Chapter 75: The Ambitions of Dongmen Chuiyu and Dugu Qiuhun

In a conference room on the second floor of the hall where the public standard weights and measures were displayed, the first meeting of the Dongmen Market Administration was being held. The conditions in the conference room were spartan. The walls were only plastered with limestone, and because the construction was rushed, the limestone had not yet completely dried. The floorboards were raw wood; the industrial department had not yet found any lacquer trees, and modern paint was a distant future. There was no ceiling or anything of the sort. The only modern piece of equipment was a light bulb hanging high from the roof. However, the tables and chairs were luxurious, worth at least several million in the 21st century. A large rosewood painting table, zitan official’s hat chairs, and pear wood round stools were haphazardly arranged to resemble a conference room—all of these were spoils of war from the Gou family.

There were seven or eight people in attendance, all of whom were interested in working in commerce. Some had actual experience, while others were purely driven by interest. The leader was a young man who claimed to have been an assistant administrator at an industrial and commercial office. His original name is lost to history, but when he learned that he was to be the head of this Dongmen Market, he gave himself a brand new name: “Dongmen Chuiyu” (East Gate Blowing Rain).

Beside him was his deputy: dressed in an iron-gray uniform-style shirt, black trousers, and a black hat, with an armband that read “Administrative Law Enforcement Assistant.” He had a murderous look on his face, the very picture of a peddler terminator. Like Dongmen Chuiyu, his real name is unknown. In the history books of the future republic, he appears under the strange name “Dugu Qiuhun” (Seeking Marriage Alone). These two would go on to create a brand new business model for this time and space in Lingao County of the Great Ming.

In the not-too-distant future, the transmigrators’ commerce would eventually span the four seas, with the overseas company’s trade network covering Europe, Asia, and Africa. But at this moment, all of the transmigrators’ commerce was on the patch of dirt downstairs, which didn’t even have concrete. Fortunately, Wen Desi had already declared that commerce was a project fully supported by the Executive Committee; they would have money if they needed money, and goods if they needed goods.

Where the flag points, trade opens the way. In the history of colonial expansion, commercial trade was invariably used as a breakthrough. Trade not only brings profits but can also be an important means for colonists to establish a foothold in a local area. For the transmigrators, they had already used violence to seize land. The next step was to increase contact with the local natives, transforming themselves from green-faced, fanged, murderous pirates into merchants with a large quantity of novel goods. The allure of wealth would draw more and more wary locals to their side, eventually linking their own interests with theirs.

Of course, the transmigrators themselves also needed the support of trade, especially for basic living materials like grain and subsidiary foodstuffs, which had to be supplemented from local farmers. Relying on external imports had a great element of instability. Many were aware of the history of political turmoil in ancient Rome, often caused by the failure of grain shipments from Egypt to arrive on time—a situation that had to be avoided at all costs.

The meeting began with a review of yesterday’s grain procurement situation. Reconnaissance teams sent out in all directions reported that farmers had begun to pay their grain taxes to their landlords. The transmigrators then began to set up a grain purchasing point in Dongmen Market. The local price of rice was one tael and three mace of silver per shi. Based on a general rice yield rate of about seventy percent from unhusked rice, the purchase price for unhusked rice was set at eight mace per shi. This price did not take into account the transportation and profit costs included in the price of rice—the commercial department estimated that the local purchase price for unhusked rice would not exceed five mace per shi, so eight mace was already a rare high price.

The procurement went very smoothly. The nearby common people, from small households to large grain merchants, were all tempted when they saw that they were willing to buy grain with shiny silver. At first, there were only a scattered ten or twenty people, but recently, more than one or two hundred people came every day, carrying or pushing bags and bushels of grain. The seven or eight people in the commercial department were completely overwhelmed and had to call in people from the agricultural department to help.

At the beginning, there was some chaos because the locals were accustomed to using the “dou” (bushel) as a unit of measurement for grain, with ten dou making one shi. This “dou” was also divided into official and private bushels, with different capacities. The top of the bushel was open, and they were stumped by questions of whether the rice on the surface should be level or heaped, and if heaped, how high. After a period of chaos, it was decided to implement a new system of weights and measures, purchasing by weight. The purchase price was set at eight mace of silver per one hundred kilograms, which they called a “gong shi” (public shi). The weighing was done using a platform scale taken from the ship. Unexpectedly, this change in weights and measures did not cause any resentment or protest from the grain sellers. In their view, since the transmigrators were willing to pay for the grain, what unit of measurement they used was their freedom. This greatly surprised Dongmen Chuiyu—no wonder it was said that ancient landlords used small bushels for lending and large bushels for collecting—the common people had no understanding of the importance of weights and measures.

In contrast, the common people were quite interested in how to add weight to the rice. At the beginning, everyone was inexperienced and busy, and the purchased rice was mixed with a lot of chaff, and even husks and sand, causing considerable losses. At this point, someone came up with an idea, and a batch of grain probes were quickly made to check the samples. Wu Nanhai also conducted an emergency training session, teaching everyone how to distinguish the quality and moisture content of the rice. Only then was the situation of passing off inferior goods as superior ones brought under control.

