Chapter 100: The Aftermath of the Prisoners

Some people suggested sending the prisoners to Sanya to be miners, but many worried that Sanya only had one battalion, which might not be enough to control them if they rioted. Besides, the recent suppression of workers had not yet passed, and the pressure of maintaining stability was still there, so they couldn’t add more unstable factors.

A resolution was quickly made on the issue of prisoners. None of the prisoners would be integrated into the army, nor would they be sent to Sanya. Instead, they would be kept in Lin Gao as laborers, and after a few years of reform, their future paths would be arranged according to their individual circumstances.

“If there are locals among the prisoners, I suggest releasing them on the spot,” said Wu Nanhai. “Since they have family and relatives here, detaining them would greatly harm the hearts of the people. Those who are willing to leave should all be released, and we should give them some travel expenses. This way, they can spread our power and benevolence.”

“It seems there are indeed some local garrison soldiers and militia among the prisoners,” said Wu De.

Yang Yun coughed lightly. It was his first time attending such a high-level meeting. He had just been appointed as the director of the Human Resources Department of the Civil Affairs Committee. He had gotten this position by leveraging his experience as the head of the human resources department and the union chairman of a sweatshop in his previous life.

Of course, according to the standards of his previous life, the labor situation in Lin Gao was even more exploitative than the worst sweatshop, and he had unlimited violence as his backing, so being the director of the Human Resources Department was not difficult. But Yang Yun was not satisfied with this—if it were just this, how could he show his professionalism?

He first carefully studied the existing labor system and believed that there was room for improvement, or rather, the potential for further exploitation. He decided to take this opportunity to show his professional level.

But Yang Yun was not prepared to make major changes to the entire system. After all, this system was established by Wu De. As a newcomer, it was unwise to make drastic changes to the leader’s policies. Yang Yun did not believe much in parliamentary democracy and individual democratic rights. He was the type of person who would closely follow the central government and the leadership as long as there was meat to eat.

“With the arrival of more than ten thousand laborers, I propose to make some changes to the handling of this batch of labor,” he avoided using laudatory words like “reform” or “improvement” and used neutral words. “Our current 60-day quarantine system is very good, ensuring hygiene and safety, but the cost is that the efficiency of labor use is not high enough.”

The current policy was that laborers and immigrants would undergo simple language and literacy studies during the quarantine period, while also performing some light manual labor.

“There is no need to keep these ten thousand people in quarantine. Their nutrition and physical condition should be better than the ordinary people we have taken in. They have strength and are capable of killing and arson. Asking them to do manual labor is something they are neither willing to do nor good at. If their energy has nowhere to be vented, it will easily lead to trouble.”

Yang Yun proposed that after “purification,” all these prisoners should be arranged to work on the construction of the Ma Niao-Chengmai highway. The army had a strong presence in Ma Niao and would also station some troops in Chengmai, which would be enough to control the prisoners.

“After this highway is completed, we will build the Chengmai-Qiongshan highway. Anyway, according to Shan Daoqian’s plan, we are going to build a lot of highways and railways in Hainan. These prisoners will have plenty of work to do.”

Ma Jia coughed: “This arrangement is certainly good, but it may hinder the principle of legal fairness. It’s okay to use prisoners for labor, but we can’t let them work like this forever as if they were sentenced to life imprisonment. If this gets out, who would be willing to surrender in the future?”

“We can use a point system,” Yang Yun already had a countermeasure. “The prisoners’ work is not unpaid; we will give them rewards.”

The reward was a kind of point. The prisoners were paid according to the intensity and content of their work, calculated on a daily basis—of course, the pay was not much. From this pay, he had to pay for his own food, clothing, and hygiene expenses, and if conditions allowed, he could also pay for entertainment—such as visiting prostitutes. But he had no right to change jobs or choose not to work, which was essentially forced labor with wages.

Each person had a price. After accumulating a certain number of points, he could use the points to redeem himself. Then he would no longer be a forced laborer and could choose another job.

