I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 27: An Unintentional Planting of Willows Creates a Shade

Zhao Zi said that he did not waste too much energy on the Liang family and continued to head north.

The layout in Yang and Zhen can only be regarded as laying an ambush first, allowing time to develop and take root and sprout. It will always be useful in the future, but we must not be impatient at the moment.

The Liang family did not immediately "bow down" and follow Zhao Zicheng's advice just because of his goodwill. They had to wait and see the effect of his advice.

During the first ten days and a half months after Zhao Zicheng left, the Liang family did not even try to rectify military discipline, strictly investigate the collusion between their soldiers and private merchants crossing the river, and accept benefits privately. Instead, everything continued as usual, except that they assigned people to purchase duck feathers, boil the feathers to remove the smell, and trial-make down jackets and quilts.

In fact, this is the normal reaction of the old hands. The Liang family also has to first see whether Zhao Zicheng's way of making money can open up new sources of income for their family to support the reorganization of the army.

If you don't see any return on your investment, but just jump in headfirst, then officers at all levels will become disunited and you won't even know how you died.

As for textile-related businesses, it would definitely be more convenient for women to run them, so the women of the Liang family were mobilized to take part in the management and even personally participated in the first batch of trial production.

Including Liang Feng's wife, Liang Hongyu's mother, and Liang Hongyu herself, all participated in it.

These women learned a similar process to the traditional cocoon boiling and silk reeling process, but they slightly adjusted the recipe, time and water temperature. After repeated attempts, they were able to produce clean and odorless duck feathers in no time.

After drying and processing, it seems that it is indeed much more durable than the original duck feathers.

"Mom, look at this batch of duck feathers! They really don't have any fishy smell at all. Moreover, they become even whiter after being boiled and washed. They feel lighter and softer than silk cotton.

It's so light and warm when sewn into silk, and I'm sure the nobles in the north will love it."

On the fifth day after Zhao Zicheng left, Liang Hongyu sewed the first satin duck down quilt by herself and presented it to her mother Qin as a treasure.

Because of the time constraints, they couldn't even wait for the first batch of duck down used in the experiment to dry naturally in the sun, but instead directly dried it over a fire. The texture of the feathers was slightly damaged, but it was still lighter and warmer than silk cotton.

The only unsolved problem was down leakage, but there was no way around it. The tiny down in down products easily escaped through the gaps between the fibers of the fabric, a problem that remained unsolved until the 19th century. Zhao Zi stated that if he wanted to create down jackets and duvets in the Song Dynasty, he certainly couldn't expect too much.

Besides, the quality of other thermal textiles of this era is also poor, and users will not be so picky without comparison.

Liang Hongyu and Qin inspected the finished product, and the young Liang Hongyu took the opportunity to ask, "I heard that Mr. Zhao taught my family this way of making a living in order to persuade my father and grandfather to rectify military discipline and thoroughly investigate the collusion between the officers and private merchants.

Now that this thing is so useful, why hasn't Father started to rectify military discipline? I've always been disgusted with those officers who extort money from private merchants and slack off on river defense. They really bring shame to Grandfather and Father."

Qin was worldly-wise after all, so she patiently taught her daughter, "Your grandfather and father naturally had their own difficulties. You are still young and don't know how difficult the world is. It's a complex and complicated situation, affecting the livelihoods of so many people. It wasn't established overnight."

Liang Hongyu thought for a moment, still pouting in dissatisfaction: "Then at least you should be honest and trustworthy. Since you have accepted benefits from others for no reason, you should do what they say first. Besides, when I listened to what Mr. Zhao said that day, I was worried about the country and the people, and I didn't seek any personal gain for him."

Qin sighed, "Although I haven't witnessed it myself, I know that close ties between members of the imperial family and military officials are a taboo in our dynasty. If that Young Master Zhao is truly so selfless, solely concerned with the peace of the empire, with no other ambitions of his own... that's not a good thing either."

Qin wanted to finish what she was saying, but she felt that she was being too mean-spirited, so she held it back and didn't tell her daughter the last half of the sentence which was too dark.

My daughter is still young, why let her know so much about the dangers of the world?

"If a man with the surname Zhao doesn't seek anything but only cares about the people of the world, he might have some unspeakable ambitions... I hope I'm wrong and I hope he won't bring trouble to the Liang family." Qin thought to herself.

In fact, Liang Xin and Liang Feng, father and son, also had this worry in their hearts.

As a member of the royal family, one cannot be too perfect in character. The most feared thing is that one is selfless and has great ambitions.

It is easy to remind people of the passage in Taishigong that "When the Duke of Pei was in Shandong, he was greedy for wealth and loved beautiful women. Now he has entered the pass, but he has taken no wealth and no women."
So what does he want?
But since the method Zhao Zicheng taught them has worked and can indeed produce good things, the Liang father and son cannot completely breach the contract. They can only proceed slowly and step by step and begin to rectify their own military discipline.

They first gave their first batch of down quilts to several reliable water merchants with whom they had established relationships, and asked them to sell them to the north. The north was cold, so these down quilts were more readily accepted and fetched a higher price.

The Liang family patrolled the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal for many years, and they knew many wealthy merchants who traveled along the Grand Canal. Therefore, their sales channels were more open than Zhao Zicheng's, and they were able to open up the market faster.

