The waterway at Tongjin Lock was open.
Under Lei Zhen's strict orders, the main hall of the Tongji Water Transport Guild personally dispatched over a hundred strong men. Using sheer brute force, they dragged the three stranded, broken ships into the branch river.
With the main channel cleared, the stranded official and merchant ships scrambled to squeeze their way out.
However, at the South Wharf of the capital region, the atmosphere remained completely lifeless.
Thirty-seven heavily loaded grain ships with deep drafts remained nailed to their berths, not a single mooring rope untied.
The decks were filled with bare-chested boatmen, heads down, silently smoking their dry tobacco pipes.
The leading shipowner, Pockmarked Chen, stood on the gangplank, crumpling a wrinkled IOU in his hand, and shouted to the men below: Don't panic! The main hall has cleared the way, but we still owe a hellish debt to the Guanghui Bank!
The imperial court is turning everything upside down checking the accounts. If we set sail now, aren't we just throwing ourselves onto the blade!
Put your minds at ease, folks. As long as we absolutely refuse to sail, the Waterway Hall can't do a thing to us!
A few shills planted below who had taken silver immediately jeered along: Right! We won't sail! We don't have the money to pay the debt. Sailing means death anyway!
The ordinary boatmen, unaware of the truth, exchanged uncertain glances. Though feeling guilty and anxious, they had no choice but to squat on the deck and wait it out.
The main hall of the Waterway Hall.
Xu Wuyou sat in an armchair, flipping through the wharf berth registry that Lao Zhou had just compiled.
Pang Yu, sweating profusely from anxiety, paced in circles below: Hall Master, the Tongjin Lock is open, but those thirty-seven ships at the South Wharf still aren't moving! Pockmarked Chen and his gang of bastards are still fanning the flames, yelling that the imperial court is driving the boatmen to their deaths. Should the brothers take some men and tie them up?
Xu Wuyou tossed the registry onto the table and sneered, Why tie him up? If he likes floating on the water so much, let him float until he dies.
Pang Yu was stunned: Hall Master, we just watch?
Xu Wuyou drew out a weasel-hair brush, dipped it heavily in red cinnabar ink, and wrote with flourishing strokes on a blank dispatch order: The rule of the water is this: ships aren't afraid of sailing; they're afraid of not being able to dock.
These thirty-seven large grain ships have deep drafts. Do you know how much silver it costs to feed the men and horses every day? If I don't let them dock, they won't be able to resupply fresh water and vegetables. If I don't let them unload, the grain in the bottom holds will rot and mold in three days. When the cargo owners demand compensation, they won't be able to pay it back even if they sell their sons and daughters!
They think blocking the water with their ships is a way to control me? Wrong. They've just built themselves a floating prison.
Xu Wuyou paused his brush and shouted, Lao Zhou, the grand seal!
The heavy seal slammed down. The bright red ink looked like a death warrant.
Xu Wuyou slapped the dispatch order against Pang Yu's chest: Send orders to the thirty-six wharves in the capital region. Pull the berth flags of these thirty-seven ships!
Halt all their storage! If any porter dares to carry a single bag of rice for them, confiscate his water tally immediately and kick him out of the Waterway Hall's territory!
I won't force them to sail; I'll just cut off their access to the shore. I'd like to see which is tougher: their bones, or the speed at which the grain in their holds rots!
Half an hour later.
The South Wharf completely exploded in chaos.
Pockmarked Chen, leading fifty or sixty red-eyed, desperate boatmen, charged fiercely to the main gates of the Waterway Hall.
Xu Wuyou! You're cutting off our livelihood! Pockmarked Chen waved his arms, spit flying from his mouth. On what grounds do you suspend our berths! Why won't you let the porters unload our cargo! Everyone, judge for yourselves! The Waterway Hall is trying to drive us poor folks to our deaths!
More and more idle laborers gathered around to watch the spectacle, blocking the long street until not even a drop of water could trickle through.
Pang Yu led two dozen Waterway Hall enforcers, their waist blades half-drawn, forming a human wall on the steps. Get back! Take one more step forward, and I'll chop off your dog paws!
The two black-lacquered doors of the Waterway Hall creaked open from the inside.
Xu Wuyou stepped over the threshold and stood on the highest step, looking down condescendingly at the crowd below. The clamor instantly died down.
Pockmarked Chen stiffened his neck and took a step forward. Hall Master Xu! You must give us an explanation today!
An explanation? Xu Wuyou looked at him coldly, as if looking at a dead man. He tilted his head. Lao Zhou, open his eyes.
Lao Zhou carried a stack of papers and walked to the notice board outside the door. With a few swift movements, he pasted thirty-seven documents neatly in a row. The black characters on white paper dazzled the eyes under the sun.
Gentlemen, these are the suspension of sailing documents submitted on your behalf by Pockmarked Chen, Xu Wuyou flicked his finger. If you have eyes, get over there and see for yourselves!
A few ordinary boatmen stepped forward, half-doubting. When they looked, their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
The thirty-seven documents, except for the thumbprints at the bottom which were freshly pressed, had exactly the same handwriting, ink color, format, and even the positions of the folds on the corners of the paper!
