Chapter 271: Visitors from Lingao

"These past few days, I've been watching carefully. Most people are fine—working diligently and conscientiously. But some..." Chang Shide gestured toward seven or eight individuals lying face-down on straw mats, covered with straw curtains. Their buttocks and thighs were visibly swollen, and weak moans escaped from beneath the coverings.

"After eating a few full meals, they got carried away. We originally made them village cadres as a sign of trust. Do the job well, we said, and more important work would follow. But they didn't appreciate it. They thought the stable rice bowl wasn't good enough and had to fish for illicit gains. Now the government has dealt with them. We won't pursue the matter further here, but they've lost their positions, and the money they embezzled will be added to their debt—they can work it off over the next seventy or eighty years."

"As for those who realized their mistake and voluntarily returned what they took—we won't punish them further. Immediate dismissal, plus one to five years added to their labor term. We're lenient: no matter who it is, each person bears their own crime. Family members won't be implicated." Chang Shide had already arranged for the people who had voluntarily returned their stolen goods, along with their families, to be taken care of beforehand. As soon as he finished speaking, these people burst into tears and shouted:

"The masters are benevolent!"

"Sob... I'm worse than a pig or dog—"

"I'm committed to working for the masters from now on. I'd willingly jump into a pit of fire!"

The atmosphere infected the surrounding crowd, and the gathering grew animated. Chang Shide felt the effect was quite good. The Propaganda and Agitation Manual was proving useful.

"You sugar-boiling masters—" His finger swung toward them. A few days earlier, during the "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" operation, Wen Tong had deliberately avoided arresting any sugar industry workers to protect the technical personnel. But mandatory observation was required of everyone. After returning from the yamen, everyone had rushed to return the sugar they'd pilfered. To their surprise, Master Chang had only smiled mysteriously and refused to accept any of it, asking only that each person write a "confession of admission." Those who couldn't write—no problem, there were pre-written forms; just fill in the numbers and press a thumbprint. These people had been worried for days. When summoned to today's mass meeting, each was on edge. Now that they'd been called out, how could they hold up? They fell to their knees in a rustle, their pleas for mercy an unbroken chorus.

What Chang Shide revealed next was his bottom line: they were all to join the Leizhou Sugar Company collectively—no longer as day laborers. The benefits would be the same as the migrants: meals provided and wages paid. As for what they'd secretly skimmed off, that would be counted as an advance on their wages.

Chang Shide spoke of how magnanimous and lenient he was being, but no one below was a fool. They knew that if they dared utter the word "no," he held their "confessions" in hand and was on speaking terms with all the county yamens. He could have them dragged to court and beaten half to death in no time, left wearing cangues and feeding flies at the yamen gate like those unlucky wretches. Whether willing or not, everyone said in unison: "We are willing to join the sugar factory."

"Work hard, and no one will be shortchanged." Chang Shide surveyed the long-faced sugar-boiling masters below and thought this deal was actually quite good.

Next, he reappointed the vacant village cadre positions. Originally, Wen Tong had wanted to retain some cadres with minor issues—after all, people suitable for leadership were simply too scarce. But Chang Shide insisted on a "zero tolerance" policy to demonstrate his attitude. Even if the newly appointed people were less capable, it didn't matter—compared to the old ones, it was six of one, half a dozen of the other.

"Everyone work hard for our Leizhou Sugar Company and you won't lose out!" Chang Shide then announced: effective immediately, profits would be divided according to the rules used by Guo Yi's various enterprises in Guangzhou. The dividends would be split into thirteen major shares—ten to the shareholders, three for bonuses and welfare expenses for all Sugar Company employees. Everyone had a share, from the sugar-boiling masters down to the field laborers.

For income adjustments, Chang Shide followed the wage system implemented by the Guangzhou Station and established a grading system. All personnel were divided into two categories: agricultural workers and sugar workers, each with three to four levels based on ability. Village heads, militia captains, and similar positions were counted as agricultural workers, evaluated by ability, with additional position allowances on top.

To further raise labor productivity, besides offering profit-sharing, Chang Shide also launched labor competitions at each estate—evaluated monthly. Whichever estate harvested the most cane or produced the most sugar with the least waste received extra bonuses.

