Chapter 23: Ox Prices

Wang Dou and Han Zhong drove the oxen, the two men laying the plow and hoe across the animals’ backs as they rode their horses slowly back.

On the way, Han Zhong brought up the matter of that junior officer from earlier. When he thought of the best part, he couldn’t help letting out a chuckle. Earlier, while he had been outside the main gate, just as he and that junior officer were glaring at each other, a man in the uniform of a Company Commander came out of the office hall. Without any explanation, he pointed at the junior officer and gave him a thorough tongue-lashing, finally even slapping him hard across the face. At that moment, the junior officer’s face had turned completely green.

On top of that, Han Zhong beside him had been watching the whole joke unfold, so the junior officer could be said to have been both humiliated and furious. Thinking of this, Han Zhong felt exceptionally pleased inside.

Han Zhong asked Wang Dou, “Chief Wang, that Company Commander hitting that scoundrel was a move you pulled. What scheme did you use to make even the Company Commander take your side?”

Wang Dou cursed him with a laugh, “You talk too much. Hurry up and get moving.”

Han Zhong split his mouth in a silly grin. Wang Dou smiled; this sort of thing was just a minor interlude, no longer worth spending much of his mental energy on. Getting the oxen and farm tools back and starting the work of building up the fort as quickly as possible was the proper priority.

The oxen walked slowly, so the two men had no choice but to ride their horses slowly as well. It was near evening by the time they reached the outside of Jingbian Watchpost.

By now, the dugout dwellings built by the ten households outside the watchpost were already taking decent shape. Seeing Wang Dou return, Yang Tong, who had been directing and gesticulating nonstop nearby, hurried over to greet him. While attentively asking Wang Dou if he was tired, he busily drove the oxen back inside the watchpost, all the while remarking that Chief Wang was truly formidable — the moment he went out, he had managed to get back quite a lot of goods again.

Wang Dou also let out a breath of relief. Looking at it now, there were already nine head of oxen inside the watchpost; any more and they wouldn’t fit. It seemed they would still need to build an ox pen outside.

He asked about Han Chao and Qi Tianliang; the two had not yet returned. This morning when Wang Dou and Han Zhong went to Shunxiang Fort, the other two had subsequently also gone to Baoan Department City. Before leaving, the two had picked several able-bodied young men from the military households to accompany them. Those military households were new arrivals, and to demonstrate their loyalty, they had naturally gone along eagerly.

Presumably, when the two returned they would bring back some more oxen and supplies. Taking advantage of their absence, it was just the right time to build an ox pen outside first. This task was naturally assigned to Yang Tong, and for a while Yang Tong was again shouting and directing those military households to build the ox pen outside.

At noon three days later, just after the crude ox pen was finished, Han Chao and Qi Tianliang also returned from the department city.

Besides bringing back a large number of plow oxen, farm tools, rice, and flour, the two were actually accompanied by a large number of people as well. The day the two went to the department city, they had only taken six young men with them. Now returning, they had over twenty extra people. Looking at these people, every one of them wore tattered clothes; there were men and women, old and young. Some were dragging along their families, others were carrying their simple luggage on shoulder poles, and some of the more able-bodied young men were helping carry rice and drive oxen.

From the looks of them, they were actually a group of refugees.

Wang Dou was both surprised and delighted. He asked Han Chao and the other man about it. It turned out that on this trip to Baoan Department City, besides buying various supplies, they had also conveniently recruited five or six refugee households in the department city to come along. Moreover, they had even hired someone in the department city to post notices announcing that Jingbian Fort needed settler households.

Regrettably, there had been quite a few refugees in Baoan Department City at the time. Hearing that people were being recruited here, many were tempted, but upon subsequently hearing that the settler households all had to join the military households, most of them backed out. In the end, only these five households were willing to come.

Still, this was already an unexpected delight. Wang Dou gave orders to move the supplies into the watchpost.

It looked like there was quite a lot of stuff. Besides ten head of oxen and several dozen sacks of rice and flour, there were also all sorts of winnowing baskets, shoulder poles, carrying baskets, hoes, plowshares, plow frames, ox yokes, drying mats, and other items piled all over the ground. Apart from the plow oxen, which were kept in the ox pen outside, the rest of these goods were all piled into the storehouse inside the watchpost.

