Chapter 531: Before the Investment Conference

"Mayor, the one approaching is a shareholder of the cement factory, the local 'progressive' gentry Bai Shenming, and beside him is Wu..."

A dark-skinned, lean young man in a plain cotton jacket and straight trousers, a leather briefcase tucked under his arm and his hair parted in a three-seven secretary cut, leaned close to Ding Liqiu's ear and gave a rapid, urgent summary of the arrivals.

Hearing this, Ding Liqiu nodded slightly and cut the young man off: "No need to introduce the one behind — I know him. Shopkeeper Wu, a friendly personage."

At this, Ding Liqiu put on a practiced, leadership-style genial smile and stepped forward, extending both hands.

Provincial Graduate Bai, his face likewise wreathed in smiles, hurried over through the crowd and, a little clumsily and unaccustomedly, reached out both hands to clasp Ding Liqiu's and shake them. "Aiyaya, Mayor Ding gracing us with your presence — this student has failed to welcome you from afar!"

Before the Ming and Qing dynasties, and even tracing back to the Qin and Han, the term 'city' mainly referred to commercial marketplaces, ward markets, and rural periodic fair areas — it carried no administrative character. The Ming administrative unit similar to a 'city' was the 'prefecture'.

The city becoming a concrete administrative district in its own right had to wait until the Republic of China period after the Xinhai Revolution. In the ninth year of the Republic, the local self-government movement surged; Guangdong's high official Chen Jiongming, wishing to make Guangzhou a city free from the old administrative divisions, entrusted Sun Ke with drafting the relevant regulations and organizing a modern municipal system.

Sun Ke thus authored the Provisional Regulations of Guangzhou City, which were passed by provincial office public deliberation in the second month of the tenth year of the Republic (1921). This was the first time in our nation that legislation established the city as an administrative unit, transcending the scope of local self-rule.

Time and space turned, and in the plane where the Transmigrators arrived — perhaps by some unseen resonance — the first Ming-dynasty municipal administrative district in the true modern sense was also established by the Transmigrators in Guangzhou, facing the Old City across the river. And Ding Liqiu, the first 'Mayor' of the Special Zone, likewise brought enormous shock to the Ming people.

At first, seeing land being requisitioned outside the city, the boldest imaginings of those Ming people who could access some inside information went no further than a large marketplace — this fit the Ming understanding of what a 'city' was.

Yet now, as the modern New District rose from the ground at a speed that left the natives gaping, this title of 'Mayor' — which had somehow spread at the start and even carried a teasing flavor in Ming eyes — had transformed into a solid, tangible title of authority, no less than that of the Guangzhou Prefect.

Although Ding Liqiu was fundamentally just an unranked private 'Advisor' to the General Headquarters, now, from the gentry and commoners up to the officialdom, anyone in the know dared not put on airs before Mayor Ding. Even the genuine Governor of Guangzhou Prefecture, His Excellency Hong Yunzheng, when meeting Ding Liqiu in private, treated him as an equal.

"Haha, Bai Xiaolian is too kind. I merely decided on a whim to come to the cement factory and check on the construction progress. So, are the local elders satisfied with the work?"

"Satisfied, satisfied! The great project neither disturbs the people nor gives the poor wretches a chance to earn money and rice. Mayor Ding is practically doing charitable deeds!"

"Hehe, Bai Xiaolian's learning is profound; you surely know the principle that water can carry a boat. With the realm now so unsettled, we as subjects spending some coin and grain to steady the people's hearts can also be considered doing some real work for the court."

"Subtle words with grand meaning, subtle words with grand meaning."

Provincial Graduate Bai wore an expression of full admiration. Steeped in learning and well-read in the histories, he nodded repeatedly at these words — words where loyalty and treachery were hard to distinguish — as if he had utterly failed to notice that the speaker was a rebel.

