Chapter 2022 - The Hair-Thieves' Art

Li Suiqiu understood perfectly well that refusal would mean a summons—and that would constitute a complete loss of face. His servants had long reported the Australians' reputation for what they called "iron-faced fairness," treating scholars and commoners alike. Anyone who presumed upon their status or showed the slightest defiance toward the new administration faced public humiliation. The recalcitrant either swallowed their pride and submitted, or encountered the Australians' "iron fist of dictatorship"—executed on fabricated charges, or "exiled overseas," which in local eyes amounted to the same thing.

This household re-registration posed no great obstacle. It neither compromised his integrity nor endangered his family.

"Very well. Report the household details. Have the steward accompany you—he knows the family situation best."

"I thank the master for his understanding." The paijia bowed again but did not withdraw. "There is... one more matter."

"Out with it. If it can be done, I won't make difficulties for you." Li Suiqiu's patience was wearing thin.

"I merely convey the message, master." The paijia's smile remained apologetic. "The Great Song Tax Bureau has issued notice: this year's general tax census has begun again. Since the master was absent previously, the matter was deferred. Now that you have returned, the tax declaration cannot be further delayed. Please have your accountant set an appointment—a commissioner from the Tax Bureau will provide on-site service."

Li Suiqiu's displeasure erupted into open scorn. "Since antiquity, imperial grain and national taxes have been fixed levies. How much my family owes stands clearly recorded in the Household Registry Office. Why this redundant exercise? If the Council of Elders requires money, simply name the sum. I, Li Suiqiu, will bankrupt my household to comply."

The paijia bent even lower, smile unwavering. "Please do not anger yourself, master. These Australians follow Great Song tax laws, quite different from the Great... Ming Kingdom. I too act under orders. If you are unwilling to arrange an appointment, I shall simply report back to the Tax Bureau superiors..."

Li Suiqiu recalled the recent Sheep City Express exposé on "Cracking Down on Tax Evasion" and felt his resistance crumble. The whole family now resided in Guangzhou—he was the fish, they the chopping block. Even if he cared nothing for himself, above him stood his mother and concubine-mother, beside him his wife and brothers, below him his children and nephews. What purpose could this petty defiance serve? Even were he to serve the court someday, that moment was not now. To waste lives on meaningless gestures of resistance... He swallowed both pride and resentment. "I never involve myself in such trivial matters. Discuss it with the steward."

"Yes! I thank the master for his understanding. It is merely official business, you understand..." The paijia backed toward the door, bowing continuously. Li Suiqiu seethed with displeasure, silently cursing the man as a "despicable character." Half the joy of homecoming had soured. Small wonder his friends complained that Australian rule amounted to "the collapse of rites and the corruption of music."

He brooded at home for several days afterward, his heart unfit for classical studies or eight-legged essays, his mind too heavy for composing poetry. Most of his literary circle remained in Guangzhou, yet since the sorcery accusations had implicated so many gentry and wealthy households, they rarely convened poetry gatherings or literary salons—partly to avoid arousing the hair-thieves' suspicion, partly to prevent careless words from bringing catastrophe.

Small gatherings among friends, however, remained acceptable. Since returning to the city, Li Suiqiu had met with companions several times. For discretion's sake, no more than five or six gathered at once. They avoided restaurants and teahouses, meeting instead in private residences or suburban villas. Beyond wine and reminiscence, conversation invariably turned to the "Australian Situation."

His rural seclusion had provided general knowledge of conditions within the city, but lacked granular detail. Now, at banquet tables heavy with wine, companions volunteered accounts of all that had transpired since Guangzhou's fall.

The most debated topic remained the so-called "Civil Service Examination."

Few present regarded it as any genuine Australian equivalent of the imperial examinations. Though the format superficially resembled the Ming system, the sheer number admitted—and the paltry positions granted—rendered it farcical. These were mere clerical posts. Forget the "high and pure offices" of Hanlin academicians; even county magistracies were nowhere to be found. The top scorer, rumor claimed, had been dispatched to the Tax Bureau to collect revenue—a position that in the Ming wouldn't qualify as "clerk," scarcely even "runner."

The consensus held this as yet another instance of Australians playing "monkeys in scholars' caps," using examination trappings to win hearts and conscript destitute scholars into service, while simultaneously powdering their own faces in pursuit of "legitimacy."

"The vast majority admitted were mere licentiates," one friend scoffed. "Some not even that—just boys who studied a few years in community schools and know their characters. Shop assistants were admitted in droves! They say so long as one can write and manipulate an abacus, one qualifies as Australian talent."

"The top scorer of this Civil Service Examination," another added, "was supposedly the young manager of an incense and candle shop! At least these hair-thieves possessed sufficient shame not to parade him through the streets—though that would have been fitting, sweeping Sheep City's dignity entirely into the gutter."

"The Examination Hall itself must weep!"

The litany of mockery continued. As though venting the accumulated bitterness of Guangzhou's loss, the assembled friends adopted a uniform tone of disparagement toward the Australians. Li Suiqiu found himself drawn into the chorus. Yet after three rounds of wine, reflection set in. If these Australians were truly so "frivolous and unlearned," how had Guangzhou fallen with such ease? How did they administer the city with such apparent competence, surpassing even past Ming governance?

