Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Chapter 80 Idlers

On the tenth day of the second lunar month, with no set time for his journey to Jingdezhen, Shao Shuyi returned to Zhangjing in Taicang the night before.

Accompanying him were Yu Yuan, Liang Tai, and Kong Tie.

The four of them were carrying two large bundles full of money, which was quite dangerous—luckily, no one knew what was inside.

Neighbor Tie Niu sat blankly at the door. Upon seeing Shao Shuyi, he said indifferently, "Little Tiger's back—"

'

Shao Shuyi gestured for the three men to take the money inside, then went to Tie Niu's side. He wanted to say, "You've been released," but felt it wouldn't be appropriate, so he could only make small talk: "Where's your mother?"

It would have been better if he hadn't asked. As soon as he did, Tie Niu started wiping away tears and sobbed, "It's gone."

Shao Shuyi was somewhat surprised. After asking carefully, he learned that Tie Niu had been imprisoned for more than a month and was only released due to a general amnesty.

Upon closer reflection, something felt off.

The general amnesty took place last October because of the completion of the suburban sacrificial ceremony. Tie Niu was arrested in the winter month. Even if the imperial edict reached Jiangnan late, those who were arrested before October 25 (the day the edict was issued) should be pardoned, while those who were arrested after that date should not be.

Furthermore, is harboring a suspect included in the amnesty? Sometimes imperial edicts specifically state which crimes are not pardoned; I wonder if this crime would be applicable.

In short, Tie Niu was arrested and released in a daze.

This damned bureaucracy!

While Tie Niu was in prison, his mother fell ill and passed away. In the end, his daughter-in-law went to Taicang City to ask a relative of Tie Niu to arrange a hasty funeral and settle the matter.

"The past is gone," Shao Shuyi sighed. "Your mother's spirit in heaven would surely wish that you could live a good life."

"I can't go on like this," Tie Niu said softly, staring intently at the ground.

Shao Shuyi didn't know how to comfort her for a moment, and only said, "I remember your mother liked A-Chai the most. He's only five years old this year, right? She raised him safely and peacefully—"

"It won't be stable," Tie Niu said again.

Shao Shuyi paused.

"My father was arrested by the authorities and his whereabouts are unknown. Later, a member of the White Lotus sect who escaped said that they were all taken to dredge the river, and my father was swept away by the flood and never came back. I searched for him for several days, but I couldn't even find a scrap of his clothing." Tie Niu continued, "This time I was arrested, and my mother left too—"

Tie Niu spoke in a calm, unwavering voice, as if he were talking about unrelated people and things.

Shao Shuyi thought for a moment, recalling that his neighbor Tie Niu used to be very cheerful and optimistic. Although he was burly and had a rough appearance, he was actually very thoughtful, the complete opposite of his appearance.

Now his personality has changed drastically, but I don't know what kind of person he has become.

"Little Tiger." Tie Niu looked up at him and said, "You've been in Liujiagang for over half a year, were you working for the Zhang family?"

Shao Shuyi looked at Tie Niu with a puzzled expression.

"Zhangjia" does not refer to an elderly person using a cane, but rather to a thug. Why would he ask that?

"When I was delivering goods by boat to Liujiagang, I saw a gang leader named Zhu Chen, surrounded by vicious thugs," Tie Niu said. "Every time you go home, you are also accompanied by some people who are very respectful to you, but some of them do not seem to be good people."

Upon hearing the name "Zhu Chen" again, Shao Shuyi asked, "Who is Zhu Chen?"

"He's a wealthy man who owns a shop, but some people say he's a salt smuggler," Tie Niu said.

Shao Shuyi said "Oh," and then said, "Tie Niu, I didn't become a servant; I worked as an accountant in Liujiagang."

"Little Tiger, I want to become a member of the Zhang family." Tie Niu stood up and said, "Do you think I can do it?"

Holy crap! So you don't believe me at all?

Shao Shuyi didn't know how to explain to him that he really was an accountant, so he could only say helplessly, "Tie Niu, there are quite a few people who die violent deaths in the streets, and even more who are sunk to the bottom of the Loujiang River. Their bodies are tied with stones, and they sink with a thud, never to be found. This is really not a good business."

"Little Tiger, you still say you're not from the Zhang family?" Tie Niu stared wide-eyed at Shao Shuyi.

Shao Shuyi was speechless.

"Why do you want to become a magistrate? You still have a wife and children," Shao Shuyi earnestly advised.

"I can't go on living." Tie Niu shook his head and said, "After I was arrested and put in jail, my family spent a lot of money to save me."

After my mother died, we had to borrow money to pay for her funeral. We couldn't survive, there was no other way.

Shao Shuyi was truly at a loss for words.

