Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 788 The Eight Immortals Cross the Sea, Each Displaying Their Unique Abilities

Bai Zhaoye responded with a "Yes," then picked up his teacup and took two small sips. His eyes were lowered, and the steam from the tea gradually blurred his expression in the continued silence.

Xu Fang leaned back in her chair, waiting patiently, her gaze darting back and forth between the tea and snacks, showing no sign of urging them on.

The entire signing room fell silent for a brief moment, with only the incessant chirping of cicadas and the rustling of leaves in the wind echoing around it.

After about half a cup of tea's time, Bai Zhaoye finally put down his teacup, looked up at Xu Fang, and said, "Commissioner Xu, there's something I feel I need to say first."

Xu Fang withdrew her gaze from the pastry plate, looked up at Bai Zhaoye, and lightly raised her wrist to make a "please" gesture: "Chief Bai, please speak freely."

“Reporting to Commander Xu,” Bai Zhaoye took a breath and leaned forward slightly, “this study of mine is actually just a liaison station for connecting superiors and subordinates and passing on intelligence. It does not directly participate in the investigation. The one truly responsible for investigating the canal smuggling case is a brokerage firm called ‘Shuntong’ located at the docks outside the city. What I know and can tell you is all what they have found out.”

"What's there to say?" Xu Fang raised an eyebrow, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes. "Isn't it just a normal superior-subordinate relationship?"

“No, Commander Xu,” Bai Zhaoye shook his head and explained, “Our Zhijing Hall and Shuntong Brokerage have no clear superior-subordinate relationship. I cannot issue orders to the person in charge of Shuntong Brokerage, namely General Manager Chen Weiye. What we do is simply receive instructions from the head office or the field bureau and then relay them to Shuntong Brokerage verbatim. Conversely, if Shuntong Brokerage finds any clues, they will first report them to me, and I will summarize and organize them before reporting them to the head office. Of course, in urgent situations, he can also bypass us and send someone to deliver the message to the head office himself.”

Xu Fang sat up straighter and lightly traced a circle on the edge of the table with her finger: "Why does your Eastern Depot have to be set up like this?"

“This matter probably has to start from the source of the case.” Bai Zhaoye pondered for a moment, then organized his thoughts before replying, “Commander Xu, you may not know, but this case was actually first discovered by Chen Weiye of Shuntong Brokerage. At that time, the Eastern Depot did not have so many stations in Zhongwei, Tianjin, only a temporary intelligence station. It was investigating a case involving the Ministry of Revenue.”

He paused, took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, and continued, "During the investigation, Chen Weiye and his team unexpectedly discovered that some people were using canal boats to smuggle goods, evade inspection, and evade taxes. So they reported this to the head office. The head office, upon receiving the news, felt that the case was of great importance, and issued an order to promote Chen Weiye and give him a promotion, instructing him to thoroughly investigate the canal smuggling situation in the Zhongwei area. Shuntong Brokerage Firm was established at that time. The reason for choosing a brokerage firm was that brokerage firms deal with canal gangs and merchants every day, making it convenient for both routine inquiries and surveillance."

Xu Fang nodded knowingly and followed up on his words: "So, your Weaving Hall was only sent to Tianjin later?"

“That’s right.” Bai Zhaoye nodded. “We were indeed sent here by the head office later. To be more specific, it was about a month after Shuntong Pawnshop was established, which is more than two months ago.”

"Then what is the purpose of the head office sending you here?" Xu Fang continued to ask. "You just said that Shuntong Pawnshop can report directly to your head office, so it seems unnecessary to set up a separate liaison station, right?"

"The reason... the head office didn't say it outright." Bai Zhaoye frowned and thought for a moment before carefully saying, "But I privately think it's probably because as the case unfolded, more and more clues emerged, and the instructions to be conveyed and the reports to be compiled became increasingly complex."

“People like Chen Weiye spend all their time at the docks, dealing with canal workers and merchants. They are already busy enough with investigations and surveillance. If they also have to find time to organize intelligence, write investigation reports, and send messages to the head office, they will inevitably neglect one thing and do another. On the other hand, the intelligence at the grassroots level is too trivial. If every front-line station sends messages directly to the head office, it will be very cumbersome, and the travel expenses will be so high that the head office will find it unacceptable.”

“Our liaison station is similar to a messenger in the military. When the head office issues an order, we go through it first, extract the key points related to the investigation, and then pass it on to Chen Weiye, saving him time to figure it out. We also collect and organize the scattered clues he reports, clarify the logic, add our own judgment, and report them to the head office, so that the head office can understand them at a glance. In this way, both sides can concentrate on their own work.”

