Chapter 1697: Yuan Family Manor

Forty li northeast of Dingbian, the seat of Yan Prefecture, lay a township called Minghu, named after a lake beyond its borders. It was a settlement inhabited mainly by Han people, but because of the lake, many Tangut people also lived scattered around, sharing the water source.

Yet it was precisely because of this water source that tensions between the Han and the Tangut had grown to the point of mutual hatred. Over the past twenty years, over a hundred armed clashes of varying scale had occurred, with more than a thousand dead and wounded.

Outside the township stood a manor called Yuan Family Manor. It was no small estate, covering fully a hundred mu of land, with rammed-earth buildings arranged in a ring like a wall. Several hundred people lived within, and it also served as a major market town for dozens of li around.

To the north, its reach extended even a hundred li. Whether Han or Hu, people from the surrounding areas were willing to come to Yuan Family Manor to trade, exchanging for grain, cloth, salt, wine, and even ironware.

After all, whether heading west or south, one had to travel dozens of li farther to take part in market trade. At Yuan Family Manor, not only was the distance shorter, but one could also get relative fairness—even the tax collectors were more amenable.

Yuan Family Manor had not been established long—no more than ten years. The manor lord, named Yuan Ke, happened to be the leader of the Mingsha bandits, "famed across the northwest." Of course, very few knew his identity, and even fewer would connect Yuan Ke with the ferocious outlaw "Lu Nan," wanted throughout the entire northwest.

Manor Lord Yuan kept a low profile in Yan Prefecture, but his reputation was great—at least in Minghu Township, where his prestige ran high. Because he was chivalrous and generous, often giving money and grain to relieve those in distress, he had earned a good name.

This applied not only to his manor retainers but equally to the Han folk of Minghu Township. In a remote frontier region like Yan Prefecture, where survival was hard, people banded together all the more tightly, and the appearance of Manor Lord Yuan gave the Han commoners someone to rely on.

Most of the Han in Minghu Township had migrated from elsewhere, mainly from Jiangnan. Twenty full years had passed since they settled here. Under the grinding wind and sand of the great northwest, those two decades had stripped away the delicate elegance of Jiangnan and added a measure of northwestern toughness—environment is the greatest temperer of men.

In truth, there had been no shortage of powerful Han families in Minghu Township in the past, and the Yuan clan had not been particularly prominent. Yuan Ke's father had after all been a scholar, a family of letters, known in his lifetime for modesty and gentleness.

But Yuan Ke was different—skilled in both letters and arms. As he grew up, he displayed the bearing of a true hero, making friends far and wide. For his boldness and fair dealings, he was much praised.

And since the establishment of Yuan Family Manor ten years ago, things had snowballed. The Yuan family became the foremost "distinguished clan" of Minghu Township, and Yuan Ke's reputation even carried weight in the prefectural seat.

Over the years, bold men of the region had come upon hearing of his fame, calling at his gate. Regardless of their reputation or standing, Yuan Ke would throw open the manor gates wide, entertain them with fine wine and good meat, and personally keep them company—feeding and hosting them, and sending them off with gifts besides.

Even those who were undeserving of their reputations, or came merely to freeload, were treated with tolerance. As the saying goes, suffering loss is fortune; when people come with sincerity, one must respond with sincerity. Such conduct only further swelled Yuan Ke's local renown.

Yuan Family Manor had been built upon the foundation of the household servants who had accompanied his father north, supplemented by recruiting fellow Jiangnan natives, and had gradually grown from there.

By now, the manor's retainers and residents numbered over three hundred, not a few of them fierce and hardy men. Yuan Ke led them not only in farming, reclamation, animal husbandry, and trade, but also in active participation in militia training. Whenever conscription or corvée labor came due, he personally led his men in full compliance with official orders, earning the recognition of the authorities.

Yuan Ke's name was loud not only among the Han but also carried considerable weight among the surrounding Hu peoples, who respected both his reputation and his martial prowess. Among the heroes he befriended were many Hu stalwarts, including Tangut men.

The struggle over the Minghu water source had also been resolved through Yuan Ke's mediation, producing a plan: Han to the south, Hu to the north. The conflict had thus eased and had been peaceful for several years. Even when disputes arose, people came to Yuan Ke to judge, and all accepted his reasoning.

In recent years, a consensus had formed among the Han and Hu common folk of Minghu Township: in trouble, go to Manor Lord Yuan; in dispute, go to Manor Lord Yuan; for matters even the authorities found hard to resolve, going to Manor Lord Yuan was sure to work.

Once, a township clerk, bitterly jealous of Yuan Ke's prestige, reported to the prefectural seat that Yuan Ke harbored rebellious intentions. But not long after, that clerk was transferred away. Later it was said he died of plague.

Thanks to Yuan Ke's painstaking cultivation of a good name, at least throughout Minghu Township, nearly all the Han had rallied around Yuan Family Manor with Yuan Ke at its core—including some Hu as well.

In many people's eyes, Yuan Ke was already a big man. Yet for a long time, within the structure of the Great Han, Yuan Ke had been only a minor functionary—he had served a full five years as a village head.

But no one dared to ignore Yuan Ke's influence. Of course, to wield such influence required more than personal charisma and ability—necessary means were indispensable, and more importantly, one needed the support of the authorities.

And Yuan Ke naturally lacked no backing in the prefectural seat. His generosity meant not only that various prefectural and county officials owed him favors and called him brother, but more importantly, his beautiful younger sister was a concubine of Liu Fang, the current Prefectural Administrator of Yan Prefecture.

Having hitched himself to the top official of the entire prefecture, Yuan Ke could command wind and rain in Yan Prefecture. The Prefectural Administrator had not been without thoughts of promoting him—at one point he had intended to transfer Yuan Ke to Dingbian City to serve as a prefectural constable, but Yuan Ke declined on the grounds of attachment to home.

Still, perhaps feeling a bit apologetic, Prefectural Administrator Liu Fang promoted Yuan Ke to the position of township head of Minghu Township, making him the true local lord of the land.

In Minghu Township, most people sang Yuan Ke's praises, thinking him generous and just. But few bothered to investigate where all his capital came from.

Guests thronging his gates, constant entertaining of visitors, a large number of manor guards and retainers, and the building of such an estate—relying on the surrounding farmland and mercantile earnings alone would have been far from sufficient.

Clearly, behind Yuan Ke's rise to wealth lay too many things that could not be spoken openly. Most simple folk paid no heed; clever people might suspect, but precisely because they were clever, they kept their mouths shut.

As for the bureaucrats and powerful figures in the prefectural seat, they cared even less about a mere Minghu Township—and besides, the generous Yuan Ke could bring them plenty of benefits.

In the past two years, many residents of Minghu Township and retainers of Yuan Family Manor had noticed that Manor Lord Yuan had grown low-key and mysterious. Though the manor gates remained wide open, he no longer personally entertained guests as before—he rarely showed his face at all.

Still, this did not diminish Yuan Ke's prestige of commanding a hundred responses with a single call. And given the state of the times, the atmosphere at Yuan Family Manor had inevitably grown somewhat tense. Vigilance against the Tangut seemed to have increased; in response to the authorities' call, training of manor guards and retainers had intensified, and even from outside the manor one could faintly glimpse the glint of blades within.