Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 793 Slow things down
“That number of people…” Sun Chengzong slowly shook his head. “Not enough, far from enough.”

“That number of people?” Gao Shiming’s voice suddenly rose two octaves. “That’s tens of thousands of people.”

Sun Chengzong walked a few steps forward in silence, then stopped beside an earthen embankment, gazing absently at the shimmering waters of the lake in the distance. After a long while, he turned to Gao Shiming and asked, "Director Gao, do you know how many days and how much manpower it took for Wu Zhongxiu, the then Imperial Censor in charge of granaries, to dredge the Tonghui River, about a hundred years ago in the seventh year of the Jiajing reign?"

"I don't know," Gao Shiming said, bowing with his hands clasped. "Please enlighten me, Grand Secretary Sun."

“According to the Tonghui River Chronicle, Wu Zhongxiu’s dredging of the Tonghui River began in early March of the seventh year of Jiajing’s reign and was completed at the end of June, taking nearly four months and employing 12,000 workers. The total length of the Tonghui River is only about 40 li.” Sun Chengzong paused, his gaze sweeping over the group of eunuchs, and finally settling on Gao Shiming, who was in the lead. “Director Gao, do you know how long the North Canal, the Hai River, and the Wei Canal are in total?”

Gao Shiming still shook his head, but his eyes were noticeably more focused.

Sun Chengzong rolled up his sleeves and shook the five fingers on his right hand: "No less than five hundred li."

Gao Shiming's pupils contracted slightly as he pondered, "So, to finish the project in the same amount of time, we would need 150,000 people?"

“Not only.” Sun Chengzong shook his head slightly, his gaze returning to the earthen embankment piled up by the river workers. “The Tonghui River Gazetteer clearly states that during the project in the seventh year of the Jiajing reign, although there was some widening work, most of the time it was just dredging the river channel and rebuilding dams and sluices, with limited earthwork. Our current plan is to widen the river channel to increase the canal's navigability. Eunuch Gao should remember what I just said.”

“The work of widening is much larger than that of dredging!?” Gao Shiming raised an eyebrow and said, almost interrupting.

“That’s right. Before construction started, I thought the widening project would be at most three or four times the amount of dredging, but once we started, we realized it was much more than that.” Sun Chengzong turned to look at the river workers shoveling and loading soil along the canal. Their bare backs gleamed in the rising sun, their hands gripping the edges of bamboo baskets tightly. Every time a basket was full, they would straighten up, huffing and puffing, and dump the soil onto the embankment. Behind the embankment, other river workers would shovel the black mud or yellow soil onto oxcarts, hauling it to farther places.

“Alas,” Sun Chengzong sighed softly, gesturing to the distance, “If we were to proceed as planned and widen the river to the left and right by the width of a cargo ship, the amount of earth excavated would be more than ten times that of dredging. If the entire route were to be started simultaneously and completed in a short period of time, at least 500,000 laborers would be needed.”

"Five hundred thousand!" Gao Shiming gasped, instinctively taking a half-step back. Before this, he had no concept of the manpower required for river repair, thinking it was just dredging and clearing silt, never imagining it would require so many people. "Does it really need so many people?" When Gao Shiming looked at the construction site again, he found the previously densely packed river workers to be somewhat sparse.

Sun Chengzong nodded slightly and remained silent for a moment, simply watching the busy figures on the river.

Just then, Guan Guang, who was in charge of supervising the river, suddenly noticed that many river workers nearby were slacking off. Since the supervising officials had come with him to welcome Sun Chengzong and his entourage, they were no longer being restrained. Some were casually drawing lines on the ground with shovels, pretending to be working, while the less disciplined ones were leaning against trees in small groups, whispering amongst themselves. Guan Guang quickly turned around and said sternly to the officials who had followed him, "What are you all doing here? Go back to your posts and keep an eye on things!"

The clerks, finally snapping out of their daze, hurriedly replied "Yes," and, clutching their robes, rushed to their respective areas. Upon reaching them, as if trying to save face in front of the imperial envoy, they all shouted in hoarse voices, "What are you looking at! What are you looking at! This is none of your business! Get back to work!"

"Hurry up, hurry up!" The foremen in charge of the workers on the front line echoed, their whips cracking loudly on the ground. "Don't dawdle!"

Although the river workers were somewhat reluctant, they slowly picked up their shovels and began digging and hoeing again.

Gao Shiming looked around along the river, his gaze sweeping over the densely packed figures that stretched as far as the eye could see; the entire riverbed looked like it was covered with busy ants. He turned to Sun Chengzong and asked, "Minister Sun, approximately how many people are there?"

