Chapter 1150

The ones truly unwilling to leave were those households of middling prosperity and above. They had no worries about fuel or rice and were often connected to the scholarly class, holding a sentimental attachment to Xuzhou. They did not want to leave, but as they watched Zhao Jin impose fee after fee and continuously draw the city's population away, life in the city grew harder and harder for them. They could only try to figure out their own solutions.

As for the prefectural government, from top to bottom, they were even more unable to leave and were also deeply troubled. In every county seat across South Zhili, the registered and unregistered government runners and idle hands numbered at least a thousand, yet in a major city like Xuzhou, it was hard to find even a hundred, because no one was willing to serve. Only those drawing grain rations endured with patience. If the transfers continued like this, even the patient ones would not be able to hold on. How was the government supposed to maintain order? Yet they bore the duty of guarding the land. If they left this prefectural city, the government would no longer be the government.

The officials and gentry joined forces to lobby. Zhao Jin's father was someone they could not persuade; Zhao Zhentang would absolutely never interfere with his son's decisions. Chen Sheng's father, Chen Wu, had long since gone to Jining to spend the New Year and simply refused to engage. The only person they could seek out, and who could put in a few words, was Wang Zhaojing's father, Wang Youshan. In Xuzhou city, he was the most preeminent celebrity and renowned scholar.

Wang Youshan's thoughts were much the same as everyone else's, and he had his own judgment. He accepted this commission and headed directly to He Village. Upon learning the purpose of the visit, Wang Zhaojing was furious. He first went to Zhao Jin to apologize for the offense, then prepared to send his father back. But Zhao Jin stopped him and went to see Wang Youshan in person.

"... Your nephew here constantly needs manpower, and the people I trust most are from Xuzhou... If disaster strikes outside, we can still provide relief at our leisure. But if a major disaster truly hits Xuzhou itself, that would shake our very foundation and stir up endless trouble. This flood was merely a group of people spreading rumors, and even that has already stirred up a storm..."

"... Xuzhou's terrain is high in the west and low in the east. The city was originally built because the Grand Canal passed through, but that no longer holds meaning. This year we were fortunate; the waters were not great. But if a major flood truly comes, then inside and outside Xuzhou city will be a death trap. In all of vast Xuzhou, only Xiao County is low-lying land, and the water will all surge there. Rather than suffer a great agony then, it is better to endure a brief, decisive pain now..."

"... This year your nephew climbed to high ground to observe the water's force. Xuzhou city took in water, the east was inundated by the flood, while the west remained unscathed. What your nephew is moving here is not just Xuzhou; the northern district of Huai'an was also affected by this flood and is being relocated as well..."

Zhao Jin spoke his mind plainly, with complete candor. After hearing him out, Wang Youshan did not say much, merely offering a word of praise for his foresight and long-term planning before returning to Xuzhou. This made Wang Zhaojing deeply ashamed. After apologizing to Zhao Jin, he wanted to go into the city to remonstrate with his father, but Zhao Jin stopped him, saying that elders must still be respected, and at worst, they could use force next spring, by which time there would be no more trouble over it.

No one expected that three days after Wang Youshan returned, he would move the entire Wang household out of the city and settle directly into Wang Zhaojing's residence at He Village. Zhao Jin's parents had long since come here. Wang Youshan's action puzzled everyone greatly. Following this, the wealthy and prominent figures in the prefectural city also began relocating to He Village, which caused a bit of a scramble, forcing them to be settled in the surrounding villages and towns.

According to news passed from within the city, after returning, Wang Youshan told those awaiting his news: The prefectural city is inauspicious; otherwise, it would not be withering day by day. That Zhao Jin is so prosperous precisely because he did not remain in the prefectural city. Moreover, the current feng shui invites calamity, or else the flood would not have entered the city. Has Zhao Jin ever made a misstep in his path? Everyone would do well to follow the general trend.

Once it was seen that the most prominent household in the city was moving away, both from the official side and from Zhao Jin's side, and since these words also made sense, everyone, willing or not, could only follow suit. Wang Youshan's gesture upon returning also made everyone understand that Zhao Jin's will was irreversible. Compared to the sighs of the older generation, the young people, including the young scholars, were all elated.

Among the younger generation of Xuzhou, Pizhou, and the surrounding areas, who had not gone to He Village for amusement? Many from the great wealthy families even kept secondary estates there. He Village's prosperity and liveliness, its orderly cleanliness, were rarely found elsewhere, not to mention its entertainments and pleasures, which were no less than those of Qingjiangpu. Moreover, young people felt a certain vitality there, a vigorous, upwardly striving spirit different from anywhere else. This quality was unsettling, yet also exhilarating.

The people within the Xuzhou Guard's relocation zone, however, did not hesitate at all. The wealthy and prominent of the Xuzhou Guard who could move to He Village had long since moved. As for the military households under the various Battalion Commanders below, the young and able-bodied had either become household retainers or gone to work as laborers. The fields at home were farmed only by the old, weak, women, and children, just enough to get by. Now that someone wanted them to relocate, they naturally dispersed in a rush and all followed along.

Some at the Commander and Battalion Commander levels did not bother to intervene, while others were inwardly unwilling, but there was simply no way to stop it. Compared to the helpless prefectural government in the city, they were even less capable of defying Zhao Jin's orders.

"This matter must be handled urgently. Our weaving workshops need people, and we also need land to plant cotton. This all depends on freeing up space from Xuzhou and Xiao County." Zhao Jin emphasized this matter more than once.

