Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 144 Repairs
Zhao Huai'an did not enter Huoxian County. After capturing the remnants of Liu's gang, he asked the town for dozens of oxcarts to carry his relatives and fellow villagers' families back to their hometown.

Accompanying them were Magistrate Sun Pang of Huo County, who had been brought along, along with a group of county officials, henchmen, and town soldiers. The group numbered nearly a thousand and headed towards Xinghua Ridge in a large, bustling procession.

Returning to their hometown again, especially with the return of their pillar of the family, the Zhao family was very excited. The children that Zhao Huai'an had seen outside the shantytown were now running around the convoy, and the journey was filled with laughter.

Even when several children were pulling at Sun Pang's beard, this once high-ranking county magistrate could only endure the pain and force a smile.

In the middle of the convoy, a mother and son, who hadn't seen each other for four years, were talking, reminiscing about the happiness they had shared over the years.

……

Zhao Huai'an sat by the donkey cart, while Zhao Shi, wrapped in a blanket, sat inside. Her three younger brothers followed on foot on either side.

Looking around happily, Zhao suddenly sighed and said to Zhao Da:

"Big Brother, are we really going to move the whole clan to Guangzhou? Can't we stay in the old house?"

Zhao Huai'an nodded and said to his mother:

“Mother, your son has many things to do. In the future, he will have many friends and brothers, but he will also have more enemies. Today I can lead troops to kill all the Liu brothers, but tomorrow someone will do the same to us. If I don’t take you with me, I will be harming you and our clan.”

Zhao knew this principle, but she couldn't bear to leave her old home in Xinghualing, where her son's father's grave and her ancestors' graves were located.

But she didn't say it aloud, not wanting to put her son in a difficult position.

But Zhao Huai'an seemed to know his mother's sadness and added:
“The family graves are still here. We’re only going to Gwangju temporarily. Trust your son, we’ll be back soon. When we return, we’ll fix up the graves there so our ancestors can share in our blessings. As for here, I’ll arrange for someone to take care of them.”

Having alleviated his mother's concerns, Zhao Huai'an asked:
"Mother, tell me what happened back then. I went back to seek revenge that year and didn't come home, so I don't know what happened. How did Father die back then?"

When her son asked about this, Zhao sighed:

“Back then, a sorcerer came and said that Apricot Blossom Ridge had evil energy that would hinder you, so he asked your father to replace the apricot blossoms on the ridge with peach blossoms. You know, your father has always believed in this stuff. You were only three years old that year. One day, a sorcerer with a long beard and a red robe came to our ridge asking for water. He pointed at your father and said that he had an aura of nobility and was destined for great wealth. Then, after drinking the water, the man disappeared. From then on, your father believed in these things.”

"Then, strangely enough, before the peach trees were even planted, the apricot trees on the ridge withered. After that, it was a constant cycle of borrowing and repaying money. The Liu brothers came and took back the winery. That's when your father died of anger."

Zhao Huai'an nodded, sensing that his father had fallen victim to a scam, but he didn't know the details, so he continued to ask:

"What about the land? I remember Liu Erlang saying before he died, 'Didn't they take our land?'"

Zhao also said she didn't know about this. She said that one day the government officials came to their door and drove them out of the ridge, saying that a tea supervision office was to be built there. However, it wasn't the county magistrate who led the requisition; he hadn't arrived yet. The previous county magistrate had also left office not long after completing this task, and there was a vacancy for a period of time afterward.

Zhao Huai'an roughly understood, glanced at the absent-minded Sun Pang behind him, and snorted coldly:
"The truth will come out once we get there."

……

When Zhao Huai'an returned to Xinghualing, he found that there was indeed a tea supervision office there, but it had been abandoned.

Their original house was overgrown with weeds, and many parts of the roof beams had collapsed, making it uninhabitable.

Here, Zhao Huai'an recalled many things, but despite their familiarity, he felt a sense of estrangement.

