At Wujin Ridge, Han Daochang naturally understood the internal situation of Huaiyang Mountain better than Yuan Guowei. He immediately explained to Han Daoming and family heads of the Qiao, Chen, and other clans:
“North of White Horse Peak and east of Huazhu Peak, the mountain regions of Huaiyang Mountain belonging to Huo Prefecture and Chao Prefecture harbor an estimated population of approximately one hundred twenty to one hundred thirty thousand, but specific statistics may have to wait until this summer or autumn for accurate figures…”
“So many people?” Qiao Chunlin was Qiao Weiyan’s uncle. He currently served as Revenue Clerk of Xuan Prefecture and was the current Qiao clan patriarch. Hearing Han Daochang’s words, he was greatly shocked, completely not expecting that just the northeastern and eastern slopes within Huaiyang Mountain concealed so many fugitive households. He said, “If we count mountain villagers from west of Huazhu Peak all the way to Jiuli Pass, wouldn’t there be two hundred thousand?”
“Only more, not fewer,” Han Daochang said.
Han Daochang went on to further discuss more of the situation he had learned this time.
Only by personally walking into Huaiyang Mountain did he realize that although Huaiyang Mountain’s surrounding peaks and ridges were magnificent and precipitous, between the lofty mountains and steep ridges there actually existed large numbers of river valley and stream valley plains as well as extensive areas of low hills.
This created necessary conditions for large numbers of civilian households fleeing warfare from the Huai River plains into the mountains over the past nearly one hundred years to multiply and thrive.
Also, because large numbers of civilian household populations had cultivated in the mountains for several generations, the overall cultivation level in Huaiyang Mountain was not low—at least stronger than when Han Qian first arrived in Xu Prefecture with his father.
Although there were no precise figures, east of Huazhu Peak and north of White Horse Peak in the Huaiyang Mountain region, cultivated land was estimated to be no less than eight hundred thousand mu.
To ease contradictions and conflicts, Han Qian’s methods weren’t so severe for stockades that subsequently voluntarily opened their gates to welcome Tangyi troops’ entry and accurately reported their populations and farmland.
Besides surveying farmland and determining taxes, for wealthy households and prominent families occupying large amounts of farmland, he merely required them to convert all bondservants under their control to hired servants, strictly prohibiting unpaid employment and requiring them to at least provide wages sufficient to guarantee survival. He strictly forbade beating, killing, or selling them, while also requiring them to reduce land rents for impoverished tenant farmers.
For stockades that had held out in resistance against Tangyi troops’ entry, Han Qian wasn’t so polite. All wealthy households and prominent families who had led opposition were detained as prisoners of war.
Besides confiscating two hundred thousand mu to allocate as ration fields and distribute residences for cultivation by enlisted impoverished commoners and bondservants’ families, there were also large accumulated stores of cash, grain, and other family property all appropriated for military use—during these two to three months in Huaiyang Mountain, Han Qian mainly relied on this to support military expenditures. The allocation of this portion of fields and residences was also roughly completed during the tug-of-war period.
However, cultivated land resources in Huaiyang Mountain had already been developed to their limit—one could even say excessively so.
At the world’s current agricultural level, this mountain region supporting a population of over one hundred thirty thousand was far beyond capacity.
This made civilian household life in the mountains extremely impoverished. The survival conditions of the most bottom-level impoverished commoners and bondservants were even more worrying—they could only survive by depending on wealthy households and prominent families.
Besides establishing a new county south of Wujin Ridge, Han Qian also planned to memorialize the court for permission to establish a new county in the middle and upper reaches of Dragon Pool River. He planned to incorporate the upper Dragon Pool River valley in northern Lujiang County and Huaiyang Mountain’s eastern slope, plus a portion of land north of Dragon Pool River, to strengthen control over Chao Lake’s western shore and Huaiyang Mountain’s eastern mountain region.
This region had originally been the Shouzhou army’s garrison and cultivation zone. Especially over the past year, at its peak the Shouzhou army had stationed thirty thousand combat soldiers and twenty thousand garrison troops north of Lujiang County, confronting over forty thousand Huaixi Forbidden Army elite forces led by Li Zhigao on the southern Lujiang defensive line.
Now that the Shouzhou army had hastily withdrawn, Tangyi troops took over over one hundred defensive and garrison stockades along both banks of Dragon Pool River, plus tens of thousands of houses and over one hundred thousand mu of newly cultivated fields with green wheat shoots. These could first be used to settle the twenty thousand military and civilians captured from Anfeng Stockade.
