Chapter 46: Two Hundred Years of Misrule

As the fishing boat gradually headed north, the Santa Ana shrank to a black dot and vanished between sea and sky.

Since coming aboard, Zheng Zhilong had been full of energy, endlessly describing Guangzhou's customs and scenery.

Bailangzai was one of the Tanka boat people, rarely going ashore to wander, so his knowledge of Guangzhou was fragmentary at best—much of what Zheng Zhilong said, he truly did not know.

Zheng Zhilong was socially adept and deliberately trying to make friends, so before long he and Bailangzai were chatting away.

Lin Qian rested with his eyes closed, running through his plans in his mind, checking for any oversights.

As the saying goes: "All difficult things under heaven begin from the easy; all great things under heaven begin from the small."

Since his transmigration, though he had often taken risks, every one of those plans had been repeatedly deliberated and refined, ensuring there was no chance of failure before he acted.

Take this personnel arrangement, for instance.

He had brought Bailangzai to the Great Ming for two reasons: first, to rely on Bailangzai's skills for protection; second, to use Bailangzai's identity to recruit the Tanka boat people.

As for gestures of goodwill or keeping promises, those could be done along the way.

He left Chen Jiao and Lei Sanxiang on the ship.

First, because the two men held considerable prestige and could keep the crew in check.

Second, Lei Sanxiang valued brotherly loyalty more; if Chen Jiao harbored treacherous intentions, there would be someone to restrain him.

Sending Scholar Zhou and José to Macao together was to have Scholar Zhou keep an eye on José—after all, this glib-tongued Spaniard had only recently joined, and Lin Qian did not trust him much.

Lin Qian's decision not to tell José about the Hongmen Banquet affair was for the same reason.

One who sits in a high position need not understand all things—only how to use people.

To his sworn brothers, these arrangements might seem casual, but every one was the product of Lin Qian's careful deliberation.

Even when assigning shipboard positions, appointing Chen Jiao as first mate and Lei Sanxiang as boatswain, Lin Qian had intended for the two to share power and check each other.

That was why, when he discovered Lei Sanxiang was not respected by the crew, he devised the methods of overseeing punishments and applying medicine to help him.

These thoughts of his were well concealed; most of his brothers were rough-minded and likely had not noticed.

But even if they had been seen through, it would not matter.

As the saying goes: "He who employs a man does not doubt him; he who doubts a man does not employ him."

That saying is spoken for others to hear, not meant to be followed.

Act according to that proverb, and you'll end up a corpse floating in the sea sooner or later.

Just as he was pondering, he suddenly heard Zheng Zhilong say: "Look, that's Lingdingyang ahead."

Lin Qian opened his eyes, followed Zheng Zhilong's pointing finger toward the bow, and saw between sea and sky two patches of land faintly visible, with a wide expanse of water between them where vessels of all sizes sailed.

Bailangzai sighed with emotion: "If Second Brother were here, he'd be reciting Chancellor Wen's poem."

Lin Qian: "You know of Chancellor Wen?"

Bailangzai nodded: "I've heard the old folks speak of him."

The boat followed Lingdingyang northward, passing Hutoumen, where the water grew increasingly narrow, until a broad, rushing river gradually appeared ahead—this was the Pearl River.

On the Pearl River, many vessels traveled along the waterway, with fishing boats catching fish and merchant boats hawking their wares—a scene of considerable bustle.

Once they reached mid-river, the fisherman came to the stern and began working the sculling oar.

The Pearl River's current was gentle; though they were going upstream, there was no need for men to haul the boat by tow ropes.

Moreover, a southeast wind was blowing, so the sails provided assistance as well; combined with the sculling oar's propulsion, their speed was not much slower than at sea.

Lin Qian surveyed both banks, seeing lush green trees and distant mountains like dark ink washes—a scene of exquisite beauty straight out of a Chinese ink painting.

After nearly another four hours, they had reached the outskirts of Guangzhou; many houses now appeared on both banks, the surrounding trees had greatly thinned, revealing reddish earth, and in the distance a few barren hills could still be vaguely seen.

Lin Qian asked: "Bailangzai, is Poshan Wharf around this area?"

Bailangzai nodded and looked out of the boat; just then a small boat passed alongside, with several cormorants on it, and a man in a bamboo hat sculling on the little craft.

