Regarding the low morale at the Wuliu Creek diversion weir construction site, Han Qian had no choice but to make new adjustments to his existing plans.
Han Qian’s initial plan had been to follow the example of how Taowu Camp Military Prefecture had previously enrolled plague-stricken refugees, organizing all the Feng family slaves into military households for the Longya Mountain Military Prefecture he planned to establish in the future.
This way, besides ensuring he could recruit over a thousand additional soldiers for combat in Xuzhou, when connections with Jinling were eventually reestablished, the Longya Mountain Military Prefecture could be directly placed under the jurisdiction of the Prince’s Guard Command.
This would also demonstrate that his earlier suggestion to Emperor Tianyou to make Longya Mountain the fief for the Third Imperial Prince had not been mere empty words.
However, when actually implementing things, Han Qian discovered his ideas always contained deviations.
Two years ago, the plague-stricken refugees outside Jinling City had mostly been at death’s door, nearly unable to see any hope of survival. When the newly established military prefecture took them in, provided them with rations, and gave them medical treatment and medicine for their illnesses—
At that time, regardless of how heavy, exhausting, or filthy the labor was, very few plague-stricken refugees complained. Their hearts were instead full of gratitude.
The military prefecture at least gave them hope of survival. Compared to their previous miserable circumstances, their situation had actually improved.
The Feng family slaves were now displaced, but they hadn’t yet suffered the ravages and torment of hunger and cold in the short term.
Even if Han Qian directly enrolled them as military households now and conscripted the able-bodied for training, most people might not be willing. How could they not complain bitterly when suddenly made to undertake heavy physical labor even more arduous than forced labor camps?
Just like the military households recently forcibly relocated to Junzhou for resettlement—their combat effectiveness and cohesion were not particularly strong.
Han Qian neither had several months to cast the Feng family slaves out and let them struggle on the brink of life and death for a while, yet he also worried that continuing to suppress them by force would lead to desertion. Once slaves escaped to Wufeng Mountain to seek refuge with Feng clan members, the situation would become rather awkward.
At that time, should he capture the escaped slaves or not?
Once this problem emerged, the four surname great clans currently remaining silent, as well as the migrant major households courted by Tanzhou, might no longer continue their silence.
Han Qian could only abandon his early plan to establish the Longya Mountain Military Prefecture. He announced the establishment of Linjiang County in Longya Mountain, registering all Feng family slaves as households and granting them commoner status. He simultaneously promised that for each household providing one able-bodied male laborer, once the canals and diversion weir were completed, they would be granted twenty mu of land and two rooms. For providing one robust female laborer, they would be granted ten mu of land and one room.
Han Qian simultaneously opened these conditions to all refugees gathered within Xuzhou territory to attract more able-bodied laborers into Linjiang County, substantially reducing labor intensity while also striving to complete the Wuliu Creek diversion weir before the spring floods rose.
Han Qian and his father Han Daoxun had now essentially established regional control over Xuzhou. With the four surname great clans and the Tanzhou troops at the foot of Zhongfang Mountain still observing, naturally no one would step forward to stop Han Qian from privately casting official seals and establishing new districts and counties in Yushu Bay.
Even though the outer river embankment around Yushu Bay had no hope of being constructed before summer, as long as Wuliu Creek could be successfully tamed, one hundred thousand mu of grain fields could still be cultivated along its banks and those of the Sha River. Adding the valleys near the old Xi Stockade, this would be roughly sufficient to recruit six to seven thousand able-bodied laborers.
Of course, the earlier gold mine rumors, combined with flooding along the shores of Dongting Lake in spring and summer and large numbers of households forced to migrate north after May—multiple factors had caused massive influxes of people from other provinces into Xuzhou.
Even though the temporarily prosperous commerce and the expansion of production scale driven by commerce absorbed large numbers of able-bodied laborers, there were still large numbers of refugees stranded along the roads without proper settlement.
For Han Qian to recruit sufficient able-bodied laborers for work at this time posed no problem.
With so many able-bodied laborers, completing the canal excavation and diversion weir construction before summer, then building thirty large compound buildings along the Sha River and Wuliu Creek would be sufficient. However, the materials Han Qian had previously stockpiled would be consumed at twice the expected rate.
An ordinary person could barely survive on one jin of grain per day, but able-bodied laborers doing heavy physical work had astonishingly large appetites. Without other sources of nutrition, Han Qian currently had to guarantee them three jin of rations per person per day. Adding the extra wages offered, even the grain stockpiled beforehand and this year’s harvest from Wufeng Mountain plantations might not sustain them for four months.
However, for Han Qian this wasn’t yet an urgent crisis—he could at least hold out until the end of March.
***
The old Xi Stockade was located in a mountain valley in the heart of Longya Mountain, roughly at Longya Mountain’s geographical center point.
The mountain ridges to the left and right of the old Xi Stockade, though not particularly high, had extremely steep terrain that even monkeys could barely climb. But to the north and south were intermittent valleys. During the middle period of the previous dynasty, when the central government’s control over Chenzhou and Xuzhou had been quite strong, they had built an overland post road over a hundred li long passing through the old Xi Stockade and crossing Longya Mountain, connecting north to Chenyang County in Chenzhou and south along Wuliu Creek out of Longya Mountain all the way to Yushu Bay.
