Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 829 The Foreign Monk

In the construction site shed of Baiyanghe Town, Huai'an Prefecture, Southern Zhili Province, on the southern section of the Yellow River diversion project, the conversation between Li Zisheng and Pang Qing continues.

“I am a Taoist priest, and Feng Shui and Xuan Kong Feng Shui are my specialties.”

Li Zisheng looked intently at Pang Qing and said, "Even if they criticize my ability to be an official, there is no denying that among all the Taoists in the world, who dares to say that they are stronger than me?"

"Moreover, Lai Zhan is incredibly accurate in predicting natural and man-made disasters, so what do I have to worry about? I'll just be as straightforward as possible... The common people are too honest; as long as I tell them in the name of the government that there will be a major disaster next year, they'll have no choice but to believe it."

Why would you believe it?

Pang Qing is taking this very seriously.

Li Zisheng shrugged and said irritably, "Because they themselves also care about gains and losses! How many times has the Yellow River flooded since the Chenghua era? Why did the imperial court spend huge sums of money to build new river channels and force the Yellow River, which is a suspended river on land, to change its course? Don't they have any idea?"

"Even if they did some calculations, they should know that the Yellow River will definitely flood next year, and disaster is just around the corner. Wouldn't they be willing to fight to the death?"

Pang Qing asked in confusion, "What? How could ordinary people possibly calculate with their fingers?"

"There's no other way. We're all terrified by the terrible consequences. If we delay the completion by a year, we'll be taking another year of risk. Why not take advantage of the current unity between the government and the people and complete the Yellow River diversion properly?"

Li Zisheng's words are naturally authentic.

Pang Qing frowned and asked, "But won't the people living around the newly constructed river channel suffer after the Yellow River changes its course? Why are they so eager to let the Yellow River flow through their homes?"

"Hmph! You just don't understand!"

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "When the Yellow River channel was first built, there was not much silt in the channel, the water level was very low, and the river water was just right for irrigation."

"Many people in the Jianghuai region already lack irrigation due to the lack of water conservancy projects, meaning they are completely dependent on the weather for their livelihood. If the Yellow River were to flow past their homes, wouldn't they be able to draw water into their fields and achieve bumper harvests year after year?"

"The people living near the old course of the Yellow River..."

"The silt accumulated in the old course is really too high. In many places, it is like a suspended river. Once the flood season arrives, the river water can often spread down the dikes. Moreover, after the flood recedes, the land will show a tendency to become saline-alkali, to the point that it is almost impossible to cultivate. In their view, it would be better to let the Yellow River change its course elsewhere!"

Li Zisheng said, "In short, whether it's the people living around the new river channel or those near the old river channel, they are all very concerned about the Yellow River's course change. As long as money and grain are transported here in time, even naive children will take the initiative to come to the riverbank to help!"

Pang Qing said, "In that case, the river repair is in accordance with the will of Heaven and the hearts of the people, and it is bound to succeed... Alas, I am relieved."

"Huh? Judging from your words, you've already lost interest and are preparing to retire to the mountains?"

Li Zisheng said with a dark face, "No! Don't even think about it! You can't leave now! We have to wait until next spring, after the river channel is repaired, before we talk about anything else!"

Pang Qing shook his head: "The second young master of the Zhang family has already gone to the Northwest, and Wang Weining has also taken up his post in Sanbian. Next, they will likely lead their troops into the grasslands..."

"The Ming Dynasty may be about to undergo a major upheaval. I am but a man of limited ability, and I hope that you, Daoist Master, will allow me to return home and live a few days in peace. As for the money I received from you before... I am willing to give it back!"
"When I go back this time, I will sell my family's property, hoping it can help you in some way."

Li Zisheng rolled his eyes upon hearing this and said, "Judging from your haggard appearance, so you're just reluctant to part with your money? Is it really that serious..."

"No……"

Pang Qing quickly offered an explanation.

"okay!"

Li Zisheng shouted sternly, "Do you think I like to settle petty scores with people? You've done things for me, and as long as I have a breath left, I will definitely find a way to repay you!"
"Just like I have for Lai Zhan, I have given you nothing! What I can promise you, Lai Zhan and his son may not be able to give you. Don't you want a future for yourself? Don't you want your descendants to have a firm foothold in the court?"

