Chapter 509 - The Yulin Harbor Development Plan

"An expansion of this scale for the steel industry—do we have adequate stockpiles?" Wen Desi asked. These were not Great Leap Forward–style backyard furnaces but genuine industrial blast furnaces. By the standards of another timeline, they qualified as outdated, small-capacity facilities slated for restriction or demolition. In the seventeenth century, however, they represented the height of technology.

Setting aside refractory materials—that problem had been solved using bittern from the salt fields—the cooling water jackets alone required several tons of steel, and they were castings. Wen Desi knew that of all casting work, steel was the most difficult; its low fluidity made large steel castings like cooling jackets extremely challenging.

"The technical conditions for building this new equipment are fully mature, and the material requirements are met. Expansion to this scale poses no problem," Ma Qianzhu replied. "However, we will consume a great deal of our pig-iron and steel stocks to manufacture the equipment. Allocations of pig iron and steel for other purposes will have to be further cut…"

"What about the mining equipment? And all the supporting systems—boilers, steam engines… These things are made from tons of steel," Zhan Wuya objected. "Then there's the rail production slated for Tiandu that the Planning Commission scheduled. The shortfall is forty percent. Even if we had enough materials, we'd still need to add production equipment to deliver on time."

"Those priorities will naturally be guaranteed," Ma Qianzhu said, opening his notebook. "Gentlemen, since August the Planning Commission has been cutting steel allocations across the board for the express purpose of breaking through this critical steel-and-coal bottleneck. The difficulties are temporary. Once we get past this hurdle, steel will no longer be a controlled material—you've all seen the projected output. That said, current stocks remain tight." He read out the present inventories of steel, pig iron, and wrought iron.

"That really isn't much," Zhan Wuya said. "We'll have to halt all munitions production. Casting cannons and shells consumes a lot of pig iron."

The transmigrated collective's armaments work had always proceeded at a slow but uninterrupted pace. Each month the Planning Commission allocated production quotas for weapons, ammunition, and rations. As for a dedicated arms factory that the Army and Navy had requested—none existed yet; everything was handled by the Machinery Works.

Halting all munitions production was a highly sensitive issue. Since this was a Five-Year Plan implementation meeting, Ma Qianzhu was the only one who could plausibly represent the military, so no one jumped up to object. Still, once this measure was announced, the military's reaction was easy to imagine—especially the young Turks led by Zhang Bailin and Wei Aiwen. Artillery was their pride and joy.

The matter was significant. All eyes turned to Ma Qianzhu, who also held the title of Chief of the General Staff.

"It can be done, but it's a close thing." Ma Qianzhu pulled another notebook—this one from the combination-locked briefcase he always carried—bearing the word "Armaments" on its cover.

"Current Minié rifle stocks stand at four basic loads per weapon. The Artillery Training Detachment has one basic load of shells; the coastal heavy guns, half a load. The 8154's naval guns have one-and-a-half loads; the schooner patrol boats, one load. Ammunition reserves aboard the other sailing warships are insufficient. After absorbing Zhu Cailao's remnants, our sailing fleet expanded rapidly. The old miscellaneous cannons and shells aboard were removed and melted down, but new cannons haven't been mounted in time—the shortfall is large. As for shells, don't even mention it," Ma Qianzhu said candidly.

"Enough for one battle, though?"

"As long as it isn't a joint attack by the Ming army and Zheng's main fleet, we may not be able to annihilate the enemy entirely, but we can certainly repel them." Ma Qianzhu had participated in several war-game exercises at the General Staff under Xi Yazhou's direction.

"Is there currently any danger of war?" Wen Desi asked.

"According to analysis from the Intelligence Department, not at present."

"Then halt cannon and ammunition production. Channel full capacity into equipment for the Tiandu development plan."

"Can we ask Guangzhou to expand pig-iron imports?"

"Not easily. The problem isn't just that the price of importing pig iron from Guangdong keeps rising; it's that our import volume is so large that market stocks are running low—and we've encountered competition."

"Besides us, who would be buying that much pig iron?"

"The Ming government," Ma Qianzhu said. "The Guangzhou Station reports that Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi Wang Zunde is casting cannons on a large scale and buying up pig iron. Iron prices on the market have spiked sharply."

"Would the government actually pay cash for iron? Don't they usually do 'forced purchases' and the like—extorting goods with worthless scrip?"

"That's true enough. But since the foundry owners take a loss, they have to recoup it somehow. Besides, the Ming now contracts things out to merchants—they don't rely entirely on coercion anymore."

"According to historical records, Wang Zunde's cannon-casting efforts were quite ambitious—he once cast two hundred pieces in a single order," the Intelligence Department representative reported. "Next year's scale may be even larger. A wealthy merchant named Li Luoyou has somehow wrangled exclusive rights to cannon casting for the entire province of Guangdong."

