Chapter 1005: Cotton, Cloth, and the Human Heart

The Zhao Character Camp's style was plain and unadorned; no one boasted or spoke grandly. Yet before they had even gone deep into discussion, this Zhou Xuezhi had suddenly spoken of several provinces and the entire realm in sweeping terms — it was truly shocking, but it also let people see the prospects within. Wang Zhaojing, Ruhui, and Zhou Xuezhi naturally understood the importance of this cotton weaving, otherwise Zhao Jin would not have brought this matter up for discussion before the expansion and restructuring.

"Without farming, there is no stability; without industry, there is no wealth — that saying really hits the mark. The grain from bitter toil in the fields barely sustains basic food and clothing. To grow rich and prosper, you must rely on workshops and trading firms." Wang Zhaojing could not help but sigh with emotion. The Zhao Character Camp's true great profits came from the several large marketplaces, as well as liquor and illicit salt — all artisan and trade enterprises. No wonder Wang Zhaojing felt such deep feeling.

"And without grain, there is chaos — that is the most critical foundation of all!" Zhao Jin added with a smile. Without grain, Xuzhou would have no way to sustain so many full-time household retainers and militia. Without grain, there could be no talk of expansion. Even if they captured prisoners, they would have no real way to use them. But with grain in hand, it was tantamount to holding power over life and death, and thus they could firmly grasp control.

After a few casual remarks, Zhou Xuezhi brought out a thick account ledger. Wang Zhaojing and Ruhui also spread out paper and brush on their side. For a major undertaking like this, there would certainly be no shortage of things to record and plan.

As soon as Zhao Jin had visited the Barren Grass Flats and learned that the various villages had begun spinning and weaving, he immediately sent orders to Zhou Xuezhi at Qingjiangpu, instructing him to investigate every aspect of the cotton cloth trade. The Qingjiang Great Market was now considered the commercial and trade center of the Great Ming. The so-called saying, "All prices under heaven issue forth from here alone," already held true — it had grasped the pricing power over many goods and seized control of the headwaters of commerce. For any merchant under heaven who reached a certain scale and had a name and standing in one province or several prefectures, it was essential to send someone to the Qingjiang Great Market. Even if you did not open a shop there, regularly copying down prices and sending them back by fast horse was necessary; otherwise, you would suffer great losses in trade or let others seize the initiative.

Under such circumstances, cotton cloth — which could be considered a kind of necessity — had seen the power over its bulk pricing shift increasingly from the original Songjiang Prefecture toward Qingjiangpu. In this situation, large numbers of wealthy merchants from Jiangnan had also come to open trading firms, and the ins and outs of the cotton cloth business could easily be investigated thoroughly at Qingjiangpu.

Songjiang cotton cloth was said to clothe all under heaven, with tens of millions of bolts exported annually. Three-fifths or even more of this cloth went to the provinces south of the Yangtze River, to Goryeo, the Wa Kingdom, the various states of the Southern Seas, as well as Siam, Champa, Burma, and other kingdoms. Sales to the northern provinces were, by contrast, not so large. The reason was simple: the wealthy wore fine silks and satins, the destitute commoners could not cover their bodies, and only ordinary households would buy cloth to make clothes. In comparison, the common people of the southern provinces were far more prosperous than those in the north, so sales volume was naturally enormous. As for the trade with the Wa Kingdom, Goryeo, and other places, that involved the power of entire nations and was naturally different.

The cotton cloth sold to the north was all transported and sold by sea and water routes. One line of business for the Songjiang sand ships was loading cotton cloth bound for Dengzhou, Tianjin, and other places. In earlier times, they also went to Jinzhou and Yingkou in Liaodong, and a fair amount also traveled north along the Grand Canal, then turned into the Yellow River and was shipped to Henan, from where it went on to Shanxi and Shaanxi. A considerable portion of the cotton cloth in the north was bought by the Mongol tribes of the steppe and the Jurchens of Liaodong. Such trade could be considered trafficking with enemy states, and if taken seriously, was punishable by property confiscation and beheading. However, those who controlled these businesses were often the military households of the border garrisons, so naturally no one paid any attention. Moreover, none of the merchants at Qingjiangpu dared conceal anything from Zhao Jin's side, which was how they were able to find this out.

With such an enormous sales volume, the cotton planted in Songjiang Prefecture alone was far from sufficient, especially since only one-third of Songjiang Prefecture's land was suitable for cotton cultivation. How was this shortfall made up? Naturally, it required purchasing from all over the realm. Besides the cotton fields in several areas near Songjiang Prefecture, Dongchang Prefecture and Yanzhou Prefecture in Shandong, as well as Hejian Prefecture and Zhending Prefecture in Northern Zhili, all had vast cotton fields. This cotton was gathered onto the Grand Canal and then traveled all the way south to Songjiang, where it was transformed into the Songjiang cotton cloth that clothed all under heaven.

"Though Songjiang cotton cloth is good, its price is not low. The northern provinces are far poorer than the south, so what ordinary households there can afford, the people here might not be willing to spend on. Once this cloth reaches beyond the passes and into the steppe, the price is even higher, to the point that even the various Mongol tribes find it somewhat unaffordable. If we can produce and weave cotton cloth here, there will certainly be no worry about sales." Zhou Xuezhi had finally steadied his nerves and began to elaborate.

Everyone naturally understood his meaning. The prefectures of Jiangnan were incomparably rich and populous, with workshops stretching in unbroken tracts and hundreds of thousands of weavers. But those weavers required wages, and the cotton had to be purchased. In these two areas, however, the Zhao Character Camp could achieve, in a certain sense, zero cost. With costs pressed down this way, they would naturally have an advantage in price. No matter how you calculated it, it would earn far more than farming grain.