Xu Fang nodded approvingly, then said with a slight pause, "So, besides the Shuntong Brokerage you just mentioned, the Eastern Depot has other investigation stations in Tianjin?"

“Yes,” Bai Zhaoye nodded slowly. “Our factory has investigation stations in Zuowei, Youwei, Tanggu, and Cangzhou.”

"Where are these investigation stations located? What are their names? Who are in charge?" Xu Fang immediately asked.

Bai Zhaoye hesitated noticeably. His Adam's apple bobbed, and his eyes flickered.

Xu Fang noticed his concerns, took out the authorization letter from her bosom, and laid it out on the table: "Chief Bai, I am here in Tianjin to ask questions on orders from the Directorate of Ceremonial. The authorization letter also has the signature of your Factory Director Cui. I think I should have the right to know about your factory's layout in Tianjin."

"Yes," Bai Zhaoye licked his slightly dry lips and stood up. "It was my oversight. Please wait a moment, I will bring you the roster of each station."

Having said that, he turned and walked to the desk, his gaze sweeping across the bookshelf before finally settling on a dark blue slipcase containing the "Collected Explanations and Supplementary Regulations of the Great Ming Code." He tiptoed to remove the slipcase, gently opened it, and pulled out a thin booklet from the center. The booklet's cover was plain cotton paper, without any writing, looking just like an ordinary account book. Bai Zhaoye held the booklet up to Xu Fang and handed it to her with both hands: "Chief Xu, this contains information on all the investigation stations I'm responsible for contacting. It includes their specific addresses, affiliated businesses, and the names of the responsible persons and core members. Please take a look."

Xu Fang reached out and took the roster, slowly turning the pages. The roster wasn't thick, only a dozen pages long, each page filled with neat small regular script recording information about the investigation station—"Xingshun Brokerage" in Zuowei, managed by Li Mancang; "Hefeng Tea House" in Youwei, managed by Wang Shouxin; "Yuhai Goods Store" in Tanggu, managed by Zhang Shuncheng; "Tongtai Trading Post" in Cangzhou, managed by Liu Dean.
Xu Fang read very quickly, finishing the entire list and memorizing it in less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea. He closed the list without saying anything or asking any questions about the details, and simply handed it back to Bai Zhaoye: "Thank you for your help. Keep it safe."

"Yes." Bai Zhaoye took the list, turned around and walked quickly to the bookshelf. He opened the dark blue cover of "Collected Explanations and Supplementary Regulations of the Great Ming Code", carefully put the list back in its original position, and then carefully checked it again to make sure that there were no flaws. Only then did he put the cover back in its original position on the bookshelf, placing it neatly and level with the other books.

He turned around and met Xu Fang's gaze. Xu Fang sat in her chair, her eyes calmly fixed on him. Her gaze held no urging, yet it made Bai Zhaoye inexplicably feel uneasy. He quickly walked back to his seat and sat down, straightening his back even more.

Only then did Xu Fang slowly pick up the authorization order from the Directorate of Ceremonial from the table, carefully fold it, put it back in her bosom, then took a sip of tea and said slowly, "Tianjin Sanwei, Cangzhou and Jingzhou, is it necessary to set up so many investigation stations and send so many people for this case?"

Upon hearing this, Bai Zhaoye straightened his posture, his expression becoming more serious: "Reporting to Commander Xu, the scope of our factory's investigation wasn't this broad from the beginning. It was gradually expanded step by step as the investigation deepened, and the number of personnel dispatched also gradually increased. Initially, only Shuntong Brokerage was conducting investigations in the Zhongwei area. Later, when it was discovered that the smuggling leads implicated Zuowei and Youwei, we established 'Xingshun Brokerage' and 'Hefeng Tea House.' And then…" Bai Zhaoye paused, licking his lips…
"The clues extended to Jinghai, Cangzhou, and Jingzhou, and 'Yuhai Goods Store,' 'Tongtai Trading Post,' and 'Guangde Inn' were successively established. Moreover, I have heard that not only around Tianjin, but the main factory has recently begun to send more people to Dezhou and Linqing. It seems that the main factory will soon expand its investigation to the entire canal area in Shandong. I believe that the main factory must have consulted with the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs about these matters."

An expression of disbelief gradually appeared on Xu Fang's face. She muttered to herself, "Is it that serious? They even investigated it all the way to Shandong?"

