Chapter 463 - Autumn Levy (Part 18)
"These arrows aren't ideal—not the modern crossbow bolts you're used to. Will that be a problem?"
"No problem. Just watch." Dai Xie raised his beloved compound crossbow. It was not actually his own—this one had better performance—but these crossbow bolts did look awkward. The craftsmanship was too crude.
Of course, if they used their own manufactured bolts, that would be a dead giveaway.
He took careful aim and squeezed the trigger.
Twang—the bolt flew. In the deathly quiet of the seventeenth-century night, the sound was startlingly loud. Then came a thunk from the darkness. Dogs immediately began barking furiously. From near to far, every dog in the West Gate suburb joined the chorus.
"Direct hit!" said the man monitoring the results through infrared binoculars.
"Withdraw!" At the command, everyone silently vanished into the night.
After quite some time, lights finally flickered to life in the pitch-black West Gate suburb. The house that had produced the sound was none other than the Liu Dalin residence. The Lius did not have many servants, and Lingao had not always been a peaceable place, so when they heard unusual sounds in the courtyard, no one dared rush out immediately to investigate.
Several servants lit torches, took up clubs, and cautiously opened the door to search the courtyard. The Liu property was not large—just three courtyards front to back. They searched and found nothing amiss, until they reached the side courtyard. This was where Liu Dalin's study was located. At night, apart from page servants, no one else would be there.
"Look! There's an arrow in the door!" one servant cried out.
Everyone rushed over. At the study entrance, they saw an arrow embedded in the wooden panel door, sunk deep into the wood. The servants gaped in shock—though Lingao was not exactly a place where people left their doors unlocked, this was the first time anyone had heard of arrows being shot openly inside the city walls. Much less at the home of the county's foremost gentleman.
"Quick, quick—report to the master!"
Liu Dalin was already awake. His wife and maids were helping him dress. The commotion had woken him, and he expected the servants would soon come with a report. Liu Dalin was always meticulous about propriety; whether dealing with family or servants, he always received them fully dressed.
When the servants came running to report that an arrow had been found in his study's wall, he was startled. This was truly unprecedented—even when the Li people had revolted and the county seat was in peril, no arrows had been shot into the city! Bandits and brigands had been virtually wiped out recently. How had this suddenly happened?
He had a vague sense this was connected to yesterday's petition submission. Composing himself, he said, "Don't panic! Remove the arrow immediately and wrap it up. Everyone go back to sleep. Do not spread word of this!"
"Master, should we report it to the yamen first thing tomorrow morning—"
"No report!" Liu Dalin ruled. "Treat this as if it never happened." He was quite certain this was the work of Chen Minggang's gang, meant to intimidate him.
"Hmph, truly low and despicable scoundrels!" Liu Dalin said.
His wife was quite shaken. "Husband, we should really report this. Magistrate Wu has always been on good terms with us; he'll surely look into it..."
"Wife, Magistrate Wu is a fine man, I'm sure. But that pack of jackals and dogs under him are mostly in cahoots with Chen Minggang. What good would reporting do? A few runners would come, investigate a bit, and that would be the end of it. Having those base servants entering our halls—I'd be afraid of them dirtying the place!"
"Husband—"
"Say no more. I know what I'm doing." After this disturbance, Liu Dalin's drowsiness had vanished. He consoled his wife with a few words, then went to the outer room, lit candle and lamp, and began to read.
The book had been purchased in Guangzhou by someone he had commissioned—since the Gao Guang shipping line established regular service, having things bought in Guangzhou had become much more convenient. These were the examination essay collections from several civil service examinations during the Tianqi era and the Grace Examination of the first year of Chongzhen—all first-rate eight-legged essays. Such collections were generally of interest only to ambitious xiucai and juren eager for advancement. Those who had already passed the jinshi examination typically regarded such books the way high school graduates regarded test prep materials.
Liu Dalin's enthusiasm stemmed from his desire to train a few disciples and produce another jinshi or two for the county.
But the civil service examinations were a peculiar business. As they said, one should not discuss essays based on examination performance. Writing brilliant, polished essays did not guarantee success. The higher one climbed, the more unpredictable factors came into play. Not only must essays be excellent—one also needed to understand the chief examiner's temperament and writing preferences, as well as the court's current inclinations. One had to craft essays best suited to the examiner's taste.
Liu Dalin was studying this book to discern trends in the examination halls over the past decade, so he could offer more targeted guidance in his lectures.
But the book would not hold his attention. Normally compelling passages now seemed tediously boring.
"Empty and vapid!" Liu Dalin slapped the table. Involuntarily, his thoughts returned to the arrow. Chen Minggang's gang clearly meant to intimidate him—that was obvious enough. But they were remarkably bold to do this. Could the Australians be behind it?
