Chapter 1673 — Lingao-Chengmai-Qiongshan
The vast wastelands flanking the Nandu River had also drawn agricultural interest for plantation development.
"This trip, I intend to survey Haikou and plan the first demonstrative farm in northern Hainan."
Wu Nanhai nodded. "Then have Dugu Qiuhun accompany you. He mentioned wanting to visit Wenchang—to review immigrants allocated to Agriculture and select future employees."
Dugu Qiuhun spent his days knee-deep in paddies transplanting rice, but nights were filled with dreams of coming ashore. If the agricultural sector built a state farm system, commanding people and territory, it would become a steel fortress of the planned economy—aligning significantly with a certain faction he supported. Naturally, it would be a highway for upward mobility. He threw himself into the work with enthusiasm, proving himself capable in "running for the ministry."
Both understood Dugu's ambitions yet refrained from calling him out: his efforts benefited the department.
At first light, Yun Suji and Dugu Qiuhun departed Lingao with four carriages. By the time the sun stood three poles high, they were resting at the Chengmai County courier station.
Following the Lingao Defense War's victory, the Transportation Department had organized a POW brigade investing over three thousand laborers as part of the "Grand Cross Road" plan. In two months, following the old timeline's Hainan West Line Expressway alignment, they completed the cinder-and-gravel road from Chengmai to Qiongzhou Prefecture. Courier stations were renovated; flame trees (Delonix regia) were planted roadside. In the old timeline, flame trees grew tall with broad, drooping canopies, ideal shade for tropical regions. Here they served the same purpose, flourishing along roads in Lingao, Sanya, and elsewhere.
New scenery now lined the roadside: black telegraph poles had risen. The first phase of the island-circling wired telegraph project was essentially complete. Wired telegraph from Lingao westward already connected Chengmai, Qiongshan, and Wenchang.
Throughout the journey, Yun Suji saw harvested fields everywhere. The paddies were now planted with green manure: Chinese milk vetch. As far as the eye could see, dots of green were emerging. With a veteran technician's keen observation, he noticed immediately that farmers in the fields were remarkably few.
"Good men don't earn money in June," he mused silently.
Though it was not June, the busy seasons had passed. Farmers had stored their grain and entered the slack season. Yun Suji had once mocked Southeast Asian natives for idling all day, assuming the proverb was mere lip service. But three years in Hainan had taught him the pure gold truth the phrase contained.
The year the Senate landed, villagers had swarmed toward cash like mosquitoes to blood; under heavy incentives, construction speeds broke records. But with the Tiandihui's help, once rural life improved, many became satisfied with modest prosperity. Though the future "Old Dad Tea" culture had not yet emerged, in a dozen or so wealthy villages around East Gate Market, people had grown addicted to "Australian Lifestyle" and "Senator Enjoyment." These prosperous farmers idled away drinking tea and wine at East Gate Market, or boasting in Bopu. They knew harder work would yield better lives, yet were already satisfied. Some simply stopped participating in winter corvée for water conservancy, directly hiring new immigrants instead.
This was not merely his observation or the Tiandihui's; Senators on frontlines and in civil affairs all commented on it. Finance Senators proposed increasing agricultural taxes and widening industrial-agricultural price scissors to reduce farmers' disposable income.
This was near-universal practice among late-developing industrial nations: building an industrial system by maximizing exploitation of rural surplus value in the absence of overseas markets. Though the Senate possessed vast overseas markets, its appetite for capital and labor remained insatiable.
From the finance sector's perspective, farmer living standards under Senate rule had improved too rapidly. Increased disposable income prompted lifestyle improvement—human nature. Yet the industrial system remained fragile. Massive accumulation must be directed toward export production and infrastructure investment. Satisfying private demand and maintaining circulation coupon stability now required increased commodity production in local markets.
The proposal sparked fierce controversy. The Senate wanted Lingao's new society to exert a "Beacon Effect," and improving farmer conditions was the most effective method. Forcibly suppressing income would damage the policy and affect public sentiment.
Some enterprising souls then posted on the BBS a development history of the Hainan State Farms, staffed mainly by Sichuanese and Hunanese employees. That post stirred deep empathy in Yun Suji, reinforcing determination to "run for the ministry" and demand a larger share from the Operation Engine immigration pool.
