Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 152 Remnants
It is located 20 li southwest of Guangshan County, at the Huangshui ferry crossing.

In the summer, amidst bamboo groves and mountain forests, nestled among rolling hills, lies a manor, with the Huangshui River to its left and rolling hills to its right—a truly tranquil retreat.

The owner of this estate is surnamed Xu. He manages the tea garden on Houqiu and is the leading tea gardener in Guangshan County. Every day during the tea harvest season, you can see people coming down from the Huai River and passing through the Huang River to arrive at the dock, where they load up loads of tea and ship them out.

However, the spring tea season has already ended, and at this moment there are only two or three small boats at the dock that can navigate the river channels, and no other boats.

In contrast to the desolation at the dock, the manor at the foot of the hills not far away was bustling with activity. All sorts of people gathered at the manor's tea plantation, drinking and shouting, numbering no less than several hundred at a glance.

Inside the hall, more than forty people dressed in robes of various colors, and many even wearing leather armor, were exchanging cups and drinks, exuding a strong sense of banditry.

At the head of the table, a bearded man in a black robe was drinking, while a servant in hemp clothing pleaded beside him:
"Xu Qu, you must save our eldest son! He's been taken away by the authorities, and the old lady is so worried she's almost passed out. You and our eldest son are usually very close, and now he's going to be imprisoned and sent to the authorities for questioning. You must save him!"

This bearded man in black robes was the owner of this place, named Xu Ying, the third son in his family, and most people called him Xu Sanlang.

He also had another identity: a notorious river bandit who commanded over a hundred fierce men who roamed the river, killing and plundering merchants. He was known as the "Water Immortal."

These thieves also smuggled salt. They brought sea salt from Huaidong to Guangzhou to sell. Hundreds of settlements in the mountains, from Guangshan in the north to Macheng in the west to Susong in the south and Lujiang in the east, all consumed the salt they smuggled.

He then used the looted goods, gold and pearls, and mountain settlements to exchange for tea, which he then steamed and packed at this manor. Finally, he went directly to the neighboring dock to load the tea onto a ship, which then sailed along the Huangshui River into the Huai River and was sent to the Central Plains.

The fact that he controls such a vast trade network demonstrates his wealth and power. Although there are only a few hundred people in his manor, given enough time, he can summon thousands of people from the mountains.

Can local authorities control such heroes and thieves? If they dare not, then naturally some people will flock to them and make a fortune together.

The person who came to seek Xu Ying's help at this time was one of his inside agents at the patrol station, named Jiang Dalang. He was a patrol officer at the Huangshui Patrol Station and also had twenty or thirty small boats under his command.

This man had been giving Xu Ying information all along. Whenever he spotted a large ship passing by, he would report it to Xu Ying, who would then hijack the ship and share the spoils with Inspector Jiang.

Xu Ying was originally happy today, otherwise he wouldn't have held such a grand banquet at the manor. There were two reasons for his happiness.

One is that the spring tea sold is quite profitable, and there is also a batch of summer tea later, which, although not as good as the spring tea, will still bring in some money.

Secondly, his new concubine gave birth to a healthy baby boy, bringing his total number of sons to six, making the Xu family increasingly prosperous.

But after eating for half a day, the servant of the Jiang family came running over crying, wanting him to go and rescue Inspector Jiang.

Frustrated, Xu Ying slammed his wine cup on the table and cursed at the still-weeping servant:
"Stop crying! Your eldest son has turned his heart upside down. He made mountains of gold and silver from me, and then stole a little tax money from the fields. Now the state government has taken it all. Who can he blame but himself!"

The servant was so angered by the scolding that he choked and immediately knelt on the ground, crying:
“Xu Qu, the old lady said, how could the prefecture arrest our eldest son just because he stole a little land? It must be because of your business dealings with Xu Qu that he suffered this disaster! Yesterday morning, the county called our eldest son to collect this month's salary. Since people from the prefecture came, they asked our eldest son to come in person to accompany them at the banquet. But our eldest son didn't come back. In the afternoon, he was taken to the prefecture in a prison cart.”

