Chapter 14: The Colonial Plan

“The Planning Council’s consideration is to develop the Brunei oil fields. Although the initial investment is large, the technical threshold is low and the output is stable,” Wu De said. “All senators can also express their own views.”

The senators of the oil faction were basically all in the Brunei camp. From a professional point of view, Brunei oil was much better than Taiwan oil.

“The internal combustion engine is the future direction of prime movers…” an oil-faction senator had just started to wax lyrical on this when he was interrupted by Wu De.

“We do need oil, but mainly for diesel and kerosene. Especially kerosene. With a stable supply of kerosene, the kerosene lamp industry has great potential. You should pay more attention to this aspect.”

“Shouldn’t we be using electric lights? Or at least gas lights.”

“Gas lights are not the direction of development. Electric lights require a power grid, and that’s not something that can be achieved overnight. In the old world, most rural areas didn’t have electricity until the 1980s, and remote mountainous areas didn’t get it until the 90s. Given our level of industrial and economic development, it would be a great achievement if we could popularize kerosene lamps within a generation.”

Before there was cheap and sufficiently bright nighttime lighting, the vast majority of people in the world could only sleep once it got dark. The only entertainment they could have at night was making babies. Working or reading by lamplight at night was something that only families with at least a “modest property” could afford. If cheap kerosene lamp lighting could be popularized, it would be equivalent to liberating the nighttime hours of countless people, creating objective conditions for both household labor and study.

The meeting gave everyone a full day of “group discussions” to speak freely about the second five-year plan. The newly elected cabinet members also had their own “group discussions.”

Although there were newly elected senators in this cabinet, they all continued to perform their original duties, so they were very clear about matters within their own scope of work and had mastered all the relevant materials and plans. Naturally, they also had their own pet projects to stuff into the second five-year plan.

The group discussions were held in the Nanhai Coffee House and the meeting rooms of various ministries and commissions—the Senate Auditorium only had one open-air venue, which was fine for a general assembly, but not for small meetings.

The meeting room of the Executive Committee General Office was packed. All those present were “Xiang” (Ministers) who “judged matters,” with one exception: Si Kaide. Although he was no longer the Minister of the Colonial Trade Department, foreign trade was one of the most important departments of the Senate, playing a vital role in material supply and currency balance. So he was “included” in this cabinet meeting.

Si Kaide seemed to have been mentally prepared for his downfall. It was no wonder. Although his work had been good these past few years, he always “went against the current” when discussing major policies, sometimes leaning left, sometimes right, and sometimes being attacked by both sides at the same time. His reputation in the Senate had been declining, and his downfall was inevitable.

After the election, Wen Desi said to Ma Qianzhu, “Si Kaide is a good comrade. His work in foreign trade these past few years should be affirmed.”

Si Kaide comforted himself: It’s good to step down. He had been blackened enough these past few years. Anyway, the Senate was a system where the emperor’s throne was taken in turns. He was a high-ranking official in charge of a region; taking a break for one term was no problem. Besides, he was still the People’s Commissar for Trade, and his scope of work had not changed. At this moment, he was reporting on next year’s foreign trade supply plan.

The foreign trade supply plan was crucial for the Senate, because many projects in the second five-year plan were directly related to what goods the trade department could procure. In this era with an extremely underdeveloped supply chain, where trade circulation was mainly in luxury goods, many industrial raw materials, if not found in the ruled areas, would require enormous manpower and financial resources to find and purchase—and some could not be obtained at all.

“…A letter from Senator Ping has arrived: the next trade fleet will bring us 100 tons of copper and 100 tons of sulfur from Japan. The South American wild rubber and cinchona bark transported by the Dutch from the Americas will also arrive next year…”

At that moment, Director Zhong, who had been sitting calmly, suddenly opened his eyes and said, “Say that again. Cinchona bark, how much?”

Si Kaide scratched his head and said, “I can’t say for sure how much, but it will definitely be in the tons. I just don’t know if the long-distance transportation will affect its efficacy. Also, the British East India Company will bring saltpeter, graphite, and asbestos from India, as well as opium.”

Zhan Wuya patted Si Kaide’s shoulder and said with approval, “Little Si, you’ve done an excellent job! I didn’t expect you to be able to get rubber, graphite, and asbestos. No doubt about it, we’ll definitely get the electric furnace out next year. Then silicon steel, 45# steel, 65 manganese steel, stainless steel, calcium carbide, and electric welding will all be within reach.”

“The electric furnace isn’t in the five-year plan, is it?”

“I didn’t write it in because I thought we couldn’t get the right raw materials, and I wasn’t too sure about it either…” Zhan Wuya said. “But the electric furnace is a hurdle we must overcome. Without it, many things are impossible. It’s a key link in our industrial chain, so we should get it done as soon as possible.”

