Chapter 25

In Hongtang Township, Yong'anli, heading west to the provincial capital's West Gate, the journey is about ten miles.

The Min River branches into the Wulong River and the Hong River at Hongtang Township. From Yong'anli to the county town, one must cross the Hong River. The Hong River often floods, and the provincial governor and the town's military officials have built bridges multiple times, starting with a pontoon bridge and later a stone bridge. In the third year of the Northern Song's Xianping era, a stone bridge called Hongyi Bridge was built. In the seventh year of the Southern Song's Shaoxing era, Hong'er Bridge was constructed. However, Hong'er Bridge was destroyed by a flood in the eleventh year of the Ming Chenghua era.

Only Hongyi Bridge remains, also known as Hongshan Bridge due to its proximity to Hong Mountain. After crossing Hongshan Bridge, one reaches the official road, which is also the endpoint of the official road from the Guanzhong Pass into Fujian.

Beside the bridge is a market town called Hongshan Market Town, where cargo ships from Jianning and Yanping Prefectures are docked.

At the customs checkpoint on the wharf, patrol officers with waist knives maintain order. Merchants in short jackets, holding copper coins in their hands, queue up to pay taxes. The bowmen of the inspection office stand listlessly, too lazy to conduct thorough checks, occasionally scolding unruly civilians.

After crossing the ferry, passing the ancient temple Xichan Temple, and walking for a while, the West Gate of the provincial capital gradually comes into view.

Beside the official reception pavilion on the official road, there are five or six sedan chairs and a row of mules, horses, and carriages lined up behind them. Without counting the standing soldiers, there are over a hundred sedan bearers and horsemen.

About twenty to thirty officials, dressed in new official robes with various patterns on their badges, gather together like a garden of birds.

They stand with their hands clasped, occasionally stretching their necks to look westward along the official road, waiting for some high-ranking official to arrive. Judging by the frequent yawns of the officials, they seem to have woken up even earlier than Lin Yanchao. Lin Yanchao glanced a few times, and a few soldiers immediately glared and brandished their whips, scaring his uncle into forcibly turning Lin Yanchao's head away.

The provincial capital was rebuilt in the thirty-eighth year of the Jiajing era to defend against the Japanese pirates, with new brick walls, added enemy platforms, and moats. The city circumference is 3,346 zhang. The most magnificent sight at the city gate is the row of scholar-official archways, the pride of Houguan and the provincial capital.

As the sun is not yet scorching, people rush to enter the city. At the city gate, the patrol officers and soldiers check the pedestrians, causing most of the people entering the city to be blocked at the gate.

In Lin Yanchao's eyes, the city walls seem to grow taller, and the official road becomes more congested. The three of them can only slow down their steps.

On both sides of the road, the Tanka women, with snake hairpins in their hair and uneven trouser legs, hold fish baskets high and sell them along the street. Vegetable vendors carry baskets and want to enter the city, hoping to sell a few dozen more coins per basket, but they must hope the tax office will be less exploitative.

Various brokers shout in different tones to attract business. Behind them, several rows of emaciated and disheveled men and women kneel, each with a grass tag in their messy hair.

Beggars in flea-infested clothes push past the brokers, approaching wealthy-looking people to beg, and if they don't give, they will dirty their clothes.

The closer to the city gate, the more people and houses there are. The eaves almost hang over the road, and the houses are densely packed, forming a market for fish and salt. The cries of vendors never stop in the ears, and the stalls on both sides of the road take up the shoulders, leaving only half of the five-zhang-wide official road.

The prosperity of the provincial capital refreshes Lin Yanchao's impression of the poverty in central Fujian, but he understands.

The provincial capital is a place where government offices and officials gather.

Counting the offices he can name, there are the provincial governor's office, the provincial administration office, the town's military official, the general's office, the sub-patrol office of Funing and Wuping, the inspection office, the salt transport office, and the general's office. Not to mention the prefectural office, the county offices of Min County and Houguan County. The officials, attendants, clerks, and relatives in these offices probably number in the thousands.

"Sir, please be kind! Let us into the city, or we will all starve to death!"

At the city gate, thousands of flood victims try to rush into the city to beg for food but are beaten back by the soldiers.

This time, the Min River flooded, how many people starved to death? How many people were displaced? How many bodies float down the river every day?

Seeing this, Lin Yanchao clenched his fists, but was pulled aside by Lin Gaozhu, who whispered, "Don't look too much!"

Lin Gaozhu's words woke Lin Yanchao. He is just a child, powerless to change anything, and he has a lawsuit to deal with.

The provincial capital has seven city gates, two of which are for the emperor's residence, with barbicans at the gates. The tall and dark city towers stand majestically.

After passing through the city gate and being searched, Lin Yanchao enters the provincial capital. The scenery inside and outside the city is different. The provincial capital, being an important place, is decorated to appear peaceful.

The boats on the West Lake in the west of the city, with their pleasant music, exude a luxurious atmosphere. The Wanshou Palace, dedicated to Xu Zhenjun, is bustling with incense.

The city's roads and alleys are crisscrossed, with thousands of shops and residences. The inner river, originating from the Hongtang River, flows through the West Lake in the west of the city and enters the city through the West Water Gate beside the West Gate. The river winds through the city, passing by the front and back of the residences.

