Chapter 526: Shopkeeper Wu's Daily Life (VI)

After hearing Steward He's account of the corvée labor, Shopkeeper Wu had yet to state his position, but Master He, who had long been vexed by this matter, grew angrier the more he thought about it. He slammed his porcelain wine bowl hard onto the table and said furiously, "They just can't stand us folks having a couple of peaceful days — truly despicable wretches! Hmph, mistreating the people like this, I'd say this Great Ming government won't last much longer either!"

"Drunken talk, just drunken talk."

Seeing the middle-aged master fly into a rage, the two "old fellows" beside him hurriedly chimed in with a flurry of soothing words and calmed the master down.

After offering his reassurances, Shopkeeper Wu pondered for a moment and decided it was best to lay everything out on the table — after all, He Family Stockade was an old friend and an old client; how could he just stand by and watch an old client suffer misfortune?

And so Shopkeeper Wu revealed the inside story behind the corvée labor matter.

The way the corvée labor issue had developed up to now — seeing those answering the summons all sent off to Huangpu Port one after another, and with everyone making a few inquiries at the County Yamen — it was perfectly clear at a glance who was pushing things behind the scenes.

This newly arrived power base had swept away all the armed forces in the county in a single night; even when facing the toughest mountain strongholds, Cao's Forces showed no mercy in taking them down, displaying formidable battle prowess.

If they could take the toughest stronghold, they could just as easily take an ordinary farming estate — everyone understood this hidden implication. Moreover, since conscripting corvée labor was, after all, a legitimate government affair the authorities could rightfully claim, with both soft and hard pressure applied, no one dared to obstruct the matter. After thinking it through clearly, the major households around Xiancheng all ultimately cooperated obediently on the corvée labor issue.

When Shopkeeper Wu had laid all this out, the two men from the He family finally saw the light: it turned out the two biggest things that had happened around the He family lately were actually the work of the same group of people!

The He family's disadvantage lay in their poor flow of information. He Tong and the others knew about the bandit suppression campaign and knew about the corvée labor, yet they had simply never connected these two matters together.

"I was wondering why they were so generous, providing their own grain and troops to pacify the bandits — so this is what they were lying in wait for."

That's just how people are. Master He had previously been full of goodwill toward the bandit suppression campaign, but the moment he discovered that Regional Commander Cao had infringed upon his interests, his face changed at once: "So it turns out this Lord Cao sending troops to Zengcheng likely had impure motives... Hmph, this practically amounts to plundering the people, doesn't it? Such an outrageous affair, and yet the imperial court allows these types to act as they please — that muddle-headed official Gu Tai truly deserves to die!"

"My good Master He, you mustn't, you mustn't!"

Hearing Master He spout such reckless talk, and fearing that this man — still rather young and hot-blooded by landlord class standards — might go head-to-head against Regional Commander Cao, Shopkeeper Wu, caught in the middle, grew extremely anxious and hurriedly waved both hands: "Times are different now; never speak such words again!"

Shopkeeper Wu, who knew the inside story well, then hurriedly analyzed the current situation for Master He, detailing Regional Commander Cao's strength in both political and military circles, and strongly urged Master He not to try striking a stone with an egg: "The Zhao Family south of the county and Salt Gang's Master Ma — they were both charged with colluding with pirates earlier and had their gates wiped out overnight; their entire households are to be exiled to Yizhou."

"Master He, the situation now is improving on the whole. A little profit — let it go if you must; taking one step back opens up the vast sea and sky. You absolutely must not go butting heads with the court's military commanders... Who knows, they might just be looking to make an example of someone right now to establish their authority!"

After this guidance from Shopkeeper Wu, He Tong, who had been seething with indignation under the influence of drink, sobered up and grasped the crux of the issue: this time, the government's strength was extraordinarily formidable; it was no longer the same as before, when they could only dispatch runners to collect grain but were actually powerless against the major households.

Once he understood this point, He Tong suppressed his earlier inclination to "drag it out a bit longer and see how things develop," and resolved to follow Shopkeeper Wu's advice — to grit his teeth and first send the corvée laborers, far exceeding the numbers of previous years, over to the County Yamen.

Upon learning of Master He's decision, Shopkeeper Wu praised him repeatedly for his boldness and ability to bend and stretch. Naturally, he was the last person who wanted to see his own client step on a landmine; in the current age, distribution channels were king, and cultivating an old client was so difficult.

Shopkeeper Wu had a profound understanding of the current situation in Zengcheng. He was someone who had deeply encountered the soft and hard power of the Cao Clan, and in his view, it was best not to oppose this Regional Commander on any matter. By contrast, though it seemed hazy and unclear, if one went along with the flow, one might even reap some benefits.

Facts proved that Shopkeeper Wu's perception was accurate. In the long years both before and after, all those who initially endured the peculiar rules set by the Transmigrators enjoyed benefits in the aftermath and seized the initiative in the new nation.

That evening, everyone was in high spirits and chatted about many topics. In the end, Shopkeeper Wu and the two from the He family drank until late into the night, and finally, all thoroughly drunk, they rested without delay.

The next morning, after bidding farewell to his old friends, Shopkeeper Wu mounted a black donkey and, leading his trade caravan, left He Family Stockade with a light heart.

On this trip into the mountains to deliver goods, Shopkeeper Wu had not only seen his old friends and strengthened his Commercial Firm's sales channels, but had also conveyed information and helped his old friends recognize the situation. To some degree, this could also be considered helping Regional Commander Cao's cause — a happy outcome for all. All of this left Shopkeeper Wu thoroughly satisfied.

After the trade caravan emerged from the mountains, they followed a forest path they usually dared not travel and descended all the way, safely reaching Paitan Ferry. After this, the group hired boats and sailed downstream with the current. The journey that had taken two days on the way there took only most of the day on the return trip, and they entered the river-hugging, water-embracing Zengcheng County seat before the city gates closed at night.

The current Zengcheng County seat was rebuilt on a newly surveyed site during the Yongle Era. Previously, during the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, there had been an old county seat for each; now, after several hundred years, the abandoned old cities had long since transformed into ordinary village cottages and farmland, with no trace of their former appearance remaining.

White Crane Sundries, with its black-lacquered walnut wood signboard hanging above, was situated right at the entrance of the county seat's main market — a prime commercial location.

After Shopkeeper Wu returned to the Commercial Firm, he first instructed the clerks who had come out to greet him to quickly weigh, inspect, and warehouse the goods he had brought back. After this, he handed over the returned payments and account books to the Grand Steward who was holding the fort at the firm. Finally, he dragged his weary body back to his home, not far from the firm.

Shopkeeper Wu's home was a single courtyard with four tiled-roof rooms, and spring couplets were still pasted by the door — clearly presenting the comfortable appearance of a middling-property household.

Besides his wife and his son and daughter, his household also included relatives who had come from the countryside to seek refuge with him, so all four rooms were packed to the brim with no space to spare.

After returning home, Shopkeeper Wu washed up hastily and then retired to rest.

Early the next morning, after waking up brimming with energy, he first drank a bowl of fish-miscellany congee, then tidied himself up and went straight out the door to the White Family's grand residence on the west side of the county seat.

Shopkeeper Wu's employer, Juren Bai Shenming, was the owner of the grand residence.

After entering the residence, he did not wait long before Juren Bai, slightly plump and bearing himself with considerable poise, came out to greet him and led Shopkeeper Wu to the study.