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Chapter 178: Currency Circulation
It’s no wonder Mi Tang would have such an idea.
The Qiang people can morph into dozens, even hundreds of subtypes, like Zhong Qiang, Canlang Qiang, and Shaodang Qiang, because of an ancient rule from hundreds of years ago—
When a qualified leader arises among the Qiang, known as “noble” or “hao gui,” they follow the rule of “offspring separating, each becoming distinct” and create an independent lineage bearing the leader’s name.
Take the Zero Qiang, for example, which branched into Dianling Qiang, Xianling Qiang, and Lingchang Qiang.
All these names come from the Qiang leaders.
In other words, despite their frequent internal skirmishes and plundering each other, if you dig deep enough, these Qiang might have once been one family, with only variations in lifestyle and their attitude towards the Han Dynasty.
Now that Yao Chang has shown them a relatively friendly attitude, compared to the Han people, she…
She can definitely consider herself one of them.
Of course, Mi Tang still stepped cautiously into the Huan Zhong River Valley.
Rumor has it that the governor of Bingzhou set the Qiang ablaze, burying them under the soil of the An Ding Huo Shizhai for fertilizer. In the winter, when transportation is tough, luring the Qiang to him and taking them down all at once isn’t out of the question… right?
Thinking this way, when Mi Tang and her companions were led into a makeshift hut, and she watched as a white fungus soup was served to them, her nearly frozen fingers twitched slightly but she still took it.
She gulped down the warming soup, finally feeling her breath wasn’t just cold air.
Once her hands and feet started to warm up, she got up to take a look around.
This temporary camp wasn’t as shabby as she imagined.
Rather than a rickety place to escape the wind, it felt more like a military camp.
This place was built against the mountain, with a circle of high earth walls piled up around it, leaving only openings for entry and exit. Because the outer walls were stacked higher, they blocked the piercing winter winds.
Outside the earthen walls, there was a layer of accumulated snow, forming sloping surfaces, making Mi Tang completely unaware of anything strange when she was first brought in.
In this setup, even as the number of Qiang people grew, trying to organize a team to launch an attack seems like a tough job.
It felt like they were being kept in an earth cage in a rather mild manner.
But just as she felt a slight sense of crisis from the environment and the distant watchtower with its vague sentry, she saw a Qiang person pushing a cart and giving her a friendly smile.
“…” Mi Tang shifted her gaze from the distant earth wall and tried to convince herself that if it weren’t for blocking the wind, the tents here made of wood and covered with hemp wouldn’t have been enough to keep out the cold anyway.
This was, after all, understandable.
Her gaze then shifted closer.
If it looked more like a military camp, it was also due to the ditches and channels on the ground, dividing the entire camp into several sections.
This could be seen as a way to create more resistance against any attempts at unification while also allowing the snow to be cleared off the roads as they piled up.
Besides, as they arrived at Huan Zhong, they had also brought their livestock, all confined in a central area, which happened to be divided by these ditches.
Thinking of this, Mi Tang instinctively touched the wooden tag on her wrist.
This was something handed out when they entered the area.
Though it resembled a “marker” for burial goods, in fact, it was a storage tag.
On the front was written that her sheep and cattle were stored in which pen, with the quantity of each noted, and the back sported the image of a sheep, the totem of most Qiang tribes.
During the storage process, Mi Tang had paid attention to how orderly the registration and retrieval process seemed, with presumably no one’s belongings going missing. Otherwise, judging by the Qiang’s tempers, they’d have raised a ruckus long ago.
With this in mind, she felt a bit calmer.
Mi Tang didn’t know that this wooden tag was referred to as “humanistic care” when Qiao Yan was giving orders.
At this moment, another thought crossed her mind—
Compared to what she used to feed her own cattle and sheep, the livestock feed she saw while storing was markedly better.
She wondered what purpose Governor of Bingzhou had in putting this all together.