Wen Tong and the others keenly felt the importance of grassroots cadres, so they launched a village cadre rotation training program. All newly appointed village cadres from each estate were called to the South China Sugar Factory for training. Besides basic literacy, they were also taught sugarcane cultivation, field management, and sugar production.

After this combination of pressure and praise, the Sugar Company entered a stable track. Morale stabilized. Sugar production rose steadily. Ships and handcarts delivering raw brown sugar, molasses, and bagasse to the South China Factory flowed in an endless stream. This previously obscure enterprise began to become a topic of conversation among the sugar trading house merchants on Hai'an Street.

Chang Shide grew somewhat self-satisfied. Besides teaching the daily rotation trainees, he also started a teacher training class, planning to establish a sugar factory primary school after the crushing season ended. He was too lazy to teach all those children himself, so he turned his attention to the female slaves. He made Wen Xiu the teaching assistant and began the training. Besides daytime classes, he also held evening sessions. Wen Xiu and A-Zhu were excluded from these.

"Teacher, I was wrong. Please forgive this student—" The Mandarin still sounded halting.

"Let me discipline you properly, you bad student."

Wen Tong, when passing Chang Shide's room in the evening, would often hear this neither-here-nor-there yet soul-stirring Mandarin.

"You big pervert." Wen Tong always sneered at this sort of kink play. At least the guy had some sense of brotherhood and hadn't dragged A-Zhu off to some "evening class"—he was very much in favor of her attending the teacher training class. Unfortunately, he himself was so exhausted dealing with sugar factory matters that by the time he returned to the compound each day, all he wanted was sleep. He didn't even have the energy to make use of A-Zhu. Old Chang really did have the sturdier constitution—running around all day, then running around all night. Wen Tong couldn't help but feel melancholy: how could the gap between people be so vast?

Wen Tong's entire mind was focused on the technical improvements at the sugar factory. Of his two original directions for improvement, one—making white sugar—he had already achieved. Though the process was primitive and output low, it was quite suitable for their current industrial level. Now it was a matter of scaling up and improving efficiency.

The other direction was increasing sugarcane juice output. Modern sugar factories used at least three-roller steel crushers, with a single-pass extraction rate above 70%. Larger factories even had twelve-roller systems—the bagasse came out virtually dry. Wen Tong decided to first eliminate the wooden rollers at the South China Factory. Initially, he'd considered stone rollers, but stone rollers weren't much more efficient than wood and consumed just as much ox power.

Multi-stage steel rollers were really the best choice. Wen Tong recalled that the Zhanjiang area had only begun replacing primitive ox-powered stone rollers with semi-mechanized two-roller or three-roller small crushers in the mid-1960s. They mostly used Chaozhou-made two-roller crushers, with extraction rates above 60%. Later, they switched to Shunde-manufactured three-roller crushers, raising extraction rates to 72-73%. Compared to the 45% average rate for stone rollers, this was equivalent to a 60% increase in sugar output for the same amount of cane.

These figures were extremely tempting. Moreover, the equipment was technically quite simple—well within the transmigrators' industrial capabilities to manufacture.

But using triple steel rollers meant facing the power issue. Water buffalo couldn't drive them. The semi-mechanized small factories in Zhanjiang that Wen Tong knew of all used 20-horsepower diesel engines. Since diesel was scarce now, he naturally thought of water power. He'd even inspected the only sugar mill with a water-powered crusher, but the sight was rather discouraging—the water-power crusher was just a simple water wheel. No canal, no dam—basically just using the natural drop of the riverbed. Very inefficient.

The South China Factory had a usable river, but the water flowed gently and the volume wasn't great. Though Wen Tong was an outsider to hydraulics, he knew that installing a water turbine capable of driving a triple steel-roller crusher would require building a dam to store water. Once they built a dam, upstream and downstream water usage issues would inevitably arise—definitely not easy to resolve. It might even drag them into protracted litigation. So he rejected this idea.

Better to use a steam engine, Wen Tong thought. A water turbine built at great expense could only crush cane. A steam engine would allow him to introduce all sorts of efficiency-improving equipment, and machine utilization would be far higher. With a steam engine came a boiler, and the steam it produced would also be useful for sugar-making—at least it could heat cane juice very evenly, reducing the chance of scorching.

