Those corpses of miners brought back by Tao Feng were concrete evidence. This time, words failed all people of Jia family, as if their necks were being squeezed. After a few moments’ silence, they dissolved into tears.
“I wonder if they still have anything else to say,” said Wang Dashan.
‘Just now all these people indulged in sophistry acting like they were really wronged,’ he thought angrily.
Those corpses covered with white cloth were carried into Prefecture Yamen, followed by people of Jia family and a great many lookers-on. The hall was filled with people waiting for Tao Feng to hold a trial.
Tao Feng quickly changed into his official robe and announced the commencement of the trial. Jia Yin had been woken up by a physician. Mrs. Jia was kneeling on the ground beside him, sobbing with her head down. Behind the couple knelt other members of Jia family.
“Jia Yin, state your motives for exploiting, abusing and killing miners working in your mine,” Tao Feng snapped.
Jia Yin briefly gasped and then slowly replied, “Your Lordship, it wasn’t me who killed those miners. We never murdered any miners.”
Tao Feng reprimanded, “Liar! More than a hundred miners working in the mine testified that those people were killed by members of your family. Yamen runners! Bring the witnesses!”
Before long, Yamen runners brought all miners to the hall. Some of them were in shackles and the others were not.
Tao Feng said to them, “State the reason why you rioted. Give an account of how Jia family killed those miners and tell us the identities of all victims.”
All miners were trembling. Clearly the atmosphere of this law court filled them with fear.
“Our work in the mine is very dangerous, and we have to work very long hours every day. But people of Jia family never paid us agreed amount of money on the agreed date. They frequently delay making payments and they dock our wages all the time. We were displeased and we requested Jia family to pay us the money they had promised, but Jia family not only refused but also said that we were too greedy. Some of us wanted to quit and asked Jia family to give them their wages for the last month, but Jia family threatened them, saying that they wouldn’t get a single coin if they quit. All of us are from poor families. Our family members are counting on us to support them. We can’t afford to give up the money, so we have no choice but to continue working there under the exploitation.
But as time passed by, we found it harder and harder to get by. Tunnels are growing in both number and depth every day, and it’s also getting increasingly dangerous to work down there because of the high risk of collapse. Once anybody got stuck in there, death is almost certain. If anyone dies in the tunnel, Jia family will make a meager compensatory payment when his family members come to the mine to claim the body. Those who are injured may survive if the wounds are not severe. For those who are seriously wounded, Jia family will just ignore them and let them die, because treating them costs more than compensating family members of the dead.
Many of us found this unacceptable and intended to leave, but because these things have come to our knowledge, people of Jia family are even more unwilling to let us go. In no circumstances will anybody working in the mine be allowed to leave. We couldn’t stand it anymore so we rose in revolt with the intention to have Cao Dong, the mine director, inform the patriarch of Jia family that we were willing to waive our claim for wages as long as he agreed to let us leave. But Cao Dong refused and had the guards beat one of us to death. During the conflict, someone pushed Cao Dong. He lost his balance and accidentally hit his head on the corner of a table and died. The oil lamp on the table was overturned and then the account book and other things were set aflame. We got scared and fled, and the fire burnt everything to ashes.”
Head down, a miner in shackles gave a detailed account of what had happened in the mine of Jia family.
Standing among the crowd, Ling Zhang heard the miner distinctly. He believed that most of the miner’s words were definitely true, but the death of Cao Dong and the reason for the riot were by no means so simple, that Zhang Chong must have played a part in this.
“Why and how did Jia family murder those miners? What do you know about those bones?” Tao Feng asked a further question.
“Your Lordship, all those people were miners who attempted to put up a resistance to Jia family. They tried to flee from the mine under the noses of guards but got caught and beaten to death.”
This remark of the miner sent a ripple of exclamation through the crowd. People found it hard to believe that people of Jia family were so cold-blooded.
“Every time someone was beaten to death, the mine would be quiet for a very long time, because everybody is afraid and doesn’t want to die. But every certain amount of time, there would always be someone who failed to forbear from fleeing and then was beaten to death. We’ve already lost count of such things.”
“Your Lordship, please help us get justice! We really didn’t mean to kill Cao Dong. All we wanted was to quit the job. We sought an audience with Jia Yin and Jia Zhong but were denied the chance, which was why we caused Cao Dong’s accidental death. Please take this into consideration, Your Lordship.”
“Your Lordship, all of us are poor people forsaken by fortune, and we all have aged parents and young children awaiting us at home. We don’t want to die in the mine of Jia family.”
“Please help us get justice, Your Lordship!”
“Your Lordship, people of Jia family have no sense of humanity. They don’t deserve to be deemed human.”
Miners kept talking and soon threw the hall into hubbub.
Tao Feng brought his alarming-block (An alarming block is a cuboid block of wood shaped like a brick, which is used by an official in feudal China and served as the counterpart of a judge’s hammer.) down on the table and ordered, “Quiet.”
“What you’ve just pleaded has come to my knowledge. Those who killed people, intentionally or unintentionally, shall be punished in accordance with law. But since Jia family committed such horrific crimes, I will also make sure all of you see justice served.”
“Thank you. Thank you, Your Lordship.” Miners kept kowtowing.
Tao Feng had to smack the alarming-block down onto the table again to have them quiet down.
Face livid with rage, Jia Yin subdued his fury and observed, “Your Lordship, all of them were lying. We have nothing to do with the deaths of those miners. It was these people who secretly murdered them and buried them to frame me.”