The newly arrived refugee households stood uneasily to one side. Wang Dou reassured them for a while, instructed two women to cook porridge for them, and then had Yang Tong direct them to build dugout dwellings, right opposite the ten military households, the two sides facing each other so as to leave a street in between.

Drinking the sweet rice porridge and immediately setting to work with their own hands to build a place to live, these refugee households all felt their minds settle. The ten military households from before were already acting like old-timers, and their personal testimony put the newly arrived households even more at ease.

Although being a military household was harsh, it was still better than starving to death. It seemed that Lord Wang appeared to be quite kind-hearted; perhaps they could live a better life here.

…

Wang Dou summoned Han Chao and Qi Tianliang into the watchpost and asked them for the details of their trip.

Qi Tianliang took out a list, on which characters were written in a crooked, scrawling hand, detailing the purchased supplies, their unit prices, how much silver was spent, how much remained, and so on.

Qi Tianliang said, “After we arrived in the department city, we didn’t bother to rest and went straight to the rice shops and ox brokers to buy oxen and rice. In the end, following your instructions, Chief Wang, we bought a total of ten strong oxen, ten dan of rice, and ten sets of plows. In addition, we also bought quite a few carrying baskets, hoes, and other work items.”

He spoke of what he had seen and heard on the trip, saying somewhat resentfully, “We could have bought more originally, but there was no helping it — prices have soared so high, we could only buy this much.”

Wang Dou looked at the list while Qi Tianliang explained beside him. The ten dan of rice had been bought at a rice shop called Wanshenghe. They had visited several rice shops in the department city, and this shop’s prices were the most reasonable. Even so, a dou of rice cost five qian of silver, so one dan of rice cost five taels of silver. Buying ten dan of rice thus cost fifty taels of silver.

Wang Dou frowned inwardly. When the Great Ming was prosperous, one tael of silver could buy two dan of rice. Even in ordinary years, one dan of rice generally only cost one tael of silver. Although rice prices had fallen back somewhat now, they were still this expensive — actually costing five taels of silver per dan — which was truly outrageous.

As for the oxen, the two had bought them at an ox broker called Yihechang. Han Chao and the other man had inquired everywhere; the price of a large ox in the department city was generally over eight taels per head, and a calf also cost over five taels per head. Buying ten oxen, even with a discount already applied, still cost eighty taels of silver.

Wang Dou remembered that in the early and mid-Ming, the price of an ox was no more than three taels of silver. During the Wanli reign, an ox cost only a bit over five taels. Now a large ox actually cost over eight taels — ox prices had skyrocketed so drastically.

Qi Tianliang continued his explanation. After buying the oxen and rice, they went to an ironsmith’s shop and bought hoes, iron rakes, plowshares, moldboards, and so on. In addition, they ran to a bamboo-ware shop to buy winnowing baskets, shoulder poles, carrying baskets, and other items, all of which were much more expensive than in previous years.

Adding in their expenses for food and such over these days, by the time they returned, they had practically no silver left on them.

Qi Tianliang cursed the high prices of all kinds of goods without stop, cursing those profiteering merchants for seizing the chance to drive up prices. Even charcoal this year was much more expensive than in previous years. They had bought over a hundred jin of charcoal to bring back, and it actually cost over one tael of silver. Normally, this charcoal would only cost five qian of silver.

Wang Dou was speechless for a long while. Reckoning that over a hundred taels of silver were gone just like that, he couldn’t help but curse resentfully as well, “These profiteering merchants — outright robbery.”

When Qi Tianliang returned, he had also visited a woodwork shop and bought a set of tables, chairs, and stools for Wang Dou, which rather surprised Wang Dou.

However, Qi Tianliang then brought up an amusing matter, which also piqued Wang Dou’s curiosity.

Qi Tianliang looked at Han Chao and chuckled. He said, “That day when we were buying rice at Wanshenghe, the shopkeeper of that rice shop was a woman — I heard she’s a widow. I could see she seemed quite favorably disposed toward Brother Han, stealing glances at him from time to time, and even asking me about Brother Han’s situation. I made inquiries; when she sold us rice, the price in her shop was two fen cheaper than other rice shops. I think Brother Han’s contribution was no small part of that. Perhaps in the future, when our watchpost runs out of rice, we can even go to her shop to buy some rice on credit.”

