“So how long will we have to wait?” the Chief Clerk asked. “The court has always been slow in handling matters. If it takes two years to gather everyone, won’t we be unable to start for two years? Besides the paper mill, there’s also the printing house. Governor, you’re fine here in Guangzhou, but if you’re relieved of duty and the next governor isn’t competent, what will we do?”
Where would they find another high official who could both treat the indigenous people with lenience and had influence at court? Zhao Shen was the Emperor’s cousin—having connections at court made everything easier. The next governor might not have his abilities, let alone his status.
Actually, the Chief Clerk and others had discussed privately that ideally, Zhao Shen would remain rooted in Guangzhou for life.
Zhao Shen lowered his eyes in thought. “There’s another method—spend heavily to poach people from other paper mills and printing houses.”
The Chief Clerk said with concern, “Your idea is good, Governor, but Lingnan has always been considered barbarian territory. Those craftsmen probably wouldn’t be willing to relocate here, would they?”
Zhao Shen glanced at him. “Don’t your various chieftains and tribes have many beautiful and capable young women who want to marry Chinese men? This is an opportunity.”
Chief Clerk: …They wanted to marry Zhao Shen, not craftsmen.
Zhao Shen didn’t say he would definitely succeed in poaching anyone, but changed the subject. “Once the printing house and paper mill are established, print more classics and send some to the indigenous people of Jiaozhou.”
Let them also study the words of the sages. After all, they were descendants of the Yan and Huang Emperors—they couldn’t forget their ancestors’ teachings just because they’d migrated south for many years.
Zhao Shen used a batch of improved seeds to open a channel to Jiaozhi, and through Jiaozhi, he established contact with other commanderies and counties in Jiaozhou.
The chieftains and tribes throughout Jiaozhou all learned that Guangzhou had many good things from the Central Plains. Initially, they came for the improved seeds. After sending representatives who communicated with them, they discovered that the farming tools, composting methods, and planting techniques used in Guangzhou were all superior to theirs, which explained the higher yields that year.
Regarding good things, all descendants of Yan and Huang shared one mindset: learn it, learn it, master it!
So the envoys stayed to learn. As they learned, they discovered that the looms used here were also remarkably ingenious, and among them was a previously unseen sewing machine that was even more wondrous.
No need for people to sew clothes stitch by stitch—just press the foot pedal, and the needle and thread quickly pierced and knotted. At high speed, several garments could be sewn in a day, with stitches fine and tight, equal in skill to the finest tailors.
The envoys were amazed.
Hadn’t they heard that the Central Plains were constantly at war?
Hadn’t they heard that the Chinese were being chased everywhere by various barbarian tribes?
Why was it that after just over a decade without contact, so many good things had suddenly appeared?
From Jiaozhi to the various commanderies of Jiaozhou, and then to the Qiang and Hu peoples of Ningzhou who also ruled independently, more and more people came to Guangzhou. Zhao Shen simply established trade markets at all the border points.
Of course, these weren’t nation-to-nation trade markets, but inter-ethnic trade markets.
Using this justification, the court finally dispatched the craftsmen needed for the paper mill and printing house. Moreover, because Lingnan had many varieties of excellent timber, the Bureau of Natural Philosophy also approved the establishment of two workshops in Guangzhou specifically for producing looms.
Under Zhao Shen’s continuous enticement, Zhao Hu also sent a manager hurrying over, eager to do business in timber.
However, for Zhao Hu to do timber business, he had to open a cloth shop in Lingnan—otherwise, Zhao Shen would block his permits.
Under Zhao Shen’s management, the indigenous people who had always governed themselves finally emerged from their isolated valleys, willing to communicate with the outside world. They began enthusiastically building official roads, sending their children to schools, and various local products began appearing in the trade markets.
Examples included various snake and insect medicinal wines, herbs, and their own grain varieties.
Rice varieties alone were numerous: red rice, green rice, rice that tasted terrible but could grow in extremely cold places, rice that tasted excellent but had a very long growing period, drought-resistant rice that could grow in cracked wilderness, rice that could grow at water’s edge and still produce grain even when submerged with only the tip showing…
Regardless of whether they tasted good or had high yields, all sorts of unusual rice varieties existed.
Years ago, Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan had repeatedly instructed officials that when searching for seeds in nature, the priority was variety and distinctive characteristics.
Zhao Shen knew that in early years, when Shen Ruhui had farmed for Zhao Hanzhang, she had him crossbreed a wild rice plant that wouldn’t produce grain with their rice varieties, eventually cultivating a drought and cold-resistant rice variety. The yield hadn’t decreased, the plant grew shorter with shorter ears, but the ears multiplied, and it could be planted in the dry fields of Jizhou.
From that point on, Zhao Shen understood that when finding seeds for the Ministry of Agriculture, one shouldn’t be limited by yield or taste. As long as it was a seed with distinctive characteristics, it could be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture.
Thus, Zhao Shen spread the word, and the lively indigenous people, upon hearing that any strange or unusual seeds could be traded at the market, immediately brought seeds from their homes and even gathered from the wild.
Some poor mountain people even brought vegetable seeds and wild vegetable seeds they’d gathered, explaining, “This wild vegetable is bitter, but when you have mouth sores, eat it for two meals and you’ll be cured—it’s like medicine.”
The mountain people’s medicinal herbs were all gathered wild. South of Lingnan was mostly forested mountains with abundant resources—the medicinal herbs inside could never be depleted. No one had ever considered cultivating herbs, nor did anyone know how.
They believed medicinal herbs were heaven’s gifts that could only be taken from nature and couldn’t be artificially cultivated, but vegetables could be.
They recommended to the buyers, “If you have internal heat toxins, no need for medicine—eat this vegetable and it works, guaranteed!”
The buyer was quite interested and asked, “How much?”
“No money needed—one packet of vegetable seeds for one packet of your mulberry seeds.”
The looms from the Central Plains were highly efficient. Their tribe had purchased two units. They’d heard that silk from the Central Plains was especially expensive, so they also wanted to plant mulberry trees and raise silkworms. They had excellent dyes here and could certainly produce more exquisite silk than what came from the Central Plains.
However, their local silkworms couldn’t compare to those from the Central Plains—the silk they spun was too short and not tough enough. They wanted to trade for Central Plains silkworms, and to help them thrive, naturally they also needed to trade for the mulberry leaves they preferred.
Some were willing to trade for money, so Zhao Shen bought back quite a few unusual seeds with cash. He had people record everything carefully, then sent them to the Bureau of Natural Philosophy in the capital. However, he separately wrote letters to both Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan to claim credit.
The parent seeds came from him, so if they cultivated something good in the future, they should remember to give him priority!
Zhao Shen finally stopped thinking about using military force to resolve minority nationality issues. During the month of the Crown Princess’s first birthday, watching the increasingly lively trade markets, he finally grasped some of what Zhao Hanzhang and his father had meant.
When he no longer looked down on them from above but crouched down to meet them at eye level, he finally understood why they were unwilling to submit to the court. Conquest by force was only temporary—when they accumulated sufficient strength, they would certainly resist, leading to endless rebellions.
If he could make them submit to the Emperor and the court from their hearts, then when they possessed strength, not only would they not rebel, they would actually become the court’s solid support.
When he viewed them at eye level, when he became one of them, he understood what they truly wanted, what they wished to become, and then he could educate them.
Zhao Shen finally set aside his pride and slowly came to understand what Zhao Hanzhang had wanted to teach him.