Zhù Da had been roused to fury by the wolf howls the night before, wanting to tell his daughter to send men to hunt wolves. He himself harbored more than a little of the same heroic spirit — since his daughter had so many people under her, he could follow along outside the city to watch the excitement. It would be a hunt! With a great retinue of followers around him, pointing here and directing there while watching wild wolves be captured and killed — how stirring, how exhilarating! In the capital he had often heard of distinguished men “going on hunting excursions outside the city,” but he had never had the means to try it himself.
Early that morning he got up and made himself neat and presentable, intending to tell his daughter and come along.
He went looking for Zhù Ying in high spirits, searched around, and found his daughter in the study: “Third child, I also want to… hey? Why are you dressed like that?”
Zhù Ying said: “Going to hunt wolves. The walls may be high, but with wolves nearby the area is still not safe — clear them out, and the people in the city will be able to farm in peace, and the merchants will be able to trade in peace.”
Zhù Da wanted to go outside for a stroll himself, but now would absolutely not agree to his daughter going into danger — he forgot entirely about wanting to come along: “Just send the others — you do not need to go!”
Zhù Ying said: “I set this task in motion; I must go in person.”
“But it is so dangerous! Wolves are beasts — they do not recognize people.”
“I am not going alone — I have people with me. Hu Shijie is also coming with me.”
Hu Shijie said from beside them: “Yes. Old sir, do not worry, I will protect my lord.”
Zhù Da and Zhù Ying talked back and forth for a while, and seeing he could not dissuade her, he went running off to find Zhang Xiangu, wanting to recruit her to help talk Zhù Ying out of it. Zhù Ying had already changed into her clothes and strapped on her knife. She folded the map on the table and carried it out, along with her longbow. Hu Shijie had a row of pouches hanging at her waist and carried a short knife. The two were heading out the door when they ran straight into the old couple coming to intercept them.
Zhù Ying said: “I understand what you mean. Look — they have all come here with troops. If I show cowardice now, we will never be able to hold our footing here. There may well be someone with bad intentions among them — so this is also about staking my claim here. This too is breaking new ground.”
Zhang Xiangu found all her words stopped up in her throat, as though someone had pushed a block of ice into her belly — heavy and cold. Since first setting eyes on the estate, she had had a feeling of “we can rest easy now.” And today she had been told it was still not safe.
Zhù Da murmured: “Why is there still the need to risk life and limb?”
Zhù Ying smiled: “How is this risking life and limb? Things are already much better than before. Our party going out numbers more than a hundred — there is nothing to fear. Enough said — I must go. This afternoon we will just be scouting the route; I will be back for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we will go further out.”
The old couple stayed behind with worried hearts. Zhù Da had long since forgotten his idea of “going on a hunt,” having quite simply been reminded of life back in Zhu Village. Zhu Village had not been without good people, but their own family had been weak and outsiders — and so had been bullied.
The two of them watched Zhù Ying walk away with heavy hearts.
Out of the study and through one more gate was the front assembly hall.
On the way there, Hu Shijie said: “My lord, Old Master is only worried about you — why not…”
Zhù Ying shook her head: “I must go in person.”
She had already entrusted the Stone City to Xiang Le to put in order, instructing him to select twenty men from among the residents. These people had previously been scattered dwellers in the mountains and had some experience with mountain life. In Zhù Ying’s plans, alongside the work of building the city, recruiting settlers, breaking farmland, and conducting market trade, there was one further plan that had to be implemented as soon as possible: building her own private militia.
Without a blade in hand, one could not hold onto any foundation. Relying solely on “being capable” and “providing benefit” was not sufficient to make people willing to sit down and negotiate peacefully with her and protect her wealth. Even those who did not actively rob others could still be considered decent.
Her ability to stand firm in the mountains depended in the greatest part on the court’s military forces — forces that would never actually be deployed on her behalf. The residual might of a great battle from several decades ago still lingered. Though it had left behind a name for “treachery,” it had also deterred the mountain tribes from pulling knives on her at the slightest provocation. The mountain tribes did not trust the lowland authorities; Zhù Ying did not entirely trust the tribes either. Su Mingluan’s ties to her were deep enough that betrayal was unlikely, but the three newly affiliated counties were far less firmly bound.
