Chapter 281: Sweet Port Turbulence – Escalation

The first heart-stopping day passed. That night, not just Wen Tong—all the transmigrators at the South China Sugar Factory were like ants on a hot wok. Everyone realized they faced a genuine crisis. For Wen Tong, there were now two options.

First, transfer cash from Guangzhou and Lingao. With enough silver, the crisis could immediately turn into a windfall—the South China Trading House buying sugar at the original price would not only yield huge profits but also give it immense credibility in Leizhou. But arithmetic quickly reminded him this was impossible. Over 200,000 shi of sugar in Leizhou—even if he bought only a third, that would require nearly 200,000 taels. An astronomical figure. Lingao certainly couldn't produce that much—even Guo Yi in Guangzhou would have to bankrupt the entire Guangzhou Station to meet it.

Xiao Gui said, "Have Lingao send over luxury goods—mirrors, glassware..."

"What use are those to cane farmers?" Chen Tianxiong shook his head. "If someone paid your salary with an Armani suit instead of cash, would you accept it?"

"Fair point." Xiao Gui conceded that real gold and silver were always more useful than goods.

"The second option," Wen Tong said, "is to simply cut the purchase price tomorrow. Once we cut the price, this situation will immediately improve, and we can continue normal purchasing. Of course, this means losing the chance to take down the Haiyi Guild's monopoly in one stroke. This is the safer approach—probably the only one."

"If only Old Chang could get back soon. He'll definitely bring rice, and if we pay for sugar with rice, the farmers should still accept it." Wen Tong sighed. But he knew this was impossible.

"I guess that's all we can do." Everyone fell silent. That night, Wen Tong was restless. Even A-Zhu, preparing to offer herself as a pillow companion, was scolded and sent away.

The next day at first light, Wen Tong hastily washed up and brought his people to the trading house. The scene outside nearly stopped his breathing. A dark mass of farmers stretched from the gate to the main road. There had to be several thousand people—and it looked like they'd arrived overnight. Word of the Haiyi Guild's price cut had spread throughout Xuwen. Everyone with unsold sugar was flooding toward South China, their last hope.

Chen Tianxiong and the others arrived too. Even Xiao Gui came—no one had the heart to train apprentices now.

Liao Daxing approached quietly. "Sir, should we change the price on the board?"

Wen Tong gritted his teeth and nodded. "Change it."

Liao Daxing was giving orders to a clerk to write up the new price board when Liao Dahua arrived. Seeing they were about to change the price, he quickly grabbed his brother's arm. "Don't hang it yet!" He pulled Wen Tong into the back room.

"The escort guards I sent out have gathered intelligence."

"What intelligence?" Wen Tong tensed.

"All over Hai'an Street—and Xuwen Town too—people are saying South China uses sorcery. That it produces sugar out of thin air. That's why sugar prices have crashed..."

"Absolute rubbish!" Wen Tong clenched his teeth. "The sugar price in Guangzhou is clearly 3.8 taels! Where's this price drop?"

"Well... the farmers are ignorant, and Guangzhou is over a thousand li away. Nobody can verify it."

Chen Tianxiong said, "Looks like someone is exploiting this information gap."

"Enough analysis—let's make a decision!" Wen Tong's mood was growing frantic. "Do we change the price or not?"

Liao Dahua jumped in. "We can't change it! The streets are full of talk now. People are saying if South China doesn't buy at 2.5 taels, they'll go to the authorities and accuse South China of practicing sorcery..."

"Bullshit! The county would listen to their nonsense?"

"Master, of course we're not afraid of baseless complaints. But there are quite a few riffraff mixed in among the sellers. With everyone panicking, the moment South China changes its price, these people will immediately incite the crowd to rush in. That would be mutual destruction! Once trouble starts, even people from the county won't suppress it immediately!"

Everyone's mind flashed to reports about mass incidents. Back then, reading about such things had given them a certain dark satisfaction. But now, with common people gathered outside ready to start an incident against them, the pressure was intense.

"And..." Liao Dahua added, "there are also several hundred sugar-boiling craftsmen from rustic mills mixed in here. Ever since South China opened, the rustic mills' business has plummeted. These craftsmen are unemployed or have had their wages slashed. They're nursing grudges. Some have already petitioned the yamen. If they take this moment to make trouble, it'll be even worse. Some are planning to rush in and destroy the machines."

"Holy shit, this is turning into the Luddite movement?" Mei Lin said.

"What's the point of that comment?" Wen Tong waved his hand. "We're all capitalists here. Everyone come up with ideas!"

"Let's keep buying at the original price," Xiao Gui said. "Even if no one attacks the factory, life isn't easy for the farmers anyway. If there really is an assault, the machines being destroyed would be a huge loss."

"Of course, the best strategy is to keep buying. But what about the silver?" This was what worried Wen Tong.

"We can hold out for a few more days with what we have," Chen Tianxiong said. "A few more days of breathing room is good. At least we can think of countermeasures."

