Chapter 399 - The Small Merchants

Three days later, aside from a few severely injured individuals, everyone else had received basic treatment and was now waiting at the Customs Building for the Maritime Court to process their property.

After the inexplicable disturbance a few days earlier, each of these merchants still bore some wounds on their faces and hands, making their reunion rather awkward.

Chen Zhonghuan was extra careful this time, saying not a single word more than necessary. He simply informed everyone that they could now collect their cargo from the ship.

Ma Jia's framework was as follows: for any cargo where ownership could be confirmed, each owner would pay twenty percent of the total value of rescued goods as a salvage fee according to maritime salvage principles. For goods that had been rescued but damaged by water, fire, or other factors, the fee would be calculated based on the remaining value.

For any cargo where ownership couldn't be confirmed—or where the owner was known but had died or gone missing at sea, or where goods had been consigned to the ship's master for transport—the Maritime Court would impound them pending resolution until someone could prove ownership within the specified period. If no one came forward by the deadline, the Maritime Court would confiscate the goods.

For impounded goods, when returned to their owner, the same twenty percent salvage fee would be collected. During the impoundment period, the Maritime Court had the right to dispose of all or part of the goods as it saw fit. For confirmed owners, compensation would be paid according to the goods' value upon return.

Ships rescued from maritime disasters were likewise subject to a salvage fee of twenty percent of their remaining value. Additionally, ship owners had to pay for repair costs and depreciation incurred during the rescue process. Ship owners also had to cover the food, lodging, and medical expenses of shipwrecked sailors during their stay in Bopu. If ship owners failed to complete formalities before the deadline, their ships would be confiscated.

Given the transportation conditions of the era, Ma Jia set this deadline at one year.

During the impoundment period, the Bopu Maritime Court would assume only basic custodial obligations and would not be responsible for maintaining the value of goods. Basic warehousing fees would be charged for impounded items.

No salvage fee would be collected from rescued persons. However, food, lodging, and medical expenses during their stay in Bopu remained the responsibility of the rescued individuals. These had to be settled before departure—otherwise, the court would detain them until the fees were paid.

These various provisions were broken down into great detail. Some wouldn't have fallen under the jurisdiction of a maritime court in the modern era, but Ma Jia's intent was to bring all maritime adjudication powers under the Maritime Court, so he enumerated every matter, large and small.

But these provisions caused an uproar in the Executive Committee. Many people could accept returning cargo to the small merchants—it was about winning hearts and minds, after all! But returning large quantities of cargo and ships was another matter entirely. These had been seized from pirates at the risk of Navy soldiers' lives.

"If we want to establish order and law in the Qiongzhou Strait, we can't approach things with this profit-seeking mindset!" Ma Jia declared. "We didn't come to this timeline to amass endless silver—we came to be the rule-makers of this world."

After three consecutive hours of debate, Ma Jia's proposal finally passed the vote. The Navy didn't particularly care about returning the cargo, but watching the five-masted ship fly away like a cooked duck was a bitter pill to swallow.

In the Maritime Court hearing room inside the Customs Building, Ma Jia delivered the legal documents to each of the merchants, explaining the legal provisions. Though most didn't fully understand, they did comprehend that most of their goods would be returned to them.

None of these people had expected to recover their cargo—it was already a blessing to escape with their lives. Now the Australians were not only willing to let them go home, but after paying a twenty percent salvage fee, they would even return their goods. Everyone was overjoyed.

The group collected their verdicts and retrieved their respective goods from the warehouse at the dock. However, settling the salvage fee based on cargo value wasn't straightforward. After Ma Jia consulted with the Planning, Finance, and Foreign Commerce Committees, they decided to settle in kind.

Besides paying the salvage fee, the Planning Committee purchased outright any cargo they found useful, at Guangzhou market prices. Although the merchants didn't earn the windfall profits of trading in Batavia, they at least saved the return shipping costs.

The Planning Committee was most interested in things useful for production and daily life—metal implements, tung oil, medicinal herbs, cloth. They had no interest whatsoever in the hottest maritime trade items like silk and porcelains.

Xiong Buyou represented the Foreign Commerce Committee and was talking business with several small merchants. The Planning Committee had noticed that the goods they transported were commodities the transmigrator collective would need in large quantities: raw lacquer, tung oil, metal implements.

"We can't always rely on the Guangzhou Station for procurement," Ma Qianzhu had instructed. "From now on, we need to find ways to attract small and medium-sized coastal merchants to trade directly with us in Lingao."

Xiong Buyou's persuasion efforts finally had some effect. Merchants who had previously just nodded without committing finally opened their mouths:

"I've heard that buying and selling in Lingao uses some kind of paper slips," one said cautiously. "That's—well—something I'm not sure about..."

"The Lingao Food Circulation Voucher isn't mandatory," Xiong Buyou patiently explained. "When paying for goods, if you want actual silver, we'll pay in silver."

"Do we have to go through a broker guild to sell?" Another small merchant chimed in.

"Not at all," Xiong Buyou said. "Trading in Lingao doesn't require going through brokers. As for what we purchase, all payments are settled immediately in cash."

"What about taxes?"

"Currently, commodities shipped to Lingao for sale only require import customs duties. If you ship designated commodities, you can even enjoy duty-free status."

These designated commodities were materials not produced locally in Lingao but in high demand—primarily coal, metals, various grains, chemical raw materials, timber, and oils and fats.

The merchants asked many more questions, and Xiong Buyou answered each one. His sincere attitude moved everyone, and finally someone nodded and said: "If that's how it is, I'll ship a batch of tung oil here next month."

(Chapter End)