Chapter 176: Central and Local (Part 2)

“It looks a little better than a sieve,” Liu Xiang looked at the dozen or so maps from the simulation results and shook his head. These maps were the results of deductions formed after simulating the most likely land to be sold. Their common feature was that they were “riddled with holes.” On the schematic map of the arable land in Qiongshan County, there was a small block here, an irregular shape there, looking like a postmodern “work of art.” Under each map, there was also statistical information about the land, including land ownership status, operating conditions, land type, main crops grown, and average yield per mu.

Since it was currently impossible to conduct a detailed investigation of the soil composition of the land, each plot was simply given a comprehensive rating based on its annual yield and the personal sensory perception of the surveyors: it was divided into four grades: barren, low-yield, medium-yield, and high-yield. And the deduction results showed that a large part of the land that might be sold to the Australians was low-yield land.

Obviously, landlords and rich peasants tended to keep the best land in their hands, to be cultivated directly by themselves or by long-term laborers, while renting out the poorer or more labor-intensive land. Even when selling land, it was clear that inferior and low-yield land was their priority for sale.

As for the owners of those small plots of land, most of them had obtained their land through reclamation. Because of their limited economic capacity, most of their land was “sky-gazing fields” with incomplete water conservancy facilities, and they used less fertilizer, so the land condition was generally poor. Even if they sold their land, the Agricultural Committee would have to invest a lot in transformation.

Obviously, even if the Executive Committee’s opinion was implemented and the refugees cooperated by handing over their land, the Agricultural Committee would only get many small plots of land scattered throughout the county. These scattered plots of land were of no help to the large farms at all—just integrating these plots of land would be a very difficult matter.

“They took away so many proletarian laborers, and then left such a mess for the local area! It’s simply wishful thinking!” Liu Xiang looked at the deduction results, and his mood became worse. “How can we do construction like this! Just for that so-called large farm plan, how much effort will I have to spend to piece together these fragmented plots of land!”

The first conflict between the central and local governments of the Lingao regime was thus born.

Large farms were of course good. Liu Xiang did not like the patchwork of small peasant land from the bottom of his heart. In his opinion, it was a great waste of land and labor, a synonym for inefficiency. He was also keen on the intensive production of agriculture.

Despite this, Liu Xiang was still relatively revisionist. His consistent view was that different policies should be adopted at different historical stages.

“Intensification is not equal to collectivization, and it does not necessarily mean concentrating land,” he muttered. “Dogmatism is harmful.”

Liu Xiang believed that in places like Qiongshan, where there were many small peasants and small landlords, a model similar to that of Leizhou could be completely adopted, that is, the Japanese-style “agricultural cooperative” system, organizing production cooperatives and using economic and technological means to guide the land owners to transform, rather than being impatient to revolutionize the small peasant economy.

He thought for a long time and decided to write a few articles on this issue to fully elaborate his views. Since arriving in Qiongshan, because Qiongshan could not connect to the Lingao BBS, he had not logged in to participate in policy discussions for a long time. But this did not mean that he was ignorant of the discussions on it. To ensure that all expatriate Elders could grasp the dynamics of the Senate in a timely manner, at Qian Shuiting’s suggestion, the General Office compiled a “Weekly Update” every week based on the information on the BBS and the discussions in the Senate and sent it to the expatriate Elders. At the same time, the theoretical magazine “Morning Star” monthly, compiled by the Ministry of Propaganda, was also sent.

Liu Xiang instructed Guo Ling’er to bring the recent issues of “Weekly Update,” “Morning Star,” and the internal edition of the Lingao Times—he hadn’t read these “internal materials” for a long time. Writing articles was like writing a thesis; it required a solid theoretical foundation and sufficient materials. In addition, he also needed to rely on these materials to grasp the current ideological trends within the Senate.

“Go through these materials first, circle the titles and page numbers of all articles on agriculture and land policy with a red pen, and then mark the page numbers,” he instructed Guo Ling’er.

While Guo Ling’er was collecting materials for him, he first searched and calculated the social survey data in his computer as his theoretical basis.

After searching the data and checking the relevant materials, Guo Ling’er had already circled all the materials he had specified with a red pen. He began to read them carefully.

The land issue, agriculture, and industrial development had always been hot topics of discussion among the Elders. He read an article by Tian Jiujiu on the utilization, pollution, and governance of water resources in Lingao and found it very enlightening. Then he saw Hai Lin’s signed article “Timber is Not a Cheap Substitute!”.

“Hmm, hmm, there’s definitely a way,” he immediately discovered something.

