Chapter 17: Provisions Come First

“I’m heading to the county yamen for a meeting. You all take care—”

“There’s no need. Let him do as he pleases. Don’t worry about it.”

Zhao Jia had intended to ask the yamen runners to look after the black cat, but recalling the cat’s abilities, he realized it was more likely the cat would be keeping an eye on them. In the end, he simply decided to let the black cat do as it wished.

In Zhao Jia’s view, the old cat was far cleverer than most people.

The men clasped their hands and bowed in acknowledgment.

As soon as Zhao Jia left, they began to gossip.

“Should we tell the boss about this?” The short one, propping his chin on his palm, sprawled across the battered wooden table, his eyes fixed on the dark-furred cat not far from them.

Big Mouth rubbed his hands together, grinning foolishly. “It’s just a cat, not a tiger. Even if it did become a spirit, it wouldn’t cause any trouble.”

He fished out a bundle wrapped in oiled paper from his tightly cinched pouch—slices of fish.

“Tripod, come here.”

“You actually carried that around?” Zhuanzi stared at Big Mouth in surprise.

Not only had Big Mouth prepared fish, but he’d brought both raw and cooked portions—how thorough could one be? Yesterday, after the cat ran off, they all thought it wouldn’t return, yet Big Mouth still carried cat food wherever he went.

Although fish in Jiujiang was more plentiful and cheaper than rice, preparing both raw and cooked showed real thought.

“I’m fond of him,” Big Mouth said, setting the fish on the table. “Tripod, eat up.”

The black cat leapt onto the table, sniffed the fish, then chose the cooked portion.

Not being used to raw food was one thing; moreover, freshwater fish carried a lot of parasites, and eating too much could make one ill. Even in a cat’s body, one couldn’t eat recklessly.

“If the officials from the Six Gates saw this, they’d charge you with harboring a demon!” the short one said sourly, annoyed that he hadn’t thought of it himself. He’d assumed the old cat was gone for good, not expecting it to simply return to Zhao Jia’s home.

He too wanted to keep a monster.

Old Chen puffed steadily on his pipe, tapped his shoe, glanced at the black cat, and warned, “Let what happened with Master Li in the west of the city be a lesson. No one knows what these creatures are thinking. In the end, not a one of them is truly safe.”

Lu Xun, the black cat, pricked up his ears. “Meow meow.”

Big Mouth translated, “He says he’d never do that.”

Lu Xun looked resigned; he’d wanted to ask what kind of monster had been involved, and what the outcome was.

He recalled last time, after devouring the head of the Flower Lynx, a spirit of the Five Tun Gods, his own play-acting spell, “Cat Walk,” had evolved into true magic. A faint, undetectable power now flowed within him, and under moonlight or the blessings of a master from the Lüshan Sect, he could wield extraordinary abilities.

But the toad’s head still looked the same.

His thoughts drifted to that strange space.

The warty-headed toad sat in stasis.

[Skull of the Warty Monk, spirit of the Five Tun Gods]
Type: Worm (Toad)
Quality: Common
Spell: Water Arrow (Beginner)

Annotation: In the southern mountains there is a beast resembling a toad, called the Shrimp Toad. Its back is marked with blue spots, its belly with white stripes, its voice like thunder, and when it croaks, rain falls.

“I wonder what that tiger’s head is like,” he mused, though it was pointless to dwell on it.

Lu Xun decided to head to the county yamen to hear the plans regarding the river bandits.

...

He arrived at the main hall.

Lu Xun leapt onto a beam.

Inside the magistrate’s hall, County Magistrate Lü, attired in his blue official robes, sat in the highest seat. The imperial selection emphasized appearance, and anyone who could become a magistrate was never ill-favored in looks; the blue robe only heightened his imposing manner. At his right sat the county vice magistrate, at his left the county captain; below were the six department clerks, the chief constable, and the jailer.

By seniority, Zhao Jia could arguably be called the Ninth Lord—one of the lowest rungs on the ladder.

The two great clans of Meilan, along with the gentry, village heads, and headmen, were all in attendance.

Lu Xun arrived just as Magistrate Lü was finishing his address. Lü Qian, a tiger-list scholar, was eloquent as always, and with a great success about to be achieved, his enthusiasm and delight made him all the more impassioned. The group of unsophisticated gentry and local worthies was thoroughly awed.

