Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 139 Fellow Villagers
"Shouchun is located south of the Ru and Ying rivers, east of the Wu region. To the north, it borders Liang and Song, a distance of no more than seven hundred li by flat land; to the west, it borders Chen and Xu, a distance of no more than a thousand li by land and water. It is protected by rivers and lakes on the outside and by the Huai and Fei rivers on the inside. The Longquan dike has tens of thousands of acres of fertile land; the tribute from Shuliu benefits even the barbarian tribes."

"Our lord's hometown is truly a place where heroes can display their prowess!"

Once the fleet entered Chaohu Lake, avoiding the wind and waves on the lake, it entered the calm waters of Shishui and arrived in the territory of Luzhou City.

At this moment, Zhang Guinian stood on the deck, looking at the countless ponds and paddy fields on both sides, watching countless busy farmers bending over to plant rice.

Farmers on both sides of the river saw the huge fleet of boats on the Shi River and were surprised to find that some important person had come to Luzhou. Then they continued to bend down and plant rice.

This kind of land cannot be delayed. As the saying goes, if people delay the land for a short time, the land will delay them for a year. In just half a month, the plum rains will arrive, and they must plant all the late rice before that time.

There were a few literate people sitting on stools supervising the construction at the edge of the field. They saw that the ships were inscribed with: "Zhao Huai'an, Prefect of Guang Prefecture", "Called for Justice in the Army", "Tiger of Xichuan", and "Baoyi Army".

I'm wondering if something's been going on lately? Why are so many important people coming to Luzhou?
However, they are all local tycoons, and such things are too far removed from their lives. What they see today is just something to talk about and laugh about.

But one of them, named Tao Ya, was a local tycoon from the surrounding village. Upon seeing these flags, he casually ordered his dozen or so servants to continue planting rice seedlings, and then rode a mule straight into the village.

He wanted to inform his brothers in Tongli about this, simply because the name Zhao Huai'an reminded him of Zhao Da, the chivalrous hero of Shouzhou who had caused trouble and fled four years ago.

Tao Ya intuitively felt that the two must be the same person, because the fleet was clearly heading towards Shouzhou.

But if we guess right, that would be truly remarkable. What great things did Zhao Da do to become the governor of Guang Prefecture in just four years?
The thought of the governor made Tao Ya dizzy. What an important person he was! How did Zhao Da become one so suddenly?
Thinking of this, Tao Ya urged the mule to gallop.

……

Zhao Huai'an and the others were on the deck, becoming part of the scenery for others, but he was also watching the busy farmers on both sides.

This is Luzhou, and his hometown, Shouzhou, is just ahead.

In his previous life, these two places were not very developed, but in the Tang Dynasty at this time, they were truly wealthy, even more prosperous than Xichuan, where he had lived before.

In fact, he only stayed in Xichuan for six months and didn't even go into Chengdu. He didn't actually see the most prosperous parts of Xichuan firsthand. But the people of a place don't lie about their state of mind.

Judging from the busy farmers on both sides of the river and the people hiding under the reed sheds to monitor the situation, Zhao Huai'an guessed that most of these people were probably tenant farmers.

Even so, these people were very enthusiastic about their work and moved very nimbly, not at all like they were hungry.

Having lived in this era for so long, Zhao Huai'an had long understood how difficult it was for ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty to even have enough to eat.

And this is still the situation in Luzhou. Just now, his chief advisor Zhang Guinian specifically mentioned the description of Shouzhou in the plan. He told Zhao Huai'an that Shouzhou is in no way inferior to Luzhou and is truly the key to the north and south.

Just now, Zhang Guinian pointed to the waterway they were currently navigating and said to Zhao Huai'an:

"Before the Sui Dynasty, this route was an important waterway connecting the north and south. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, when the two sides were vying for supremacy with Jiangdong, they always used this route. When the Sui Dynasty wanted to annex Chen, it also stationed a large number of troops here first. It can be said that in the war between the north and south, whoever could control this route would gain the upper hand."

"However, since the Sui Dynasty excavated the Grand Canal, water transport has shifted to the Bian Canal further east, from Chuzhou via Yongqiao to Bianzhou. Since then, this route has been gradually abandoned, and due to the efforts of military personnel, the waterway has gradually fallen into disuse, especially the section we are currently traveling on, from Chaohu to Hefei, which is no longer passable by boat due to siltation."

