Chapter 87: 085 Huangjia Town, Master Huang (For Big Boss Penguin)

Zhang Tieniu wiped the blood from his axe blade, glanced at Chen Maosheng, and burst out laughing. "What are you still holding that firewood for?"

"Huh?"

Chen Maosheng stood there in a daze, looked at Zhang Tieniu, then looked down at his own hand. He suddenly let go, and the firewood dropped onto the deck with a dull thud.

He had no memory whatsoever of the entire fight.

The fool had charged forward yelling at the top of his lungs, swinging the firewood around wildly, never once touching an enemy — the whole time he was battling thin air. He shouted and flailed, and before he knew it, Zhao Han had already seized the customs post.

His mind had gone completely blank; he didn't even remember how he'd gotten onto the boat.

Chen Maosheng finally came back to his senses. He hastily felt himself all over and was astonished and delighted to find he wasn't injured at all.

"Where are we headed?" Chen Maosheng asked.

Zhang Tieniu put his axe away and said, "No idea."

Yan Jiu walked over and said, "Up ahead we enter the big mountains — that's the border of Xuanhua Township. Once you come out of the mountains, it's Yongxin County. Past Yongxin County, you're in Huguang territory."

From the mid-Ming onward, the lijia system had run parallel with the dutu system.

The lijia system was calculated by household registration and used mainly for tax collection.

The dutu system was calculated by territory and used mainly for military purposes.

Below the township was the du, and below the du was the tu — all territorial concepts, with no administrative posts assigned to them.

Xuanhua Township covered an enormous area, encompassing the vast stretch of land that in later ages would run from Tianhe Town to Yongyang Town.

Outside the cabin.

Fei Yinggong gazed at the mountains and said, "The feng shui up ahead is quite good. I'll disembark there. Let's divide the silver."

The chest of loose silver that Fei Yinggong had seized from the patrol office yamen was the biggest haul of this trip.

As for the money taken from the customs post, that was all tax revenue from the past few days. Several chests — they looked large, but most of it was copper cash. Any silver had to be sent to the eunuch.

"Let's weigh the silver." Zhao Han brought out two scales, one large and one small.

Fei Yinggong laughed. "You came prepared."

Zhao Han said, "Pulled them from the customs post."

The silver chest was quite big, filled with loose bits of silver, plenty of gaps and empty space, and it wasn't even full.

They weighed it several times on the large scale: roughly 3,176 taels.

Zhao Han grumbled, "This eunuch is dirt poor. The Yanshan tax eunuch only collects the stall tax, and I hear he still rakes in over ten thousand taels."

"Can this place compare to Yanshan?" Fei Yinggong sat down and said, "Enough chatter — let's divide the silver. We agreed on half and half, and I won't go back on my word. Half the silver for each, and when we're done, we'll divide the copper cash."

"Fair enough," Zhao Han said with a smile.

Each side got a little over 1,500 taels.

Copper cash varied in quality, so to keep it fair, they each reached in and grabbed a few strings to count slowly — whatever you got, good or bad, you accepted.

Fei Yinggong asked, "You're not coming into the mountains with me?"

Zhao Han wasn't entirely clear on the geography. He asked back, "Is it all big mountains up ahead?"

Fei Yinggong said, "Plenty of big mountains. Once you're out of them, it's Yongxin County."

"I won't go that far, then. I'll disembark before we enter the mountains." Zhao Han had long heard of Yongxin County's fame, though he had no idea whether Sanwan Village existed in the Ming dynasty.

Fei Yinggong asked curiously, "You came all this way from Yanshan, got your hands on some silver, and now you won't come with me. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Zhao Han grinned. "If I said I'm going to rebel, would you believe me?"

"Uh…"

Fei Yinggong was instantly tongue-tied. No matter how he looked at him, Zhao Han didn't seem to be joking. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You've got ambition, I'll give you that. I've never even thought about rebelling."

Zhao Han pointed at the mountains. "You'll be in the mountains, I'll be outside them. We can look out for each other. If you feel like coming down to plunder, go ahead to Yongxin County — just don't come raiding my turf."

"I'd like to see just how soon your rebellion succeeds," Fei Yinggong said with a laugh.