Though the old Xi Stockade was abandoned, this ancient post road, concealed among shrubs and grass, still occasionally saw merchant travelers passing through.
Of course, even though the old Xi Stockade was desolate and the wooden structures in the stockade had long ago been burned to ashes by fire, the stone-built stockade walls enclosing four to five li remained largely intact and could still serve defensive purposes.
In fact, the coal yard and iron mine that Ji Xiyao had been ordered to develop in Longya Mountain had all been mined by the Xi clan in earlier years and were distributed within four to five li of the old Xi Stockade.
Of course, it was also possible that Xi clan ancestors had discovered coal and iron ore in Longya Mountain and therefore built their stockade nearby. According to the memories of Xi Chang and others, the Xi clan had long mastered coal mining and iron smelting skills and had once been extremely powerful between Wu Mountain and Wu River, only declining after several upheavals.
If not for Han Qian’s desire to borrow the strength of the Xi clan members, the Xi clan could now be said to be an extinct clan.
Though Han Qian planned to build Linjiang County seat where the Sha River entered the Yuan River, that would be after the Wuliu Creek diversion weir was completed and the fields along both banks of the Sha River were mostly cultivated. But given current crude conditions, while also guarding against unusual movements by the various surname powers in Chenzhou north of Longya Mountain, and even guarding against Tanzhou troops advancing upstream along the Yuan River, he needed to place the newly established Linjiang County administrative seat at the old Xi Stockade, officially renaming the old Xi Stockade as Longya City.
Han Qian led Lin Zongjing, Zhao Wuji, and Xi Fa’er with two hundred armored soldiers to garrison Longya City. Besides personally supervising production at the various kilns and workshops nearby, he could also monitor activities within Chenyang County territory at the northern foot of Longya Mountain.
From the old Xi Stockade heading north along the ancient post road for over ten li, streams flowing from the northern foot of Longya Mountain converged into the Chen River, which forty li away flowed into the Yuan River past the south side of Chenyang County seat.
After the Yuan River passed through there, it still had to wind another two to three hundred li through these mountains before looping back to Yushu Bay at the southern foot of Longya Mountain.
When the fleet last passed through Chenzhou, Chenzhou hadn’t had time to react—or rather, faced with the fleet’s considerable armed escort at the time, those in Chenzhou preferred to play dumb.
However, after the fleet passed, dispatches regarding their “flight” also reached Chenzhou. Even if just to guard against the Han father and son having designs on Chenzhou, the indigenous major surnames who truly controlled military and political power in Chenzhou made targeted adjustments to their limited troop deployments.
Especially after Han Qian led five to six thousand troops into the southern foot of Longya Mountain, Chenzhou also gathered five to six hundred tribal soldiers at Jiming Stockade where the ancient post road intersected with Chen River at the northern foot of Longya Mountain.
Jiming Stockade was the territory of the Xi surname, an indigenous major clan of Chenzhou, and was only twelve to thirteen li from Longya City.
The Xi clan of Chenzhou and the Xi clan of Xuzhou led by Military Advisor Xi Zhen of Yuzhou had been one branch over a hundred years ago, a line that split off during the late period of the previous dynasty. Their clan leader Xi Ying had now inherited the position of Chenyang County Magistrate from his father and was a heavyweight figure in Chenzhou.
Although a cliff called Old Dragon Head south of Jiming Stockade was the true boundary between Xuzhou and Chenzhou, the tribal people controlled by the Xi clan had occupied a large expanse of valleys south of Old Dragon Head for cultivation and had even built village stockades there.
It was just that the Xi clan of Chenzhou currently lacked the strength to completely ignore the existence of several indigenous major clans in Xuzhou and directly annex even the old Xi Stockade.
Just as the Xi clan of Chenzhou guarded against any unusual moves by Han Qian, Han Qian also had to be wary of the Xi clan of Chenzhou.
In fact, Han Qian’s choice to establish himself in Longya Mountain brought him closer to Chenzhou’s indigenous major surnames, while the tribal stockades controlled by the four surnames Feng, Xi, Xiang, and Yang within Xuzhou territory were mainly distributed among the mountains and waters south of Qianyang City.
On this day, Xi Ren and Zhao Ting’er led thirty households comprising over two hundred slaves brought from Yandang Jetty and also moved into Longya City. They brought quite a few livestock, chickens, and ducks from Wufeng Mountain, immediately making the large areas of Longya City that were still ruins much more lively.
Xi Ren hadn’t spent much time in the old Xi Stockade in her youth, but still retained impressions of the surrounding mountains and waters. Though most of the buildings in the stockade had been burned to ashes, the stockade walls with their withered weeds still held her childhood memories, stirring myriad emotions.
“Sir, Sir, the method you described works!”
