Chapter 1179: How to Become a Noble?

The river flowed gently and slowly by. When the rainy season arrived, the waters of the Chao Phraya River, which ran from north to south through the lands of the Kingdom of Siam, rose once again, churning and surging all the way toward the Gulf of Siam.

Near the Golden City on the lower reaches of the Chao Phraya, a fat man dressed in a Ming-style silk robe, accompanied by a Siamese servant holding an umbrella over him, was strolling along the river embankment in the rain with an official of extremely imposing bearing, who held his own umbrella and wore a crimson Ming official robe. To the east of the river lay a vast expanse of lush rice paddies, most of which likely belonged to the fat man. Seeing the rice growing so luxuriantly in the fields, the fat man's face was so full of smiles there was no room left for more.

The official, however, seemed to have some favor to ask of the fat man, and kept on with flattering words: "Old Ye, when it comes to growing rice around Golden City, you're still the best! Just look at these two thousand mu of paddies — growing so splendidly! What's the yield per mu? Three dan or four dan?"

"Prefect Peng, don't make fun of me, Fat Ye. How could Siam have yields that high? Do you think this is Hubei? Siam has plenty of paddy fields, but the soil isn't very fertile, and there's no labor for intensive cultivation. Besides, to keep the rice tasty, it's usually just one crop a year. A yield of one and a half dan per mu is already quite good!"

"That one and a half dan of yours is Golden Fragrant Rice — worth three or four dan of two-crop rice. But Old Ye, do you really mean to spend your whole life farming in Siam?"

"What else can I do besides farm? I'm not like Old Yao, who knows how to do business, and I'm not a juren like you. I'm just a farmer. Now that I have two thousand mu of paddy fields here at Golden City, what more could I want?"

"Speaking of Old Yao reminds me — do you know, Old Yao is now a noble!"

"A noble? Promoted by the Prince of Nakhon?"

"No — he followed the Prince of Nakhon's younger brother, Prince Jiaqing, and now he's already a marquis!"

"What? A marquis? How is that possible? A marquis of the Great Ming is so exalted! Even Grand General Zhang under the Prince of Nakhon is only a Kenan Marquis of Pacifying the South."

"Heh heh, of course he's not a marquis of the Great Ming — he's a marquis of the Kingdom of Jiaqing!"

The two men speaking had both come out from Hubei to seek their fortunes. Prefect Peng was Peng Ziqin, the local magistrate of Golden City — and that Yao Daqiao, who had stumbled into outrageous luck, had been introduced into the Prince of Nakhon's household by him.

Who would have thought that Yao Daqiao was now a grand marquis, with a thousand li of enfeoffed land! While Peng Ziqin was merely a prefect — and a prefect under a military governorship at that, the Prefect of Golden Prefecture under the Great Ming Western Ocean Military Commission.

The so-called Golden Prefecture was the land belonging to the Great Ming Empire around the mouth of the Mekong River, centered on Golden City. This land had of course not been seized by the Ming army — the Ming army was a righteous force; how could it do such a thing? This land had been presented to the Great Ming by King Narai of Siam in gratitude for the Ming's help in restoring him to his throne, and also to provide the Ming army with a nearby base for stationing troops — Golden City was close to Ayutthaya, and with Ming troops garrisoned there they could march north to Ayutthaya at any time to safeguard the peace of the Siamese royal capital.

This Golden Prefecture was roughly five thousand li square (referring to arable land). Apart from a small portion developed into fortresses, docks, and trading ports, the rest was all rice paddies — a full two million mu or more!

The rice produced in this area was called Golden Fragrant Rice. It did not pursue high yields, but emphasized flavor. Annual production was less than three million dan, yet it could sell for the price of seven or eight million dan.

The fat man talking with Peng Ziqin was named Ye Jiaxin — he was the rich peasant whom Yao Daqiao had brought out from Hubei.

Now he could be considered successful in his career, with two thousand mu of paddy fields at Golden City, earning more than three thousand taels a year from rice sales alone.

But his burdens were also quite heavy — he had rather too many wives, and rather too many children!

He now had two wives. Originally in Hubei he had a first wife; after arriving in Siam he took a Siamese wife as well, and later brought his first wife and two children over to Golden City in Siam.

