Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 131 American Professional
On the second day of the fourth month of the second year of Qianfu, at Hanyuan Terrace.

This is where Zhao Huai'an was reborn. At this moment, a group of monks are chanting in front of a huge tomb. The sound of wooden fish breaks the chill of the morning, and there are also banners for summoning souls lined up along the Dadu River.

This is Zhao Huai'an paying tribute to his comrades-in-arms from Lizhou who died in battle on the Dadu River plateau. He specially invited a group of monks from Shengci Temple in Chengdu to perform the rituals.

These monks are indeed very expensive, but they are also very capable. The rituals they perform give Zhao Huai'an a sense of solemnity.

At this moment, Zhao Liu and four former soldiers of the Lizhou Army were also crying their hearts out. These four were Huang Jingfu's elite confidants. After Huang Jingfu was cut in half at the waist, they had been lying in wait in Chengdu, preparing to take revenge on Gao Pian.

However, when Gao Pian won the war against Nanzhao, these men from Guanzhong who still had loyalty to their country in their hearts decided to give up the assassination attempt.

After all, Gao Pian was a meritorious official for the country, and they couldn't do something that would ruin the greater good for the sake of personal gain. So, after discussing it, the four of them decided to seek refuge with Zhao Huai'an, who was particularly powerful during this period.

After all, Zhao Huai'an's reputation had been so great during this period. He was known as the "Guardian of Justice" in the army. Who didn't know him? Not to mention that they were former comrades-in-arms.

Moreover, they had all heard that Zhao Liu, a suona player from the Lizhou army, was doing very well in Baoyi, which showed that Zhao Da was nostalgic.

When the four men came to seek refuge, Zhao Huai'an immediately thought of them. He couldn't help it; they were all former soldiers, and he remembered their skill levels very well.

He only has fragmented memories, not complete amnesia. When he sees familiar people and things, these memories will pop up on their own.

So without Zhao Liu speaking up for him, Zhao Huai'an accepted the four men and kept them by his side as his personal guards.

If Zhao Huai'an's past memories are correct, these four men were among the bravest members of the former Lizhou army.

Gao Qinde was one of the best among them, wielding an iron spear and being the bravest in the Lizhou army. Even Zhao Huai'an in the past was no match for him.

Therefore, Gao Qinde was the most arrogant. Although he came to serve Zhao Huai'an, he felt that Zhao Da was just lucky. He thought that he could do the same if he were given the opportunity.

But when the two clashed and practiced their martial arts on horseback, they realized that Zhao Da was no longer the Zhao Huai'an of yesterday. He was too fierce!
He truly deserves to be called a man who slew the chieftain and earned the title of Protector of Justice.

So the four of them obediently served as Zhao Huai'an's bodyguards, and also taught Zhao Huai'an's four adopted sons martial arts, and then waited for today's soul-summoning ceremony.

At this moment, by the Dadu River, Zhao Huai'an looked at the newly renovated tomb, on which was the inscription written by Gu Yunlai, an aide under Gao Pian.

This young Gu is not old, supposedly only fourteen this year, but he has already passed the imperial examination and entered the shogunate of a powerful domain.

This kind of luck must make Old Zhang feel ashamed to death!

That's true. As long as Xiao Gu is around, you can forget about finding Zhang Guiling.

The inscription was a beautiful piece of parallel prose in four-six characters. Zhao Da had already learned all the characters from the Tang Dynasty and was no longer illiterate, but he still felt dizzy when he saw this inscription. So he simply ignored it and knew that it was all good words.

Then Zhao Huai'an left his name and Zhao Liu's name on the inscription. As for Gu Yun? He was just a ghostwriter. He had already been paid a ghostwriting fee, and he still wanted to leave his name?

In fact, Gu Yun didn't care. If it weren't for the fact that the chief secretary of the shogunate asked him to write it, would Zhao Da really have asked him to write it for such a small amount of money?

Wasn't Zhao Huai'an supposed to be a fool with lots of money, and incredibly generous with his spending? How come he doesn't live up to that reputation?

Thinking he had been tricked, Gu Yun finished writing the inscription and left on a donkey cart without even drinking any wine.

Zhao Huai'an didn't mind. He would have his own business in the future, so he should save money and spend it as he pleased. Xiao Gu was still young and didn't have to support a family, so why did he need so much money?
Although Zhao Dayou did indeed make a fortune, he remained "frugal and simple".

……

After the soul-summoning ceremony was completed, Zhao Huai'an returned to camp on a donkey cart, leaving Zhao Liu to entertain the senior monks.

He instructed Zhao Liu to cultivate relationships with the senior monks of Shengci Temple, as he planned to seek out these loan sharks for future large-scale business opportunities.

