Chapter 107: The Value of Refugees

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Lunch was essentially Zhen Qian watching Lucia eat. Instead, it gave him a pang of sympathy. So this was what happened to international friends! Heaven had eyes after all... Even you had days when you could not eat your fill. At last, Zhen Qian had found satisfaction! No... guilt? His conscience was truly excellent!

His stomach cramped, yet not the slightest trace showed on his face. He assumed an expression of compassion for all creation and said, “Eat slowly. Don’t choke!”

“Big Brother will take good care of you from now on!”

But to be honest, Lucia looked remarkably alluring in that sapphire-blue lotus pleated dress. Her pink bandeau revealed a snowy-white curve, and despite having grown so thin, those two soft mounds of jade still stood proudly. Compared with the two little girls’ small, steamed-bun-like breasts, why was the difference so enormous?

Her delicate face and a head of withered golden hair made her look exactly like a doll. Given a little time and his nourishment, a genuine Barbie doll would soon be born in the Tang dynasty.

How could he possibly let such a beauty go? In later generations, he had seen plenty of Western beauties, but only in films and television dramas—fit to admire from afar, not to profane. The foreign women he occasionally saw on the streets were hardly pleasing to the eye. Now that he finally had the chance, it would be unforgivable not to cultivate several Western beauties for himself.

If he ever had the opportunity to encounter a few more island women, he would once again display his internationalist spirit of universal love: fearlessly sampling the unfamiliar, cherishing them with utmost care, and ruthlessly plucking the flowers. Sacrifice one man, and happiness would still be his.

He was not a good man. He had lacked the opportunity in the past, had no intention of seeking it later, and in the future he would never see such a chance again!

Good people were only bullied by wicked men. He had no desire to be a good person—at the very least, not a good person who could be bullied by villains. If he did not want to be bullied, he had to become more wicked than the wicked, until every evildoer trembled at the sight of him.

After lunch, Zhen Qian prepared to stroll through the streets. First, he wanted to inspect his shops. Only by seeing and hearing for himself could he feel at ease; merely summoning the shopkeepers for questioning would never do. That way, he could listen to all sides and avoid believing only one account. Second, he wanted to learn what was happening in the county seat and personally experience the atmosphere of the entire place.

He had developed this habit in his previous life, and in this one he still treated it as an iron rule.

There were indeed far more refugees in the county seat than before. Wang You and Wang Peng flanked him on either side, shielding him between them, yet even so they could not spare him the refugees’ pestering pleas for alms.

Zhen Qian had now become an emerging local strongman in Luquan County. Naturally, he needed the proper awareness of a strongman. Though he had no retinue shouting before and behind him, he had begun to resemble a crab, striding along at leisure with his feet turned outward, his nostrils pointed toward the heavens, and utterly ignoring the refugees around him.

A man who ate meat would become a wolf and naturally prey upon grazing animals. After eating crabs, he would walk sideways as well. No, this would not do! His crab-like bearing was still insufficient. Once home, he would eat several more crabs. Soft-shelled turtles and old terrapins would not be spared either. He needed to replenish his turtle majesty properly.

“Porridge is being served... The county office is distributing porridge at the east gate. If you’re late, there’ll be none left!”

The refugees erupted into commotion. To prevent them from causing trouble, the county office took turns distributing porridge at the various city gates, deliberately driving the refugees into the county seat.

The refugees were not fools, of course. Once inside the county seat, they could at least beg a mouthful of food. If they remained out in the wilderness, exposed to freezing winds and bitter cold, were they supposed to drink the wind and eat snow to fill their stomachs?

A growing number of refugees meant disorder, and disorder was always accompanied by riots and looting. To judge whether a place was well governed, and to measure an official’s achievements, one had to see whether the region was prosperous and whether its people lived in peace. Anyone with an intelligence higher than a bench could understand that the appearance of refugees was no good sign.

When refugees appeared, the granaries could be opened and grain distributed. But refugees were not simply hungry commoners. They had lost their land. Relief for a day or a month was possible, but no government could let them eat and drink for free for an entire year. That was not a solution to the refugee problem.

One should not meddle in affairs beyond one’s station. If the sky fell, the officials would hold it up. What did it have to do with him?

The entrance was crowded with refugees suffering from hunger and cold. Their ragged clothes hung from their bodies, and their hands clutched chipped bowls and broken dishes. One by one, they stared greedily at the steaming porridge stalls.