The Stone City was built, the population was growing, and the wasteland was beginning to be opened — it was time to build a proper private militia. Yet she had absolutely no experience in leading or training troops. Commander Mei had shown her the battle formations and drills of a military camp, and she had watched the exercises. She could see the surface but was not familiar with the inner workings.
She knew, however, that a few people who could wield sticks did not constitute a “militia” — ruffians could wield sticks to rob people too. Soldiers also had to coordinate with each other, and they had to have weapons. Weapons had always been strictly controlled by the court.
All of these problems needed to be addressed.
Upon hearing the wolf howls, Zhù Ying’s mind had begun to work. She wanted to try assembling a contingent of people — for one, as a form of training; for another, to have a legitimate reason to possess some weapons. It would also allow her to become more familiar with the nearby mountain terrain and be prepared for the unexpected.
Having made up her mind, Hu Shijie no longer tried to dissuade her but stayed close at her side.
The two had just entered the assembly hall when Su Mingluan and the others had not yet returned from assembling their respective contingents outside. Xiang Le came hurrying in and said: “My lord, the men have been selected — all residents of the estate, with families here, and all able to move through mountain terrain.”
“Bring them to see me.”
“Yes.”
Xiang Le selected men from within the Stone City. The Stone City now had nearly four hundred households and fewer than two thousand people. On average, each household had at least one adult male — it was virtually impossible to live scattered in the mountains without one.
Previously, several dozen of these people had been chosen to serve as the Stone City’s patrol force. Now another twenty had been selected. The total came to nearly one hundred men — even by lenient lowland standards, this was not a heavy levy.
Zhù Ying and Xiang Le came to the open square in front of the assembly hall and looked over these twenty men. Their spirits appeared reasonably good. Each person had clothes and footwear — though worn mismatched, nothing was complete as a set. They each carried whatever implement was most useful to them: some had clubs, some had bows and arrows, some had chopping blades, and some were carrying sharpened long bamboo stakes.
At the same time, the runners and white-duty guards who had accompanied Zhù Ying also assembled. They wore neat uniforms with matching numbers, and their weapons were somewhat superior — most had belt knives.
Zhù Ying stepped closer and asked a recently arrived resident: “When did you come here? What did you used to do for a living?” She switched between two or three languages and found that not one of the twenty men could speak the official language — which was entirely expected. Most of them could speak some of the local tribal languages; two could be clearly identified as Flower Sash tribe by their dress.
She asked these two: “The territory near here is Flower Sash tribe land. Why are you not living in one of the settlements?”
The two were a father and son. The father said: “When I was young, my father angered the headman, and we fled. We have never gone back. Living in the mountains hunting birds and beasts and growing some beans — it was enough to get by.” They had suffered greatly. He had seven children; three had died. One had frozen to death, one had died of illness, and the smallest had been dragged off and eaten by a wolf in the winter.
Zhù Ying said: “Is that so…”
Among the group there was also one middle-aged man who could speak the lowland dialect, which aroused Zhù Ying’s interest — Lu Guo and Xijin could barely manage it!
The man said: “I used to guide lowland merchants through the mountains for trading on the other side.”
Zhù Ying nodded and looked more closely at their weapons.
They were all somewhat tense and said: “They work well! We are used to them!” Their voices carried a note of fearful anxiety, as though they were afraid of being sent away. In winter, life was hard — they had this place to shelter in and did not want to leave.
Zhù Ying said nothing.
“Raising soldiers” was not costly — it was ruinously expensive. These were only twenty people, and replacing all their weapons and clothing would already be a considerable outlay.
An adult male who was to maintain his ability to fight had to be well-fed. To train him meant he had no time to farm, so others had to support him. And this was only ordinary infantry — cavalry also required horses. Mountain terrain did not call for cavalry much, but mounted riders were considerably more efficient than foot messengers for relaying communications.
