Chapter 775: Yan Heilian of Yutai County

When he saw that the lead balls wouldn't fit into the barrel, Zhao Jincai noticed a detail: each matchlock came with its own match cord, powder, and lead balls. These craftsmen, to make sure the guns they built had no problems, had cast the lead balls themselves — and the powder was likely sifted by their own hands too. They really had put painstaking thought into it.

But this very practice left Zhao Jin not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Every blacksmith used slightly different weights and measures. Though each man worked with great care, they hadn't produced a batch of weapons with uniform specifications and dimensions. If on the battlefield someone ran out of ammunition and tried to use another man's but found it wouldn't fit, that would be a colossal joke.

They'd have to give the blacksmiths standardized measuring tools and gauges, make them forge to uniform dimensions. Still, sifting the powder and polishing the lead balls smooth — those were very good practices, and they should be kept up.

The matchlock's penetrating power actually surprised Zhao Jin. By all logic, with such a slender barrel, the lead ball couldn't be very heavy — yet it still punched through padded cotton armor. Until he got reliable data and templates, Zhao Jin didn't want to alter the barrel length, but the matchlock's grip had to be changed to the style he remembered from before, the kind you could brace against your shoulder.

But these ideas and improvements couldn't be shared too freely with the Xu family's people. Zhao Jin was already preparing to lock down these blacksmiths the way he'd done with the distillery back then — generous pay, the best possible conditions — but until everything was perfected, secrecy was essential. So the workshop for making matchlocks would have to be near Hejiazhuang.

Of the four Shandong counties Zhao Jin had named, Yicheng and Tancheng were mainly entered by the jianghu men from Pizhou, while Shanxian and Yutai were stormed by the jianghu men from Xuzhou.

Because different people were in charge, progress varied. Pizhou had pledged allegiance to Zhao Jin later, and after being combed through once, its strength was somewhat lacking. Besides, the provincial border had always been a barrier — people rarely crossed it. Now that they had permission, they still had to feel their way forward. And Yicheng and Tancheng themselves hadn't heard much about Zhao Jin or the Zhao Character Battalion, so breaking in would still take some clashes and bloodshed.

Shanxian and Yutai, however, were right next to Xuzhou. Zhao Jin and the Zhao Character Battalion's reputation had long since thundered in their ears. The local household troops, militias, and jianghu men had never been too careful about the provincial border anyway. Not to mention the several operations to hunt down the Incense-Smelling Sect followers, which had left both Shanxian and Yutai trembling from top to bottom. So once Zhao Jin gave the word, there was no process of clashes and bloodshed — the territory of both counties simply opened wide to Xuzhou.

Sending Xuzhou's various forces out to seize territory didn't mean taking over all the farmland and properties there. It meant controlling the territory. The original local strongmen and gentry, as long as they didn't stir up trouble or resist, would be left as they were. Whether they'd eventually follow the Zhao Character Battalion's rules was a matter for the future — and even if they did, they wouldn't be shortchanged.

The entry of the Zhao Character Battalion and its affiliated forces wouldn't affect the lives of the local law-abiding common folk — it might even make their lives better and more peaceful. But as for the jianghu underworld's businesses, there was nothing to discuss. Brothels, gambling dens, and the like would change owners. The private salt and unlicensed merchant trades would be taken over by dedicated personnel. And things like kidnappers' dens and stolen-goods operations would be wiped out entirely.

As for Shanxian and Yutai — though Shanxian was several times larger than Yutai, its advantages were far inferior. The reason was simple: Yutai County bordered Weishan Lake and the Grand Canal. With waterways and lakes at hand, no matter how strictly the officials banned it, irrigation was never too difficult. Trade and commerce naturally flourished, and so it was quite prosperous. Shanxian, on the other hand, bordered the Yellow River. It didn't enjoy much benefit from the water, but it certainly got its share of the Yellow River's disasters. The county lived off grain fields, living at the mercy of the heavens, and was bitterly poor.

Under the Zhao Character Battalion's repeated combing and control, not many jianghu forces remained in Xuzhou either. The various vassals always led the charges, and a set of rules had long since taken shape. Between Shanxian and Yutai, there were three places that could be called territories: the two county seats of Shanxian and Yutai, plus a town called Guting. Guting had also grown prosperous thanks to the canal, and its scale was not much smaller than the Yutai county seat — it was essentially like Qulipu near Hejiazhuang.

The various jianghu businesses in these three places all changed hands. Quite a few had been under the Incense-Smelling Sect's control and were taken over along with the rest. But the scene in a county seat or town, to put it bluntly, didn't amount to much profit. For the Zhao Character Battalion's affiliated forces, the real fat prizes were those villainous local tyrants and bullies who had committed every evil.

Before entering the four Shandong counties, the Internal Guard had provided a list in advance. The list named those villainous local tyrants and bullies who terrorized the countryside and trampled the law. Eliminating them wouldn't make people think innocents were being slaughtered — on the contrary, some would see it as ridding the people of a scourge. Once this lot was wiped out, their manors and properties could be smoothly taken over. Even if the Zhao Character Battalion reclaimed them later, corresponding compensation would be given.

That was how it worked for the affiliated forces. After occupying these territories, the Zhao Character Battalion still had to invest capital to build waterworks and maintain order. For the Zhao Character Battalion, it was a matter of sinking silver in for the time being. The immediate profit came from the salt routes. Securing the four counties meant securing the private salt trade in all four counties. On top of that, they could take a share of the private salt business in neighboring Shandong counties. That sum was by no means small.

