Chapter 316: Blood Stains Taiping Gate

Taiping Gate stood on the northeastern wall of Nanjing, the main gate on the city's northern side. South of it lay Chaoyang Gate, and to the northwest was Shence Gate.

Because Guansuo, the constellation representing prisons, lay in the Heavenly Market Enclosure rather than the Supreme Palace Enclosure representing the celestial court, the prisons of the Nanjing Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review were all established outside the gate in Guancheng Ward.

The reason this inner-city Nanjing gate was named Taiping—"Great Peace"—was precisely for the peace and tranquility of the city within. According to folk tradition, because the wails of prisoners were so often heard from the jails, the place was called "Taiping" as an expression of hope.

But for all the pleasantness of the name, what happened here was anything but peaceful.

During the Hongwu reign, when the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang established his capital in Nanjing and built the city walls, officials of the time held that the thirteen gates of Nanjing should correspond to the constellations, so that fortune and longevity might endure forever.

Taiping Gate belonged to the star "Tianquan" of the Big Dipper's Seven Stars, located where the handle joined the bowl. For this reason, the area around Taiping Gate was also called "Guansuo"—one of the stars of the Purple Star Astrology, governing "litigation," that is, lawsuits.

And so Zhu Yuanzhang simply placed the prisons of the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, and the Court of Judicial Review outside Taiping Gate. Beyond that, he also erected a memorial archway outside the gate, inscribed with the words "Guancheng."

At the time, Liu Ji had advised Zhu Yuanzhang that if, within the star-ring formed by "Guansuo," no other stars appeared within, it signified simple governance and clear justice; if stars did appear, it meant there were wrongful cases that required thorough investigation. Zhu Yuanzhang deeply concurred.

Through the Hongwu and Yongle reigns, great cases followed one after another without cease. Zhu Yuanzhang and his son Zhu Di both had hearts of iron, and each in turn wielded the blade of execution on the stone causeway outside Taiping Gate—and nearly all those they killed were men of learning.

Civilian records from that time are now hard to trace, but the Chongzhen Emperor's inner-court archives record it clearly: those executed numbered in the thousands—and that was a conservative estimate.

Some superstitious folk often claimed that at night one could hear the miserable wailing of those slain on the stone causeway outside Taiping Gate. For this reason, the people of Jinling at this time also called the place "Guqigeng"—the Mound of Lonely Sorrow.

The reason was that people hereabouts all harbored a sense of dread toward the place, considering it inauspicious. When the depot agents were trapped on the stone causeway outside Taiping Gate, common folk had already noticed what was happening and begun to fall back.

"Changsheng, night is nearly upon us—better keep our distance from Guqigeng, lest evil qi enter your body and rob you of that righteous spirit of yours." At this, one scholar, evidently also somewhat wary, said with a frown.

"Hmph, if you want to leave, then leave. I'm not going!" The one being urged, however, showed no gratitude at all, sneering as he said: "Old Qian had several hundred cuts carved into him again today—do you want Old Qian to keep suffering like that?"

As he spoke, he had invisibly slapped a great cap of accusation on the other. The one who had first spoken immediately began stammering, unable to find words—because by this time, the other scholars had already turned to glare at him with hair standing on end in fury.

From the look of it, if he misspoke in the slightest, he would end up in the same state as those depot agents. There was no trace left of former fellow-student camaraderie—it was as if they had all been brainwashed.

The crowd was crying out for blood, and the agents were cornered with no way out. Many on the periphery had already drawn their blades to defend themselves, yet still no one dared strike the first blow.

The leading scholar seemed to know the agents were afraid to act for fear of consequences. With so many on his side, he had nothing to fear from them—surely these agents couldn't possibly kill all several hundred of them.

The scholar waved his hand a few times and stepped forward, about to shout something aloud. But before the words left his mouth, in that instant, a flying arrow pierced clean through his neck. He could no longer utter a single word, and convulsed as he collapsed into a pool of blood.

The surrounding crowd instantly fell silent. The common folk no longer pressed forward, each looking at the others in bewilderment.

The scholars pushed forward a few of the bolder ones to step up, but before they could speak, they saw Commissioner-in-Chief Zhou Jingwu of the Divine Martial Army leading a great host of soldiers surrounding the stone causeway. His gaze fixed hard on the scholars as he said:

"You have some nerve! The Eastern Depot came bearing the imperial warrant to make arrests, and we haven't yet settled the account of your prolonged resistance. Now you dare openly defy the court again? This Commissioner thinks none of you want to live!"