Who is Xu Ying? Would he be swayed by such words? He kicked the servant away and cursed:
"So, that Chiang Kai-shek evaded taxes, got caught, and is blaming me? Get lost. We're in a good mood today, otherwise I would have given you a few lashes."

The servant panicked, instinctively glancing at a man in blue on his left, then continued to cry and beg for mercy:
“Xu Qu, our eldest son didn’t commit this crime, but once he gets to the prefecture, he might not be able to handle it and tell everyone. Wouldn’t that implicate you, Xu Qu? Our eldest son’s prison cart hasn’t gone far yet. If we catch up and rescue him, we can go back to the mountains together and save ourselves some trouble.”

These words made Xu Ying hesitate, as the servant's words made some sense.

It was at this moment that the man in blue on the lower left shouted:
"Sanlang, what this kid said makes sense. Moreover, I heard that the new governor is ruthless. He killed half of the fierce soldiers from Xuzhou in the prefecture. Such a person is probably not easy to deal with!"

Hearing this person speak, Xu Ying cursed back:

"So what if he's ruthless? What can he do to us brothers? That governor may control everything under heaven, but can he control what we brothers eat and wear?"

The man in blue chuckled and replied:
"Isn't it better to avoid trouble? Anyway, we brothers are having a good time drinking, so let's ride our mules to chase after them, kill the county magistrates, and dump them in the mountains. Who knows who did it?"

Xu Ying was pondering this matter and was about to speak when a valiant and fierce warrior wearing leather armor and a red forehead band suddenly clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xu Ying and said:
“Sanlang, since we brothers are all at the manor today, why don’t we go and attack Guangshan County? We burned down the market of Wu Xuanzhang, the magistrate of Guangshan, a few days ago, and then we heard that he went to welcome the new governor. He might have reported this to the governor.”

Xu Ying frowned and asked:
"So what if he reported it? How could Wu Xuanzhang know who burned down the market? Would the prefecture even care about this?"

The red-browed warrior sighed inwardly and explained:
"Sanlang, that's not how it is. What we do isn't a secret. Eight out of ten tea-trading boats on the Huangshui River belong to us. Those people aren't stupid; how could they not know what we do? As for burning down Wu Xuanzhang's market, we tea smugglers are the prime suspects. The reason the magistrate pretended not to see it is because we are powerful."

“But the Prefect Zhao who has come now is no ordinary man. It’s been said on the streets that this prefect is Zhao Da, the chivalrous hero from Huoshan four years ago. He committed a crime and fled to Xichuan. This spring, he was appointed Prefect of Guang Prefecture for his meritorious service in beheading the chieftain of the Nanzhao bandits. He has taken office with several thousand soldiers. In how many years has it been since we in the Jianghuai region have seen a prefect with so many soldiers? How can this man be afraid of us?”

Xu Ying also knew about this matter, and his heart sank. He hesitated and said:
"Xiao Yang, you're not an outsider, just tell me directly, what will happen to that guy surnamed Zhao?"

This man surnamed Yang is named Yang Shihou. Although he is from Yingzhou, his father and brother were both followers of Pang Xun. Four years ago, Pang Xun was defeated and killed. The remnants of Xu's bandits gathered in the villages and became a group of bandits, scattered between Yan, Yun, Qing and Qi.

In fact, it wasn't just Yang Shihou who was like this; seven or eight out of ten people in the hall were like this, including Xu Ying. Moreover, Xu Ying's father was Xu Ji, a general in Pang Xun's army back then.

Therefore, among the remnants of the Pang clan, Xu Ying was the strongest, and because he controlled salt and tea, he was also the richest, thus he was the de facto leader of the remnants.

At this moment, Yang Shihou was quite worried and said:
"I don't think Jiang Dalang's capture was a coincidence. Maybe Wu Xuanzhang hired Zhao Da to make a move against us. So instead of waiting for Zhao Da to come and attack, we should gather our troops now and attack Guangshan, catching him off guard."

But Yang Shihou's words caused the remaining members of the Pang clan who were drinking in the hall to burst into laughter. One of them, a lean man over six feet tall, directly addressed Yang Shihou:

"Old Yang, you must be dreaming. You've always been in Yingzhou, so you don't know, and we won't say anything to you. But listen carefully today, do you know how many brothers we have in Guangshan?"

