Chapter 1877 - Out with the Old, In with the New (Part 13)

"No—this thing needs to be kept, along with the yellow cloth cover and the seals. They all need to be preserved. This is the best weapon for educating the common people." Shen Ruiming said. "Let them see the true face of this so-called 'imperially sealed Chief Beggar.'"

Cui Hantang wasn't interested in "education." He had read The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and was filled with curiosity about this Guangzhou version of a "beggar kingdom." He began exploring the surroundings.

On either side of this "great hall" were long rows of corridor rooms. Pushing open a door to enter, he found it was where the secretaries conducted business. The rooms were now empty, but brushes, inkstones, papers, and various ledgers still lay on the desks. Some rooms had cabinets for storing files and accounts. There were those who managed income and expenditure of grain and money; those who handled "registration and deregistration" of beggars; those responsible for liaising with the authorities... Quite reminiscent of the Six Offices of a prefectural or county yamen.

Passing around the seat in the "main hall," he found a small shrine in the back hall. The incense had been extinguished by the search team, but from the thick ash in the incense burner and the accumulated wax drippings on the candlesticks, it was clear this had been a site of long-term worship.

The deity image in the shrine was crudely made—one could only tell it was an old man cradling an infant. Cui Hantang had extensive knowledge of Chinese Daoism and folk deity systems; usually he could identify a deity just by looking at the image, form, decorations, and ritual implements. But this one he studied for a long while and still couldn't identify.

From the sculpture, it seemed to reference the Orphan of Zhao story. But that story had little connection to beggars.

Judging from the worship arrangements, this should be the beggars' "patron saint." Every trade in China has the custom of worshipping an industry deity or "patron saint"—even lowly actors and prostitutes are no exception. Beggars naturally had one too.

Cui Hantang had seen some who worshipped Fan Dan of the Spring and Autumn period—legend had it that Fan Dan had lent grain to Confucius and his disciples during their travels. Others worshipped Lü Mengzheng of the Song dynasty, who supposedly had been a beggar in his youth... In short, they all attached themselves to famous figures, usually with some legend not found in historical records.

But this one, even with Cui Hantang's knowledge, he had never seen. Fortunately, some beggars who had handled the daily affairs of Golden Flower Temple had been kept for "assisting with the search." He called one over.

Upon asking, he learned this was called "Elder Dou." Supposedly the prime minister during Emperor Ping of Han, who had fled carrying the crown prince, surviving by begging. After the prince ascended the throne, he was made Chief Beggar of All Under Heaven.

With Cui Hantang's limited historical knowledge, he knew the Dou family as consort relatives had been extremely powerful during the Eastern Han. But Emperor Ping was a Western Han emperor—no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't match this to any historical figure.

Whether true or false, Cui Hantang couldn't be bothered to investigate. He had the managing beggar lead the way on a tour of Golden Flower Temple.

Upon inspection, he discovered this beggar den was truly remarkable. Not only was there a "great hall" and "six offices," there was even a "prison." Right beside the main courtyard was a side courtyard with more than a dozen low, damp little rooms. Iron rings on the walls secured chains. The manager said that beggars who committed offenses were brought here, iron chains locked around their necks for one to several days. During that time, they could only relieve themselves on the spot; food and water depended entirely on someone's charity. The beggars called this "wearing the chain." This was considered the lightest punishment among beggars.

The little rooms had originally held more than a dozen "prisoners," who had now all been released by police and taken away. The place was dark and damp; the floor was filthy and reeked from waste. Cui Hantang looked at the rusty chains and cangues in these sunless, damp "cells" and couldn't help feeling a chill of horror.

Shen Ruiming muttered: "This is practically an illegal private court."

"This old society was fucking dark..." Cui Hantang emerged from the little rooms into the blue sky, taking a deep breath. He felt he had never so thoroughly believed in the Executive Council's righteous invincibility.

"Without the Executive Council descending from heaven, all ages would be like endless night," he suddenly said. Shen Ruiming was startled—how had this burly fellow in a Daoist robe suddenly come out with such a pronouncement?

"Never mind, just something that came to me." Cui Hantang said. "Let's go have a look at the Gao family's private residence. See what hundreds of years of bloodsucking looks like."

Both he and Shen Ruiming were intensely curious about the famous "standing prefect's" private life. The Gao family residence was in the rear portion of Golden Flower Temple. Walking through a moon gate from the courtyard behind the main hall, they entered. At a glance, it looked like an ordinary wealthy household's residence. Though it had green-glazed tiles and vermilion eaves, carved beams and painted pillars, it didn't exceed Cui Hantang's imagination.

If there was anything special, it was that this Chief Beggar Gao family had fully embraced the "Australian fashion" of Guangzhou: glass windows, glass mirrors, various glass household items, "Unparalleled Knight" wine... Basically, all the "Australian" luxury goods sold by the Purple establishments could be found in the Gao residence.