"However, times changed. After the hardships, all the vassal states in the Central Plains rebelled against the Tang Dynasty. In particular, the unruly Xuzhou often threatened the Yongqiao Canal and cut off the grain transport. So the court dredged the Chaofei Canal and the Cai River again, which revitalized the canal."

"Especially after the pacification of Huaixi, there were no more obstacles in the vicinity of this route. Merchants traveled between Lu and Shou, and from here they could reach the Central Plains. The salt and iron taxes of the imperial court were also transported to the capital through this route. As a result, the people of Shou and Lu were prosperous and wealthy, with no labor and no water damage, a scene of peace and tranquility."

"And those who hold this central position are the three prefectures of Shou, Lu, and Hao. Once these three towns are secured, the entire Huainan region can be embraced."

Zhao Huai'an listened with a sigh, and then let out a lament:
"Ah, I'm from Shouzhou. I can't be the governor of Shouzhou, but it would be wonderful to be the governor of Luzhou!"

Zhang Guinian didn't respond to this, because soon they saw Luzhou City, an important town in Huainan located on the left bank of the Shi River.

……

This time, it was not the Prefect of Luzhou who led Zhao Huai'an and his entourage to greet them, but rather Lang Youfu, the Chief Clerk of Luzhou, who brought people to welcome Zhao Huai'an.

They learned by messenger that the fierce general who killed the king of Nanzhao was actually from Huainan, and from the neighboring Shouzhou. He had been awarded the title of governor of Guang Prefecture and had taken a long detour through the Ruxu waterway to Shouzhou to show off.

In fact, Zhao Huai'an was unaware that during this period, especially after he chose to continue south from Ezhou instead of heading north to take a closer route, he became the subject of gossip and ridicule in both Shannan and Huainan.

Everyone has a desire to show off, but those who reach the level of governor will try to conceal it to some extent, or at least try to cover it up. But I have never seen anyone as blatant as Zhao Huai'an, who actually took a long detour to visit his hometown with his entourage.

However, when the news reached the officialdom of Luzhou and Shouzhou, the officials of the two prefectures had completely different feelings.

They suddenly remembered who this Zhao Huai'an was.

About four years ago, a horrific murder occurred in Huoshan County, Shouzhou. Six people were walking at night when they were all hacked to death by a man with a wood-chopping knife.

Later, it was verified that these six people were all vagrants and brokers who lent money in Huoshan County. With the help of the people behind them, the magistrate of Huoshan County quickly identified many targets, including the Zhao family from Xinghua Village.

Xinghua Village gets its name from the endless apricot blossoms outside the village entrance. Because of the production of apricot blossom wine, everyone in the village has a high alcohol tolerance. Although they don't earn much money, they are generous and sociable, and are highly respected in the Huoshan area.

Four years ago, the apricot trees in Xinghua Village withered and died overnight due to some unknown disease. At that time, in order to buy new saplings, the Zhao family borrowed money from the group of money hunters who had been killed in Huoshan.

But for some unknown reason, the newly bought apricot tree died not long after. At this time, those money-grabbing scoundrels suddenly appeared, wanting to take over the winery, and even beat an old man to death.

Later, these six men were beheaded with machetes in the middle of the night on the road. Their heads were piled up together, a truly horrifying sight.

Later, the magistrate of Shouzhou learned that the old man who was beaten to death had an eldest son who had been wandering around. People had occasionally seen him drinking in a tavern before, but no one had seen him since the murder.

The eldest son, who loved to drink, was named Zhao Huai'an.

Unfortunately, he shared the same name as Zhao Huai'an, the newly appointed governor of Guang Prefecture, who was sent by messenger, and they were both from Shouzhou!

Now everyone understood that Zhao Huai'an, the cunning scoundrel who had ambushed and killed six people when he was only sixteen, had returned.

Thinking of this, Changshi Lang Youfu broke out in a cold sweat.

He was not very bold to begin with, but because he was familiar with the local customs, he was appointed as the chief secretary by the newly appointed prefect Zheng Qi. Then, he pushed all the affairs onto Lang Youfu and began to travel around and enjoy writing poetry.

No one in the state cared about this governor. These local tycoons loved those who didn't interfere or cause trouble, so even though the governor wrote some bad poems, they still praised him.

