The Sorceress' Revolt
Author: Toriumi Jinzō
Translator: Ainikki the Archivist
Ko Biji's Story
Part Two: Salt Smugglers
Tanshi was taken to the prefectural
office. At that time, government officials worked in two shifts: a
morning shift and an evening shift. Tanshi's interrogation took place at
around the time the prefectural governor finished his work in the
afternoon.
Tanshi and the old woman from the
teahouse were made to wait in the room outside the prefectural governor's
office.
The old woman whispered to Tanshi,
gaining the attention of the officer on watch. "Mr. Monk, the prefectural
governor is a greedy man who lines his own pockets by arresting young
working people in the village and forcing them into his service for free
labor. Rumor has it that he's in cahoots with a highly placed official in
the capital. He collects large sums as taxes and spends them to gain the
favor of the Imperial Court's envoys."
The old woman was well-versed in the
affairs of the world.
In China at this time, several provinces
and prefectures were clumped together into a unit called a district. There
were more than twenty districts across the nation. The general supervisor
who handled the finances of a district was called a Minister of Finance.
Local government officials of each province and prefecture were termed
Civil Ministers, and it was their role to police other officials and keep
them in check.
That was how it was supposed to work, but
in practice, Civil Ministers and Ministers of Finance frequented the same
social and work circles. That made them all complicit in the corruption
running rampant through the system.
Tanshi and the old woman spent half an
hour waiting before they were summoned by the governor into an
interrogation room. He was a fat, middle-aged man with a cunning look. It
was as if the old woman had whispered him into existence as the most
typical specimen of a corrupt Civil Minister.
The officer escorting Tanshi updated the
governor on the situation. The governor nodded his head, peering closely
at Tanshi to gauge his reaction to the officer's account. His
condescension and arrogance were readily apparent. Although there was
nothing completely untrue in the officer's report, there were some
exaggerations that put Tanshi at a disadvantage. In any case, Tanshi
himself had decided that he'd committed murder and that there was no
excuse for it.
Then the old woman gave her testimony.
"This monk is not guilty of any crime. The one at fault is the evil monk
who beat my daughter to death. Everyone in town was watching, so if you
ask around, you will understand what truly happened. Please forgive the
monk and let him go.''
The governor said that the old woman's
impassioned speech was quite supportive of Tanshi's innocence. He issued
some instructions to the officer, who withdrew from the room in a hurry.
An escort arrived for the old woman, who arrived home safely later in the
evening.
"I think I understand this case," the
governor said. "I shall make my decision in due course."
Tanshi was prepared to be condemned to
prison, or worse. But that wasn't what happened at all. Tanshi was guided
to the governor's private residence and entertained in a luxurious suite.
Dinner was a lavish spread of many dishes: salted duck, pig feet pickled
in miso and then grilled, deep-fried carp, stewed bamboo shoots with
mushrooms, fried tofu, boiled edamame and other greens, all served with
delicate-tasting rice wine.
Monks usually followed a strict
vegetarian diet. Tanshi considered this, but he was a murderer and
couldn't really be considered a monk any longer. He ate and drank a little
of everything on the table because he was ravenously hungry.
Throughout the meal, Tanshi glared at the
governor, thinking that the man must have some ulterior motive for
treating a criminal so well. The governor lived an extravagant lifestyle
for a government official: his estate was furnished with antique pieces of
the highest quality and decorated in fine taste. A large number of guards
roamed the property: enough to be considered a private army.
Tanshi remembered what the old woman had
said about the governor and decided that she'd told the truth, at least
mostly. There was no way the governor could make enough money to live this
well legitimately. He must have raised all this capital by mistreating the
people under his care. When Tanshi realized that the feast he'd consumed
had been made possible by the suffering of the poor, he felt ashamed of
himself.
There were other guests at the feast: a
group of salt and iron inspectors from the capital at Bianliang. Salt and
iron were state trading monopolies overseen by the Ministry of Finance and
Ministry of Internal Affairs. Those ministries were responsible for all
matters of business, security, weaponry, and trade. Places in those
ministries were some of the most important positions in the Imperial
Court.
An orchestra came out to entertain the
guests in the main hall. Music drifted down the corridor to the private
room where Tanshi sat. Laughter and singing echoed from the main
chamber.
The scale of this party disturbed
Tanshi. The governor had paid for none of this himself; this feast and
all the entertainments were the product of extortion, plain and simple.
The governor seemed to believe that corruption was part of his job
description—a privilege of his position. As Tanshi thought it through, he realized
that the guests at this feast were complicit in the corruption, too.
They didn't report these excesses, so the Emperor never heard about them
and no one was ever punished.
Not that reporting corruption to the
Emperor would help much: he was still a child and under the Empress
Dowager's thumb. And the Empress Dowager tended to ignore local
officials.
After eating, Tanshi retired to bed.
Servant girls cleared the dishes from his table and left him
alone.
Later, the governor came to visit Tanshi
and found him lying in bed. He seemed to be in a good mood. "I'm sorry I
kept you waiting," the governor said. "I see you've finished your
meal."
Tanshi rose from his bed and greeted the
governor politely. "I thank you for your hospitality."
"Ah! You really cleaned your plate,
didn't you?."
Tanshi was struck by the absurdity of
this situation. Providing a feast, then judging him for eating too much?
What had the governor expected?
It was a common tactic for men like the governor—and salesmen—to get their target audience off-balance. This was what the governor
was doing to Tanshi: he was trying to shake his equilibrium.
