Chapter 650: Behind the Congratulations

The newly appointed Huguang Grand Coordinator, Wang Mengyin, courtesy name Shuren, was a native of Beizhili Zhendingfu Ningjin County and a Presented Scholar of the forty-seventh year of the Wanli reign.

After sixteen years as an impoverished capital official, he was now sent out to govern Huguang with the title of Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief. The entire process was utterly unremarkable—the standard routine of a capital official enduring the rank grind until finally receiving a provincial posting.

In light of this, Grand Coordinator Wang was quite easy to talk to, especially when a letter arrived from a powerful court figure requesting his favor; naturally, he would look after the never-before-met Nan Wang, Master Nan, to some degree. Bestowing a piece of his own calligraphy to safeguard the household was a perfectly normal response.

An impoverished capital official who could secure a provincial posting was definitely an impoverished capital official with a faction and who knew how to conduct himself—the kind without a faction and who didn't know how to conduct himself simply remained an impoverished capital official.

The Grand Coordinator handled the situation appropriately, but Xiakou Subprefectural Magistrate Yuan, this time, seemed to have overdone his response somewhat.

In later generations, during the reform and opening up, officials would desperately attract investment and then attend corporate opening ceremonies—that was the most ordinary thing in the world. The leader would usually also cut the ribbon and give a speech, which was considered part of the package.

But the current age is the seventeenth century, a feudal bureaucratic society that stresses official prestige, official reputation, and scholarly circles' critique, not the reform-and-opening-up routine.

Therefore, Xiakou Subprefectural Magistrate Yuan Huochang, Magistrate Yuan, truly went too far this time.

Normally speaking, for an official to attend the opening of a "friendly merchant," a single name card was more than sufficient; the congratulatory guests would naturally grasp the significance it represented.

If the master insisted on coming in person, the most extreme display society could accept was plain clothes and a soft cap, a single sedan chair, arriving quietly and offering a simple, calm congratulation—this was already the level for the opening of one's own brother-in-law's business.

The above conduct not only met societal expectations but also aligned with the Confucian spirit. More importantly, such an act would not leave a bad or foolish reputation in officialdom—the influence brought by the official's personal presence was not much greater than a single name card, yet it carried many lingering troubles, making it easy for others to seize upon a pretext for impeachment.

Yet this time, for the opening of Kebo Pavilion, Subprefectural Magistrate Yuan completely disregarded all the unwritten rules and subsequent troubles. He not only came in person but also wore his official robe, rode in an eight-bearer official sedan chair, with yamen runners clearing the way with gongs front and back, shouting all along the road—the posture of someone racing to top the trending searches at any minute.

This was only the beginning.

After descending from his sedan chair before the doors of Kebo Pavilion, Magistrate Yuan, square-faced and large-eared with three wisps of black beard, not only congratulated Master Nan, who had come out upon hearing the commotion, but also chatted with him on the street, speaking auspicious words in a loud voice, and throwing in a freebie of tilting his head back in laughter, performing the full dramatic repertoire to the absolute hilt.

The crowd of onlooking congratulatory guests was also thoroughly stunned by Magistrate Yuan's entire act.

So, after all that, who exactly was Subprefectural Magistrate Yuan?

At this point in time, Xiakou (Hankou) Town was already one of the great commercial ports under heaven. As the officially designated transshipment hub for tribute grain and salt in northern China, the flourishing Hankou, along with Foshan Town, Zhuxian Town, and Jingde Town, was known as one of the Four Great Towns of the world.

Yet no matter how great its renown or how developed its economy, it could not change one fact: Hankou Town was still a county-level administrative unit.

That is to say, theoretically, the highest-ranking official in Hankou Town was the County Magistrate.

There was no helping it; the Ming Dynasty emperors were rigid in their thinking. No matter how prosperous it became, they would not upgrade Hankou to a prefecture-level city, nor even a county-level city.

Of course, due to Hankou's daily growing industrial and commercial scale and the resulting actual demand for public services, the government could not truly wash its hands of the matter—after all, a single County Magistrate could not handle such a complex and weighty portfolio.

