Chapter 586: Qingjiangpu Is a Soft Entombment

After so many years together, the old steward understood his young master's way of doing things perfectly well. He simply sighed there, and before he could speak, Yu Zhiyuan continued, "Uncle Hua, that Yunshan Distillery has opened branches in both Nanjing and Songjiang. Let's buy up all the spirits they have here in Songjiang — the men on the sand ships need exactly that out at sea. Then, have the Yu family post a bounty: those heavy arquebuses from the Western Folangji ships, we'll buy them at top price. As long as someone has one and delivers it, silver is no object."

The old steward hesitated, wanting to speak, but in the end only sighed, bowed, and accepted the order.

In Nanjing, the third month: along the Qinhuai River, spring had warmed and flowers were blooming. The slightly desolate pleasure haunts began to bustle again. Among the flower boats and painted barges drifting on the river, the tender voices of songstresses and the strains of string and bamboo music floated out from time to time.

Yet there was an exception. One painted barge drifted along the river in perfect quiet. At its bow and stern, several burly men sat or stood, warily sizing up their surroundings.

"This is a wine for men. This is a wine for warriors — for the north!" In a private compartment aboard the painted barge, a low table was set with a wine jar and a few small dishes. Ma Chonghao, Assistant Commander of the Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard, held a wine bowl and sipped in small tastes, his face full of pure enjoyment.

"Those Xuzhou fellows have really grown their business. They've even opened a wine branch down here in Jiangnan. Who knows how much silver they've made," Ma Liu, standing to the side, said with a smile.

Ma Chonghao drained the wine in his bowl, exhaled a breath as if intoxicated by the liquor's strength, and closed his eyes without opening them. After a quiet moment, he asked in a deep voice, "That Zhao Jin — has he put down roots in Qingjiangpu?"

"To answer the Chief Censor, he has put down roots. They played a trick of feinting retreat to draw the enemy out, then killed a chicken to warn the monkeys. Those types in Qingjiangpu have been enjoying themselves too long and had no idea how to respond. They were thoroughly beaten into submission in one stroke. What's more, Zhao Jin has placed nearly two thousand men in Qingjiangpu, both openly and covertly. Now no one dares make a reckless move," Ma Liu replied.

Ma Chonghao still had his head tilted back and eyes closed, as if asleep. Only after another moment did he ask, "They started with such a big fight — did the officials not intervene?"

"Originally they were going to use the troops of the Shanyang garrison, but someone came from Langshan and stopped them. As you know, Chief Censor, the Langshan Vice General lost his stake last time. This time he absolutely refused to reach out his hand again. Once the officials saw that even government troops could do nothing against the Xuzhou men, and that the customary silver payments kept coming on schedule, they just held their noses and accepted it." Ma Liu knew the whole story inside out.

Ma Chonghao opened his eyes then and said angrily, "That pack of scoundrels! The troops under their command are the troops of the Great Ming, the troops of the Son of Heaven — not their own. And now look: they've all become their private property. When it comes to serving the Great Ming, they still have to weigh whether they'll take a loss or not. What's even more absurd is that the court itself seems to think these troops are the scoundrels' private property. If this goes on, who will still be willing to risk their lives? Sooner or later, chaos will break out!"

After saying this, Ma Chonghao lifted the small wine jar, filled his bowl to the brim, tilted his head back, and drained it in one gulp. Then he closed his eyes again. Ma Liu at his side seemed long accustomed to this manner of his and simply stood with his head lowered.

"Is there any loose thread we can seize on?"

"None. The corpses were all cleaned up neatly — most likely taken to some remote place and burned. Those Xuzhou men leave no loose ends every time they act. This time, when they taught the Qingjiangpu river-and-lake crowd a lesson, they shot arrows from a distance and masked their faces up close. Everyone knows it was them, but no one can produce proof that it was them. And all the people connected to it were forced into enormous debts and dragged off with their whole families to farm and do hard labor in the north. Those who remain probably don't dare speak either."

Ma Chonghao muttered a curse under his breath, then said with a laugh, "They did come out of the yamen after all — they play these opportunistic, loophole-exploiting tricks rather well."

