Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 145 Arrival
That day, after the news spread, people from all around Xinghualing, spanning twenty or thirty miles, came to visit.

They could eat meat and drink wine just by repairing a grave, and even receive a string of cash. It was such a great thing that they would come even if stones fell from the sky.

And so, the small ridge was teeming with people, and more and more people from even farther places heard the news and rushed here as well.

Zhao Da's reputation also changed from his previous reputation for being impeccable in his work to the later one where people said, "The eldest son of the Zhao family in Xinghualing has returned. He made a fortune outside and is going to repair the ancestors' graves. He's just a fool with lots of money. Come quickly!"

But most of these people are destined not to make it, because a person can only walk thirty or forty miles a day.

As for the large number of people who came to the ridge, Zhao Huai'an welcomed them all and even sent people to buy pigs and sheep. He also had the village women prepare a large feast, and then the men, under the command of the Bao Yidu team leaders, began to level the cemetery.

The Zhao family has only lived on this ridge for about seventy or eighty years. Anything earlier has not been passed down, so by Zhao Huai'an's generation, only three generations have passed. His great-grandfather, grandfather, and father are all buried on this land.

However, apart from the first two generations, the earliest generation no longer recognizes the cemetery, and some of the collateral branches have died out, so no one can even remember the most recent generation.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Huai'an moved all the unclaimed graves to one place, built a family temple next to it, selected a few honest and law-abiding people as temple keeper, and then made plaques for all the unclaimed ancestors according to the family genealogy and enshrined them in the temple.

This can't be done now, so I can only ask Lao Sun for help.

Yes, in Zhao Huai'an's words, the former magistrate of Huo County, Sun Pang, had become the respected Old Sun.

Old Sun remembered this matter, and when he returned to the county, he would find someone to build a temple there, and he was happy to do it.

After all, after Zhao Huai'an moved his clansmen away, he actually left behind a small piece of land on this ridge as a burial area, and then he no longer had to worry about the secret of the gold mine deeper in Huoshan.

Little did he know that he would definitely get what Zhao Huai'an had his eye on; it was just that the situation was not right now, which was why he hadn't opened his mouth wide.

Zhao Huai'an was never short of fighting methods. When you want to get rid of someone, when they have many supporters, you need to put away your claws and subdue Shen Qiu. But once the enemy is in a minority situation, or even abandoned by everyone, that's when you strike hard!

After the unclaimed family members found a home, Zhao Huai'an mainly repaired the plot belonging to his direct descendants.

Leaving aside his grandfather's generation, there were three brothers in his father's generation. Zhao Da's father was the eldest and had four sons and two daughters. The second son died young without any offspring, and the third son had three sons and two daughters.

Therefore, Zhao Huai'an had eleven peers in his generation, which was considered a large and prosperous family for his generation.

Zhao Huai'an's mother's branch, that is, his maternal uncle's family, were not from Huo County, but from Haozhou, which is further east. They were said to be a large family that sold tea, and most of it was private tea.

At that time, Zhao Da's maternal uncle came to Huoshan with his maternal grandfather to purchase tea. When they reached Xinghualing, they saw that the Zhao family was a good family, so they betrothed Zhao Da's mother to Zhao Da's father, and that's how Zhao Da came to be.

In previous years, my uncle's family would come every year, but for some reason, they haven't come in recent years.

Among these direct relatives, only Zhao Huai'an's father had his tomb built tall because of Zhao Huai'an's official rank, while his two younger brothers had their tombs built according to the standards of commoners.

This inspired his two cousins ​​to make a name for themselves, at least to ensure that their father could also lie in such a large grave.

Because there were many people, and the Baoyi generals were in charge, it was easy for these people who usually led hundreds of men into battle to manage leveling a grave.

As darkness fell, the tombs of Zhao Huai'an's identifiable ancestors and his direct lineage father and uncles had already been repaired.

Some of the spirit tablets need the county's help to be made and have not yet been engraved, but a Zhao family ancestral tomb has already appeared on Xinghua Ridge in a decent manner.

……

As evening fell, the air on Xinghua Ridge was filled with the aroma of wine and meat. Hundreds of villagers from the surrounding ridge, along with Zhao Huai'an's cavalry, Beiwei, and people from the county brought by Sun Pang, gathered around the bonfire and began to sing and laugh.

Zhao was especially happy today, and she specially asked her youngest son to dig out the apricot blossom wine buried in Lingshan.

There are twenty-two urns, all buried in the ground by Zhao Da's father when each of his children was born. The oldest one is now twenty-one years old.

He had calculated that Zhao Da would drink four jars when he got married, his eldest sister would drink six jars when she got married, his second brother would drink two jars when he got married, his third brother would drink two more jars when he got married, his fourth brother would drink two more jars when he got married, and the remaining six jars would be drunk when his youngest sister got married.