To say nothing of other counties, Hankou Town's actual GDP had long surpassed many prefectural-level units, and its administrative demands exceeded those of an entire prefecture.

Thus, the Huguang Provincial Administration Commission had, long ago, stationed the Hanyang Prefecture Tongpan in Hankou Town to "assist with government affairs": Hankou Town's superior administrative unit was Hanyang Prefecture.

Generally speaking, the post of Tongpan, in some inferior and impoverished prefectures, was a dispensable sinecure.

In Hankou, however, this Tongpan post was extremely important. Aside from specialized government offices like the Salt Administration, Grain Transport, and River Management, this was the highest-level government department with full authority over the daily administrative affairs of Hankou Town.

In officialdom, once a practice becomes customary, it becomes unshakeable. To this day, the post of Hankou Tongpan had long evolved into a fixed position solely responsible for governing Hankou, somewhat akin to a later-era city with independent planning status.

The above was the reason for the congratulatory guests' extreme shock today.

Yuan Huochang, this Tongpan, held a post that was not high in rank but immense in power, making him the de facto hidden Prefectural Governor of Hankou.

So, seeing the Prefectural Governor so recklessly backing someone today without regard for consequences, the congratulatory guests present, amidst their shock, immediately felt a tenfold increase in vigilance: "A county magistrate can ruin a family, a prefect can exterminate a clan. With this Master Nan, it would be wise to form a good karmic bond from now on."

Next, as expected, the Tongpan magnanimously participated in the opening banquet festivities.

At the banquet, Magistrate Yuan was beaming, not only cordially interacting with the attending guests but also draining his cup at every toast, chatting and laughing merrily throughout—one could say he gave Master Nan the fullest possible face.

The various commercial firm magnates at the same table, on the other hand, became restrained in their demeanor this time, and were not so brainless as to probe into the relationship between Magistrate Yuan and Master Nan—Magistrate Yuan's "manic" performance today had already far exceeded traditional notions of official-merchant cooperation.

Regardless of what unspeakable secrets existed between the two parties, the people present had, in fact, already sniffed a dangerous scent. Before figuring out the full story, these old foxes, seasoned by life's vicissitudes, absolutely no one dared to act rashly anymore.

In the end, an unprecedented opening ceremony that exceeded all congratulatory guests' expectations drew its curtain amidst farewells laden with hidden thoughts.

After this event, Master Nan, who had arrived at the port from Shanghai, and the Kebo Pavilion general goods firm he had opened, firmly established a foothold overnight in Xiakou (Hankou) Town.

Whether on the righteous path or the underworld, before this mysterious merchant who had opened a direct line to the authorities, everyone retracted their claws and fangs, becoming polite, courteous, and amiable—everyone wanted to make money in harmony, after all.

After revealing his methods, Master Nan did not make any further astonishing moves.

In the days that followed, aside from settling his business affairs, all his activities followed ordinary routines and were very low-profile: attending the merchant guild, visiting friendly merchants, discussing business and drinking tea with people in tea houses, and so on.

In his leisure time, Master Nan mostly stayed at home dutifully, studying the Four Books and Five Classics, not losing the true character of a Xiucai scholar.

Thus, seven days later, the second cargo ship dispatched by Master Nan from Shanghai arrived at port.

This newly arrived cargo ship had clearly been communicated with earlier via telegraph to set off ahead of schedule, and its timing now was perfect.

The reason it was just right was that Master Nan's firm had opened for business, and business was quite good.

Although the wholesale goods were mostly ordinary sundries, they could not withstand the prosperity of Xiakou. Furthermore, quite a few local merchants were willing to purchase some of Master Nan's goods to form a good karmic bond, so the cargo sent on the first ship had already sold quite a bit.

However, what was loaded on this second ship was not entirely ordinary sundries. The ship not only carried an extra fifty barrels of cement but also an engineering team, which included engineering technical personnel, accounting staff, and experienced craftsmen.