As Xi Ren climbed the stockade walls that they hadn’t yet had the energy to repair and which were somewhat uneven underfoot, she saw Du Yijun holding an iron rod, stumbling from the iron smelting facility behind the stockade, dancing excitedly and shouting loudly toward Han Qian who was likewise standing on the stockade walls surveying the surrounding mountain terrain.
Unlike the lime kilns, brick kilns, and coal crushing facility, Han Qian had earlier ordered Ji Xiyao to build the iron smelting facility directly behind Longya City. To facilitate use of water-powered bellows and water-powered forging hammers and ensure sufficient water supply, they had even excavated a two-li-long narrow canal two months ago to divert flow from a natural mountain lake in the hills to the vicinity of the iron smelting facility behind Longya City.
After Han Qian arrived in Xuzhou, he directly sent armored soldiers to guard the iron smelting facility. The craftsmen, workers, and their families employed there were all concentrated in residences inside Longya City and couldn’t freely come and go—currently to prevent information leaks.
Xi Ren had remained in Qianyang City these past few days and didn’t know what wonderful method Han Qian had taught Du Yijun. How remarkable that Du Yijun, who half a year ago had still been a scholar from a literary family, now looked like an old craftsman, dancing excitedly while holding an iron rod as if it were a precious treasure.
Too lazy to go around to the east side to enter Longya City through the stockade gate, Du Yijun directly felt for the uneven pits on the outer side of the stockade wall and climbed up the two-zhang-high wall top, handing the iron rod in his hand to Han Qian for inspection.
Han Qian applied slight force and bent the iron rod, which was one finger thick and half a palm wide. Seeing that no iron slag flaked off at the bend, confirming this was indeed a fine piece of flexible refined steel, he was also very pleased and instructed: “Keep this method in our minds. For now, don’t commit it to paper and ink.”
Large-scale steel casting and iron smelting consumed enormous amounts of charcoal. Han Qian and even the Prince’s Armory Bureau were all pondering using much cheaper coal briquettes to replace expensive charcoal.
Although Xuzhou seemed densely covered with forests, cutting firewood still required much more effort than mining coal, not to mention that three to four jin of wood was needed to produce one jin of charcoal.
However, using untreated coal stone for steel casting and iron smelting produced iron implements and steel structural components that were brittle and easily broken, even inferior in quality to the crude steel produced through the frying steel process commonly used in this era.
If one wanted to further forge it into hundred-refined steel, an entire iron rod might completely flake away as slag, ultimately yielding nothing.
Han Qian had been pondering this problem all along. In Jinling he had thought of the key point, but fearing information leaks, he had waited until Xuzhou to conduct experiments.
Actually, the principle was quite simple. Wealthy families in this era used charcoal rather than direct firewood for heating mainly because charcoal was easy to ignite, smokeless, and light.
That charcoal burned without smoke meant, stated plainly, that during the carbonization process of wood in kilns, the impurities that would produce thick smoke when burned were removed to a considerable degree.
People of this era called coal “stone charcoal” or “coal stone,” completely unaware of how these black combustible rocks underground formed. But a thousand years hence, most elementary school students could easily answer this question.
Coal, simply put, was plants buried underground that underwent transformation over millions of years—its main composition wasn’t much different from firewood.
In Jinling City, Han Qian had thought of trying to process coal using the method for producing charcoal. But this process required handling the colorless, odorless, highly toxic carbon gas and couldn’t be done within manor grounds—charcoal kilns needed to be built in open areas.
If Han Qian truly undertook large-scale smoldering of coal briquettes or coal stone in charcoal kilns, the commotion would be rather large and easily attract outside attention. He could only suppress it until Xuzhou to conduct experiments.
The coal was mined from Longya Mountain. After preliminary water washing, it was placed in charcoal kilns, ignited and smoldered. The kiln was opened and water poured in to extinguish remaining fires. The water-washed smoldered coal blocks were extracted for use in iron smelting and forging steel components, with identical processes compared to using charcoal.
Chen Jitang needed to assist Lin Haizheng in supervising construction of the Wuliu Creek diversion weir, so Han Qian entrusted exploring new coal washing and iron smelting methods to Du Yijun.
A year ago, Du Yijun had still been a frail scholar. Because his father had been coerced into surrendering to Liang forces during the Jingxiang campaign, he was liquidated after the war. The Du Yijun and Du Yiming brothers and their elderly mother were sent to forced labor camps as slaves, ultimately gaining salvation when the young Du family sisters were granted to Han Qian by the Third Imperial Prince.
Du Yijun was well-read in classical texts, knowledgeable in medicine and music—a proper scholar by contemporary standards. Upon joining Han Qian, he initially helped transcribe collected books from Jinyun Tower, later helped Han Qian compile the “Heavenly Crafts Manual,” and also participated in building the wine house and forge at Yandang Jetty. Now that Chen Jitang couldn’t break away, he could also handle affairs at the iron smelting facility.
After all, contemporary iron smelting processes held no insurmountable obstacles for scholars who understood practical affairs and could be pragmatic. Du Yijun himself hadn’t imagined that in just half a month he would verify that the method the Sir taught was indeed feasible.