The best approach for now was “soldier-farmer combined” — breaking new farmland in the busy season, training in the slack season. In normal times, the city’s able-bodied men would be organized into rotating patrols. Given enough time, they would become experienced; when the population grew larger and grain supplies improved, things could be reassessed. Whether at the court’s level or among the five counties, this was essentially the standard approach — normally maintaining only a modest number of regular soldiers and “cave soldiers,” then levying troops when a major campaign was required.
No one could afford to maintain too many able-bodied men fully removed from productive labor. Even at the current numbers, military farm colonies were still needed as a supplement.
Zhù Ying said: “On the return, for any game we take, I will keep one tenth; the rest is yours. Wolf pelts — one per person; any surplus I will take.”
She repeated this in two languages. All twenty men could not help but smile. If they could lay hands on the pelts before the merchants left the mountain, they might be able to exchange them for goods — making this winter a little more bearable. At the very least, they could breathe easier for the next two months.
Zhù Ying thought: It is time to set down some “rules” for the Stone City.
That would be far simpler than the Covenant — this was her territory, and she said what went.
Zhù Ying finished reviewing the troops. Su Mingluan and the others had also assembled their people. They had not brought their contingents into the main residence but had gathered them in the open square outside. Zhù Ying and her party went out, and some of those behind her who saw the headmen shrank back a little — then drew themselves up straight again. Su Mingluan and the others’ followers looked noticeably more disciplined than the Stone City’s twenty — their clothing was more uniform, and the weapons they carried appeared sharper and better-made.
Zhù Ying swept a glance over them and said to Xiang Le: “You take men and look after the house — make sure none of the household people go outside. No matter what anyone says, they do not come along.”
“Yes.”
Zhù Ying said to Su Mingluan and the others: “This afternoon we will just scout the route. We will be back for dinner tonight. Tomorrow we will go further out — and still return at night to confer on what to do next. Then we will sweep the entire area in one go.”
This was a fairly cautious plan, but all five said: “Agreed.”
Zhù Ying then explained the plan for dividing the game: whoever brings it down, it belongs to them.
No one objected.
Zhù Ying asked: “You are the experts in mountain operations — let everyone speak and say how we should go about this.”
All five spoke up without ceremony, one after another.
They all regularly organized hunts, though the scale was generally not large. Even with many people involved, they usually spread out in separate parties. A hundred-odd people working together was a relatively complex formation.
In these deep mountains and dense forests, wolf packs tended to be small and the wolves themselves not particularly large. On seeing a large group of people, wolves would generally not advance. But a lone person struggling against wolves was very difficult. This time they would use a different method: gather the hunters of each tribe and track the wolves to their den, surrounding and sweeping the area in a push.
Shanque’s father-in-law was the oldest and most experienced. He said: “This one sweep will not clean them out entirely. What settlement in the mountains is not hunting constantly — and yet there are still wolves year after year, never wiped out? Sometimes the infestations are worse, sometimes milder.”
Zhù Ying said: “In the agricultural off-season I will also organize people to hunt wolves — we cannot just keep hiding from them.”
Shanque’s father-in-law, seeing that she was not requiring all the wolves to be killed off in one go, said nothing further.
Each party contributed several of their best hunters, and the large group set off into the mountains.
Leading the way was a man of about thirty from Xijin’s family — short in stature but powerfully built, wearing leather boots, carrying a bow on his back and a knife in his hand: “I will guide the way.”
Behind him were the best hunters of each family. Zhù Ying and Su Mingluan and the others were further back, with the other half of the attendants bringing up the rear. Zhù Ying noticed as she scanned the hunting party that some arrow tips were iron, some of Xijin’s were apparently bronze, and others were made from bone or stone — the full transition to copper and iron was not complete. Their knives, however, were all steel.
After half a day’s travel, the leading hunter made a hand signal: “There are some ahead — everyone be quiet and stay still.”
Several of them went ahead to track, while the rest waited for the signal when the wolves were located. After quite some time, the hunter crept silently back and signaled with his fingers: “Ahead. Two of them.”
He and several hunters moved silently forward. Zhù Ying also dismounted and followed them. Su Mingluan and Hu Shijie both tried to dissuade her: “It is dangerous ahead — wait for them to return.”
