Chapter 58: Mobilizing the Masses (Part 1)

Throughout the day, they had made their greatest effort. In addition to the heavy work of setting up the camp, they went deep into every household to conduct propaganda, investigation, and inquiry. Although Wu Nanhai had not prepared much food, many team members still gave their issued rations—Wu Nanhai’s special “Jinhua crisp pastries” and “seaweed rice balls”—to the common people. Doing so made them feel a little more at ease in their hearts.

Xi Yazhou paced back and forth, very worried, his hand on his chin in deep thought. To restore production, the first thing was to stabilize the people’s hearts. Right now, the village was suffering from a lack of food and clothing internally, and from the harassment of local tyrants and pirates externally. These were all problems that had to be solved. The external problems could be set aside for now, but the immediate problem of hunger and cold for the masses was not easy to solve.

Du Wen broke the silence in the tent. “The masses are living in great difficulty. Seeing their situation, we can’t just stand by and do nothing! I propose we start providing relief tomorrow, and also distribute some clothes. The women here have no clothes to wear—”

“We don’t have much capital,” Wang Luobin said, well aware of the resources they had brought. Wu Nanhai had only given them a week’s worth of rations for thirty people, plus one day’s worth of personal rations. Now, most of the team members had given their rations to the masses. Moreover, this village had over a hundred households and four to five hundred people. Even if everyone gave up all their food, it wouldn’t be enough for one day here.

Du Wen said, “Let’s apply for a few more cartloads of grain from Bairen City, and also some cloth.”

“Grain… Wu Nanhai doesn’t have much in reserve either. Even if we get some, how many days can it last? People need to eat every day.”

Xi Yazhou nodded. “That’s right. We can’t just wait for the higher-ups to come up with a solution. We have to rely on ourselves to solve it.” He took a few more steps and asked, “This salt village doesn’t grow its own grain. So what did they rely on for food in the past?”

“Of course, it was the income from selling salt or direct exchange.”

“In the final analysis,” Xi Yazhou summarized, “the production order here has been destroyed. The salt workers can’t get a normal income from drying salt, and they don’t even have personal safety. How can they be expected to work hard?”

Wang Luobin said, “So, we still have to—”

“Yes, we have to tackle this from two sides, and both sides must be strong,” Xi Yazhou said. “First, we must find a way to raise grain. With grain, the people’s emotions can be stabilized, and they can also develop trust in us. Second, we must arm the masses. Let them have the ability to defend themselves against local tyrants and pirates.” He smiled and nodded. “That’s right, just like that! Distribute the necessary weapons for production to the masses, let them save themselves through production. The saltworks village has all the conditions to become one of our fortresses.”

“I agree!” Du Wen’s eyes lit up and her spirits soared when she heard about mobilizing the masses. “But,” she frowned, “raise grain? Where are we going to get grain?”

“What is this place? A saltworks!” Xi Yazhou waved his hand. “Everyone needs to eat salt. This place can produce almost a ton of salt a day. As long as we work, what’s there to worry about for food and clothing! The local new grain will soon be on the market. At this juncture, if we can produce salt as soon as possible, not only can the village’s food problem be solved, but we can also raise a large amount of grain for Bairen City.”

“Good, let’s do it!” Du Wen’s eyes shone with excitement. In her mind, she had already become the female leader of a land reform work team from the movies, and her tone was just like it.

“But, right now the salt workers don’t dare to go to work in the fields, and they are hostile to us,” Wang Luobin reminded them.

“We need to find out the origin of this hostility as soon as possible. Engineer Wang, you said last time that the people here were not afraid of us.”

“Yes, that’s the strange part,” Wang Luobin also found it odd. “When I came last time, although the people here weren’t necessarily enthusiastic, their attitude was normal. This time, it’s a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.” He paused. “I’m just wondering, what does some ‘Dog Landlord’ or ‘Sheep Landlord’ arresting people have to do with us?”

“Could it be that the class enemies here are spreading rumors, just like how the Kuomintang used to say the Communists shared property and wives?”

Wang Luobin laughed. “Little Du, you have quite an imagination. First, there are no class enemies here. Second, we are not the Communist Party—”

Xi Yazhou started to laugh along, but then he suddenly stopped, saying thoughtfully, “You know, there might be something to that.” He thought for a moment. “This matter is most likely related to Landlord Gou.”

Wang Luobin said, “We have had no contact with this so-called Landlord Gou at all. At that time, I just saw his men come to the village from a distance on the dike. At most, he just knows that we have been here.”

“Ahem, let’s not rush this.” Xi Yazhou waved his hand and picked up the walkie-talkie to call the guards. “Quick, a few of you go with Zhang Xingjiao and bring that family with the girl disguised as a man. Yes, don’t alarm anyone else. I don’t need to tell you, you’re good at this.”

Putting down the walkie-talkie, he turned up the flame of the kerosene lamp—the wind turbine they brought hadn’t been assembled yet—and said to everyone:

“Let’s talk about the defense issue again.” He spread a newly drawn map of the area around the saltworks on the table.

