Chapter 552: Impetuosity and Slow Deliberation

A household servant outside acknowledged the order, and before long someone brought a chair over for Yu Zhiyuan. A side table was placed beside it with tea and pastries. Yu Zhiyuan was no longer quite so agitated, but the fact that the other party had set a seat for him seemed to indicate he hadn't been rejected.

Moreover, the matter he had raised was so shocking to common sensibilities, yet the other party clearly understood it. And understanding it, they had still let him continue — this suggested the matter had a chance. Yu Zhiyuan still had misgivings, thinking to himself that the other party had hardly expressed any stance at all. Could it be they hadn't grasped the difficulty of this undertaking?

When the chair arrived, Yu Zhiyuan nodded and sat down, but it suddenly struck him: he held the rank of Provincial Graduate. By rights, a mere village headman like Zhao Jin ought to salute him with deference, or at the very least show a measure of courtesy. Yet he had been standing here talking for half the day, and no one had found it amiss — not even himself. Then it occurred to him that Wang Zhaojing's status was no lower than his own, and he was likewise seated in a subordinate position. With that, he felt considerably more at ease.

Once Yu Zhiyuan was seated, Zhao Jin spoke in a leisurely tone: "Young Master Yu, such a scheme truly compels admiration. Since you have spoken so frankly and laid your heart bare, Zhao has nothing to hide either. The Zhao Battalion's relations with the grain transport system are excellent indeed. One could say that without the grain transport, the Zhao Battalion would not be where it is today."

Zhao Jin's distillery was enormously profitable, and a portion of those profits came precisely from the grain transport system's practice of exchanging tribute grain for liquor. Furthermore, the Zhao Battalion's refugee relief system was sustained by those accumulated "wastage" tribute grain reserves within the transport system. As for the various goods in the salt market and the trading fair, they too were all connected to the grain transport — at the very least, tied to its shipping.

Watching Yu Zhiyuan's expression stiffen, Zhao Jin smiled and continued: "And this grain transport is the very lifeblood of the realm. If someone rashly moves against it, it will inevitably provoke a realm-shaking upheaval, and then make enemies of all under Heaven. The Zhao Battalion is merely a local militia in the countryside — are you asking us to let the armies of the realm surround and annihilate us?"

The expressions of the people in the room were rather subtle, because Zhao Jin had once spoken these very words to them before. But in that context, they had meant one thing; spoken now, they meant something else entirely.

The smile remained on Zhao Jin's face: "Young Master Yu seeks out the Zhao Battalion to do such a thing, and even promises those kinds of wildly impractical profits. Do you think us stupid and muddled, or do you think military men are easy to deceive?"

The old steward behind Yu Zhiyuan turned deathly pale at once. Yu Zhiyuan's expression, however, remained composed. He even smiled, then fell silent. Ji Xiang's gaze toward him was decidedly hostile, and the others' eyes had also turned cold. Yu Zhiyuan was silent for a moment, then spoke again: "It seems I was too impetuous..."

After saying this, he fell silent again, then shook his head and said: "Steward Zhao perhaps does not know — a few days ago, I stood on the dock and watched the fire. My family's sand ships were consumed by the great blaze just like that. My father's and my own painstaking efforts were burned to ashes. Every time I think of it, it feels like a knife is carving into my heart. They want me to stop, but I am determined to see it through to the end. Why should my family, in serving the people, meet such an end? Since they are so ruthless and absolute, then I will meet them head-on!"

Having said this with utter sincerity, Yu Zhiyuan then gave a rueful smile and cupped his hands, explaining: "I was furious and frantic, so enraged I lost my head, and thus I was somewhat rash. I have caused Steward Zhao to misunderstand. Please forgive me."

That was what he said, but Zhao Jin's courtesy and Wang Zhaojing's seeming agreement had inevitably stirred some unrealistic notions in Yu Zhiyuan. Seeing that Zhao Jin and the others in the room, though young, were all plainly and shabbily dressed, and that several of them even looked somewhat dull and wooden — Yu Zhiyuan, having spent so long in Songjiang Prefecture, the most prosperous part of Jiangnan, could not help feeling a measure of contempt in his heart. All the more so because this era universally held the civil to be noble and the military base. As a scion of an established family, an elite literatus who had passed the provincial examinations, facing these young military "brutes," it was only natural that he would try to employ some tricks.

