Chapter 2034 - Perseverance

"Furthermore, when they spend money building these arches and flower platforms, sponsoring the wedding—where does all this spent money ultimately flow?"

This stumped Song Yingsheng. He had never considered the question.

"Doesn't the money spent still end up in the hands of poor commoners and ordinary folk?" Du Yibin knew that concepts like "stimulating consumption" remained rarely understood in seventeenth-century China. Most people clung to "agriculture as the foundation" thinking and "valuing agriculture while despising commerce." For them, currency's primary function was storing value—silver should be hidden in jars and buried underground.

"Building all these flower platforms and arches first allows Henan District's flower farmers to profit. Constructing platforms and arches also requires numerous decorative craftsmen, carpenters, laborers... Thus money flows into craftsmen's hands. Doesn't everyone benefit from this collective wedding?

"Sir surely knows it's far easier for the rich to make money than the poor. Wealthy merchants shift beads on abacuses, flip through ledgers, and white silver flows in daily. Even rural landlords, with no regular income, simply collect rent when the season arrives, gaining money and grain from their land for nothing. The poor rise before dawn to labor, cannot sleep until after dark, toil endlessly yet earn merely a few copper coins—barely enough to maintain food and clothing. No matter how frugal, they cannot save much. If any trouble arrives, they must borrow to survive. Now the rich spend money for face while craftsmen and flower farmers gain benefits—everyone profits. Why not?"

Song Yingsheng nodded unconsciously.

"If these wealthy men practiced extreme frugality, spending nothing beyond their own sustenance and clothing, hiding everything underground—today these decorative craftsmen, carpenters, laborers, florists, and Henan District flower farmers would all earn nothing. Unable to purchase grain, unable to feed their wives and families..."

"So you're saying wasteful spending is actually beneficial?"

Though Song Yingsheng somewhat accepted his words, deep conviction eluded him. In his view, flowers and decorations couldn't satisfy hunger when starving or warm you when cold. Once demolished, they became useless waste. He particularly couldn't abide such waste.

Du Yibin thought: You're shifting the goalposts! But he could only respond pleasantly: "Spending money and wasteful spending are not equivalent—please note, sir."

In Song Yingsheng's view, they were identical. The Song family in Jiangxi constituted a typical landowner household combining farming with scholarly pursuits. Such families held moderate landholdings with stable income, had degree-holding members or those who had served as officials, yet weren't particularly prominent. Economically, they occupied roughly middle strata. Therefore, family rules and traditions emphasized "frugality," with extremely strict consumption controls. Song Yingsheng, raised in such an environment, naturally couldn't abide the Council of Elders' extravagance.

"...Even wasteful spending sometimes isn't detrimental. Everything has two sides." Du Yibin abandoned observing shoreline scenery, continuing his debate with this old pedant. "I have a small story: A scholar traveling to capital examinations arrived at an inn and produced one tael of silver, wishing to inspect the best room. If satisfied, he'd stay; if not, he'd depart. The scholar went to examine the room. The innkeeper immediately used the silver to pay his debt at the neighboring rice shop. The rice shop owner went straight to the butcher to pay his meat bill. The butcher used the money to pay the pig farmer. The pig farmer immediately settled his bean cake credit. The bean cake merchant rushed to the inn to pay his room debt. Just so, the one tael of silver returned to the innkeeper's hands. At this point, the scholar declared the room unsuitable and departed with his silver. You see, the innkeeper earned not a single coin, yet everyone cleared their debts and everyone benefited. Money circulating continuously, used countless times, creates wealth from thin air, supporting countless common people. If everyone practiced frugality, merely hiding silver at home, burying it underground—what benefit would result? Nothing but a lump of metal!"

This was a small story Ma Yinchu had told about economics, simply and clearly expressing currency's "liquidity." But this concept proved too novel for Song Yingsheng; he found himself somewhat confused. He pondered a long while, attempting to find its secret, but couldn't untangle any thread.

Du Yibin, having finally gained the upper hand, felt rather pleased. He quickly added several more points: "Our Council of Elders holding this collective wedding, having the rich sponsor it—this also redistributes wealth from rich to poor. Everyone's satisfied, society harmonizes—truly everyone's happy..."

"There are so many poor people in the world—can the Council of Elders truly save them all?"

Good, that's an excellent question! Du Yibin thought. According to traditional time-travel novel formulas, this proved the other party's heart was wavering.

"There are millions upon millions of poor people in the world. To claim the Council of Elders can save everyone would be a lie. But since our Council of Elders returned to China, we've been determined to let the realm's poor people live like 'humans,' not remain 'two-legged sheep' generation after generation!" Du Yibin spoke with heroic spirit, feeling quite satisfied with himself.

