Chapter 150: Famine Relief Talent

“We must ensure the supply of mulberry leaves. Otherwise, all plans will be ruined,” Li Yo’er repeatedly urged.

Zhao Yigong naturally beat his chest in assurance. His interest in buying “shaoye” was not only because it was a relatively stable and cheap way to purchase mulberry leaves, but also because he had noticed another thing: when the leaf firms sold “shaoye” to the sericulturists, they could also use credit sales. The agreement could be to repay the principal and interest with either silver or raw silk. In this way, the leaf firm actually played the role of a lender.

If he could use this method, his small-loan plan would have a reliable and convenient channel to be implemented.

Putting his thoughts into action, Zhao Yigong immediately instructed Cai Shi to prepare visiting cards and gifts. He was going to visit the local gentry one by one. Among these gentry were those who had expressed interest in joining the China Merchants’ Bureau, as well as the “directors” of the Cihui Hall. To run a charity factory, it was most appropriate to have these two groups of people as his protectors.

Zhao Yigong’s plan to raise capital for the China Merchants’ Bureau had already caused a great stir among the gentry of Jiangnan. Countless people wanted to invest. Even at the “sky-high price” of one thousand taels per share, many people flocked to it, trying to get one or two shares through various connections.

The silver inflation at the end of the Ming Dynasty was not as severe as in the Qing Dynasty. Fifty thousand taels of silver was a huge sum. The property of ordinary wealthy gentry was mostly in land, and it was not easy for them to raise several thousand taels of silver in cash immediately. Therefore, although the subscription was enthusiastic, there were not too many “large households.” This avoided the situation Zhao Yigong had once worried about, where a few large households would buy up half the shares at once.

Zhao Yigong came from Guangdong, and the goods he sold were all “Kun thief” goods. The gentry of Jiangnan were now gradually learning a thing or two about the “Kun thieves” who had once turned Guangdong upside down.

The gentry were different from the common people. Their network of classmates and colleagues was as dense as a spider’s web, and they could grasp a lot of local news through their correspondence. Various news from Guangdong and the Australian goods that began to flow into Jiangnan all linked Zhao Yigong with the “Kun thieves.” It had become a consensus among many gentry in their private discussions that Zhao Yigong must have close ties with the Kun thieves.

With this background, in addition to the sea routes to Japan, he most likely also had channels for the currently popular “Australian goods.” This made many gentry very interested in Zhao Yigong. Some began to look for opportunities to make money with him. As soon as the prospectus for the China Merchants’ Bureau was released, many people were stirred to action.

The Catholic gentry of Jiangnan greatly approved of his actions. This was not only because his strong support for the church had made him the unofficial “pillar of the church” in Hangzhou, but also because the Catholic missionaries in Hangzhou saw the opening of the sea route to Japan as a major opportunity for the church to re-enter Japan. Therefore, the several Catholic gentry families in Hangzhou were the first to respond, quickly raising six thousand taels of silver in shares. Among them, Sun Yuanhua’s family contributed two thousand taels, of which one thousand was privately contributed by Xu Guangqi’s family, not for profit. It was specified that the profits from this share would be entirely at the disposal of the church.

As for the other gentry who were always bold and would scoop money out of a boiling pot, they naturally didn’t care about Zhao Yigong’s relationship with the Kun thieves. After all, silver was silver no matter where it came from. Why not let someone else make money for them?

Even Wu Zhixiang, who had come to Jiangnan to work on his official career, also contributed one thousand taels of silver.

Even within the Fushe, some people contributed silver. Sun Chun quietly went to the Wanbi Bookstore and directly bought one share. Zhao Yigong had originally thought that this would attract investment from heavyweight figures of the Fushe like Zhang Dai and Fang Yizhi, and he had specially distributed the prospectus to them.

Unexpectedly, it was Sun Chun who came! Zhao Yigong knew of this person. He was a key figure in the Fushe, equivalent to a general secretary. But his reputation was not prominent. Even within the Fushe, many members did not have a correct understanding of Sun Chun’s true status, only seeing him as a logistical backbone, something like “serving tea and water.”

It was quite thought-provoking that the Fushe would have such a figure invest. Zhao Yigong felt that the Fushe’s attitude towards him was still one of importance rather than trust. Zhang Pu, this “master of all,” was still observing him.

Zhao Yigong quickly raised fifty thousand taels of silver. There were thirty-six investors in total, including not only gentry from the Southern Zhili region but also some merchants who had done business with Zhao Yigong.

However, this group of shareholders were not members of the board of directors of the China Merchants’ Bureau. Zhao Yigong did not need so many decision-makers. these thirty-six only needed to wait for their dividends. The actual board members were only two: himself and the Shen family. The other shareholders just enjoyed the profits.

This loss of profits was temporarily tolerable. Firstly, the Fanhaijin urgently needed Japan’s resources. Secondly, the activities to be carried out in Hangzhou in the next step also needed the protection of such a network of interests.

