Chapter 110: Five Hundred Days of Labor Service
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After returning from the Jixian Hall Academy, Wei Renshi made no mention whatsoever of the past two days of running about. Nor did he mention merit or noble titles.
Having lived into middle age in a later era, Wei Renshi had long understood that even matters thought certain could change at the last moment—let alone something that was merely Academician Zhang’s conjecture.
Unless something was firmly held in one’s own hands, it was no more than a castle in the air. One could keep a hope alive, but so long as it remained a castle in the air, it could only be kept within one’s own heart.
The Governor of Luozhou was determined to make trouble for Wei Renshi. Before Wei Renshi had even begun work, he sent someone to hurry him along to collect the laborers.
“I’m only passing on the message. If you have something to say, go explain it to the governor yourself,” said the yamen runner who had come to urge Wei Renshi to collect the men. His expression was sour. “Five hundred men have been assigned to you. There will be no more. You must go and take them away at once.”
Wei Renshi turned to look at Sun Peng. Sun Peng understood immediately. He had already gone to fetch some money, which he now presented with a smile.
“Sorry to trouble you with this journey, constable. Just a small token—take it and have yourself a drink.”
“Oh, how could I accept that?” the runner said, raising a hand to refuse. But before he could finish, his wrist gave a quick twist, and the half-string of coins slipped from Sun Peng’s hand into his robe.
Once he had accepted the money, the runner’s expression improved at once. A smile even appeared, and he became somewhat more courteous toward Wei Renshi.
“Shopkeeper Wei, you ought to take the men away as soon as possible. In a few days, work will begin elsewhere, and another batch will be taken. There will not be many left for you then. Repairing the embankment requires the most manpower of all. Five hundred may not even be enough. The governor is pressing me to hurry you along, so do hurry and take them away. That way I can report the matter settled. What do you say?”
“Thank you for the warning, Constable,” Wei Renshi replied with a nod. “I certainly would not wish to make things difficult for you. We shall collect the men tomorrow. But may I ask what sort of people these five hundred mostly are?”
“Shopkeeper Wei, there is no need to worry. They are men who failed to pay their taxes, or evaded them, and have been sentenced to labor service,” the runner replied, naturally understanding why Wei Renshi had asked. “Still, five hundred is a large number. There are bound to be a few troublemakers among them.”
Wei Renshi glanced at Sun Peng. Sun Peng understood at once, took out another half-string of copper coins, and asked with a smile, “Good heavens, Constable, we are law-abiding people and have no idea how to deal with ruffians. What are we to do?”
Seeing the generosity with which the two men paid out money, the runner was overjoyed. In the space of two gestures, a thousand strings of cash had found their way into his hands.
After accepting the second half-string, his attitude improved even further. He was like an entirely different man from the one who had arrived.
He immediately thumped his chest and declared, “Shopkeepers Wei and Sun, neither of you need to worry. There are a few men among them who have committed crimes. Tomorrow I’ll bring them over in shackles. Not one of them will dare act high and mighty. Since you two think so highly of us, we won’t make matters difficult for you either. If anyone refuses to obey in the future, just come find me, Wu Shun. I’ll beat the life out of him!”
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“Thank you, Constable! We shall certainly have to trouble you again in the future,” Sun Peng said at once with a smile. “Naturally, we would never let you go to all that trouble for nothing.”
The runner was even more delighted. He exchanged a few further pleasantries, and once he saw that Wei Renshi had agreed to everything, there was no reason for him to remain. He soon departed from One Dream Tower.
As soon as the runner had left, Sun Peng began to worry.
“Five hundred men, Young Master! We have not even begun work on the embankment, and we have not built any sheds. Where are we supposed to house them? That is five hundred mouths to feed! What are we going to do about food and drink? The governor is deliberately driving us into a corner.”
Wei Renshi nodded.
“Either the Nine Towers and One Pavilion paid him enough, or he is eager to curry favor with the grand eunuch behind Spring Splendor Tower. That is why he is so determined to help them force our hand. But there is no need to fear. Tomorrow, when we collect the men, leave two hundred at a sheltered spot along the embankment and have them put up sheds. Bring the rest back to Fuchang. Have Zheng the Village Headman find Jiao Haiqing and tell him that I ordered the men to be settled at the foot of Screen Mountain. He will know what to do.”
“Take them to Fuchang?” Sun Peng stared at Wei Renshi in astonishment. “Would that… would that even be permitted?”
“Repairing the embankment requires stone. I am sending some men to quarry it. What part of that would be difficult to explain?” Wei Renshi asked in return.
“Quarry stone…” Sun Peng thought it over. That did sound plausible. Then he asked, “But must they quarry it in Fuchang?”
Wei Renshi nodded.
“Screen Mountain in Fuchang has excellent stone, better suited to embankment repairs than the stone found anywhere nearby. Yes, we learned this through an intermediary from the embankment inspector of the Directorate of Waterways. The embankment concerns the entire city of Luoyang and countless people in the surrounding districts. We could have refused the assignment, but since we have accepted it, we must do it properly. Therefore, we shall quarry the stone in Fuchang.”
Sun Peng nodded.
“I understand. If anyone asks, that is what I shall say.”
Wei Renshi smiled with satisfaction. The fellow was becoming more and more perceptive.
Then he asked with a grin, “And if they ask how the stone quarried in Fuchang is to be transported here?”
Sun Peng thought for a moment.
“Down the Yi River with the current into Luoyang, then along the canals to the embankment.”
“Excellent, excellent!” Wei Renshi laughed. “If you have time over the next few days, find several carpenters and blacksmiths with good reputations and sound skills. Even if we have to pay handsomely, invite them here. Tell them I will fund the construction of a workshop far better than the ones they have now, and invite them to work in it. I shall pay them wages, and I will not stop them from taking outside jobs and earning money with the use of the workshop. They need only give priority to the things I assign them.”
“Build our own workshop?” Sun Peng was taken aback. He could not understand why Wei Renshi wanted to do such a thing.
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Wei Renshi smiled.
“We already have the laborers, and we must feed and house them regardless. There is no reason not to make use of them. Once the workshop is built, I intend to produce some machinery. Then the two hundred men we leave behind will be able to complete the work of five hundred.”
Sun Peng was startled again.
“There are machines capable of that?”
“There are.” Wei Renshi nodded. “We cannot make anything too complicated, but we can still devise things based on simpler principles.”
Sun Peng became increasingly convinced that his master was no ordinary man. He had heard that when certain heavenly youths made mistakes, they were cast down into the mortal world to undergo a trial. Perhaps that was exactly what had happened to a man like his master.
If so, everything could be explained.
Sun Peng felt even more certain that his guess was correct.
In truth, imperial labor service was assigned according to fixed local quotas. The imperial government alone determined the numbers and provided for the laborers. They could be sent wherever the authorities directed, but could not be reassigned at will.
Yet the prefectural government had already violated regulations by distributing the embankment repairs as an obligation among private parties. Since the men had been sent under the pretext of a charitable undertaking by a merchant house—and since money could make even ghosts turn a millstone—no one had bothered to interfere once a little money had changed hands.
Thus, although Wei Renshi’s plan to remove three hundred men from the embankment and send them to Fuchang was technically forbidden, after a few gifts of money and goods, no one asked any further questions.
It was as though those three hundred men were merely cargo. Once sold, they were no longer anyone’s concern. Where the buyer took them, or whether he used them or discarded them, mattered to no one.
The authorities did not care whether laborers lived or died, and neither did the place where they were sent to work.
A great procession of three hundred men, driven onward by several yamen runners wielding staves, made its way to Fuchang like a flock of sheep.
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