The judge walked around the coffin of the Crown Prince, then he also examined cursorily that of the Princess. Pointing at a few long poles that were lying on the floor, he asked, ‘What are these for?’
‘I had the coffin tilted,’ General Mao said coldly, ‘in order to verify whether the bottom hadn’t been tampered with. All that was humanly possible has been done.’
Judge Dee nodded. He said pensively, ‘I once read a description of this palace. I remember that it said that the August Body was first placed in a box of solid gold, which was then placed in one of silver, and that in turn in a case of lead. The empty space around it was filled up with the articles of adornment and court costumes of the Crown Prince. The sarcophagus itself consists of thick logs of cedarwood, covered on the outside with a coat of lacquer. The same procedure was followed two years later, when the Princess died. Since the Princess had been fond of boating, behind the palace a large artificial lake was made, with models of the boats used by the Princess and her court ladies. Is that correct?’
‘Of course,’ the Marshal growled. ‘It’s common knowledge. Don’t stand there talking twaddle, Dee! Come to the point!’
‘Could you get me a hundred sappers, sir?’
‘What for? Didn’t I tell you we can’t tamper with that coffin?’
‘I fear the Tartars also know all about these coffins, sir. Should they temporarily occupy the city, they’ll break the coffins open to loot them. In order to prevent the coffins from being desecrated by the barbarians, I propose to sink them to the bottom of the lake.’
The Marshal looked at him dumbfounded. Then he roared: ‘You accursed fool! Don’t you know the coffins are hollow? They’ll never sink. You …’
‘They aren’t meant to, sir!’ Judge Dee said quickly. ‘But the plan to sink them provides us with a valid reason for displacing them.’
The Marshal glared at him with his one fierce eye. Suddenly he shouted: ‘By heaven, I think you’ve got it, Dee!’ Turning to General Mao, he barked: ‘Get me a hundred sappers here, with cables and rollers! At once!’
After Mao had rushed to the staircase, the Marshal started pacing the floor, muttering to himself. General Lew covertly observed the judge. Judge Dee remained standing there in front of the coffin of the Crown Prince, staring at it silently, his arms folded in his long sleeves.
Soon General Mao came back. Scores of small, squat men swarmed inside behind him. They wore jackets and trousers of brown leather and peaked caps of the same material, with long neck- and ear-flaps. Some carried long round poles, others rolls of thick cable. It was the sappers corps, expert at digging tunnels, rigging machines for scaling city walls, blocking rivers and harbours with underwater barriers, and all the other special skills used in warfare.
When the Marshal had given their commander his instructions, a dozen sappers rushed to the high gate at the back of the vault, and opened it. The bleak moonlight shone on a broad marble terrace. Three stairs descended into the water of the lake beyond, which was covered by a thin layer of ice.
The other sappers crowded round and over the coffin of the
Crown Prince like so many busy ants. One heard hardly a sound, for the sappers transmit orders by finger-talk only. They are so quiet they can dig a tunnel right under a building, the occupants becoming aware of what is happening only when the walls and the floor suddenly cave in. Thirty sappers tilted the coffin of the Crown Prince, using long poles as levers; one team placed rollers under it, another slung thick cables round the huge sarcophagus.
The Marshal watched them for a while, then he went outside and on to the terrace, followed by Dee and the generals. Silently they remained standing at the water’s edge, looking out over the frozen lake.
Suddenly they heard a low rumbling sound behind them. Slowly the enormous coffin came rolling out of the gate. Dozens of sappers pulled it along by thick cables, while others kept placing new rollers underneath it. The coffin was drawn across the terrace, then let down into the water as if it was the hulk of a ship being launched. The ice cracked, the coffin rocked up and down for a while, then settled with about two-thirds of it under water. A cold wind blew over the frozen lake, and Judge Dee started to cough violently. He pulled his neckcloth up over the lower part of his face, beckoned the commander of the sappers and pointed at the coffin of the Princess in the vault behind them.
