“Young master spent so much effort at Qiuhu Mountain, invested so much energy—the tenant farmers were all well-trained, and the water mill you built with such great effort could grind twenty to thirty shi of grain per day. Calculate how much we could earn in milling fees helping the garrison mill rice! Now, even though the granted estate is twice the size with over a dozen more servant households, how can it compare to the Qiuhu Mountain villa?”
That afternoon, Old Zhao rode an old horse, following Han Qian with the land deed out of the city. He still grumbled incessantly with dissatisfaction. As he calculated the accounts for Han Qian, it was a loss no matter how he figured it. In his heart, he especially missed the five large tile-roofed houses he’d newly built in the western ravine of the Qiuhu Mountain villa.
Although his family now lived in the city, everyone in the world spoke of returning to one’s roots after death.
Old Zhao’s family was originally from Taowu Gathering. Even though Taowu Gathering had been entirely designated as the Dragon Sparrow Army’s garrison military office, with slightly more means at hand, Old Zhao had still claimed a plot of land at the estate to build a courtyard.
Old Zhao had even steeled himself to build entirely with blue bricks and small tiles—the cost far exceeded crude earthen walls and thatched roofs by who knows how much.
The courtyard had only just been completed not long ago. Only during the tense period after New Year’s had Old Zhao taken his wife and daughter back to the estate to lay low for over ten days. Now that place would be merged into the Prince’s Mansion’s properties—how could he be happy about it?
“What do you mean ‘compare’? Isn’t a reward from the Princess Consort enough for you to be proud of?” Han Qian said to Old Zhao with a smile. “The estate adjoins the imperial park His Majesty granted to the Third Prince, so there should be residences and courtyards for managing the estate. When the time comes, you pick a courtyard first, then select a few dignified-looking servants to attend you—who knows, by this time next year, Wuji and Ting’er might have one or two more siblings.”
“Young master, please don’t tease Old Zhao like this.” Old Zhao’s weathered face flushed bright red.
The weather in Jinling had been sweltering these past days. Today at noon, there had been a rare heavy rain. This afternoon, though dark clouds remained, southeast winds blew in waves, bringing rare coolness. Zhao Ting’er and Xi Ren both wore light dresses and rode out for fresh air. Outside the city, they saw the turbid, mighty waters of the Qiupu River, with grass and trees growing wildly on both banks, cicadas chirping noisily, and several old oxen plowing in the paddy fields—it presented quite a different kind of charm.
The Qiupu River curved around a great bend at Jinling’s southeastern corner, then ran straight north until flowing into the Yangtze, where it slanted eastward for several more li.
The river mouth was originally wasteland. Combined with lands confiscated from Jinling’s old masters when Emperor Tianyou took control of Jinling, it totaled fifty to sixty thousand mu. In early years it belonged to the Junior Palace Bureau, later falling under the Inner Bureau’s jurisdiction—it had always been an imperial hunting park.
Currently, the portions of the Qiupu River extending east and south formed the main body of the hunting park. These had now been granted to the Third Prince as the Prince’s Mansion’s estate lands. But west of the Qiupu River mouth, sandwiched with the Yangtze, lay approximately six hundred mu of triangular marshland—this was the estate the Princess Consort had granted Han Qian this time. It faced the Prince’s Mansion’s estate across the river, only much smaller in scale.
After entering summer, the water levels of rivers and lakes had risen. Most of this marshland overgrown with reeds was submerged in river water. Seeing this scene, Old Zhao’s heart sank even further—it couldn’t compare with the Qiuhu Mountain villa at all.
Besides the completed courtyards at the Qiuhu Mountain villa, there were nearly three hundred mu within the estate’s boundaries. Not to mention the over two thousand mu of hillside land that could be irrigated for grain cultivation after the reservoir was built upstream—theoretically, that should all belong to the Qiuhu Mountain villa too. Now it had been exchanged for this wasteland, and they still had to thank the Princess Consort for her generosity.
By any calculation, it was a tremendous loss.
Han Qian, however, contentedly led everyone, spurring their horses up to high ground on the river’s north bank.
This high ground was called Yandang Point, named because large flocks of autumn geese would land in the nearby wetlands in late autumn. Being called “high ground,” it was naturally only about ten meters high, but grass and trees grew exceptionally lush.
On the eastern side of Yandang Point, along the Qiupu River, stood twenty to thirty dilapidated courtyards—this was where the estate’s guardian compound and the dozen or so households of official slaves responsible for cultivating these fields resided.
Han Qian reined in his horse atop the rocky point. The Yangtze’s shore was just three to four hundred meters to the north. Yandang Point’s southern side extended into the Qiupu River, enclosing with the official estate a pond of about ten-some mu—a natural river harbor. Moreover, the pond’s mouth was quite narrow, only about twenty meters wide. If wooden pilings were driven in, leaving only a gate for ships to enter and exit, it would become a water camp garrison capable of both offense and defense.
Looking northeast from Yandang Point, only about two hundred mu of farmland was under cultivation. In the corners by the pond and around the estate compound, approximately a hundred mulberry trees were planted. Han Qian estimated these fields could barely support the dozen or so households of official slaves living here.
Most other areas were submerged in wetlands. Perhaps after autumn when waters receded, one season of crops could be planted, but no good harvest should be expected.
However, what Han Qian valued here was the pond enclosed within Yandang Point’s interior, which could serve as a dedicated river harbor for the Xuzhou Shipping Association.
The fast sailing ships newly constructed in Xuzhou had considerable draft and required specially built docks to moor.
