Chapter 702: Collective Punishment

"Servants like porters are manageable; it's the messengers at the express relay stations, the laborers who maintain water systems, and those forced to repair roads and bridges each winter who suffer the most," Wang Feiyin said. "As soon as spring began, he issued a general labor order, commanding every village to send people to build irrigation channels and official roads."

Pan Yun: "He's not wrong."

Wang Feiyin sighed: "He's not wrong—because before issuing the labor order, just like the previous county magistrates, he invited me and several Daoist priests from Laozi Temple and Fuxing Temple to examine the weather. We confirmed the weather was indeed abnormal."

"We even planned out which mountain paths and ditches needed attention, and calculated the exact manpower required for him…"

They often did this. During Ming Ren's tenure, they were treated like clerks—easy work for them, after all.

Normally they observed stars and calculated climate patterns; Yushan County was their home, and they frequently traveled out, so they always knew where problems lay.

Calculations were even simpler—they could compute everything mentally.

Every year when needed, they could provide Ming Ren with plans and data.

How did Wang Cong become familiar with Ming Ren and grow close to him?

Wasn't it because, in earlier years, Wang Feiyin was lazy and always pushed Wang Cong out to handle these tasks?

Ming Ren, like the previous magistrates, was pragmatic—he listened carefully to the Daoists' plans and data, even if he didn't always follow them, adjusting them according to his own needs and conditions.

Thus, the Daoist temples of Yushan County and successive magistrates had always cooperated smoothly.

They never expected this new magistrate, Cai Cheng, to be so reckless.

"He took our plans and data and threw them aside, issuing a blanket labor order forcing every household to send one man—even widows and orphans weren't exempt."

Pan Yun widened her eyes: "Isn't that illegal?"

"It is illegal," Wang Feiyin said helplessly. "But who can do anything about him? If any family doesn't want to serve, they pay the exemption fee."

Pan Yun raised an eyebrow: "So the wealthy paid?"

If it were her, she'd scratch his eyes out.

Wang Feiyin: "He set the exemption fee at only one-third of what Magistrate Ming had set."

Pan Yun's smile froze. Seeing Miao Zhen and the other three spoke in unison: "Is he insane?"

Pan Yun stood up, pacing in place: "Ming Ren set high exemption fees to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor. Why does he take only one-third? To redistribute wealth from the poor to the rich?"

Wang Feiyin: "In past years, Magistrate Ming divided exemption fees into three parts: one went to the county treasury, one paid for hired substitutes, and one improved the laborers' food and living conditions."

"But Cai Cheng takes the money and doesn't hire substitutes. So if ten men were planned for a job, and five pay the exemption fee, he takes their money but doesn't replace them—so the ten men's work falls on the remaining five. That's why this year's labor is so brutal."

"Wang Xiaojing's family had terrible luck this year—they were assigned two laborers. His uncle Wang Erliang was drafted as a messenger, and his family still had to send another person for spring labor," Wang Feiyin said. "Wang Xiaojing is too young, so his father, Wang Dachun, went instead."

Pan Yun felt a bad premonition. Seeing Miao Zhen's eyes reddened. "And then?"

"Erliang… he was late delivering a message, got beaten with bamboo rods. The next day, still injured, he set out again—but couldn't stand, rolled down a mountain path, and when they brought him back, he was already dying."

Pan Yun pressed her lips: "Didn't your senior brother save him?"

Wang Feiyin also pressed his lips, voice low: "I can heal wounds, but I can't save lives. His legs are ruined. To treat him, Xiaojing's family spent every last bit of their savings. Xiaojing…"

Wang Feiyin paused, remembering the boy he'd watched grow up, his eyes stinging: "Xiaojing went to work in the mines to earn money. But the mine kept finding excuses to withhold wages, and finally refused to pay them at all."

Wang Feiyin clenched his teeth: "This year, the imperial court reopened the Jiangxi silver mines and set a fixed annual silver quota. But the mines either couldn't extract that much silver, or someone was hiding it—either way, they failed to deliver."

Pan Yun picked up: "Since the mines couldn't pay, the Jiangxi Provincial Administration Commissioner had to find a way to raise the required silver, so the commissioner passed the burden to the prefecture, the prefecture to the county, and the county to the people—correct?"

"Yes," Wang Feiyin nodded. "So this year, Yushan County didn't just face a sudden surge in labor demands—it also faced a sudden surge in tax silver. Even wealthy farmers like Wang Xiaojing's family were ruined by the combined burden. Imagine those poorer than them."

"Since May, families began selling land. Some, unwilling to sell land, sold their daughters first."

Pan Yun clenched her fists.

Seeing Miao Zhen was equally furious. "Senior Uncle, isn't there anything we can do?"

"There is," Wang Feiyin said. "After this happened, I wrote to Magistrate Ming, to Lao Er, and to the Celestial Master's Mansion."

"Magistrate Ming cares for Yushan. He wouldn't want his former domain turned to chaos. Even if Cai Cheng has powerful backers, he can't act without restraint—and I have allies in the imperial court."

