Chapter 233: Above All, Be Cautious and Prudent

"Everyone except those older ones—hire them all," Zhao Jin said loudly. Ye Wenshu and the two constables exchanged glances, then turned and went back to their work, their expressions clear enough: we've laid out the situation plainly; if anything goes wrong, the blame won't fall on us.

As they busied themselves over there, Zhao Jin lowered his voice and explained, "There's nothing we can do about spies and informants even if we worry. You look at these rough-and-tumble jianghu types and see problems—what makes you think those ordinary young men are loyal and devoted?"

Hearing Zhao Jin's counter-question, everyone paused, then caught on. Parents' consent, a guarantor, constables confirming no criminal record—people like that might be clean, but they could just as easily be informants or spies sent by others. There was simply no way to guard against it.

"Right now we're short on men. Bring them in first, train them strictly, enforce discipline. As long as we ourselves don't let up, there won't be any gaps for others to exploit," Zhao Jin added.

There was one more thing Zhao Jin did not say: young people under twenty haven't experienced much and won't be scheming. Even if they were spies or informants, they wouldn't find it so easy to slip through. But such an analysis, coming from someone himself not yet twenty, would sound far too awkward.

Once these special cases at the front were dealt with, things sped up. Zhao Jin and his group supervised on-site, and with the household servants keeping order, the recruitment proceeded quickly. Those too thin and weak, too young, only sons, lacking parental consent, without guarantors—anyone who didn't meet the requirements was eliminated on the spot.

There was no selecting the best, either. Anyone who met the conditions was considered chosen, then told to take the signed contract back home, have their parents mark it and press their thumbprint, and return once they were ready at home. From that point on, legally speaking, they would be Zhao Jin's household slaves, bound to obey all his arrangements.

By the time it was nearly over, a total of four hundred and fifty people had been accepted. Though that exceeded the planned number, Zhao Jin and the others knew full well that once these four-hundred-odd people got home, looked at that contract selling themselves into servitude, and thought about the deaths and injuries among Zhao Jin's household servants, many would waver and back out. When the time came, the ones who actually showed up might not even number three hundred.

Those who had taken contracts went straight home, and those who hadn't had even less reason to linger. Tao Gui, Qian Yong, and a few other jianghu characters, however, stayed behind—by the look of it, just hanging around for the spectacle.

The sky had grown dark. Another dozen or so people came up to register, but Zhao Jin had no interest whatsoever in these last stragglers. If they couldn't even push their way to the front of the line, they were utterly worthless.

Over on the other side, Chen Hong had already delivered the silver into Ye Wenshu's hands. With Ye Wenshu leading this operation, the silver was his to distribute. The yamen people were all in high spirits, a few murmuring about where to gather that evening. The household servants keeping order had already rotated through several shifts; the current squad had split into two groups, heading off to stand night watch at the Zhao residence and the distillery respectively.

"Sirs, take me in!" Just as they were preparing to wrap up, a shrill cry rang out. Everyone paused, though no one panicked—it was a child's voice.

Ye Wenshu was so startled he nearly dropped his brush. Following the sound, he saw a dark, skinny boy in tattered clothes standing in front of the square table, looking like a beggar.

"Get out, get out. How old are you even? This is no place for you," Ye Wenshu said impatiently, waving him off.

"That kid was trying to shove his way in earlier—got chased out by everyone," one of the last few who hadn't been selected remarked offhandedly.

Zhao Jin and the others had already risen, ready to head back, and paid this interruption no mind. There were always some fanciful children who wanted to join the excitement.

"Sirs, I'm thirteen this year! I can do anything! I don't need any monthly wages, I just need to eat my fill—even if I can't eat my fill, that's fine too! Please, take me in!" the boy kept shouting.

Zhao Jin shook his head and said, "Get him some hot dry rations and a bowl of hot soup."

There were plenty of beggars and refugees in Xuzhou city. If one wanted to do charitable relief, it would be an enormous undertaking. Zhao Jin was no indiscriminate do-gooder, but in a situation like this, a little help along the way was easy enough to give.

The goods yard was no longer so noisy now. Zhao Jin's voice wasn't loud, but quite a few people heard him, and several around chimed in with a casual, "Master Jin is merciful."