Two men were in charge of the private salt operations in these four Shandong counties: one was Yan Heilian, responsible for Shanxian and Yutai; the other was Qi Erkui, responsible for Yicheng and Tancheng. Back in the day, the two of them could only be called salt peddlers. Now they deserved the title of great salt barons.

Each man had about two hundred salt soldiers under him, all crack troops. Roughly half were Xuzhou militia brought in as reinforcements. With strength like that, naturally no one dared cross them. If it really came to a fight, Yan Heilian and Qi Erkui wouldn't even need to call in the Zhao Character Battalion for backup — their own men could flatten anything.

There was even a rumor that Yan Heilian had long since become a Senior Squad Leader, and that he was originally from the Internal Guard — the kind of figure like the Eastern Depot or the Brocade Guard. Who would dare offend someone like that? When people met Yan Heilian face to face, though no one dared bring up anything about the Internal Guard, their attitudes were respectful to the extreme.

In the early days of Xuzhou and Pizhou forces entering the four Shandong counties, the Zhao Character Battalion's main body did not show itself. The only ones with a real subordinate connection to the Zhao Character Battalion were Yan Heilian and Qi Erkui. Everyone understood the implication: these two were here to take charge. If there was anything uncertain, coming to ask them was definitely the right move.

With such strength and such status, Yan Heilian and Qi Erkui were treated like major power-holders. Qi Erkui, young and full of vigor, couldn't quite hold himself together under such deference. He'd grown rather light-headed, often spouting arrogant talk that made people frown. But Yan Heilian kept himself tightly reined in, never losing his composure, treating people courteously, and privately sending word more than once to remind Qi Erkui.

Inside and out, everyone said Master Yan Heilian was righteous and honorable. But Yan Heilian himself knew the reason why. Back in the day, among the few marketplace figures in Xuzhou city — there was no need to mention Cheng Tongtou, who'd died suddenly in the night. Butcher Li and Chen Ergou were now eking out a hard living in the stockade on the east shore of Luoma Lake, their whole families scraping by alongside the refugees.

Yan Heilian didn't know the exact details. He'd heard that Butcher Li had gone back to his old trade of slaughtering sheep and pigs, and his daughter had married a militia squad leader. Chen Ergou was said to be good at farming and had a dozen or so men under him. From a certain angle, the two of them were getting by all right. But if they'd stayed loyal to Zhao Jin all those years, what would their status and wealth be now? The difference was simply too vast. With those two cautionary examples before his eyes, Yan Heilian never dared let himself get light-headed.

Taking over the private salt business in Shanxian and Yutai hadn't taken much effort. The Xuzhou salt market had long since radiated into these areas. When Yan Heilian led his men in, everyone involved in the salt trade here came to the border between Xuzhou and Shandong to welcome them, utterly deferential.

Of course, running the private salt business in person was still somewhat different from before. The profit-sharing ratios for each house had to change. The houses no longer needed to stockpile goods — instead, large carts from Xuzhou would deliver the salt directly, and then everyone would distribute it to various places. The only ones who lost out in this were the two biggest salt barons in Yutai and Shanxian. Everyone else either saw no change or actually got a bit more benefit.

But the biggest salt baron in those two places was actually an Patrolman from Shanxian. He knew how formidable the Zhao Character Battalion was. Under these circumstances, he could only hold his nose and accept it. By honestly acknowledging the present situation, he might still hope for some compensation down the road.

Everything went smoothly and easily. Yan Heilian didn't know how Qi Erkui was doing on his end, but the two places under his own charge had been far too easy. This state of affairs, far from letting Yan Heilian relax, actually troubled him somewhat. Master Jin's enterprise was growing larger and larger. Everyone wanted to follow and seek advancement, but aside from the young men, those a bit older were all on the periphery.

And the tasks on the periphery, under the awe of the Zhao Character Battalion's might, were all absurdly simple — no chance to show one's ability or effort. That meant no way to demonstrate merit before Master Jin, so what advancement could there be?

Brooding over this day and night, he hadn't even enjoyed New Year's Eve or the Spring Festival. Yan Heilian had also lectured his own children several times, telling them they must be diligent and hardworking in the Zhao Character Battalion and absolutely not disgrace the Yan family's name — leaving his two children, who'd come home from the Student Soldier Company for the New Year, thoroughly glum as well.

In a prosperous city, New Year celebrations lasted the entire first month. But in county seats like Yutai and Shanxian, even wealthy households only celebrated until after the Lantern Festival. Besides, this year the Liao tax had ravaged them, and the markets were desolate — no one was in the mood to enjoy the lanterns or go out.

The end of the Lantern Festival also marked the opening of the salt market. The private salt business had to start moving again. Salt consumption over the twelfth and first months was considerable, and after the Lantern Festival, demand arose everywhere. Cartload after cartload of salt came in from Xuzhou. The local salt peddlers from all over, pushing handcarts or driving oxcarts, took the salt back to their own areas to sell. There were even salt peddlers coming from nearby Caoxian and Jintai.

Anxious as he was, Yan Heilian still settled his mind and did his work, keeping the accounts with meticulous precision. To learn bookkeeping, he had even specially hired an accounting master to teach him to read — and he had studied with great hardship.

"Master Yan! Master Yan!" On the twentieth day of the first month, just as Yan Heilian was about to head out to receive a shipment, he heard someone outside the courtyard calling out in a tearful voice. The voice was very familiar — it was a salt peddler from the north of Yutai County, a man called Third Brother Zhang. A few days earlier, he should have carted off two hundred jin of salt on a donkey cart.

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