010 Loan Disbursement

Outside the Meridian Gate, a large crowd gathered to watch.

The execution official loudly proclaimed the crimes of the Imperial Board of Astronomy, met with bursts of cheers from the spectators below. The Director, Johann Adam Schall von Bell, and the Deputy Director, Li Zubai, were sentenced to death by strangulation. Both men remained relatively composed until the ropes were tightened around their necks.

Schall looked up at the sky and sighed deeply:

"Alas... studying the calendar, busy casting cannons, promoting the faith—and thus a lifetime has passed. Alas..."

...

"Bring the parting wine."

"I will do it."

Jiang Qingyun took the tray from the executioner's hands and walked, step by step, toward the gallows.

Facing death, Schall was remarkably calm.

"Sir, the third brick from the left on the west-facing wall of the church utility room inside Xuanwumen can be removed. There are several books hidden in the wall; they are yours now. Do not let politics entangle science. Spare the believers and the church, will you?"

Jiang Qingyun said nothing and held the wine bowl to Li Zubai's lips.

Li Zubai’s eyes were piercing, as if he had words to say.

Jiang Qingyun felt a jolt in his heart. He stepped back twice and barked sharply: "Execute!"

The trapdoors beneath them were pulled away. The sudden tightening of the rope choked Li Zubai, cutting off the words that were about to spill from his lips.

Even so, he struggled, silently forming words with his mouth:

"You, too, have faith."

Jiang Qingyun remained expressionless and turned away.

"Continue the executions!"

The remaining forty-three officials of the Board of Astronomy were pushed onto the high platform by soldiers. Every time a broadsword fell, the crowd roared with frenzied cheers.

In the distance, the tall Monk Tianji stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens, reciting Buddhist mantras to grant them salvation from afar.

...

Forty-five heads lay outside the Meridian Gate, blood soaking the ground!

It stained Jiang Qingyun’s rank badge crimson and spread the fame of the Commander of the Southern City Constabulary across the entire capital.

As an acting commander, he was but a minor sixth-rank official. Yet, officials below the fourth rank now approached him with great humility. When those in the bureaucracy spoke of Jiang Qingyun’s methods in private, they felt a chill down their spines, as if caught in a ghostly breeze.

First, he breaks your spirit!
Then, he takes your life!

The various factions reacted quite differently. The Manchu nobility of the Eight Banners were mostly away on campaigns; those few in the capital maintained a strict silence—partly to avoid being sucked into the vortex, and partly because they could not discern Jiang Qingyun’s true motives.

Grand Secretary Fan Wencheng despised Jiang Qingyun to the core and avoided him whenever possible. Hong Chengchou, however, felt a desire to recruit him and took the initiative to send his steward with an invitation for Jiang to visit his estate in a few days.

...

The Southern City Constabulary had made a name for itself in a single battle.

The staff of the yamen rapidly swelled to seventy-two, forty-six of whom had to provide for their own pay—commonly known as "temporary workers."

The Qing army had slaughtered countless people upon entering the pass, gathering silver like a mountain-toppling tide, so there was little fiscal pressure in supporting operations on two fronts.

However, the Qing court maintained strict control over those on the payroll. Therefore, Jiang Qingyun came up with a compromise: he recruited the young men of the Han Yellow and Bordered Yellow Banners who were coming of age.

But as for their pay and daily expenses, they had to fend for themselves.

...

Outside Zhengyang Gate, at Dashilar.

The Taiyuan Cao Family Pawnshop branch.

Jiang Qingyun dismounted and strode inside, followed closely by three guards with swords at their waists.

Seeing an official arrive, the appraiser and the manager of the pawnshop hurried out from behind the high counter, approaching with fawning smiles.

A young guard introduced him: "This is the Commander of the Southern City Constabulary, Lord Jiang."

"Oh my, oh my! So it is Lord Jiang gracing us with his presence—our humble shop is honored indeed! Close the doors, put up the boards!"

They sat and drank tea.

Jiang Qingyun then slowly revealed his purpose: "I have come here to borrow some silver."

"Easy, easy. Why would Lord Jiang need to make a personal trip for such a small matter? Just send a servant to say the word, and our shop would have delivered it to your residence."

"Manager, the amount I wish to borrow is quite large."

"Please, tell me..."

"Three thousand taels."