Among these military and civilians, nearly four thousand able-bodied men had, voluntarily or by force, entered defensive lines to resist the enemy. Casualties were most severe—fourteen hundred had died in battle, with even more wounded and disabled.
To fulfill pre-battle promises, even if they and their families couldn’t be allowed to return to their homes in enemy-occupied Gao City, they still needed to be given priority in compensation and resettlement.
Besides arable farmland and crude shelters to block wind and rain, settling this population also required providing clothing, farm tools, and other essential living and production necessities. They even needed to supplement with some draft animals.
Otherwise, the farmland a single able-bodied man could cultivate was limited, and survival conditions would remain worrying.
After completing this step, Tangyi’s Left and Right armies should also complete expansion. East of Huaiyang Mountain, new defensive lines would be constructed with Chu Prefecture city and Chao Prefecture city. South of the military buffer zone there would be large areas of newly reclaimable territory, so they could gradually transfer some of Huaiyang Mountain’s surplus population over…
These subsequent plans for further deepening cultivation of Huaixi naturally couldn’t be written into memorials. They had to be explained one by one after Han Daochang returned to Jinling.
After hearing all this, Han Daoming also said with considerable emotion:
“Establishing a new county on Chao Lake’s western shore at this time, and with Wujin Ridge as the center, including Huaiyang Mountain’s northeastern slope heartland, should also require establishing a new county. Adding Chao Prefecture city, Chu Prefecture city, and Yongyang County north of Chu Prefecture city, Tangyi Campaign will subsequently directly govern twelve counties…”
Han Daoming didn’t continue, but everyone seated in the hall understood clearly.
Counting Xu Prefecture’s seven counties plus Wuchuan County governed by Tan Yuliang, the Marquis of Qianyang’sMansion and the Han family controlled exactly twenty counties. Purely in terms of prefecture and county numbers, their strength was already not weak.
When Emperor Tianyou rose in Huainan back then, his domain also comprised only about twenty-plus counties.
However, the twenty counties governed by the Marquis of Qianyang’sMansion, with military and civilians combined, had just barely exceeded six hundred thousand people. In terms of population, it was still slightly low.
This was precisely where everyone could contribute their efforts.
Various families pooling together could still send seven to eight thousand bondservants to Tangyi for resettlement.
Xuan and She prefectures, under the leadership of the Feng and Han families, had submitted early on to Sheng Prefecture Commissioner, then before Emperor Tianyou crossed the Yangtze, quickly changed direction, raising banners and switching allegiance to join the Huainan army. The only large-scale warfare in nearly one hundred years was when Han Qian led the Chishan Army attacking Langxi City, making Gu Zhilong howl before quickly submitting.
Without warfare, population multiplied quickly. Never mind clan direct lineage sons and nephews—the bondservants various families kept, after four or five generations of reproduction, honestly speaking, were now somewhat excessive. Yet the annexation of farmland had limits.
“Perhaps you heard along the way—His Majesty and the court recently intend to strengthen relief for Huaidong disaster victims, planning for the Imperial Household Bureau and the Treasury to allocate fifty thousand shi of cash and grain monthly to transport to Huaidong,” Han Daoming, not minding what those seated were pondering in their hearts, mentioned another matter to Han Daochang. “With this cash and grain, Huaidong’s dependence on us won’t be so urgent.”
“The great Wujin Ridge victory was decisive and swift, giving some people no opportunity to drag their feet. But subsequently supporting Huaidong and Jing-Xiang to check and balance Huaixi is also what should naturally follow,” Han Daochang said. “When I crossed Chao Lake, I met with Feng Liao and Guo Rong. They all predicted that subsequently wanting to continue directly introducing disaster refugees from Huaidong would be impossible. But as long as they have no excuse to cut off the commerce Chishan Association has opened in various places, and as long as the Huaixi situation further stabilizes, there should be a steady stream of new displaced impoverished people crossing the river northward…”
“They won’t go so far as to overturn the table at this time.” Han Daoming laughed. He wasn’t particularly worried about this point. Speaking of it, the situation had changed. In the past they had to carefully curry favor with others, worried about the court’s suspicions. Now it was others’ turn to be careful with them and watch their expressions.