Numerous categories of machinery could be used in sugar-making. If one were serious about it, the entire process could be fully mechanized. Of course, that was for the future. Wen Tong considered the South China Sugar Factory's processes and selected a few simple, easy-to-operate machines.

Once he'd thought it through, he immediately sent a carrier pigeon message to Zhang Xin in Guangzhou explaining his ideas, attached a list of machines he specifically requested, and also asked Lingao to provide cement, steel, bricks, and other necessary construction materials—moving up to semi-mechanized production meant everything had to scale up accordingly.

Wen Tong's report was relayed through the Guangzhou Station to Lingao. After brief discussion, the Executive Committee approved allocating all the equipment he needed.

Two weeks later, a large ship arrived at the port of Hai'an Street. Its arrival caused quite a stir. The ship's design was unusual—a vessel of nearly 400 liao, but with very shallow draft, almost flat-bottomed. The deck was broad, and apart from the sterncastle and two masts, there were no other protrusions.

The wide deck was piled with boxes of all sizes. There were also some very large items of cargo, packaged in wooden frames covered with straw matting, held down tightly under large nets. This kind of cargo ship with everything stacked on deck was truly an eye-opener for everyone—quite the crowd gathered to watch. Which shipwright had come up with this idea? With cargo all piled on deck, wouldn't it get soaked when the wind and waves kicked up?

Chang Shide saw this flat-deck ship and thought it was way too ahead of its time. Completely anachronistic. Just as he was thinking this, the big ship slowly approached the dock. Sailors laid out gangways, and a familiar figure walked across.

Looking closely, it was none other than Bei Wei, captain of the Special Reconnaissance Team—a rare figure indeed. He had still been seen frequently in the months right after D-Day, leading his team all over the place. Later, he became increasingly mysterious—simply never appearing anywhere ordinary people gathered. The last time Chang Shide had seen him was during the Political Consultative Conference, manning a high vantage point with his team.

A figure like this, unconnected to trade or industry—how had he suddenly appeared on a ship to Leizhou? Could there be a secret mission? Did the Executive Committee think Leizhou was a major prize and want to seize it first? But they hadn't even taken all of Qiongzhou yet—

As these wild thoughts ran through his head, Bei Wei had already come close. He was dressed in Ming-era clothing, a short working outfit like a hired laborer. Behind him followed several unfamiliar, sturdy young men—probably all Special Reconnaissance Team members. Just as Chang Shide was about to speak, Bei Wei gave him a look, signaling silence. Without a word, he led his people and blended into the crew of laborers preparing to unload the machinery.

The people who emerged next were the actual leaders of this cargo mission. One was Mei Lin from Lingao Construction Company—obviously here to handle the sugar factory's civil construction work. The other two Chang Shide didn't recognize, but they must be from the Machinery Department, here to assist with equipment installation. All three wore zhiduo robes and wigs with headwraps, looking completely out of place—awkward from head to toe.

"Welcome, welcome." Chang Shide hurried forward. Now that he was "stationed in the provinces," he had to be especially warm to cadres from "the capital." "Old Mei, so you're here on this trip? And these two gentlemen are...?"

Mei Lin quickly made introductions. "Both from the Machinery Factory. This is Xiao Gui—here to install the steam engine. And this is Chen Tianxiong—"

"I'm Chen Tianxiong. The Executive Committee has assigned me to Leizhou specifically to handle the operation and commissioning of the sugar factory's mechanical equipment. I'll also train some workers on the side." The speaker was nearly forty, with a steady demeanor and a still-robust physique that wouldn't lose to a young man.

"Wonderful. I was just worrying about maintenance and upkeep after the machinery was installed!" Chang Shide glanced around. "This isn't the place to talk. Let's rest in that tea shed over there."

Because there was considerable cargo to unload, Chang Shide had long since reserved a tea shed for supervising the unloading and resting. The Qiwei escort guards stood watch all around.

"I didn't expect you so soon." Chang Shide exchanged pleasantries and had Wen Xiu bring tea. "Here, have some water." He sat down, and once Wen Xiu had withdrawn, asked, "Has all the equipment arrived?"

(End of Chapter)