Chapter 93: Good Business

Across the table in the main room sat a man with a face full of wrinkles, his beard and hair tinged a sallow yellow, as if he had just been through smoke and fire. This man was called Huang Anshou — the new Shopkeeper of Han Yong's silver-exchange shop, and the one who had been acting as shopkeeper whenever Han Yong was away.

Chen Xin treated him with great courtesy, presenting him a pair of captured jade bracelets as soon as they met. Huang Anshou accepted them with thanks, but his expression remained calm; he looked like a man long accustomed to business, quite shrewd and reserved.

"Mr. Huang, what do you make of this copper coin?" Chen Xin picked up from the table one of the coins Zhang Da had exchanged and handed it over. Huang Anshou took it in both hands, gave it a brief look, and then said to Chen Xin, "My lord, this coin is loose in texture, its markings barely discernible. Eight parts out of ten are lead and iron; the copper content is no more than two-tenths. This is a debased coin — one tael of silver would fetch roughly fifteen hundred of these."

A true professional indeed. Chen Xin spread his right hand toward the table in an inviting gesture. On it lay over a hundred coins of every type, all different in size and thickness — this one small table was enough to show the chaos of Ming currency. Huang Anshou casually picked another coin from the table; it was thin and small, its surface dull and dark. After examining it, he curled his lip in disdain, tossed the coin high into the air, and when it hit the stone table it cracked into four or five pieces with a snap.

"This coin is one of the poorer debased ones, weighing no more than four-tenths of a qian, made almost entirely of lead and iron. It shatters at a touch. In trade, even three thousand of these might not equal one tael of silver. Yet this is still not the worst — the worst debased coins weigh less than two-tenths of a qian."

Chen Xin clapped his hands and praised him with a smile, "Mr. Huang, you are a man of great talent. May I ask where such copper coins come from, and what profit they yield?"

"To answer my lord, private coinage mostly comes from Jiangnan. These debased coins are bought in the south, where sixty or seventy of them are worth only one fen of silver. They are transported north via the Grand Canal or by sea, mainly bound for Jingshi. Once sold in Jingshi, those same sixty or seventy coins fetch three or four fen of silver. If you make them yourself, the profit is even greater. I helped my former proprietor with some of this at the silver-exchange shop, so I know it fairly well. Copper costs eight fen of silver per jin. Take a debased coin with two-tenths copper content, each weighing one qian. Apart from the copper, the rest is mostly iron and lead mixed in. Iron costs no more than one fen of silver per jin. Adding fuel costs and wastage, ten thousand coins cost just over two taels of silver to make; reselling them brings three or four times that."

Last time Song Wenxian had said Japanese copper cost only four or five fen of silver per jin. By that reckoning, the profit would be at least five or six times. He himself could not capture the most lucrative end-market profit, but earning double at wholesale seemed plausible — even a single fold would be enormous profit. Chen Xin licked his lips. When the sea trade returned around the sixth or seventh month, he could buy copper, make counterfeit coins, recover his capital, develop new products, recoup his investment by early next year, and then go back to sea trade — the money would all be in circulation.

A smile crept onto Chen Xin's lips at the thought. Huang Anshou looked at him a little oddly, and Chen Xin hurriedly suppressed the smile and addressed Huang Anshou with a straight face, "Mr. Huang, we spoke first of debased coins. What about good coins?"

Huang Anshou picked up a Wanli reign coin from the table, his expression still perfectly calm. "It is precisely because debased coins flood the market that good coins are hard to find. Often a few hundred of them can equal one tael of silver. Jiajing gold-back coins and Wanli gold-back coins — roughly five or six hundred of those will exchange for one tael of silver."

In the Ming dynasty, silver and coin were used interchangeably, and the exchange rate was unstable, causing great inconvenience to the common people. Silver units could go very small — below the li there were still hao, si, hu, and wei — but a single li weighed only a little over three milligrams, and the smaller units were impossible to weigh on ordinary scales. Thus copper coins were indispensable for daily buying and selling, while large transactions and tax payments had to be made in silver. In all this exchanging back and forth, value was skimmed off many times over. Officials and gentry with power often exploited this gap to make money. Although the Ming court repeatedly issued strict bans on the making and circulation of private coinage, the effect was minimal. Official coin production was too small; the demand for copper coins in private trade left a huge shortfall, and private coins flooded every region, their quality growing worse and worse. Chen Xin, however, intended to go against the current — to make good coins in a market full of debased ones. His only concern was that he still had no sales channel capable of moving large volumes.

"How many copper coins can your silver-exchange shop sell in a year?"

