Chapter 122: I Have Spoken. Who Agrees? Who Opposes?
Chapter 122: I Have Spoken. Who Agrees? Who Opposes?
After obtaining the Wanli Emperor’s Imperial Edict, Yang Xin swiftly returned to Shandong. There, he began selecting from the surrendered Incense-Smelling Sect followers…
Of course, he picked the strongest ones.
After all, he had the Imperial Edict in hand, and no one dared to argue with him. These men were not allowed to bring their families, a condition Wang Zaijin strongly insisted on. If the families were also counted, these few counties would have been nearly emptied. With no Tenant Farmers left, the local despots and evil gentry would have to farm the land themselves!
In short, he could take ten thousand able-bodied men, but their families had to stay.
Fortunately, Yang Xin did not want the families anyway.
Still, he paid each family two taels of silver. He couldn’t afford more. They would remain as Tenant Farmers, so they wouldn’t be unable to make a living. Two taels was at least enough to supplement them for this year. Besides, these men actually had some money themselves; they had all looted varying amounts during this period. Even the gold and silver held by people like Xu Hongru were distributed under Yang Xin’s supervision before they left the city.
By next year, when things were on track, they could support their families themselves.
His relationship with these men was one of employment.
Finally, within ten days, he filled the ten-thousand quota for his Bandit-Suppression Army. They boarded the Grain Tribute Boats that were continuously heading north after the river opened. By the time he led this army to Tangguantun, it was already the fourth month.
Then, following the route of the historical Machang Jian River, Yang Xin started selecting uncultivated wasteland from this point. He rapidly established twenty military camps, each housing five hundred men. While building the camps, he sent men out to reclaim land. This area had low salinization. While reclaiming the land, they directly distributed the sweet potatoes brought from Xu Guangqi’s family to grow seedlings. As the weather had warmed, heated seedbeds were no longer necessary. These sweet potato cuttings could simply be planted in rows in the reclaimed fields to sprout. Later, when more wasteland was cleared, they would transplant the seedlings.
At most, they wouldn’t plant Winter Wheat.
Because planting the sweet potatoes late and harvesting them late would definitely delay the Winter Wheat sowing.
Fortunately, this land wasn’t good to begin with. If it were fertile farmland, it wouldn’t have remained uncultivated until now.
During this period, Yang Xin had to pay for the soldiers’ food himself. This included farming tools he bought for them, the construction of their barracks, and even clothes for them. All of this came from Yang Xin’s own pocket. His silver flowed out like water.
His wealth rapidly diminished like this.
In short, by the beginning of the sixth month that year, twenty camps were established. The reclaimed land around them was planted with sweet potatoes. This ten-thousand-man force was initially settled. His twentieth camp was stationed at Xincheng, which also served as his army headquarters. Of course, there was no city here then. To be precise, it was just a small dock called Luyu Port. The name meant exactly what it said: reeds and fish. There were only a few fishing households who couldn’t even get fresh water. Even Yang Xin himself could only drink slightly brackish water.
Fishing, however, progressed smoothly.
He directly acquired four Centipede Galleys from the neighboring Navy camp, fitted them with booms himself, and soon began sweeping the waters of Dagukou using large trawl nets he had custom-made earlier.
As for the local fishermen…
He hired them.
As for the fishing overlords…
They accidentally fell into the Hai River in the middle of the night and were killed by sharks swimming upstream.
What? There are no sharks in Dagukou?
Then it must have been some unusually large Spanish mackerel.
In short, in this remote, impoverished backwater where the emperor was far away, anyone who dared oppose Deputy Commander Yang would end up in the water. The same fate befell those wealthy Salt-Boiling Households who protested his occupation of pastureland—they all had unfortunate accidents and fell into the water.
He wasn’t afraid of their families lodging complaints anyway.
He was the Deputy Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, wearing the Flying Fish Robe. Not even the Jinghai county magistrate could touch him, let alone the Tianjin Military Defense Circuit. Unless someone went to the Capital City to beat the Petition Drum. Some did try, but their boats capsized before even reaching Gegu, and they vanished without a trace. What kind of person was Yang Tongzhi? He had no sense of law in his mind. For anyone who needed to be solved by ‘falling into the water,’ he would not hesitate to make it happen.
Simple.
Brutal.
Effective.
“I’m a man who reasons things out!”
Yang Xin stood on the tidal Hai River, looking at the turbulent waves beneath his feet.
Beside him were several gentry from Qing County and the eastern part of Jinghai. His reclamation area stretched along the Machang Jian River from Qing County, involving land in both Qing County and Jinghai. Although this area wasn’t great, there were still residents and local gentry. Some were landlords, others were wealthy Salt-Boiling Households, with the latter being the majority because this was originally part of the Changlu salt district. The wealthy among the Salt-Boiling Households had already gentrified. Digging the Relief Canal and reclaiming land would inevitably affect their interests.
This problem needed solving.
These men, already aware of Yang Xin’s notorious reputation, cautiously looked at the waves beneath their feet.
They were actually standing on a wooden pier extending into the Hai River. The shoals exposed at low tide were now completely submerged. Groups of soldiers were filling buckets with water and carrying them back to camp. Due to the difference in density between fresh and salt water, the upper layer was actually freshwater, while the lower layer was true seawater.
Of course, it wasn’t pure freshwater.
Just drinkable.
This was how people fetched water in the saline-alkali areas along both banks of the Hai River.
