The inner hall of the Yangping County yamen.
Qiu Mingde, the magistrate, sat with a teacup in his hand and his eyes narrowed, wagging his head and humming a little tune.
Qiu Mingde had been thirty-five before he took his degree as a metropolitan graduate of the third class. Six years as an official-in-waiting, and he was forty-one before he took up a post at last, starting as county registrar.
He had been in Yangping County ten years now.
And now the Prefect of Xiuzhou and the Governor were dead, and the places stood empty.
That morning a letter had come by carrier pigeon from above. If he could take the five men they wanted, he had a fine chance of moving up.
Just then the clerk came in, looking rattled.
Qiu Mingde opened his eyes. “What is it? Why are you in such a state?”
“Master, this is very bad… Do you know who it is they’ve told us to arrest?”
Qiu Mingde was unconcerned. Within the bounds of Xiuzhou, short of His Majesty himself, it made no difference who came.
He asked idly, “Who?”
The clerk lowered his voice. “The man they’ve told us to arrest is Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate.”
Qiu Mingde was startled. “The Ning Chen who cut down the Empress’s brother and took the King of the Left Court alive?”
“The very man!”
Qiu Mingde’s narrow three-cornered eyes drew down to slits. He sat thinking a moment. “It seems they don’t know up there that the man they want taken is Ning Chen.”
“Go and send word. Ask above what they mean by it, and how this ought to be handled.”
“If they nod, I don’t care whether he’s a silver coat or a gold one… I’ll guarantee he doesn’t leave Yangping County alive.”
“Nobody is going to stand in the way of my promotion… And only when I move up do you get a chance at this seat of mine.”
The clerk shook his head. “Master, I’m afraid there’s no way for us to lay a hand on him.”
Qiu Mingde laughed coldly. “In a place like Yangping County, killing a man quietly is as easy as reaching into a bag.”
The clerk said, “There’s no doing it quietly. Ning Chen has shown who he is—gongs and drums, parading about in public, saying he’s here on imperial order to inspect Yangping County. Every commoner in the county knows he’s come.”
Qiu Mingde froze on the spot.
Then he set the teacup down hard on the table and ground his teeth. “Clever. Very clever.”
“Master, this Ning the Silver Coat’s name has gone far and wide, and I’m afraid he’ll be hard to handle… He’s on his way to the yamen now. We ought to be ready for him.”
Qiu Mingde’s old face darkened. “Ning Chen can’t be touched now… The whole of Yangping County knows he’s here. Am I supposed to kill every commoner in it?”
“Go and send that word, quickly. Ask above what’s to be done.”
“Yes!” The clerk went off in a hurry.
There was something vicious in Qiu Mingde’s eyes, and then he let out a long sigh.
The men above would not dare touch Ning Chen now either.
On imperial order to inspect—that made him an imperial commissioner… traveling the empire in His Majesty’s place, settling the armies and quieting the people.
Never mind laying a hand on an imperial commissioner. Try laying a hand on a courier on the post road and see what happens.
Dare that, and for twenty li around not a chicken or a dog is left, and they boil water and pour it down the anthills.
An imperial commissioner, then, was another thing altogether. He stood for His Majesty himself… Let anything at all go wrong and the whole of Xiuzhou, top to bottom, every last man of them, would be stripped of office to the last rung.
So long as Ning Chen had not shown who he was, killing him would simply have been killing him. Destroy the body, leave no trace, nobody would ever have known, and there would have been no trouble at all.
Now that most of Yangping County knew Ning Chen had come, Qiu Mingde would not have dared entertain a crooked thought again if he had ten thousand men’s nerve.
Never mind killing Ning Chen. If Ning Chen so much as knocked or bruised himself, Qiu Mingde would have to answer for it.
“The little son of a bitch. That was a fine move.”
Qiu Mingde said it through his back teeth. His chance of promotion was gone.
“Somebody!”
A constable came running in and bowed. “What are my lord’s orders?”
Qiu Mingde’s face was black. “Tell everyone. They are all to come out with me and receive Lord Commissioner.”
