Facing his father’s worries and questioning, Han Qian didn’t deny it, only saying:

“Father, if you truly want to implement reforms in Xuzhou, the native prominent clans won’t support you, while the wealthy non-native households more or less have Tanzhou’s shadow behind them and will only be wary of you. You need to let others muddy the waters for you. Only by having others forced to ask you, the newly appointed Governor, to step in and clean up the mess will things possibly become easier.”

“But those living, breathing lives shouldn’t become bargaining chips in your hands. Your strategy may muddy Xuzhou’s waters, but even if the situation doesn’t spiral out of control, Xuzhou will face rampant banditry for quite a long time—and that’s putting it mildly!” Han Daoxun still didn’t approve of Han Qian using such extreme methods. Xuzhou’s mountain ranges were treacherous—if large numbers of vagrants flooded in, they would very likely occupy the mountain forests.

“If I provide three million coins annually from the Left Bureau to supplement Xuzhou, it should barely control the situation around Qianyang City from deteriorating.”

Han Qian only considered keeping the situation stable within Qianyang City and the large zigzag-shaped area. As for vagrants flooding in and occupying the mountain forests outside the large zigzag’s perimeter, worsening relations with the local native tribal people—this was precisely what he anticipated. He said:

“Otherwise, I have no way to convince the Third Prince to agree to allocate an additional three million coins annually from the Left Bureau trading post to Xuzhou. Father, you’re unwilling to scheme for the Third Prince, but I must remember the Third Prince’s kindness!”

Han Qian didn’t want to give his father any chance to retreat or hesitate, directly bringing up the Third Prince.

Seeing Han Qian’s resolute determination, Han Daoxun sighed softly. His appointment to Xuzhou naturally couldn’t be pure.

Fan Xicheng was also extremely shocked. He hadn’t expected that young master Han Qian would actually use this kind of deceptive method—luring large numbers of people to flood into Xuzhou to pan for gold, using the thousands upon ten thousands of vagrants deceived into coming to violently impact Xuzhou’s existing social structure formed by the long-term opposition between native and non-native registered populations, even willing to throw Xuzhou’s situation into chaos.

What kind of scheme was this?

Han Daoxun generally understood Han Qian’s plan. After sitting for a while, he took Fan Xicheng back to the front government office.

Han Qian held the tea that Madam Xi had brought over and asked: “You didn’t spit in it?”

Faced with Han Qian’s frivolous question, Xi Ren truly didn’t know how to respond. At this moment, she was still alarmed by the conversation between the Han father and son just now.

In outsiders’ eyes, how could a Governor’s son be anything but subordinate to the newly appointed Governor? Even if sometimes willful or acting recklessly, no matter what, in major matters, how could he possibly go against his father’s will?

How could she have imagined that everything she witnessed with her own eyes was far from what she had imagined?

“Go back to the eastern room and stay there. Unless I summon you, it’s better not to come out and move about freely.” Han Qian had Madam Xi return to wait in the eastern room. He sipped his tea in small mouthfuls, contemplating Xuzhou’s current situation.

Xuzhou’s situation was intricate and complex, involving not only the succession struggle but also the Ma family of Tanzhou’s ambitions for the southern Xiang region, the local native-versus-non-native conflicts extending over many years, and the traditionally powerful native clans. Even with his father serving as Governor, being trapped in this situation made it difficult to break through.

Large numbers of outsiders flooding in within a short time, impacting the existing social structure, would naturally make the situation more chaotic. But this chaos was actually beneficial to his father’s control over Xuzhou’s situation.

Xuzhou had many mountains and little land, but in terms of geographic depth, it was far more extensive than prefectures and counties in the Jianghuai plains. Currently with only just over twelve thousand households, theoretically there was still enormous room to accommodate outsiders—and if there was no population, no matter how large Xuzhou’s area or how vast its mountain and water depth, it could only be one of Great Chu’s lowest-ranking prefectures, with extremely limited economic and military potential.

Furthermore, the native tribal people were mostly controlled by prominent clans, while non-native residents had cultivated land for generations and were relatively stable. Han Qian hoped Xuzhou’s forestry, mining, ceramics, shipbuilding, weaving, and iron-smelting industries would all flourish—but the most core prerequisite was having sufficiently large surplus population.

It was already mid-Tianyou Year Thirteen. After he returned to Jinling, in another two or three months it would be Tianyou Year Fourteen, and according to the historical trajectory, Emperor Tianyou would only live through Tianyou Year Seventeen.

Within three years, he wanted to dismantle Xuzhou’s traditional power structure, ensure that Xuzhou’s economic and military potential not only didn’t decline but took a great leap forward, while also ensuring his father wasn’t impacted in Xuzhou—what methods could he employ?

However, Han Qian’s determination to have Left Bureau scouts spread news throughout the Jinghu region about discovering gold sand in Xuzhou’s streams and rivers wasn’t entirely baseless rumor.

Xuzhou had produced gold in ancient times. The previous dynasty had established a mining bureau in Xuzhou specifically for gold extraction.

Over seventy years ago, due to mountain collapses, both of Xuzhou’s gold sand mine shafts had been buried.

Afterward, because of native-versus-non-native conflicts and regional warlord divisions, plus these two gold mines had already been continuously mined for over a hundred years with limited gold production in later periods, they had never been reopened.

Since ancient times, besides producing gold, Xuzhou also produced copper, iron, silver, cinnabar, and other minerals. Timber, medicinal materials, tung oil, and so on were all products that could be exported in large quantities to other regions.

However, these products were all in the deep mountain forests controlled by the native tribal people.