Pang Qing was somewhat tempted, but smiled wryly and said, "Zhang Guozhang also mentioned this matter to me in almost the same tone."

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "It seems that even Lai Zhan has noticed that you've been too busy lately and are feeling exhausted, so he's considering quitting. He wants to use his sincerity to keep you here!"

"In that case, don't go anywhere for the time being. Just rest and watch me do my job!"

"But……"

“Bingkun, you’ve been with me for so long and have witnessed my rise and fall. You should understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Li Zisheng said earnestly, "It's a pity that the Yellow River project was not completed, so I didn't have the chance to go to the Northwest. Otherwise, I would also like to lead troops into battle, make meritorious achievements, and record my glorious achievements in the book of pacifying the four barbarians!"
"I will write to Lai Zhan and my nephew Yanling, and ask them to find you a job in the army. What do you think?"

"Didn't the Taoist priest tell me to stay here and watch you repair the river?"

Pang Qing looked puzzled.

Li Zisheng laughed and said, "Wouldn't it be better to let you fight for me and make meritorious contributions? I just hope that you will really have the opportunity to make military achievements. At that time, you will no longer be just a strategist who plans for others, but a strategist who can stand alone, and may even become a minister in the court."

"At that time, there may be an opportunity to serve as a minister in the same court as you. I'm really looking forward to it."

……

……

Datong Town.

Zhang Yanling arrived in the Northwest as a relative of the emperor and brother-in-law of the emperor.

Because of the border regions, the military leaders and local officials wielded considerable power, and the officials and generals here were somewhat far removed from the emperor's reach, forming their own camps and systems. Sometimes, simply being a relative of the emperor was not enough to ensure his foothold in the Northwest.

Therefore, Zhu Youcheng directly gave Zhang Yanling the title of "Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard," allowing him to carry out his duties in the Northwest under this identity of "Commander of the Emperor's Personal Army."

Before setting off, Zhang Yanling had already been appointed by Zhu Youcheng as the Vice Commander of the Five Military Commissions. As a result, he had the right to directly command the new army. However, his other identity made the officials and generals in the Northwest even more wary of him. He was the son of Grand Secretary Zhang, the "Little Grand Secretary" of the Ming Dynasty.

As for Zhang Yanling, he also had a rather impressive identity: the "Chief Instructor of the New Army." Everyone knew that the emperor was now paying great attention to the New Army, and as the mastermind behind the reform of the Ming army's weaponry and equipment, many people would speculate about Zhang Yanling's position in the Hongzhi era and consider whether he would succeed Zhang Luan as a meritorious official and enter the cabinet.

However, the first thing Zhang Yanling did after arriving in Datong Prefecture was still to start mining.

This is a major coal-producing area. Long before his arrival, Shanxi had a tradition of coal mining, but its experience in coke production was not very rich. In addition, the mining technology was backward, especially the lack of explosives for blasting, which prevented many mines from being excavated.

Ordinary coal mines typically excavate only a shallow layer, slowly digging away the coal. Moreover, in this era, gases such as methane are deadly enough that miners could die without any need for flooding or collapses.

Zhang Yanling brought along merchants from Huizhou, including Qin Zhao, and the Chai siblings, native Shanxi people, helped him contact local Shanxi merchants and assist with mining and other matters.

In early winter, the weather in Shanxi is already quite cold, and large quantities of cloth begin to be distributed in places like Xuanfu and Datong.

The low price of cloth was a great thing for ordinary people. After all, those who couldn't afford cloth before could finally use it to keep warm, allowing the poor to have a warm winter. Furthermore, the invention of honeycomb briquettes enabled Datong, a major coal-producing city, to produce coal independently, which greatly improved the sales of coal and sparked a mining boom in the area.

Many Shanxi merchants sensed the opportunity and stockpiled a batch of forest land in some so-called rich mining areas in advance, just waiting for Zhang Yanling to explore the coal mines so they could sell it to him at a high price and get a share of the profits in this wave of mining.

