Chapter 676: I Have My Own Plans

The atmosphere in the inner hall was rather relaxed at the moment. That clerk really was imitating a storyteller, growing more animated as he spoke. Zhao Jin's exploits had now spread widely through Xuzhou and the surrounding areas, which was no surprise — his rapid rise and expansion over these past few years made his deeds truly legendary, no less compelling than any tale from the storytellers' repertoire.

Hearing how Zhao Jin killed the kidnappers and fought a bloody battle against desperate bandits in the narrow alley, Sun Chuanting merely commented indifferently, "Martial valor, nothing more. A hero of the rivers and lakes, at best."

"... At the welcoming banquet, Your Excellency also drank that Hanjing Famous Liquor. That wine now enjoys tremendous renown across the land, but Your Excellency likely does not know that this liquor was created by Master Jin — no, by Zhao Jin. Half of Zhao Jin's fortune can be credited to this very wine..."

"This Hanjing Famous Liquor was actually made by Zhao Jin?" Sun Chuanting and Teacher Tian were both stunned to hear this. Hanjing Famous Liquor was one thing elsewhere, but in Shanxi, especially in the northern part near the border walls of the Great Wall, it was something else entirely. Never mind the bitter cold of that region — in winter, soldiers, civilians, and gentry alike with any means at all all favored this strong, fiery spirit. Those familiar with the border markets and the grasslands knew even better what this liquor meant out on the steppe. It was said that sons and disciples from several distilleries in Fenzhou had all gone to seek out the place where this Hanjing Famous Liquor was produced, hoping to learn the craft — yet none had imagined the wine was actually made by Zhao Jin.

"... Producing this wine brought wealth rolling in like a river, and naturally countless people grew envious and resentful. That cult leader set an ambush, planning to kill Zhao Jin and his men and seize the enterprise. At a hilly area east of Xuzhou, Zhao Jin and his seven brothers faced over a hundred of those desperate, murderous bandits. They lost one brother, but slaughtered every last one of those hundred-plus men. Then, without pausing to rest the horses, they rode straight for that cult leader's lair..."

"Do not spin this like a storyteller's tale. Eight youths, not even fully grown, against over a hundred bandits and desperadoes — and caught in an ambush at that. How could they possibly have won? This county magistrate has trained in martial arts and knows military matters. If you know the facts, speak them plainly. If you do not, then skip over it!" Sun Chuanting interjected again.

That clerk, caught up in the excitement of his telling, had forgotten his earlier trembling fear. He shook his head repeatedly and said, "Your Excellency, please do not misunderstand. This humble one speaks only the truth. Afterward, both the Xuzhou authorities and the Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander's office sent men to inspect the site. The hillside was covered with corpses. In the depths of winter, no snow could be seen — only red everywhere. The twenty-odd followers Zhao Jin had brought with him had all been shot dead by arrows. They had charged up the slope and fought to the very end. If Your Excellency does not believe it, you may ask those two."

"Your Excellency, rest assured. Though this affair sounds absurd, last year some men from Xuzhou came here on official business and said that even the Xuzhou yamen was shocked at the time, wondering how these few could possess such ferocious killing intent. Your Excellency, please let him continue — what comes next is nothing by comparison."

"... They wiped out that He Family Manor and uncovered evidence of the cult's crimes... But they were also locked in a feud to the death with Cloud Mountain Temple. This matter is only hearsay, but it is said that Cloud Mountain Temple rallied over a thousand warrior monks and several hundred horse bandits. Zhao Jin had only a little over two hundred men, yet he stubbornly held that manor. After that, the people managing Cloud Mountain Temple were replaced with those close to Zhao Jin, and many from the temple were dragged out with proof of their crimes..."

"... That, in truth, still counts for little. Your Excellency surely remembers the year of the refugee uprising, when Shandong refugees besieged Xuzhou City. That band of refugees had colluded with the cult — they had collaborators inside and outside. The city gate was nearly forced open from within. Had Zhao Jin not led his four hundred-plus men, along with a thousand or so local militia, and utterly crushed those hundred thousand refugee bandits, it would have been a true catastrophe. At that time, even our Guide Prefecture might have suffered..."

The tale was told with vivid detail. Sun Chuanting and Teacher Tian listened in silence. When they reached the part about a thousand-odd men routing a hundred thousand refugee bandits, Sun Chuanting could not help but ask, "A thousand men routing a hundred thousand — and he had no cavalry. How could he possibly have broken a hundred thousand refugee bandits?"

"It seems the court gazette even mentioned it once at the time, saying the Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander had dispatched troops to quell the rebellion," Teacher Tian said slowly. A prominent local family like this, one that staked its reputation on the imperial examinations and scholarly honors, naturally paid close attention to the great affairs of the realm and the movements of the court. This matter was remembered.

"... All foot soldiers, no cavalry. Though it was said the refugee bandits had a few hundred mounted men. We humble ones did not believe it at first either, but later many accounts emerged — that the Xuzhou Assistant Regional Commander had been lured away from the mountain, that silver had been spent to buy heads. But just look now: in Master Jin's manor, in the stronghold at the Wild Grass Flats in Huai'an Prefecture, all the laborers are those very refugees. If Master Jin had not won the victory, how could such accounts exist? Why would those refugees be so utterly devoted to working for Master Jin? Master Jin is compassionate — so many people, it is a wonder he can feed them all..."

Sun Chuanting let out a long breath and exchanged a glance with Teacher Tian beside him. For a moment, neither knew what to say. They remained silent for a while before Sun Chuanting finally murmured, "Such martial valor, such methods of command — had he joined the army as an officer, his achievements might well have been no less than those of Qi or Yu. Now, when Liaodong is in dire need of capable men, if he could display his talents there, even winning a noble title would not be out of reach."

