Chapter 51: The Conversation in the Jasmine Room

On the second floor, there was also a sand table simulation room, equipped with three types of sand tables for sea, land, and amphibious operations. With exquisite terrain models and weapon models, it could be used for various military sand table games, from simple wargames to highly simulated wargame deductions.

This was the place that military enthusiasts were most keen to visit. At this moment, the large entertainment room and the sand table room were brightly lit, and laughter could be heard from time to time. Wu Nanhai did not disturb the senators inside and went directly to the private room on the third floor.

The third floor was all individual salon private rooms, similar to small and medium-sized meeting rooms. There were a total of 8 rooms of different sizes. They were salon private rooms prepared by the teahouse for senators to hold private and departmental gatherings. Since its opening, senatorial societies have often gathered here for entertainment: the Aboriginal Rights Protection Association and the Women’s Federation even held regular meetings here. Although the Feiyun Club had its own place, it sometimes held small gatherings here. Occasionally, some senators would bring their capable naturalized subordinates here to relax as a reward.

The private rooms here were specially designed with good sound insulation and privacy, and a variety of food and beverages were available. The waitresses were all D-level and below maids selected from the General Office who had received good training. The waitresses serving on this floor all had rings hanging from their waists, which made a pleasant jingling sound as they walked - a reminder to the senators in secret talks that a waitress was approaching.

The thoughtful and meticulous service gradually made this place a major venue for private exchanges among senators, the core area of “off-campus” activities.

When Nanhai looked at his watch, he first entered the Ziyunying Room, the usual private room of the Agricultural Committee. Several agricultural senators had been playing Three Kingdoms Kill here for a long time, and a few other senators were sitting on the sofa, smoking hookahs and using their laptops - the teahouse private rooms were one of the few entertainment venues with a full-day power supply and sockets.

Several people greeted him, and he returned their greetings one by one. Then he sat down at the small bar in the salon. The maid serving at the bar saw him sit down and, without waiting for his order, poured him a glass of “Hehui” brand gooseberry wine brewed by the Agricultural Committee’s winery, mixed to his favorite ratio: a few ice cubes, one-third wine, then filled with soda water, and also brought out a plate of salted peanuts as a snack.

Wanli Hui was sitting next to him, squinting and smoking a hookah. He didn’t inhale the smoke, just enjoyed the atmosphere. After exhaling all the smoke in his mouth into a smoke ring, Wanli Hui said, “Old Wu, what do you think of the report my brother submitted from Jeju?”

Since Wanli Huang went to Jeju Island to “grind,” he has been busy promoting the cultivation of potatoes, citrus, and Chinese cabbage on the island. Recently, he has also begun to promote the cultivation of alfalfa on Jeju Island to meet the needs of the island’s animal husbandry. The agriculture was thriving, especially the potato cultivation. The first batch of potatoes planted in the early summer of 1632 ushered in the first major harvest of this crop on Jeju Island in October.

Although Wanli Huang only conducted trial planting on the farmland of the standard villages near the three cities of Jeju, he still achieved a very considerable yield. The original yield of potatoes per mu was very amazing, and the modern potato yield per mu can reach more than 2 tons. Although Wanli Huang did not have chemical fertilizers, he knew that he could use plant ash to replace the potassium fertilizer most needed by potatoes. In addition, he brought good varieties from another time and space, and with the modern field management model, the average potato yield per mu on Jeju Island still reached 900 kilograms. Even by the standards of the old time and space, this level was good enough to pass.

The large harvest of potatoes once made the unprepared local naturalized cadres “not know how to store them.” Potatoes have a high water content, and if they are not processed and stored in time, they will rot and deteriorate. Fortunately, there were many mouths to feed on Jeju Island. Under the instruction of Feng Zongze, potatoes were distributed as the main food for the refugees.

In addition to simple methods such as stewing and roasting, a variety of potato products were also specially developed, such as potato cakes, potato cold noodles, and potato and kelp miso soup. With the help of a wide variety of seasonings and other vegetables, the refugees even felt that they ate better than the previous relief rations.

Naturally, Feng Zongze also looked at this special commissioner of the Agricultural Committee with new eyes, showing great respect, and praised the inexperienced Wanli Huang to the point where he didn’t know east from west.

Encouraged by this situation, Wanli Huang proposed that the potato planting area on Jeju Island should be expanded by 200%, and planted twice a year.

In this way, what Jeju Island needed was not just potato seedlings. Expanding the planting area required a larger seedling cultivation base, facilities for processing and storing harvested potatoes, and more fertilizers - not just potassium fertilizer, but also nitrogen fertilizer. Even for local fertilizers and pesticides, a special production plant was needed - all of which involved expanding the basic investment scale of the Agricultural Committee on Jeju Island. He also proposed to build a seafood processing plant there.

