Taiheiki

Chapter 148 Five-Year Plan
While Baffa didn't like the greed of those in power, he didn't abhor it either. After all, if the rulers didn't want money, spices, gems, beautiful female slaves, gold, silver, and all sorts of exotic goods from afar, he really couldn't do business.

After hearing that Wei Cong had won the Battle of Gaoyao, he was already mentally prepared to pay a hefty price. To put it bluntly, the money would come from the people. As long as Wei Cong was willing to fulfill his promise to build the foreign trade quarters and allow fair trade with maritime merchants, even if he spent millions or tens of millions of dollars, he would still have a chance to make it back. He had that much magnanimity.

"How about ten million coins in total?" Baffa held up one finger and waved it. "However, I can't come up with that much cash all at once. I have to sell off all the goods I have on hand before I can raise the money!"

"That old bastard is really generous!" Wu Ze swallowed and shook his head. "The lord said he doesn't want your money, just normal taxes. What he wants is to expand the scale of maritime trade! Tell me, how many foreign ships came to Panyu last year?"

“Forty-five, I suppose!” Baffa replied.

"Yes, the Lord said that within three years, the number must double, that is, ninety!" Wu Ze said, "If we achieve this, I can continue to serve as the Commissioner of Maritime Trade; otherwise, we will replace him!"

"Twice as many ships?" Bafa was stunned. Given his friendship with Wu Ze, he naturally hoped that the other party could remain in the position of Commissioner of the Panyu Maritime Trade Office forever, ideally for generations to come. But while providing the funds was easy, having more ships was a problem: "That's probably difficult. After all, foreign ships come from afar to make money. Business isn't about having more ships; fewer ships mean higher prices. Take hawksbill turtles, for example. Only three or four hundred are transported from the South China Sea to Panyu each year, and each turtle can sell for seventy or eighty thousand coins. If, as Lord Wei says, seven or eight hundred are transported all at once, the price will definitely plummet! The merchants transporting the goods will not only fail to make money, but might even lose money!"

"The Lord has considered this as well!" Wu Ze said. "If you transport too much of the same goods, the price will naturally drop. So why not transport more varieties? There are countless trade opportunities between Southeast Asia and the Han Dynasty, certainly not just what we have now. You merchants should put more thought into finding various profitable businesses. The more you trade, the bigger your business will become, and the more money you will make!" As he spoke, Wu Ze pulled out a piece of silk from his sleeve and handed it over: "This is what Lord Wei asked me to give you. He said it's a list of goods that Panyu can produce in the future. You can take a look and see which ones can be sold to Southeast Asia. Lord Wei also asked you to write down all the special products you see in Southeast Asia, and I will submit them to him to see if there's anything he needs you to send!"

"Yes, yes!" Bafa didn't know many Chinese characters and didn't dare to look at them for long. He quickly put them into his sleeve: "I'll go back and take a look, and then give you an answer!"

--------------------------

Panyu City, Prefectural Governor's Residence.

Kong Gui, dressed in loose linen clothes, entered the room. He had just bathed and exuded the fragrance of agastache. He was surprised to find Wei Cong sitting in his study, comfortably warming his hands by the stove. "Captain Wei!"

“Just call me Mengde!” Wei Cong clapped his hands. “Lord Kong, aren’t you going to explain to me where Shi Xie and his brother went?”

"They went to Jiaozhi!" Kong Gui answered readily. "The day after Shi Xie was sent to Panyu, the brothers boarded a ship to Jiaozhi!"

"You're really honest!" Wei Cong laughed. "But I trusted you so much, and this is how you treat my trust? You should know that those brothers are my enemies!"

“Shiwu is my student. When you entered the city, the situation was so chaotic, yet he stayed in the city to protect me, and was even shot in the arm for it. Later, when the other students returned to their hometowns, he still stayed by my side! How could I hand him over to you?”

"Alright!" Kong Gui's answer was exactly what Wei Cong expected: "For your sake, I might let him off this time. But what about Shi Xie? He shouldn't be your student, right?"

"He's not my student, but Mengde, do you really want to kill him?" Kong Gui asked.

"Why not kill him?" Wei Cong laughed. "A ruler governs his subjects with nothing more than rewards and punishments. He has mobilized his troops to attack me. If I don't kill him, how can I win over the people?"

"If that's the case, then you'll have to kill far too many people! In the Battle of Gaoyao, you captured over a hundred scholars from Jiaozhou alive. Are you going to kill them all?"

