The Affairs of the Martial World - Vol 5 - The Theft of Government Silver: Chapter 1

A gentle breeze and fine drizzle make the best companions for wine.

The wine was aged and mellow, the dishes refined and delicious, and the place to drink was the Little Hero Tower in Wuxi County.

There was also a Hero Tower in the capital, a place Zhu Que often visited. Not everyone who drank there was a true hero, but once the wine started flowing, they all drank with a heroic spirit. And when that spirit arose, the wine cups never stayed full for long.

At the Hero Tower, wine was always served in great bowls. In ancient times, the tiger-slaying hero Wu Song1 was said to drink from a bowl, not a dainty cup. With such a model set by the ancients, how could today’s heroes not follow suit?

Zhu Que had gotten drunk there more than once, drinking alongside friends from the martial world. They would fill their bowls to the brim, clink them together, tilt back their heads, and drain them in one go; that was the true spirit of a hero.

Amidst the laughter and uproar, a whole jar of wine would vanish without anyone noticing. Then came the slapping of tables and shouting for the waiter to bring more.

To drink a bowl of wine and eat a slab of meat was the only way to drink with real satisfaction.

But here in the Little Hero Tower of Jiangnan’s Wuxi’s County, with spring breezes brushing the willows and drizzling rain soft as silk, Zhu Que’s drinking companion was no roughneck, but the refined and delicate scholar Li Keqing, who seemed almost as frail as a woman.

The wine was Nü’er Hong2, aged underground for years. The dishes were light, stir-fried bamboo shoots, sweet-and-sour whitefish, shredded vegetables, tofu with fresh toona shoots, and a bowl of lotus root and lotus seed soup, paired with flaky sesame biscuits. With such a setting and such company, everything took on an air of elegance.

Zhu Que seemed to be caught up in the mood too. Lifting the delicate porcelain cup in his hand, he muttered, “With a cup this small, if I drink too fast, I’m afraid I’ll swallow the whole thing down.”

Li Keqing laughed. “Drinking is about savoring, not gulping. Good wine must be tasted slowly if one is to appreciate its depth. If you just pour it into your belly like you do, that’s nothing more than swilling like a cow. How could you possibly tell one wine from another?”

Zhu Que sighed. “When I used to drink, the more I drank, the livelier I felt. Who knew that drinking with you, the more I drink, the lazier I become.”

Li Keqing only smiled, took another sip, and said nothing.

Zhu Que mimicked him, taking a dainty sip. He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and smacked his lips, just about to judge the wine’s quality when suddenly a commotion downstairs shattered the peaceful atmosphere.

He tilted his head and listened. The waiter’s voice shouting to drive someone away, a woman’s sobs, the murmur of the crowd. Zhu Que turned to Li Keqing and said, “I’ll go take a look.”

Downstairs, a woman in her forties was causing a scene and refused to leave. The waiters were shouting at her, calling her a madwoman, while the kitchen staff struggled to push her out the door.

Zhu Que asked the innkeeper what was going on.

The innkeeper said, “This madwoman is named He A’gu. She’s a widow raising her son, Shen Qingyun, a twenty-something, alone. He finally passed the provincial exam and was appointed to work at the Changzhou Prefecture office, just starting to make his way in life. A while back, he got into trouble and was sentenced to death. He A’gu insists her son is innocent, and she’s been running around trying to clear his name. When that fails, she becomes somewhat unhinged. Recently, the Wuxi magistrate came to dine here. Somehow, He A’gu found out, barged in while he was eating, shouting injustice, ruining the magistrate’s meal, and was kicked out. Now that the magistrate hasn’t come today, she’s back again, causing trouble. No matter what we say, she won’t listen. You see, how am I supposed to run my business with her making a scene like this?”

Li Keqing had come downstairs at some point. As a local official at the Wuxi County office, he knew the case. He said to He A’gu, “If you want justice, you must go to the office, beat the drum, submit a petition, and lay out the evidence. Making a scene here accomplishes nothing.”

He A’gu, who had been shouting, just wept silently. Suddenly, she knelt before Li Keqing.

Among the onlookers, someone muttered, “She’s an illiterate woman, how could she possibly know how to seek justice?”

Li Keqing immediately helped He A’gu to her feet and handed her a few taels of silver. “Go home first. I will review this case carefully. If your son is truly wronged, I will do my best to help. If not, you must not make a scene again.”

He A’gu murmured, “He’s innocent… he’s innocent…” She took the silver and tried to kowtow to Li Keqing, but he stopped her. After much persuasion, she finally left, still crying.

Once He A’gu left, the onlookers also dispersed.

The two returned upstairs. Zhu Que had lost his appetite for wine, and the fine spring drizzle outside grew denser. He stared at Li Keqing for a long while, making the scholar a bit uneasy, before finally saying, “Tell me, what crime did He A’gu’s son commit?”

Li Keqing replied, “It’s the official silver case. Normally, I cannot discuss it with outsiders, but since it’s you, I will make an exception.”

“This case didn’t happen in Wuxi County,” Li Keqing continued. He and Shen Qingyun were both officials, but in different roles. He only handled Wuxi local treasury matters. “Shen Qingyun was in charge of the Changzhou government treasury. A little over two months ago, seventeen thousand taels of silver were discovered missing. All the evidence points to Shen Qingyun, no one else could have stolen so much. Yet when they searched his residence, not a single tael was found.”

