Chapter 228 - Jinshi Liu's Illness

The negotiations between the Council of Elders and Li Luoyou reached a rather satisfactory conclusion. Under the overwhelming pressure of “national righteousness” and “saving the people from fire and water,” Li Luoyou had no choice but to accept the condition of opening up the Liaodong trade channel for them. Similarly, he also agreed to a package plan for “in-depth cooperation” with the Australians on the mainland.

The Political Security Bureau, through eavesdropping on the conversations between Li Luoyou and Gu Baocheng, and by managing to plant an agent in the Qionghai—a feat that took Wu Mu immense effort to achieve, as all the clerks in the Qionghai, from the shopkeeper to the cooks, watchmen, and sweepers, were all transferred from Li Luoyou’s businesses on the mainland and were related to each other, making it almost impenetrable—had gathered intelligence. Wu Mu had originally planned to either bribe or coerce a clerk to act as an informant, but was stopped by Zhao Manxiong. In the end, they managed to insert a person by taking advantage of the Qionghai’s need for a purchasing clerk who understood the Lin’gao dialect and the New Language.

From the intelligence obtained by the Political Security Bureau, they knew of Li Luoyou’s earnest desire to support Gu Baocheng. Therefore, during the negotiations, Xu Tianqi used the bait of hinting at strong support for Gu Baocheng’s career. This move was more effective in persuading Li Luoyou than “national righteousness.” If he could secure the backing of the Australians, it would be of immense benefit to Gu Baocheng’s future career development, especially when Xu Tianqi hinted that they would also directly intervene in the Nanyang trade and that private capital could also participate. Li Luoyou’s eyelids swelled with excitement.

Jiang Shan’s Foreign Intelligence Bureau and Si Kaide’s Trade and Colonization Department were rubbing their hands together, both preparing to use this as an opportunity to expand their forces to the mainland. After joint consultations, the two sides submitted a report to the Planning and Development Commission. The content of the report was the selection of the first batch of commercial-intelligence network points.

The establishment of network points had a preliminary plan since the early days of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, including the layout of the mountain and sea routes, which had already been approved by the Executive Committee and the Council of Elders. The implementation of this plan was suspended for several months due to the Ming army’s campaign, but preparatory work such as personnel training had never stopped, except for the few weeks of mobilization and participation in the war. By the end of 1630, Jiang Shan’s Foreign Intelligence Bureau was fully prepared in terms of personnel, funds, and system, just waiting for the starting gun.

The Executive Committee’s requirement for the Foreign Intelligence Bureau and the Colonial Trade Department was to import a large number of people—this was the primary task for the next two to three years. Although their rule would extend to the entire Hainan Island, the lack of population had always been a serious bottleneck restricting development.

With this in mind, the Foreign Intelligence Bureau and the Colonial Trade Department revised the network point plan: the specific locations of the network points remained unchanged, but the priority was adjusted—to cooperate with the upcoming Liaodong trade and the immigration plan to receive population from the north.

According to the Grand Library’s suggestion, there would be a rare major drought in Zhejiang in 1631, displacing millions of people. This was an excellent opportunity to absorb a large population. At an expanded meeting of the Executive Committee, it was estimated that they could obtain more than two hundred thousand people from this disaster.

Thus, the first network point was set up in Shanghai. Shanghai not only controlled the mouth of the Yangtze River and was a good trading port, but also connected Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, giving it a very obvious geographical advantage. The disaster victims could be transported by boat from nearby. Therefore, a large-scale transit base had to be established in Shanghai first, with transit camps, stockpiles of food, medicine, and other supplies needed by the victims, and sufficient personnel.

The second was Hangzhou. Hangzhou was not originally one of the first batch of network point cities, but to recruit a large number of famine victims in Zhejiang, someone had to run around in the provincial capital and clear all the hurdles. The Chinese government was often more adept at causing trouble than solving problems, and was always full of suspicion towards spontaneous actions by the people.

Finally, there was the Dengzhou-Laizhou area in Shandong. This was an important port for trade with Liaodong, and Li Luoyou’s trade with Liaodong was also mainly transshipped through this port. However, this place was about to experience the Dengzhou Rebellion between 1631 and 1632. In this large-scale turmoil, a small trading post would obviously have difficulty surviving. Therefore, the Colonial Trade Department proposed to occupy a small island off the coast of Deng-Lai as a base. In Deng-Lai itself, they would mainly use Li Luoyou’s existing resources in the area.

The first batch of network points was expected to be completed before March-April 1631. Subsequently, the “mountain and sea routes” would also set up strongholds in Nanjing, Beijing, and Tianjin.

In terms of using local forces, they would use Li Luoyou in Liaodong and Shandong. In the north and south capitals, the Intelligence Bureau was preparing to pull Gao Ju into the business to make use of the eunuch power behind him. Besides using their power, Si Kaide and Cheng Dong were also eyeing the large sums of silver in the private coffers of the chief eunuchs.