Zhao Huai'an rode the donkey cart back to camp and saw that the corpses from the battlefield in the valley had been mostly collected and buried. After all, it was springtime now, and if they weren't dealt with soon, a plague would break out.

They were already living in the malarial and malaria-ridden region of western Sichuan. If they didn't pay attention to these things, Gao Pian would never be able to continue his southward march to Nanzhao.

Yes, Gao Pian was still ambitious. A few days ago, after he had the chieftain's body waxed, he had the supervising officer Zhou Congyu sign a report of merit and send it directly to Chang'an. First, he took a boat down to Fuzhou, and then traveled along the Lychee Road. It would take five or six days to reach Chang'an.

Judging by the days, the chieftain's head should have arrived in Chang'an by now.

Then Gao Pian couldn't wait to order his army to rest and prepare to break camp and head south in early April to send Long Shun back to his country. At that time, with the country as a vassal state of the court, Gao Pian would have achieved his goal and could enjoy his old age in peace.

It was this joy that made him less concerned about Zhao Da's affairs, which made Zhao Huai'an feel much better for several days.

As soon as he returned, he summoned a group of his staff and asked them how the inventory of Bao Yidu's assets was going.

Since Qiongzhou, Bao Yidu has been making money, but due to the heavy military situation, he has not had time to count how much he has earned. Now that he has finally had a break, Zhao Huai'an asked Wang Duo to lead his staff and scribes to count the money.

……

Just as Zhao Huai'an sat down and had a drink, Wang Duo and the others came over, drenched in sweat.

During this period, Bao Yi became wealthy and famous, while Wang Duo's recruitment of scribes went much more smoothly. Many of these scribes came from places like Yazhou, Qiongzhou, Shuzhou, and Lizhou, and were mostly veteran officials who had served under the governors.

Now these places have been liberated one after another, but these people still haven't gone back. This is because they all have some stain of being traitors. If they don't go back, people will think they're dead. But if they go back, they'll be targeted by a few people with whom they had bad dealings in the past, and that would mean their families would be destroyed.

So these people continued to seek refuge under Zhao Huai'an's wing, doing some work related to money and supplies.

With the help of these experienced officials, Wang Duo's position as chief clerk was finally established, which is why he was able to take inventory of the military supplies in just a few days.

As soon as Wang Duo came in, Zhao Da quickly poured him a drink to cool him down. This place in Hanyuan is strange; it's only April, and the weather gets hot so quickly.

After finishing his drink, Wang Duo quickly said the most important thing:

"My lord, we have reached an agreement with He Gongya. Each warhorse is worth three hundred strings of cash, no bargaining. The horse will be delivered as soon as the money arrives."

Upon hearing the price, Zhao Huai'an jumped up in anger and shouted:

"Is He Gongya blinded by greed? He's gone mad with money! Three hundred strings of cash for one horse? He could have just robbed it, why is he giving me a warhorse instead?"

But after saying this, Zhao Huai'an deflated and said weakly:
"How much can he sell to us?"

Wang Duo held up five fingers and said:
Fifty horses!

Zhao Huai'an clicked his tongue and sighed to Wang Duo:

"This He Gongya is incredibly audacious. He was only ill in Yazhou, not dead. How could he be allowed to sell off the army's warhorses like this?"

"My lord, we don't care about all that. As long as they sell it to us, that's fine. By then, we'll have already broken camp and taken up our posts. Even if they discover us, will they be able to catch us?"

Zhao Huai'an thought this made sense, so he gritted his teeth:

"Alright, take all fifty. How many of the other northern vassal states are willing to sell?"

Wang Duo sighed:

"No one else was as bold as He Gongya. They only had a few or ten horses. But if you add up the horses of several soldiers, there are probably fifty or sixty, because the prices they found were all around two hundred strings of cash."

Zhao Huai'an nodded and said to Wang Duo:

"Alright, keep a close eye on this matter during this period. Anyway, as long as those soldiers from various regions dare to sell warhorses and iron armor, we'll buy as many as they have."

After saying that, Zhao Huai'an slapped his thigh in regret:

"Damn it, we've lost big this time! Why did I get so cocky and try to show off? We lost seventy or eighty warhorses in one go, I deserve to die!"

The thought of this caused Zhao Huai'an immense pain, like a piece of his own flesh being torn apart.

Despite his ten successful charges and decisive victories with his cavalry, he broke down in tears after the battle upon hearing about the damage to his warhorses. Thinking of this, Zhao Huai'an asked again:
"Have all the military pensions been paid out?"

