Chapter 81: Abduction Sale

The Patrolman of Yunshui Township was named Wu, but because he was the third son in his family, everyone called him Shuwu.

The Patrolman, like the Township Se and the Three Elders, was a township-level official, a rank higher than Heifu the Village Head, with an annual salary of one hundred dan, equivalent to a township police chief. His duties differed little from Heifu the Village Head's, with only the added task of organizing the training of the township's rotating conscripts.

Although the Village Head was directly subordinate to the County Commandant system, the Patrolman was a full rank higher and thus counted as a superior official, with the authority to direct the village precincts. So when Heifu took up his post in the twelfth month, he had gone to the township seat once to pay a special visit to Shuwu.

At the time, Shuwu had offered him considerable encouragement and, as a senior, had pointed out a number of things a Village Head needed to pay attention to, so Heifu's impression of this Patrolman was not bad.

Afterwards, the letter-drop tomb robbery case was directly intervened in by the county. The township only sent Shuwu to ask about the situation and participate in sealing the property of the Chaoyang Hamlet's gatekeeper. Since the start of spring, no major incidents had occurred in Huyang Village, and even petty thieves, fearing Heifu's name, dared not cause trouble within Huyang Village's jurisdiction. With no official business to hand over, the two men had no further dealings.

Until one day in late third month, when Shuwu suddenly came to Huyang Village...

"I did not know the Patrolman was coming and failed to greet you from afar. This subordinate official is at fault!"

Heifu had been in the back courtyard learning to draw a bow and shoot arrows with Xiao Tao. Startled by the news of the Patrolman's arrival, he hurried out the door and bowed with clasped hands before Shuwu could enter.

Shuwu was around forty, with a square face and two black whiskers on his chin, looking very amiable.

He helped Heifu up, glanced at the brand-new Second-Rank Merit headscarf on Heifu's head with an unreadable look in his eyes, but said with a smiling face, "I am not your superior officer; no need for excessive courtesy."

Heifu ushered Shuwu, two minor township village clerks, and a middle-aged man of unknown status into Huyang Village, then had the village staff come over to pay their respects and told Old Man Pu to quickly boil some hot water to quench their thirst.

Shuwu was invited by Heifu to sit in the seat of honor in the small hall. He picked up a wooden tablet from the table and leafed through it, smiling. "I also came to Huyang Village last year when the former Village Head committed his crime. Back then, it felt somewhat dilapidated and disorderly. Since Heifu took office, this village precinct truly has a brand-new look."

After a few more pleasantries, he said seriously, "If I had no business, I would not have come. Since I am here, it is official business. Village Head Heifu, you cracked a major case in winter, yet since spring began your village precinct has been peaceful and uneventful. I imagine you've grown bored and weary. So here I am, bringing you a case on behalf of the township!"

Heifu exchanged a glance with Li Xian, who was seated with him. Li Xian had once told him that cases assigned by the township were generally not easy to handle. If they were simple and offered good merit, the Patrolman and the township village would have taken them on themselves long ago. Only those troublesome to deal with were handed out to the village precincts, and if they were botched, it was still they who suffered in the end.

Be that as it may, with a case shoved into his hands, as Village Head he had to complete it, or else it would be dereliction of duty.

Heifu could only steel himself and ask Shuwu just what the case was.

Shuwu clapped his hands, and the two township village constables brought forward the honest-looking middle-aged man of about forty. Judging by his attire, he was from a middling household...

The man carefully bowed to Heifu, calling himself "Ju," a commoner of Yunshui Township.

"This humble man ventures to speak to the Village Head. The matter is as follows..."

It turned out that two years ago, Ju's 14-year-old only daughter had gone out to pick mulberry leaves and never returned. They searched all relatives' and neighbors' homes without finding her. Ju reported it to the township Patrolman, who took it very seriously and had nearby villages search on his behalf, but nothing came of it, and in the end it could only be ruled a "missing person."

But Ju absolutely refused to believe it. A missing person at age four was plausible, but how could a 14-year-old grown girl simply vanish on her own in broad daylight? He suspected his daughter had been abducted!

But he had no proof. At the time, Qin and Chu were falling out, there were bandits in Anlu, and Nan Commandery was on special alert; the township had no spare men to help him search for his daughter. So Ju could only swallow his resentment and give up. He had only this one daughter in middle age and doted on her daily. No longer able to bear children, he and his aging wife could only cover their faces and weep at home.

Who would have thought that two years later, just a few days ago, Ju would learn of his daughter's whereabouts from a peddler who carried a shoulder pole selling daily goods to the hamlets of Huyang Village!

Ju said, "That peddler is my neighbor. When he went to Blind Mountain Hamlet in Huyang Village to trade, he saw a woman in the hamlet who resembled my daughter in form. After seeing him, she opened her mouth as if to speak, but was pulled back inside by several people covering her mouth..."

Afterwards, the hamlet official there had even warned the peddler, seemingly offhand, that the woman was just a lowly bondservant bought from a human market, not to be taken seriously, and not to talk nonsense.

This was a clear case of a cover-up. Upon returning to the township, the peddler immediately told Ju about it and went with Ju to Shuwu to cry out for justice, begging for someone to be sent to rescue his daughter.

"Are you certain that what the peddler saw was your daughter?" Heifu asked.

"Absolutely no mistake! I've been neighbors with that peddler for over ten years; my daughter grew up before his eyes!" Though Ju still had some hesitation, this was the only shred of hope he had found in two years, so he insisted emphatically!