*Phew.*

The manager almost laughed out loud, thinking to himself: *You must have a misunderstanding of what a "large amount" is. You’re making such a fuss over a mere three thousand taels—I almost thought you were going to borrow money to buy the Qianmen Watchtower.*

Jiang Qingyun added, "But it is not to be borrowed in my personal name. It is to be borrowed in the name of the Constabulary."

"Ah?" The manager was stunned.

"Lord, will you be the one repaying the silver in the future?"

"How could the money borrowed by the Constabulary be repaid by me personally? Is there any such logic in this world? How preposterous."

...

Seeing Jiang Qingyun’s gloomy expression, the manager panicked. It was true that the Shanxi Cao family were Imperial merchants, but it was best not to offend someone as unreasonable as this. A local magistrate is no match for a local official, and Dashilar fell under the jurisdiction of the Southern City Constabulary.

"Lord, could you please find a guarantor?"

"Hmph. The character for 'guarantor' (保) is composed of a person (人) on the left and a fool (呆) on the right. Where am I supposed to find a fool to act as my guarantor?"

Seeing his boss grow angry, the young Zhou Cang, standing behind the chair, drew the sword his father had left behind and held it to the appraiser's neck.

Boys of this age had minds that had not yet caught up with their physical growth; they were impulsive, possessed raw strength, and knew no fear. If they said they would draw blood, they would draw blood immediately.

Nowadays, half of the Southern City Constabulary was filled with men like Qin Wuyang.

"Don't, don't, Lord! We can negotiate!" The manager looked miserable.

In the end, with the Southern City Constabulary yamen as collateral, the two parties signed a loan agreement.

Three thousand taels of silver were to be delivered to the yamen before sunset, with the repayment date set for one year later at an annual interest rate of three percent.

Before leaving, Jiang Qingyun specifically cautioned:

"Manager Cao, you must keep this confidential. There are as many yamens in the capital as there are hairs on an ox. If others find out, they might follow suit."

"Yes, yes."

...

Zhengyang Gate, commonly known as "Qianmen," "Big Qianmen," or "Qianmen Watchtower."

It was the only main gate of the capital. It was not opened for daily use, only the side gates were.

When the Emperor went to offer sacrifices to Heaven, he passed through this gate. When the world came to pay tribute, they passed through this gate. When the Emperor married, he passed through this gate. It was, without a doubt, the gateway of the nation.

The north-south thoroughfare passing through Zhengyang Gate was the central axis of the capital.

Zhengyang Gate, Xuanwumen, and Chongwenmen—these three gates lined up in a row—actually formed the boundary between the inner city (also known as the North City) and the outer city (the South City).

To the north, the atmosphere was solemn.
To the south, it was a world of urban life.

Merchants, artisans, laborers, maids, clerks, peddlers, and scholars could enter the inner city during the day, but they had to return to the South City before sunset.

Except for the Bannermen and officials, no one was permitted to spend the night in the inner city.

This created the distorted prosperity outside Zhengyang Gate.

In a nutshell: After the Qing army entered the pass, they drove all the original Han people into the South City, leaving this slum for them to live in so they could work and serve the Bannermen in the inner city—this was the South City.

...

Today was the first time Jiang Qingyun had inspected his domain in broad daylight.

Along the way, he saw restaurants, tea houses, cloth shops, inns, cart depots, brothels, bathhouses, silk shops, theaters, grocery stores, jewelry shops, mule and horse agencies, brokerages, antique shops... and countless artisan workshops.

Shop banners hung one after another.

The famous Liulichang, the Eight Great Hutongs, Tianqiao, and Dashilar were all within the territory of the South City.

"Do you know the annual tax revenue of the South City's commerce?"

"Lord, civil administration is not under our jurisdiction. The eastern part belongs to Daxing County, and the western part belongs to Wanping County."

Jiang Qingyun nodded.

He already considered the South City his territory, pondering in his heart how to squeeze out the two counties of Daxing and Wanping.

After a moment, he asked:

"In the Constabulary, who is most familiar with the South City?"

"Song Er."

"Return to the yamen and tell him to come see me."

...

In the afternoon, Jiang Qingyun, accompanied by the anxious Song Er and the joyful young Zhou Cang, changed into plain clothes and once again disappeared into the South City.

Avoiding the main streets, they dove straight into the alleys.

What they saw along the way was shocking—a place where fish and dragons mixed, where the living and the dead walked together.

The small alleys were filled with flowing sewage and a foul stench. There were beggars at death's door, men selling their children with tags, shifty-eyed thieves, secret brothels controlled by gangs, and all manner of suffocating filth and petty corruption.

This was the real South City!