Lang Youfu still greatly envied this governor; his life was no different from the governor's.

Born into one of the five prominent families, he passed the imperial examination at a young age. He didn't have much money, but he wasn't bothered by it. In his early years, he held a prestigious position in the central government. Later, he was transferred to a local post, becoming the governor of a large prefecture.

Then, free from official duties, he would spend his days traveling and enjoying the scenery with the monks and Taoists in the prefecture, writing silly poems, and easily winning praise from others.

So when welcoming this Prefect of Guang Prefecture today, Zheng Qi, the Prefect of Lu Prefecture, simply tossed the messenger to Lang Youfu, entrusting him with the task of welcoming and seeing off the officials, and then led his small entourage out of the city to enjoy the scenery. In the past, Lang Youfu would have envied his prefect's carefree lifestyle, but today, as he looked at the endless fleet of ships before him, he took a deep breath, his mind filled with only one thought:
"My lord, you've caused a disaster!"

Then, Lang Youfu dared not delay any longer. The moment the other fleet anchored, he led his team to greet them.

……

The first to disembark were a group of Sichuan-Kang knights. These people had suffered a lot during this period. They started to feel seasick as soon as they boarded the ship. If Zhao Huai'an hadn't kept replenishing them with fresh vegetables and salt water, they would have all fainted and died on the Yangtze River.

After a period of adaptation, these knights from Sichuan and Kangding, who came from the plateau, got used to it and would go up to the deck to look out at the long river and the scenery along the banks.

Many of these people were actually Tang people, who either fled from the plains to the plateau or were captured by the Tibetans.

Regardless of how they came to be here, these people no longer had much affection for the Tang Dynasty, and their impressions of it were even vague. Only the lush green grasslands of the plateau and the beautiful girls singing folk songs were their true loves.

Until they were greedy for the few dozen strings of cash in resettlement fees, until they listened to Zhao Huai'an's promise of little work and plenty of money, they boarded those boats and sailed southeast downstream.

It was along this journey that they learned of the vastness of the Tang Dynasty and witnessed the existence of such a vast world beyond the plateau.

They had always thought the world was just plateaus, snow-capped mountains, and mountain ranges, but after venturing into these places, they vaguely realized that they might be the ones who had been abandoned, and no one cared whether such people had ever existed.

At that moment, these Sichuan-Kang knights were terrified, but soon they saw a possibility in that Tang general: since the world does not know us Sichuan-Kang knights, then let us go and make our names known throughout the world!

Thus, these Sichuan-Kang knights paid even more attention to their appearance and demeanor. Even though it was May and the weather in Huainan was becoming humid and hot after they disembarked, these men still wore antelope fur around their waists, sable tails around their waists, and feathers on their heads, riding their horses and displaying their martial prowess.

Following the Chuankang Knights was the Third Battalion of Baoyidu. They were not wearing armor, but rather tight-fitting round robes, with crimson forehead scarves, and carrying flags as they disembarked from the ship and naturally lined up outside Luzhou City.

Then came the Dangxiang, Qingqiang, and Yicong from various prefectures along the river. They were all dressed in crimson military robes, carrying bugle flags, and after disembarking, they lined up next to Baoyidu.

Even with the help of the Yidu warriors in the group to adjust them, these people still stood crookedly, looking around from time to time.

Then, at this moment, Zhao Huai'an's parasol, ceremonial guard, and official flag were brought ashore. Following Zhao Huai'an, the eight bugle squads directly under the central army disembarked one after another.

The two guards on the left and right were fully armored, followed by a nominal follower carrying a flag and protecting Zhao Huai'an's flag as they moved forward.

Today, Zhao Huai'an changed his usual casual robes and put on a bright silver armor. He rode forward and stopped only five or six steps away from the civil and military officials of Luzhou.

At this moment, Zhao Huai'an, holding his riding whip, surveyed the assembled officials from the Luzhou Prefecture and Military Courts below, and asked with a dark face:

"You people in Luzhou have no manners when it comes to hospitality. I, Zhao Da, made a special trip from afar to see what Luzhou is like, but I didn't expect that when I arrived, your governor would be so arrogant as to not even come to greet me. Could it be that you look down on me, Zhao Da? Hmm?"