However, after Zhang Yanling arrived, he did not rush to explore for mineral deposits, but instead brought some business models with him.

As the saying goes, even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. Local protectionism is rampant in Shanxi, making it even more monolithic than Nanjing. Zhang Yanling, an outsider sent by the imperial court, was essentially competing with powerful local families who had been entrenched for centuries. It was already a sign of respect that no one killed him on the way.

The rise of Shanxi merchants has led to greater unity among various local forces in Shanxi over the past century. When faced with external threats, they acted as a united front. When Huizhou merchants like Qin Zhao traveled to Shanxi, they had to be accompanied by a large number of bodyguards and even rely on the heavily armed Imperial Guards under Zhang Yanling for protection to feel at ease.

"Second Young Master, the mineral deposits here may not be so easy to mine."

Qin Zhao has been conducting on-site investigations in Shanxi recently, and in her view, the situation is not optimistic. "In places like this, it's not just that people from other provinces are ostracized, but even people from different prefectures and counties find it difficult to make a living in neighboring areas. From government officials to local officials, from the military to ordinary people, there is a lot of hostility towards outsiders."

Zhang Yanling frowned and said, "We're already here, are you going to give up before we've even started?"

Qin Zhao said, "I never thought that one day, we Hui merchants would be doing business on the territory of Shanxi merchants... The mines in Shanxi are indeed good. The coal here is much better than the mines in the Western Hills outside Beijing in terms of quality and mining difficulty. However, once we lose the protection of the government, it will be too difficult for us merchants to gain a foothold here."

This statement reflects the uncertainty and uncertainty faced by Huizhou merchants when doing business in other places.

On the one hand, they hoped to gain the protection of a powerful official like Zhang Yanling, but on the other hand, they had to face the exploitation and suppression by local forces, making their progress extremely difficult.

The gist is that once Zhang Yanling hands over the coal mines he has explored to them and lets them operate them in a market-oriented manner, the end result will only be that local forces steal their investment results, and they will end up losing both money and people, and may not even be able to leave Datong Prefecture safely.

Zhang Yanling nodded and said, "It's a pity that Wang Weining is not the commander-in-chief in Datong, but in Yansui. If he were here, you might feel much more at ease."

Qin Zhao said, "Officials will eventually leave, but local powers can remain for thousands of years. Unless there is a major upheaval, it will be very difficult to do business here."

It was practically a declaration: "We won't interfere in this business; let you mine here in the name of the imperial court."

If the Western Hills on the outskirts of Beijing are still considered to be under the emperor's nose, where the emperor's authority can keep local forces from acting recklessly, then Shanxi is a place beyond the reach of imperial power, where only local forces can take root... We Huizhou merchants, assessing the situation, know that we can make money here, but we dare not invest and operate here... unless you can give us a reason to stay.

……

……

After speaking with Qin Zhao, Zhang Yanling met with Chai Meng that very evening.

Chai Meng, on the other hand, seemed relaxed and at ease.

Although this was not his hometown of Fenyang, once he entered Shanxi, many Shanxi merchants tried to use his connections, even treating him as the teacher of the "Imperial Envoy," elevating him to a very high position. Over time, this made him arrogant and somewhat forgetful of himself.

"Mr. Chai, are you settling in well here?"

Zhang Yanling asked with a smile.

Chai Meng said, "I only came here once last year during the annual examination. I felt that Datong Prefecture had changed a lot and was completely different from before."

Zhang Yanling nodded with a smile.

Previously, Chai Meng was just a merchant's son. Even though he had the title of Xiucai (a scholar who passed the imperial examinations), he would never be treated like a star wherever he went.

This time, even though he was accompanied by Zhang Yanling, who had no real power to govern the area, everyone treated him like an ancestor, so the situation was naturally different.

Zhang Yanling then explained the current troubles to Chai Meng, especially the power structure in Shanxi.

Chai Meng said in surprise, "Second Young Master has never lived in Shanxi, yet how do you know so much about the situation here? This place in Shanxi... is like this, people who do business don't want to have contact with outsiders! Officials are fawned over, but they can hardly interfere in local affairs, and it's difficult for outside forces to extend their reach."