Huang Anshou understood that Chen Xin was asking because he wanted to make private coins. "No more than a few hundred taels of silver's worth in a year — enough to earn a little. If you want large volume, you would need something more secure, like a money shop or a money table."

Chen Xin nodded and got straight to the point. "I understand that. I wish to invite you, Mr. Huang, to help me with this venture. I will give you twice your current monthly wage. The only thing is, you would need to go to Dengzhou. I will also provide an additional thirty taels as a settling-in allowance. Would you be willing?"

Huang Anshou was visibly moved. He was thoroughly skilled in every process of the silver-refining shop and earned five taels a month. Without even asking, Chen Xin had directly offered double. He was not a Tianjin native either, and this Chen Xin had been introduced by the Zhao family, so it should be reliable. He was quite tempted. "I have no objection myself, but it would be hard to explain to my proprietor."

In truth, Han Yong's family already had no intention of continuing the shop. After Han Yong's death, his family had received a large sum of silver and bought up farmland. The silver-exchange shop was often beset with disputes, and without Han Yong there to keep order, the family had grown thoroughly weary of it and had already expressed this sentiment to Lao Wang. Chen Xin did not tell Huang Anshou any of this; he simply said, "I will speak to them myself. You need only focus on doing your work with peace of mind. Starting today, you may begin preparing your tools, and hire any suitable assistants you know."

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At Weihai, the spring chill was gradually fading. On distant Mount Songding, the first new green was appearing. On the abandoned fields in front of the fortified village, many figures bent over, busy in the earth. After the hard toil of the group of Five-Guarantee households around the New Year, the wasteland had been given a first rough plowing and was no longer a solid, unyielding mass. Several dozen newly recruited refugees were spreading fertilizer in the fields, and the whole area stank to high heaven. But these refugees were mostly from impoverished farming families, long accustomed to farm work, and no one complained.

Liu Minyou was driving a mule cart. In several large barrels on the cart was liquid manure — bird droppings, cow dung, and other excrement collected by the children, diluted with water. Liu Minyou was sprinkling it over the fields with a long wooden ladle. In recent days, everyone in the fortified village had turned out to rush the spring plowing; even the combat troops had been pulled in to dig irrigation channels. More than half the work was already done, and they were now only waiting for Wang Yuanzheng to deliver the farm tools he had long promised — most importantly, the heavy plows.

Driving the cart was Xu Yuanhua, Liu Minyou's assistant. The two of them made a team, and today they had brought the women and children out for collective labor. Xu Yuanhua had repeatedly urged Liu Minyou not to do the manual work himself, but Liu Minyou had refused every time.

After sprinkling another stretch of field, Xu Yuanhua stopped the mule to let Liu Minyou rest. He said, "Sir, we can finish spreading the fertilizer today. Once the heavy plows arrive, we can start the second plowing."

Liu Minyou set down the wooden ladle and looked around at the busy farming households and, in the distance, the barracks and storehouses under construction. A sense of achievement welled up inside him. The newborn fortified village was thriving; some merchants from the guard town were already thinking of setting up shops here. The new streets Liu Minyou had planned also included shopfronts. A small town anchored by the military camp was slowly taking embryonic shape.

The fortified village had originally been dominated by soldiers. Liu Minyou had recruited thirty refugee households, intending to alter the population structure somewhat. These people's main job was farming, and craftsmen were also being recruited.

Xu Yuanhua and Liu Minyou swapped places. Just as they were about to resume spreading fertilizer, Xu Yuanhua spotted several ox carts and mule carts approaching in the distance — it was the party sent to fetch the heavy plows. Delighted, he said to Liu Minyou, "Mr. Liu, they're back."

Liu Minyou turned to look, and his face broke into a smile. He hurried over to greet them. Each ox cart carried a large heavy plow, and Wang Yuanzheng had come along as well. Liu Minyou and Wang Yuanzheng did not have much to talk about; after a brief exchange of pleasantries, they went together to the edge of the field. The surrounding military households came over to help unload the large plows and prepare to hitch them to the oxen.

Wang Yuanzheng looked at the buildings going up everywhere and said to Liu Minyou, "I hear the Commander has given the troop quota of the Anti-Japanese pirates Force to Battalion Commander Chen. That being the case, even more grain will be needed here in the future. To spare you trouble, Mr. Liu, I intend to open a grain shop here." He was planning to set up a monopoly here.

Liu Minyou welcomed anyone willing to open a shop and agreed at once. Remembering that Wang Yuanzheng was in charge of military farmlands and ought to be something of an expert, he asked about the proper use of the heavy plow.

