Chapter 1353 - The Shanghai Merchants Bureau
"When you're in this business, you have to take some risks," Huang Hua said, eyes narrowing. "If you want peace and comfort, go back to Lingao and be a soy sauce maker, sit in an office, chase skirts—wouldn't that be better? Why suffer in this frozen wasteland eating grandfather-aged beef? Back when Old Lin didn't go to Boss Zhu Cailao's territory, how would he have achieved his current impressive status?"
"True enough. Being out here is good too—at least you don't get flamed in Lingao." Wang Ruixiang stretched. "I think Shandong is pretty nice. They'll be building estates near Zhaoyuan soon. When the time comes, I'll apply for permanent posting there, get myself a few Shandong beauties..."
"You think Manor Lord Lu will arrange that for you?" Huang Hua chuckled. "Even if you go, the Shandong branch's center stage isn't yours—that belongs to Manor Lord Lu. Besides, transmigrators are precious now. Head for head, there aren't even enough to fill all the slots in the various organizations. It's hard to say whether the Executive Committee will even allow multiple transmigrators to cluster in one place—Zhu Mingxia will definitely be stationed long-term in Shandong as commander of the Northern Expeditionary Detachment. Add you, and Zhaoyuan's lineup becomes too luxurious."
Wang Ruixiang thought it over and found his reasoning sound. He had long wanted to be posted abroad as a regional lord. He'd considered several locations but found that he'd arrived late to every one of them. Thinking through the recently opened locations, there was hardly anywhere he could take sole charge. He couldn't help feeling a bit deflated.
The Haitian lingered at Duozhi Island for several days, disinfecting all cargo—especially the furs—before weighing anchor and departing. They first sailed to Jeju Island to replenish supplies and unload cargo. The furs, ginseng, and other purely re-export goods wouldn't be shipped to Lingao; they would wait on Jeju for transshipment to Dengzhou or the Jiangnan region. At the same time, the dozen-plus servants Huang Hua had brought, along with Mao Shisan, were sent to the island for "purification." Physical purification was secondary; the key was that Jeju Island was staffed with dedicated Political Security Bureau personnel.
Though Mao Shisan cried himself unconscious in the latrine, he was still forced to leave his paradise at Jeju Island. He was admitted to the purification camp to await assignment. However, he had been "flagged"—Huang Hua had specifically requested him—so the Political Security Bureau conducted a focused investigation, confirming that Mao Shisan's background was indeed clean, with absolutely no "historical issues."
The one who truly turned out to be "problematic," as Huang Hua had suspected, was Lan Bian. On Jeju Island, Lan Bian couldn't withstand the sleepless rotating interrogations and finally confessed that he was a baoyi bondservant of the Upper Three Banners, specifically dispatched by Later Jin officials to "infiltrate" Huang Hua's entourage. His real name was Lan Dingbian. Originally from Zhejiang, he had been a soldier who rose to the rank of qianzong (company commander). Over twenty years ago, when the court transferred guest troops to reinforce Liaodong, he had come here. He was captured during the Battle of the Hun River in 1621.
After his capture, because of his strong physique, quick wits, and expertise with firearms like the niaochong (matchlock), he was soon noticed by a Plain Yellow Banner niulu named Niohuru Yue and became his baoyi personal retainer. Because "Dingbian" ("Stabilizing the Border") violated Later Jin taboos, the "Ding" was dropped from his name. Among the slaves, he had carved out a modest position. To win his loyalty, Niohuru Yue had, several years ago, assigned him a wife from the allocated slaves. They had several children, all currently living on the niulu's estate—effectively hostages.
As for the other servants, most had no tricks up their sleeves. However, the Korean maidservant whom Lan Dingbian had once recommended to Huang Hua was also discovered to be an infiltrator. Her parents were in Later Jin hands, so she naturally dared not refuse.
"If the Australian envoy had simply brought these few directly back to Australia and tossed them into his mansion, these moles would have been useless," Feng Zongze remarked, reviewing the investigation report sent by the Political Security personnel. "Even just leaving them on Jeju would have rendered them worthless."
"You don't even understand this?" Huang Hua said. "Since I've already requested permission to establish a trading post, I obviously won't go as a lone commander. If I'm to bring attendants, I'll naturally prioritize servants familiar with local conditions. Lan Dingbian is capable and efficient; the Korean maidservant trades on her beauty—both have a very high likelihood of being selected to accompany me."
"What if they aren't selected?"
"A couple of living goods lost is a couple lost. At worst, they'll send a few more. The Tartars always treated them as idle pawns."
"What do you plan to do with these two spies, and the servants?"
According to standard procedure, discovered spies were sent directly to labor reform camps for "indefinite hard labor." Huang Hua thought for a moment. "These two were both coerced. I think we can absolutely conduct... re-education—no, counter-espionage—make them double agents..."
"You're that confident?"
