Chapter 71: My Territory

That evening, Lord Yang hosted a welcome banquet for the two at the Wangcui Restaurant. The restaurant stood beside the lotus pond at the southwest corner of the city. From the third-floor window where Chen Xin sat, one could see the famous Huancui Tower atop Weihai’s northwest city wall (still standing today). To the north, Mount Songding and Mount Diaowo were visible. Lord Yang told him this was the finest restaurant in Weihai. If one came in summer, one could gaze far at the lush green woods of Mount Songding and look close at the pond full of blooming lotus.

Following official convention, Chen Xin still prepared a twenty-tael silver greeting gift for Lord Yang, ten taels for each of the two Vice Guard Commanders — besides Wang Yuanzheng, the other was surnamed Jiang — and five taels for each of the four Assistant Guard Commanders. Greeting gifts were an unwritten rule everyone accepted. The several lords did not decline. After pocketing the silver, they looked upon Chen Xin far more favorably.

This was Chen Xin’s first time attending such an official banquet. Because Song Wenxian held no official rank, the scale was presumably still relatively modest. This time it was not one large table; each person had a small individual table, every dish served separately. This publicly funded meal cost three taels of silver. Although Chen Xin was now a man of means, he had never eaten a meal this expensive. Fine charcoal burned in braziers inside the room, making it warm as spring. Two opera singers were brought in to perform tunes Chen Xin could not understand. As he drank and ate, Chen Xin thought of those military household members sheltering from the wind at the city gate — the difference was heaven and earth.

Chen Xin and Song Wenxian rested in the city that night. Early the next morning, Wang Yuanzheng boarded the ship with them. They sailed north around Mount Songding and Mount Diaowo, traveling until afternoon before reaching Mazi Harbor, where they were to be settled. Standing beside Wang Yuanzheng, Chen Xin carefully studied the surrounding terrain. The entire bay area was shaped like an ear. The north opened like a trumpet toward the Liaodong Sea; the other three sides were land. The coast was all rock except for a sandy beach on the southeast side. To the east, a stretch of land jutted into the sea, with a small hill atop it. To the southwest stood another small hill. Typhoons generally came from the east or south. This spot offered better shelter from wind than the Weihai Guard anchorage, but the bay mouth had no barrier, making it poorer at blocking waves.

“Mr. Song, Company Commander Chen, this place is Mazi Harbor.” Wang Yuanzheng pointed at the small hill to the southwest. “That hill is Mazi Hill, from which the harbor takes its name. The river to the south is called Qincun River, and the fortified mound beside the river is Mazi Mound.”

Chen Xin gazed into the distance. Mazi Mound stood perhaps a few dozen meters from Qincun River. A mound wall enclosed it, hiding the interior from view. Outside the mound, along both sides of the river, lay some turned fields. He did not know whether these were meant to be allocated to him.

Wang Yuanzheng continued, “Company Commander Chen, the Guard Commander has exempted you from tax grain and corvée labor. The land allocated to you lies at the foot of that eastern hill. As for your dwellings, you may choose a suitable spot anywhere within the bay area.”

After discussing for a while with Liu Minyou and the others, Chen Xin chose the foot of the small eastern hill. That spot was very close to their farmland. The coast there was all rock, so they should be able to find a place to moor. The hill had fairly many trees, making it easier to cut timber for building houses, and they could gather firewood there in the future.

At once, the two ships lowered three wood-and-water boats. Ba Zi, Wang Zugui, and the others were all veteran sailors. Rowing with oars and holding bamboo poles, they headed toward the eastern shore, probing the water depth with long bamboo poles along the way. After two round trips, they found several spots along the shore where a Fujian junk could moor. Two trackers went ashore and stood guard at the bank. The three wood-and-water boats returned to the large ships. The Fujian junk had already lowered its sails. The small boats tossed over ropes, which were tied to the masts. Once the junk weighed anchor, the small boats turned around again. The men aboard rowed together, towing the junk toward the shore. Near the shore, the small boats untied the ropes. The rowers went ashore first and pulled the junk slowly closer to the rock wall. Men on the junk’s deck used bamboo poles to push against the rocks. After adjusting for quite a while, they finally brought the junk to a steady stop beside the shore.

Seeing how much effort it took, Liu Minyou said to Chen Xin, “We must quickly build a dock. Otherwise, mooring the ship will require this many people every time, and fishing boats later on will also be hard to moor.”

“Indeed.” After saying this, Chen Xin swayed down the lowered gangplank and stepped onto territory that belonged to him.

