Taiheiki

Chapter 137: Barbarian Merchants
"So you personally tried those thieves who took advantage of the chaos to set fire and loot?" Wei Cong asked.

"That's right!" Liu Jiu replied, "I remember you said, Captain, that Panyu will be our base from now on, and we must not allow any disturbances. So after I entered the city, I ordered the soldiers to patrol day and night. If anyone commits a crime, they will be severely punished! I have finally lived up to your trust!"

"Hmm!" Wei Cong nodded noncommittally and gestured, "Everyone, please sit down first! I noticed when I entered the city, and the streets are relatively peaceful, and the houses and docks are undamaged. This is all thanks to your hard work. You all have made contributions during this trip south, and I, Wei Cong, will remember it!"

"Captain, I am unworthy of your praise!" everyone responded in unison.

"But there's one thing you've all considered! When we left Yuhan County, our entire army consisted of only around 4,000 men, but now I have nearly 20,000 under my command. The territory we're supposed to rule has also expanded from less than a hundred miles around our camp to a thousand miles around Panyu, the entire Nanhai County, and even the seven counties of Jiaozhou, with hundreds of thousands of households. And all of this happened in less than two months. I know the transition is rapid, but each of us must adapt to this role, otherwise we'll be doomed!"

"Captain, what do you mean?" Diwu Deng asked in confusion.

"It's very simple, Diwu Deng. You're now a captain. Normally, you should only command a few hundred to a thousand soldiers. But now you're my right-hand man. I have 20,000 men under my command, so you should be in charge of at least 4,000 to 5,000, right? This is at least a captain of a minor rank, and a general of the imperial guards wouldn't be unusual. In your new position, you can't do everything yourself. You must learn how to select and employ people. Take the security after the city is captured, for example. How can you possibly manage that personally?"
If you take care of this kind of thing, who will lead the troops? Panyu is a metropolitan city with overseas trade. If we do well, the annual taxes collected from maritime trade alone can support our army. If we do not do well, the craftsmen and merchants in the city will be left without food and clothing, and unrest will inevitably break out. By then, we will be doomed even before the enemy comes to attack us."

Liu Jiu and Diwu Deng were so angry that they were speechless for a long time. Wei Cong coughed twice and said, "How about this, each of you go back and think about it, and recommend three talents to me. They can be good at anything, and then I will select the talents that can be used. If we want to gain a foothold here,
It is definitely not enough to rely on just the few people in our room. Emperor Gao was able to conquer the world, of course, thanks to the contributions of the young men of Fengpei, but it was also inseparable from Han Xin, Zhang Liang, Ying Bu, Peng Yue, Chen Ping and others. They were not old acquaintances of Emperor Gao when he was in Pei County, but they all made great contributions to Emperor Gao.

Also, Huang Ping, you should post a notice: "Let's say that I, Wei, have come to Jiaozhou on a mission to quell rebellion and bring order. Right now, there are barbarians rebelling outside Jiaozhou, and lawless individuals plotting within. I, Wei Cong, am of limited talent, but how could I not hope for the assistance of virtuous and noble men? With Luoyang cut off and Jiaozhou in turmoil, this is a time of urgent need to recruit talented individuals, regardless of their moral integrity. If only those with integrity were employed, how could Duke Huan of Qi achieve hegemony?"
Are there any people in Panyu like Jiang Ziya, clothed in plain clothes yet possessing talent and learning, now relegated to the common people? Are there any like Chen Ping, accused of stealing his sister-in-law and accepting bribes, with no good reputation and no one to recommend him? Anyone with genuine talent and learning can recommend themselves to me. I will certainly not be stingy with official positions or titles, and will employ them wisely!

"Yes!" Huang Ping responded, and was quickly copying down the imperial edict that Wei Cong had just dictated when he heard Guo Kui behind him say, "Sir, if you're looking for talented merchants to govern Panyu City, I think there's someone who would be a good fit!"

"Oh, it's here so soon, tell me about it!" Wei Cong said happily.

"This man's surname is Wu, and his name is Ze. He was a patrol officer in Gan County. He made great contributions during the capture of the city, and later, he and his retainers followed the army south. I worked with him for a while in Gan County, and I feel that he is meticulous and wins the hearts of the people. He is clearly a group of counterfeiters, yet he commands them like a family of retainers for generations. I think if he were to manage the merchants in Panyu, he would be able to do the job!"

