Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Zheng Fan went home and rested for more than half a month. It wasn't until after Qixi Festival that he went to the old Yicang Shengye Trading Company for a look. Afterwards, he took Shao Shuyi with him to the small courtyard by the river.

Wang Huadu just got back last night. His main task is to ask for money, and he'll also report on the progress of his work.

"We planted a crop of soybeans this year, but the harvest was meager," Wang Huadu said. "We don't plan to plant any more for the rest of the year. My uncle said we should focus on conserving the soil's fertility and plant soybeans again next year to see if the soil has recovered."

Shao Shuyi nodded and said, "I took some money from Jiangyin. Now that I have some money on hand, I'll give you three hundred ingots to settle your uncle's debt first. You can use the rest as you see fit, and come back to me if you need more."

"My uncle only spent a little over fifty ingots," Wang Huadu said.

"Use it as you see fit," Shao Shuyi emphasized again. "Besides the three hundred ingots, collect your and your uncle's wages and rewards." Wang Huadu didn't mince words, only asking, "Is there enough money in the account?"

Shao Shuyi gave a vague reply: "That's enough."

As of this month, Shengye Trading Company still has more than 600 ingots of cash in its account because of the back pay for the second quarter's wages and bonuses. After deducting the money that was just paid out, there are about 360 ingots left.

Jiang Bayue, the uncle of Wang Huadu, was not called up for the Spring Festival travel rush. He was supposed to go during the Autumn Festival travel rush, but the old man actually paid someone to do it for him. He handed over the government office and the boat sold to him to a boat manager on the Wusong River, and asked him to recruit ten boatmen to transport grain to Dadu this month.

As the saying goes, "If the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate." The Songjiang and Jiading police stations didn't care who went; as long as someone went, that was enough.

But Shao Shuyi certainly wouldn't let Jiang Bayue pay for it himself. After all, he was busy renovating his house and wasteland in Sanlinli, and his son was still fighting for him. It was really not worth it.

While the two were talking, Zheng Fan put his hands behind his back and went into the courtyard to tease the children.

Shao Shuyi bowed to him and continued to ask Wang Huadu, "Have the new batch of refugees who arrived at the end of June been settled?"

"Those people from Yingshang?" Wang Huadu nodded and said, "They've been settled. There are ten households in total. But it's not sustainable to just sit around and do nothing. There are already twenty-seven households in Sanlin Village, with a total of one or two hundred mu of land. Each household only gets about six mu, which is almost too much to support, not to mention that there's hardly any harvest yet."

Shao Shuyi hummed in agreement and asked, "Is there any progress on the land purchase matter I asked you to keep an eye on?"

"It's all land owned by corrupt officials, do you really want it?" Wang Huadu said.

"Of course we want it." Shao Shuyi said matter-of-factly, "We can only buy land owned by officials. Do we even have a chance to buy land owned by the natives of Shanghai?" "That's true." Wang Huadu nodded and said, "There are more than two hundred acres next to Sanlinli. I saw them a long time ago, but firstly, I was tired of clearing the wasteland and wanted to buy cultivated land, and secondly, that corrupt official hadn't retired yet, so I put it off."

"You keep calling officials 'corrupt officials,' but who exactly are you?" Shao Shuyi laughed.

"The clerk in charge of the sand quarry, in theory he could still serve for another year or two, but last month he came to ask me if I wanted to buy land. It is said that he wanted to resign and go back to Hangzhou to retire."

"Go ask around first, try to negotiate a lower price this time," Shao Shuyi said. "If we can buy it, we can renovate it properly; we'll need it in the future." Wang Huadu immediately became anxious upon hearing this and said, "Brother Shao, I don't want to keep leveling wasteland. I have to manage everything, big and small. Those people are incredibly stupid; I've been talking to them until my lips are sore."

Shao Shuyi patted him on the shoulder and laughed, "They really can't do without you over there. I heard you can even speak a few words of the Huai River dialect now, so you must really enjoy it."

"Did Jiang Sanbao say that?" Wang Huadu said sullenly, "Seventeen households from Shouchun and ten households from Yingshang, that's over a hundred people in total. I can't just stay silent, I can only learn to speak their language."

