Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 256 Fears the Plan Will Fail in Henan
The Weizhou prefecture was bustling with activity, rivaling even the two provinces in the capital.

Zhang Dai entered the city early in the morning, delivered his letter to the mansion, and waited until noon before finally being granted an audience with Yuwen Rong.

"Zhang Liulang, we meet again!"

Yuwen Rong and Zhang Dai did not notice much change in appearance; Zhang Dai still looked energetic. Upon seeing Zhang Dai, Yuwen Rong simply gestured to the seats in the hall to invite him to sit down. Then, Yuwen Rong looked down at the documents on the table and said, "Only after reading the documents today did I learn that your charity weaving workshop has helped more than 4,800 people, involving more than 3,000 households. Such achievements in private disaster relief are truly commendable!"
At present, Weizhou has only over 90,000 households under its jurisdiction. The more than 3,000 households affected by the disaster were saved thanks to Zhang Liulang's plan, which greatly saved the prefecture's efforts. I should thank you!

"Your Excellency flatters me. I have devoted myself wholeheartedly to the various prefectures I have served, though the extent of my contributions has varied. The great achievements in Weizhou are also due to Your Excellency's leadership and guidance, not solely to my own efforts. Moreover, all the materials used were donated by Consort Hui, who saved money from her own dowry. All I have contributed is my wholehearted dedication."

Upon hearing Yuwen Rong's praise and thanks, Zhang Dai also bowed and said something.

As a powerful prefecture in Hebei, Weizhou boasted as many as 120,000 households at its peak during the Kaiyuan era, with tens of thousands residing in Weizhou city alone, making it a leading city in Hebei. However, by the Yuanhe era after the An Lushan Rebellion, the number of households had plummeted to 6,900, less than 7,000.

This was certainly because Weizhou existed as a separate territory under the jurisdiction of the Weibo Jiedushi (military governor), which made it impossible for the imperial court to fully understand and grasp the number of households in Weizhou. However, such a huge difference in numbers also shows the depth of the damage that the war had caused to Hebei at that time.

Zhang Dai's weaving workshop established connections with over three thousand households in Weizhou, a considerable number. When compared to the number of households registered after the An Lushan Rebellion, the proportion is even more astonishingly exaggerated.

Therefore, Yuwen Rong's praise was not an exaggeration. Given the current size of the population and household registration covered by the weaving workshops, any major fluctuations in their operation would be enough to affect the stability of the entire Weizhou.

Yuwen Rong was busy with the case and didn't have much time to chat with Zhang Dai. He inquired about Zhang Dai's plans and purpose for entering the state. When he learned that Zhang Dai still had more than 20,000 strings of cash and goods to distribute, he immediately started searching through the documents on the desk.

"Is the weaving workshop located south of Wang Mang's city now? I remember there were no main roads there, and it was far from the canals. With so many people working there, the movement of silk, hemp cloth, food, and other supplies must have been quite inconvenient, right?"

After searching for a while, Yuwen Rong pulled out a scroll of illustrations and text, made some markings on it, and then said to Zhang Dai, "Now we will move the weaving workshop to the vicinity of Di Gong Temple in Wei County. The location is closer to the West Canal, which can be connected to the Imperial Canal. What do you think?"

The Di Gong Temple was the shrine built by the people of Weizhou when Di Renjie served as the governor during the reign of Emperor Wuzong. It was later destroyed because of his son's tyranny. Zhang Dai took the map and book handed to him by Yuwen Rong and examined it briefly. He was immediately overjoyed.

Previously, Cui Mian was not interested in this matter, and the location he assigned was a desolate place, more than twenty miles from the city and even further from the waterway.

These few dozen miles may not seem far at first glance, but if you consider that the weaving workshop needs to handle goods every day, over the years, the transportation costs alone would probably amount to several thousand strings of cash each year.

However, the location that Yuwen Rong has assigned is very close to the Yongji Canal waterway, which is also convenient for building warehouses and residences nearby. This is exactly what Zhang Dai wanted, and he dared not ask for it.

Although Zhang Dai was very pleased, he also knew that there was no such thing as a free lunch. So he said, "Governor Yuwen is so considerate and caring towards the operation of the weaving workshop, which is truly appreciated. But if this arrangement is made, will it cause trouble for the state affairs?"

"It won't bother you at all; it's just a small matter."

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong waved his hand and said, then looked at Zhang Dai and said, "I do have a small matter that I need Zhang Liulang's help with. There is an old canal to the north and east of Qimen, which is a tributary of the old Wang Mang River. We need to dig a canal for more than 20 miles, which will cost 8,000 strings of cash. The prefecture is currently in dire need of funds. If Zhang Liulang is willing to help, that would be the best thing."

Zhang Dai didn't know much about the rivers and geography within Weizhou, but he understood Yuwen Rong's meaning: the prefectural government didn't have enough money for construction projects, so they needed to find new sources of revenue. The land near the Di Gong Temple needed to be purchased by Zhang Dai.

"My purpose in coming to the prefecture today is to further promote the Yizao Weaving Workshop. It is rare that the magistrate would spare the time to advise me, so how could I refuse? However, the workshop already has a large number of employees, and relocating it to another location would require a lot of land. I hope the prefecture government can make some extra considerations when planning for its future!"

Although it would cost money to buy, Zhang Dai was quite happy to do so. It was located in Weizhou, near the Grand Canal, and as long as he could acquire a piece of land, it would be a sure-fire way to make money.

Moreover, Weizhou is now a bustling hub of travelers. If Yuwen Rong were to reveal his willingness to sell the land along the canal, countless merchants would flock there!

