Chapter 579: Self-Produced, Self-Marketed

Originally, Zhao Zhentang and Chen Wu had no patience for these people either and kept their doors shut. As for Dong Jike's side, since they were all colleagues and the like, they could only deal with them in a lukewarm, perfunctory manner.

But just as the recruitment of new men was nearing completion, the elders of the Zhao, Chen, and Dong families began receiving visitors. Everyone found this normal — the relationships in Xuzhou had to be maintained after all. When the sons threw little tantrums, the fathers had to step out and smooth things over.

There weren't many banquets, though. Looking across the whole of Xuzhou today, barely anyone was qualified to share a table and drink with these few men. It was simply that the gentry and powerful families, great and small, had entrusted a few prestigious households to step forward on their behalf.

After several rounds of these meals, everyone caught wind of a common message. The elders of the three families all said something to the same effect: they could not mistreat their own people, could not mistreat the villagers who risked their lives. These people absolutely had to be given good care. It made no sense for a lad to fight and risk death in the Zhao Battalion while his family back home got not a single share of the benefits.

Everyone liked the sound of that, but they immediately began to pick out the problematic details. Did this mean that only families with sons serving in the Zhao Battalion were entitled to this share of the benefits?

On what grounds? While the sons in the Zhao Battalion go out to fight, aren't our own sons going out to fight too? Complaints rose from all sides. At a time like this, no one bothered to mention that when fighting outside, the hardest battles were invariably flattened by the Zhao Battalion's strength, and the official channels were all smoothed over by the Zhao Battalion, leaving them only the mop-up and maintenance work to do.

But people, as a rule, tend to forget the benefits. Everyone only thought of their own hardships. Gratitude was nonexistent, but grievances were plentiful. Some even shouted, "If Master Jin treats us like this, the villagers' hearts have all gone cold! There's no need to keep watch outside for Master Jin anymore — just pull everyone back to Xuzhou!"

They said it, but no one actually did it. After decades of stifling poverty in Xuzhou, they had finally managed to build up some presence outside, a way to place their sons and make a fortune. Who would be willing to throw that away?

Compared to all this noisy commotion, the Provincial Graduate Cai Zhengde quietly sent a few more of his family's martial-trained sons over to the Zhao Battalion. He even sent word, stating clearly that he asked Zhao Jin to command them as he saw fit, regardless of whether they became household guards. Meanwhile, Scholar Zou of Zou Family Fort was the most boisterous of the lot. His two sons had long since been called back — one was sent outside, the other stayed home to drill the village braves.

Everyone knew one rule about how the Zhao Battalion operated: either they didn't do something, or they kept doing it continuously without letup. This time was no different.

While everyone was still making a ruckus, the Zhao Battalion's second order came down. The wording was high-sounding: it said that everyone was maintaining guard corps and militias, that these men consumed provisions daily and could not work the fields, which amounted to a reduction in labor, making the burden on every household far too heavy. To show consideration for everyone's hardship, the Zhao Battalion would arrange able-bodied men to guard each locality. These able-bodied men would be uniformly deployed by the Zhao Battalion. As for provisions and pay, the local gentry and powerful families would only need to bear half the cost.

On the surface, this method saved the localities quite a bit of money, but who couldn't see the meaning behind it? This was about stripping away everyone's personal blades and arms, then replacing them with Zhao Jin's own men. After this was done, everyone would be at the mercy of the Zhao Battalion, kneaded and molded at will.

The localities immediately erupted in an uproar. This was truly unbearable. The gentry with scholarly rank and the powerful families without it allied with one another, petitioning and pleading everywhere. Some even went directly to the Zhao Battalion encampment outside He Family Village to kneel outside and weep, saying that with the Zhao Battalion's bright prospects, they must not issue foolish orders that would bring ruin upon themselves, making them a laughingstock to those outside Xuzhou and squandering the magnificent situation they now had.

Compared to these landlords and gentry, men of the jianghu like Jiang Mutou saw things very clearly. From start to finish, they never raised a single objection. They had long since spoken plainly with Zhao Jin: whatever Master Jin wanted from their side, he only had to say the word and take it — they would have absolutely no second word to say. In truth, Zhao Jin gave them ample support in return. Their sons came over, but their other forces were basically preserved. The reason these jianghu men acted this way was because they understood the Zhao Battalion's might and knew how fearsome Zhao Jin was.

Of course, the gentry and powerful families of Xuzhou all knew the Zhao Battalion's dominance, and they all knew how fearsome Zhao Jin was. That was why, from start to finish, they only dared to find people to plead on their behalf, only dared to go and weep and lament. They didn't even dare to secretly band together in resistance. The Zhao Battalion might be treating the villagers kindly now, but the examples of those families wiped out in years past were still dripping with blood.

The Zhao Battalion remained utterly unmoved by such reactions. They simply gave a deadline: within five days, report your own numbers and disband, after which the Zhao Battalion would arrange able-bodied men to come and provide protection. The Zhao Battalion only gave the deadline; they did not state the consequences of exceeding it. But no one dared to test them. Hearts aching, flesh hurting, weeping to the heavens and beating the earth, they still obediently complied.

Only at this moment did everyone understand: no matter how many calculations they made, no matter how brilliant they thought their schemes were, in the final analysis, it was merely the Zhao Battalion giving them face. All the petty maneuvers they had carried out could only be built on the foundation of the Zhao Battalion's tacit consent or permission. The moment that permission was withdrawn, they could do nothing at all. This was the gap in strength.

