Chapter 77: To Hangzhou

Zhao Yigong stood at the bow of the boat, gazing at the city of Hangzhou from centuries ago, feeling a little dazed.

For a modern man with a special affection for the Song Dynasty, Hangzhou was a place that held an inseparable emotional attachment for “Song fans.”

“Xingzai, I have arrived,” he said in a low voice.

Zhao Yigong had set out from Guangzhou in January. The journey, by boat, sedan chair, and sometimes horseback, took nearly two months, and he finally arrived in Hangzhou in the beautiful spring of March.

The bumps and hardships of the road were needless to say. He also encountered several dangerous situations: he was targeted by thieves three times and once caught in a sudden flash flood. If it weren’t for the escort from the escort agency, Zhao Yigong doubted he could have reached Hangzhou safely on his own.

His bloodstream was now filled with various antibody proteins. His personal medicine kit contained all sorts of medications—including bleaching powder water purification tablets, insect repellent, anti-malarial drugs, and anti-diarrhea agents. To ensure his safety, the Ministry of Health had warned him not to eat any meat on the road to avoid contracting certain parasites. Falling ill on the road in this era was almost a death sentence. Therefore, Zhao Yigong’s journey was particularly arduous. His only way to supplement protein and fat was to eat “Grassland No. 10” rations at night: a special supplement of protein and fat, including dried meat, glass jars of salted lard, and nuts.

These dreadful things made his journey even more difficult. Seeing Hangzhou right before his eyes, Zhao Yigong couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. He planned to take a good bath, change his clothes, and wash his long, girl-like hair thoroughly once he arrived. It was inconvenient to bathe during the journey, and his hair smelled terrible. Although he tried his best to maintain personal hygiene, he still had a lot of lice and nits, which made him extremely uncomfortable. In this era, these disgusting parasites were everywhere, and inns were major breeding grounds and transfer stations for them. Bedbugs were especially rampant. Zhao Yigong had never suffered like this in his life. In the old world, even in a small town in a national-level poverty-stricken county, there were still clean hotels and decent food. Although some places had extremely poor public security and chaotic city appearances, at least one wouldn’t see corpses lying on the roadside or people defecating in the street.

But he had seen all of this on his journey. Not just seen, but seen frequently. His impression of the Great Ming was very poor, even worse than his worst expectations. Zhao Yigong had witnessed the actual conditions of ancient society on D-Day, but he always felt that it was because Hainan Island itself was a remote place, caused by economic and cultural backwardness. Later, when he went to Guangzhou for pre-departure adaptation training, Guangzhou was, after all, a trading port, and the Pearl River Delta was a land of fish and rice since ancient times. But once he left such a prosperous place, he saw a lot of darkness along the way.

He set out during the spring famine, which was already the most difficult time for farmers. In some places that had suffered disasters the previous year, the grain stores were already empty by spring, and large groups of people were fleeing the famine. Sitting in his sedan chair, Zhao Yigong often saw groups of beggars on the road and farmers, who were not much better off than beggars, struggling to cultivate the fields. His mood was uncontrollably heavy.

He had read countless times in history books about the chaotic situation at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing, but now that he was actually walking in this picture, he truly felt the terror and sorrow of a troubled era. No, strictly speaking, it wasn’t a troubled era yet. The picture of hell on earth in China had not yet truly unfolded. The places he passed through would still be considered peaceful even at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, yet they were already in such a miserable state. One could only imagine what a ferocious face the places truly swept by the great chaos would have.

Because the world was gradually showing signs of chaos, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau made careful arrangements for this trip to Jiangnan. Not only did they dispatch a team of three male and one female escorts from the Qiwei Escort Agency, but they also selected several professional security personnel from the General Political Security Bureau to accompany them. The route was chosen to be along the official roads and post stations as much as possible. In ancient society, this was the safest travel principle.

To guard against “official bandits” along the way, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau instructed the Guangzhou Station to obtain a few “eight-line” letters and calling cards from the gentry and high officials in Guangzhou as talismans. Besides scaring away minor troubles and saving a lot of hassle and extortion, they could also be used to request help from the government in case of danger. They were very useful.

The escort from the Qiwei Escort Agency responsible for protecting Zhao Yigong was a distant nephew of Sun Kecheng named Sun Wangcai. Although he was called a nephew, he was not much younger than Sun Kecheng, a sturdy man in his early forties. He was quick-witted, skilled in martial arts, and experienced in the ways of the world. He was also a respected figure in Qiwei. Moreover, he often handled “official escorts”: escorting retired officials from Guangdong and their families back to their hometowns, and he was adept at dealing with high-ranking officials. So this time, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau chose him to be Zhao Yigong’s security captain. This was also a measure to break up and dismantle the “Sun family clique” and the “Jiangxi gang” within Qiwei. The core members of Qiwei had been sent out one after another to serve as personal bodyguards for the dispatched personnel of the intelligence bureau and the colonial and trade department.

