So, in Jiangnan's official circles, since this clever governor-general took office, everyone knows his principle of handling things: towards foreigners, no matter how tough they are, he adopts a gentle attitude, following the strategy of "keeping the peace," just muddling through day by day. With the military governor acting this way, provincial and prefectural officials naturally follow suit; and with them doing so, even the officials in the counties and districts imitate them.
A few months ago, a famous foreign missionary passed away. This missionary had lived in China for many years, was enthusiastic about public welfare, and had done many good deeds. Whenever there was a conflict between the people and the government, as long as he intervened, even the most difficult problems could be resolved smoothly. Officials from various provinces were very grateful to him, the imperial court repeatedly commended him, and even awarded him an official rank and an inscribed plaque, making him one of the most outstanding missionaries in China. Unfortunately, he died at a young age. His fellow believers held a grand memorial service for him, but that is not detailed here.
This military governor had received help from this missionary in the past. Upon hearing of his death, he immediately sent a telegram of several hundred words to offer condolences to his widow and son, and specially sent his second son and the head of the provincial foreign affairs office, Hu, to offer condolences and bring offerings by boat, staying until the missionary's family returned to their country. This action made it clear to everyone that good relations with foreigners had to extend even to their funerals. As a result, some officials in the counties and districts followed suit, trying to please the military governor by interacting with foreigners.
Alright, let's talk about Liuhe County under Jiangning Prefecture. Liuhe County is 115 miles north of the prefecture, closer to the provincial capital, and was well-connected. At that time, the county magistrate of Liuhe County was from Hunan, named Mei Yangren, with the courtesy name Zigeng, and ranked second among siblings. Contrary Mei was a bit of a slacker when he was young, not bothering to understand things properly. When others said east, he insisted on going west; when others said south, he insisted on going north, so everyone called him "Contrary Mei." However, although he was careless in his work, he was good at writing eight-legged essays. He passed the provincial exams at the age of twenty and the national exams at the age of twenty-seven. Some people said that he could have passed the previous exam, but because of a poem with bad rhymes, he failed. The examiners clearly praised his writing, but because of the off-rhyme in the poem, he was not admitted, which was a pity. Mei Yangren, after seeing the reason for his failure, was angry and blamed the examiners for being unfair, lamenting that his writing was jinxed. His classmates advised him, "Zigeng, your writing never even reached the examiners; it's not that your writing is bad, but that the rhyme in the poem was wrong, so don't blame others." Mei Yangren finally realized that it was his own carelessness, but it was destined for him to pass the examination, and he passed the next one. The ancients said, "When your luck's in, it's in," and he passed the exam smoothly this time, finally making it onto the list.
Mei Yangren's father is named Mei Wei, an aspiring judge. At that time, he was running errands for Lord Feng, who was on a mission to England in Shanghai. Ten days ago, before hearing from his son, he followed the imperial envoy to England. His father was a tightwad and always looking for a freebie. Less than three days after leaving Shanghai, on a calm day, he wandered around after dinner and came to the door of a cabin, finding it unlocked and empty, with a large leather bag on the bed. He knew foreigners always kept their valuables in their bags, and greed took hold of him. He didn't care about his job or what he was supposed to be doing for his country; all he wanted was to steal something, thinking to himself: "No one will ever know it was me, in a foreign land." So he slipped into the cabin and grabbed the bag. Back in his own cabin, he slammed the door shut and tried to open the bag, only to find it locked. He finally slashed it open with his knife and emptied it out, discovering only a scroll of paper, a pile of old books, and two gold ingots—nothing else. Despite the disappointment, he was still happy to have scored some loot with the two gold ingots. Later, although the bloke who lost the bag looked for it, the loss wasn't that big, so he didn't bother reporting it.
