Chapter 881: The Xiazhou House Deed Turns into a Lifesaving Herb

After the third recitation, about seven or eight people were already gathered in front of the Wooden Plaque.

A gray‑haired old herdsman grabbed the Political Commissar's sleeve, his voice cracking as if about to break.

"Say it again, exchanging cattle and sheep for a house—what does that mean?"

The Political Commissar spread the Rouran script copy for him to see, pointing at each character with his finger.

"It's exactly what it says: you bring enough cattle, sheep, or horses, and at the official conversion rate exchange them for a house in Xiazhou City—a brick‑stone structure with a courtyard wall and a well, sealed against winter drafts."

The old herdsman rubbed his fingertips on his lips twice.

"How many cattle or sheep for one house?"

The Political Commissar turned to the second page of the copy.

"A three‑room house with a courtyard is priced at twenty strong horses, or forty strong cattle, or two hundred adult sheep; a mix of horses and cattle works too, calculated at the official desk according to the table."

The old herdsman gestured in the air.

"Twenty strong horses?"

The Political Commissar nodded.

The old herdsman glanced back at his five thin horses tied beside the Outpost Checkpoint, moved his lips twice without speaking, then turned and walked back slowly.

He took three steps and then returned.

"After exchanging for a house, can you really obtain Great Zhou household registration?"

The Political Commissar pointed to that line on the copy for him.

"In black on white paper, it reads that Governor of Xiazhou's General Command's Zhang Bie Jia personally issued the notice, stamped with the official seal."

The old herdsman rubbed the mud from his trouser leg with his fingers.

"What is household registration?"

The Political Commissar paused a breath and rephrased.

"It means the Great Zhou Court recognizes you as a Great Zhou citizen; you can travel and trade within Great Zhou openly, and your child can attend a school in Xiazhou alongside Great Zhou children to learn to read and write."

The old herdsman's eyes darted three times within his gaunt sockets.

"Study? Can my grandson study?"

The Political Commissar nodded.

The old herdsman turned and left.

He did not return this time.

He went to where the horses were tied, squatted with the reins for a while, then stood, led the five thin horses onto the dirt road north of the Trade Fair that leads to the Grassland.

Zhang Wenqian stood behind the curtain of the supervisory shed, watching the old herdsman's silhouette fade at the end of the dirt road.

Gu Yuci came over from the side.

"Left?"

Zhang Wenqian lowered the curtain.

"He left, went back to gather horses."

Gu Yuci's mouth twitched to the side.

"Five thin horses aren't enough to exchange for a house."

Zhang Wenqian sat back at the desk, adding an entry to the registration book.

"He isn't gathering his own horses; he's returning to tell his clan the news."

Gu Yuci's eyebrows moved.

"One person hears, and after he returns ten people know."

Zhang Wenqian placed the brush on the brush holder.

"After ten people know, three won't believe, five hesitate, and two will rush with their herd to the Trade Fair that very night."

He looked up at the growing silhouettes on the Trade Fair's open ground beyond the curtain.

"Day one, two people came to exchange houses; day two, four; day five, ten; after half a month, you'll see."

Gu Yuci leaned against a shed pillar.

"Zhang Bie Jia, do these herders really get household registration after exchanging houses?"

Zhang Wenqian opened to the first page of the registration book, where Chen Yan's directive was recorded.

"The Prime Minister's directive: anyone who comes to the Trade Fair to exchange a house and register shall be entered into the Great Zhou Household Registration Ordinance, issued an official registration document, and shall not be obstructed or penalized."

Gu Yuci tapped his hand on the shed pillar twice.

"Being entered under the Great Zhou Household Registration means they become proper Great Zhou citizens; thereafter taxes and service will follow Great Zhou rules."

Zhang Wenqian nodded.

"Yes, but the Prime Minister added one special instruction."

Gu Yuci looked at him.

"Registered Grassland herders are exempt from all taxes for the first three years; from the fourth year they pay taxes at Great Zhou citizen rates, which are 60% lower than the Royal Court's rates."

Gu Yuci inhaled.

"No tax for three years, then only 40% of the Royal Court tax from the fourth year on."

His hand slipped down from the shed pillar.

"Those herders terrified by Royal Court taxes, once they do the math, any sane mind knows where to run."

Zhang Wenqian stood, walked to the curtain's side, lifted a corner to look outside.

On the Trade Fair's open ground, another circle gathered before the newly erected Wooden Plaque; a few people in finer leather robes than ordinary herders pointed at the plaque, murmuring words.

"Those few aren't ordinary herders."

Gu Yuci leaned over to take a look.

"Someone in a leather robe? Their attire looks like a tribal official."

Zhang Wenqian lowered the curtain.

"They're the heads of several small tribes; they went around the Trade Fair yesterday without making a deal, and they came again today."

Gu Yuci lifted the curtain a little more.

"They're looking at the housing notice."