“…Besides continuing to transport slaves, the horse contract will be completed next year. The several breeds of stallions we purchased from Europe and India will be delivered. But I’m afraid the mortality rate will be very high…”

Apart from Wu Nanhai, no one was very interested in the matter of horses. Since the occupation of Jeju Island and the opening of the Later Jin trade channel, although all parties were not very satisfied with the Mongolian horses, they had at least filled the demand gap. The army’s cavalry, artillery, and baggage train had also been barely supplied with horses. The upcoming mainland campaign would be conducted in a water-rich region, where boats would be much more useful than horses. As for the agricultural department, although the size and traction of the Mongolian horses were a bit lacking, the improved agricultural machinery could barely manage. However, the small traction of the Mongolian horses still limited some of the large agricultural machinery that Wu Nanhai had originally planned to promote on the large state-owned intensive farms. Compared to others, he was quite eager for the improvement of horse breeds.

“We are about to launch the Liangguang campaign. To display our mighty military prestige and the dignity of our senator officers, the senior officers of the army should be equipped with magnificent and tall mounts. I hope this will be considered…”

The speaker was the new Army Chief of Staff and Commander of the South China Army, Xi Yazhou.

Wu Nanhai snorted. “Old Xi, if you want to eat horse meat sausage, you’ll definitely get your fill when the horse transport ship arrives. Stop talking nonsense about dignity…”

“Old Wu! Although I ate a few chickens and ducks back then, it was because I was seriously injured on Juhua Island and needed to recuperate. I was a bit hasty at the time and didn’t have time to inform you. You shouldn’t always hold it against me! Is there no comradely friendship left… Look, Nick…” Xi Yazhou suddenly realized he had let it slip. He had always maintained an attitude of “I’ll deny it even if you beat me to death” about eating Nick’s pigeons. He now stood there with a sheepish face and said nothing.

Wu Nanhai originally wanted to talk about the mysterious disappearance of the rabbits from the farm and a certain suckling pig that had vanished from its sty only to reappear in the grass outside the farm, but feeling the atmosphere was not right, he said no more.

Si Kaide continued, “I also have a letter from Senator Xue Ruowang, our consul in Batavia. You should have all read his proposal. He’s not having an easy time alone in Batavia. He bought all the rubber, cinchona bark, and everything. He has proposed the Palembang plan for Sumatra, wanting to start a trial colony for the Senate there, first by opening plantations to cultivate tropical cash crops like rubber, cinchona, and oil palm on a large scale, while also preparing for the development of the Palembang oil fields in the third five-year plan. As for the colonists, they will mainly be recruited from among the Hakka people. You all know that the conflict between the natives and the Hakka in Guangdong is very sharp, and armed fights are commonplace. We also have the pirate tycoon Liu Xiang in our hands. The members of his pirate group are mainly from Chaoshan—as long as you have a little understanding of the Chaoshan region, you know that the Chaoshan people and the Cantonese people don’t get along. So I think from a stability maintenance perspective, we can also relocate a portion of Liu Xiang’s group there…”

“We haven’t even finished one thing, and now we’re opening a new colony. Not to mention the manpower, how much will the material and transportation investment be?” Wu De was already frowning. “Tropical plantations are necessary, but the investment is not small. And it’s in the Dutch-controlled area! What if the Dutch learn from the Spanish and carry out a Batavia massacre to cleanse the Chinese immigrants? That would be another Vietnam scenario!”

“If that happens, we’ll bloodbath Tayouan,” Si Kaide said. “The Spanish dared to carry out the Manila massacre because they were sure the Ming wouldn’t retaliate. With our Senate backing the colony, the Dutch won’t be so blind.”

“The investment, I don’t think it will be too large,” Ma Qianzhu said leisurely. “The plantation economy is very cruel and arduous. It’s not feasible to have our own people consumed by it. We still need to use local resources and introduce slavery. The Chinese immigrants can be craftsmen, merchants, overseers, and agricultural technicians. Also, this matter can be handled through a government-supervised, merchant-run model. Liu Xiang’s private fortune is probably several million, and he has a few wealthy subordinates. Their funds are more than enough to establish a colonial development company.”

Ran Yao said, “Is that appropriate? This is equivalent to cultivating a new power group overseas. If it becomes too big to control, it will take a lot of effort to suppress it again. And I know this Senator Xue. To deal with an old fox of the seas like Liu Xiang, I’m afraid he’ll be eaten without a single bone left…”

“We’re just asking them to provide the money, not to be in charge of organization and leadership,” Si Kaide said, having already planned this out. “The immigrants will consist of three groups: Hakka people will make up half, Liu Xiang’s former subordinates from Chaoshan will make up thirty percent, and Zheng Zhilong’s former subordinates from Fujian in Kaohsiung will make up twenty percent. This population ratio is enough to keep them in check.”

“It would also be much easier for them to kill each other,” Ran Yao said. “I’m afraid the Dutch originally had no such ideas, but some of them will go and collude with the Dutch first!”