But when she made a round of the camp and returned to the earlier tent, she realized that it wasn’t just the livestock that looked better; even their dinner was of a superior quality than what they usually had.
This was a cognitive gap caused by the drastically different living standards.
Of course, this meal wasn’t free.
The currency trading order in the area of Liangzhou was practically exclusive to noble families. Under the constant Qiang unrest and military troubles, the five-zhu coins were easily lost in flight and depreciated rapidly, making barter more common among the common folks.
The Qiang people coming to Huan Zhong River Valley for winter wouldn’t carry much five-zhu coins with them.
Fortunately, they had an alternative choice: they could use the furs, fabric, and livestock they brought along to offset with the newly defined prices to exchange for accommodations and meals in five-zhu coins.
This price was roughly analogous to that in inter-market transactions, but when their dinner was served, Mi Tang and her companions thought—
This meal was definitely worth more than they paid!
Although the bread was a bit hard, it was filled with cheese and pickles.
Even though the vegetable soup was made with dehydrated vegetables, it was still hot soup.
Mi Tang carefully nibbled on the last slice of meat jerky, finding it generously sprinkled with sesame, leaving a flavorful taste compared to the meat they usually consumed.
After all, raising sheep and eating mutton are two different matters.
Most of the time, they wouldn’t dare slaughter the sheep they keep.
Thus, this hearty meal, full of meat, was the most satisfying one she had from the beginning to the end of the year.
As the last piece of meat jerky went down, the worry that had weighed heavily on her heart finally eased a bit.
Given such treatment, they shouldn’t be stuck in the earthen walls to become future fertilizer.
Right after that, she heard a surprising piece of news.
“You say this is the military ration of the Bingzhou governor?” Mi Tang asked in surprise to the Qiang person distributing food.
This person came from Shaodang Qiang and had pledged loyalty to Qiao Yan back in April, having been with her for seven or eight months.
By now, he was used to these things, hence took up the duty of guiding them.
“Yes, this is military rations, which is why we can provide a large supply,” he replied. “Once you decide where to go next, the rations will be different. Each location has its own characteristics, provided you choose to stay here.”
Should they stay here?
Mi Tang weighed all she had seen.
Now that Qiao Yan occupied Bingzhou, she didn’t seem as terrifying as they imagined; at least, compared to the murderous climate on the plateau, the Liangzhou she governed felt much safer.
This contrast was exactly what Qiao Yan wanted.
The little ice age and the natural environment of Liangzhou granted her this opportunity.
In summer, when the Qiang people could still survive, she should showcase more “might.” By winter, with nature delivering a heavy blow to those nomadic tribes, she needed to exhibit “grace.”
Like now, as a somewhat astute member of the Qiang, Mi Tang felt that the treats they received seemed to draw them in while she couldn’t help but perk up her ears to listen to the Shaodang Qiang, who was acting as both distributor and guide, talk about the positions they could choose.
“Since it’s still winter and agriculture and animal husbandry are at a standstill, I won’t mention that. The large fields in Jincheng, Wuwei, and Gaoping won’t easily accept new people. You’ll need to make contributions from December to January to meet the standard before new members are accepted in February.”
Mi Tang didn’t have a clear grasp of this contribution value but could roughly guess it meant they would be selected based on merit.
The guide continued, “First is the implements workshop; it’s responsible for making the farming tools and livestock fences needed for next year, amongst other items.”
Unable to resist, she asked out of curiosity, “Why mention the cart wheels separately?”
The guide explained, “I think you saw it on the way here; Liangzhou currently needs many unicycles for transportation. It’s not just to pass through the Sun and Moon Mountain Pass towards the salt ponds in the west, but also for crossing Wuqiao Ridge. This type of vehicle is the easiest to drive, but the wheels are prone to damage and need to be replaced regularly.”
“Moreover, it mentioned in the pig-raising manual distributed by the lord that when you place new pigs in a site, the fast-eating larger pigs often eat all the food, so you can use the replaced wheels to create a space for the smaller pigs to slip through.”