Zhang Wenqian returned to the desk behind him.

"Let them look; after they finish looking they'll settle accounts, then they'll go back to discuss with their tribe, and after that they'll come again."

Before half an incense stick burned out, the curtain was ripped open from outside.

A middle‑aged man in a dark brown leather robe stepped into the supervisory shed, followed by two young attendants.

The robe's edge was lined with a circle of silver buttons, and a bronze horn hung from the belt—a standard accessory for small‑tribe leaders on the Grassland.

He walked to the front of the desk and placed his palm on the surface.

"Who is your official in charge?"

Zhang Wenqian looked at him.

"I am the Trade Fair official; Governor of Xiazhou, Zhang Wenqian, and you are?"

The middle‑aged man lifted his hand from the desk and patted his chest.

"I am Tu Li Hua, head of the Wolf River Tribe."

Zhang Wenqian flipped to a blank page in the register and dipped his brush in ink.

"Wolf River Tribe, I recall, lies to the southeast of the Grassland, about an eight‑day journey from Xiazhou."

Tu Li Hua's mouth twitched.

"Your Great Zhou people have quite swift information."

Zhang Wenqian's brush tip paused on the paper.

"My business is exactly the trade of swift information; what does Chief Tu Li Hua want to exchange at the Trade Fair today?"

Tu Li Hua lifted his chin toward the outside of the curtain.

"Is it true that the Wooden Plaque outside says you can trade cattle and horses for houses in Xiazhou City?"

Zhang Wenqian pushed the register toward him and turned to the page with the official seal.

"The Great Seal of the Xiazhou General Command is here; does the chief think my official seal is fake?"

Tu Li Hua lowered his head, glanced at the bright red seal, and brushed his finger across its surface.

"If we exchange for a house, will you really provide a household registration? What kind of registration? Temporary or permanent?"

Zhang Wenqian took a blank household registration document sample from the drawer at the desk corner and spread it before Tu Li Hua.

"The Great Zhou official household register is identical to the ones given to civilians in any Zhou prefecture; it lists name, ancestral home, and age, and bears the dual seals of the Xiazhou General Command and the Great Zhou Household Department."

Tu Li Hua's finger traced the edge of the document sample twice.

"The Household Department's seal? Did your Court stamp it on top?"

Zhang Wenqian retrieved the document sample.

"Pillar of the State personally reported it to the Court; the chief need not worry that I handled it privately."

Tu Li Hua's breathing grew coarse.

He glanced back at his two attendants, then turned again.

"Sir Zhang, may I speak from the bottom of my heart?"

Zhang Wenqian set his brush down and looked at him.

Tu Li Hua lowered his voice a notch, his throat carrying a roughness as if something had been ground over it.

"My Wolf River Tribe has over two thousand members; we endured the Jinshan War and lost three hundred strong men, survived last year's famine that froze half our cattle and sheep, and this year Yunhe Ti issued a doubled tax decree, demanding three hundred warhorses and five hundred cattle from us."

His finger rubbed the bronze horn on his belt twice.

"We can pool together three hundred warhorses from the whole tribe, but after that only old and sick horses remain, and by next spring we'll lack the strength even for grazing."

His voice sank lower.

"I cannot pay five hundred cattle; we have only eight hundred in total, and after handing over five hundred, the remaining three hundred won't even provide enough meat to get through winter."

Zhang Wenqian sat behind the desk, saying nothing.

Tu Li Hua released his hand from the bronze horn.

"I've been here two days; the silk and tea in your Trade Fair are more than three times better than what I saw in the Royal Court market, the millet is five times the alfalfa feed the Court supplies, and the refined salt—white as snow—is something I've never tasted in my life."

His palm pressed back onto the desk.

"Sir Zhang, I'm not here to exchange just one or two houses."

Zhang Wenqian's brush tip hovered over the blank page.

"How many houses does the chief wish to exchange?"

Tu Li Hua raised his voice slightly.

"I want to exchange thirty houses."

Gu Yuci stood beside a shed pillar and knocked his hand on it.

Zhang Wenqian's brush tip landed on the paper, writing a number after the three characters Tu Li Hua.

"Thirty houses, at conversion rates, equal six hundred sturdy horses, or one thousand two hundred sturdy cattle, or a mixed calculation."

Tu Li Hua shook his head.

"I don't have six hundred sturdy horses, but I have three hundred fifty sturdy horses, four hundred sturdy cattle, plus one thousand two hundred adult sheep and a batch of fine wolf skins."

Zhang Wenqian's brush raced across the paper, tallying a string of numbers.

"Three hundred fifty sturdy horses convert to seventeen and a half houses, four hundred sturdy cattle to ten houses, and one thousand two hundred adult sheep to six houses, totaling thirty‑three and a half houses."

He looked up at Tu Li Hua.

"The chief's wealth is enough to exchange for thirty‑three houses."