That night, Subprefectural Magistrate Yuan, who had rushed over personally upon hearing the news, was this time truly dressed in plain clothes and a soft cap, utterly inconspicuous. And after Magistrate Yuan personally went down into the hold to inspect the cargo, he urged the group in a rapid-fire voice: "Quick, quick, unload it for this official overnight, and put it all into the Grade A official warehouse!"

"This humble subordinate obeys!"

The panicked look in Magistrate Yuan's eyes seemed as if he feared Master Nan, who was standing at the bow admiring the moon, might change his mind at any moment.

The next moment, Magistrate Yuan emerged from the hold, covered the distance in two or three urgent strides, and bowed deeply to Master Nan with clasped hands: "Mister is truly a man of your word; this student is etched with gratitude in all five organs. On behalf of the myriad common people, I thank Mister and all the other honored gentlemen."

Upon hearing this, Nan Wang quickly stepped forward to help him up: "Your Excellency need not be so formal. You must know, this bit of cement is only the first batch; the days ahead are still long! Heh heh."

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There is nothing new under the sun. Although a transmigrator possesses technology and knowledge ahead of the era, to win over a Prefect thousands of li away from their old nest, it ultimately comes down to the two most practical words: power and money.

Winning over the Grand Coordinator relied on power, and here with Subprefectural Magistrate Yuan, it was money.

Yuan Huochang, this person—regarding this utterly ordinary Ming Dynasty official, the only trace he left in history was a single project: building a dike.

In true history, it was precisely in this year, 165 AD, that Hankou Tongpan Yuan Huochang presided over the construction of a river dike, starting from Qiaokou in the west and ending at present-day Frozen Ground Street in Jianghan District in the east.

It was precisely because of this dike that, over the centuries to come, Hanzheng Street was protected from the encroachment of the river tides.

To commemorate Subprefectural Magistrate Yuan, later generations called this dike the Yuan Gong Dike.

Although after the Republic of China era, the Yuan Gong Dike gradually disappeared along the banks of the Yangtze River due to urban reconstruction, history remembered this embankment, and the name Yuan Huochang was thus preserved in the local gazetteers and prefectural records.

Matters like building bridges and paving roads, no matter the dynasty, are always a noble and lofty choice.

Compared to the rare minority like Zhang Liang and Xiao He, whose names are immortalized in history, for the vast majority of ordinary officials, if they wished to leave their names in the historical records, then building bridges and paving roads was basically the only path these officials could choose.

Countless clear examples illustrate the possibility of this path.

The Grand Administrator of Shu Commandery, Li Bing. A thousand years later, no one remembers any of his other political achievements, yet solely by building Dujiangyan, this lord Grand Administrator has been forcefully praised from the Qin Dynasty all the way to the Ming Dynasty and even into the textbooks of later generations. Grand Administrator Li Bing and his Dujiangyan are both important knowledge points.

The ancients understood this set of things all too well, especially officials steeped in historical texts.

Of course, large-scale projects were not so easy to carry out. In ancient times, floods were everywhere, and water conservancy projects that could truly be successfully completed were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns compared to the vast number of officials.

For a person in charge to complete such a project, they needed not only great perseverance and great determination, but also extremely strong social coordination capability and fundraising capability.

Vice Prefect Yuan was an outstanding figure among them. This gentleman did not love wealth, only fame. So ever since taking office, he had been intending to build a dike to leave his name behind.

And just when Lord Yuan had made many preparations and was planning to stake everything on a gamble this year, Master Nan, who had never existed historically, came knocking on his door.

For the Transmigrators, who had long regarded the Great Ming's territory as their own, funding the construction of a dike for Wuhan City was simply building a dike for their own home. The dike wouldn't run away once built; if they didn't build it now, wouldn't they still have to build it a few years later, "after the founding of the nation"?

Launching the project now could not only stabilize a large number of paupers on the brink of death, but also conveniently draw in local factions and thereby construct an underground power base. It was a matter with a hundred benefits and not a single harm.