“The Ma’niao saltworks is a flat plain with no key points to defend. The village itself is not fortified. The enemies we face are the local landlord’s armed forces, bandits, and pirates from outside. These three forces are very likely to be in collusion with each other. If our work team is to be stationed here for a long time, in addition to arming the local villagers, the camp itself must also be fortified.”

“This temple is not bad. The foundation is already there, but it’s a pity the buildings have collapsed.” They were currently stationed at the Ge Hong Temple at the entrance of the village. This Daoist scholar, famous alchemist, and physician of the Jin Dynasty was regarded by many salt workers as the founding master of the salt industry. The temple had fallen into disrepair over the years, and the buildings had almost completely collapsed, leaving only some stone foundations and a crumbling surrounding wall. The work team’s tents were set up on these foundations.

“Build a blockhouse?”

“It needs to be bigger. We also have to protect the salt we produce.”

As they were talking, they heard voices outside. Xi Yazhou said, “Du Wen, go get some candy and cups.”

“You want to eat candy?” Du Wen was confused.

“We have guests, hurry! We didn’t prepare enough. You’ll be in charge of comforting the girl later.”

Du Wen went out.

Before long, the guards led the family in, with Zhang Xingjiao following behind. The two old people were trembling. The middle-aged strong man seemed reluctant, deliberately moving slowly. The girl disguised as a man followed behind with her head down.

Xi Yazhou quickly invited them to sit down and served them tea. He had been in the army for many years and had also been a sales manager in a large enterprise for many years. A sincere and amiable smile immediately appeared on his face.

After a day of propaganda by the work team and the donation of some grain, their original fear and hostility had somewhat subsided.

When they heard that the transmigrators had come to the salt village to “eradicate the powerful and evil, protect the territory and pacify the people,” a look of doubt and confusion appeared on their faces. The strong man snorted and muttered a few words.

Xi Yazhou already understood a little of the Lingao dialect. Combined with his expression, he roughly understood his meaning and asked him gently: what exactly had the transmigrators done wrong?

Zhang Xingjiao translated the words. The other party’s replies were sometimes cold, sometimes sarcastic, and sometimes indignant. Regardless of the strong man’s attitude, Xi Yazhou always maintained the most sincere smile and spoke very politely. After several rounds of back and forth, they finally began to understand the whole story.

It turned out that a few days ago, this Landlord Gou had come to the salt village and declared that the “kūnzéi masters” of Bairen Beach had entrusted him to collect two hundred yin of salt. He also threatened the village: the kūnzéi masters had powerful firearms and would send troops to slaughter everyone if they didn’t comply. The story of the battle at Bairen Beach had long since been embellished and spread here. In addition, Wang Luobin had indeed come to buy salt a few days ago. Now, with Landlord Gou’s words, the already struggling salt workers became even more desperate. More than ten households fled at once, and a cloud of gloom hung over the village. Fearing that everyone would run away, Landlord Gou simply arrested the village chief and the clan elders, coercing them not to flee.

“Outrageous!” Wang Luobin almost slammed the table. “Shameless!” All the transmigrators present were shocked. This local tyrant, whom they only knew about from Zhang Xingjiao, actually had such methods!

“It seems this Landlord Gou is really something,” Xi Yazhou smiled. He had somewhat expected it, but this ability to use a powerful name to intimidate others was not to be underestimated.

Xi Yazhou then explained to them that there was no such thing. It was true that they wanted salt, but it would be a fair trade, and there was no reason to force it. He pointed to the already indignant Zhang Xingjiao. “Ask this man whose ancestral grave was dug up by Landlord Gou!”

The ancients revered their ancestral halls and tombs. Digging up someone’s ancestral grave was considered a deep-seated hatred. At Xi Yazhou’s mention of this, Zhang Xingjiao’s face turned red, and he began to speak to the family, his tone becoming more and more agitated. They watched as the family’s expression slowly changed.

It seemed that locals were more effective with other locals. Moreover, Zhang Xingjiao was a scholar. Although he had no official title, traditional Chinese society held great respect for educated people.

From Zhang Xingjiao, they learned that this family’s surname was also Tan, and they were cousins of the village chief from the same generation. The village chief was named Tan Guirong, and he was Tan Guihuang. The strong man was their son, named Tan Chengqing—salt workers hoped for nothing more than clear weather to dry salt. Tan Chengqing knew some martial arts, was upright, and was a straightforward person who dared to speak and act. He had a certain reputation among the young people in the village.

After about half an hour, Xi Yazhou saw that the time was right and brought the conversation back to the main topic. “Fellow villagers, we are very sorry. We are not familiar with this area and did not know that Landlord Gou would use our name to extort and threaten you. We did not know of your suffering. Now, the men, women, old, and young of the whole village have no food or clothes, and the young women have no pants to wear. We must first find a way to solve this. Let’s discuss it together. We need to get grain and clothes to ensure everyone has enough to eat and wear.”

“Can this be done?” the family asked, staring at Xi Yazhou together.

“Yes!” Xi Yazhou said with certainty. “As long as everyone works together.”

Tan Chengqing happily interjected, “As long as there is a way, we are willing to put in any effort.”

To dispel their long-held feelings of despair, Xi Yazhou said with emphasis, “We are here to help the common people. As long as we know of your suffering, we will definitely find a way to solve it.”