Tu Li Hua's eyes darted back and forth across Zhang Wenqian's face twice.

"Thirty‑three houses?"

Zhang Wenqian nodded.

Tu Li Hua's breathing halted for half a beat, then his hand clapped on the desk.

"Exchange! All exchange!"

He turned, walked two steps toward the curtain, then turned back.

"Sir Zhang, my people are waiting outside the Trade Fair today, over five hundred people, herds of Cattle, Horses and Sheep have arrived; when can we settle the deal?"

Zhang Wenqian stood up, walked to the side of the curtain and lifted a corner.

At the northern entrance of the Trade Fair, a long procession of Cattle and Horses wound along the dirt road, a black mass stretching more than half a li, the herders driving the livestock ran back and forth among the Cattle and Horses, shouting incomprehensible calls; the sounds of hooves and lowing mingled, shaking the ground.

Zhang Wenqian lowered the curtain.

"The chief drives the livestock in, and after they are inspected batch by batch at the official counter, they can receive the house deed and household registration documents that same day."

Tu Li Hua turned and ran outward, stepped two steps beyond the curtain then halted, and turned back.

"Sir Zhang, one more question."

Zhang Wenqian looked at him.

Tu Li Hua lowered his voice to the lowest register.

"Does your policy for buying houses and registering households have a deadline?"

Zhang Wenqian's mouth twitched slightly to the side.

"Why is the chief asking this?"

Tu Li Hua swallowed.

"The chiefs of several tribes I know have lives harder than mine; if they learned of this news, they'd want to come as well."

Zhang Wenqian lifted the curtain completely.

"My office's Trade Fair is valid indefinitely; they may come at any time, first‑come‑first‑served for the best houses."

Tu Li Hua's mouth split open, revealing two yellowed front teeth worn by wind‑blown sand, and he turned and ran out.

Gu Yuci came over from beside the stall post.

"Zhang Bie Jia, this Tu Li Hua exchanged thirty‑three houses in one go; he gave us all his Cattle and Horses, what will he have to pay the Royal Court's tax after he returns?"

Zhang Wenqian sat back behind the desk, the pen scratching across the register.

"He won't be able to pay."

Gu Yuci's hand twirled the hilt of his knife at his waist.

"Unable to pay tax is tax resistance; the Royal Court will come to deal with him."

Zhang Wenqian set down his pen and looked up at him.

"When the Royal Court comes to deal with him, he is already living in Xiazhou City; his wife and children have obtained Great Zhou household registration, and the Royal Court's hand cannot reach inside Great Zhou's city walls."

Gu Yuci's hand released the knife hilt.

"What about his tribe? What will happen to the remaining people in the tribe?"

Zhang Wenqian turned to the next page of the register.

"The chief has fled; the tribe is leaderless, either the groups will scatter in all directions or the whole will migrate south to join Great Zhou."

His pen wrote a line of small characters on the paper.

"Whichever it is, the Royal Court's accounts lose another tax‑paying tribe."

The curtain was lifted again, and this time a minor clerk dressed in Trade Fair administrator attire entered.

"Zhang Bie Jia, another two groups have arrived outside; one group came from the northwest, claiming to be the administrator of the Eagle Beak Division, bringing over a hundred Horses to exchange for houses; the other group are individual herders, three families pooled forty Cattle to exchange for a shared house."

Zhang Wenqian flipped a page of the register swiftly.

"Have them line up at the official counter to register, price and inspect the goods on a first‑come, first‑served basis."

The minor clerk turned and ran off.

Gu Yuci stood beside the curtain and glanced outward.

At the northern entrance of the Trade Fair, two long columns of Horses and Cattle interlaced as they surged inward; hooves striking the alkaline soil produced a continuous dull thud, and the raised dust turned under the winter sun into a thin gray‑yellow haze.

He turned back to look at Zhang Wenqian.

"Zhang Bie Jia, this is only the third day."

Zhang Wenqian closed the register, pressing it under a copper‑paper weight.

"Third day."

He stood up, walked to the curtain opening, and watched the herds of Cattle and Horses streaming in from the Grassland, along with herders wrapped in tattered blankets.

"Sima Gu, do you know why the Pillar of the State said this Trade Fair could empty Rou Ran?"

Gu Yuci looked at him.

Zhang Wenqian rubbed his fingers twice on the coarse cloth edge of the curtain.

"Because Yunhe Ti gives the herders tax notices and conscription orders, while the Pillar of the State gives them millet and houses."

Outside the curtain, the dust grew denser, the whinnies of Horses and the herders' shouts blended in the winter cold wind into a noisy bustle.

Zhang Wenqian lowered the curtain, returned to the desk, lifted his pen and wrote a line on the last page of the register.

On the third day of the Trade Fair, the incoming herders rose to eleven groups, bringing over five hundred Horses, more than three hundred Cattle, and the first batch of house‑exchangers already showed signs of the entire tribe migrating.