The three ships docked directly at the riverbank. Yang Qin and the others jumped onto the beach and came over to pay their respects to Han Qian.
This was also why nearly all regions of Jianghuai, Sichuan, and Hunan built flat-bottomed boats—primarily for convenient beaching. If they used sharp-bottomed large ships with drafts of five or six feet deep, in shallow silted beaches like those near Canglang, they would need to build piers over ten meters long to reach the land.
Moreover, the current ironworking techniques were limited, making it quite difficult to produce large anchors weighing a thousand jin. Without large trees on the shore to moor to and without sufficiently heavy anchors to grip the riverbed, anchoring ships in the water also became problematic.
Therefore, the Xuzhou shipyard under construction would face considerable difficulties in building truly fast sailing ships.
In fact, many people questioned whether the Xuzhou shipyard even needed to be built.
Han Qian had been obstinate about this matter. Whenever Ji Xiyao sent letters, he always replied to them first, not only providing financial and grain support, but even when Ji Xiyao encountered various technical difficulties in preparing the shipyard, he would provide solutions in as much detail as possible, encouraging Ji Xiyao to boldly try the methods he envisioned.
Despite the enormous expenses, he bore them alone. At the same time, he did his best to send to Xuzhou those young craftsmen from the workshops who others saw as restless and unbound by tradition, assigning them to Ji Xiyao’s use.
“Build a fortification here?”
Yang Qin came to see Han Qian and was greatly shocked to learn that Li Zhigao and Li Chong continued upstream along the Dan River while Han Qian remained here with Tian Cheng and others.
Was this something their Left Administration could actually accomplish right now?
Yang Qin had roamed the martial world for many years. He had dared to assassinate court officials for profit at Ji Kun’s instigation, so he could be called bold and arrogant, but even he had never thought of building a city here.
Of course, if they could conscript three to five thousand able-bodied laborers and had the funds and grain to support these laborers, this would be a natural course of action. But where were the funds and grain? Where were the laborers?
Currently, the Left Administration scouts deployed in Deng-Xiang, together with the boat guild guards and sailors, totaled fewer than eighty men. How could they accomplish this?
Capture wild folk?
Although there were large numbers of fugitive households living in mountain strongholds in the deep mountains and wild ridges, these fugitives were mostly controlled by remnants of defeated forces from successive Deng-Xiang campaigns over the past several decades.
When warfare ceased, perhaps a single decree from Jinling distributing land would bring these fugitive households gradually down from the mountains to register, but now if they tried to peacefully send people to forcibly conscript laborers, they would be shot back with a volley of arrows rather than see ghosts.
With just these few elite forces in the Left Administration, they shouldn’t even think about attacking mountain strongholds.
The Longque Army might have the capability to forcibly take down a few mountain villages, but after suffering casualties, once they captured the strongholds, the money and grain would certainly be distributed as rewards to valiant soldiers. As for the fugitive mountain folk they captured—the Longque Army needed large numbers of able-bodied laborers to build camps and fortifications at Jingzi Pass, didn’t they?
Yang Qin worried that Han Qian was exploiting the newly established boat guild too harshly, so he straightforwardly laid out all the difficulties he could think of.
“There is a business in this world that has caused countless heads to roll over the past several decades, yet it persists despite repeated prohibitions. What do you think it is?” Han Qian asked Yang Qin with a faint smile.
Yang Qin had initially broken the Yangtan Water Stronghold, which was later destroyed by Zhong Yanhu. Although they had been enemies when Han Qian broke Yangtan Water Stronghold, Yang Qin could not blame him afterward. But Yang Qin’s subsequent allegiance to him was more due to being forced by circumstances.
Now that Yangtan Water Stronghold had been rebuilt in Xuzhou and Guo Nu’er, Lin Zongjing, and others had been incorporated into the boat guild, Han Qian wasn’t worried Yang Qin would harbor disloyalty. However, clearly he couldn’t expect Yang Qin to have no thoughts of his own and blindly follow his every command.
When persuasion was needed, appropriate persuasion was still necessary.
“Trafficking contraband salt?” Yang Qin asked in surprise. “Could we really do such a thing?”
The civil unrest that swept across both sides of the great river twenty or thirty years ago, thoroughly shaking the previous dynasty’s rule, had initially been started by a gang of illegal salt traders.
