Chapter 238: 236: Old Friends, Old Stories

The Fei household slaves rushed to spread the word — whether bondmaids and serving women, or page boys and old servants, they all dropped their work and ran over to wait.

They had heard rumors long ago, but had never dared believe them.

The household slaves in Third Brother Fei Yingke's courtyard had the hardest life of all; the mistress constantly withheld pay and beat them. As long as they could survive by leaving this place, they would absolutely never stay — not even for higher wages in the future!

Yet at this very moment, Fei Yingke was telling his household slaves: "Your monthly wages were all withheld by Old Fifth Steward. Quickly, follow me to seize him!"

"Settle your grievances, take your revenge — follow me to seize him!" Fei Yingqi was likewise shouting in his own inner courtyard.

The two brothers were in such a rush to divide the household because they feared that dragging things out would bring complications.

They shared a common enemy — Old Fifth Steward!

That is, Fei Yuanyi's trusted household slave "Old Fifth," a former page boy who had followed the old man for decades.

In recent years, Fei Yinghuan and his wife née Lou had both been away from home, and the second and third sons were out of favor with Fei Yuanyi. As Fei Yuanyi grew more senile, the household slave "Old Fifth" became utterly arrogant and domineering, gradually taking over many of the Fei family's properties — who knew how much silver he had secretly embezzled.

The second and third sons were slowly being sidelined — truly a case of the slave bullying the master!

The brothers led the household slaves from their respective courtyards and stormed into the old master's Gongbei Court, beating any of "Old Fifth's" trusted henchmen on sight. It was not only "Old Fifth" who threw his weight around; these henchman slaves did the same, and ordinarily they barely even regarded the brothers with respect.

"Fifth Steward, just where do you think you're going?"

Fei Yingke, club in hand, looked at "Old Fifth" with a cold sneer.

Old Fifth's several sons had all become shop managers and were not at his side to protect him now. Seeing the situation turn bad, the wretch had been about to flee, but the brothers and their men caught him squarely. He immediately fell to his knees and kowtowed: "This old slave was muddled, this old slave was muddled — I beg my two masters to spare my life!"

Fei Yingqi stopped Fei Yingke, who was about to strike, and warned: "Third Brother, don't beat anyone to death. Brother Han has posted notices everywhere forbidding private punishment — hand this sort of man over to the authorities to be tried slowly. With Brother Han backing us, every tael of silver he embezzled will have to be spat back out. The urgent task now is to send men to take over the various properties and make sure those account books aren't burned by anyone."

"Right, let the gentlemen of the peasant association take charge — we must secure the account books and investigate them carefully!" Fei Yingke nodded.

The brothers tied up the household slave "Old Fifth" and requested the peasant association's help in taking over the commercial firms.

As for Fei Yuanyi, still cursing over there, they could not be bothered to pay him any attention. A senile old fool deceived by a household slave, trusting no son, only outsiders — the sooner he died, the better!

The old matriarch was still in the Buddha hall, striking her wooden fish; the turmoil outside had nothing to do with her, and she recited sutras without pause.

Even the old serving woman attending her prayers could not resist stepping out of the Buddha hall and crouching by the courtyard gate to listen carefully to what was being said outside. Hearing that land would be distributed, the old woman was beside herself with joy — she had two sons, and grandsons too, all household slaves eligible for land distribution.

The old woman suddenly turned and knelt toward the Buddha hall, utterly devout: "Amitabha, Amitabha, may the Bodhisattva bless Brother Han with a hundred years of life, and bless this old woman's whole family to receive good land..."

Jingxing Court.

Fei Cheng (Qinxin), Fei Ze (Jiandan), Fei De (Jiupo), and several other household slaves who had once been on good terms with Zhao Han were gathered together, discussing their future paths.

"Once the land is distributed, I'm going to join Brother Han," Fei De said. "Which of you is willing to go?"

Fei Ze said: "Fei Cheng and I are going too. Who else among you will come?"

"I'll go too!" said a household slave named Fei Meng.

