Chapter 226: Light Industry Prospects
Beyond the clothing factory, a series of light industry enterprises were to go into production during the First Five-Year Plan. First was the daily chemicals factory, manufacturing soap—one of the great transmigrator artifacts.
"Soap's process and technology are relatively simple—a product that can ship quickly."
"What about the oil and fat problem?" Ji Situi thought, easy for you to say. He was still finding it difficult to produce glycerin—Wu Nanhai refused to give him any oil until it reached gutter-oil quality. To date, all industrial oil and fat consisted of the pig fat used when the shipyard was refitting the Fubo.
Wu Nanhai helplessly raised his hand: "Do not look at me. The Agriculture Committee cannot solve this problem that fast."
"Vegetable oil will not work? Hainan has coconuts everywhere. Is coconut oil not easy to obtain?"
"Coconuts? Unfortunately, Lingao does not have coconuts," Wu Nanhai said matter-of-factly. "The only coconuts are a few seedlings at my farm."
"True, I have not actually seen any coconuts since we came ashore."
"Hainan Island's native coconut distribution is not in this region," Luo Duo said. "They are concentrated in the central and southern parts of the island. We can dispatch a fleet to harvest or purchase them."
"Can we not just purchase dried coconut at the East Gate Market?"
"Not easily. Hainan's dried coconut trade does have a long history, but the supply all flows to Qiongshan County, same as the betel nut trade."
Considering oil and fat's importance to the transmigrator collective, the Executive Committee decided on a two-pronged approach to obtain coconuts. On one hand, they would dispatch the Long-Range Reconnaissance Team by ship to explore southward along the coastline, seeing where they could obtain large-scale coconut supplies. Coconuts were an extremely useful cash crop. On the other hand, they would send the procurement agent Lin Quan'an deep into the island's various prefectures and counties to purchase dried coconuts.
The only oil crop the transmigrators could immediately utilize in Lingao was peanuts—especially in coastal areas and the Gaoshanling region, where peanut cultivation was widespread, with some small oil-pressing workshops operating. The Agriculture Committee decided to promote quality peanut cultivation in the mountains around Damei Village in the Gaoshanling region. They would also add a water-powered oil press to the water-powered grain processing plant at Bairren City.
"Soap is an excellent trade good! For ladies and young misses, it is simply divine."
"Using coconut oil, we can make transparent soap. Add fragrance, and it becomes perfumed soap."
"Make some pretty molds, add various colors, and those fine ladies will go crazy—"
Seeing everyone's intoxicated expressions as they offered suggestions, Wen Desi could not help but smile wryly. This was a classic case of treating Ming people as rich simpletons. Ming people were not stupid. They might lack the transmigrators' several centuries of accumulated experience, true, but they did not have much money either. How much market demand actually existed for soap in China at that time was really hard to say. As a luxury item, there might be some sales. As a mass-market product, basically no one would buy it—ancient people had saponin and pig pancreas they could use.
Fortunately, soap was also useful for the transmigrator collective itself—for ensuring cleanliness and for industrial applications. The by-products of soap production, glycerin and other substances, were valuable chemical raw materials.
Matches—another transmigrator artifact. Match technology was very simple; you just needed to find phosphorus. Having rosin and antimony was even better. None of these things were hard to find. By comparison, Wen Desi was more confident about matches' marketability—compared to flint and steel, matches' convenience advantage was simply too great.
"Phosphorus processing is manageable, but there is no phosphite ore locally," Ji Situi said.
"We are not far from the Dongsha Islands. Send ships to dig guano rock. Guano rock can not only refine phosphorus but also be used as fertilizer."
Wu Nanhai immediately agreed: "Our Agriculture Committee also needs phosphate fertilizer. This is a good proposal."
"More ships needed." Ma Qianzhu muttered as he added another entry to the ship allocation schedule—ships were still tight. They had enough vessels, but lacked reliable, qualified sailors.
Wu Nanhai said: "I propose establishing an agricultural implements factory, jointly operated by the Agriculture Committee and Light Industry Ministry. Not only does our own farm need large quantities of implements, but local farmers also have enormous demand for quality iron tools. According to my surveys of the farm's hired hands, local iron implements are not only inferior but also scarce and expensive, seriously affecting agricultural production."
He unrolled a scroll of drawings showing many different styles of farm tools and some large agricultural machinery.
"These are all implements I have selected and improved from farm tool patterns from the original timeline, adapted to local planting habits and soil conditions. They are targeted, lightweight, and material-saving. Once on the market, they will definitely be warmly welcomed by farmers."
He continued: "The Agriculture Committee's next plan is to launch agricultural mutual aid groups, providing farmers and landlords who join this system with quality implements. This will greatly increase our appeal and help liberate local labor."
"That is fine. Processing farm tools is not difficult for our Machinery Department. What are those big things?" Zhan Wuya asked.
"Agricultural machinery. Harvesters, wheeled plows, seed drills..."
"What pulls them? Steam engines?"
"Steam engines work, or horses," Wu Nanhai said. These implements were all patterns from his agricultural history textbooks, basically animal-drawn, though low-horsepower steam engines would also work.
Next, the Agriculture Committee also requested that the food factory, brewery, and other food-related enterprises in the Light Industry Ministry's plans be changed to joint operations with the Agriculture Committee.
