I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 106 Governing Hangzhou, Discussing the Marriage Agreement

After being promoted to the position of Prefect of Hangzhou, more than ten days passed in the blink of an eye.

Zhao Zicheng was busy every day sorting out routine civil affairs, registering households, comforting the people scattered by the war, and compiling statistics on unclaimed lands to distribute to landless poor farmers who returned to settle down.

It also serves as a way to combat the surviving wealthy households who are trying to take advantage of the situation to acquire more land, preventing them from smuggling in their own private interests.

While some rejoice, others grieve. Those wealthy households whose land grabbing attempts were thwarted by Zhao Zicheng are certainly harboring resentment.

However, Zhao Zicheng, the new prefect, possessed both the favor of executing Zhu Mian and requesting the abolition of the Flower and Stone Tribute, and the divine power of defeating Fang La.

With the support of both sides, his prestige in Hangzhou and even the entire northern part of Liangzhe Road is now at its zenith. So no one dares to openly oppose his benevolent policies.

The work of investigating land and population and redistributing land proceeded smoothly. Most of the troublemakers had already been eliminated by Fang La. The very few who still couldn't grasp the situation were also targeted and eliminated by Zhao Zicheng, and the remaining potential troublemakers quickly came to their senses.

It's foreseeable that Zhao Zicheng's civil administration achievements during his time in Hangzhou will be outstanding. The accumulated conflicts have already been resolved; he only needs to handle the rebound after things have hit rock bottom. When that happens, if Emperor Huizong wants to transfer him again, he'll certainly have to offer him more preferential treatment in terms of rank and title.

However, Zhao Zicheng was not a stubborn man. He knew that great chaos was imminent and he would definitely try every means to accumulate strength for himself. With so many people wiped out in Hangzhou and the surrounding areas at once, even if every surviving landless poor family were given a few acres of land, the remaining unclaimed land would certainly not be distributed all at once.

The problem is not scarcity but inequality. Zhao Zicheng could not allow these impoverished tenant farmers to have a larger share of land after the land was distributed than the original third-class middle peasants. If that were the case, the original third-class households would have risen up in rebellion.

Therefore, Zhao Zicheng devised a plan to use a portion of the remaining land after the initial allocation to establish a manor and accumulate wealth. This money and provisions could then be used to support the army and the Northern Expedition should chaos erupt in the future – a truly worthwhile endeavor.

Zhao Zicheng did not think this was a greedy act. As long as he ensured that he did not use the money and grain for personal enjoyment, but instead used them for the Northern Expedition and for the country, that was good.

To be honest, although Emperor Huizong of Song is tyrannical and oppressive, the heavy financial burden is not the serious original sin of the Song Dynasty. If Emperor Huizong could use the extra money to improve the country and drive out foreign enemies, then it would be understandable for the people to suffer temporarily and tighten their belts.

But Zhao Ji's biggest problem was that a large portion of the extra money he collected was used to build gardens and palaces, which was wasteful and burdensome to the people. That was unforgivable.

Moreover, Zhao Zicheng believed that if he could establish a large-scale manor in Hangzhou within a few months, there would be another advantage: he could freely set up a number of workshops on his manor and advance the development of production and military technologies.

They can also use the manors they directly control to pilot new production technologies, and the civilian-use technologies can be promoted to the surrounding local people free of charge. For example, the mulberry-dike-fishpond system, rice-duck farming, and down processing that were previously implemented in Xiuzhou and Suzhou can all be promoted. They can also work on improving silk reeling techniques and fishing methods—techniques applicable to the rice-producing regions of Jiangnan—and promote them among the people.

This can be seen as Zhao Zicheng's "atonement" for his land grabbing. Perhaps with Zhao Zicheng's estate, the overall productivity and efficiency of the people of Hangzhou will improve significantly. And as long as you can lead the people to common prosperity, they might not mind if Lord Zhao engages in some side businesses.

Even if he is transferred away by Zhao Ji in the future, his private assets in Hangzhou can continue to operate, and no one will dare to touch them—because Zhao Zicheng's prestige in the Hangzhou area is already high enough, in all circles.

Based on this idea, when Zhao Zicheng was dividing the land, he first did a preliminary assessment and finally estimated that he could find a way to occupy about a thousand hectares of land under various pretexts. The number of thousand hectares is already very large in absolute terms, which is about 100,000 mu.

In contrast, one can imagine that when Zhu Mian was faked and executed by Zhao Zicheng, there were only about 300,000 mu of fertile land in Suzhou, equivalent to more than 3,000 hectares.

Of course, Zhu Mian owned farmland in many places in Jiangnan, not just Suzhou, but Suzhou was the prefecture with the most farmland. Adding up the scattered farmland in other places, the total must have exceeded five or six thousand hectares.

Taking advantage of Fang La's killing of most of Hangzhou's wealthy households, Zhao Zicheng seized a thousand hectares of land at once, which was quite ambitious, equivalent to one or two tenths of Zhu Mian's total land holdings over the years.

However, Zhao Zicheng had a relatively good conscience, and he distributed large tracts of good, fertile land in the plains to poor farmers.

He primarily wanted a plot of land in a mountainous area on the other side of West Lake, upstream of the Qiantang River, far from Hangzhou city.

As mentioned earlier, when Fang La invaded Hangzhou, he attacked from Fuchun County, which is located upstream of the Qiantang River. Therefore, the area in Hangzhou that suffered the most damage was in the southwest of the city.

Between Fuchun County and Qiantang County, along both banks of the Qiantang River, there were almost no people left, as they had all been slaughtered and ravaged by Fang La. The unclaimed lands left there were the largest and most concentrated.

