Chapter 104: A Smooth Road Ahead

In the counterfeit-coin workshop, thick with rolling heat, its manager Huang Anshou was enthusiastically explaining the operation to the various levels of leaders who had come to inspect.

"My lords, we have already prepared a hundred pairs of coin molds and a hundred mother coins." Huang Anshou handed over a mother coin as he spoke. Chen Xin took it and examined it; it bore only the two characters "One Wen," with no inscription daring to claim Weihai as its origin, thus missing a prime advertising spot.

Chen Xin weighed it in his hand — roughly one qian — passed it to Song Wenxian and Liu Minyou to see, then asked Huang Anshou, "One qian?"

Huang Anshou nodded and said, "To answer my lord, this mother coin is made entirely of copper. The coins cast from the mold made with this mother coin will weigh exactly one qian, with a ratio of seven parts copper to three parts lead. They are slightly inferior to the Jiajing gold-backed coins, but superior to the Wanli gold-backed coins."

Chen Xin nodded. Huang Anshou picked up an object resembling a wooden frame and introduced it to the group: "My lords, this is a hollow frame. One set consists of a pair, each frame containing a hundred hollow cells. These are filled with earth and fine charcoal powder, then dusted with willow charcoal ash. A hundred mother coins are placed into the cells; when the two frames are pressed together, the coin molds are imprinted. Each mold has channels; molten copper is poured in, and a hundred coins can be cast in a single pour."

Liu Minyou said to Chen Xin, "I have already reviewed their process. Once the copper cools, it is removed — one hundred coins at a time. The connecting sprues are then broken off, every hundred coins are strung on a bamboo strip for edge-filing, and finally the coin faces are polished. These few steps require no particular skill. Including the making of the clay molds, I plan to assign some farming households and women to do this work and pay them wages. Master Huang and his craftsmen will only be responsible for melting the copper and pouring the molten metal."

Chen Xin nodded. Another assembly line. The original workshop produced too many disparate items — cold weapons, armor, firearms, plus some farming tools and wooden implements — and lacked sufficient skilled personnel. Liu Minyou had been unable to achieve standardization, so an assembly line was out of the question. But this counterfeit-coin workshop produced a single product. Liu Minyou had assigned Zhang Erhui to help record the operating procedures, and it looked like standardization would soon be possible.

Adopting the manner of a leader, Chen Xin inspected every area of the workshop. Liu Minyou had allocated a rather large space for it. For now, there was no other industry to speak of — mainly just the counterfeit-coin workshop and the original workshop. The technical processes were carried out indoors; everything else was done in the open space outside, which was enclosed by a surrounding wall to keep outsiders from seeing in.

After inspecting the site, Chen Xin asked Huang Anshou, "How much silver can be extracted from those one hundred twenty thousand jin of copper?"

Huang Anshou replied respectfully, "No more than a thousand taels. The silver can be extracted using just lead. The copper material you purchased, my lord, is of good quality — in the capital it would fetch ten to twelve taels per hundred jin."

Song Wenxian's eyes lit up. Even if they simply resold the copper, they could double their money — a profit of roughly six or seven thousand taels of silver. Li Guozhu had indeed given them a great favor. Japan was tightening its control over copper exports; without a local power broker like Li Guozhu, it would have been extremely difficult to buy so much copper.

Chen Xin swallowed and said to Huang Anshou, "Master Huang, I must ask you to work hard and produce the first batch first. The rest must all be finished within this year."

Huang Anshou glanced at Liu Minyou and agreed, "With the process that Mr. Liu has arranged, it should be feasible. I only ask that you, my lord, do not transfer the workers elsewhere."

Chen Xin also looked at Liu Minyou. Liu Minyou coughed twice before saying, "But we only have so many hands. The fields also need people for tasks like weeding."

Huang Anshou kept his head down and said nothing. Chen Xin was also troubled by the manpower shortage. Although they had recruited many refugees this year — over three hundred farming households and several dozen artisan households — Tang Zuoxiang's workshop used a great many workers. Moreover, more than half of the refugees were single men; even the women had been sent to farm. For the moment, they truly could not find more labor. Yet this was the most urgent matter at hand, and they had to come up with a solution.

Chen Xin's eyes darted about, and he set his sights on Liu Minyou's several dozen students. He pulled Liu Minyou aside and said in a low voice, "Brother Liu, you see how tight the manpower is. How about we let those children also do some work-study?"

