Chapter 127: Guangzhou Forward Station
Liang Cunhou managed a strained smile. "My grain relief serves two purposes. First, I simply cannot bear watching commoners wander homeless and starving along the roads. Second—and perhaps more pragmatically—I fear what desperate people are capable of when pushed beyond endurance." He leaned forward, his voice dropping. "Do you gentlemen have any idea how many refugees have flooded into Guangzhou recently? A rough count puts the number at no fewer than thirty thousand, and this is still the autumn harvest season. Come spring's famine months, heaven only knows how many more will arrive. If someone incites an uprising, the entire region will be devastated."
He let out a bitter laugh. "And yet—ridiculously—many of our local gentry, men who call themselves Confucian disciples, accuse me of seeking fame and popularity. As if I harbor some sinister ulterior motive! Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous." Catching himself, he realized he had spoken too freely and quickly cupped his hands in apology. "Pardon my outburst."
"Just missing two people," Xiao Zishan murmured under his breath.
Liang Cunhou looked confused. "I beg your pardon? What did the manager say?"
"Nothing, nothing." Xiao Zishan waved it off and changed the subject. "Young Master Liang, we would like to recruit some refugees here in Guangzhou and send them to Qiongzhou for land clearing. Would the officials object?"
The young master laughed dryly. "Land clearing? Please don't take offense at some cold water, but you'll invest capital in clearing that land only to find you can't even pay the taxes. A year's hard work will flow straight into the pockets of those yamen clerks. Recruiting refugees is charitable, certainly—but if your venture fails to sustain itself, you'll leave them worse off than before."
The Committee had given its intelligence personnel an important directive: collect all available information on Ming-era society. Seeing an opportunity, Guo Yi feigned ignorance. "Why does Young Master Liang say this?"
"I've never visited Qiongzhou myself, but I hear it's humid, malarial, and typhoon-prone. The Li people rebel with regularity. Though wasteland abounds, settling there is far from easy." He fixed them with a knowing look. "Moreover, you are all merchants with no examination credentials. Won't you be fat sheep for the local clerks! At best, you'll lose your entire investment. At worst, you'll face utter ruin." He sighed deeply. "Ah, this world..."
Guo Yi could only nod in agreement, not daring to reveal more. While they were talking, a servant approached and whispered something to Liang. The young master rose, citing other business, and cupped his hands in farewell. Everyone parted with the customary pleasantries.
Shortly afterward, another servant came running up with humble courtesy. "My young master would like to know the gentlemen's lodging address. He wishes to pay a visit another day."
The group exchanged glances. They had been completely deferential throughout the entire meeting—neither reciting "a thousand li frozen, ten thousand li snow-swept," nor discoursing on human rights, democracy, or freedom. What had this gentry scion seen in these mere merchants?
Guo Yi quickly composed himself. "We are lodging on Huifu Street, at the shop called 'Zizhen Studio.'"
The servant confirmed the address, then extracted a plum-red paper from his visiting card box. "My young master's calling card. Please accept it."
Presenting a calling card upon first meeting showed exceptionally high regard. Having attended Yu Eshui's "Ming Dynasty Customs and Society" lecture series before departure, Guo Yi knew the proper form and politely declined: "I dare not accept such an honor." Only after repeated refusals did he finally accept the card.
Xiao Zishan, still worried about their human cargo, rushed to the escort bureau's mule and horse inn. The new arrivals had already been settled under the bureau's arrangements, though Sun Kecheng had been initially dumbfounded. He had been told they would purchase some servants, but never expected so many to arrive overnight. The bureau's entire staff had been mobilized to cook, boil water, and summon doctors for the sick. The chaos lasted until nearly the first watch before things finally settled down.
Returning to Huifu Street, the group deliberated. The goods were not yet fully procured, but they had already purchased over two hundred people. Staying at Qiwei's inn was not sustainable—firstly, they were imposing on others, and secondly, once fed and rested, people's thoughts would wander. The transmigrators were not jailers who could monitor them around the clock. Better to ship this batch back first, then return for the remaining goods.
This proposal received enthusiastic approval from the crew, which surprised Xiao Zishan. He had expected them to resist an immediate return voyage, having just arrived in the great city. Unbeknownst to him, several harbored their own private schemes. The decision was made: the purchased slaves would rest for two days at Qiwei's inn, then the crew would transport them back to Lingao. The others would remain in Guangzhou to continue the forward station work.