Zhao Han found it amusing. "You killed a eunuch — doesn't that count as rebellion?"

Fei Yinggong smacked his own head. "I'd clean forgotten that. Damn it, I'm a rebel now too. Fine — we're both rebels, we'll look out for each other. You outside the mountains, me inside."

"Brothers working the boat — put us ashore up ahead!" Zhao Han shouted.

Fei Yinggong said, "A word of warning: up ahead is called Huangjia Village, also known as Huangjia Town. Half the town is surnamed Huang. Their ancestor was a jiedushi in the Tang dynasty."

Great — another great clan that could trace its roots back to the Tang.

Several hundred years later, there would be a Gongge hydropower station here.

But right now, there was no hydropower station, no dam, no reservoir, and far more arable land than in later ages.

Huangjia Town had a small dock that served merchant ships heading for Huguang. The local specialties were all farm products and handicrafts.

Zhao Han and Zhang Tieniu hefted the silver together. Fifteen hundred taels — a full eighty jin, or ninety-five jin by Ming reckoning.

Then they carried the copper cash, which was even more — two whole large chests of it.

They came to a small inn by the river. The waiter greeted them warmly. "Will the four gentlemen be staying the night?"

Zhao Han said, "A long stay. We've taken delivery of a few chests of goods, waiting for the manager to come load them."

"Right this way, please." The waiter was even more delighted.

They chose two upper rooms: Zhao Han and Pang Chunlai in one, Zhang Tieniu and Chen Maosheng in the other.

Once settled in, they held a meeting at once.

Zhao Han sat cross-legged on the bed and came straight to the point. "As the saying goes, nothing gets done without rules. Let's set the rules first. We'll establish an organization — I can't be bothered to think up a name, so we'll still call it the Great Unity Society, taking its meaning from 'Great Unity under Heaven.' Any objections?"

Zhang Tieniu looked at Chen Maosheng. Chen Maosheng looked at Pang Chunlai. Pang Chunlai chose to close his eyes and rest.

"Since no one objects, it's settled," Zhao Han continued. "This silver and cash — it's not mine, and it's not yours. It belongs to our Great Unity Society. For this operation, rewards will be given according to merit. Maosheng, you'll keep the accounts. Tieniu, you'll guard the money. Mr. Pang, you'll audit the books each month."

Chen Maosheng couldn't help asking, "Mr. Zhao, are we not leaving this place?"

Zhao Han smiled and explained, "No need to leave just yet. First we'll gather information, get a clear picture of the village and town, then look for an opportunity to set up a peasant association."

"What's a peasant association?" Zhang Tieniu asked.

Zhao Han explained, "The Iron Foot Society is a society of porters; a peasant association is a society of peasants. We help the peasants speak up and back them, then organize peasant soldiers, force the landlords to reduce rent and interest, and compel the landlords to grant the peasants permanent tenancy rights. If any landlord refuses to obey, then he is a black-hearted landlord — we kill that clan head, distribute his land to the clan's sons and younger kinsmen, and force that clan to divide the family property and break up the household! Isn't half the village surnamed Huang? I want to see just how many people want to split up the family."

Pang Chunlai suddenly opened his eyes wide and nodded in approval. "That's a good method. We're not seizing their property, just forcing them to divide the family. The larger the clan, the more collateral branches there are, and all the sons and younger kinsmen within the clan become our people."

Zhao Han said, "See if there's a private school here. Mister can apply to be the schoolteacher."

"My old line of work — should be no problem." Pang Chunlai smiled.

"What about me?" Zhang Tieniu asked.

Zhao Han said, "You guard the silver. Several thousand taels — I wouldn't trust anyone else with it."

Zhang Tieniu felt trusted and immediately beamed. "Leave it to me. Never mind fifteen hundred taels — even if it were fifteen thousand, I, Tieniu, would absolutely never run off with the silver."

"I... am I to go sing opera?" Chen Maosheng pressed his hand over the scar on his forehead and said with some self-consciousness, "But my face is ruined. I can't sing opera anymore."