As for Yuan Huochang, who stood in the spotlight, gaining fame from this — the Transmigrated Noble lords were all playing for keeps and naturally didn't care about that bit of empty reputation. What belonged to others was theirs.

Regarding this aspect, the Transmigrators had abundant experience. As early as a few years ago, certain people had, through investing in dike construction, drawn in Fang Yuegong, the Prefect of Songjiang, who desired to leave his name in the annals of history. It was a familiar path; they were old hands at this.

And this time, when Master Nan came calling, besides expressing his intention to contract the project, the various benefits he proposed were truly impossible for Lord Yuan to refuse: Master Nan not only promised 100,000 taels of ready silver, but also promised 100,000 jin of cement.

Furthermore, Master Nan also promised to build the river dike in Lord Yuan's original plan wider, thicker, and longer.

And also craftsmen: a team of artisans "recruited" from places like Shanghai, who had experience using cement to build the Songjiang Dadi.

In fact, when he first received Master Nan, who had abruptly come calling and abruptly proposed sending money and men, the astonished Vice Prefect Yuan did not quite believe this person: "Could he be a swindler from the Edo who caught wind of my activities?"

However, after Vice Prefect Yuan finished reading the letter Master Nan pulled out, and after the first 5,000 taels of project funds were left on the spot, Lord Yuan had no choice but to believe.

The letter of introduction was written by the capital big shot Luo Lishi, who had already been promoted to Vice Minister of Works.

Luo Lishi was a native of Jiading Prefecture, and his younger brother Luo Shizhi was one of the earliest construction materials merchants to deal with the Transmigrators.

Now, under the support and matchmaking of the Crossing Faction, Luo Lishi had not only been promoted to Vice Minister of Works, but the Luo Family had distinctly become a die-hard ally of the Wen Faction in court.

As for Yuan Huochang's side, since he had the mind to build a dike, he must certainly have begun preparatory work very early on, during which time he naturally couldn't avoid seeking some advantage from the Ministry of Works.

And this relationship was, in fact, also where Vice Prefect Yuan's confidence lay: as early as when Vice Minister Luo was still the Director of the Bureau of Construction in the Ministry of Works, both sides had known each other, and their relationship was quite close.

Strictly speaking, Vice Prefect Yuan could actually be considered a peripheral member of the Wen Faction.

Therefore, the moment Vice Prefect Yuan finished reading the letter from Beijing and figured out the meaning of a few cryptic phrases within it, he instantly became the only person in Hankou to guess Master Nan's background.

With this, Vice Prefect Yuan finally understood why Nan Wang had come so directly to deliver such a great gift: everyone was actually family.

The above is the reason why Vice Prefect Yuan was desperate to go and support Master Nan's grand opening. It is also the reason why, when Lord Yuan was expressing his thanks at the bow of the ship earlier, his words also carried the phrase "several lords."

Everyone belongs to the same faction — that is the first point. Sending a huge sum of real gold and silver for the lord to leave his name in history — that is the second.

In the face of the phrase "leaving one's name in history," bringing out a full set of ceremonial regalia to back a merchant was nothing much.

Of course, the most important thing was still the real gold and silver.

Although Hankou was wealthy, Lord Yuan could probably raise the silver for building the dike. But as the saying goes, good money is hard to part with. The biggest problem with Lord Yuan's long preparation without starting construction could be guessed even with one's toes: fundraising was difficult.

This has also been the hardest part of doing projects since ancient times. A local official wanting to leave a name could not raise funds without shedding several layers of skin, even in wealthy Hankou.

Next, after all the goods and craftsmen were clearly handed over, Lord Yuan could initiate the preliminary phase of the project. With the personnel and funds provided by Master Nan, Vice Prefect Yuan's subsequent fundraising pressure would be greatly reduced, and the entire project would proceed according to the engineering standards of the Crossing Faction.

And from this moment on, the preliminary preparation work of the Wuhan Station could be considered formally concluded for the time being.

The next step was to get down to real business.