Chapter Forty-Eight: The Journey Home

In the first year of Jian'an, the elders of Huangmen Pavilion began the new year with a banquet and ended it with another. Of course, at that moment, they had no inkling of how wretched life was for the distant Emperor Liu Xie in Anyi, Hedong, who, caught between various warlords of Guanzhong, spent the new year in utter misery.

In truth, it was not yet technically the first year of Jian'an, but rather the third year of Xingping. The era would not change to Jian'an until September, when Cao Cao welcomed Liu Xie to Xuchang. Yet, by the reckoning of later generations, this was indeed the year 196 AD—a turning point when the fate of the realm gradually took shape.

From this year on, the tides of history began to shift. Zhang Ji was the first to falter, losing the struggle against Li Jue, Guo Si, and the other Guanzhong warlords, fleeing in disgrace to Nanyang, where he ultimately met his end and his forces passed to his nephew Zhang Xiu.

Next, Cao Cao crushed the Yellow Turbans of Runan and drove out Yuan Shu’s troops, expanding his influence into Yingchuan and Runan, steadily extending his reach from Yanzhou into Yuzhou.

Liu Bei, in the meantime, waged war on two fronts in Xuzhou—against Yuan Shu on one side and Lü Bu on the other. Exhausted and battered, he eventually fled to Xuchang at the end of the year to seek refuge with the emperor.

Sun Ce advanced with unstoppable momentum toward Kuaiji, expelling its governor Wang Lang and thus laying claim to Jiangdong.

Elsewhere, Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan settled their rivalry by year’s end. Ju Yi, forced to retreat for lack of supplies, was pursued and decisively defeated by Gongsun Zan, who captured all his baggage.

Yet everyone knew Ju Yi’s reputation in the army was formidable, owing to his merits at the Battle of Jieqiao. His lack of supplies was likely due to Yuan Shao’s machinations in the rear. After his defeat, Yuan Shao wasted no time in finding a pretext to execute him—both as a matter of eliminating a threat and because of Ju Yi’s own arrogant pride.

With Ju Yi gone, Yuan Shao gained full control of his forces. Though he still had to guard against Gongsun Zan, the latter was no longer a match for him. At this juncture, Yuan Shao could focus on consolidating his strength and mounting a full-scale campaign against Gongsun Zan.

By the end of the year, Cao Cao welcomed the emperor to Xudu, struck east against Lü Bu and Yuan Shu, and launched attacks southward against Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao, gradually securing his position in Henan and greatly strengthening his power.

Thus, the great currents of the realm set a new watershed this year, forming the basic pattern of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao dominating the north, Liu Biao and Sun Ce the south, Liu Zhang the southwest, and continuing chaos in the northwest.

But all these events lay in the future; for now, on the surface, Nanyang remained tranquil. In this calm, life continued as usual in Huangmen Pavilion. Having established a measure of security, Deng Mao, following Shen Chen’s counsel, expanded into neighboring wastelands, actively reclaiming land and sheltering refugees.

Yet, due to geographical limitations, even though there were hundreds of square kilometers of barren land around Shahe District, where Huangmen Pavilion stood, expansion was slow. The main reason was that Xinye lay in the southern part of the Nanyang Basin, closer to Xiangyang.

Wuguan was to the northwest, Runan to the northeast. Refugees entering Nanyang from those directions would head for the nearest counties—Li State, Shunyang, or Wancheng—rarely making their way to Xinye.

Thus, only a modest number of refugees had been taken in, just over a thousand so far. Still, Deng Zhao and Shen Zhen had their own designs. The Yellow Turban bandit stronghold that had once attacked them lay about fifty li east at Mount Liao. In fact, several Yellow Turban factions thrived there, numbering perhaps over ten thousand. If all these could be absorbed, Huangmen Pavilion’s strength would be greatly increased.

However, the Yellow Turbans were no mere refugees but rebels and murderers, their hands stained with blood. To take them in risked having them seize control from within.

