The next day, just after the hour of Chen.
The long street before the Jiangning Prefectural Yamen was already packed so tightly that not even a drop of water could pass through.
Hundreds of Jiangnan scholars in blue gowns stood shivering, their noses red from the cold, holding white banners raised on thick bamboo poles.
“Punish the traitor Xu Youde!”
“Give Jiangnan justice!”
Wave after wave of shouting crashed against the vermilion gates of the prefectural yamen. Onlookers shoved and jostled at the edges, while hired ruffians mingled among the crowd, whistling and egging everyone on. The scene was on the verge of spiraling out of control.
Before the yamen gates, two lines of constables stood with their water-and-fire staves in hand, bracing themselves across the street and desperately holding back the surging crowd. The chief constable turned his head, spat out the snowwater that had splashed into his mouth, and cursed loudly at several impoverished men forcing their way forward.
Yet on the other side of the wall, inside the main courtroom of the prefectural yamen—
Beneath the high-hanging plaque that read “Justice Shines Bright,” several imperial commissioners sat behind the bench.
At the center, Chief Justice Wang Hongdao sat with his eyes half closed, his graying beard hanging over his chest. He was as steady as a mountain.
On the right, Director Li Anbang wore a relaxed expression as he slowly skimmed the foam from his tea.
In the armchair on the left, Censor Zhou Mingxiu sat with his back ramrod straight. Quietly listening to the tumult outside, he reached through the wide sleeve of his official robe and inconspicuously felt the thick stack of banknotes in his sleeve pocket.
Three million taels in all.
The Chen family had put them aboard a ship and sent them over during the night as “blood money.”
The Chen family had wept and complained that the Yang family had betrayed them, begging him to hold the line at all costs. But in Zhou Mingxiu’s eyes, so what if Yang Bonian had switched sides?
As long as the public outrage outside was strong enough, he could insist that Xu Youde had dug up people’s ancestral graves. The Yang family’s one-sided testimony would never be enough to turn the tide!
The silver might burn his hands, but for the sake of the First Prince’s foundations, he had to use the authority of the Censorate to turn this case into an ironclad conviction today!
In the very center of the courtroom, Minister of Revenue Xu Youde was slumped in a large armchair, both hands wrapped around a small hand warmer. His head bobbed up and down—he was actually dozing off in this murderous courtroom.
Bang!
Wang Hongdao snatched up the wooden court block and slammed it down.
“Bring in the court!”
The constables on both sides struck their water-and-fire staves against the floor in unison and shouted their response.
Zhou Mingxiu could wait no longer. He planted one hand on the bench and rose, cupping his fists toward Wang Hongdao. His voice was deliberately raised so that those outside could hear him as well.
“Lord Wang! On behalf of the Censorate, I impeach Minister of Revenue Xu Youde!”
He raised his hand and pointed straight at the dozing Xu Youde.
“Xu Youde has abused the authority of an imperial commissioner to seize sacrificial fields in Jiangning, dig up ancestral graves, and embezzle no less than eight million taels of government silver!”
Zhou Mingxiu’s words rang out with force. “This case is supported by a petition jointly signed by hundreds of Jiangnan scholars! In addition, the heads of the three great clans south of the city are ready to testify in person! I respectfully ask the three judicial offices to punish this traitor severely and uphold the laws of Great Qian!”
When he finished, Xu Youde did not even lift an eyelid. He merely shifted into a more comfortable position and continued hugging his hand warmer.
On the right, however, Li Anbang set down his teacup.
He smoothed the hem of his official robe and rose unhurriedly, cupping his fists. “Lord Wang, I cannot agree with Censor Zhou’s statement.”
Zhou Mingxiu sneered. “Is Director Li planning to shield this criminal?”
“Shield him? That would be an overstatement. I am merely insisting that proper procedure be followed.” Li Anbang took half a step forward. “A petition signed by the people? No matter how many signatures it bears, the words written on it are still nothing more than unsubstantiated claims.”
His tone was neither hurried nor sharp, but every word struck home. “The Great Qian statutes are quite clear. In major cases involving embezzlement and the unlawful seizure of property, there must be the Revenue Ministry’s account books, the government land deeds and registers, and the victims’ depositions. Only when all three correspond can a conviction be reached.”
Li Anbang looked Zhou Mingxiu straight in the eye. “Censor Zhou casually claims that eight million taels have been embezzled. Then where is the silver? To whom were the land deeds transferred? Do you possess any hard evidence that can be presented in court?”
The muscles in Zhou Mingxiu’s face twitched twice. He knew Li Anbang had come to block the blade for someone, but he was confident that he had the upper hand.
