Chapter 113: Getting Rich

"Astonishing." Xi Yazhou watched as goods were continuously carried from the compound—truly eye-opening. "How could he have so much?"

"Den master," Wu De answered briefly.

Though Hainan lay on major overseas trade routes, it was not known for maritime trade. Rather, pirates frequently visited, using the place as a hunting ground, a supply post, and a loot stash. The population was sparse, the land remote and poor, and the government's administrative capacity weak. The Gou family, operating as a pirate den and a fence for stolen goods, had naturally accumulated this much. Their manor's armaments exceeded those of a typical militia: six small wall cannons, over twenty pack-guns, more fowling pieces and muskets than their guards could use, five or six thousand jin of black powder in storage, plus quantities of arrows, blades, spears, and iron shot. Apparently, they also stocked weapons and equipment for pirates.

"Normal people—excluding super-corrupt types like He Shen—who'd store over ten thousand pieces of porcelain at home?" Wu De pointed at the porcelain being carried from storerooms. "These were probably robbed from merchant ships."

"No wonder this place is like Ali Baba's cave—everything's here." Xi Yazhou sighed. "Just these porcelains and hardwoods—how much would that be in RMB?"

"Can't convert to RMB, but we've definitely struck it rich." Wu De's earlier discomfort had mostly faded. After this victory, the transmigrators were truly established in Lingao—sufficient grain, salt-field controlled, combat effectiveness verified.

He had known from the start: without eating big households, transmigrators could not successfully launch. Even landing in wild America, they would have started by slaughtering Indians.

"Right—now we can give the salt village more relief. The people suffer terribly, making salt half-starved. Empty stomachs mean low labor productivity. But Wang Engineer designed new brine-concentration equipment—should improve things."

"Wang Engineer's truly versatile. Speaking of—with all that cloth, my production team can finally get new uniforms. Before, cloth seemed scarce—everything rationed. Now we can outfit them fully—underwear, outerwear, spare sets."

"Will your production-team workers return?"

"After this battle, they'll not only return—they'll probably bring more." Wu De's worries had completely vanished. He laughed heartily—truly liberating. Money breeds courage.

"Let's start a garment factory. Not just the production team—future new armies, plus our own spare clothes."

"Your village has women—mobilize them for side work."

"Good idea—" Xi Yazhou was interrupted by a commotion. Zhang Xingjiao, wielding a stick, was viciously beating a pathetic old man. The man's silk robe was torn, covered in mud. Several transmigrators struggled to restrain this literary man—and could not overpower him.

Xi Yazhou moved to stop it. Wu De shook his head. "Let it go. Zhang Xingjiao's entire family was ruined by the Gou family. This old man probably isn't good either."

"No wonder he insisted on coming." Xi Yazhou recalled that originally they had not planned to bring him. But hearing it was Gou Manor, he had insisted so strongly he could not be stopped. He had come for revenge.

This old man was a Gou family hanger-on—he had suggested seizing the Zhang family gravesite for "feng shui" reasons. Whatever feng shui, it clearly had not favored the Gou family or him. The old man had taken countless blows—if Zhang Xingjiao were not so weak, his skull would have cracked long ago.

Eventually Zhang Xingjiao was subdued—alternately crying and laughing, somewhat crazed, circling the Gou compound. Wu De worried he might burn down the compound in fury—a major disaster—and quickly sent two men to restrain him.

Xi Yazhou inspected the compound with Wu De, especially monitoring the inventory. So many goods here—chaos during inventory would be terrible.

The Planning Committee's Dai Xie handled all inventory work—unknown if this suited his statistics-major expertise. He had carried his beloved crossbow but had not fired a single arrow. Now fully staffed, he sat behind a laptop, constantly processing new data. Helpers around him were overwhelmed.