Zhù Ying said: “I want to see.”
She could not bring all five families every single time. This was her territory — in the end, she would have to defend it herself.
She moved slowly forward, carefully watching how the hunters walked, paying attention to the kinds of terrain they chose. An Asu family hunter quietly stepped back a pace and murmured close by her side: “People have their paths, beasts have their trails…”
After a long explanation, the hunter in front finally turned and said: “Stop talking! Almost there!”
They fell silent. The hunters went ahead. Then suddenly wolf howls erupted!
Hu Shijie drew her blade and positioned herself in front of Zhù Ying. Zhù Ying also drew her long knife. Others surged forward. The wolf howls from ahead shifted to whimpering. The hunters shouted and called out — Zhù Ying saw two gray shapes lunge at the hunters!
Though the hunters were many, they still struggled for a good while with the two wolves before one wolf let out a cry and fell. The other wolf turned to flee deeper into the mountains and was caught under a large net thrown by a hunter, then dispatched with a single knife stroke.
Zhù Ying had watched intently the whole time, thinking: fortunately, there were only two.
Seeing the day was not early, the party set off back toward the Stone City. The four paws of the wolves were bound, a pole threaded through to carry them like pigs, and the group entered the Stone City.
It was close to dinnertime. The day’s trading had ended in the now quieter Stone City, and many people were out for a leisurely stroll. Nowhere else offered so safe and spacious a place to walk about. One of the bodyguard martial artists, on a whim, performed a martial arts routine in the open space, drawing cheers from his peers. They then each showed their own skills — some with staffs, some with blades, and some sparring with each other.
It was lively all around.
The sentries on the city wall saw Zhù Ying’s party approaching with torches and called out loudly: “Who goes there?”
Hu Shijie from Zhù Ying’s side called out: “Second? It is us!”
Xiang Le told those below: “Stand down. My lord has returned — close the east gate! Wait for my lord to enter, then close the south gate.”
Then he came hurrying down from the wall to meet them.
A party of over a hundred had gone out and returned with two wolves — mainly the work of five or six people — and yet it still drew onlookers from among the merchants. They pointed and murmured to each other: “My lord is truly a person of action.” “Caring for the people — these are not empty words.” “It is still safest to follow my lord.”
The permanent residents came out to see the martial artists perform their routines, and then saw the wolves being brought back. Some recognized their own family members in the returning party and called out — for a son, for a father, for a husband. The city grew livelier still.
The party entered the Zhù residence and the gate was shut, cutting off the view from outside. Entering the assembly hall, Xijin immediately presented both wolves to Zhù Ying as a gift.
Zhù Ying said: “Whoever brought them down, they belong to that person.”
Xijin said: “We caught them on my lord’s grounds — they should be my lord’s.”
The two went back and forth, and Lang Kunwu said: “This is the first day — the game should go to the most honored person. There will be more to come.”
Only then did Zhù Ying accept, saying: “Tonight we add this to the meal.”
Wolf meat was not particularly good eating. Both wolves were skinned and butchered, and the meat was symbolically cooked as one dish. The other dishes were the usual fare.
Since the next day also required an outing, Xijin and the others all went to bed fairly early that night. Zhù Ying, however, called Xiang Le in and asked him about affairs within the Stone City.
Xiang Le said: “According to the current register, there are a total of three hundred and eighty-one households and one thousand six hundred and ninety-eight people. Among them, so many adult males, so many adult females, so many children…”
The ages of these people were mostly vague. “In the mountains there is no telling of days” — many people did not know their birthdays, and there was no properly standardized calendar in the mountains. Even those with good memories could not recall the circumstances of their own birth; they could only count the number of springs since they were old enough to remember, which gave only an approximate age.
Some of them also shared a situation common to impoverished lowland people — illiterate and also not fully able to count, sometimes miscounting their own ages.
Xiang Le said: “That is how it stands.”
Zhù Ying said: “Light a lamp and let us go look around. Do not call Xiao Liu and the others.”
She, Hu Shijie, and Xiang Le went out quietly. Only Huajie knew — the wolf pelts had been left with Huajie; Zhù Ying kept one and brought one along.
