Chapter 48 This Case Is Rather Complicated

Before dawn.

A slender shadow wrapped in darkness slowly made its way to the riverbank.

Delicate fingers lifted, removing a wooden hairpin. Long, silky hair cascaded down, gently swaying in the faint breeze.

A glance back.

Tears streamed quietly down pale cheeks. Lips moved slightly. Turning around, she leapt into the river.

Splash!

Gu Zhengchen was abruptly awakened. Dressing quickly, he looked anxiously toward the door at Gu Cheng’s uneasy expression, a bad premonition rising in his chest.

“Master, it’s terrible! Madam Zhang… she jumped into the river to end her life,” Gu Cheng said anxiously.

Gu Zhengchen’s eyes widened in shock. “Where? Take me there at once!”

Gu Cheng pointed toward the dock. “The patrol inspectors have already retrieved her body. The county officials are here as well, looking for anyone who might claim her.”

When Gu Zhengchen arrived, he explained the situation to the county clerks and identified the body. Staring at Zhao Ya’er, who had long since passed, his heart trembled slightly. He covered her face with a white cloth and closed his eyes in pain.

“When she died, her hands were clutching her hair, using it to cover her face. It took quite a bit of effort to retrieve her. Are you sure you recognize this person?” the clerk inquired.

Gu Zhengchen had Gu Cheng explain and then returned alone to the inn.

Liang Jiajun approached with a sorrowful expression, handing Gu Zhengchen a letter. “Madam Zhang left a note.”

Gu Zhengchen opened it. The contents were simple—a commission entrusting Gu Zhengchen and Liang Jiajun to send a letter to the Zhang family in Teng County. They were to arrange for someone to collect Zhang Shiping’s remains and were given precise details and markers.

Not a single word mentioned her own fate, as if it were insignificant.

As if even mentioning it was a disgrace.

Liang Jiajun sat down, pouring a cup of tea. “When I spoke with her yesterday, she was already resigned to death.”

Gu Zhengchen folded the letter and placed it on the table, remaining silent for a long while before speaking. “Brother Liang, do you think the court will launch a serious crackdown on the salt smugglers after her death?”

Liang Jiajun thought carefully, then shook his head. “The court has set up patrol inspection offices all over to capture bandits and criminals. But so far, their effectiveness is limited. The government won’t dispatch large military forces just because of a few incidents, nor for a few dozen salt smugglers. This is a chronic problem, not solved overnight.”

Gu Zhengchen suddenly stood, his face icy cold. “Then her death was in vain. Those two servants died for nothing!”

Liang Jiajun tapped the table, sighing helplessly. “The affairs of the court are beyond our control. We can only say they were unfortunate.”

“Fate?” Gu Zhengchen gritted his teeth silently.

To live is fate; to die is fate.

To live well is fate; to live poorly is fate.

To hell with fate!

There is no such thing as fate in this world, only countless choices and actions intertwined and clashing in time and space, shaping the present.

The deaths of Zhao Ya’er and those two servants are the evil of the salt smugglers.

The ones who should die are not them, but the salt smugglers!

“Where are you going?” Liang Jiajun asked as Gu Zhengchen left the room.

Gu Zhengchen raised a hand without answering and left the inn. Sun Shiba followed closely.

The river water flowed southward, quietly moving along.

---

The willows by the shore had lost some of their green; some leaves had withered and died ahead of time.

Gu Cheng arrived, reporting, “The Suqian county office will find a place to bury Madam Zhang.”

“Is that all?” Gu Zhengchen frowned.

Gu Cheng sighed helplessly. “The salt smuggler issue is beyond the county office’s power.”

Gu Zhengchen took a deep breath.

Indeed.

The county’s armed forces were limited. Apart from the patrol inspection office with between ten and thirty men, the county office’s manpower for arrests consisted mainly of clerks. These were not permanent employees but commoners conscripted into service, rotated regularly, with little combat capability. They could handle a few petty thieves but struggled against salt smugglers, who were elusive and ruthless.

The magistrate of Suqian cooperated with the Taizhuang patrol office to capture bandits because they knew their base, numbers, and horses, prepared thoroughly, and launched a surprise encirclement. Success was a merit.

But no one knew where the salt smugglers were or how many there were. Investigating them thoroughly was time-consuming and exhausting, with uncertain results. Losing men or the county’s reputation without success would be a failure.

If the county truly had the ability to solve the salt smuggler problem, it wouldn’t have dragged on until today. Their inability was not mere excuse.

“Go find out if the county has ever caught any salt smugglers who have not yet been executed,” Gu Zhengchen instructed Gu Cheng.

Gu Cheng was puzzled but obeyed.

“Shiba, I need you to help me with something,” Gu Zhengchen said seriously in a secluded place, turning to face Sun Shiba.

Sun Shiba responded solemnly: “Master, the Sun family has given me to you. My life belongs to you. Whatever you ask, I will do.”

Gu Zhengchen nodded slightly. “This task is extremely dangerous. If anything goes wrong, you will die. But if it succeeds, the salt smugglers will be wiped out. Think carefully before you decide.”

Wipe out the salt smugglers?!

Sun Shiba looked at Gu Zhengchen in surprise.

He was not joking!

Recalling the recent destruction of a band of robbers in Suqian, perhaps Gu Zhengchen truly had a way to end the salt smuggler problem completely!

“Master, I will do it! If anything happens, I will take my own life and never implicate you!” Sun Shiba swore.