Wu Nanhai said: "The raw materials for these enterprises all come from the agriculture department. Joint operation by both parties is better."
So the food factory, meat processing plant, and brewery in Mo Xiao'an's Five-Year Plan all became joint projects with the Agriculture Committee. At the Agriculture Committee's suggestion, these planned factories were merged into the "Grain, Oil, and Food General Company," under dual leadership of the Agriculture Committee and Light Industry Ministry.
The company included the seafood processing plant at Bopu, responsible for processing the one-fifth "fishing tax" yield submitted daily by fishermen catching fish in waters near Bopu. It could process salted fish, roasted dried fish, fish cakes, fish sauce, fish oil, dried seaweed, and fish meal. The Bairren City farm's slaughterhouse would be upgraded to a meat processing plant. Besides slaughtering to provide fresh meat, it would also produce salted meat, jerky, sausages, ham, and similar products.
The grain processing plant would add oil-pressing equipment besides processing rice and flour, increasing deep grain processing capability. Using simple manual and water-powered machinery, it would produce noodles, bread, and biscuits. It would use processing residue to make feed, fertilizer, and rice bran oil.
A new brewing workshop would be established to manufacture soy sauce, vinegar, fermented pastes, and alcohol. It would also make various pickles, salted eggs, century eggs, and similar products. The area was not suitable for growing soybeans, but they could import from the mainland. As for vinegar and Shaoxing wine, both were cooking essentials. Self-producing baijiu, beer, and fruit wines was even more straightforward for the transmigrators. Xue Ziliang had proposed DIY beer and fruit wine several times; they had not succeeded due to lack of barley and grapes. Hops had already been planted in a small experimental plot at the farm—though the area was not particularly suitable for this crop.
A beverage workshop would also be added. During the First Five-Year Plan, fruit tree yields would not be sufficient to support a juice industry, but large-scale mass production of glass bottles would support batch production of carbonated drinks—in fact, Ma Qianzhu had already designed a simple soda-making machine based on documentation.
These products were all primarily for self-use, with small-scale local sales. If baijiu production reached significant volumes, it could be exported.
Li Haiping said: "Let us make fruit preserves. Under current conditions, fruit can neither be kept fresh nor transported easily. If we make syrup-preserved canned goods for sale, wealthy people should like them—the Jiangnan region is still relatively stable now. Being able to eat relatively fresh fruit in winter to supplement vitamins while being portable—Manchu nobles should be interested. Same with canned meat; if the price is right, Manchus will like it."
Mo Xiao'an said: "As long as the Metallurgy Department can produce galvanized sheet iron, making canned goods is not difficult."
"Why not use glass jars? For fruit preserves, the key is the syrup—"
Ma Qianzhu said: "It is not that simple. Canning seals and sterilization are still somewhat difficult for us. Before the Machinery Department provides suitable equipment, it is better not to start a canning industry."
Though canned goods appeared quite early—they already existed in Napoleon's era—for a long time, sealing and sterilization problems constantly plagued manufacturers. Even into the mid-19th century, cases of canned goods spoiling due to incomplete sealing and sterilization were still common.
"Instant noodles should not be hard, right? I remember instant noodles were based on Yi-fu noodles. If we do some appropriate processing, this portable food should have great potential."
"Hainan is not really suitable for growing wheat, is it? What do you make noodles from? Sweet potato starch?"
"Noodles made from sweet potato starch do not taste great. But ancient people's standards probably were not that high. Mix in some rice flour."
"I am afraid sweet potato starch cannot even form noodles—the protein content is too low."
"Growing wheat in Lingao is fine," Wu Nanhai said. "There is scattered cultivation, but most farmers lack the experience. We need to promote it."
"Cigarettes! Manchu nobles all love smoking! They are accustomed to dry-pipe tobacco and water pipes—we will sell them cigarettes. These things are trendy!"
"Haiping, why are you always wanting to sell things to the Jurchens!"
"They robbed so much silver from Chongzhen. Not helping them spend it would be a crime," Li Haiping said carelessly.
"Right, during the Chongzhen reign, the Jurchens invaded through the passes several times, each time carrying off immense wealth and people. We will use luxury goods in large quantities to drain their finances—strengthening ourselves while weakening the enemy!"
"Put opium in the cigarettes! Kill those bastards."
...
"Alright, alright, do not wander off topic!" Ma Qianzhu was actually somewhat moved by this notion, but it too severely violated universal principles—the rightist faction would definitely refuse to agree.
The cigarette factory that everyone was watching had already begun production a few days ago. It belonged neither to the Agriculture Ministry nor the Light Industry Ministry, but was directly under the Planning Committee—the tobacco monopoly system, it seemed, was to be continued.
The Executive Committee had also originally hoped that this cigarette factory could not only meet the transmigrators' own needs but become a growth point in their export goods—this was not too far-fetched. Tobacco demand in the late Ming was already very large, and Guangdong's tobacco output was already quite considerable. Cigarettes, as a novel product with distinctive appearance and taste, convenient to smoke, could satisfy the needs of both the upper classes seeking novelty and the lower classes seeking simplicity and utility.
(End of Chapter)