Wang Shizhen was seated at a low table speaking with a handful of his lieutenants. He was dressed in a sumptuously embroidered robe. His shoulders were as broad as an ox’s and the lower half of his face was covered with a thick beard. He looked up and grinned as Han entered.
‘The famous thief-catcher!’
Wang was, on first glance, a much livelier and cheerful man than Han had expected. It immediately put him on guard.
‘General Wang.’ Han set palm to fist and bowed in proper deference.
‘Sit.’ The warlord spoke louder than he needed to be heard. He was a large man with gestures equally large. He rapped the spot at the table beside him and his lieutenants immediately shifted aside and took their leave.
A courtesan with painted lips bent to pour Han a cup of wine. Another moved to refill the general’s cup. Then they similarly receded to the edge of the room. Everything and everyone seemed to recede in the general’s presence.
‘I hear you’ve been trying to catch these jade thieves,’ Wang said.
‘I haven’t met any success, unfortunately. Not as successful as the general.’
He laughed at that. ‘You are one person. I have all the men under my command to seek out these scoundrels.’
‘It seems such a trivial task for a man of your stature.’ It took some effort for Han to navigate the web of flattery and humility that defined official discourse. If things had been different, he would have been educated in poetry and rhetoric and become versed in such slippery conversation. As it was, he knew enough to keep from being immediately dismissed by his betters.
‘It’s my responsibility to maintain order in the province. Otherwise such outlaws would run rampant.’
‘The accused didn’t reveal any of his accomplices?’
‘Not a one. Surprisingly strong-willed, for a common criminal.’ He drank, obviously displeased to have to report failure.
Han recalled the bruises on the face of the accused. The man had been beaten and broken before he was executed. The thought of Li Feng ending up in the general’s custody left Han cold.
‘If I may be so bold—’ Han had to be careful here. Men like Wang Shizhen didn’t tolerate their authority being questioned. ‘I was surprised that the magistrate would decide on a sentence of death for theft.’
‘Well, it was an extraordinary amount of treasure that was stolen. And there was no need for a tribunal when the outcome was obvious. The thief had the stolen jade on him.’
Han nodded slowly. He even lifted his cup to mirror Wang’s gesture and drank in accordance.
‘If you ever need a position, you come to me,’ Wang offered, happy with drink. ‘I can use a warrior like you. These bandits are getting out of control, attacking boats and raiding our supplies.’
‘That is very generous of the general,’ Han replied, keeping his tone neutral.
He waited with fists clenched until he could finally disengage himself. Han exited the drinking house into the cool evening. The streets were quiet with Wang’s men scattered here and there as they patrolled the corners. As far as he’d seen, the soldiers far outnumbered the civilians in the city.
Justice was meant to be dispensed with a balance of forcefulness and restraint. The proper procedure required careful inquiry and evidence. Han knew that there were repercussions for officials who neglected their duties just as there were punishments prescribed for criminals who disobeyed the laws. It was clear that the local magistrate had lost control of the district—or had had control wrested from him.
The conversation with Li Feng came back to him. Was there any difference between Two Dragon Lo and a man like Wang Shizhen?
There was no denying that Wang was a power-hungry warlord. He ruled over the county without any adherence to the codes of government. His garrison, who was supposed to protect the citizens, was instead used to intimidate them. And General Wang continued to recruit more men to its ranks. His power had grown to the point that the civil government had no control over him.
Han might be a thief-catcher by profession, but his father had held an appointed office at one time. There was no crime worse than the abuse of power. A common bandit might steal a sack of grain or a string of coins from an individual, but a dishonest bureaucrat stole from the entire population.
The authorities here would be no further help. If Han wanted the truth, he would have to seek it elsewhere and he had the urge to leave this place before the taint of corruption reached its infected and withered hand out to him.
It was impossible for Han to gain access to the official report, if any report was ever taken. Instead he relied on the unofficial account from the locals. The man that Wang Shizhen had executed had been a labourer who had been found with a jade bracelet hidden in his room. Despite rigorous interrogation, he had neither revealed the location of the other missing pieces, nor the names of his accomplices. The other labourers in the man’s tenement said he kept to himself.
Han recalled that the constable had mentioned that a biaoju, an armed-escort service, had been hired to guard the shipment. Apparently, the outfit had been hired out of Nanping. He joined up with a merchant who was headed there and arrived at the headquarters three days later.
The signboard over the doorway read ‘Zhao Yen Security’ and the walls in the main room were conspicuously decorated with an array of swords, crossbows and other weapons.
‘Thief-catcher Han,’ the head man acknowledged after introductions.
‘Sharpshooter Zhao.’
Zhao laughed. They fell into the easy camaraderie of weaponkind, but Zhao’s expression darkened when the jade heist was mentioned.
‘We were en route. The shipment was secured in one of our storehouses—we use them for very important cargo. The thieves bypassed the outer guard patrol and broke in.’
‘They took the shipment without a fight?’
Zhao took some offence at that. ‘We had two guards stationed inside. Wu and Lin are strong fellows. Both trained fighters. They claimed the thieves materialised like ghosts, black as night as they dropped from the rafters. Now my fellows wouldn’t admit this easily, but they were disarmed and overpowered before they could sound any alert.’
The thieves would have had the element of surprise as well as the advantage of launching an attack from higher ground.
‘This was why acrobats were suspected,’ Han remarked.
‘There was a troupe passing through town. The authorities figured with their skills, they might have been able to scale the walls and enter through the roof.’ Zhao rubbed at his neck, embarrassed. ‘I told the constable he was mistaken. No bunch of performers could defeat my men. These thieves were highly skilled and quite deadly.’
Han excused the man’s flair for the dramatic. Of course Zhao would have to insist that the band of thieves that overpowered his security force possessed extraordinary powers. He was at risk of losing face.
‘Do you have a record of everything in the shipment?’ Han asked.
‘It’s in the manifest.’ Zhao went behind the counter and rifled through a drawer, finally producing a scroll which he handed over.
Han scanned the list of valuables. Jade and gold, assessed at a value equalling a hundred bolts of silk. Among the items was a set of three carved pendants. Three was an odd number for such a set. The classic grouping was usually four. Han read through the descriptions: dragon, tiger, tortoise.
Also notable was the lack of any jade bracelets.
‘Your