Chapter 71: Sweet Harbor Storm - Dark Clouds Loom

Sun Kecheng knew that this owner was very generous, but he was still shocked to hear that he would send two hundred taels. He quickly said, “That’s too extravagant—”

“A life has been lost, what’s there to talk about extravagance,” Guo Yi said. “I’ll have to trouble Manager Sun with this matter. Also, if the ship’s master’s injuries are not serious, have him and the escorts come together to a place to talk! I’m thinking,” he paused, “select a few sailors to come and report as well!”

“Yes, I’ll go and do it right away!” Sun Kecheng immediately agreed. “I wonder where Owner Guo would like to meet?”

“We’ll question them right here at the escort agency. Immediately,” Guo Yi had originally thought of going directly to the Gao Guang Inn, but then he thought that it was too crowded and not a suitable place for questioning.

Half an hour later, everyone had arrived. Guo Yi personally questioned the ship’s master, the escorts, and the sailors. He learned that five or six small sailboats had ambushed the Guangbing by the sea, boarded it with superior numbers, and quickly took control of the ship. However, the other party seemed to have held back, did not kill many people, and did not take the ship away. They only divided the sugar among several boats and took it away.

According to the injured escorts, the pirates who came were probably not from any of the “big gangs,” but some small independent operators who had temporarily joined forces to do a job.

“What was the accent of the people who came?”

“Reporting to the owner, they all had a local Leizhou accent. They should be local villains.”

In that case, it was highly likely that this matter was instigated by the Haiyitang. Guo Yi nodded. “You all rest well. I will cover all the expenses.”

Leaving the escort agency, he quickly got into his sedan chair and ordered, “Back to Huifu Street!” He calculated that he had to immediately send a telegram to the South China Factory and Lingao to report this. This matter was probably not a simple sea robbery. Although the situation was not completely clear now, the other party’s actions were very targeted. The matter of transporting sugar had to be temporarily suspended—this involved how the Lingao Executive Committee planned to deal with the threat at sea.

The telegram from Guangzhou was like a blow to the head for Wen Tong and the others. The content of the telegram was both good and bad. The good news was that Guangzhou had clearly stated that the required silver was not a problem, and South China only needed to buy boldly. The bad news was that the sugar ship had been hijacked—it was not just a matter of losing five hundred dan of sugar, but it also showed that the Haiyitang had begun to resort to explicitly illegal means to deal with them.

The most feared thing in the world was a desperate fight to the death. The Haiyitang was now at its wit’s end, and the longer they dragged it out, the smaller their chances of winning became. The possibility of them resorting to such underhanded means was becoming more and more likely.

How to deal with it was a difficult problem. As he was hesitating, Wen Xiu came in to report, “Manager Liao is here.”

“Which Manager Liao?”

“It’s the senior Manager Liao.”

That would be Liao Dahua from Qiwei. He quickly said, “Please!”

The news Liao Dahua brought was even worse. He said that the escorts had already found out that all the sugar mill workers in Xuwen County, including some from Haikang, had all joined forces in the past few days. They were preparing to burn incense and take an oath at the Zou Heshang Temple in three days to eradicate the “demonic tools” of the South China Factory and “restore the ancient ways.”

This was like a punch to the gut, hitting Wen Tong so hard that he almost fainted. Not only did they rob the sugar ship, but now they were preparing to come and smash the factory directly!

“Well, Old Liao, can we ask the government to step in and suppress them?” He had seen the power of the yamen last time. If the yamen was willing to send some people to suppress them, the workers might not dare to cause trouble.

“The county magistrate would love for something to happen so he can get a lawsuit and collect money from both sides,” Liao Dahua warned. “The sugar mill workers also have a point—after all, we have smashed their rice bowls. Now that the public sentiment is so agitated, South China is very likely to suffer a great loss if a riot breaks out. In the end, we can win the lawsuit, but those workers are penniless. What’s the use of beheading a few of them?”

“Yes, yes, you are right,” Wen Tong knew that it was basically a fantasy to expect the government to help in this time and space.

“The only thing to do now is to make plans early.” The so-called making plans early was actually a routine for escaping. Liao Dahua said in a low voice that he had already arranged for a courtyard in Xuwen county town. If anything happened, they should flee directly into the county town.

“Once you are in the county town, the rioters will definitely not dare to chase you in easily, otherwise it would be rebellion. You can rest assured on this point, managers,” Liao Dahua patted his chest.

Wen Tong hesitated. “It can’t be that bad, can it? Would they dare to kill people?” Besides, the machines and so much sugar in this factory could not be abandoned. Otherwise, how could he explain it to the Executive Committee in the future?

