Chapter 60: Mobilizing the Masses (Part 3)

Xi Yazhou, however, was full of confidence. “Dealing with the government is our business. You don’t need to worry.” In fact, he had a plan long ago—we can’t win against the ancients by playing mind games and plotting; we can only break through with force.

The people of the salt village looked at each other, seemingly in disbelief. But these kūnzéi masters before them were no saints. They had defeated several hundred militiamen at Bairen Beach; perhaps they could really pull it off. Xi Yazhou was in no hurry to prove anything. He just asked, “If we take back the salt tax, can everyone’s hearts be united? When that time comes, the two old Gou brothers will definitely not be willing to give up and will come to make trouble—”

“What’s there to be afraid of?” Tan Chengqing said with a shrug of his shoulders, very confidently. “With his few men, any of the young and strong men in the village can handle two or three of them!”

Tan Guihuang sighed. “It’s just that we don’t have any weapons. Our village has suffered enough because of this. With empty hands, we don’t even have a tool to vent our anger.”

“Weapons, we have plenty,” Xi Yazhou said.

“Then we can be united,” a wave of enthusiasm surged from Tan Chengqing’s heart. “Damn it, a man has to die sooner or later. Living like this is too damn cowardly. A hero can’t take this kind of abuse. If we have weapons,” he gritted his teeth, “we’ll take a few of them down with us no matter what.”

“Good!” Xi Yazhou said excitedly. “The problem now is, first, to let the villagers eat their fill, and second, to find a way to rescue the village chief and the others first. Then we can talk about other things.”

“Right!” the few of them said excitedly together. “Once the people’s hearts are settled, anything can be done.”

“How many people are in the village now?” Xi Yazhou asked Tan Guihuang. “How many are young and strong, and how many are women, children, and elderly?”

“There are probably more than four hundred people, mainly women, children, and the elderly. Most of the young and strong men are hiding outside, reclaiming land. In total, there are over two hundred of them.”

Not counting the young men outside, they had to supply more than four hundred people in the village alone. Calculated at a low standard of half a catty of rice per person per day, the daily grain consumption would be two hundred and fifty catties. This was not a small number for the transmigrators, whose grain supply was already more than half depleted. In addition, they had to rescue the people who had been taken from the saltworks. It seemed that they had to fight this Landlord Gou!

“If all the young and strong men return to the village,” Xi Yazhou asked Tan Guihuang, “how much salt can be produced each day?”

The father and son calculated for a moment. “We can produce more than two thousand catties a day. The weather has been good recently, perfect for drying salt.”

Xi Yazhou thought, that’s equivalent to one ton a day. For manual labor, that’s quite a lot. But for the chemical department, one ton of salt is not even enough for a small chemical plant’s daily raw material consumption. It seems there is still a lot of room for improvement in the salt production method. But that was a matter for later. For now, the main thing was to use salt as a commodity to exchange for grain and cloth as soon as possible.

Lingao itself was not capable of consuming so much edible salt. In fact, most of Hainan’s salt was exported to the mainland. They had to find a market for this salt. There was still no news from Xiao Zishan after he went to Guangzhou. Even if they immediately notified him that there was a large amount of salt available for sale here, it would be like distant water that couldn’t quench a nearby thirst. He thought for a moment and asked again:

“Do the merchants who used to come to your village to buy salt still come?”

“How would they dare!” Tan Guihuang said. “Ever since Landlord Gou colluded with villains, robbed a salt boat from Leizhou, and killed the merchant and the boat owner, no one has dared to come here to buy salt anymore.”

“Are there any you are familiar with? We can invite them to come and buy salt. We can provide military protection.” Xi Yazhou said with conviction, seeing the doubtful look in their eyes. “What, we have such big iron ships, are we afraid of a few small pirates?”

Tan Guihuang nodded, as if making up his mind. “Done! I used to receive these salt merchants. I’m familiar with their business names. There’s a Hoklo man named Liu Gang from Leizhou. He’s a small merchant. Although he also buys salt vouchers to trade, he often smuggles on the side. He might be bolder. I’ll make a trip to Haikang!”

“Let me go instead. You’re getting old,” Tan Chengqing quickly stopped his father when he saw he was about to go on a long journey.

“Going to Haikang is just a matter of crossing the sea. We still need people to stay in the village.”

“We’ll send a boat to take you across the sea tomorrow.” Although Xi Yazhou knew this was a bit of an over-the-top gesture—crossing the sea from Ma’niao to the Leizhou Peninsula wouldn’t even take half a day by rowing a wooden boat—this was the time to show the transmigrators’ strength.

“Chengqing,” Xi Yazhou said to Tan Chengqing, “I’ll have to trouble you to go and call back all the young and strong men who are hiding outside tomorrow. We’ll form a militia!”

“Form a militia?”

“Yes. The Gou family can have their retainers and village braves. A large salt village like this can’t be without its own armed force. Even if the Gou family doesn’t come, we have to be prepared for pirates. Tomorrow, we will allocate weapons from Bairen Beach.”

“Done! I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Tan Chengqing said excitedly.

