Chapter 53: News from Hon Gai Station

Hainan Island does not produce silk products—this was the Dutch’s favorite commodity. Si Kaide thought, perhaps we can also emulate the Dutch and engage in intermediary trade. We can import silk fabrics and porcelain from the mainland on a large scale and then sell them to the Dutch. The Dutch have always suffered from Zheng Zhilong’s strict blockade of coastal trade. Because of the monopoly, the price of silk fabrics sold by Zheng Zhilong to the Dutch is very expensive, which cannot satisfy the Dutch’s desire to make super profits.

What if we sell to the Dutch? Si Kaide thought of this idea. As long as the price is slightly cheaper, the Dutch will come to Lingao to purchase silk. Or let them go directly to Sanya Port for transactions.

Of course, considering that the Ming Dynasty itself also has a great demand for spices, letting the Dutch transport spices is also a way to fill the gap in Lingao’s export goods. Since the Dutch violently monopolized the export of spices from the Moluccas, the price of spices they sold has been very expensive. However, since Zheng Zhilong and others are still willing to accept Dutch spices as trade goods, it is clear that the profit from selling them to the mainland is still considerable. We can also earn this profit!

Si Kaide scribbled on the paper with a pencil, thinking about how to force the Dutch to sign an unequal treaty and how to make the content of the treaty as favorable to his side as possible. The quarantine period would end tomorrow.

As he was racking his brains, the phone rang again: someone reported that a telegram had arrived from Hon Gai Station.

“The trading post at Hon Gai was attacked by bandits!” the voice on the phone said urgently.

“What?!” Si Kaide couldn’t help but exclaim. The female secretary who was always waiting outside the door for instructions immediately pushed the door open. Si Kaide waved his hand at her, telling her to go out. “What happened? Are there any casualties?”

“The specific situation is unclear. The telegram says that the trading post is currently safe and the bandits have been repulsed,” the native clerk responsible for exchanging intelligence said nervously on the phone.

“Bring the telegram up immediately. Quick!” Si Kaide was most worried about the safety of Hon Gai Station—after all, he had strongly advocated for the development of Hon Gai. If something happened to Hon Gai, for example, if Bei Kai was killed or captured by the monkeys, he, the Minister of Colonies and Trade, would not be able to be re-elected in the future. At most, he would be the chief secretary of the Ministry of Colonies and Trade forever.

The telegram was immediately brought up by a running clerk. Si Kaide grabbed the slip of paper and looked at it. The words on it were few and far between, not many more than what the clerk had said.

“What kind of a telegram is this! Nothing is clear,” Si Kaide was going crazy. “Quick, send a telegram to inquire about the specific situation of Hon Gai Station. Do they need reinforcements immediately?”

Si Kaide issued a series of instructions like a machine gun, and then picked up the phone again: “Connect me to the Naval Command!”

Bei Kai had spent nearly two months in Halong Bay.

In these two months, he had been his own master for the first time, free from the command of his direct superior. At first, he was not used to it, but after a while, he got more and more into the role.

The first week was the hardest. He stayed in an earthen enclosure with 30 marines, a life secretary, and 5 prisoners. This life secretary had not drawn a number above C-level at the time. He originally thought that buying a C-level would be no problem, but when he slowly went to “look at the goods,” he was frustrated to find that the C-levels had long been sold out, and even the D-levels were few and far between. Bei Kai bought one that was still passable with the attitude that something was better than nothing. Fortunately, the life secretaries had all been specially trained and were more endearing than the naturalized women who had just come out of the quarantine camp.

On this deserted beach, besides the 36 people, all he could see were the wild mountains and fields overgrown with grass. Although the scenery of Halong Bay was picturesque, in Bei Kai’s eyes, it was equally ferocious. More than once, he looked at the captured pirate fishing boat that Yan Maoda had left for them when he left, wondering if this boat could safely take them to Haiyang if something happened—he felt it was a bit risky to cross the Gulf of Tonkin.

The Zhennan was supposed to be back in three or four days, but it actually took a whole week. The return of Zhang Da Bala with the Zhennan reassured Bei Kai—this old pirate was very familiar with the situation in Vietnam, and with such a powerful ship in his hands, he was not afraid of ordinary bandits and pirates.

The Zhennan brought a lot of rice and daily necessities from Haiyang, and also brought him more than a hundred emaciated North Tonkin peasants. These were all peasants who had fled because of the heavy taxes and conscription of the Northern Court. Yan Maoda had recruited them all at a very low cost.

This group of North Tonkin peasants and the five pirate prisoners became the first batch of miners at the Hon Gai coal mine. Bei Kai now had enough food, tools, and building materials in his warehouse, and immediately began a large-scale construction project in Hon Gai.