This was the sixth time Zhao Huai'an had asked in the past few days, and Wang Duo dared not neglect it, so he explained the distribution situation for today:
"My lord, in this battle we lost 167 men, 42 were wounded, and the remaining wounded can return to camp one after another. According to the 'Yibao' you set up in Qiongzhou, we should distribute about 7,500 strings of cash this time. Now, except for a few who have no family, the others have been delivered to their families by the merchants who accompanied the army."

Zhao nodded. This amount of money wasn't much, and it didn't go through the military treasury but through Yibao's money, so the pressure wasn't great.

But he still added a word of advice:

"After giving enough compensation to the fallen brothers, ask if there are any brothers in their families who are willing to come to our Baoyidu. As for the disabled brothers, I guess their families probably don't want these burdens, so let them come with the army as well. They will receive a subsidy of one string of cash per month until they find work."

Wang Duo noted this down, then looked up and asked:

"My lord, are we going to cause trouble for these wounded and disabled people later?"

Zhao Huai'an nodded and pondered for a moment:

“Actually, if Zhao Da were a little more ruthless, he could just focus on giving money. But I’ve seen these people. Once they’re crippled and become useless, their spirit disappears instantly, and they don’t live long. These brothers were all injured while protecting our righteousness. I have to take care of them and give them something to do. When people are busy and needed, their spirit changes.”

"Moreover, we'll mostly be heading to Huaixi later, and no matter where we go, it won't be Shouzhou. After all, I'm from Shouzhou. So once we get to the local area, we'll be guest troops. If we want to suppress those local powerful families, we need to have our own people in the local area. These people can serve as township heads and inspectors. With these people under us, who can fool us?"

At this moment, Wang Duo could only admire his lord. His lord was both benevolent and not indiscriminate, and he could always find a good way that would benefit both the public and the private. He was truly a great lord!

While Wang Duo was basking in his pride, Zhao Huai'an brought up the matter of "Yibao" once again:

"This is the first time our Yibao has been implemented. Whether the brothers in the army can believe in this depends on how well we do this first time. Old Wang, you must do your best."

Wang Duo nodded, and then Zhao Da continued to ask:

"Come on, tell us about our current situation."

Upon hearing this, Wang Duo couldn't help but smile. For the first time, he opened the booklet in his hand and began reciting numbers to Zhao Huai'an:

"In this battle, our army captured 3,600 Nanzhao soldiers and liberated 832 craftsmen of various kinds who had been captured, including 120 blacksmiths, 60 coppersmiths, 30 stonemasons, 300 carpenters, and then all sorts of other craftsmen."

"There are eight armor makers, seventeen sword forgers, and three master sword forgers. These are the names of several master sword forgers."

After speaking, Wang Duo handed over a booklet, which Zhao Huai'an carefully flipped through, unable to suppress the smile playing on his lips:
"Good, as expected, a decisive battle is still necessary. These main forces of Nanzhao are indeed much richer than other tribes!"

But the good news didn't stop there, Wang Duo continued:
"We also found a group of prisoners who knew how to raise livestock. These were all sent to the supply depot to take charge of the mules and horses in our army. Now we have 400 mules, 600 donkeys, 600 ponies, and 500 warhorses in our army, and they all need dedicated people to take care of them."

Zhao Huai'an had only paid attention to the warhorses before, but now, upon hearing that there were so many large livestock in the army, he exclaimed in surprise:

Where do so many come from?

Wang Duo smiled:

"It's that Jianchuan Jiedushi of Nanzhao. He's quite a character. To redeem himself, he specially sent us over six hundred ponies. Those horses aren't good for running, but they're excellent for hauling goods. As for the mules and donkeys, they were captured from several Nanzhao army camps we conquered; they're all for pulling carts."

Zhao Huai'an shook his head, knowing that the Nanzhao people had really done a lot of harm to Xichuan this time, and he didn't know how long it would take to recover. But he was lucky to have benefited from it.

Shaking his head, Zhao Huai'an laughed, punched Wang Duo lightly, and jokingly scolded:

"Come on, tell me about the money we have now. I knew you were holding back until the very end because you wanted to give me a surprise."

Wang Duo chuckled, then whispered a number in Zhao Da's ear, which stunned Zhao Da. It took him a while to recover before he asked:
"Did we just rob the Nanzhao people of their treasure trove? How come they have so much money?"

Wang Duo then confessed that Longshun had come to do business again. In addition to the Jianchuan Jiedushi who had been captured earlier, Longshun wanted all of his Jianchuan soldiers, as well as those that Zhao Huai'an had captured one after another.

