Chapter 565: Negotiation by Headcount

After a round of surface-level pleasantries, Assistant Regional Commander Sha Zhengming's initial inspection tour of Qiongzhou was considered complete.

After this, as the fleet docked and the crew disembarked, the Southbound Fleet truly took control of its home port.

Although the home port's infrastructure had only just begun construction, this was already a good start. With a steady stream of resources invested going forward, Sha Zhengming had reason to believe that Baisha New Port would certainly be built at a speed that would leave any Ming person speechless.

Once the first team of crew members stepped onto the dock, Assistant Regional Commander Sha, along with Shao Qiang, "returned to headquarters" with the group of officials — back in Qiongzhou Prefectural City, the Prefectural Governor was still waiting to host the welcome banquet, and they could not keep him waiting long.

Qiongzhou City in the Ming dynasty, being a prefectural seat and holding a monopoly on the majority of the island's maritime trade, was generally prosperous, not inferior to those third-tier cities on the mainland.

Sun Futai of Qiongzhou Prefecture was also an amiable and interesting official. When Assistant Regional Commander Sha and his subordinates arrived at the Prefectural Yamen, Sun Futai cheerfully laid out a banquet in the Flower Hall to entertain the guests.

During the feast, host and guests enjoyed themselves in harmony; while drinking freely, both sides also exchanged opinions and views on matters of common concern.

For the local bureaucratic faction of Qiongzhou, today's banquet was very important. The officials now urgently needed to know Assistant Regional Commander Sha's next move so they could coordinate and continue to reap benefits from it.

Of course, the prerequisite for everything was smooth negotiations.

So after three rounds of drinks, Sun Futai asked on behalf of everyone: "Is there still any way we can be of service to the General?"

Assistant Regional Commander Sha laughed heartily upon hearing this: "People, I lack nothing at the moment, except people!"

Having spent these years in the seventeenth century, the Transmigrators now knew all too well what they lacked: people.

People are the primary productive force.

Everything requires people to create. The Transmigrators possessed boundless technology and relatively abundant resources; the only thing they lacked now was people.

Assistant Regional Commander Sha's words did not exceed the expectations of the local officials.

Immediately, an official with a full beard and a dark-red face, stroking his whiskers, chuckled: "To be honest with the General, it is currently the busy farming season. Even these farmers who have come to work now were only secured through the Prefectural Governor's maneuvering."

"Therefore....." the bearded official said with a sincere expression: "If civilian labor is excessively drained, there will certainly be trouble with next year's tax levies, and we will have no way to account for it to the provincial authorities."

Assistant Regional Commander Sha remained unmoved by the bearded official's words... such matters were not the concern of a military man like him, so he focused intently on devouring a Lingao Roast Suckling Pig on the table, not even lifting his head.

At this moment, Shao Qiang, Shao District Head, dressed in a long robe, stepped forward. He stood up and nodded to the bearded official: "We understand what Ding Tongpan means."

The Qiongzhou bureaucrats' concern was indeed a real problem.

For an ancient agricultural society, the most important matter for regional officials each year, aside from tax collection, was still tax collection. The rest of those social service projects were, frankly, incidental; when superiors evaluated an official, the most important weighted factor was whether they could collect taxes in full.

The officials of Qiongzhou Prefecture, this time using the opportunity of a superior's directive funded by the Transmigrators, had coordinated with county magistrates to mobilize civilian labor and rush the construction of the seaport, collectively making a quick profit.

However, if the civilian labor force were to be used long-term, as the Transmigrators intended, the officials would find it somewhat overwhelming. This was because the civilians the officials could mobilize were all registered "taxpayers." If these people were tied down at the Construction Site long-term, with no one farming the land, the next season's grain harvest would fail, the officials would fail to deliver the tax levies, and they would collectively be screwed by the bigwigs in the provincial capital.

As a Parent-Official who had lived in Great Ming for several years, Shao Qiang was fully aware of this and understood the officials' way of thinking.

"Gentlemen, this matter is simple."

After standing, Shao Qiang smiled and dropped a literary phrase, then proposed a solution.

The current situation: first, a large-scale recruitment of laborers was absolutely necessary; this was a fundamental principle. Since the Transmigrators had come to Hainan, they certainly could not just build one port and be done. Using long-term, large-scale infrastructure projects to promote themselves and peacefully evolve the Natives — this was the core mission of the Transmigrators when establishing Bases everywhere.

So, according to the internal document "Several Principles for Negotiating with Great Ming Local Governments" previously issued by the Cabinet, Shao Qiang easily proposed a solution: tax farming.

Since Qiongzhou was worried about tax levies, very well then, this year's tax payment — the Advisory Official, as a staff member of the General Headquarters, now solemnly declared on behalf of the General Headquarters: we will cover it.

That is to say, all grain tax payments for Qiongzhou Prefecture this year would be handled and delivered to the Guangzhou Provincial Administration Commission by the New District. Qiongzhou Prefecture would only need to sit back and wait for the receipt; the rest was none of their concern.

The above was the solution for external problems. Next came the "internal issues" between Qiongzhou Prefecture and the Transmigrators.

The internal issues were even simpler, nothing more than a few fellows closing the door to divide up the benefits.