This was a damn mass-produced batch printed from the exact same woodblock!
Pockmarked Chen's calves twitched, and the flesh on his face froze.
Xu Wuyou stepped down the stairs, closing in on Pockmarked Chen step by step. You keep saying you owe a hellish debt to the Guanghui Bank and fear the imperial court's audit. But you didn't tell your brothers below that half an hour ago, the Imperial City Department raided the Guanghui Bank!
The bank's major owner, Shang Zhong, the steward of the Minister's Estate, is currently strung up on a torture rack in the Imperial Prison being flayed alive!
Xu Wuyou grabbed Pockmarked Chen by the collar, hoisting him halfway up. Your creditors are all dead, yet you're still using debt as a shield?
Are you really afraid of the imperial court's audit, or did you take dirty money from someone else and drag these poor bastards down to be your scapegoats!
These words fell like a spark into a powder keg.
The bank collapsed? We don't have to pay our debts?!
The eyes of a dozen ordinary boatmen instantly turned red, and they lunged at Pockmarked Chen like vicious wolves.
Pockmarked Chen! Screw your ancestors! You held onto my ship deed like grim death last night, and it turns out you were just using us as tools!
You took dirty money to eat and drink well, while leaving us out on the water to let the grain rot and wait for death? Beat this bastard to death!
The scene instantly spiraled out of control. The boatmen who had just been calling him Brother San left and right had now turned into vengeful demons, raining punches down on Pockmarked Chen's face.
Seeing that the time was right, Xu Wuyou raised his hand and pressed it down. Pang Yu, arrest him.
Pang Yu, who had been holding in a bellyful of anger, charged into the crowd with his enforcers like tigers and wolves.
With a few punches and kicks, they knocked Pockmarked Chen and his cronies to the ground, twisting their arms behind their backs and pinning them firmly against the bluestone pavement.
Pang Yu searched Pockmarked Chen's waist, pulled out his water tally, and threw it at Xu Wuyou's feet.
Xu Wuyou stepped on the water tally and took an iron hammer handed to him by an enforcer.
Bang!
Wood splinters flew everywhere as the water tally was smashed to pieces.
Xu Wuyou delivered a flying kick, sending the shattered wooden remnants into the river beside them.
Pockmarked Chen, tally sunken and name removed. Throw him out!
Pang Yu picked up Pockmarked Chen, who was limp as a dead dog, and threw him straight out of the crowd.
The remaining ringleaders were so terrified they wet their pants, kowtowing repeatedly and begging for mercy.
Seeing that the Waterway Hall meant business, and realizing that the bank had fallen and their debts were gone, the ordinary boatmen reacted.
They scrambled forward to hand in their old water tallies, terrified that if they were a step too late, their livelihoods would be smashed as well.
The strike alliance of the thirty-seven ships crumbled and collapsed in less time than it takes an incense stick to burn.
The crowd gradually dispersed, and the wharf resumed its busy state.
Xu Wuyou stood on the steps, watching the splintered wood floating in the river, a frown deepening on his face.
Pang Yu leaned in, wiping away sweat with a wide grin. Hall Master, those bastards really will not shed a tear until they see the coffin. They will behave now.
Xu Wuyou shook his head, lowering his voice. Something is not right.
Pang Yu paused, confused. What is not right? Has it not all been settled?
Xu Wuyou gazed out at the river. Lei Zhen issued a strict order yesterday. Navigation must be restored within a day, otherwise it will be treated as treason.
Pockmarked Chen and his gang are just local thugs at the docks. How much nerve could they possibly have to openly defy the Chief's absolute command?
Unless... Xu Wuyou trailed off.
Pang Yu followed the train of thought, a cold sweat suddenly breaking out on his back. Unless the person paying them off and backing them up is not afraid of Lei Zhen at all!
Xu Wuyou turned and walked back into the hall. Someone in the upper echelons of the Water Transport Gang is playing a double game. This is not over.
Night fell over the back alley of the Waterway Hall.
Xu Wuyou had just stepped out of the back door, preparing to return to the Count's Manor.
Just then, a dark figure darted out from behind a nearby stack of firewood, blocking Xu Wuyou's path.
Pang Yu's hand went to the hilt of his blade as he took a step forward, shielding Xu Wuyou. Who goes there!
The dark figure took off his bamboo hat, revealing a weathered, old face. It was an elderly boatman.
The old boatman fell to his knees with a thud. Hall Master Xu, I am a boatman from the south docks. I was there earlier today.
Xu Wuyou patted Pang Yu's shoulder, signaling him to stand down. Why are you blocking my way?
The old boatman looked up at Xu Wuyou, his cracked lips trembling. Hall Master Xu gave us all a way to survive today. I cannot just watch you get schemed against. The settlement money that Pockmarked Chen and the others received, as well as those identical suspension documents, I know who gave them out.
Xu Wuyou narrowed his eyes. Speak.
The old boatman swallowed hard, lowering his voice as if afraid the wind might carry it away. The person who issued these suspension plaques and withheld our boat deeds is not Chief Lei.
It is the man by his side, the Silver Accountant.