And so Shareholder Bai joined Mayor Ding's entourage, and both sides together inspected the various construction sites on the barren flats, where work was proceeding at a tense pace. During this time, they conversed and made inquiries with both the project managers and the front-line Ming laborers.

Afterward, accompanied by other local 'elders' who had rushed over upon hearing the news, Mayor Ding also shared lunch with everyone. During the meal, Mayor Ding announced an important piece of news to these local Guide Party members: early next month, there would be a South Seas Investment Conference in the Guangdong New District, and they were all welcome to attend then.

Although the Transmigrators' plan to lay out arrangements in the South Seas could not yet be formally launched, preliminary preparations — including those of the Pioneer Army — were already slowly underway. Among these, systematically drawing in Ming investors to jointly participate in the plan had always been a crucial link.

The Transmigrators could hardly go to the South Seas to open up new territory with just a bunch of paupers; what was missing was a vital link in the chain: investors.

As mentioned before, the Ming economy was now in stagflation. On one side, the lower classes could not get enough to eat and were displaced; on the other, the landlord class was burying precious metals in their home cellars — a feeling somewhat like the economic crises of later generations.

Therefore, the Transmigrators not only needed to channel large numbers of the lower classes to the vast New World to seek food and land, but also had to guide the Ming landlord class, as far as possible, to invest in the New World, loosening the stagnant waters that had already congealed... There was no need to hire men to dig pits and then fill them back in; the Transmigrators merely needed to create a powerful and fair investment environment, and then teach these ancient capitalists how to invest and profit.

Mixed in with this was also the driving force from the Pioneer Army Command, the Cabinet, and the Parliament. So, after his current phase of work had reached a brief pause, Ding Liqiu set about arranging this matter. Today, having met the local rich landlords of the Zengcheng area, he let slip the news about convening an investment conference.

This information, without a doubt, piqued the interest of everyone present. Since these people had already put money into the cement factory comprehensive project and gotten on board, they had already drawn close, and were naturally not resistant to new paths to wealth — on the contrary, they were quite interested.

Mayor Ding put it very clearly here: "Perhaps you gentlemen bought shares in the cement factory partly to get close to our Cao Jiangjun — we all understand that, and the General knows it too. However, this business of going down to the South Seas to acquire land and run plantations — that is an ancestral skill of us Great Ming gentry... a hereditary family estate... tilling and planting through the four seasons... with the General guaranteeing the purchase of the output..."

Under Ding Liqiu's vigorous introduction, the assembled gentry quickly grasped what 'going down to the South Seas' meant: wasn't it just like everyone going to the countryside to set up a country estate? The only difference was that the estate was farther away, in the South Seas, and, unlike in Great Ming, the South Seas estates would, without a doubt, be backed by Cao Jiangjun.

Once he understood this point, the quick-witted Provincial Graduate Bai, daring to place his bets, was the very first to declare his stance right there at the dining table: if Cao Jiangjun intended to expand the frontiers, he, Bai Shenming, absolutely must lend a hand! This time, no matter the scale, he was determined to set up a plantation to grow some rice to support the army!

The other local rich landlords, catching on, now also expressed their desire to get a piece of the action. A joke, really — with the cement factory, no one could figure out the ropes, but when it came to opening up country estates, every single one of them in Great Ming, whether local rich landlord or gentry, was an expert... it was in their very bones.

Seeing the atmosphere grow warm and enthusiastic, Mayor Ding, in excellent spirits, reached out and patted Old Master Bai intimately on the shoulder: "It doesn't have to be rice, you know. Attendants, brew up the coffee and cocoa the Dutch sent over, and bring the illustrated album — I'll treat you gentlemen to a painting viewing."

The next moment, after taking a sip of the slightly bitter coffee, Old Master Bai had no time to grumble before he was captivated by an exquisite album spread open before him: "Old Master Bai, this large tree is called the rubber tree. It's a treasure — the General's Mansion buys its yearly output at a high price."