Gu Zhengchen clasped his hands behind his back, gazing toward the river in silence.

Sun Shiba asked, “Master, are you risking this to avenge Zhao Ya’er?”

Sun Shiba had heard of Gu Zhengchen and Zhao Ya’er’s story. Had the imperial examinations not been suddenly suspended by the court, perhaps Gu Zhengchen and Zhao Ya’er would have married. Perhaps the tragedies of Zhang Shiping and Zhao Ya’er would never have happened.

“It’s not just for her. It’s for all those on this river who have been humiliated, despaired, and died—their lives!” Gu Zhengchen’s heart weighed heavy.

The salt smuggler problem had a long history.

Back when the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang fought for the throne, one of his main enemies was the salt smuggler Zhang Shicheng.

At his peak, Zhang Shicheng controlled vast territories: south to Shaoxing, north past Xuzhou into Jining, west to Yingzhou and Haozhou, east to the sea, spanning over two thousand li.

The richest lands north and south of the Huai River, including Suzhou and Hangzhou, were in his hands, and his main force was a band of salt smugglers.

After Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Zhang Shicheng, the initial salt smugglers were nearly wiped out. But a new wave emerged—this time, oppressed salt workers.

Salt was a matter of state and livelihood. The Ming dynasty enforced a monopoly on salt. The government controlled salt production.

But officials did not produce salt themselves. They controlled the salt furnaces, setting quotas each month. Shortfalls were unacceptable. Like breeding horses, it didn’t matter if some were born or died, as long as the quota was met.

If there was no salt, money was taken; if no money, goods were taken; if no goods or money, what then?

Life was taken.

Some paid with their own lives, some with their family’s, and some chose to pay with others’. These were the salt smugglers.

More than six years into the Ming dynasty, the salt smuggler problem persistently troubled Yangzhou and Huai’an prefectures. Despite local governance and patrol inspectors, salt smuggler raids and harm never ceased.

History does not record exactly when Zhu Yuanzhang addressed the salt smuggler problem, but by the late Ming, they had become so rampant that even official ships were plundered.

True, they were pitiable people.

But the pitiable must not harm the pitiable. If you want to rob, kill, and commit evil, blame the oppressive salt officials, the salt transport commissioners, or if necessary, go to Jinling and blame Zhu Yuanzhang himself.

Harming innocent people is an unforgivable evil.

Gu Zhengchen fell ill, suffering headaches. He summoned a doctor who could find no clear cause but prescribed medicine and sent someone to fetch herbs.

Liang Jiajun watched Gu Zhengchen lying in bed, wondering how such a strong man suddenly became ill.

When one is sick, one must rest.

There was still time. Staying in Suqian to recuperate for a few days would not delay matters.

Gu Zhengchen forbade Liang Jiajun from entering his room, but Liang persisted. When matters arose, he only communicated through Gu Cheng or Sun Shiba.

The illness was complicated.

First came the headaches; the doctor prescribed nitre.

Then coldness in the lower back and kidneys with abdominal swelling; another doctor prescribed sulfur.

Later, likely from distress and confusion, Gu Zhengchen swallowed several copper coins by mistake. Treatment required charcoal, heated and ground into a fine powder, brewed into a decoction.

The illness relapsed repeatedly. Different herbs were taken at different times, sometimes requiring a journey outside the city for medicine.

After Liang Jiajun’s five days of worry, Gu Zhengchen’s condition improved somewhat. But upon arriving at Taoyuan by boat, the illness returned. He stayed inside the inn, refusing to go out, prompting Gu Cheng and Sun Shiba to scour every direction for medicines.

Gu Zhengchen urged Liang to proceed ahead, but Liang refused.

Thus, the journey, which should have taken two or three days by water from Suqian to Shanyang County in Huai’an Prefecture, stretched to twelve days.

Shanyang County was a subsidiary county.

A subsidiary county is simply one where the county seat is attached to a prefectural or provincial city.

In other words, Shanyang County had not only a county magistrate’s office but also the prefectural government, as it was the seat of Huai’an Prefecture.

Shanyang was a strategic stronghold, guarding the Huai River and the Grand Canal.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew its importance well. As early as the second year of the Hongwu reign, a garrison was established to defend the Great River.

Zhenhuai Tower, the Governor’s Grain Transport Office, Huai’an Prefecture Office, and Shanyang County Office stood connected along the city’s central axis. This was a new prefectural government building, constructed in the third year of Hongwu, remodeled by Huai’an’s prefect Yao Bin from the Yuan-era Yitan Wanhufu and Wutong Temple.

Zhenhuai Tower housed a large drum used for night watches and alarms, also called the Drum Tower. The Yuan-era plaques inscribed with “Northern and Southern Hinge” and “Clear Sky and Cloud Path” were long gone.

Gu Zhengchen and Liang Jiajun walked through the city.

Liang Jiajun pointed ahead. “That is the Grain Transport Office.”

Gu Zhengchen stopped, glanced eastward at the office, then turned to the west, gazing at a cluster of ordinary residences. Softly, he asked, “Brother Liang, do you know who lived there?”

Liang Jiajun looked and smiled. “Those are common homes. Even wealthy families there are mostly obscure and unknown.”

Gu Zhengchen shook his head, approached the residences, and spoke with solemn respect, “A gentleman named Zhou once lived here, dedicating his entire life to this land...”