Chapter 879 - Standardized Ships
Zhang Guangtian heard this but held his tongue. The Fan family burning and smashing Buddhist and Daoist statues was, after all, their own property to waste. Several other prominent scholar-gentry families had previously converted en masse and burned Buddha statues as well; one couldn't control such matters. The Chan sect in its heyday had proclaimed "scold the Buddhas and revile the ancestors," and there was the famous tale of Chan Master Danxia burning a wooden Buddha for warmth. Though Zhang Guangtian held a hereditary military post, he had read extensively in Chan kōans during his leisure hours and wasn't as alarmed by such "blasphemous" acts as Monk Guangdi. What troubled him was that recently, those flocking so eagerly to this Far Western teaching were mostly people of the Confucian orthodoxy. If such people truly prevailed, there would inevitably be another persecution like those of the Three Wu Emperors who destroyed Buddhism—perhaps even more devastating.
As he mused thus, Monk Guangdi, accustomed to ingratiating himself with others, sensed that this "white-robed senior brother" was in a foul mood and dared not prattle on. He accompanied him for another half-li before bidding farewell and returning to Jingci Temple.
Zhang Guangtian returned home. Though a hereditary Hundred Households military officer of the local Guard, Zhang Guangtian was already a stranger to matters like fighting wars—ordinarily, he was merely an ordinary scholar delicately devoted to Buddhism.
The Zhang family wasn't particularly wealthy, living the life of a so-called "plowing and reading" middle-class household—though of course he didn't plow himself, but subsisted on rents collected from land attached to the Guard post.
Shortly after returning home, while still troubled by this matter, the gatekeeper suddenly announced that a Mr. Huang from Fujian had requested an audience.
"Huang Zhen did indeed visit Zhang Guangtian's residence." Zhao Tong, feigning illness, whispered to Zhang Yingchen as the Daoist took his pulse.
Zhang Yingchen nodded slightly, indicating he had heard.
"Huang Zhen remained at the Zhang residence for over two hours before departing," Zhao Tong continued his report. "After returning to the inn, his spirits were noticeably elevated. He didn't even touch his dinner gruel."
Zhang Yingchen nodded again. The seed he had planted in Huang Zhen's heart had sprouted far more quickly than even he had anticipated.
Since Huang Zhen had sought out Zhang Guangtian, subsequent events required no inquiry: Zhang Guangtian would certainly introduce him to Monk Yuanwu of Tiantong Temple in Ningbo. Even if Yuanwu didn't compose that First Discussion on Discerning Heaven precisely following the historical trajectory, he would take similar measures. The placid spring waters of West Lake were about to be disturbed.
"Does he intend to travel to Ningbo?"
"Not at present," Zhao Tong replied. "But if he does, we'll certainly know—Huang Zhen traveled by our depot's sedan chair when he came to Hangzhou. For the journey to Ningbo on foot, he'll most likely purchase tickets from us again."
"Mm, keep close watch on him. Monitor his activities. Notify me immediately once he departs for Ningbo." Zhang Yingchen spoke with barely moving lips, then wrote a prescription and handed over another packet of "pill medicine," raising his voice: "Take one dose first, then return in three days."
The following day, a telegram was dispatched from Hangzhou Station to the External Intelligence Bureau in Lingao:
Center:
I have introduced Huang Zhen to Zhang Guangtian. Zhang will likely introduce him to Monk Yuanwu of Tiantong Temple. It appears the drama is about to raise its curtain. What joy to participate in such a grand event! Please have the Grand Library locate a copy of Posthumous Letters on Discerning Learning printed by Giulio Aleni and others in Fujian—absolutely must include the preface signed by Yang Tingyun with his religious name Michael.
Daoquanzi
"I'll prepare all the ammunition," Zhang Yingchen thought after transmitting the message. "I needn't worry you won't fight."
Yet an unresolved matter still plagued him: that gentry member who wished to "compound the great elixir" with him haunted him like a persistent ghost. Despite Zhang Yingchen's repeated insistence that he knew little of "bedroom arts" and had only taught him some guiding techniques for strengthening the body, the other party had somehow become even more convinced that he "contained another universe" within. His respect intensified accordingly; he frequently dispatched servants to "give alms" and extend invitations to come "sit and discuss the Dao" again. Zhang Yingchen still hadn't devised a satisfactory method of ridding himself of this old reprobate.
"Pity Ji Tuisi can't produce Viagra!" Zhang Yingchen muttered to himself. With that drug in hand, in a wealthy, prosperous place like Jiangnan, plenty of people would fight to purchase it even at fifty taels of silver.
While Daoist Zhang sowed discord, the Hangzhou Station had commenced a series of preparatory operations. Zhao Yingong found himself juggling over a dozen projects simultaneously: Phoenix Villa construction, the villa's agricultural operations, silk reeling, Qinghe Ward's cultural bookstore, the printing office, Qiwei Depot's layout across Jiangsu and Zhejiang, preliminary preparations for the Nanjing Delong Branch, educating orphans, and negotiations with the Hangzhou Church. Though some projects were delegated to inspection team elders, every elder now worked sixteen-hour days. Mei Lin complained incessantly, claiming he'd thought coming to Jiangnan was a cushy assignment only to find it busier than Lingao. Not only did he travel daily between Phoenix Villa and Qinghe Ward to direct infrastructure and renovation, but nights when he wasn't working, he also had to assist with various affairs and serve as a teacher for the orphans.
