Chapter 1713 - The People in Guangzhou City

Liu San said no more. Since Zhang Yikun hadn't sensed his meaning, it was better not to elaborate. That evening followed the usual routine of a welcome dinner, and the next day Liu San began preparing for medical and health work in Guangzhou.

As more transmigrators arrived to prepare for the takeover of power, the atmosphere inside Guangzhou World's "Inner World" grew steadily heavier. Troops already on site were quietly billeted in temporary barracks, passing the time with indoor calisthenics. Officers replayed invasion and takeover plans over and over on maps and sand tables. Lin Baiguang's intelligence system, now formally renamed the Urban Work Department of the Greater Guangdong Region, saw a ceaseless, furtive stream of people of every description entering and leaving day and night through several small side doors. The arrival of the Special Reconnaissance Battalion from the General Reconnaissance Bureau heightened the tension further—active by night and resting by day, using dedicated channels for entry and exit, they became the most mysterious presence in the compound.

Around the large merchant houses, gentry estates, and government offices in Guangzhou city, many peddlers and beggars had appeared since the end of last year. Disturbing news circulated everywhere in teahouses and taverns. The great event of the roving bandit army capturing the Central Capital and burning the imperial mausoleums in the first lunar month had arrived here even earlier than through official government channels—and was filled with all sorts of terrifying yet blood-pumping details. Then various pamphlets began to circulate again, detailing one by one the wretched events that had befallen the Ming everywhere in recent years.

Most frightening of all, memorials on military chaos, natural disasters, and famine—documents ordinary people rarely saw—along with court deliberations and even private correspondence between officials were being printed and circulated in a booklet named Wen Chun (Literary Spring).

This booklet was no different from others already circulating in Guangzhou, printed on poor-quality rough paper, except that it was distributed periodically, with a new issue every seven days. Its content was explosive: not only these primary source materials but also many "Court Secrets," filled with stories of atrocities and scandals involving court officials and local gentry everywhere. The Guangzhou Prefectural Government and the two county yamens had conducted multiple raids, catching quite a few unlucky souls distributing or copying them, but never the actual printers or editors. Not a single person truly responsible for releasing the booklets had been apprehended. The local bigwigs knew in their hearts that nine times out of ten these were the work of the Australians—or at least had their backing.

For the literate, Wen Chun and other pamphlets not only satisfied their curiosity but gave them endless topics for conversation. The news spread at a hundred times its normal speed.

Though Guangzhou citizens had always possessed a carefree temperament of "drinking tea while tea is available," the danger of descending chaos inevitably caused worry. Those with money and property showed expressions of ceaseless panic: "The Great Ming is finished!"

This atmosphere of dread spread quietly through every social stratum. The illusory sense of security created by geographic distance and delayed news had been punctured by these "news reports."

The bureaucrats in the city, high and low, were especially terrified. They knew perfectly well where the rumors originated and what the goal was. The bald thieves, who had been lying low since their last incursion into Guangzhou, were obviously emboldened by the current situation and preparing to make a move—and the target was very likely Guangzhou itself.

Such speculation was by no means baseless. Guangzhou's officials were not deaf; what happened on Hainan Island was no secret to them. Over the years, officials departing or transferring from Hainan would always stop in Guangzhou to rest, meet superiors or classmates, and chat about what they had seen at their posts. Everyone knew that Hainan was already "to all intents an enemy state." Every departing official said the bald thieves had "disloyal hearts" and that a "great change" would happen sooner or later.

But talk was only talk—who could go and destroy their lairs? When Governor-General Xiong Wencan took office to pacify them, everyone had wanted to see if he had the skill to turn the bald thieves into a second Zheng Zhilong. But after Zheng Zhilong's lair was destroyed by the bald thieves and he himself died in battle, officialdom in Guangdong had lost hope entirely. Xiong Wencan stopped mentioning it too, intensifying preparations to defend against the enemy instead.

However, in the eyes of officials who had more contact with the bald thieves and understood them better, Governor Xiong's preparations were mostly useless—and Xiong probably knew it himself. The Governor-General's headquarters had moved from Zhaoqing to Guangzhou only a few years ago, but he had recently petitioned the court to move back to Zhaoqing on some pretext.

Amid suspicion, pessimism, and tension, Guangzhou's officialdom watched Guangzhou World outside the Great East Gate. There, commercial recruitment was proceeding busily with no sign of impending war. But sharper officials had long sniffed the scent in the bald thieves' recent moves. The bald thieves were using their local agents to buy up and stockpile grain, and traffic of vessels on the Pearl River was much heavier than usual—all suggesting disturbing intentions.

For Zhang Yu, this news did not affect his mood. Ever since his family won the order for walnut cookies from the Great World Tea House and became a special authorized supplier, the anxious, gloomy atmosphere in his home had been swept away. The orders from the Great World weren't especially large—at most the volume of one or two teahouses. But obtaining the plaque from Zhang Yikun reading "Designated Supplier to Guangzhou World" caused a sensation throughout the entire Guangzhou teahouse and bakery world as soon as word got out.