With everything in place, Zhao Yigong, along with several gentry from the Hangzhou church, set out to visit the yamen of Hangzhou Prefecture and the two counties of Qiantang and Renhe.

Originally, the directors of the Cihui Hall at the foot of Phoenix Mountain were mainly Catholic gentry from Hangzhou city, and the influence of the charity hall was not great. When Zhao Yigong built a large-scale refugee camp at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, it caused some surprise.

However, Zhao Yigong and his Cihui Hall soon became famous. During the great drought in northern Zhejiang in 1633, the Cihui Hall, with its rapid response and efficient management, quickly launched activities to relieve the refugees, opening soup kitchens, sheltering refugees, and burying the dead on the roadside… Especially the hungry people from the four surrounding counties, who had once been a major problem for the local authorities, almost all received relief from the Cihui Hall and were able to survive. Tens of thousands of refugees were also organized and sent out to open up new land, greatly reducing the possibility of a “popular uprising” in the local area. The stability of social order won him great favor from the local gentry and ordinary citizens.

Therefore, after the drought eased slightly in October, the Cihui Hall was taken seriously. Not only did Zhao Yigong receive praise from the officials of Hangzhou prefecture and two counties, but the gentry who were keen on fame or truly cared about their hometown also flocked to get involved in the Cihui Hall and hold the title of a director.

Thus, the reputation of the Cihui Hall grew. Hangzhou prefecture and county levels both had official charitable institutions, but they were poorly managed and wasteful. Some facilities were aging and existed in name only. Although they claimed to have facilities such as orphanages and nursing homes, most of the buildings were built in the early Ming Dynasty and renovated in the middle period. They were long since unusable, let alone for sheltering refugees. As for the staff, they were mostly the advisors and relatives of the chief and deputy officials of the yamen, or they were controlled by wealthy and powerful local figures. Although the county yamen allocated a certain amount of money and rice each month and had a certain quota for sheltering people, it was all embezzled by the staff and served no purpose at all.

Therefore, although famine relief required the government’s relief funds and grain, the specific implementation was often entrusted to the local gentry. In the increasingly difficult economic situation of the late Ming Dynasty, the bulk of the relief funds and grain had to be raised locally. Therefore, the role of the gentry in disaster relief was further enhanced.

Although Zhao Yigong was an outsider, through his active activities, especially through managing his relationships with the Catholic gentry and the scholars of the Fushe, he had already gained considerable fame in the gentry circle. This time, his relief work was so impressive that he became a “famine relief talent” in everyone’s eyes.

Therefore, at the end of last year, after the drought ended, the Hangzhou prefecture established a post-disaster relief bureau, and Zhao Yigong also became a member of the bureau. Because the Cihui Hall had done an outstanding job in sheltering and relieving refugees, the post-disaster relief bureau outsourced all the refugee sheltering and relief work to the Cihui Hall. In a way, he was a member who was at a great loss. This work was both expensive in terms of money and grain, and mentally exhausting. A single misstep could easily trigger a popular uprising. The money and rice raised by the post-disaster relief bureau and the government’s allocation were just a drop in the bucket.

In the end, the Cihui Hall was still managed in an orderly manner. After entering the cold winter, it even managed to have no large groups of refugees gathering on the roads, and the number of dead bodies collected from the roadside each day was less than half of the usual. This was a famine year after a disaster. In the past, at least a hundred bodies would have been taken from the city to the public cemetery for burial every morning.

No one knew how much Zhao Yigong had invested in the Cihui Hall, but everyone knew that the current situation could not have been achieved with just the small government allocation and the money and rice raised from the large households and common people. Not to mention being able to settle the refugees stably, free from cold, hunger, and disease—this not only required money, but also the ability to get things done.

Such ability and financial resources could not but make the local gentry look at him with new eyes. In addition, everyone vaguely knew that he had the backing of Minister Xu, and that he had dealings with Zhang Pu of Taicang. They knew that this person was by no means an ordinary Guangdong scholar. Therefore, his status in the post-disaster relief bureau also became increasingly important. The officials in the prefecture and two counties also had to be polite to him when they saw him.

The matter he was going to handle today was also a public affair of the post-disaster relief bureau. Zhao Yigong felt that as long as he handled it properly, it would not be difficult to gain the support of the government.

Since the beginning of spring this year, Hangzhou had enjoyed favorable weather, and all places were gradually recovering, so the affairs of the post-disaster relief bureau had also gradually become less. However, the disaster relief work was far from over.

After a major disaster, the victims had often sold off all their means of production and livelihood to survive and were now empty-handed. They had no seeds and no cattle. It was difficult for them to quickly start self-sufficient production. Moreover, it was already late March, and the “lean season” of May and June was just around the corner. If they could not help the victims to start self-sufficient production in time, it would inevitably lead to another large-scale outflow of victims, and the relief work of the previous year would be in vain.

Today, Zhao Yigong was going to the post-disaster relief bureau to discuss this matter. A few days ago, the prefect of Hangzhou had already summoned the members of the bureau and asked them to continue to “think of a way and come up with a plan.”