Regardless, although the honeymoon period with Prince Shou’s Mansion and Huaidong was much shorter than expected, during this period besides directly importing over eighty thousand people to Tangyi, Chishan Association had already obtained official permits—equivalent to market entry certificates—in major prefectures and counties of Jiangdong, Jiangxi, Hunan, Huaidong, and Jing-Xiang.
Besides these, after the new year Han Daoming had also facilitated two matters in the court.
The first matter was formally incorporating cotton cloth into summer grain and autumn tribute categories.
The court dignitaries haggled for a long time, ultimately deciding that when collected as payment in kind, one bolt of cotton cloth could only be calculated as equivalent to two bolts of hemp cloth. This was slightly lower than their expectations.
However, because grain and cloth tribute collection ratios were fixed in all localities, and even the planting area ratios between mulberry-hemp land and grain fields among civilian households were relatively fixed, this meant local grain and cloth prices were directly linked in floating relationships.
This all encouraged local aristocratic families and great clans occupying large amounts of farmland and population, regardless of how much they opposed Han Qian’s emancipation of the lowly to free status potentially shaking aristocratic families’ foundations, to have extremely strong motivation to exchange for Qianyang cloth from Chishan Association to pay grain tribute.
The second matter was that Qianyang cloth collected in tribute would first be used to replace the Palace Guard Personal Army’s uniforms.
The great Wujin Ridge victory was very unexpected for everyone, but regardless of how unfavorably they had viewed Tangyi troops’ raid beforehand, the fact that Han Qian could lead soldiers in long-distance penetrating operations in such frigid weather—the superiority of soldiers’ cold-weather clothing made primarily of cotton cloth and cotton wadding—was undeniable to anyone with eyes.
Systematically replacing Palace Guard Personal Army and Forbidden Army soldiers’ cold-weather clothing was truly necessary. Mid- and lower-level soldiers also extremely desired replacing their cold-weather clothing.
This was also a key reason cotton cloth could be incorporated into payment-in-kind taxes.
What supplies the court needed, it had always been accustomed to “collecting” rather than “purchasing.”
Although if over one hundred thousand Palace Guard Personal Army and Forbidden Army soldiers’ cold-weather clothing all used cotton cloth and cotton wadding, it would only amount to a fraction of what Xu Prefecture and Tangyi produced, these two matters’ promotion and demonstration of cotton cloth within Great Chu territory was far stronger than Chishan Association shouting everywhere at the top of their lungs.
After the new year, Xu Prefecture’s cotton textile industry, via Chishan Association to Jiangdong, Huaidong, Jiangxi, Hunan, Jing-Xiang and other places, stably exported three hundred thousand bolts of Qianyang cloth and one million jin of raw cotton monthly, equivalent to over two hundred fifty thousand strings of cash and grain. Adding shipments to Sichuan-Shu and Qianzhong regions, Xu Prefecture’s cotton textile industry’s enormous output could roughly be normally absorbed.
Subsequent deepening would mainly absorb Tangyi’s cotton textile industry’s newly increased output.
Although most income returned to cotton farmers and weaving households, besides normally collected cotton cloth taxes, plus the partial surplus from weaving academies under the Works Bureau and Chishan Association, Xu Prefecture’s cotton textile industry could provide monthly military funding equivalent to eighty thousand strings of cash and grain.
Xu Prefecture, after deducting necessary local fiscal expenditures, could additionally provide Tangyi’s side with total monthly military funding equivalent to over one hundred twenty thousand strings of cash and grain.
Before this, or rather beyond those seated in the hall, who could imagine that a small southwestern prefecture that in the eyes of the vast majority of worldly people still remained miasma-ridden, remote, with fierce customs, could contribute such enormous quantities of cash and grain?
Han Qian’s expansion of Tangyi’s Left and Right armies planned for each to comprise fifteen thousand regular soldiers and ten thousand supply battalion auxiliary troops or garrison troops.
Supply battalion auxiliary troops were mainly filled by prisoners of war. Twenty thousand troops, monthly clothing, food, provisions, camp and numerous equipment repairs—expenditures equivalent to sixty thousand strings of cash and grain. Left and Right army regular soldiers, besides sixty thousand strings monthly normal expenditures, additionally required paying sixty thousand strings in military wages.
Of course, if the court could ultimately approve Tangyi’s expansion into Left and Right armies, as long as they allocated sixty to seventy thousand strings of cash and grain monthly, Tangyi army’s daily expenditure gap could be filled.