When Li Fu recruited people to sail ships in Shanghai, he gathered thirty people in no time. There were too many struggling seafarers, and they all scrambled to do the work.

If they were still doing legitimate business, it would be quite absurd for Tie Niu to be so eager to become a thug.

Of course, it might not be that outrageous.

If Shao wanted to smuggle salt or become a pirate, he could probably recruit quite a few people.

That's just how things are; there's no way to recruit them all. The Yuan Dynasty has been continuously supplying society with this kind of "talent."

"Would you be willing to go out and farm?" After thinking for a moment, Shao Shuyi asked.

Tie Niu hesitated for a moment and did not answer immediately.

Shao Shuyi nodded to him and said, "Come find me again when you've thought it through."

Tie Niu stared blankly at his departing figure.

******

After a quick lunch, Shao Shuyi and his three companions arrived at Qi Erlang's house by the Zhihe Pond.

Yang Liu, Gao Daqiang, and the others had been waiting for a long time.

Upon seeing Shao Shuyi, Gao Daqiang and three other seafarers stepped forward to greet him, saying, "Brother Shao."

Yang Liu straightened his newly made robe and was about to calmly step forward to pay his respects when Wu Heizi and Qi Erlang quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Brother Shao."

Shao Shuyi returned the greetings one by one, then looked around.

"Brother Shao, don't worry, there are no outsiders here," Wu Heizi said.

"Everyone in the family has gone out to do farm work," Qi Erlang also said.

Shao Shuyi nodded and gestured for Liang Tai and Kong Tie to step forward.

The two men each carried a huge bundle on their backs, and when they put it on the ground, it made a loud thud.

Yu Yuan opened them one by one, revealing stacks of precious banknotes inside.

"Each packet contains one hundred ingots of Zhiyuan banknotes, one packet per person, to be divided among themselves," Shao Shuyi said.

Gao Daqiang was usually quite composed, but he was still momentarily distracted.

Yang Liu couldn't take his eyes off it.

"Yu She, read the account to them," Shao Shuyi instructed.

"No need," Gao Daqiang said, regaining his composure. "I trust Brother Shao."

In fact, he knew he wouldn't be able to make any sense of it from listening.

Do you know exactly how much money they spent bribing officials and embezzlers?

Were you present when they personally found someone to buy this batch of goods and negotiated the price?

Listening to this is useless; it's better to do something nice to deepen the relationship between us.

Furthermore, one hundred ingots far exceeded Gao Daqiang's expectations; it was too much, far too much, and he couldn't possibly spend it all. To put it bluntly, there are plenty of people willing to risk their lives these days, but most of them have no way to succeed—Shao ​​Shuyi was a typical example; he only succeeded by risking his life for the sake of cost-effectiveness.

Yang Liu waved his hand dismissively, drawing out his words, "Never mind—I trust you."

Shao Shuyi glanced at him and nodded with a smile.

Yang Liu snorted coldly, looked at Wu Heizi and Qi Erlang, and said, "Come to my house tonight, and I'll split the money with you two."

Wu Heizi frowned slightly, but still agreed.

Qi Erlang hesitated, then ultimately said nothing.

Gao Daqiang glanced at them coldly and said to the three seafarers, "We're all brothers. I'll take forty ingots, and you can each take twenty. How about that?"

The three had no objections, so it was decided.

Shao Shuyi then approached the four men and said, "I intend to purchase land and property in Shanghai County. If any of you are going with me, you may come to find me. We are all brothers who have fought together, and we are very close."

His words weren't entirely polite.

Although it was decided to use migrants from Henan and Jiangbei provinces as farmhands and tenants, it was impossible to use them all. This was because Shao Shuyi was also worried that these people from Henan and Huainan would band together, and it was necessary to check and balance them.

Upon hearing this, Gao Daqiang and the other three exchanged glances and finally said they needed to go back and discuss it.

Shao Shuyi didn't take it seriously and agreed to talk about it again when they met next time.

Hearing this from afar, Wu Heizi said apologetically, "Brother Shao, my family has many relatives and friends, all in Zhangjing. I really don't want to go to another place."

"It's alright," Shao Shuyi said with a smile. "I was just asking, there's no need to insist."

Having received the money, Yang Liu felt he no longer needed Shao Shuyi's help and replied curtly, "I'm not going."

Having said that, he left the Qi family with his bundle on his back.

Wu Heizi gave a wry smile, bowed, and left in another direction.

After he left, Qi Erlang quietly came to Shao Shuyi's side and whispered, "Brother Shao, my brother has passed away, leaving behind three children. Our parents are old and in poor health, so I can't leave."

"It's nothing," Shao Shuyi said. "Is there any difficulty at home?"