After preliminary warehouse and compound inspection, Dai Xie organized inventory teams: one for grain and cloth; one for silver and coins; one for valuables—jewelry, antiques, ornaments; one for various goods. Items were immediately logged and boxed. The boxes were Bopu wood factory products made specifically for this "hunting"—designed for gold, silver, jewelry, and coins. Full of silver, each weighed about a hundred jin—convenient for loading and transport.

This was very useful—scattered jewelry and coins could be lost easily. Centralized storage was safe and convenient for verification. The copper coins in the warehouse, many of them loose, were boxed directly. Porcelain and timber—bulky goods that could not be immediately transported—were merely inventoried and numbered, then sealed in place to await future transport.

Detailed clearing reached household valuables. Compared to the massive quantities of goods, gold and silver were not that much: various-grade silver over three thousand liang, gold over one hundred liang, copper coins over four thousand strings. Surprisingly: over one thousand foreign silver coins of various types—mostly Manila-minted Spanish coins, some small gold coins. Jewelry and ornaments were countless.

Xi Yazhou knew the commoners' political consciousness was not that high. The villagers he had brought only carried items—no pocketing allowed. Entry and exit were monitored. With such a large property and so much to inventory, chaos was guaranteed—gold, silver, and jewelry would disappear into private hands. Grain would be scattered carelessly. Fragile items smashed—sometimes from pure destructive impulse.

Especially the salt villagers, full of hatred for the Gou family—they wanted to kick everything in sight. Upon entering, some had tried to smash commoner homes—even breaking roadside water jars. If Xi Yazhou had not had Tan Chengqing stop them, many would have massacred everyone in Gou Manor on the spot.

"Any more of this—immediate beheading!" Xi Yazhou told Tan Chengqing bluntly. "Don't think I don't know your intentions. I'm telling you—no!"

"Everyone's been stifled. The Gou family harmed us for so many years—"

"You were harmed by the Gou family—not Gou Manor's common people!" Xi Yazhou scolded. "They're also honest folk, oppressed and exploited by the Gou family. Their days were even harder than yours. Yet you—you didn't dare whisper when the Gou family was strong. Now they're finished, and you want to be heroes against poor commoners!"

Tan Chengqing blushed deeply and promised to keep the villagers disciplined. Xi Yazhou softened. "The village head and elders have been rescued. Take good care of those elders—they've suffered much."

Amid the bustle, noon arrived. Debris and corpses were mostly cleared. Reports came in. Total transmigrator casualties: nineteen wounded. Except for the fall victim, none were serious. The compound's two hundred-odd men, women, and children—nearly half were dead. Many women had committed suicide. Twenty to thirty had jumped walls to escape, but most fell to snipers along the route. Only three or four escaped.

Besides these, two hundred-plus militia were virtually all killed or captured.

Most critically—the Gou brothers were not found. A servant revealed: after Gou Xunli was ambushed on the road, he had arrived at the manor for a brief overnight discussion, then left at dawn the next day. But Gou Xunyi's whereabouts were unknown. Corpses were individually identified—none was him. However, his wives, concubines, and children were mostly found—dead or captured. Various Gou kinsmen and hangers-on were also captured. How to handle them—Wu De had not decided. That was for the Committee.

Though the two main family heads were not captured, Wu De and Xi Yazhou were not worried. When powerful and wealthy, they had crumbled at one blow. Now homeless dogs—nothing to fear.

Order restored, Wu De had Zhang Xingjiao summon village leaders to announce: everyone go home and prepare for a meeting at the Gou compound gate. First: pacification. Second: search for hidden enemies or concealed assets.

Simply put: they were preparing a "struggle session"—the Party's historically proven mass-mobilization technique. With Zhang Xingjiao as a native, everyone's background was known. He had compiled a list: who were Gou lackeys, who had conflicts with Gou the Elder or Second, who was a blacksmith, who was a carpenter—all clearly noted.

Of course, his personal grudges featured. Someone who had once cursed him as a "starving pedant" was now listed as a "Gou family lackey."

(End of Chapter)