Chapter 346: A Genuine Businessman

Liu Yong went over with a grin to pour him water. The room always had clean towels ready — one of the few privileges Zhao Jin and his companions enjoyed. After drinking and wiping off his sweat, Dong Bingfeng said, puzzled, "Brother, Commander Jia and the others aren't showing the slightest fear. Just now they were even blaming each other for setting the meeting so late, saying it'll delay their return by a day. They said they wished they could've met you sooner."

That day they were so terrified they dropped to their knees. Where did they get the nerve today, and why are they so eager? Anyone with half a brain could figure out that coming here means Zhao Jin will skin them alive — cutting off flesh is a real possibility. These garrison officers have no courage to speak of and love money like their own lives. We're all baffled by this.

After lunch they rested briefly, then Zhao Jin and his companions gathered the household troops for training. Everyone was drenched in sweat. They did need to avoid training during the hottest hours to prevent heatstroke, but they couldn't skip training in the heat entirely. On a battlefield of life and death, no one lets you choose the most comfortable time to fight.

Jixiang's father had boiled a large pot of mung bean soup and bought plenty of heatstroke medicine in the city — sufficient precautions were in place.

After training, Zhao Jin and his companions returned to the house. The linings inside their armor were soaked through with sweat and had to be changed. The several commanders had already been waiting for quite some time.

As soon as they entered, Commander Jia was the first to rise, all smiles, and gave a deep bow with hands clasped. The others did the same, their manner exceedingly warm, each one bending low in salute.

"Young Master Zhao is the hero of Xuzhou! You saved the common people and the military households of Xuzhou Garrison from great calamity. For Xuzhou to have such a figure — truly a blessing for us all!"

"We've had little contact before, but from now on we must grow much closer!"

"Young Master Zhao is busy with many affairs. The few of us coming here is truly an intrusion. Allow us to offer our apologies in advance!"

The warmth and courtesy left Zhao Jin utterly bewildered. Could it be that they thought a smiling face wards off a striking hand, hoping to slip away? In the face of real gold and silver, of tangible interests, did they think such petty tricks would let them escape? Impossible. Commander Jia might be muddled, but he couldn't be this naive.

Zhao Jin had no intention of letting them harbor false hopes. He kept his face stern and said coldly, "That day you fled the field before battle, nearly plunging the Zhao Character Camp and Xuzhou City into certain doom. These matters won't be settled so easily."

At these words, Commander Jia and the others exchanged glances, then bowed deeply once more, their foreheads nearly touching the ground. When they straightened up, their faces were full of deep anguish. "Young Master Zhao, at that time we were blinded by lard, so terrified we dared not even step outside, and nearly ruined everything for you. This was our grave error. We are willing to accept punishment. Please, Young Master Zhao, deal with us as you see fit!"

Zhao Jin was taken aback. A man even fatter than Commander Jia, whose neck had long since vanished from view, squeezed out a few tears and spoke with something close to a sob: "When we think back on it, our hearts ache as if slashed by a knife. Young Master Zhao and Little Dong are talents of our garrison. If they had been ruined like that, how could we ever face Old Zhao and Old Dong!"

"Exactly, exactly! We couldn't sleep, and when we remembered it, we couldn't eat either!" The others chimed in agreement.

Zhao Jin coughed and glanced at his companions beside him. Dong Bingfeng's face was full of shame; he kept his head down, refusing to look up. The others were equally dumbstruck, unable to fathom why these men were groveling so low, practically lying down and inviting the knife.

"Since things have come to this, we do intend to make amends. We only beg that Young Master Zhao, for the sake of our shared garrison origins, show us some mercy — some mercy!" Commander Jia said, clasping his fists and imploring as he spoke.

Was all this groveling just to keep him from being too harsh? Zhao Jin felt he was beginning to grasp their angle, but something still felt off.

"From now on, the Zhao Character Camp will go to the Xuzhou Garrison to recruit able-bodied young men. The Xuzhou Garrison shall not obstruct this." Zhao Jin couldn't be bothered to waste more words and laid it out plainly.

"Those lads in the garrison, always messing around with blades and spears, never settling down — the garrison and their families are always worried they'll stir up trouble. With Young Master Zhao helping to discipline them, this is perfect! It's just that we're imposing on Young Master Zhao and all of you, asking you to take such trouble. If any difficulties arise, please bear with us." One of the Assistant Commanders spoke up hurriedly.

Jixiang burst into loud coughs. Everyone turned to look, and Jixiang covered his mouth and said, "Water went down the wrong pipe."

Zhao Jin shook his head and let it go. If he'd been drinking water just then, he probably would have choked too. The garrison's population was equivalent to wealth. For the Zhao Character Camp to recruit able-bodied men on its own was like digging up their foundation and severing their roots. Why were these men so cooperative? They made it seem as if Zhao Jin was the one getting the short end of the stick.

Throughout the Xuzhou region, the people valued martial prowess, but the best fit for the Zhao Character Camp was still the military household sons from the garrison. Although most military household sons were just farmers, those who trained in martial arts weren't merely brawlers — they all knew something of battle formations and military affairs. Such young men might not always come out on top in duels and brawls, but they could adapt far more quickly to a unit like the Zhao Character Camp. They knew how to follow orders, how to coordinate, and were more accustomed to group life.

Of the several dozen squad leaders in the current Zhao Character Camp, aside from the old-timers from the early days, the majority were of garrison origin, and the best performers were also of garrison origin. Moreover, because relations among the several Chiliarchs of the Xuzhou Garrison had always been mediocre, the young men from the garrison would form cliques based on which Chiliarch they came from, rather than coalescing into one large Xuzhou Garrison bloc. This, too, suited the Zhao Character Camp's requirements.