However, Han Qian’s military governance—soldiers’ armor and equipment provisions, even medical care and protection—had standards much higher than Palace Guard Personal Army and Forbidden Army. This aspect would generate large additional military funding expenditures.
This portion of the gap still required finding other ways to fill it.
Fortunately, compensation for soldier casualties mainly consisted of granting farmland. What Tangyi currently most lacked was not farmland, so temporarily there were no additional military funding expenditures generated.
Hearing Han Daochang enumerate these details one by one, for family heads of the Qiao, Chen, and other clans participating in confidential discussions for the first time, they perhaps more profoundly and intuitively felt why Tangyi troops’ combat capability and operational tenacity could be so strong.
This was completely piled up with cash and grain!
Tangyi troops’ military funding expenditure averaged per soldier was roughly three times that of Palace Guard Personal Army and Forbidden Army. No wonder they could maintain toughness and morale exceeding worldly imagination in cruel and fierce tug-of-war battles.
Of course, compared to last year when cash and grain flowed like water continuously filling the bottomless pit of Tangyi, after Tangyi’s Left and Right armies expanded, with an estimated monthly gap of thirty to fifty thousand strings of cash and grain still to fill, those seated in the hall no longer felt the previous anxiety and helplessness.
Or rather, the great Wujin Ridge victory brought everyone strong confidence—no need to worry that contributions wouldn’t yield returns.
Moreover, previously the Han family had desperately filled in the gap alone, filling in sixty to seventy thousand strings of cash and grain monthly. Now with over ten families pooling together, they couldn’t fill a gap of thirty to fifty thousand strings of cash and grain monthly?
As for Han Qian’s various actions potentially shaking aristocratic families’ foundations, at this time this couldn’t have much negative impact on the Han, Chen, and Qiao families.
Converting bondservants to hired servants—their daily luxurious and enjoyable lifestyle hadn’t suffered fundamental impact.
Large amounts of fields and residences transferred for sale, partially exchanged for workshops and mines within Tangyi and Xu Prefecture territory, could be viewed as continuously multiplying grain fields, bondservants, and livestock.
The Feng and Han families had always been extremely skilled at commercial operations. Aristocratic families and great clans of Xuan and She prefectures wouldn’t reject this either.
Another portion as loans deposited into Xu Prefecture Official Currency Bureau to make up gaps produced by Tangyi construction and military funding would also calculate fixed interest.
At Wujin Ridge, Han Qian and Wang Jun had predicted today’s scene of the Han Mansion filled with guests. Han Qian was busy organizing defenses. Many matters were handled by Wang Jun. It was also Wang Jun who had Han Daochang bring back specific requirements to Jinling City to discuss with various families.
The first point was requiring various families over the next two years to deposit into Xu Prefecture Official Currency Bureau as loans or savings cash and grain not less than one hundred thousand strings monthly. Even if they had to sell fields and residences, they had to fill this amount. Han Qian agreed to use Xu Prefecture Official Currency Bureau stock shares to calculate and distribute interest to various families.
The second point was requiring various families to voluntarily allow bondservants to redeem themselves to free status, and to encourage bondservants to migrate to Tangyi for work or to purchase fields and residences to settle and establish households.
Those purchasing fields and residences—Tangyi would also follow previous practices in Huaidong, helping them settle and establish households in Tangyi at extremely low sale prices. Even if these bondservants had no savings, going to Tangyi to work, simple housing would be provided. They could also first borrow funds from the Official Currency Bureau to purchase fields and residences.
This practice simultaneously required various families to promote it in Xuan and She regions.
The third point was that if various families hoped young clan members could receive Han family recommendations to enter court service or serve as officials in Tangyi or Xu Prefecture, they all needed to first attend Liyang Academy, then recommendations would be made based on merit.
The fourth point was requiring various families to actively establish various workshops and mines in Tangyi or Xu Prefecture, while plantations were temporarily limited to only a few categories including sugar cane, cotton, tung oil trees, and medicinal herbs.
Especially medicinal herb cultivation—although for several hundred years Buddhist monasteries and Daoist temples had precedents of artificially cultivating medicinal herbs, in the current era it still hadn’t formed scale. Major medicine shops mainly purchased wild medicinal herbs.
Medicinal herb varieties were extremely complex. In Xu Prefecture, Han Qian only had Du Qiniang and others attempt cultivating artemisia with special efficacy against malaria and several hemostatic and anti-inflammatory medicinal herbs. Scales were all very limited, never mind systematically organizing pharmacopeias.