On one hand, the native tribal people controlled by the Four Clans could only provide limited surplus labor, and productivity was also low. If Han Qian was merely satisfied with conducting commercial trade with the Four Clans, not only would it be difficult to dismantle the traditional power structure of the Four Clans controlling the locality, it might even further help the Four Clans strengthen their power.

On the other hand, what the local non-native residents coveted was mainly the arable land within the large zigzag shape—they had no real interest in mineral deposits in the deep mountain forests.

Even wealthy non-native households with surplus money would only think about buying a few more acres of land. No one would think about entering the deep mountain forests controlled by native tribal people to mine or log timber.

This stubborn mindset strengthened over hundreds or even thousands of years wasn’t something Han Qian could reverse in a short time.

The only ones not subject to these restrictions were the unemployed, landless vagrants lured to Xuzhou by lies, who upon arriving in Xuzhou couldn’t obtain land, were forced into destitution, and for survival dared to take risks—they were most likely to be guided into the deep mountain forests to log and mine, disregarding the risk of serious conflict with the native tribal people.

His father worried that outsiders flooding in en masse in a short time would intensify contradictions and spiral out of control.

However, what Han Qian wanted was precisely for contradictions to intensify and for a certain degree of loss of control. This was still a hundred times better than his father directly suppressing the prominent clans and powerful families, drawing all the focal point of conflict onto their own heads.

Han Qian had someone summon Han Laoshan and Han Zhou Shi over, inquiring about the couple’s arrangements for the household troops’ wives and children these past few days, saying: “There are quite a few vacant courtyards on both sides of Furong Garden. You should acquire one or two empty courtyards and establish the weaving workshop in the next couple of days.”

Besides the twenty-some household troops and their sons remaining in Xuzhou, the troops’ wives and daughters together numbered twenty-six or twenty-seven.

Currently, the situation inside Qianyang City wasn’t stable enough—the troops and their families temporarily still needed to live concentrated in Furong Garden. But Furong Garden didn’t need too many menial laborers and servant women, so Han Qian wanted to first establish the weaving workshop and arrange the surplus female labor there.

Jinling’s weaving and dyeing techniques were still considerably more advanced and efficient than Xuzhou’s. Weaving canvas for ship sails and subsequently waterproof tarpaulins were both plans Han Qian wanted to implement in Xuzhou.

On the journey to Xuzhou, Han Qian had also sought out several household troops’ wives skilled in weaving to discuss methods for weaving thick, resilient canvas and tarpaulin, waiting to verify them upon reaching Xuzhou.

Of course, Han Qian had long grown accustomed to this era’s slow pace. If he didn’t personally push these matters forward, Han Laoshan and the others might think that getting the looms ready before year’s end would already be considered fast.

When Han Qian summoned the Han Laoshan couple to ask, they indeed looked completely bewildered. They hadn’t expected that they hadn’t even caught their breath since arriving in Xuzhou—yesterday they were still worried the Four Clans might lead troops down the mountain to attack—yet the young master was already pushing this matter forward.

“We discussed four weaving methods on the boat that might be feasible. Tomorrow I want to see samples of these four methods. Whoever produces the first sample will become the weaving workshop’s manager,” Han Qian asked again, “Does this mean Ji Fu and Ji Xiyao haven’t started moving yet either?”

“Ji Fu’s health is somewhat unwell, but Ji Xiyao took people out of the city the day before yesterday to inspect the bay area!” After leaving Jinling City this time, Han Laoshan had finally truly recognized the young master’s methods, and didn’t dare be vague in his responses.

Qianyang City did have a shipyard, but it mainly built small covered boats and such. Cargo ships with three to five hundred shi capacity were already considered large ships on the Yuan River, so Xuzhou’s existing shipyards had no ready-made docks for Ji Xiyao and the others to modify that two-thousand-shi sailing ship.

Ji Xiyao taking people out of the city to inspect the bay area meant hoping to directly find a suitable harbor dock to minimize the subsequent engineering work required.

Hearing Han Laoshan say Ji Xiyao had taken people out of the city the day before yesterday, Han Qian thought that if he couldn’t foresee how chaotic Jinling City’s situation would become in three or four years, he really should take Ji Xiyao back to Jinling to build a shipyard.

After thinking it over, Han Qian said to Han Laoshan: “After you give instructions about the weaving workshop today, don’t concern yourself with it further. I’ll hand it all over to Ji Xiyao to manage.”

“Mm.” Han Laoshan responded with sourness in his heart.

Only after Han Qian asked further did he learn that Yang Qin had also been pulled along by Ji Xiyao to inspect the bay area. Not caring that noon was approaching, he instructed Gao Shao, Tian Cheng, Zhao Wuji, and the others to prepare to leave the city directly to find Ji Xiyao and Yang Qin.

After Gao Shao and the others had prepared the horses, Han Qian remembered something and said to Zhao Ting’er: “Let’s bring Madam Xi along out of the city for some fresh air…”

Zhao Ting’er was completely unwilling to bring Madam Xi along, but she knew young master Han Qian likely had other deeper meaning. Pouting, she ran to the small room where Madam Xi was confined and called her out.

With a side-saddle mounted on the horse, Xi Ren was quite agile. Riding a horse while wearing leg shackles wasn’t particularly inconvenient for her. She had also witnessed Han Qian’s cruelty and didn’t want to anger him when her situation had just improved. But no matter what, being led through the streets wearing leg shackles and going out of the city gave her a humiliating feeling of being paraded for public display.

“Ting’er, help Madam Xi change into a long skirt that can cover the leg shackles,” Han Qian said, seeing Madam Xi emerge with a gloomy expression. He added, “And wrap the shackles with silk so they don’t hurt her ankles.”

Xi Ren stood there stubbornly without making a sound. Only when Zhao Ting’er pulled her did she follow to the inner room to change her skirt…