Regarding agriculture's request for manpower, the Planning Agency was generally forthcoming, though some questioned whether Northerners could cultivate rice and tropical crops. Dugu Qiuhun replied: "Plantation discipline requirements are no less than industry. We have sufficient whips and gallows."
No one questioned that.
Northern immigrants in northern Hainan were integrated in interspersed manner, mixed with Fujianese, settled according to the Standard Village model: Lingao established 50, Chengmai 35, Qiongshan 12.
What vexed them: the "satisfied with small wealth" mentality prevented Standard Villages from maximizing efficiency. Wu Nanhai was highly dissatisfied—he had boasted before the Administration Council, and failing to boost output meant failing to deliver. He urged thorough observation during this investigation.
The traditional mentality must be broken by State Farms! Yun Suji thought privately.
Out of respect for the Qiongzhou establishment, the Senate had not directly entered the Prefecture City. Instead, a new town was built in Haikou, along with an Army base: Haikou Fort.
As for Tang Yunwen's naval forces at Baisha-shuizhai, they had become decoration. Shortly after the Chengmai disaster, Assistant Regional Commander Tang dispatched people to Guangzhou seeking transfer. Now he neither patrolled nor attended duties, merely collecting eight hundred yuan allowance monthly while awaiting reassignment. Remaining soldiers subsisted on Senate "Assistance Pay"—earned through labor. Many able-bodied men had defected to the Australians, leaving only the old, weak, and disabled.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism converted the Chengmai courier station into a horse-changing post. Yun Suji and Dugu Qiuhun switched horses and continued. Mongolian horses adapted poorly to Hainan, suffering high mortality; they required careful handling.
The four carriages each carried a Senator guard on either side—eight total. They wore tropical pith helmets, short-sleeved shirts, straw sandals, and pistols. The carriages appeared identical from outside; the two Senators rode in the fourth, while the first three carried accompanying staff. Luggage was neatly bundled atop each vehicle.
Passing through Shishan, Yun Suji asked Dugu Qiuhun about the agricultural vehicle detachment that pursued routed Ming soldiers in this area. Though Dugu had not participated, he had visited the battlefield shortly afterward. Speaking with evident pleasure, he produced a notepad to sketch a tactical map.
"At the time, it was a mountain of corpses and sea of blood. The agricultural vehicles chased relentlessly, corpses covering the ground, rivers of blood..." He immersed himself in memories. "Look—that is the Requiem Monument built afterward, for fallen Ming officers and soldiers. Under the hill are remains and ashes." He pointed to a stone monument standing solitarily on a small hill.
"What about our people?"
"All buried at Cuigang. This side is the Chengmai Battle monument." He pointed to another mound: "Those are the ruins of the earth city built back then."
Facing the County City, on the collapsed embankment's ruins—still roughly showing its shape—stood a tall cylindrical monument. At the top stood the double-headed eagle military emblem cast from captured bronze cannons, standing on gears and wheat ears.
Yun Suji noticed the hill was lush with green but free of weeds and shrubs. Surrounded by crisscrossing farmland and woods, a small path wound straight to the foot—obviously maintained.
Seeming to know his thoughts, Dugu said: "The Chengmai County Office manages this. Fangcaodi students come here for camping and field training annually, tidying the surroundings."
"That is the right way. Educating the next generation inherits our cause."
"Educating the next generation is easy; hardest to educate is this generation." Dugu said. "Do you know which number military emblem that is?"
"?"
"The third." Dugu smiled. "Because it is made of copper—actually a wooden frame covered with copper sheet. The culprit was sent to labor camp—I suggested dismemberment by five horses directly under the monument, but the legal sector disagreed. Result: the second emblem was installed and lost again within months. This time the Circuit Court sentenced death for 'Lèse-majesté,' hung him in front of the monument. After the third one was installed, it has been peaceful."
"In the end, it is still poverty..."
"No, actually they are not poor anymore—not to the point of needing theft to survive. Before we came, they did not have enough to eat. Now? The few thieves caught all had stable incomes."
(End of Chapter)