"Wu Ze, the patrol officer from Gan County!" Wei Cong slapped his thigh and said with a smile, "I remember now. Is he the one who attended Huang Ping's wedding and insisted on having a seat in the hall even though he offered a gift of 10,000 yuan?"

"Yes, yes, that's the man!" Guo Kui said with a smile, "What do you think, Captain?"

"He's a very interesting guy!" Wei Cong smiled. "Well, since he's willing to leave his family and come south with me, I should at least give him an official position. Otherwise, it will only discourage those who are determined to succeed! Guo Kui, go and ask him to come see me!"

"Here!"

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When Guo Kui was searching for Wu Ze, he was in the back room of a shabby little tavern at the end of a stone pier where hundreds of sailboats of all colors were moored. As soon as Guo Kui entered the tavern, he was spotted by one of Wu Ze's retainers, who was standing guard at the door. Recognizing Guo Kui, he immediately went inside to inform Wu Ze. Soon, Wu Ze emerged, smiling and waving at Guo Kui, "Old friend, what brings you here? Come in and have a drink! We have a lot of new things here. These Panyu people really know how to enjoy themselves. Let's try them together!"

"Why did you hide in such a ghost place? It's so hard for me to find you!" Guo Kui frowned.

"Oh, this tavern is mine!" Wu Ze laughed. "I'm the owner. Isn't it normal for me to stay here?"

"Is this tavern yours?" Guo Kui was startled. He looked around and said, "Holy crap! This tavern has been here for at least a decade. You've only been in Panyu for a few days, how come you already own a tavern?"

"Well, this is my fourth day in Panyu!" Wu Ze smiled and said, "But I found that in Panyu, smart and brave people can easily make a fortune. You see, it only took me two days to earn myself a tavern, although it looks a bit shabby. Come on, let's go in and take a look!" After that, he pulled Guo Kui into the inner room without saying anything.

In sharp contrast to the shabby and simple appearance of the tavern, the interior of the tavern is decorated in an exotic style, even gorgeously: in the middle of the room is a round rosewood table, three soft couches decorated with tortoise shell and agate are covered with soft animal skins and bird feather cloaks, and two dark-skinned merchants are reclining on a soft couch, each of them being fed peeled oranges by a half-naked woman in her arms.

Song Feihu stood behind the empty couch, his right hand on the dagger at his waist. Behind the couch was a bronze statue with a strange face. Its huge eyes were fixed on Guo Kui, who had just entered the room, making him shudder.

"Introduce me!" Wu Ze smiled and pointed at the two dark brown men on the couch: "The one on the left is called Zhao Shun. His father is a Nanyang Hu merchant and his mother is Han Chinese. So he is fluent in Nanyang barbaric languages and helps Nanyang Hu merchants make a living by doing some work as an interpreter and broker.

The man on the right is called Bafa, another Nanyang merchant. He does quite a bit of business, owning five ships alone. Every year, he brings to Panyu a variety of goods, such as tortoise shells, rhinoceros horns, corals, spices, pearls, and ivory, which are worth millions of coins. I bought this tavern with the money he gave me!"

"Then why would he give you money?" "You have to know that according to the laws of the Han Dynasty, these foreign merchants cannot enter the interior and can only stay on their own ships or in Panyu. Therefore, they can only sell their goods in special markets to government officials or our merchants, who will sell them on their behalf. These merchants who help the foreign merchants sell Southeast Asian goods usually take the goods first and pay after the goods are sold. This is not bad, but the hometowns of these foreign merchants are far away, and it usually takes one or two years for them to travel back and forth to Panyu.

Over time, these merchants would delay payment for goods, sometimes for two or three years, sometimes even four or five, or even seven or eight years. Some Hu merchants, when faced with storms or pirates at sea, suffered shipwrecks and loss of life, and would simply seize the goods and keep them for themselves. Bafa was owed a lot of money, and he filed a complaint with the Panyu authorities. The ones who owed him money were all powerful local families and wealthy people, so who would care about a foreigner like him?

"After entering the city, I happened to be on patrol. I encountered a few servants of wealthy families taking advantage of the chaos to rob. I led my men to kill them in the street and hung their heads for public display. Zhao Shun saw this and thought I wouldn't be afraid of the merchants who embezzled their money, so he brought Bafa to find me!"

"Did you get the money back for him?" Guo Kui asked.

