Chapter 185: Turmoil

Cai Feiming rushed before dinner to meet with the three Japanese again and further discuss the details of the future population trade.

For the Japanese, because of Dayuan's unique commodity demands, when the Red Seal Ships originally arrived in port, a lot of hold space would have been empty: Dayuan had an abundance of daily necessities, so they weren't interested in the handicrafts the Japanese brought. As for precious metals, those goods weren't bulky and didn't take up much cargo space.

Now that they had "felt out" the Transmigrators' appetite, the Japanese could use iron ore and sulfur as ballast, then load some people into the empty holds.

The price Dayuan offered for women was still fairly generous, and most importantly, transporting people also earned "points" that could be accumulated — in the future, the high-demand goods produced in the Kiln District would all require points to purchase.

As for those samurai who couldn't make a living back home, the Crossing Faction would also advance their passage fees, which would simply be deducted from those men's wages later. So, from now on, the Red Seal Ships coming to Dayuan would give priority to carrying a relatively small number of women, and the remaining spots would be left for beggar samurai.

After finishing the discussion with the several Japanese merchants, seeing that it was already getting late, they all dispersed. Cai Feiming came out of the office and walked straight into the Merchant House Canteen.

Ever since the Chikan Villa District across the water had been completed, the once-crowded canteen had become desolate. Today was no exception; after Cai Feiming entered, he found only a scattered dozen or so people sitting inside.

After waving to Liu Zhe, who was already seated in a corner, Cai Feiming first went to the window and got two dishes: green pepper venison and tomato-sauce mouse grouper, then also drew a pot of Golden Plate Dew. Only then did he carry his tray over to meet Liu Zhe.

"Ah, I wonder when we'll ever get to drink beer. These Ming Dynasty local brews are neither here nor there — I really can't get used to them." The moment Cai Feiming sat down, Liu Zhe began to grumble, eyeing the pot of local liquor on his tray.

"Soon. I hear the barley and hops farms have already been sown. Just hold on a few more months." Before Cai Feiming could reply, a dark, burly man with sharp, angular features beside them said with a chuckle.

The dark man was called Pan Mingzhong, the newly established Captain of the Exploration Team.

As a certain power base's pace of external expansion grew faster and faster, an exploration team with outstanding comprehensive capability was created in response. The upcoming Taipei mission was very suitable for the Exploration Team to handle: low-intensity conflict, diplomatic contact, terrain recording, mineral prospecting — the Exploration Team could accomplish all of these tasks.

Pan Mingzhong was passionately fond of adventure, a veteran backpacker and freelance photographer. Before crossing over, this guy often organized fellow backpackers to go courting death in all sorts of desolate mountains and treacherous waters, incidentally taking some landscape photos to sell to magazines.

Eventually, there was one time when the team got lost in the Tibetan border region, and Pan Mingzhong alone survived. In the aftermath, facing the furious family members, as the organizer he truly had no words to defend himself. So, after exhausting his savings in compensation, he intended to go to South America for a few years, and that was how he came to Dayuan.

"Why not just whip up some rice beer? The taste is pretty much the same. You guys, honestly, are just too stingy!" Commander Liu began to tease the civil officials in the Great Office who controlled material allocation.

"That stuff is called rice wine. There's no such thing as 'rice beer' at all!" Cai Feiming shook his head with a smile. "Those low-grade beers with rice in them at the supermarket — the main ingredient is still barley. Beer cut with rice has a sour bitterness; proper barley beer has a mellow bitterness. And you call yourself a beer drinker — you don't even know this!"

"Even the sour, bitter low-grade stuff is nowhere to be found..."

"Rice stockpiles are highly sensitive information. Old Xia sleeps with one eye open watching over them — don't even think about it. We brothers should just wait patiently for the rich, high-grade black beer. Bavarian flavor, brewed exclusively for you Transmigrator lords to drink."

"Ah, what a world — the cheap stuff is actually harder to find than the genuine article."

"Heh heh..."

The three chatted as they ate, and before long, the dishes on the table were swept clean. After finishing the meal, they got two more dishes from the counter, and each poured half a bowl of Ming Dynasty local brew. Only then did they begin to discuss serious matters.

Serious matters, in truth, meant haggling — the Exploration Team currently had only a commander and deputy commander, two Light Pole Commanders, and a single boat. They needed to extort some resources from the military and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before they could set out.

The three discussed for a long while and finally reached an agreement: the Navy would allocate crew and weapons, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would provide native and Spanish translators, and the Exploration Team would go forth to Taipei to collect sulfur, and incidentally survey the distribution of local iron sand mines and gold mines.

With all matters settled, the three dispersed. Cai Feiming, belching alcohol fumes the whole way, returned to the dormitory next to the canteen to sleep.

Come to think of it, it was rather miserable. Most of the people in the Great Office, Cai Feiming included, were still waiting for their Villa Phase Two off-plan homes across the water in Taijiang... Being a leader wasn't so easy, especially under Dayuan's bizarre political atmosphere. When allocating houses, one had to bravely put others first; pretty girls had to be left for the losers to pick first — these were the costs of privilege!

The next morning, Cai Feiming first went to the Great Office to make a round. When he heard at the morning meeting that the envoy mission to Fuzhou would depart tomorrow, Cai Feiming quickly left the Great Office.

After returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' temporary villa, Old Cai instructed his subordinates to invite the guest in "Room Four" over.

Very soon, a dark, short, lean and wiry man arrived in Cai Feiming's office.

This man's name was Xu Duanwu, a kinsman of Xu Xinsu, the great merchant and comprador of the Zhangquan region. After being released by the Transmigrators back then, he had only recently returned to Dayuan from Quanzhou.

Xu Duanwu's master, Xu Xinsu — according to the original history, this worthy fellow should already be dead as a doornail at this point in time, May 1628.

As one of the masterminds behind the scenes who had originally colluded with officials, bandits, and foreigners to organize the Allied Forces against Zheng Zhilong, Xu Xinsu should have been taken out this month by Old Zheng in a surprise attack on Xiamen.

However, history had diverged here.

Due to the appearance of the Transmigrators, the great Comprador Xu had received timely warning and some precious intelligence analysis — this thing was called hindsight, but for the person involved, it was nothing less than a guiding light.

At that time, Xu Xinsu, caught in the whirlpool, after listening to his own clan nephew's report, although half-doubting this mysterious power's analysis, still more or less sensed the Crossing Faction's strength and goodwill once he had questioned his clan nephew thoroughly.

So Xu Xinsu made a choice different from history: he himself and his floating wealth left the crisis-ridden Zhongzuosuo (Xiamen) and went into hiding in Quanzhou Prefecture City.

And just recently, when Xu Xinsu learned that the court had truly sent Xiong Wencan to govern Fujian, before Old Comrade Xu even had time to figure out how the Transmigrators had known this news months in advance, he received another piece of terrible tidings.

... Zheng Zhilong had once again led his men in a surprise attack on Zhongzuosuo. In the aftermath, Xu Xinsu quickly learned that not only had the shopkeepers and clerks he left there all been slaughtered without exception, and the trading post burned, but Zheng Zhilong's men had also dug three feet into the ground searching for him personally.

After this, the great Comprador Xu had a sudden enlightenment: the Crossing Faction must be a chess piece laid down in advance in the Fujian and Guangdong region by some big shot capable of influencing court politics.