"Let's all go together, all go together. Brother Han is loyal to his friends — he'll surely remember old ties."

"Right, I'm going too."

"I won't go. I still have to help the mistress run the paper workshop."

"I heard that Brother Chun has become a high official now."

"It's not too late to join him now. We can all write and do accounts — we won't do worse than those officials."

"..."

Suddenly a government runner came over and asked directly: "Which of you is Fei Cheng, Fei Ze, and Fei De?"

"I am!" The three stood up in unison.

The runner produced a letter and said: "This is a personal letter from the Garrison Commander!"

The three opened it and read — it was Zhao Han telling them not to go to Ji'an Prefecture, but to stay in Guangxin Prefecture and serve as probationary clerks to help with the work.

As long as they completed the land distribution work satisfactorily, they could immediately become full clerks. Those rated excellent in their evaluations could be promoted as early as next summer and transferred with the army to southern Hunan or Guangdong.

Fei Ze immediately clasped his fists: "We will do our utmost!"

"Farewell!" The runner clasped his fists and left.

In fact, it was not just Yanshan — all the newly occupied territories were handled this way.

With expansion so rapid, although officials and clerks were barely sufficient, next year they would expand into other provinces, and by then they would be stretched thin. They had to take advantage of this land distribution to train more probationary clerks; after being made full clerks next year, these would be drawn off together with experienced officials and clerks and sent to Guangdong and southern Hunan.

This was a set pattern: absorb talent in newly occupied areas, and observe their ability and character through the land distribution work. Train large numbers, make them full clerks, and wait for the next expansion — then mix new and veteran personnel together for transfer and promotion outward.

Like a rolling snowball, the further it rolled the faster and bigger it grew — and every year a batch of the corrupt and derelict would be purged.

It was not only the three — Qinxin, Jiandan, and Jiupo — other household slaves could also sign up; it was just that those three would certainly rise faster.

The precondition was that the land distribution work must not go awry!

The news that Zhao Han was Zhao Yan spread wider and wider through Yanshan.

Every one of the Fei household servants who had ever had contact with Zhao Han was now telling how they had seen it all along, how they had long ago recognized that Brother Han was no ordinary man.

Even the man who had handled the paperwork when Zhao Han entered the Hanzhu Academy and went to the library had become the academy's celebrity these past few days.

He was now a primary tutor, and he no longer gave proper lessons to his students — the moment he walked into the classroom he began to boast: "This Mr. Zhao once studied right here on Hanzhu Mountain. He came in with his student placard, saying he wanted to collect his books. When your teacher looked up, a blur of purple aura dazzled my eyes, and I knew at once he was no mortal — he was certain to achieve great wealth and rank! Sure enough, in just two or three years, he had already amassed learning enough to fill five cartloads. When he proposed his theory of case structure, the Jiangxi Director of Education presided over the debate, and he refuted every student on Hanzhu Mountain until they were speechless — even the academy instructors avoided clashing with him..."

"Teacher," a schoolboy asked, "isn't this Mr. Zhao a rebel?"

The primary tutor wagged his head: "Not so, not so. The court today has lost the Way; all its civil and military officials are corrupt and greedy, and the common people under heaven have long suffered under tyranny. Mr. Zhao is not rebelling — he is raising a righteous army to resist tyranny! Do you schoolboys know how Mr. Zhao studied? He rose early and slept late every day, never letting a scroll out of his hand — he even read while eating!"

Even Zhao Han himself had no idea when he had ever worked that hard.

The Headmaster's Office.

A government runner handed a letter to Fei Yuanlu: "Please pass this on to Zheng Rulong, sir."

Fei Yuanlu sighed: "Alas, Zheng Rulong has already passed away."

Zheng Rulong was Zheng Zhongkui, the classics teacher Fei Yuanlu had invited from Shangrao, who had been very close friends with Pang Chunlai. This letter was also written by Pang Chunlai, inviting Zheng Zhongkui to come to the Ji'an area and take up an official post.

Regrettably, Zheng Zhongkui had died half a year ago.