At this moment, Sun Pang leaned over and whispered:

“My lord, I see that your house is also deserted. Are you still living there? Actually, if possible, Guangzhou would be better.”

Seeing the hidden meaning in Sun Pang's words, Zhao Huai'an glanced at the man, then suddenly drew his knife and placed it against Sun Pang's shoulder, his expression cold and stern:

"You might think that if you tell the truth, you'll lose your job, but do you think you can keep your head if you don't? Let me be frank, I'm not without connections. Otherwise, based solely on military merit, how could I have risen to the position of prefect at this age? So, if you tell me the truth, I'll protect you. At worst, you can quit your job as county magistrate and work as a finance official under my command. Who can touch you in Guang Prefecture?"

Sun Pang was deep in thought, but the sharp, cold light on his neck forced him to confront the problem at hand. If he didn't explain himself to Zhao Da, he might really be doomed.

Just then, the knife moved a few inches closer, and Zhao Huai'an continued:

"You probably know my character now. If I kill you, do you think the military governor will stand up for you? Not to mention that I have a strong army, even if I retreat into the Dabie Mountains and things don't go well, who can do anything to me?"

"Therefore, one must be pragmatic, because secrets belong to others, but one's life is one's own."

These words completely shattered Sun Pang's hesitation. He trembled and stammered:
"I'm only telling you this."

Zhao Huai'an nodded and led Sun Pang to his abandoned house. Looking at the desolation, Zhao Huai'an felt a pang of sadness.

Having completed the ideological preparation, Sun Pang whispered:
"Actually, I only know the general outline of this matter. When I was still working as a financial officer in the military governor's office, I knew that the office would receive a large sum of money every month into the military governor's private account, but I didn't know the source at the time. Later, the military governor arranged for me to be the magistrate of Huo County, and that's when I learned that about two years ago, a gold mine was discovered in the mountains where your ridge is located."

"This is a huge surprise for everyone in the Huainan Military Governor's Office. As you know, those who can come to Huainan to serve as officials are all talents in the field of finance, and above them are the prime ministers of the imperial court. So everything is for the sake of making money."

"But Huainan has been managed for hundreds of years. Apart from the tea tax established a hundred years ago, Huainan has squeezed out everything it could and couldn't squeeze. But the court's demands are getting more and more. Especially in recent years, with the Pang Xun Rebellion, all the expenses have been covered by Huainan. So now, suddenly, such a large sum of money has appeared, and the court doesn't even know about it yet. What do you think will happen?"

Zhao Huai'an never expected that a gold mine would be found in his hometown. What should have been a windfall turned into a calamity for the Zhao family.

These days, having money and connections is definitely not as good as having a knife in your hand.

He interjected:

"So my family's gold mine was seized by that Liu Ye?"

These words almost made Sun Pang roll his eyes. "That gold mine is at most near your ridge. If it were really inside your ridge, would your relatives still be alive?"

This Zhao Da is shameless enough; he wants to swallow up the gold mine with just one sentence.

But he could only think these things to himself; in front of Sun Pang, he directly betrayed Liu Ye:
"Most of it belonged to him. When the gold mine was discovered, it was still small. The Liu brothers donated it as income, and it ended up in Liu Ye's hands. That's when they realized it was a huge gold mine. But Liu Ye probably only got a small share. Over the years, he has distributed a lot of money to various prefectures. The governors all know about it to some extent. Then he distributed some to the farmers in Chang'an. As for how much he got, nobody knows."

Zhao Huai'an, however, astutely grasped this point and frowned as he asked:

"You mean he distributed the money among the governors of Huainan?"

This is not a good situation. He originally thought that Liu Ye, who came to Huai'an as the military governor, could not have any real power base. So he was prepared to test this man and let him see the power of an arrogant governor.

But this Liu fellow, as expected of a father and son who have both been involved in power struggles, is really good at forming cliques. He started by distributing money to the various governors below him. How could his position not be stable?

