Chapter 110: A Certain Man

Late at night.

Ma Qianzhu was drafting a document under the lamp:

Planning Committee Document No. 1628-31: Regarding Military Formation Needs, Military-Industrial Production, and Resource Allocation.

Security Level: Confidential

I. The Military-Industrial Department is ordered to immediately estimate the material and manpower requirements for the following projects:

1. Begin training 500 new soldiers within one week, including 30 transmigrators. Therefore, immediately assemble the existing Minie rifle parts into finished weapons, for an estimated first batch of 350 rifles. Additionally, the Military-Industrial Department is to provide 5 6-pounder smoothbore cannons and 4 12-pounder howitzers.

2. During the training period, each cannon will fire twice daily, and each rifle will fire 10 times. Estimate the ammunition consumption and produce ammunition for 6 months of training.

3. Expand the army to 1,000 men in 6 months, with the same training intensity. All weapons and artillery are to be fully equipped and ammunition produced. There will be 1,000 rifles and 100 cannons in service (including those on naval vessels and in various land and sea fortresses), with an additional 100% in reserve for replacement. Arrange personnel for weapon and cannon repair.

4. Estimate combat consumption at 60 rounds per cannon and 50 rounds per rifle. In addition to training needs, at least two battles’ worth of ammunition must be stockpiled and included in the production plan.

5. 1,000 sets of military uniforms (including underwear) and equipment are required. Fabric and leather will be drawn from inventory. Transmigrators with experience as pattern makers or in clothing production are needed. Mass processing can be handed over to the commune’s clothing factory.

6. Estimate the food required for 1,000 new soldiers in combat.

II. Preparations for the Military and Political Cadre School

1. Divide into two classes, A and B. Class A will be for local adults with a certain level of education, while Class B will be for youths. Personnel will be children and adults who have completed quarantine. Rations will be supplied at the transmigrator level. The logistics department is to provide an estimate of the required increase in grain, meat, and salt supplies.

2. The construction department is to consider a location for the school and estimate the engineering materials and labor required.

III. Progress of the Chemical Department

1. The chemical department is to provide a completion schedule for three main chemical plants: the coal tar plant, the 800-ton synthetic ammonia plant, and the salt electrolysis plant.

2. In the absence of factory-based manufacturing methods, provide a list of alternative processes for producing acids and alkalis, including the necessary raw materials, equipment, and energy.

3. Submit a report on which explosives and pyrotechnics can be mass-produced, with a focus on black powder, nitrocellulose, mercury fulminate, and detonators.

IV. Trade

1. Focus on glassware. The Industrial Committee should preferably establish a light industry department to handle this. The first batch of products will primarily be glass mirrors and wine bottles (ordered from Guangzhou).

2. Tobacco has already been purchased in Guangzhou and can be made into cigarettes. The industrial department should develop cigarette paper as soon as possible.

3. The Guangzhou advance station has repeatedly reported insufficient transport capacity, leading to a large backlog of purchased goods. The original plan was to purchase 2-3 ships locally in Guangzhou for transportation, with crews hired locally. However, the government has recently been impounding foreign ships in preparation for naval battles, so shipyards are not building new vessels. It is hoped that the Executive Committee can quickly purchase 1-2 ships.

…

Ma Qianzhu’s report was not finished until late at night. The numerous threads from various departments all converged at the Planning Committee, which was ultimately responsible for coordinating operations. As the scale of their enterprise grew, so did the number of ideas and plans. The originally streamlined organization now clearly needed some adjustments to adapt to the situation.

He thought it over and over. First, the intelligence and security departments needed some integration. The current intelligence department was basically just digging through old papers for information, with insufficient collection of real-time intelligence. The long-range reconnaissance team, limited by conditions, had only extended its reconnaissance range to the neighboring county; the situation in the prefectural city was still unclear. Moreover, the reconnaissance team was more like a resource survey team. To understand the resource situation, it often had to include various specialists, which limited its effectiveness, resulting in insufficient collection of military and political intelligence. The establishment of a military intelligence department under the General Staff was a good start. In the future, the reconnaissance and survey teams would have to be separated. As the situation in Guangzhou slowly opened up, an intelligence and commercial system in Leizhou also needed to be gradually established, followed by infiltration into the Qiongzhou prefectural city. Ma Qianzhu considered the other counties unimportant; once they had a falling out with the Ming, they could just take them directly without needing to infiltrate intelligence groups beforehand.