Wu Nanhai drank his wine, “Xiao Wan, you’ve come at the right time. I’ve read your brother’s report carefully. It’s very well written! It’s great that he’s so enthusiastic about the agricultural affairs of Jeju Island. Old Feng also wrote me a letter and praised him highly. To achieve such success in less than a year in Jeju Island is not easy!”

Wanli Hui heard the leader praise his brother highly, and a warm current flowed through his chest. He quickly said, “He’s still relatively young…”

“Youth is good. Young people should go out and venture. Don’t worry about the technical support mentioned in the report. I have already arranged for someone to compile a “Reference Compilation for Agricultural Production on Jeju Island” from the materials in the Great Library, and the next liner will deliver it.” Wu Nanhai said while thinking to himself, your brother has become a stalking horse for Feng Zongze. Feng Zongze is probably the one who wants the projects in the report the most.

“I have also arranged for the various materials he applied for as much as possible. This time, among the graduates of the agricultural technology class, some are specially arranged to go to Jeju Island, so you can tell Xiao Wan not to worry and just go ahead and do it.”

“Thank you, Old Wu,” Wanli Hui nodded, feeling a little embarrassed about the idle talk he had with his brother before. Wu Nanhai was really a kind person, and his face flushed slightly.

“Don’t thank me, it’s all for work,” Wu Nanhai said. “By the way, there are another 10 students in this batch who are majoring in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine. The distribution is 6 for Nick and 4 for your brother. Don’t let Nick take all of them away. This island is not just for raising horses, other aspects of breeding will also be carried out - breeding stock will be sent soon. These people have also received primary medical training, and they can handle both human and animal illnesses. Although their skills are a bit rough, they are still more professional than the local doctors of this era.”

“I will, I will,” Wanli Hui nodded excitedly, as if his brother’s “grinding” was a bright prospect. At this point, he felt it was a bit difficult to bring up the matter of a few projects. After all, Old Wu had been quite good to him, but he had to mention it, so he hesitated and said, “Do you think the few projects mentioned in the letter are possible?”

Wu Nanhai gently tapped his cigar on the Jiangxi Jingdezhen brush washer that served as an ashtray, letting the long ash fall. Then he said, “These projects should all be implemented. However, the financial department said that this year’s basic construction investment has been used up, and it has to be arranged in next year’s budget. It is said that next year’s budget is a bit tight, and our agricultural department must unite and strive for it.” He deliberately emphasized the words “unite.”

“Didn’t they say they got more than one million taels of silver from Zheng Zhilong?” Wanli Hui was a little disbelieving.

“A cannon shot, a thousand taels of gold. The spoils of war were not small, but the money was also spent fiercely. I heard that when the military expenditure reimbursement form came out this time, Old Ma and Cheng Dong’s faces turned green.” Wu Nanhai described it vividly, as if he had seen it with his own eyes. “Besides, there are many places to spend money now, and I heard that there will be a currency reform next year, which is another large sum of money…”

Wanli Hui now understood the undertone. Wasn’t Wu Nanhai using “emphasizing difficulties” to express that the projects his brother wanted to implement “had no money”?

“So, the difficulty is great?” Wanli Hui decided to test Wu Nanhai’s true thoughts.

“We will try our best to fight for it. Our agricultural department and the light industry department will definitely fight for this piece,” Wu Nanhai said decisively. “But you also know that when the Senate reviews the budget, all departments will have a period of famine, and it is still difficult to say whether it can be passed completely according to the budget we submitted.”

This statement was still very flexible, as if nothing had been said. Wanli Hui was very disappointed. Wu Nanhai felt that the time was right and said again, “I have another idea about this matter, and I want to discuss it with you…”

After seeing off the eager Wanli Hui, Wu Nanhai came to the reserved Jasmine Room. On the sofa in a corner of the salon, several financial senators he had specially invited today had all arrived. Wu Nanhai made a gesture, and the waitress brought drinks and snacks. They immediately cut to the chase and started talking.

This was the reason why he had specially asked Chuqing to reserve the Jasmine Room today: he wanted to discuss with several financial senators to propose to the Senate to allow state-owned enterprises to issue stocks and bonds. The specific case was to issue agricultural development bonds of the Ministry of Agriculture and non-cumulative preferred stocks of its directly affiliated enterprises in the whole of Hainan Island and the Guangzhou area.

So-called preferred stock, simply put, is a special right for shareholders to receive company profits with a fixed dividend in priority to ordinary shareholders and to receive the remaining assets in priority when the company goes bankrupt and liquidates. However, shareholders generally cannot participate in the company’s business activities. In fact, it is a form of fund-raising by borrowing.

Wu Nanhai was preparing to issue non-cumulative preferred stock, which could only receive dividends based on the profits of the current year. If the company’s business was not good in that year and dividends could not be distributed, the undistributed dividends could not be accumulated and could not be paid in the future. It was equivalent to a corporate bond that did not promise annual interest.