The Stone City was built on rising mountain terrain, so some elevation differences had been unavoidable in the layout. Zhù Ying had done her best to plan it in an orderly grid nonetheless.
The residential blocks were as rectangular as could be managed, and the streets within the blocks were fairly straight as well. With the population being small and market days being lively exceptions, the Stone City’s “curfew” was not strictly enforced — the block gates stood open.
The three walked in. Some houses showed the warm orange glow of light from within; others were already dark.
Xiang Le said quietly: “All of these are occupied.”
The houses here had been built by Zhù Ying providing only basic materials. Each household was generally allocated three main rooms plus a courtyard based on family size. Some had no courtyard at all, built right against the inner block street, with the door opening directly onto the lane — step inside and you were in the house. Zhù Ying was also poor; the residents were also poor. After building the city walls and the main residence, there had been little of anything left.
Zhù Ying was now waiting on the profits from the official sugar workshop and the winter wheat of the coming spring to ease her financial strains.
Xiang Le said: “I came to look around this afternoon. There are also neighborhood heads here.” They had organized themselves as they were accustomed, grouping every five or ten households with a neighborhood head in charge, passing word down through each layer. In selecting these heads, the main criterion was having more adult males in the family — needed to maintain order.
They entered the home of one neighborhood head — the middle-aged man who had said he used to guide merchants through the mountains. His household also had an elderly wife, three sons and two daughters — five children — so his house was also somewhat larger, with a side room in addition to the main rooms.
Zhù Ying did not enter the room but waited in the courtyard. The neighborhood head brought out chairs and sent his son to call people over. He was also about to serve tea and called for more lamps to be lit.
Zhù Ying said: “No need for that — once the people have arrived, we will talk.”
When word got out that she had come, many people arrived to see, heads peering over the courtyard walls — two rows of them, left and right — and some people had lit torches, illuminating the small courtyard brilliantly.
She did not sit either, but waited until the people were assembled and then stood on the threshold and said: “Today we brought back two wolves. Though we did not personally hunt them — County Commissioner Jin gave them to me as a gift — I said I would share with everyone.”
The neighborhood head said: “We did not do the work — they should be my lord’s.”
Zhù Ying said: “They were a gift from him to me. It would not be right for me not to accept. I kept one wolf pelt and have brought the other one here. Cutting it into pieces to divide among you would serve no use — let me show it to you first, then store it here for safekeeping. Once the wolf hunts this month are done, we will divide everything at once.”
People listened and thought: my lord is just as the stories say.
Zhù Ying’s manner was so reasonable and considerate, even explaining herself to them, and it made them feel a little uncertain — they all said vaguely: “Alright.”
Zhù Ying said: “Do not crush the walls — everyone may go now. There is an early start tomorrow.”
Xiang Le called out once, and the crowd gradually ebbed away. Zhù Ying thought: where effort is invested, results can be seen there. The people of Fulu County listen to me; here in the estate, they listen more to Xiang Le — which shows that I have not invested enough effort in them. This will not do.
She smiled and asked the neighborhood head: “Would it be convenient to step inside and talk?”
The neighborhood head quickly said: “Please, my lord.”
Zhù Ying showed great patience in conversing with the neighborhood head, asking about his background: “I can see you are somewhat different from the others.”
The neighborhood head said carefully: “My lord, this small person’s family was originally from Nanfu. We offended the Huang family and had to flee to the mountains. We lived in Xijin’s settlement for a few years — he saw our family’s skills and wanted to make us slaves. Our family had no choice but to go deeper into the mountains. Not daring to associate with any headman’s family, we lived on our own.”
“From Sicheng County?”
“Yes. This small person also has the surname Huang. If only my lord had come to Sicheng County some years earlier!”
Neighborhood Head Huang’s family had a carpentry trade, passed down through generations, with two mu of land as well — growing their own grain and practicing a trade for extra income was enough to get by. Unfortunately, they were of the same clan as Huang the Twelfth. In other words, their homes were close. Huang the Twelfth’s father had wanted to expand his manor and so needed to seize adjacent households’ land.