Yang Shihou was indeed not usually in Guangshan; he was in charge of Yingzhou. This time, he came mainly because Xu Yingxiang had summoned him.

The one who would be so ruthless to him was named Zhang Ben. He was the cousin of Zhang Xingshi, one of the four men who mutinied in Guizhou. However, he hadn't participated much in the war back then. It wasn't until after Pang Xun's defeat, when the county went to the township to arrest people, that he ran away.

But just because he is Zhang Xingshi's cousin, he was made into Xu Yingdang's core group, and now he can boss people around.

So Yang Shihou raised his hand and smiled faintly:
"Oh? I really don't know that, I'll have to ask you."

This local bandit leader glanced at him dismissively. This self-proclaimed old retainer of the Pang faction increasingly disregarded the elders and their families. He spread his five fingers and shouted:
"Five thousand! We have five or six hundred men in the village right now, and several thousand more scattered in the mountains. With this kind of strength, would the government dare to mess with us? If we weren't living such a comfortable life, we would have already marched back to Xuzhou! We would have skinned those traitors alive and tortured them to death!"

Yang Shihou was also shocked when he heard the number. He did not expect Xu Ying to be so powerful. He only had a few dozen people in Yingzhou, and he could not even support them.

However, just as Yang Shihou was about to speak, Zhang Ben, who had finished reprimanding Yang Shihou, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xu Ying and said:

"Xu Kui, although what Old Yang said is not worth mentioning, attacking Guangshan County is a good idea. This year's summer taxes have just been collected, and the county warehouses are piled up like mountains. With our connections in Guangshan, once the troops arrive, we can break through the city in no time. Then we can plunder the treasury, kill that bastard Wu Xuanzhang, and take another group of people into the mountains. The tea plantations are growing bigger and bigger, and we are short of manpower!"

Xu Ying did not respond, but was seriously thinking about Zhang Ben's words.

How much could the summer taxes in Guangshan City amount to? At most, it would be a fortune, but that little bit of money wouldn't even register in his eyes.

What truly moved him was that phrase: "bringing the people of Guangshan County into the mountains to pick tea."

Only those who have sold tea know how exorbitant the profits are; even the leaves growing on the tree can be sold for money, which is more profitable than robbery.

So in recent years, they have committed fewer crimes in the Huai River area, also for fear of scaring away merchants and travelers.

However, there is one problem: picking tea is extremely labor-intensive, and the mountain huts only occasionally pick tea to exchange for salt or cloth. If you ask them to do more work, they might fight you to the death with a knife.

Therefore, if Xu Ying wants to expand and strengthen the tea sales industry, he must recruit a group of hardworking and capable people to go to the mountains.

Now, Zhang Ben's idea of ​​attacking the county seat can both vent his anger by killing the county magistrate who hindered the brothers from making money and solve the problem of insufficient manpower in the mountains.

Moreover, Xu Ying had another idea in mind: to test his skills against Zhao Da. He could use this incident to confront the governor and show them the rules of Guang Prefecture. After thinking it over, Xu Ying made up his mind, but since there were several other trusted warriors from allies present, he also asked for their opinions.

So he looked at the two people on his right and asked with a smile:

"Xiao Yang and Lao Zhang both suggested that we attack Guangshan County and make a big fuss. I wonder what you two brothers think."

A handsome man with fair skin, nearly eight feet tall, sat upright like a pine tree. He was the only one among those present wearing iron armor. He didn't stand, and calmly answered Xu Ying's question:

"We shouldn't say too much about this, but once they start attacking and plundering county towns, it's different from local plundering. Take Wang Xianzhi in the Central Plains, for example. He only made minor disturbances in Puyang and Caozhou, and the prefectures and counties didn't care. But now that they've taken Caozhou, look, even Xue Chong, the military governor of Tianping Army, has led troops to suppress them. I wonder if Xu Qu is prepared for this?"

