Chapter Fifteen: Preparing for a Rainy Day

Opening salt-drying fields outside the city went remarkably smoothly.

Huguang had extensive alkaline wastelands, most of them formed when brine seeped up from underground salt deposits and poisoned the soil. Plants could scarcely grow there, let alone crops, but with a little modification, such land could be put to use.

The difficult part lay in extracting and preserving the brine.

This was especially true of brine that had been drying for several days. If it was not stored properly, a single rainstorm could wipe out all their previous work, forcing them to start over. Before rain arrived, they had to divert the brine into covered reservoirs, then release it again for drying once the skies cleared.

“Any brine that has been drying for five or six days must be protected. Between every two salt beds, there must be a preservation basin to serve as a buffer.”

Zhu Hao was like a professional engineer. Whenever the salt beds outside the city were being built, he personally supervised the work, giving instructions step by step.

…

…

The fourteenth day of the sixth month.

The first batch of salt refined from the bitter brine outside the city was successfully harvested.

The household already had experience drying salt, and with the weather cooperating, the process went quickly.

When Madam Zhu saw the glistening white crystals coating the bottom of the salt pond, she was overjoyed.

“This… was really dried from the brine of those salt pits?”

After tasting it, Concubine Li widened her eyes in disbelief.

Zhu Hao laughed. “Auntie, this is nothing. If we were by the sea, with the ocean supplying us with brine, then we would truly have an inexhaustible source. But we are in inland Huguang… Still, this is all the better. Who would guess that we are producing salt from bitter brine? No one will come looking.”

“Quickly, gather the salt.”

Everyone in the courtyard sprang into action.

Even the youngest, Zhu Ting, helped hold open the hemp sacks, though she had hardly any strength.

Unlike before, they had bought several donkeys. Their main task was to turn the millstones and grind the salt crystals into fine grains, after which the salt was sealed into sacks.

“Mother, once our finances are a little easier, we won’t dry salt in this courtyard anymore. The place is too small, and bringing the brine into the city makes us vulnerable to being stopped and questioned by the constables. After we have delivered a few batches of salt, we’ll rearrange the courtyard completely. That way, no one will discover our secret.”

“By the way, Mother, in a few days we’ll have to deliver salt to Master Su. You must appear in person the first time. Whether it is Master Su, the Zhu family, or those with ulterior motives, all of them will be watching to see how we produce salt. We must guard the secret carefully.”

The family worked until deep into the night before the entire batch had been collected.

Drying salt was simple enough: as long as the weather remained fair, once one batch was gathered, they could begin drying the next as soon as fresh brine arrived.

The process could continue without interruption.

The sixteenth day of the sixth month.

Two more batches of salt were dried outside the city. Unfortunately, one salt bed had not been properly controlled, and water accidentally flooded the freshly dried salt. Its delivery therefore had to be delayed, but the other salt beds yielded their harvest without difficulty.

After sorting and storing the salt, Madam Zhu took Yu San and the others and delivered it to the Han River through the night.

The following morning, Madam Zhu returned from outside the city with her men. Once home, she mysteriously summoned Concubine Li and Zhu Hao, then took three ten-tael silver ingots from the bundle she carried.

“Madam, this is…” Concubine Li was uncertain.

Madam Zhu beamed. “All of it was earned.”

“Oh!” Concubine Li leaped for joy. “We barely spent any of the two hundred taels we borrowed. With this added in… we can repay Master Su.”

The little courtyard suddenly seemed filled with life.

Concubine Li began dreaming aloud again. “If, by the end of the month, we can deliver two or three more batches of salt… we should have another eighty or ninety taels coming in…”

“Mother,” Zhu Hao asked, “we still haven’t sold the government salt in our possession, have we? That should bring us another eighty taels or so, shouldn’t it?”

“Mm.” Madam Zhu smiled and nodded.

Confused, Concubine Li asked, “What salt? Didn’t we hand it all over to Master Su?”