No sooner were those words spoken than the dark, skinny boy at the table ducked low—and actually shot out from under the table. Ye Wenshu and the constables didn't manage to stop him in time, but Liu Yong and Ji Xiang already had their hands on their saber hilts, and Dong Bingfeng stepped back. Zhao Jin and Chen Sheng made no move at all; the boy posed no threat whatsoever.

The dark, skinny boy ran right up to him and dropped to his knees, kowtowing repeatedly—thud, thud, thud. Zhao Jin's nose twitched; the boy's body odor was foul. Even in the dim light, the frostbite and festering sores on the boy's hands were visible. It was impossible to tell if he was even wearing shoes.

"Master, I beg you, save my little sister! I beg you, save her!" The dark, skinny boy's forehead was bleeding after just a few knocks, yet he kept crying out and pleading recklessly.

Where did a little sister come from? Zhao Jin paused, then asked, "If you wanted me to save your sister, why didn't you say so from the start?"

The boy paused too, then answered, "Master wouldn't help me for nothing. If I became Master's household servant and worked, then Master..."

So it was just a young boy's tangled, awkward thinking. Zhao Jin didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but since things had come to this, he asked directly, "Where is your sister?"

The boy kneeling on the ground had never imagined Zhao Jin would agree so readily. He stared blankly for a long moment before rasping, "Just around the corner, where it's sheltered from the wind. Master, my sister... she's barely holding on."

"Bring her here," Zhao Jin ordered. Immediately, household servants ran off. The dark, skinny boy on the ground, perhaps because his goal had been achieved, went limp all at once and actually couldn't stand up.

Fortunately, the idlers watching the excitement hadn't yet dispersed. Someone directed the servants and they found the boy's sister.

"... That kid came carrying his sister around noon. Set her down by the wall corner and then kept trying to shove his way into the crowd. Never got in, even got kicked out..." The bystanders knew the whole story clearly.

It wasn't that people were hard-hearted. It was that inside and outside Xuzhou city, there were simply too many beggars and famine refugees—locals, people from Fengyang Prefecture, Huai'an Prefecture, Shandong, Henan. They were everywhere, in every street and alley. Once the weather turned cold, many froze or starved to death. Seeing it day after day, hearts had long since hardened.

Before long, the person was carried back. But from outward appearance, you couldn't even tell it was a girl—just a dark, tiny bundle, wrapped in a few tattered clothes. The girl was curled up, seemingly already unconscious. If not for her body still shivering, she might well have been mistaken for a corpse.

Seeing his sister carried over, the boy on the ground burst into loud sobs, crying as he said, "The night before last, she said her whole body was hot. Last night, she said she missed Father and Mother. Today, she couldn't speak anymore. Master, you have to save her..."

"Where are your parents?"

"... Died on the road..."

"Put her in the goods yard room, and call a physician over," Zhao Jin said. A servant nodded and carried the girl inside.

"... In this freezing cold, she won't make it..." an onlooker nearby remarked. Seeing Zhao Jin's gaze sweep toward him, he hurriedly bowed with a fawning smile and said repeatedly, "Master Jin is greatly merciful and greatly compassionate."

"Take this child inside too. Get him properly cleaned up, and give him some hot soup and hot food." Zhao Jin settled the boy as well. A servant pulled the boy to his feet and led him inside.

Ye Wenshu and his group offered a few words of flattery, then took their leave. The household servants staying behind carried the tables outside back in, and the idlers dispersed. Tao Gui and his few companions also left, and the place grew quiet again.

"Shandong is in terrible shape. I heard Henan is suffering from disasters too—everyone's heading toward our South Zhili. So many die on the road..." Dong Bingfeng's voice was very low and heavy. Seeing the state of those two siblings had left him deeply unsettled.

Liu Yong, however, shook his head and said, "Our own Xuzhou is miserable enough. In the first month, south of the city, there were a few families..."

"Doesn't the government provide relief?" Zhao Jin cut off their discussion. He already knew plenty about the tragedies in Xuzhou city, but it still made him uncomfortable every time he heard more.

This time it was Chen Sheng who spoke. Even if Wang Zhaojing were here, he wouldn't understand the inner workings of the yamen better than Chen Sheng did—after all, Wang Youshan operated at the imperial court level, whereas the Chen family was grounded in local reality.

"Why would they provide relief? It's not a famine year. Handing out relief recklessly would just be smearing dirt on their own faces." Chen Sheng's tone carried rare emotion.