He made himself a cup of tea, a spoil from the Gou estate—Lingao did not produce tea. In a time-space without soda, everyone’s demand for tea had greatly increased. In fact, soda wasn’t that hard to make. Ma Qianzhu’s childhood was spent in the residential area of a large state-owned enterprise, the kind that took care of everything from birth to death, except for the cemetery. Even the soda was made in the factory. As a child, Ma Qianzhu had been in awe of that magical machine. Later, when he grew up and researched it himself, he realized there wasn’t much technology to it.

“I could even make Coca-Cola,” he murmured to himself, thinking of the few coca trees at Nanhai Farm. Coca-Cola was just a mixture of caramel, coca extract, and carbonated water, wasn’t it?

“Coca-Cola? You didn’t make a bet with someone about that, did you?” a man’s voice came from outside the door.

“With that painful lesson before us, who would dare to bet on Coca-Cola? Have a seat, want some tea?” Ma Qianzhu got up to pour him some water. One of the perks of being a cadre was having a thermos in the office, although the aluminum-cased thermos was probably as old as Ma Qianzhu himself, with the words “Fengcheng Maru” painted on it in red.

The visitor was in his late thirties or early forties, broad and stout. He appeared to move slowly, but his actions were actually agile. His appearance was utterly unremarkable, the kind of person you would never remember after a single meeting.

“You’re a rare guest here. I haven’t seen you since D-Day.”

The visitor remained impassive. “You’re an Executive Committee member. Why would I keep coming to see you? I need to avoid suspicion.”

“Cut the crap. Honestly, what’s your motive for being so evasive?”

“I hear you’re preparing to go to war with Zhu Cailao?” the man changed the subject.

“Not go to war, but prepare for war. We have to guard against him attacking us. The enterprise is bigger now, we can’t do without an army.”

“Zhu Cailao is just a declining force in its twilight years. The biggest threats to the Transmigrator Group right now are—” the man said, “first, the Ming Dynasty. It’s already past the beginning of winter, the autumn grain has been collected. Never mind the Ming army in Guangdong, the Tianqi era already squandered the silver in the provincial treasury, but the Qiongzhou garrison has a duty to defend its territory. They will most likely come at us. Second is Zheng Zhilong. He has now been pacified and made a captain. He’s preparing to eliminate all his former partners and monopolize the southeast sea trade.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Zhu Cailao is a force that can be allied with.”

“Ally with pirates?”

“That’s right,” the man said slowly. “The Transmigrator Group’s naval power is so weak. No matter how formidable the fishing trawlers are, there are only four of them. Without a local power as an ally at sea, you will soon face a choice: either pay protection money obediently, or have a major showdown with all the heroes of the sea. Haven’t you been trying to get in touch with Old Liu Xiang? In fact, Zhu Cailao’s power isn’t too bad, and he’s weaker than Liu Xiang. Zheng Zhilong also wants to deal with him. This man is besieged on all sides, so he’ll be easier to cooperate with. By the way, in official history, he gets KO’d by Zheng Zhilong in Min’an next August.”

“The Executive Committee has considered it, but we wiped out his fence and took over a hundred thousand taels of silver worth of his goods. I’m afraid cooperation will be difficult.”

The man smiled with confidence. “In his current situation, Zhu Cailao probably can’t ask for a high price. Don’t you have your miracle goods? Give him a distribution right, and he’ll naturally agree.”

Ma Qianzhu pondered. He had thought of this proposal himself, but he felt it was a bit uncertain. You rob a man’s money, kill his people, and now you say you want to form an alliance? Would Zhu Cailao be that easy to talk to?

“No matter how difficult he is to talk to, he has to solve his urgent problems.”

“Alright, I’ll give it a try. There’s nothing to lose if the talks fail anyway.”

“With Poland in between, even Stalin and Hitler could shake hands and smile,” the man said, slowly standing up and walking outside.

“Are you really unwilling to serve on the Executive Committee?” Ma Qianzhu felt it was a great pity. “The intelligence department is very short-staffed.”

“The time is not yet right.” As the man stepped out, he looked up at the starry sky of Lingao.

Ma Qianzhu had no further words that night. The next day, he gathered the Executive Committee members and explained the idea. Opinions were divided. Most were not against peace talks with Zhu Cailao—after all, in a real battle, it would be bad if anyone died. Rather, they doubted the possibility of such talks. Some were also deeply afraid of making too many concessions during the talks, which would damage the prestige and interests of the Transmigrator Group. After repeated consultations, they finally decided to give it a try. Regardless of whether the peace talks succeeded, the military buildup and war preparations would continue—”speak softly and carry a big stick.”