Xu Ke and Lu Zhongxing fared even worse than Mei Lin—at least Mei Lin enjoyed excellent food and a warm bed each day. They spent most of their time rushing about outdoors, eating field rations and sleeping in boat cabins. Protected by escort guards, the two conducted road and river surveys along the refugee transport and collection routes, drawing accurate transportation maps with each route's capacity carefully annotated. They conducted field surveys of locations along the route that could serve as refugee rest stops, estimating reception capacity at each location. All of this had to be incorporated into contingency plans.
Amidst this frenetic activity, they also rotated through visits to Qiwei's various branches across Jiangnan. Currently, even naturalized citizen personnel and local employees were working like bees. Qiwei's burden was especially heavy, with construction tasks at five branches urgent as brushfire: expanding alliances, purchasing boats, recruiting hands. Mao Sansheng and the others spun like tops. To prevent errors amidst the chaos, the elders adopted this patrol system to discover and solve problems promptly.
As the Dengzhou Rebellion's opening act approached, Zhao Yingong anxiously awaited the arrival of Population Work Team personnel. These elders and naturalized citizens were staff prepared for both the Dengzhou Rebellion and the Northern Zhejiang Drought of 1632. Before formally intervening in the Dengzhou Rebellion, they could all be utilized as Hangzhou Station manpower. For this purpose, he repeatedly wired the Executive Committee, urging speedy dispatch of Population Work Team personnel.
While Hangzhou Station was intensively establishing operations to prepare for tomorrow's flood of refugees, the Executive Committee engaged in endless debates over details of refugee collection and transport. The Planning Commission racked its brains formulating plans.
The greatest bottleneck was insufficient current transport capacity. Shipyards were producing at full speed, but they were building warships. Hybrid-powered warships could transport people, of course, but this operation involved cold, hungry, disease-ridden refugees—using warships was obviously unsuitable. Specialized transport vessels were essential.
Navy ships could provide some capacity. As for Great Wave Shipping, its freight commitments were already substantial; diverting excess tonnage for passenger transport would be extremely difficult. Moreover, transporting people differed fundamentally from transporting cargo—time at sea was lengthy, and round trips were numerous, making efficient utilization of vessels challenging.
Thus, the Planning Commission's urgent priority became shipbuilding to expand capacity. Wu De knew that expecting anything from Lingao Shipyard was unrealistic—the yard's entire production capacity was consumed by construction of the 854 Modification, 901, and 621 projects. Arranging construction of specialized transport ships was completely impossible.
At this juncture, Shi Jiantao, responsible for establishing the shipyard in Hong Kong, voluntarily requested to build the transport ships. For this purpose, he returned specially to Lingao and requested an audience with Wu De.
"Can the Hong Kong Shipyard handle this?" Wu De was deeply skeptical. On the Planning Commission's priority list for material and personnel allocation, Hong Kong Shipyard occupied a distinctly unimportant position. The facility had been established primarily for ship repair and maintenance. It possessed only one dry dock for small vessels and several slipways—essentially equivalent to a beach shipyard. Large equipment was scarce, and trained labor insufficient. After arriving in Hong Kong, Shi Jiantao had worked strenuously to recruit local Cantonese shipwrights.
Shi Jiantao's proposal to "drop dumplings"—mass-produce standardized transport ships in Hong Kong—had been floating around for some time. The Planning Commission, seeking to expand ship production capacity, had approved his expansion plan, and a simple gantry crane had recently been installed.
A timber processing plant with Planning Commission investment had also recently commenced trial production in Hong Kong. This factory hadn't been conceived as a supporting facility for the shipyard, but to process forestry resources from nearby Guangdong and Fujian, thus avoiding transport of large quantities of raw logs and saving freight tonnage. Having a timber processing plant constituted a favorable condition for the shipyard.
"I'm confident we can succeed." Shi Jiantao had long prepared a complete set of plans and blueprints. He now presented them eagerly. "Our approach is standardized shipbuilding—similar to Liberty ships."
"Mn." Wu De nodded. Standardized shipbuilding was nothing novel. The currently produced 854s and 901s were also standardized ship types.
"You understand well that our greatest shortage is transport capacity. To expand capacity, we must expand shipbuilding. To expand shipbuilding volume, we must improve production efficiency." Shi Jiantao spoke with confident assurance. "Therefore, we designed the 'Harmony Wheel' implementing the Liberty Ship concept."
"Harmony Wheel." Wu De's expression momentarily went blank.
Despite the name, the Harmony Wheel was neither particularly harmonious nor were most examples steamships. They were simply cargo vessels built in large batches using standardized blueprints, mass-produced standard parts, and assembly-line methods—referencing the concept of American Liberty and Victory ships constructed during World War II.
Just as American Liberty ships weren't confined to a single type, Lingao's Harmony Wheels encompassed several standard designs.
On the Planning Commission's schedule, Lingao Shipyard's shipbuilding program was designated "Class A Shipbuilding," while Hong Kong Shipyard belonged to "Class B Shipbuilding." Clear gaps existed in allocated materials, personnel, and technical level. Thus the Harmony Wheels were almost entirely wooden-structured, sail-powered small and medium auxiliary vessels not exceeding 800 tons.