Again there was a rumbling sound. The second coffin came rolling across the terrace. The sappers let it down into the water where it remained floating next to that of the Crown Prince. The Marshal stooped and peered at the two coffins, comparing the waterlines. There was hardly any difference, if anything the coffin of the Princess was slightly heavier than that of the Crown Prince.
The Marshal righted himself. He hit General Lew a resounding clap on his shoulder. ‘I knew I could trust you, Lew!’ he shouted. ‘What are you waiting for, man? Give the signal, go ahead with your troops! I’ll follow in six hours. Good luck!’
A slow smile ht up the general’s stern features. He saluted, then turned round and strode off. The commander of the sappers came and said respectfully to the Marshal: ‘We shall now weigh the coffins with heavy chains and rocks, sir, then we …’
‘I have made a mistake,’ the Marshal interrupted him curtly. ‘Have them drawn on land again, and replace them in their original position.’ He barked at General Mao: ‘Go with a hundred men to Sang’s camp outside the West Gate. Arrest him on the charge of high treason, and convey him in chains to the capital. General Kao shall take over his troops.’ Then he turned to Judge Dee, who was still coughing. ‘You get it, don’t you? Sang is older than Lew, he couldn’t swallow Lew’s appointment to the same rank. It was Sang, that son of a dog, who conspired with the Khan, don’t you see? His fantastic accusation was meant only to stop our counteroffensive. He would have attacked us together with the Tartars as soon as we started the retreat. Stop that blasted coughing, Dee! It annoys me. We are through here, come along!’
The council room was now seething with activity. Large maps had been spread out on the floor. The staff officers were checking all details of the planned counteroffensive. A general said excitedly to the Marshal: ‘What about adding five thousand men to the force behind these hills here, sir?’
The Marshal stooped over the map. Soon they were deep in a complicated technical discussion. Judge Dee looked anxiously at the large water-clock in the corner. The floater indicated that it would be dawn in one hour. He stepped up to the Marshal and asked diffidently: ‘May I take the liberty of asking you a favour, sir?’
The Marshal righted himself. He asked peevishly: ‘Eh? What is it now?’
‘I would like you to review a case against a captain, sir. He’s going to be beheaded at dawn, but he is innocent.’
The Marshal grew purple in his face. He roared: ‘With the fate of our Empire in the balance, you dare to bother me, the Marshal, with the life of one wretched man?’
Judge Dee looked steadily into the one rolling eye. He said quietly: ‘A thousand men must be sacrificed if military necessity dictates it, sir. But not even one man must be lost if it’s not strictly necessary.’
The Marshal burst out in obscene curses, but he suddenly checked himself. With a wry smile he said: ‘If ever you get sick of that tawdry civilian paperwork, Dee, you come and see me. By God, I’ll make a general officer out of you! Review the case, you say? Nonsense, I’ll settle it, here and now! Give your orders!’
Judge Dee turned to the colonel who had rushed towards them when he heard the Marshal cursing. The judge said, ‘At the door of the anteroom a captain called Pan is waiting for me. He falsely accused another captain of murder. Could you bring him here?’
‘Bring also his immediate superior!’ the Marshal added. ‘At once!’
As the colonel hastened to the door, a low, wailing blast came from outside. It swelled in volume, penetrating the thick walls of the palace. It was the long brass trumpets, blowing the signal to assemble for the attack.
The Marshal squared his wide shoulders. He said with a broad smile: ‘Listen, Dee! That’s the finest music that ever was!’ Then he turned again to the maps on the floor.
Judge Dee looked fixedly at the entrance. The colonel was back in a remarkably short time. An elderly officer and Captain Pan followed him. The judge said to the Marshal, ‘They are here, sir.’
The Marshal swung round, put his thumbs in his swordbelt and scowled at the two men. They stood stiffly at attention, with rapt eyes. It was the first time they had ever seen the greatest solder of the Empire face to face. The giant growled at the elderly officer: ‘Report on this captain!’