“It’s hard to say—” Liao Dahua’s expression was grave. “Someone has been buying ‘substitutes’ recently! The price is eight hundred taels each.”

“Substitutes?”

“Yes,” Liao Dahua nodded. He explained that in any civil unrest or armed conflict, the government would not intervene on the spot, but afterwards, those who injured people would have to pay compensation, and those who killed people would have to pay with their lives. In order to let their subordinates act without any scruples, the organizers of the riot would often buy “substitutes” in advance. When the government investigated, they would have the substitutes surrender themselves, and a life would be exchanged for a life, and the matter would be over.

Since someone was buying substitutes, it meant that the organizers of this riot were prepared for casualties. Wen Tong was immediately panicked. He was, after all, just a sugar factory technician. He had originally thought that with the transmigrator group backing him, the local Qiwei Escort Agency as a guarantee, and connections with the government, he was a big shot in Xuwen and even Leizhou. Even within the transmigrator group, Lingao and Guangzhou were all revolving around South China recently—he felt quite a bit of “kingly aura.” Now that the opponent was going to use knives and guns, he finally realized that his few people were isolated here. The only reliable ones were the men from the Qiwei Escort Agency and a few pistols. If a mob really rushed in, no matter how much Wen Desi and Ma Qianzhu bragged, they would have no ability to teleport an army here in time to save their lives.

He couldn’t help but feel a little timid. It seemed that Manager Liao was right. He had to prepare an escape route… Didn’t President Wen teach us: “Survival is the highest priority.”

Although he had made up his mind, he thought that the matter had not yet happened, and he was already thinking about escaping. It was a bit too cowardly. If people saw through it, it would be a big joke in the future. So he pretended to be calm and said, “It’s fine. Let’s ask everyone to discuss it first. This South China Factory is also a big property. We can’t let it be destroyed for no reason.”

So he sent someone to invite Chen Tianxiong, Mei Lin, Xiao Gui, and the others. Liao Daxing was taking care of the business in the front, so he was not called. The storefront could not be left unattended at this time.

“That Manager Bei is also here. Should we invite him?” Wen Xiu asked in a low voice.

“He’s back?” Wen Tong felt much more at ease when he heard this. With such a special forces soldier here, his sense of security greatly increased. “Please, of course, please.”

Bei Wei had returned from his reconnaissance trip with his men and was resting at the sugar firm. He had also heard that things were a bit unstable outside recently and had planned to come and talk together in the evening.

After hearing Liao Dahua explain everything, Wen Tong said, “What should we do about this? The Haiyitang has made two ruthless moves in a row. It seems they are not prepared to engage in fair competition with us.”

Everyone held their breath and did not speak. This was a matter of great importance, concerning the survival of South China. Not to mention anything else, if South China was really destroyed in their hands, they would at least be left with the impression of being “unfit for important tasks” in the transmigrator group in the future. They could forget about holding any independent administrative positions after that and could only be technicians for the rest of their lives.

After a long while, Chen Tianxiong finally said, “Things have come to this point. We must also make the worst-case plans. First, what if the other party attacks us? Do we have the ability to protect the factory and the goods? Second, if we can’t stop them, can we ensure the safety of ourselves and our subordinates?”

Xiao Gui said, “Actually, if they really attack, we may not be their match. At least the sugar factory has more than a hundred able-bodied men, and we have also organized a militia and trained them. There are also some escorts. It shouldn’t be a problem to hold them off for a while.”

“There are many people,” Liao Dahua said. Besides the sugar mill workers, there were also their families. The Haiyitang would probably also send some ruffians to mix in. There would be at least a thousand people. “There’s another thing we must guard against. There is a lot of silver in the sugar firm. Everyone knows this. Once a riot breaks out, it’s hard to say if someone will want to take advantage of the chaos…”

Bei Wei also nodded in agreement with Liao Dahua’s judgment. If it were the Yanchang village militia, which had been established for a long time, had a lot of training, and was united, there would probably be no problem. But it was unrealistic to expect the motley crew of the sugar factory’s militia, which had been established for no more than one or two months, to be able to resist a mob more than ten times their size.

“Don’t we have escorts, and Bei Wei’s men…” Wen Tong thought of Bei Wei.

“Please, we reconnaissance soldiers are also human, not Kenshiro,” Bei Wei said with a wry smile. “Even if we can fight, we can’t fight one against a hundred.”

“Wouldn’t a shot from a matchlock be enough?” Because Liao Dahua was present, Wen Tong spoke more implicitly.