Liu Minyou glared at him. "You want to put such young children to work?"

"Not those under seven. The older ones would be fine. Look, sprinkling the willow ash and filing the edges — they can certainly do that. We'll pay them some wages."

Liu Minyou shook his head like a rattle-drum. "No, they're too young. Let them keep studying."

Chen Xin asked, puzzled, "Brother Liu, didn't we say we'd use children as adults? What exactly are you teaching them now that requires studying all day?"

"Well, arithmetic and literacy, plus some children's stories and tales of famous people."

"Tales of famous people? Like those about cherry trees and apple trees? Teacher Liu, how about we put those lessons aside for later and just teach arithmetic and literacy? Like with Wang Daixi and Zhang Dahui — enough to be useful is enough."

Liu Minyou said reluctantly, "What do you mean 'enough to be useful'? Without moral cultivation, how can it be enough? They're not just tools of production."

Chen Xin pondered for a moment, then persuaded, "Look, you only teach for one two-hour period a day anyway. Cut it down to one hour, let them study on their own for another hour, and spend the rest of the time working in the workshop. Only those seven and older; the younger ones you can keep for yourself."

Liu Minyou frowned and said nothing. He strongly disliked the idea of child labor. Even though Chen Xin had dressed it up with the name "work-study," Liu Minyou knew how grueling the physical labor in the workshop was.

Chen Xin continued to entice him: "When they take their wages home, you can tell the parents that only by attending school can the children get this work. Won't those families who keep their kids at home feeding chickens and cooking meals hurry to send them to school?"

Liu Minyou considered this for a long while. Many of the newly arrived refugees still had no proper housing and lived in shacks thrown up at the edges of the fortified village. There were no sanitation requirements outside, so they raised some chickens and ducks. These refugees had their children do such chores and were unwilling to send them to study. The method Chen Xin proposed might indeed bring in more students.

In the end, he conceded slightly, "Only those ten and older, and they may come for just half a day."

Seeing Liu Minyou's firm stance, Chen Xin had at least solved part of the labor gap. He could only advise Liu Minyou, "Teacher Liu, I suggest the school first train teachers. It's best if you don't personally teach the very young children. Find some seventeen- or eighteen-year-olds, train a batch of teachers, and let them teach the children. The content should be limited to literacy and arithmetic. Otherwise, how could you possibly manage it all?"

"Hmm, that is worth considering. But teaching young children is rather enjoyable."

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In July, Chen Xin began leading the troops in training, drilling them together on flag and drum signals. The second batch of five hundred recruits had already arrived, including a group of Liaodong refugee laborers purchased from Dengzhou in May, and the next round of recruit training began. Those who had performed exceptionally well in the recent bandit-suppression battles were promoted in a group, and a dedicated training unit was established separately, with Zhu Daichun as its captain. From then on, all recruit training and recruitment would be conducted independently by the training unit. After completing basic training, recruits would be assigned directly to the combat units; the commanders of the combat units no longer had the authority to recruit.

A month later, Steward Xu indeed delivered an entire shipload of weapons, all according to Chen Xin's specifications: enough cold weapons to equip five hundred men, five hundred sets of iron scale armor, and ten crouching-tiger cannons. Song Wenxian's son and wife also arrived on the same ship. Believing Song Wenxian had perished at sea, they had wept the whole journey, their tears flowing like rain.

Chen Xin handed over the agreed ten thousand taels of silver and gave Steward Xu the additional five hundred taels he had promised. Steward Xu, in a good mood after receiving the silver, told Chen Xin that the merit-reporting documents had been prepared and would soon be submitted to the Ministry of War, and urged him to gather the remaining eight thousand taels as quickly as possible.

Having reunited with his wife and child, Song Wenxian quietly took the first batch of copper coins and Japanese dried seafood to Tianjin, and would also bring Zhao Xiang back along the way to prepare for their wedding.

Song Wenxian returned from Tianjin in August. He first reported on the matter of Zheng Zhilong. Since May, the imperial court had been discussing the possibility of offering amnesty to Zheng Zhilong. Chen Xin estimated that events would still unfold as they had in the original history; what happened next would depend on how well Xu Xinsu performed.