"These are skills that others can't learn," Shao Shuyi said.

"Brother Shao, don't try to fool me," Wang Huadu said. "I don't want to learn these things; I just want to train and lead troops. Do you think I'm impulsive? Don't worry, I'll be very serious when training troops, and I'll train with them."

Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised: "Can you really endure this hardship?"

"Why not?" Wang Huadu said immediately when he heard there was hope. "Let me train a team too. Maybe they'll come in handy." Shao Shuyi pondered without saying a word.

When someone is training troops, they simply assign tasks, while the actual planning and troop training are done by the subordinate officers. This was quite common in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The advantage was that it was less troublesome, but the disadvantage was that it lacked prestige within the army and the combat effectiveness was not very good.

Some people train soldiers, eat and live with them, and even drill with them, never relying on others. This was more common from the mid-Tang to the Five Dynasties period. The advantage is that it is easy to establish prestige in the army and make the army as easy to command as an extension of one's own limb. The possibility of being arrested by order from above is greatly reduced. The disadvantage is that it is too tiring, too bitter, too monotonous, and too energy-consuming.

It's already quite remarkable that Wang Huadu was willing to eat, live, and train with his subordinates.

"Little Tiger, give me Wu Heizi's flag." Wang Huadu seized the opportunity and said with a grin, "I've already found four men in Shanghai. They're brave and willing to fight, and they respect me. Give me nine more men, equip them with weapons, and form a team. There are already twenty-seven households over there. It's not good to always pay people to patrol. We can recruit them ourselves."

"I can't give you the Blackie flag for now. We're old brothers, and it's too much of a fuss." Shao Shuyi thought for a moment and said, "Alright, we'll definitely need more manpower if we buy land later. We should get some money back from Jiangyin early next month, that should be enough. What kind of flag do you want?"

"Let's make a dragon flag," Wang Huadu said excitedly, gesturing the shape of a dragon.

"Nonsense," Shao Shuyi scoffed.

"Then I'll embroider one side myself and tuck it into my back," Wang Huadu said with a smile. "And give me some more manpower and equipment."

"At Shengye Trading Company, there are some people from the Huai River region who have come south and have been transporting goods for over a month. Some of them left because they didn't want to be managed, while others stayed," Shao Shuyi said. "One month isn't enough to tell anything, and I can't say for sure whether these people are easy to manage. I originally wanted to observe them for a few more months, but since you want them, I'll give you a few first. You can see for yourself the rest. Songjiang Prefecture is so big, with hundreds of thousands of people. Even if the people are generally mild-mannered, there are always some fierce and brave ones. Look carefully."

"Great!" Wang Huadu slapped his thigh with delight and said, "I'll get started right away."

"And one more thing," Shao Shuyi added, "The Censor Du Zhigu is going to the sand pit to investigate a case. It's not far from where you are. Keep in touch with Qi Le and his nephew Qi Erlang privately and keep an eye on them."

"Okay." Wang Huadu nodded repeatedly. He would agree to anything now, as long as he could build a team.

"That's all," Shao Shuyi said. "Let's stay in Liujiagang for a few days before going back."

After finishing his conversation with Wang Huadu, Shao Shuyi went to the courtyard and stood with Zheng Fan.

Tie Niu and Bian Yuanheng were sparring in the courtyard, honing their martial arts skills.

Liang Tai and his five childhood friends were inspecting several newly purchased long-handled axes.

"Let's go," Zheng Fan nodded to Shao Shuyi and said.

Shao Shuyi nodded, and the two walked side by side.

Tie Niu stopped sparring and quickly caught up with Shao Shuyi, while Bian Yuanheng stayed in the courtyard.

Liang Tai gave a shout, and the six men put down their long axes, hung up their ring knives, and followed closely behind.

The servants of the Shen residence were already very familiar with them, so they simply nodded and let Shao Shuyi, Zheng Fan, and Tie Niu go inside. Liang Tai and five others waited outside, exchanging greetings with the Nie father and son who had rushed over upon hearing the news.

"It's been more than half a year since I last came here. I didn't expect the Shen residence to be almost finished." Zheng Fan looked around and said with emotion.