Wang Yuanzheng helped Zhu Guobin across the gangplank, excused himself to the two, and hurried off toward Mazi Mound. He was going to summon the Company Commander stationed at Mazi Mound and the Battalion Commander of the Left Battalion so they could clarify the situation face to face.

The five squads of soldiers disembarked one after another. After forming up by squad, they all surveyed their new home. The terrain near the shore was flat. Not far from the sea lay farmland, bleak and desolate now that it was frozen. Lu Lvzi ran over to take a look around, came back, and said to Chen Xin, “My lord, the land allocated to us is all abandoned wasteland. I fear we won’t harvest much grain even next year.”

Chen Xin nodded noncommittally. No wonder Yang Yun had been so generous in giving him a thousand mu — it was all abandoned wasteland. But he was not relying on this bit of land anyway. Good military farmland was either swallowed by officers or seized by the gentry. How could a mere Company Commander like him get a share?

Liu Minyou, whom Chen Xin had assigned to manage civil affairs, grew somewhat anxious hearing this. He said to Lu Lvzi and Dai Zhenggang, “You’ve both farmed before. Can we still hurry and make use of the time now?”

Both men shook their heads at once. “Mr. Liu, the farming season is long past this year, and the fields are frozen solid. We can only think of ways to enrich the soil once spring comes.”

Liu Minyou found this slightly odd. He had a classmate from Weihai who said the winters there were not very cold, and the area was surrounded by ocean. Why was it so cold during the Ming dynasty? Shaking his head, he said quietly to Chen Xin, “Comrade Company Commander, we’ll have to spend quite a bit more silver. At least half a year with no harvest. From what these two mean, yields will be low for a year or two. We have nearly a hundred people. If the men get two jin of grain a day, and the women and children one jin, that’s over forty dan of grain a month.”

Chen Xin was not short of this bit of money at the moment, but grain in the late Ming was even more important than money — something they would certainly have to fight for later. For now, having just arrived, it was better to keep a low profile. Chen Xin changed the subject. “Exactly how many women and children do we have?”

“Fifty trackers from Zhangjiawan, six women, seven children. Twenty-one men from Yanggu, two women, three children. Five artisan households — five men, five women, nine children. Plus our original people and a few sailors from Dengzhou. In total, eighty-nine men, thirteen women, nineteen children. Oh, and Wang Daixi — twenty children. Director Chen, you have one hundred and twenty-one people under you in all.”

Chen Xin smiled and said to Liu Minyou, “The eleven remaining men from Yanggu won’t be trained for now. And the twenty military households allocated to us — after picking out the ones we need, hand the rest over to you to arrange, focusing on civil matters. The other five squads of combat troops will mainly train after they finish building living quarters. If you need to pull people during the busy farming season, let me know then.”

“What about those women and children?”

“Use the women as men, and the children as women. They’re under your management too.”

Liu Minyou secretly wiped sweat from his brow. He had never handled civil affairs either. He would just have to deal with problems as they came. The most urgent tasks now were building living quarters and stockpiling grain. Once spring came, they would farm. He just needed to keep hold of these two main threads.

Chen Xin called over Dai Zhenggang and told him to take his two squads, bring axes, go to that small eastern hill, cut some timber, and come back to first build a few large shacks.

Dai Zhenggang led the two squads of soldiers away and headed up the hill. They stopped at the edge of the woods and began felling trees. Chen Xin withdrew his gaze just as Wang Yuanzheng returned, with two men following behind him.

“Company Commander Chen, this is Battalion Commander Zeng of the Left Battalion, and this is Gong Pingkang, Company Commander of Mazi Mound.” Wang Yuanzheng introduced them as soon as he arrived. Battalion Commander Zeng wore an old battalion commander’s uniform and was gaunt and scrawny. Technically, he was Chen Xin’s direct superior, but even the higher superior now could do nothing about Chen Xin, let alone this shabby battalion commander.

Chen Xin exchanged greetings with Battalion Commander Zeng according to official etiquette. Looking again at the Company Commander, the man looked even less the part. Not only did he lack an official uniform, his clothes were tattered and torn, his two shoes did not match, and there were several large holes in the tops of the shoes. A Company Commander like this had no standing to skim benefits and could not even get his salary grain. He looked just like an old peasant — the rot in the guard battalion system was plain to see.

This Company Commander was called Gong Pingkang. He was in his forties but looked sixty. Chen Xin was at least a rank-purchased Company Commander. Gong Pingkang bowed and scraped obsequiously as he greeted Chen Xin. Seeing the three squads of trackers behind Chen Xin, standing in neat formation with weapons in hand, he lost any hint of local-boss swagger and instead worried that this new neighbor would bully his Mazi Mound.