Just as he was feeling disappointed, someone suddenly came to report: "Chief, we've found a cellar cache!"

This piqued both Cui Hantang's and Shen Ruiming's interest. Since ancient times, wealthy households had maintained secret cellars to store money and valuables. When such families declined, over the years, their caches would become legends. Stories constantly circulated in society of people buying old houses for renovation and discovering "caches" while tearing down walls and digging foundations, becoming rich overnight.

Though the Elements didn't hope for "overnight riches," they shared an intense interest in the "cellar caches" of local tycoons. Over these years, the Executive Council had gained no small amount of windfall wealth from "caches" discovered during various wars and social transformations. What quantities might a family like the Gaos, who had dominated Guangzhou for centuries, have accumulated?

The silver cellar was in Gao Lingxiang's study. This "study" of the Guangzhou Chief Beggar was called a "study" but contained not a single book besides almanacs—not because the Gao family was illiterate, but because this wasn't a place for reading. It was where the Gao family head conducted business—the "Imperial Study" of the Guandi Temple faction, as it were.

The secret cellar was in a corner of this study, originally covered by several large chests. The chests were filled with copper coins delivered by the dagu.

None of these coins were the commonly seen "small coins" or "inferior coins" like the "sand-shell Guangdong coins." They were all good coins. The Planning Institute people estimated that the copper coins in just these chests amounted to nearly a thousand strings—worth six or seven hundred taels of silver by late Ming rates.

After the Planning Institute Special Search Squad emptied the coins and moved the chests, they discovered the flagstone beneath was loose. These were experienced operatives who knew something must be hidden under the stone. They promptly lifted it.

Beneath the flagstone was revealed a dark opening with steps leading down. The search squad lit torches and descended. Below was a stone chamber, dug one zhang deep, five feet square, with walls and floor all lined with patterned stone set with glutinous rice lime mortar—both sturdy and moisture-proof. A thick layer of charcoal ash covered the bottom.

Countless silver pieces were piled in this stone chamber. There were no silver chests or sheaths; the silver hadn't been re-smelted into ingots. It seemed all the silver here had simply been tossed into the cellar in whatever form it had been received. Silver ingots and blocks of various sizes, varying purities, even various silver objects and jewelry.

Apparently this cellar had long received more than it disbursed. Many of the ingots and objects had oxidized and blackened, losing their shine. Some of the loose silver pieces pressed at the bottom had turned into big dark lumps. The search team members could only load them into bags and boxes, carry them out, and weigh them regardless of purity.

"This is rather like a bandit king." Cui Hantang recalled confiscating bandits' "war spoils" during the pirate suppression campaigns on Hainan Island—equally chaotic and haphazard.

Watching the team members continuously carry, weigh, register, number, and seal, he asked: "How much silver is here?"

"Reporting, Chief—preliminary estimate is one hundred ten to one hundred twenty thousand taels."

Cui Hantang nodded. Mayor Liu and the financial colleagues could breathe a little easier now. The paper currency in circulation had gained some additional credit backing.

"A single beggar chief had one hundred thousand taels of silver hidden away. Who knows how much the gentry and wealthy households of Guangzhou have stashed in their homes..." Cui Hantang couldn't help sighing. "If we could take all of them—"

Shen Ruiming quickly coughed twice, signaling him not to say such things in front of naturalized staff—even "thoroughly tested" ones like the Special Search Squad.

Though the raid on Golden Flower Temple hadn't captured the key figures, the seizures were substantial. Gao Lingxiang and others had fled in such haste that the Gao family's accumulated spoils from three hundred years of exploiting beggars and extorting citizens—except for a small amount of portable valuables—had all been left behind. It was at least some consolation for Cui Hantang and the others.

Seizing large sums was certainly good news. And it wasn't just the Gao residence—at the homes of the dagu in the various dens, varying amounts of silver were also discovered. Some had as little as a few dozen taels; some had accumulated over a thousand.

Though every arrested dagu without exception claimed this was the den's "public funds" used to aid beggars in their den—for illness, for rainy-day relief—in reality, such "care" expenditures were minimal. The so-called "communal money" was entirely at the dagu's discretion as to how much there was and where it went, essentially their private purse. Lower-level beggars dared not question it—even asking would earn them a beating.

The various dagu had fat purses while the beggar masses lived in hunger and cold. After running around all day—even mutilating their own bodies—the few coins they begged went as "tribute" to the dagu. Even scraps and leftovers they collected had to be turned over to the dagu as feed for raising poultry for profit. This level of exploitation truly was sucking the marrow from bones. Liu Xiang silently reflected as he reviewed the clearance reports from the various dens.

Though this citywide unified operation had let Gao Lingxiang and several trusted subordinates escape, the detention work for citywide beggars and vagrants had proceeded quite smoothly.

(End of Chapter)