Chapter 2388: Financing (Part 23)

Land reclamation wasn't an easy task. No matter how Zhou Wei and his partners promoted the richness of the Mekong Delta's land, the reality was that in the 17th century, most of this area was still a desolate tropical jungle.

Developed farmland certainly existed, but the quantity was limited. This former territory of Water Chenla had seen Ming people migrating to settle and cultivate since the 15th century, but the real large-scale development had to wait until the Ming-Qing transition when large numbers of Ming loyalist refugees poured in.

Currently, there was mature farmland, but the area and output of these mature lands still had a big gap from the Senate's expectations. This involved two major issues: agricultural inputs and land reclamation.

Agricultural inputs aside, Zhou Wei didn't count on much—it would be good if the Heaven and Earth Society could send some technicians. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides, these agricultural inputs, had always prioritized the very few Agricultural Committee's directly-administered demonstration farms. Unless they could occupy mature farmland with excellent conditions in Cochinchina to establish directly-administered farms, this wasn't worth considering.

In an era without mechanical assistance, the cost of land reclamation was high, requiring large amounts of labor and animal power. For a single household to reclaim land, even with three or four able-bodied workers, opening just over ten mu of wasteland would take more than ten years. The hardship during this period was imaginable.

"Overgrown weeds are normal... The biggest problem... grass roots..."

"We don't have large-scale weeding capability..."

"Weeding? Try removing those tree roots without a high-horsepower tractor."

"Reclamation must use machinery, at least steam machinery..."

"Thirty years, two generations, without machinery or cattle, you'd only reclaim about 17 mu..."

"Zheng Chenggong developing Taiwan also needed 'three gold and one cow'..."

"Early stage can only seize mature farmland..."

"Mature farmland—how much mature farmland can that place have?"

"Prisoners were originally prepared to be sent to the Pengmiao gold mine belt near Danang for gold panning. Now it seems they can only be used as serfs first..."

"Heh heh, do you know how many slaves died reclaiming Keelung back then?"

...

With various difficulties laid out, the final conclusion was: 1. To reclaim land, the level of "modern" technology support must be increased—in other words, more money. 2. Since the economic goal yielded to the political goal, using production output as the profitability assessment was no longer suitable. The focus should be on resettling disaster victims to the greatest extent possible, with interest repayment focusing on "colonial land ownership."

However, after the second point was raised, everyone fell silent again—this land policy still had no conclusion, really inconvenient for everything.

"Everyone! Domestic land policy is actually being brewed!" After Zhou Wei said this, he turned and signaled toward Liu Xiang's group. Liu Xiang saw this and also nodded, confirming Zhou Wei's statement.

Land policy was currently being actively "discussed" in Lingao. Actually, neither Liu Xiang nor Zhou Wei had high hopes for what conclusion this discussion could produce.

Although the land issue had only been discussed two or three times in the Senate General Assembly, it had already been discussed about a dozen times in internal meetings convened by the Executive Committee and later the Administrative Affairs Yuan. There was great controversy among all parties.

Overall, the only thing that could guarantee majority passage was the basic policy of land nationalization. Under the major premise of land nationalization, how to operate, how to confirm rights for old landowners, how to allocate newly acquired land, how to tax, how to transfer... almost every detail had disputes.

Of course, there was also a portion of people firmly demanding recognition of private land ownership. Although their numbers didn't exceed one-third, their activities were very active.

Liu Xiang knew that in the short term, the Senate's land policy couldn't be decided. However, this time the Administrative Affairs Yuan opened another door. But he didn't know exactly what door, because this power was currently only granted to the Nanyang Company. If used properly, the specific approach would be promoted to Taiwan and southern Qiongzhou regions, replacing all the temporary policies currently in various places due to increased land from reclamation.

Zhou Wei got the endorsement and continued. "Moreover, even if a new land policy doesn't come out soon... then our Nanyang Company subsidiary colony can handle things on a special case-by-case basis first! Otherwise, what use is this red-header document I'm holding?" With that, he took out a copy of the Nanyang Company approval document from his briefcase and began explaining to the other Senators the scope of "act as appropriate" powers granted by this imperial edict in his hands...

Specifically, it meant granting migrants "colonization rights." Land in colonies organized and occupied by the Nanyang Company would be distributed by the Nanyang Company to migrants in the name of "colonization rights." After migrants occupied this land, they could obtain a twenty-five-year share contract. If the land distributed was wasteland, the first five years were share-free. From the sixth year, they would pay shares to the Nanyang Company. The share ratio varied based on location, land condition, and other factors. Migrants didn't need to pay agricultural tax besides the shares.

The reason for choosing the share system, besides the intention to incentivize more work for more pay, was more importantly because what the Senate urgently needed now was physical goods, not money.

