Chapter 644: Open a New Front? Denied

Zhao Jin stood there looking down at his comrade, his patience finally wearing thin. In a muffled voice he said, "You came rushing over in such a panic, and now you're still in this disgraceful state. If the household guards below see you like this, they'll think something has happened in Xuzhou. How will you command respect in the future? Get up, quickly!"

By the end it had become a rebuke. Wang Zhaojing sat there, his body jolting, his shoulders actually trembling slightly. Zhao Jin's brow furrowed tight. He reached out and grabbed Wang Zhaojing by the shoulder, hauling the man straight up off the ground, and shook him hard, shouting angrily, "Have you lost your mind?"

With that shake and that shout, Wang Zhaojing's body stopped trembling, but the hand covering his face did not drop. In a hoarse voice he said, "Elder Brother, let your younger brother be still for just a moment longer."

After only a few breaths, Wang Zhaojing no longer covered his face. Under the flickering torchlight, one could see the rims of his eyes were somewhat red; he had certainly shed tears just now.

"Elder Brother, this time your younger brother did not pass the examination, and will never go to take it again." Wang Zhaojing spoke this baffling sentence.

After saying this, Wang Zhaojing gave a self-mocking smile, yet his expression was considerably more relaxed than before. Zhao Jin stared at Wang Zhaojing and said, "There is still something in your heart you cannot let go of."

"Let go, I let go long ago. It's just that for a moment I felt utterly empty and didn't know what to do." Wang Zhaojing rubbed his cheeks as he spoke.

Zhao Jin nodded and turned to walk out. Before he could move, Wang Zhaojing behind him opened his mouth and asked, "Elder Brother, what do we do now?"

"What do we do? Everything continues as before. We advance step by step; there's no need to concern ourselves with the shifting winds and clouds outside." Zhao Jin answered curtly.

Wang Zhaojing nodded glumly and followed Zhao Jin out, saying in a low voice, "Just now I truly made a fool of myself before Elder Brother. Your younger brother lost all sense of proportion for a moment. This time I will go with Elder Brother to Qingjiangpu."

"You did make a fool of yourself." Zhao Jin said irritably.

After an emotional outburst, a person will quickly calm down. At this moment, if one did not look at the traces on Wang Zhaojing's face, one could not tell at all that he had just been so utterly discomposed. As they were about to leave the courtyard, Wang Zhaojing quickened his pace a few steps and asked Zhao Jin in a low voice, "Elder Brother, could it be that you had deduced all these matters in advance?"

"What's so strange about that? I'm not the only one who saw it coming." Zhao Jin answered very cautiously.

That was indeed the case. Hardly anyone had any real hope for Yang Hao's expedition to Liaodong; most felt defeat was more likely than victory. Sun Chuanting had made the same judgment. It was just that no one had imagined the defeat would come so swiftly.

In truth, Zhao Jin had also been waiting to know the outcome. Yang Hao had led over a hundred thousand troops out into Liaodong. What would victory or defeat look like? Or rather, what kind of defeat would it be? A retreat after a stalemate? A withdrawal with heavy losses? Or a battle of annihilation like this? Each kind of outcome carried a different significance.

A total defeat like this one made Zhao Jin's objectives even clearer, and also made him understand better how to act in the future.

"Elder Brother, this great defeat will leave no room whatsoever for debate on the matter of the additional Liao Impost levy. The entire court, high and low, will inevitably push it through with full force. Within this, we have a great opportunity." Wang Zhaojing seemed to have regained his composure as well, speaking as he followed behind Zhao Jin.

The household guards in the courtyard preparing to rest or stand watch were all a bit puzzled. Third Master Wang Zhaojing had come chasing after them in a daze, and now he seemed to have calmed down. Who knew what all this fuss was about.

Most people knew not to inquire into matters they shouldn't. There were, however, a few curious ones who asked, and the answer they got was that after Third Master received a letter from home, he had mustered the cavalry squad and rushed out. No one knew what urgent business it was.

Upon hearing this, everyone stopped caring much. It was most likely some major affair from the capital. Such major affairs had nothing to do with the men below; why bother with it?

When they set out the next day, Niu Jinbao was still at the rear of the column. However, this time more men were keeping him company. Until his background was fully investigated, a man of such high martial skill could not be allowed too close to Zhao Jin.

Although he had been emotionally agitated when he came to deliver the news, by the next day on the road, Wang Zhaojing had already completely returned to normal. He was even chatting and laughing freely with Zhao Jin. Perhaps to cover up his lapse the night before, he was being especially normal.

The matters they discussed, however, were deeply considered. With the court imposing the additional Liao Impost levy and the whole realm gripped by panic, large numbers of commoners would inevitably be ruined. How to use this wave of unrest to recruit more manpower, how to seize properties and industries within it, how to amass a huge fortune and strengthen the Zhao Character Camp itself — this was a prime opportunity in every respect.

To others, there was nothing unusual about it. Third Master was, after all, Master Jin's strategist; offering counsel and devising plans was only to be expected. Zhao Jin, however, had a different feeling. After last night's breakdown, Wang Zhaojing had finally and completely taken his stand with the Zhao Character Camp, with no other thoughts remaining.

Perhaps, upon receiving the news of Yang Hao's army's defeat in the campaign against Jianzhou, Wang Zhaojing had already known what he must do. The reason for such a loss of composure was perhaps merely a release after that sense of loss.

"We are not short of silver. Qingjiangpu alone is enough to raise the funds to sustain the Zhao Character Camp's expenses. With the contributions from the various estates and the local areas, we are not short of grain either. Since we lack nothing, we must not scheme about how to profit and squeeze people within this chaos. Without the people's hearts, nothing we do will matter." Zhao Jin spoke very plainly and directly. After last night, a layer of window paper had been thoroughly pierced through.