The yamen runners, each wearing a ferocious expression, brandished their clubs. “Form an orderly line! You farm slaves—anyone who jostles will be beaten out!”

Many crude shelters of straw and mud had been erected in sheltered spots beneath the city wall. Refugees too weak from hunger to walk poked their heads out from them, gazing eagerly at bowls of thin rice water in which one could see one’s own reflection. Many children ran barefoot through the snow, their blackened toes already rotten, yet they felt nothing. They did it all for the chance to beg one more bowl of rice water to quiet their bellies.

Several richly dressed men, surrounded by servants, selected young and beautiful women as though they were choosing livestock. Shouts of reprimand and cries for mercy rang without end.

A cold wind swept past. Zhen Qian felt the corners of his eyes grow damp, while the chill pierced straight to his bones.

“Damn sand! Aren’t I supposed to be a great villain? How can I lack even this much resolve?”

He could not save them, especially at such a sensitive time. Kindness bestowed from above would only invite disaster and bring death upon himself.

“Wang You, go buy some women and children and bring them back. They won’t survive the winter...”

If he did not take advantage of the opportunity now, when would he? At last, Zhen Qian had attained the proper awareness of a tyrant.

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“Elder Brother... Zhen D郎... Come with me at once to see the magistrate!”

Hao Ren came panting through the refugees, seized Zhen Qian, and began dragging him toward the city.

“Why have you come here? This is no place for a noble gentleman! The magistrate sent me to find you. Don’t keep him waiting!”

“Wait. Why does the magistrate want to see me?”

Zhen Qian had no desire to run blindly into the county office. What if Feng Wannian had become desperate enough to lose his wits and sold him out? Would that not mean wasting the best years of his life?

“Elder Brother, the magistrate has approved your proposal to gather the refugees, put them to work farming and herding, and have merchants employ them. He wishes to ask whether you have any other suggestions.”

Zhen Qian gave a bitter smile and wanted nothing more than to slap himself several times. Was he not simply asking to be beaten? They said misfortune came from careless speech, and now trouble had indeed come knocking.

An official’s mouth had two sides: if he said you were right, then you were right; even if you were wrong, you were still right. Feng Wannian was desperately grasping at any possible cure, but this was a matter for the government. Why had a little nobody like him meddled in it?

No matter how unwilling he was, he could only grit his teeth and go see Feng Wannian.

When Feng Wannian saw Zhen Qian and Hao Ren enter, he dispensed with pleasantries and did not even offer them water. He immediately asked, “My worthy nephew, refugees are now pouring into the county seat, and their numbers have reached several thousand. The county office’s relief efforts are no more than a drop in the bucket. Though the wealthy families in the city have contributed some money and grain, they are all cunning profiteers who have seized the opportunity to exploit and squeeze the refugees, leaving them filled with resentment. Do you have any sound policy to propose?”

Zhen Qian felt as though Feng Wannian were referring to him. Before this, he himself had purchased more than twenty children and girls at a low price—less than the cost of a single sheep. Even then, he had felt that he was the one getting cheated. He was simply too kind and compassionate...

Feng Wannian looked at him with eyes full of eagerness to learn, reminding Zhen Qian of the little poodle his family had once kept. He wondered how it was doing now.

Zhen Qian did possess compassion. At the very least, he could not bear to see others suffer—especially beautiful women. What a waste of Heaven’s treasures! Even entertaining the thought was a monstrous crime!

“Er... this... Magistrate, I am merely a minor landholder. Would it not be improper for me to meddle in affairs of state?”

Zhen Qian looked at Feng Wannian as his heart thudded wildly. Showing too much brilliance and being too clever were both dangerous things. It was just like how he had never wanted to employ clever people. One such person in the Great Tang was already more than enough.

“You hold official status. You are not some minor landholder. Are you truly going to shirk your duty when the court needs your strength and His Majesty needs your help? I hereby appoint you to the position of Registrar of Household Affairs for Luquan County, specifically in charge of the refugees. You may not refuse. Otherwise, you will be dealt with as an official who has failed to perform his duties!”

This was an arranged marriage!

I like it!

The more Zhen Qian claimed to be indifferent to fame and profit, the more Feng Wannian wanted to recruit him. This was already the fourth attempt. The first three had all been brushed aside with one excuse or another. If not for the fact that his actions were too shocking and unconventional, he would never have had to hide away in Xiantai Village.

