Chapter 285: Sweet Port Turbulence – Confrontation
"That's right!" Wen Tong was exhausted by this relentless commercial warfare. "Even if Guangzhou sends silver, how many days will it last? Sooner or later we have to show our hand! With Bei Wei's men here, why not just wipe out the Haiyi Guild in one go and see what other tricks they can pull?"
"Snipe the Haiyi Guild's leaders and call it divine punishment!"
"Too bad Bei Wei isn't back yet. Don't know where he wandered off to."
"He's been out for over two weeks; he should be back soon. Besides, the Executive Committee surely has ways to contact him." Wen Tong had made up his mind. "We'll radio the Executive Committee tonight, demanding decisive measures to strike back."
This essentially reclassified the Haiyi Guild from commercial competitor to "enemy." And Comrade Lei Feng had long ago explained how to treat enemies.
"I say we just go all the way. Have Bei Wei lead a special ops raid on the Haiyi Guild, kill one or two ringleaders, and the rest will be terrified. Then we buy up their assets at low prices and instantly unify the Leizhou sugar market!"
"That's too vicious. It's practically robbery," Xiao Gui objected. "Besides, Leizhou people aren't fools. If we do that, everyone will know we're the black hand behind it. Keeping local gentry and officials terrified will make future work difficult."
"True. Killing one person or burning some assets to show we're tough should be enough."
"This isn't good. After all, they are indigenous national capitalists. Isn't us doing this a bit like monopoly bullying?" Mei Lin hesitantly raised an objection.
"They are the monopoly group," Wen Tong said. "Why don't you offer a suggestion then?"
"I was thinking," Mei Lin said. "We can use both carrot and stick. The Haiyi Guild is trying to squeeze us out for profit, but they haven't used extreme measures yet. If we suddenly go for the kill—killing people or burning houses—it's excessive, right? Take killing, for instance. You kill someone, people fear you, and the crisis might pass. But a feud is forged—everyone has family, relatives, friends. There are always hard bones or desperate ones. What if they pull the same trick later? You can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't guard against one."
"Then kill them too. What's there to fear! Root out the weeds!" Wen Tong's face was dark and murderous.
"Rooting out weeds isn't that easy. Besides, methods that cruel incite public anger. Would you want to deal with a company that kills people at the drop of a hat?"
Everyone felt there was reason in this. Chen Tianxiong said, "Old Mei makes sense, but right now being reasonable doesn't help. Do you have any ideas?"
"I do have an idea, though I don't know if it'll work," Mei Lin said. "Why not just go talk to the Haiyi Guild? They've seen our factory's processing capacity. There's actually room for cooperation. Tempt these sugar merchants with joint shareholding. That way, resistance to our controlling the Leizhou sugar industry would be much smaller."
"However," Mei Lin continued, "since we've shown our hand like this, the Haiyi Guild will nine out of ten want to chase us to the end. Going to negotiate now definitely won't yield results."
"After all that, you just spoke a pile of nonsense." Wen Tong felt disappointed.
"I never agreed with rushing to Leizhou anyway," Mei Lin said dismissively. "Our power isn't big enough yet. Coming to Leizhou looking like a fat sheep—it'd be weird if we didn't get fleeced."
"Enough 'I told you so's'—" Chen Tianxiong interrupted. "Talking about it just makes us annoyed..."
Just then, someone reported, "Someone from Guangzhou has arrived!"
Everyone's spirits lifted. Wen Tong quickly said, "Invite them in!"
Wu De's arrival was a shot of adrenaline for everyone. Especially seeing that the Executive Committee had sent a leader of his rank personally to transport silver—the panic-stricken mood stabilized.
"Everyone relax." Wu De knew what they were thinking. "Silver? We have plenty. The Executive Committee will find ways to mobilize it. We will definitely win this sugar war."
He handed a receipt for 50,000 taels to Wen Tong for signature. This sum would later be offset by sugar.
Hearing that 50,000 taels had arrived, and with Wu De's assurances, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Chen Tianxiong, who was socially experienced, knew that since the Ascending Peace Island had only brought 50,000, the money definitely hadn't come as easily as Wu De claimed.
"Alright, let's talk about the current situation," Wu De said.
Wen Tong outlined the situation. Since the squeeze began, they had bought 3,500 shi of sugar. This rate resulted from South China deliberately slowing down, but the consequence was the crush of people at the gate getting worse.
"We're all worried. Outside South China's gate, there are one or two thousand people stranded almost every day. The ground is covered with filth. The weather is getting hotter; if things go wrong, an epidemic could break out.
"With so many people gathering, rumors are flying. There's at least 150,000 shi of sugar waiting to be sold to us. If we continue buying slowly, the cane farmers will suffer losses because pressed sugar spoils. Or they'll have to sell to the Haiyi Guild at 1.5 taels. We lose either way."