Those who have traveled to Hangzhou in later generations know that there are large hilly and mountainous areas west of the city, especially further west of West Lake. This area mainly includes what is now known as Longjing.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the tea industry in Hangzhou was just beginning to flourish, and the name "Longjing" did not yet exist. Su Shi once wrote poems praising Hangzhou's tea, but at that time, the main production area was the northwest side of West Lake, which is the area around Lingyin Temple and Lion Peak in later generations.

The areas southwest of West Lake, including Longjing, Hupao, Jiuxi, and Yunqi, all the way to the north bank of the Qiantang River, are little-known production areas, and there are many low-quality mountain fields with relatively little development.

After a preliminary investigation, Zhao Zicheng decided to enclose 1,000 hectares of land in these hilly areas that had lost their former owners. He didn't intend to grow rice anyway, so the sloping terrain didn't matter; its proximity to the Qiantang River facilitated transportation, and it was also conducive to developing handicrafts and utilizing hydropower. Moreover, he wouldn't take this land for free; he would certainly pay a symbolic sum at the lowest possible price, essentially buying the land. The payment would be made from the spoils of war obtained during the campaign against Fang La, and the proceeds would legally go into the government treasury, ensuring a clear separation between public and private funds.

After the land acquisition plan was roughly finalized, Zhao Zicheng had to consider the issue of agents, or "front men."

As the prefect of Hangzhou, it would be inappropriate for him to personally take charge. After much consideration, only two candidates were deemed the most suitable.

One was Zhao Boqi, a nephew from the same clan who had been helping the family manage their business in their hometown of Jiaxing from the beginning; the other was Deng Yue, the steward of the Murong family. To date, Zhao Zicheng had not yet had the opportunity to accept the service of other civil officials or merchants. He might not feel comfortable hiring new people on short notice.

So, as early as halfway through the twelfth lunar month, he sent letters to Suzhou and Xiuzhou, asking the Zhao and Murong families to send some people to help.

There are no secrets that stay hidden forever. Zhao Zicheng's land surveys and construction plans were not kept secret, so those with keen eyes could naturally guess that the prefect was planning to buy property in the area.

There's nothing wrong with that. Those in the know all feel that this is what the prefect deserves, after all, he made such a great contribution, took such a risk to fight the bandits and save Hangzhou.

Then lower-ranking officials and subordinates observed that the prefect might need some proxies, some people to help him with mundane affairs—especially since Zhao Zicheng would only be nineteen years old after the New Year, twenty by the traditional Chinese age reckoning, and yet he had become the prefect of a major prefecture at such a young age, and was still unmarried.

Some subordinate officials took the opportunity to test the waters, hinting that they were willing to help him find suitable partners, all of whom would have a distinguished background in the court or be extremely wealthy. These officials were shrewd enough not to suggest that they would help Zhao Zicheng arrange marriages with important officials of the court, as they were aware of the custom that "members of the imperial family should not associate with important officials."

Therefore, the most suitable marriage partner is either a family that is noble but without real power, or a family that does not have much political influence but has some official rank and wealth.

One can be famous, one can be rich, and one can have some power, but not great power.

Faced with these matchmakers, Zhao Zicheng politely declined, citing his unwillingness to marry a woman from a family under his jurisdiction.

The subordinates who introduced him to potential partners also indicated that they could contact distant relatives who were not from Hangzhou, and that the women were all talented and beautiful, making them excellent matches.

Zhao Zicheng was overwhelmed by the trouble, but fortunately he remembered that he was no longer an official in Suzhou, so he could now arrange a marriage with the Murong family in Suzhou without having to avoid suspicion.

So he made a swift decision, saying he would ask his parents back home for their opinion, and that they might have already arranged a marriage for him. He told the matchmakers to wait a month or two.

The crowd then quieted down and waited for news from Prefect Zhao.

Zhao Zicheng's letter was sent back to his hometown in Jiaxing, and the response there was quite swift.

First, his distant nephew Zhao Boqi, who was in charge of the family business, immediately brought a large group of employees and staff to Hangzhou to continue managing his uncle's new estate.

On the other hand, after receiving the letter, Zhao Linghua, the father, sent someone to Suzhou to propose marriage to the Murong family and to test whether they had changed their minds.

The Murong family, of course, wouldn't change their minds. In fact, the reason they hadn't brought it up again in recent months was because they were worried that Zhao Zicheng was climbing the ranks too quickly and might be considering breaking off the engagement. After all, it was just a private gentleman's promise, without any legal basis.

Duan Yuyan never expected that her chosen son-in-law would be so accomplished in both literature and martial arts. After being released from Zhu Mian's prison, he rose like a celestial being in flight in just over a month, first serving as the Vice Prefect of Suzhou, then being promoted to the Prefect of Hangzhou, and even achieving a series of victories in a desperate battle.

With such a rapid promotion, if it were someone else, why would they even look at the Murong family's daughter?

Therefore, unless Zhao Linghua and Madam Hu mentioned it, Duan Yuyan would not dare to bring it up on her own initiative.

Now that she had finally received the letter from Zhao Linghua proposing marriage, Duan Yuyan finally felt relieved.

“This child is indeed a man of his word. Since the Zhao family has kept their promise, our Murong family cannot lose face. Yan’er, you should make preparations as soon as possible.”

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P.S.: After defeating Fang La, this might be a bit of a rambling account, I need to summarize and explain the farming process before heading to Shandong. Anyway, it'll only take two or three days at most, then I'll go to Shandong to start the next instance.

(End of this chapter)