“What are you thinking? My cousin is a blacksmith—how could he possibly change to commoner status? However, he didn’t have his son learn blacksmithing. Recently he’s been spending money making connections, wanting to change his son to commoner status.”
“That’s too shortsighted. If he can’t manage it and his son can’t smith either, wouldn’t that be fatal?”
“If conscripted by the yamen and unable to complete the task, that could mean execution.”
“Right, your cousin is being too reckless. How can he let an ancestral craft die out?”
Artisan Ding said, “I’ve advised him too, but blacksmiths are different from us ceramicists. They’re constantly conscripted into the military. Before, how many blacksmiths were there in our Xiping County? Now they’ve all died, leaving only my cousin.”
“If he can’t change registry, sooner or later it’s death. Using my cousin’s words: dying early or late, it’s all death. Better to let my nephew live more freely and not have to suffer learning blacksmithing.”
Everyone thought about it and agreed.
Zhao Hanzhang stood at the window watching them leave, naturally hearing their conversation.
Fu Tinghan said, “With this reward, many people in the estate will probably want to learn artisan skills.”
Ji Yuan couldn’t understand. “Sanniang, being so lenient—if these artisans flee, our losses would be severe.”
Artisans had artisan registry. Although they’d signed work contracts, if they ran away, Zhao Hanzhang could at most pursue them and get some compensation when caught.
Unlike slaves, whose lives and deaths were entirely in her hands.
So the gentry throughout the realm all wanted to turn artisans into slaves—few released slaves to become artisans.
Zhao Hanzhang said, “The formula is in our hands, and we’ve never given them the complete material allocation. Even if they have the skills, without the formula, running away would be useless.”
“If someone truly has the ability to get both the artisans and the formula from me, I also have ways to keep them from catching up to us.” Zhao Hanzhang turned to look at Fu Tinghan. “What does Professor Fu think?”
Fu Tinghan nodded. “Correct.”
Apart from the first glass formula, he hadn’t made public any of the formulas he’d adjusted later. Besides him, only Chengbo knew the general outline.
Neither Fu Tinghan nor Zhao Hanzhang were fools—core technology had to be kept in their own people’s hands.
Zhao Hanzhang said to the entering Chengbo, “Select some clever and sensible young men from the estate to send to the workshop for training.”
Chengbo said, “The tenant farmers here in Shangcai are still somewhat removed from us. Should we select some people from Xiping instead?”
The Zhao clan had slaves, poor clan members, and even the tenant farmers there had greater loyalty than those in this estate.
After brief consideration, Zhao Hanzhang said, “No rush. Select from here first.”
Chengbo understood immediately and readily agreed.
Fu Tinghan asked, “Who will manage the formula in the future?”
He couldn’t keep mixing materials for them forever. With the formula, naturally it should be given to someone else to manage. Fu Tinghan had no interest in this kind of repetitive work with no technical content whatsoever.
Zhao Hanzhang waved her hand grandly. “Give it to Zhao Cai.”
Hearing this, Chengbo quickly declined. “My lady, Zhao Cai is young and I fear cannot shoulder such great responsibility. Better to let him stay with Erlang.”
“He’s not that young. I saw him doing very well in Luoyang before,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “We’ll select someone else for Erlang—pick someone sturdy and energetic. Zhao Cai should come be my steward instead.”
Zhao Hanzhang said sympathetically, “Seeing Zhao Cai limping along behind Erlang every day when he returns, I feel quite sorry for him too.”
Chengbo suddenly couldn’t voice any objection. He could only secretly resent Zhao Cai for being useless—just learning some martial arts, yet acting like he’d been beaten. Was it really that difficult?
Erlang was several years younger than him, yet never complained of exhaustion or hardship.
While they were talking, Zhao Erlang returned again, dripping with sweat.
He ran excitedly into the courtyard, shouting loudly before even entering, “Elder sister, elder sister, I knocked Uncle Qianli off his horse today—”
Zhao Cai followed dejectedly behind, lifting his legs with difficulty.
As soon as Zhao Erlang entered the room, he rushed to Zhao Hanzhang, pressing his smelly head to her front for her to wipe his sweat, then looked up expectantly for praise.
Zhao Hanzhang asked, “Uncle Qianli wasn’t injured, was he?”
“He said he wasn’t, but I think his bottom must hurt a lot. Hahaha…”
Zhao Hanzhang knew there was no major problem, and only then praised him. “Well done. Your martial skills have improved. Tomorrow I’ll assign you to a unit and make you a squad leader. How about that?”
Zhao Erlang’s eyes brightened. “Is that an official position?”
“Sort of,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “As squad leader, you’ll have nine soldiers under you. You’ll be responsible for training them. In daily life, you must patrol and practice martial arts, making sure they obey you while also protecting them. Understand?”
Zhao Erlang thought briefly then nodded. “I know, just like Ji Ping.”
“Ji Ping is now a team commander. What you’ll do is what Ji Ping used to do, and your superior would be…” Zhao Hanzhang thought for a moment. “Ji Ping. In the military, you must obey Ji Ping.”
Zhao Erlang said, “Shouldn’t Ji Ping obey me?”
“No,” Zhao Hanzhang said. “Team commander ranks above squad leader. Outside the military, you are the master and Ji Ping is the subordinate, so he obeys you. But in the military, you are below and he is above, so you must obey him. Military orders are like mountains—they cannot be violated. Understand?”
Zhao Erlang nodded in confusion.
Only then did Zhao Hanzhang look at Zhao Cai behind him. “Zhao Cai, from tomorrow you won’t need to follow Erlang anymore. Go be a steward at the workshop.”
Zhao Cai, who had been in utter despair, looked up in a daze. After his father glared at him, he finally reacted and quickly knelt to express thanks, responding with a yes.
Zhao Erlang was quite reluctant about Zhao Cai. “Then I won’t have a playmate anymore.”
“I’ll select another one for you,” Zhao Hanzhang said, pinching the muscles on his arm. “I’ll pick someone around your age, as lively and lovable as you.”
Ji Yuan and Chengbo both looked up at Zhao Hanzhang, their eyes asking: Are you serious?
Fu Tinghan, however, nodded slightly in secret agreement. Originally they wanted someone clever and intelligent to stay with Zhao Erlang, both to guide and care for him.
But looking at it now, at this stage he should still play with boys similar to himself.
With Zhao Cai at the workshop, Fu Tinghan became much more relaxed and free. He handed all the formulas over to him wholesale, then devoted himself to researching steel refining.
This made Zhao Cai both excited and somewhat anxious. Privately he told his father, “Father, the lady and Master Fu trust me so much—I could die ten thousand deaths and it wouldn’t be enough to repay them.”
Chengbo rolled his eyes. “Who’s asking you to die? Just guard the formulas well, don’t let anyone steal them, and don’t let anyone figure them out.”
“I know. I just feel the lady entrusted such an important thing to me—I feel a bit panicked.”
“Then do more work. When you’ve done enough, your heart won’t panic,” Chengbo thought for a moment. “Tomorrow the lady is going to the county seat, right? You should go along. For things the lady finds awkward to say, you charge ahead. Be clever about it.”
Zhao Cai loudly agreed.
—