Taiheiki

Chapter 355 Sending a Child
"Yes! There are only four horses in total, how can they pull so many people so fast? Could it be because of the horses?"

"Hmm, it must be a fine horse only found in Luoyang?"

The strangers in the carriage started talking all at once, and the carriage quickly picked up speed to an astonishing level. Through the carriage window, Liu Yuanqi could see the nearby hills, lacquer forests, orange groves, vineyards, orchards, and carefully cultivated fields, as well as the manors, villas, and market towns belonging to the city's nobles. These beautiful and magnificent views stretched from the foot of Mangshan Mountain all the way to Luoyang City.

"Truly worthy of being the capital city, under the emperor's nose! It's as if all the good things in the world have gathered here!" Liu Yuanqi exclaimed.

"Hold on tight, we're almost there!" With a ringing of bells, the driver's gruff shouts rang out into the carriage: "The valley gate is just ahead. Those going into town, grab your luggage and get ready to get off!"

"So fast?" Liu Yuanqi's relative looked bewildered. "Could there be a mistake? I remember it's still dozens of miles from Mengjin to Luoyang City. How long has this carriage been gone?"

"Really?" Liu Yuanqi was visiting Luoyang for the first time, and he looked at the city wall outside the window with a puzzled expression. "But look at this city wall, it can't be fake, can it?"

The two got off the carriage, puzzled. They looked at the city gate not far away, then looked back at Mangshan behind them, feeling that Luoyang seemed a little different.

After settling into their lodgings, Liu Yuanqi and his clansmen went to the market to check the prices. They were all wealthy merchants from Zhuojun. Unlike Jizhou, located in the southern part of the North China Plain, Youzhou at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was still a poorly developed region, primarily engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. Its main exports were livestock products such as cattle, horses, leather, and sinews and horns, almost all of which were related to military use. If they were unlucky enough to be caught, not only would their goods be confiscated, but they themselves would also suffer. Therefore, Liu Yuanqi led a few men ahead to scout the area, while the goods were left half a day's journey behind to avoid being completely seized.

However, Liu Yuanqi was quite lucky. He discovered that there was a high demand for large livestock such as horses and cattle, as well as leather, at the market, which could fetch a good price. Moreover, he heard that after General Wei took power, he strictly prohibited the government from using methods such as calculating wealth, reporting wealth, and equalizing taxes to plunder merchants' property, and had even executed several corrupt officials who used their power to extort money from merchants. This made Liu Yuanqi very happy. When he returned to his residence, he smiled at his relatives and said, "We are really lucky. If we can sell this batch of goods normally, and buy some other goods that sell well in Zhuojun, we can at least double our money in one round trip."

"Yes, we heard a lot of bad things about General Wei when we were in Youzhou. He made a terrible impression of Luoyang. Now it seems that most of it was slander!"

"Hmm!" Liu Yuanqi nodded. "So one-sided accounts can't be trusted. By the way, before I left Zhuojun this time, I heard that Master Lu had already returned to Luoyang from Guangling and was teaching disciples at Goushi Mountain. Tomorrow I plan to visit him and see if I can send my son and Abei to his school. I'll leave this matter to you!"

"No wonder you brought Deran and Abei with you!" the clansman laughed. "This is great news! Master Lu is a great Confucian scholar. Studying under him will surely lead to a bright future! Go ahead and rest assured, leave everything here to me!"

"Alas, Master Lu has at least several hundred students, but how can every one of them have a bright future?" Liu Yuanqi said with a wry smile, "I only hope that the younger generation will learn some manners of speaking and behaving, make more friends, and not squander the family fortune when I get old!"

"Hahaha! Brother Yuanqi, you flatter me! Everyone can see what kind of child Deran is! At such a young age, he is already an expert in accounting and managing the household. Your family business will only grow bigger and bigger in his hands, how could it be squandered?"

“You can’t say that!” Liu Yuanqi waved his hand. “If Deran had been born in a peaceful era, he would indeed be a master at managing a family business. But what kind of times are we living in now? The Xianbei are attacking every few days, and the court is not at peace either. Is this the time to buy land and hoard grain to become a rich man? On the contrary, Abei is a good kid. He is open-minded and generous, and he gets along well with everyone. Everyone is willing to follow his orders. If Deran could learn more from Abei, that would be great!”