"The refugees and captives are our people, not our draft oxen and horses. Using them for free for three years is acceptable, but after that, it won't work. Still, we can manage to be cheaper than Jiangnan." Zhao Jin said with a smile. Everyone nodded. Capturing so many prisoners and building farming estates for them was not merely about exploiting these people as serfs for a lifetime, but about making them a population that the Zhao Character Camp could truly control and employ.

Zhou Xuezhi nodded and continued, "In truth, there's no need to worry about this. The Wa Kingdom and Goryeo have a huge demand for cotton cloth. As long as our fleet is established, focusing solely on that trade route will be enough. Moreover, even within our Great Ming, the Songjiang cotton cloth shipped here may not necessarily sell better than ours. At the very least, once we produce cotton cloth, Henan and Shandong will not fall into others' hands."

"We can't think that far yet. Matters on the ocean can't be attended to for the time being. Those who know how to plant cotton, those who know how to spin and weave, the skilled weavers in the workshops of Songjiang and Jiangnan, and the craftsmen who know how to build spinning and weaving equipment — these people must be brought over. Don't worry about the expense. As for the homespun cotton cloth from the villages on the east bank of Luoma Lake, we must begin purchasing it now and sell it at the marketplaces and the Great Market. Though the business is small now, we can first test the waters and let customers see the quality and texture of this cotton cloth, so we know how to improve it." Zhao Jin lightly tapped the tabletop as he spoke.

As Zhao Jin spoke over there, Wang Zhaojing, Ruhui, and Zhou Xuezhi's brushes flew like the wind, recording every single word he said.

"When you go to the villages on the east bank of Luoma Lake to collect cloth, you must remember one thing: trade must be fair. The estate households and common people there are no longer our captives, but our foundation. They are no different from here in Xuzhou. So whatever you do there, consider mutual benefit as much as possible. Don't just think about exploitation." Zhao Jin said slowly.

The brushes did not stop. Zhao Jin's companions had long grown accustomed to the rhythm of his speech. Sometimes he spoke of one matter, but it would often branch out. Yet Zhao Jin was the head of the Zhao Character Camp, and even his digressions were orders. Moreover, such digressions often represented a mind encompassing the whole situation — precisely what Zhao Jin ought to do and say.

"Please rest assured on this, Master. Even with fair trade in the villages on the east bank of Luoma Lake, the price we get the cloth for will not be high — at most, it will amount to a labor fee. The land there is all ours, and the produce is ours. The cost is nothing more than manual work." Zhou Xuezhi had thoroughly understood this beforehand.

Zhao Jin nodded with a smile, then fell into thought and said, "The estate heads, managers, and militia who come from the east bank of Luoma Lake must now be given their own land. If we keep using them without pay like this, I fear problems will arise. But if we give them land, we cannot treat the household retainers shabbily either."

"That will be no small expense." Ruhui interjected.

Everyone's expressions grew somewhat solemn. The grain and pay the Zhao Character Camp gave its household retainers was half of what the Great Ming gave its common soldiers. The advantage was that it was paid in full and on time, the camp treated its retainers well, and discipline was fair, so it seemed far more generous than the official army. Moreover, this side still carried the title of "household retainers" — private household servants — so how much grain, pay, and monthly money they were given was naturally at the master's discretion.

However, this nominal relationship could be kept vague at first. Everyone was suffering from hunger and cold, and this place offered brave and fierce young men a way out, so no one had any objections. Furthermore, the Zhao Character Camp was defending the homeland of Xuzhou, which lent it a measure of righteous cause. But now things were different. Two-thirds of the Zhao Character Camp's various units were stationed outside Xuzhou, and the several major battles had also been fought outside Xuzhou.

The household retainers were campaigning everywhere, fighting and risking their lives, and they were not fighting to defend Xuzhou, but for expansion and for punishment. In that case, the master-servant relationship and the name of defending the homeland were no longer quite sufficient. The Zhao Character Camp currently had a great flaw: it lacked legitimate status. No matter how rigorously and formidably Zhao Jin structured this framework, and no matter how much expectation and extravagant hope he gave everyone for the future, he ultimately did not have the righteous cause of the imperial court and the government. This was merely the private army of one man; everyone was fighting solely for him.

Small-scale, low-intensity campaigns were fine, but now that things were gradually expanding, changes in people's hearts were becoming different. Chen Sheng and Shi Manqiang had both raised this matter with Zhao Jin. But whenever it was discussed, everyone felt deeply uncomfortable, so they treated it as a taboo and avoided the topic.

"... Actually, military discipline can serve as a restraint..." Wang Zhaojing said a single sentence, then shook his head and fell silent.

Ruhui frowned in thought for a moment, then spoke: "Master, in truth, at the level of company commander and squad commander, the household retainers are all utterly loyal to you, because they already have land in their hands. As long as our Zhao Character Camp exists for a single day, their property will only grow larger and more numerous. Their interests are tightly bound to ours. This method works well, but if we apply it to all the household retainers, the expense would simply be too great."

At this point, Ruhui paused, then added, "What's more, the human heart is never satisfied. If we give this much now, what do we do in the future? Master, you are far too generous to those below. Whether it's the imperial court's official army or local militia, they all sell their lives for a living. Having enough to eat is already good enough. Master, these considerations of yours are the way a court military officer treats his own personal guard and household troops."

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