Some discerning merchants immediately saw the potential of this new product, and to curry favor with the government, they were willing to pay in full upfront and place a larger order. As a result, the Liang family could receive payment almost immediately after producing their products, allowing them to turn over their capital very quickly.

After the wealthy merchants they worked with took possession of the goods, they might have to hold onto them for several months before selling them all, but the Liang family would have already received their money. Therefore, by the end of April, the Liang family would have some extra cash to support their internal restructuring. Although this initial payment was not large, only a few hundred guan (approximately 100 guan), it was a good start, encouraging further investment.

The Liang family father and son used both kindness and force, and announced several strict orders that month, starting from that day on, to strictly investigate the military for secretly accepting benefits from merchants and letting tax evading merchants pass through.

If anyone is found to be colluding with private merchants, turning a blind eye, or even colluding with insiders and outsiders to leak information during river patrols, they will be punished.

Moreover, the reason for announcing the rectification was not groundless or aimless, but an excuse had been thought of long ago:

At the beginning of the month, the imperial fleet transporting flowers and stones encountered an accident between Zhenjiang and Guazhou Ferry. They were intercepted by the "Haisha Gang", "Jujing Gang" and local private merchants and pirates on the Yangtze River, and almost got into trouble.

If the troops sent by the Yingfeng Bureau for escort were not strong enough, if hundreds of thousands of strings of cash and tribute to the emperor were lost in Zhenjiang, all the Liang family’s troops and officers patrolling the river would be more or less implicated.

With such a serious case, the Liang family father and son naturally needed to rectify and reflect. They publicized this reflection internally: "This case happened because the soldiers colluded too much with private merchants and salt dealers, and all kinds of information leaked too much. That's why we need to investigate it now! If we don't investigate it strictly, it will be difficult to explain to the court if a similar problem occurs next time."

With such an excuse, the complaints and backlash within the Yang and Zhen naval forces against the rectification of military discipline were not so intense.

Everyone knows that there is a reason for everything. If we have to blame someone, we can only blame ourselves for not doing things well before, which caused the trouble and may have offended the Yingfeng Bureau.

Now we have to make up for the loss, so of course we have to tighten the fence first, even if it is just a temporary fix to deal with surprise inspections.

If anyone runs into the gun barrel again at this time, don't blame the commander-in-chief for making an example of him and enforcing strict military law.

Some officers with a longer-term vision warned their subordinates that they must live a frugal life for a few months and return to normal life only after the storm has passed.

But there are also some uneducated people who have never read a word and do not understand any historical lessons. They do not even understand the simple principles of shooting the first bird to stick its head out and killing the chicken to scare the monkeys. At this critical juncture, they still insist on doing their own thing, which is tantamount to walking into the muzzle of a gun.

By the end of the month, after a thorough investigation, Liang's father and son actually caught a few young and inexperienced people who were negative examples.

There's nothing we can do about it, just punish him as he deserves.

One of the most obvious and notorious commanders, at this critical moment, still went against the wind and colluded with private businessmen, tipped off information, and leaked military intelligence in exchange for money.

The military intelligence this person sold mainly consisted of the patrol schedules and routes of the Yang and Zhen naval forces, telling the merchants he colluded with when and where there were loopholes in the government patrols, allowing them to sneak across the river to evade inspection and taxation.

After the incident was discovered, the commander Liang Xin reported it according to the law, and the case was transferred for review. Finally, the officer who betrayed the military secrets was executed according to military law. His head was hung directly in the barracks for public display and command.

There were also one or two commanders, three or five captains, and even more team leaders who were slow to react and lacked self-control, and they committed some offenses to varying degrees. But at least they weren't as serious as the one who leaked military secrets. At most, they temporarily helped someone evade taxes and gained a small benefit. Or they didn't restrain themselves from collecting unpaid salaries, and continued to increase the number of unpaid salaries.

These people were also dealt with according to military law. Those who should be dismissed from their posts were dismissed, and those who could not be dismissed would temporarily retain their benefits but be stripped of their actual power, and their original deputies would be allowed to temporarily perform their duties.

Those who deserved to be beaten with military sticks or canings were all punished, with more than a dozen officers receiving them. Those who deserved to have their money confiscated or even fined were all punished.

In the past, such strict inspections would definitely arouse complaints and backlash.

However, since the situation had just gotten out of hand and the situation was ripe for rectification, most officers, who had nothing to do with the matter, chose to remain silent. They simply assumed that those colleagues who had spoken out were blind and no wonder their superiors were using them to establish their authority.

"The imperial court's flower and stone levy almost got into trouble just now. It must be strictly checked at this time. If we commit a crime now, we will be courting death." Many officers thought so.

Moreover, the Liang family also uses rewards and punishments. For those who have done well and have indeed stopped colluding with private merchants and temporarily restrained themselves this month, they will also give extra money as rewards.

They basically did not keep the several hundred strings of cash for themselves, but distributed it all. Although the amount distributed to each law-abiding officer was not much, it was also an encouragement.

Seeing that there is a bright future ahead, everyone is willing to continue cooperating.

Zhao Zi said that the hidden seed buried in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou grew and developed on its own, which made the status of the navy slightly improve.

(End of this chapter)