Because he was the Imperial Commissioner's aide, he always ate the best food with the Imperial Commissioner during meals, using gold cutlery that was both beautiful and valuable. He couldn't resist and would steal one or two small items every time he ate. Not just him, but also the aspiring magistrate who was with him. The Europeans on the ship noticed that many things were missing, and after investigating, they discovered that it was the Imperial Commissioner's aide who was responsible. The Europeans were very angry and didn't allow them to eat in the dining hall anymore. The Imperial Commissioner also felt very embarrassed and privately criticized them severely. Mei Wei was still not convinced, saying, "Foreigners have taken a lot of our Chinese money, so serves them right to lose a few things." The Imperial Commissioner became even angrier and planned to send him back to China after arriving in London. Later, he received a telegram, knowing that his son had passed the imperial exams, so he didn't send him back. Many jokes followed, which we will talk about next time.
After Mei Yunren passed the imperial exams, he received a letter from his father sent from England, and he was over the moon. His father's letter encouraged him to study hard and prepare for next year's provincial exams. Then he started bragging, saying that he was doing business abroad, had good relationships with the Europeans, they trusted him a lot, and the Imperial Commissioner valued him highly. It was all a load of old cobblers, but he told his son anyway. The letter also said, "I am now only a county magistrate; although future promotions are secure, the procedures for promotion from a county magistrate to a governor, and then to a provincial governor are cumbersome and time-consuming." The implication was to let his son sell the family's land and house to raise money for him to donate as a provincial governor, so that he could quickly be promoted to a provincial governor. After receiving the letter, Mei Yunren did as he was told. By the time everything was settled, the new year had passed, and he hurried to the capital to take the imperial examination. He aced the first two exams. In the third exam, each essay was limited to three hundred words, but he accidentally wrote an extra page, exceeding the limit. Panicked, he hastily made up for it, ending up writing an extra page. Although he wasn't caught, the excessive word count and gibberish would surely cost him. As a result, he failed the exam, and he was extremely regretful.
He thought about purchasing an official position for his father while leaving the capital. Coincidentally, there was a famine in Shanxi that year, and the court needed to provide disaster relief. Someone told him, "Now, as long as you spend some money to buy the position of magistrate, you can take office immediately." A thought struck him, and he considered, "My father won't be promoted for another three years. It's still in time to donate to him before his promotion. Why don't I buy the position of magistrate for myself now? If I can choose a good place, I could earn a small fortune in the next two years!" With his decision made, he put his father's matters aside and attended to his own affairs first. Sure enough, he got lucky. In less than half a year, he was appointed as the magistrate of Liuhe County in Jiangnan, filling a vacancy left by the previous magistrate. The previous magistrate was a stick-in-the-mud. After meeting him and asking a few questions, Mei Yuren answered honestly. The previous magistrate quite liked him, saying he was like a scholar, so he didn't give him a hard time and immediately let him take office. After taking office, everything went well. Half a year passed, and there were no problems.
The former magistrate was a real pain in the neck, with a strange temper. When dealing with foreigners, he always argued based on reason and never backed down, so the foreigners got the short end of the stick under his rule. The higher-ranking officials were all like this, and the subordinates wanted to show off their own righteousness, eager to stick it to the foreigners and make a name for themselves by opposing them. Although Mei Yunren had little experience, he knew which way the wind was blowing with his superiors and naturally followed suit. Liuhe County was inland and rarely dealt with foreigners. One day, he caught a debt-dodging missionary who refused to pay and even gave him a beating. This missionary was already a troublemaker, so the priests didn’t come to his aid. Mei Yunren was quite pleased with himself and even wrote a report to showboat about his success. Unfortunately, the former magistrate was ordered back to Beijing, and before he could review the report, he was let go. The new magistrate was a complete suck-up to foreigners, and when he saw the report, he was furious, saying, "The court wants peace and considers missionaries its own people. How could you beat up a missionary and then brag about it? You idiot! You're getting a serious dressing down, and three major demerits to boot!" After reading this, Mei Yunren felt like someone had kicked him in the gut, thinking, "The former magistrate was like this, and the new magistrate is also like this; we underlings have it rough! Now it seems you gotta kiss up to stay employed." People who have just entered officialdom and haven't seen much of the world, when they see stuff like "breaking the rules," "not cool," and "you're toast" in their superiors' responses, will freak out, thinking they are in trouble. Later, he consulted an old predecessor, who explained, "That's just how they write these things." At first, he thought it was reassuring, but after a few times, he got used to it and no longer found it strange. If an official is lucky and everything goes his way, even if he makes a small mistake, it's okay; but if he's riding high and then gets knocked down, no matter the size of the matter, it will make him completely panicked.
