Chapter 397: The Clerk of Suzhou

The constable stood there staring blankly for a moment, cold sweat gradually beading on his forehead. A sudden bark from behind made him flinch. Not daring to linger a moment longer, he hurried away. The yamen runners who had come with him were already pale-faced, too scared to even lift their heads. The moment they heard they could leave, it was as if they had been granted a great amnesty, and they scrambled to follow.

They rushed out of the manor in a fluster, only to find that the men they had arranged beforehand to wait there with the horses were gone. The bellyful of pent-up rage finally found an outlet, and they let loose a torrent of abuse on the spot.

After walking a while longer, they finally spotted the two horsemen halfway down the road. Upon questioning, they learned that the men hadn't stayed long before being chased off by the manor's mounted patrol. One of them had tried to play some trick, but unexpectedly got shot square in the chest by an arrow shaft. Scared out of his wits, he had immediately fled as far away as possible.

"A few days ago they still looked like pigs and sheep—how did they suddenly turn into tigers and wolves!" the constable muttered, then immediately went back to report.

Zhong Gonghui had already been placed under house arrest. However, Zhong Gonghui understood the stakes and the critical juncture well enough. Since things had come to this, he would not stubbornly resist. Instead, he followed Zhao Jin's instructions, sending out the young men around him one by one to guide the refugees toward this place.

These young men were not Zhong Gonghui's trusted confidants either. None of them had been disaster victims or refugees for very long; they had only followed him because of his high prestige. Now, quite a few of them were actually tempted to join the Zhao Camp.

The fact that they followed Zhong Gonghui and did the work of delivering messages and using force showed that none of these men were honest folk content with farm work. Seeing the Zhao Camp's awe-inspiring appearance, how could these young men not be stirred? They certainly thought about joining. Given some silver cash as a benefit, and then some promises, many were pulled over to the Zhao Camp's side. With these co-opted refugee leaders in hand, the operation to recruit refugees would proceed very smoothly.

After Zhao Jin led his troops over, the mounted patrol began to sweep the manor's grounds. Patrolling every corner of several hundred qing of vast farmland was of course impossible, but at this time of year there was no farming to speak of. The Zhao Camp only needed a small area to gather the refugees; keeping this place tightly guarded was enough.

The constable came and went, but quite a few spies and informants from various sides still came around. The Zhao Camp showed these people not the slightest courtesy, though it wasn't worth delivering a killing blow—they simply lashed them with horsewhips.

There were also some local toughs and thugs from Suzhou who thought themselves tough. They talked back a few lines and even tried to start a fight. Against these people, the Zhao Camp's mounted patrol directly drew their sabers, and the troublemakers immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

But this nuisance didn't last too long. Liu Yong arranged for someone to erect a flagpole at the entrance, and from it hung a triangular flag—black background, red border, with the character 'Zhao' written on it.

When the scouts lurking around the manor saw this banner, some looked utterly bewildered, while others turned deathly pale and immediately left without looking back. The name of the Zhao Camp had not yet spread that far; the common folk in Suzhou city might still not know it, but the figures of the jianghu and the greenwood were perfectly clear about it. They knew exactly what kind of god of slaughter this Zhao Camp was.

Back then, that He Weiyuan, that Cloud Mountain Temple, that Kong Jiuying—all were magnates whose fame shook the surrounding prefectures and counties, yet every one of them had been destroyed at the hands of this Zhao Camp. Not to mention the hundred thousand Shandong roving bandits who besieged Xuzhou, only to be routed in a crushing defeat by a few hundred men of this Zhao Camp.

When Ru Hui first came here to buy land and recruit people, he had done everything under the name of Cloud Mountain Temple. All his dealings had been with the gentry and local notables. There was little traffic between Suzhou and Xuzhou, so naturally, no one knew he was already Zhao Jin's subordinate.

Initially, Zhao Jin's strategy here was to move the refugees as discreetly as possible, so even fewer people knew it was connected to him. But as the situation changed, adjustments naturally had to follow, so they simply displayed the name openly.

After the constable who had come to ask questions returned to the Suzhou yamen, he was roundly cursed out by everyone above and below. Not only had he gone and done nothing, but he had just run straight back—utterly useless to the extreme.

The two clerks from the Revenue and Justice bureaus of the Suzhou yamen even petitioned earnestly before the magistrate, proposing to muster the city's mounted and foot constables, all able-bodied runners, and the various militia and village braves to strictly investigate this manor estate established by Ru Hui, to see if the refugees gathered inside were engaged in any unlawful activities.

But before they could come up with any plan, Ru Hui's plaint arrived. The plaint did not name any specific individuals, only stating that certain people within Suzhou were colluding with mounted bandits and brigands to bring calamity upon the estate of law-abiding citizens.

A plaint that named no names naturally required no response. However, it contained other details: a fellow Xuzhou native of Squire Cao Ruhui had also signed the plaint, and stated that if the Suzhou authorities did not handle the matter impartially, then they would have to find a place where justice could be upheld.

If anyone else had said this, it would have been taken as a joke. But this man made his status very clear: he himself held the rank of Provincial Graduate, and his father was a Presented Scholar who had already returned to the capital to resume his post.

As members of officialdom, they naturally had to memorize and master this roster of luminaries. Back when Wang Youshan retired from the capital and returned home, people from Suzhou had also gone over to pay their respects. Although there had been little contact in the past two years, the man was known. If it were a retired pure-stream official living in idle seclusion, they might still have been able to ignore it, but being recalled to the capital—that was a different matter entirely.