If they cut prices now, according to Liao Dahua's intelligence, the bomb someone had prepared would immediately blow South China to smithereens. If they kept buying at the original price, they'd at least have buffer time. If they could come up with a counter-strategy, this might even become a golden opportunity.

"Let's do it this way. Manager Liao, tell them to keep buying at 2.5 taels..."

Before he could finish, Wen Xiu came stumbling in. "Bad news..."

"What is it?" Everyone's faces changed.

"The farmers outside—someone told them South China is going to buy at 1.5 taels today. Someone's stirring them up, saying if South China dares to cut the price, they'll make South China pay..."

"Bastards!" Wen Tong knew there was no time to waste. He quickly ordered, "Run out and tell Liao Daxing to hang up the price board immediately. Price unchanged!"

Wen Xiu ran out. Chen Tianxiong said, "Something's fishy. We only made the decision to change the price this morning. How did the people outside find out so fast?"

"There's a spy!"

"Exactly. The root is probably those locally hired clerks. They were all recruited recently. We don't know their backgrounds."

Liao Dahua said, "That's easy. Take them off their positions and have the escort guards detain them."

"But then we'll have no local clerks who can communicate with the farmers. Leizhou dialect is notoriously difficult."

"I'll go to Xuwen Town right now and ask the shops we know to spare one or two people each."

"Good, go quickly. Opening time is almost here!"

On one side they rearranged the clerks; on the other they called Zhou Shizhai and ordered him to not only mobilize the militia but also organize all the factory's men and able-bodied women. Production was suspended. Everyone was given a club, ready to defend the factory.

"Tell everyone, if trouble breaks out, just hit—hit hard! If someone gets killed, the masters will find someone to take the blame! 500 taels compensation for each death! Any injuries, South China supports them for life! As long as the machines and warehouses are protected, everyone gets 10 taels!"

"I'll go give the orders!" Zhou Shizhai hurried off. Xiao Gui rushed to the boiler room to raise the pressure—if anyone stormed the factory, they could use the steam engine to power the water pump and spray the crowd.

While they prepared inside, the crowd outside grew restless. They'd heard South China was also preparing to cut prices. Opportunists were shouting:

"South China doesn't dare to open!"

"They caused this mess—they have to clean it up!"

"Burn down this demon factory!"

The disturbance grew louder, about to become uncontrollable, when the gate opened. Liao Daxing strode out with his head held high. His haughty manner made the agitated farmers fall silent.

"What's all this noise about?" Liao Daxing maintained confident arrogance, though his back was drenched in sweat. "Come on, hang up the price board."

Clerks came out and hung up the board.

Every eye focused on it. It clearly displayed: 2.5 taels.

A sigh of relief swept through the crowd like a gust of wind.

"Fellow elders and neighbors!" Liao Daxing repeated Wen Tong's script. "Our South China Factory may be new here, but we're proper, honest businessmen. Now that sugar prices are high outside, South China was worried about not having enough sugar to sell. That you've all favored South China like this—we're deeply grateful. Our master says: anyone with sugar to sell, just come. South China has plenty of silver and rice. Open for business!"

This declaration temporarily calmed the crowd. But this was only a stopgap. What came next would depend on the Executive Committee.

The Executive Committee received the urgent dispatch that same day. The Foreign Affairs Ministry convened an emergency meeting.

"Right now, Lingao's entire silver reserve is less than 40,000 taels." Cheng Dong lowered his voice—this was one of the Transmigration Collective's top secrets.

40,000 taels could only buy 16,000 shi of sugar. For the 100,000-plus shi poised to flood South China's doorstep, this was a drop in the bucket.

"Out of money? Don't we still have some from selling to Macau?"

"Those Indian bills of exchange can't be cashed in Leizhou—we'd need to go to Macau at least. Besides, it's only about 20,000 pesos."

"Have the Guangzhou Station raise it."

"I've contacted them," Cheng Dong said. "The original plan was for Guangzhou to raise 100,000 taels for Leizhou. But shipping that much cash was too difficult. So they adopted Chang Shide's idea: use Leizhou sugar to exchange for Vietnamese rice, then use rice to buy sugar. It was a good concept, and no one anticipated this 'rush to sell' event. With so much supply suddenly flooding in, the silver hadn't been transferred."

Wen Desi said, "This is tricky. The risks are significant, but we should still transfer cash. The Great Whale probably won't be back anytime soon."

"What if we ship rice from Lingao or Guangzhou? Chang Shide mentioned rice prices in Leizhou are very high."

"That probably won't work," Yan Ming spoke up. "We don't have that much grain in stock. Moving several thousand shi would endanger our reserves."

"Shipping grain from Guangzhou is the same as shipping silver," Wen Desi said. "Too slow. Sailboats take six to seven days round trip. It'll be too late."

"I agree with Wen Zong: we need to send silver!" Ma Qianzhu frowned. "If we don't, South China Factory will be squeezed out. The great situation we've built in Leizhou will be gone."

(End of Chapter)