When Yu Zhiyuan had spoken those earlier words, he had been carefully observing the expressions of Wang Zhaojing and Ruhui. In his thinking, so long as these two did not refute him, he could give it a try. If these two could not see through it, then the others could not either.

For Yu Zhiyuan, the scene was vaguely awkward, as if a lie had just been exposed. Yet this young prodigy, a man who had begun undertaking the grand project of shifting grain transport to the sea just past the age of twenty, was no ordinary person. His face did not redden in the slightest. He merely smiled a rueful, apologetic smile and said he had spoken wrongly in his haste.

This composure made Zhao Jin and his companions think somewhat more highly of him. As if he had said nothing at all just now, Yu Zhiyuan's face filled with grief and righteous indignation. He stood and bowed deeply, imploring: "Steward Zhao, the water bandits of Lake Tai commit violence in broad daylight. They burned twenty-one of my family's sand ships and threatened the lives of my entire household. With such lawless villains running rampant, I cannot sleep peacefully at night. I beg Steward Zhao to uphold justice on my behalf. If you can eradicate these lake bandits and water thieves, I am willing to contribute ten thousand taels in recompense. Even if they cannot be eradicated, I will bear all expenses incurred."

"This is settling for second best. It is a far smaller matter than reforming the grain transport to the sea. Yet the Lake Tai water bandits have always been the single largest force in the outlaw world of Southern Zhili. They ride their boats and range freely across the lake. The Zhao Battalion is a militia on land. If we wished to move against the Lake Tai water bandits, how would a large force of men cross prefectures and counties? How would they cross the Yangtze? And what would they do once they reached the shores of Lake Tai? Do you truly think the Zhao Battalion has three heads and six arms?" Zhao Jin asked with a smile.

The waters of Lake Tai are vast, surrounded by three prefectures of Southern Zhili and three prefectures of Zhejiang. During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, a dedicated naval brigade was established to govern it. Along the shores of Lake Tai, the law still holds sway, but the lake itself is a lawless land. The reason is simple: the authorities lack sufficient naval strength, and the lake's surface is far too vast and expansive — there is simply no way to control it.

There are fisherfolk and commoners who live their entire lives aboard boats. There are outlaw strongholds encamped on the islands and marshlands. None of these people are within the reach of the law. There are even legends that the remnants of Zhang Shicheng's forces have been living and multiplying in the Lake Tai region all along, plotting a resurgence. Others say they are the remnants of Chen Youliang's forces...

Because there is no law, no matter what earth-shattering crime one commits in some other prefecture or county, so long as one can reach Lake Tai and board a boat, one is safe and sound. Over the course of several centuries, desperate and murderous outlaws have gathered here, fighting and swallowing each other, forming factions and forces. These fierce bandits and great criminals, whom the authorities can do nothing about, often gather in numbers, commit their crimes, and then flee back into the lake to hide, making it all the more difficult to pursue and arrest them.

Although such bands must replenish their food, clothing, and daily necessities in the coastal towns and markets, their roots are on the lake. Lake Tai is too large — it is utterly impossible to seal it off completely. This only further indulges the Lake Tai water bandits' utter recklessness.

The Zhao Battalion has so many men, from top to bottom, and many of them have never even sat in a boat. A handful have crossed the Yellow River by boat to the northern bank, and that is the sum total of their experience. For such a force to go and fight the Lake Tai water bandits — the enemy would not even need to engage. They would simply retreat into the lake, and all would be well. The Zhao Battalion could not even afford to wait long.

Militia and private troops are inextricably tied to their home soil. The Zhao Battalion's forces run rampant and unchecked in Xuzhou, and are quite brazen in neighboring regions as well. But for such a force to march from Xuzhou to Huai'an Prefecture, to Yangzhou Prefecture, and then cross the Yangtze to Lake Tai — that is far too inconceivable. The moment they left Pi Prefecture, they would likely be deemed rebels. Before they even reached the riverbank, they would be surrounded and annihilated by government troops from every direction. Every step would be impossible.