"I was detained by our guests from
Bianliang," the governor said. "It seems they're experiencing some
difficulties."
"I understand. I wish them a swift
resolution to their troubles." This was a perfunctory answer; Tanshi's
heart wasn't in it. He'd heard about the inspectors from the servant girls
earlier.
"Well, we hold this celebration every
year, but it's a lot of work for everyone, especially us government
officials..." He droned on with not a single wrinkle of worry on his
face.
"Excuse me, sir," Tanshi said after the
governor finished speaking. "Have you come to a decision concerning me?"
His expression became solemn.
"Hm?" The governor had already completely
forgotten about Tanshi's case. He'd invited Tanshi to this feast because
dealing with him in any other way would have distracted from his
preoccupation with the inspectors that he was trying to
impress.
"It's about the teahouse incident,"
Tanshi prompted.
"Oh, that. I haven't decided yet."
"Is that so?"
The governor hemmed and hawed for
awhile, then said, "The itinerant monk was unregistered in our district
and killing the girl was a serious crime. But I believe he has been
punished for it—he's already fallen into hell. You acted out of instinct, and are
innocent."
"Thank you, sir." He was relieved that he
was found to have acted in self-defense, quite apart from how he felt
about being responsible for killing someone. He was still wary of the
governor's motives for treating him generously, however. A man like him
thought nothing of twisting the truth to serve his own ends.
"You said you hail from the Lingnan Provinces?" the governor
asked.
"Yes, sir."
"Your skill at fighting has been
praised."
"I wouldn't say I'm a terribly good
fighter, sir."
"Did you train at a Shaolin
temple?"
"No, sir, I've never even been to
one."
"Then where did you train?"
"At my home temple, where I spent most of
my life."
"You must have had a lot of free time,
then. Is being a wandering monk to your liking? Don't you find it
dull?"
"No, sir," Tanshi said. "Discipline is
its own reward."
"Stop with that prattling
nonsense."
"Um... yes, sir." He clutched
instinctively at his stomach. Like it or not, he owed the governor for
clearing his name, feeding and sheltering him.
"Why don't you remain here for a time?"
the governor asked.
So that was his intention. "What do you
mean, sir?"
"I like strong men. I'm always trying to
recruit more. I'd like to be like Li Keyong and set myself up for future
success."
In the late Tang Dynasty (618–907
CE), there was a great general named Li Keyong. He was of Shatuo (Turkish)
descent and cultivated a mighty army, including an elite cavalry force
called the Black Crows. The Tang army feared this army's ferocity, and
with good reason: Li Keyong would eventually seize the the independent
state of Jin for himself and his heirs, and his son became the founding
emperor of the later Tang Dynasty.
The governor was trying to hire Tanshi on
as a bodyguard. The idea made Tanshi feel sick to his stomach.
"The number of thieves and bandits in our
district has increased of late, and the residences of we civil servants
are all at risk," the governor said.
"I appreciate your consideration, but..."
He was trying to be polite, but he was also trying to refuse.
"Your pay will depend on your
ability."
"Excuse me?"
"No, no, you're right; I'll ask you for
your answer to my offer tomorrow. I still have many more important people
to greet. Get some rest, young man."
Tanshi intended on taking advantage of
the place to sleep: it was too late in the evening to seek another. "Thank
you, sir." He bowed his head, grateful that his restraint when faced with
the governor's offer hadn't gotten him thrown out.
"Let the servant girls know if you need
anything," the governor said. He left.
Tanshi had hated the governor from the
first moment they'd met. The governor liked to flaunt his power and
corruption as a matter of course and belittle those who took advantage of
his hospitality. If what the old woman had said was true, then the
governor was every bit as bad as the itinerant monk he'd fought. The
governor enriched himself, ignorant or uncaring that his activities harmed
everyone else.
And there was worse: Tanshi had learned
from the servant girls that the governor was trading in cinnabar. That was
one reason why the trade officials were present: they, too, were dealing
under the table.
How deep did the corruption run? The
governor's corruption was obvious. The trading officials were
involved, too—and that meant the Imperial Court would make no move to stop it. Any of
it.
Tanshi had encountered many evils of the
world since leaving his own temple. The temple was an entirely different
world from this one. It would be impossible to return and see it in the
same way.
Tossing and turning on his guest bed,
Tanshi considered the events of the day. He knew that the itinerant monk
was a bad person—an evil person, even—but he still regretted killing him.
Are people supposed to die that easily? Tanshi thought.
Even though he was a villain, he would have been praying for eternal
youth and longevity, like everyone else. If Tanshi hadn't intervened, the itinerant monk would still be alive...
and the poor old woman would be dead instead.
Is what happened today fate, or could
it have gone a different way?
Tanshi asked himself. But that didn't matter. Either way, he had no
choice but to transcend the limits of fate.
Notes
塩鉄司: Salt and Iron Division. In 119 BCE, Emperor Wu of Han cast about for ways to finance his expansionist policies, and at the urging of his advisors, decreed salt and iron to be state monopolies. The inspectors in this chapter are enforcers of these state monopolies.
戸部司: Ministry of Finance/Revenue, an imperial government office responsible for taxation and the monopolization of trade goods.
度支司: Ministry of Internal Affairs, in charge of accounting, military and state financial concerns.
李克用: Li Keyong.
鵶軍崩: The name of Li Keyong's army, the Black Crows. The first kanji is an earlier form of 烏, meaning "crow."
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