Chapter 385 - Bachi's Ambition (Continued)

Wei Bachi knew the purpose of Liu Zheng and the others’ visit and advised them again, “If you want to go on an investigation, I’ll have to send a special team to protect you. The natives kill without asking why; just being a stranger is enough.”

He recounted a recent incident where a peddler who frequently went to the native villages to trade was killed on the road for no reason.

“…The natives are very suspicious and fickle. One minute they’re talking to you nicely, but a single word or look from you, or if their clansmen have a different opinion, they’ll take your life in an instant!” Wei Bachi shook his head. “Especially in the area of the southern cape of Xiaoliuqiu where you’re going, the natives are notoriously ferocious. Even the Pingpu people here are afraid of them. We now have to have armed guards even when we send refugees out for infrastructure work.”

Fang Jinghan felt a chill run down his spine. He and his colleagues from the long-range exploration team had ventured into the raw Li areas of Hainan Island more than once. Although the other party was often hostile and distrustful of outsiders, as long as they had a guide, they could still communicate. And they were quite friendly to merchants who brought goods—they would never kill for no reason.

Liu Zheng’s expression did not change. “What’s there to be afraid of? I don’t believe my two revolvers are just for show. Let’s just wipe out a few villages first!”

Dr. Zhong saw that Xiao Fang was showing signs of fear and wondered what Wei Bachi was up to. From the basic books he had crammed before his departure, even the most troublesome native tribes in Taiwan, like the Mattauw and Sincan, who had once given the Dutch a headache, were dealt with by just a few dozen European soldiers and a few hundred native “collaborationist troops.” Killing a few dozen people and burning a village was enough to force them to surrender. The Dutch only considered the natives a threat when they first arrived in Taiwan because they lacked sufficient troops at the time. With the Yuanlao Senate’s strength in Tainan, it would be quite universalist of them not to launch a major offensive sweep. The fact that the local Tagariyan and other tribes had not engaged in any hostile activities in the more than six months since their landing was very telling. There was no need for such alarmist talk.

If Fang Jinghan decided not to go, wouldn’t it be reported back to Lingao that he was “spreading panic”?

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Wei Bachi invited them to his office to “rest for a while.” Wei Bachi’s office was on the second floor of the City Hall, occupying a very large room. Dr. Zhong estimated its area to be at least one hundred square meters. The windows were large, making the room incredibly bright. On a heavy solid wood desk was a sheet of Lingao-produced tempered glass. On the wall behind him hung a wooden coat of arms. Dr. Zhong had attended several meetings as a consultant on various emblems and symbols of the Yuanlao Senate but had never seen this strange emblem before.

He couldn’t see Wei Bachi’s personnel file, but anyone who knew of his ambitions would know that this was the emblem of the Labor Reform Management General Bureau he planned to create.

On either side of his desk hung the Morning Star flag and his personal Yuanlao flag, looking very impressive.

The most eye-catching thing in his office was a huge display board with his “Kaohsiung Second Five-Year Plan” written in black imitation Song typeface. The map below it was drawn by himself.

Although Wei Bachi had not studied urban planning and his knowledge was purely self-taught out of interest, the planning map was drawn quite professionally, giving the impression of an amateur who had turned pro.

Seeing that Dr. Zhong was interested in the planning map, Wei Bachi strode over and began to explain with great enthusiasm:

“Dr. Zhong, look, this is the overall planning concept for Kaohsiung City. It hasn’t been submitted to the Planning Commission yet. Please take a look and give me some advice…”

Wei Bachi explained animatedly, but the more Dr. Zhong listened, the more he felt something was off. It felt like that time in the old world when he had tagged along for a meal in some third-tier city, and the city leader was talking grandly about turning the city into an “international metropolis.”

Things like “…Kaohsiung has a unique advantage in developing military industry. Based on military industry, it is necessary to develop supporting steel and chemical industries, as well as some light industries like textiles and food, and some equipment manufacturing, to form an industrial system that can operate independently and support various operations.”; “A chemical industry cluster based on the Imperial Petroleum Company’s Kaohsiung ten-million-ton refining and chemical integration project, a shipbuilding industry cluster based on the Kaohsiung Iron and Steel Corporation and Kaohsiung Shipyard, an equipment manufacturing cluster centered on the Kaohsiung Heavy Machinery Plant, and a military industry cluster based on the Imperial 1024 Factory will be lined up in the old world’s Kaohsiung port area…” Just these words sounded suspicious.

So, Zhong Lishi just made noncommittal sounds like “hmm” and “ah” without offering any specific opinions. Seeing that his grand vision had elicited no reaction, Wei Bachi lost his enthusiasm and ordered someone to arrange accommodation for the several Yuanlao.

Since Dr. Zhong’s main task this time was to install several clockworks, he went directly to the customs house for the convenience of construction. As for Liu Zheng and Fang Jinghan, they stayed directly at the newly built Kaohsiung City Guesthouse.