“Good. Now I have to talk about rescuing the people,” Xi Yazhou said. “It’s not difficult to rescue them. But once they are rescued, you will have completely broken ties with the Gou family. Do you have the determination to fight them to the end?” He said deliberately, “If you don’t have this determination, then we can also use a soft approach. You can first gather two hundred yin of salt and then ransom the people.” This was a way of goading them.

The father and son looked at each other and said in unison, “We’ll fight! In the past, we gave an inch, and he took a foot. If we don’t take him down, sooner or later this saltworks and salt village will all belong to the Gou family!”

“Alright, then we’ll arrange for the rescue. Tomorrow, find me some people who are familiar with the Gou family’s situation.”

“Good! We’ll go back and tell the villagers right away and arrange it all together.”

The few of them disappeared into the night outside, and the atmosphere in the tent became much more lively. Everyone was happy that they had been able to open up such a situation today.

Xi Yazhou discussed some more matters with everyone and decided to first transfer a batch of grain from Bairen City tomorrow for relief, and the weapons would be transported at the same time—anyway, the transmigrators didn’t use these things.

The next morning, there was some life in the village. The members of the work team continued to build their own camp while looking out at the beach, where figures were already at work. Compared to the desolate scene of yesterday, they had much more confidence. Many people who had originally been skeptical or even scornful of their propaganda work yesterday were now completely convinced by Xi Yazhou’s “old-fashioned policy.”

The sun shone on the churning sea, reflecting a mottled, sparkling light. This unremarkable new day, for the residents of the saltworks, meant the beginning of a new era.

Outside the ruined walls of the Ge Hong Temple, curious children gathered. Unlike the suspicious adults, these kūnzéi people who brought sweet and sour candy balls seemed to them like people from another world. They watched with rapt attention as these people worked with strange tools. Their things all looked so exquisite and luxurious—even a single candy ball was wrapped in colorful, transparent paper. Since last night, the children had spontaneously started a craze for collecting fruit candy wrappers. Every time a kūnzéi person walked by, everyone would hold their breath, watching to see if he would take out a candy ball. They would stare intently at the lucky one, watching him eagerly pop the candy into his mouth and clutch the wrapper in his hand as if it were a treasure.

“These children can all be our new blood in the future,” Wang Luobin said to Xi Yazhou. Seeing these sallow, emaciated, half-naked children, the idea of the first comprehensive industrial and technical school, which he had envisioned for a long time, came to mind again.

“Then let’s start one,” Xi Yazhou said. “What do land reform work teams do? They struggle against landlords, divide the land, and don’t they also run night schools—”

“That’s right!” Wang Luobin nodded excitedly. “I forgot all about that.” He said with some shame, “I was always thinking of it like a regular school, with school buildings, dormitories, canteens, laboratories… So I thought about it several times and always felt that resources were still scarce and the time was not ripe for starting a school. But in fact, to start a school, all you need is a room and a blackboard!”

“There are thirty of us, and every one of us can be a teacher for the children,” Xi Yazhou said. “Otherwise, wouldn’t everyone be bored to death at night?” Running a night school could not only provide education but also give everyone something to do during the long, boring nights, which was killing two birds with one stone.

“Good, then I’ll go and prepare for this right away,” Wang Luobin walked away excitedly.

The transmigrators’ first construction task was still energy. As a small, independent stronghold by the sea, a wind turbine was the best choice. Lingao itself had relatively rich wind resources.

He Ying led his team members to use a primitive derrick and pulley system to lift a heavy packing case onto a high platform built of stone. From the look of the platform, it should have been a bell and drum tower in the past, but the building on the platform had collapsed many years ago. The platform was covered with a thick layer of rubble and earth. He Ying wiped his sweat and measured the altitude. Including the height of this 5-meter-plus platform, this place was nearly 10 meters above sea level. The foundation was relatively solid, and the windward side was open. The wind was really strong, and his sweat dried in a moment. He couldn’t help but shiver. This should be a suitable place.

An hour later, a two-meter-high frame resembling a high-voltage tower was erected.

Two hours later, something like an electric fan head was installed on the frame.

Two and a half hours later, the blades of this head were installed.

A black box had already been placed under the frame, and a thick cable connected it to the “electric fan” on the frame.

He Ying put his foot on the frame and forcefully pulled down the fan blade safety lock. The “electric fan” whirred to life, and the black box emitted a long beep. Clean Energy Facility No. 1 had begun to work.

This wind turbine was an off-the-shelf product. The blades were made of fiberglass, the generator was a small DC motor, and there were batteries in the transformer box under the frame. In fact, the electricity generated was first used to charge the batteries and then supplied power. This would make the voltage more stable. The power was only 400 watts.

400 watts of power, besides lighting, could only run things like computers, which was enough for now. In the energy department’s plan, once the situation at the saltworks stabilized, a small thermal power generator would be put into production here—it was said to be self-produced, and the people in the mechanical group had been drawing up boiler blueprints recently.

I hope this self-produced small generator doesn’t cause any trouble. I don’t plan on coming to install it then, He Ying muttered to himself as he was installing the generator. He had privately brought a small generator, but it was requisitioned by the Planning Committee as soon as he landed. Because of this generator, he had become a member of the Industrial Department’s Energy Group.