After the family was reunited, Ye Jiaxin was fated to have "many children, many worries." The two wives competed in bearing children, and now he had no fewer than five sons and four daughters who had survived!

Sons would need to divide the family estate, daughters would need dowries. And he himself was no better — recently he had taken a fancy to a Siamese girl of Persian blood and wanted to marry her as a third wife. The peoples of Siam were very mixed: there were local natives, Han Chinese who had come from the north, and Persians, Arabs, and Westerners who had come from the west.

Among them, Siamese women with mixed white blood were all extremely beautiful (there were actually quite a few of mixed blood, because Siam had no Confucian moral instruction in the past and was rather loose in such matters). Ye Jiaxin had encountered just such a one — a girl of seventeen or eighteen, from an impoverished Siamese noble family. Siam had been rather turbulent these past two years, with people constantly opposing King Narai or being exterminated by him.

Two wives had already borne him five sons and four daughters; if he added one more wife, his two thousand mu of family estate would still be a little insufficient!

Ye Jiaxin nodded. "Old Yao really does have official luck!"

"More than official luck!" Peng Ziqin laughed. "He has wealth luck too! A marquis of the Kingdom of Jiaqing holds enfeoffed land a thousand li square — nearly four hundred thousand mu!"

"Four hundred thousand mu!" Ye Jiaxin drew a sharp breath, his face full of envy.

Peng Ziqin, standing beside him, had already taken in his expression, and asked with a smile: "Old Ye, would you like to get yourself a title and some enfeoffed land too?"

Ye Jiaxin smiled and shook his head. "How would I have the good fortune to be a marquis? And I can't compare with Old Yao — he was always someone who could worm his way in!"

"Heh heh, the chance to become a marquis is rare," Peng Ziqin said. "But I do think you could become a baron of a vassal state."

"Prefect Peng, you're joking with me again," Ye Jiaxin laughed. "How would I have that ability?"

"Ability?" Peng Ziqin stroked his beard. "How much ability do you think Old Yao has? This was his opportunity arriving." He looked seriously at Ye Jiaxin. "Old Ye, the truth is, your opportunity has arrived too!"

"What? My opportunity?" Ye Jiaxin was taken aback. "What opportunity do I have?"

Peng Ziqin smiled. "Old Ye, how about coming along with me? I guarantee you a barony of a vassal state — a fief of ten li, four thousand mu of fields! With that estate, even if you have a few more sons, there'll be enough to divide!"

"What? P-Prefect Peng, what did you say?" Ye Jiaxin could not believe his ears.

Peng Ziqin said: "Old Ye, our chance has come! You just follow me, and we'll go make a bid together. A count and a baron are still within reach — I'll be the count, you'll be the baron. What do you say?"

"Really?" Ye Jiaxin looked at Peng Ziqin. "Prefect Peng, are you telling the truth?"

"Of course it's true!" Peng Ziqin nodded seriously. "How about we go try our luck together? Even if we fail, we lose nothing! And what if luck comes our way? Then we'll be a count and a viscount, and our sons and grandsons will all have bright futures."

So this Peng Ziqin was also planning to go "sit the examination" for a countship of a vassal state!

He had reached the end of the road in the Western Ocean Army — he was already a prefect. Under the Western Ocean Army Commission there were no prefectures above the prefectural level; above prefecture was the Military Commission itself. Where else could he rise? To Commission Judge? Those positions were reserved for the trusted confidants of the Prince of Nakhon!

So he had set his mind on jumping ship to the newly established Twelve Duchies to seek a countship — he felt his chances of "passing the examination" were quite good, because he was now a prefect of the Western Ocean Army, and wasn't the Western Ocean Army's territory right next to Malacca?

He had served many years in the Pacifying Sea Army and the Western Ocean Army, and understood the Malacca region extremely well. He might not be confident of serving as Chief Grand Secretary of a duchy, but he was more than qualified to be a land-reclamation official.

The problem now was assembling ten household retainers. That was the issue — he was a "lone official," with no retainers and no old associates. The only people he could scrape together were a few aides and a few relatives who followed him, and beyond that there was Ye Jiaxin, this big farmer.

Old Ye might not be good at other things, but his skill at opening up land and farming was among the best in Siam. The Golden Rice he grew was better than anyone else's!

So bringing Old Ye along to "take the examination" would make his chances of becoming a count even greater!

(End of Chapter)