Feng Wannian naturally possessed the authority to recruit local men into government service. Now that he was even invoking the emperor to pressure Zhen Qian, it was clear that he was truly desperate.

Very well!

Who had told him to harbor a heart filled with pity for Heaven and Earth? He would reluctantly reveal a little of his skill and let this hidebound feudal bureaucrat see what was meant by a commercial economy.

In the final years of a dynasty, land annexation became rampant. Combined with other problems, this caused vast numbers of commoners to lose their land. With nowhere to plant even a foot, they were reduced to becoming refugees.

In truth, this created excellent conditions for the development of industry and commerce. Once there were landless peasants, industry and commerce had a vast supply of laborers to employ.

Take the late Ming period, for example. The mines often employed several thousand or even tens of thousands of people, precisely because those miners possessed neither land nor property. The explosive growth of the population in the towns and cities of the late Ming also occurred because rural farmland had been annexed so thoroughly. Many landless peasants could do nothing but flood into the cities to seek work and scrape together a living.

The institutions of the Great Tang were largely continuations of those established under the Sui dynasty: the equal-field system, the fubing military system, and the rent-and-labor tax system. Everything was based on the simplest possible principle—doing all they could to ensure that the people of the Great Tang lived and died upon the land.

That left very little room for industry and commerce.

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In this era, those who engaged in industry and commerce were, for the most part, the great clans, aristocratic families, and local magnates.

On the one hand, they monopolized learning and enjoyed an overwhelming advantage in scholarship. On the other, they dominated personnel appointments at court. They controlled education, and the official world belonged to them as well.

At the same time, they were great landowners with sufficient capital to operate industries and businesses, which in turn supported their political status.

Ordinary people could only dabble in small-scale trade. If one wanted to build something larger, it was not merely a question of lacking connections and being fattened like a pig before slaughter. More importantly, where would one find the workers?

Those powerful aristocratic families had dependent households sheltering beneath their protection, as well as large numbers of slaves. Whether they managed saltworks or excavated copper and iron mines, they had people to do the work.

Although Zhen Qian had become an emerging local magnate, his foundations were still far too shallow.

When he had been in Xiantai Village, whatever industries he established depended entirely on the villagers around him and on the more favorable terms offered by the Zhen family. He had also relied on the family’s excellent reputation for benevolence and generosity. Besides, those enterprises had initially required very little manpower. Later, when they expanded, Zhen Qian began using slaves as well.

But now the Zhen family’s influence in Luquan County was steadily growing.

In addition to digging the soil and farming, they had begun developing animal husbandry, operating various shops, and engaging in processing and manufacturing. They had even started mining and iron-smelting projects. Their demand for labor had therefore increased enormously.

This was precisely where the conflict between powerful aristocratic families and the imperial court lay.

Once the great clans possessed privileges, they were certain to expand: acquiring farmland, issuing loans, engaging in commerce, and so on. They annexed land while simultaneously competing with the court for population.

The imperial court needed people too.

Why did ancient governments so often suppress commerce?

First, merchants were largely controlled by privileged classes, from whom the court could collect little tax. Second, commerce competed with the court for the agricultural population. If the peasants who depended on the land shifted in large numbers to industry and commerce, food production would inevitably decline, as would the state’s agricultural rents.

After all, agricultural technology in this era was backward, and cultivating the land required many hands. A shortage of labor would certainly reduce grain output. Moreover, if the people remained tied to the land, the social structure would be far more stable.

So where could workers be found?

The old great families relied on strength accumulated over many years—children born into the household, children born to servants, and generations of gradual expansion.

Their greatest opportunities to increase their power often came during years of disaster. When famine struck and the land yielded no harvest, the common people had to borrow grain and money from them. The powerful families would lend to them, then seize their fields when the debts could not be repaid. They might even purchase sons and daughters during disaster years, buying the children of victims who could no longer afford to feed them.

In some years of calamity, people could no longer survive at all. After losing their land, entire families would simply place themselves under the protection of these local magnates.

Through such methods, the power of local strongmen grew ever greater, along with the amount of land and population under their control.

But this approach would not work in the coming age of chaos. Refugees were an extremely unstable group, moving from one place to another like beggars in later generations. Once they abandoned their dignity and began stretching out their hands to beg, they had already become an unsettled bomb waiting to explode.

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