Chapter 92: The Powder Keg (Bonus Chapter for Big Boss Penguin)

Another few days passed, and Huang Zundao agreed to all of Zhao Han's demands.

Zhao Han was equally straightforward, paying out another five hundred taels of silver. Of the fifteen hundred taels seized from the customs post, only a third remained in an instant, plus a chest and a half of copper cash.

The three of them went out to deliver the silver, while Zhang Tieniu stayed behind to guard the money.

Xiaohong pulled Xiaocui aside and whispered, "The young master is probably planning something big."

Xiaocui laughed. "What the young master does is already big."

"Don't you dare cry out," Xiaohong said, pressing close to her ear. "The young master means to harm Old Master Huang. Putting up that much capital, he surely wants Old Master Huang dead!"

"Wha—"

Xiaocui hastily covered her mouth. "How is that possible? Isn't the young master going into business with Old Master Huang?"

"The young master is no rich man's son," Xiaohong said. "Have you ever seen a rich man's son willing to perform the grand bow to a slave girl?"

Xiaocui shook her head. "Never. Never mind a rich man's son, even a village tenant farmer, if not for the old master's sake, wouldn't give us slave girls a kind look."

"That's exactly it," Xiaohong said. "I suspect the young master might be a bandit."

Xiaocui said with a smile, "Where would you find such a handsome bandit?"

Xiaohong felt talking to Xiaocui was exhausting and went on talking to herself. "If the young master becomes a bandit, then I'll go be a bandit's wife."

"Don't talk nonsense. How could the young master be a bandit? Being a bandit gets you caught by the officials and beheaded." Xiaocui was a little frightened.

Xiaohong complained, "You really are dense. These past two days, the young master has been asking about everything in the village. Which family has land, which family has a shop, which families have grudges against each other — he's had us tell him everything, relevant or not. Isn't that a bandit casing the place?"

"What's casing the place?" Xiaocui asked.

"It means scouting everything out first so you know where to strike," Xiaohong warned. "You mustn't breathe a word of this outside. Don't ruin the young master's plans."

Xiaocui hastily shook her head. "I won't, I won't."

Xiaohong suddenly began to daydream. "Say the young master seizes the goods and returns to the mountain stronghold — do you think he'll make us his fortress wives? I'm half a year older than you. When the time comes, I'll be the First Wife and you'll be the Second Wife."

"That would be wonderful. I just fear the young master won't fancy us." Xiaocui laughed too.

Xiaohong asked, "Aren't you afraid of being caught by the authorities?"

"I am, but the young master is so clever, he definitely won't get caught by the constables." Xiaocui propped her chin on her hand, tilting her head. "All my life, I've knelt and bowed to others. Never once has anyone bowed to me. I was terrified at the time, but looking back, I'm so happy I could wake up laughing from a dream."

Xiaohong seemed to understand well. "The young master is winning hearts."

Xiaocui asked, "We already belong to the young master. Why would he need to win our hearts?"

Xiaohong said knowingly, "Fool, the young master doesn't just want our bodies — he wants our hearts too."

"You're talking nonsense. The young master would never deceive us." Xiaocui grew angry.

"So what if we're deceived?" Xiaohong said with a smile. "To have a man treat me like this, I'd be willing even if I were deceived. Whether he's a bandit or a brigand, from now on I'll follow wherever he goes."

Xiaocui murmured, "Yes, just follow wherever he goes."

A serving girl's demands are very low: don't beat or scold them at will, give them enough to eat, and they'll be utterly loyal.

Yet Zhao Han spoke of all people being equal, with no distinction between the decent and the base, and even performed the grand bow to them.

How could they withstand that?

That night, the two young girls did not sleep the whole night, each hugging her pillow and weeping in secret.

Someone treated them as human beings — truly, from the heart, treated them as human beings — not something feigned to deceive them!

To put it in the extreme, if one day Zhao Han were in danger, Xiaohong and Xiaocui would surely rush forward to take the blade for him.