Bei Kai organized the miners to set up a labor camp outside the fort. The accommodations were simple semi-underground dugouts. A trench was dug outside as a simple defensive measure.

The miners were immediately put to work digging at Cat Shit Pit No. 1. Each worker used the tools given to them by Bei Kai to dig, and the excavated coal was loaded into baskets and transported to the seaside by Zidian handcarts, where it was piled up in an open space next to the wharf to wait for shipment. Although Yan Maoda had not instructed him to start digging coal immediately, Bei Kai believed that if the first ship from Lingao could return without being empty, it would greatly enhance his reputation in the Senate.

Bei Kai found that a miner could dig 50 kilograms of coal per hour with simple iron tools and carry it to the stockyard with a back basket or a small cart. Even if a miner worked 10 hours a day, each person’s daily coal output could reach half a ton.

A week later, two transport ships from the Great Wave Shipping Company arrived at Hon Gai. In addition to more building materials and tools, they also brought a hundred naturalized laborers. This group of laborers would serve as the core force of Hon Gai Station. In addition to basic laborers, this group also included a small number of trained clerks, medics, and some skilled workers, including blacksmiths and carpenters.

With double the number of workers, things got done much faster. The workers used prefabricated parts to build a wooden pier. The original earthen enclosure was also expanded—a second earthen embankment and trench were built around the earthen enclosure. The area enclosed by the new earthen embankment was greatly increased, forming a so-called “outer fort.” The residences of the naturalized workers, administrative facilities, and warehouses were all located within the outer fort. Six 24-pounder cannons were also unloaded from the ship, and all the naturalized workers were equipped with the standard militia kit: helmets, standard spears, and cutlasses, which greatly increased Bei Kai’s sense of security.

When the ships of the Great Wave Shipping Company returned, they were loaded with more than a hundred tons of anthracite. Although the quantity was small, it had great symbolic significance. Si Kaide took this matter and boasted about it at the Executive Committee meetings and in the Senate. The news was also published in the “Lingao Times.” After receiving this news, Bei Kai had mixed feelings of joy and sorrow: now he had to “produce coal to serve the country” here.

With the naturalized workers and native management personnel as the backbone, Bei Kai reorganized the workflow. The naturalized workers immediately began to build a light railway, extending from the coal stockyard to Cat Shit Pit No. 1. Ore carts transported from Lingao ran on it. The miners now worked in small groups, and their efficiency was greatly improved: a 3-person team using iron shovels to dig coal could quickly fill a 200kg-capacity ore cart, and one person could quickly move this cart of coal to the stockyard. With 3 cart workers and 3 shovel workers, they could get 7-8 tons of coal in a 10-hour workday. On average, about two hundred people, including naturalized workers, worked at the mine. The daily coal output could reach more than 250 tons. This output was already enough for the Great Wave Shipping Company to open a dedicated coal transport line. The large ship, Qionghai Coal, finally did its namesake job and became a dedicated coal transport ship.

The surge in coal transport volume made the loading and unloading of coal in Hon Gai a bottleneck again. The Qionghai Coal soon brought steam engines, boilers, and bucket elevators. Then, to supply clean drinking water to the workers, a large fixed water filter was sent.

Then more naturalized workers were sent—the development of Hon Gai was like a snowball. As the scale expanded, the demand for manpower from all aspects began to emerge. People were needed to build houses, build tracks, maintain machinery and equipment, load and unload goods, and even cook… By the end of February 1631, the number of laborers in Hon Gai had expanded to 600, of which more than 200 were naturalized citizens, and the rest were recruited from the local area of North Tonkin. Many people who could not bear the pressure of taxes and military service were sent here from the recruitment station in Haiyang, and some came on their own after hearing the news.

The ever-increasing number of local North Tonkin miners and their families soon formed a simple settlement outside the outer fort. The settlement was surrounded by a trench and a bamboo fence with sharpened tops for protection. Between the miners’ settlement and the outer fort was a simple road paved with coal slag and gangue. Next to the road, the cooperative opened a large canteen—to improve the workers’ efficiency and make full use of the labor force, letting them cook for themselves was obviously a waste of time. There were also small restaurants that provided higher-end food and alcohol, and a cooperative store that sold various goods. The surge in the number of miners attracted the commercial department. Li Mei personally came to Hon Gai to open a branch of the cooperative at Hon Gai Station according to the Nanbao model. In addition to selling various goods and handling remittance services, the main purpose was to promote the use of circulation coupons.

In another direction from Hon Gai Fort and the miners’ settlement, there was another small settlement. This was where the newly recruited locals lived—this was Hon Gai Station’s quarantine camp. The people living in the quarantine camp received free meals, and their job was to build roads to ensure that they did not come into contact with other miners.