Chapter 171: The Flood

Although the weather radar on the Fengcheng accurately predicted the typhoon’s landfall time, the advent of the natural disaster was unavoidable. The first typhoon of 1631 made landfall in Qiongshan County the next day. The wind force had weakened to level ten when the typhoon made landfall, but the accompanying torrential rain caused severe damage to Qiongshan County. Although the Qiongshan County Office issued a typhoon warning through the Qiongshan County yamen, the backward communication methods and the low administrative efficiency of traditional society prevented the notice from being effective enough.

The Nandu River flooded, sweeping away countless people, livestock, and fields. Under the dual impact of the typhoon and the flood, more than half of the crops that were about to be harvested in the summer were lost. For a time, the land was filled with wailing.

“We have to fight floods and provide disaster relief again,” said Liu Muzhou, the Deputy People’s Commissar for Civil Affairs, with great annoyance. He felt immense pressure—on the one hand, the Executive Committee had issued a high grain procurement plan, and on the other hand, there was a sudden natural disaster.

The large increase in the non-agricultural population and the influx of a large number of immigrants had caused a population explosion, which had repeatedly caused the Planning Commission’s grain reserves to be in a state of emergency. To ensure food security, the Executive Committee also required that this summer’s grain collection should be “tapped for potential” as much as possible—after all, importing grain from Vietnam and Siam not only cost money but also involved increasingly tight transportation capacity.

In contrast, the already controlled Hainan Island region had to make a greater contribution to Operation Engine. Ma Qianzhu repeatedly emphasized the procurement work at the “1631 Grain Procurement Work Conference”: “We must overcome all difficulties, especially the sentimental and tender-hearted tune of the petty bourgeoisie, abandon all meaningless pity, and make ensuring the grain supply the number one task.”

After the clearing and measurement of fields and the promotion of scientific farming by the Tiandihui’s scientific and technological demonstration, the grain output in the Lingao area had increased considerably. In particular, the various farms directly under the Agricultural Committee, due to careful tending and a large input of fertilizer, had a yield per mu that was 50% to 100% higher than that of the “Tiandihui demonstration households,” and even higher than that of ordinary farmers. The amount of grain they could supply was relatively large. But the situation in other counties was not so good. The four agricultural counties of Hainan Island—Qiongshan, Danzhou, Chengmai, and Wenchang—had basically completed the measurement of fields and were the areas where the People’s Committee for Civil Affairs was putting in effort to extract grain. In particular, Qiongshan County was the largest grain-producing area on Hainan Island. Now, with such a typhoon and flood, the amount of grain that could be collected would probably be about the same as the amount needed for relief.

Liu Muzhou knew from the grain work conference that the Executive Committee had high hopes for this “grain delivery,” but the problem of natural disasters had to be solved. He bit the bullet and went to see Ma Qianzhu, presenting his disaster relief plan—disaster relief was an important means of winning the hearts of the people and could not be ignored.

Liu Muzhou’s disaster relief plan was conventional: according to the Executive Committee’s consistent thinking, relief was provided through “work-for-relief.” Anyway, Lingao needed labor everywhere now, so there was no shortage of work for the victims. After the flood subsided, the victims would be given loans for seeds to carry out rush planting and replanting.

As for the summer tax, it could of course only be reduced or exempted according to the severity of the disaster.

After reading his report, Ma Qianzhu asked, “Did you participate in the disaster relief work in Lingao the year before last?”

“No.” Liu Muzhou didn’t know why he asked that. He thought to himself that he should have read the report from that time before writing his own.

“You’d better read it first,” Ma Qianzhu said. “There are many useful experiences in it. Sometimes, disadvantages can turn into advantages, and losses in one aspect can become gains in another.”

Liu Muzhou didn’t know how to interpret this dialectic. He quickly took his leave and retrieved the report from that year. After reading a few pages, he had a sudden realization:

So it was about land buybacks!

The so-called land buyback was, to put it bluntly, taking advantage of the situation, using the desperate state of the disaster victims to buy their land at a low price with grain. When Lingao encountered a typhoon disaster, the Agricultural Committee used this method to accumulate an area equivalent to 9% of the county’s cultivated land.

Liu Muzhou couldn’t help but think to himself: Governor Ma is truly a man of iron and blood for the industrial party. This is clearly to drive the peasants onto the chariot of industrialization and collectivization—without even a transitional stage of land reform.

He sought out Wu Nanhai and Ye Yuming to discuss disaster relief matters. Because it involved land buybacks, it had a great deal to do with the Agricultural Committee. It was very appropriate to cooperate with them on the specific operations.

Ye Yuming’s suggestion was not only not to provide relief, but also to continue collecting grain as usual.

“This will force more self-cultivating farmers and landlords to go completely bankrupt.” Ye Yuming had participated in the land measurement work in Qiongshan, Wenchang, and other places a few months ago and was very dissatisfied with the local agricultural situation. In general, the agricultural production environment and conditions in Qiongshan County were much better than in Lingao, but the yield per mu was only slightly higher and had not yet reached its full potential.