“Bullshit! There were guards everywhere in the mine. Each and every move of ours were under their surveillance. How was it possible for us to kill anybody in there?”
“Your Lordship, Jia Yin is trying to shift responsibility onto us. Please don’t believe him. It was indeed his men who killed those people.”
Jia Yin clenched his teeth and gasped quickly, his face deathly white, which made him seem very scary. “Your Lordship, all these people are cheap and uneducated country bumpkins. You can never trust them. They are defaming us!”
“Your Lordship, never have we killed anybody,” Mrs. Jia also urgently said.
“Jia Yin, Fang shi, both human testimony and physical evidence are available, yet you are still trying to deny your guilt.” Tao Feng was very angry. “Yamen runners! Bring another witness here so that they’ll be sincerely convinced.”
‘There’s yet another witness?’ Everybody was astonished.
Even Ling Zhang was somewhat surprised. ‘Who’s this extra witness?’
It turned out that the one brought to the hall by Yamen runners was the butler of Jia family.
On the sight of the butler, Jia Yin was infuriated and nearly passed out again. “It’s you?!”
As soon as the butler entered the hall, he knelt down to the ground and dissolved into tears. Sobbing, he said to Tao Feng, “Your Lordship, I can testify that it was Master and Second Master who gave orders to kill those miners. I myself communicated orders from them several times. My stupid loyalty clouded my judgement at that time. Please show clemency on me, Your Lordship!”
Ling Zhang knitted his eyebrows. ‘When in a life-and-death situation, this so-called “loyal servant” is nothing more than this.’
Seeing that even the butler of Jia family betrayed the master, all other servants of Jia family followed suit. They kept disclosing more illegal acts committed by Jia Yin and Jia Zhong as well as other members of Jia family.
“Those who provide information on the crimes committed by the Jia brothers will receive lenient sentence,” said Tao Feng.
As soon as he finished the last word, more servants decided to betray Jia family. They raced to inform on their masters for tear that there wouldn’t be anything left for them to disclose if they didn’t hurry.
Jia Yin watched these servants, his face growing paler and paler. “You fucking lackeys. Don’t forget who you are indentured to.”
“Jia Yin, you’re already a prisoner, a criminal, which means you’re no longer eligible to keep these people’s service indentures. And openly threatening witnesses in a law court is an unforgivable act. Yamen runners! Give him ten staff hits,” said Tao Feng coldly.
“Yes, Your Lordship!”
When Jia Yin was pinned against the surface a bench prostrate, he caught sight of Zhang Chong. Instantly, the look in his eyes went ferocious and he gritted his teeth. “Zhang Chong, it’s you. It must be you! You want my mine. You want to take our lives. You base bastard will die a violent and miserable death!”
After cursing Zhang Chong, Jia Yin turned his head aside to swear at Ling Zhaowen. “And you, Ling Zhaowen. You framed me, didn’t you?!”
“Ah!” Yamen runners started the flogging and Jia Yin let out a pained cry, no longer able to curse anybody. His body was covered with blebs and he had also spat blood previously, which meant he had both trauma and internal injury, so the flogging was beyond the tolerance of his body. Soon, before the Yamen runner counted to ten, Jia Yin blacked out.
Kneeling on the side, Mrs. Jia trembled uncontrollably. She had understood Jia Yin’s remarks. Afraid to raise her head to look at Zhang Chong, she crawled her way up to him, grabbed the lower hem of his robe and pleaded, “Commander Zhang, you’re a man of generous mind. Please have mercy on us and forgive us for our wrongs this time. Spare us. Please.”
“What are you talking about, Mrs. Jia? It’s you who committed crimes, none of which concerns me. Walk away.” Zhang Chong grinned hideously and kicked Mrs. Jia aside.
Mrs. Jia let out an anguished screech but soon crawled over to him again and implored in a tearful voice, “Commander Zhang, I’m begging you. Spare us. Please.”
“Get your hands off me or else I’ll give you another kick!” Zhang Chong looked at Mrs. Jia in impatience.
But Mrs. Jia refused to release her grip. Since Zhang Chong had already kicked her once, it was inappropriate for him to aim another kick at her, so he said to Tao Feng, “Lord Tao, please have your men get Mrs. Jia away from me.”
Tao Feng winked at a Yamen runner, who then walked up to Mrs. Jia and grabbed her, trying to drag her aside.
Mrs. Jia clung on to Zhang Chong’s legs and beseeched him. “Commander Zhang, I’m begging you. Please spare us! We won’t blame our son’s death on you any longer, and neither will we sell the ore of our mine to anybody else. Please forgive us, okay?”
“Stop your nonsense, woman. Beat it!” In order to cover the truth, Zhang Chong gave Mrs. Jia another kick which sent her flying.
Mrs. Jia landed on the ground and burst into weep.
Seeing this, all lookers-on fell into discussion in a muted voice. Zhang Chong’s face went extremely sullen.
The fate of Jia family stood unaffected by Mrs. Jia’s tears. Since servants of Jia family disclosed everything, and the butler of Jia family, who was a key witness, also testified against the Jia brothers, people of Jia family were convicted on charges of abusing miners and multiple murder.
Because Jia Yin had fallen unconscious during the flogging, and all testimony and confession needed recording, Tao Feng declared that a sentence would be passed three days later. He also ordered people of Jia family be taken into custody awaiting sentence.
In the realization that the situation had gone beyond salvation, Mrs. Jia rolled her eyes and fainted.