“Of course there is evidence!” Zhou Mingxiu suppressed his anger. “The heads of the three great clans are living witnesses! The land deeds and account books in their possession are ironclad proof! Lord Wang, please order Chen Shichang, Fang Jinhai, and Yang Bonian to appear in court and testify. A single examination will make everything clear!”
Wang Hongdao gave a slight nod. “Granted. Summon the plaintiffs.”
Two constables hurried toward the gates and shouted at the top of their lungs, “Summon Chen Shichang, Fang Jinhai, and Yang Bonian to court!”
Before long, footsteps sounded from outside the courtroom.
Chen Shichang and Fang Jinhai entered side by side, leaving the uproar of the scholars behind them.
Chen Shichang puffed out his chest and tightened the sable cloak around his shoulders.
He had thrown three million taels into the fray the night before, and the public outrage outside had been fanned to its peak.
Although that old dog, Yang Bonian, had brought the land deeds and come over to offer his allegiance, Chen Shichang believed the Yang family would do no more than hide in the commissioners’ compound like a turtle in its shell, too afraid to show its face and defy the entire world.
As long as he insisted today that Xu Youde had seized sacrificial fields, and with Censor Zhou backing him, victory was guaranteed!
Chen Shichang reached the center of the courtroom and stopped. He clasped his hands and was just about to bow when, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced to the right.
His entire body abruptly froze.
On the right side of the courtroom, a grand armchair had been placed there.
Yang Bonian, dressed in a plain blue cotton robe, was sitting in it openly and comfortably.
On the rosewood tea table beside him lay a thick, neatly stacked pile of case files.
Chen Shichang’s pupils contracted violently.
He knew that Yang Bonian had betrayed them, but he had never dreamed that Yang Bonian would brazenly sit in the plaintiffs’ section, so close to imperial commissioner Xu Youde!
From the look of things, he had not come to serve as a tainted witness. He had come to help seal their fate!
A surge of rage at being played shot straight to Chen Shichang’s head.
“You…” He raised a trembling finger at Yang Bonian, completely forgetting the rules of the courtroom. He opened his mouth and cursed, “Yang Bonian! You shameless old dog! Betraying us wasn’t enough—you actually have the nerve to sit beside Xu Youde! Have you no regard for the honor of your Yang family ancestors?”
Yang Bonian did not even turn his head. He merely swept Chen Shichang a faint glance from the corner of his eye.
Bang!
Wang Hongdao seized the court block and slammed it down. “Outrageous! How dare you shout and cause a disturbance in court! Guards! Force them to kneel and hear the proceedings!”
After setting down the court block, a cold, mocking glint flashed through Wang Hongdao’s half-lidded eyes.
These great Jiangnan families were so accustomed to acting like local emperors that they truly believed imperial commissioners from the three judicial offices were made of clay?
Wang Hongdao carried an imperial edict. He represented the face of the Son of Heaven!
Let alone the Chen family—even if all the wealthy clans of Jiangnan were bound together, once they stood beneath the plaque proclaiming that justice shone bright, they would still have to curl up and behave themselves!
Besides, since that old fox, Yang Bonian, dared to sit as steady as a mountain in the plaintiffs’ section, it meant that the fatal weaknesses of the Chen and Fang families had already been seized completely.
Two men on the verge of death, stripped down to their underclothes, still dared to flaunt the airs of Jiangnan nobility in his courtroom?
With their superior’s order as a shield, four fierce constables charged forward without the slightest hesitation. Like starving tigers pouncing on their prey, they swung their water-and-fire staves down with a sharp, icy whoosh.
Chen Shichang felt a heavy blow press down on his shoulder, followed by a vicious strike to his calf.
With a thud, he dropped to his knees, the impact sending a jolt of pain through his kneecaps. He could only grit his back teeth and endure it.
Fang Jinhai had been frightened out of his wits long ago. He curled into a ball, his head nearly buried between his legs.
At the head of the courtroom, Zhou Mingxiu’s palms were breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Listen up, all of you.” Zhou Mingxiu raised his voice. “Chen Shichang, Fang Jinhai, I’m questioning you. How did Xu Youde forcibly seize sacrificial fields and dig up people’s ancestral graves? Present your land deeds and explain yourselves clearly in open court!”
Chen Shichang opened his mouth, just about to force out an answer.
“Wait.”
Yang Bonian, who had remained seated all this time, rose unhurriedly. He straightened the hem of his long gown and bowed deeply to Wang Hongdao.
“My lord, this humble citizen, Yang Bonian, has a petition to present before the court.”
Wang Hongdao narrowed his eyes. “What do you wish to report? Are you here to accuse Xu Youde of forcibly seizing your family’s sacrificial fields?”
“No.”
