In early years, the Han family had operated two copper mines in Xuanzhou, but after Great Chu’s founding, they were requisitioned by the Internal Treasury Bureau. All copper mined and refined was collected by the Internal Treasury for minting coins. Afterward, they mainly managed estates, kept slaves and servants, and accumulated clan property.
Through successive upheavals, the Han family’s wealth and clan property had been repeatedly disrupted, and slaves and servants gathered and scattered unpredictably. Their foundation was already far less substantial than the Feng clan’s had been before the Imperial Mausoleum case.
It was now late September. The Han family had bankrupted their entire clan to support Tangyi’s defense line construction for nearly a year. Nine-tenths of the farmland and residences that could be sold in Xuan and She prefectures had been sold off. The residences and pawnshops newly acquired in Jinling over these two years had also been sold off by more than half, all converted into materials totaling approximately over eight hundred thousand strings of cash—polished rice, cured meat, timber, medicinal materials, mules, horses, and oxen—transported into Tangyi.
The Han family at this time could be said to have been squeezed to the limit.
The cash and grain currently available for use was what Han Daochang had recently obtained by persuading Qiao Weiyan, Chen Zhiyong, and the Zhang family of Han Duan’s principal wife’s natal home to jointly raise—over three hundred thousand strings of cash—to continue transporting scarce materials to Tangyi.
Even though Xuzhou this year, apart from salt profits, tax revenues, and the Industrial Manufacturing Bureau’s surplus, could also collect eight hundred thousand bolts of cotton cloth and four million jin of cotton seeds from the cotton textile industry, combined with the Han family’s unreserved support, it could only barely support Tangyi’s expenditures.
Building fortifications large and small along the Chu River and Fucha Mountain line, manufacturing more and finer armor, weapons, and warships to strengthen Tangyi forces’ military preparedness.
The supplies for over twenty thousand elite soldiers needed to be adequate, and they had to ensure their families could settle and take root in Tangyi to guarantee high soldier morale and prevent it from falling into decline.
Meanwhile, construction in Tangyi’s seven counties, led by East Lake, was also proceeding in full swing.
Even though Tangyi harvested cash and grain amounting to hundreds of millions, it was devoured like flowing water until nothing remained.
Without such large-scale cash and grain support behind him, how could Han Qian have the confidence to ignore the elite military threat from Shou Prefecture forces and build and manage Tangyi as his foundation?
However, precisely because of this, both Xuzhou’s inherent financial resources and the Han family had been squeezed to the limit.
The reason they could still agree to provide one million strings of cash to lend to Prince Shou’s residence and Huaidong this time was mainly because Han Qian had Xi Xunqiao and Qiao Weiyan persuade the various weaving workshops and yarn mills in Xuzhou to directly convert cotton cloth and cotton thread equivalent to approximately two million bolts into corresponding cash deposits in Xuzhou’s Official Money Bureau.
In this era, the currency value of cloth and silk was no less than copper coins and precious metals like gold and silver.
Using cloth and silk to pay taxes, taking cloth and silk to market to exchange for grain and other daily necessities, and officials giving cloth and silk as rewards or salaries to court ministers—these were all commonplace matters in this era.
However, just as large-scale investment of currency would cause inflation and significant currency devaluation, when a region’s cloth and silk production surged without effective and stable sales channels, it would also cause tremendous disruption.
Xuzhou currently could produce over four hundred thousand bolts of cotton cloth monthly. Of these, over eighty thousand bolts were submitted to the prefecture office as taxes, and there were also over sixty thousand bolts produced by the Industrial Manufacturing Bureau’s directly managed weaving facilities—totaling about one hundred fifty thousand bolts. Han Qian would directly sell these into Yuzhou through Tan Yuliang and the Wuchuan Salt and Iron Supervisory Office controlled by Xuzhou, via the Qian River waterway, at a relatively low price, with Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong taking full control.
Afterward, through warehouses secretly controlled by Marquis Changxiang Wang Yong, they would be transported to prefectures and counties throughout Sichuan and Shu.
Apart from this, approximately two hundred fifty to sixty thousand bolts of cotton cloth per month belonged to various manufacturing workshops and household weavers, who had to arrange their own contacts with shipping companies and warehouses to sell to other regions.
Not to mention that as a tributary state, Xuzhou’s large-scale commodity imports into the interior were themselves subject to extreme restrictions. In this era, local prefectures and counties primarily operated under manor economies controlled by aristocratic families and clans—how could commodity circulation be as free as in later generations?
Through various efforts, Han Qian had opened trade routes to Qianzhong, Nanzhao, and the capital region. Last year, exporting over a million bolts of cotton cloth had already reached the limit.
Any increase this year would also be quite limited.
Therefore, starting this year, various manufacturing workshops all had large accumulations of cotton yarn and cotton cloth on hand.
Han Qian said he wanted Xi Xunqiao and Qiao Weiyan to persuade them as much as possible without using force, but under current circumstances, where was there still need for persuasion or force?
When Xuzhou’s Official Money Bureau agreed to accept cotton yarn and cotton cloth converted into corresponding cash deposits, the bureau’s warehouses became piled high with cotton yarn and cotton cloth like mountains.
In terms of capital calculation, Xuzhou’s Official Money Bureau previously had only two hundred thousand strings of cash in capital.
This was mainly Han Qian’s accumulation in Xuzhou over these years, plus interest earned from external loans over the years. There were not many deposits of the kind Han Qian hoped for.