“If someone is willing to be my friend, I treat him as a friend. To friends, I am loyal. We share fortune and misfortune. But for those unwilling to be my friends, I see no need for any camaraderie. Old Liu, I heard you went to Zuo Guangdou to complain of injustice, saying I took your pasture? Actually, you have so much pasture; I only took a small piece. I’m acting for His Majesty. Digging this river benefits the local area too. What you did shows you are not a very good friend.”
He continued.
“Deputy Commander Yang, absolutely not!”
Old Liu, a wealthy Salt-Boiling Household head who had been forcibly invited from his home, wiped his cold sweat and said.
“Then why did Zuo Guangdou submit a memorial impeaching me over this? He stated in the memorial that it was based on your accusation. Don’t think I don’t know. I have friends in the Directorate of Ceremonial too. Speaking of which, His Majesty the Emperor is in poor health. We, his subjects, must ensure His Majesty gets rest. Disturbing His Majesty with such a trivial matter… one could say this is disloyal. I am utterly loyal. Do you know what I do to those who dare be disloyal to His Majesty?”
Yang Xin said.
The next moment, before Old Liu could react, Yang Xin suddenly pushed him from behind. Caught off guard, Old Liu stumbled forward…
“Ah!”
He screamed in terror.
Then, one foot stepped off the pier, and he plummeted toward the raging waves below. But at the same instant, Yang Xin grabbed the back of his clothes, pulling him back just as half his body had fallen over. The unfortunate Old Liu, with half a foot on the pier and his body leaning over the river, struggled and screamed frantically, looking at the churning waves less than a meter below him. The splashing spray even reached his clothes.
Then Yang Xin finally pulled him back.
Old Liu collapsed on the ground, let out a long breath, and immediately clutched Yang Xin’s leg…
“Deputy Commander Yang, that Zuo Guangdou spread rumors! He deliberately slandered you! This old man would never do anything to wrong you! I’ll have my son go beat the Petition Drum to accuse him!”
He said, tears and snot running down his face.
“Let it be. Let this matter end here. I’ve made myself clear. We, His Majesty’s subjects, must prioritize His Majesty’s health. No matter the issue, you can come to me to discuss it. But you must not disturb His Majesty’s rest! People like Zuo Guangdou don’t understand this, but we must. If anything like this happens again, don’t blame me for not showing any mercy!”
Yang Xin said with a stern face.
He then turned to look at the other gentry behind him, who were as silent as cicadas in winter…
“I have spoken. Who among you agrees? Who opposes?”
He said.
“Brother Yang!”
A familiar shout came from the distance.
Yang Xin looked up and saw Xu Xianchun and Liu Shimin on the shore.
He hurried over. The gentry behind him let out a collective sigh of relief, then put on smiles and followed.
“Eunuch Liu, don’t tell me His Majesty the Emperor sent you as the Army Supervisor?”
Yang Xin said with a smile.
Although the Wanli Emperor had mentioned sending an Army Supervisor, there had been no news since.
“I’d like to be, but Eunuch Lu won’t let me go. I’m here to deliver an edict, brother.”
Liu Shimin said.
Then he adopted a solemn expression.
“Imperial Edict! Deputy Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Commander of the Bandit-Suppression Army Yang Xin, receive the decree!”
He called out.
Yang Xin quickly knelt to receive the edict. The gentry behind him, frightened, immediately prostrated themselves.
The Wanli Emperor’s edict was simple. Xiong Tingbi was preparing to rebuild Kaiyuan city. According to the prior agreement, the logistical transport for the Kaiyuan garrison was to be directly handled by Yang Xin. He should discuss with Xiong Tingbi how to proceed. However, the Wanli Emperor seemed to have had a pang of conscience, feeling Yang Xin had spent too much of his own money lately, so he granted him a reward of ten thousand taels of silver from the imperial privy purse.
As for Zuo Guangdou’s impeachment…
The Wanli Emperor certainly wouldn’t see it, nor would he bother to look.
His Majesty the Emperor was actually seriously ill and wouldn’t concern himself with such minor matters.
“Please relay to His Majesty, Eunuch Liu, that Yang Xin will depart for Liaodong immediately!”
Yang Xin said.
He then turned to look at the gentry behind him…
“Gentlemen, I must make a trip to Liaodong. I will temporarily entrust the affairs of the Bandit-Suppression Army to Sergeant Major Huang. After I leave, I hope you will offer more support. We are to be neighbors from now on. As the saying goes, a near neighbor is better than a distant relative!”
He said.
Liu Shimin understood what he was doing.
“I am from the Directorate of Ceremonial. Assistant Commissioner Xu here has just entered the Northern Judicial Bureau of the Imperial Guard. The two of us and Brother Yang have a friendship forged in life and death. Brother Yang’s affairs are our affairs. If the Bandit-Suppression Army encounters any unsolvable problems in the future, feel free to come to us. However, if anyone stabs Brother Yang in the back while he is away on duty in Liaodong, well, we won’t say much else, but we can certainly invite that person to the Northern Office for some tea.”
He said ominously.
“Your Excellency, rest assured. The affairs of the Bandit-Suppression Army are our affairs. Deputy Commander Yang is going to Liaodong to fight bandits for the country. If we don’t help him take care of things here, who will? This old man happens to have some surplus grain. I will donate one hundred shi to the Bandit-Suppression Army as my contribution to the country!”
Old Liu immediately declared righteously.
The remaining gentry hastily chimed in with agreement.