Yang Bonian straightened and spun around. He raised a hand, his index finger thrusting like a sharp sword toward the bewildered Chen Shichang kneeling on the floor.
“This humble citizen has not come here today to accuse Minister Xu! Quite the contrary!” Yang Bonian’s voice rose, shaking dust loose from the rafters. “I have come to lodge a formal accusation! I hereby expose the Chen and Fang families for deceiving the emperor, defying the law, and occupying government land—a heinous crime punishable by death!”
The moment those words left his mouth, the courtroom fell utterly silent.
The clerk’s hand trembled, and his brush dragged a dark streak across the document. Cold sweat instantly soaked through the back of Zhou Mingxiu’s inner robe. Chen Shichang and Fang Jinhai were both ashen, so stunned that they seemed to stop breathing.
Yang Bonian gave them no chance to recover.
He turned and walked to the tea table. With his callused hands, he untied the hemp cord and pulled out a bundle of yellowed papers with frayed edges.
“Three esteemed imperial commissioners, please examine this!”
With a rustle, Yang Bonian unfolded the old register, releasing a musty smell that had lingered for decades.
“This is the archived original of the fish-scale land register sealed in the Jiangning County yamen’s Land Registry Office in the twenty-sixth year of Xuande!” Yang Bonian pointed to a line of tiny characters in the register, each word spoken with force. “It is recorded here in black and white! The land south of the city at Yanzi Islet—the very scenic tract that the Chen and Fang families have enclosed as their ancestral burial ground—amounts to three hundred and eighty mu! Its classification is clearly listed as ‘government land reclaimed from wasteland!’”
Wang Hongdao’s eyes flew open. Li Anbang rose directly from his seat and descended the steps, while Zhou Mingxiu collapsed back into his armchair, staring blankly ahead.
“This proves that the ancestral graves these two families are so proud of are, in fact, government property!” Yang Bonian’s voice rang out like a great bell.
“Chen Shichang! Fang Jinhai! Your ancestors unlawfully seized government land, then bribed county clerks with large sums of money and forcibly altered the government registers, changing the classification from government land to private property!” Yang Bonian looked down at the two men from above.
“Volume 241 of the Great Qian Code states: anyone who occupies government land shall have all their property confiscated! Anyone who alters official land registers shall be exiled three thousand li, with no pardon even in the event of a general amnesty!”
He flung back his sleeves and barked coldly, “Your two families have committed crimes punishable by confiscation of your estates and extermination of your clans! And now, when the imperial court intends to make use of the land south of the Yangtze, not only do you refuse to confess and submit to punishment, you even dare incite the scholars to riot!”
Chen Shichang’s entire body trembled as a buzzing filled his mind.
The original register from the twenty-sixth year of Xuande? That was something from generations ago. The county yamen had burned all such records long ago. From which rat hole had this old dog dug it up?!
The moment this evidence saw the light of day, the Chen family was finished. Every last bit of their shame had been exposed!
Fang Jinhai could no longer hold himself together. His vision swam, and darkness began to close in around him.
Yang Bonian returned to the tea table and picked up a thick sheepskin map. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he spread it open.
It was a detailed map documenting the powerful clans south of Jiangning.
“My lords! The areas marked in vermilion on this map show the exact locations of the government land occupied by the Chen and Fang families! I have clearly marked which plots are sacrificial fields and which are undeclared holdings!” Yang Bonian held the map and the fish-scale register high in both hands.
Chen Shichang’s eyes bulged with fury.
With a roar like a wounded beast, he struggled to spring up from the floor and lunged at Yang Bonian.
“Yang Bonian! You spineless bastard! I’ll tear you apart, you old dog!”
“Hold him down!”
Four broad-shouldered constables rushed forward at once, their ironlike hands clamping down on Chen Shichang’s shoulders.
The chief constable lifted a foot and kicked the back of Chen Shichang’s knee.
With a howl of pain, Chen Shichang was forced heavily back onto his knees.
Two crossed wooden staves were pressed against his back, pinning him flat to the floor.
His cheek was crushed against the ground, yet Chen Shichang continued to struggle wildly, spittle flying from his mouth as he screamed, “This is slander! Minister Xu ordered that old dog to frame me! I refuse to accept this!”
His shrill curses echoed throughout the main hall.
Seated in his armchair, Zhou Mingxiu’s face looked even darker than the storm clouds outside.
There was nothing he could do to turn things around.
Xu Youde, who had been dozing throughout the proceedings, finally opened his eyes.
He rose slowly, brushed the dust from the sleeve of his official robe, and let out a sigh.
“Censor Zhou,” Xu Youde said mildly, though his words carried unmistakable mockery, “why don’t you take a look? Would you say this evidence is solid enough?”