"That's right!" Wu Ze said with a smile, "It was a simple matter. I brought dozens of my brothers, armed with armor and weapons, to the merchants. Bafa and the others showed us the contracts, and they readily paid up!"

"How much did they pay you?" Guo Kui asked curiously.

Wu Ze smiled and said to Zhao Shun, "This is my good friend. Tell him how much you gave him."

"Thanks to Brother Wu's help, we have recovered a total of 350,000 coins this time, as well as 300 pieces of Shu brocade, 200 pieces of flowered silk, 600 pieces of silk with bird and flower patterns, and some utensils!" Zhao Shun smiled and said, "Master Bafa asked me to tell Brother Wu that he can take all the copper coins from the property, but he must take the brocade and utensils back to sell, but he can compensate with copper coins or other goods of equal value! Master Bafa, am I right?" He said the last sentence to Bafa.

"That's right!" Bafa pushed the girl next to him away, sat up, and said in very stiff Chinese: "I don't want any of the money and things that Brother Wu asked for. I will give them all to Brother Wu as a thank you gift!"

"Then you got nothing?" Guo Kui asked puzzledly. "No, you even lost a lot. After all, those merchants are just in arrears with the payment for the goods. Not paying now doesn't mean they won't pay in the future. If you give it to Brother Wu, it will never belong to you!"

Perhaps because he was not very proficient in Chinese, this time Bafa uttered a series of gibberish in Southeast Asian dialect, and Guo Kui could not understand a word of it.

Zhao Shun translated, "You don't understand. These Han merchants weren't like this at first. They were very reasonable and paid promptly. When our merchants, having traveled a long way, encountered trouble, they would even provide financial and personnel assistance. But I don't know when they started to change. First, they withheld payment from the small merchants on their boats, then from merchants with only one or two boats, and now they're even doing this to big merchants like me. If I don't do anything, they'll never be satisfied with what they've already received. They'll only keep asking for more, and eventually, my business will be ruined."

"Originally, this business was very good. Your Han Chinese silk, lacquerware, and bronzeware were very popular in our land, in Sindhu (the ancient name for India), and fetched high prices. The ivory, tortoise shells, various gemstones, and spices we brought were also very popular with you Han Chinese, and fetched a good price. As long as there were fair people handling matters, we would be happy. Brother Wu can give us justice, so I would rather give this money to Brother Wu to buy justice than let these bad people profit!"

"Then you took them all?" Guo Kui asked Wu Ze.

"How is that possible?" Wu Ze laughed. "Even thieves have their own code of conduct. If I took all the money, wouldn't I be just like those evil merchants who bully others by taking advantage of their power? I followed the rules and only took one-tenth. I gave some to my brothers to send someone to take it home, and I used the rest to buy a few shops to prepare for everyone's long-term future in Panyu!"

"Are you planning to stay here for a long time? Aren't you afraid of the miasma?" Wu Ze asked in surprise.

"I'm not afraid!" Wu Ze laughed. "You've seen Panyu. There are at least 60,000 to 70,000 people in this city. If they're not afraid, why should I be afraid? Even if I die of miasma in the future, so what? Floods, droughts, locust plagues, swords, guns, and arrows can all kill people. At least here, I can do something. It's much better than staying in Gan County as a crappy roving bandit and doing those trivial things!"

"That's true. You're definitely not the type to stay in your hometown and die of old age!" Guo Kui nodded and patted his thigh. "Oh, I almost forgot. Captain Wei wants to see you. I've been delayed for so long. Come with me!"

"Captain Wei wants to see me? What happened?" Wu Ze became nervous.

"That's what happened!" Guo Kui said with a smile. "Today, Captain Wei gathered all of us together and said that after conquering Panyu, there was too much to do and not enough manpower. He asked each of us to recommend three talented people for him to choose from. I thought of you, and when Captain Wei heard about it, he immediately asked me to find you!"

"Thank you, Brother Guo, for recommending me to the captain!" Wu Ze knelt down and bowed to Guo Kui.

"Brother Wu, why are you doing this?" Guo Kui quickly reached out to help him. "I really think you are a virtuous person, so I recommended you!"

"There are many virtuous and capable people in the world, but how many of them can be chosen by the ruler? Aren't the vast majority of them still sinking into the grassroots their entire lives?" Wu Ze sighed. "If I achieve something in the future, I will never forget your kindness today and repay Brother Guo handsomely! Flying Tiger!"

"Yes!" Song Hu, who had been standing nearby, responded.

(End of this chapter)