“Longzhang,” Sun Chengzong turned to look at Guan Guang. “You seem to have over 40,000 people here, right?”

"Reporting to Vice Minister Sun, reporting to Eunuch Gao." Guan Guang quickly put away his stern expression, stepped forward with a smile, and while speaking, flipped through the account book in his hand: "There are a total of 42,852 people on the entire construction site."

“Those people sent from the capital,” Gao Shiming looked at Guan Guang. “Are they all here?”

“Most of them are here. There are probably more than 8,300 people,” Guan Guang recalled for a moment. “The rest were transferred to the Weihe River and Haihe River to help with dredging.”

Gao Shiming raised his hand and pulled his hat brim down to shield himself from the increasingly intense sunlight: "Why not conscript more people? There must be hundreds of thousands of households in Hejian Prefecture, right? If each household contributes one man, that's hundreds of thousands of people. Why worry about not having enough manpower?"

Upon hearing this, Guan Guang was stunned. His lips twitched slightly, and a look of bewilderment flashed in his eyes. How could the people's power be used like this?

Guan Guang was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to explain, and could only turn his head to look at Sun Chengzong, hoping that he could take over the conversation.

“Mencius said, ‘If you cultivate a hundred acres of land, do not deprive people of their farming season, and a family of several people will not go hungry.’” Sun Chengzong smiled faintly and explained to Gao Shiming, “The government can certainly conscript people to repair rivers and widen canals, but it cannot affect farming.”

"But the autumn harvest has already been planted, hasn't it?" Gao Shiming pointed to the distant farmland, where a few green rice seedlings could be vaguely seen swaying in the wind. "Why not recruit more people?"

“The river works that Director Gao is seeing now are the result of additional taxes levied after the planting was completed,” Sun Chengzong said. “If you had come two months earlier, there would have been at least half as many people on the riverbank.”

Gao Shiming had just thought tens of thousands of people were a lot, but now he was starting to think forty thousand was a small number: "After the additional taxation, there are only so few people?"

“That’s quite a lot.” Sun Chengzong forced a smile, fine lines appearing at the corners of his eyes. “After the crops are planted, it’s not enough to just wait for the rain. Fertilizer and weeding are needed afterwards, otherwise by harvest time, it will be ‘overgrown weeds and sparse bean sprouts,’ resulting in a meager harvest. Moreover, each region has its own projects, and it’s flood season, so local authorities also need to organize manpower for flood prevention. These forty or fifty thousand people are almost the limit that Hejian Prefecture can mobilize. If more are conscripted, it will affect the normal livelihoods of the people of Hejian Prefecture.” Gao Shiming silently took a few steps before continuing, “Then, in your opinion, when will this project be completed?”

“Judging from the current progress,” Sun Chengzong silently calculated, “this section of the North Canal will take at least two or three years to complete. The subsequent widening projects of the Wei Canal and Hai River will have to wait for another time.”

"It's going to take this long?" Gao Shiming's brows furrowed slightly.

“That’s alright.” Sun Chengzong smiled instead: “The original intention of widening the waterway was to prevent the surge in merchant ships after trade with the Westerners, which would block the canal and affect the transport of grain. But judging from the current situation, those Western merchants still focus their trade in the south. For the time being, or even for a long time, it will not have any substantial impact on the ships traveling on the canal routes around the capital. So we don’t need to rush the work.”

Gao Shiming subconsciously lowered his voice and leaned closer to Sun Chengzong to ask, "What if we shut down Yuegang?"

"In my humble opinion, it's best not to rush this matter." Sun Chengzong's smile remained, but his eyes held a hint of caution. "One must take things one step at a time. If we rashly close Yuegang, the resistance from the south will be immense. Those merchants and officials who rely on Yuegang for their profits will certainly not agree easily. Moreover, the situation in Liaodong is urgent, and the court simply doesn't have the energy to suppress smuggling along the southeast coast. Maintaining the status quo and allowing Westerners to continuously transport grain and iron from the South China Sea to replenish the front lines is already sufficient."

Gao Shiming nodded slightly and said, "But grain and iron also need to be exchanged for goods. The Emperor ordered the Grand Secretary to put a lot of effort into building a port in Tanggu, wasn't it precisely to facilitate trade and collect customs duties nearby?"

“His Majesty’s thinking is certainly correct.” Sun Chengzong spread his hands: “But I still maintain that haste makes waste, and things should be done one step at a time. Rather than closing Yuegang Port all at once and causing a lot of trouble, it would be better to reform the tax system first and collect the taxes that should be collected and can be collected. Isn’t this precisely the responsibility of the General Administration of Customs?”