New wheels for transportation and old ones for dividing pig pens—it turns out there’s a necessity in separating them for production.
Mi Tang pondered the implication of the guide’s words and couldn’t help but chuckle.
Her prior assumption about Qiao Yan’s image probably portrayed her as a valiant general, with armor stained in Qiang blood.
Yet now, when she closed her eyes and thought of it, she imagined this general putting down her spear to hand her a pig-raising manual.
Something felt off, but Mi Tang couldn’t pinpoint it.
She was entirely distracted by what the guide continued to say, her mind temporarily sidestepping the odd feeling.
“The place for making farming tools is slightly special. They need to check whether your lineage has participated in any military actions against the Han in the last ten years. After all, interacting with iron tools requires some strict scrutiny.”
Mi Tang nodded.
When the Qiang first rebelled against the Han, they could even replace spears with bamboo and wooden boards for shields; under such crude armaments, they managed to cut off the Longdao. If they truly let a large number of people wield hoes and iron tools, they’d turn into an undeniable force.
Fortunately, the Canlang Qiang that came to Huan Zhong this time mainly dealt with autumn winds in Longxi County during the harsh winter.
Yet with Ma Teng and his son taking over Longxi County and Ma Chao forcing the Canlang Qiang to flee, they hadn’t even participated in Han Sui’s recruitment of Qiang actions.
This qualification check was no issue for Mi Tang.
What surprised her was that Qiao Yan seemed to be paying more caution to the agricultural tools than worrying about a Qiang-led rebellion.
Wasn’t she afraid someone would abscond with the farming implements?
But if Qiao Yan could hear this question, she would definitely respond that in the barren lands of Liangzhou, the only places that truly achieve high yields are those where water irrigation projects have been dug up already in autumn, and farm processes were strictly managed.
Several hundred years ago, the Wu Yi Jian achieved commendation among the Qiang by teaching them farming methods, and they became the chosen…
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“The chief.”
With such a legacy already in place, it’s only natural that the Qiang people, willing to accept the “rules of the game,” wouldn’t think about leaving with their tools. Instead, they should huddle around their new “leader” to form a larger tribal community.
Before anyone could make a run for farming tools, Qiao Yan confidently made it clear to them—
“Staying here is where the real benefits are!”
Honestly, compared to these Qiang people, the real outsider for her was Liu Yu, who was still hanging around.
The winter snowstorm had blocked Liu Yu’s path back to Youzhou.
Or maybe he just wanted to see how Qiao Yan planned to use Lu Zhi and Xun Shuang’s students to teach the Qiang people how to speak Han dialect, which is why he hung around.
But Qiao Yan didn’t feel the need to keep an eye on him.
Liu Yu had a moral compass that was way too high.
Not a good thing for him or for Youzhou, really.
Once the world changes, the stability of life in Youzhou, the steady grain prices, and the good relations with the Wuhuan could quickly turn against them.
But for Qiao Yan, this was obviously not a bad situation, as it meant she was a good luck charm, on par with Cui Lie.
Liu Yu knew full well that according to geographical divisions, he and Qiao Yan were actually at odds.
While he could advise Qiao Yan against advancing under the guise of caring for people and the chaos at the Han’s borders, he couldn’t exactly take her methods of governing Liangzhou and Bingzhou back to the eastern court while being there himself.
Whether he genuinely thought this or just wanted to maintain that particular image for show, under the constraints of that moral guideline, even if Qiao Yan easily took a step back and handed over the military management of Huo Shizhai to Huangfu Song and Liu Yu, all Liu Yu could do was restrain the behaviors of the Qiang people and oversee grain production — he never laid a hand on the farming tools.
This “sensitive to the situation” attitude of Liu Yu was bound to get him in trouble eventually, but clearly, Qiao Yan had no time to focus on that.