“This is the Ming Dynasty, not South America. The natives of the Ming Dynasty are not Indians who think we are gods descending from heaven. A shot from a gun is easy, but they also know that this is a matchlock, not a divine weapon,” Bei Wei said. “Besides, if we kill someone in the sugar factory, how will we clean up the mess?”

“Then we’ll just carry out a ‘decapitation strike’…” Seeing Wen Tong’s hesitant expression, Liao Dahua quickly said, “I’ll go outside for a walk first. If you have anything, managers, just call me.”

“If it really comes to it, that’s the only way,” Bei Wei nodded. “It’s a pity I didn’t bring a sniper rifle—not even a rifle. Otherwise, I would just blow that damn Third Master Zhu’s head off from a distance.” He pondered for a moment. “Or I can take two men and sneak in at night to take him out.”

“In that case, I’m afraid those people from the Haiyitang will be scared to death,” everyone felt a sense of satisfaction.

Bei Wei thought for a moment. “But we don’t know the situation inside the Haiyitang, and we don’t even know what Third Master Zhu looks like. We need to scout it out first. I’ll take some men to check the situation tonight, as a form of training.”

Everyone was naturally happy that someone was willing to put in the effort. But Mei Lin was not very enthusiastic about this matter. He said, “Can’t we try to win over the workers? I believe they are also being used because they have no other choice…”

“It’s certain that they are being used, but to win them over and change their attitude, I’m afraid there’s not enough time in just a few days.”

“There are still three or four days. If we are determined to win them over, there is still a chance to turn things around,” he insisted. “The workers are just being deceived. In the end, we also smashed their rice bowls, and they are rising up in protest because they have no other choice…”

No one liked to hear this. It made them sound like evil capitalists—although that was the truth. Wen Tong said, “Do you mean that their riot is right, that it’s good to smash things, that it’s a revolutionary action?”

Mei Lin quickly said, “Of course not. After all, the interests of the transmigrator group are the most important.” Seeing the unfriendly atmosphere in the room, he quickly defended himself, “This is also for the sake of the South China Factory and the great cause of transmigration. I’m on a short-term business trip to Leizhou. I’ll leave after the houses are built. South China is going to operate in Xuwen and Leizhou for a long time. Now that we haven’t even established a firm foothold, we’ve already made enemies. This is not a long-term solution.”

This made a lot of sense. But Bei Wei disagreed. Since there was a conflict of interest, unless the two sides could fully reconcile and reach a satisfactory distribution of benefits, they would always be enemies. If they were worried about this and that, they might as well not do anything.

Chen Tianxiong said, “Mei Lin has a point. Let’s make a few more preparations. We should be prepared for both soft and hard tactics, and we also need to consider the matter of transporting sugar to Guangzhou.”

“We’re still transporting sugar to Guangzhou now? It’s obvious that the Haiyitang is behind this. If our sugar ships go out, won’t they just be sending them to their deaths?”

“Not necessarily,” Chen Tianxiong said. “Guangzhou is now mobilizing funds for us. I’m afraid they are taking a great risk. It is only right and proper that South China should transport the sugar to them as soon as possible for them to cash in.”

“But what about the security issue? Now we have enemies on both land and sea. We can’t take care of both ends at the same time,” Wen Tong said anxiously.

Chen Tianxiong said, “We have to eat one bite at a time and do things one by one.” He thought for a moment and listed the things to be done one by one, counting on his fingers:

“The sugar firm needs to speed up the purchase,” he suggested. “Since Guangzhou said that silver is not a problem, let’s add a few more weighers. The faster we buy the sugar, the more stable the cane farmers’ minds will be, and the order at the gate can also be improved. This will prevent anyone from fishing in troubled waters. This is the first thing.”

“That’s a good idea,” Xiao Gui said. “If the cane farmers have the hope of selling their sugar at a high price, they will definitely not allow anyone to destroy the sugar factory!”

“Very good, very good!” Wen Tong’s spirits lifted. “There are many more cane farmers than sugar mill workers.”

“That’s just talk,” Bei Wei shook his head. “The sugar mill workers are organized and ready to cause trouble. It’s not the same as the cane farmers. What Xiao Gui said is a bit interesting, but it’s not reliable.”

“It’s better to have some help than no help,” Wen Tong urged Chen Tianxiong. “What’s next?”

“Organize the militia to prepare for defense, and prepare a contingency plan in case something happens. This is preparing for a rainy day,” Chen Tianxiong said. “If the militia can’t hold out and runs away, I personally think it’s better to save our lives. As long as the green mountains are there, we won’t have to worry about having no firewood to burn.”