Chapter 1436 - 1343: Insight

"Then when will it be ready?" the Chief Clerk said, "The court usually drags its feet. If it takes two years to gather what we need, won’t that mean we can’t start for two years? Besides the paper workshop, there’s also the bookshop. You’re fine in Guangzhou, but if you leave your post and the next inspector isn’t competent, what will we do?"

Where can we find another official who can both appease the native people here and have a strong voice at court? Zhao Shen is the emperor’s cousin. He’s well-connected at court, making things easier to handle. The next inspector may not have his abilities or even his status.

In fact, the Chief Clerk and others privately discussed that it would be best for Zhao Shen to settle in Guangzhou for life.

Zhao Shen lowered his eyes in thought, "There’s another way—to spend heavily to lure people from other paper workshops and bookshops."

The Chief Clerk hesitated and said, "That’s a good idea, but Lingnan is always considered Southern Barbarian Land, and those craftsmen might not be willing to relocate here."

Zhao Shen glanced at him and said, "Aren’t there many pretty, capable girls among your Tusis and tribes who want to marry Han people? That’s an opportunity."

Chief Clerk: ... They want to marry Zhao Shen, not craftsmen.

Zhao Shen didn’t say that he would definitely recruit people but shifted topics, "Once the bookshop and paper workshop are running, print more sages’ words and send some to the local people in Jiaozhou."

Let them study the words of the sages as well. After all, they are descendants of Yan and Huang and shouldn’t forget the ancestors’ words because of living in the south for many years.

Zhao Shen opened the channels to Jiaozhi with a batch of good seeds and also established connections with other counties in Jiaozhou through Jiaozhi.

The Tusi and tribes in Jiaozhou knew that Guangzhou had a lot of good stuff from the Central Plains. Initially, they came for good seeds, but after communicating, they found that the farming tools, composting, and sowing methods used by the Han people were better, so their yield that year exceeded theirs.

Descendants of Yan and Huang have a notion about good things: learn it, learn it, master it!

So the envoys stayed to learn, and in learning, they discovered that the people here used an intriguing weaving machine, and among them was a mysterious sewing machine they had never heard of.

Without hand-sewing clothing stitch by stitch, stepping on it causes the thread to quickly intertwine and knot; the speed is so fast that several garments can be sewn in one day, and the stitching is so fine that it doesn’t leak, equivalent to top-tailor craftsmanship.

The envoys were shocked by it.

Wasn’t it said that the Central Plains were always at war?

Wasn’t it said that Han people were being chased all over by various Hu Clans?

Why is it that after only a decade of no contact, so many good things suddenly emerged?

From Jiaozhi to counties in Jiaozhou, then to the independently ruled Ningzhou Qiang and Hu clans, more and more people came to Guangzhou, and Zhao Shen simply established mutual markets in various border areas.

Of course, not a market between nations, but one between various ethnicities.

With this pretext, the court finally sent craftsmen needed for the paper workshop and bookshop, and because Lingnan had many types of wood of good quality, the Observing Things Department also agreed to build two weaving machine workshops in Guangzhou.

Under Zhao Shen’s constant coaxing, Zhao Hu also eagerly sent his manager over to do wood business.

However, if Zhao Hu wanted to do wood business, he had to set up a fabric store in Lingnan, or Zhao Shen would withhold his certificate.

Under Zhao Shen’s management, the native people, who used to govern independently, finally came out of the valleys, willing to communicate with the outside world. They began to eagerly build official roads and send children to schools, and various local products began to appear in trade markets.

For instance, various snake and insect medicinal wines, medicinal herbs, and their own grain varieties.

Just the varieties of rice alone were numerous, with red rice, green rice, rice with a poor taste that could grow in extremely cold places, rice with excellent taste but a long growth cycle, drought-resistant rice that could grow in cracked wild lands, and rice that could grow by water, bearing fruit even when submerged except for the tip—

Regardless of taste or yield, there were all sorts of strange kinds of rice.

In earlier years, Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan repeatedly instructed officials that finding seeds in nature should focus on diversity and distinctive features.

Zhao Shen knew that years ago, Shen Ruhui was farming for Zhao Hanzhang, and Zhao Hanzhang told him to combine a wild rice strain that wouldn’t bear fruit with their rice seeds, eventually cultivating a rice strain that was drought and cold resistant, with no yield reduction and shorter stalks but more grains, suitable for planting in Jizhou’s dry lands.

Since then, Zhao Shen became aware that finding seeds for the Ministry of Agriculture doesn’t hinge on yield or taste—any seed with distinctive features should be sent to the Ministry.

Thus, Zhao Shen spread the word. The native people, being lively, immediately brought seeds they gathered at home, and even from the wild, to the market upon hearing that bizarre seeds could be traded.

Some mountain folks were poor and even brought vegetable seeds and wild vegetable seeds gathered from the wild, saying things like, "Though these wild vegetables are bitter, they cure mouth sores after eating them for two meals, just like medicine."

All of the mountain people’s medicinal herbs were picked from the wild, as most areas south of Lingnan were forested, and the forested resources were rich. The medicinal herbs were never exhaustively gathered, and no one thought to plant them, nor did anyone know how.

They believed that medicinal herbs were granted by heaven, only obtained from nature, and not to be cultivated, but vegetables could be.

They recommended to prospective buyers, "If you have internal heat poison, no need to take medicine, just eat this vegetable, and it will work!"

The buyers showed interest and asked, "How much?"

"No money needed—one packet of vegetable seeds for one packet of your mulberry seeds."

The weaving machines passed down from the Central Plains were efficient, and their tribe acquired two, hearing that silk from the Central Plains was especially valuable. They wanted to plant mulberries and raise silkworms. They had great dyes here that could dye silk more exquisitely.

However, their local silkworms couldn’t match those of the Central Plains, spinning short and less robust silk; they wanted to exchange for Central Plains silkworms. For them to grow well, naturally, they also had to trade for mulberries favored by them.

Some were willing to exchange for money, so Zhao Shen bought quite a few strange seeds with money, meticulously recorded them, and sent them to the Observing Things Department in the Capital City, turning around to write to Zhao Hanzhang and Fu Tinghan, boasting of his contributions.

The mother seed was provided by him, and if good things were cultivated in the future, he should be remembered first.

Zhao Shen finally stopped thinking of using force to resolve issues with minorities. In the month of the Eldest Prince’s birthday, watching the increasingly lively mutual market, he finally understood some of Zhao Hanzhang and his father’s intentions.

When he no longer looked at them condescendingly but squatted to view them equally, he finally knew why they didn’t want to submit to the court. Military subjugation was temporary; when they accumulated enough power, they would inevitably rebel, causing incessant uprisings.

If he could make them sincerely submit to the emperor, to the court, then, when they gained power, they would not rebel but instead become a firm support for the court.

When he viewed them equally, when he became one among them, he understood what they truly sought, wished to be, and then went on to educate them.

Zhao Shen finally laid down his pride and gradually grasped what Zhao Hanzhang was trying to teach him.