Chapter 75: Flowing Water
Gao Yunqu was not entirely unaware of the undercurrents in Chuzhou, but without any concrete evidence, she was inclined to take a gradual approach, maintaining a relatively moderate attitude toward the officials there. However, Zhou Hui's visit disrupted her original plans.
Zhou Hui arrived one evening without sending a formal notice in advance, which was unusual in itself. Startled, Gao Yunqu quickly had Gao Yuan show her in.
"Shengyan, what brings you here?" Gao Yunqu stood to welcome her.
"My respects, Lord Gao. Please do not take offense at my uninvited visit," Zhou Hui said, clasping her hands in a salute.
"Of course not. I was just thinking of seeking you out for a talk myself." Seeing the anxiety and urgency on her face, Gao Yunqu asked, "What has happened?"
Zhou Hui sighed. "This subordinate has encountered a difficulty and has come specifically to seek your advice, my lord."
Gao Yunqu invited her to sit and gestured for Gao Yuan to serve tea.
"My lord, I arrived in Chuzhou to take up my post at the beginning of last year. It is shameful to admit, but I am not skilled in social interactions and have had little contact with my colleagues in Chuzhou, so I am unclear on many matters. However, I did participate in the collection of the autumn tax last year, and I felt then that something was amiss. There was a rather large discrepancy between the taxes collected in Chuzhou and the amount sent to the capital... I went down to the countryside to see for myself, and the public resentment is considerable... I was puzzled at the time. The court reduces Chuzhou's taxes every year, so why are things still like this at the grassroots level? Therefore, I have been pondering this matter since last winter, but I have been obstructed at every turn. The Prefect has assigned me a great deal of work, making it inconvenient for me to leave Chuzhou. So I thought I would start with the archives, verify the numbers, and see if I could uncover anything." As Zhou Hui recounted her story from the beginning, Gao Yunqu understood from her experiences in Chuzhou that she was too upright and had been ostracized by the local officialdom. Neither her superiors nor her subordinates wanted her to dig too deep.
Zhou Hui took a sip of tea and continued, "But the more I looked at the numbers, the more they didn't add up. There seem to be problems with the land tax, the poll tax, and the profits from salt and iron. Take the population alone: the numbers of households and individuals in Chuzhou have been increasing year after year, yet the number of conscriptable laborers has been decreasing annually. Although the outflow of the population is also growing, it doesn't seem to be that large. So where did the missing people in the middle go? The more I calculated, the more alarmed I became. Fortunately, the imperial inspector who came is you. I can only trust you."
Chuzhou was something of an exile post. Officials sent there all felt their futures were bleak. It was during this time of greatest distress that the powerful local families would make their move, offering substantial bribes and promising great benefits, easily making the Chuzhou officialdom their tool. Only Zhou Hui remained stubbornly incorruptible. In the end, Prefect Dou Qi devised a plan, assigning her a massive amount of paperwork to tie her down in the prefectural office, leaving her no time to run around outside and, naturally, preventing her from discovering anything. Who would have known that Zhou Hui was exceptionally skilled with numbers and had served for many years as a Remonstrance Official in the Ministry of Revenue before leaving the capital? She was extremely sensitive to tax figures and had actually managed to calculate that something was wrong from within the vast sea of archival records.
"My lord, I've written down all the numbers with discrepancies. They are all here. Please, take a look."
Zhou Hui took a notebook from her sleeve and handed it to Gao Yunqu. Gao Yunqu took the notebook and began to flip through it carefully, her alarm growing with every page. Chancellor Fan had pushed for the New Policies precisely because of the chaotic state of local taxation and the central government's inability to intervene. Gao Yunqu knew there were some shenanigans at the local level, but she had never imagined Chuzhou would go to such lengths. According to the figures Zhou Hui had found, forty percent of Chuzhou's commoners were bearing the entire tax burden of the prefecture—an already shocking figure. Yet the court had not received this much tax revenue. If the powerful families of Chuzhou had taken the difference, it would be no small sum. The population issue was even more severe. Never mind how much poll tax was collected; the key question was, where had all the missing people gone?
Gao Yunqu's fingertips tapped lightly on the notebook as she mused, "The foundation of taxation is population. So where have Chuzhou's people gone?"
Zhou Hui thought for a moment and added, "I also tried to sound out some of the old clerks. They said that Chuzhou has never been able to hold onto its people. They either leave Chuzhou to make a living in other prefectures, or they simply become bandits, occupying the mountains as their own domain. The scourge of bandits has been a deep-seated pain for the people of Chuzhou since ancient times."
"To leave Chuzhou, one needs a household travel permit, which the government records. The outflow isn't that large, so they must still be in Chuzhou. Have they become tenant farmers for the powerful families? Are they scattered throughout these mountains? Or... is it both?" Gao Yunqu gazed out the window at the continuous mountain range. On a clear day, one could see the white snow capping the distant high peaks, a majestic and spectacular sight. These vast mountains had produced the Great Zhou's most elite soldiers. But if those soldiers were now hidden among these steep ranges, what a precarious danger it would be?
Gao Yunqu had always planned by considering the worst-case scenario, but even so, she had to admit that she, Chancellor Fan, and Her Majesty had all underestimated Chuzhou. She pondered for a while, then called out, "A'yuan, go and ask Commander Li to come." Gao Yuan answered from outside. Gao Yunqu then turned back to Zhou Hui. "I understand now. The situation in Chuzhou is likely worse than we imagined. If I'm not mistaken, you have informants watching you as well. I will ask Commander Li to station a few soldiers by your side, just in case. You must protect yourself."