When Han Qian mentioned this matter to Wang Jun, both deeply regretted it.
Now Xu Prefecture and Tangyi needed to cultivate toward more refined aspects. Tangyi had abundant and fertile hill, dry field, and paddy resources. Subsequently, as the scale of warfare Tangyi directly participated in expanded, medical expenditures were extremely large. Wang Jun specially instructed Han Daochang to prioritize promoting artificial cultivation of medicinal herbs in Tangyi and Huaiyang Mountain.
Cotton field, sugar cane field, and tung oil tree cultivation—Xu Prefecture and Tangyi were both vigorously pursuing these with considerable scale. Various families didn’t need to participate too urgently.
The entire Great Chu territory’s population was estimated between fifteen to eighteen million, with most civilian households still quite impoverished. Cotton textile industry, sugar manufacturing industry, and even soap manufacturing industry—in the short term, markets couldn’t expand infinitely.
At this time, it was even more necessary to expand categories of commodities that could be exported externally in large quantities, rather than infinitely expanding cotton field and sugar cane field cultivation to avoid serious oversupply.
Xuan and She prefectures backed onto Fuyu Mountain and Yi Mountain. Various families almost all operated medicine shops. Promoting this matter had convenient conditions.
Discussions continued until dawn before everyone, carrying satisfactory answers and promises, took their leave from the Han Mansion.
……
……
The Empress Dowager venerated Buddhism and esteemed Daoism, going to Chongfu Temple every few days to offer incense and worship gods.
As the imperial Daoist temple within the Imperial City, Chongfu Temple’s status rose accordingly. Daoist Yun Puzi had even received the title of Chongfu Temple Director.
This day, the Empress Dowager again came to Chongfu Temple to offer incense. After worshipping the gods, she rested briefly in the temple. Daoist Yun Puzi accompanied her, recounting various ancient and modern matters to relieve the Empress Dowager’s boredom.
Near dusk, the Empress Dowager ordered palace attendants to lead the Second Prince, just learning to toddle, as she departed the temple to return to the palace.
“The Empress Dowager keeping the Second Prince by her side—will this mean establishing the Second Prince as legitimate heir afterward?” Daoist Yun Puzi respectfully escorted her to outside the temple gate. Seeing Empress Dowager Wang Chan’er pick up the Second Prince to board the phoenix palanquin, he asked Yao Xishui with considerable emotion.
“His Majesty is in the prime of youth and vigor. Speaking of establishing an heir may be far too early, don’t you think?” Yao Xishui glanced at Daoist Yun Puzi and said breezily. “Empress Li suffers from heart illness. No matter what, she cannot be trusted to care for the Second Prince, which is why the Empress Dowager brought the Second Prince to Cishou Palace.”
“That’s true.” Daoist Yun Puzi said.
“What views does Daoist Yun have on the Wujin Ridge battle?”
“This old Daoist in the Imperial City is but an idle cloud and wild crane. What views could I have on the great Wujin Ridge victory? This old Daoist heard Marquis Han submitted a memorial requesting the court transfer the Left Vermillion Bird Army out of Shu Prefecture. I wonder how you view the great Wujin Ridge victory, Miss Yao?” Daoist Yun Puzi asked Yao Xishui in return.
The corners of Yao Xishui’s mouth twitched twice. How could she view it? She wanted to drag Yang Zhitang, Yang Yuanyan, Wang Wenqian—every single one—before her to ask them how they viewed it. Did seeking a tiger’s hide for personal gain feel satisfying?
She practically wanted to drag Xu Mingzhen before her to ask where the distinguished bearing of a Great Chu renowned general on par with Li Yu was. Given such excellent circumstances, elite forces several times the enemy’s, on interior lines where supplies and troops were easier to mobilize—how had he been beaten by Han Qian like a dog?
Even now, scouts and spies sent out by the Weaving Bureau still hadn’t investigated many details of the Wujin Ridge battle clearly. It seemed Han Qian truly had divine assistance in Huaiyang Mountain—overnight borrowing heaven’s rain and mountain floods to destroy the enemy camp…
The Wujin Ridge battle would change far too much about Great Chu’s situation. She had also long heard reports that the Han Mansion these past days had been filled with guests and friends, with music and song nightly.
Especially after Han Daochang returned to Jinling yesterday, Fu Mo, who had remained silent for a long time, had even specially gone to the Han Mansion this afternoon to “plead guilty,” but was refused outside the Han Mansion gates…