All she wanted was for her projects in Liangzhou to proceed smoothly and for it to serve as an important haven for the Qiang people during winter.
Within this “city” of refuge in the river valley, the welcoming man continued speaking in front of the Qiang people.
The second task was to set up a textile workshop, and currently, all they needed to produce was oil cloth, so there weren’t many hands being recruited.
He didn’t explain why they needed to make this item, but even if the Qiang people in front of him asked, he wouldn’t have an answer.
This was a direct order from Qiao Yan.
To make oil cloth, they could use oil trees down south, which was the most suitable material.
Unfortunately, in the drier environments of Liangzhou and Bingzhou, oil trees couldn’t grow properly.
Luckily, there was another crop cultivated in these two regions that produced oil, which also fit the characteristics of a dry oil — sesame oil.
This gave Qiao Yan the means to produce oiled paper and oil cloth during winter.
The third task was the construction workshop, which would require relatively more labor.
He pointed outside at the tents still covered in snow and said, “You should have noticed that some areas need snow cleared, the river channel and water ditches need to be reopened once the snow stops, and there’s also the transport teams moving between the river valley and the western salt ponds, along with another team managing the routes between Wuwei Commandery and the northwestern salt ponds.”
“But don’t think it’s all hard work; as long as the wear on the tools is within limits and the salt delivery meets the requirements, you can take it easy this winter.”
For the Qiang people, with proper winter gear, traversing the snowy plains seemed like a natural talent.
Mi Tang glanced around and noticed quite a few people seemed interested in this option.
After all, they had seen the transport team led by Yao Chang on the road; everything from their clothing to their weapons looked very respectable.
The welcoming man didn’t comment on their inclination but continued, “The fourth task is the reception office, and you probably guessed that I’m part of it. But we have specific selection criteria; you need to have good appearance and communication skills, know a lot about Liangzhou’s situation, and—”
“You need to speak Han dialect, so you can report back to the military leaders.”
“Han dialect?” Mi Tang’s eyes sparkled.
Watching the welcoming man talk so confidently, she felt quite drawn to this position.
But just that requirement alone would eliminate most people.
Like her.
The welcoming man continued, “Now for the fifth task, a place designated as the foreign language office, specifically set up to teach the Qiang people how to speak Han dialect. Recently, we’ve also included teaching the Xianbei and Xiongnu to speak Han dialect.”
“If they can manage to learn fifty Han words within seven days this winter, they will be allowed to stay here for further training, and regardless of whether they learn anything, they can smoothly join the military community. If they master it, they’ll get assigned important duties.”
This idea of being assigned important duties wasn’t strictly defined, but that was exactly what made it even more tantalizing.
Everything the Qiang people saw since entering the river valley had been so different from their early impressions, it was hard not to have such an intuitive feeling.
The welcoming man flashed them a friendly smile, “You can think it over seriously, but it’s best to decide quickly, since living here requires a fee of five cash, and going to the corresponding work location not only gives you a proper place to stay but also a salary.”
Having land and cash…
It was starting to sound like a dream come true for the Qiang people.
Listening to the wind howling outside as night fell, Mi Tang turned over in contemplation of her options.
With the foreign language office as an option, anyone with a bit of foresight would know to give it a shot.
But language wasn’t something you could just pick up quickly.
She often heard people say some of it required a certain talent.
Did she have that talent?
Just as she thought this, she caught sight of a pair of eyes brightened by the faint light coming through the tent’s seams.
Even though she knew it was her clinical partner pondering the same question, or maybe it was just the change of environment that kept her awake, it still startled Mi Tang.
But with quite a few Qiang people settled in the tent, she could only whisper, “Why are you still awake?”
The girl she asked was round-faced and quite young, looking to be in her twenties. She leaned a bit closer to Mi Tang and replied softly, “Before that reception office person left, I asked him a couple more questions. You know what? He really wasn’t exaggerating about the different food at each working location.”