Zhao Huai'an had no idea how fierce he could be when he put on a stern face. Coupled with the array of soldiers standing in formation behind him, the civil and military officials of Luzhou were so frightened that they were sweating profusely. Lang Youfu, who originally had a lot to say to explain, couldn't even open his mouth.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a middle-aged man wearing a scholar's cap stepped forward, pointed at Zhao Huai'an on horseback, and angrily rebuked him:

"If Chief Clerk Lang brings the governor's entourage, it's as if the governor himself has come. You are a general appointed by the court, the governor of Guang Prefecture. Are you also going to lead the way in breaking the law? If you only rely on force and don't know how to use etiquette to restrain the masses, do you know that you will suffer this humiliation in the past?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Huai'an's heart skipped a beat. Seeing the mocking gazes of the men on either side, he was terrified and quickly dismounted to bow to the old man.

"I wonder which venerable elder from Luzhou this is?"

Just as Lang Youfu, who was smiling obsequiously beside him, was about to speak, Zhao Huai'an coughed and snorted:

"Stand still, I'll ask you again later."

With those words, Lang Youfu's face froze. He glanced at the middle-aged man beside him, and seeing that he hadn't spoken up for him, he felt a pang of bitterness and withdrew.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged man in the scholar's cap was taken aback by Zhao Huai'an's sudden change from arrogance to obsequiousness. He paused for a moment before returning the greeting with a snort:
"I am Wang Xu, Military Advisor of Shouzhou. I have just met Zhao Guangzhou."

Zhao Huai'an didn't have much affection for Cuo Da, but what Cuo Da just said really woke Zhao Huai'an up.

That means if he only uses his power to intimidate people without any sense of propriety, and shows no respect for his colleagues within the system, then what the superiors do, the subordinates will inevitably follow. He'll be opening a branch in Guangzhou later, and if his subordinates also look down on each other, completely disregarding rules and etiquette, believing that power is everything, then Zhao Huai'an will be finished.
Therefore, it was because of this sentence that Zhao Huai'an dismounted and bowed to the man named Wang Xu.

However, Zhao Huai'an didn't bother with the man's indifferent attitude. Suddenly, he noticed a minor official holding a flagpole nearby and asked:
"What's your name? You look strong, you're a good man."

It turned out that Zhao Huai'an had noticed before that a group of minor officials carrying flags and ceremonial guards had come out with these civil and military officials. However, while the others carried the flags on their shoulders in a crooked manner, this person carried them with his arms and stood there for a long time without moving an inch.

The minor official glanced instinctively at the chief clerk behind him, and seeing that the man didn't react, he continued to hold the flag and replied loudly:

"Your Excellency, I am Liu Wei, a local strongman. I dare not call myself a hero in front of you."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but glance at Zhao Huai'an, who was eight feet tall and moved freely even while wearing iron armor, and sighed inwardly:

"This governor of Guang Prefecture is a true hero! As for myself, alas, I am but a mere laborer."

Zhao Huai'an laughed heartily, patted Liu Wei on the shoulder, and then turned to Lang Youfu in front of him, saying:

"Are you afraid of me?"

Na Langyoufu quickly replied:

"Who wouldn't fear the might of Prefect Zhao? Who wouldn't respect him?"

Zhao Huai'an clicked his tongue twice, glanced around at the ducks with their heads down, and, finding it uninteresting, reprimanded Lang Youfu:

"Since your governor isn't here, I won't go into the city. Go and prepare some food for my men and soldiers. If any of them don't take it seriously, you'll see if I don't beat them up."

At this moment, Lang Youfu felt extremely wronged. Zhao Huai'an didn't treat Lao Wang like this, and he even smiled at a flag bearer. Why was he treating him like this?
He was, after all, the chief secretary of the governor of a prefecture!
But when he saw the elite armored warriors behind Zhao Huai'an, one of whom had a large scar on his face and glanced at him, he quickly nodded and obeyed, not daring to look up again.

……

That night, Zhao Huai'an camped by the Fei River. Just as he was about to take a hot bath to cool off, Zhao Liu rushed over and shouted:
"Brother, some fellow villagers have come to see you."

Zhao Huai'an was stunned for a moment, and after Zhao Liu explained again, he asked suspiciously:

"You said my fellow townsman came looking for me? What's his name? Ding Hui?"

Then the memory of Zhao Huai'an's death suddenly popped up.

It took him a while to remember that this was his little brother, Ding Dadan!

(End of this chapter)