Chapter 85: Guangzhou Advance Station

Liang Cunhou forced a smile and said, “I am providing grain for disaster relief, firstly because I cannot bear to see the people displaced and starving on the roads; and secondly, because I fear that the poor, driven by hunger and cold, will resort to desperate measures. Do you gentlemen know how many famine victims have flocked to Guangzhou, both inside and outside the city, recently? A rough estimate puts the number at no less than thirty thousand! And this is still the autumn harvest. When the spring famine arrives next year, when the new crops are not yet ready, who knows how many more will come! If someone were to stir them up, would it not be the local area that suffers! It is laughable how many gentry, who call themselves disciples of the sages, instead say that I am deliberately seeking fame and currying favor, as if I have some ulterior motive. Laughable! Laughable!” After speaking, he probably felt he had misspoken and quickly cupped his hands, “I’ve lost my composure, my apologies!”

“Just two people short,” Xiao Zishan muttered to himself.

“What is the shopkeeper saying?” Liang Cunhou asked, not understanding his meaning.

“No, no, it’s nothing,” Xiao Zishan quickly changed the subject. “Young Master Liang, we would also like to recruit some famine victims in Guangzhou and send them to Qiongzhou to open up wasteland. I wonder if there would be any problem with the government regarding this matter?”

“Open up wasteland?” Young Master Liang laughed in spite of himself. “Gentlemen, don’t blame me for pouring cold water on you. You invest capital to open up wasteland, but I’m afraid that in the end, you won’t even be able to pay the taxes. A year of hard work will only benefit those petty officials. Recruiting refugees is a good deed, but I’m afraid that if things don’t work out, you’ll end up making them homeless instead.”

An important directive from the Executive Committee to the intelligence personnel was to collect all kinds of information about Ming Dynasty society. Seeing this, Guo Yi deliberately said, “Why does Young Master Liang say so?”

“Qiongzhou, I have not been there myself. But I have heard that the place is hot and humid, with a lot of miasma and many typhoons. There are also Li people causing trouble. Although there is a lot of wasteland, I’m afraid it’s not easy to settle there. Furthermore, you are all merchants, with no official titles. Wouldn’t you be fat sheep in the eyes of the local petty officials! At best, you’ll lose all your capital; at worst, I’m afraid you’ll be ruined! Alas, this world!”

Guo Yi could only agree meekly and dared not say more. As they were talking, a servant came over and whispered something to him. Young Master Liang stood up, said he had other matters to attend to, and took his leave with a cupped-hand salute. After they parted ways and had not gone far, a servant ran up and asked respectfully, “My young master asks, where is your esteemed residence? He will come to pay a visit another day.”

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. They had just been meek and submissive in front of him, neither reciting any “a thousand li of ice, ten thousand li of snow” nor talking about things like human rights, democracy, and freedom. What on earth did this Young Master Liang, from a noble family, see in this group of merchants?

Guo Yi quickly said, “Our humble residence is on Huifu Street, under the name Zizhen Zhai.”

The servant, having clarified, took out a plum-red piece of paper from a calling card box. “This is my young master’s calling card. Please accept it.”

To give a calling card at the first meeting showed that he held the other party in high regard. Before coming, Guo Yi had attended Yu E’shui’s series of lectures on “Ming Dynasty Customs and Traditions,” and he hurriedly declined, saying, “I dare not accept.” Only after refusing several times did he finally accept it.

Xiao Zishan, still worried, rushed to the escort agency’s mule and horse inn. He saw that the people who had arrived had all been settled under the escort agency’s arrangements. Sun Kecheng was also dumbfounded at first. He had heard that they wanted to buy some servants, but he hadn’t expected so many people to arrive overnight. The entire escort agency was mobilized to cook and boil water. They also hired a doctor to see the sick, prescribe medicine, and brew it. The chaos didn’t settle down until the night watch began.

Back on Huifu Street, everyone discussed the matter. The goods had not yet been fully purchased, but they had already bought over two hundred people. Leaving them at the Qiwei mule and horse inn was not a long-term solution. Firstly, it was an imposition on them. Secondly, once people were well-fed, their minds would start to wander. They were not prison guards, watching them twenty-four hours a day. They decided to transport the people back first and then come back for the goods.

This proposal received the enthusiastic approval of the crew, which surprised Xiao Zishan. He had thought that since these people had only been here for a few days, they would not be willing to go back so soon. He didn’t know that several of them had their own little schemes. It was decided then and there that the purchased people would rest at the Qiwei mule and horse inn for two days, and then the crew would be responsible for transporting them back. The others would stay in Guangzhou to continue the construction of the advance station.

The renovation of the house was also in full swing. According to the plan, this house on Huifu Street would be transformed into a front-shop, back-workshop style jewelry store, specializing in the sale of various luxury goods made by the transmigrators. Some post-processing and assembly work could be done here, with only the key processes remaining in Bairen City. Yan Maoda, a former jewelry company manager, had some knowledge of jewelry design and processing. He had brought with him a large amount of information on new jewelry designs. He said that as long as they recruited a few skilled craftsmen, they could manufacture these jewels—this would be better than just selling glassware and would also avoid conflicts with Gao Ju, who was their product agent.

