Chapter 787 – Macau
After Lin Ming's visit to Li Fengjie in Guangzhou, He Chengzong paid him a special call, exchanging pleasantries and leaving behind a banknote for two hundred taels before taking his leave. Though Lin Ming held the hereditary title of Trial Centurion in the Embroidered Uniform Guard—a position with an ancestral repertoire of tyranny—he was no fool. His family had lived on Guangdong soil for generations, and he understood the necessity of showing proper deference to the mandarins. Helping officialdom bury inconvenient matters could only benefit him, and the Governor's meaning required no elaboration: Lin Ming must distance himself absolutely from any responsibility in this affair.
The ideal outcome would be to locate Gao Shunqin directly, leaving everyone satisfied. Should he prove unfindable, however, the question of how to frame the report would become a brain-twisting exercise.
Lin Ming was well aware that following Commander He's defeat, it was fortunate Wang Zunde had died at such an opportune moment, granting the private secretaries and advisors ample room to maneuver. The resulting narrative was elegantly constructed: Wang Zunde emerged as the chief culprit, Li Fengjie coordinated support from the rear, Commander He fought valiantly at the front, and the officers and men sacrificed their lives heroically. Through it all, the government troops had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, battling for a month to thwart the "bald bandits'" attempt to seize prefectures and counties. The bandits, in desperation, had raided Guangzhou but were repulsed by Coastal Defense Assistant Regional Commander Xu Tingfa. The entirety of Qiongzhou Prefecture remained pacified, without the loss of a single administrative seat.
This method of concealing defeat while fabricating merit could serve equally well here. Lin Ming mulled it over: if Gao Shunqin had truly perished at the hands of the bald bandits or the Folangji, the cleanest solution would be to report him as "missing" and leave the case unsolved—though of course, that depended on whether Governor Li and the others proved sensible. In any event, he, Lin Ming, was merely a "guest consultant" in this investigation.
Lin Ming turned the causes and consequences over in his mind until his eyes gleamed and all drowsiness fled. Outside, the third watch had already sounded. Suddenly, he heard the loud creak of a door opening and closing in the courtyard. He couldn't help wondering—at this late hour, with no one about save the guarding yamen runners, who could be stirring? He rose hurriedly and peered out through a small pane of glass embedded in the window. It was his sister-in-law. Heaven knew what affliction had seized the girl, standing there in the courtyard at this hour, staring blankly at the sky.
"What madness is this now?" Lin Ming felt a headache coming on over this sister-in-law who had run away from Nanjing. She adamantly refused to return; when an envoy had come from Nanjing to retrieve her, she had simply fled again, only reappearing after the man departed. She had declared she wouldn't go back unless her father cancelled her engagement—a situation that placed Lin Ming in an exceedingly awkward position. As her cousin-in-law, he bore an obligation to protect and care for her, yet she was hardly a lamp that conserved its oil. She clamored daily to go out and "handle cases" with him. Lin Ming himself only visited the yamen to go through the motions or enjoy free meals at others' expense; where would he find such "major cases" for her?
Lin Ming considered ignoring her, letting her indulge her madness alone in the courtyard. But he had always harbored a tenderness toward the women in his life. Though Li Yongxun was his sister-in-law and therefore off-limits, she was still a "woman of the house." It wouldn't do for her to catch cold. So he dressed and pushed open the door.
...
Lin Ming cursed himself inwardly for being a fool who lost his head around women. Last night's heart-to-heart beneath the stars with his sister-in-law had created an atmosphere thick with good feeling—especially when she had declared she "didn't want to go back to her room" and leaned her head against his arm. Somehow, this had transformed into his promise to take her to Macau to see the world. Looking at Li Yongxun's jubilant expression, Lin Ming realized he had been thoroughly played by this little minx.
He knew Li Yongxun was young, restless, and hungry for novelty. Not long after settling in Foshan, she had been pushing through his wife to visit Macau. He had held firm and refused. Now that he had muddleheadedly agreed, regret gnawed at him.
Yet a man's word was his bond—especially a promise made to a young woman. Lin Ming understood perfectly well he could never taste this particular morsel of forbidden fruit, yet he found himself involuntarily doing things to please her. Fortunately, the squad leader sent to trace Gao Shunqin had not yet returned, and a trip to Macau would take only two days—it would delay nothing. Though Macau was Folangji territory, it still fell under the jurisdiction of the Xiangshan Assistant Magistrate. As a dignified Trial Centurion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Assistant Magistrate would naturally do his utmost to accommodate him. No problems should arise.
"Who are you?!" Gao Shunqin demanded in a low, dangerous voice. "How dare you be so bold! Do you have any idea who this official is?!"
A ray of sunlight projected from a high window near the roof, illuminating the room. He surveyed his surroundings and found their appearance deeply strange—unlike anything in China.
A high pointed roof without a ceiling exposed the truss structure overhead. The floor was stone, the walls painted snow-white. The room possessed only a single door, currently closed, and was otherwise bare; apart from the heavy chair in which he sat, there was nothing.
The few people standing before him wore commoners' clothing—one dressed as a small merchant, the others in the green garb and small caps of servants—yet their expressions and bearing clearly did not belong to Ming commoners who trembled before officials.
The leader nodded slightly.
"You are Lord Gao, the Inspecting Censor of Guangdong."