“Clack, clack, clack, clack,” Liu Xiang’s hands flew across the laptop keyboard. With a full grasp of the theoretical dynamics and materials, he quickly finished writing “Yan’an Cannot Become Xi’an, Lingao Should Not Become Bianliang” and “Analysis of Post-Disaster Land Transfer and Prediction of This Year’s Situation.” The former was to be submitted to Ding Ding to be published in the internal edition of the newspaper and on the BBS; the latter was a letter of complaint to the Executive Committee. And what he was writing now was an official letter to the Ministry of Light Industry, a memorandum suggesting that the Ministry of Light Industry transfer some of its industries to the newly ruled areas.

“There are ideas only when there is comparison, and there is motivation only when there is a role model,” Liu Xiang wrote. “Qiongshan is also an excellent port. It has a relatively mature market and a large labor force, and it can fully bear the production of various light industries and processing industries. It can reduce the freight pressure on Bopu Port, reduce the food supply pressure on Lingao, and more importantly, it can use local resources for on-site processing to save costs.” He specifically mentioned in the article, requesting that the coconut processing enterprises, a part of the woodworking processing and manufacturing capacity, and other industries whose main industrial raw materials came from Qiongshan be relocated here to “cultivate the local working class.”

After finishing writing, he connected a dot-matrix printer. This 48-pin printer was also one of his personal items. Its characteristics were that the ink was easy to replace, and the structure was simple and durable. With a “whirring” sound, his three great works were slowly being printed.

Contradictions were contradictions, and complaints were complaints, but the tasks that had already been assigned still had to be completed with all his might. He did not want to leave a “passive and slow” evaluation.

“Okay, you go and rest. By the way, call Deputy Director Lu over,” Liu Xiang waved his hand at the sweating orderly. Guo Ling’er put the articles he had written into a folder, ready to be sent to the confidential room for copying, and then they would be sent to different departments as Liu Xiang requested.

Soon, Lu Cheng, the nominal deputy director of women’s work, came. As an Elder, Liu Xiang of course knew what her actual identity was.

“Where is the tour group now?” Liu Xiang asked as soon as he opened his mouth. This was the issue he was most concerned about recently, apart from the typhoon and disaster relief.

The “tour group” was a Lingao tour group led by Hai Shuzu. The members of the group, besides Hai Shuzu, were all the legitimate sons of the other large households in Qiongshan County who had “survived” the Qiongbei security war, land measurement, and other movements.

Letting them visit Lingao was nothing more than a traditional psychological warfare, to let the large households recognize the strength of the Australians and obediently buy tickets to get on the boat. Although the Senate was always coveting the land and property of the large households, in general, it was still mainly “treating the sick and saving the people.” As long as they could honestly cooperate with the Senate’s civil affairs measures and agricultural policies and be a person who understood the times, the large households would not only not lose their lives and property, but they might even gain new wealth.

After the baptism of blood and fire of the Qiongbei security war and the land measurement, it was Liu Xiang’s original plan to appropriately give the honest large households some hope.

They had been in Lingao for two weeks and should have returned the day before yesterday, but their return journey was blocked by the typhoon and had been delayed. Yesterday’s report was that they were still in the guesthouse in Chengmai. Now that the rain had subsided, Liu Xiang felt that they should be on their way back.

This activity was led by Qiongshan County, and co-organized by the General Political Security Bureau and the Ministry of Propaganda. Moreover, the intelligence transmission of the political security system was faster, so he asked Lu Cheng.

“Reporting to the chief! The latest news is that they have already entered the territory of Qiongshan County this morning. They just passed Bailianpu,” Lu Cheng blinked at the chief in front of her, excited to be summoned alone again.

“Immediately notify the post station by telegraph to go slowly,” Liu Xiang instructed.

“Understood, I’ll go and notify them right away.”

Liu Xiang felt that at this critical moment, it was best to keep the tour group “on the road.” This would put some psychological pressure on the large households who might have a backlash and reduce their enthusiasm for obstructing this recruitment work. After all, the tasks assigned by the superiors still had to be completed.

It took Liu Xiang a lot of effort to form this group. The initial psychological attack began with Hai Shuzu. Although Hai Shuzu had completely got rid of the prying eyes of the surrounding large households after Lingao’s victory in Chengmai and the Guangdong officialdom’s admission of defeat, and was shining brightly in Qiongshan County with the identity of “having old ties with the Australians and doing big business together,” in his heart, Hai Shuzu still did not quite approve of the rule of the transmigrators. After all, his ancestor was Hai Rui, an official of the Ming Dynasty, who had received the salary of the Ming Dynasty and the grace of the Ming Dynasty, while the Australians were just “remnants of the Song Dynasty” and “overseas remnants,” which did not match the “orthodoxy” in his mind. Therefore, Hai Shuzu had always maintained a “not-so-close cooperation” attitude towards the various work in Qiongshan County. This attitude also affected the large households in the entire Qiongshan County, which made the Qiongshan County government always feel a sense of awkwardness when dealing with local affairs, especially when promoting agricultural technology, agricultural cooperation, and political power to the countryside. There were always various invisible resistances.