Chapter 844: Return to Guangzhou
Wu De was strongly opposed to the Guangzhou Great World project in the Executive Committee. Besides him, Cheng Dong also stood in opposition. Their reasons were identical: the 1631 budget and material allocation plan had already been completed. Suddenly adding a major project meant all existing plans would have to be redone from scratch. Cheng Dong held a fiercely opposing attitude toward this. The year 1631 marked the first time the Fiscal Comptroller's Office had prepared a formal annual budget. The Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign of 1630 had caused economic turbulence—a cascade of problems including sharp declines in imports and exports and currency over-issuance. The Fiscal Comptroller's Office's fiscal measures for 1631 were "moderately tight."
"We may face multiple unexpected events requiring additional budget in 1631," Cheng Dong pointed out. In analysis reports submitted by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, Military General Administration, and Planning Bureau, it was believed that the Senate would likely confront several major military operations in 1631. Highly probable ones included southwestern border military operations, war against Liu Xiang, and war against Zheng Zhilong. On Hainan Island proper, the northern Qiong pacification war had already entered its final stage; the next step was for the military to enter southern Qiong and begin operations there—an expense that would also be quite considerable. The war funds currently in the budget were certainly insufficient.
"We have not specifically planned for a deficit, but it is entirely imaginable that this year's fiscal budget will certainly run a deficit," Cheng Dong warned. "This has a great impact on stabilizing the value of Circulation Coupons."
Currently, the inflation of Circulation Coupons was temporarily masked. The transmigrators' military victory had greatly expanded their ruled territory, and Circulation Coupons were promoted at bayonet point to all counties of northern Qiong. The social wealth of northern Qiong counties absorbed the purchasing power inflated by Circulation Coupons, effectively supporting their stability and preventing any flaws from showing. One had to remember that the tensest moment had come at the end of 1630, when two-thirds of Lingao's silver reserves had been transferred to Leizhou to purchase sugar goods. At that time, the Fiscal Comptroller's Office had operated in an extremely tense state.
Skaed strongly supported this project: "But once this project is launched, the returns are quite substantial. Most importantly, we will break away from our current extreme dependence on Lingao industry—processing raw materials locally in Guangdong, hiring labor locally, selling locally."
"Since we originally intended to establish light industrial production enterprises in Hong Kong and Guangdong, using Guangdong's manpower and material resources in the vicinity, building a base for large-scale commodity sales cannot be considered wasteful," Zhan Wuya also expressed approval from an industrial perspective.
"As for the financial and material resources needed for construction, I think we can figure something out from Guangzhou locally. Don't simply take the full appropriation path," Li Mei once again brought forward her shareholding approach.
She proposed that Guangzhou Great World absorb private capital in the manner of Great Wave Shipping. Li Mei suggested: State capital would occupy 51%, leaving 49% for stock offerings. Specifically, one approach was to absorb funds directly from local gentry and large households in Guangzhou; another was to absorb private funds through the institutional investor of De Long Guangzhou Branch. Whether to issue stocks or corporate bonds could be discussed separately.
Before the Second Counter-Encirclement Campaign, De Long Guangzhou Branch had absorbed considerable amounts of deposits through Purple Enterprises and directly. A large portion of these deposits had been employed as trade working capital for the Guangzhou Station and to support development of the Leizhou sugar industry. In the several years of De Long's operation in Guangzhou, considerable credibility had been established. With the current capital situation, investing in Guangzhou Great World was entirely feasible.
As for the large quantities of materials needed for construction, they could be purchased locally in Guangdong, including timber, bricks, tiles, and stones. One could even consider building a building materials factory in Guangzhou or Hong Kong, using Lingao's advanced technology to process and manufacture materials, so even cement could be solved locally in Guangzhou.
Cement was fundamentally an industrial product requiring large quantities of raw materials. Lingao's cement industry relied on externally transported coal, which was not particularly advantageous economically. Although Guangzhou lacked coal mines, at that time many small and medium coal pits were active in Guangdong, so obtaining cheap coal locally was not difficult. As for limestone, clay, and other materials, these were not difficult to obtain near the Pearl River Delta—far better than Lingao's cement factory, which often resorted to burning oyster shells for lime.
Eventually this proposal was also passed in the Executive Committee. It was decided to add the Guangzhou Great World project to the Planning Bureau's 1631 Material Production and Allocation Schedule and fiscal budget as an additional project. Of course, a considerable portion of the funds needed to be self-raised by the project team.
"Master, we have arrived at Tianzi Wharf in Guangzhou." A respectful voice from an attendant came from outside the door.
Guo Yi nodded. The life secretary standing beside him—Yi Liu—responded loudly: "Master knows." His two maids had undergone political vetting and "re-education" after returning to Lingao and now appeared on the Guangzhou Station's roster. Yi Liu was a secretary; Zhi Tao was a classified document clerk.
He rose, and Yi Liu hurriedly lifted the silk cover from a large mirror mounted on the cabin wall so he could inspect his appearance. The man in the mirror was dignified and impressive; every gesture radiated the noble bearing of someone rich and powerful. This sensation left him momentarily dazed: Is this still me? Recalling his appearance when working in the Security Department back then, Guo Yi felt that had been an entirely different person.