To the ancients, this was precisely winning hearts.

Wu Qi, the famed general of the Warring States, had a soldier under his command who developed a festering sore. Wu Qi personally sucked the pus from it. The soldier's mother, hearing the news, immediately began preparing her son's funeral affairs, weeping as she said: "My husband already gave his life for the general; I fear my son is not far from death either."

You treat me well, and I will die for you!

…

Was Zhao Han going to become a bandit?

Some already took him for a bandit, and not a few at that.

On the sixteenth day after Zhao Han arrived at Huang Family Town, over a hundred tenant farmers suddenly surrounded the inn.

The root of it all was that Huang Zundao had been dizzied by silver. A full thousand taels of silver had been thrown down, with countless more waiting to enter his purse. He immediately agreed to Zhao Han's demands, extending and widening the land requisition area so that much farmland was included as well.

Moreover, because Zhao Han pressed the construction schedule and Huang Zundao was eager to earn silver, he directly forced the tenant farmers to go level the rocky flats, forced them into the mountains to fell trees and quarry stone.

The spring plowing was not even finished!

This was driving the tenant farmers to their deaths. If the spring plowing were delayed, the entire family, young and old, would have no way to survive.

Those peasants who had been cruelly stripped of their tenancies because Zhao Han had occupied their farmland were the first to start complaining at the worksite. The other tenant farmers, the more they thought about it, the angrier they grew. Not daring to settle accounts with Old Master Huang, they banded together and headed for the inn.

As long as they drove Zhao Han away, everything would be resolved!

Zhao Han stood on the upper floor, looking down upon the multitude. Below were countless tenant farmers brandishing their labor tools. Their passions inflamed, they spat out a torrent of foul words, cursing Zhao Han's ancestors back eighteen generations.

"Young master," Zhang Tieniu came over, hefting his axe, "shall I go cut my way out and drive off all these bastards?"

Zhao Han said irritably, "Get back inside and practice your characters!"

"Oh." Zhang Tieniu scratched his head.

Xiaohong craned her neck for a glance and said in a low voice, "Young master, my father and eldest brother are both down there."

"It's fine." Zhao Han smiled.

Xiaohong added, "Young master, after you've robbed Old Master Huang, when you leave, could you share a few taels with my father?"

Zhao Han burst out laughing. "Rest assured, I'm not leaving."

The inn's doors and windows were tightly shut. The guests all hid themselves away in their rooms, and the merchant boats at the dock left if they could, all fearing these tenant farmers would erupt into a riot.

The absurd thing was that this inn belonged to Old Master Huang, so the rioting tenant farmers dared not forcefully attack it.

Before long, Huang Zundao arrived outside the inn with his eldest son Huang Shuncheng, his second son Huang Shunzhang, and over a hundred household slaves.

"Are you all going to rebel?" Huang Zundao roared in fury.

One tenant farmer, steeling his nerve, said, "Old Master Huang, you must not be deceived by this outsider. The spring plowing cannot be delayed!"

Another tenant farmer said, "The rocky flats you can seize, but the fields you cannot — those have been passed down from our ancestors for generations."

"Bullshit," Huang Zundao roared, pointing at the tenant farmers. "Get the hell back to the river flats and work! Anyone who dares stir up more trouble will be beaten to death on the spot!"

In Master Huang's view, delaying the spring planting was nothing — at worst a few people would starve, a few piculs less grain harvested. Mr. Zhao had paid silver in full; if grain ran short, they could simply buy more. What did it matter to him if tenant farmers starved?

When one tenant farmer starved to death, countless others were waiting to till the land. The fiercer the scramble, the better — he could even raise the land rent while he was at it.

As for occupying farmland, that mattered even less. So long as the warehouse got built, more merchants would stop at Huang Family Town from now on.

The tenant farmers clustered together, unwilling to leave, yet not daring to raise a hand against Master Huang. They could only stand there in deadlock, at a loss.