Madam Zhu explained, “Little Hao is talking about the government salt covered by our salt permits. We have twenty permits, enough for eight thousand catties. We bought it at ten copper coins per catty. On the open market, it can fetch sixteen or seventeen.”

Concubine Li clicked her tongue. “We still have that much?”

She had thought that a net profit of thirty taels from a single transaction was already astonishing. She had never imagined that the eight thousand catties of “raw salt” initially provided by Su Xigui had not yet been sold.

“Mother, is there any way to contact merchants traveling south? If we rely on ourselves to sell this entire shipment, who knows how long it will take… At present, we can’t even sell ten catties a day.”

Zhu Hao understood the situation. All sides were suppressing them, and rumors were flying everywhere. Few customers came to their door, so relying on retail sales was hardly dependable.

They had no choice but to resell the government salt in bulk.

Madam Zhu shook her head. “I asked people on the river. They said the Jiang-Gan region and Huguang have been unsettled lately. The native chieftains south of Huguang are stirring up trouble, and bandits are running rampant in the mountains of Jiang-Gan. If we are going to ship out the salt, it would be best to send it north.”

“Mother, if we go north, our salt permits won’t match the destination. We never dealt in salt transport before, so we don’t know much about the market. But now that we intend to enter the salt trade, we must understand current prices. In truth, the more chaotic a place is, the greater the opportunity for traveling merchants. Even if we sell at cost, we won’t lose money.”

Zhu Hao could see that Madam Zhu was avoiding the salt trade.

She had once been no more than a small retailer and peddler. Now she was suddenly being asked to become a “salt magnate” operating across Huguang. How could she adapt immediately?

Whenever a problem arose, Madam Zhu’s first instinct was to avoid it rather than confront it.

“But how can we resell this shipment?” Madam Zhu was still troubled.

Zhu Hao smiled. “The government-salt trade in Anlu is monopolized, but that is not true in the provincial capital. No matter how powerful Provincial Commissioner Huang may be, he cannot seize every profit for himself. There is plenty of room to maneuver. We can send someone to the provincial capital to gather information and contact merchants there about transporting the salt…”

“The provincial capital?”

Madam Zhu lost her nerve again.

Zhu Hao understood. Madam Zhu was unwilling to leave Anlu. As a chaste widow, she had never prepared herself psychologically to become a great merchant. She was content with a modest fortune and felt satisfied so long as she could preserve the estate her husband had left behind.

“Mother need not go herself. We only have to send someone. Why not let Yu San take the goods? He seems quick-witted, and he should be able to handle this sort of matter.”

Zhu Hao offered the suggestion.

…

…

The Zhu family estate.

In recent days, the Dowager Madam Zhu had not involved herself in Madam Zhu’s business affairs.

Zhu Wanjian had hired people to keep constant watch. Although the rice shop continued to open as usual, only a handful of customers actually entered to buy salt or grain. Zhu Wanjian had calculated that under such circumstances, earning forty taels was impossible; even earning four would be difficult.

At that moment, the Dowager Madam Zhu was receiving Hundred-Household Commander Lin of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, who had just returned from the capital and rushed straight back to Anlu.

“…Earlier, a minister cited the precedent of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty raising members of the imperial clan within the palace. He memorialized the Emperor, requesting that a member of the imperial family possessing both virtue and talent be brought into the palace to study. When the Empress Dowager learned of this, she flew into a rage and strictly ordered that no branch of the imperial clan speak publicly of the matter. The Anlu branch may be said to have become the target of everyone’s hostility.

“When the Empress Dowager summoned me for questioning, she specifically mentioned that ever since the Heir of Prince Xing was born, nothing concerning the inner affairs of Prince Xing’s household had ever been reported. She accused Thousand-Household Commander Zhu of dereliction of duty.”

After speaking, Commander Lin handed the Dowager Madam a receipt.