It was not just him. Wang Yuanzheng and Battalion Commander Zeng were also inwardly startled when they saw Chen Xin’s troops. Most were adult men, in orderly ranks, with an imposing presence. They seemed even stronger than the Guard Commander’s twenty retainers. And with the Provincial Governor backing him, who knew whether having such a subordinate would be easy or hard to deal with in the future.

Chen Xin put on a professional smile and, without the slightest airs, said to Company Commander Gong, “Company Commander Gong, you’ve worked hard. From now on we are neighbors and should visit each other often.”

“Of course, of course.” Seeing Chen Xin’s calm and friendly manner, Company Commander Gong felt relieved.

“Battalion Commander, Company Commander Gong, I have come to Weihai on the Provincial Governor’s orders to patrol the coastal waters and strictly investigate Jianzhou bandit spies. I am to be stationed here long-term. The most urgent matter now is to first build living quarters, but we still lack quite a lot of materials.”

Battalion Commander Zeng and Company Commander Gong immediately assumed he was coming to scrounge off them. But with the Assistant Regional Commander standing right there, neither dared refuse outright. Their faces promptly darkened.

Chen Xin continued, “I intend to buy some timber, thatch, wheat straw, and firewood from you two. I wonder if you have any. If there are people willing to help with the work, I will provide two meals a day.”

“Ah, of course we do. We have both wheat straw and firewood.” As soon as the two heard that silver was involved, their faces instantly went from cloudy to sunny. These military households all had some thatch and wheat straw at home, used for keeping warm or burning in winter. Normally it was not worth a single coin. As long as they could sell it for money, who wouldn’t be willing? In winter, the military households also had little to do. Who wouldn’t want to come out and eat their fill?

Chen Xin did not care about this bit of silver. The most important thing now was to quickly put up shacks on land. Otherwise, everyone was living crammed aboard the ships. Some who had never been on a ship before were already very weak. If this went on too long, illness could easily break out.

“Then they can start bringing it over to sell right now. Wheat stalks and firewood, five li of silver for every ten jin. For timber, we’ll set the price after seeing the quality.”

Company Commander Gong turned and ran, showing none of the weariness from before. Mazi Mound was a little over one li away. He dashed back in one breath. Before long, a crowd of people rushed out of the mound wall — old and young, men and women alike. On their backs they carried bundles of wheat stalks taller than themselves. Others carried timber or toted firewood. They hurried over as if rushing to a market fair, each trying to walk faster than the next, afraid the buyers would stop buying once they had enough. It looked like an Olympic race-walking competition.

Liu Minyou gave Chen Xin a thumbs-up. This way, they could quickly put up illegal structures, and everyone could get off the ships. But the price seemed a bit too low. He whispered to Chen Xin, “Isn’t the exploitation a bit too severe?”

Chen Xin chuckled. “Look how eager they are. It’s definitely not severe.”

A few children in their teens ran the fastest, all barefoot. Two of them did not even have trousers. When they reached the front, they did not know whom to approach and stood dumbly twenty or thirty paces away. Company Commander Gong, being older and carrying wheat stalks himself, was still at the tail end of the procession, panting.

Liu Minyou brought the eleven remaining men from Yanggu and beckoned those children over. Chen Xin had several of his personal guards maintain order and line the military household members up in a single file.

The slower aunties, grannies, and old men from behind arrived one after another. Seeing those in front hand over their wheat stalks and immediately receive silver, they began chattering noisily. As they talked, they sized up the newcomers, especially that tall Company Commander. The Assistant Regional Commander stood before him like a subordinate. The military household members were a bit confused — just who had the higher rank?

Liu Minyou was also sizing up these military household members. They looked exactly like beggars. Filthy, needless to say. Their clothes were in tatters, patch upon patch. Most were barefoot. Some children had no trousers at all. It was tolerable while they were running, but now that they had stopped, they were all shivering.

Liu Minyou had organized the eleven people from Yanggu into a logistics team. They were now collecting wheat stalks and firewood. They had no scales, but they were all experienced from years of handing over grain taxes. By simply lifting a bundle by hand, they could roughly estimate the weight. Liu Minyou paid out just over two taels of silver in total and amassed a large pile of nearly five thousand jin of wheat stalks and firewood. Watching the delighted expressions on those military household members’ faces, he suddenly felt that silver was worth even more.