In Yang Yun’s plan, the prisoners would not be paid for the first year. Only after a year of good performance could they enter the “point” stage. Those with poor performance would continue to work without pay. A prisoner in a normal state would need about four years to complete his redemption.

“…We can give extra rewards to prisoners who perform well and work hard, so they can complete their redemption one or two years earlier.” At this time, he carefully observed the leaders present and felt that they were basically positive about his speech. He continued, “Through hard labor, we can correct the bad habits of these prisoners and promote the ideological differentiation among them. By giving rewards and changing positions, we can support a group of activists from among them to disintegrate, monitor, and reform their interior. In this way, after four or five years, even if the prisoners cannot become active builders, they will become law-abiding citizens who are useful to the new society and new order.”

There was a low murmur of discussion. Wu De looked at the 25-year-old young man. “Not bad!” he thought. We need such professional personnel to take our cause to the next level! He thought and looked at his watch. There were still many things to do in the Planning Commission office. A large number of captured goods registration books were being sent in continuously. So he raised his hand to show his support for Yang Yun’s plan.

Subsequently, the plan was detailed. The prisoners were organized into labor brigades, companies, and squads according to military organization. In the future, they could be deployed to different construction sites as needed.

“Because they are engaged in heavy physical labor and their reliability rating is low, my opinion is that the number of people in each team should not be too small, so as to avoid being too scattered and difficult to monitor. We should try to dispatch and use them in the scale of a company—about one hundred people,” Wu De proposed. “Of course, on this scale, they can only be used for large-scale infrastructure projects.”

“Besides road construction, there are many large-scale infrastructure projects to be built,” said Mei Wan, the general manager of the construction company. “Irrigation channels, reservoirs, ports…”

Considering that there were no large Ming army groups in Hainan in the next step, and that it would take at least two or three years for the Guangdong side to launch a second large-scale suppression campaign, the participants unanimously agreed that there was no need to maintain a state of war. The meeting decided that Lin Gao would lift the state of emergency from that day on and restore normal order. The duty system for veterans and native militia would be lifted; the conscripted militia and laborers would be discharged from service; and production in all departments would return to normal.

“There is one very important matter,” Si Kaide quickly brought up. “Our foreign trade connections. Now that the Ming army has been defeated, we should quickly restore them. I think we can talk about the issue of amnesty and enlistment at this stage…”

Wen Desi said, “Are you planning to go to Guangzhou alone with a white flag to ask Wang Zunde for amnesty?”

“If that works, why not?” Si Kaide said calmly.

“This is a right-leaning capitulationist trend,” Wen Desi said. “I just don’t understand why there are always people among us who want to surrender and seek amnesty. It seems that the roots of capitulationism need to be dug out.”

Si Kaide immediately defended himself: “This is a strategy, a strategy! We need the mainland’s resources and population. Wouldn’t it be a good thing if we could restore peace as soon as possible? As for what name to use, I don’t think it’s a big deal. What we want are practical benefits! Benefits!”

“If you want to restore trade, you don’t have to seek amnesty,” Wen Desi warned. “Officials all like to make a fortune in silence. It’s completely unnecessary to have a title!”

“Alright, what I mean is to negotiate with Wang Zunde.” Si Kaide took a step back and changed his wording.

Jiang Shan said, “After this failure, Wang Zunde will definitely step down. He might even be arrested and sent to the capital for questioning. It’s meaningless to negotiate with him. It’s better for us to contact the Guangdong officials after he steps down and the court replaces him with a new person.”

Si Kaide muttered in despair, “The time is too long…” From the time the news of the defeat was reported to the court to the time the new official took office, it would probably take a year.

Jiang Shan said, “I don’t think it will be long. Historically, Xiong Wencan took over as the viceroy of Liangguang in 1632. After we defeat He Rubin, it should advance the time for Xiong Wencan to become the viceroy of Liangguang. Old Xiong is known for his policy of appeasement. He will most likely take the initiative to contact us after he takes office.”

