Robert Gulik - The Chinese Maze Murders

Judge Dee took up his vermilion brush and filled out a slip for the warden of the jail.

Two constables brought in the Uigur. He walked with difficulty, they had to support him by his arms.

In front of the dais he let himself down on one knee; the splinted leg he stretched out in front with a groan of pain.

"State your name and profession!", Judge Dee ordered.

The man lifted his head. Deep hatred shone from his burning eyes.

"I am Prince Ooljin, of the Blue Tribe of the Uigurs!", he snapped.

"Among you barbarians", the judge said coldly, "a man

calls himself a prince as soon as he has twenty horses! But that is neither here nor there.

The Imperial Government in its infinite grace has deigned to accept the Khan of the Uigurs as a vassal and he has duly sworn allegiance to His Majesty taking a solemn oath with Heaven and Earth as witness.

You, Ooljin, have been scheming to attack this town. You have betrayed your own Khan and you are guilty of rebellion against the Imperial Government.

Rebellion is a most serious crime, it is punished with the extreme penalty in a severe form. Your only hope for having this punishment somewhat mitigated lies in telling the complete truth; this means that you must also reveal who are the Chinese traitors who promised to collaborate with you in the execution of your nefarious scheme."

"You call such a Chinese a traitor", the Uigur shouted, "I call him a just man! Some Chinese recognize that what they have taken from us must be given back. Dit not you Chinese encroach on our pastures, your peasants ploughing our good grasslands and transforming them into rice fields? Have we not been driven away farther and farther to the desert where our horses and cattle die on our hands?

I shall not reveal the names of those Chinese who realized the awful wrong that your people have done to us, the Uigur tribes!"

The headman was going to hit him but the judge raised his hand.

Leaning forward in his chair he said quietly:

"It so happens that I have no time for preliminaries. Your right leg is already broken, you cannot walk anyway. So it won't inconvenience you much if your other leg should be broken too."

Judge Dee gave a sign to the headman.

Two constables threw the Uigur on his back on the floor and stood with their feet on his hands. Another brought a wooden trestle of about two feet high.

The headman lifted Ooljin's left leg and bound the foot to the trestle. He looked up at the judge.

As Judge Dee nodded, a sturdy constable struck the knee with a heavy rounded stick.

The Uigur let out a hoarse scream.

"Take your time", the judge ordered the constable," don't hit too fast!"

The constable struck a blow on the shin, then two on the thigh.

Ooljin screamed and cursed in his own language. When his shin was struck again he yelled:

"One day our hordes shall invade your accursed country, we shall raze your walls and burn your cities, we shall kill your men and make your women and children our slaves…"

His voice became a wild scream as the constable hit him another vicious blow. As he raised the stick again for the final blow that would break the leg, Judge Dee held up his hand.

"Yoo will realize, Ooljin", he said casually, "that this interrogation is mere routine. I just want you to confirm what your Chinese confederate told me when he reported on you and your tribesmen and gave away the entire plot!"

With a superhuman effort the Uigur tore away one of his hands from under the feet of the constable. Raising himself on his elbow he shouted:

"Don't try to catch me with brazen lies, you dog official!"

"Well", Judge Dee observed coldly, "of course a Chinese is much too clever for you stupid barbarians. He made it appear as if he was on your side. And when the time came, he reported everything to the authorities. Soon the government shall appoint him to a lucrative post as a reward for his valuable information. Don't you see how you and your ignorant Khan were made fools of?"

As he began to speak the judge gave a sign to Ma Joong. Then Yoo Kee was led before the dais.

When he saw the Uigur lying on the floor Yoo Kee's face turned ashen. He wanted to run away but Ma Joong grabbed his arm in a vice-like grip.

As soon as the Uigur saw Yoo Kee, he spat out a string of curses.

"You son of a dog!", he yelled, "You vile traitor! Cursed be the day on which an honest Uigur resolved to work for a double-dealing Chinese cur like you!"

"Your Honour, this man is crazy!", Yoo Kee shouted.

Judge Dee ignored him. He calmly addressed the Uigur:

"Who are your accomplices in this man's mansion?"

Ooljin gave the names of the two Uigur warriors hired by Yoo Kee ostensibly as fencing masters. Then he shouted:

"And let me tell you that there are also Chinese traitors! That dogshead Yoo may have fooled me but I assure you that those other Chinese bastards were prepared to do everything just for the money!"

He then enumerated the names of three Chinese shopkeepers and four soldiers.

Tao Gan carefully noted down their names.

Judge Dee beckoned Chiao Tai to his side. He said in a whisper:

"Go immediately to your quarters in Chien's mansion and place those four soldiers under arrest. Then go with Corporal Ling and twenty men to Yoo Kee's mansion and arrest the two Uigurs there. You will then apprehend the three Chinese shopkeepers. Finally you will arrest The Hunter and his confederates in the Northern Row!"

As Chiao Tai hurried away Judge Dee said to Ooljin:

"I am not an unjust man, Ooljin. I won't stand for a

Chinese receiving a reward because he betrayed you after he had instigated and abetted your crime. If you want to prevent this man Yoo Kee from getting away with his treacherous deeds, you had better tell how Magistrate Pan was murdered!"

The Uigur's eyes blazed with unholy glee.

"Here is my revenge!", he shouted. "Listen, you official! Four years ago that man Yoo Kee gave me ten silver pieces. He told me to go to the tribunal and tell the new magistrate that that very night he could catch Yoo Kee in a secret conference with an emissary of the Uigur Khan, near the ford. Magistrate Pan came along with one assistant. The latter I knocked down as soon as we were outside the city gate. I myself cut the magistrate's throat and dragged his body to the river bank."

Ooljin spat in the direction of Yoo Kee.

"Now what about your reward, you dog?", he yelled.

Judge Dee nodded to the senior scribe. He read aloud his notes of what the Uigur had said. Ooljin agreed that it was a true account of his confession. The document was handed to the Uigur and he impressed his thumbmark on it.

Then Judge Dee spoke:

"You, Ooljin, are an Uigur prince from over the border and your crime of sedition concerns the external relations of our Empire. I am in no position to find out if and how deeply your Khan and the chieftains of the other tribes are implicated in this scheme of rebellion. It is not within my competence to pass judgement on you. You shall be conveyed immediately to the capital. There your crime shall be dealt with by the Board for Barbarian Affairs."

He gave a sign to the headman. Prince Ooljin was laid on a stretcher and carried back to the jail.

"Bring the criminal Yoo Kee before me!" Judge Dee ordered.

A CRIMINAL CONFESSES HIS NEFARIOUS SCHEMES

As Yoo Kee was pressed to his knees in front of the dais, Judge Dee said sternly:

"Yoo Kee, you are guilty of high treason. This is a crime against the state for which the law prescribes a terrible punishment. Yet perhaps the great name of your late father and a recommendation from me might bring the authorities to mitigate somewhat the fearful fate that awaits you. Therefore I advise you to confess now and give a full account of your crime!"