Shen Chen offered a solution: the manor of Huangmen Pavilion must remain in the hands of the family clan, specifically the thousand migrants from Xuzhou. Refugees and Yellow Turban soldiers would be settled in outer villages, their groups broken up and intermingled, each village placed under supervision, and the able-bodied organized into militias to prevent unrest.

By controlling both their families and their fighters, and disrupting their former social bonds and organization, there would be no fear of refugees and Yellow Turbans joining forces to cause trouble.

Deng Zhao and Shen Zhen praised this wisdom, unaware that this had been the method of every warlord in Chinese history for thousands of years—not just warlords and bandits, but even the central government. For instance, in the Han dynasty, border guards were allowed to bring their families along.

In the late Ming era, Li Zicheng’s Great Shun army likewise maintained camps for soldiers’ families. For refugees, kin were their only anchor; to control their families was to control the army itself. This could even be used to inspire the troops, reminding them that their loved ones were just behind them—if they did not fight to the death, their families would perish.

Thus, the separation and control of soldiers and their families became a vital means of command. Yet, this method had its drawbacks: while effective in maintaining discipline, should the family camps be attacked, morale would collapse in an instant. In the battle at Fuchikou, Li Zicheng’s troops broke and fled when the Qing army raided their family camp—soldiers abandoned the fight in desperate search of loved ones, resulting in a rout.

Therefore, this method was suitable only for the initial integration of Yellow Turban and refugee recruits; once the army’s structure was established, it would no longer be necessary.

By mid-January, after some twenty days among the clan, Shen Chen and Deng Hong were preparing to set out again for their studies and appointments in Xiangyang. During this time, Shen Chen also revised his plans for the clan’s future.

His blueprint was clear: the primary focus remained on farming and taking in refugees, but he also intended to develop subsidiary industries. Shen Chen hoped to establish colored porcelain and strong spirits as economic pillars for Huangmen Pavilion. At present, their main income still came from grain sales, with little from other sources.

While food was essential, even buying raw iron from Fuyang required considerable expense, as did daily necessities like oil and salt. For now, they had no choice but to exchange grain for development.

But relying solely on grain would not suffice, as chaos in the world would only make grain more valuable. Diversification was needed. Last year, Zhou Lin introduced several merchants from Xiangyang, who showed interest in Huangmen Pavilion’s porcelain and high-proof spirits, though orders were small and production limited.

This was to be expected—demand for porcelain in the south was high, especially as turmoil in the north drove refugees and aristocrats southward, all in need of household ceramics. Yet, the mainstream market was dominated by white and celadon porcelains from Jiangdong. For colored porcelain to make inroads would require time.

As for the spirits, they met with disappointment. The damp southern climate discouraged drinking strong liquor in spring and summer; it was only in the cold northern winters that sales might thrive. Thus, only a few thousand measures of spirits were sold since last year.

Still, southern winters could be harsh, and drinking spirits to ward off the cold meant those few thousand measures were quickly snapped up. By summer, however, sales would likely drop, with only true aficionados such as Zhang Fei or Chunyu Qiong indulging.

Thus, neither porcelain nor spirits were as popular as Shen Chen had hoped. But this did not surprise him. The notion that any invention from a time traveler—soap or glass—would instantly become a sensation was sheer nonsense. Even the finest products must respect the laws of the market. New goods needed time to gain acceptance and a suitable opportunity to break through.

Therefore, Shen Chen was content to let the merchants experiment with sales and await market feedback before scaling up production. The market’s response over the past months revealed that strong spirits held promise in winter. The cold, damp southern climate, worsened by the Little Ice Age, made spirits a desirable means to dispel both chill and moisture.

Shen Chen planned to brew several more batches this year, storing them for sale in the latter half, confident that Zhou Lin and the major merchants of Xiangyang would eagerly take them up.

As for colored porcelain, with white and celadon dominating the high-end market, Shen Chen aimed for the mid-range—building up sales before challenging the elite segment. For now, he sold to Zhou Lin and his associates at mid-to-low prices, but naturally, those merchants would strive to position colored porcelain as a luxury product to maximize their profits.