Zhao Da's father was a reasonable man. As the pillar of the family, Da Lang absolutely had to have plenty of good wine and drinks on his wedding day.

The two daughters were getting married, and their future success or failure depended on their husbands' families, so they had to make sure their in-laws had a good feast on their wedding day. Therefore, each of them kept six jars of wine.

As for his three sons, leaving two urns for each of them was already a sign of the father's love.

Now, all the wine has been taken out by Zhao, and the old lady has a strong intuition that they will not be coming back here for a long time.

So let's just drink these wines. After all, the whole family is together today, so let's drink good wine!

So when Zhao Huaitai, Zhao Huaide, and Zhao Huaibao brought out the sealed wine, the villagers on the ridge were overjoyed. Everyone knew about the apricot blossom wine from Xinghua Ridge, but they hadn't been able to drink it since the apricot blossoms withered and died.

I never expected to be able to enjoy this wine again tonight; today has been so wonderful.

After Zhao Huai'an learned that his father had buried the wine, he saw his mother going to see his father's tombstone and understood what his mother was thinking.

He thought for a moment and said to his three younger brothers and two younger sisters:

"Tonight is the time for our family to reunite, and we should drink this wine. But this wine is also reserved for your weddings, so each of you should carry one jar and keep it with you. When we arrive in Guangzhou, we will bury it in the ground. Then, when you get married, we will drink this wine."

My younger siblings are all very sensible. After all, life is like this, and they already know that family is everything.

So he listened to his elder brother and kept six urns, one of which was for his elder brother.

Over there, Zhao Huai'an saw his mother secretly wipe away her tears and then return with a smile. He then picked up a jar, broke the seal, and shouted:
"Come on, drink our Zhao family's wine! We won't leave until we're drunk tonight!"

Wine itself never intoxicates; what truly intoxicates is the emotion within it, the story behind it.

The night reached its climax as each jar of apricot blossom wine was opened.

The mountain people of Huo County are naturally unruly, especially after drinking alcohol. Their unrestrained and free spirit is fully unleashed, and the sounds of hand drums and work chants can be heard everywhere.

Nading then began to sing folk songs again:

"Hey...yoho!"

"The emperor sits on the golden throne, while I lie atop the green peaks."

"No matter how many imperial edicts are issued, they cannot change the one-foot-high sky in the mountains."

"I will not kneel before the golden steps in life, nor envy the immortals in death!"

"With brothers and a pot of wine, I don't care what year it is!"

"Hey!"

Under the night sky, countless people from Huoshan drank and sang, dancing to their songs.

They shouted:

"With brothers and a pot of wine, I don't care what year it is!"

……

Sun Pang watched the mountain people singing and dancing by the campfire. To be honest, he couldn't hear what they were singing, but the boldness and freedom in their voices were unmistakable. No wonder this place could produce a hero like Zhao Da.

What a wonderful place! It's truly my good fortune to be the magistrate here!

Thinking it over, he took another sip of the apricot blossom wine in his cup and sighed:
"What a pity, why have the apricot blossoms on this ridge withered?"

Then he stood up directly from the mat, walked to the center of the dance floor, and in front of his subordinates and the county people, suddenly acted boldly:

"You worthless fools, let me show you the dance of Chang'an!"

After saying this, Sun Pang let out a long howl, as if releasing the resentment and helplessness in his heart. Then he pointed at Zhao Liu and Ding Hui and asked:

"Do you know how to play the transverse flute, string and wind instruments, iron pipa, and small jiegu drum?"

Ding was dumbfounded, but Zhao Liu was worldly-wise. After all, he was from Qishan in Guanzhong, so how could he not know about the popular dance in Chang'an, the Hu Teng dance?

So he briefly explained to Ding Hui that he should use his ventriloquism to make the sound of a transverse flute, while he picked up the hand drum that Zhao Huai'an had used during the day and began to chant.

As the ventriloquism and drumming began, Sun Pang downed the wine in his cup in one gulp. Suddenly, he leaped and bounded, kicking and twisting his waist with wide, sweeping movements that were unlike anything a man in his thirties could do.

The clean and crisp movements and rhythmic dance steps left the Huoshan people in awe. They were just dancing randomly, doing it on a whim, and had never seen anything so professional.

Their leaps and bounds, their kicks and stomps—every movement was so powerful and so infectious!
This was also the first time Zhao Huai'an had seen this. Back then, he thought Xianyu Yue's Tage dance was good, but now this old Sun's Huteng dance was even better.

I never expected that Old Sun, who works in finance, would have such talent. His dance was truly amazing!
Indeed, everyone has their own story.