As for how to handle provisions and fodder for these several thousand men, and all the other myriad considerations — one cannot simply speak empty words and have the Zhao Battalion magically transport itself from Xuzhou to Lake Tai and achieve instant success.

After Zhao Jin posed this rhetorical question, everyone in the room shook their heads. Their previously leaning-forward, attentive postures relaxed, and they leaned back against their chair rests.

Reforming grain transport to the sea, one hundred fifty thousand taels, ten million taels, half a family fortune, the Lake Tai bandit horde — these words that stirred the spirit and quickened the mind, upon careful reflection, were each and every one illusory. Each and every one unfeasible. And this Yu Zhiyuan, for all his righteous indignation, had intentions that put one on guard. Yet though the people in the room were young, they were all precociously mature. Aside from Ji Xiang, whose face showed anger, everyone else remained expressionless. The room simply fell silent.

Yu Zhiyuan straightened up a little as well. He looked around at the people in the room, shook his head to himself, and the smile on his face finally turned into a rueful one. He simply sat there and said self-deprecatingly: "I have made a laughingstock of myself before Steward Zhao and all of you gentlemen. The burning of the ships and the threats happened just a dozen or so days ago. When I close my eyes, it feels as if it just happened. These past few days staying here in the He Family Village, everything I have seen and heard has left my mind unsettled. I felt I had come to the right place, but as a result, I committed the great taboo of impetuosity, handling a matter that should have been approached with slow deliberation in such a rushed manner."

A smile surfaced on Zhao Jin's face. Chen Sheng also looked up and smiled briefly. Wang Zhaojing and Liu Yong exchanged glances, both smiling as well. The hostility on Ji Xiang's face was no longer so pronounced.

The slightly awkward and heavy atmosphere in the room just moments before now eased considerably. When a person is willing to mock themselves, it always puts others somewhat less on guard.

"Too impetuous, too impetuous!" Yu Zhiyuan said as he stood, bowing with clasped hands to Zhao Jin, then saluting everyone else. Smiling gently, he said: "I have made a fool of myself before you all. Let us speak no more of blades and justice. This salt market and the various trading fairs in Xuzhou are a novel departure. The cotton cloth that my family deals in is quite suitable. We shall have much business to conduct in the future."

Zhao Jin also smiled and returned the salute. When the Yu family had introduced themselves at their first meeting, they had claimed to be cotton cloth merchants, and they had indeed brought Songjiang cloth with them. Songjiang cotton cloth is sold throughout the realm. In the past, cloth merchants had always transported and sold it via the canal, marking up the price at each step, so the final price was not low. If a cloth merchant from the production area could come directly here to trade, the price would certainly be much cheaper, which would surely attract merchants from all directions and greatly benefit the Zhao Battalion as well.

"Since you have come, don't let the trip be in vain. Go take a good look around the market. For a person of Young Master Yu's stature and scale of operations, having a shopfront and warehouse would be best. If you see a place you like, come and tell us. We will certainly look after you as best we can," Zhao Jin said with a smile. At his side, Ruhui cupped his fist and nodded. It was as if no one had spoken the earlier words at all, and they were now discussing business here.

After a few more pleasantries, Yu Zhiyuan took his leave: "With New Year's Eve approaching, there are still many troublesome matters at home to attend to. I shall not impose any further. I will come to pay my respects again after the new year."

"This would be your 'slow deliberation,' then?" Zhao Jin asked with a smile. This Yu Zhiyuan had acted somewhat impetuously, and his intentions were not quite right, yet being of a similar age, aside from the impetuosity, he also had a frank and open side that left a rather good impression.

Thanks to the four book friends "Yuan Heng Li Zhen," "Book Friend 19095220," "Lonely Walker," and "Sweet Sugarcane" for their tips. Book Friend Sweet Sugarcane is already a Grandmaster of this book — thank you for your generosity. Thanks also to all the book friends who cast monthly votes and subscribed to this book. Also, there have been more typos in the recent updated chapters. I've been incredibly busy and haven't been careful enough with some things. My apologies.