Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 225 Digesting the Dividends (Part 2)

The ninth day of the ninth lunar month is the Double Ninth Festival.

On this day, after getting off the woman's body, Shao Shuyi began inspecting the estate that nominally belonged to him.

There's not much to say about the house itself. It has two courtyards, front and back, plus various small buildings with independent functions, totaling about fifty or sixty rooms, all surrounded by a brick wall.

Behind the house is a bamboo grove, covering an area of ​​about two or three acres.

Ahead lies a three-acre pond, a ten-acre mulberry grove, and over 170 acres of farmland, with twenty tenant farmers.

In short, this is a typical estate of a small to medium-sized landowner. The reason why Zhu Ding initially acquired it is unknown, but it was probably intended to be passed on to one of his sons in the future, but it has now fallen into the hands of Lady Liu.

"Originally there were only fifteen tenant households, but I found five more from Wenzhou. We divided the land into two plots, about eight or nine mu per household," Liu said softly, linking arms with Shao Shuyi.

"Aren't you going to hide it from people anymore?" Shao Shuyi asked, pointing to his arm that was deeply embedded in the mountain peak.

"What face do I need? I don't care about face," Liu said with a smile.

"I have a sense of shame," Shao Shuyi said.

"If you have any shame, why did you look like you wanted to die on me last night?" Liu whispered in Shao Shuyi's ear.

"The person I was last night is not the person I am today," Shao Shuyi said, uttering a statement with a philosophical undertone.

Liu rolled her eyes at him, about to say something, but was interrupted by a shout from ahead.

The two then stopped.

Tie Niu came closer, his eyes questioning.

"It's alright, let's see how the training goes." Shao Shuyi waved his hand, indicating that Tie Niu shouldn't interfere.

Ahead was a leveled open space where more than ten strong men were practicing with various equipment.

"Your skills are quite good," Shao Shuyi praised.

"They are all from respectable families, so naturally their skills are excellent," Liu said without hesitation.

Shao Shuyi smiled but remained silent.

The term "good family sons" here refers to the sons and nephews of pirates who came ashore and reformed.

"The technique is good, but it lacks a bit of structure," Shao Shuyi said. "And this technique..."

"What's wrong?" Liu asked curiously.

"Most of these are methods used by bandits," Shao Shuyi laughed. "Their tactics are insidious and unpredictable, not honorable enough. They might work well in one-on-one combat, and can take down skilled soldiers, but they won't work in numbers."

This wasn't the first time Lady Liu had heard of "bandit tactics" and "military tactics," and upon hearing this, she immediately said, "There are garrison troops in Wenzhou who are struggling to make a living. How about we recruit some deserted military households?"

"It should have been done long ago," Shao Shuyi said. "What is the background of the Wenzhou Garrison?"

"The Darughachi Wanhu Prefecture of the Mongol and Han Army, which guards Wenzhou and Chuzhou, initially guarded Wenzhou and Chuzhou, and now guards Wenzhou and Taizhou." Liu said through gritted teeth when she mentioned the unit number, "In the past, many of my neighbors and elders were chased and killed by this garrison."

Shao Shuyi was speechless. "Isn't it normal for them to be hunting you all down since you're all accomplices to bandits?"

"Wenzhou has little arable land and a large population; there's nothing we can do," sighed Madam Liu. "More than fifty years ago, it already had half a million people, and now it's probably over a million. Can we manage without trying something?"

Shao Shuyi hummed in agreement; the South was indeed very densely populated.

The Mongol conquest of the Southern Song Dynasty was largely peaceful, and a large portion of the population survived. After sixty years of reproduction, it's unimaginable how many households there were.

The composition of this garrison in Wenzhou and Taizhou can be seen from its name: it was composed of Mongols and Han Chinese. The latter was the army of the Yan family, the hereditary rulers of Dongping. Before they marched south to destroy the Song Dynasty, they were stationed in Suzhou. After the Song Dynasty was destroyed, they were moved to Wenzhou and Chuzhou.

"If you have money, recruit more people and put them under Liu Xing's command," Shao Shuyi said. "Also, if there are any promising talents in the Liu family clan of Wenzhou, bring them to Jiangyin. Those who are literate can be assigned to the prefectural government, and those who are skilled in martial arts can command troops. You should first train some people, using military methods; they will definitely be useful in the future."

Liu did not answer immediately.

She had already learned from Shao Shuyi that training a soldier would cost around sixteen ingots a year, and that was just the maintenance cost, not including the initial investment, such as housing, clothing, equipment, barracks, and other expenses.

Hiring twenty people would cost 320 ingots a year—and the first year would certainly cost far more.

"You get what you pay for," Shao Shuyi said. "You decide for yourself; I was just saying it casually."

Madam Liu nodded slightly and said, "You spend too much money raising soldiers. I can't do it that way. The people I recruit will have to work for me while also training in their skills."

"Heartless." Shao Shuyi chuckled. "But it's better than I expected. I thought you wouldn't spend this money."

"There's a reason why I'm willing to spend this money," Liu said with a smile.

"Oh? What's the reason?"

"The world has changed."

Shao Shuyi hummed in agreement, then turned to look at Liu Xing, who was supervising the training, and found that he was putting in a good amount of effort today.