At this moment, Sun Pang, who was in the center of the crowd, jumped faster and faster, as if he had forgotten the suffocating atmosphere in Chang'an, the petty scheming in the officialdom of Huainan, and his own obsequiousness and cautiousness.

At this moment, he was as graceful as an immortal, like a free butterfly, displaying his remaining simplicity and purity!
At that moment, Zhao Huai'an and the others, who were inspired by him, also started singing together, calling out Sun Pang's name.

When the music ended, the drums stopped, the singing stopped, and the dancing stopped. Sun Pang felt dizzy, and in the last rays of the moonlight, he smiled at the crowd:
"This apricot blossom wine is good, but it makes you drunk quickly, unlike the wine from my West Market in Chang'an."

Then he sang loudly:

"Gentlemen, have you heard the poem, 'Fine wine in a luminous cup, I long to drink but the pipa urges me on, drunk on the battlefield, do not laugh at me, for how many have returned from ancient battles?'"

"Don't laugh at him, for how many have returned from ancient battles?"

After finishing his song, Sun Pang went straight to sleep.

The group of people left behind burst into laughter.

The moonlight is so beautiful tonight! Chang'an has its own charm, after all! But ultimately, it belongs to only a few!

……

Tonight, some Huoshan villagers thought Sun Pang danced well, but others thought he danced like a drunken monkey in the mountains, gesturing wildly.

But deep down, all the people of Huoshan felt a sense of unreality; they could also drink and dance with their own county magistrate.

This magistrate seems like a good man!
After the drinking session ended, Zhao Huai'an went to his father's grave alone. His wife and younger siblings watched from a distance, and no one went up to disturb him.

No one knows what Zhao Da said or laughed at his father's grave, but when he returned, looking at the crowd of fellow villagers, relatives, and comrades, he burst into laughter:
"Keep watch, get some sleep, we'll depart for Shouzhou tomorrow!"

Once the military order was given, the cavalry and the guards took turns patrolling the ridge, each performing their duties in an orderly manner. This little bit of wine tonight would not make these warriors slack off.

In the very center, Zhao Huai'an was sleeping soundly in the tent.

……

The following day, Zhao Huai'an personally distributed money to his fellow villagers, telling them that if they ever needed anything, they should go to Guangzhou to find Zhao Da, and that he would support them.

Hundreds of villagers, carrying bundles of copper coins and a few pieces of leftover meat from yesterday, bowed to the Zhao family before returning home.

As they traveled through the mountains, Zhao Da seemed to hear songs drifting from the valleys from time to time:
"With brothers and a pot of wine, I don't care what year it is!"

Zhao Huai'an bid farewell to Sun Pang and the others here, asking them to help him get money from the military governor Liu Ye, and also to take better care of the ancestral graves here, as some family temples and spirit tablets still need to be repaired.

Finally, Zhao Huai'an led his relatives, friends, and cavalrymen towards Shou County in the northeast.

……

With a carriage and horses, the two hundred li journey can be completed in three days.

At this time, Bao Yidu's fleet had been stationed on the Fei River southwest of Shou County for two days.

As soon as Zhao Huai'an's chariot and horse team entered Shou County, the prefectural cavalry rushed over to help guide them. Then, at each stop, they were received and treated with the utmost courtesy.

So when Zhao Huai'an and his party arrived outside Shou County, Yan Zhang, the governor of Shou Prefecture, had already been waiting for them for a long time with his officials, subordinates, and military officers.

From afar, Zhao Huai'an spotted a crimson-clad man under the umbrella, wearing a silver fish-shaped pouch, with a bound man beside him. Upon seeing him, the man shouted loudly from a distance:

"Is it 'Hu Baoyi' Zhao Dalang?"

Zhao Huai'an's heart skipped a beat. He felt that this governor had the demeanor of a military man, so he asked Yuan Xi beside him:
"Mr. Yuan, is this Prefect Yan also from a military background?"

Yuan Xi nodded:

"Yes, he was a meritorious person who quelled the Pang Xun Rebellion back then, and he was from Mizhou."

Zhao Huai'an was taken aback for a moment, then asked:
"Was this guy in the Yanzhou Navy before?"

Yuan Xi nodded, and Zhao Huai'an then called Liu Xin over and asked:

"This Governor Yan is from the Yanhai Army. Have you seen him?"

Liu Xin looked at it from afar and felt it was somewhat familiar. He said to Zhao Huai'an:

"My lord, if this man is from Mizhou, then he should be Yan Zhang, the former general of the Mo Dao. It is said that he is a descendant of Yan Hui, but I don't know if that's true or not. What is certain is that his ancestors were from the Langya family, which is a prominent family in this dynasty. Later, he made great contributions in suppressing the Pang Xun Rebellion and was promoted. I didn't expect him to come to Shouzhou as the governor."

Upon hearing Liu Xin's introduction, Zhao Huai'an was surprised and doubtful; this man was indeed a fierce general.