Yuwen Rong's willingness to do this deal with Zhang Dai is a considerable favor, and it's also thanks to the weaving workshop that it has truly alleviated the prefecture's disaster relief pressure and stabilized the local sentiments; otherwise, Yuwen Rong probably wouldn't have been so lenient with Zhang Dai. "There is a trading post there, occupying several acres, which has been idle for a long time, and there are also many vacant warehouses and storehouses. You can send your apprentices to discuss this with your subordinates later, and after paying the discounted price, you can move in without needing to ask for permission again."

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong added that although his relationship with Zhang Shuo was not harmonious, he had a good impression of Zhang Dai, especially since the development of the weaving workshop was beneficial to the state affairs, so he took some care of him.

The transport depot was an official place for transferring rented goods. In order to facilitate the collection, distribution and transportation, it must have a direct connection to major water and land routes.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai was overjoyed, his only regret being that the land was only a few hectares. If he could have a dozen hectares, he could even try to build a large-scale warehousing and logistics center to handle various types of bulk logistics!
Judging from Yuwen Rong's previous act of gifting grain transport boats to Li Daosui, this round of natural disasters has put considerable pressure on local prefectures and counties.

After the Fengshan ceremony, local governments were already facing varying degrees of financial strain. A natural disaster caused widespread crop failure, making it difficult for them to mobilize resources. As a result, they had to obtain some assistance from other channels by exchanging some of their idle assets.

If the government were operating smoothly under normal circumstances, even if Zhang Dai used his aunt's influence as a powerful figurehead, it would be difficult for him to obtain similar benefits from the local government.

The weaving workshop he built has thus achieved a positive interaction with the local community. Although it is currently in a relatively weak position, it is still commendable that such a situation has been achieved.

As long as Consort Wu Hui's position in the inner palace remains stable, and the weaving workshop does not excessively challenge the local order, the succeeding local officials will not specifically target the weaving workshop. The longer the weaving workshop continues to operate, the more deeply it will resonate with the people.

To put it bluntly, even if the An Lushan Rebellion were to occur as expected and the Hebei warlords were to emerge smoothly, perhaps a few future Wei government soldiers would be being raised in the weaving workshops today, and life in the weaving workshops would become a rare warm hue in their lives.

"Upon entering the prefecture, I have seen many instances of labor service in the countryside. May I ask, Prefect Yuwen, what grand plan do you have in mind?"

After discussing the relocation of the weaving workshop, Zhang Dai couldn't help but ask another question. Although it's common practice to use labor for disaster relief after a disaster, the scale of labor needed in Weizhou is really large, it's obvious that something big is going on.

Upon hearing this, Yuwen Rong said, "Weizhou is a low-lying and flat area with many streams and marshes, which is why the Yellow River breached its banks here last year, causing great harm. Although predecessors such as Cui Sanqi may have had the merit of regulating people and educating them, they could not solve the problems of this place."

"Now I intend to dredge the Wang Mang River, which will not only divert floodwaters to prepare for potential disasters, but also irrigate tens of thousands of hectares of farmland, greatly improving rice paddies! If this plan succeeds, the great river will no longer be a hazard, and it will irrigate the saline fields north of the river, benefiting all the prefectures. Furthermore, it will provide shelter for over ten thousand households who have fled along the river!"

The Wangmang River was an old riverbed formed by the Yellow River's northward shift during the late Western Han Dynasty and the Xin Dynasty under Wang Mang. It is now long dry, and much of the land along its course is saline-alkali. This riverbed traversed several prefectures in the southern plains of Hebei Province, eventually emptying into the sea at Cangzhou.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai realized that Yuwen Rong's plan was so grand; no wonder he was undertaking massive construction projects within his territory and even selling land to raise funds. If this project were to succeed, it might indeed stabilize the Yellow River's water levels for a relatively long period and greatly improve the agricultural situation in the Hebei prefectures along its course.

Even though Zhang Dai didn't know much about the whole plan, he could tell from Yuwen Rong's explanation that there was a very important problem: the amount of work involved was just too huge!

The canal was dug from Weizhou all the way to Cangzhou, a distance of over a thousand miles. Even with the old course of the Wang Mang River to follow, the scale of the project was still staggering.

Moreover, the Wangmang River had dried up as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty. In order to ensure the water flow of this canal, it was necessary to connect with other rivers in Hebei Province along the way. This was equivalent to creating a new artificial river that runs through Hebei Province in addition to the Yongji Canal!
This plan sounds somewhat insane. Even in peaceful times, it would take an enormous price to complete such a large-scale project. Now that the disaster in Hebei is not over and such a huge amount of manpower is needed, if all efforts are made to mobilize the workforce, it is feared that the entire Hebei province will be littered with corpses.

At that moment, Zhang Dai felt that Yuwen Rong was somewhat possessed by Emperor Yang of Sui. Even if we put aside the element of heavy labor in a year of disaster, there was another very fatal point: the disaster in Hebei this year would continue and would be more severe than last year, to the point that in the second half of the year the court would need to urgently dispatch more than one million shi of rent rice to Hebei for relief.

Therefore, if Yuwen Rong were to fully implement his plan, there would only be one outcome: it would completely devastate the lives of ordinary people in Hebei!

"Lord Yuwen's plan is truly grand. If it succeeds, it will surely bring benefits to the present and future generations."

Zhang Dai knew that Yuwen Rong was shrewd and arrogant, and that a direct rebuttal would only humiliate and drive him away. Therefore, while speaking insincerely, he sighed and said, "Such a grand plan cannot be accomplished overnight or by the efforts of a small region. Even if Your Excellency can mobilize the manpower and resources of Hebei, I'm afraid the plan will still fail in Henan!"

(End of this chapter)