The guesthouse was prepared for the Yuanlao who had been coming to Kaohsiung recently. It was built in a sparse grove of tall trees at the foot of a mountain, facing the sea, with good ventilation and shade. It was surrounded by barbed wire fences and moats, and the buildings inside were also wooden stilt houses, but more exquisitely built. This was a complex of buildings designed by Zhang Xingpei with his full imagination.

In the center was a large, domed stilt house. With this circular stilt house as the center, 21 smaller stilt houses were arranged in two staggered layers around it. All these smaller stilt houses were connected to the central large stilt house by rope bridges.

“Damn, it’s like a movie set!” Liu Zheng couldn’t help but exclaim.

All the roofs were covered with a thick layer of thatch for waterproofing and insulation—Kaohsiung has a tropical monsoon climate with high temperatures and heavy rainfall. The thatch could effectively insulate against the direct heat of the sun and shed rainwater, so even the outer walls of the wooden planks were insulated with bundled thatch.

This was the first time Liu Zheng and Fang Jinghan had seen such stilt houses up close. Although the houses looked primitive, they actually incorporated a lot of technology that was ahead of its time.

The structure of the Kaohsiung stilt houses was designed by Zhang Xingpei. Besides considering ease of processing and installation, he also fully considered the local climate and natural conditions.

The legs of the stilt houses were braced to enhance their stability. The purlins, roof trusses, and thatch bundles were firmly tied together with ropes to prevent them from being blown away.

The wooden houses themselves were built in a circular shape, with a bun-shaped roof. This bun-shaped house was close to a streamlined shape and had better aerodynamic performance—the natives on the Pacific islands did have this kind of bun-shaped stilt house, which had proven its value in resisting typhoons.

After the architectural design drawings were completed, Zhang Xingpei specially made several scale models and sent them to the fluid dynamics laboratory of the Ministry of Science and Technology on Gaoshanling for wind tunnel testing to verify their wind resistance.

The ladder of each house was installed from the bottom and could be retracted at night, closely resembling the downward-opening ramp of a B-2 bomber.

“This is practically the mothership of a UFO,” Fang Jinghan exclaimed. He noticed that the legs of all the stilt houses also had a dish-like device.

“That’s to prevent snakes and rats from climbing up,” Liu Zheng, who had been to many mountainous areas in the southwest in the old world, was knowledgeable.

“Headman Fang, you are staying in No. 14. Headman Liu, you are staying in No. 19,” said Wei Bachi’s life secretary with a charming smile.

No. 14 and No. 19 were single rooms, with nothing but a bed, a desk, and a cabinet inside. The rooms were both quiet and cool. The doors and windows were all fitted with iron mesh screens—this product was trial-produced and mass-produced by the Industrial and Energy Commission under the strong request of the Ministry of Health. To minimize the loss of labor in the development of Taiwan and the whole of Hainan and to reduce the harm of malaria as much as possible, this was an indispensable defense measure.

“The bathroom, toilet, laundry room, and dining room are all in the central hall,” the life secretary introduced. “There are people here 24 hours a day to serve the headmen. You just need to pull the call rope in your room, and someone will come to serve you.”

“Not bad, whose idea was this? I think he should go into tourism development,” Liu Zheng praised.

“I don’t know about that, but it must be the brainchild of a certain great headman,” Wei Bachi’s life secretary said with a respectful and enthusiastic tone.

Liu Zheng asked casually, “Are there other Yuanlao here?”

“There are several. The naval Yuanlao sometimes come here, stay for a few days, and then go out to sea again,” the life secretary replied. She added with a smile, “I’m not very clear on the specifics. You can ask at the service desk during dinner.”

While Wei Bachi was welcoming Zhong Lishi and the others on the roof, Li Siya, disguised as a fisherwoman in similar attire, was sitting on a small fishing boat.

The boat was piled high with fish and seafood. Since the establishment of Kaohsiung City, the Coast Guard had set up a guard district in Kaohsiung and stationed patrol boats. Subsequently, the “fishing tax” system was also implemented in the waters near Kaohsiung.

In the waters from Beigang and Dayuan to Kaohsiung, there had always been Fujian fishermen fishing. But this place was a considerable distance from the coast of Fujian, and with the presence of the Dutch, not many fishing boats came. Wei Bachi had set up a fishery cooperative here, recruiting nearby Fujian fishermen to join, lending them boats and grain, and purchasing their catch. He also dispatched patrol boats to patrol and protect the fishermen’s operations. These measures attracted many fishermen to fish here—although the tax of one-fifth of the catch was a bit heavy, this place provided shelter for mooring, and they could sell their catch and replenish their food and water nearby, saving the time of traveling back and forth to the mainland. With the added security, the fishermen were happy to accept.

Li Siya had played the role of a fisherwoman many times before, so her disguise was flawless. This boat was prepared for her by Guo Huaiyi, a legitimate vessel with a fishing permit flag.