Chapter 74: Planning

Of course, Guo Yi would not let him slide past the issue so easily—he was counting on the government to act as his demolition team. Although there weren’t many houses to tear down outside the city, land acquisition was also a complex task. Many large landlords and powerful clans would be very difficult to deal with if they tried to purchase the land themselves without the government’s intervention. Even though Guangzhou was more or less within the Senate’s grasp, the time for open and forceful dictatorship had not yet arrived.

“They’re just a bunch of country bumpkins. How much insight can they have?” Guo Yi said with a smile. “We are not stingy people who are unwilling to spend money. With the government’s help, what can’t be accomplished? We certainly won’t let everyone work hard for nothing.”

“This, this…” Li Xijue really didn’t dare to agree to too much. The Australians’ affairs could be big or small. They had now become a thorny issue that everyone in the officialdom avoided. He thought for a moment and decided to continue using the “delay” tactic. He said:

“This matter is of great importance. Allow me to go back and think it over carefully…”

Guo Yi gave a cold laugh and took a sip of his tea.

“Does such a small matter require so much thought?”

A chill ran down Li Xijue’s spine—not from any powerful aura emanating from Guo Yi, but from the memory of the “grand spectacle” a few months ago when the “Australian rebel” warships bombarded Humen, approached the White Goose Pool, and burned down the Wuyang Post House. He had witnessed firsthand how the government troops had collapsed at the first touch, and how the “Australian rebels” had swept through to the gates of Guangzhou city like a destructive force.

He was not highly trusted in the governor’s staff. If he handled the negotiations well, it would be fine, but if there was the slightest mistake, he would be a ready-made scapegoat. If he offended the “Australian rebels” and caused any trouble, the governor might very well use him to appease them.

Thinking of this, a sense of desolate helplessness enveloped his heart. He had no choice but to nod. “I wonder what brilliant ideas Master Guo has on this matter?”

“I have no brilliant ideas, but I have a plan,” Guo Yi’s expression softened again. “This matter will certainly not cause you any trouble, sir. Not only will it not be troublesome, but it will be beneficial for everyone…”

A temporary “Great World Project Group” was established on Huifu Street. The group was led by Hong Shuiyin, the Hong Kong business representative. He currently had nothing to do in Hong Kong—the Dutch ships wouldn’t arrive for at least a few months—so he was temporarily transferred here to take charge of the new project. Another key figure was the future “general manager” of the Great World: Zhang Yikun.

The Great World project was originally proposed by Zhang Yikun. He had run a small business in the old world and had good commercial and public relations skills, but there was little room for him to display his talents in Lingao, so he had been languishing in the Ministry of Commerce. Li Mei, the head of the ministry, already felt she didn’t have enough work to do, so he had even less. Being too idle, he was drafted by Hu Qingbai and had to teach part-time at Fangcao’di every day, covering everything from arithmetic and language to natural sciences.

The approval of the Guangzhou Great World project immediately boosted Zhang Yikun’s spirits. As the project’s originator and planner, and with his relevant professional background, he easily won the appointment as the head of operations for the Guangzhou Great World in the public recruitment held by the Organization Department.

At this moment, he was in a courtyard on Huifu Street, looking at the preliminary sketches of the future Great World—hand-drawn by Li Xiaolü just a few days ago. To ensure the construction schedule, Mei Wan had specifically instructed Mei Lin and Li Xiaolü to stay in Guangzhou to serve the Great World project. For their convenience, Li Xiaolü was provided with a set of professional drafting tools and even a special lamp for illumination—the power was supplied by a human-powered generator from the Guangzhou Station.

The design philosophy of the “Great World” was essentially an armed trading post combined with a shopping mall. Li Xiaolü had no idea what this strange hybrid should look like. Although she had been a draftswoman all her life in the old world, she had never drawn the structural plans for a star fort, let alone one with commercial functions. Hong Shuiyin and the others had to explain and draw at length before she finally understood their vision.

However, the preliminary sketches she produced this time were still far from their ideas. But at least the basic shape was there. On the paper was a “pentagonal building complex,” or, to put it more simply, something like the “Pentagon.”

“This is getting interesting!” Zhang Yikun nodded repeatedly. “But the internal structure…”

“We’ll revise it slowly. It would be best if you could give me a clear functional structural sketch. That way, I can design it specifically,” Li Xiaolü said, stretching. “Some ideas are impossible to design; they conflict with the building’s function and structure.”

“Of course, of course. We’ll mainly follow your professional opinion,” Zhang Yikun nodded repeatedly. He was very polite to the female designer, not only because she was professionally competent, but also because of the rumors that she had an ambiguous relationship with someone in the Executive Committee. Someone had witnessed a certain someone spending the night in her apartment.

“And then there’s the geological data,” Li Xiaolü said. “Next, I’ll be designing the building’s structure, so you need to get me the geological data for the construction site as soon as possible.”

