Chapter 1152

They felt the Yu family was utterly ungrateful — after reaping so many benefits in Xuzhou and with Zhaozi Camp, their stance this time was still so ambiguous. It seemed they ought to tilt resources toward that great Li family faction once more, or find another maritime merchant to work with. Yu Zhiyuan could sense this resentment himself. Although Zhao Jin had not yet returned when he arrived, he dared not leave, and simply waited for Zhao Jin to come back so he could explain.

"Without Brother Yu, where would we find the masters to weave cloth, spin thread, and plant cotton? Who brought over the design for these looms? Who led the way in selling this cotton cloth? These are all Brother Yu's contributions. Everyone must remember the source when drinking the water." Zhao Jin spoke these words publicly, and Yu Zhiyuan shed tears on the spot. The others also felt relieved.

When they were alone together, Zhao Jin laid out his terms to Yu Zhiyuan very directly: "It is hard to leave one's homeland; the ancestors would cast blame, and the family would feel unaccustomed. Yet they also hope for the clan to flourish and prosper. You are in Songjiang, too far from Xuzhou for me to reach out a hand. If you come north of the river and help me focus on managing maritime affairs, I won't speak of several years — within a single year, I guarantee your family will flourish and prosper."

All under heaven find it hard to leave their homeland. The capital and Nanjing are far superior to most places in the world. The scholar-officials serving there lack no silver, and their status is lofty; settling in the two capitals is naturally more comfortable than returning home. Yet once their terms end, they still return to their hometowns, and after death, they must be buried in their native soil. If even they are like this, ordinary gentry and commoners need not be mentioned. Zhao Jin's offer was full of sincerity, but after considering it, Yu Zhiyuan could only offer solemn thanks and politely decline. Of course, this reaction was also within everyone's expectations.

"The choices a man makes when full of resentment are not the same as those he makes when flourishing. And Songjiang Prefecture is the finest place under heaven. The Yu family's estate is now vast as the heavens; naturally, they are not as willing to gamble as before. But there is no need to be so harsh on Yu Zhiyuan. After all, his Yu family has helped us accomplish many things. If we simply tilt toward the Li family over this, wouldn't we be repeating our old mistake, losing balance once more? Besides, there is a key point about the Yu family: the root of their enterprise is in Songjiang. It is inconvenient for us there, but if we grit our teeth, we can still reach it. Other great maritime factions — once they put to sea, how do we catch them?"

In front of his own people, Zhao Jin's words were very frank. But everyone understood one thing: the root of all this was that Zhaozi Camp had no fleet of its own, which was why they were so constrained.

According to last year's precedent, while Zhao Jin and his men were raiding and fighting in Qingzhou Prefecture, the martial tournament at Qingjiangpu should have been about to begin. By the time Zhao Jin returned, the tournament champion should have been decided. But after Zhao Jin came back, he learned that the tournament had been postponed. The Qingjiangpu Merchant Association had proposed scheduling it between the twelfth month and the first month of the coming year.

Since they themselves had granted the Qingjiangpu Merchant Association this authority, they would not interfere. However, the various directors of the association took this matter very seriously. While Zhao Jin was away, they came several times to request instructions and inquire, even arranging for dedicated personnel to wait here — they simply dared not make a decision on their own.

After Zhao Jin returned, the heads of the Wang and Bai families from the Qingjiangpu Merchant Association both came to Xuzhou to request an audience and explain their reasons for doing so.

"... This year, the rumors of the Xuzhou flood have left people unsettled. And then such chaos broke out in Jining and Qingzhou. At the root of it all, everyone feels that Master Jin's side was wounded in vitality by the flood. In my experience in business, when faced with similar situations — the more the outside world says your cash flow is failing, the more you must put on a grand display, with extravagance and pleasure. The point is to give everyone the appearance that you are not short of silver. This year's martial tournament must also be held with great splendor, to show every corner of the realm that Xuzhou's strength is undiminished..."

"... Master Jin, at your age, to work so diligently and take no pleasure in leisure — that is truly the mark of a hero. Yet such a reclusive life, especially in these times of restless hearts, inevitably invites worry and suspicion. We know that Master Jin is unwilling to join the bustle of the martial tournament, but for the greater good of Xuzhou, for the prosperity of our Qingjiangpu, we must ask Master Jin to appear at this tournament and show himself to all under heaven..."

Even Wang Zhaojing, Ruhui, and Zhou Xuezhi, who was far off in Qingjiangpu, deeply agreed with this reasoning. Holding the martial tournament with great splendor could indeed stabilize people's hearts. As for whether Zhao Jin should appear in public, they had no particular opinion and simply waited for Zhao Jin to decide for himself. Zhao Jin was unwilling to join the bustle and gave a perfunctory reply, saying he would see when the time came.

But the people from the Qingjiangpu Merchant Association were very insistent. Word vaguely came that because news of the Xuzhou flood had stirred the Huai'an Prefecture authorities into restless action, making them think they could tamper with Qingjiangpu, the wealthy merchants, who had just begun to enjoy the benefits of autonomy, immediately felt uncomfortable. That was why they wanted to invite Zhao Jin, this deity, to come and suppress the situation. Perhaps because of this, the people from the Qingjiangpu Merchant Association were very persistent, coming repeatedly to request his presence, and even the Yangzhou Feng family within the association joined in.

Just as Jining was in turmoil, southern Qingzhou Prefecture was stirring, and Zhaozi Camp was suppressing trouble on all fronts, the Daming Army over by the Grand Ming Governor began establishing encampments. Troops from Xuanfu, the capital garrison, and Ding able-bodied men from Caozhou, Shandong, began converging on the three prefectures of southern Ji. These movements were roughly begun and completed while Zhao Jin was suppressing bandit troubles in Qingzhou Prefecture.