Wang Feiyin sighed: "I believed that, given time—by winter at the latest—if Cai Cheng didn't change his ways, he'd lose his post. But who could foresee that human plans are no match for heaven's?"

"First came sudden storms and heavy rains—landslides struck multiple places. Then, rebellion broke out in Ninghua, Fujian. Some rebels secretly contacted Jiangxi mine workers; together, they killed the mine officials and rose up. Wang Xiaojing and several villagers working at the mine were among them. They even stormed the county seat…"

The four of them gasped: "They stormed the county seat? Did they kill Cai Cheng?"

Wang Feiyin scowled: "If they'd killed Cai Cheng, do you think I'd be sitting here?"

The four fell silent, disappointed.

Wang Feiyin: "That night they stormed the city, Cai Cheng wasn't at the government office—he was at his concubine's place. The rebels burned and looted the government office, but found no trace of him. Cai Cheng escaped the city, returned with the garrison, and the rebels fled into the mountains. Now neither side can touch the other. Cai Cheng checked the mine workers' household registers and imposed collective punishment on their families and neighbors. Fen Shui Village…"

"Most people in Fen Shui Village share the Wang surname. Your senior brother here is kin too—we're all in the collective punishment. If I weren't a Daoist monk, exempt by law, you'd be visiting me in prison."

Pan Yun frowned: "Can't you run away?"

"I could run," Wang Feiyin shook his head, sighing. "But a Daoist can flee—the temple cannot."

Pan Yun stared at his face, then stood: "Senior Brother, I want to meet the villagers of Fen Shui Village."

Wang Feiyin asked: "Do you have money?"

"Yes."

Wang Feiyin: "Do you have food?"

"Yes."

Wang Feiyin nodded: "Good. Take it to the kitchen and make plenty of steamed buns and flatbreads. I'll take you to them later."

So many were under collective punishment that the jail couldn't hold them all, so the government office locked them in the Tudimiao, building wooden fences to divide rooms—each room crammed with twenty or so people.

Twenty-odd people packed together reeked. Pan Yun wrinkled her nose as she entered.

The constable leading them whispered: "Take your time. Just don't make loud noises."

Pan Yun and the others had passed through without a single check. They stared curiously at the constable.

Wang Feiyin didn't turn: "Don't stare. These constables are new hires. The old ones are dead, injured, or still serving in the government office—they wouldn't come to a place like this."

The constable smiled warmly at Pan Yun and the others, whispering: "We've all received Master Wang's grace. And the Mountain God protected our families from disaster. Since Master Wang wants to protect these people, they must be good."

Pan Yun's expression was complex: "I heard the rebels looted many homes and injured ordinary civilians during the city raid. Don't you hate them?"

"I do hate them," he said. "My uncle was a constable—he worked hard, never bullied anyone. The rebels killed him during the raid. I took his post. At first, I hated them too. But then I thought: these people are innocent. Their families rebelled—they didn't know. And those mine workers… they say they rebelled because they had no other way to survive."

The government office runner's face was a mask of confusion and anguish: "I hate them, but it doesn't seem right to hate them either. In the end, I don't even know who to blame. I've been guarding here for ten days. Seeing how pitiful they are, I just… if I can lend a hand, then I will."

The government office runner opened the door and let them in.

The people inside the pen raised their heads in a daze. When they saw Wang Feiyin, their eyes only reddened slightly. But the moment they saw Pan Yun, tears burst forth at once. A girl of thirteen or fourteen rushed toward Pan Yun and threw herself into her arms: "Sister Yun, please protect me!"

The people inside the pen all dropped to their knees before her, weeping loudly: "Temple Keeper, you've finally come back—"

"Please, Mountain God, protect us—"

"His little martial uncle, please wake the Mountain God—"

The whole Tudimiao began to tremble. People in the other pens poked their heads out to look. Hearing that the Temple Keeper of the Mount Sanqing Mountain God Temple had arrived, they too dropped to their knees in prayer.

Pan Yun's face was full of astonishment, and she couldn't help but look at Wang Feiyin.

Wang Feiyin: "Oh, did I forget to tell you? Before the mudslide, there was a thunderous crash, and two giant boulders rolled down the mountain. Someone was startled awake, pushed open the window, and faintly saw a crane-winged immortal standing in midair facing the thunder. Then boulders kept rolling down, rousing villagers within a radius of twenty li."

The villagers rose in the night, felt a pounding unease in their chests, and so left their homes in the rain.

No sooner had they left than the mudslide came rolling down, blocked by the giant boulders. By the time the mudslide reached the villages downstream, the villagers had already taken their household valuables and moved to safety.

From then on, a legend spread through the county that it was the Mount Sanqing Mountain God protecting them."

Pan Yun's mouth fell open: "I—I thought they would blame the Mountain God…"

After all, so many things had happened one after another in Yushan County.

Wang Feiyin raised a hand and patted her head, saying gently: "This was a disaster of both heaven and man. How could anyone blame the Mountain God? The old man has already been doing his utmost to shelter the common folk."

Hearing their conversation, the villagers nodded again and again: "Yes, yes, we're only alive today thanks to the Mountain God's protection." (End of chapter)