"Surplus grain we can collect through market means. Migrants will need money for many things. As long as we set up grain shops in time, we can obtain enough surplus grain."

After the twenty-five-year term expired, colonist migrants could renew or not renew with the company. Besides stamp duty, no other taxes or fees would be collected.

To put it plainly, this was still a temporary measure. However, this measure was more standardized than those vague "agricultural tax payment certificates," "reclamation tickets," and such. It would also be easier to batch process in the future.

"...This proposal has already been approved, but if everyone still has specific opinions and suggestions, feel free to raise them. As the implementing party, we can make minor adjustments—of course, subject to Administrative Affairs Yuan approval." Zhou Wei said quite humbly.

"Wow, your power is not small!" Liu Xiang exclaimed after hearing Zhou Wei's introduction. "I was still wondering whether I should request to be Governor of Jiaozhou, go take back the three southern commanderies. But now, looking at your development rights, I want to work on the Annan Protectorate."

Zhou Wei was shocked in his heart upon hearing this: how is he already eyeing the administrative power of the colonies? But his face showed a flattering smile. "Old Liu, what are you saying! If you were willing to come join the Nanyang Company for business, our entire company up and down would definitely applaud in welcome!"

Liu Xiang seemed not to have heard this, waved his hand at Zhou Wei and said, "Don't kid around! How can I leave now? The drought is still two more years! Actually, I say, in terms of natural conditions, the Red River Plain has more value as a grain region than the Mekong River mouth. After all, one is tropical monsoon climate, the other is tropical rainforest climate. But the Red River Plain's difficulty is in conquest; the Mekong River mouth's difficulty is in development. Conquering a regime requires more work, is more complex—it's about fighting with people!" Liu Xiang paused. "Your Mekong River mouth colonization direction is more about fighting with heaven and earth. Consider it practice. We will fully support on this end. Hope you can establish a foothold and lay a good foundation for future development."

That's it... setting the tone?

"Then let's talk about the Nanyang Company's deposit, exchange, and remittance business for this action..." Chu He didn't wait for Zhou Wei to respond to Liu Xiang and took over the topic. The conference room became lively again...

In the end, Zhou Wei's "Nanyang Company First Colonization Plan" was established.

The colonization target locations were the main plain areas of Cochinchina and suitable grain-producing regions. The long-term target was all of Cochinchina, with expansion outside to be determined based on military situations.

The colonization process was divided into three stages. The first stage, besides establishing an initial foothold, also needed to coordinate with Guangdong's relief of drought effects over the next two years and undertake population migration tasks. The second stage was developing the three major gold mine belts of Pengmiao, Chanam, and Sudi, adding strength to the Senate's precious metal reserves—and consuming the prisoner population as much as possible. The third stage was establishing specialized tropical crop plantations and beginning to export products. Of course, the second and third stages didn't have a strict sequential order, but obviously most tropical crops had longer return cycles than developing gold mines.

The manpower needed for colonization would mainly be provided by Guangzhou city for the first phase. The current rough arrangement was to crack down on and clear out a large batch of clan organizations that didn't cooperate during the anti-epidemic action and land survey action, exiling entire clans as units. At the same time, Liang Xinhu and other legal sector Senators who came to join the meeting later also indicated that in criminal case sentencing, death sentences and long sentences over seven years for serious criminals could be reduced, with exile sentences greatly increased. Finally, retired soldiers and naturalized citizens would be surveyed on whether they were willing to go to Cochinchina for colonization. The Nanyang Company would treat them with "guoren" status, and if they could bring their families, there would be additional rewards. Yes, to cater to Liu Xiang's tastes, Zhou Wei had started using vocabulary from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou feudal system like "guoren," "yeren," and "slaves" to discuss matters...

Materials needed for colonization would prioritize procurement in Guangzhou under equal conditions. For industries like agricultural tool forging, which the light industry side had originally wanted to relocate to the mainland, the Nanyang Company would negotiate relocation and joint construction, establishing production bases in Guangzhou. If financing for expansion was needed, it would be jointly funded by the original enterprise, Guangzhou Investment Development Bank, and Nanyang Company.

Funds needed for colonization would be solved by Guangzhou Investment Development Bank for the first phase, while also entrusting the bank with all deposit, exchange, and remittance business for this colonization project. This entrustment would terminate after the first phase action ended. However, Zhou Wei knew that financing could switch to a new platform, but once the deposit, exchange, and remittance business was established, there really wasn't the energy to switch—this sentence merely preserved some face.

Only after Zhou Wei finally relented on the deposit, exchange, and remittance business and the material procurement and production priority issues did Liu Xiang stop his pressure performance of "calling messengers to demand investigation results from police and political security systems." And after the final agreement was reached, the conference room welcomed another messenger.

(End of Chapter)