After all, that was how they could reap windfall gains: buying colored porcelain at cabbage prices and reselling it at the rates of celadon or white porcelain, multiplying their profits several times over. Thus, Shen Chen needed only to wait for Zhou Lin and the others to open markets in Yizhou and Jingzhou; in time, colored porcelain sales would soar, gradually supplanting celadon and white porcelain in the south.

In a sense, Shen Chen had already set his bait—now he simply needed to wait for the market to ferment. Perhaps in another year or two, Huangmen Pavilion would be running at full steam, creating wealth.

On the nineteenth day of the first month of Jian'an, Deng Hong and Shen Chen prepared to depart. When they returned from Xiangyang, both were noticeably lean; now, after their stay at Huangmen Pavilion, they had each put on a fair bit of weight, while their sixth grandmother had grown thinner.

Their homecoming meant days of feasting on chicken, duck, fish, and meat, with every need attended, the farthest they went being to the ancestral hall for rituals. Their sixth grandmother, once deeply self-conscious about her figure and appearance, rarely stepped outside at the Cai residence, growing ever more overweight and withdrawn.

But at Huangmen Pavilion, she was daily showered with praise and escorted from house to house, becoming the center of every gathering. She relished this newfound attention and spent much of her time out and about, growing leaner with every step. Now, on the eve of departure, she was reluctant to leave.

They had arrived with only a few carriages and thirty servants. Now, they set off with seven or eight more carriages, laden with poultry, fish, all manner of pickled vegetables, and smoked meats—enough to fill seven or eight large carts.

Such a convoy could not travel by river, for the Yu River was in its dry season; though a medium-sized river, in winter only small boats could pass, not the great tower ships required for such cargo.

Thus, they opted to travel south by carriage and cart. The previous year, Deng Hong and Shen Chen had made the journey in poverty—just three people, grandfather and grandson and their driver, traveling in a donkey cart drawn by two miserable beasts.

How times had changed in a year. This time, accompanied by Shen Zhen and fifty clansmen as escorts, with twelve carriages and nearly a hundred people, their procession drew attention wherever it passed.

When they traveled through Huyang County, even the county magistrate took notice. Hearing of such a large party passing through his jurisdiction, he sent men to investigate. Learning it was Deng Hong, he came in person to pay his respects.

Nominally, the magistrate’s rank was higher—six hundred bushels for the middle county, while Deng Hong, as an administrative officer in the prefectural government, received only three hundred. Yet in practice, as a close adviser to Liu Biao, even those with only three hundred bushels held significant standing, second only to the likes of Cai Mao, Kuai Yue, Huang Zu, Zhang Yun, and Liu Pan.

Any magistrate with sense would naturally seek to curry favor. Yet, the main reason for his welcome was not mere flattery. In this era, when officials were quick to abandon their posts at the slightest offense, many were men of principle.

The real reason went back to the severe drought that had struck the entire nation the previous summer, affecting not only Guanzhong and the east, but also Nanyang and Huainan.

The main river of Huyang was the Bi River, known later as the Tang River. Its water level had dropped drastically, making it difficult for the people to draw water, and they had to dig canals to irrigate their fields.

But canal-digging required enormous labor—both upstream and downstream needed water, and the lower the river, the deeper the canal, demanding the mobilization of all the county’s populace.

It was at this critical juncture that Deng Hong, then only a junior secretary, presented the dragon-bone waterwheel to Liu Biao and oversaw its implementation throughout Nanyang. For half a year, Deng Hong traveled across half the region.

At that time, Huyang County was suffering acutely from water shortages. With the waterwheels Deng Hong provided, the magistrate assembled all the county’s craftsmen to manufacture over a hundred wheels for the riverbanks, alleviating the crisis.

Thus, Deng Hong’s fame spread throughout the countryside. When the magistrate heard that this benefactor to the people of Huyang was passing through, he was naturally grateful and eager to welcome him to the county offices.