As for Zhu Shunshui, he had long since returned to his hometown of Yuyao and was this year living through the Zhejiang famine.

Here in Yanshan, the things remained but the people had changed!

Cai Maode, who once tried to take Zhao Han as his disciple, is now the Right Provincial Administration Commissioner of Henan.

Henan was ravaged by severe drought and rampaging roving bandits, yet still had to bear heavy tax quotas imposed by the court. In many counties and prefectures, nine out of ten homes stood empty, and Cai Maode had long since run out of ideas on how to govern.

He tried to recruit refugees to return home and reclaim the land, but every time some came back, they were either plundered by roving bandits or fleeced by government troops, and after that came the County Magistrate's extortion.

After this happened two or three times, Cai Maode gave up entirely and simply hid in the city all day giving lectures, playing the muddle-headed official who paid no heed to worldly affairs.

……

Wei Jianxiong did not follow Fei Yinghuan to Ji'an; instead, he escorted Lady Chen to Jianchang Prefecture to reunite with her son.

After reaching what later generations would call Yingtan, they abandoned the boat and took the official road, passing through Dongxiang to Fuzhou, then followed the Xushui River (Jianchang River) by boat to Jianchang Prefecture.

"Mother!"

Fei Yuanjian came out of the city specially to welcome her, kneeling and kowtowing on the dock.

Lady Chen, tears in her eyes and deeply gratified, said, "My son has grown up. Now you can accomplish great things."

Fei Yuanjian had not only grown up, but had also grown darker. During his time as County Magistrate, he not only frequently toured the villages and towns, but sometimes even led peasant soldiers into the mountains to exterminate bandits.

Nearly every county in Jiangxi had mountains, and many rebels fled into them to turn bandit. Thus one of a County Magistrate's major duties was to wipe out the mountain bandits. With the help of the mountain folk, the bandit-suppression work had gone fairly smoothly.

Mother and son entered the city hand in hand, settled into the prefectural compound, and recounted all they had experienced over the past few years.

Fei Yuanjian then summoned his wife and child; the child was nearly one full year old.

Lady Chen was quite delighted. She held the child and played with him, and also gave her daughter-in-law a pair of jade bracelets.

Only after Fei Yuanjian's wife had taken the child away to nurse, leaving just mother and son in the room, did Lady Chen finally speak what was on her mind: "Yuanjian, there is something Mother must tell you. When you hear it, do not be angry."

Fei Yuanjian smiled. "Mother, please speak."

Lady Chen said, "The man who escorted me to Jianchang this time, as you have seen, is Wei Jianxiong, the senior attendant of the Fei clan of Goose Lake."

"I recognized him. Tomorrow I will go specially to thank him," Fei Yuanjian said.

Lady Chen said, "When Mother was young, I was also a young lady of an official family. Wei Jianxiong was in fact my family's servant. After I was thrown into the Music Instruction Bureau, he searched for years before finding his way to Yanshan. I refused to see him, so he became a household slave at Goose Lake. This time when he returned, he again pestered me bitterly, but I did not promise him anything."

Fei Yuanjian was very surprised; he had never imagined such a story.

However, Lady Chen was not his birth mother, and even her kindness in raising him had lasted only two or three years. He had long since come to take such things lightly, and he sighed, "If Mother's heart is moved, you may go with him to settle in Ji'an Prefecture. Your son will not stand in the way."

Fei Yuanjian still cared about face. He had established his own family and career in Jianchang Prefecture, and did not wish Lady Chen to remarry someone else here as well.

Each would not interfere with the other.

Besides, it would be just as well if Lady Chen left; Fei Yuanjian could then make a clean break with his former self. He would simply act as if he had never been to Yanshan. When he had the time, he would move his parents' graves here too. From now on, he would be the founding ancestor of the Jianchang Fei clan.

Lady Chen seemed about to speak, but held back, leaving only a sigh.

Fei Yuanjian said with a smile, "Mother, stay until after the New Year before you go. Let your son fulfill a little of his filial duty."

(End of chapter)