In summary, it all boiled down to one thing—money.

Land was scarce in Jiujiang; navigation was the mainstay, with fishing as a supplement. For years, river bandits had dominated the waterways, extorting tolls and bribes, and all the hard-earned silver ended up in the river. Resentment had simmered for years, and the public was outraged.

But the bandits were entrenched on islands, easy to defend and hard to attack. The prefect had dispatched troops multiple times to little effect.

Magistrate Lü stroked his beard and lamented, “The river bandits must be eradicated!”

Suppressing bandits required troops and supplies—every man, horse, and weapon cost money.

The yamen had no funds, so the gentry and commoners would have to provide. The people of Meilan were already destitute, and the magistrate, greedy as he was, wanted both wealth and fame. For the sake of his reputation, he could not possibly take from the poor, so instead, the gentry would have to bleed.

Like it or not, they would have to pay. If the tax silver was lost, all of Meilan would suffer.

Lu Xun also spotted a familiar face: Master Song from the south of the city—Tripod’s former employer.

After a whole afternoon of haggling, the two great clan leaders each contributed two hundred taels. Anyone with over ten mu of land or a dock paid fifty taels. Other landlords gave thirty, while village heads and headmen paid ten each.

Finally, the starving gentry were treated to a banquet provided by Magistrate Lü.

A total of one thousand and thirty taels was raised.

Magistrate Lü was well satisfied, raising his cup for another impassioned speech, vowing to wipe out the river bandits.

...

The drinking continued into the afternoon.

At the vice magistrate’s signal, the gentry and worthies were seen out.

Only then did they begin to discuss the details of the campaign.

The county captain did not speak but looked to the vice magistrate—rank trumped all, and he was the Third Lord, the vice magistrate the Second.

Magistrates came and went, but the yamen endured. Once the magistrate left, the vice magistrate acted as his deputy. For the sake of a mere thousand taels, he would not risk offending his superior—at least not openly.

“Er, Magistrate, about the money and supplies—”

He barely began before Magistrate Lü waved him off.

“The urgent matter is how to eliminate the river bandits.”

He turned to Zhao Jia.

Zhao Jia bowed and replied, “Your humble servant will escort the tax silver onto the ship and cross Xunyang River. Once the bandits emerge from their stronghold to ambush us, the Third Lord will lead the troops to cut off their retreat. Thus, we shall encircle them; once the bandit chief falls, the rabble will scatter.”

The county captain asked, “How many men does the villain command?”

“Roughly two or three hundred,” Zhao Jia answered.

The captain hesitated.

He had only two thousand men under his command. Counting those on the rolls but not present, the old and the weak, and those garrisoned in the city, only a fraction were combat-ready—perhaps half of half. Five hundred against three hundred, and without large ships, the government troops might not match the bandits’ fighting prowess on the water; defeat was a real risk.

The magistrate turned to the vice magistrate. “How many yamen runners do we have in the three divisions?”

“Forty-nine,” the vice magistrate replied automatically.

“Be precise.”

“Three hundred and fifty-two.”

The magistrate’s expression did not change. Officially, there were only forty-nine runners, but how could so few handle all affairs?

It was impossible to govern the countryside.

So the yamen recruited many unofficial assistants, who received no pay—just the title. They were considered yamen runners in name.

“Assign two hundred men to assist the county captain.”

“Yes, sir.”

The vice magistrate observed the magistrate’s expression—clearly, the magistrate was determined to wipe out the river bandits.

The magistrate gestured to Zhao Jia, “Continue.”

Zhao Jia bowed again. “Your humble servant believes we should prepare two sets of carriages and horses—one real, one fake. Use the fake as a decoy; even if something goes wrong, the bandits will only make off with counterfeit tax silver.”

“Who will escort the real one?”

The magistrate’s gaze swept over the assembled officials.

The chief constable, Zhou Liang, stepped forward and bowed. “Your humble servant volunteers.”

The magistrate frowned. “If anything happens to you, how could I answer to your sister?”

“All the more reason for me to lead from the front.”

“Very well.”

Magistrate Lü Qian had originally intended for his brother-in-law to stay in the city and raid the Pure Spring Temple for a modest accomplishment. But compared to the glory of defeating the river bandits and safeguarding the tax silver, that was nothing.

With Zhao Jia acting as bait, his brother-in-law could safely claim this merit.

“It’s settled then!”