Wang Yuanzheng said confidently, "Mr. Liu, before the New Year you already sent men to do the first plowing, and after the start of spring you spread manure — all of that is correct. Now you can do the deep plowing and even out the fertilizer. Since you are not short of oxen, you can use three oxen to pull the heavy plow for deep tilling, or use two oxen in front for deep tilling and one ox behind for the second pass."

Liu Minyou looked like a student. "What is the difference between three oxen and two?"

"Three oxen plow deeper. The heavy plow can till to a depth of one chi, and it also saves one man compared to the latter method."

"And what should be done after plowing? I would beg your guidance, my lord Wang."

Wang Yuanzheng said, "The soil in the furrows is damp and more fertile. All seeds should be sown in the furrows. If you plant wheat, you can begin in the third month, but then you would have only one harvest this year. Let me tell you a method, Brother Liu. Better to plant a crop of white radish — it can be harvested in the fourth month. In the fourth month you can plant garlic, and harvest another crop in the fifth month. After that, plant indigo, and after harvesting it in the ninth month, you can plant this year's winter wheat. This way you can get multiple harvests each year. You have asked the right person, Brother Liu. Otherwise, ordinary farmers only know grain and wheat; how would they know these methods of crop rotation and intercropping?"

Hearing that it was all vegetables, Liu Minyou thought, how can we manage without a staple? He hesitated and said, "In that case, there would be no wheat harvest this year. That is our staple. Is there no other way?"

Wang Yuanzheng shook his head. "This is the best method. This way the land's fertility is not left idle. Otherwise you would harvest only one season of wheat, and the land would not be enriched either."

Liu Minyou had learned from a few old military-household farmers, but even those Five-Guarantee households could not explain things very clearly. Hearing how professional Wang Yuanzheng sounded, he could only thank him and plan to sow according to this method.

Wang Yuanzheng's main purpose in coming was to discuss the grain shop. Liu Minyou agreed to set aside a shopfront in the newly built civilian residential area, with an annual rent of one tael of silver — a purely symbolic charge. Once this was settled, Wang Yuanzheng departed with his few attendants.

Liu Minyou reflected that with no wheat harvest again this year, they would still have to buy grain. With the growing number of people, that would be another huge expense. Shaking his head, he was about to go spread fertilizer when a farmer nearby who was hitching up a plow suddenly said, "Sir, what that lord said is not correct."

"Oh?" Liu Minyou turned to look. It was a young farmer with a refined, scholarly air — one of the newly recruited refugees. His eyes were bright and alert, not dull like the ordinary military households. Liu Minyou's interest was piqued. "Why do you say he is wrong?"

The farmer let go of the rope in his hands. "Mr. Liu, what that lord described just now is the method of continuous rotation cropping. But this land has long been abandoned; its fertility is depleted. Manure alone cannot make up for it. No matter how you plant this year, you will not get a good harvest. So the most important thing this year is to enrich the soil, not to force multiple harvests. If you follow that lord's advice and only use the fertility in the furrows, not only will the yields of those few crops be small, but the fields will not be enriched either."

Hearing him speak with such conviction, Liu Minyou grew interested and asked, "Then how would you plant? It would be best if you could demonstrate."

The surrounding military households stared blankly as this man spoke with ease and assurance. The young farmer, speaking before a crowd, blushed a little. He lowered his head, used his hoe to dig a shallow furrow, and piled the dug-up soil along the edge to form a ridge. "Mm, well, this year it is best to use intercropping and companion planting. This way you can also use the fertility in the ridges. Intercrop grain and beans — plant wheat in the furrows, and interplant beans or cotton on the ridges. By the time the wheat ripens, the cotton will be several cun tall — that counts as another crop. But the best is to add mung beans. After harvesting them, one plowing turns them into the finest green manure." As he spoke, he dug the ridge open into a furrow shape and piled the soil onto the original furrow to form a new ridge. "When the time comes, after you have turned in the green manure, plow the ridges into furrows and the furrows into ridges. After applying more manure and evening out the fertilizer, the land's fertility will be sufficient. This is the alternate-field method. Then you plant the winter wheat, and next year's wheat harvest will be larger than this year's."

The demonstration was very clear. Some of the other farmers here might have known this, but none could have explained it so plainly in public — especially not in contradiction to the Vice Prefect's opinion. Liu Minyou's eyes lit up. "Little brother, what is your name? Where are you from?"

Wen Xianming had been full of confidence while speaking of planting, but the moment he was asked his name, he suddenly remembered his status and hurriedly made to kneel. Liu Minyou caught him and held him up, telling him to just stand and speak. Now timid, he said, "My name is Wen Xianming. My family home is not far from the seat of Wendeng County."