At that moment, someone proposed to formally negotiate with the Guangdong side in the name of Ao-Song, following the example of the British in signing a trade treaty. Someone else listed five main clauses: cede Hong Kong Island; grant a concession outside Guangzhou city; compensate for military expenses and all losses of the Lin Gao regime; reopen bilateral trade; and return all property of the Guangzhou station.

“These five clauses are simply impossible,” Jiang Shan said. “At least not now. Not to mention Wang Zunde, even Old Xiong wouldn’t dare to agree. If an imperial censor submitted a memorial, he would be arrested and sent to the capital.”

“Bombard Guangzhou, blockade the Pearl River Delta!”

“Bombarding Guangzhou might be useful, but blockading the Pearl River Delta is meaningless to the Ming Dynasty. The Ming court and the Qing court have one thing in common on this point—they don’t think overseas trade is of any significance to them,” said Yu E’shui. “According to the normal historical trajectory, the court will order the blockade of Guangzhou Bay in 1631. So it’s meaningless whether we blockade it or not.”

“So we have no other choice?”

“If we want to use military force, following the logic of the Opium War: on the one hand, besiege Guangzhou and force the local officials to reach a trade settlement with us. At the same time, to ensure that the Guangdong officials can actually implement it, send a fleet to the mouth of the Yangtze River, capture Zhenjiang, and then bombard Nanjing, making a threat to cut off the Grand Canal.” He shrugged. “If the Ming still refuses to submit, we have no other choice but to launch a full-scale war and directly occupy Guangdong.”

To carry out such a large-scale military operation was obviously far beyond the current capabilities of the transmigrator regime. Wen Desi believed that this matter could only be discussed privately with the leaders of the Guangzhou government, and they could not talk about signing any specific treaties.

Wen Desi said slowly, “Officials are most afraid of putting things in writing! You guys really have no concept. The key is tacit understanding, tacit understanding!” He waved his arm. “If you go to bribe someone to do something, do you also ask the other party to write a receipt, saying that I received fifty thousand yuan from you and will definitely do this and that? You are too naive!”

The traditional Chinese dynasties had no concept of diplomatic treaties. It was simply impossible to sign any kind of equal treaty with the Guangdong local government.

So the guiding principle for the peace talks between the two sides was tacit understanding. They would secretly reach a tacit understanding and a bottom line, and would not cross each other’s boundaries.

“It’s impossible for the Guangdong government to pay compensation,” Wen Desi said. “First, they don’t have the money—even if they did, they wouldn’t give it to us. Second, in the officialdom, there is no rule for the government to compensate the common people. If you ask someone to make an exception, it becomes a big deal.”

“Then we can’t reach an agreement?” Si Kaide muttered.

“Little Si, you’re still the head of the colonial trade department…”

Si Kaide quickly clarified, “Chairman Wen, I’m the office director of the Colonial Trade Department.”

“Whatever you are. As a leader, have you ever heard of the term ‘rent-seeking’?” Wen Desi said with a smile. “They can’t give you real gold and silver, but if the government leaks some of its power to you, won’t that compensate for our losses?”

Everyone showed a look of understanding.

“We can’t say it outright: ‘Cede Hong Kong Island to me!’ And we can’t ask the other party to write it down in black and white. No official in the whole of Ming would dare to agree to this. Even the Chongzhen Emperor wouldn’t dare—he’s not afraid of the civil official group spraying him to death, but he’s afraid of getting the reputation of ‘ceding territory’ in the historical records,” Wen Desi said. “But we can quietly occupy the island and do whatever we want on it—as long as we don’t make it so that the local government can’t explain it to their superiors. Anyway, this kind of thing has always been about deceiving the superiors but not the subordinates.”

Si Kaide frowned and said, “How many years can it last? It will be exposed eventually.”

