“What did you say? People of Jia family want to give the account book to Tao Feng?”
Before long, Zhang Chong was informed what had happened in Tanyang. In the knowledge that a mere mine director of Jia family dared to talk so wildly and threat him, Zhang Chong was infuriated. In fact, not only was he infuriated, he couldn’t wait to kill that mine director named Cao Dong.
“Commander, if that account book falls into the hands of Tao Feng, he will get the goods on us. If by any chance he has it delivered to the capital city, His Majesty will surely order an investigation into it – if he doesn’t believe it immediately. In that case, what we’ve been doing here will definitely be brought to light,” said Bai Jun, a Deputy Commander, an anxious look on his face.
“Jia family is in a hurry to meet its end,” replied Zhang Chong in a malevolent tone of voice, his face murderous. “Go and find that Cao Dong immediately. Kill him. Destroy the account book.”
“But now everybody in Tanyang knows that Cao Dong has the account book. If he dies, we’ll be prime suspects.”
“We’re facing an imminent crisis, and you still care about this? Do it clean. Even if they guess the truth, there will be nothing they could do in the absence of any definite proof.”
“Ur… Yes, Commander!”
After Deputy Commander Bai Jun left, Zhang Chong thought for a while with a sullen face. Then he gave an order to his personal guard. “Get Wang Ming and Wang He here.”
The personal guard followed the order and brought Wang Ming and Wang He, both of whom were Deputy Commanders, to the tent of Zhang Chong.
“Commander, what can I do for you?”
“Jia family must be eliminated, but the mine must stay in our hands. Wang Ming, make arrangements for one of your men to disguise as a rich merchant, go to Jia family and offer to buy the mine. If Jia Yin refuses to sell it, make him!”
Hearing the order, Deputy Commander Wang Ming was rather embarrassed. “Commander, it’s very difficult for a strange merchant from another city to get Prefecture Yamen’s permission to buy a mine. Even if I have someone disguise as a merchant and manage to force Jia Yin into agreeing to sell, we won’t be able to get the mine without Tao Feng’s consent.”
“That’s your problem. Make it work or see yourself relieved of your command,” replied Zhang Chong.
Wang Ming and Wang He exchanged glances. Then Wang He said to Zhang Chong, “Commander, I have an idea. Would you please be so kind as to hear me out?”
“Go ahead.”
“If a strange merchant makes a sudden offer for the mine, Tao Feng will no doubt turn it down, which is why we need to ask a local squire for help – someone from He family or Zhou family, for example. They’re local squires, and we got the goods on them. As long as we put some pressure on them, they will obediently work for you, Commander.
This is the first half of my suggestion. As regards the other half, since Commander has already had an intention of eliminating people of Jia family, we might as well tamper with the mine and incriminate them. And then they’ll be at your mercy and you can do whatever you want to them, and no suspicions will be aroused. Since your last memorial to the throne was turned down by His Majesty, I fear that there might be something covert at work in the capital city, so maybe we should stand low-key in Tanyang lest we catch anybody’s attention and compromise the big plan of the Sixth Prince.”
Wang He made these remarks in a very calm tone of voice. The sullenness and murderousness on Zhang Chong’s face gradually dissolved. Seeing this, Wang Ming was secretly relieved.
“You’ve got a point. Be it so, how to tamper with the mine will be left to your discretion.”
“I’ll see it done. Please rest assured, Commander.”
After leaving Zhang Chong’s tent, Wang Ming said to Wang He, “Thanks to your timely proposal, Commander changed his mind.”
“You were just too inflexible, elder brother,” said Wang He.
“What do you plan to do?” Wang Ming asked him.
A sepulchral look flashed across Wang He’s face. “I’ve already got a plan. Just go and tell He family and Zhou family to do what they’re told to do. I’ll have Jia Yin put in jail by dusk tomorrow at the latest. And then He family and Zhou family will handle the rest.”