‘Excellent administrator, good disciplinarian. Can’t get along with the men, no battle experience …’ The officer rattled it off.
‘Your case?’ the Marshal asked Judge Dee.
The judge addressed the young captain coldly: ‘Captain Pan, you weren’t fit to marry. You don’t like women. You liked your colleague Captain Woo, but he spurned you. Then you strangled your wife, and falsely accused Woo of the crime.’
‘Is that true?’ the Marshal barked at Pan.
‘Yes, sir!’ the captain replied as if in a trance.
‘Take him outside,’ the Marshal ordered the colonel, ‘and have him flogged to death slowly, with the thin rattan.’
‘I plead clemency, sir!’ Judge Dee interposed quickly. ‘This captain had to marry at his father’s command. Nature directed him differently, and he couldn’t cope with the resulting problems. I propose the simple death penalty.’
‘Granted!’ And to Pan: ‘Can you die as an officer?’
‘Yes, sir!’ Pan said again.
‘Assist the captain!’ the Marshal rasped at the elder officer.
Captain Pan loosened his purple neckcloth and handed it to his immediate superior. Then he drew his sword. Kneeling in front of the Marshal, Pan took the hilt of the sword in his right hand, and grabbed the point with his left. The sharp edge cut deeply into his fingers, but he didn’t seem to notice it. The elder officer stepped up close to the kneeling man, holding the neckcloth spread out in his hands. Raising his head, Pan looked up at the towering figure of the Marshal. He called out:
‘Long live the Emperor!’
Then, with one savage gesture, he cut his throat. The elder officer quickly tied the neckcloth tightly round the neck of the sagging man, staunching the blood. The Marshal nodded. He said to Pan’s superior, ‘Captain Pan died as an officer. See to it that he is buried as one!’ And to the judge: ‘You look after that other fellow. Freed, reinstated to his former rank, and so on.’ Then he bent over the map again and barked at the general: ‘Put an extra five thousand at the entrance of this valley here!’
As the four orderlies carried the dead body of Pan outside, Judge Dee went to the large desk, grabbed a writing-brush and quickly jotted down a few lines on a sheet of official paper of the High Command. A colonel impressed on it the large square seal of the Marshal, then countersigned it. Before running outside Judge Dee cast a quick look at the water
It took him a long time to cover the short distance between the Palace and the Military Jail. The streets were crowded with mounted soldiers; they rode in rows six abreast, holding high their long halberds, so greatly feared by the Tartars. Their horses were well fed and their armour shone in the red rays of dawn. It was General Lew’s vanguard, the pick of the Imperial army. Then there came the deep sound of rolling drums, calling up the Marshal’s own men to join their colours. The great counteroffensive had begun.
The paper with the Marshal’s seal caused Judge Dee to be admitted at once to the prison commandant. A sturdily built youngster was brought in by four guards; his thick wrestler’s neck had been bared already for the sword of the executioner. The commandant read out the document to him, then he ordered an adjutant to assist Captain Woo in donning his armour. When Woo had put on his helmet, the commandant himself handed him back his sword. Judge Dee saw that although Woo didn’t look too clever, he had a pleasant, open face. ‘Come along!’ he said to him.
Captain Woo stared dumbfounded at his black judge’s cap, then asked: ‘How did you get involved in this case, Magistrate?’
‘Oh,’ Judge Dee replied vaguely, ‘I happened to be at Headquarters when your case was reviewed. Since they are all very busy there now, they told me to take care of the formalities.’
When they stepped out into the street Captain Woo muttered: ‘I was in this accursed jail almost a year. I have no place to go.’
‘You can come along with me,’ Judge Dee said.
As they were walking along the captain listened to the rolling of the drums. ‘So we are attacking at last, eh?’ he said morosely. ‘Well, I am just in time to join my company. At least I’ll die an honourable death.’
‘Why should you deliberately seek death?’ the judge asked.
