Chapter 1221: The Imperial Court Arrives

For the Zhao Character Camp, losses and casualties mainly occurred in trade. Cloud Mountain Trading Company shops in the Qingjiangpu and Yangzhou areas collapsed; the clerks inside were buried and struck, and goods were also damaged.

But in the farming estates and household militia training grounds of Huaian's northern district, at the time of the midday earthquake everyone was outside working and drilling. Within the Zhao Character Camp system, there is no rule allowing daytime rest or slacking off — and it was precisely this rule that let everyone escape disaster.

If Shandong had suffered such an earthquake, chaos would certainly have erupted again. But here in the Huaiyang and Jiangnan regions, things were much better. The area and population affected were both considerable, yet the localities could produce enough supplies for relief. With food to eat and shelter provided, the common people would not rise up in rebellion.

Not to mention Jiangnan, that land richest under heaven — in the disaster-stricken areas of Huaian Prefecture, Yangzhou Prefecture, and Chuzhou, aside from spontaneous relief efforts, the Zhao Character Camp's recruitment of commoners to farm the estates and its annexation of land to settle farming households were, in a sense, also stabilizing the region. All potential refugees and rioters were rapidly absorbed by the Zhao Character Camp's system — this was tantamount to rooting out the source of disorder.

Who could have foreseen such a sudden earthquake? Whatever scant backbone and wishful thinking the officials and local powers had previously possessed vanished completely. How would they dare make trouble or put up stiff resistance against the Xuzhou Zhao Character Camp now? Whatever Xuzhou demanded, they complied meekly, terrified the other side would exploit the crisis to plunder.

This great earthquake disaster also played another role. After Wei Zhongxian was recalled to the capital, his influence had greatly waned. The Donglin faction was striking while the iron was hot, seizing one official post after another from the eunuch party's grip. This was their top priority, so naturally they had no attention to spare for trivial details like offering amnesty. But after this earthquake, amnesty became an urgent, major stratagem. Faced with such a quake disaster, if someone exploited the moment to stir up trouble, great calamity would turn into great chaos — especially since the rebels over there had already beaten the government troops badly, and the surrounding area was at its most vulnerable.

Zhao Yan, the Minister of War who had accompanied Wei Zhongxian to Hejian Prefecture, never got the chance to return to the capital at all. He was directly assigned the post of Grand Coordinator of Fengyang and dispatched to South Zhili to offer amnesty and pacification. A Minister was of course a top-tier grandee; being sent to the post of Fengyang Grand Coordinator already counted as a demotion. But this Fengyang Grand Coordinator position was still a major regional office — to be honest, the loss was not too great.

Yet how could there be anything so cheap in this world? Every faction at court and in the provinces, even the man involved, Zhao Yan himself, knew this was a black pot to carry. If the amnesty failed, he would naturally be punished. If it succeeded, the punishment would naturally be delayed a few days. Dealing with bandits was, after all, a thankless task. No matter what he agreed to or refused, blame might well fall on him. Minister of War Zhao Yan was here to carry the pot. As for the other grandee in charge of pacification, the Fengyang Garrison Eunuch Cui Wensheng — he too could not escape the reckoning to come.

By now, the newly appointed Grand Coordinator Zhao Yan and Eunuch Cui Wensheng had both resigned themselves to their fate. Cui Wensheng had arrived in Xuzhou early to wait. Grand Coordinator Zhao Yan traveled south along the river. According to news passed along the way, this Zhao Yan never missed his two daily bouts of wine and had actually bought three more young concubines to attend him, drifting through life in a drunken stupor — probably not wanting to wake up at all.

At this time, every part of the Zhao Character Camp was already frantically busy. The various farming estates went without saying. The distillery, the ironworks, the textile mill, the shipyard, and other workshops were all outside the quake zone and had suffered very little impact this time. They were working at full intensity to ramp up production.

