Chapter 1222: A Full Head of Silver Hair

Cui Wensheng smiled slightly, then said, "Lord Zhao, you may not know this, but the Haizhou salt fields now account for thirty percent of Xuzhou's supply here, and that share is likely to grow even larger in the future."

"What?" Grand Coordinator Zhao Yan cried out in shock. Seeing Cui Wensheng's indifferent expression, he said urgently, "The salt tax is the very foundation of the nation's finances! For the Xuzhou bandits to meddle even in this—what point is there in offering amnesty? We must dispatch a great army at once to surround and annihilate them!"

Seeing Cui Wensheng's cold expression, Zhao Yan, with a self-important air of urgency, quickly lowered his voice and said, "We are deep in enemy territory; I was being careless. Eunuch Cui, we must get this news out as quickly as possible, or the court will be in serious trouble."

Hearing Zhao Yan's anxious words, Cui Wensheng was first taken aback, then, noticing Zhao Yan's face, darkened by excessive wine and women, he couldn't help but laugh in spite of himself. Shaking his head, he said, "Lord Zhao, let me tell you something novel. The Haizhou salt administration has handed over the salt fields to others to run. All they require is that the annual salt tribute is no less than the year before last."

Huai salt affects the entire realm, and these salt officials actually dared to hand over the fundamental salt fields? Zhao Yan was dumbstruck. Then, reacting, he asked hastily, "Could it be that the Xuzhou bandits seized them by force?"

"Hear me out. Ever since these others started drying and boiling the salt, in just a few months' time, the salt field output has actually quadrupled. It's been less than five months, and not even the peak season, yet it's quadrupled. They report the output based on the year before last's figures, and split the rest among themselves. What you saw is exactly that," Eunuch Cui Wensheng said leisurely.

Fengyang Grand Coordinator Zhao Yan had weathered many storms in officialdom and cultivated a certain depth and composure. Yet hearing this, he simply could not suppress his astonishment. However, having reached the rank of Minister, his information was quite well-informed. He had a rough idea of how rotten the Huai salt administration and transport had become; he just hadn't expected it to have reached such a state.

At this point, Zhao Yan was momentarily speechless. He turned and lifted the curtain again. Though the wind blowing in from outside was somewhat cold, he paid it little mind, staring blankly at the fields, roads, and the large clusters of houses and sheds interspersed among them.

"Why does Xuzhou have so many of these large, tall structures? Are they for storing grain?"

"Those are various workshops. Lord Zhao, when you were in the capital and Shandong, you must have drunk Hanjing Famous Liquor. That liquor is a specialty of Xuzhou."

Zhao Yan turned his head back and remained silent for a long time. When the carriage stopped for some reason, he asked in a muffled voice, "Eunuch Cui, since you are so familiar with Xuzhou, do you think this amnesty can succeed?"

"What does it matter if it succeeds or not? It's simply that these young people don't want to rush things too much and prefer to take it slowly. Lord Zhao, it's not that the Xuzhou people are eager to accept pacification; it's the court that is anxious to offer amnesty. Anyway, everyone's been doing things this way for so many years, they're used to it. No matter what happens, just cover your eyes and pretend you don't see it!" Cui Wensheng said lightly.

Although Zhao Jin had not sent anyone to receive them, the escort was handled without any ambiguity. From the moment they entered Yanzhou Prefecture, household troops and militia had followed and guarded them, handing off duties at the edge of the defense zone. It took several hours to travel from the ferry crossing to He Village, and they had to stop midway for meals and rest. Zhao Yan was intensely curious about everything in Xuzhou, but as Cui Wensheng explained things, his mood grew increasingly heavy.

"Eunuch Cui, I never imagined Xuzhou would be like this. So... so... There's no need for pretense in front of you, Eunuch Cui. Eunuch Wei's schemes do have their reasoning. A powerful faction like this must be crushed at all costs, otherwise, this... No, this place is already a grave calamity!" Zhao Yan said solemnly.

"Eunuch Wei's thinking was correct, but by the time he learned of Xuzhou, it was already too strong to be crushed. Futile efforts would only bring disaster upon himself. It's a pity about his intentions, and infuriating how those pedants slander him!" Cui Wensheng said, growing somewhat agitated.

Zhao Yan, the former Minister of War and current Fengyang Grand Coordinator, yawned and wiped his eyes as he said, "Eunuch Cui, you don't seem anxious, but I refuse to believe Xuzhou can grow into anything significant. Our Great Ming has a population of hundreds of millions. If we govern diligently and can free up our hands..."

At this, Zhao Yan shook his head and said no more, perhaps from rising fatigue and drowsiness, or perhaps because he felt what he said was truly unlikely. Cui Wensheng remained perfectly at ease, leaning against the carriage wall, and said with a smile, "Lord Zhao, you once served as Grand Marshal. When the Mongol steppe tribes or the Jianzhou Jurchens attack and defeat us, do you feel anxious? Those barbarian invaders come to sever our heritage and legitimate rule. But this Xuzhou rebellion—usually we see it as trouble, but once it truly grows powerful, don't you feel it doesn't really matter? It's nothing more than a change of dynasty."

Xuzhou is but a corner of the realm, and the people of Xuzhou are subjects of the Chinese nation. A dynastic change sounds momentous, but with thousands of years of inherited tradition, it's hardly some unprecedented, earth-shattering possibility. It's merely a normal rotation. Once you truly think this far, it no longer seems so significant. The Jin's destruction of the Northern Song, the Mongol Yuan's destruction of the Song—those were what the scholars and commoners of the Ming truly feared. Under Jurchen and Mongol rule, the Han people had no hope of advancement. If it remains a Han-ruled world, it's just a change of name; everyone will still follow the old paths.