He thought again and decided this was unlikely. The Australians had no need for such elaborate measures against him. A simple "Petition denied" would leave everyone in the county helpless. Why resort to this?
It seemed only Chen Minggang's gang would do such a thing. To think he would dare commit such an outrage, relying on Australian backing! Even when the Li people had revolted and the county seat was imperiled, nothing like this had ever happened inside the city walls! And now this was directed at him personally!
Liu Dalin's pride was deeply wounded. He had always been humble and courteous, regardless of others' status. The entire county had shown him respect. Now a mere clerk dared to threaten him so brazenly—this was intolerable!
"Does he think these ghostly tricks can frighten me?" Liu Dalin said bitterly.
But lodging a complaint with the Australians was impossible—there was no evidence; this was a case without leads. After much deliberation, he decided to remain silent for now. He summoned the steward and ordered him to organize the household's able-bodied men into watch teams, standing guard day and night against troublemakers.
However, by early the next morning, the entire county was in an uproar. As it turned out, the previous night, besides the arrow shot at Liu Dalin's house, knives had been thrown into the courtyards of several other gentry households. The knives were stuck with handbills, scrawled with warnings reminding them that "loose lips sink ships" and threatening to "be careful of their dog heads." The county school's archery range had a knife planted in its main gate. Even the door to the scholars' dormitory had received a knife.
News of these incidents immediately rocked the city. Within half a day, word had spread even to the East Gate Market. Such a thing had never happened before in this county, and it added some color to the otherwise dull local life. Everywhere, people were buzzing with discussion.
Nearly everyone agreed: this was certainly the work of Chen Minggang's gang. Some marveled at their audacity; others sighed that the gentry's prestige had fallen so low.
Though Liu Dalin had told his household not to spread word about the arrow, by midday many in the county already knew his home had also received an arrow warning. Quite a few people had specially come in sedan chairs to express their consolation. Liu Dalin was puzzled—who had leaked this? Since visitors came with sincere concern, he could not very well refuse to see them. He had no choice but to come out and receive them, leaving him exhausted.
Huang Binkun also hurried over to offer his condolences. Having a knife stuck in his door was nothing to worry about—the Huang family stronghold had received all manner of threatening items from hostile bandits in the past, and he had laughed them all off. But that Chen Minggang's gang would do something like this was completely unexpected. Particularly that they would dare threaten Liu Dalin so openly!
"Uncle, you must have been alarmed!"
"Merely the antics of petty villains, acting like jumping clowns. Not worth mentioning." Liu Dalin was unconcerned.
"This matter should still be reported to the authorities..."
"No need." Liu Dalin explained his reasoning.
"Uncle, reporting is necessary. Whether or not the case can be solved is a separate issue. Now that news of the arrow at your residence has spread throughout the city, if you simply endure this in silence, won't people think you're afraid of these scoundrels—that you'd rather let the matter quietly fade away?"
Liu Dalin considered Huang Binkun's point valid. If no one had known, that would have been different. Now that word was out, pretending nothing had happened would actually look worse. He sent someone to the county yamen to file a report.
The county's response was swift. Before long, the Jail Warden came to inspect the Liu residence. He went through the usual investigation formalities, examining arrow marks in the study courtyard, inspecting the arrow, and ordering his men to collect it as evidence.
After the inspection, there were inevitably some polite words about "solving the case within a deadline." Liu Dalin went through the motions of acknowledging these assurances.
Everyone knew this had nothing to do with the county yamen. The key was how the Australians intended to handle this.
The answer came soon enough. On the day after the incidents, the militia at the city gates saw a party approaching from the direction of Bairren Rapids. They were uniformly short-haired and dressed in short clothes. Everyone knew these were Australians and hurried to send word to the county magistrate.
When the citizens heard that a large party of Australians was entering the city, they flocked to the gates to watch the spectacle. They saw a column of over thirty men, all in blue short jackets, leather belts at their waists festooned with various implements. Some shouldered firearms; others had swords and blades at their hips. They marched in orderly formation, spirited and vigorous—every one looking impressively martial. Compared to the local garrison soldiers they were used to seeing, in their ragged clothes like beggars, the difference was like heaven and earth.
"The Australian soldiers really are elite—" someone in the spectating crowd commented.
"What kind of eyes do you have! These are all fake Baldies..."
"Shh! You want to get yourself killed? Australians! Australians!"
"Right, right—these Australian soldiers are all recruited locally. Some are from other prefectures too."
"Imagine taking the Australians' coin and serving as their soldiers. Such audacity." Someone remarked.
"Master Zhao, if you too had no grain to last a night and couldn't fill your belly, I bet you'd be bolder than any of them."
...
(End of Chapter)