"Chief Censor, shall I take a few men and bring back a witness? See if we can extract anything important under interrogation."

"No need. In Qingjiangpu and Xuzhou, we still don't have as many eyes and ears as that Zhao Jin. A rash move would easily alert the quarry. Let's keep fattening them for now. Right now, the fatter they grow, the better. Once they're fat enough and we seize them, we'll be set for several lifetimes. I might even be able to return to the capital and become a real Chief Censor." As he spoke, Ma Chonghao yawned.

"Rest assured, Chief Censor, this humble one will keep a close watch over there!"

Before the Yu family opened their branch in Xuzhou, a manager had already brought several cartloads of cotton cloth to sell, wanting to test the market at the fair outside He Family Village. But as soon as the goods were laid out, merchants from all around swept them clean. The Yu family manager understood immediately: selling cotton cloth here at He Family Village in Xuzhou would certainly make money.

In the past, Songjiang cotton cloth reached Xuzhou only after passing through several hands, and the price rose accordingly. But now it was being shipped directly for sale, cutting out the middlemen's markups, so the price naturally had an advantage. Moreover, He Family Village attracted merchants from neighboring Henan and Shandong, and even from the southern prefectures and counties of Northern Zhili. Though none of these places could be called wealthy, they still had plenty of rich gentry and officials, who naturally had a demand for such goods.

In fact, as soon as Zhao Jin took Qingjiangpu, the market at He Family Village grew more prosperous along with it. Large quantities of southern goods arrived here. At the same time, thanks to Wang Ziyang's route, many specialty products from beyond the frontier, beyond the passes, and from Shanxi and Henan also came overland to gather and trade here.

In the eyes of those in the rivers-and-lakes and the marketplaces, of the three best locations in the region north of the Yangtze in Southern Zhili, Zhao Jin now held two. Qingjiangpu and Yutou Town were both in his hands. Anyone who wanted to prosper, anyone who wanted to earn a living off these places, had no choice but to deal with the Zhao Character Camp. Yet the Zhao Character Camp was simply too strong — they could only act according to the Zhao Character Camp's rules. This forced everyone to bow their heads.

Of all the branches of the Smelling Incense Sect, only the one in Xuzhou was firmly grasped in Zhao Jin's hands — even its organization had been infiltrated by the Zhao Character Camp, making it completely independent of the Smelling Incense Sect's main headquarters in Yuncheng. However, the Smelling Incense Sect was tightly organized and operated in secrecy, so Zhao Jin had only managed to seize Xuzhou alone. The neighboring Guide Prefecture, various parts of Shandong, Fengyang Prefecture, and Pizhou all still obeyed the direction of the Xu family in Yuncheng.

The Smelling Incense Sect in Yuncheng and the Zhao Character Camp were irreconcilable enemies. This enmity involved not only the grudges between the Xu and Mu families, but also the large number of key cadres lost in Xuzhou, and the bone-deep hatred of having the Xuzhou territory seized from them.

But for the Smelling Incense Sect sub-branches and chapters near Xuzhou, obeying the main headquarters was one thing; being enemies with the Zhao Character Camp, or being irreconcilable with them, was quite another.

In reality, everyone's attitude toward the Zhao Character Camp was rather amiable. At Yutou Town, roughly nine out of ten of the grain-transport laborers and soldiers on the tribute grain route were Smelling Incense followers, yet they had made a fortune exchanging tribute grain for wine. It would be no exaggeration to call Zhao Jin their meal ticket. Naturally, they would not pick a fight with their own silver. Though they remained on guard against Zhao Jin, they never made trouble for forces connected to the Zhao Character Camp, and would even pass along warnings when necessary.

The same logic applied in the other places. In Suzhou in Southern Zhili and Guide Prefecture, on the surface there was no contact, but behind the scenes, quite a bit of news was passed through Zheng Quan's Smelling Incense network. Only Shandong was an exception. Because Yuncheng County was located in Yanzhou Prefecture in southern Shandong, those several counties were all under the direct control of the Xu family, tightly organized, and free of this sort of insider betrayal.

