Chapter Twenty-Two: The New Plan

The Senators and laborers waiting at the Anyoule Port in Sanya, watching the “Great Whale” slowly dock, certainly did not know the complex origins of the cargo wrapped in reed mats and oilcloth on its deck. The Senators were already accustomed to the industrial sector’s miracles, and as for the naturalized citizens, such things were a matter of course—was there anything the Senators couldn’t do?

Besides the Senators who were preparing to install the equipment, the “Great Whale” also brought back Wang Luobin and others who were returning to Lin’gao for debriefing and to celebrate the New Year. The Senators, having finished their New Year holiday, were all glowing with health. The Senators stationed in Sanya had also brought their purchased maids to Sanya. Even the perpetually gloomy Zhuo Tianmin had brought back a maid—who was not bad looking. The problem of his son, which had been worrying him, had been completely resolved. Fangcaodi had opened a special class for the children of Senators, taking in the few “little Senators.” It also adopted a boarding system, on the one hand, to free up the parents’ hands, and on the other, to conduct collectivist education to ensure that the second generation would not become useless.

Li Haiping had also returned. However, he was not on the “Great Whale,” but on one of the six single-masted lateen-sail patrol boats—these were allocated to him by the Navy to strengthen the Sanya detachment. A fleet of six fishing patrol boats was indeed a bit worrying.

“Engineer Wang, I heard this year’s annual meeting was very successful,” He Fanghui said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes at the pier.

“Yes, Fang Fei is very capable! Zheng Shangjie is also very good at handling things!” Wang Luobin said with great excitement, as if he were still savoring the grand occasion of that night. “Let’s not talk about that for now. The maids, no, the equipment is all here now. We must strive to ship out the first boat of iron ore as soon as possible!”

“I see the maids have arrived,” Xi Yazhou laughed. “Tonight, we’ll strive to fire the first shot.”

Everyone laughed. He Fanghui said, “Speaking of women, I’ve almost forgotten the taste of meat. I need to find some time to have some fun.”

“Still need to find time? Just do it tonight!” Xi Yazhou made a chopping motion with his hand.

The maids, dressed in ordinary labor training clothes, wearing wide-brimmed straw hats, carrying wicker suitcases, and with canvas bags slung over their shoulders, looked at this group of Senators speaking strange words with confusion. After a few days of tossing at sea, they were all listless.

Beside the maids were piled many large and small packing boxes and bundles, with the large black ink characters “Sanya Special Supply - General Office” written on them.

“These are all daily necessities prepared for everyone by the General Office.”

“The General Office is really our considerate friend…”

He Fanghui coughed. “The iron ore is no problem; it’s all piled up in the stockyard. As soon as the loading and unloading equipment is installed, it can be shipped out immediately. Are we using the Great Whale?”

“The Great Whale will transport one shipload first,” Wang Luobin said. “But it will take several days to unload, and at least a week to install the equipment…” He calculated that it would be the beginning of February at the earliest to fill the Great Whale’s cargo hold.

Two sets of mining equipment were transported: one was a bucket elevator, and the other was ore dressing equipment. The Tiandu iron mine was a rare rich mine in China, but it was also mixed with low-quality poor ore, symbiotic ore, and worthless gangue brought out during mining. Transporting the ore after dressing could greatly save on sea freight tonnage.

The group took a small motorboat across the Dadonghai to Yulin Fortress. Wang Luobin instructed that the maids be temporarily placed in the labor camp outside Yulin Fortress, living with the female health workers and clerks.

At the “Iron Ore Export Work Conference” held in Yulin Fortress that day, the atmosphere was very enthusiastic. Everyone had an in-depth and straightforward discussion on the issues of ore export, equipment installation, and maid placement. At the meeting, they unified their thinking, clarified their goals, and unanimously agreed to make these three tasks the top priorities for the Sanya Special Administrative Region in the first quarter of 1631.

The installation of the equipment would, of course, be handled by the engineer Xiao Gui, sent by the General Machinery Plant. Ji Runzhi would be responsible for assisting with the infrastructure. The export of ore was still under the charge of Zhuo Tianmin, who was currently the acting director of the Tiandu Mining Bureau. As for the placement of the maids, Ji Runzhi was given full responsibility.

“The Planning Institute also has plans for immigrant colonization and industrial upgrading,” Wang Luobin cleared his throat. “These two plans are long-term and not urgent, but we need to start operating them gradually from now on and do the basic preparatory work.”

The Planning Institute decided to move 15,000 people from the mainland in batches, starting from the third quarter of 1631, the second phase of Operation Giant. A small portion would come from other prefectures and counties on Hainan Island, while the majority would come from mainland refugees, to populate the Sanya Special Administrative Region and prepare a population base for local industrial and agricultural development.

The influx of a large population would inevitably require a large amount of infrastructure: housing, water supply and drainage, and roads. It would also involve how to provide enough food, fuel, and health services for the suddenly increased population.

“…Part of this will rely on supplies from Lin’gao, and part will be based on local self-production. Especially the production of building materials and the training of construction workers…” Wang Luobin said.