Zhao Jin fell silent again. He could reason through that logic himself, but then another thought struck him, and he asked, "Doesn't Cloud Mountain Temple give relief to disaster victims? They don't even do it for appearances?"

At this question, a snort of laughter came from one side. Following the sound, he saw it was those three jianghu men over twenty-five, the ones who had been waiting around the whole time for arrangements.

The three at least knew their place. The one who had laughed quickly clasped his fists in a bow and apologized, "Master Jin, don't take offense. I've been too long without proper manners."

"Tell me why you laughed," Zhao Jin said, not inclined to make an issue of it.

"Master Jin, Cloud Mountain Temple pulls headcounts from the disaster victims every year. Able-bodied young men get dragged off to be monks and laborers, not to mention the young women and children..." As he spoke of this, the man's expression turned rather lewd, but a nudge from the person beside him made him promptly shut his mouth.

The man next to him added, "Cloud Mountain Temple's quota for able-bodied laborers is already full. Now they only want children and women, and only the good-looking ones at that. When famine refugees come fleeing from all over, the temple gets first pick."

If no one told him, Zhao Jin would truly have a hard time learning about these things happening outside the city. Hearing this, he didn't know what to say for a moment. He glanced at the three men who had been waiting all this time and simply changed the subject: "Why did the three of you come to sign up? From the look of you, you're not without options out there. Speak truthfully, and don't lie."

"... Our crew offended the Feng family. Out of several dozen men, some died, the rest fled. We couldn't stay in Yangzhou Prefecture or Huai'an Prefecture, and we weren't willing to cross the river..."

A salt smuggler band from Huai'an Prefecture—several dozen riders, over two hundred men. Strength like that was formidable, enough to carve out a domain across the three prefectures and one department north of the river. But they offended the Feng family, the biggest salt merchants in Yangzhou Prefecture, and within a month they were smashed and scattered. Only these three escaped. While fleeing, they swore brotherhood in a deserted city god temple belonging to the Qi surname, abandoned their original surnames, and all took the surname Qi—Qi Da, Qi Er, Qi San, simple names.

They'd thought that making it to Xuzhou would let them breathe easy. They never imagined the Feng family's wealth and influence were so vast they could still track them down. The three were desperate. While lying low in Xuzhou, they'd heard quite a bit about Zhao Jin's exploits. This recruitment drive gave them the chance to throw in their lot with him and seek protection.

"I won't be hiring you," Zhao Jin answered, crisp and direct.

Disappointment showed on the three men's faces, but no great resentment—this was, after all, the answer anyone would expect.

"However, I will employ you for work," Zhao Jin continued.

The three all paused. Zhao Jin said evenly, "There are many things for you to do. I will pay wages."

Everyone understood what Zhao Jin meant, but the Qi brothers hadn't come seeking refuge for wages. With a horse and a blade, there was meat to be had anywhere—why toil away working for someone else?

But they didn't dare refuse Zhao Jin either. Having dared to come and seek refuge, they naturally knew what kind of man Zhao Jin was. The three brothers exchanged glances, and the eldest, Qi Da, cleared his throat and asked, "Master Jin, what if someone comes looking for trouble with us little fellows..."

"Have you ever done anything that violates heaven and reason?" Zhao Jin answered the question with a question.

The three were taken aback again. The second brother gritted his teeth and said in a muffled voice, "We won't hide it from you, Master Jin. The three of us brothers have blood on our hands, but that was all from fights and gang clashes. We've never done anything utterly devoid of conscience!"

"If you had done things that violate heaven and reason, I would not tolerate you. If you haven't, then anyone who comes looking for trouble with you is making an enemy of me, Zhao Jin!" Zhao Jin's reply was crisp and decisive.

At these words, the three Qi brothers hastily dropped to their knees and kowtowed. Zhao Jin had already agreed to shelter them.

The matter was settled simply. In the end, the three men were put up directly in the outer perimeter of the goods yard.

Night fell completely, and the lanterns in front of the goods yard were lit. Zhao Jin and his companions were in no hurry to go home; everyone went to the goods yard first to rest for a while.

They had barely sat down when Wang Zhaojing actually showed up.

"I've been at my studies all day. This evening I heard people say it was lively over here, and I got an itch in my heart to come take a look." Wang Zhaojing spoke with great skill. He didn't make up any excuse, but spoke the plain truth directly, which felt very natural.

Zhao Jin smiled and nodded, then said, "It's already late. Everyone, eat dinner before heading back."