Only then did Zhou Hui snap to her senses, breaking out in a cold sweat. "It was I who was too naive. Will my rash visit today cause trouble for you, my lord?"
"It should be fine. I am, after all, inspecting on behalf of the Son of Heaven. They shouldn't dare to do anything to me," Gao Yunqu reassured her. "I hope I'm overthinking this."
However, even with the utmost caution, Gao Yunqu had not anticipated the audacity of Chuzhou's powerful families. Three days later, while inspecting an official road outside the city, Gao Yunqu was abducted by bandits. The report Chuzhou sent to the capital claimed that the mountain bandits were formidable and that Gao Yunqu and her guards were hopelessly outnumbered, resulting in her capture during the chaotic battle. The reality, however, was that a mole within the prefectural office had drugged their food, rendering the entire party powerless to resist. The mountain bandits captured the whole group with effortless ease and took them back to their stronghold. The Qi Family's original intention was to throw them all off a cliff, making it look like a robbery and murder. But the person in charge of the stronghold for the Qi Family, Qi Chenghai, was secretly one of Qi Daoning's people. Following Qi Daoning's instructions, he spared the lives of Gao Yunqu and her party, merely imprisoning them, while reporting to Qi Chengming that the mission was a success.
When Gao Yunqu awoke, she was already locked alone in a woodshed. She had been imprisoned for several days. Every day, the young woman called A'yuan would come once to bring her food and clean the room. The meals were just enough to be half-full, but the straw would be replaced with fresh, clean bundles. Gao Yunqu leaned against the wall, watching her work. This was her only connection to this place. If there was any chance of escape, it would likely lie with her.
"Have you studied?" Gao Yunqu had observed her for a long time. Although her palms were rough, they were not the hands of someone who had done manual labor since childhood. There were calluses only on her knuckles, the mark of years of writing. The world always thought scholars were unaccustomed to physical labor, appearing delicate and refined, but only the hand that held the brush knew the bitterness of a frozen inkstone in the dead of winter, when one's fingers could not bend or stretch1. The calluses on their knuckles were an honest record of the countless days and nights they had spent shouldering their book-satchels in pursuit of knowledge, studying diligently by the window.
"No," A'yuan said, not looking up from her work.
"The calluses on your knuckles—they couldn't have formed without ten years of holding a brush."
At these words, A'yuan briefly paused her work, her right thumb unconsciously stroking the marks on her knuckles.
Seeing her reaction, Gao Yunqu continued, "Reading at sunrise, by candlelight at night, through scorching summers and harsh winters, never slacking for a single day. Borrowing books to copy by hand, traveling a hundred li to consult with elders, holding the classics1, never giving up despite the utmost hardship and difficulty. That is the medal of honor bestowed upon you by the vast sea of books. But what made you betray the person you once were?"
A'yuan finally stopped her cleaning, straightened up, and turned to look at her. "Do noble people like you really know of such hardships?"
Gao Yunqu smiled. "Knowledge doesn't drill into your head on its own just because your family is wealthy. No matter how rich or powerful you are, those books, those essays, you still have to memorize them word by word. And conversely, the books one has read cannot be faked."
A'yuan did not reply, but gave Gao Yunqu a deep, incredibly complex look.
Gao Yunqu asked probingly, "That which is called 'what continues it is goodness' is like water flowing downward2. What is the next line?"
"Some flows to the sea without ever being sullied; what need is there for human effort in this2..." A'yuan blurted out. The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her slip. A look of displeasure crossed her face. She said no more to Gao Yunqu, but finished her work with her head down and fled in a hurry.
It was just as she had thought. Gao Yunqu's suspicion was confirmed. She had once tested Fang Jian with the same question, sometime after she returned to the capital from her mourning leave. It was a difficult one, and Fang Jian had been unable to answer. She had even explained it to her. If this wasn't a coincidence, then A'yuan must have at least the academic level of a Provincial Graduate. A Provincial Graduate should have a bright future, yet here she was, a village woman in a bandit stronghold. What hidden story lay behind this?
People are like flowing water. Some become turbid before they have flowed far; others only become turbid after traveling a great distance. Therefore, they must be clarified. With vigorous effort, they clear quickly; with slow and lazy effort, they clear slowly. Once clarified, they are once again the water they were at the beginning2.
Can you still turn back?
Author's Notes
- From Song Lian's Preface to Seeing Off Ma Junze of Dongyang: "My family was poor, and I had no way to obtain books to read. I often borrowed from collectors, copying them by hand and returning them on the agreed date. When the weather was bitterly cold, the inkstone would freeze solid, and my fingers could not bend or stretch, yet I did not slacken... I once traveled over a hundred li to consult with an elder from my hometown, holding the classics to ask questions."
- From Reflections on Things at Hand. The first two sentences are quotes, and the last paragraph is a slight simplification. On the surface, it means that human nature is like flowing water. Some flows all the way to the sea without being polluted, which is good. But some becomes polluted not long after it starts flowing, while some only becomes polluted after flowing a long way. For that which is polluted, we must clarify it. Those who work hard will clarify it quickly, and those who are lazy will clarify it slowly. Once it is clarified, it becomes the original water again. Neo-Confucian scholars used water to discuss human nature and heavenly principles. I have no idea what a Provincial Graduate should be reading, so after a long Baidu search, I found this kind of Confucian jargon to pretend it's a more profound reference book, I'm dying.
What Gao Yunqu means here is to persuade A'yuan: "You were once a lady of quality; how did you come to be a thief?" It's not too late to turn back now.
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