Li Luoyou had no idea of the devious plans in the minds of the transmigrators. He only knew that partnering with the Australians would not be a losing proposition, so he was optimistic about the prospects of cooperation. Xu Tianqi then invited Li Luoyou to attend the year-end annual celebration held by the Council of Elders. This annual meeting, according to the suggestion of Deputy People’s Commissar for Civil Affairs Liu Muzhou, would, in addition to the Elders, also invite outstanding figures from all classes of the naturalized citizens, including people like Fu Bu’er and Lin Quan’an. At the same time, a portion of “model figures” from among ordinary workers, farmers, and soldiers would also be invited to attend this annual meeting to demonstrate the new society’s principles of “no distinction between high and low work” and “all naturalized citizens are equal.”

Although Li Luoyou was not a “naturalized citizen,” his depth of cooperation with the transmigrators had already surpassed that of Gao Ju, making him an important partner of the transmigrator group. Inviting him to the annual meeting was a good way to fully display their strength and sincerity as a means of winning him over.

“Is it a New Year’s celebration? I will definitely go…” Li Luoyou nodded repeatedly. Just then, a pleasant melody suddenly came from Liu San’s body. Li Luoyou looked at him with great curiosity. How could this Doctor Liu be carrying a music box?

Liu San quickly apologized and went out into the courtyard. From the open door, they could hear Liu San talking to someone, but they couldn’t hear a second person speaking. He was extremely surprised. There should be no one in the study’s courtyard. What kind of trick was this Chief Liu playing?

A moment later, Liu San hurried in, said a few words to Xu Tianqi, whose expression immediately became grave. He asked a few more questions in a low voice, and only then did Liu San turn around and say that he had an urgent matter and had to leave.

Under Li Luoyou’s surprised gaze, Liu San hurriedly left the Qionghai, got on his bicycle, and sped towards the Lin’gao General Hospital in Bairen City. The person who had called him was Xiong Buyou. He had said in the phone call that Liu Dalin was dying!

Liu Dalin’s health had been deteriorating since the end of the second anti-encirclement campaign. After consulting a doctor and taking medicine, there had been no improvement. Even Yang Shixiang, who had returned from buying medicine in Anguo, had made several house calls, but there were no signs of improvement. Yang Shixiang had once suggested calling in an Australian doctor, but his family had always refused. The Australians’ methods of treatment made them uneasy: cutting open the stomach with a knife, inserting sharp needles into the flesh, and other such treatment methods had already spread in Lin’gao.

After winter set in, Liu Dalin’s condition worsened daily, and he was completely bedridden. When Xiong Buyou received this news, he panicked. According to the Council of Elders’ wishes, Jinshi Liu was at least a future vice-chairman of the Hainan Provincial Political Consultative Conference. The Council of Elders had spent a lot of effort on him. If he died just like that, wouldn’t the “Jasmine Pavilion work” be a complete failure? He immediately contacted Yang Shixiang and asked him to do his best to persuade Liu’s family to agree to accept treatment from an Australian doctor.

At the critical moment, the Liu family finally relented. Yang Shixiang recommended Liu San. Liu San, at least, had a background in traditional Chinese medicine, and his treatment theories, methods, and use of medicine would be more easily accepted by the Liu family.

Liu San rushed into the general hospital and returned to his office. Zhang Ziyi was already waiting for him there. This matter had already been reported to the Executive Committee, which had instructed the general hospital to do everything possible to save Liu Dalin.

“How can I make such a guarantee? I don’t even know what illness he has,” Liu San complained.

“I haven’t been to his house yet. But based on my daily observations, Liu Dalin’s hemiplegia should be a sequela of an ischemic stroke. His mobility is not severely impaired, and his speech is clear. I heard that he still reads and writes frequently. His mobility and language skills are not greatly affected. If he had started rehabilitation at that time, he probably wouldn’t have developed mobility impairment.”

“Your judgment is very accurate.” Liu San thought to himself, she’s indeed an old head nurse, her professional knowledge is solid. “But we’ll have to see the specific situation to know. Will you come with me?”

“Is it appropriate? I don’t mind taking care of this old man, but will he have any ideas about the separation of men and women?”

“He’s not even forty yet, how is he an old man?” Liu San said. He had looked it up in ancient books. “He just looks old and traditional. All scholars are like that, they want to look mature. Besides, his life is on the line now, so he probably won’t be concerned about the separation of men and women. I estimate that he most likely has various complications, and post-operative care is very important. If you go, you can give his servants on-site guidance.”

“Okay, I’ll get ready right away.” Zhang Ziyi had already prepared his medical bag, which contained the three great treasures of the Elder doctors: a stethoscope, a sphygmomanometer, and a thermometer.

“We should also bring a syringe, and it would be best to bring infusion equipment as well. He might need an intravenous infusion,” Liu San said. Although he didn’t know how critical the condition was, it was better to be prepared. This would save time from having to go back and forth to get equipment and medicine.

“I’ll even bring surgical instruments, anesthetic, and disinfectant. If there’s a minor surgery to be done, we can do it right away,” Zhang Ziyi said, taking out another large medical bag.