“…As of today, we have purchased 90 tons of unhusked rice and 2100 kilograms of peanuts,” Dongmen Chuiyu reported the procurement situation to the several Executive Committee members attending the meeting.

“How much more do you think you can purchase?” Wen Desi asked. 90 tons of unhusked rice would yield only about 70 tons of brown rice. It seemed like a lot, but with more and more people to feed, and the need to provide relief to the common people, things were a bit tight.

Yu E’shui opened a notebook he carried with him. “There is still capacity for procurement. According to the county gazetteer, during the Wanli era, the official autumn grain tax in Lingao was 7,646 shi, 9 dou, 2 sheng, and 7 ge. The tax from newly reclaimed land was 6 shi, 7 sheng, and 9 ge, for a total of 7,686 shi, 7 sheng, and 9 ge. This is just the official tax. Adding in the various surcharges, extra levies, and layers of exploitation by officials, the actual amount of grain handed over by the grain households would not be less than ten thousand shi. It is now the late Ming Dynasty, a time when powerful families were most serious about concealing their land and households. A considerable portion of the land should be untaxed. Therefore, I estimate that the total autumn grain output of Lingao is between fifty thousand and seventy thousand shi. It should be no problem for us to purchase three to five thousand shi.”

Someone raised a doubt: “Is it necessary to store so much grain? Didn’t we confiscate over a thousand shi from the Gou family? And Saltworks Village has already started selling salt to the mainland, exchanging salt for grain from Guangdong. We can also buy grain from Vietnam in the future.”

Wu Nanhai, who took the grain issue very seriously, immediately retorted, “The more grain, the better. With grain in hand, there’s no panic in the heart. Whether it’s Guangdong or Vietnam, that’s all distant water. If it’s cut off, it will be detrimental to the stability of the people’s hearts.”

Wen Desi continued, “At this stage, grain is a harder currency than silver. As soon as there is a famine, the price of grain will skyrocket, and silver will devalue. Don’t forget that we are still in the Little Ice Age, and natural disasters are frequent. We are no longer just a few ships and a few hundred people; we must consider the overall situation of the entire county and be fully prepared.”

“I also urge the Executive Committee to pay attention to the trade situation and silver reserves,” Cheng Dong said, speaking for the finance department. “The current trade balance is a serious deficit, and silver is flowing out rapidly. After the battle at Gou Family Village, our silver reserves rose to fifteen thousand taels under the old system. In the past few days, nearly a thousand taels have already flowed out. This can’t go on. After all, there is also a demand for circulating currency.”

“Xiao Zishan has gone to Guangzhou. Why not have him withdraw a few tens of thousands of taels from the payment stored at the Gao family’s place?”

“There’s no need for that,” Wen Desi said. “Lingao is a small place. Too much silver flowing in is not a good thing. We have something else that can replace silver—salt.” Salt had long served as a form of currency in history, and he planned to use it to pay for part of the grain and labor costs.

However, some people opposed this approach. For the common people, silver was clearly more attractive than salt, and it was also easier to carry and use. The people had already tasted the benefits of cash purchases and would not like such a sudden and mandatory barter trade.

“Let’s open a salt shop,” Dongmen Chuiyu had a sudden idea. “Specializing in selling salt. He sells his grain and gets silver with his left hand, and then he has to give it back to us with his right hand. Hahaha, I’m such a cunning merchant—”

“That’s a good idea. Using grain and salt as equivalents is not the way forward, after all. We now control the county’s salt production, so it’s very suitable for recovering currency,” Cheng Dong nodded in agreement.

Dongmen Chuiyu struck while the iron was hot and quickly submitted a document. “This is our commercial group’s business plan for Dongmen Market. We hope the Executive Committee will approve it as soon as possible!”

“A business plan?” The several Executive Committee members were taken aback. Although they had set up a free market outside Bairen City, their purpose was only to promote the circulation of goods and improve relations between the transmigrators and the local natives. Few had carefully considered how to manage the market. Everyone had imagined it to be like the free markets in many cities in China: farmers and small vendors would come to set up stalls and sell their goods, and at most, someone might have thought of waiving the stall fees.

“That’s right, a business plan.” Dongmen took the opportunity to stand up. “Fellow Executive Committee members, let me now introduce this overall plan. I believe that with this plan, under the correct leadership of the Executive Committee, with the guidance of Chief Wen, and with the strong support of Committee Member Cheng—”

“Cut the crap! We’re in the Ming Dynasty and you’re still pulling this stuff!” Dugu Qiuhun was already impatient.

“—our Dongmen Market will become the most prosperous commercial market in all of Lingao, no, in all of Hainan!”

Dongmen Chuiyu had, after all, informally navigated the officialdom and didn’t care about Qiuhun’s complaints. After finishing his opening remarks, he quickly hung a newly drawn planning map on the blackboard behind him. He had obtained this after a trip to the construction engineering group, where he had exhausted all his pleasantries and given away several packs of cigarettes.