Chapter 265: Shareholders

"Ah, how can this be?"

Yu Chengde's eyes brimmed with tears, his legs trembling. He stumbled through the rubble of the Green Fish, now and then picking up a shattered hull plank and stroking it, muttering something under his breath the whole time.

Seeing the Green Fish — the spiritual anchor of the entire village all this time — dismantled into scattered parts, the other men also wore expressions of reluctance and bewilderment. They couldn't understand: a perfectly good boat, who exactly had it offended to be reduced to this? Could it be that the government forbids people from going out to sea to fish?

Carrying anger and confusion, Yu Chengde and his group returned to the Port Authority hall.

And that man wearing a peaked cap, surnamed Gou and named De, the Former Tongsheng Clerk, upon seeing them, his face immediately revealed a smile that said, "I knew you'd be back." Before a certain grief-stricken old fisherman could make trouble, Clerk Gou seized the initiative: "I couldn't even call you back just now — were you in such a rush to be reincarnated?"

At this, he tossed a few forms and a few currency notes from behind the desk. "Here, hurry up, fill out the forms and take the money. I'm busy."

Suppressing his fury and desire to demand justice, Yu Chengde picked up the paper notes and shook them in his palm. "Document Clerk Gou, what's all this about?"

"Fuel costs. After deducting the ship-breaking expenses, that's all that's left." Gou De said this, then shot Old Yu a sidelong glance. "Firewood isn't worth much around here — this is already quite a lot!"

Yu Chengde slowly clenched the notes. His entire posture shifted from an open palm of "welcoming a guest" to a tight fist of "discarding the millstone after the grinding is done." The next moment, he squeezed a few words through gritted teeth: "Why did you dismantle my family's boat?"

"Seems you still don't know." Clerk Gou shook his head, reached out, and picked up a document from the desk. "According to regulations, all old and worn vessels under 400 liao, assessed as having no retrofit value, are to be dismantled on the spot and used as fuel. Those over 400 liao are permitted to be sold at Daming Port."

He read this far, then tossed the document in front of Yu Chengde. "Those two broken-down boats of yours don't even add up to 400 liao, and they're full of rats and cockroaches. If we don't dismantle them, are we supposed to wait for a plague to spread?"

Yu Chengde was stunned. He never imagined, even if you beat him to death, that the government would issue such a strange decree. Since when did the government meddle in matters like this? And what did cockroaches have to do with pestilence?

Judging that Document Clerk Gou's words did not seem feigned, years of ingrained awe toward the government ultimately curbed Yu Chengde's rage. Yet this solved nothing. Discovering his dream had been dismantled into a pile of broken wood, Yu Chengde still asked with reddened eyes: "Without a boat, how are we supposed to make a living?"

Gou De rolled his eyes. "Seems you know absolutely nothing about the policies. Didn't study properly during the quarantine period, did you?"

At this, the thin, shrewd-looking Section Chief Gou turned his head and shouted toward the inner room: "Section Chief, I'm taking them to see the boats."

Then he led the bewildered Yu Chengde and his group back to the shipyard.

The Taijiang Shipyard's current scale already occupied half of the Taijiang East Bank. Various slipways and docks extended northward along the coast, all the way up to the Sand Embankment connecting Beixianwei Island to the main island of Taiwan.

Yu Chengde and his group were brought by Gou De to the shipyard's dedicated wharf.

Pointing at the ten or so sleek Chinese-style junks moored to the left of the wharf, Gou De said with a chuckle: "Brand-new hundred-ton standard fishing ships, fresh off the line. Aren't they ten times better than your wrecks?"

Yu Chengde had seen these ships before. With his experience, he could easily judge that their displacement was all over 400 liao — exactly the kind he had originally wanted to buy.

"Wouldn't a boat like this cost over a thousand taels of silver?"

"Mm, a new ship built of red cypress — around twelve or thirteen hundred would be about right."

"Document Clerk Gou, you jest. Where would we get over a thousand taels of silver?"

"Huh? Didn't they exchange a passbook worth a thousand taels of silver for you? You think I don't know?"

"Isn't that a treasure…"

Yu Chengde suddenly froze mid-sentence. He blinked and thought for a long while. Once he had thought the matter through, he cautiously, tentatively asked: "Document Clerk Gou, that's still not enough — we're still short by two or three hundred taels?"

"Idiot. You've already paid eighty percent of the full price — are you afraid you can't get a loan for the rest? The interest on the Fishing Loan is very low; with your situation, it might even be interest-free. Go ask at the bank yourself later."

"Aiyah, then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and pick a boat!" Yu, having finally figured everything out, didn't even have time to pray to Mazu or Guanyin for the Kun people's mercy. He hastily called his men to go choose a boat first.

"Hold on!" Just then, Yu Chengde's shoulder was grabbed by Section Chief Gou.

Pointing toward the direction of Chikan Wharf, Section Chief Gou said with a grin: "There's something even better. Aren't you going to take a look?"

Waves rose and fell; the blazing sun burned like fire. In the strait, two ships were sailing side by side.

One of the ships was named "Bighead Carp." It was a motor-sail fishing vessel with a displacement of 400 tons. Installed on its deck was a Longmen Crane, an essential piece of equipment on fishing ships of later generations.

Yu Chengde and his men were currently on board, serving as Apprentices.

Section Chief Gou had not only introduced Old Yu to ordinary fishing boats but had also taken him to the specialized fish wharf at Chikan to tour the latest model of motor-sail fishing vessel.

Seeing fish after fresh fish carried out of the cold hold and into the wharf's large Cold Storage, the country bumpkins were naturally utterly astounded.

Section Chief Gou seized the moment to tell Yu that the total price of this ship was 2,000 taels of silver. As long as he put up that 1,000 taels as a down payment, he could become a Shareholder.

Yu Chengde was shaken.

Not because of the price — any fool knew a big ship with an ice cellar like this wouldn't be cheap. What Yu Chengde worried about was that a bunch of illiterates couldn't handle this contraption!

Fortunately, the timing of Yu Chengde's defection to Dayuan was good — the Fishery Company was currently looking for buyers.

And so, Han Baisheng, the Old Chief of the Fishery General Company, made his dazzling entrance. The Fishery Company, which had recently been absorbing Ming people's capital everywhere, had finally snagged another wealthy one and naturally wouldn't let him go.

Han Baisheng quickly organized a group of "capitalist fishermen," including Yu Chengde. Among these people, some, like Yu Chengde, had come bringing their boats; others had come to Dayuan with silver. In short, they were all members of the propertied class with ambitions in the fishing industry.

Han Baisheng soon divided this group into two parties based on capital — trawl-net fishing required two-boat operations.

The two parties' capital was roughly equal; each side pooled together about three to four thousand taels of silver, just enough for a one-third down payment on the boat.

In fact, they were getting a huge bargain. One had to understand that in this era, equipment like the Fish Sonar, Walkie-Talkie System, Coal Gas Cold Storage, and Power Trawl were all essentially priceless. Especially the Sonar and Walkie-Talkie System — their core components had to be imported.

The Fishery Company's valuation of each motor-sail fishing vessel was 2,000 taels of silver. This price could truly be called a fire-sale bargain.

After the capital was allocated, the two groups of Shareholders could board the ship and begin their work as Apprentices.