that this slave had shown disrespect to his master and attempted to flee in secret, and requesting official permission for the Tian clan to execute him by formal petition...

Under Qin law, for a master to inflict punishment or the death penalty upon a slave, a legal procedure had to be followed: a reason must be presented, and official approval sought and obtained before carrying out the execution — this was termed "petitioned execution." Otherwise, it constituted the crimes of "unauthorized execution" or "unauthorized punishment," for which one bore corresponding liability.

Most of the various Tian branches in Qi scoffed at this. Slaves were private property; to them, they were no different from dogs and horses. Such had been the custom through the Shang, Zhou, Spring and Autumn, and Warring States periods. Did one need to report to others before killing one's own dog or horse? Why then should killing a slave require official consent?

Thus, among the various Tian in Qi, few observed this ordinance. They inflicted punishment when they wished, killed when they wished. Within the official administration, the Qin officials parachuted in from outside found it difficult to control the local area; they lacked even the manpower to maintain basic public order, so how could they possibly manage to reach into the households of the local powerbrokers?

Over the past few years, however, Tian Dan's household, in order to appear compliant with Qin official rule, had always petitioned the county magistrate and county deputy before executing any slave, giving the senior officials full face.

And so, the diligent Di County magistrate, harboring no suspicion, received Tian Dan in the main hall as usual.

But this time, while the magistrate and deputy were processing the "petitioned execution," they were caught off guard when several young men brought by Tian Dan suddenly erupted into violence! They drew short daggers hidden in their robes and pressed toward the Qin officials.

Throughout the entire process, the locally recruited county soldiers stood watching, dumbfounded. For a moment, torn between their local allegiances and their superiors, they knew not whom to aid.

The xiezhi cap tumbled to the floor; fresh blood flowed across the hall of statutes and ordinances. Tian Dan himself stepped forward and severed the heads of the county magistrate and county deputy!

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

Moments later, the bell sounding within Tian Dan's residence became the signal for action. The gallant swordsmen, long since returned to civilian life, mobilized en masse — dozens, then hundreds of them, gathering from the lanes and alleys of the ward at Tian Dan's mansion. Bundles of weapons hidden in cellars were distributed to them by the household retainers.

Once armed, the wandering bravos, together with the Tian retainers, crossed the streets and markets, advancing in unison toward the county temple. Under Tian Dan's leadership, they clashed fiercely with the county commandant.

Of the three chief officials, the sole surviving commandant was determined to slay the rebels, but he had too few men at his disposal. In all of Di County, apart from the dozen or so officials in the county temple, everyone else was a native petty functionary; even the county soldiers were locally conscripted and had long since been thoroughly infiltrated by Tian Dan. When the incident erupted, they either chose to turn their coats or to stand aside and watch. The commandant could not hold out even a single shichen before his head too was cut off, and together with the magistrate and deputy, neatly hung from the city wall...

A structure without foundations is fragile, and so is rule without a popular base. Within half a day, Di County fell. The Qin officials were slaughtered, their corpses hacked beyond human recognition. And those locals who had "aided the tyrant" and "played the jackal to the tiger" also suffered brutal reprisals — the men were killed, and their wives and daughters became spoils for the wandering bravos to vent their lust upon.

Just as the common folk were bolting their doors and shutting their windows, hearts trembling with terror at these events, a force several thousand strong marched over from neighboring Qiancheng County. It was Tian Rong, who had gone there to rise in revolt; he had already welcomed the landing of Tian Heng, Tian Du, and four thousand sea bandits, seized Qiancheng County as well, and now came to join forces with Tian Dan.

The brothers had not seen one another for many years, and reuniting naturally brought endless words.

For Tian Heng, this was a wanderer's homecoming, delayed by many years. For Tian Du, it was vengeance for his family and father. For the four thousand "bandits," it was their final chance to survive and reclaim the life they had once lived.

And for Tian Dan and Tian Rong, this uprising was an arrow on the drawn bow — they had no choice but to let it fly. They had just received word that, following Jiaodong, Jibei Commandery and Langya Commandery were also already planning to purge the various Tian. The First Emperor of Qin seemed to believe that the assassination which had occurred in Junan, Langya, was inseparably linked to the Tian!

The situation before them was this: launching a great endeavor might let them live, but waiting idly meant certain death!

Thus, the Tian brothers had seized the moment of Tian Heng's return to rise hastily in revolt. Fortunately, Qin rule in Di County and Qiancheng was so feeble that, with internal collusion and external assault, they had actually taken them with ease.

Tian Rong grew somewhat arrogant, but Tian Dan shook his head and said that this was only the beginning — the several thousand garrison troops at Linzi were the greatest enemy they would face next.

Afterward, the three Tian brothers assembled the sons of powerful families and elders in Di County and proclaimed:

"Qi is a state founded in antiquity, yet King Jian lost the state. The Qin are brutal; he starved to death among the pines and cypresses — truly a shame and humiliation beyond compare! The Qin officials slaughter the innocent, bind the powerful families with laws, and oppress the various Tian. The people of Qi have long suffered under Qin! Now that the First Emperor of Qin is dead, Qi too should restore its state."

Since they fought under the banner of restoring the state, they naturally had to put forward a leader. Although Tian Dan was the chief plotter of this uprising, he knew that he and his brothers were, after all, still young. They could win the hearts of wandering bravos and sea bandits, but the various Tian clans across the vast lands of Qi would not necessarily buy in.