Mei Yangren had been in his post for six months, seen it all, and his superiors appreciated him; things were going swimmingly. Although he was a bit dull in usual times, he didn't sweat it because of his good luck. Unfortunately, the boss suddenly changed, and the situation flipped. He got knocked down hard, right when he was feeling on top of the world, bam! Suddenly, he was at a loss. One minute he'd be all, "I'll stand up to the boss, even if I get fired, at least I'll have some guts!" The next, he'd think, "I'd worked so hard to suck up to this guy, and the job was pretty sweet." If he crossed the boss, he'd not only get punished, he'd probably get canned and be twiddling his thumbs in the sticks – not worth it, right? Besides, that bribe money was supposed to get his dad promoted. Now he'd lost his job, and his dad was still stuck where he was. How was he going to face his old man? So he caved, changed his tune. Even though everyone called him "Mr. Suck-up," he wasn't really one. But since he suffered this loss, his swagger was gone. He was a wreck – all jumpy and mumbling. Liuhu was right next to the capital, so he always knew what the governor was up to. Seeing what the governor was doing made him regret everything. He'd tried to be a goody-two-shoes and just made a fool of himself.
Nanjing had tons of Hui Muslims, so Liuhu County did too. One day, a Hui Muslim named Ma Er got into a fight with a guy named Lu Da. Lu Da claimed Ma Er knocked out a tooth and drew blood. He'd tried to talk it out, but Ma Er decked him three more times, leaving him with a sore back. So Lu Da went to the yamen to press charges.
Just as Magistrate Mei was about to finish his court session, he heard that it was a small fight, so he had people bring the two of them to kneel at the front of the court. He first asked for the names of both parties and then inquired why they were fighting. Before Lu Da could speak, Ma Er rushed to respond. He had just said, "Yes, Your Honor," when Magistrate Mei realized he was the accused and felt a bit impatient. He glared, slammed the table, and scolded, "You insolent oaf! I haven't asked you yet, so why are you interrupting?" The bailiffs nearby saw that the magistrate was angry and shouted in unison, "No more talking!" Magistrate Mei then began to question Lu Da carefully.
Lu Da said, "I'm a cook at the Wang Mansion on South Street. The boss there is crazy about roast duck, and I get half a duck every day from Ma Er's shop – he sells oil chicken, roast duck, and salted duck. That day, after buying vegetables, I went to his shop again. I put my vegetable basket on his counter, and he started arguing with me. I said to him, 'What's the big deal? I just needed to put my basket down for a sec.' Magistrate Mei asked, "And then?" Lu Da continued, "He glared at me and said, 'Everything else is fine, but not this.' Magistrate Mei asked, "What did you say?" Lu Da replied, "I said, 'The basket is already down, and I can't take it back. What do you want to do?' Oh, Judge, please hear me! As soon as Ma Er heard this, without saying a word, he punched me. I was caught off guard, and my front teeth were knocked out, and I'm still bleeding! I asked him why he hit me, and he just laid into me!"
When Mr. Mei heard this, he slapped the gavel in anger, his face turning red with rage. Pointing at Ma Er, he cursed, "You cheeky sod! Someone lent you the counter to put a vegetable basket, what's all the fuss about? You hit someone? Are you crazy?" Saying that, he went to grab the gavel from the jar, wanting to punish Ma Er. Ma Er panicked and quickly prostrated himself, saying, "Guv! Please listen to my explanation, I work in the religious community!" Mr. Mei had been severely criticized by the court last time for hitting a member of the religious community. When he heard the words "in the religious community," he nearly jumped out of his skin, quickly retracting his hand from the jar, thinking to himself, "That was a near miss! I almost got into trouble again!" He wiped the sweat from his forehead, letting Ma Er explain quickly. Mr. Mei's face softened, and his voice was not as stern as before.