The Wang family were Huaibei natives. Wang Youshan, a Presented Scholar and a capital official of the pure stream, would surely be given face by the official circles throughout Jiangbei and Huaibei. If a single letter were written to the Grand Coordinator of Fengyang, they would likely all be in serious trouble. In the eyes of a high official like the Grand Coordinator of Fengyang, the magistrate of Suzhou counted for nothing at all.

The private secretary to the Suzhou magistrate further recalled that this Lord Wang had once been considered a eunuch partisan. That reputation was a stigma, but it also indicated he had deep connections with the inner court. If this really blew up, that Eunuch Yu in Fengyang might still feel obliged to give him some face—and if so, wouldn't the people doing the work below be the ones to suffer?

After considering every angle, the Suzhou magistrate instantly became a paragon of justice and integrity. Righteously, he declared, "The man from Xuzhou gathering refugees is a charitable deed. This official, powerless to act himself, is too ashamed to even face it. To go and interfere would be to invite the ridicule of all under Heaven, would it not?"

The two clerks from the Wang and Yang families were also stunned. They were naturally well-versed in the ways of officialdom. They had assumed the newcomer was some reckless scoundrel with more guts than sense, breaking all the rules. They never imagined it would be a great magnate from such a pure and noble family. On the official front, he was untouchable.

These two families had served as clerks for generations and were also very familiar with the criminal underworld of Suzhou. They had long been ruthless and merciless. Thinking that if the legal path was blocked, they would try the illegal one, they sought to move against the estate set up by the Xuzhou men. The city's riffraff and thugs were too shabby to use; they would have to find outside river pirates and greenwood strongholds. But the men they sent quickly came back dusty and crestfallen. The reply from the other side was simple: the one who came is a truly formidable figure—we cannot afford to offend him.

With both the legal and illegal paths blocked, the Wang and Yang families were dumbfounded. They had thought they could seize the chance to gain a huge advantage, swallowing up both the land and the tenant farmers in one great bite. They never expected such a turn of events. They could only let go, eyes red with frustration. Who could be offended and who could not—they could still judge that clearly.

The authorities in Suzhou city fell silent. The instigators withdrew their necks. The spies and informants inside and outside Ru Hui's manor all pulled back one after another. No one wanted to court such misfortune.

The Wang family was a top-tier household in Suzhou, with their own manor outside the city. Moreover, since Suzhou city was dilapidated and impoverished, the Wangs, even when serving on duty in the city, would go out to reside at their manor every day.

This affair was not just their own; they had also accepted a commission from an acquaintance in the Fengyang Central Capital. They had thought that besides making a fortune, they could also earn a favor. Now, with both hands empty, the several men in charge of the Wang family were deeply frustrated. Upon returning home, they simply set out a table of wine to drink away their bad luck.

"This cold spell is hard to endure, and the damp is heavy. One swallow of this fiery liquor goes down and warms the whole body. Fine wine!" The head of the Wang family served as a clerk in the Revenue Bureau. The name of Wang Yishi, Lord Wang the Elder, carried no less weight in the Suzhou region than the magistrate himself.

The man seated at Lord Wang the Elder's lower right also held a chief's post among the three squads of yamen runners. He was the so-called Lord Wang the Second. He chimed in, "Big brother, this wine comes from Xuzhou. One jar, twenty jin, costs nearly two taels of silver—and even at that price, there isn't much for sale..."

At these words, Wang Yishi slammed his chopsticks heavily onto the table, startling everyone else at the table into a daze. Wang Yishi smacked his forehead and said ruefully, "I've been a fool. Isn't this Zhao Jin the very one who makes this liquor? A few months ago, when people from the Xuzhou yamen came, they even mentioned this. We've offended the wrong man."

"Big brother, he may be fierce, but that's in his Xuzhou. Coming to Suzhou, can he really be greater than our Wang family?" Lord Wang the Second, long accustomed to throwing his weight around, was unconvinced upon hearing this.

"Fool! Even those murderous pole-bearers have backed down. What do you have to challenge him with? Those wine-and-meat cronies in your hands?"

He was only halfway through his words when a sudden commotion erupted outside the house. Someone screamed in terror, someone wailed. The men at the table exchanged glances. Lord Wang the Second immediately stood up, grabbed the saber by the table, and rushed to the door with two of his brothers. Throwing the door open, he bellowed, "What's happened? What's all the howling about!"

His words also stopped abruptly, for he saw a point of light rise from afar in the night sky, trace an arc, and plummet swiftly onto the rooftop. The moment it landed, flames could be seen blazing—it was a fire arrow.

Although the Wang family were a prominent household in Suzhou, their manor also had buildings thatched with straw. Struck by this one flaming arrow, the fire immediately roared up.

Fortunately, in the Fengyang Prefecture area, large vats were kept beneath the eaves of big houses, always kept full of water precisely for firefighting. Moreover, the Wang household had plenty of hands, both above and below. Since it was not yet bedtime, the moment the fire broke out, people immediately set up ladders and drew water to douse it.

It seemed the attackers outside did not truly intend to start a fire. After shooting one arrow here, they waited a long while before sending in another.

"Motherfucking thieves! Which blind, wretched curs dare to come picking a fight with the Wang family? Everyone grab a weapon—we're going out!" Seeing the arrows coming so sporadically, Lord Wang the Second's courage swelled. The men outside couldn't be many.

Matters requiring the Wang family to go out and fight were always handled by this Chief Lord Wang the Second. He was a burly man himself and had learned a few moves from a martial instructor. Hefting his long-handled saber, he strode out, with several brothers and cousins immediately following.