Traditional forces were too powerful.
Even Xuzhou’s military officials, when they had surplus cash and grain at home, were all accustomed to hoarding it at home or burying it in their own courtyards. Where was there any concept of “depositing in a bank”?
However, with various weaving workshops, yarn mills, and even civilian weavers this time depositing cotton yarn and cotton cloth into the Official Money Bureau as savings, Xuzhou Official Money Bureau’s total capital suddenly surged four to five times.
For this planned loan to Prince Shou’s residence and Huaidong, Han Qian intended to have Xuzhou’s Official Money Bureau use this batch of cotton yarn and cotton cloth as capital contribution.
However, Han Qian at this time would definitely not easily reveal to Prince Shou’s residence and Huaidong the true situation of Xuzhou’s Official Money Bureau and Xuzhou’s cotton textile industry. So to cover people’s eyes, this money would nominally be said to come from the Han family.
Of course, how to convert cotton yarn and cotton cloth worth over a million strings into currency more convenient for payment—this, apart from collateral, interest, and recruiting displaced refugees into Tangyi, was the main condition Han Daoming and Feng Liao had come to negotiate with Yang Zhitang this time.
That is to say, apart from Huaidong, Prince Shou’s residence had to actively support allowing Chishan Association merchant ships to directly enter Hongzhou and Yuanzhou, which were Prince Shou’s traditional sphere of influence, as well as prefectural and county cities and market towns in the Right Longwu Army’s mutual defense areas to conduct trade, and to suppress various obstructions from local forces…
As long as Prince Shou’s residence could agree to these conditions, the required warships and corresponding excellent weapons would be delivered to Ao Mountain Island naval camp over three months. For subsequent supplies and purchases of excellent weapons and warships, Xuzhou could even offer another twenty percent discount, selling to the Right Longwu Army at cost price. After enduring three to five months, after the Han family sold off some farmland and residences, they could even lend cash to Prince Shou’s residence at even lower interest rates…
As for the loan to Huaidong, Xuzhou planned to have Chishan Association merchant ships directly purchase twenty to thirty thousand shi of polished rice monthly from prefectures and counties under Right Longwu Army mutual defense with relatively sufficient grain production and transport it there.
The requirement for Huaidong was even simpler—they needed to continuously divert refugees into Tangyi for resettlement. The loan period for this cash and grain could be extended even longer, and interest could be calculated at half rate—after all, Huaidong would be in a long-term state of cash and grain shortage. Even if there were no large-scale warfare in the lower Huai River subsequently, it would still require four to five years before they could accumulate surplus cash and grain to repay debts.
Of course, these conditions would be when Feng Liao accompanied Prince Shou Yang Zhitang to Yangzhou to propose marriage, hoping Yang Zhitang could help work on Huaidong together.
When Han Daoming and Feng Liao proposed these conditions, Yang Zhitang and his household officials pondered for quite a while.
The court couldn’t produce more cash and grain. The salt fields had even been severely raided, which would directly affect salt profit income. That the Han family could provide over a million strings of cash and grain could be said to resolve their and Huaidong’s urgent needs. This meant they fundamentally couldn’t reject the conditions Xuzhou had offered.
However, this didn’t mean they wouldn’t restrict them as much as possible.
First was restricting Chishan Association’s commercial activities to Yuan and Hong and the prefectural and county cities where the Right Longwu Army was stationed. Yang Zhitang’s reasoning was that in these prefectural and county cities, officials were appointed by the court, and prefecture and county soldiers also heeded court orders. To some extent, they would comply with directives from central departments and offices.
However, many market towns located at strategic water and land transport points were mainly controlled by local clans. Local clans even recruited civilian volunteers and organized local militia to manage local security. If Chishan Association merchant ships were allowed to directly enter market towns and conflicts arose with local rural clans, these would be beyond what the Right Longwu Army could mediate.
Second was requiring that Chishan Association’s trade in prefectures and counties be supervised by the Salt and Iron Commission’s local supervisory offices.
This involved collection of transit taxes and harbor taxes. Even if Yang Zhitang’s side didn’t raise objections, the Salt and Iron Commission would inevitably use this as an excuse to sabotage cooperation between Xuzhou and Prince Shou’s residence by every means possible.
Third was to allow some military officials from the Right Longwu Army to enter Tangyi forces’ formations to observe combat and training.
Although Hongzhou bordered Dongting Lake and had a group of military officials knowledgeable about naval warfare, this requirement, apart from further strengthening cultivation of naval military officials, was more importantly to have naval military officials enter Tangyi for close observation of Tangyi naval forces’ combat and training methods. Only through comparison afterward could they quickly confirm whether the vessels manufactured by Xuzhou had malicious concealment regarding performance and operational capabilities.
Fourth was that Yang Zhitang hoped Han Qian would directly squeeze out a batch of elite warships from Tangyi. Yang Zhitang specifically requested first two of the largest-scale oared sailing warships capable of reaching four thousand shi capacity for the Right Longwu Army’s naval forces to train with immediately, rather than delaying until a month later to deliver the first batch of warships.
Regarding these conditions, Feng Liao and Han Daoming had no authority to agree on Han Qian’s behalf. They only said that early tomorrow morning they would send someone across the river to see Han Qian, and at the earliest, the day after tomorrow there could be an accurate response. At that time, perhaps Prince Shou Yang Zhitang would need to accompany them directly to Yangzhou to propose marriage.