Ma Er said, "Guv, please understand, my family has been in the religious community for generations." Mr. Mei said, "So you're a man of faith. I know the rules of your community, get up, don't kneel." Ma Er stood up, while Lu Da remained kneeling. Ma Er continued, "There was nothing wrong with letting him put the basket, do you know what was in the basket?" Mr. Mei asked, "What?" Ma Er said, "Please ask Lu Da." Lu Da said, "There was... bloody meat!" Mr. Mei immediately slapped the gavel in shock and said, "How dare you curse in court? It seems you are not a decent person, give him a good thrashing!" The bailiffs immediately rushed up, holding Lu Da down like a sack of potatoes, and slapped him ten times. Mr. Mei then asked Ma Er. Ma Er said, "Look, I'm Muslim, so pork is a no-go. He had a basket full of pig's heads and trotters – filthy things! – right on my counter. I asked him nicely to move it, but he got all shirty and started shouting abuse. So I gave him a shove, I didn't hit him! He's just making it up. Please, sir, see it my way!"
Old Mei was all mixed up, thinking that only Chinese people who were religious were called "in religion," but he didn't expect that Muslims also used this term. He didn't understand the meaning of "in religion," even though Ma Er explained it. Old Mei was still stubborn, saying, "In your faith, you have to say prayers if you're a believer, and if you say prayers, you have to be vegetarian and can't eat meat. This is Lu Da's fault, and he should be punished!" Lu Da quickly explained, "Their religion is different from ours; they don't have to be vegetarian—they even slaughter chickens and ducks!" Old Mei said, "Regardless of the religion, this county will protect them and will not allow you rowdies to bully them!" He then ordered, "Get him and give him a beating!" Lu Da panicked, desperately kowtowing for mercy. Old Mei said, "You low-life, I can't let you off easily. Do you want to be beaten or fined?" Lu Da kowtowed and said, "Please have mercy, sir! I'm just a cook; where would I get so much money to pay a fine?" Old Mei said, "You must be fined. Considering this is your first offense, I will be lenient. You have to compensate Ma Er with thirty silver dollars to repair the counter, then it will be settled. If you don't pay, you will be given eighty lashes, and then you will be chained to the front of Ma Er's shop for three months; you can choose for yourself!" Lu Da kowtowed and said, "I really can't afford thirty silver dollars." After some back-and-forth, it was reduced to twelve silver dollars, which he couldn't pay that day. Old Mei allowed him to be released on bail to raise the money, with a deadline of three days to pay in full. Ma Er was victorious in the lawsuit after beating someone, feeling extremely pleased. Poor Lu Da was beaten by Ma Er, and not only did Old Mei not seek justice for him, but he also wanted to fine him—talk about bad luck!
Three days had passed, and Lu Da was scared stiff. He quickly gathered twelve foreign silver dollars and brought them to the yamen. The magistrate was working in the main hall at the time. Lu Da handed over the money, and the magistrate asked him to wait on the side. Once Ma Er arrived to collect the case dismissal papers, the case would be considered closed. Lu Da had no choice but to wait. However, as evening approached, Ma Er still had not arrived. The magistrate did not have time to wait any longer and called it a day. Lu Da dared not leave and waited until it was dark when Ma Er finally arrived. The constable was called, and the magistrate asked why he had arrived so late. Ma Er explained that his master had passed away and he had gone to help, which was why he was late. The constable reported truthfully. The magistrate asked, "Was it your master from your sect?" The constable confirmed.
Master Mei figured: Last time I beat that follower, they must hate me. Why not take this opportunity to smooth things over, resolving past grievances and getting on the good side of my superiors? Recently, a Muslim cleric in the province had passed away, and the higher-ups had sent his second son to pay his respects. I may not be as high-ranking, but I should personally pay a visit to make a better impression. With this plan in mind, Master Mei called the constable again and asked Ma Er where his master had passed away. Ma Er provided the location. Master Mei instructed the constable to keep Ma Er and said, "I need to pay my respects; you will lead the way." Ma Er naturally agreed. Master Mei ordered the kitchen to prepare funeral offerings quickly, dressed neatly, and boarded a sedan chair. Ma Er led the way, and they arrived at the entrance of the mosque, where the sedan chair stopped, and Master Mei got off.