Lady Liu quietly placed her hand on her lower abdomen, her expression a mixture of joy and worry, with worry outweighing joy.

******

Just as Shao Shuyi observed, Liu Xing has recently shown some signs of improvement.

On the fifteenth of September, after the Double Ninth Festival, he took advantage of the patrol's entry into the city to select fifteen archers and gather more than ten of his fellow Wenzhou natives, whom he had trained, to act as unnamed ruffians and enter the city directly. They waited outside the Furong Tower for a long time.

As the music ended and the crowd dispersed, a fat, big-eared rich man was stopped as soon as he stepped out of the house.

The wealthy man was accompanied by two or three servants, who were carrying short blades, but before they could draw them, they were also subdued.

"Hu Wu, you've been caught. Come with me." Liu Xing grabbed Hu Wu by the collar and shouted.

"You—Liu Sili?" Hu Wu exclaimed in surprise.

"It's me, let's go." Liu Xing picked up Hu Wu like a chick and carried him to the carriage, stuffing him inside. Then, with a wave of his hand, he said, "Take him back to the office."

The archers responded with a resounding roar.

This fat man looks very rich. If we take him back to the company and prepare him carefully, we might be able to make some money. So everyone is very eager to do so.

There were patrol officers on the street. When they saw the inspectors entering the area to arrest people, they frowned. It was obvious that they had overstepped their bounds.

However, after learning that the person arrested was Hu Wu, a wealthy man from Shipai Township, and that the person who did the deed was a member of the Liu family who had an unclear relationship with Cao She, they decided to remain neutral.

The head constable only told them to "hurry up" and "don't let anyone find out" before leading the constables away.

Hu Wu's last hope was dashed, and he was escorted back to the Shipai Patrol Office in a state of fear and unease. A few days earlier, Shao Shuyi had sent a message to Jin Jingli, a clerk in the Household Department, who simply said that he was not in charge of the matter and that "Cao She should handle it." When asked about Hu Wu, the man pretended to be deaf and dumb, which led to today's events.

It is no coincidence.

On September 16, Li Chi, a wealthy man from Xishun Township, had a conflict with Zhang Hou'er, a local chivalrous man, in a teahouse. Both of them were taken to the Changjing Patrol Office.

When Inspector Huang Sheng heard this, he was speechless, because his men had brought the man back behind his back.

"Of all people to mess with, you had to pick a fight with Cao She," Huang Sheng sighed, looking at Li Chi, with whom he'd shared drinks a few times. "He's got his eyes on the Grand Canal now, and lots of boatmen make a living under his wing. And yet, you insist on competing with him for business, don't you?"

Li Chi looked dejected and said, "I just saw Zhang Hou'er being released, didn't I?"

"Yes." Huang Sheng nodded and said, "You injured his people, so he is the one who suffered the loss."

"His men stole my money first."

"That's just one side of the story." Huang Sheng tapped the table with his scabbard and said, "I see you're still pretending to be stupid."

Li Chi hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"Let me show you the way," Huang Sheng said. "Previously, a tea merchant named Wang Cang asked ship owners Lu Zhonghe and Zhang Qiujiao from Taicang to transport tea. Later, Yang Jin came to their door and persuaded them to spend money to avoid trouble, promising to only use Huangtian Trading Company to transport goods in the future."

"You're courting death by competing with Cao She for business on the canal! You should follow Wang Cang's example, apologize, and pay up to avoid further trouble; otherwise, it will be too late to regret it."

Li Chi was stunned and exclaimed, "Is there no law anymore?"

Huang Sheng glanced at him disdainfully and said, "Your men often carry swords and knives under the hold when they go out to transport goods. What kind of good people can they be? Don't force me to dig up your past. Several people died in the Wangjiadu incident back then. You made your fortune on the canal by becoming famous after that battle at Wangjiadu, didn't you?"

Li Chi turned ashen-faced upon hearing this.

"Think carefully about what to do," Huang Sheng finally hinted. "Cao She is still willing to give people a chance."

In fact, Hu Wu and Li Chi are just two typical examples.

The former privately sold Yangzhou salt, while the latter competed with the Huangtian Trading Company for business on the Grand Canal, both of which constituted direct competition with Shao Shuyi.

So he used simple and straightforward business tactics to get the two of them into the patrol and inspection department.

The families of both men tried various methods to get them released, but the usually easy-going inspector, a stern and unyielding officer, refused, declaring he knew no one. Hu Wu was even tortured in prison because he had indeed been involved in smuggling salt.

When the news got out, the entire Jiangyin business community was shocked.

Cao Luo, who just made a name for himself at Qinwang Mountain by killing more than ten Huai bandits, seems determined to seize the two lucrative opportunities of smuggled salt and freight transportation. Lately, he has been meddling in the grain and oil industry, and there is no one more arrogant than him in the whole of Jiangyin.

However, throughout September, the government remained silent and made no response, as if they had some kind of shady deal with Cao Luo.

At this point, everyone with a discerning eye knew that the only way to bring down Cao Luo was to file a complaint with the Censorate of Southern Taiwan and the Zhejiang West Circuit's Bureau of Investigation and Inspection.

Coincidentally, on the first day of the tenth month, the ship of Han Yuanshan, the Imperial Censor, docked at Jiangyin, and the news was quickly spread by those with ulterior motives.

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