Chapter 143: New Year

Over the past few months, the Security Group had conducted extensive investigations into the local customs and social conditions of Lingao. They gathered a large amount of useful information by interrogating prisoners, talking to recruited laborers and soldiers, and regularly conversing with the locals who came to the Dongmen Market. They even used technical means to eavesdrop on the conversations of locals in the market’s teahouses. Because Zhang Youfu had frequent contact with the Executive Committee and was planned to be a key figure in opening up cooperation with all local social strata, the Security Group had a relatively thorough understanding of his situation.

Zhang Youfu himself, as a landlord from a declining family, was economically insignificant. His status in Lingao was entirely due to his connections with various coastal pirate groups. He was shrewd, capable, and eloquent, and all parties were satisfied with him as a liaison.

Such a multi-faceted character was very useful to the Transmigration side—they could transmit a lot of information through him, but they also had to be wary of him.

Wen Desi continued to drink and chat with Zhang Youfu, who was overwhelmed by the attention. With the backing of these “Kun thieves,” won’t I have all the food and drink I want in this area from now on? he thought. He drained his cup with every toast, and the atmosphere at the table was extremely warm.

At the dinner table, to show that he had “valuable information,” he quietly told Wen and Xi that, in fact, most of the gentry supported their proposal for a “joint defense militia.” This was especially true for the small and medium-sized villages, which couldn’t afford to maintain a large militia of their own and hoped to protect their communities at a small cost. At the very least, they could buy some peace and avoid the fate of the Gou family estate. The attitude of large fortified villages like the Huang family’s was rather ambiguous. Zhang Youfu said that the old man of the Huang family had remained silent during the gentry’s discussions, but when asked for his opinion, he had also expressed his approval, only saying that the villages could not place all their hopes on them. They had to control their own men, otherwise, their forces would be controlled by others…

Xi Yazhou nodded silently. This old coffin-dodger has some sense.

Seeing that they were listening intently, Zhang Youfu added more details, describing how Huang Shoutong was intensifying the training of his militia and hoarding grain in his village. He said that after this year’s autumn harvest, besides paying the fixed grain tax, the Huang family had not sold a single grain of rice, hoarding it all in their village. They also had their tenants repair the village walls during the winter slack season. “I’m afraid he’s up to something,” he said.

Wen Desi knew that Zhang Youfu had connections with pirates, and Huang Shoutong had always looked down on him. A few times, Huang had even wanted to arrest him on charges of colluding with bandits, but had been stopped by other gentry. This was Landlord Zhang’s attempt to sow discord. However, his words were likely true. They actually admired Huang Shoutong. From the information they had gathered, they knew he could be considered a man of both loyalty and righteousness in this era. Such a person would not be easily subdued.

“Besides him, who else is opposed?”

“A few poor scholars. The most active one is Liu the Lame.”

“Liu the Lame?” The term startled them. They knew the names and nicknames of most of the scholars, successful examination candidates, gentry, and landlords in Lingao, but they had never heard of anyone with this moniker.

“It’s Liu Dalin.” Zhang Youfu was clearly a man of the street, showing no respect for the only jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) in the history of Lingao County, casually giving him a nickname based on his physical disability.

“So, it’s Jinshi Liu.”

“That’s right, it’s him.” It was clear that Zhang Youfu also held a grudge against Jinshi Liu. “Relying on the fact that he’s a jinshi, he insists—” He suddenly realized he had misspoken and quickly corrected himself, “This Liu Dalin keeps saying ‘Han and the thieves cannot coexist,’ and he berates the gentry for ‘negotiating with a tiger,’ for doing something with a tiger… anyway, it’s all about tigers.”

It seems this leading figure of Lingao County has quite an opinion of us. Wen Desi and Xi Yazhou exchanged a look, a wry smile on their faces. According to their plan, Liu Dalin was a key figure the Transmigration group would try their utmost to win over in the future. His support or opposition would greatly influence the attitude of the local scholars and gentry towards them. But now it seemed that winning him over would be very difficult.

Wen Desi inquired further about Liu Dalin and learned that he had passed the provincial examinations in the 43rd year of the Wanli era. After that, he had gone to the mainland to study, supposedly to Jiangxi, under a former editor of the Hanlin Academy. Four years later, he passed the highest imperial examinations. He was appointed as the magistrate of a county in Anhui, but shortly after passing the exam, he became paralyzed and returned to his hometown to live in seclusion without ever taking up his official post.