As they spoke, he pulled out a Zhongtong banknote and said, "I told you I'd come to see you after the New Year. Take this; there are many expenses at home. What are your plans for the future?"

Qi Erlang silently accepted the money and said, "Brother Shao, actually, I have a relative who lives in Taicang City, but we don't see each other often. He came back during the funeral in January, and that's when I found out he was a minor official in the prefecture. He took pity on my family's situation and said that a patrol station has been set up in Gutang, north of the city, and they are currently recruiting archers. He can put in a good word for me. I plan to go to the Gutang patrol station to apply—"

At this point, he glanced at Shao Shuyi and said, "Brother Shao is a man of great righteousness, and I am deeply grateful. If you become an archer, we can continue to keep in touch, and you will be informed in advance of any important news."

"Everyone has their own ambitions, don't be shy," Shao Shuyi said with a smile. "How can I successfully apply? Is it troublesome?"

Is there anything I can help you with?

"It's no trouble at all, just use money," Qi Erlang said. "It used to be incredibly difficult for me, but now that I've received my share of the money, it's not that hard."

Shao Shuyi thought for a moment, then asked Yu Yuan to fetch three ingots of paper money and hand them to Qi Erlang. He leaned closer and whispered, "Erlang, since you're going to tip me off, you can't pay for this. Are three ingots enough? If not, come back to me for more."

Don't worry, there's no reason for you to suffer losses working for me.

"That's enough," Qi Erlang said. "Actually, two ingots are enough; plenty of archers can't even afford one."

"Perhaps they have more connections than you? Don't be careless, use three ingots just to be safe." As he spoke, Shao Shuyi took out another ingot and stuffed it into his hand, saying, "This money is for your relative, so he can't waste his favor. Let me know after you're successful in your application, and I'll invite the others over for a celebratory drink."

Qi Erlang smiled more and said, "Okay, I'll listen to my elder brother."

After his elder brother died, he felt empty inside, but now that he has Brother Shao to rely on, he feels much better.

As for Yang Liu, to put it bluntly, it's already good enough that he didn't seek revenge. They divided the money that night, went their separate ways, and had no further connection.

Shao Shuyi was also very satisfied.

The purpose of patrol offices was originally to guard the sea frontier, such as the Penghu Patrol Office which governed Penghu and Taiwan, and the Shamen Island Patrol Office which maintained the key points of the Grand Canal.

Later, it gradually expanded to the entire coastal area. For example, there was a branch office of the Caofu in the Haierqiao area south of Jiading Prefecture, which undertook some of the functions of the patrol office. In addition, there were three other patrol offices in the county, with a number of archers.

Huating County had seven patrol stations, Haiyan Prefecture had three, and Changguo Prefecture (Zhoushan Islands) had five.

As things have developed, there are now patrol and inspection offices in the inland areas. Their main functions have changed to "policing and arresting thieves," "apprehending pirates," and cooperating with other departments to crack down on smuggling, including the smuggling of salt.

At the county level, the patrol inspectorate was under the same leadership as the county magistrate as the county constable, except that the former governed the fields and the latter governed the town.

At the prefectural level, they were under the leadership of the prefectural governor (zhizhou) and the judge.

Simply put, this is a security force that the local government relies heavily on, and its value should not be underestimated.

"Erlang, do a good job at the Gutang Patrol Station," Shao Shuyi said. "By the way, did you apply for a regular soldier position?"

"Yes," Qi Erlang said.

"Focus on doing a good job first, and treat your comrades and superiors to drinks. If you're short on money, come find me," Shao Shuyi said with a smile.

"Okay." Qi Erlang readily agreed.

Shao Shuyi chatted with him about his family situation, and seeing that it was getting late, he took his leave.

Sending his new underling, who had no criminal record and seemed unrelated to him on the surface, into the "public security, procuratorate, and judicial system"—brilliant!

Furthermore, his question about whether Qi Erlang was a regular soldier was not without reason.

The number of soldiers in a patrol station is limited, namely, "the quota is for archers" of thirty men. Although they are called archers, they often cannot be equipped for all thirty men. The worst patrol station may only have three sets of bows and arrows, that is, ten men share one bow. They can only get the bows from the storeroom when they go out on errands. Spears, which are cheap, are given to each person.

Besides the "official archers," there were also temporary workers outside the official ranks, namely "rogue unnamed archer prosecutors."

After all, when there are large-scale operations, thirty people are really not enough, and often more able-bodied men need to be recruited to assist.

Shao Shuyi was targeting these temporary worker positions.

The so-called "major operation" was nothing more than catching smugglers of salt. Brother Shao's salt smuggling business couldn't be that simple, could it?

The martial arts world is not just about fighting and killing, but about human relationships and social interactions.