"This is Luoyang, Brother Yuanqi, be careful what you say!" The clansman glanced at the people around him and winked at Liu Yuanqi. Liu Yuanqi immediately understood and hurriedly said, "It's getting late, let's go back to the inn to rest!"

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Luokou Workshop.

"Hmm, not bad!" Wei Cong picked up a steel ball from the tray, a satisfied look on his face. "I was quite surprised that you were able to reduce costs so quickly!"

"Actually, this is all thanks to the General's command!" Liu He replied cautiously. "You personally wrote down how to polish and quench the steel balls, and what kind of iron to use. We were just following your instructions and dared not take credit for it!"

"You can't think like that!" Wei Cong said with a half-smile, sizing up his subordinate. "I only know the general idea. To figure out the best way to do it, we still need to try it repeatedly. You say this is all my credit, but I've already become a Grand General with a stipend of tens of thousands of households. I don't need any more rewards. What use are these credits to me? But the artisans and officials under you need credits to get promoted. Naturally, all the credits should go to them, to you!"

"Yes!" Liu He was secretly delighted when he heard Wei Cong mention him: "General, you are so generous and magnanimous, I am deeply grateful!"

“Alright, let each craftsman and official receive three hundred coins! As for you, I’ll give you ten thousand coins!” Wei Cong laughed. “Don’t underestimate these steel balls. They are an indispensable part of roller bearings. With these, the load capacity and speed of the four-wheeled carriage can be greatly improved. At that time, the Xianbei and Turks of Youzhou and Bingzhou will no longer be a problem!”

Liu He's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "Is the General going to wage war against the Xianbei?"

"It's still early!" Wei Cong waved his hand. "There are too many things to prepare. Four-wheeled carriages, docks, and sea routes won't be effective in a short time. It's a pity that rubber trees are in the New World. Otherwise, we could have Jiaozhou set up rubber plantations first, and then we'd have inflatable tires. That would be a completely different story!" "Rubber trees? The New World?" Liu He had been working under Wei Cong for some time. He knew that his boss sometimes said some inexplicable things without regard for others. At first, he was a little afraid, but after a while, he got used to it and just pretended not to hear it. After all, Wei Cong was still very clear-headed and wasn't delirious.

"Well, we can only wait until our navigation skills are improved. Alas, going to the New World from our Han Dynasty is much more difficult than going to Europe. Not only is the distance much shorter, but in Europe, you can simply follow the trade winds. However, going to the New World from our Han Dynasty is at least several times more difficult. I wonder if I'll be able to eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes before I die!" Wei Cong no longer hid himself from his confidants. After all, beneath the guise of a general and politician, deep down, he still maintained the heart of a progressive—in his lifetime, he hoped to use his knowledge to change the world as much as possible and make it better, rather than waiting for history to be pulled back to its original track by its enormous inertia after his death.

So, as his power became increasingly consolidated, Wei Cong's sense of urgency grew stronger. With each passing day, death drew closer, and once he died, the knowledge in his mind would vanish into the underworld. And before that, how much could he leave behind? Wei Cong didn't know; he only knew it was far from enough.

"General!" Liu He hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice, "I heard that you plan to relocate 10,000 refugees to Jiaozhou this year!"

"Yes, that's a plan!" Wei Cong nodded. "What's wrong? Do you think there's something wrong with it?"

"Your subordinate wouldn't dare!" Liu He hurriedly replied, "General, your insight is naturally far beyond what a lowly official like myself can match. However, Jiaozhou has a hot and humid climate, and is prone to miasma. The migrants who move there may not adapt well to the climate and water, and I fear many will fall ill and die. Of course, this is not your fault, General. After all, these migrants are also people who live only a day and die at night, and going to Jiaozhou at least gives them another chance. I only fear that spreading this word will damage your great virtue!"

"My great virtue?" Wei Cong smiled. He knew, of course, that most of what Liu He said was nonsense, and only the last few words were what he really meant. After thinking for a moment, he replied, "I have no great virtue. My migration of refugees to Jiaozhou was more for my own selfish reasons, so if anyone criticizes me, let them say what they want!"