Gao Shiming was taken aback, and a complicated look appeared in his eyes as he looked at Sun Chengzong. "This tax, I'm afraid it won't be so easy to collect."

“If this tax is easy to collect,” Sun Chengzong smiled, with a hint of flattery, “I’m afraid the Emperor wouldn’t have specially appointed a capable person like Eunuch Gao to manage the General Administration of Customs.”

"Hehehe." Gao Shiming laughed, looking up. "I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it."

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The sun rises incredibly fast during the dog days of summer; by the end of the morning, its scorching rays have already descended like a fiery net. The wind, carrying waves of heat, sweeps across the river, its touch scorching the skin. The reeds along the riverbank droop listlessly, and even the cicadas' chirping sounds weak and feeble.

Gao Shiming's dark blue undershirt was already soaked with sweat, and sweat trickled down his cheeks. He would occasionally take out a handkerchief to wipe it, but then, finding the handkerchief also hot, he simply held it in his hand and fanned himself. Pang Tianshou was even worse; the collar of his round-necked robe was open, and the booklet in his hand had long been tucked back into his sleeve. He just kept fanning his face with a folding fan. Fang Zhenghua, though still standing upright, had a patch of wet hair on his forehead that clung to his smooth brow. Xu Fang, on the other hand, had her head down, her hat pulled low, as if trying to hide herself in the shadows.

As was Sun Chengzong's usual practice, after inspecting the construction site, he would always share a meal of coarse rice with the river workers, chat about everyday matters, and demonstrate his willingness to share the joy with the people. But today, the heat was unbearable, and judging from the eunuchs' slumped posture, they seemed to be starting to feel the strain. Sun Chengzong had no choice but to abandon his plan to continue the inspection.

Sun Chengzong stopped, raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, and then turned to Gao Shiming with a smile, saying, "Director Gao, gentlemen, the sun is getting increasingly scorching. If we stay any longer, we might suffer from heatstroke. Why don't we stop here for today and go back to Weicheng to rest?"

Upon hearing this, Gao Shiming almost immediately breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly cupped his hands, saying, "What Minister Sun says is right, we will listen to you!"

“Hey, you’re right,” Pang Tianshou chimed in. “This sun is so hot it could melt you.”

Although neither of the two young men spoke, they both nodded.

Seeing this, Guan Guang quickly led his close clerks to make way so that Sun Chengzong and Gao Shiming, who had turned around, could walk in front again.

The group walked slowly along the path beside the embankment. The soil under their feet was scorching hot, burning their feet. Along the riverbank, the river workers were still busy, but their movements were much slower than before. Many of their bare backs were sunburned red, and beads of sweat rolled down, disappearing instantly into the black mud.

As they approached the open space where they were to park, the sound of wheels grinding against the ground drifted from afar. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw an oxcart slowly approaching. The cart was half-loaded with dark brown river mud, clumps of which were still covered with weeds. The wheels had rolled over a thick layer of mud on the dirt road, making each step the ox took seem exceptionally heavy. The driver was a lean old man, wearing a patched-up tunic, holding the ox rope. Upon seeing Sun Chengzong and his group, he quickly stopped the cart and bowed to the side of the road.

Gao Shiming's gaze fell on the oxcart, and he turned to Sun Chengzong with curiosity: "Minister Sun, where is all this mud being transported?"

Sun Chengzong stopped and pointed to a low-lying area by the lake in the distance. He could vaguely see several river workers dumping mud into the depression. "I plan to use this mud to fill in some useless small ponds and lakes, creating some arable land for the refugees sent from the capital to cultivate. It's a form of land reclamation," he said. He paused, his gaze falling on the clods of mud on the oxcart. "These refugees are not like the laborers conscripted from various places. Laborers can go home to farm after their work, but if these refugees have no land to cultivate, they will eventually become vagrants."

"How much farmland can be created by filling it like this?" Gao Shiming looked at the oxcart. "Is it enough for so many people?"

Sun Chengzong spread his hands and smiled, "I can't say for sure how much we can fill in the end. We'll fill as much as we can, even if it's just one mu. Besides, this way, the refugees will have something to look forward to, and fewer of them will run away. We can't keep forcing them to work with soldiers all the time."

"Minister Sun is truly insightful and wise!" Gao Shiming complimented. "I admire him."

“Alas,” Sun Chengzong quickly waved his hand, “Director Gao is too kind. I was just doing my job. I don’t deserve any praise.”

(End of this chapter)