Wu De gently tapped the table: “Time!” he said seriously. “Three years ago, we didn’t occupy Lin Gao County, and we developed outside the city by relying on this ‘deceiving the superiors but not the subordinates’—we won time. We need to win another three to five years.”

The first five-year plan was completed, the coal-iron complex was formed, and the second five-year plan was the time for mass production of equipment and soldiers. At that time, they would no longer need the Ming’s recognition or tolerance.

The meeting decided to establish a “Guangdong Peace Talks Group” to prepare to return to Guangzhou and contact the Guangdong government. They roughly planned to take three different routes. The first was Gao Ju’s route, the second was Li Luoyou’s, and the last was a group of Guangzhou officials and gentry who had deep ties with the Guangzhou station, a multi-pronged approach.

Wu Nanhai then asked to speak: “With the addition of ten thousand people, our food problem has emerged.”

Lin Gao’s food problem was quite prominent. The county’s own grain production was limited, and there was a large influx of outsiders. A large number of people were concentrated in non-agricultural production sectors such as schools, administrative departments, military units, and industrial enterprises. The work of increasing the yield per mu and expanding the planting area had just begun, so the overall food supply was tight. Although it was currently self-sufficient with a surplus, it had already formed a dependence on the supply of rice from Vietnam.

The addition of ten thousand prisoners, according to the personal ration standard proposed by Chen Sigen, a doctor of nutrition, for those engaged in heavy physical labor such as road construction, required each person to have a daily heat intake of 3,600 kcal, and at least not less than 3,000 kcal. If this number were entirely supplied by carbohydrates, it would mean that each prisoner must be supplied with 750 grams of brown rice or equivalent starchy food every day.

“Ten thousand people, the daily supply is 7.5 tons of brown rice.” Wu Nanhai emphasized the huge number. “A 30-day month consumes 225 tons.”

Wu De listened and calculated the grain reserves, and he began to frown. This would shorten Lin Gao’s food security reserve period by eleven days.

“Moreover, brown rice has a low protein and fat content. Long-term intake of only carbohydrates is not good for health. We need to provide more protein and fat to laborers and prisoners to ensure that they can work for us stably for a long time, and at the same time reduce the direct consumption of grain,” said Wu Nanhai.

Ma Qianzhu said, “What do you want to do?”

Wu Nanhai said, “I hope to change our fishery system. Marine fishing should be independent of the navy—this is, after all, an agricultural project. It is not smooth for the navy to manage the fishery system.”

The marine fishing industry was indeed the only industry that could quickly provide a large amount of protein and fat at this stage. It was thanks to marine fishing that the Lin Gao regime could barely guarantee the protein supply for the veterans and the laborers and troops under its rule.

A low murmur of discussion sounded in the crowded meeting room: Wu Nanhai had always been known for his low-key and non-contentious nature. Now he suddenly attacked the system directly and wanted to take back the fishing rights, which surprised everyone.

The current fishery system was that the navy managed the fishery. The fishing boats were also the navy’s special service boats. A part of the special service boats specialized in fishing operations. In addition to the navy’s direct fishing, there was also a “fishery tax” collected by the navy in the fishing grounds near Bopu. Each private fishing boat had to pay one-fifth of its catch.

Whether it was the navy’s catch or the fishermen’s fishing tax, it was all handed over to the seafood processing plant under the Ministry of Agriculture. The total amount was considerable.

Ye Yuming also joined in at this time: “Our Tiandihui has taken the lead in establishing a fishery association and wants to improve the fishermen’s equipment and production technology, but the navy’s current practice of directly controlling the fishing grounds and fishing boats is very unfavorable to the large-scale promotion and improvement of the fishery. I fully support Commissioner Wu’s view that the navy should no longer manage the fishery.”

“And collecting a fishing tax from the fishermen—it doesn’t make sense for the navy to collect taxes either,” Cheng Dong said slowly. “I personally believe that tax power must be unified. Furthermore, collecting taxes in kind is a regression in a certain sense and is not conducive to the development of a commodity economy.”