"Since you know, you still dare to offend an imperial official!" Gao Shunqin sneered.
The leader smiled gently and pulled off his cap. Like a magician's trick, his head seemed to shed a layer of skin, revealing the stubble of closely cropped hair beneath.
"You are bald bandits!" Gao Shunqin was both shocked and furious.
"This official is the Acting Commissioner of the Guest Council of the Australian Temporary Palace of the Great Song." The young man delivered this sentence with practiced fluency. He had rehearsed it countless times in private to ensure every syllable carried the full majesty of the Great Song.
Gao Shunqin was momentarily stunned. He had never studied Song dynasty history and could not immediately parse Jiang Shan's bewildering title. Yet he recovered quickly, sneering: "Overseas barbarians!" His mind raced: since the bald bandits had kidnapped him, this must be their lair—Lingao! His memories since being abducted remained fragmentary, consciousness drifting in and out, but one impression remained vivid: he had been placed aboard a boat. In his few lucid moments, he was certain he had heard seagulls.
His heart sank. Given his past anti-barbarian rhetoric, these overseas barbarians claiming to be descendants of the Great Song must hate him to the bone. They had surely gone to extraordinary lengths to capture him for the sole purpose of torturing him in every conceivable manner before executing him by lingering death—a display meant to intimidate the court officials of Guangdong.
Contemplating this, Gao Shunqin felt utterly hopeless. That the bald bandits could spirit him away from his residence in Guangzhou City without anyone's knowledge demonstrated methods and capabilities far beyond ordinary imagination. Most likely, the officials in Guangzhou remained ignorant that he had been taken to Lingao, let alone that they should come to his rescue.
"This must be Lingao!" he said nervously. "What do you want?"
"To host Your Lordship for a few days. Please remain calm," Jiang Shan replied.
"Hmph! You surely wish for this official to reverse course and submit memorials advocating trade on your behalf!" Gao Shunqin shouted. "That is wishful thinking! This official will never comply." His words were aggressive, but his heart pounded, uncertain of these bald bandits' true intentions. Judging by the "Great Song official title" the bandit had flashed, they probably expected him to serve the enemy with his very person!
Gao Shunqin would naturally never surrender. These overseas barbarians who styled themselves Great Song descendants occupied merely Lingao County. At best, they were local warlords in Qiongzhou Prefecture—monkeys dressed in ceremonial hats. How could he, a dignified Inspecting Censor and holder of the jinshi degree, demean himself by serving thieves?
"We absolutely do not require Your Lordship to submit memorials," Jiang Shan said calmly.
"Could it be you wish to persuade this official to surrender? That is even more delusional!" Gao Shunqin raised his voice. "Since binding my hair and receiving my education, I have learned the words 'loyalty' and 'righteousness.' As a minister of the court who has unhappily fallen into enemy hands, dying for my country is my duty. I will not spare my life!"
"Your Lordship exaggerates. Our Great Song does not lack for a few officials," Jiang Shan smiled, unruffled. His words bordered on insult, and indeed, his captive's face contorted with anger. Jiang Shan observed the reaction closely, particularly the body language. This was the first high-ranking Ming official to fall into their hands. Censor Gao differed fundamentally from the Wu Mingjins, Sun Ruiwus, and Wang Cis they had contacted before—all of whom were failures in officialdom, low-level civil servants muddling through their careers. Gao Shunqin, by contrast, was a dignified Inspecting Censor with a bright future, a "rising star" in the bureaucracy. His true thoughts, willpower, and integrity were matters of considerable interest to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau.
Clearly, this high Ming official was deeply nervous beneath his bluster—he was not nearly as prepared to die as he pretended. Yet the firmness in his words was not entirely hollow either.
This place was neither Lingao nor Hong Kong, but a newly established "safe house" of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau in Macau. After Xue Ziliang's team had succeeded in their "snatching from the bed" operation in Guangzhou, they had followed Lin Baiguang's suggestion and moved toward Foshan and Sanshui. After deliberately "exposing" Gao Shunqin a few times along the way, the team had split in two midway between Sanshui and Qingyuan. One group spirited Gao Shunqin quietly off the boat, circled back to Guangzhou, and arranged through Foreign Intelligence Bureau contacts to board a vessel out of the Pearl River estuary bound for Macau. The other group continued sailing north, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs to lure any trackers.
According to the original plan, after kidnapping Gao Shunqin, they had intended to imprison him in Hong Kong. But Jiang Shan happened to be in Macau handling the establishment of the Macau Station—with the Hong Kong development plan unfolding, setting up a direct outpost in Macau had also been placed on the agenda—and at his suggestion, they temporarily concealed Lord Gao in Macau instead. The Portuguese enclave lay very close to Guangzhou, allowing rapid response to any news from the city, and critically, it was not Australian territory.
"Guard him strictly; don't let him escape," Jiang Shan instructed the elder stationed in Macau. "It would be embarrassing if he ran. Should any problems arise, eliminate him directly."
Neither the House of Elders nor the Executive Committee had any intention of grooming Lord Gao for a future seat on the Political Consultative Conference. Censor Gao's fate was thus largely sealed. As for when exactly he would be made to "disappear"—that depended on how the situation in Guangzhou evolved and which direction events took next.
(End of Chapter)