Faced with Kong Gui's question, Wei Cong did not answer immediately. Historically, both Cao Cao and Sun Ce had done the same thing—killing renowned scholars. Cao Cao, however, was betrayed by the scholars of Yan Province in alliance with Lü Bu, reduced to a mere three counties, forced to eat human flesh for rations, and would have been finished if not for Yuan Shao's full support. Sun Ce, on the other hand, lost his own life. If he killed all the prisoners, Wei Cong would be completely at odds with the local elites of Jiao Province, rendering the Battle of Gaoyao pointless. Regardless of the final outcome, Wei Cong's strategy of taking Jiao Province within a short window of opportunity, defending to the north and attacking to the south, while passively observing the changing world, would certainly be impossible to execute.

"Judging from Mengde's treatment of the captured scholars, he surely wouldn't do such a foolish thing, would he?" Seeing that Wei Cong didn't speak, Kong Gui continued directly: "Since you're not killing so many people, are you deliberately refusing to let Shi Xie go?"

"Even if we don't kill him, we can't just let him go like that, can we?" Wei Cong said coldly. "He may be spared the death penalty, but he can't escape punishment. Doesn't Master Kong know this principle?"

"At most, I'll write a letter and have their brothers return to apologize to you!" Kong Gui laughed. "Besides, they might be of some use to you in Jiaozhi, right?"

That old fox, he read my mind completely!

Having his trump card guessed, Wei Cong was not angry. He smiled and said, "Once Governor Zhang and I reach an agreement, I will release the people! Also, these scholars have exceeded the regulations on their land and houses, and have been exploiting the poor in many ways. They must be punished!"

"Exceeding the permitted amount of land and housing, and employing the poor?" Kong Gui frowned. The first part of Wei Cong's answer was within his expectations. Although the five prefectures of Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, Hepu, and Zhuya had already acknowledged his rule, the three prefectures of Jiuzhen and Rinan in Jiaozhi were still under the control of Zhang Pan, the governor of Jiaozhou, and their hostile attitude towards Wei Cong had not changed. Before this problem was resolved, Wei Cong certainly could not release these scholars who had once raised troops against him. But the charge of "exceeding the permitted amount of land and housing, and employing the poor" that Wei Cong mentioned later was a bit strange. At first glance, it sounded ridiculous. It was like someone going to attack someone with a knife, but the judge only fined him one thousand and deducted two points from his driver's license for parking in a fire lane. "That's right! As far as I know, there are laws in this dynasty that stipulate the amount of land and housing owned by scholars and commoners, and that they cannot exceed the permitted amount; moreover, they cannot employ the poor, and the total number of household slaves cannot exceed four hundred. Do I remember correctly?"

"That's true!" Kong Gui nodded. "There is indeed such a law! However, many people violate it, and if we investigate further..."

"Let's start with these captured scholars!" Wei Cong laughed. "The land and houses they seized will be confiscated, and the poor people they were forced to serve will be restored to their status as law-abiding citizens. I shouldn't be wronging them, should I?"

"Probably not!" Faced with Wei Cong's question, Kong Gui could only nod. Those scholar-officials who could muster hundreds or even thousands of armed men to fight Wei Cong would be easily investigated according to the standards for land and property in the Han Dynasty. More importantly, Wei Cong's actions wouldn't cause panic. After all, everyone knew these scholar-officials had previously risen up against Wei Cong. The fact that Wei Cong hadn't exterminated their entire families when investigating their land and population was already considered magnanimous. Other powerful landowners who hadn't been investigated wouldn't object either. Everyone knew Wei Cong was retaliating against an enemy, not genuinely investigating land and property exceeding regulations or exploiting the poor. Why would they bother to jump out and die?
“Since Master Kong has agreed, let’s proceed accordingly!” Wei Cong said with a smile. “Do you have any reliable and capable students around you? Please recommend one or two to me. My men are all roughnecks who only know how to fight; they’re not good at this kind of delicate work!”

"What does he mean by this? Is he ordering the scholars of Jiaozhou to investigate the scholars of Jiaozhou?" Kong Gui pondered to himself, but said aloud, "Let me think about this for a moment!"

“Very well!” Wei Cong didn’t press the matter. He took out a scroll of silk from his sleeve and handed it to Kong Gui: “This is what I wrote at home these past two days. As the Prefect of Nanhai, you must be quite familiar with governing the people. Could you please take a look at it for me first?”

"Oh!" Kong Gui took the silk scroll in surprise. In his opinion, Wei Cong should have relaxed for a couple of days after winning such a glorious victory, but he didn't expect him to start writing an article. He unfolded the silk scroll and saw that the first nine characters were "Five-Year Development Plan of Beijiaozhou".