Damn it, I can't be Liu Ye's ancestor for now!

Zhao Huai'an was also able to take things in stride. Since the gold mine couldn't be recovered, he asked:
"Oh, so money is being distributed to all the governors? I'm a governor too, so shouldn't I get some money as well?"

Upon hearing this, Sun Pang felt much more at ease. He was more afraid of people asking for money than of those asking for a share, so he volunteered to take on the task, patting his chest and saying to Zhao Huai'an:

“Lord Zhao, I will handle this matter. After you take office, I dare not say more, but you will definitely receive three to five thousand strings of cash a year without any problem.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Huai'an was secretly surprised. Was the mine really that big? People like Liu Ye would be keeping it a secret from the court and hoarding the gold, so they certainly wouldn't be mining on a large scale. But even if they were mining it secretly, they could still get 120 taels of gold a year. This made him even more interested in the gold mine.

But the time wasn't right, so he had to settle for second best. Zhao Da patted Sun Pang on the shoulder and said affectionately:

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Old Sun. I haven't made any connections with Commander Liu yet, and I haven't taken up my post in Guang Prefecture. I'll have to wait until I'm in Andu Prefecture to pay my respects to him. So I'll need you to put in a good word for me during this time!"

Now Zisun Pang was completely relaxed, and he laughed heartily:

"We're family, so let's not stand on ceremony. Leave this to me, and I'll make sure it's a success."

And so the two walked out of the abandoned house arm in arm, leaving the simple-minded Zhao family members completely bewildered.

Seeing his three younger brothers looking foolish, Zhao cursed:
"What are you looking at? Come and greet your Uncle Sun!"

Sun Pang was only stunned for a moment before accepting the three Zhao brothers' bows with a smile. He then patted his body and finally took out a jade ring, a belt, and a pouch, which he bestowed upon the three brothers.

Zhao Huai'an nodded, thinking to himself that this Magistrate Sun knew how to handle people. Meanwhile, after the Zhao family members cleared the weeds from the graves, they returned with Zhao Shi and called Zhao Da and his brothers to go and pay respects to their ancestors.

……

The first place Zhao Huai'an and his family took him to was his grandfather's grave.

If Zhao's family hadn't told him, Zhao Huai'an would never have recognized that this almost flattened earthen slope was his grandfather's grave.

There was neither a monument nor a mound; it was extremely shabby and desolate.

In fact, Zhao Huai'an also realized that his family was indeed quite poor. Today, only about twenty people came with his mother to welcome him, most of whom were Zhao Huai'an's direct cousins.

As for the others, they had no clothes and stayed huddled in the shed. It was only later that Zhao Huai'an found out and arranged for some clothes to be provided from Huo County.

This is the standard of living for his clansmen.

He also discovered that the family generally had few children, many men, and even fewer girls. At first, when Zhao Huai'an heard Ding Hui say that their family could produce over a hundred men, he thought it was a large family. After all, considering that able-bodied men accounted for 20% of the total population, their family must have had at least five hundred people.

But when he led his relatives back to Xinghualing to pay respects to their ancestors, he counted the number of people and found that, including the elderly and children, there were less than three hundred in total.

Only then did Zhao Huai'an realize that when Ding Hui said he could "pull a hundred or so men," he really meant exactly what he meant by "men."

So that's the situation the family is in. No wonder they can't even hold onto their land. If there were hundreds or thousands of people, even if the county officials came, they would have to fight them to find out. At the very least, they would have to get enough compensation from the county government. They wouldn't be like refugees huddled in a shack outside the city.

With a sigh, Zhao Huai'an was about to give orders when County Magistrate Sun Pang stepped forward and reprimanded the county officials in front of his family:

"How do you handle things? Although the imperial decree posthumously granting posthumous honors to Governor Zhao's ancestors has not yet been issued, you should at least get things done first! How can you do things like this?"