“We’ll send people to survey it as soon as we confirm the location,” Zhang Yikun said, looking at the woman who always seemed a bit lazy. He thought that although she was fair-skinned and looked very refined, like a female intellectual, her figure and appearance were not particularly impressive, and she wasn’t very active, always looking languid. How could someone in the Executive Committee be interested in her?

There were several proposals for the location of the Great World, but the project group’s basic requirement was that it be outside Guangzhou city, backed by the Pearl River.

Being outside the city was primarily to be away from the government’s core area of control, allowing for greater freedom of action and making it easier for the government to turn a blind eye. Secondly, there was more open land, making land acquisition, demolition, and construction more convenient than urban renewal in Guangzhou. The Guangzhou Station had learned its lesson in this regard: when they were building the Huifu Street and other buildings, just transporting construction materials into the city every day was a major headache. The roads were narrow and winding, and all the materials had to be carried to the construction site by hand. Due to the inefficient transportation of materials, the entire construction period was delayed for many days.

However, the Great World could not be too far from the city—if it was too far, it would be difficult to attract enough customers, and it would also increase the cost of road construction. Therefore, an earlier proposal to build the Great World in Huangpu was rejected. The distance from Huangpu to Guangzhou city was such that unless the Guangzhou Station also built a light railway to transport customers, it would be impossible to attract a customer base.

“The distance from the city should not exceed 5 kilometers—on a good road, it would take an hour to walk. This would greatly reduce the frequency of citizens visiting our Great World.”

If a citizen took half an hour on average to leave the city from their home, and then had to walk another hour, the round trip would be three hours. Too much time spent on the road would discourage frequent visits. After discussion, they decided that a distance of 2 to 3 kilometers was appropriate.

Being backed by the Pearl River was mainly for easy access to water and for drainage. The Great World would have a large water demand, which could not be met by wells and small rivers. As for drainage, large rivers have always been natural drainage channels.

Building on the banks of the Pearl River was also convenient for transporting goods and maintaining a deterrent force. In times of need, a navy gunboat could be parked by the shore, making it easy to either support the defense of the trading post or cover a retreat.

After discussion, the final decision was to locate it about 2 kilometers east of the Great East Gate and then a little to the south, roughly in the area of the Dashatou second-hand market or the Xingzhiguang electronics market in the old world. This area was an alluvial plain along the Pearl River, mostly ownerless government land, with little land acquisition and demolition work required. The area was also open and could accommodate their ambitions.

“However, to build a giant structure like the Great World, the supply of building materials is a big problem. We can’t rely on Lingao to transport them…” Mei Lin said, looking at the design. Although it didn’t fully match Zhang Yikun’s vision, the scale was designed entirely according to their wishes. This “Pentagon” had sides that were a full 200 meters long. The entire perimeter of the Great World was nearly 1 kilometer.

A building complex with a perimeter of one kilometer was almost the size of a small city in this era. As a former project manager in construction, Mei Lin certainly knew the amount of work and materials required.

“Didn’t the Planning Institute agree to build building material factories and light industrial enterprises locally outside Guangzhou city?”

“That’s why I said the land acquisition area can’t be too small. We have to include the land for the supporting enterprises,” Mei Lin said. “We can purchase bricks, tiles, and stone locally, but we have to build our own timber processing plant—the efficiency of ancient board processing is too low.”

“It would be best if we built our own brick and tile factory. Traditional brick kilns can’t supply such a large quantity,” Hong Shuiyin said. When he was doing infrastructure work in Hong Kong, he initially purchased bricks and tiles from kilns in Kowloon and other places. But he soon found that the purchased bricks and tiles were not suitable—the size was too large, and the output was too low. The procurement staff soon found themselves running to places where the transportation costs were higher than the cost of the bricks and tiles themselves.

“But is it appropriate to set up these factories next to the Great World?” Zhang Yikun raised a question. Brick making and timber processing were highly polluting industries, and having them next to a commercial center would seriously affect the environment.

“We can find another place, and we don’t even have to invest ourselves. Let the local tycoons invest. We can contribute technology and equipment as our share,” Hong Shuiyin said. “With a guaranteed market, they would definitely be willing to invest, right?”

“We need a cement factory,” Mei Lin said. “It’s unrealistic to transport cement from Lingao, and we also need to burn lime. These all have to be solved locally.”

Building materials have low value and high transportation costs. Even for a relatively high-value material like cement, the sales radius in modern society would not exceed 500 kilometers.

Although the raw materials for cement were limited in Guangzhou, the production areas were not far, and transportation was convenient with the Pearl River, East River, and West River waterways.

“And a timber processing plant and a carpentry factory,” Hong Shuiyin said. “We can process wood nearby to supply the Great World project now, and in the future, it can also supply the shipyard in Hong Kong. And even further in the future, it can supply the New Guangzhou project.”