Zhao Han consoled him. "Wear a wide-brimmed hat and no one will notice. You don't need to sing opera either. Just follow me every day, watch and learn more. I'll teach you a few things."

"Alright then, I'll listen to Mr. Zhao." Chen Maosheng nodded repeatedly.

Zhao Han felt utterly weary. He had traveled a thousand li to change locations, knew neither the place nor the people, and had only three men at his disposal — and among the three, only Pang Chunlai spared him worry.

The difficulty level of this rebellion — he had no idea what tier it was.

Damned Secretary He — I had originally planned to launch the uprising in Yanshan!

That night, Zhang Tieniu stayed in the guest room to watch over the silver, while Zhao Han, Pang Chunlai, and Chen Maosheng went downstairs to eat.

When the wine and dishes were brought up, Zhao Han beckoned the inn waiter to stay. "This brother, I'd like to ask about something."

The inn waiter said, "Sir, please ask away."

Zhao Han spun a tale off the top of his head. "My family is originally from Jishui. I used to do business in southern Jiangxi. The peasants there are stirring up trouble, and business has become hard to do, so I'm thinking of taking the Huguang trade route. My family sent me ahead to scout things out. I want to set up a transit warehouse here — who should I talk to about buying land and building a warehouse?"

"Then you've asked the right person. I know all about it." The inn waiter stopped right there and shut his mouth.

Zhao Han slapped down a few copper coins. "Once the matter is settled, there'll be more for you."

"Sir, you are generous." The inn waiter cheerfully pocketed the copper coins. "Our Huang Family Town here — it used to be called Huang Family Village. Outside the town there's a great Huang clan ancestral hall, and beside the hall is the Huang family ancestral residence. For any major matter, it's that Old Master Huang in the ancestral residence who has the final say. To build a warehouse, you certainly can't be too far from the river. The good land by the river — that all belongs to Old Master Huang. The riverbank has some gravelly ground where no crops will grow, and no one's ever wanted it. Since no one wants it, then it belongs to Old Master Huang. You give Old Master Huang a sum of money, and he'll sell you that gravelly riverbank land to build your warehouse."

"So that's how it is. Many thanks for the guidance, brother." Zhao Han cupped his fist. "May I ask my brother's honorable surname?"

The inn waiter smiled. "No need for 'honorable' — I'm also surnamed Huang. Huang Daliang. When my mother was giving birth to me, she labored all night and I wasn't born until the sky was fully bright."

Zhao Han flattered him. "Since this is Huang Family Town, the Huang clan must be a great clan. So Brother Huang is also a son of a great clan. My disrespect — my disrespect."

Huang Daliang sighed. "We share one ancestor, but I don't have that good fortune. The people in the ancestral residence say our distant ancestor was a Tang-dynasty military governor surnamed Huang, but I've lived this long and never even seen the clan genealogy. Even if I saw it, I wouldn't recognize the characters. I can only write my own name and just recognize the dish names on the menu board."

Zhao Han pressed on. "Brother Huang's family split off from the clan a long time ago?"

"I don't know," Huang Daliang said. "Anyway, ever since my grandfather's grandfather's generation, we've been tilling those few mu of poor fields. Later, even the poor fields were gone, and we could only work as tenant farmers for others. Just so the family could get me a job as a waiter at this inn, we even borrowed money to give the landlord a chicken."

Zhao Han said indignantly, "You share the same clan and the same surname — how can they bully people like this? You ought to help each other out."

Huang Daliang laughed. "In times like these, who helps whom? If you don't starve to death, you can count it as Heaven opening its eyes."

Zhao Han asked further, "Are there no other great clans nearby?"

Huang Daliang pointed behind him. "To the northwest, there's the Li clan. A few generations back, green smoke rose from their ancestral graves, and they actually produced a jinshi. The Li family rose up then, and the land they occupy has grown more and more..."

"Waiter, why haven't my dishes come yet?"

Suddenly, a diner slammed the table.

"Aye, coming!" Huang Daliang answered, then said, "Sir, I can't chat anymore — I've got to hurry and serve the dishes."

Zhao Han raised his wine cup and clicked his tongue. "Old Master Huang? Just so long as it's not some Huang Silang."

(End of chapter)