The Great Ming was wracked by war everywhere, yet business opportunities were likewise everywhere — to say nothing of the outer seas and foreign oceans. Ironware and Xuzhou cloth were both, by any calculation, in desperately short supply, and the gap was enormous. Aside from orders from Qingjiangpu and Jiangnan merchants, even greater demand came from the Zheng Family Great Fleet. Although the Yu family's demand had increased by a full forty percent compared to last year, compared to the Zheng Family Great Fleet, this truly counted for nothing.

It must be said that the Zheng Family Great Fleet's style was indeed different from before. The Zheng Family Dragon Head was extremely sensitive to business opportunities. Moreover, having newly gained the Dragon Head position, he needed to use goods and trade to cultivate and solidify all his previous relationships. Out on the seas, the word was only that the former Dragon Head Li Dan had died suddenly of illness. But everyone had seen and heard enough of such matters; speculation in their hearts was unavoidable — and this was a hidden danger of instability.

To consolidate this position, the Zheng Family Dragon Head needed to use these fundamental bulk trade goods to win hearts. The profits on ironware, weapons, and cloth were very rich, yet there were goods even more wildly profitable than these. But ironware and weapons were in huge demand among every major fleet, even the Wa nation and the various powers of the Southern Seas. Cloth was even more so — it was a critical commodity for the feudal lords and chieftains everywhere to govern their subjects and buy loyalty. The more such business was done, the more naturally it could solidify mutual relations.

Beyond this consideration, the Zheng Family Great Fleet also had an urgent need to foster good relations with Xuzhou. Whether it was Old Zheng Hai or the other Zheng Family eyes and ears who stopped or passed through the port, all confirmed one thing: relying on the Zheng Family Great Fleet's own strength, there was absolutely no way to take it by force, and no way to sabotage it either. They would only smash their heads bloody against the coastal defense batteries. Since it could not be swallowed, they could only honestly do business.

The salt, ironware, and cloth that Xuzhou could ship in large quantities, as well as the Qingjiangpu goods coming out of Clam Bay, were all urgently and absolutely needed by the Zheng Family Great Fleet. And to reach the ports of Liaodong, Haizhou Port was indispensable as a transit point for trade and resupply. If these two lines were cut off, Xuzhou would still have other ways to make money, but a full third of the Zheng Family Great Fleet's current position would collapse because of it, and their home base in Fujian, consolidated through the massive import of salt, would also face trouble.

The Zheng Family also shared a consensus: although Xuzhou had taken in Li Siming, Li Simin, and the other remnants of the Li Family, there was no enmity or conflict between them and the Zheng Family. The more business they did, the tighter they became bound together, and the less those Li Family remnants would be able to borrow strength to seek revenge.

Whether for doing business and making fortunes, for the overall stability of the great fleet, or for the grudges and entanglements with the Li Family — all these reasons made the Zheng Family Great Fleet invest heavily here at Haizhou Port. Even though the Zhao Character Camp had not handed over the Li Family people, the Zheng Family increased their trade volume, promised to double the ships going to Liaodong, and even specially arranged for their own shipwrights to come and enter the shipyard.

In this trade, the people of the Zhao Character Camp's Trade Office finally learned just how much fat there was in the Wa nation. The Zheng Family's third convoy brought large quantities of silver ingots and copper ingots. The Zheng Family shipmasters also specifically reminded the Xuzhou side that when smelting the copper ingots they absolutely had to be careful, because this Wa nation copper contained a fair amount of silver — refining it could yield a great fortune. The copper ingots were to meet the Zhao Character Camp's demand, while this silver was a down payment.

With such enormous demand, every workshop of the Zhao Character Camp naturally had to operate at full capacity. This earthquake gave them an excellent opportunity to recruit labor. Cloud Mountain Trading Company, the Sun Family Commercial House, and others all traveled throughout Huaiyang and Jiangnan. Any artisan with skill and experience — Xuzhou recruited them vigorously, offering all kinds of preferential terms, all for the purpose of filling their various workshops.