"How do you know so many planting methods? And how did you end up adrift in Weihai?"

Wen Xianming said, "My family originally had very little land, so we had to find ways to get more food from it. As it happened, I attended a private school, learned to read a few characters, and read two agricultural books..."

"Which agricultural books?"

"The Agricultural Treatise of Wang Zhen and the Essential Techniques for the Common People. I have also glanced through others, like the Book of Fan Shengzhi. Because of that, our land's yield was high. Later, the clan elder coveted my fertile land and colluded with usurers to swindle me out of my fields. I was alone and weak, and dared not stay in Wendeng, so I drifted to Weihai."

Looking at his refined manner, Liu Minyou reckoned his story was likely true. Able to read and able to farm — a real talent.

Seeing Liu Minyou's expression, Xu Yuanhua hurried to claim credit. "Sir, I was the one who recruited this man. He had calluses on his hands and shoulders, and he spoke with some sense. I thought he might be able to help you, so I brought him in."

Liu Minyou nodded repeatedly. "Good, good. Yuanhua, you chose well in picking someone like this. Keep doing so in the future." That said, he turned back to Wen Xianming. "Wen Xianming, you are quite impressive. What else do you know? Tell me more about the spring plowing at hand."

"Apart from soil fertility, seed is also very important. The seeds still need, uh, soaking in liquid manure."

Liu Minyou pointed at a manure bucket on the ground and asked, "This kind of manure?"

"No. For this liquid manure, you must take animal bones, grind them into powder, and mix them with other manure — silkworm manure is best, but there is none in Weihai. When the weather is dry, soak the seeds in it, then dry them in the air. Repeat this six or seven times, and the seeds will be coated with a layer of fertilizer. When you plant them then, they will grow better. These past few years have been dry with little rain; it is best to also mix in some vinegar-soaked seeds. That makes them more drought-resistant, so they won't wither even if rain fails to come for a while."

After speaking, Wen Xianming stole a glance at Liu Minyou's face. Seeing that Liu Minyou was listening intently, he relaxed and his voice grew a little louder. "Next year, when the land is more fertile, you can also rotate crops. Getting multiple harvests over two years will not be difficult. For interplanting, you can use either the alternate-field method or the pit-field method. For enriching the fields, you need not always use the heavy plow for deep tilling. In my humble opinion, the first plowing can be shallow, just to break the surface; the second plowing should be deep, to turn up the damp soil; and the third plowing should be shallow again..."

Liu Minyou stared blankly as he poured forth in an unending stream, then suddenly shouted, "All right, it's you!"

Wen Xianming jumped in fright and nearly dropped to his knees again. Flustered, he asked, "Sir — no, my lord — what about me?"

"It's you. From now on, you are no longer a farmer. You will help me manage the military farmlands. Your monthly wage will be one tael and five qian of silver, with a bonus if the harvest is good. Starting tomorrow, you will assign tasks to everyone in the spring plowing. You don't need to work today — go back and think carefully about how to arrange everything." Liu Minyou spoke with some excitement. What was rarest about this man was that he understood both theory and practice, and could make others understand too. Having him help manage the farmlands would greatly reduce his own workload.

"Bonus?" When Wen Xianming heard "one tael and five qian of silver a month," he nearly jumped. He had no idea what a bonus was, but it no longer mattered to him.

After Wen Xianming left in excitement, Liu Minyou announced to the crowd of dumbstruck farmers around him that anyone with a good idea could bring it directly to him, and if it proved useful, there would be a reward.

These farmers were all refugees. They had not been selected as combat troops, so here they only received food and shelter, with no monthly pay. Seeing that Wen Xianming, who merely knew how to farm, had vaulted out of the farmer's life with just a few words, they were burning with envy. After hearing Liu Minyou's words, they all began racking their brains to recall whatever secret farming tips they might know.

After those people resumed their labor, Liu Minyou and Xu Yuanhua also returned to the mule cart to spread fertilizer. As Xu Yuanhua ladled manure, he said indignantly, "I think that Vice Prefect Wang knows everything perfectly well — he's just deliberately coming up with these crooked ideas."

Liu Minyou said in surprise, "Why do you say that? I think Vice Prefect Wang is decent enough. The grain he sold us wasn't short by much weight."

"That's exactly it. He's selling grain to us, isn't he? Once our land gets fertile and our harvest increases, he'll sell less grain."

Liu Minyou was stunned. "Ah, so that's it. Hmph, sure enough, that dog of a thing."