He also brought other news from the Dengzhou and Laizhou area. The Ministry of Revenue was three months in arrears on military pay for the Guannering garrison, and the Jizhou garrison was also owed back pay. In July, mutinies broke out in both places over the unpaid wages. The Jizhou mutiny was somewhat milder — they calmed down after receiving a little silver. The Guannering mutiny over pay, however, was utterly outrageous. After humiliating the Liaodong Governor Bi Zisu, Bi Zisu could not bear the disgrace and starved himself to death. As soon as Yuan Chonghuan arrived at Ningyuan, he secured grain and pay from the Chongzhen Emperor and executed a few accomplices, thus suppressing the unrest. Since Bi Zisu was dead, Yuan Chonghuan memorialized the Emperor, proposing that the post of Liaodong Governor be abolished since it was useless anyway, and the Emperor agreed. But the fact that within a single month, these two most critical frontier garrisons, Jizhou and Liaodong, both mutinied over pay showed just how destitute the Great Ming's finances had become.

Yang Guodong, who had already been appointed Regional Commander of Zhejiang, had somehow, against all odds, pulled strings again. Sun Guozhen submitted a memorial stating that Dengzhou and Laizhou were ten times more important than Zhejiang and that Yang Guodong could not leave. The memorial was approved, and he returned to his post to oversee military affairs. But in May, the Chongzhen Emperor had appointed a new Regional Commander of Dengzhou and Laizhou Coastal Defense, Zhang Keda. Chen Xin had no idea how the two of them would divide their duties, so he had no choice but to send gifts to both sides.

The Later Jin in Liaodong remained relatively quiet. Apart from sending three thousand troops to raze Jinzhou, Xingshan, and Gaoqiao — which the Ming army had abandoned — to the ground, they made no major moves in Liaoxi. They did not even occupy Jinzhou, that so-called strategic location; after completing their demolition, they returned to Liaodong.

The Chahar Khutugtu Khan (Lin Danhan) grew increasingly fearful of the Later Jin and began migrating westward, attacking the Kalaqin and Tumote tribes in a vain attempt to unify the nearby Mongol tribes. However, he clearly fell far short of the original Genghis Khan in ability. After a great battle against the allied tribal forces at Zhaocheng in Tumote, he failed to unify the tribes and instead drove many Kalaqin tribes to defect to the Later Jin.

Song Wenxian was not very clear on the names of those tribes, but what Chen Xin understood was that ever since Huang Taiji attacked Korea the previous year and weakened Dongjiang's strength, the containment on the eastern flank had greatly diminished. Now the containment from the Mongol front was also gradually weakening. Overall, his strategic situation had greatly improved.

The Little Ice Age was affecting the Later Jin as well. Grain prices in Liaodong soared, and the massive deaths among the Han population further strained manpower resources. Raiding the Great Ming for supplies and people thus became the only viable answer to satisfying the material and cultural needs of the Later Jin people.

The shift in the strategic situation between the Great Ming and the Later Jin would not be altered by two tiny butterflies. Chen Xin, insignificant and powerless, and not drawing the Liaodong tax, could not concern himself with matters so far away. Mao Wenlong, across the water from Weihai, did want to concern himself, continuing to wage Mobile Corps Commander warfare along the coast against the Later Jin and submitting several memorials. Their main thrust was that Dongjiang was vital, that grain and pay were far too scarce, and they reviewed for the new Emperor the achievements and hardships of Dongjiang Town, while also warning that the Later Jin was highly likely to raid the Yan region from the vicinity of Xifengkou. (Note 1)

Song Wenxian brought Zhao Xiang's family on the same ship, then loaded a new batch of copper coins and departed for Tianjin. Based on the price he had negotiated with Shopkeeper Yan, the profit on the copper coins could exceed two hundred percent. The one hundred twenty thousand jin of copper Chen Xin had bought in Japan cost six to seven thousand taels of silver; once fully sold, it would yield a profit of twelve to thirteen thousand taels. Although Tian Hongyu took the largest share of the end-user profit, this method allowed for very rapid turnover. Chen Xin could accept this profit margin.

From this trip to Japan, Chen Xin had swallowed over thirty thousand taels belonging to Intendant Zhong. Intendant Zhong's family had come to demand it, but Chen Xin shifted the blame onto Steward Xu. The family members were helpless; whether they went to confront Steward Xu or not, he did not know.

Combined with what he had earned himself, Chen Xin now held over ninety thousand taels of silver in total. Song Wenxian had also earned over ten thousand taels; he had invested in the copper coin business as well, and his income this year was excellent. The only downside was that, due to Chen Xin's deception, he was listed as missing at sea and could not return to Dengzhou for the time being.