Instructions were given, and soon steaming hot dry rations and dishes were brought over. Because of the midday rush, everyone had only eaten a few pieces of dry ration simply. At the sight of the steaming hot food, each of them found their appetite greatly whetted.

"Eating with the brothers always tastes better," Wang Zhaojing remarked, as if casually.

Only when they were about eighty percent full did everyone's eating pace slow down. It was then that Liu Yong spoke up: "Big Brother, I've settled those three from the Qi family in a separate courtyard. Twenty household guards are quartered next to them, and someone keeps watch all through the night."

Zhao Jin nodded over there, and Ji Xiang chimed in, "I'd say the two most suspicious groups today were one, Tao Gui and Qian Yong's bunch, and two, these Qi brothers."

Everyone was nodding. Dong Bingfeng spoke up: "Tao Gui and his lot are all roguish and have no sense of discipline at all. The three Qi brothers also seem peculiar."

"Tao Gui and Qian Yong's group may have just been drifting so long they've lost all discipline. Being so blatant and unrestrained, even if they were spies, they'd be watched constantly. These three from the Qi family are indeed a bit suspicious, but they'll be easy to check on. Get You Zhenrong and Yan Blackface to make some inquiries. A salt smuggler band that large, and wiped out so thoroughly by the Feng family—there's no way word of it hasn't spread in the underworld. Besides, these three men fled all the way here on horseback with blades. They can't be nameless nobodies," Zhao Jin said.

"Salt smugglers? The Feng family? Could it be you're talking about the Feng family of Yangzhou?" Wang Zhaojing suddenly interjected.

After getting confirmation, Wang Zhaojing shook his head and sighed a couple of times: "When I was in the capital, I heard my father speak of this family. He said their wealth is vast and their power great, and they know how to cultivate influence. In every provincial and metropolitan examination, there are scholars sponsored by their Feng family. Once these men pass the exams and gain official posts, they become a tremendous help to the Feng family. I never imagined the Feng family also had blades and spears in their hands..."

If one wanted to do business for the long term, especially in a monopoly trade as wildly profitable as salt, one inevitably needed backers and allies in officialdom. The Feng family had indeed planned very far ahead.

Zhao Jin finished the dry ration in his hand, drained the meat broth from his bowl, set the bowl down, and said, "If someone wanted to plant a spy or an informant, the most likely candidates would be those unremarkable youths from Xuzhou. Getting their parents' consent wouldn't be hard, and finding a guarantor wouldn't be hard either. But exactly which side they're colluding with—that we wouldn't be able to find out."

Everyone nodded with grave expressions. Zhao Jin spoke again: "But if we're talking suspicious, that little beggar from before dusk is even more suspicious. There are plenty of starving refugees like that inside and outside the city. How did he happen to bring his sister here to sign up, and even know to trade work for medical treatment? His nerve is simply too great. At his age, could any of us have done that?"

"We could... Big Brother, you led us..." Dong Bingfeng beside him started to speak instinctively, then suddenly realized it wasn't right. The table erupted in laughter.

Liu Yong quickly stood up. Although there was no clear division of responsibilities yet, all internal security and protection duties were handed over to Liu Yong. Hearing Zhao Jin say this, he also felt something was off.

"You all keep eating. I'll go take a look." After giving this word, Liu Yong hurried out the door.

Liu Yong returned not long after he left. When he entered the room, his expression was somewhat helpless. He said, "That child, after getting cleaned up, just fell asleep. Couldn't be woken at all. The physician has already examined his sister and said she's simply starved, her body weak and she's caught a wind-chill. As long as the medicine works tonight, she'll live."

Zhao Jin said with a smile, "Those two children were exhausted and hungry and have endured a lot of hardship—that part is true. I was only raising a possibility. That child isn't necessarily a spy. But as our operation grows larger in the future, we must be careful and cautious."

His companions all nodded together. After the meal, according to the rotation, Ji Xiang went to the distillery, while Liu Yong prepared to lead men to set up sentry posts at the distillery and the goods yard. Dong Bingfeng went to inspect the internal affairs of the goods yard's household guards. He would not be going back tonight, because early the next morning he had to lead men to He Family Village for the rotation.

Chen Sheng, as usual, needed to organize his blades, and also had to wait for Chen Hong, who kept the accounts, to come over. Wang Zhaojing, meanwhile, enthusiastically went to help Dong Bingfeng with his tasks.