Chapter 82: Expanding the Team

Zhao Yigong looked at the dozen or so children of various sizes, sitting or standing in the courtyard in front of the main hall. They were all disheveled and emaciated. Some looked relatively healthy, while others had barely managed to walk in before collapsing on the ground, unable to get up.

He felt a pang of pity, but at the same time, his whole body itched. A few days ago, when he brought the girl back, he had also brought back the fleas and nits on her body. That night, he was bitten all over, scratching himself and developing many red bumps and welts. He had to get up, take a bath, change his clothes, and apply insect repellent. Looking at these children now, he could only imagine how many parasites were lurking under their ragged clothes, eyeing his flesh.

“Kneel down and kowtow, all of you, and greet the master,” Cai Shi shouted.

A few knelt down, while others swayed and fell directly to the ground. Zhao Yigong’s heart softened, and he said, “No need for formalities.” He looked at them carefully; most were boys, but there were also a few girls. The youngest was only four or five, and the oldest was thirteen or fourteen. However, Zhao Yigong knew that poor children were malnourished and their development was generally delayed, so their actual age was probably older.

“Are they all orphans?” Zhao Yigong asked. “And have they all voluntarily sold themselves into servitude in my household?”

“Indeed, they have,” Cai Shi quickly said, and then shouted to the children, “Say it yourselves, quickly!”

“We are indeed willing,” the voices were scattered, slow, and drawn out.

“Master Zhu, you see…” Cai Shi turned his face to a thin, dry clerk beside him. This was a household registration clerk from Renhe County, specially invited today to register the deeds. Generally speaking, such matters did not necessarily have to go through the government, but during their training, they had been warned to be very cautious when taking in people in places outside the reach of the transmigrator group’s power, because at that time, there was a group of villains who made a living from this, and it was easy to lose both people and money. An intelligence agent alone and outside could not afford to get into a direct conflict with people.

“Alright, alright, I’ve seen it all,” Clerk Zhu said. He had received a sizable red envelope and was in a good mood, so he naturally wouldn’t be picky. “Let’s get the deeds signed and fingerprinted.”

Cai Shi, in high spirits, had the children press their fingerprints on the deeds of sale and then took them all away to have their heads shaved, bathe, and change their clothes. Zhao Yigong had a few rooms renovated in the abandoned garden of the residence to serve as temporary dormitories. He also hired a doctor to treat the children’s illnesses, and the entire “purification” process was carried out according to the standard procedure. He also assigned people to take special care of them. The dozen or so attendants he had brought with him had all come from the purification camp and were familiar with this system, which was just a smaller version of it. When the orphans had recovered a little, he had them clear a piece of land in the abandoned garden to serve as a playground. They did exercises and ran every day to build up their bodies, and also grew vegetables and raised chickens in the abandoned garden to both exercise and supplement their diet. Zhao Yigong had Fenghua act as a literacy teacher, providing primary education according to the requirements of the “C-level diploma.”

Zhao Yigong knew that it would be very difficult for him to make great achievements in sheltering and educating the population at the moment, especially with the lack of sufficient manpower. Therefore, he paid special attention to the older children, those aged thirteen or fourteen, focusing on cultivating their character and knowledge. In the future, they would be the basic cadre talent that the Hangzhou Station could quickly put to use. As for the children under ten, they would still have to be transferred back to Lingao to study in batches later on.

Only the little girl he had rescued from the bridge did he decide to keep by his side and educate personally. He named her Hening. He also gave names to the other children. Among them, he named the six older children, who were over twelve, Donghua, Xihua, Funing, Furong, Lizheng, and Yanhe. These names, like Fenghua and Hening, were all names of palaces from the Song Dynasty.

The older children lived in a separate dormitory, and Zhao Yigong personally taught them for a certain amount of time every day. Although the older children were more mature mentally, children who had been wandering and begging for a long time often had distorted personalities and had picked up various bad habits. Lingao had a complete set of methods for managing and educating refugees, and everyone could be put to use. But here, he had to be cautious. Therefore, when taking in children, he specifically instructed Cai Shi not to take in any wandering beggars who were clever with words and looked healthy. For now, he would only take in those who were on the verge of starvation and had been abandoned.

As a result, he felt that he was short-handed again. He instructed Cai Shi and Sun Wangcai to take in anyone who was willing to sell themselves and had a reliable background—all with “absolute deeds.”

Besides taking in children and expanding his team of servants, Zhao Yigong also spent a few days personally inspecting the main markets and the prices of various goods in Hangzhou. He gained a general understanding of the trade situation in the city. It seemed that the most profitable industries in Hangzhou were still silk and tea.

Since the Tang and Song dynasties, Jiangnan had been famous for its sericulture. It was particularly developed in the Ming Dynasty. Especially in the lower reaches of the Taihu Lake, Suzhou and Huzhou, and the areas of Songjiang, Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Hangzhou were all important sericulture regions, producing a huge amount of raw silk and silk fabrics every year. As an important transportation hub, Hangzhou not only handled the circulation of goods from all over Zhejiang province but also served as a distribution center for silk products from Suzhou and Huzhou in Southern Zhili.