Yet Song Yingsheng didn't display the expected "excitement" or "bow in submission." He merely lowered his head, sighing softly, seeming not to believe his words. Du Yibin had to continue:

"Take this collective wedding. Though not many people benefit directly, it expresses the Council of Elders' attitude. As long as common people are willing to bid farewell to the old society, live according to the new society's order, and work diligently—regardless of their background, age, or gender—the Council of Elders will look after their welfare: not only ensuring they have food and clothing, but letting them live good lives, have their own families and children, with lineage unbroken..."

He had originally wanted to add: "Those who still cling to the decadent, backward notion that starving to death is a small matter while losing chastity is great, those stubborn suicidal types who don't choose purification, can just hurry up and die." But on second thought, the threatening component proved too strong. Song Yingsheng, who in the old timeline could have died for the Ming dynasty, possessed a very firm heart—such threats would instead provoke his resistance. So he swallowed the words.

Song Yingsheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry, knowing that Du's constant praise of the Council of Elders was merely to make him surrender. He had to speak frankly:

"Chief Du, you once kept me here claiming you needed to govern Enping well. Though it wasn't my wish, I could barely accept it. But now the bandits in various parts of Zhaoqing have been pacified. This student is merely a scholar—can't carry loads on my shoulders or lift with my hands, ignorant of the seasons and crops, knowing neither astronomy nor calendars, unskilled in crafts or commerce. At most, I can write a few eight-legged examination essays. What benefit exists in forcing this student to remain?"

Du Yibin thought: Finally some progress! Who told the textbooks to call your third brother the great Eastern scientist of the seventeenth century, and the Tiangong Kaiwu the encyclopedia of Chinese seventeenth-century crafts?

Though quite a few Elders dismissed Song Yingxing and his writings—after all, from their knowledge perspective, these achievements appeared insignificant—most Elders believed: in medieval China, intellectuals like Song Yingxing who could achieve "unity of knowledge and action" with scientific consciousness proved very rare. Though his knowledge was insignificant to people from the old timeline, such talent possessed great symbolic value and might still harbor considerable untapped potential.

Du Yibin thought, fine then, let's speak frankly. He considered and said:

"First, you served as an official with integrity and ability, contributing to the locality. You're a qualified administrative talent, and our Great Song needs people—naturally we hope talented individuals like you will remain to benefit the people. Second, before long, our Council of Elders will recover Jiangxi—the Song family has prestige and reputation there, which would help us stabilize Jiangxi's situation. Third, there's your third brother Song Yingxing."

The first two points weren't surprising; Song Yingsheng had guessed most of it. But this matter of his third brother—he remained puzzled: why were these Australians so interested in his third brother that they would detain him through extended association, spending such effort to persuade him to surrender?

"We've seen the book your third brother Song Yingxing wrote while teaching at Fenyi County School. Your brother Song Yingxing's talent is truly remarkable! So I very much hope both you brothers will serve our Council of Elders, rather than letting your talents be buried in Ming's hands."

These words made Song Yingsheng feel bewildered. Though he and his third brother had stood out in the Jiangxi provincial examination in the forty-third year of Wanli—his brother ranking third provincially, himself ranking sixth, with only the two of them passing from all of Fengxin—a sensation at the time called "The Two Songs of Fengxin"—afterwards they had achieved no further examination success. They hardly counted as "talent." As for his brother's usual writings, they were merely about farming methods and crafts—nothing extraordinary.

He smiled bitterly: What could the Australians possibly see in him and his brother? Yet vaguely, he felt somewhat proud of this.

Speaking of which, since his capture, he had observed the Australians' governance along the way. Everywhere they went, things took on a new aspect. Arriving in Guangzhou, this feeling intensified. Though he often privately grumbled when encountering new things—especially those related to women—the common people's lives were indeed better than before. Walking the streets, even the commoners' complexions appeared healthier than before.

Calling them both "benevolent" and "capable" wasn't an exaggeration. Unlike some Elders within the Council, Song Yingsheng, as a traditional official, didn't view the Australians' hangings along the way and later mass arrests and executions as "cruel"—because these were normal in medieval society. Moreover, the Australians killed and arrested based on evidence, didn't kill innocents indiscriminately, and didn't cast a wide net of persecution—calling them "benevolent" wasn't wrong at all.

As for "capable"—setting aside their orderly governance of Guangzhou, merely this collective wedding that satisfied all parties possessed incalculable impact. Probably many poor commoners would now make up their minds: to shave their heads and join the Hair thieves.

(End of Chapter)