In August, for his merit in exterminating the Japanese pirates, Chen Xin was transferred to the post of Picket Officer of Wendeng Camp and appointed acting Vice Prefect of Weihai Guard. He handed the remaining eight thousand taels to Sun Guozhen. The unpleasant part was that Xiao Jiahua was also sent back.

That same month, he married Zhao Xiang. She was carried through the door in a bridal sedan chair draped in red silk. That day, all the various officials of Weihai Guard City came to offer their congratulations; even Zhou Laifu, Lao Cai, and Deng Keshan and others from Dengzhou came on passing grain ships to drink the wedding wine. Yang Yunnong volunteered to serve as master of ceremonies. As for a matchmaker, there truly was none, so they had to ask Lao Cai, who was relatively close to the Zhao family, to act as one. The two of them first signed the marriage contract; then Chen Xin and Zhao Xiang also signed, and thus he and Zhao Xiang became lawfully wedded husband and wife.

Chen Xin distributed silver to everyone in the fortified village, and all the villagers came to feast for an entire day. After the wedding, Chen Xin moved out of the barracks and into the three-courtyard compound facing the sea that Liu Minyou had built. Lady Zhao, upon hearing that Chen Xin had been promoted again, was delighted, but as always, she reminded Chen Xin to stay at the rear during battles.

By September, just after Lord Sun Guozhen had received Chen Xin's eight thousand taels, an imperial edict arrived dismissing him from office and ordering him to reside in idleness. This Metropolitan Graduate, who had at least once fought the Dutch, did not meet a bad end, managing to retire with his person intact. Chen Xin had Song Wenxian send letters and banknotes to Zhang Dahui, instructing him to keep a close watch on who would become the new Provincial Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou. If it was a capital official, they were to bribe him in advance. However, according to Song Wenxian, who had returned to Dengzhou, the Intendant of the Dengzhou and Laizhou Circuit under the Shandong Provincial Administration Commission, Wang Tingshi, was the strongest contender for the post of Dengzhou and Laizhou Governor. Song Wenxian was currently asking some former colleagues to lobby on his behalf, preparing to find a new job and continue serving as Chen Xin's agent.

The Imperially Decreed Treason Case was still proceeding slowly in the capital. The top-priority project personally overseen by the Chongzhen Emperor, the Son of Heaven, had not demonstrated much efficiency. The Later Jin's top-priority project, on the other hand, was proceeding with vigor. In September, Huang Taiji personally led a campaign against the Chahar and won another complete victory, with a steady stream of small Mongol tribes defecting to the Later Jin.

Also in September, Chen Xin, having finished his honeymoon, was finally due to report for duty at Wendeng Camp. The two places were no more than a hundred li apart. After bidding farewell to his colleagues in Weihai Guard City, he set his departure for mid-September.

On the twelfth day of the ninth month, two platoons of combat soldiers stood silently before the fortified village. Behind the soldiers, waves of wheat rippled through the fields, and groups of farming households were harvesting the autumn grain.

Leading the combat soldiers was the newly appointed Probationary Company Commander Lu Chuanzong. These two platoons would accompany Chen Xin to Wendeng Camp to assume his post as Picket Officer. Liu Minyou also brought along several civilian affairs assistants.

Gazing at the fields and soldiers before him, Chen Xin was in high spirits and said to Liu Minyou, "At last, we are going to Wendeng Camp."

"Isn't it just Wendeng Camp? What's there to be so proud of? I heard of it in my previous life."

Chen Xin asked in surprise, "You heard of Wendeng Camp in your previous life?"

"Of course. Your unworthy friend here has indeed heard of Qi Jiguang's 'Passing Wendeng Camp.'"

"So cultured? There's a poem by that name? Can you recite it for us?"

"Slowly the twin banners cross the sea's far shore, / Dawn mist hangs low to shelter the wild folk's door."

Who brings spring hues to these crumbling ramparts? Only the sky wind delivers the brief reed-pipe's call.

The waters ebb, yet Qin-dynasty stones still remain; the tide returns, but no Han-era raft is seen.

....."

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Note 1: Seen in the Dongjiang Reports, specifically the reports of the twenty-fourth day of the fifth month, the third day of the sixth month, and the fifth day of the ninth month of the first year of the Chongzhen reign. It warned that the Jianzhou Bandits might invade through Xifengkou, a prediction that proved remarkably accurate.