"Self-interest?" Liu He was stunned: "What do you mean by that? You're clearly acting out of love for someone's parents—"

"Liu He, you don't need to sing my praises!" Wei Cong smiled. "There are no outsiders here. I did indeed do this out of my own selfish motives, but my selfish motives are not things like fine wine, women, palaces, and gardens. Rather, I want to do what ordinary people cannot do, to accomplish what has never been done before. Someone like me is only one step away from becoming like King Zhou of Shang or King Qin of Qin. One wrong move, and I will be ruined and left with eternal infamy!"

Wei Cong's words were tinged with sorrow. Hearing this, Liu He felt that this high-ranking general was actually quite lonely, and for a moment he didn't know how to comfort him. Wei Cong sighed and placed the steel balls back on the tray: "I'm going back to Luoyang now. Take good care of things here; make sure to reduce the cost of the steel balls by the deadline!"

"Here!"

Stepping out of the workshop, Wei Cong glanced at the gloomy sky, now shrouded in thick smoke from the factory chimneys, and couldn't help but chuckle. In the Eastern Han Dynasty of the second century AD, environmental pollution wasn't a concern. However, his order to ban logging around Luoyang could be considered a way to mitigate various forms of pollution. But this would likely be bad news for the farmers near Luoyang. Coal, no matter how cheap, still required money, while firewood only required physical strength. The farmers of the Han Dynasty had plenty of strength, but lacked copper coins. The only solution was to increase employment opportunities, giving farmers the chance to earn copper coins by purchasing physical labor.

“Once you start down this road, you can’t stop!” Looking at the scenery outside the car window, Wei Cong shook his head and smiled bitterly. Regardless of his subjective intentions, everything he did would damage the existing small-scale peasant economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Improving water transport would result in cheap grain and cotton from the south, which would hurt farmers in the Central Plains; improvements in copper smelting and coinage technology would cause a large influx of pure copper coins from the south into the market, causing inflation; and new handicraft technologies would destroy existing individual handicraft workshops.

Ultimately, the small-scale peasant economy of ancient times, with men tilling the fields and women weaving, was far too fragile. A poor harvest meant inability to pay taxes, and a bumper harvest with low grain prices meant ruin. The state's conscription of laborers for water conservancy projects could lead to collapse; the state's failure to do so and subsequent floods could also be disastrous. While Wei Cong's actions represented progress, they were destructive. Merchants, officials, artisans, and landlords all benefited from Wei Cong's reforms, while individual farmers were the ones who received no benefit and suffered the consequences. This is one reason why Wei Cong was so eager to relocate refugees to the south.

Six fine horses pulled the four-wheeled carriage at breakneck speed along the smooth, flat cement road, and Wei Cong returned to Luoyang before nightfall. He had just entered the gate when he was stopped by two maids.

"The lady is waiting at Juyu Pavilion!"

"Hmm!" Wei Cong nodded, wondering if Dou Yun had something to do again. Well, no matter what, she was still his legal wife; it was better to talk things out. He nodded, "Then let's go over first!"

Juyu Pavilion is located beside a pond on the northwest side of Wei Cong's residence. Dou Yun keeps a flock of waterfowl in the pond and often invites her female companions to enjoy the scenery on the pavilion in her spare time. Wei Cong rarely comes here because he is busy with official business. Today, when he came here, he saw that the willows were swaying under the lights on the stone pillars along the way, and the peach and plum blossoms were fragrant on the bank. It was a rare and quiet scene. He couldn't help but stop and look around.

"General!"

"Lord Huaili!" Wei Cong was taken aback and quickly bowed to the visitor: "When did you arrive in Luoyang? Why didn't you inform me earlier so I could have made preparations!"

“You are now a pillar of the nation, with many duties to attend to, while I am merely a man with nothing to do! Let's not trouble ourselves!” Dou Wu smiled, and under the lamplight, it was clear that he had become much more haggard, his hair mostly white, and he was now a full-fledged old man. Wei Cong looked at him, momentarily at a loss for words, and could only reach out and grasp the other's arm, smiling, “Uncle rarely comes, so let's have a drink here tonight, shall we?”

When Dou Wu heard Wei Cong address him as "Uncle," a relaxed smile appeared on his face: "Good, that's indeed a rare treat. Alright, let's drink to our hearts' content tonight!"

The two walked side by side into Juyu Pavilion. Dou Yun hurriedly got up to greet them, scolding, "Your uncle has been waiting for you at home for a long time, but you are so late!"

(End of this chapter)