Yet even those who were clearly hostile would not stir up trouble anywhere near He Family Village. They were even strictly forbidden from proselytizing there. The reason was simple: they too needed to do business and make money here, and to purchase supplies here. If everything were cut off, wouldn't that be severing their own road to wealth?

Neither celestial gods nor earth immortals, neither Maitreya Buddha nor the Eternal Venerable Mother, could compare to silver as the greatest. If you can earn money and spend it, then any grievance or grudge can be set aside. Ensuring the money keeps flowing — that is what truly matters.

Qingjiangpu was the pivotal hub of the tribute grain transport system and its main base. The number of grain-transport laborers and soldiers here was enormous. Naturally, it was also a major stronghold of the Smelling Incense Sect.

But this stronghold differed from the others. Though many believed in the teachings, they formed a self-contained entity. Nominally they submitted to the Yuncheng main headquarters, but in practice they were autonomous under the tribute grain transport system — the headquarters could not insert a hand here.

Of course, they could not exactly be called friendly with the Zhao Character Camp either. The Smelling Incense Sect's larger system was irreconcilable with the Zhao Character Camp, so the Smelling Incense forces in the grain transport system were naturally not particularly cordial. At most, it was a business relationship. Those with deep ties to Yutou Town, and the group managing the grain-for-wine exchange, were on fairly good terms with the Zhao Character Camp.

Once the Zhao Character Camp took control of Qingjiangpu, the grain-for-wine exchange, which had previously passed through an intermediary, could now be conducted directly. And because the Zhao Character Camp controlled cart and horse transport and had developed Xuzhou into a local commercial center, the intersections between the Qingjiangpu grain-transport forces and the Zhao Character Camp suddenly multiplied. The benefits they could earn from the Zhao Character Camp also increased massively. Tribute grain needed to be sold off and converted to cash; the various goods smuggled aboard the tribute barges needed a market. The Zhao Character Camp could satisfy all of it.

When silver could be earned, hostility quickly dissipated. Amicable ties, where none had existed before, rapidly grew close. Originally, only a single gang boss maintained contact. In just ten-odd days, through various channels, over a dozen men whose word carried weight in the Qingjiangpu grain transport system had established connections with the Zhao Character Camp. According to information leaked from various open and covert sources, half of these dozen-plus men were Incense Masters of the Smelling Incense Sect, a third held the title of Chapter Head, and there was even one Venerable.

Since everyone was getting rich together, who would care about that...

"... Let his body and mind be forged of bronze cast around iron — in the gilded world of our Qingjiangpu, they'll still melt away. Right now you see this Zhao Character Camp as brutal and overbearing, but once they've had too many good days, they'll naturally soften. Everyone, don't be impatient. The situation in Qingjiangpu still belongs to us locals..."

In the rivers-and-lakes and marketplaces of Qingjiangpu, there were those who said and thought such things in secret. After being washed out time and again, after being cut down time and again, no one dared voice any resentment openly. Everyone, in every matter, professed submission. But unwillingness was unavoidable. In private gatherings, so-called "clear-sighted men" would pronounce the judgment above.

Everyone knew that Zhao Jin held overall control. But even by fast horse, Xuzhou was over two days away. Leaving a thousand-odd men here — in practice, it was impossible to truly control them. As long as everyone put in the effort and invested the capital, they could always sway people's hearts, maybe even pry someone away to their side. When the time came, they could turn the tables.

This was not something they lacked experience in. The imperial troops previously garrisoned at Qingjiangpu had been the same. Those men were outside troops from other regions, with no local ties. At first they too acted without restraint. But later, once the silver was applied and relationships were cultivated, they became just as obedient and useful, docilely doing the work and risking their lives. This Zhao Character Camp wasn't even government troops — just some fake militia braves putting on a show. Could they really withstand the soft entrapment of Qingjiangpu?

Thanks to the two book-friends "Yuan Heng Li Zhen" and "Sweet Sugarcane" for their tips. Thank you, old friends. Thank you, everyone, for your subscriptions and monthly tickets. Thank you all, and happy Mid-Autumn Festival.