Zhao Han suddenly shouted from the upper floor: "It's all a misunderstanding! Master Huang and I both mean no harm — let's sit down and talk this through properly!"

"There's nothing to talk about — you leave Huang Family Town at once!" one tenant farmer bellowed.

Huang Zundao instantly felt he had lost face right under Zhao Han's nose. Burning with fury, he roared: "Beat them!"

His eldest son Huang Shuncheng and second son Huang Shunzhang immediately charged out with the household slaves.

The tenant-slaves dared not resist; they could only cover their heads and scatter like rats.

Zhao Han said to Xiaohong and Xiaocui, "Watch carefully — note down every one who gets injured."

Xiaohong and Xiaocui did not understand his intent, but silently memorized the injured tenant farmers.

Zhao Han's reasoning was simple: he no longer wanted to develop slowly. He had to secure a base area as quickly as possible.

Huang Family Town was perfect — mountains lay just to the west, and class conflict here was extremely acute.

Only, cowed by Master Huang's tyranny, the tenant farmers dared not resist. All they lacked was a powder keg to set it off.

One thousand taels of silver was more than enough to make a powder keg!

The Huang men had not truly struck to kill, either. Countless light injuries, but no serious ones — after all, the worksite needed hands. Beat them too badly, and how would they earn Mr. Zhao's silver?

……

That night.

Zhao Han took Chen Maosheng, Xiaohong, and Xiaocui, groping through the dark to Xiaohong's home to visit the wounded.

They knocked on the door for a long time before it finally opened.

"Father, it's me!" Xiaohong said quickly.

In the darkness, the old peasant did not recognize Zhao Han. Hearing his daughter's voice, he immediately let them inside.

Zhao Han suddenly pressed a handful of copper coins into his hand and said, "Old sir, I am that merchant from out of town. I have come to apologize and make amends."

The old peasant clutched the copper coins, wanting to curse him but unable to get the words out. He just stood there, silent.

Zhao Han went on: "I gave Master Huang one thousand taels of silver to hire men to level the rocky flats. It was agreed beforehand — thirty wen per person per day in wages, and work could wait until after the spring planting. I never imagined he would… ah… I have let you all down. I am an outsider; it is not my place to oppose Master Huang directly. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Truly thirty wen a day in wages?" The old peasant seized on the key point.

Zhao Han said, "I had wanted to set it at fifty wen, but Master Huang said there was no need for so much, so I had to lower it to thirty. Take your time recovering. I must go visit the next household."

The old peasant said hastily, "Let me see you out, sir."

"No need, no need. Rest first, old sir." Zhao Han cupped his hands and withdrew.

Once they had left, Xiaohong's parents, elder brother, and sister-in-law immediately lit a lamp and counted the money — a full two hundred copper wen!

The sister-in-law said, "This Master Zhao is a good man, coming in the middle of the night to apologize in person."

The elder brother said angrily, "I heard it clearly just now. Master Zhao did pay wages — it's his Master Huang who only provides two meals a day. And nothing but gruel at that, not even enough to fill your belly!"

"What can we do?" the old peasant sighed. "In this Huang Family Town, Master Huang is the local emperor."

In a single night, Zhao Han visited seventeen wounded households.

The next day.

At the river-flat worksite, word of the wages was spreading everywhere.

One tenant farmer screwed up his courage and asked the foreman: "Sixth Master, how are these wages reckoned?"

The foreman sneered: "What wages? You get two meals a day and still don't know when you're well off?"

The tenant farmer stalked off in anger. During the mid-morning meal, he said to those nearby, "Master Huang has swallowed all the wages. Not a single wen is coming to us."

"Forget the money — my family's fields aren't even fully plowed yet. If the spring planting is delayed, how will we get through this year!" Another tenant farmer spoke, then began to weep as he talked.

The powder keg was laid. All it needed now was someone to strike a spark.

(End of Chapter)