Building renovation proceeded intensively. According to the plan, the Huifu Street compound would be transformed into a jewelry house—shop in front, workshop in back—selling various transmigrator-manufactured luxury goods. Some finishing and assembly work could be done on-site, while key processes would remain at Bairren Fortress. Former jewelry company manager Yan Maoda had brought extensive expertise in jewelry design and processing, along with ample new-style materials. He claimed that if they could recruit some skilled craftsmen, they could manufacture fine pieces right here in Guangzhou. This was better than merely selling glassware, and it would avoid stepping on the toes of their agent Gao Ju.
Xiao Zishan, leveraging his connections with Gao Ju, recruited many workers for the renovations. With ample funds and the jewelry house as cover, the entire compound was fortified to an impressive degree. Though not quite rivaling the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, it came remarkably close. Imitating the security measures of Shanxi money shops and pawnshops, iron gratings were installed in the ceilings to guard against aerial intruders. Stone foundation walls were topped with mortared blue bricks, making them extremely solid. Only the front portions retained traditional long windows; the rear buildings had ordinary windows fitted with iron bars.
Most secure of all was the "vault" courtyard: three rooms constructed entirely of brick and stone, without any wood. There were no windows, and the iron door was fitted with twenty-first-century locks. Modeled after embassy safe rooms, it would be used for confidential matters. One room housed the telecommunications equipment, one served as a conference room, and one functioned as the actual vault—storing not just gold and silver, but more importantly, materials, weapons, and reconnaissance equipment. Besides the radios, Intelligence had provided walkie-talkies, pistols, binoculars, night-vision goggles, digital cameras, and laptops. For power, there were hand-crank generators and solar panel arrays—limited in capacity, but sufficient for the radio and laptop.
The originally planned monitoring and security systems had been suspended due to power constraints, though an infrared alarm was installed at the safe room entrance.
For water, two usable wells stood on the compound grounds. Sun Chang had already arranged for deep cleaning during the initial renovations, and to protect the delicate modern digestive systems of the transmigrators, the station had brought a simple water filter and sterilizer with replaceable cartridges good for a year.
The Deng Yingzhou delivered over thirty tons of materials and five thousand taels in cash—the station's entire startup capital. According to regulations, forward personnel could not withdraw from Gao Ju's two hundred thousand tael account.
Everyone bustled about their tasks, but Guo Yi sat alone, contemplating future operations. The Committee's station directives boiled down to two objectives: intelligence collection and conducting trade. Either goal required first building broad social connections. They now had the Gao family and Qiwei Bureau as entry points; the next step was to expand their network across various social strata.
Guo Yi recalled Yu Eshui's pre-departure course on "Ming Dynasty Socioeconomic Conditions" and pondered which level would be most productive to breach.
As merchants, directly cultivating ties with mid-to-upper-tier officials would be difficult. Even spending heavily would only buy superficial prestige—rarely achieving the kind of collusion between officials and merchants that characterized later eras. But officials had strong purchasing power and political authority, so they were worth cultivating eventually.
Second were the local gentry and wealthy merchants—those with examination credentials or official connections. These were the true local powerbrokers. Gao Ju was such a person. More accessible than officials yet linked to upper officialdom, this stratum was the station's current priority. In Guangzhou, they had already met Liang Cunhou. Though his motives for cultivating a connection remained unclear, as a juren his influence far exceeded Gao Ju's. Properly leveraged, he could open major doors within this class.
Third were the officials' secretaries, servants, stewards, and guests; the various yamen clerks and constables. Though low in status, these men were highly active and knew everything about officials and yamen movements. For political intelligence, Guo Yi would need to focus on them. The Qiwei Bureau dealt with such people regularly and could leverage those connections.
As for commoners, from them one could learn market gossip and public opinion—intelligence that also needed to be collected.
But the entire Guangzhou station had only six people, himself included:
Station Chief: Guo Yi
Commerce Directors: Yan Maoda, Zhang Xin
Radio Operator: Zhang Yuchen
Intelligence Operatives: Lu Rong, Peipei
Just these few handling so much was going to be a challenge. Yan Maoda and Zhang Xin were both sales veterans and battle-hardened commercial operators. Once they adapted to the local environment and improved their Cantonese-Mandarin, commercial entertainment and sales organization would be child's play for them.
Zhang Yuchen was the communications staff and rather taciturn by nature; he could only be relied upon for internal affairs.
Intelligence work, it seemed, would fall to Guo Yi himself, Lu Rong, and Peipei. How to utilize Peipei was a headache. She seemed completely unconcerned and quite confident in herself, and Guo Yi strongly suspected she had not considered the seriousness and danger of underground work—treating this assignment as merely her personal performance stage. Her personal luggage alone filled a dozen boxes, and he knew without looking that they were all costumes.
He organized his thoughts, drafting the current-phase objectives and station regulations. He would meet with the remaining forward team before Xiao Zishan's departure to assign their work.
(End of Chapter)