Zhang Yanling asked, "Then how did the officials who came to take up their posts in the past manage to plunder money from the local area?"

"They mostly wait for others to give them gifts."

Chai Meng thought about it carefully and said, "With power and influence, people will naturally offer you benefits. It's difficult for officials to bring their own business teams over. Besides, isn't the imperial court also strictly investigating officials' secret business dealings? Oh, of course, your family's situation is different from others."

Zhang Yanling asked with a smile, "What's different?"

Chai Meng said, "You are doing business for the court, and most of the money you earn goes into the imperial treasury. His Majesty approves of whatever you do. Besides, no one else can imitate your model!"

Zhang Yanling asked, "Mr. Chai, do you think it's feasible for me to make a living in Shanxi, following the model used around the capital?"

"This one……"

After pondering for a moment, Chai Meng shook his head and said, “It’s difficult! Just like how merchants from Shanxi can’t do business in Huizhou… Nowadays, merchants from the north basically do business in the north, and merchants from the south do business in the south. If they have to go far away, they can basically only stay in the two capitals or in big cities like the crossroads of the nine provinces. The smaller and more remote the place… the more serious the local protectionism, and the more difficult it is to do business.”

"Ah."

Zhang Yanling nodded, indicating his agreement with Chai Meng's statement.

Chai Meng said, “I don’t want to attack my fellow countrymen. This kind of conservative situation is the same everywhere. Even in the two capitals, the business landscape is basically monopolized by power. Just like… a powerful person like you can drive someone out of a business with just a word. Actually… sigh, pretend I didn’t say anything.”

"It doesn't matter."

Zhang Yanling raised his right hand and said, "I know that with the expansion of the Zhang family's business network, they have basically monopolized the local economy, so I have no right to criticize others. But the problem is, this is not a good phenomenon. Local protectionism will prevent the development of the commodity economy and make it difficult for ordinary people to become wealthy."

"hehe."

Chai Meng could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

Chai Meng was also thinking, "Your Zhang family has not only monopolized the business in the capital, but has also started to interfere in the business in Nanjing. Not to mention the official salt and tea trade that can be traded throughout the country. Without your family's protection, it would be very difficult for others to do those kinds of business in various places. After all, local officials are afraid of offending the emperor and losing their posts, right?"
Zhang Yanling said, "It may seem arrogant and rude, but I want to expand my business to all parts of the Ming Dynasty, so that as long as merchants are within the rules, they are qualified to do business without having to consider whether local powers agree or not."

"This……"

Chai Meng said, "Would that work? Wouldn't that mean... the bigger the Zhang family's business grows, the more places and areas they can reach under the protection of the government, and even... all walks of life will be taken over by people connected to the Zhang family, leaving small merchants nowhere to survive?"

"Mr. Chai, you have quite a bit of insight."

Zhang Yanling laughed and said, "So you've seen it too. Local protectionism sometimes has some advantages, namely, preventing outsiders from encroaching on the interests of our fellow villagers?"

Chai Meng looked ashamed: "After all, our family has been in business for generations, and we know some of the tricks of the trade. In the past, when high-ranking officials interfered with local businesses, our families would be suppressed if we tried to fight back, and we would even be imprisoned... Later... we got used to it!"

"Ah."

Zhang Yanling nodded and said, "Fair competition is fine. I won't interfere in most local industries. What I want to do is mine here and bring some of my businesses over, such as glass, soda ash, and textile printing and dyeing. We can't prevent goods from other places from flowing in just because they are cheaper and would harm local interests."

Chai Meng said, "Isn't the Ming Dynasty founded on agriculture?"

Zhang Yanling laughed and said, "It's time to update our thinking... If we continue to rely on agriculture without commodity circulation, it will seriously dampen the enthusiasm of farmers for production."

"A vibrant market and the circulation of goods will significantly improve people's quality of life. Just imagine, as long as you have money, you can buy cheap and durable fabrics and many daily necessities that you couldn't buy before. Who wouldn't want to live that kind of good life?"

(End of this chapter)