“Okay. Let’s do this your way.” replied Wang He.
…
After hearing the news about what had happened in the brothel, Yuwen Tong asked Ling Zhang, “Was it you who sent someone to add fuel to the matter of the mine director of Jia family?”
Ling Zhang gave a bob of the head and answered, “The account book that Cao Dong has in hand is a counterfeit. It won’t do us any harm if Zhang Chong destroy it. On the contrary, he’ll be lulled into believing that he has destroyed the evidence, leaving no loose ends. And the contradictions between Zhang Chong and Jia family will also be intensified, which will cause Zhang Chong to take action sooner. It’s almost been half a month and the deadline is drawing near. News from the capital city is likely to arrive in Tanyang at any moment. Once it comes to the knowledge of Zhang Chong that you are in Tanyang, he will call a halt to whatever it is that he has been doing. This is such a golden opportunity to induce a dogfight between them. How can we miss it?”
“That Cao Dong probably won’t make it through tonight,” observed Yuwen Tong. “Tao Feng suddenly paid a visit to Jia family in the morning. Was it you who asked him to do that?”
Ling Zhang nodded. “That was just a stratagem to trick Zhang Chong. Actually, Lord Tao just stayed there for a little while and then left.”
Yuwen Tong smiled. “It has never crossed my mind that you’ve already had the ear of Tao Feng.”
Ling Zhang curled his lip. “He was merely pushing the boat with the current.”
Tao Feng was a man of great shrewdness. The only time that he had offered help to Ling Zhang was when the case of Jia Yuanling was in progress. After that, Tao Feng had been standing by and profiting from two opposing sides all along.
Ling Zhang didn’t like Tao Feng. It was just that Tao Feng was not on friendly terms with Zhang Chong, so at least Tao Feng inclined to side with Ling Zhang. Had Yuwen Tong not come to Tanyang, Ling Zhang would have taken more proactive action to co-opt Tao Feng, who might have become Ling Zhang’s most powerful backer. But Yuwen Tong had arrived in Tanyang before that could happen.
On that night, a riot suddenly broke out in the mine of Jia family. Dozens of miners who had had enough of oppression from Jia family abruptly rose in revolt, injured guards of the mine, killed the mine director Cao Dong, burnt down the couple of houses of Jia family in the mining area, took the money, destroyed all important sales records and the account book, and then took to the hills.
News of this matter soon spread to Tanyang and brought the whole city into shock.
Before Tao Feng sent Yamen runners to settle the disturbed situation, Zhang Chong, under the banner of protecting people of Tanyang, led his men to the mine of Jia family, ringed it and restrained half of the rioters.
When people of Jia family heard about this incident, those arrested miners had already been escorted to Prefecture Yamen, and the mine was under the control of Prefecture Guards.
Jia Yin spat blood in undue rage and passed out in bed.
Struck all of a heap, Mrs. Jia limply slumped down onto a chair, her face ghastly white. “How did this happen?!”
Not only people of Jia family but also Tao Feng was greatly surprised. It had never crossed his mind that Zhang Chong would make such a ruthless move!
The body of Cao Dong was beyond recognition due to the fire and the account book had also been burnt to ashes, along with everything else in the houses.
Those arrested rioters kept on proclaiming that Jia family had inflicted abuse on them, that they had been forced to work as miners against their will, that they had never been paid or given enough food. They also stated many heinous crimes committed by Jia family, including arbitrarily executing miners in the mining area…
All arrested miners told the same story and also provided information about a couple of locations where people of Jia family had buried bodies.
Tao Feng led some men to those locations and, as expected, dug up over ten corpses.
All those bodies were identified as miners.
Ling Zhaowen, who was also present, was shocked by the scene. In fact, many people knew that Jia family had been oppressing and exploiting miners, but covert murders of miners had never been brought to light. If it weren’t for this riot, this horrific crime might continue to stay secret.