It was so late, he couldn't make out the characters on the temple gate, mistaking it for a church. He hurried in and busied himself with setting up offerings. Ma Er had already gone to find his master's relatives and people from the church. Before you knew it, seventy or eighty people, men, women, and children, had shown up. Word got around that the big boss was paying his respects, and some folks came for the show. The place was packed. Meilao Ye looked around and didn't see any foreigners. "Wait a minute," he thought, "Shouldn't the priest's family be foreigners? Why are they all Chinese?" Before he could even finish thinking, the Hui people swiped the offerings, and all hell broke loose. "Get this dog of an official!" someone yelled, tossing a pig's head at Meilao Ye's feet. "He's not here to mourn, he's here to laugh at us!" Turns out, Meilao Ye was a bit dense. Hearing "church," he'd assumed foreign missionaries, not Hui, and brought along pig heads and all. That really ticked them off, and things went south fast. Ma Er got him out of there, and once they'd put some distance between themselves and the mob, the constables finally showed up.
The Hui had smashed up Magistrate Mei's palanquin, so he could only walk back to the yamen. He asked Ma Er, "Your teacher ain't the only missionary in your church, is he? Where are the other foreigners and your master's family members?" Ma Er explained, "Although we believe in religion, you've got the wrong end of the stick." Magistrate Mei asked others again. The yamen official said, "That's a Hui mosque, not a foreign church." Magistrate Mei blamed them, "Why didn't you tell me that before?" The yamen official said, "I had no idea where you were headed; I only knew that you asked Ma Er to lead the way, so I followed." Magistrate Mei asked Ma Er again, "Is your teacher a priest?" Ma Er said, "I've never heard of a priest." Magistrate Mei finally understood that he had misunderstood and mistaken the Hui people for foreign missionaries. But he couldn't afford to lose face; after returning to the yamen, he immediately called the messenger who delivered the message and scolded him severely, and had the poor bloke flogged two hundred times, just to save a bit of face, and considered the matter closed.
For the next ten days, Magistrate Mei stayed cooped up, afraid of encountering the Hui people again. In fact, although the Hui people were causing a commotion at the time, there were also a few wise people who said, "He might be a bit of a rotter, but he's still the magistrate. If he turns against you, you won't be able to fight back." So things calmed down the next day, and no one caused trouble at the yamen. Magistrate Mei saw that there was no movement outside and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After a period of time, orders came down from above to promote commercial development by local officials. Liuhe County was a tiny, landlocked place with next to no trade. Mei Yuren had already rubbed the governor up the wrong way by cracking down on those churchgoers, and had been wanting to do something to please his superiors and save face. The harder he tried to suck up, the worse it got, and he even wrongly accused the churchgoers, and the Hui had given him a good dressing down, leaving him utterly cheesed off. This time, the order gave him an opportunity; he figured he'd use this chance to do something clever.
The document requires local officials to regularly meet with merchants, treat them honestly, and cooperate closely. When there are matters in the area, the merchants assist; when the merchants have matters, the officials protect. In short, we need to keep the lines of communication open and avoid barriers. The intention of the document is not bad. Mei Yunren wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make a difference. After reading the document more than ten times, the penny dropped, and he realized a principle. He immediately took the document and ran to the teacher's study, saying, "I think the main point is still 'when there are matters in the area, merchants are there to assist.' Assist with what? It's all about getting donations! There are many tasks mentioned by the superiors around here now, such as schools, all of which require local officials to raise funds. If not done well, there will be penalties. I was worried about this, but now with this document, we can be confident in our future actions." The teacher took the document, glanced at it roughly, tilted his head in thought for a while, then suddenly stood up and said, "Brother Mei! You have hit the nail on the head with your reading! What you said is correct, that is the meaning of it. However, there must be a method to doing things. We're supposed to protect the merchants, according to this. Instead of immediately talking about donations, let's first find a place, such as a public hall or guild, as a venue to receive merchants. Once they have all arrived and become familiar with each other, then we can mention the donations. When everyone is together, you can make your request, and they should agree." Mei Yunren nodded along, and after the teacher finished speaking, he added, "Yes, yes! I will do as you instructed. The other day, I saw a notice at the governor-general's yamen, saying that a Merchants Protection Bureau has been established in the provincial capital, with Huang Guancha as the chief executive, probably for this purpose. Let's send someone to the provincial capital to check things out, and then we can follow suit, what do you think?" The teacher said, "Perfect! Let's do it!"