Zhu Que asked, “Did Shen Qingyun admit it himself?”

Li Keqing said, “At first he adamantly denied it. After a strict interrogation, he confessed, but still couldn’t explain where the silver was hidden.”

Zhu Que asked again, “Why was a case from Changzhou sent to Wuxi for trial?”

Li Keqing answered, “To prevent favoritism or collusion among officials, the trial was moved to a different location.”

Zhu Que was silent for a long moment before saying, “Seventeen thousand taels isn’t a small amount. There must be other evidence. This so-called strict interrogation, if you ask me, it seems more likely he was coerced into confessing.”

Li Keqing said, “Because of the large amount, no one else could have taken it all at once. Even with hired carts, it would take around ten carts to carry it. So people suspect it wasn’t a one-time theft. Just that by the time the case was discovered, it had accumulated. If others had stolen it in batches, he, as the manager, should have noticed. Even this oversight is a serious dereliction of duty.”

Zhu Que asked, “When was the silver first discovered missing?”

Li Keqing replied, “The treasury was checked once every month and a half. Other than when taxes were deposited or silver sent to the national treasury, it wasn’t counted regularly. Even the monthly-and-a-half check was perfunctory. No one expected silver to go missing, so the inspection was lax; they basically just glanced at it.”

Zhu Que raised a doubt, “Seventeen thousand taels, if one person took it over a month and a half, that’s nearly four thousand a day. Even if he came and went from the office twice a day, he’d have to carry twenty ingots at a time. Not to mention stealing, even openly taking that much would be difficult without being noticed. How could no one see anything unusual?”

Li Keqing explained, “Of course, there’s more. Anyone working at the office could come and go freely. He had the keys and could even come alone at night.”

Zhu Que nodded and calculated inwardly. Even so, coming and going too frequently would raise suspicions. If he only carried two ingots at a time, he would need to make about twenty trips each day, and each time he’d have to hide the silver properly, an implausible routine. Zhu Que thought this over silently, but kept it to himself.

Li Keqing seemed to read his thoughts. “The Ministry of Justice also suspected he had accomplices, but the interrogations revealed nothing. His confession only states that he acted alone.”

Zhu Que nodded, pondering for a moment. “If the missing silver hasn’t been found, and there’s not even basic evidence, then claiming he stole it is only a supposition. How could this lead to a death sentence?”

Li Keqing explained, “With his own confession, it’s no longer just speculation. A few years ago, this might have only resulted in suspension or exile. But recently, higher authorities have demanded self-inspection from every prefecture, and special envoys have been sent to supervise local officials. In such a climate, everyone looks out for themselves. No one dares to be lenient on officials, and embezzlement is punished severely, just to avoid implicating themselves.”

Zhu Que nodded. “I see. That explains it. But if we can locate the seventeen thousand taels, it might clear Shen Qingyun’s name.”

Li Keqing frowned. “If he really is innocent…… and willing to reveal where the silver went, I don’t think he would have been sentenced to death.”

Zhu Que thought of something and asked, “Do these government silver ingots carry any marks?”

Li Keqing said, “They are all ingots of a hundred taels each, stamped with the Changzhou prefecture mark on the bottom. But if they were stolen, melted, and recast, these marks would be erased.”

Zhu Que deduced, “For a case this big, the silver is probably still hidden somewhere. They wouldn’t melt and recast it so quickly. They’d have to wait for things to cool down first.”

Li Keqing nodded. “If Shen Qingyun committed this, he must have had accomplices. But at Changzhou, besides him, there were only four guards with access to the treasury. They all came and went together, and none had keys. Shen Qingyun spent the most time inside and could come and go freely. After the theft, extra personnel were assigned, and twelve people now rotate guarding the treasury. In addition, over sixty soldiers from the Changzhou office are on duty, rotated from the garrison. So, apart from Shen Qingyun, no one else had a chance to access the silver.”

Zhu Que said, “What you describe is impossible for petty thieves. But real criminals of the martial world can find ways to come and go unnoticed.”

Li Keqing looked doubtful. “Forgive me, I really cannot imagine such things.”

Zhu Que knew that speaking of the martial world to a scholar was like trying to teach a summer insect about ice. He remained silent but secretly resolved to investigate the Changzhou treasury himself.

Li Keqing said, “I know you have a soft heart. Seeing He A’gu in such distress, you want to help. But government matters aren’t like affairs in the marital world. There are too many constraints, making it hard to act, even if you wish to.”

Zhu Que said, “Life-and-death matters, whether in court or outside, are never small. Even repeated reviews can’t guarantee no miscarriage of justice. Now that you’ve promised He A’gu to review the case, is it merely to appease her, or do you truly intend to investigate?”

Li Keqing said helplessly, “As fellow officials, how could I not empathize? Even if I exert myself in vain, it’s no great loss. All right, I promise you to review the case carefully. Even if the evidence is conclusive, at least I can say I did my best.”

Zhu Que said, “Very well. I’ll also ask a few friends for help. Once we have new leads, we’ll meet again.”

Li Keqing, realizing Zhu Que couldn’t stay put, said, “We’ll wait for good news. With you as a friend, injustice cannot go unchallenged.”

Zhu Que looked out at the rain and suddenly found it cold and damp. It no longer felt beautiful; instead, it turned the ground into a muddy mess.

Puyu: I’m back! Let’s jump right back in! 

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