[Note: The above information about Liu Dalin’s life is from the historical records of Lingao. The part about studying in Jiangxi is a legend and cannot be verified.]

Warmed by the wine, Zhang Youfu inevitably brought up some personal grievances. He had once disputed with a neighbor over the water source for a hillside plot. Relying on his connections, he had hired some local ruffians to injure the other party. If it had been an ordinary person, they would have had to accept their bad luck. But this person turned out to be a relative of Jinshi Liu. A single note was sent to the county yamen, and Zhang Youfu was arrested and given forty strokes of the cane. Although he was familiar with the people in the yamen and didn’t suffer too much, he had always held a grudge for the humiliation of being stripped and beaten in public.

The two men were secretly amused, but this also showed one thing: Jinshi Liu was not someone who was detached from worldly affairs. Since he knew how to take care of his relatives, it meant he was still approachable and reasonable. What they feared most was encountering a Hai Rui-type figure: incorruptible, unyielding, impervious to threats or persuasion, and stubbornly clinging to his principles. You couldn’t win him over, couldn’t beat him, couldn’t kill him, and you had to pretend to be broad-minded while he scolded you.

“Does Jinshi Liu have a militia?”

“What militia would he have? He just keeps some household retainers for protection.” Zhang Youfu, thinking the Transmigration group was going to move against Liu Dalin, became even more enthusiastic. He said that Liu Dalin’s residence was not far from here, only a seven or eight li walk to the west gate of the county town, and his house was just inside the west gate. However, he also had an estate outside the city, about three or four li from the west gate, where he would sometimes go to stay for ten days or half a month.

Wen Desi noted this down in his notebook. Seeing this, Zhang Youfu was delighted and became even more attentive. During the conversation, Wen Desi asked about his relationship with the Liu Xiang group. From the information they had gathered, his ties with them seemed to be the closest.

Zhang Youfu didn’t hide it, saying that his wife was related to one of the “managers” in the Liu Xiang group, and they were both from Qiongshan County. This “manager’s” family was still in Qiongshan, so if there was any need for contact, this line was both convenient and safe.

“Can you pass a message to Boss Liu for us?” Xi Yazhou asked.

“Of course! This is an honor for me,” Zhang Youfu said readily.

“Tell him to send someone to negotiate with us,” Xi Yazhou said. “Peace is the most important thing. As long as we can sit down and talk, we will let bygones be bygones.”

“Alright, I’ll send someone to deliver the message tomorrow,” Zhang Youfu promised, and for a time, both hosts and guests were happy. Warmed by the wine, Zhang Youfu also tried to inquire about the origins of the Transmigration group, but Wen Desi deflected his questions with a pre-prepared, standardized story. It was clear that Zhang Youfu wasn’t entirely convinced, but it didn’t matter.

They took their leave from Zhang Youfu’s house around 11 p.m. Declining the sedan chairs offered by Zhang Youfu, the group walked back on foot. The temperature on a winter night in Lingao was slightly cool but not cold. Walking on the country road was very pleasant. Looking up, they saw a sky full of stars, a beautiful sight that was impossible to see under the polluted atmosphere of the other world. However, they usually didn’t have many opportunities to look at the stars. For the transmigrators, who had not yet secured their footing, the night in this other world was filled with hidden threats. As soon as it got dark, everyone except the sentries would retreat to the fortresses and houses that made them feel safe.

Now, Wen Desi instinctively felt that the most dangerous time had passed. In these three months, the transmigrators had built a brand new city with their own hands, constructed a hydroelectric power station, produced the first kiln of cement in this era, built houses, paved streets, and even used biogas for cooking in the cafeteria. Modern society had already sprouted in this time. Everyone was still alive, and the labor and regular life had actually made them healthier. The Transmigration group had fought bloody battles, repelled the enemy’s attacks, and expanded their sphere of influence from the beaches of Bopu to the banks of the middle and lower reaches of the Wenlan River. They had taken control of the salt fields, and crucial transportation, energy, and industrial facilities were under intense construction. No one doubted that once these facilities were completed, their power would grow exponentially.

The transmigrators had established a firm foothold here. The common people were also slowly beginning to trust them, willing to interact and serve. Now, the Transmigration group was no longer content with just interacting with the people of this era through commerce and employment. They would gradually adopt civil administration methods to control and master the manpower and resources of Lingao.