"There's a foundation. I don't think Lan Dingbian is a simple collaborator." Huang Hua spoke with conviction. "I've talked with him several times on the ship. I sense he's quite intelligent and has no emotional attachment to the Qing—he was a qianzong in the Ming army, a proper officer after all. After capture, he was reduced to serving the Manchus as a baoyi slave. Could he really be happy about that? Plus he has a wife and children held hostage. He has potential to be turned. As for the Korean maidservant—the foundation is even better."
Huang Hua already had ideas for how to flip them. On one hand, naturally, he would be candid and directly wage a psychological campaign. On the other hand, the Haitian was returning to Lingao anyway; he decided to bring all of them back for "observation tours." Lingao was not only a "showcase" of Australian life and power sufficient to awe natives, but also had a specialized propaganda unit. These were the professional agitators who had once served as rabble-rousers at various mass rallies, now organized into a formal unit. They had received specialized training in defection work and interpersonal propaganda. They were particularly "proficient" at inciting hatred. Having them handle the defection work would yield twice the results with half the effort.
As for the other servants, he wouldn't concern himself further. He'd hand them over to Jeju Island for purification processing and eventual assignment.
News that the Shen family's four sand junks had returned from Japan shook all of Jiangnan.
Though the Shen family wasn't the first gentry household to send ships to Japan, they were the first to depart in winter. This was unprecedented. Ships to Japan customarily sailed with the summer southeast winds, but the Shen family's four vessels had set out on the northwest winds. To many, this seemed reckless—who knew where the ships might end up? Many had declared that Shen Tingyang had been duped; not one of those four ships would return.
Rumors abounded. Some claimed Zhao Yingong, who had prodded the Shen family into this "joint-stock company" scheme, was problematic. Zhao Yingong had come from Guangdong and dealt in large quantities of "Australian goods"—all of which suggested suspicious origins. He was quite possibly a grand pirate in league with the legendary hair-shorn bandits.
Though respectable gentry laughed off such talk, most had little confidence that the Shen family's four ships, thus inveigled into sailing, would ever return—who went to Japan on business in the dead of winter?
Yet unexpectedly, in barely two months, the Shen family's four ships returned. Not only returned, but laden with genuine Japanese goods: silver, Japanese copper, dried seafood, and various Japanese sundries.
When these goods landed in Shanghai, first all of Shanghai, then Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture... all the way to Hangzhou Prefecture—half of Jiangnan was abuzz.
Doing business overseas wasn't especially rare among Jiangnan gentry. But the risks were enormous: outfitting a single ship with cargo cost ten to twenty thousand taels of silver; a round trip took over a year; and the ship might simply vanish. All the silver invested would be lost. Thus, few were willing to engage in maritime trade.
Everyone knew that a single trip to Japan could yield profits overflowing. For a time, the Shen Tingyang household's threshold was worn to splinters. Visitors calling from morning to night streamed endlessly. Chongming County, formerly an obscure district under Suzhou Prefecture, had become a fashionable destination that many would sail to attend.
Amid the clamor and excitement, Zhao Yingong had quietly come from Hangzhou to Shanghai and secluded himself in the small courtyard inside the Qiwei Warehouse.
This maritime venture was merely a trial run. Rather than doing business, it was meant to build confidence among Shen Tingyang and other gentry and merchants interested in foreign trade for deeper cooperation. Because his next step was to use the Shen family's ships and the silver of Jiangnan gentry to establish the most famous enterprise of modern China in the old timeline: the China Merchants Bureau.
The China Merchants Bureau was renowned. In the old timeline, it had been founded in the eleventh year of Tongzhi at Li Hongzhang's suggestion. The aim was to counter foreign steamship companies: "It is proposed that government-built merchant ships be chartered by Chinese merchants, and be permitted to carry tribute grain, thus ensuring a dedicated business and preventing exclusion by foreign merchants." With imperial approval for a trial, it began operations with funding from the Beiyang government and additional capital raised from private shareholders.
Late Qing "foreign affairs" enterprises were typically steeped in bureaucracy, with supervising officials often treating them as vehicles for personal enrichment. Thus, operations were generally failures with severe losses—the Qing hadn't even collapsed before this enterprise had been reorganized multiple times. Only after the Republic was established did it begin to prosper.
Still, the concept of raising capital through public shareholding aligned perfectly with Zhao Yingong's strategy of using others' chickens to lay his own eggs, so he shamelessly borrowed the name.
For his new enterprise, Zhao Yingong decided to call it "China Merchants Bureau Joint-Stock Company." In his own planning, the Bureau's ultimate form would be a comprehensive large-scale joint-stock company encompassing shipping, banking, insurance, real estate, and trade.
For now, however, the plan submitted to the Planning Commission included only shipping, trade, and marine insurance as business directions. Banking and finance remained under Delong's purview.
As for startup capital, Zhao Yingong planned to publicly solicit shares from Jiangnan gentry and merchants. The shares would be non-cumulative preferred stock, as Wu Nanhai and Wudaokou had previously discussed. The first round aimed to raise fifty thousand taels. This money, besides funding Japan trade, would be used for Shanghai port improvements, warehouse construction, and commercial real estate development.