"This is a bit troublesome now," Heifu thought to himself, glancing again at Shuwu's ambiguous smile. He began to understand why Shuwu had pushed this case onto him—because it was not only a cold case, but also involved human trafficking.

In this age, human trafficking existed, but it was divided into legal and illegal, with three forms: "consensual sale," "fraudulent sale," and "abduction sale."

"Consensual sale" was the common slave trade in Anlu County. Prisoners of war from the Six States, barbarian men and women, the wives and daughters of criminals, and the like could all be bought and sold as slaves between the authorities and private individuals, but a contract was required, with a minor official from the authorities present as witness.

"Fraudulent sale" referred to using various deceptive means such as threats and enticements to buy commoners or their children and then sell them off. This was the same as later-era human trafficking. Qin strictly forbade commoners from selling their children; the movement of population registrations could only be controlled by the authorities! So it could only be done in private transactions.

"Abduction sale" was what we usually call kidnapping—seizing people and then selling them off.

"Consensual sale" was still legal, but "fraudulent sale" and "abduction sale" were illegal acts strictly prohibited by the authorities. "Abduction sale," in particular, was an even more serious crime in nature.

According to the case Ju described, his daughter should have been abducted and sold. The authorities strictly forbade such acts, and anyone who could report the crime of "abducting people" or "fraudulently selling people" would be rewarded with ten liang of gold. That was probably why the peddler had reported it to the authorities immediately upon returning.

"If it truly is abduction sale, then it is a major case. Village Head Heifu, since Blind Mountain Hamlet falls under Huyang Village's jurisdiction and you have a reputation for capability, the township is handing this case to you! If you handle it well, the county will certainly not stint on your reward!"

Shuwu had placed a tall hat on Heifu's head, but Heifu was perfectly clear in his heart that handling this case would indeed be somewhat difficult.

If it were a nearby hamlet settlement, that would be one thing; through the letter-drop tomb robbery case, each hamlet already treated him with the utmost respect.

But Blind Mountain Hamlet—that was the one hamlet within Huyang Village's jurisdiction that Heifu had never inspected. It lay deep in the hills and ravines, taking four or five shichen to reach. As the saying goes, poor mountains and foul waters breed many knaves; the folk there were fierce and tough, the hardest area to govern. Every previous Village Head had turned a blind eye to Blind Mountain Hamlet. And now, Shuwu wanted Heifu to take men and search for an abducted woman—wasn't this poking a hornet's nest...

He was hesitating when Ju prostrated himself again and said with deep emotion, "This humble man has no son, only this one daughter! I raised her with bitter toil for over ten years, only hoping she would marry into a good family. I never imagined she would be abducted and sold by villains. These two years, whenever my old wife and I think of our daughter, food loses its taste, and we live like walking corpses. We never could bear to strike or scold her; I truly cannot imagine how much suffering she has endured in those barren hills. I only beg the Village Head to take me to that place to have a look. If she truly is my daughter, if she truly can be rescued, this humble man is willing to bankrupt his household to repay you!"

As he spoke, he kowtowed on the ground, knocking his forehead red and raw.

"Elder, please rise quickly." Heifu hurriedly helped him up, but Ju stubbornly knelt and refused to rise, insisting that Heifu agree!

With things having reached this point, in duty and in sentiment, Heifu could no longer refuse. He could only grit his teeth and accept this thorny case...

"I promise you, Elder, I will certainly help you find your daughter and bring her back!"

After Ju was left at Huyang Village, Patrolman Shuwu took his two township village constables and headed back. On the road, a young constable asked, puzzled, "Patrolman, since rescuing an abducted person or capturing the buyer both bring rewards, why hand this case over to that Huyang Village Head?"

"If you don't understand, don't ask recklessly!" The other constable kicked his young colleague and shot him a meaningful glance.

Shuwu rode his horse at the front and did not answer, but in his heart, he was very clear about his purpose.

This case was not as simple as it sounded. Not to mention that Blind Mountain Hamlet was far and remote, basically a place beyond the authorities' reach. The folk there were fierce and tough, with many more men than women. In the past, there had been rumors of buying and selling women as wives, but the township seat was too far to do anything and could only pretend not to know.

This tacit understanding had persisted for many years. For households that bought and sold women, the hamlet officials of Blind Mountain Hamlet would also shield them. Now, they had probably already become aware. If they went there and couldn't find the person, they would come back empty-handed. And if they continued investigating without evidence, they might even get bitten back and end up convicted of false accusation...

Knowing these inside details, Shuwu had tossed this thorny case into Heifu's hands.

What Heifu didn't know was that, although he had done nothing wrong, he had already offended Shuwu.

In that "letter-drop tomb robbery case," fearing collusion between the Chaoyang Hamlet official and the township, Heifu, out of caution, had reported directly to the county seat and led his own village constables to round up all the tomb robbers in one sweep, not leaving a single small fish for anyone else.

Afterwards, although Shuwu had said nothing, missing a major case right under his nose had left some displeasure in his heart. In private, he had not been sparing in venting to his trusted township soldiers that Heifu "didn't know how to conduct himself" and the like.

"Let Village Head Heifu go on showing off. Isn't he very capable, quite appreciated by the Right Commandant, praised by the county folk as a righteous man? It's about time he got a taste of botching a case! Being a Village Head isn't that easy!" Shuwu revealed a cold smile and spurred his horse forward at a faster pace...

(End of chapter)