However, the recruitment incentives for the disaster areas were limited strictly to artisans with skill and experience. For laborers, there was only one destination: settlement in the various farming estates. The recruitment of workshop laborers was tightly restricted by Zhao Jin — it could only be conducted within Xuzhou's one department and four counties plus Pi Prefecture.

Nowadays, the Xuzhou and Pi Prefecture area was far more prosperous and wealthy than before. As long as you were willing to work hard, supporting a family was never a problem. But all jobs and livelihoods were located far from the cities and towns, all in places of higher elevation — especially those relatively well-paying workshop jobs. The distillery, the ironworks, the textile mill, as well as the shipyard and salt fields over in Haizhou, all needed large numbers of workers. But going there meant leaving one's home behind.

Between supporting a family and the difficulty of leaving one's native soil, eating one's fill and staying alive mattered more. The cities and towns of Xuzhou and Pi Prefecture grew emptier and emptier. Commoners gathered their families and flocked to the surroundings of the Zhao Character Camp's various workshops, or went to the various new farming estates the Zhao Character Camp was building in Shandong — those places also needed many hands. Many people were puzzled by this arrangement of the Zhao Character Camp, privately wondering if there was some feng shui or prophetic omen involved — it looked as if the intent was to drain the cities and towns empty.

When the newly appointed Fengyang Grand Coordinator Zhao Yan disembarked at the Yellow River ferry crossing, despite wearing his official robes and displaying the full regalia of his office, the Zhao Character Camp did not send anyone to receive him. Instead, Eunuch Cui Wensheng, who had been waiting a long time, came over. After sending a subordinate to announce them and exchanging formal greetings, they boarded a carriage together and headed toward He Village.

Before boarding, Grand Coordinator Zhao Yan looked rather troubled and said, "Eunuch Cui, riding in a large cart will surely be very bumpy. At this official's age, I can no longer endure such jolting. It would be better to take a sedan chair."

"There are no sedan chair bearers around here, and they don't allow people to ride in sedan chairs. But Your Excellency need not worry — the roads of Xuzhou are smooth and level; riding in a carriage is no hardship," Cui Wensheng replied with a smile.

The carriages in Xuzhou were somewhat improved over standard Great Ming carriages: the space allowed one to move about freely, and the ventilation and insulation were both done quite well. Once the carriage started and had traveled a stretch, Zhao Yan finally relaxed. He lifted the curtain and looked outside, but could not help sighing with emotion, "Such splendid rivers and hills, yet occupied by rebels — what a pity indeed."

"Your Excellency, this place is far more orderly than other departments and counties. But this splendor and orderliness are both the work of these Xuzhou bandits, and have nothing to do with the government," Cui Wensheng said flatly.

This attitude surprised Zhao Yan greatly, but he did not dwell on it. Although he had not drunk today, these days of fine wine and beautiful women had left his body considerably weakened; he was too weary to probe or ponder deeply. Zhao Yan lifted the curtain again to look outside. Compared to other parts of the Great Ming, Xuzhou did not seem very different at a rough glance, but a little attention revealed the neatness and order here. Everything seemed vibrant and full of life, and the pedestrians on the road all had ruddy complexions and were full of spirit.

When he saw a squad of mounted household troops pass by, Zhao Yan gave a cold snort and dropped the curtain. Indignantly, he said to Cui Wensheng, "To think the court still says they were driven to revolt and their circumstances are pardonable — this is clearly open rebellion, flying the banner of revolt! With such a brazen, flagrant display, what are they if not rebels? Eunuch Cui, do you know? When this official disembarked, several grain transport boats nearby were actually unloading sacks of salt — is that not private salt? No wonder these Xuzhou bandits are so powerful; so they're tangled up in the immense profits of salt smuggling. Truly lawless! Utterly lawless!"

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