Zhuo Tianmin expressed his concern: “Bricks and tiles are easy to handle. As long as we can supply enough coal, even if Lin’gao can’t supply the chains and pulleys, we can build a wheel kiln to make do. But cement and timber require professional equipment.”

Cement supply required cement kilns, and timber required a dedicated timber processing plant and drying kilns. These basic constructions all required Lin’gao to manufacture professional equipment and dispatch technical personnel. It was impossible to achieve this with only Sanya’s small repair shop and a few Senators.

Wang Luobin said, “These projects are all included in the Planning Institute’s plan. And they are scheduled to be completed within the year 1631—to prepare for the industrial upgrading of Sanya in 1632.”

He Fanghui asked, “What industrial upgrading?”

“Chemical industry,” Wang Luobin replied briefly. “To be precise, salt chemical industry.”

The Yinggehai Sea near Sanya is the best salt-panning field in Asia. In the old world, it was the largest salt field in Hainan and also the largest sea salt field in southern China. The seawater concentration here reached 3.5 degrees Baumé, one of the saltiest sea areas in the world, second only to the Red Sea. The salt production conditions were very superior. In the old world, the annual salt production here could reach 270,000 tons—and there was still room for expansion and increased production.

A large amount of sea salt is a basic raw material for the chemical industry. It is very convenient to develop a salt chemical enterprise in Sanya. Moreover, Sanya’s geographical location provides superior conditions for developing petrochemicals in the future—high-quality crude oil transported from Southeast Asia can be processed nearby.

“Too powerful!” The few of them were a little dumbfounded. Originally, they thought it was a great achievement to have developed the Tiandu iron mine and built the current situation from scratch in the pristine jungle and on the desolate beach. They didn’t expect that there would be even greater undertakings to come.

“Our cause is truly endless!” Ji Runzhi exclaimed, his excitement palpable. He himself was a construction enthusiast who liked “large” and “giant” projects and had a natural fascination with large projects.

He Fanghui, however, was a little worried: “I don’t understand the chemical industry, but with so many pipes, valves, and large and small tanks in a chemical plant, can the General Machinery Plant handle it?”

“That depends on how quickly you can ship out the iron ore,” Xiao Gui said. “To put it bluntly, industry needs enough steel. With steel, you can build anything.”

“Alright. We will do our best.”

Since the maids had arrived, it was naturally inconvenient for the Senators to continue sleeping on bunk beds in the collective dormitory. Even if there were no luxury villas at the moment, they had to at least create a “home” feeling for the Senators’ single dormitories.

Ji Runzhi had long wanted to move out of the barracks-style dormitory in Yulin Fortress and build a seaside villa to live in—not only for enjoyment but also to practice his construction skills. Now that the women had been sent, it was a legitimate reason. He then proposed the motion to build seaside villas for the Senators at a work meeting of the Sanya Regional Military Committee—it was passed unanimously.

Ji Runzhi had all the construction materials on hand, and with the guidance of He Fanghui, a Sanya local, he quickly selected a small bay near Yulin Fortress by the Dadonghai. The scenery here was beautiful, and the terrain was easy to guard. Ji Runzhi immediately decided to build “villas” here.

He spent three or four days on the shallow beach building seven “seaside cabins.” The cabins were connected by wooden corridors. This type of cabin was common in seaside resorts in the old world, with an elevated structure, wooden construction, and a thatched roof. The Lin’gao version of the “seaside cabin” didn’t even use wooden walls, but rather wooden strips to form the wall frame, which was then sealed with reed mats, which could also provide shelter from wind and rain and block the line of sight. When completed, it looked quite impressive and had a “harmonious with nature” feel.

The “cabins” had a porch in front. Ji Runzhi also placed a few pots of tropical plants as decoration and a few rattan chairs on the porch. The seawater flowed under their feet, and they could enjoy the seaside scenery while holding their maids and drinking wine… The Senators who came to visit were full of praise. Those who were on temporary business trips couldn’t help but be envious, jealous, and resentful—after all, Lin’gao did not have such beautiful seaside scenery.

“It’s just not typhoon-resistant,” Ji Runzhi said. “We have to move our things before the typhoon season comes. As for electricity…”

Wang Luobin interrupted him: “No electricity supply, lest someone say it’s a waste of labor and money.”

He Fanghui also nodded repeatedly. “With such good scenery, what do we need electricity for! A horse lantern for lighting is good enough. We can also go fishing.”

That night, the Senators moved into the cabins one after another, except for Xi Yazhou and Li Haiping. These two garrison commanders were required to live in the barracks and could only come to the cabins for recreation on holidays.

The maids were all assigned jobs—the Senators were not very comfortable leaving their women alone in an empty house. Xi Yazhou used his authority as the garrison commander to get military registration for his and Li Haiping’s maids, who were enlisted as orderlies and were legitimately arranged to serve in their own barracks. The other maids also became leaders’ secretaries and clerks. He Ma, however, did not buy a maid from the General Office—he had already gotten Guo Fu.