Retail sales multiplied seven or eight times overnight. Many wealthy households sent servants clear across the city just to buy walnut cookies at his shop. Teahouses that had never ordered from them before began placing orders too. Overnight, this obscure little shop became a famous establishment in Guangzhou.

Zhang Yu's parents beamed every day. Not only was business booming, but the yamen runners and "public servants" who used to come frequently to shake them down had all vanished. Naturally, the shop stopped using old walnuts. They hired more staff and added an apprentice. His father had a craftsman enlarge the plaque design onto a large board and hung it in the center of the shop hall—dark and glistening with gold, quite out of proportion to the tiny shop.

Zhang Yu's status in the community school rose instantly as well. Previously, scions of large merchant families or those with scholars in the family rarely associated with a small merchant's son like him. The arrogant ones wouldn't even offer a greeting; the mean ones would sneer: "What's a shop boy studying books for?"

Recently, everyone seemed like a different person. At the very least, they would speak politely when meeting him; some even brought money specifically to ask him to buy walnut cookies for them. The teacher, originally a snob, stopped making things difficult for him at will; even the ruler-slap punishment for failing to recite a new text could be spared.

While his few close friends in the community school were happy for him, they couldn't help feeling some jealousy. Especially Zeng Juan. His family also ran a small shop, and his circumstances had been much like Zhang Yu's. Now Zhang Yu's family had turned their fortunes around, while his family remained poor strugglers—he couldn't help feeling the unfairness.

As for Li Ziyu, he was unreconciled to seeing his own limelight greatly diminished. He constantly cited "divine weapons" from the Wubei Zhi (Treatise on Armament Technology) to argue that the Ming was only in trouble because "treacherous officials hold power." Otherwise, neither the bald thieves' Great World nor their so-called bastion in Lingao would be anything but dregs before the mysterious cannons that could "rot the land for dozens of li with one shot." As for the bald thieves' "Ironclad Fire Wheel Ships," that was only because the Divine Fire Ironclad Castle Ship hadn't been built—if it were, their ironclads would be mere paper.

Though no one believed this point. The diagram of his so-called "Divine Fire Ironclad Castle Ship" was effectively a large wooden raft with a battery tower erected on it, mounting cannons on all sides and propelled by sails and eight large sculling oars. Both Zhang Yu and Zeng Juan deeply doubted whether the thing could move at all.

Chen Shixin had stopped coming to school. One day when the teacher was absent, the friends went together to his house. Knocking on the Chen family door, his father answered.

Only after inquiring did they learn that their classmate had gone to Lingao—he had been recruited by the Australians as an apprentice.

"An Australian took a fancy to his paintings," his father explained, gesturing. "Said he painted well and took him to Lingao to learn painting. His mother and I talked it over. He's not material for studying books, but he loves painting. If he learns the Westerners' painting techniques, he'll have a way to earn a living when he comes back."

"You old folks felt safe letting him go?" Li Ziyu said in astonishment. "That's bald thief territory!"

"Bald thieves or Australians, they wander outside Guangzhou city all day long; they aren't man-eating demons. What's not to feel safe about? I hear the market in Lingao isn't small either—business might be even better there. I'm thinking of going to see for myself in a while."

Leaving Chen Shixin's house, the friends all felt somewhat lost. Li Ziyu muttered, "He always liked the Australians' gadgets; suppose this fits his wish. But to defect to the baldies just like that..."

Zeng Juan, however, felt an emptiness in his heart for some reason. Zhang Yu's family had prospered. Li Ziyu's family counted as a minor established household with house and land—his studying was just to avoid being illiterate. Zeng Juan had once felt some superiority over Chen Shixin, but now Chen Shixin had run off to the Australians—needless to say, he would surely prosper in the future.

He alone was unsuccessful in letters, untalented in martial arts, and his family business was meager. For a moment his future seemed bleak. He didn't even have the energy to respond when Zhang Yu suggested seeing the new Australian movie. He muttered, "So what if he defected to the baldies? Better than suffocating to death here..."

Li Ziyu didn't quite understand, but Zhang Yu knew something of his friend's heavy heart. He comforted him: "No need to defect to the baldies. Why not go to the Great World and see if there's any business to be done..."

Zeng Juan smiled bitterly. "Brother Zhang, my family runs an incense and candle shop. Except for wealthy households burning a bit of incense daily, folks only buy when worshipping gods or conducting affairs. The Great World doesn't need these things—I went in and looked. There's just a Westerner's church and some New Daoist temple, but they say they don't burn incense there." He sighed. "My father says it's lucky incense prices have dropped a lot lately, otherwise the shop really couldn't stay open."

"Couldn't your family make something else?" Li Ziyu asked.

Zeng Juan looked helpless. "This is the only craft my father knows. What else can he do?"

(End of Chapter)