It bore the handwritten signature of Zhu Wanhong, the Zhu family’s eldest son, acknowledging that he had received the silver previously sent by the Zhu family.

But the Dowager Madam understood that even if the silver had now reached the capital, most of it would never fall into her son’s hands. It would be swallowed by the vermin of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, or by those of the Eastern Depot. Zhu Wanhong had not dared refuse to sign the receipt.

“Then, Commander Lin, have you come on some important mission?”

The Dowager Madam sensed that Commander Lin had not come with good intentions.

“I wish to see Thousand-Household Commander Zhu and speak with him privately.”

He clearly did not want to reveal too many secrets to the Dowager Madam. Instead, he wished to conspire with Zhu Mingshan, who had been ordered to relocate his household to Anlu and monitor Prince Xing’s residence from nearby.

The Dowager Madam shook her head. “My husband is bedridden and unable to rise. Much of the time he cannot even speak, and he requires someone constantly at his side. I fear he would be unable to receive you properly.”

Ever since Zhu Mingshan had fallen from his horse the previous year and injured the back of his head and his spine, he had been barely clinging to life. At times his mind was perfectly clear, yet he had no means of expressing himself. The Zhu family’s standing in Anlu depended entirely on Zhu Mingshan’s official position and his favorable relationship with the imperial family.

The Dowager Madam knew very well that the Zhu family could never return to the capital. Their best hope was to preserve the status quo. Their worst fate would come if the Zhengde Emperor died without an heir and the Heir of Prince Xing ascended the throne. At that point, the Zhu family would be doomed beyond hope.

“Is that so… Then, Dowager Madam, there is a confidential matter I may as well tell you.”

Commander Lin paused, his expression turning grave.

“The Embroidered Uniform Guard once planted six spies inside Prince Xing’s residence. Unfortunately, they were discovered. Four were expelled, while the other two have vanished without a trace. Most likely, they were silenced.”

The Dowager Madam was stunned. “The residence of Prince Xing would actually dare lay hands on people from the imperial court?”

“There is no evidence. No living person, no corpse. Before this, I personally tried recruiting members of the prince’s household, hoping someone might pass information to the outside. Yet even the tutors hired by the prince’s residence remained tight-lipped about anything concerning its inner affairs.

“I once secretly interrogated one of the tutors who taught the Heir of Prince Xing. I learned a few things about how Prince Xing educated his heir… but afterward, the man moved away with his entire family. To this day, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has been unable to discover his whereabouts.”

Commander Lin’s face showed considerable helplessness as he spoke.

“Could the residence of Prince Xing be a den of dragons and tigers?” the Dowager Madam asked.

Commander Lin gave a bitter smile and shook his head. “Like your family, we were ordered to watch the residence of Prince Xing. In all these years, we have achieved nothing. I fear the court will hold me accountable as well, leaving me no further opportunity to return to Anlu. Let me offer you one word of advice… If the Zhu family can uncover more information from within Prince Xing’s residence—especially evidence of correspondence and collusion between Prince Xing and civil or military officials of the court—”

The Dowager Madam’s expression darkened, and she fell silent.

“That is all I have to say. I shall take my leave.”

Commander Lin clasped his hands and departed.

The Dowager Madam hurriedly rose and called after him, “How are we to investigate?”

“There is one matter outsiders do not know, but the Zhu family certainly does,” Commander Lin replied. “The eldest son of Prince Xing was born and died five days later. Your family must have played a part in that, did it not?”

The Dowager Madam’s expression turned cold and severe.

The implication was unmistakable: Zhu Houxi, the eldest son of Prince Xing Zhu Youyuan, had not died naturally. He had been murdered.

“That is why, ever since Prince Xing’s second son was born, the household has remained extremely cautious. They raise several children of similar ages at the same time, so outsiders cannot distinguish which one is truly the Heir of Prince Xing. Prince Xing has only one son. Everything must begin with that child. If anything were to happen to him… then everyone would be pleased, and all could enjoy peace.”