Neighborhood Head Huang’s family refused, and even tried to appeal through the clan. But Huang the Twelfth’s father was no more virtuous than his son, and was quite willing to take advantage of relatives of the same clan. He drove Neighborhood Head Huang’s father away, together with his wife and son.
Having a trade, Neighborhood Head Huang had eloped with a girl who had run away from a settlement, establishing a household. His family, originally farming folk, had painstakingly broken a small thin-soiled field in the mountains and also made a living guiding merchants through — just barely enough to raise several children. When he heard from familiar merchants about the Stone City, he had followed the merchants here — and at first sight had immediately decided to move over!
Not for any other reason — simply because the official once-a-month large market meant many merchants followed Zhù Ying into the mountains rather than traveling independently anymore, which had sharply reduced his income from guiding. He could see that supporting his family was becoming difficult.
Still, when he spoke, he gave another reason: “We trust my lord.”
Xiang Le said: “He was among the earliest arrivals at the estate.”
Zhù Ying nodded and also asked about the present situation in the Stone City, asking him his view of it.
Neighborhood Head Huang cautiously asked: “My lord, this small person has heard people call this place an estate. Is it truly my lord’s estate?”
Zhù Ying nodded.
Neighborhood Head Huang exhaled in relief: “If it is my lord’s manor, then we who have settled here are pledging ourselves to my lord. If this were a newly established county…”
“Then you would not want that?”
Neighborhood Head Huang smiled bitterly: “Then we would just have to trust to fate. On all sides here there are tribal peoples. Without someone like my lord…”
He shook his head. Considering the past history of the various tribes seizing and sacrificing one another, one could hardly say they were all one big friendly family.
Neighborhood Head Huang and his people, for the sake of immediate safety, would still move here — but they would hold little hope for the future. Court officials like Zhù Ying were rare. On the contrary, many landowners had good relations with officials and grabbed land with abandon; the fear was that land painstakingly broken by one’s own hands would again be taken away — and then be subjected to crushing corvée and crushing taxes. Better in that case to shelter under Zhù Ying’s name. This was also one of the great motivations for ordinary commoners to commend themselves to the household of an official.
Neighborhood Head Huang added: “The Suoning clan chief and the Yigan clan chief have been sneaking over for a look many times. That cannot all be bad intentions.”
Zhù Ying chatted with him for a while, learning more about life in the mountains and within the Stone City, and gradually deepening her understanding of the Stone City’s residents.
Leaving Neighborhood Head Huang’s home, she made a circuit of the residential block, and along the way even encountered a night watchman making his rounds.
The next day, Zhù Ying again led people out to hunt wolves. Along the way she learned more skills for mountain forest travel. That day’s haul was also two adult and two juvenile wolves — a whole den wiped out. The exciting moment came on the return — they encountered wild boars: one large boar with seven or eight piglets.
The experienced hunters on this side surrounded them and skillfully separated the large boar from the piglets. The piglets were quickly taken down. Seven or eight people closed in on the large boar from a distance, shooting arrows, piercing the boar through and through until it whimpered and squealed — yet not a drop of blood showed.
The wild boar charged, knocking one hunter aside, and vanished into the deep forest.
Hu Shijie said quietly: “When we used to travel, if there were many people, one was not too afraid of encountering wolves, but one feared encountering this creature. It has thick hide all over.”
Zhù Ying looked at the piglets that had been taken down and said: “These are enough.”
After returning to the Stone City, whenever she had a free moment she would change into plain clothes and wander around the residential blocks and the market. Many people recognized her. Those who did not, she told she was a merchant who had come to trade. On the two rainy days, Zhù Ying spent the mornings deliberating the Covenant with the five families again and the afternoons wandering about.
So it went for ten days before Zhù Ying called a halt to the wolf-hunting drives. She also realized she had been overconfident — including herself, six families had hunted together, and the wolf pelts she received amounted to nowhere near twenty. She had no choice but to assemble the twenty men, give them seven wolf pelts, and for the shortfall, give those who received no pelts a larger share of the wolf meat instead.
The small residential block came alive with celebration.