When this man said this, Xu Ying's expression turned ugly. A man standing nearby, observing the situation, pointed at the armored warrior and shouted:
“Wang Qianyu, you were once a military officer in Xuzhou. Don’t think that just because you surrendered to the court with Zhuge Shuang, you are now government officials! In the eyes of the people of Chang’an, once a thief, always a thief. But in our eyes, no matter how much of a bandit Wang Xianzhi is, as long as he fights the court, he is a hero! How dare you say such a thing?”

Seeing that a quarrel was about to break out, a man sitting behind Wang Qianyu, with half of his hair wrapped in a red scarf, his eyes narrowed to slits and a smile plastered on his face, quickly stood up to intervene:
"Hey, we're all brothers. Don't let Wang Xianzhi ruin our brotherhood. Old Wang, you're something else. These are all your old comrades-in-arms. How can you be so distant?"

As he said this, the man then addressed Xu Ying, who was bowing respectfully above him:
"Xu Qu, we've come here on behalf of our troops to congratulate you. No matter how lowly we are, we're still wearing official robes. We can just listen to what you say, but if we help you with this, wouldn't that make us look like we're betraying you?"

Xu Ying nodded, not wanting to force the issue.

But the next man, who was also a tough subordinate of Xu Ying, was quite the smooth talker. Right in front of Xu Ying, he slammed his fist on the table and started cursing:

"You bald bastard, jumping around here, what right do you have to interrupt?"

The squinty-eyed man with only half a head of hair turned his head, looked at the other person, pointed at himself, and smiled:
"Hey, remember me, my name is Li Hanzhi, don't get the wrong person!"

Then, in the man's drunken stupor, a wine glass was smashed on his forehead, causing blood to spurt out.

Before the wailing could even begin, Li Hanzhi pounced on him, slapping him twice across the face, leaving the man's face red and swollen.

Only then did the others realize what had happened and separate the two.

As Li Hanzhi was being dragged away, he kicked him, still cursing under his breath:

"Do you have the right to interrupt when I'm talking to your commander? You disrespectful wretch, I'll give you a beating first. If you're still so arrogant, you'll get a few more punches from this humble monk."

Back at his seat, Li Hanzhi was still resentful. He clasped his hands in a fist salute to Xu Ying, who sat at the head of the table with a gloomy face:

“Xu Qu, I, Li Hanzhi, am indeed a nobody, but today in this hall, Lao Wang and I are not just the two of us, but represent our Military Commander. Your men are insulting me, are they insulting our Military Commander? And the Military Commander is here at your invitation, he is a guest. His insulting of the guest is an insult to you!”

The military commander they were referring to was none other than Zhuge Shuang. He was formerly a junior officer under Pang Xun, and only surrendered after Pang Xun's defeat and death. He was completely different from those who betrayed Pang Xun's faction.

This man is now the military commander of Ruzhou. Because he has business dealings with Xu Ying and they were comrades-in-arms in the past, he sent his two most trusted generals to Guang County to congratulate Xu Ying on his invitation.

Therefore, Li Hanzhi was absolutely right at this moment; the two of them represented Zhuge Shuang's face.

Understanding this, Xu Ying could no longer contain his anger, and he shouted outside:
"Drag this disgrace out and give him twenty lashes."

By this time, the man who had been beaten was completely sober and was about to get up to beat Li Hanzhi when he suddenly heard his commander say these words and shouted in disbelief:
"Commander, why did you whip us for this man?"

Seeing that this person was still stubbornly unrepentant, Xu responded to the hesitant troops and cursed them:
"Does my word no longer carry weight? Take Old Yao out and whip him! Whip him until he realizes his mistake!"

Upon hearing this, the man named Yao Xingzhong clasped his hands in a fist salute and shouted:

"No need, we can walk on our own!"

He then kicked over the table, walked outside to the hall, took off his clothes, and shouted:
"Come on, whip me, see if you yell 'Yay!' Hurry up and whip me!"

Soon the sound of whipping came from outside the hall, but the man named Yao Xingzhong didn't utter a sound.

At this moment, Li Hanzhi's expression changed, and he quietly sat down to the side, no longer attracting attention.

A silence fell over the hall.