As for tea, Zhejiang itself was a major tea-producing province, and the neighboring southern Anhui was also an important tea-producing area. Every year, a large amount of Anhui tea was transported to Hangzhou via the Hui-Hang ancient road, where it was processed and distributed.

Silk and tea were both important commodities in overseas trade and popular bulk commodities in domestic trade. If he could control a part of the silk and tea trade in Hangzhou, the profits would not be much less than those from the sugar trade in Leizhou.

However, Zhao Yigong was still undecided on how to get involved in these two industries. He was not familiar with sericulture or the tea industry, let alone their conditions in the 17th century.

After much thought, he concluded that he still needed to find someone familiar with the industry to lead the way. Just then, Cai Shi brought in a family surnamed Shen from outside, saying they were willing to sell themselves into servitude in his household.

“The whole family is willing to sell themselves into servitude in the household,” Cai Shi said, handing over a card. On it was a list of the family’s names, ages, and genders.

Zhao Yigong looked at the card. The newly indentured family consisted of a couple in their thirties and three children. The eldest was thirteen, and the youngest was only five.

The selling price for the whole family was only ten taels. It was so cheap it was almost unbelievable. Not to mention anything else, their thirteen-year-old daughter alone could be sold for at least twenty taels if handed over to a human trafficker. Zhao Yigong was a bit hesitant. What was the background of this family selling themselves?

Cai Shi said that the family were silkworm farmers from Renhe County. They originally had a few acres of mulberry fields, but last year, there was a shortage of mulberry leaves during the silkworm rearing season. They took out a high-interest loan, and with the interest rolling over, all their land and house were taken by the creditor. Now they were at their wit’s end and willing to sell themselves into servitude. They only requested that the contract specify two conditions: “the family cannot be separated” and “if the master moves far away from Hangzhou, they are allowed to buy back their freedom.”

No wonder they only asked for ten taels of silver, Zhao Yigong thought. So there was a catch. He had long heard that the people of Zhejiang were shrewd and capable in business, and it seemed this was a long-standing tradition.

“Master, they are originally silkworm farmers. They are experts in raising silkworms, growing mulberry trees, and reeling silk. If the master buys a few acres of mulberry fields and lets them manage it, you won’t have to worry about not making a hundred or so taels of silver a year…”

Cai Shi was getting excited. He had recently noticed that the master was paying a lot of attention to matters related to silk fabrics and raw silk, and he thought he must be interested, so he added these words.

Zhao Yigong nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Keep them.”

“Should I bring them in to kowtow to the master?”

“Of course. Bring them in.”

A moment later, Cai Shi brought the people over. The whole family crowded at the foot of the steps and kowtowed to Zhao Yigong. Zhao Yigong looked at them. Although they were country folk who worked the fields, they looked neat and tidy. Especially the wife, who was in her late twenties, was petite and delicate, with delicate features, the very picture of a woman from the Jiangnan water towns. The eldest daughter had not yet developed, but she was also very pretty. And both mother and daughter had natural feet—Zhao Yigong was very satisfied.

“First, give them a room in the servants’ quarters,” Zhao Yigong instructed Cai Shi. “Do it according to the rules. Give them the necessary clothes and food according to the rules, without any shortage.”

“Yes, I understand,” Cai Shi said with a bow. Then he shouted, “Why aren’t you thanking the master yet?”

The few of them quickly knelt down and kowtowed again. Zhao Yigong asked, “Are you silkworm farmers?”

“Yes, we used to make a living by growing mulberry trees and raising silkworms…” the man quickly said.

“So you are very skilled in raising silkworms?”

“We used to make a living from this,” the man said. “I grew mulberry trees, and my wife and daughter raised silkworms and reeled silk. We sold the reeled silk to silk merchants to make a living.”

“Hmm, then tell me, what is the silkworm business like in this area? Tell me in detail.”

“Yes, Master!” The man, having just joined the household, was originally apprehensive. Now, hearing that the master wanted him to talk about growing mulberry trees and raising silkworms, he thought that the master might have a use for him. He immediately perked up and began to speak at length.

He spoke in a thick Hangzhou dialect. As a country person who had little contact with others, his speech was not well-organized, and he tended to ramble. Fortunately, Cai Shi was there to translate and explain, which allowed Zhao Yigong to get a general idea.

To raise silkworms, one first needed mulberry leaves. Therefore, any family that raised silkworms had to have at least a few acres of land to grow mulberry trees and harvest the leaves. If they had little land or not enough mulberry leaves, they had to pre-lease or buy from others. Thus, a “leaf market” for trading mulberry leaves had long existed. The former involved paying a deposit in advance and harvesting at the appointed time; the latter was based on the market price. After the third molt, the silkworms consumed a huge amount of leaves. If a farmer had little land and the price of mulberry leaves was high, they would have to buy them at a high price, often resorting to high-interest loans.

However, the income from raising silkworms was very high. If the price of dry cocoons and raw silk was decent that year, after paying off the principal and interest, the remaining income would not only be enough to pay taxes but also to cover the family’s expenses for the whole year. In terms of income, it was much better than growing rice or cotton. But if the cocoon market was bad that year, they would be reduced to selling their land, house, and even their children to pay off their debts.