Xiao Zishan used his relationship with Gao Ju to recruit many workers for the renovation project. Fortunately, they had plenty of money. Under the pretext of opening a jewelry store, the entire courtyard and houses were built like a fortress. Although it didn’t look like an American embassy, it was not far off. Imitating the security measures of old Shanxi banks and pawnshops, an iron grille was installed on the ceiling to prevent thieves from descending from above. The walls were all built with stone foundations and blue bricks laid in a staggered pattern, making them exceptionally sturdy. Except for the traditional long windows in the front part of the residence, the buildings in the backyard only had ordinary windows with iron bars installed. The most secure was the courtyard built in the name of a treasury. The three rooms inside were all built of brick and stone, without a single wooden component. There were no windows, and the main door was an iron gate with a lock brought from the 21st century. This was similar to the safe rooms in various embassies, used for handling confidential matters. One room was a telecommunications room, one was a conference room, and the last was the real treasury—it stored not only gold and silver, but also more important materials, weapons, and reconnaissance equipment. In addition to the radio, the intelligence group also equipped the advance station with walkie-talkies, pistols, binoculars, night vision goggles, digital cameras, and laptops. For power, besides a hand-cranked generator, a set of solar panels was also provided—although the power was limited, it was more than enough to supply the radio and laptops.

The planned surveillance and security facilities could not be implemented due to power supply problems and were temporarily suspended. However, the advance station still installed an infrared alarm at the entrance of the safe house.

In terms of water supply, there were two wells available in the entire residence. Sun Chang had already had them deepened and cleaned during the initial renovation of the house. To prevent the delicate modern people from having trouble with the local water, the advance station also brought a simple water filtration and disinfection device. The filter cartridge of this device could be used for a year before needing replacement, which was quite convenient.

The Dengyingzhou brought over thirty tons of supplies and five thousand taels of silver. This was the entire start-up capital for the advance station. According to regulations, the advance station personnel could not withdraw and use the two hundred thousand taels of payment from Gao Ju.

Everyone was busy. Guo Yi was alone in his room, considering how to carry out his future work. The Executive Committee’s mission for the advance station could be summarized in two points: gathering intelligence and conducting trade.

To achieve either goal, they first had to establish extensive social connections. They now had two entry points: the Gao family and the Qiwei Escort Agency. The next step was to work more broadly at all levels of society.

Guo Yi recalled the course on “The Social and Economic Life of the Ming Dynasty” that Yu E’shui had given them before they left. He pondered on which level to make a breakthrough.

As merchants, it was very difficult to directly befriend middle and upper-level officials. Even if they spent a lot of money, it would only be a superficial honor. It was rare to achieve the level of collusion between officials and merchants where their interests were indistinguishable, as in later generations. However, the bureaucrats had strong purchasing power and political power, which was a part they would have to work hard to cultivate in the future.

Secondly, there were the local gentry and wealthy merchants, who either had official titles or were in collusion with the officials for profit. They were the local snakes with money and power. Gao Ju was such a person. They were relatively easy to befriend and had deep connections with the middle and upper-level bureaucrats. This level was the main direction for the advance station’s work at the current stage. After arriving in Guangzhou, they had befriended a Liang Cunhou. Although they still didn’t know his purpose for befriending the transmigrators, he was a Juren, and his influence in the gentry class was much greater than Gao Ju’s. Making good use of him could open up a big situation in this class.

The advisors, personal attendants, stewards, and retainers around the officials; the clerks, civil and military patrolmen, and other minor officials in the various yamen, although their status was not high, had a great deal of influence and were well-informed about the dynamics of the officials and the various yamen. To gather political intelligence, the focus could be placed on them. The Qiwei Escort Agency had more dealings with these people, and their connections could be used.

As for the common people, a lot of market news and public opinion could be learned from them. Intelligence in this area also needed to be collected.

However, the entire Guangzhou station, including him, had only six people:

Station Chief: Guo Yi Business Managers: Yan Maoda, Zhang Xin Radio Operator: Zhang Yuchen Intelligence Officers: Lu Rong, PEPI

It was a bit difficult for just these few people to take on so many things. Yan Maoda and Zhang Xin both came from sales backgrounds and were, needless to say, seasoned veterans of the business world. As long as they adapted to the environment here and improved their Guangzhou Mandarin a little, they would have no problem with business entertainment, organizing sales, and the like.

Zhang Yuchen was a telecommunications person and not very talkative, so he could only be responsible for internal affairs.

It seemed that the intelligence work could only be handled by him, Lu Rong, and PEPI. How to use PEPI was really a headache. She herself seemed nonchalant and confident—Guo Yi suspected that she had not thought about the seriousness and danger of underground work at all, and was purely treating this place as a stage to satisfy her desire to perform. She had more than a dozen large and small boxes of personal luggage alone, and Guo Yi could guess with his toes that they must be her costumes.

He organized his thoughts and drafted the current work objectives and the rules and regulations for the advance station. He planned to hold a meeting with the remaining advance team members before Xiao Zishan returned to assign their work.