To restore Qi, mere hot blood and a few thousand men would not suffice. They had to bring all the Tian into the fold, to muster the strength of tens or hundreds of thousands — only then would there be a sliver of hope for victory.

After a round of discussion, the four Tians put forward Prince Tian Jia, the younger brother of King Jian of Qi, who had been hiding in Qiancheng County. They intended to honor him as king, so as to command the four quarters...

Prince Tian Jia was the youngest son of King Xiang of Qi and the younger brother of King Jian of Qi. Now over fifty years old, he had enjoyed a life of ease for most of his days, only to suffer the scattering of his wife and children after Qi's destruction, a fate he never anticipated.

King Jian of Qi had been starved to death alive, which terrified Tian Jia. He went into hiding under a false name in Qi, not daring to let the Qin officials find him. After several years of hardship, he had long since lost the air of a noble who once rode in fine clothes and spirited horses; his bloated, burly frame had also grown gaunt. No wonder the authorities had failed to recognize him during their civilian manhunts.

According to Tian Rong, this timid prince, upon hearing the First Emperor of Qin's verbal decree, had absolutely no courage to oppose Qin. When Tian Heng attacked Qiancheng County, Tian Jia had actually hidden inside his house, trembling with fear — they had to drag him out forcibly from behind the bed in his chamber.

Now, although Prince Tian Jia had been coerced into coming to Di County and had witnessed the two counties change hands, he still sat there with a deeply worried frown, muttering to himself, "Back then, my royal brother ruled a Qi of two thousand li and commanded hundreds of thousands, yet even he dared not resist Qin — how much less so today? Madness, sheer madness."

When Tian Dan and the others approached bearing the long-prepared royal robes and crown of the King of Qi and explained their purpose, Tian Jia was even more terrified, trembling all over, his eyes glazed with dread, his face ashen pale.

Shaking his head repeatedly, he said, "For the throne of Qi, any Tian may take it. You brothers are men of great talent — why seek me out?"

The Tian brothers took turns exhorting him, urging him to "place the weight of the Qi royal clan above all else," but Tian Jia still shook his head like a pellet drum, even beginning to feign ignorance and play dumb.

He did not hold the slightest optimism for this uprising, seeing it only as a road to death. If he agreed, he would become the principal offender, and afterward there would be absolutely no escaping the punishment of being torn apart by chariots. He simply waved his hands repeatedly: "Do not harm me, do not harm me."

In the end, it was Tian Rong who lost his temper. He slammed the crown down upon the table and jabbed a finger at Tian Jia's nose, cursing: "Prince, you are already in this too deep to get out! You will do it whether you want to or not!"

Tian Heng also revealed a ferocious expression. Holding the royal robes in one hand and a sharp blade in the other, he pressed it against Tian Jia's chest and said, "Be the King of Qi, or be a dead prince — choose!"

Tian Jia, left with no choice, agreed, trembling. And so he was helped onto a carriage and escorted to the county temple. But all along the way, no matter how loudly the wandering bravos and bandits around him cheered, he uttered not another word, merely sitting there in a daze like a wooden puppet or clay idol.

Upon arriving at the place, he was ushered by the crowd to the seat of honor, where he watched helplessly as his "Grand Chancellor" Tian Dan drafted the proclamation denouncing Qin, along with documents recruiting Qi people to join, raise troops together, and drive the Qin invaders from their homeland. Then the great seal was pushed before him for Tian Jia to stamp.

This seal had been carved in haste and was somewhat crude. Tian Jia let out a sigh, hesitated for a long while, and only then lifted the flimsy, lightweight seal and pressed it down upon that proclamation...

At last, looking at the vivid red impression of the four characters "Seal of the King of Qi" on the proclamation — familiar yet strange in Qi seal script — grief welled up in him once more, and with a mournful face, he said:

"You people... you are harming me!"

The insurrection that erupted in the northwestern part of Qi spread like a thunderclap, soon reaching the neighboring Jiaodong Commandery...

Five days later, Chen Ping, the chief strategist to the commandery governor, clutched a missive tightly in his hand and strode hurriedly into the Jiaodong Commandery governor's residence. Yet his face showed not the slightest trace of panic — on the contrary, it was brimming with excitement!

Upon entering, Chen Ping removed his shoes, hastened forward, and from five paces away, prostrated himself in a deep bow and said:

"Congratulations, Lord Commandery! Felicitations, Lord Commandery!"

"Ah, Chen Ping. Whence comes this joy?"

Heifu raised his head from the piles of official documents. The greatest joy for him over the past few months had been his wife's smooth delivery of another child, a boy — the name Fubo had, thankfully, not been chosen in vain.

Chen Ping rose and said with a smile, "Lord Commandery, Cao Can was right. The sea bandits did indeed take a desperate gamble and struck Linzi Commandery. Qiancheng County has already been breached, and the Tian Dan brothers of Di County have seized the opportunity to rebel, elevating that fish that slipped the net, Prince Tian Jia, as King of Qi, openly raising the banner of opposing Qin!"

"What we feared was precisely that they would not stick their necks out. This way, Lord Commandery can not only quell the evil waves of the Eastern Sea, but also render the great service of suppressing rebellion and supporting the imperiled in one stroke! Is that not a joyous matter?"

PS: The third chapter will be in the evening, and it may be a bit late.

(End of Chapter)