"The chaos in various places is connected to Wei Zhongxian — that much is certain. But to stir up so many things, could it really just be to cover the troop movements over there? Why go to such elaborate lengths?"

"Perhaps the imperial court truly regards our Xuzhou with deep wariness?"

Zhao Jin asked and answered himself, in effect raising two questions, but he immediately dismissed both one by one.

"... Those great figures in the capital are no fools. They should have clearly grasped the restraint Xuzhou has shown. If all the incidents in Jining and Qingzhou Prefecture were just to allow the Daming encampments to be established, that would be far too cautious..."

"Perhaps they really are that cautious. The style of our Zhaozi Camp is to act with thunderous speed and strike back resolutely."

Neither Zhao Jin himself, nor Wang Zhaojing, Ruhui, and the others, could form a clear judgment. The merchants of Qingjiangpu and Yangzhou continued to insist that Zhao Jin go to Qingjiangpu to make an appearance, intending to display Zhao Jin's majesty and the strength and prestige of Zhaozi Camp at the martial tournament.

Their zeal was not surprising. Setting aside how closely Xuzhou's interests were tied to their own, the newly opened maritime trade at Haizhou Port involved large volumes of Liaodong specialties and timber, and even trade with Liaodong and Korea. Li Ziyou of the Chengbei Firm, because he had attached himself to Zhao Jin early and sent many family members and sons to serve, had seen his family fortune swell at a flying pace. He had risen from being ranked in the twenties among Qingjiangpu's wealthy merchants to the top ten, and his voice in the merchant association carried more and more weight.

And this Xuzhou cloth made everyone's eyes red with envy. While many people were not involved in the maritime trade, this cotton cloth business spanned the entire realm and overseas — anyone could take part. Moreover, this cotton cloth could be used as hard currency. Who had not always coveted the Songjiang cotton cloth business? Yet they could only watch from the outside. Now Xuzhou could actually produce cotton cloth in bulk, and this bulk cotton cloth could even wage a price war with Songjiang cloth. In less than two short months, it had actually forced Songjiang to bow its head and yield. A business like this was a source of heaven-sent wealth; they absolutely had to cling to it.

One must understand that while many places under heaven could produce cotton cloth, only this Xuzhou cloth could be produced in bulk and still be tolerated by the Songjiang cotton and cloth industry.

What did merchants value most? What they valued most was earning profit and silver. Xuzhou's Zhao Jin possessed not only military force and the means to kill, but also brilliant methods that allowed people to grow rich and earn money. This was what made everyone flock to him like moths to a flame.

The twelfth month was fast approaching, and many households in Hejiazhuang had already begun busying themselves with New Year preparations. The festive atmosphere in Hejiazhuang this year was exceptionally good, because many family elders and wealthy, noble residents of the city had moved over. With more people, the celebratory mood naturally grew fuller.

However, Zhao Jin's parents, wife, and children were already accustomed to him not being home for the New Year, and even more accustomed to him not lifting a hand in the preparations. They could only grow used to it.

At this time, Liu Yong and Lei Cai both returned to Xuzhou. According to the original plan, the two of them should have returned long ago, even several times over. But once the chaos erupted in Jining and Qingzhou Prefecture, they had been constantly rushing about outside, scouting and gathering all kinds of intelligence.

Lei Cai brought back news from the capital. That relative of the Shu family residing in the capital had been sent out to Huguang in the tenth month to serve as Right Assistant Administration Commissioner. Although a capital official being sent to the provinces was considered a demotion, this was tantamount to a sudden promotion by several ranks. According to convention, upon returning to the capital, he would be assigned another important post — this was a rare advancement.

It was said that this official surnamed Shu's colleagues were quite puzzled, thinking: this man is utterly mediocre and ordinary; on what grounds did such a fine opportunity suddenly fall from the sky into his lap? With him far away in Huguang, it was inconvenient for Zhaozi Camp to gather information. Moreover, Zhaozi Camp's connections within the official circles of the capital were very low and shallow; trying to find out who had promoted this man and the cause behind it was also very difficult.

If a veteran of officialdom had arranged this promotion, it would be very hard for an outsider to discern the cause and effect. Furthermore, a capital official taking a provincial post was no rare occurrence to begin with, and not many people would take notice.

As for those who wrote letters to the officials and scholars of Jining, some were not in the capital, and some were very difficult to approach. This was not a deliberate cover-up or evasion. In a place like the capital, comings and goings were ordinary to begin with, and the authorities had no shortage of spies and informants. If one was a bit cautious on their own end, it became rather difficult for Zhaozi Camp to get close.

"To be able to coordinate and deploy on this scale, and even mobilize the Shandong provincial troops — only Wei Zhongxian could do that. No one else seems to have that capability." This conclusion was both meaningless and frustrating.

"Some rumor that this Wei Zhongxian is illiterate, ignorant of the inner workings of the palace and court, and relies solely on venomous cruelty to oppress others. How could that be possible? It is true that Wei Zhongxian entered the palace as an adult, but he has already spent several decades inside. Moreover, he has held critical posts one after another and fought down one powerful eunuch after another. Even if such a man is not particularly versed in letters and regulations himself, he has people by his side to help manage affairs. The same goes for schemes and plans — even if he were muddled, he has advisors by his side to help analyze and decide. Besides, this Wei Zhongxian has always been exceedingly shrewd." This was Lei Cai's insight from his travels outside.

"Would such a man spend such enormous effort merely to stir up a bit of chaos in Jining, merely to smash a few completely unrelated farmsteads in Qingzhou Prefecture? Could it really be just to station Daming troops in the three prefectures of southern Ji, thereby encircling our Xuzhou in the grand strategic picture?" Lei Cai could not provide an answer, but he raised many questions.

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