If the sole reason for the Zhao Camp to relocate commoners from Xuzhou's prefectural seat and Xiao County's county seat was merely to avoid potential flood damage, it would on one hand provoke backlash, and on the other, incur enormous costs. Aside from the wealthy households, how could ordinary commoners, leaving the shelter that had shielded them from wind and rain, possibly have the means to establish new homes? If no resettlement was provided, it would surely incite unrest.

But the current Xuzhou had an immense demand for manpower, and it could not use those desperate, numb refugees, nor could it use the former refugee villagers who had only just settled down and begun to feel a faint sense of belonging. This manpower could only come from the local people of Xuzhou and Pizhou, who knew the Zhao Camp inside and out, because the sales of Xuzhou Cloth were simply too astonishingly good—one could even say too shocking.

Last year, Xuzhou Cloth had merely begun by collecting unsold cotton stockpiles from various places to spin thread and weave cloth, and had also purchased cloth stored in various manors. When it was put onto the market in Qingjiangpu mid-year, the quantity was utterly insignificant, the kind that vanishes without a ripple when thrown into water. But by autumn, when cotton from Shandong began moving south, the output of Xuzhou Cloth began to explode.

Originally, the bulk of cotton sales from Shandong and North Zhili went to Songjiang Prefecture, controlled by the guilds of cloth merchants and cotton traders. Moreover, every year, the powerful merchants of Songjiang deliberately restricted their purchases, on one hand to guarantee the market for locally grown Songjiang cotton, and on the other, to drive down the price of Shandong cotton. Every year, Shandong cotton farmers went bankrupt because of this. But this year was different. Before the Songjiang cotton merchants could even make their move, the buyers from the Zhao Camp's Trade Office had already begun purchasing, forcing the Songjiang cloth and cotton merchants to head north a full month earlier than usual and also to buy without restriction.

Yu Zhiyuan specifically pleaded regarding this matter. The Zhao Camp, not wishing to sour relations from the outset, left the Songjiang cotton merchants the full quantity they had purchased the previous year and swept up the rest themselves, then spun and wove it into cloth to put on the market. The Zhao Camp did not wish to sour relations, yet as soon as Songjiang cloth came out this year, its price was already half a percent lower than in previous years. It was said that for bulk purchases, the price could drop by a full ten percent.

According to news sent by the deeply apologetic Yu Zhiyuan, the Songjiang cotton and cloth merchants had already held several grand meetings. On one hand, they were sending people to the cotton-producing regions of Shandong and North Zhili to raise prices and lock in next year's exclusive purchases. On the other, they jointly agreed to drive down the price of cotton cloth, precisely intending to make the Zhao Camp's Xuzhou Cloth unsellable and crush this suddenly emerged business rival.

If not for its smaller area and population compared to Suzhou, in terms of tax revenue and wealth alone, Songjiang Prefecture could be called the foremost prefecture under Heaven. It fully deserved the title of "Wealthiest Under Heaven." The region was blessed with outstanding people and a fabled land. From Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet and Chancellors to Ministers and Vice Ministers, its sons had never ceased to hold such posts. The powerful merchants of Songjiang had connections and backers of every kind in both the capital and Nanjing, and had never suffered a loss in official circles.

Moreover, the power of the Xuzhou Zhao Camp had never crossed the Yangtze River. The aristocratic and wealthy families of Jiangnan had only heard some rumors. The only concrete evidence was the fleet of the Songjiang Yu family, which was involved in maritime smuggling and trade—nothing more than collusion with underworld figures and sea lords, invisible in the eyes of the public.

They did not take it seriously. Unlike in Shandong and the region of South Zhili north of the Yangtze, where they were awed by the Zhao Camp's military might, they had no hesitation in dealing with this Xuzhou Cloth and directly resorted to such tactics.

Purchasing cotton, hiring weavers, establishing weaving workshops, and then transporting the cloth to various places for sale—a few feet of cloth was not worth much, but when it became a bulk commodity, the silver spent was likewise enormous.

Under such circumstances, lowering the price by five to ten percent would leave Xuzhou with little profit. Then, established customers would preferentially choose Songjiang Cloth, forcing Xuzhou Cloth to either hold inventory or cut prices. Holding inventory meant the massive initial capital investment would stagnate; cutting prices meant earning less or taking a loss, making it impossible to sustain operations the following year.

Even if Xuzhou Cloth managed to sell out this year, and even if the Songjiang cotton and cloth merchants took a loss, Xuzhou Cloth still would not be able to hold on the next year. By then, the market would once again belong to Songjiang Cloth.

The calculations of the Songjiang powerful merchants were not wrong, nor were they particularly profound—anyone could guess them. This, however, was the business tactic of using capital to crush opponents. Those with abundant capital could bully smaller merchants in this way. Such naked competition had been passed down for thousands of years.

Just as the Songjiang powerful merchants had anticipated, when they cut their price by five percent, Xuzhou Cloth followed suit and cut by five percent. Then, when they cut by ten percent, Xuzhou Cloth also cut by ten percent. Faced with such a market, the various merchants purchasing cotton cloth were naturally delighted to see it happen, and cotton cloth flowed out like water.

After half a month, Songjiang Cloth cut its price by another ten percent. But this price cut had already forced many Songjiang cloth merchants to directly limit their sales—the more they sold, the more they lost. Only the powerful merchants were still united in the fight. But when they cut prices, Xuzhou Cloth followed without hesitation, cutting by yet another ten percent, and did so without limiting sales.

The hubs of cotton cloth distribution under Heaven were two: one in Songjiang, one in Qingjiangpu. By this point, almost no one was buying cloth in Songjiang anymore; they all swarmed to Qingjiangpu instead. The Songjiang cloth market, usually bustling at this time of year, had turned cold and deserted.

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