He laughed heartily, “Or maybe Brother Han could just step up directly, use a bit of a honey trap, and get that female shopkeeper so smitten that we won’t even need credit.”

“Oh.”

Wang Dou was also intrigued. He looked at Han Chao and said, “Old Han, that’s also a method — worth a try.”

Han Chao had long since lost his usual composed demeanor. His face flushed bright red, and he could only say, “Chief Wang, please don’t make fun of me.”

Wang Dou sighed regretfully. If Han Chao was unwilling to sell his good looks, then his own purse would have to take a major hit.

…

Over the next few days, Wang Dou continued recruiting people on one hand while preparing supplies on the other. Perhaps the notices Wang Dou had posted and publicized in Dongjiazhuang, Shunxiang Fort, and Baoan Department City were taking effect, for within a few days, some military households and refugees arrived one after another outside Jingbian Watchpost requesting to join.

As the number of households gradually increased, Wang Dou felt the importance of having a clerk. He made another trip to Dongjiazhuang Fort.

Two days later.

“This student Zhong Rong pays his respects to the Platoon Leader, my lord.”

Before Wang Dou stood a man dressed in the green, round-collared robes of a minor clerk. He was in his forties, tall and thin, with a sparse beard. His complexion had the sallow, greenish tinge of malnutrition, and his expression bore an unconcealable air of world-weariness and fatigue. The robes on his body were also very old, even showing several patches.

After performing the salute, he simply stood there quietly. This man was the clerk Wang Dou had requested from Dongjiazhuang a few days earlier, named Zhong Rong. Within Dongjiazhuang there were three minor clerks: one Head Clerk and two Assistant Clerks; Zhong Rong was one of the Assistant Clerks.

In the Great Ming, clerical staff were divided into the ranks of Assistant Clerk, Head Clerk, Senior Clerk, and Chief Clerk, with Assistant Clerk being the very lowest rank. In the Great Ming, promotion for clerical staff was extremely difficult. If everything went smoothly, only after serving three full years as an Assistant Clerk could one be promoted to Head Clerk, then another three years to Senior Clerk, and another three years to Chief Clerk, the highest clerical rank — and even a Chief Clerk was still an unranked minor functionary. The difficulty of promotion for officials and clerks in the Great Ming was evident from this.

Although the clerks in the various forts of the Great Ming’s guard battalions were under the jurisdiction of the guard battalion’s administrative office, their performance evaluations depended on the assessments of each fort’s seal-holding officer, which created even greater difficulties for the clerks’ promotions. Moreover, their salary rice was also disbursed by each fort — a few dou of rice per month, often in arrears. Thus, at the end of the Ming, desertion among clerks in the various guard battalions was severe.

This Zhong Rong also frequently endured bitter days of eating one full meal and going hungry the next. On top of that, he was quite squeezed out within the fort by Head Clerk Li Chao. Therefore, when Squad Commander Zhang Gui came asking who was willing to go to Jingbian Fort, Zhong Rong had volunteered to come.

After Zhong Rong performed his salute, Wang Dou also looked him over from head to toe. Although the man appeared downcast and desolate, his bearing was neither servile nor overbearing. Moreover, no matter what, he was still a clerk who could write and do accounts, so Wang Dou had already made up his mind to keep him.

He stood up and said with a smile, “For Wang Dou to obtain your assistance, sir, is truly a fortunate matter. From now on, sir, you shall remain in the watchpost. Every month hereafter, your salary rice will be paid in full as stipulated; I will never deduct or delay it.”

He instructed Yang Tong to find a room for Zhong Rong inside the watchpost to stay in for now — let him stay in the room that originally belonged to Ma Ming and his wife — and also prepare a set of table and chairs for him.

Zhong Rong followed Yang Tong down. He had heard of Wang Dou’s great name, and seeing that a military man could also speak with such refinement, he could not help but feel secretly astonished.

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Old White Ox:

Only one update today; three updates tomorrow. Times are 2:30 PM, 6:00 PM, and 12:00 AM. Thank you all for your support.