Whether learning from that lesson or perhaps to raise military funds, Great Chu’s crackdown on contraband salt since its founding had been even more severe than the previous dynasty. Every year, no fewer than eight hundred to a thousand salt criminals who trafficked more than one dan of salt had their heads chopped off.
Yet in the current world, salt profits were truly enormous. Even with heads rolling, contraband salt could not be completely eliminated.
When Han Daoxun and his son entered Xuzhou, the provincial prison was in an uproar. At that time, the prison held nine hundred inmates, sixty percent of whom were salt criminals.
Yang Qin could easily arrive at the answer to Han Qian’s question.
It was just that salt profits were currently one of the main sources for raising military funds. The Salt and Iron Transport Commissioner’s authority had become so great that it surpassed the Ministry of Finance and the Commission for State Expenditures. Salt officials were spread throughout provinces and counties, with extremely numerous eyes and ears.
Not to mention, they still didn’t know how many people under职方司 Zhao Mingting were watching them right now.
If they really did this, wouldn’t they be handing a handle directly to the Anning Palace and the Crown Prince’s faction?
When the matter was exposed, not only would their heads be forfeit, but the Third Prince, having aroused public outrage, wouldn’t need to think about the succession struggle anymore, would he?
“Where has your mind wandered?” Han Qian laughed. “Why can’t we sell salt openly and legitimately? Yangtan Water Stronghold has certainly done plenty of contraband salt trading in the past—you couldn’t fail to think of even this much!”
“How can we sell salt openly and legitimately?” Although Han Qian said he should be able to think of it, Yang Qin was still utterly confused for the moment.
“Between Jianghuai, food salt is all officially transported and officially sold, but in Xuzhou, food salt is commercially transported and commercially sold. So let me ask you—should food salt here be officially transported and officially sold, or commercially transported and commercially sold?” Han Qian asked.
“Xiangzhou city has a Salt and Iron Bureau. Officials and commoners within Xiangzhou all must buy their salt from official shops, so naturally here it should be officially transported and officially sold, right?” Yang Qin said uncertainly.
“Wrong!” Han Qian said. “Du Chongtao serves as Xiangzhou Administrator and concurrently as Deng-Xiang Defense Commissioner, which means he oversees Xiangzhou’s military and civil affairs and the defense of Xiangzhou and Dengzhou. But don’t forget—we are currently standing on Junzhou’s territory! Never mind civil administration—in reality, even local provincial troops and security matters are beyond Du Chongtao’s reach! Could a small Xiangzhou Salt and Iron Bureau possibly extend its reach into Junzhou and control Junzhou’s salt affairs?”
“Ah? We can really do this?” Yang Qin asked somewhat foolishly, still with confusion all over his face.
“Can you straighten your spine? Our backing is the Third Prince, the Deputy Commander of the entire Northwestern Army. How can you be so lacking in ambition?” Han Qian asked with a laugh.
Great Chu’s salt system implemented official production, official collection, official transport, and official sales. Contraband salt exceeding one dan was subject to immediate execution—extremely harsh. However, there were also very rare exceptions.
Border provinces like Chen and Xu were located in remote areas with numerous water bandits and mountain brigands along the routes. In these border provinces, salt affairs were conducted through official production and collection but commercial transport and sales.
Junzhou had long been abandoned.
In haste, the court hadn’t yet thought to reestablish Junzhou, but to limit the power of border commanders, the court also hadn’t incorporated Junzhou into Xiangzhou—only temporarily placing defense matters against the Shu army in Liangzhou under the jurisdiction of the Deng-Xiang Defense Commissioner’s Office.
However, Han Qian speculated about Du Chongtao’s mindset—he too didn’t want to remind the court about reestablishing Junzhou.
On one hand, there were no people here who could be registered. The mountain strongholds wouldn’t accept incorporation. Establishing new provinces and counties, besides wasting money and grain feeding a group of officials, what else could be accomplished?
On the other hand, if new provinces and counties were established, the court would necessarily dispatch a new administrator. Why would Du Chongtao invite another heavyweight official to share his authority?
For anyone else, trying to exploit this loophole would undoubtedly be seeking death.
What common person, cherishing their life, would dare say that salt affairs, fortification construction, and other civil matters here were not subject to the jurisdiction of the Xiangzhou Salt and Iron Bureau, the Xiangzhou Administrator’s Office, or the Deng-Xiang Defense Commissioner’s Office?
Others couldn’t do it, but the Third Prince Yang Yuanpu could.