"How is Mr. Lü?" he asked. Everyone else was fine—either Senators or naturalized citizens—but Lü Yizhong required close watching. Although this individual had fully exposed his utterly spineless character in the POW camp and left behind a series of "stains"—such as writing peace-advocacy documents to the Viceroy—he could now only work wholeheartedly with the Senators. The Guangzhou Station planned to have him serve as the public figure managing communications with Guangdong officialdom. But the Senators were not particularly confident about this person's reliability.
"Mr. LĂĽ changed clothes just now and is waiting in his cabin to go ashore. Nothing unusual."
"Mm." Guo Yi nodded.
Zhi Tao helped him smooth the wrinkles in his garments. He stood majestically still, waiting for the women to make final adjustments. Then Yi Liu lifted the door curtain for him.
Guo Yi emerged onto the deck. The river wind made him shiver slightly. Looking out, a crowd had already gathered on Tianzi Wharf, with drums and music arrayed in formation. The wharf had been cleared in advance; irrelevant personnel and boats had all been driven aside.
The moment he emerged from the cabin, drums and music immediately struck up grandly on the wharf. Firecrackers and high-rise fireworks crackled and popped. Guo Yi smiled, waving slightly toward the wharf, before descending the gangplank.
Among the crowd welcoming him on the wharf were quite a few local gentry. Guo Yi immediately spotted Liang Cunhou, his face wreathed in smiles; then he saw Gao Ju, whose plump countenance was full of joy at their reunion after long separation; a group of young masters who had frequently visited Purple Brightness Tower gathered together fanning themselves and chatting... But the one leading this group was Li Xijue. Though he displayed no official pomp, everyone knew this person represented Guangdong Governor Li Fengjie in welcoming "Master Guo."
As if fearing a single private secretary of the Guangdong Governor was insufficiently dignified, Guangzhou Prefecture, Nanhai County, and Panyu County had all dispatched yamen runners to maintain order at the scene. The pomp was nearly on par with a departing high court official.
Three large blue-cloth four-bearer sedan chairs and more than a dozen two-bearer small sedan chairs stood lined up on the wharf. The large chairs were prepared for Guo Yi, Pei Lixiu, and Zheng Shangjie. The smaller chairs were prepared for their maids.
One of them was the luxurious sedan chair Guo Yi had used originally. After the Guangzhou Station's evacuation, this sedan had been seized by Tian Da, who intended to bring it back to the capital as tribute to his master. After Tian Da was "seventy-yarded," the sedan had been abandoned and had fallen into disrepair. This time Li Xijue had specially located it and sought skilled craftsmen to restore it completely. Except that the glass on the sedan windows had been pried off and could not be replaced—substituted instead with strings of fine pearls fashioned into bead curtains—everything else was restored.
Li Xijue approached with a beaming face to exchange greetings. Subsequently, all the gentry present to welcome him came forward to exchange courtesies. Most of those present were people who had commercial dealings with the Guangzhou Station or had been regulars at Purple Brightness Tower—originally "pro-Hair" people. When the government launched its punitive expedition, they had suffered somewhat. Young masters like Dong Jizhong and Wu Zhixiang in particular had received considerable scolding from their fathers and elder brothers at home for associating too much with "Hair Bandits." Now they could finally hold their heads high, each one in buoyant spirits.
Gao Ju was beaming, cupping his hands: "The clouds part and the sun appears! Has Master been well?"
"Many thanks to Lord Gao for your kind assistance!" Guo Yi knew that after the Guangzhou Station's departure, Gao Ju had protected and looked after its interests in numerous ways. He was a tested and proven partner.
"You are too kind, too kind. With Master's return to Guangzhou this time, it is like a dragon escaping the shallows, ready to spread great soaring ambitions." Gao Ju's mouth overflowed with flattery. Only then did he say in an exceedingly low voice, "May I know when I might visit your residence?"
"I would not dare presume. Just give me three days, and this humble one shall call to pay his respects."
"Very well, very well." Gao Ju nodded smiling and stepped aside.
After the gentry finished exchanging courtesies, there was another flurry of chaos. Everyone boarded the sedan chairs. Luggage and goods would be transported to the Huifu Street residence by the Qiwei Escort Agency personnel accompanying the ship—according to Li Xijue's instructions, the residence had already been unsealed and cleaned.
The procession of sedan chairs, led by "top horses" (mounted escorts), proceeded toward Huifu Street with crowds before and behind. The procession not only had yamen runners from Guangzhou Prefecture and Nanhai and Panyu Counties clearing the way and maintaining order, but multiple yamens in the prefectural city had also dispatched personnel to assist. This attracted citizens along the streets to come watch the spectacle.
"That's Guo Yi!" someone said. "Look at this scale and style—truly grand!"
"Didn't they say Hair Bandits were rebels..."
"Shh! 'Rebel' is a word you can just say? He is properly Master Guo!"
"The government changes face faster than flipping a book..."
"That is called 'times change.' Besides, whether Hair Bandits or Master, it doesn't have much to do with us common folk. But now that he's back, all the Purple-brand stores can open, and there'll be a place to buy Australian goods again."
Seated in his sedan, Guo Yi recalled the panic when the Guangzhou Station had fled in disarray more than half a year ago. It felt like a different lifetime. Guangzhou—was still a world where he could accomplish great things.
(End of Chapter)