Wu De frowned. "Is the situation that bad?"
"Yes. Some heavily indebted farmers probably can't hold out much longer."
The last scenario was what Wen Tong was most unwilling to see. Once it became reality, the reputation South China had earned by maintaining the original price would vanish. Not only would the Haiyi Guild take the profit from low-priced sugar, but South China's reputation would be ruined.
Wu De listened carefully. When asking about countermeasures, Wen Tong didn't hide anything:
"One is to open the gates wide and buy as fast as possible. In the end, we gain both fame and profit. Of course, this is premised on having enough silver. The other is violent means. It's effective immediately, but cleaning up the mess afterward will be strenuous."
He added, "It's reached life-or-death for South China in Leizhou. The Executive Committee must decide quickly!"
"The Executive Committee has already decided." Wu De knew he absolutely couldn't say anything discouraging. "You speed up acquisitions. The Executive Committee will move heaven and earth to raise money. You must hold your ground. Use violent means with caution—easy to use, hard to clean up! The more critical the moment, the calmer you must be. We must secure this year's Leizhou sugar!" He thought for a moment. "I'll return to Lingao tonight and request an emergency meeting."
"Good, that's best." Hearing the big shot willing to guarantee, Wen Tong's spirits lifted. "Tomorrow we'll increase the purchasing speed."
"How many shi per day can you do?"
"Right now it's seven to eight hundred. If we open up, 1,500 a day is no problem."
1,500 shi a day—50,000 taels could last about half a month. Wu De estimated Guangzhou could definitely mobilize enough funds by then.
Wen Tong instructed Liao Dahua to prepare ox carts, laborers, and escorts to transport the silver from Hai'an Port.
"Should we transport at night? That way the Haiyi Guild won't know our depth," Mei Lin suggested.
Chen Tianxiong said, "No need. The Haiyi Guild already knows our hand. Our little tricks can't hide from them."
Liao Dahua was happy to hear silver had arrived. He had blind worship for Proprietor Guo in Guangzhou. "It's inconvenient to transport silver at night—dark, hard for escorts to protect. Better to do it by day. 50,000 taels is a big number. People are jittery—might as well show it off!"
Wu De nodded. "Right. Let's show it off and demonstrate our resolve. Since the war is on, we have to fight until everyone in Leizhou is convinced!"
"There's one more thing," Wen Tong said. "We have a large stock of sugar now. Since the Ascending Peace Island is here, why not ship a boatload to Guangzhou? Guo Yi said it can be liquidated there..."
"Right, I forgot that angle. We can buy and sell at the same time. Shipping in small batches might even maintain the price. But this involves ship allocation—I'll discuss it when I get back."
Zhu An had been staying at the Haiyi Guild all day these past few days. First, to monitor South China's movements constantly. Second, to bolster morale of the various sugar trading houses. Seeing farmers not coming to sell and warehouses empty, the torment was hard to bear. After all, the crushing season was only three months. Now half was gone, yet the twenty-one trading houses had collected less than 50,000 shi. Any manager would be anxious. Third Master Zhu tirelessly comforted them. Thanks to his usual prestige, he managed to maintain the situation.
Developments had gone exactly as he predicted. As the Haiyi Guild adjusted prices, almost all cane farmers flocked to South China. Only in the first few days did a few uninformed farmers painfully sell on Hai'an Street. After that, sugar sellers almost vanished.
The ambushes he'd planted among sugar sellers hadn't had a chance yet. Though there had been an opportunity for Zhao Jijiao's riffraff to smash South China on the first day, the other side had reacted quickly. The informants he'd placed inside South China had also been replaced. Though losing them was a pity, it didn't affect the big picture. Third Master Zhu knew South China couldn't hold out much longer.
There were two reasons. First, everyone knew South China had sent people to borrow money—the clearest sign of tight cash. Second, he noticed that although South China kept four scales at the weighing station, only three were in regular use.
South China slowing purchasing speed only proved their cash reserves had reached a critical stage—forcing them to linger on.
Third Master Zhu knew the time for the fatal blow was approaching. Within three days, South China would completely collapse.
The only pity was that South China seemed connected to the Gao family of Guangzhou. He had heard of Gao Ju—a wealthy merchant with sea merchant connections. With such a relationship, he had to hold back his ruthless moves. Better to have fewer powerful enemies.
Fortunately, even without those methods, the remaining moves were enough. At this moment, he was instructing his subordinates.
"Take people everywhere and find the big households that lent money to the cane farmers. Tell them to step up pressure to repay debts!" Third Master Zhu's eyes shone.
"Yes, Third Master!" The assignee agreed but hesitated. "But Third Master, if South China collapses, the farmers will simply sell at 1.5 taels. Will creditors worry farmers won't be able to repay—"
(End of Chapter)