"It's only roughly finished. I estimate it will cost a lot more money to add furnishings and create landscaping later," Shao Shuyi said.

"That cost quite a bit of money," Zheng Fan laughed. "I'll never be able to make that much money in my lifetime."

"Not necessarily," Shao Shuyi laughed. "If you reopen your business in Jiangxi, there will be no problem with making a fortune. But the river is not peaceful right now, and the price of Jiangxi goods is rising."

"Thank you for your kind words," Zheng Fan said.

The two chatted and laughed for a short while before they saw Manager Mo walking over with a gloomy look on his face. Upon seeing them, he immediately stopped and bowed.

Shao and Zheng returned the gift.

Shopkeeper Mo grabbed Shao Shuyi, looked him over carefully, and sighed, "We won't be able to see each other today."

"Why?" Zheng Fan asked in surprise.

"The son-in-law just returned this morning and talked about some things. Then the madam said that the doors would be temporarily closed to guests," Manager Mo said. "So, one..." Zheng Fan was a little unhappy. Were they being told to leave?

Shao Shuyi remained calm and quietly asked, "Master Mo, what did Lu She say after he returned?"

Mo Bei took two steps closer and whispered in Shao Shuyi's ear, "Young Master Shao was very careful. I only heard phrases like 'endangering the Shen family' and 're-recruiting'." Shao Shuyi nodded slowly.

There are two possibilities: either the Shen family is in trouble and can't take care of themselves, or Shao himself is in trouble, to the point that "endangers the Shen family"? He can't manage the Shen family's own troubles. If we analyze based on the latter, it's possible that he made some mistakes that Lu Zhonghe or someone else found out and told Shen's wife, who doesn't go out much, leading to this situation.

Shao Shuyi thought about it carefully and realized that he actually had quite a few flaws; it just depended on whether anyone would investigate.

For example, Wu Heizi, who has been eating, drinking and having fun all over Taicang recently, if he is targeted by jealous people who keep an eye on him, they will either not investigate him at all, or they will find out a lot of dirt on him.

The dozen or so men under him were in similar situations. They were originally struggling financially, but now that they suddenly have money, is there any problem with that? In fact, Cheng Ji's improved family situation couldn't be kept secret, but no one really cared.

That's how the world works. When someone suddenly becomes rich, it's first the gossip of the neighbors, and then the news gradually spreads far and wide. Eventually, the government finds out too, because they're keeping a close eye on every wealthy household, ready to fleece them in order to fulfill their duty of transporting grain by sea.

Wu Heizi, a newly rich man, might end up like Jiang Bayue, being issued a seafaring household registration.

In this process, if the person who issued his visa becomes curious and wants to investigate how he became rich, it will lead to new problems. Unbeknownst to many, many of his subordinates are gradually approaching the "rich household cutoff line"—what a messed up world.

Of course, this was bound to happen sooner or later, and we had to plan ahead.

Manager Mo remained standing in the same spot, watching the two of them.

Shao Shuyi cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and then led Zheng Fan away.

"Little Tiger, what exactly did you do?" Zheng Fan asked, puzzled, as he walked out.

"My lord," Shao Shuyi said, "my old master heard about me at Zhangjing Wharf last year, and was quite amazed to learn that many people made a living under my wing." He continued, "What if I were someone even more extravagant?"

Zheng Fan's expression changed, as if he understood something, and he slowly said, "A wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall, unless there is one."

At this point, he sighed and said, "Actually, I don't know what the right thing to do is either. Xiao Hu, what exactly do you want to do?" Shao Shuyi did not answer.

He knew very well that if Zheng Fan knew what he had done, he might not support him, and the Zheng family might completely sever ties with him. Seeking advantage and avoiding harm is everyone's instinct; it's not a matter of right or wrong, just that they were simply not on the same path.

To put it bluntly, within the existing order framework, he has already reached the extreme through various black and white means, but the development process has been too radical, generating many hidden dangers and side effects. If he cannot continue to solve problems through development, these hidden dangers will slowly erupt.

Sooner or later, even without Lu Zhonghe, there would have been Zhang Zhonghe; that's all.

This is a world that pushes people forward; to stop is to die.