Neighborhood Head Huang took the opportunity to suggest: “Sell the wolf pelts to the merchants and divide the money equally among everyone.” The others all agreed, and the matter was handed to him to negotiate. The merchants thought: surely they will be heading back now?
But Zhù Ying still had one important matter unfinished!
She summoned all the neighborhood heads of the residential blocks to a meeting in her main residence’s assembly hall — she was going to announce the “law” of this estate. Unlike the Covenant, this did not require consultation with anyone else. She decided it herself. If the people objected and had reasonable grounds, she would revise it.
The first matter was the census of household numbers and land plots — each family was to report accurately. These figures would then be used as the basis for taxing and levying labor.
This was the standard approach for any territory with a recognized owner.
Neighborhood Head Huang asked: “And… how does my lord intend to levy taxes?”
Zhù Ying said: “Based on persons, households, and property.”
She could waive the tax on inter-tribal merchant exchanges — that was to attract commerce, and these were all trades among the tribes anyway. But residential farmland taxes had to be collected; otherwise, how would she sustain this city? Without sustainability, everything would fall apart.
Her rules were as follows: if individuals cleared wasteland and she provided the tools, seeds, and draft oxen, then it would be a fifty-fifty split of the harvest. If everything was self-furnished, she would take a one-in-ten tax. Residents would also be required to perform certain corvée duties — such as patrols, manning the wall towers, and work like road repair, patching the city walls, and maintaining irrigation channels. The land they cleared was their own to manage — taxes had to be paid, but otherwise she would not interfere.
Those who opened land for her would be her tenant farmers. Everything would be hers, but their livelihoods would have a floor guaranteed by her. Equally, they would be required to perform somewhat heavier corvée in her service — serving as gatekeepers in the main residence, for instance. She had marked out land in the surrounding mountains; tenant farmers would go and break it.
Additionally, regardless of whether it was farmland or a dwelling within the Stone City — especially dwellings, since it was her city, her land, and she had provided the materials — the land and dwellings could not be freely traded. Any transaction required her approval; otherwise, it could not be sold.
If someone was a hunter by trade and did not farm, they were welcome to learn farming — the same categories applied. But if they did not farm and thus could not pay grain, they would have to compensate in other ways — for instance, serving corvée for longer periods, or being required to participate in activities like wolf hunting. Patrol duties in the mountain forests would also need to be performed.
For those engaged in trade, external transactions — such as the current monthly large market — were still not taxed. But selling to local residents within the city would be taxed at one in ten. She intended to set up a separate market to handle the distinction. Opening a shop — an inn, a teahouse, and similar establishments — was also subject to tax.
Within the estate, given the surrounding tribal peoples and the fact that the city’s residents included many from various tribes living side by side, the lowland legal code did not fully apply. Specific details would be spelled out one by one as needed.
The neighborhood heads did not understand much of this. Those like Neighborhood Head Huang could follow it somewhat; the scattered tribal settlers were quite confused. But one thing was clear to all of them: this was incomparably more lenient than any settlement headman!
A headman wanting work done from you meant getting up under the stars and still not being allowed to stop. And yet this lord apparently only required one month of labor per year from everyone.
Those like Neighborhood Head Huang, however, felt that Zhù Ying was the most lenient of all landlords and officials they had ever encountered.
Neighborhood Head Huang said: “The city is my lord’s — my lord decides how things go.”
Zhù Ying had prepared many provisions, feeling she had already been quite thorough, only to receive in the end this one sentence. She felt a little helpless and said: “In that case, so be it. Go home and tell your neighbors — this is how things will be done going forward. By the way, this year I will not collect taxes, and next year neither. It is newly broken land after all. But the corvée must still be performed.”
The neighborhood heads gave a cheer: “Yes!”
After the neighborhood heads had left, Zhù Ying said to Xiang Le: “You must put your whole heart into this place!”
“Yes.”
“We need to recruit some capable people — at the minimum, people who can read and do arithmetic. Who can handle a steelyard. Otherwise, how will we collect taxes? I am certainly not going to transfer Master Qi Tai here to collect taxes for me, am I?”