"Beijiaozhou? This is—?"

"Oh, it's the five prefectures of Nanhai, Yulin, Hepu, Cangwu, and Zhuya. For convenience, I'll call them Beijiaozhou to distinguish them from the three prefectures of Jiaozhi, Rinan, and Jiuzhen!"

"Hmm, this name is quite fitting!" Kong Gui nodded and continued reading. Wei Cong's article was written in a very simple style: it got straight to the point, saying that Jiaozhou was located in the southern border region, surrounded by barbarian tribes, far from the Central Plains. The imperial court was currently short of funds, and the Qiang and Xianbei tribes in the north were causing trouble. It was difficult to spare too many resources to protect Jiaozhou. Therefore, it was necessary to rely on its own strength, to have enough soldiers and food, in order to keep the people at peace internally and to pacify the barbarian tribes externally, as a long-term solution.

He then pointed out that Jiaozhou was now lacking everything: people, money, horses, and boats. The people were suffering and exhausted, and their hearts were scattered. In good years, they could barely avoid starvation, and in bad years, they could only flee into the mountains to become bandits. The only soldiers and financial resources were used to fight the Occupians and rebels in Rinan Jiuzhang, leaving the hinterland empty. Many counties did not even have proper city walls for defense, and it was really in extreme danger.

"This fellow hasn't been in Jiaozhou for long, yet he's so well aware of its long-standing problems! But then again, if Wei Mengde weren't aware of Jiaozhou's problems, how could he dare to do something so audacious?" Kong Gui thought to himself, unfolding the silk scroll to continue reading. The scroll continued: "Given the current situation in Jiaozhou, the rulers must take action, but their actions must not increase the burden on the people; otherwise, the people may see no benefit, but rather only harm."

In other words, everything he did had to be done on the premise of ensuring that at least no one was harmed. That is, if the people were not taxed more, the state would be self-sufficient. He aimed to double the population of the five prefectures of Beijiaozhou within five years and increase government revenue fivefold, enough to arm a standing army of about 20,000 men, destroy the Linyi Kingdom, and expand the territory of Jiaozhou to its natural boundaries.

"Natural boundaries? Mengde, what do you mean by that?" Kong Gui frowned. Although some of the things mentioned in the silk manuscript were not very realistic, he understood the general meaning. However, he did not quite understand the meaning of the last "natural boundaries".

"It's when a country's territory expands to a point where it faces an insurmountable geographical obstacle, such as a sea, a great river, a steep mountain range, or a desert. This makes the country easy to defend, but extremely difficult to expand further, as if Heaven deliberately limited its size!"

"Hmm, not bad, not bad!" Kong Gui pondered for a moment and found the word Wei Cong very interesting: "So, you think the territory of Jiaozhou is not enough right now?"

“That’s right!” Wei Cong nodded. “If Jiaozhou wants long-term stability, it should push its southern border forward to Funan and control the estuary of the local river! Otherwise, that land is fertile, has convenient water transport, and is rich in resources. It is the foundation for a kingdom. If we do not occupy it, in the future, some barbarians will use it as a base to become a powerful country, invade the north, and take Jiaozhi, or even the entire Jiaozhou, for themselves!”

"Mengde's thinking is indeed far-sighted! Compared to him, the officials of Jiaozhou are still thinking too shallowly! However, the barbarians are growing stronger every day, and Jiaozhou is barely able to defend itself, let alone have the strength to attack the north." He sighed.

"The methods for enriching the country and strengthening the military are revealed below, Master Kong, please take a look!"

"Hmm!" Kong Gui unfolded the silk scroll a little more, revealing seven or eight chapters on the back, covering topics such as "Salt," "Fishing," "Sugar," "Metallurgy," "Coinage," "Shipbuilding," "Maritime Trade," and "Textiles." Each chapter contained hundreds of characters written in tiny, dense script. Kong Gui felt a little dizzy and couldn't help but smile wryly, "Mengde is really thorough in his planning, doing so many things. But didn't you just say that you shouldn't exhaust the people? Isn't this a bit too hasty?"

"No, I did all of this myself!" Wei Cong laughed. "Without raising taxes or conscripting labor, how could I let the people be exhausted?"

"Then, who will you use to do it? Will you use your soldiers?" Kong Gui asked.

"My soldiers will do some of the work, such as the municipal works at the Panyu docks, clearing foundations, etc., but most of it will be done by the prisoners!"

"Prisoners?" Kong Gui finally realized. "What do you plan to do with them?"

(End of this chapter)