Wang Zhaojing smiled on horseback and merely said, "If it were only Xuzhou alone that did not pay the Liao Impost, we might still manage on the official front. But if Xuzhou plus this entire surrounding region all refuse to pay, I fear it will be difficult to manage."

"After the Liao Impost levy is imposed, what do you think will happen to the realm?" Zhao Jin did not answer, but merely asked with a smile.

Wang Zhaojing pondered briefly and arrived at an answer: "Chaos is inevitable. Such marrow-sucking, bone-scraping extortion — the common people simply cannot endure it, not to mention the natural disasters striking everywhere year after year."

"Since chaos will break out, the court will certainly have to go suppress those disturbances. What mind will they have to pay attention to us?" Zhao Jin said with a laugh.

"Elder Brother, we cannot take anything for granted. The world is ever-changing; we must make more preparations." Wang Zhaojing was very serious.

"What you say is not wrong. But no matter how the outside changes, as long as our Zhao Character Camp does not change, as long as we hold onto these few current sources of revenue, as long as we brothers train the troops... as long as the household guards do not slacken, then we need not worry about changes in external affairs. Once we ourselves are strong, it is not we who must watch the outside, but the outside that must watch us." Zhao Jin's theory was the same as always.

Wang Zhaojing smiled. He too gave an answer unrelated to the question, merely saying, "Elder Brother, what exactly are we going to do?"

To this question Zhao Jin gave no reply, merely turning his head to glance at him. Wang Zhaojing answered his own question with a smile, "No rush. We'll just do it slowly."

After arriving at Qingjiangpu, before Zhao Jin could even go out to invite anyone, the wealthy merchants of Qingjiangpu had already come calling. The reason was simple: each family's servants and household slaves had been keeping watch outside the Zhao Character Camp's encampment, with orders to report back immediately at any news. Naturally, they could learn of Zhao Jin's movements at the first possible moment.

They all came to see Zhao Jin to discuss one matter: expanding the Qingjiang Grand Market. In just a few short months, every one of them had been stunned by the market's money-making power. This area was already like a Treasure-Gathering Basin. If it could be made even larger, what then? Qingjiangpu bordered the canal in more places than just this one spot.

Zhao Jin's answer was also very simple: "Denied." Everything could only be conducted within this Qingjiang Grand Market; opening a new front was forbidden.

The grain transport canal was the lifeblood of the realm, and Qingjiangpu was the hub of that transport. In terms of the Great Ming's overall structure, calling Qingjiangpu the economic hub of the realm would not be an overstatement. Goods from north and south converged here via every waterway and land route, then were traded and distributed, heading to every corner of the realm. Such a vast situation, such a massive convergence of wealth and goods — of course a single Qingjiang Grand Market could not contain it all. Opening another would also bring in a fortune daily.

However, Zhao Jin had also thought it through very clearly. If a new market were opened, this group of wealthy merchants would inevitably want to renegotiate the shares. They would certainly not be content with the current situation where the roots were firmly grasped in Zhao Jin's hands.

Moreover, even if the Zhao Character Camp used military force to suppress them and continued to maintain strong control — not to mention the undercurrents and hidden turbulence this would stir up — the mere fact that it would draw in the bulk of the Zhao Character Camp's strength made it unsuitable. The Zhao Character Camp's foundation was currently in Xuzhou. If a large portion of its forces came here, it would have no choice but to continue expanding to cope. But whatever was said in discussions with Wang Zhaojing, in practice one still had to exercise a certain degree of restraint. The time for further expansion had not yet come. The Zhao Character Camp's current scale was already far too conspicuous.

The wealthy merchants could probably figure out this reasoning as well. The reason they came to ask was simply to test the waters, thinking that if Zhao Jin agreed, it would be a fortune falling from the heavens.

With Zhao Jin's crisp and decisive refusal, everyone had no choice but to use an alternative method. This method was actually quite simple: it was nothing more than setting up a wooden board in front of the shop entrance, writing on it the daily types of goods and their approximate prices. The shop's merchandise was all stored in the warehouse. Traveling merchants would see what they needed on this board, then go negotiate with the shopkeeper, and only after reaching a deal would they go pick up the goods. This was, in fact, a rather efficient method.

This method was actually one used by the Cloud Mountain Firm and the Sun Family Trading Company. It was simple and easy to implement. The reason everyone else had not used it, however, was not because the method was bad, but because once they used it, they would have no excuse to bring up the matter of expanding the grand market.

Since expansion was impossible, this ready-made method had to be picked up. Some people did come to realize that the market prices seemed to have always followed the price boards outside those few trading companies of the Zhao Character Camp. Whatever price was written, whether buyer or seller, everyone followed that price. If one thought about it that way, the benefit from these price boards might not necessarily be smaller than expansion...

With a volume like Qingjiangpu's, there were countless business opportunities and vast amounts of wealth and goods, yet information was opaque. Once someone publicly displayed the prices, whether reasonable or not, people would take them as truth. Not to mention that the Zhao Character Camp's Cloud Mountain Firm and Sun Family Trading Company had always conducted business fairly. To hold this pricing power was likewise a major resource.

When every wealthy merchant in Qingjiangpu came to make this sort of "helpless move," in reality they were setting the prices for the majority of goods across the entire realm. The prices in such a pivotal hub became the standard. Other places would take this standard, then add or subtract the required water and land freight costs for their own locales, and that would become the local price.

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