Ling Zhang, who had secretly come to the scene with Yuwen Tong, was also astounded, having difficulty calming himself down.
Though it was him who had played Zhang Chong off Jia family, he had never expected that Zhang Chong would directly take advantage of the mine of Jia family to make trouble, and neither had he expected that so many bodies would be found.
Most of those over ten corpses had only bones left. Only the one at the top had been newly buried.
‘People of Jia family did such atrocious things of brutality. Why didn’t they get their just deserts in their last life?’
Ling Zhang had an icy look on his face, anger bubbling beneath the surface. ‘It shows that in most cases, there are no such things as fairness or justice.’
“Turn your eyes away from it.” Seeing the look on his face, Yuwen Tong thought that the scene of those corpses were making him feel uncomfortable.
What he didn’t know was that Ling Zhang was grieving for and indignant about the fate of these miners, of Lu family and of Ling family in their last life.
He believed that in his last life, after they died, people of Jia family undoubtedly colluded with Zhang Chong and started bullying residents of Tanyang, living a comfortable life. ‘They must have stamped on the bodies of victims like my family reveling away the time! Why did they get to do that!’ Ling Zhang thought angrily.
Worried that Ling Zhang might lose control of his mood, Yuwen Tong hurriedly took him away from the scene.
“Jia family committed all sorts of wicked actions, and they will definitely get their just deserts this time. There’s no need for sorrow,” Yuwen Tong consoled him.
After a long silence, Ling Zhang answered, “Yeah.” He did this in revenge for the murder of his family in his last life. Debts of blood must be repaid in kind, since it was the only way to let the souls of the deceased rest in peace.
“People of Jia family are so inhumane. It would be a humiliation for humanity to regard them as human,” observed Tao Feng indignantly, standing beside the burial ground.
All Yamen runners who had dug up those bodies had angry faces. “Your Lordship, when should we arrest people of Jia family?”
“Yeah, Your Lordship. We can’t let Jia family get away with such atrocity.”
“Dig up all bodies with care. Bring those miners here and see if they can identify the bodies. As regards the mine…”
“The mine won’t be distraction for you, Lord Tao. Please let me handle it,” Zhang Chong interrupted Tao Feng.
Tao Feng’s brows furrowed. ‘Has Zhang Chong made up his mind to take control of the mine?’
“Commander Zhang, currently, this mine still belongs to Jia family. I’ll decide its ownership after a trial.”
“Rest assured, Lord Tao. I have no intention of taking forcible possession of it. It’s just that this riot was a very serious incident. As the commander of Prefecture Guards of Tanyang, I have a duty to maintain order and peace. Keeping this mine under temporary guard of Prefecture Guards is the best choice, given that there are still many miners in it and there’s no guarantee that they won’t riot again,” replied Zhang Chong.
Tao Feng subdued his anger and said, “Then thank you for going to the bother of guarding the mine for the moment.”
“It’s my pleasure,” said Zhang Chong.
Tao Feng coldly gave a snort. “Tongzhi Ling, please go back to the city first and have your men encircle Jia family lest Jia Yin escape.”
“Yes,” Ling Zhaowen answered and led his men away.
Seeing this, Ling Zhang said, “We should go back as well. It concerns me that my uncle stands to lose when a conflict arises between him and Jia family. I want to go there and see if I can help.”
Yuwen Tong nodded. “Okay.”
The two people followed Ling Zhaowen and returned to Tanyang. Residents of Tanyang knew that a serious incident had happened in the mine of Jia family, but the discovery of those bodies hadn’t come to their knowledge yet, so there was a semblance of quiet in the city for the moment.
Ling Zhaowen hurried to Prefecture Yamen, summoned all Yamen runners and headed for the residence of Jia family.
Keeping a low profile, Ling Zhang brought Wang Dashan and some others with him and followed in the wake of his uncle. Since it was inconvenient for Yuwen Tong to show himself, he returned to the mansion of Ling family.