Shao Qiang proposed here: since the General Headquarters was covering the tax levies, Qiongzhou Prefecture must provide a corresponding number of heads based on the total official tax quota in the registers, with a settlement for any surplus or shortfall. If the number of heads was insufficient at that time, they would have to refund a portion of the money and grain to him.

Additionally, Advisor Shao offered a friendly reminder: he was not a racist and held no discrimination against the Li, Miao, and other ethnic minorities on Hainan Island... so, esteemed gentlemen, you understand.

After hearing Advisor Shao's overall labor solution, the officials present quickly put their heads together, exchanging opinions in low voices.

Very quickly, using only a few short phrases and glances, the officials reached a consensus: "This newcomer is rather foolish."

The plan Shao Qiang proposed, in the view of the Qiongzhou bureaucratic faction, was very workable. After all, in this world, as long as someone foots the bill, there are truly few things that cannot be done. Moreover, Shao Qiang's promise could not be faked; leaving aside the previous large sums of cash, the tax matters with the Guangzhou Provincial Administration Commission were all public record and could be verified with a single check.

In this way, the officials almost instantly realized where they could reap benefits from this matter: they only needed to gather enough heads matching the tax quota in the official registers and send them to the naval port to fulfill Shao Qiang's requirement. However, these heads could easily be collected from those not on the official registers, such as Li people, Miao people, and those tax-evading hidden households in the countryside, etc., etc....

As for after this, once the heads were gathered and that fool Cao went to Guangzhou to pay the taxes... hehe, who stipulated that the masters couldn't collect another round of taxes on time?

After all, it is only right and proper for the government to collect the imperial grain and national tax. When the time comes, giving those poor wretches doing the labor a small reduction here and there could even be considered a display of vast imperial grace... but the proper taxes and miscellaneous levies everyone owed must still be paid!

Thinking of the benefits that would fall into their pockets after this was done, and thinking of the past years' deficits in various yamens that could be filled, the officials at the banquet, in the next moment, nodded one after another and looked towards the bearded man.

The bearded Ding Tongpan understood his colleagues' thoughts.

Regarding Shao Qiang's proposal, it seemed there was no problem with the general direction now. What remained to be done afterward was simply for both sides to send people to haggle and negotiate the specific amounts and details.

So now, only one thing stood in the way.

The bearded Ding Tongpan then raised this issue: maintaining stability.

The officials' final concern was also very practical: assuming a large number of civilians went to work at the Construction Site long-term, then over time, Qiongzhou, this isolated, closed-off "Free Trade Zone" overseas, would still face a problem: grain.

In the officials' view, if a large number of civilians "abandoned production" to work, grain output within the overall territory of Qiongzhou would inevitably decrease the following year. Even if Lord Cao covered this year's tax payment, a grain shortage in the Qiongzhou market would cause prices to remain overwhelmingly high, leading to unrest everywhere and "unrest in the officials' jurisdiction," which was very detrimental to "social stability."

Shao Qiang laughed heartily upon hearing this.

Raising two fingers, Shao Qiang immediately promised two more things. First, all daily grain rations for any laborers going to the port would be entirely his responsibility; the grain would be imported from outside, and these laborers would not eat a single grain of local Rice.

Second, Shao Qiang promised: effective immediately, a Grain School Qiongzhou would be established in the prefectural city... at least the grain price in Qiongzhou Prefectural City, as long as the Navy Base existed, would be maintained at a normal price. Even during the lean season, a large quantity of external grain would be imported into Qiongzhou.

The officials looked at each other.

In the Natives' view, an exaggerated promise like "stabilizing the grain price of a region" was something only achievable through the imperial court's massive efforts, and most people did not believe it. Yet, thinking of the extravagant wealth this group had previously displayed, everyone seemed to feel a slight bit of confidence.

In the next moment, Sun Futai, who had remained silent since the negotiations began, revealed his true colors. He stared intensely at Shao Qiang's face: "Advisor Shao, is this matter true?"

Shao Qiang looked around and found everyone was trying hard to find evidence of insincerity on his face, so he could only put on the kind of expression an Upper East Side rich man would show a Virginia corn farmer to reassure them: "I'll send a message today when I return. Within seven days, one hundred thousand catties of Rice and two hundred thousand catties of Potatoes will arrive at the port."

"Could this Potato be the exotic fruit, the horse-bell tuber, recently sold on the market?"

"Exactly! This horse-bell tuber is an exotic species our General introduced from the Husky Nation of Haedong. After eating it, it staves off hunger and endures, which the laborers like the most."

"Emmmm......"

Prefect Sun turned his head to look around, finding nothing but pairs of fervent eyes meeting his gaze. So the Old Man decisively nodded and made the final call: "In the future market, for every five catties of horse-bell tubers supplemented, at least one catty of Rice must also be supplemented. If so, the matter is settled!"

Shao Qiang declared decisively: "We'll do as Prefect Sun says!"

Shao Qiang truly liked these officials from remote regions too much.

These people are unpretentious and unmannered, their eyes see only silver, not Confucius and Mencius; broad-minded, daring to think and act, everything is negotiable; behind closed doors they call themselves Great Kings — truly pillars of the party and state, mainstays of the court, vanguard of social and economic Construct, the most ideal targets for the Transmigrators to infiltrate and hollow out from within.