“The workshop shares resources with the agricultural office, so they have all the dried fruits and staples they need. The textile workshop, since they work with sesame, has a lot of oil in their meals. The construction office does physical work. Forget today’s tough jerky; even roasted or braised meat is pretty common there. The reception office has tea and wine to show respect. As for the foreign language office, they say they share food and clothing with the students of the great scholars.”
She sighed a little, marveling, “I’m starting to think that the Governor of Bingzhou is no average Han.”
“…” Mi Tang wanted to say that this thought should have occurred to them much earlier, back when they first saw the river and valley scenes, not just when they learned what food these places had!
But seeing the hopeful look in her partner’s eyes, Mi Tang instinctively asked, “So which one do you want to go to—”
“No, wait,” she quickly corrected herself, “What I meant was, which place are you considering?”
On this howling windy night, these freshly arrived Qiang people were facing a crucial decision.
Should they stay? Where should they go?
Ideally, they’d provide a definite answer by tomorrow.
This undoubtedly kept them tossing and turning.
Meanwhile, Qiao Yan hadn’t fallen asleep yet.
At this moment, she wasn’t in Wuwei but in the study of the Jincheng administrative office.
The entry of the Qiang people had put considerable pressure on Jincheng. Even though Cheng Yu was already busy managing Bingzhou’s affairs and had gained quite a bit of experience, he was inevitably busy until late, trying to prevent any mistakes.
By comparison, Qiao Yan could consider herself less occupied, so she conveniently ran over.
Cheng Yu felt no pressure from Qiao Yan’s sudden inspection.
Understanding Qiao Yan, it was clear she had something to discuss.
Sure enough, shortly after entering, Qiao Yan asked, “Since the Qiang people entered, how many new cattle and sheep have been added to Jincheng?”
Cheng Yu answered without hesitation, “Over sixty thousand heads.”
Over sixty thousand heads of cattle and sheep doesn’t mean over sixty thousand Qiang people had joined.
Rather, in the harsh winter, many livestock often perished due to poor care.
For some Qiang people who sought refuge in the river valley, it was better for the state to take care of them than to keep them and bear the loss themselves.
After all, the state would offer a reasonable purchase price.
Sixty thousand heads?
Qiao Yan twirled a five-cash coin in her hand, looking through the hole at the candle flame and pondering this number.
This was no small figure.
Even the Xianbei, who were thoroughly impressed, contributed just twenty thousand heads each year.
However, this number was likely to decrease in the future, and Qiao Yan would intentionally limit this rapid growth.
Living cattle and sheep were both a resource and a considerable burden.
So her reason for being here was to address this issue.
After a moment’s reflection, she said, “With the new year approaching, what does Mr. Zhongde think about slaughtering ten thousand sheep from this group, shipping them to various counties in Bingzhou, and selling them at a slightly lower price than the market for the new year gifts?”
Bingzhou could handle an influx of ten thousand sheep at this season and sell them at just below market price, potentially making a small profit without disrupting prices.
But Qiao Yan’s purpose wasn’t just to make a profit.
Cheng Yu pondered and asked, “What will you do with the five cash earned from selling the sheep?”
Qiao Yan raised her gaze to meet his, replying, “Naturally, it will be used for the expenses of the five work locations in Liangzhou.”
Cheng Yu stroked his beard and laughed, “Then this plan of yours is indeed brilliant!”
While the people of Bingzhou were increasing their cash flow following higher crop yields and purchasing grain, in the aftermath of years of forming consumption habits, they preferred to keep cash in hand.
Unless there’s a bargain to be had.
But in contrast, the newly landed Liangzhou didn’t have much cash in circulation; people had goods to trade instead.
To be precise, they weren’t accustomed to using the five-cash coins; years of turmoil had convinced them that only goods held value.
Now, however, Qiao Yan was trying to reshape the rules and get these people to adapt to the new system she was creating.
The first step was—
To get money flowing!
And shrink those Qiang people’s old habits into another chain binding them!
