Chapter 530: Shopkeeper Wu's Daily Life (Ten)

Time: After the Engineering Conference. Place: The study of the Bai Residence.

Shopkeeper Wu and Provincial Graduate Bai returned from Rocky Desert Qi Tan today. They first marveled at the General's Mansion's bold and lavish business style, then discussed in detail how the White Family should respond going forward.

Analyzing the information gathered at the conference, the first thing the two men determined was this: the White Family was not suited to take on engineering projects. The reason was simple—their foundation was too shallow.

The Bai clan only became a locally prominent family starting from Provincial Graduate Bai's generation. Previously, the White Family's main sphere of activity was in Xiancheng, where they had no real foundation to speak of and were merely commoners.

Although in recent years the White Family had acquired some rural landholdings and recruited some tenant farmers, that was partly due to the inertia of traditional thinking and partly for the sake of "asset diversification." The White Family's roots had not yet shifted to agriculture, so they could not claim much influence in that area.

With this kind of base, the White Family would find itself somewhat overstretched when taking on engineering projects. Taking on a project required, first, an abundant labor force, and second, having "local resources" at the project site—bluntly put, being a local power broker, a faction capable of providing manpower and other supplies nearby. In the primitive engineering development projects of today, the latter point was, to some extent, even more critical.

Therefore, after analyzing with Shopkeeper Wu and ultimately considering the whole picture, Provincial Graduate Bai, who was more familiar with commerce, still decided to invest resources into enterprises like the cement plant. As for road-building and engineering projects... better to leave those to the rural toughs. They could count themselves lucky—with the road passing right by their doors and contracts landing in their laps, it was only fitting those local landlords made a tidy sum.

After a full night of back-and-forth deliberation, Old Master Bai made a crucial strategic decision in his study: to invest over half of the White Family's liquid capital into purchasing shares in the cement plant.

Without selling off any properties, this half of their capital amounted to roughly twenty-five thousand taels of ready silver—the hard-earned nest egg of this first-generation Chinese-style noble family.

They could have raised more cash if needed, but doing so would have affected the daily operations of White Crane Sundries and the White Family's other shops. Though Old Master Bai was extremely bullish on the cement plant's prospects, he restrained the impulse to go all-in and kept the old businesses running.

Ten days later, Provincial Graduate Bai once again set out in person, accompanying Shopkeeper Wu and a large retinue of household staff as they escorted the silver cart to the "Guangdong First Construction Zengcheng Project Division" next door to the County Yamen to sign the contract and hand over the money.

The Project Division, which had opened next to the County Yamen to enhance its authority, was only a general designation. It housed not only the project bidding office but also an independent cement plant preparatory office—a case of co-located operations.

After Provincial Graduate Bai arrived, he joined the other county gentlemen aspiring to invest in industry and commerce. They each signed their contracts, pressed their thumbprints, and after weighing out the stack after stack of silver ingots unloaded from the silver carts, everyone formally became shareholders of the soon-to-be-established Zengcheng Cement Plant.

All in all, the gentlemen felt a touch of unease at that moment.

Although it was quite common for private merchants to pool funds and do business together, what they now faced was a situation utterly unlike any tradition—an unprecedentedly massive workshop plan, unprecedented colossal investment and new products, an unprecedentedly formidable founder, and all the various calculations and political speculations entangled in the investment process. All of this left these gentlemen, who normally navigated Great Ming society with ease, feeling completely at a loss.

Yet these pioneers had ultimately chosen the right path. Compared to those whose fates would later be forcibly altered by the tides of society, this slight discomfort of the pioneers was nothing at all. The gates of the New World were swinging open for everyone, and those who dared to eat crab would surely receive the richest rewards.

Becoming a shareholder of the cement plant was only the first step; a whole series of procedures, such as the shareholders' General Assembly, still lay ahead. By the time Old Master Bai had finished with these matters and once again stood at Rocky Desert Qi Tan with Shopkeeper Wu and his household staff, the place had already transformed into a bustling large-scale construction site.

Ice Age or not, compared to the frozen earth of the north during the New Year season, Guangdong allowed year-round construction. The local laborers—some provided by the shareholders, others drawn in by the generous wages and meals—had now split into two crews, busily working across the site.

The river flatland bordering a tributary of the Zeng River was the first major construction site. Since a mining dock needed to be built here, not only had dredging boats already begun operations on the river, but men were also wading through the mud and water building a cofferdam.

The structural strength required for the ore dock was higher than that of a passenger dock. Once the cofferdam was completed, several sets of black-smoke-belching engineering machinery would be brought in to assist with the dock's construction. By then, the onlookers of Zengcheng would get a taste of industrialization's terrifying power. After this, a coal-gas-driven cargo hoisting system would be permanently stationed at the dock, bringing everyone a whole new experience.

On the boulder field not far from the dock construction site, a large number of laborers were also toiling. The ground here was being cleared; the loose rocks were being gathered into baskets and carted away. These stones would eventually be sorted one by one—the limestone sent off for calcination, and the rest crushed to be used as road-building material.

Once the boulder field was cleared, dormitories and a material yard would be built on the original site. Every day from then on, workers would set out from here to the hilly areas to the north, strip away the topsoil and vegetation covering those mounds, and then use explosives to break apart these limestone-based hills piece by piece, supplying the cement plant with raw material for calcining lime.

On another empty plot of land to the west lay the third construction site. This was the future location of the cement plant, where a large workforce was likewise clearing the ground at this moment.

As a key project for the year 1631, a heavy coal-gas-powered road roller was being assembled on site—this thing was so heavy that the Xiancheng dock couldn't bear its weight, so it had been disassembled and physically hauled over by a large crew of laborers.

Gazing at the bustling scene stretching as far as the eye could see, Provincial Graduate Bai, standing atop an earthen slope, could not help but nod repeatedly.

Setting aside the factory that would bring rolling wealth to the White Family in the future, even with the current construction site, the White Family was already reaping the dividends of their bet: the baskets, gunnysacks, straw ropes, and other sundries used on site were all sourced from White Crane Sundries. The quantities were enormous, and even more would be needed going forward. The White Crane Sundries chain was currently organizing trade caravans to visit nearby villages to place orders and secure supply sources, while also coaxing isolated country folk to come work at the site. The entire shop was run off its feet.

"Master, look quickly! Lord Ding is coming from over there!"

Just then, Shopkeeper Wu abruptly tugged at Provincial Graduate Bai's sleeve and pointed toward the direction of Xiancheng.

"Hm? It is indeed Lord Ding."

Provincial Graduate Bai had naturally met Ding Liqiu before; when he went to Guangzhou to bid, Ding Liqiu had been the host of the bidding conference. "He's come to inspect the site. Quickly, follow me!"

Before his words had faded, Old Master Bai was already hurrying down the earthen slope, heading straight toward the approaching crowd with Ding Liqiu at its center.