That night, every bailiff in Baling City led large numbers of soldiers in a sweeping inspection of the brothels and pleasure boats.
Seventeen bailiffs tipped them off, and all were arrested. That very night, the county court sentenced them to exile ten thousand li away and sent them straight north to perform hard labor.
When the raids struck the brothels and pleasure boats, many patrons were caught in bed, but the vast majority came through unharmed, suffering only a fright.
Among those visiting the Qing River Trading Company's brothels and pleasure boats, however, ordinary people were left alone, as were many with clean backgrounds. Anyone who had colluded with the Qing Officials or maintained close ties with the Qing Kingdom was arrested and taken to the government offices under the pretext of assisting an investigation.
The Qing River Trading Company's brothels and pleasure boats were bound to have violated some government regulation: filthy kitchens, for instance, or using bright yellow silk forbidden by some antiquated law, or beating and imprisoning women. As long as a reason could be found, the establishment was immediately sealed, and all its madams and courtesans were taken to the county offices.
For brothels where no other reason could be found, the bailiffs sealed them on the grounds that the courtesans' clothing offended public decency.
Early the next morning, news that Baling City had sealed every brothel and pleasure boat belonging to the Qing River Trading Company spread throughout Xiang Prefecture as though it had sprouted wings. Another report accompanied it: Void Sage Fang Yun was deeply displeased that certain people of Xiang Prefecture, led by Hua Qingniang and Ge Yiming, had betrayed the Jing Kingdom to curry favor with the Qing Kingdom. Upon learning this, those two lackeys, Dong Wencong and Fang Shouye, had immediately