One scholar, however, let out a cold laugh and said: "And who told that benighted sovereign to dote on eunuchs in power, blinded and unaware of it himself? We scholars have memorized the words of the sages, devoting ourselves to the public good—of course we must step forward to cry out against injustice on behalf of all under heaven!"

"Exactly!" With someone having spoken, the others naturally grew bolder. Another scholar stepped forward and shouted: "This so-called commercial tax is nothing but that benighted sovereign contending with the people for profit, finding new ways to extract the Three Levies of the Northeast!"

"The Three Levies were abolished not long ago, and now this benighted sovereign is squeezing the people's wealth again—where is the slightest sign of a benevolent and sage ruler?!"

"Heh, people like you truly deserve to die a thousand deaths." Zhou Jingwu laughed coldly several times, clenched his fist, then abruptly drove a kick into the belly of the scholar who had spoken first. Following up, he stepped forward two paces and seized the man's throat tightly with his right hand, sneering:

"Tell me—even if this Commissioner were to squeeze you to death right here today, who would dare say a single word against it?"

The scholar was lifted up by Zhou Jingwu as if he were a chick. He couldn't utter a word, his face flushed bright red from suffocation. His feet flailed helplessly in the air while both hands slapped continuously at Zhou Jingwu's arm—clearly in extreme distress.

"Hmph, truly useless in accomplishing anything, but more than capable of ruining everything!" Feeling the force of those blows against his arm, Zhou Jingwu gave an even more contemptuous snort.

In his view, the strength was even less than a child's—nothing but a pair of lips, enough to make a man want to tear that stinking mouth apart with his bare hands just to feel satisfied.

Thank goodness His Majesty was wise and had long possessed the resolve to kill—otherwise he would still be swallowing the anger of these soft-boned wretches.

"Was it you?" Zhou Jingwu asked the scholar beside him who had shouted earlier. That scholar had long since been frightened into a nervous wreck. Without a moment's thought, he waved his hands and repeatedly said no, retreating several steps to indicate he would have nothing more to do with this affair.

Just as expected—not one of these high-sounding scholars had any real backbone. Zhou Jingwu laughed heartily a few times, then turned his head to look at another person, asking coldly:

"What about you? This Commissioner is about to squeeze your former fellow student to death. Do you accept it or not?"

"No, no, no..." This scholar was so terrified by Zhou Jingwu's look of one gazing at a dead man that he could barely speak, and hastily added: "I accept, I accept, I accept!"

"I beg the Commissioner to show mercy and spare this humble one's dog of a life. In days to come, this humble one will surely serve as horse or ox to repay the Commissioner's grace in sparing my life!"

Zhou Jingwu laughed all the harder. Yet in the next instant, his eyes suddenly narrowed. He tossed aside the scholar he had just squeezed to death with his own hands, sneered, and drew his blade, saying: "Too late!"

The scholar kneeling and begging for mercy was cut down with a single stroke. Zhou Jingwu's blow set the precedent—and was also a silent command to the soldiers all around. Almost in the next moment, the soldiers of the Divine Martial Army drew their blades and spears one after another.

"Divine Martial Army—suppress the rebellion!"

Half an hour later, the steward of the Jiang household stumbled frantically into the main hall where everyone was deliberating, wailing and sobbing: "Master, terrible news! A great host of agents is heading straight for us—several hundred of them at least!"

"What?!"

"This Eastern Depot has eaten the heart of a bear and the gall of a leopard—they actually dare come to the Jiang mansion to make arrests?"

"Bullshit! They dare come make arrests? I could flick a finger and make them wish they'd never been born!"

The crowd was shocked and enraged, yet showed not the slightest fear. All spoke of mobilizing their connections at court to topple Wang Cheng'en and the Eastern Depot completely—and if that truly proved impossible, even changing the emperor was a price they were willing to pay.

Compared to the rest, Jiang Zheng, who reckoned himself to have backing, was far more composed. He merely slapped the table once and said in a deep voice:

"What about those scholars? My Jiang family supports them—not so they can spend their days in pleasure houses composing poetry. Call them out to do something useful!"

Hearing this, the steward wept even harder, collapsing limply to the ground:

"Young Master Liu, Young Master Deng and the others were all killed by Zhou Jingwu and his soldiers at Taiping Gate not long ago! This time the Divine Martial Army was utterly merciless—in the space of half an hour, they cut down some three hundred heads at Guqigeng! The rest have all been thrown into prison..."