Raintrees and willows are planted along the riverbanks. The open boats entering the city through the water gates on both sides of the West Gate glide directly into the city. Under the silk-like green raintrees, the boatwomen, dressed in bright clothes, row past.

Lin Yanchao remembers a line from a poem in his father's collection, describing the prosperity of the provincial capital during the Northern Song Dynasty: "Merchandise follows the tide into the city, and thousands of households sell wine with their curtains hanging."

His uncle, who helps out at the Houguan County Office, knows the city well. He gestures to Lin Yanchao, who is entering the city for the first time: "The main east-west road in front of the West Gate is called West Gate Street. Follow West Gate Street eastward, pass through Dingyuan Bridge, and you will reach the provincial administration office, the prefectural office, and the salt transport office. The Houguan County Office we are going to is in Tongxianfang in the south of the city, at the foot of Wushan Mountain."

"Don't worry, once we get to the Houguan County Office, it's my territory, and I'll protect you."

His uncle's boast is immediately met with a scolding from Lin Gaozhu: "Do you know your own weight? I know your father well. What can your few friends do to help?"

"Father, I understand, I understand."

"Quick, lead the way."

In a teahouse on the street in front of the Houguan County Office, a nimble man approaches Xie Zongjia, who is drinking tea at a square table, and says, "The Lin family, father and two sons, have entered the city and are heading to the county office."

Xie Zongjia puts down his teacup and asks, "Is it Lin Gaozhu, his eldest son, and his third son?"

"The third son didn't come; it's a child."

"I see." Xie Zongjia thinks of Lin Yanchao and feels a sense of foreboding. He turns to a man with a mustache at the table and says, "Mr. Ge, I'm not afraid of the Lin family's adults, but a child who has studied some legal codes at the community school and can speak somewhat convincingly. Please pay extra attention to this case."

Mr. Ge glances at Xie Zongjia and says, "What's there to fear from a child? When I was a criminal law advisor to the county magistrate, he wasn't even born. A fifty-tael complaint in the provincial capital isn't worth my words, and a hundred-tael complaint isn't worth my pen. How much is your five-acre dowry land worth?"

Xie Zongjia's face turns red. He is used to being respected in the countryside, but in the provincial capital, even a lawyer doesn't take him seriously.

However, given Mr. Ge's genuine Suzhou accent and his background as a former advisor to the county magistrate, Xie Zongjia dares only to curse in his heart and humbly says, "Please, Mr. Ge, for the sake of Mr. Huang, help me this time."

"Good, I'm not doing this for Mr. Huang, but for Mr. Xu. I've already written the complaint for you. With this, you have a seventy percent chance of winning. The rest is up to you to adapt." Mr. Ge says.

Is that it? Xie Zongjia curses in his heart but still thanks him profusely, taking out one tael of silver and placing it on the table. Mr. Ge lifts his teacup, signaling it's time to leave.

A mere lawyer dares to put on airs in front of me? Xie Zongjia curses in his heart and turns to leave.

"Wait! Are you going to pay for the tea? You country bumpkins really don't know how to behave!"

It takes about half an hour to walk from the West Gate to the official district of Tongxianfang, where the county office is located.

When Lin Yanchao reaches the street in front of the county office, he sees a sign at the street entrance with the golden words "Eight Min Prefectures" written on it.

According to Lin Yanchao's knowledge, these four words are a challenge to the sign "Ten Min Prefectures" in front of the Min County Office, which is in the same city but in a different district, showing the determination to compete for ranking. In front of the prefectural office, the sign reads "First Prefecture of Eight Min."

The county office is close to the Houguan County School, facing south, with a large gate opening to the south, in line with the rule that "those without reason and money should not enter."

In front of the county office is a long street called Yamen Street. The scenery in front of the Yamen Street is naturally beautiful.

It has been two months since the litigation period ended, and it is not the peak time for complaints, but the street in front of the county office is still crowded. The Virtue Pavilion and the Complaint Pavilion beside the county office gates are packed with people, all of whom are plaintiffs and defendants.

If a scholar saw this scene, he would inevitably sigh, "What a decline in morals and a loss of ancient values."

Confucius said, "In hearing lawsuits, I am like any other man. What is necessary is to make sure there are no lawsuits." The Confucian ideal is a society without lawsuits, where fewer lawsuits indicate a more virtuous and easily governed populace, and local officials are more likely to receive a positive evaluation of clear governance.

Conversely, a place with many lawsuits is seen as having a thin and corrupt populace, in other words, too many troublemakers.

From this perspective, Fujian is not a place where officials like to stay. Local records often describe the people as poor, fond of litigation, and quick to take their own lives, and their customs as frugal, fond of litigation, and superstitious.

Today is the day the county office accepts complaints. The county magistrate is sitting in court, and as soon as the complaint board is put out, the people surge forward.

One plaintiff grabs the defendant's collar and shouts, "Debts must be repaid, it's a matter of justice. If you don't pay, you'll rot in jail today."

Another person is pushing and shoving, and a woman is crying, "Husband, believe me, I am innocent with Mr. Zhang."

"Shameless woman, still trying to argue. Do you know what it means to catch someone in the act?"

Lin Yanchao is about to listen further when his uncle covers his ears and says, "Don't let a child hear such filth."

Lin Yanchao is speechless at his uncle's action.

Lin Yanchao is broadening his horizons, but then he hears a cold laugh from the side.

Xie Zongjia stands with his hands behind his back, and Xie's third son follows beside him.

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