Bailangzai called out at the top of his voice: "Uncle, have all the boats returned to the Tanka anchorage at Poshan Wharf yet?"

The man in the bamboo hat replied: "How could they be so fast? Still need a day or two before they finish."

Bailangzai thanked him and sat back down in the cabin.

Zheng Zhilong, quick to read the situation, translated for Lin Qian: "Brother Lin, just now Brother Bai asked that man 'whether the boats at the Tanka anchorage of Poshan Wharf had returned,' and the man answered 'not so fast, still need to wait a day or two.'"

Bailangzai sat back in the cabin and sighed: "Helmsman, my family's boat should still be on its way back."

Lin Qian found this somewhat strange and was about to press further.

Zheng Zhilong, reading the mood, spoke up first to explain: "Brother Bai must be a pearl-household of Poshan Wharf. Brother Lin, from your accent you're from Jiangzhe, so you may not know much about Guangdong's pearl households—may this younger brother explain a bit?"

Lin Qian smiled and nodded.

Zheng Zhilong: "When our founding emperor established the Yellow Registers and classified the people's household registrations, one category was the pearl households. Because most of the southern pearl beds were around Lianzhou and Leizhou, the pearl households were originally all located there as well…"

Zheng Zhilong glanced at Bailangzai as he spoke, and seeing his expression unchanged, continued: "Over two hundred years have passed; the earliest batch of pearl households have died, fled, or seen their lines die out, growing ever scarcer, while the court's demand for pearls has not decreased but increased—this forced local officials to add new pearl households…"

Bailangzai had always been a man of few words, and was even less willing to discuss the pearl household matter; the origins of the pearl households were something Lin Qian was learning for the first time.

By this point in the story, Lin Qian could guess the rest.

Inevitably, the local officials used every means to force commoners into pearl households, but they couldn't squeeze Lianzhou and Leizhou to death; Guangzhou Prefecture had a large population and was near the sea, so it naturally contributed no small number of poor folk to become pearl households.

That was probably the origin of Guangzhou's pearl households.

And the Great Ming's Yellow Registers strictly forbade household registration changes, with especially harsh oversight of hereditary service households like the pearl households.

This led to the absurd situation of people registered in Guangzhou yet forced to perform corvée labor in Lianzhou and Leizhou.

Fortunately, the pearl folk made their homes on their boats; otherwise, with all that back-and-forth travel, the mere journey would have been enough to kill a man.

What Zheng Zhilong said afterward matched Lin Qian's guesses almost exactly.

When he finished, Bailangzai added: "My family dives for pearls at the pearl beds of Leizhou Prefecture, returning once every three months."

Seeing that Bailangzai hadn't gotten to the crux of the matter, Zheng Zhilong couldn't help adding: "Every three months, Guangzhou Prefecture conducts a roll call of the pearl household registry and collects taxes at the same time; if anyone has fled, the entire jia unit is punished collectively—that's what forces the pearl households to make the round trip every three months. Otherwise, since the pearl folk live on their boats, they could simply stay near the pearl beds."

Bailangzai nodded in agreement.

The pearl folk already lived in hardship, and on top of that had to answer a roll call every three months, traveling back and forth in endless toil.

So it was that when officials' own interests were involved, they bent the law for personal gain and opened the door wide; but when the common people's interests were involved, they were iron-faced and impartial, granting not the slightest accommodation.

No wonder the Great Ming had only twenty-four years of dynastic mandate left—from a single corrupt practice maintained for two hundred years, one could already see the signs of the nation's downfall.

Just as he was mulling this over, the fisherman at the oars said, "We've arrived."

Lin Qian looked up and glanced around, seeing that the fishing boat had stopped at a dock.

Lin Qian was the first off the boat, stepping onto the plank walkway. Bailangzai gave the fisherman two taels of loose silver—the boat fare had already been paid at departure; this was an extra tip.

The fisherman thanked them profusely.

Zheng Zhilong, however, warned coldly, "Some things are not to be spoken of. Do you understand?"

This was a warning to the fisherman not to talk carelessly.

The fisherman nodded with an ingratiating smile.

Then Zheng Zhilong and Bailangzai came ashore.

Lin Qian, meanwhile, paid no attention to their conversation, quietly gazing at the city district before him.

So this was Guangzhou Prefecture of the Great Ming?

Yahei

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