“Yes.”
Zhù Ying added: “Invite the county magistrates over — I still have things to say to them.”
“Yes.”
Before long, all the county magistrates had arrived. Zhù Ying dispensed with pleasantries and said directly: “We have been at the estate for some days. I also need to head back and prepare for the New Year. Before setting out, there is one more matter.”
Su Mingluan asked: “What matter might that be?”
Zhù Ying said: “Wuzhou is a prefecture. Under the Prefect there are positions of Deputy Prefect, Chief Administrator, and Commandant. The Deputy Prefect is already filled. What is now lacking are the Chief Administrator and the Commandant — these two positions should be filled by people from each tribe.”
Four and a half of the five present could not understand what she was saying; even Su Mingluan only half understood. Zhù Ying had to explain what a Chief Administrator and Commandant were, and also told them that two-thirds of the officials in the Wuzhou Prefect’s residence needed to be tribal people. However, since they could not read, they could not handle many functions, so the six departments would remain staffed by the current officials. The deputy positions being determined this time were also nominal.
Zhù Ying said: “But the Chief Administrator and Commandant should still be able to speak and write.”
Lang Kunwu pointed at Su Mingluan and said: “Does that mean only she can do it?”
Zhù Ying shook her head: “The Chief Administrator and the Commandant positions are not hereditary — they belong to the whole prefecture. None of you have the entirety of Wuzhou, correct? Moreover, the lowland officials I will not allow to oversee mountain affairs, and these two mountain positions will also not oversee lowland affairs. Officials under loose administration receive no imperial salary — only rewards.”
Su Mingluan asked: “My godfather’s meaning is…?”
Zhù Ying said: “Rotate through the positions, three years per term. I have prepared five lots here, numbered one through five — you all draw. Then I will throw the dice. Whatever number comes up, the county that drew that number provides someone for the first rotation. For example, if five comes up, the family that drew number five goes first, then number one, number two, number three, number four… Is this fair enough?”
The five thought it over and all agreed.
They drew lots first. Xijin drew one, Shanque’s father-in-law drew two, Su Mingluan drew three, Lang Kunwu drew four, and Lu Guo drew five.
Zhù Ying threw the dice. The first throw was six. She said: “Six does not count. Again.”
She threw again — three came up. That was Su Mingluan’s number. Zhù Ying said: “This term, the Chief Administrator position goes to Asu County. Magistrate Su, nominate a person — you propose the name, and I will submit the memorial to the court.”
She threw again — two came up — Shanque’s father-in-law’s number. Zhù Ying said: “The Commandant position goes to Dun County! Also the same — you nominate, I submit.”
Those whose numbers had not come up were not unhappy, and all said: “Agreed.”
Zhù Ying said: “Then shall we head back? The next time we meet will be spring of next year!”
No one wanted to leave.
Zhù Ying made no mention of finalizing the Covenant right now — they could continue deliberating in the spring! As for the memorial to the court, she did not plan to write that she had drawn lots and thrown dice to determine the order — she would simply say “rotation.”
She went back to pack her things. Su Mingluan brought her daughter to see Zhù Ying and said: “Godfather, I am entrusting this child to you.”
Zhù Ying said: “Good — I will still send her back to you before the New Year, and bring her back again when we come to the estate in the spring. Have you decided who to nominate?”
Su Mingluan frowned slightly and said: “I am somewhat uncertain — I would like to ask my godfather’s view.”
“Are you worried about your elder brother?”
Su Mingluan made no pretense of hiding it: “Yes.”
“Very well.” Zhù Ying said. “After three years his term ends, and he will still hold a rank.”
Su Mingluan smiled and said: “He has not been as spirited as before. It is hard for me to watch.”
Zhù Ying said: “You are more capable than him as the family head.”
Su Mingluan led her daughter out again to go through her daughter’s luggage once more.
Zhù Ying stepped outside the room and, as expected, saw Su Mingluan’s mother. Su Mingluan’s mother said: “Thank you so much, little brother.”
“Elder sister-in-law entrusted me with the matter — of course I will do my best. As long as elder sister-in-law is satisfied.”