As the exploits were recounted, Zhao Jin's form of address shifted back to Master Jin, though no one corrected it. The man doing the telling even dared to correct his superiors now: "Your Excellency, Teacher Tian, this Master Jin is not merely a man of martial valor. His methods for generating wealth are numerous as well. Did we not speak of the wine earlier? Now the greatest profits come not from wine, but from the salt market and the trade market. The salt market needs no elaboration, but the trade market is truly extraordinary. Goods from all directions converge there, and are then carried away by merchants from every quarter. Master Jin simply sits and collects his cut..."

Hearing the details of the salt market, Sun Chuanting gave a cold snort and said disdainfully, "Hegemons of this sort are always scheming over illicit salt, always looking to chip away at the Great Ming's foundations."

However, when that clerk began describing the details of the trade market, Sun Chuanting and Teacher Tian listened with great attention. It was Teacher Tian who spoke up to ask, "These methods of generating wealth — could they have been taught to Zhao Jin by the family of that Sun Dalei?"

"That cannot be. Everyone, inside and out, knows that the Sun family also relies on the Zhao family for their prosperity. And now, at Qingjiangpu, there is said to be a great market a hundred times larger than the Xuzhou market — also established by Master Jin. That one brings in mountains of gold and seas of silver every single day!"

The words were spoken casually, but the listeners were visibly shaken. Sun Chuanting frowned and asked, "This Zhao Jin has such a vast enterprise at Qingjiangpu as well?"

"Your Excellency, what Master Jin did at Qingjiangpu was truly satisfying. The moment he made his move, it was like a thunderclap — he swept away all the local rivers-and-lakes figures and local strongmen in one stroke..."

By this point, Sun Chuanting and Teacher Tian no longer had the heart to listen further. Teacher Tian waved his hand, dismissing the three clerks. Unlike the fear and panic they had shown at the beginning, all three men were now thoroughly animated by the telling, with a distinct sense of wishing the tale could go on.

Once only Sun Chuanting and his advisor remained in the inner hall, the two no longer needed to maintain their composure. Sun Chuanting exhaled and said, "What those three said should be the truth."

"Lying brings them no benefit. They can see the situation in Yongcheng well enough — it is merely a remote, insignificant county. There are no tricks to play here," Teacher Tian said leisurely. His expression was not one of arrogance, but of confidence.

Sun Chuanting nodded. The Sun family had experienced too many things over several generations in officialdom and had accumulated too much experience. In the generation of Sun's great-grandfather, there had been a Department Magistrate. In his grandfather's generation, someone had served as an advisor to a Provincial Administration Commissioner. In his father's generation, there had been a Deputy Prefect and a Prefectural Judge. They had corresponding methods and strategies not just for a single county, but for an entire prefecture, even an entire province. That was why, within half a month, they had straightened out Yongcheng County and seized it firmly in their grasp — everyone took it as a matter of course, nothing remarkable at all.

"Teacher Tian has also heard of my experiences during the metropolitan examination. Some passed, some did not. But whether they passed or failed, most were mediocre men. The only one who struck me as extraordinary was that Wang Zhaojing from Xuzhou. After the metropolitan examination, when I learned his name was not on the list, I felt genuine regret. I never imagined that after coming to Yongcheng, I would hear his name again — and moreover, as a subordinate of that Zhao Jin... Zhao Jin... Zhao Jin..." When Sun Chuanting spoke this name, he could not help but murmur it twice.

Sun Chuanting seemed lost in thought for a moment, as if recalling those brief encounters in the capital: "When I saw him then, I took him for a simple, honest provincial candidate from somewhere. Later, I thought he was Brother Wang's companion and guard. Still later, I realized he was a military man of some insight — but I never imagined he was a figure of this caliber."

After these few words of appraisal, Sun Chuanting's voice turned stern: "Such conduct is tantamount to plotting rebellion — a grave menace to the state. Had I not come here, such shocking affairs might never have come to light."

"Local hegemons who know nothing of the court's order, ignorant of the majesty of the imperial house, arrogant and self-aggrandizing, acting as they please — such are not uncommon," Teacher Tian added from the side, though he shook his head slightly as he spoke. This young master of the Sun family was of superior scholarship — otherwise he would not have earned the Presented Scholar degree — and his talent for practical statecraft was top-notch. Once such a man entered officialdom, so long as he avoided minor errors and had a patron to support him, his future was surely boundless; he would be put to great use. Yet though he understood the ways of the world, he still could not shed his scholarly idealism. But this was no great flaw — who had not been young? After a few bumps and bruises, after seeing more of the world's affairs, he would naturally become even-tempered.

Teacher Tian idly flipped through two pages of the account book and said calmly, "The matter of blocking the Liaodong levy has encountered a complication. What to do next — I would ask the young master to reach a decision as soon as possible. The second master and the capital side have both been notified. If this approach fails, we must try other means."

Sun Chuanting sat there in silence for a while, then slowly spoke: "I have my own plans."

Though it is said that imperial authority does not extend below the county, and that a magistrate's orders do not leave the city gates — the countryside beyond being the domain of the gentry — this is merely a common saying. As county magistrate, going out of the city to inspect the people's condition and supervise agricultural affairs was, after all, only proper.

In mid-September, word spread through Yongcheng County in Guide Prefecture, Henan, that the new county magistrate, His Excellency Sun, had gone out in disguise to conduct a personal inspection. The moment this news got out, everyone from the clerks and runners down to the gentry and local strongmen cursed roundly. Couldn't he just be a proper official and stay put? Did he have to imitate those opera scripts and engage in such flashy, impractical antics, causing trouble for everyone for no good reason?

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