By now, whatever underhanded moves anyone wanted to make in private were impossible. A few families tried to be clever and deliberately underreported their numbers, only to be exposed on the spot. This sent chills through everyone's hearts. They had to wonder — the heads of these families only knew their private soldier and militia numbers in the vague hundreds or tens, yet the Zhao Battalion had them down to the exact man!

If the forces in their hands couldn't be kept, then they had to hurry and send their own sons over. Many young men who had been "recuperating from illness" or were "of weak constitution" suddenly became bursting with vigor, rushing overnight to He Family Village. But the Zhao Battalion shut its gates to them. Becoming a household guard was out of the question, but just going back home like that was also not allowed. There were jobs arranged for them. Xuzhou proper had refugee able-bodied men as guards, but places like Suzhou, Guide Prefecture, Pizhou, and the Wasteland Grass Shoal still needed men sent over.

These guard jobs, however, came with no real benefits — hard toil and rotations, not a moment's relaxation allowed. As for the compensation, it was the same as the treatment of the refugee able-bodied youths.

Even so, every family obediently accepted it. Right now, all they could think about was how to mend relations with the Zhao Battalion; they couldn't afford to care about anything else. If they thoroughly offended Zhao Jin's side, they feared everything would be completely finished.

"... Originally they called him 'Master Jin,' but that soon changed to 'Zhao Jin.' Later, some even called him 'that brat.' Now they just say 'that great worm'..."

This was news passed along by people in the yamen. The Xuzhou region had finally come to realize how fearsome Zhao Jin was, but there was nothing they could do. They could only fume in silence, swallowing their grievances like broken teeth.

"... They sought out Provincial Graduate Cai, hoping he would step forward and plead their case with Master Jin. Provincial Graduate Cai paid them no mind and simply asked, 'If Master Jin made a move and demanded you hand over all your family property and your children, what could you do about it?' Some said they would fight Master Jin to the death. Some said they would go to the capital and file an appeal with the emperor. Provincial Graduate Cai then asked, 'Before any of that, do you have any way to stop him? Or, if the imperial court's troops came to our Xuzhou, do you think things would be better than they are now?'"

This came from Zheng Quan of the Smelling Incense Sect. Provincial Graduate Cai's words extinguished the last shred of wishful thinking in the Xuzhou region, laying bare a fact they had never been able to see through — or rather, had been unwilling to see through. Whatever the Zhao Battalion wanted to do in Xuzhou, it did. They had absolutely no way to stop it. Other than obediently following orders, they had no choice at all.

Not every place in Xuzhou was filled with resentment. The clerks and runners in the yamen of the prefecture and its four counties were thoroughly delighted. Ever since the Zhao Battalion had risen to power, the local powerful families had latched onto them, strutting about like foxes borrowing a tiger's might. Anything the yamen wanted to do became extremely inconvenient, for fear of offending Zhao Jin. It wasn't just the yamen in Xuzhou that felt this way — even those in Guide Prefecture and Pizhou had similar experiences. But now that the Zhao Battalion had turned its face, everyone was happy.

However, the people in the various yamen were all shrewd operators, every one of them clever. They didn't seize this opportunity to step out on their own and settle scores with those gentry and powerful families. Instead, each family sent representatives to discuss with Zhao Jin the critical matter of taking over the grain tax.

The grain taxes of Guide Prefecture and Xuzhou had long since been taken over by the Zhao Battalion. A fixed amount was handed over each year, and whatever remained belonged to the Zhao Battalion. But because the Zhao Battalion had various relationships with the different localities, they naturally couldn't squeeze too hard. After the grain tax was collected and handed over, not much was left in their own hands. If you factored in the costs of collecting the grain tax, they might even end up operating at a loss. Because the amounts were controlled so precisely, the benefits for the yamen were also limited. Now that they had fallen out, there were far fewer things to hold them back. What to do next naturally required a thorough discussion.

The numbers of village soldiers and militias reported from across Xuzhou were less than half of the true figures the Zhao Battalion had on record. Some people intended to hide forces, but those with that intention were actually in the minority. The truly large number came from those who completely disbanded every last one of their village soldiers and militias, leaving not a single man, and then reported a number anyway.

This approach was easy enough to understand. The number of guards the Zhao Battalion sent over would certainly have to be close to the original number. Since these families would still have to supply provisions and pay for these men, the fewer the men, the more cost-effective it was. There was no need to have so many.

The reduction was also normal. Zhao Jin and his companions had long since made a judgment: Xuzhou did not need this many village soldiers and able-bodied militiamen. At the very least, it didn't need this many right now. The reason such large numbers had been maintained was not for external threats, but for mutual defense against one another. Many places had fought each other for centuries, so naturally they had to maintain a balance of power. Now that everyone was being disarmed, all were left empty-handed, and naturally there would be no more disputes or conflicts.

When the Zhao Battalion's order to disband private village soldiers and guards was issued, some predicted that Xuzhou would inevitably fall into chaos. In reality, it took less than ten days for the situation to quickly settle into calm. Shedding this expense was like gaining an extra source of income for the household — in a sense, it was a good thing. When there is no way to change a fact, everyone will look for the good side of it.

Once the refugee able-bodied youths arrived to take up guard duties, everyone grew even more afraid to harbor disloyal thoughts. They had originally assumed that while the Zhao Battalion's household guards were elite and strong, the refugees would surely be gaunt, sallow-faced, starving wretches, not even worth mentioning. Perhaps the Zhao Battalion simply couldn't afford to feed these people anymore and was foisting them off onto everyone else.

In the first few days of the month, one must be diligent in asking for votes. If you still have your guaranteed monthly tickets in hand, cast them for Old Bai. Thank you, everyone.