“Wen Zong, it’s almost Chinese New Year, isn’t it?”

“I’d forgotten if you hadn’t mentioned it. It’s already 1629. We didn’t even celebrate New Year’s Day.”

“What’s the date today?”

“The twenty-sixth of the twelfth month of the first year of Chongzhen. In the Gregorian calendar, it’s already January 19, 1629.”

“Let’s have a good Chinese New Year. Everyone has been busy for more than three months without a day of rest.”

For the transmigrators, celebrating the New Year was not a major event. Although the Executive Committee had posted a notice for a seven-day holiday starting from New Year’s Eve, various tasks did not stop as the year drew to a close. The phenomenon common in the other world, where people would start slacking off from the twentieth of the twelfth lunar month until the New Year’s Day holiday, did not exist here. When everyone knew that their work was contributing to their own future, work became a pleasure rather than a chore. This was a feeling they could not experience in the old world.

Preparations for the Joint Defense Conference were also in full swing. Not just the transmigrators, but even Zhang Youfu had become a busy man, frequently traveling to various villages to do preparatory work as the year-end approached. Wu De gave the local laborers who had families a few days off to go home for the New Year and, at the same time, to promote the necessity of the conference to the village elders. However, since it was close to the old lunar New Year, everyone was busy with preparations, so the conference had to be postponed until after the New Year. After discussion, the Executive Committee thought this was a good idea. They could use the opportunity of the conference to promote agricultural reforms, killing two birds with one stone. The final date for the conference was set for February 1, 1629, which was the ninth day of the first lunar month of the second year of Chongzhen.

New Year’s Eve arrived. To allow all transmigrators to celebrate the first Chinese New Year in this era, besides the holiday, each transmigrator received an extra special supply coupon. The poor people in the villages within a radius of several dozen li of Bairen City had all benefited in some way, either by trading with the transmigrators or by working for them, and their finances were much better off. Coupled with the fact that the autumn harvest had not been affected by wind or rain disasters, the year was not bad. There were no pirate or bandit incursions. The dreary and difficult “end of the year” actually showed some signs of peace. Almost every household had put up spring couplets, and some had hung peach wood charms. The once dilapidated villages all had smoke rising from their chimneys. The sallow faces of the children also showed a hint of vitality.

Within a hundred li, not a single village failed to send New Year’s gifts to the Transmigration group. Pigs, sheep, rice wine, chickens, ducks, fish, and meat were piled up in the merchant’s guild outside the East Gate. Dugu Qiuhun and Dongmen Chuiyu were all smiles—although they only had the right to look at these things, which were eventually taken away by Dai Xie.

This New Year was celebrated with a cheerful mood, filled with the joy and confidence of victory. Everyone saw a boundless future unfolding before them. The precarious situation of the past three months had begun to change. If their confidence in victory was not so strong at the beginning of D-Day, now they all believed that their future was bright, and their spirits were high.

The doors of the family dormitories in the residential area were all decorated with couplets, adding to the festive atmosphere of Bairen City. Someone even requested that the chemical engineering group produce some firecrackers, since they had a firecracker maker on hand, but this proposal was rejected. However, someone soon discovered that firecrackers could be bought in Lingao county town. So, starting from New Year’s Eve morning, people began to swagger into the city to buy firecrackers. Subsequently, buying firecrackers became a “one-day tour of Lingao county town”—the vast majority of transmigrators had not yet entered this nearby Ming dynasty county town since D-Day. Now that the situation had improved and it was the New Year with nothing to do, everyone wanted to go for a visit. The yamen runners and militiamen at the city gate naturally did not dare to stop them. Fortunately, the transmigrators had a good reputation in Lingao, so their arrival in large numbers did not cause panic. Instead, it attracted many idle men and children to come and watch. Everyone finally understood what it was like for foreigners in China at the beginning of the Reform and Opening-up era.

Except for a few history enthusiasts who excitedly took pictures everywhere with their cameras, most people were greatly disappointed. This county town was not even as good as a small town in the modern era. There were only a few shops. Although it was the New Year, and every household had put up spring couplets, and there were many street vendors, giving it some festive cheer, most of the houses along the street were dilapidated. The slightly more decent ones were either yamens or temples. Even more strangely, this county town, which was so small you could see from the east gate to the west gate, still had large areas of wasteland.