Mei Yangren was an impatient person. Once he had an idea, he would act immediately. That day, he borrowed three rooms in the City God Temple and set up a place to receive merchants. A sign was hung at the door that read "Officially Established Merchant Protection Bureau." Two plaques with tiger heads bore the words "Merchants Only – No Loafers!" He also drafted a notice based on the documents, informing all merchants to gather here. He reported to the higher authorities and appointed the county's chief clerk, Wang Chao'en, as the resident committee member. The county magistrate was busy with official duties and could not inquire frequently. Merchants would take their problems to Wang. This is a story for later; let's not mention it for now.
In the following days, they were busy preparing for the opening. Worried that merchants would not actively participate on the opening day, Mei Yangren sent invitations to wealthy and influential people from both inside and outside the city walls. Wang even went door-to-door in a sedan chair to visit businesses and persuade them to participate. However, on the day of the opening, there were not many merchants who came. Nobody knew what the magistrate's game was, so some were afraid to come. Only a few local notables who usually interacted with the officials, as well as two money shop owners and southern goods store owners related to the county office, came, totaling less than two tables of people. Mei Yangren was very disappointed. After the guests arrived, they kind of slumped down and took their seats, with Mei Yangren and Wang each hosting a table.
After sitting down, everyone had a few drinks. The gentleman sitting in the first seat, Jiang Dahua, a magistrate and candidate for the post of Tongzhi, was the first to speak: "Mei, you did a fantastic job with this! How did you come up with it? I really admire you!" It turned out that Mei Yanren had consulted the old master extensively the night before. Upon hearing Jiang Dahua's words, he launched into a detailed explanation: "Although this idea wasn't mine alone, I had been thinking about it for a long time, so I took the risk and got it done while I was in office. This way, I completed the task assigned by my superiors, and in the future, I will have a place to consult everyone. Here, there's no need for anyone to hold back. If I encounter difficulties, we can discuss them face to face. Otherwise, think about it: within a hundred li around Liuhe County, we have to tackle this and that. You can't make bricks without straw. How could I possibly handle it all?" Mei Yanren's comments were really aimed at securing funding for future projects.
At this time, the fifth place was a newly appointed *Xiaolian* who purchased a position as a cabinet secretary, named Feng, with the style name Yizhai. He claimed to be familiar with the old school but very proficient in the new school, so he passed the essay examination in one go. Unfortunately, the exam paper used the word "目的," and he mistakenly believed it to be a newly coined term. The examiners thought it was fine, but in the hands of Minister of Personnel Ta Gong, when he saw the word "的," he added a small stroke on top of it, attached another piece of paper, and wrote ten words: "The use of 'de' is too colloquial." So he did not pass the civil service examination. After the results came out, Feng Yizhai was furious, scolded the chief examiner, and went home. Coincidentally, someone was sent to persuade him to donate, so he donated a thousand or so taels of silver to gain access to official circles and influence local matters. He was also present at this banquet. After listening to Mei Yanren's words, he was very dissatisfied and wanted to take this opportunity to show off his knowledge. Without waiting for others to speak, he rushed to say, "Mr. Mei, with respect, I must take issue with that! I have read several translated foreign books and know a little about foreign politics. According to the current situation, we should follow the model of a foreign lower house. All matters, big or small, should be jointly decided by county residents. Power should be at the bottom, not the top. If it is only for you, sir, to make money, whether public or private, it cannot escape the shackles of an authoritarian regime. I do not agree." As he spoke, he shook his head repeatedly. Mei Yanren was speechless, and for a moment, neither of them spoke.