Wu Nanhai shifted uneasily. “Is this appropriate? Although I also support intensive land management, isn’t doing it this way a bit… too… unseemly?”

Ye Yuming said, “Who cares? Anyway, Qiongshan is a newly liberated area. This is a good opportunity to thoroughly cleanse the local social classes…” He said with great eloquence, “In the long run, we should make the elimination of self-cultivating farmers our ultimate goal.”

“Eliminate small self-cultivating farmers?!” Wu Nanhai and the others were somewhat surprised.

“That’s right. The ultimate goal is the complete polarization of the countryside.” Ye Yuming stood up and paced around a few times. “Those with ability and technology will evolve into farm owners of intensive farms. Those without ability will be completely transformed into the proletariat—workers, either industrial or agricultural…”

Self-cultivating farmers—including small and medium-sized landlords with not much land—were the cornerstone of dynastic stability in the Middle Ages. They were the main source of state taxes and soldiers. Armies composed of self-cultivating farmers were always the most combat-effective in dynastic armies. The eras with a large number of self-cultivating farmers were often the most prosperous periods of the dynasties.

But the economic status of small self-cultivating farmers was extremely unstable. Under the dual pressure of taxes and military service, their rate of bankruptcy accelerated. Once a dynasty entered a stable period, land began to be annexed and concentrated, the number of small self-cultivating farmers would gradually decrease, and the dynasty would then enter a period of decline, until a new turmoil led to the redistribution of land.

The Senate’s general policy towards the countryside was “land concentration.” The future transmigrator state did not need a large number of self-cultivating farmers, but on the attitude towards them, there were two main factions: the “eliminationists” and the “supporters.”

In general, the voice of the supporters was not loud, and the voice of the eliminationists gradually gained the upper hand—because both Wen and Ma had a strong interest in intensive land management and population control. Of course, there were slight differences in details. Ma Qianzhu’s agricultural ambition was complete collectivization, while Wen Desi’s rural blueprint was “standard villages” with completely fixed land and population.

“Self-cultivating farmers are still of great value in newly developed areas and border regions,” Liu Muzhou coughed and interjected. “Let’s first talk about the disaster relief itself. We’ll talk about the future later.”

Wu Nanhai said, “I have a plan…”

The streets outside Qiongshan County town were already crowded with flood victims who had fled from the countryside. The torrential rain brought by the typhoon had just ended, and the local rainy season had followed. The pouring rain caused the floodwaters of the Nandu River and nearby rivers to recede slowly. Refugees from the countryside flocked to the city—after the countryside was hit by disaster, the city was their only hope of survival.

In a few days, tens of thousands of refugees had flocked to the outskirts of Qiongshan County town. They helped the old and carried the young, taking shelter wherever they could find protection from the rain: temples, eaves, and even under large trees. Any place with slightly higher ground was crowded with people. However, many people still had to lie in the mud, soaked by the rain.

To prevent a famine riot, most of the city gates of Qiongshan County were closed, leaving only the east gate open. The prefect of Qiongzhou and the magistrate of Qiongshan County in the city were at a loss—since He Zhen’s troops had withdrawn from this place, the one in charge here was the “County Office Director” sent by the Australians. As for the prefect, magistrate, and other officials in the county town, although they were still officials in name, they could not actually do anything. They were just handling some official documents in a perfunctory manner. But even so, they were very satisfied—at least they had not been forced to die for the city, and the “Kunzei” even continued to give them some living expenses to maintain a relatively decent life. Everyone was holding on to the idea of getting through this term peacefully and then slipping away.

The highest official in the city, Zhao Ruyi, the Guangdong Left Administrative Commissioner in charge of Hainan, did not dare to leave his post after the remnants of the defeated army retreated to the mainland. But he was unwilling to deal with the Australians, for fear of tarnishing his official reputation. So he closed his doors in the sub-prefectural yamen and refused to see anyone except for a few gentry, living a life of self-imprisonment.

The director of the Qiongshan County Office sent by the Senate was named Liu Xiang—not the hurdler. This Liu Xiang was a fat man, a programmer by trade, so his logical thinking ability was very strong, and he was also eloquent. But these “special skills” were of little use in the initial construction boom. Eager to make a name for himself, he signed up when the organization department was recruiting local cadres for takeover, and soon he got the title of director of the Qiongshan County Office.

Being a “county magistrate” in a Ming Dynasty county town in the 17th century was not an enviable thing. Compared to Lingao, where the living facilities were already well-established, even Qiongshan County town was a dirty and chaotic place. Although Qiongshan County was the capital of the prefecture, it had a large population, many officials, and many gentry. At that time, there were several thousand remnants of He Rubin’s defeated army waiting to be repatriated, not to mention more than a thousand of Tang Yunwen’s men stationed in Haikou, not far from the county town. The environment faced by the director of the Qiongshan County Office was the most complex among all the counties. Therefore, the team assigned to him was also quite strong, with not only experienced naturalized citizen cadres but also several Elders to assist him in his work.