‘Why? Because I am a stupid fool, that’s why! I never touched that Mrs Pan, but I betrayed a fine woman who came to see me in jail. The military police flogged her to death.’
Judge Dee remained silent. Now they were passing through a quiet back street. He halted in front of a small hovel, built against an empty godown.
‘Where are we?’ Captain Woo asked, astonished.
‘A plucky woman, and the son she bore you are living here,’ the judge answered curtly. ‘This is your home, Captain. Good-bye.’
He quickly walked on.
As Judge Dee rounded the street comer, a cold blast blew full into his face. He pulled his neckcloth up over his nose and mouth, stifling a cough. He hoped that the servants would be on hand already in his inn. He longed for a large cup of hot tea.
8 Murder on New Year’s Eve
The scene of this story is also laid in Lan-fang. As a rule a magistrate’s term of office was three years. But at the end of the year A.D. 674, when Judge Dee had been serving four years in Lan-fang, there was still no news from the capital. This is the story of what happened on the last evening of that dreary year. In the criminal cases previously solved by Judge Dee his theories always proved right in the end. However, the reader will see that in this particular case Judge Dee made two big mistakes. But, contrary to the rule, this time two wrongs made a right!
When Judge Dee had put away the last file and locked the drawer of his desk he suddenly shivered. He rose and, pulling his padded house-robe closer round his tall frame, he walked across his cold, empty private office to the window. He pushed it open, but after a brief glance at the dark courtyard of the tribunal outside, he quickly pulled it shut. The snow had stopped but a gust of icy wind had nearly blown out the candle on his desk.
The judge went to the couch against the back wall. With a sigh he started to fold back the quilts. That night, the last of the weary year that had passed, the fourth of his stay in Lan-fang, he would sleep in his office. For his own house at the back of the tribunal compound was deserted except for a few servants. Two months before, his First Lady had set out to visit her aged mother in her home town, and his two other wives and his children had accompanied her, together with his faithful old adviser Sergeant Hoong. They would be back early in spring-but spring seemed very far away on this cold and dreary night.
Judge Dee took up the teapot to pour himself a last cup of tea. He found to his dismay that it had grown cold. He was about to clap his hands to summon a clerk, then remembered that he had given the personnel of the tribunal the night off, including his three personal assistants. The only men about would be the constables on guard duty at the main gate.
Pulling his house-bonnet over his ears, he took up the candle and walked through the dark, deserted chancery to the guardhouse.
The four constables squatting round the blazing log fire in the centre of the stone floor jumped up when they saw Judge Dee enter and hastily set their helmets straight. The judge could see only the broad back of their headman. He was leaning out of the window cursing violently at someone outside.
‘He
y there!’ Judge Dee barked at him. When the headman turned round and bowed deeply, he said curtly, ‘Better mind your language on the last day of the year!’
The headman muttered something about an insolent ragamuffin who dared to bother the tribunal so late at night. ‘The small monkey wants me to find his mother for him!’ he added disgustedly. ‘Do they take me for a nursemaid?’
‘Hardly that!’ Judge Dee said dryly. ‘But what is it all about?’ He stepped up to the window and looked out.
In the street below the tiny boy was cowering against the wall for shelter against the icy wind. The moonlight shone on his tear-stained face. He cried: ‘It is all … all over the floor! I slipped and fell in it … And Mother is gone!’
He stared at his small hands, then tried to rub them clean on his thin, patched jacket. Judge Dee saw the red smears. Quickly turning round, he ordered the headman, ‘Get my horse and follow me with two men!’
As soon as he was outside, the judge lifted the boy up and placed him on his saddle. Then he put his foot in the stirrup and slowly mounted behind him. Wincing, he remembered how not so long ago he could still jump on his horse. But a touch of rheumatism had been bothering him of late. He suddenly felt tired, and old. Four years in Lan-fang … With an effort he took hold of himself. He said in a cheerful voice to the sobbing boy, ‘Now we’ll go together and find your mother for you! Who is your father, and where do you live?’
Judge Dee At Work Page 18