In straitened times, only the rich could practice martial arts. Those who could learn martial arts in the garrison were all sons of military officers. People like Zhuang Liu who rose through their own efforts were rare. Beyond these martial arts-trained military household sons, Zhao Jin wanted as many other able-bodied young men as he could get. But when these men came to join Zhao Jin, it meant fewer laborers under Commander Jia and the others, and thus less produce. Not to mention that military households in the garrison would emerge who no longer obeyed their orders. For the garrison officers, no matter how you looked at it, this was all harm and no benefit. So why had they agreed so readily?

"This time, Xuzhou has gathered a large number of refugees. The Xuzhou Garrison is based in Xuzhou itself, so it also has an obligation in matters of relief and aftermath. It must also help resettle the refugees. The first batch will take in four thousand. Food, lodging, and shelter will be borne by the garrison. More refugee resettlement will follow." Zhao Jin came straight to the point. He still felt something was off, but he couldn't afford to dwell on it.

"Please rest assured, Young Master Zhao. Everyone in the Xuzhou Garrison, high and low, was born of parents and raised by them — how could we lack compassion? Such a heaven-moving, earth-shaking act of charity by Young Master Zhao, the Xuzhou Garrison must also lend a hand, to join in accumulating virtue and spreading goodness." The cost of feeding and housing five thousand people was no small sum. These garrison officers, who loved money like their very lives, should have put up a struggle in agreeing to it. Yet once again, they agreed with crisp efficiency.

Hearing this reply, Zhao Jin was stunned again. He exchanged glances with everyone in the room; all wore expressions of bewilderment.

The Xuzhou Garrison was located right in Xuzhou, yet the Xuzhou Department Magistrate and the various County Magistrates had no authority over it. The garrison was a self-contained entity, and its military farmlands were not counted in the local civil government's statistics. It was, in effect, an independent domain — strictly speaking, quite similar to Cloud Mountain Temple: a landlord possessing vast tracts of land and a large population.

Zhao Jin naturally had no intention of letting such an entity slip through his fingers. But what he could make use of was only its population and its farmland — selecting able-bodied young men to fill the Zhao Character Camp, and using the farmland to resettle refugees. Those were the only two things he could do. Many of the garrison officers were wealthy, but after all, there was no deep blood feud between them, and all sorts of connections existed. He couldn't tear off all pretense and rob them outright.

But these two measures — absorbing able-bodied young men and resettling refugees — already forced the Xuzhou Garrison to spend heavily. Zhao Jin's own family came from the garrison; he'd heard about it endlessly since childhood. These officers were utterly useless at fighting and training, yet every single one loved money like his life. They had no qualms about indulging and squandering on themselves, but making them spend a single extra coin on anything else was like cutting flesh from their bodies. Dong Bingfeng described them the same way.

He had assumed today's meeting would inevitably involve hemming and hawing, that his side would have to throw its weight around and make threats. He never expected such cooperation. It was strange — like putting all his strength into a punch only to hit empty air. Deeply unsettling.

For a moment, Zhao Jin didn't know how to proceed. Ruhui stood to the side, calculating with his head lowered. The others also wore looks of confusion. As for Dong Bingfeng, he simply felt humiliated. These elders from the garrison were all groveling sycophants, utterly devoid of backbone, and their behavior made him unable to hold his head up either.

"Um... Young Master Zhao... there are some matters I'm not sure if it's convenient to ask about." After a silence, Commander Jia broke the deadlock. The portly officer rubbed his hands together, his face wreathed in smiles, and spoke with careful deference.

"Speak!" Zhao Jin answered curtly, though inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief. The Xuzhou Garrison's attitude today — lying down and accepting defeat at every turn — had been deeply unsettling. Now, perhaps, their true purpose would surface.

Commander Jia glanced at the others beside him, exchanged looks, and continued, "The Xuzhou Garrison is resettling these refugees, but we can't just let them eat for free. They'll have to labor and farm. So how do we calculate the output?"

Zhao Jin blinked. Commander Jia straightened his back, and his expression grew considerably more serious. With great gravity, he said, "Labor and farming must yield returns. They'll be using the Xuzhou Garrison's tools and seeds, farming on the Xuzhou Garrison's land. How should the harvest be divided? The people were captured by you, Young Master Zhao, but everything else is provided by the Xuzhou Garrison. For Young Master Zhao's sake, we ought to take not a single coin — that would only be right. But the Xuzhou Garrison is not our private property. We must be able to account for everything to those above and below."

As he spoke these words, all of Commander Jia's earlier wretchedness and cringing vanished like smoke. A certain presence even emanated from him, and he showed not the slightest timidity before Zhao Jin.

Zhao Jin paused, studying the man. The look in his eyes was no longer purely one of intimidation and contempt. These men were indeed not qualified military officers or garrison commanders — but they were shrewd businessmen.

The garrison farmlands belonged to the state. Military households farmed the garrison lands and paid taxes, so the state didn't need to spend a single coin or grain of rice to maintain its troops. This system seemed ingenious and indeed worked for the first few decades. But as time went on, it deteriorated more and more. The officers swallowed up garrison lands, drove the military households like slaves, and embezzled tax payments to line their own pockets. The garrisons became the private estates of the Commanders and Chiliarchs.

The Xuzhou Garrison was established during the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang. Having been passed down for so many years, it was naturally no exception. The military households of the Xuzhou Garrison lived lives of bitter hardship, while the Commanders and Chiliarchs grew fat with wealth.