Previously, Baoyidu's treasury had seventy to eighty thousand strings of cash, plus more than thirty thousand strings of cash donated by wealthy merchants like Dong Gongsu. Then, when Yan Shihui was attacked, fifty thousand strings of cash were taken from the one hundred thousand strings of cash. So, this amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand strings of cash.

In addition, during the counterattack and pursuit, Wang Jin and his men seized a treasure trove of Nanzhao and then secretly pushed it into the Liusha River. They only retrieved it after a few days when no one was around.

How much does all of this add up to? Eight hundred thousand strings of cash!
Zhao Huai'an was stunned when he heard the number. He still remembered the first time he met Wang Duo, when the old Wang said that the annual tax revenue of Xichuan was only 800,000 strings of cash.

The money we seized in Baoyi is enough to cover the annual tax revenue of 71 counties in 14 prefectures of Xichuan.

Isn't this a bit too much?

But seeing Wang Duo's eyes, Zhao Huai'an finally began to accept that he, Zhao Da, was about to become damn rich!

Before Zhao Huai'an could remain silent for long, Wang Duo added:
“This money is still virtual. Longshun can’t give us that much money right away. He’s spent all the funds he raised in Chengdu, so he wants to give us this money after he returns to China.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Huai'an became angry:

"Does Long Shun have any ideas? Trying to get something for nothing from me, Zhao Da? Tell him, if he doesn't pay, he won't be taking any of those prisoners with him."

Wang Duo explained the sentence:

"My lord, although Nanzhao can't offer that much money, they are willing to guarantee it with the reputation of a sovereign, saying that they will allow our caravans to do business in Nanzhao in the future, and that we can open three exclusive shops in the capital."

After hearing this, Zhao Huai'an pondered it for a moment and found it quite interesting.

He now realizes the value of this trade route; it's no exaggeration to say it's worth a fortune.

If they could secure protection for the trade routes here and also open trading posts in Nanzhao, then Baoyidu could reap a significant share of the profits from these trade routes.

So this must have been a huge profit, so the question now is, is Longshun trustworthy?
After thinking it over, Zhao Da felt that Long Shun was still somewhat trustworthy. After all, in their previous business dealings, Long Shun had always been very generous with money and didn't treat it like money at all.

Then he thought that keeping these prisoners in the camp would just be a waste of his food, so he might as well hand them over to Long Shun.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Da decided to meet with Long Shun to finalize the matter in person, as that would be more reliable.

Sigh, our little bit of money has shrunk by half again.

Whether it's better to have sweetness first and then bitterness, or bitterness first and then sweetness, has always been an age-old dilemma!

Wang Duo noted all of these things down, and then specifically mentioned one more thing:
"My lord, we should prepare ships now. Currently, our army's supplies are transported by land. Not to mention the foreign troops, even the Minister Gao would probably try to stop us. Taking the waterway would be less conspicuous, since we have so many men on our side. Moreover, it would be faster and more comfortable for us to go to Huaixi by water."

Then Wang Duo planned a route for Zhao Huai'an.

They boarded a boat on the Dadu River and sailed south to Jiaozhou (Leshan) to enter the Min River. They continued south along the Min River to Rongzhou (Yibin), where they entered the Yangtze River.

After crossing the Yangtze River, going to Huaihe River West is just a matter of going anywhere.

Zhao Huai'an exclaimed that Wang Duo was his Xiao He, truly thoughtful. So he told Wang Duo to start preparing to hire a boat now, and they would return by water.

At that time, Zhao Da rode in a large sailboat, drinking and singing, and sailed smoothly to his doorstep.

But Zhao Da's happiness didn't last even half an hour. His old acquaintance Pei Xing came looking for him, bringing Zhao Huaian the "good place" that Gao Pian had chosen for him.

……

Half an hour later, still in the same tent, Zhao Huai'an angrily questioned Pei Xing, cursing...

"Old Pei, what we did was really unfair! Where did the Prime Minister assign me credit for my work? Tell me, is this something to be proud of?"

Pei Xing hesitated for a moment, then offered an explanation:
"This is not the Prime Minister's intention, but the court's."

Zhao Huai'an broke down completely and cursed:
"What kind of imperial court is this? Doesn't the imperial court just listen to messengers? This is too much! Sending me to Guang Prefecture? Wasn't Guang Prefecture just a place inhabited by bandits from Huaixi? We're going back to our hometown to live in glory and build a grand house. How are we supposed to deal with those Guang Prefecture soldiers there?"

It's no wonder Zhao Huai'an acted this way; it's just that Gao Laodeng is truly a despicable person, and he really picked a good place for him.

He actually wanted to send him to Guang Prefecture as governor.
That's really good!
(End of this chapter)