While he was thinking, the cavalry quickly reached the outskirts of the city. Zhao Huai'an was not an unreasonable person. He reined in his warhorse a few dozen paces away, but did not dismount.

Yan Zhang, on the other hand, did not mind at all taking the initiative to greet them, and came to pick up Zhao Da and the others with an umbrella and ceremonial guard.

After surveying the entire arena, Zhao Huai'an dismounted, and Yan Zhang's first words were:
"I've long heard from Lao Tian about how formidable a hero from Shouzhou is in Xichuan. Now that I've met you, the military commander known as Hu Baoyi, you truly live up to your reputation!"

Then, Yan Zhang introduced himself:

"Yan Zhang from Langya is now the governor of Shouzhou, haha."

Zhao Huai'an glanced at the man and thought to himself:

"Langya has been abandoned, yet this person still claims to be from a prominent prefecture during the Han Dynasty!"

Thinking it over, Zhao Huai'an also bowed respectfully. After all, with Tian Chongyin's connection, the two of them were now considered to have a relationship.

After Yan Zhang introduced himself, he pulled out a man from behind him and angrily said:

"This man is a military advisor under someone's patron. He's the one who ruined your family's property, Zhao Da. Today, you can do whatever you want with him. It's just a pity that when I went to get that pig butcher Wang Xu, he had already gotten the news and ran away."

"But don't worry, brother. I've set up checkpoints everywhere. Once this person is found, he will be captured. Under my rule, there is no place for such a beast who harms and cruels the people."

Zhao Huai'an's mind was racing; he didn't completely trust Yan Zhang in front of him.

After all, no matter what this person said, in the end he just made up a scapegoat, and Wang Xu got away with it.

This is a case of all bark and no bite; we'll have to continue observing what their true intentions are.

So Zhao Huai'an kept making polite remarks and said with a smile:

"Hey, it's all a misunderstanding. The land in Xinghua Ridge is ruined; even planting apricots there will kill them. What's the point? I've brought my relatives here and taken them all to Guangzhou to live a good life. As for the Liu brothers who caused trouble, they were executed for illegally possessing crossbows. So let's just let it go. After all, I don't exterminate the Manchu people so easily."

Yan Zhang seemed not to have caught the threat in Zhao Huai'an's voice, and instead nodded and said:
“Those Liu brothers deserve to die, but Magistrate Huo has done a good job, and I will definitely report him to the authorities. As for this advisor, since you, Zhao Da, are not going to pursue the matter, then kill him.”

Zhao Huai'an was about to nod, but when he heard "killed," he paused for a moment, and then saw a warrior wearing a tight-sleeved Hu robe cut off the head of the advisor with a single stroke.

Blood spurted out right next to Zhao Huai'an, highlighting Zhao Da's gloomy face.

Is this person trying to intimidate us?
Before Zhao Da could seize the opportunity to lash out, Yan Zhang, acting as if nothing had happened, suddenly told him something:

"Two months ago, Wang Ying, the garrison commander of Langshan Town in western Zhejiang, rebelled. I estimate that Huainan will soon be sent to quell the rebellion. At that time, I will have to compete with you on the battlefield!"

Zhao Huai'an raised an eyebrow and asked:
"Didn't our troops quell the rebellion in western Zhejiang? Why would they need our help?"

At this moment, Yan Zhang chuckled and mocked:
"Western Zhejiang is good at making money, but suppressing rebellions? Are they even proper military men? In the end, we have to rely on ourselves for this kind of thing."

After saying that, Yan Zhang slapped his forehead and said:
"Hey, what are you still saying? Let's eat and chat in Rucheng."

But Zhao Huai'an, gazing at the imposing city of Shouzhou in the distance, suddenly laughed:

"Alright, it's enough that we know you, Old Yan. We won't drink anymore; we need to hurry back to Guang Prefecture! I'm afraid the governor will blame us for the delay."

After saying this, Zhao Huai'an clasped his hands in a fist salute, instructed the cavalry to escort his relatives to the ship, and then rode away.

Only Yan Zhang and his civil and military officials from Shouzhou were left looking at each other in bewilderment.

Yan Zhang smiled and called out:

"Let's go, they don't trust us! Haha!"

After saying that, he rode back to the city.

Soon after receiving Zhao Huai'an and his group, Wang Jin and the others, who had already sensed something was wrong, immediately ordered them to set sail.

We cannot stay in Shouzhou!

Ten days later, Bao Yidu's fleet sailed upstream along the Huai River and finally arrived in Guangzhou.

When they disembarked at the ferry crossing north of Gwangju, their journey down the Yangtze River, which had lasted for more than two months, finally came to an end.

This hilly state has finally welcomed its new master!
(End of this chapter)