Ning Chen paraded about in public the whole way and came to the gate of the county yamen.
From a long way off he could see a crowd waiting at the yamen gate.
Qiu Mingde watched his own subordinates beating gongs and drums and bellowing that Ning the Silver Coat of Great Xuan was on imperial order to inspect Yangping County… and the fury of it nearly brought up a mouthful of blood.
Ning Chen came up close and did not dismount. He looked down at Qiu Mingde and his men from the height of the saddle.
Qiu Mingde came forward quickly and bowed with his hands folded. “Qiu Mingde, magistrate of Yangping County, at the head of every man of this office, greets Lord Commissioner!”
Ning Chen stared coldly down at him and said harshly, “Lord Qiu. I am here on imperial order to inspect Yangping County and you actually sent men to arrest me. Do you mean to murder an imperial commissioner?”
Qiu Mingde changed color and answered quickly, “Calm your anger, my lord. This is a misunderstanding… There have been robbers around Yangping County lately, and my lord was taken for one of them.”
“This official offers my lord his apology here and now, and hopes my lord will overlook it.”
Ning Chen gave a cold snort and swung down from the saddle.
Qiu Mingde said quickly, “Lord Commissioner, please, come inside!”
Ning Chen turned and walked into the yamen.
Qiu Mingde hurried his men along after him.
They came to the inner hall of the yamen and everyone sat down.
Qiu Mingde had tea brought in.
“Lord Commissioner is here on imperial order to inspect. Might this official have a look at the edict?”
Ning Chen had seen the question coming a long way off.
A man inspecting on imperial order naturally had to have the edict… and out in the provinces it had to be shown to the local officials.
Ning Chen had come into Xiuzhou by stealth, without so much as a retinue, and Qiu Mingde suspected he had no edict either.
If Ning Chen could not produce one, then he was impersonating an imperial commissioner and passing off an imperial order… and then Qiu Mingde could arrange an accident. Ning Chen resisted and was killed, something of that shape.
Ning Chen said indifferently, “The edict is in the hands of my colleague Gao Ziping, Gao the Silver Coat.”
Qiu Mingde’s eyes flickered. “Might I ask where Gao the Silver Coat is? This official will send men to invite him.”
Ning Chen slammed his hand down on the table with a bang, hard enough to make the teacups jump.
Qiu Mingde jumped with them.
Ning Chen stared coldly at him and said angrily, “That is exactly what I was about to ask Lord Qiu… On the road to Yangping County we met hill bandits, and our party was scattered.”
“Lord Qiu is the father and mother of the people here, and keeping this district safe is his charge. Hill bandits run loose inside the ground you govern. Do you know your offense?”
Qiu Mingde’s face went through several colors and not one of them was good.
Hill bandits, my ass. There hasn’t been a hill bandit inside my jurisdiction in years. How is it you show up and run straight into one?
He knew Ning Chen was lying, and he had no proof that Ning Chen was lying.
So there was nothing for him to do but hold his nose and take the charge.
“This official knows his offense!”
Qiu Mingde said it through his back teeth.
Ning Chen gave a cold snort. “Lord Qiu had better send men out quickly and get my colleagues back. They are all silver coats of the Inspectorate, and if anything really does happen to them, Lord Qiu could hardly escape the blame.”
Qiu Mingde was sick with rage and still had to keep a smile on his face. “Set your mind at rest, my lord. This official will send men out at once.”
The truth was that Qiu Mingde had a fair idea by now of why Ning Chen had come to Yangping County.
But until he had clear instructions from above, all he could do was go along with him.
“Lord Commissioner has had a wearing journey. This official will have a place made ready for you first… Rest awhile, and this evening this official will give a banquet in your honor.”
Qiu Mingde said it with the most perfect respect, and made a thorough show of it.
The truth was that he did not want to talk to Ning Chen any longer than he had to. The more he said, the more he would get wrong… Until word came from above, he had no way of knowing what to do next.
Ning Chen inclined his head slightly and did not refuse.
(End of Chapter 306)