Zhao Yan subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, then shook his head, and said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "Eunuch Cui, such talk is far too treasonous. No one has yet spoken of rebellion, and the court still operates as usual. How did we get onto the topic of dynastic change? We must hold our tongues. Now that Eunuch Wei's Eastern Depot and Embroidered Uniform Guard have pulled back, the Donglin faction's spies are just as fierce. If word of this reaches their ears, it would mean utter ruin beyond redemption."

Cui Wensheng smiled, his face full of indifference, and said no more. Zhao Yan had been drinking and indulging himself the night before, and after lunch, he could barely stay awake. Unwilling to be discourteous in front of Cui Wensheng, he struggled to stay conscious in a daze.

In this half-asleep, half-awake state, Zhao Yan vaguely realized that what Eunuch Cui said was actually not wrong. Those at the center of power all knew the current state of the Great Ming; it truly seemed to be worsening day by day. Liaodong was being routed by the Jianzhou Jurchens, the southwest was a tangled quagmire tying down armies and draining military funds, and now this Xuzhou had arisen. Comparing these few trouble spots, Xuzhou actually seemed a decent choice. Looking at the well-ordered buildings along the way, the prosperous and busy commoners, the seemingly sturdy Yellow River embankments, and the rumored wolf-and-tiger-like troops—there truly was a hint of dynastic change in the air. Anyway, his own official career wouldn't last much longer; when the time came, he would just return home and watch.

At this thought, the newly appointed Fengyang Grand Coordinator Zhao Yan couldn't help but shiver. He was losing his mind, actually entertaining such treasonous thoughts. Cui Wensheng, beside him, said with a smile, "Lord Zhao, at our age, we must pay attention to health and moderation. We can't be too indulgent!"

Zhao Yan laughed dryly twice but did not respond, continuing to doze off. Fengyang Garrison Eunuch Cui Wensheng narrowed his eyes and sized him up, inwardly sneering for no particular reason. You all think that under a new dynasty, you can rely on the sage's classics to gain scholarly honors, wealth, and rank again? That's a dream. The Xuzhou system aims to dig up the very lifeblood of all the realm's scholars. The ridiculous thing is, the literati and scholars of the world still don't see it that way; many even believe that even if dynasties change, they can still rely on their books and essays to achieve scholarly honor and wealth.

If those barbarians were to seize the realm, they might even hold civil examinations to recruit the realm's heroes. But if this Xuzhou Zhao Camp overthrows the dynasty, those who study the sage's books probably won't even have time to weep. As Cui Wensheng thought this, he shook his head, wondering why he even bothered to worry. After Wei Zhongxian returned to the capital, many subtle things across the realm had shifted. For instance, Cui Wensheng's post as Director-General of Grain Transport had been stripped away. Grain transport was deeply entangled with Donglin civil officials, who naturally wouldn't allow a eunuch to oversee it. Now, Cui Wensheng held only the single post of Fengyang Garrison Eunuch, and it probably wouldn't last much longer.

Eunuch Cui's good friends in the palace had written to him. People like Wang Tigan, who had previously bowed their heads to Wei Zhongxian, were now growing restless. Since Wei Zhongxian could no longer dominate the inner court alone, these powerful eunuchs naturally couldn't settle down. Let them fight; there aren't many years left to fight anyway, Cui Wensheng muttered to himself, a wave of drowsiness also washing over him.

When the carriage stopped near He Village, the two amnesty ministers, Cui Wensheng and Zhao Yan, who had been dozing groggily, finally woke up. They exchanged an awkward smile and disembarked together. The sun was about to set, and the afterglow and sunset clouds were brilliantly splendid, dyeing the world between heaven and earth a golden and fiery red. Cui Wensheng was not yet fully awake; after getting off, he swayed, and his hat fell to the ground. Zhao Yan smiled and bent down to pick it up, handing it to Eunuch Cui. His hand stopped in mid-air, and he asked in astonishment, "Eunuch Cui, how has your hair turned completely white?"

Cui Wensheng and Zhao Yan were old acquaintances. When Cui Wensheng was exiled from the capital because of the Red Pill Case, by chance, Zhao Yan had seen him once. At that time, Cui Wensheng had only a few strands of white hair. Yet now, just a few years later, Cui Wensheng's head was full of silver hair, not a trace of black to be seen. Only then did Zhao Yan realize how incredibly aged Eunuch Cui had become.

Taking the hat and brushing off the dust, Cui Wensheng said indifferently, "Too many worries these past two years. That's why my hair turned white."

For the envoys coming to offer amnesty, He Village had an inn prepared. Setting aside the sighs and emotions of Cui Wensheng and Zhao Yan, the subordinate officials and attendants who had followed Zhao Yan were quite dissatisfied. In their minds, the court's willingness to grant amnesty to bandits was already a blessing earned in the bandits' past lives. Coming along themselves, they surely expected to share in plenty of perks. If the bandits wanted to curry favor with the amnesty and pacification ministers, wouldn't they also need to please the people around them?

Yet while things were fine within Jinan Prefecture and Dongchang Prefecture, once they entered Yanzhou Prefecture, their imperious demands met with no response whatsoever. If they tried to make trouble or throw their weight around, they were often taught a harsh lesson. Facing the murderously intent bandit soldiers, no one dared to raise their voice. Upon arriving in Xuzhou and seeing such prosperity and wealth, they thought they had a chance to make a fortune and enjoy themselves. They never expected to be watched so closely by knife-wielding thugs, without even freedom of movement. This was not coming to make a fortune; this was clearly coming to suffer.

Thanks to the four old friends "Hua Xiao Yun Bai, Duan Yichen, Qi Sanwen, Yuan Heng Li Zhen" for their tips. Thanks to everyone for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you all for your support.