“I’m afraid it’s not just that,” Bai Zhaoye sighed. “Although there is no concrete evidence yet, based on the clues we’ve found so far, I’m afraid there’s not a single place along the entire Grand Canal that isn’t involved in smuggling.”

"The entire Grand Canal?" Xu Fang pondered for a moment before asking, "Who is the mastermind behind that case? To be able to carry out smuggling on such a wide scale, there must be a powerful and influential figure supporting them, right?"

"Mastermind?" Bai Zhaoye seemed taken aback by the question, pausing for a moment. "There is no mastermind, at least we haven't found any mastermind."

"How is that possible!" Xu Fang's voice suddenly rose a lot. "From Tongzhou to Tianjin, and then from Tianjin to Shandong, you've uncovered such a huge case step by step. How could there be no ringleader? You've even arrested the Marquis of Wuqing, what else could you possibly be worried about?"

“Commander Xu, it’s not that we’re hesitant or afraid of consequences.” Bai Zhaoye smiled helplessly at Xu Fang’s anxious expression. “It’s just that this canal smuggling is a matter of ‘the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their own unique abilities.’ Each case is separate. If you follow one clue to the end, it’s just one group of people doing it. They have no connection with the people on another clue. They can’t be linked together at all, so there’s no way to talk about a mastermind.”

"The Eight Immortals cross the sea, each displaying their unique abilities," Xu Fang asked. "What does that mean?"

“Uh…” Bai Zhaoye thought for a moment and explained, “Currently, the situation found by Shuntong Pawnshop and other stations is that anyone who makes a living on the canal and has access to the grain transport boats, from small-time street vendors to local gentry and wealthy merchants, is likely to be involved in smuggling. It’s just a matter of how much they smuggle and how frequently they do it. They each rely on their own connections and do their own business, without interfering with or contacting each other. They don’t need anyone to coordinate, and they can carry out smuggling smoothly.”

"Even ordinary small vendors can smuggle?" Xu Fang was even more surprised. He originally thought that only those with power and influence could do such things, but he didn't expect that even small vendors could get involved.

“Sure,” Bai Zhaoye nodded with a wry smile. “Smuggling along the Grand Canal, to put it bluntly, is about exploiting loopholes in the Grand Canal policy. The imperial court has regulations that allow canal boats to pass through customs without inspection or paying customs duties. So as long as the goods are loaded onto the canal boat before passing through customs, and then unloaded after passing through the checkpoint, the smuggling is complete. The process isn’t complicated, and the threshold isn’t high. Anyone can do it as long as they can get on a canal boat.”

"Is it really that easy?" Xu Fang was still somewhat skeptical. After all, smuggling was illegal, and it shouldn't be that simple.

“It’s that easy.” Bai Zhaoye seemed to hesitate for a moment, but still said, “To be honest, we tried it once two months ago. At that time, the Imperial Textile Factory sent a batch of finely bound books to the Imperial Textile Hall. In theory, these books could have been transported directly by the palace ships. But in order to figure out the smuggling methods, we deliberately took a roundabout way, disguising the books as goods from ordinary booksellers, and then had Shuntong Brokerage Firm handle it, deliberately evading taxes. We evaded them very easily. In the end, we successfully evaded more than ten taels of silver on this trip.”

"How did you escape?" Xu Fang asked with a stern face.

“It’s very simple. We had someone from Shuntong Brokerage, posing as a broker, find a canal supervisor who frequently travels the Tianjin-Tongzhou route. That supervisor is a regular on the canal, and we only gave him two taels of silver and a jar of good wine. He agreed to help. Before crossing the border, under the cover of night when no one was watching, we moved our book chests to the hold of the canal boat he was escorting, and covered them with empty bags. After the boat passed the Hexiwu checkpoint, we unloaded the book chests, put them on a small cart, and transported them to the Zhijingtang. That was the end of it!” Bai Zhaoye seemed somewhat agitated, whether out of indignation or fear that the Western Depot supervisor in front of him would think their investigation methods were problematic.

"Isn't that canal chief afraid of being caught? What if the checkpoint staff want to board the ship for inspection?"

“No one boards the ship to check.” Bai Zhaoye shook his head and explained, “Transporting grain by canal boats is an official task of the imperial court, and the checkpoint officials usually don’t check carefully. Firstly, they are afraid of delaying the grain transport schedule, and secondly, most of the canal chiefs have some connections with the checkpoint officials and are used to looking out for each other. As long as the canal chief doesn’t say anything, no one will search the cargo hold of the canal boat.”

(End of this chapter)