Ma Qianzhu asked Dugu Qiuhun to bring the pirate leader who was currently undergoing labor reform on the road-paving site in Dongmen Market. Soon, Dugu Qiuhun returned with two prisoners. The two were very alarmed to see the Short Hair leader, thinking they were about to be executed. Ma Qianzhu quickly reassured them.

One of the leaders was known as Black-faced Jiao, Shi Shisi. He was the leader of one of the ships, equivalent to a captain. After his capture, he had been quite straightforward, cleanly confessing everything he knew. Ma Qianzhu knew from the interrogation records that this man was quite loyal and had some prestige among this band of pirates.

Ma Qianzhu said, “We are descendants of the Great Song from overseas, now returning to the Ming, resting and recuperating in Lingao. We have no quarrel with your group. Why did you attack our subordinates and kill our people? What is the reason for this?”

Hearing that Ma Qianzhu’s words did not seem to imply he wanted to take his life, Shi Shisi was secretly delighted. He hurriedly said, “It was all a misunderstanding. We have some business dealings with the Gou family. A few days ago, a trusted aide of the Gou family came to me in tears, saying that his master had been killed by you for no reason, and that you were committing all sorts of atrocities, raping and pillaging. I was filled with righteous indignation and rashly took the lead. It has nothing to do with my great leader. Now it seems it was all a fabrication by that shameless scoundrel. When I return to our camp, I will have him sliced into a thousand pieces to vent the anger in my chest.”

This story about a trusted aide of the Gou family coming to him in tears was, of course, nonsense. But at this moment, the Black-faced Jiao only sought to follow Ma Qianzhu’s lead and absolve himself of all responsibility.

When Ma Qianzhu heard the words “raping and pillaging, committing all sorts of atrocities,” he couldn’t help but laugh to himself: you’re one to talk. But he said, “So it was a misunderstanding. Allow me to prepare a small gift to express my apologies, and then I will send you back, brother. However, all three of your ships have sunk. How about we wait until we purchase a small boat to send you off?”

Hearing that he could go back, Shi Shisi felt that every day was like a year—Fu Youdi was truly ruthless in his torture. These past few days, they hadn’t had a full meal and had been whipped countless times. How could he bear any more delay? He quickly said, “Since it was a misunderstanding, and I have also wronged your group, let’s both waive the apologies. I am strong and healthy. Without a boat, I can walk, or take a fishing boat. I have urgent matters at home and cannot be delayed.”

Ma Qianzhu smiled slightly and said, “Brother, no need to be anxious. We have long heard of Great Leader Zhu’s generosity and righteousness that soars to the clouds. We have often thought of finding an opportunity to pay him a visit. Allow me to prepare a generous gift for the Great Leader, and I must ask you, brother, to introduce me. You must not refuse. Please wait a moment, I will be right back.” After speaking, Ma Qianzhu signaled Dugu Qiuhun to watch the man, and he himself went to his office to report to the committee.

The Executive Committee prepared some gifts for Zhu Cailao to show goodwill, and then to enter into peace talks to gain cooperation in maritime trade. At first, they prepared some plastic flowers and glass crafts. Hu Hou, who was standing guard nearby, saw this and advised, “There is a saying, ‘do not reveal your wealth.’ For us to suddenly display such riches to bandits is undoubtedly like leading a wolf into our house, and we will never have peace.” The others heard his reasoning and agreed. They only prepared two glass mirrors, which were already common items, and ten bolts of silk. They also gave ten taels of silver to Shi Shisi to calm his nerves.

Ma Qianzhu then remembered the matter of selling glass and quickly asked the industrial department to prepare samples. Zhan Wuya threw up his hands. “I submitted the report days ago, but the furnace still hasn’t been built for me. Where am I supposed to make samples? We might as well just take a piece from the Holy Ship and give it to him.”

Ma Qianzhu had no choice but to have someone pick up a large piece of broken glass from the Holy Ship and give it to Shi Shisi, saying, “We are good at making this kind of thing. Please, brother, inform Great Leader Zhu and see if he can sell it for us abroad. Everything is negotiable.” At this point, Shi Shisi only wanted to get on a boat as soon as possible and readily agreed.