At this moment, Yang Shihou, who had first mentioned attacking Guangshan County, spoke again. He said to the gloomy Xu Ying in a deep voice:
“Brother Wang is right. Once Qu attacks Guangshan, not only will the governor of Guang Prefecture come to suppress us, but the military governor of Huainan will also recruit troops to attack us. Rather than being unable to resist at that time, we should raise our banners and recruit troops directly, gathering all our old comrades and allies scattered in Jianghuai. Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao only raised a few thousand troops, but now they have captured Pu and Cao prefectures and have tens of thousands of troops. Even Xue Chong, the military governor of Tianping Army, has been defeated by Wang Xianzhi. If they can do it, then we are veterans of a hundred battles. Why can't we?”

When Yang Shihou said that Xue Chong, the military governor of Tianping Army, had been defeated, Wang Qianyu and Li Hanzhi were clearly surprised. They were unaware of this news and suddenly began to pay attention to the bandits they had previously paid little attention to.

Xu Ying remained expressionless as Yang Shihou continued:

"Now that Wang and Huang have risen from Cao and Pu, heroes from the Central Plains and Qing and Xu have followed them, and many of them were our former comrades. They have now joined Wang and Huang. Commander, we are clearly no less powerful than them, and we have a group of veterans and fierce generals from back then. How can we be inferior to them?"

"Why don't we just attack the prefectures and counties directly, and march back to Qing and Xu? Then we can coordinate with Wang and Huang from afar, and the court can still gather the various vassal states and encircle us like it did four years ago?"

At this moment, Xu Ying finally laughed, but the laugh grew colder and colder as he glared at Yang Shihou:
"Little Yang, do you think you're the only smart one and all the rest of us are fools? You were the one who suggested attacking Guangshan County, and now you're saying that if we attack Guangshan County we'll be wiped out, so you want us to raise the flag and rebel. Oh, why did you suggest attacking Guangshan in the first place? Just tell us to raise the flag and start a rebellion!"

"You keep mentioning Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao, are you perhaps defecting to them? Or have you taken their money to betray our brothers? Are you trying to get us to raise an army in Guangshan? Are you trying to draw away the Zhongwu Army's forces for Wang Xianzhi? You dog, do you want to die?"

At this moment, Xu Ying was furious. He had plundered and killed countless people in the mountains and rivers. Now, his angry rebuke was even more terrifying. Yang Shihou dared not look him in the eye, but he really dared not bear this accusation. He was about to speak.

Xu Ying interrupted:

"You don't need to say anything more. Whether you're loyal or not, you'll know once you're on the battlefield. When we attack Guangshan County, you'll be at the forefront! If you dare to retreat, I'll kill you! Of course, if you make a contribution, you'll get what you deserve."

Yang Shihou looked grim, but he still clasped his hands in obedience and sat down to drink in silence.

After dealing with Yang Shihou, Xu Ying looked at the Jiang family servant lying on the ground and pointed:
"Drag this man to the dogs! He's ruined a perfectly good feast for nothing."

The servant was completely paralyzed. As he was being dragged out, he was still begging for mercy, but what did Xu Ying say in response?
"You are also a loyal servant. Once we bring Jiang Yong here, we'll kill him as well, and he'll accompany you. You two can then be a good master and servant pair!"

Then, Xu addressed the warriors and retainers in the hall, shouting:

"Let's enjoy a good drink today, and tomorrow we'll go and attack Guangshan County. Let's all have a good time!"

The bandits started making a ruckus, slamming their fists on the table and shouting.

At this moment, everything that happened inside the hall was seen by the people drinking outside. Upon hearing that Guangshan County was to be attacked, these fierce bandits and thieves shouted that they would kill them until their corpses were strewn all over the place.

At one of the tables where people were also drinking, a man's expression changed, as if he had made up his mind. He said shyly to one of the tall, burly men:

"Xingmin, we have an upset stomach. Let's go to the toilet first."

After saying this, the man clasped his hands in a fist and quickly walked out of the courtyard, ran towards the outhouse, and then, when no one was paying attention, he suddenly jumped over the courtyard wall.

　I'll go to bed on time tonight, and I'll post the remaining chapter a little later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)