"What's his background?"

"We haven't started investigating yet."

"Wire Guangzhou immediately and have them look into him!" Wen Desi said, then suddenly remembered something. "Have we figured out that woman Li Huamei's background yet?"

"Not yet. She set sail for Goa in October, carrying a large consignment of cargo."

"What does she plan to bring back for us?"

"Mainly opium and jute," Ma Qianzhu said. "Plus miscellaneous goods."

"How is the sailor training going?"

"Very well. Director Wen, the crews of those schooner patrol boats you designed were all trained by her."

Xiao Zishan cleared his throat to remind Director Wen not to go off on a tangent. "So next year's pig-iron prices will rise even more sharply."

Although once the Tiandu development was complete and the blast furnaces began producing iron, Lingao's pig iron would be entirely self-sufficient—with large quantities of finished steel products available for export—that was still a year away at the earliest.

"We'll just have to grit our teeth and keep importing," Wang Luobin said. "Expensive is expensive; at least we can afford it."

"We're only letting the foundry owners profit temporarily," Wen Desi said. "Once our steel output ramps up—never mind exporting iron products back to Guangdong—just stopping imports will cause iron prices to collapse."

"We could use the opportunity to establish a commodities-exchange system and control Guangdong's iron market through bulk-commodity trading…"

"Hold on—economics we'll discuss later, or we'll spiral off endlessly," Xiao Zishan, the meeting's moderator, cut off Yi Fan's discourse. "Let's stick to the coal-and-iron issue."

"With a stable coal supply secured on the island, our next step is the Tiandu Iron Mine," Wen Desi said. "Let's now discuss the Tiandu development plan."

Ma Qianzhu rose and walked to the large display board, drawing back the curtain covering it.

Behind the curtain hung a large-scale map of the Sanya area, festooned with colored flags marking various locations.

"At the Executive Committee's behest, the Planning Commission has completed the Tiandu Development Plan," Ma Qianzhu said. "Please review it."

Developing Tiandu was not simply a matter of building a mining area and expanding the Yulinbao dock. The transmigrated collective intended to construct Yulin as an entirely new base—a future staging ground for naval expeditions to Southeast Asia for trade and colonization. The overall plan was ambitious: Phases One and Two would be completed within the First Five-Year Plan; Phases Three and Four would be undertaken in the Second Five-Year Plan.

"Phase One involves developing the Tiandu mining district," Ma Qianzhu said, pointing at the map, "along with basic supporting infrastructure."

First, a new fortress would be built on the main peak of the Luhuitou Peninsula. Simultaneously, docks, piers, and artillery batteries would be constructed on the peninsula. This location would serve as a naval anchorage for fleets heading south to Southeast Asian waters.

The existing Yulinbao dock would be expanded into a specialized materials-export terminal fully equipped with mechanized loading gear. In the future, iron ore from Tiandu, manganese and phosphate ore from Damao, and dried coconut and timber from Yazhou would all ship through this facility.

Anyoule Town, across from Yulinbao Fortress, would be completely rebuilt according to modern urban-planning standards, outfitted with comprehensive infrastructure, and populated with a large influx of immigrants. Local resource-processing enterprises would be established on-site; plans called for a timber mill, a copra-processing plant, and a food factory first. Anyoule would become a commercial port for trade with Southeast Asia. Not only would the transmigrated collective attract merchant vessels traveling to and from Southeast Asia to anchor and trade there, but Wen Desi also planned to relocate the headquarters of the newly formed Southeast Asia Company to the site.

Tiandu Township—destined not to appear for another three hundred years—would now be founded ahead of schedule. The transmigrated collective's Tiandu Mining Bureau would be headquartered there. The Bureau would manage not only the Tiandu iron mine but also the future development of manganese and phosphate deposits in the Damao area.

A railway would link Tiandu Township and the Yulinbao dock to transport ore.

"This means we'll be investing heavily in the Yulin area," Wen Desi observed.

"Heavy investment, but high returns. Developing the Yulin Harbor area isn't merely about the Tiandu iron mine; it will also become a new foothold in southern Hainan, complementing Lingao in a north–south mutual-support posture," Ma Qianzhu said.

This new base was essentially a blank slate. Indigenous inhabitants were few; Ming authority was dozens of kilometers away in Yazhou. The transmigrated collective could plan, develop, and build in this region entirely at will, without expending great effort on conquest or negotiation. Unlike Lingao's "coexistence model," the Yulin Harbor area would become the first territory under the transmigrated collective's outright rule.

"Yulinbao will be upgraded to the Sanya Special District," Wen Desi announced.

The Executive Committee promptly approved the Tiandu Development Plan. The entire operation would commence in the spring of 1630. Its complexity rivaled the original D-Day landings. All departments began planning the allocation of materials and personnel.

(End of Chapter)