After reprimanding his subordinates, Sun Pang sidled up to Zhao Shi and fawned over her:

“Madam Zhao, this is something we should have arranged. My brother Zhao is now a fourth-rank official, so according to the posthumous conferment of titles on two generations, his grandfather can be posthumously conferred a fifth rank, with a grave nine feet high, a burial plot of fifty paces, and a stele eight feet high. Moreover, because my eldest son made outstanding contributions in the national war, he is even more distinguished, so a pair of stone sheep and a pair of stone tigers can be placed in front of the grave, and an eight-foot spirit path stele can be erected.”

Zhao didn't understand these etiquette rules, but when she heard that her grandfather's grave was to be repaired by the county, tears welled up in her eyes.

That day, she felt extremely unreal, as if it were all a dream, and she would wake up as soon as she fell asleep.

But Sun Pang had no idea why Lady Zhao was weeping. He even said:
"Madam Zhao, are you crying with joy just because of this? Your late husband, my elder brother whom I've never met, has an even better grave! He was a fourth-rank official, and he'll be posthumously granted the same rank. His grave will be twelve feet long, with a burial plot of sixty paces, and adorned with stone sheep and tigers. If all goes well, there will also be stone figures and horses, and a spirit path stele. It will be a truly honorable and grand funeral. So, Madam Zhao, why are you crying? The best days are yet to come."

Zhao was overjoyed. She wiped away her tears and said to Sun Pang:

"Then we really have to thank our parents."

This direct remark made Sun Pang jump up and down, and he quickly waved his hands:
"I dare not thank you. This is what my eldest son fought his way through on the battlefield. Madam Zhao, you have no idea how fierce your son is. With only two hundred cavalry, he charged into the tens of thousands of troops of Nanzhao and even beheaded the king of Nanzhao in one battle. Not to mention now, even in the past, there were not many people with such martial arts skills as my eldest son."

Zhao's mind was reeling. Upon hearing that her eldest son was leading hundreds of men to fight to the death, she pointed her halberd at Zhao Da and roared:

"Come here, kneel down, kneel before your father's grave!"

Zhao Huai'an was dumbfounded. He looked around and saw that his brothers had all turned their faces away and were looking elsewhere. Some of the more clever ones had already shrunk back several steps. Only then did he feel a little better.

With a pained expression, Zhao Huai'an walked up to Zhao Shi:
"Mother, I am also a soldier commander. Please give me some dignity. How can you make me kneel in public?"

This time, Zhao really cried. She pounded her fist on Zhao Da and cursed:

"You risk your life so recklessly out there. How can you face your father and your mother who carried you for ten months and gave birth to you? Since you left, I've been living in constant fear, afraid that you'll die out there and never even know how to come home. Waaah, I know you're determined to work hard for fame and fortune, but please think more about things in the future. Your mother is here for you!"

Zhao Huai'an's eyes reddened instantly, and he knelt on the ground to kowtow to Zhao Shi:
“Mother, your son has been unfilial. Your brothers will take care of you in your old age and see you off in your final days. I, Zhao Da, will not be able to be by your bedside to fulfill my filial duty. Now, I bear the responsibility not only for our small family, but also for the large family of many brothers. I will never be reckless or impulsive again, but when it comes to risking my life, I must step forward, because I also have a family behind me!”

Zhao was stunned, Sun Pang was stunned, and all the Zhao family members were stunned. Only Ding Hui and other villagers on the periphery, as well as a group of Baoyi Army generals, Tuqi and Beiwei soldiers, were filled with excitement.

We'll drink from this golden cup together, and never forget each other in our wealth and honor.

This is truly my Lord!
At this moment, it was as if Zhao was seeing her eldest son for the first time. Looking at his determined eyes and the group of heroes who had always followed him outside, she was moved for the first time.

"Perhaps the fortune teller was right all along! His father's wealth and honor were indeed destined for his eldest son!"