Sun Wangcai stood behind him. He knew that the transmigrator’s status was precious, and he was also a great benefactor and major client of Qiwei. He was very careful and attentive throughout the journey. He always walked at the front of the team, whether it was for a meal, a stay at an inn, or chartering a boat, he always went ahead to check the situation.

Seeing that they had finally arrived in Hangzhou safely, Sun Wangcai breathed a sigh of relief. Zhejiang, especially the northern part, had always been a land of fish and rice, and it was much more stable and prosperous than other places. There were no longer many refugees with unfriendly eyes on the road. In some places they passed through, he had to instruct all the men in the team to carry their weapons and “show them off” to intimidate the restless refugees.

“Master, we have finally made it through this journey safely,” Sun Wangcai said in a low voice. “Do you want to enter the city today, or rest at an inn outside the city first?”

Zhao Yigong was eager to enter the city immediately, buy a residence, and take a good, long bath. But buying a house and furnishing it was not something that could be done in an instant. He had a lot of luggage and personnel with him, so he had to find an inn to settle down first.

Sun Wangcai was used to serving masters. Seeing his hesitation, he knew what was on his mind. He said:

“Master, don’t worry. This is the provincial capital where the three judicial offices are located. It’s not a poor, remote place. There are some extremely clean and large inns that specialize in serving masters like you.”

Zhao Yigong nodded. “Alright, as you wish. Let’s find a large inn to stay at first.”

Sun Wangcai, having escorted “official missions,” had traveled north and south and had been to Hangzhou several times. He quickly found an inn after getting off the boat. Hangzhou was a provincial capital and a prosperous place in the southeast, with a bustling market and a large population. As for sumptuary laws regarding clothing, they were not taken seriously. The inn’s attendant, who came to greet them, called for a four-man sedan chair for Zhao Yigong and a two-man small sedan chair for the female family members. In addition, more than ten porters were hired to carry the luggage.

They disembarked from the boat and walked along the riverbank. After less than half a li, they could see the majestic city walls and high city gates in the distance. Zhao Yigong was not from Hangzhou, but he was quite familiar with it. He knew that most of the city walls and gates at this time were not relics of the Song Dynasty—Zhang Shicheng had rebuilt the city at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the layout was different from that of the Song Dynasty. But upon seeing the city gate, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia.

Near the city gate were inns of all sizes. The large ones had golden signs that read “For Officials and Gentry,” while the small ones said “For Traveling Merchants.” The Lao Rongji Inn that Sun Wangcai arranged was naturally for officials and gentry. The buildings were tall and grand. Many people and sedan chairs were coming and going at the entrance. The attendants were bustling about.

Sun Wangcai had already booked a large and a small courtyard. The small courtyard had three main rooms, and the large one had five, both with side rooms. They were spacious and clean, without any annoying insects, enough to accommodate the entire Hangzhou Station staff. The person in charge of the internal affairs of the Hangzhou Station was Zhao Yigong’s life secretary. Zhao Yigong’s life secretary was plain-looking and small in stature, but she was from Zhejiang. Her hometown was in Shaoxing, and she had been sold to Guangdong. The reason Zhao Yigong had bought such a “D-rated” life secretary was that he planned to be dispatched to Jiangnan one day and needed a local person. He named this girl “Fenghua.”

“We’ll be staying here for a while, so arrange everything properly,” Zhao Yigong instructed her. “Especially, make sure everyone takes care of their hygiene tonight.”

The inn did not have ready-made bathing facilities. Sun Wangcai immediately had an attendant lead them out to buy new bathtubs for the transmigrator and the women. The others made do, washing themselves with soap and hot water in the large courtyard.

With Fenghua’s help, Zhao Yigong took a comfortable hot bath and changed into a clean set of clothes. He put on a pair of Chenqiao straw slippers and walked a few steps in the courtyard, looking at the sun hanging in the sky. He felt incredibly refreshed. For the first time in days, he had a sense of stability. The next step was to open up a situation in Hangzhou.

Time was not on his side. The great drought in northern Zhejiang in 1632 and the Dengzhou plan, which would be launched in the second half of the year, both required the support of the Hangzhou Station. Before the beginning of 1632, he had to complete the basic layout in Hangzhou and gain enough freedom of action to prepare the necessary material and social foundation for the transfer of refugees.

The material foundation was not a major problem. After he settled down, the intelligence bureau’s “mountain and sea” systems would soon enter the Yangtze River Delta. With the large number of new products they had, making money would not be difficult. Moreover, the Ministry of Finance had a special allocation for the Hangzhou Station to support local industry and commerce.

The most important thing was how to establish his social status. Zhao Yigong knew that in this era, merchants were very helpless. Without large-scale, self-deprecating official-merchant collusion, it was almost impossible to gain a foothold in this social system. Therefore, his first role could not be a merchant.