Chapter Fifty-Eight: From Spring Dew to Autumn Breeze

Master Huang slipped away, leaving not a single attachment behind, as decisively as one could imagine. He even abandoned the residence he had acquired in the county town the year before, as if he had never existed in Dangyang County at all.

News of Master Huang’s disappearance arrived alongside another bombshell: not a single bandit remained in the entire Duanya Mountain! The stone wall guarding the main road up the mountain was still manned, but the sentries claimed to be servants of the Dangyang Marquis’s household. None of the old hands, those who had dealt with the Duanya bandits for years, recognized these new faces.

As for the fate of the original bandits, Steward Song San of the Dangyang estate explained that all had been chased away by their own household guards. Hundreds of bandits, if truly dispersed, would be enough to throw the nearby gangs and villages into chaos for a month or more!

Such a number of ferocious bandits would never simply vanish. Rumors began to circulate throughout Dangyang County that not one was spared—they were all slaughtered by the Marquis’s household guards. For a time, many in Dangyang County spent sleepless nights, fearing that they, too, might someday be targeted by the Marquis’s men.

Constable Yuan Mei, who had already visited the Dangyang estate, prepared another lavish gift that very evening and delivered it personally to Steward Song San. Magistrate Liu Rui, as if transformed overnight, issued a series of unyielding orders, reshuffling nearly every key position within the county office!

Now people realized that the greatest beneficiary of the bandits’ elimination was none other than Magistrate Liu, who had played deaf and mute for nearly a year since his appointment. Truly, scholars should never be underestimated!

Steward Song San welcomed the upheaval in the county town; after all, his ambitions extended far beyond merely establishing himself in little Dangyang County. As long as Magistrate Liu caused him no trouble, all would be well. So far, Magistrate Liu seemed a clever man, and Song San believed they would work together happily in the future.

Zhao Hengyi, however, paid little heed to the turmoil in the county, and the news from Steward Song San was merely a passing concern. To Zhao Hengyi, the greatest prize from the assault on Duanya Mountain was the acquisition of a relatively independent, secret production base.

On Duanya Mountain, even when weaving machines became plentiful, Zhao Hengyi had no intention of employing more female workers; instead, he planned to limit the workshop’s growth. Not because he doubted the abilities of those unfortunate women, but because he intended to move crucial perfume production processes to that location.

Elm Bay was excellent, yet Zhao Hengyi’s foundation there remained precarious. He was far from winning the villagers’ hearts, and preventing outsiders from gathering intelligence was nearly impossible. Now, Elm Bay was a vast construction site, with houses rising everywhere, foundations being laid, and more than half the area dug for irrigation channels.

In future, the textile workshop would become Elm Bay’s largest enterprise, so it was wise to prepare early: fire prevention, separating workshops and warehouses with water channels—these were the most prudent measures.

Nearly all the able-bodied men from surrounding villages had gathered in Elm Bay for work—a spectacle never before witnessed. As their employer, Zhao Hengyi inevitably overlooked some details; just days ago, he added a porcelain kiln beside the caves.

Building a porcelain kiln required considerable skill and posed significant challenges, but Steward Song San intervened and found experienced craftsmen. Their first firing produced a good number of small porcelain bottles: snuff bottles, simple white with blue characters.

On the front, they bore the name “Jiuhua Jade Dew,” with a small circle in the lower right corner marked with plum, orchid, bamboo, or chrysanthemum to distinguish varieties. The back featured two lines of verse: “Who pities fragrance’s endurance? Spring dew to autumn wind.” The craftsmanship was simple, yet it exuded a subtle elegance—these bottles could fetch a good price even with mere kitchen scraps inside.

This was Zhao Hengyi’s packaging and naming for his perfumes. In recent days, he concocted four fragrances, and Miaoxiaoyu and her sisters were enveloped in scent all day, with Sun Xiuying basking in their glory, the envy of every woman in the village.

While perfume production, managed by Miaoxiaoyu, flourished, Zhao Hengyi’s main concern lay with the twenty-five veteran soldiers from the Xuan Battalion who had recently joined him.

The newly wealthy veterans kept quiet, returning home to bring their families to Elm Bay. The brand-new brick row houses brought tears to their wives’ eyes—one woman said she never imagined, even in her dreams, that she’d live in a brick house with her husband!

After settling their families, the veterans were dispatched by Zhao Hengyi to nearby villages to search for former comrades. According to the rules of Great Yan, if a household couldn’t pay taxes, its men would be conscripted into border forces—but which border unit one was sent to was determined by specific regulations.

In Dangyang County and the surrounding Jiangling Prefecture, most conscripts were sent to the Yonggu City defensive line, making it easier for veterans to network and persuade others.

Zhao Hengyi made it clear he didn’t want just anyone—the guard squad’s expansion would be selective, favoring quality over quantity. Anyone wishing to join Elm Bay had to be honest and upright, their character beyond reproach.

The veterans wholeheartedly supported this. After all, they would be fighting side by side; no one wanted a traitor stabbing them in the back.

Regarding the size of the guard squad, Zhao Hengyi welcomed as many capable men as possible—he would accept every suitable recruit!

News from the borders kept coming. Aside from the border troops at Yonggu City driving off the barbarians, Great Yan’s forces on other fronts were collapsing.

Barbarian cavalry, affected by drought, roamed and plundered Great Yan’s territory unchecked. Countless villages were destroyed, innumerable civilians taken as spoils of war and shipped back to barbarian lands as slaves.

Though Jiangling Prefecture lay in the heart of Great Yan, and seemed scarcely affected for now, Zhao Hengyi knew that, when the crisis arrived, it would be far too late to assemble a guard force strong enough to protect all of Elm Bay.

The villagers of Elm Bay, mixed with the veterans, trained daily with a rigor that amazed even the seasoned soldiers of the Xuan Battalion.

Yet none wished to quit—the employer’s generosity was unmatched! After news of the border army’s defeat, grain prices quietly rose in Dangyang County. Yet the employer not only maintained food standards, but improved meals with meat every few days.

Even ordinary guard members received a monthly wage of two hundred coins. Not even the wealthy households in Jiangling Prefecture offered such terms to their guards!

With such a benevolent master, everyone was determined to hold tightly to his patronage!