Along the Yangtze near Jinling, though there were many places with steep banks and deep water suitable for docks, these locations were either water garrison stations, imperial estates and hunting parks, or had long been claimed by wealthy and powerful families.
A place like Yandang Point required almost no modification to directly accommodate two-thousand-shi large ships—its value obviously couldn’t be compared to five or six hundred mu of land.
Now that the warehouses, money shop, and Qiuhu Mountain villa had all been designated as Prince’s Mansion properties, if the Xuzhou Shipping Association wanted its own foothold in Jinling, nowhere was more suitable than Yandang Point.
Emperor Tianyou would periodically take his imperial guards to hunt on the opposite shore. Yandang Point served as a guard post for the Tower Ship Navy’s naval forces. Not only were the guardian compounds built spaciously enough to accommodate an additional two to three hundred soldiers, but the pond between Yandang Point and the estate compound, along with its banks, had also been maintained. Silt in the pond was cleared promptly. Though the pond’s area seemed modest, it was deep enough to accommodate moored two-thousand-shi sailing ships.
After Han Qian took over, he could essentially use it immediately.
Otherwise, who knew how much manpower, resources, and time would be needed to create a mooring station for the Xuzhou Shipping Association in Jinling.
Though Han Qian had invested so much effort in the Qiuhu Mountain villa, its location was too central within the entire Taowu Gathering military office’s territory. Now, to rebalance power within the Prince’s Mansion, Han Qian had placed the Left Office directly under Jiang Huo and Yuan Guowei’s supervision—if he still clutched the Qiuhu Mountain villa in his hands, wouldn’t that invite suspicion?
If Jinling could survive the turmoil of the next three years without being destroyed, properly operating this place as a water and land dock might have potential no less than the Qiuhu Mountain villa—after all, what he could rely on in the future was the Xuzhou Shipping Association.
Just then, a white-haired old clerk emerged from the compound and approached Yandang Point, calling out loudly, “Is the visitor Master Han Qian from the Prince’s Mansion?”
This place was originally the Princess Consort’s dowry estate. The Princess Consort naturally couldn’t manage it personally, nor did Changxin Palace where she resided have trustworthy personnel. Mainly, the Palace Attendants Bureau dispatched an old clerk to guard and manage the place—delivering the fixed quota of money and grain to the Princess Consort’s hands each year was sufficient.
The old clerk had received notification four days ago but hadn’t expected Han Qian to delay until today before coming out of the city to take over the estate.
Han Qian dismounted and exchanged bows with the old clerk, then had Old Zhao and Du Yijun take the land deed and servant indentures granted by the Princess Consort to complete the handover with this old clerk from the Palace Attendants Bureau. He led Zhao Wuji, Lin Zongjing, Guo Nu’er, Zhao Ting’er, Xi Ren, and the others around the estate to inspect the terrain.
After Han Qian circled once and returned to the estate compound, Old Zhao and Du Yijun had already completed the formalities with the old clerk.
The old clerk bowed to Han Qian, then led a lean horse with two equally aged old soldiers, reluctantly departing the estate compound. They followed a path overgrown with wild grass back to the city.
For old clerks of the Palace Attendants Bureau, guarding imperial estates was an extremely leisurely assignment—anyone would feel reluctant to leave.
Watching the old clerk’s desolate figure quickly disappear among the grass and trees in the setting sun, Han Qian withdrew his gaze and followed Old Zhao into the estate compound.
The estate compound was quite spacious. The dwellings where slaves lived were dilapidated, but the official residence was a large courtyard with three sections front to back, plus side courtyards on both east and west—three to four times more spacious than the Han family’s mansion in Lanting Alley.
“Currently, the estate has twelve households totaling sixty-seven servants of all ages. They cultivate over two hundred forty mu of paddy fields, over fifty mu of mulberry fields, and thirty mu of hemp fields. Additionally, there are eight oxen, two lean horses, thirty-six sheep, and various chickens and ducks. In the past, the fixed annual tribute to the palace was two hundred fifty shi of grain, ten bolts of damask and silk, six bolts of hemp cloth, and various poultry and livestock meat.”
Han Qian stood on the flagstone steps before the official residence, looking at the sixty-seven ragged servants—each one sallow and emaciated, their expressions full of numbness. They seemed unconcerned about what kind of person their new master was. After all, for these slaves, fate was eternally unchanging.
If all six hundred mu of the estate’s designated fields could be cultivated, or planted with mulberry and hemp, even with such a high fixed tribute to the palace each year, the twelve servant households living here could still make ends meet. But currently, only half the land could be cultivated. Combined with naval officers and soldiers coming to garrison here two or three times yearly, the fact that not too many of these servants had starved to death was already quite remarkable.
Han Qian took the roster and saw that among the sixty-seven servants, excluding the old and young, able-bodied men and healthy women comprised about half. However, their bodies were all quite frail and thin—they might not even be usable as strong laborers.
The official residence had everything—oil, salt, rice, flour. Moreover, outside the city was much cooler than inside. Han Qian decided to stay at the estate compound with everyone for a couple days to familiarize themselves with the environment.
Yang Qin, Feng Xuan, and the others were currently docking their ships at the Taowu Gathering military office’s wharf to unload cargo. But the estate compound had a small covered boat over a zhang long. While daylight remained, Han Qian took Zhao Wuji and the others down to the river and netted thirty to forty jin of river carp. They also slaughtered a large fat sheep and stewed two full large iron pots of fish and mutton soup.
After Han Qian’s group finished one pot of fish and mutton soup, their faces glistened with oil. The other pot of fish and mutton soup was rewarded to the twelve servant households to share.