All present were well-read men of broad experience, not pedantic scholars trapped in doctrine. Judging by results rather than prescriptions, comparing Australian administration directly with the Ming—the hair-thieves clearly demonstrated superior capability.

The company dismissed certain achievements—demolishing lean-tos, dredging sewers, suppressing the Guandi Temple gang—as requiring no particular "ability." First, they borrowed the overwhelming "military might" of an occupying army. Second, as "overseas barbarians," they had no need to navigate complex webs of interest and obligation, acting simply with "decisive brutality."

What truly demonstrated Australian competence, in universal agreement, was their handling of the plague. The response had been nearly flawless. Beyond halting the epidemic's spread swiftly and at relatively modest cost, every decree issued throughout the crisis had been executed thoroughly and immediately, moving as smoothly as directing one's own arm. Those four characters—"orders executed, prohibitions obeyed"—far surpassed anything the Ming had achieved.

"The hair-thieves possess methods for managing clerks," observed Qu Huairui, one of the Twelve Masters of the Southern Garden. "I've heard they govern clerks according to military law. Salaries are generous, but discipline extraordinarily harsh. The slightest error means heads roll, with families implicated alongside."

"Now there's a clever method," someone remarked. "If our dynasty could implement such measures, we too could break the plague of corrupt clerks!"

Though the assembled company represented Guangzhou's upper echelons, even they could not escape perfunctory dealings with yamen clerks. During festivals, when functionaries came to "beat the autumn wind"—demanding customary gifts—they inevitably parted with silver. The annoyance might be minor as a skin rash, but it festered nonetheless.

"You speak incorrectly," another countered. "This method is mere Legalist technique—what novelty does it possess? The Violent Qin was mighty, yet collapsed within two generations. I view the Australians' actions as no different from the Violent Qin's tyranny."

The observation resonated widely. Australian measures upon entering the city—affixing house numbers, establishing the baojia system, rectifying household registration, organizing police patrols day and night—these anyone versed in history recognized as hallmarks of "Legalist rule."

"In my estimation," Li Suiqiu interjected, breaking his silence, "the hair-thieves' statecraft transcends simple Legalism. Their governance philosophy might be captured in a single line: Elevate the rights of commoners, protect the wealth of the middle classes, suppress the power of the mighty."

The pronouncement fell like thunder, instantly clarifying what had seemed like "viewing flowers through fog." Connecting Australian actions since entering the city with news gathered over months, everything aligned with these three principles.

"Brother Li speaks truth! The hair-thieves operate precisely according to these three maxims!"

"Remarkable—Brother Li secluded himself in the countryside yet perceives city affairs with such clarity."

Li Suiqiu waved away the compliments. Despite his prolonged residence in Banqiao, he had in fact remained keenly informed of events both within and beyond the city walls. This included the Sheep City Express, delivered thrice monthly by the old servant. He read each issue meticulously—every news item, every report, even the advertisements—determined to decipher the Australians' art of "bewitching hearts."

In Li Suiqiu's assessment, the Australians' "powerful ships and devastating cannon," their "ingenious devices"—these were all "minor arts." What proved truly formidable was their talent for winning hearts. It approached sorcery.

From their initial landing on Hainan to their occupation of Guangzhou, scarcely ten years had elapsed. Yet Qiongzhou was reportedly already "greatly governed." Not merely destitute commoners clamored to cross the strait, but even prosperous merchants purchased land in Lingao, constructing mansions and pleasure estates. Li Suiqiu had initially failed to comprehend how a band of overseas barbarians could so bewitch hearts as to entice multitudes toward the desolate wastes of Qiongzhou—willing to build roads and bridges, to labor in fields and workshops, to march into battle for the hair-thieves. Not only creating an enviable "small paradise" of peace and prosperity, but transforming common folk who had followed bandits into formidable soldiers who charged fearlessly into combat.

To attribute this solely to "luring with profit" proved far too simplistic. The Ming possessed forces "rewarded with heavy gold" as well—the Guanning official army in Liaodong, for whom the court annually expended millions in silver and grain. Yet these vast expenditures purchased no victories. Instead, the Eastern Barbarians drove them back step by relentless step, nearly to Shanhai Pass itself, repeatedly breaching the border wall to plunder at will.

During his seclusion in Banqiao, through rumor and through newspapers, Li Suiqiu had gradually penetrated the secret of how the Australians won hearts.

Consider the Sorcery Case—police sparing no effort to trace the whereabouts of missing girls. In times past, the yamen would not have bothered investigating such matters, would scarcely have deigned to listen. This exemplified "elevating the rights of commoners." Common people, struggling daily for mere survival, powerless and without influence, found themselves only exploited and abused when misfortune struck. That the hair-thieves stood willing to champion their cause, to let them raise their heads with dignity—this was elevating commoner rights.

"Protecting the wealth of the middle classes": The Guandi Temple gang, yamen clerks, and their ilk habitually preyed upon the populace through extortion and protection rackets. Destitute commoners possessed no wealth worth extracting; those truly vulnerable to harassment and exploitation were middle-class households—merchants and the moderately prosperous. By suppressing and eliminating these predators, the hair-thieves won middle-class allegiance as well.

Finally, "suppressing the power of the mighty." The Australians pursued this objective methodically. The Sorcery Case had merely culled the most egregiously lawless among the "bad gentry." The subsequent "tax rectification" represented a blade drawn explicitly against the scholar-gentry class and wealthy households at large.