Zhao was filled with mixed feelings. She knew her son was right and could see that he would definitely do it, but he was, after all, her son, the one she had raised to sixteen! If possible, how could she be willing for her son to risk his life for someone else?

She couldn't say anything more, and could only sigh:

"Eldest son, you have now established yourself as the head of the household. This family depends on you to make the decisions. Think things through carefully and don't act impulsively. As for what you want to do, your mother will support you, and the whole family will support you!"

Zhao Huai'an shouted, kowtowed three times to Zhao Shi, and then stood up happily.

He snorted at Sun Pang, who was standing there in a daze:
"Old Sun, stop lying. Where do you think you can afford to repair an official's grave? I'll pay for it. Do you think I, Zhao Da, need to pay for my ancestral grave? What do you take me for? However, what you just said made my mother cry and even made us kowtow three times. I'll ask you to take care of my ancestral grave for three years as an apology. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

Sun Pang did not respond; his gaze was unfocused as he pondered Zhao Da's words.

Who exactly is this Zhao Huai'an?

Sun Pang did not have a distinguished family background. He only managed to get into Liu Ye's staff by relying on his skills accumulated over the years in Chang'an, and then went to Huainan with him.

He originally thought he could make enough money in Huainan so he could retire in Chang'an, live a life of comfort and ease, and be buried in the western suburbs after his death.

But he spent half his life savings and finally managed to find a place to live, and came to Huo County to become the county magistrate.

But when he arrived, he discovered that the people there were truly poor! He couldn't get anything out of them no matter how hard he tried, but the local powerful families didn't dare to exploit him. In the end, he could only try to start a tea business.

But he soon became involved in the Huo County gold mine affair. As the local official, he was allocated fifty taels of gold per year, all of which went into his pocket.

But as soon as he received the first year's money, he encountered Zhao Da, who was returning home in glory. This man was unreasonable and rude, threatening him and even holding a knife to him. He was an old man who was almost forty years old. Could he withstand such intimidation?

This person even killed people, beheaded them, threw the heads on the ground, and then started drumming and dancing. Is this a normal person?

Fortunately, this person was reasonable and understood the bigger picture. He knew that the gold mine was the private wealth of many officials in Huainan, so he didn't cause any more trouble.

But all of these impressions were overturned by Sun Pang after Zhao Huai'an finished speaking to his mother. This was no ordinary person, no, this was a hero!
Sun Pang had spent most of his life in Chang'an and had never seen anyone like him before!

Suddenly, he looked up at Zhao Huai'an and said:

"Brother, let alone three years, even if it's thirty years, I've already looked at your family's ancestral graves."

Zhao Huai'an paused for a moment, then slowly nodded:
"If you could live another thirty years, what would it matter if I showed it to you!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Pang laughed, then ran back and began shouting to the villagers and town guards who had followed him:
“We’ve finished repairing Zhao Dalang’s grave! Go back and take your tools with you, then go and call for more people. The county will provide meals, and Zhao Dalang will pay for everything.”

So the villagers and laborers all looked at Zhao Huai'an, wondering what was going on.

Zhao Huai'an laughed heartily, pointed forward, and exuded boundless pride:
"Today, Young Master Zhao will pay the bill! He'll repair my family's grave. Everyone who comes will be provided with food and wine, and each person will receive 500 coins. If the repairs are completed today, I'll give everyone another 500 coins!"

Then he turned to Ding Hui and said:
"Go to the nearby village and buy five pigs and thirty sheep. If you can't buy them, go to the county. Today, let's drink until we drop on the ridge with our fellow villagers!"

Ding Hui nodded happily, and then led Guo Liang and the others on horseback to buy it.

This caused the villagers to cheer, celebrating Zhao Da's success in making his way out of our hometown!

Hey, this Zhao Da, he really knows how to get things done!

The Zhao family's ancestral graves are emitting auspicious smoke!
(End of this chapter)