Chapter 943 – Center and Locality (Part Two)

"A bit better looking than a sieve." Liu Xiang studied the dozen maps showing his simulation results, shaking his head. Each map projected the land most likely to be sold, and they shared a common feature: they were riddled with holes—here a small block, there an irregular shape, scattered across the map of Qiongshan County's usable farmland like some postmodern "artwork." Below each map, land statistics displayed ownership status, operational status, field type, main crops, average yield per mu, and other data.

Since detailed soil composition surveys weren't currently feasible, each plot had been given a simple comprehensive rating based on historical yields and surveyors' personal impressions: barren, low-yield, medium-yield, or high-yield. The projections showed that low-yield fields made up a disproportionately large portion of the land likely to be sold to Australians.

Obviously, landlords and rich peasants tended to keep the best land in their own hands, farming it themselves or with hired labor, while leasing out inferior or labor-intensive plots to tenants. When it came time to sell land, inferior low-yield parcels were naturally their first choice.

As for the owners of those small plots, most had obtained their land through clearing wasteland. Due to limited financial resources, this land was mostly "sky-watching fields" without proper irrigation—less fertilizer applied, generally poor conditions. Even if they sold, the Agricultural Commission would have to invest heavily in improvements.

Obviously, even if the Executive Committee's directives were implemented and the refugees cooperated by handing over their land, the Agricultural Commission would only end up with many small, scattered plots distributed throughout the county. These fragmented parcels were utterly useless for large farms—just consolidating them would be an enormous undertaking.

Take away all those proletarian laborers, then leave the locality with such a mess! Pure wishful thinking! Liu Xiang stared at the projections, his mood darkening. How do you run construction this way! Just for that large farm plan, how much effort will I have to spend piecing together these fragmented lands!

Thus was born the first conflict between center and locality in the Lingao regime.

Large farms were of course desirable. Liu Xiang in his heart disliked patchwork-quilt small-peasant land. To him, it represented a massive waste of land and labor, synonymous with inefficiency. He was equally keen on intensive agricultural production.

Even so, Liu Xiang was relatively revisionist. What policy to adopt at what historical stage was his consistent position.

"Intensive farming doesn't equal collectivization, doesn't require land concentration," he muttered. "Dogmatism kills."

Liu Xiang believed that in places like Qiongshan with many smallholders and small landlords, they could adopt a model similar to Leizhou's—the Japan-style "agricultural cooperative" system. They could organize production cooperatives and use economic and technical means to guide land owners through transformation, rather than rashly attempting to revolutionize the small peasant economy.

After much thought, he decided to write several articles to fully articulate his views on this issue. Since coming to Qiongshan—because Qiongshan couldn't connect to Lingao's BBS—he hadn't logged in to participate in policy discussions for a long time. But this didn't mean he knew nothing about developments there. To ensure all externally posted transmigrators stayed current on Senate affairs, at Qian Shuiting's motion, the General Office compiled a Weekly Bulletin every week based on BBS materials and Senate discussion contents, distributed to externally posted transmigrators. Also distributed was the theory journal Morning Star, published monthly by the Propaganda Department.

Liu Xiang instructed Guo Ling'er to bring the recent issues of Weekly Bulletin, Morning Star, and the internal edition of the Lingao Tribune—he hadn't read these "internal materials" for quite some time. Writing articles was like writing papers: you needed solid theoretical foundations and ample references. Also, he needed these materials to grasp the current ideological trends in the Senate.

"Go through these materials first and circle in red pen the titles and page numbers of all articles about agriculture and land policy, then note the page numbers," he instructed Guo Ling'er.

While Guo Ling'er gathered materials for him, he first searched and calculated the social survey data in his computer as his theoretical basis.

After searching the data and reviewing relevant materials—Guo Ling'er having circled all the articles he specified in red pen—he read them carefully.

Land issues, agriculture, and industrial development had always been hot topics among transmigrators. He read an article by Tian Jiujiu on Lingao water resource utilization, pollution, and treatment, and found it very inspiring. Then he came across a signed article by Hai Lin: Timber Is Not a Cheap Substitute!

"Hmm, hmm, as expected—someone with connections." He made an immediate discovery.

Tap tap tap tap—Liu Xiang's hands flew across the laptop keyboard. Having fully grasped theoretical developments and materials, he quickly finished writing Yan'an Cannot Become Xi'an, Lingao Should Not Become Bianliang and Analysis of Historical Post-Disaster Land Transfers and Predictions for This Year. The first was intended for Ding Ding, to be published in the internal newspaper section and the BBS; the second was a complaint letter to the Executive Committee. What he was currently writing was an official letter to the Light Industry Department—a memorandum suggesting the department transfer some industries to the newly ruled areas.

"Comparison breeds ideas; role models breed motivation," Liu Xiang wrote. "Qiongshan also has an excellent harbor. It has a relatively mature market and abundant labor—fully capable of handling various light and processing industries. This would reduce cargo pressure on Bopu Harbor, alleviate Lingao's grain supply burden, and use local resources for on-site processing to save costs." In the letter he specifically named the coconut processing enterprise and part of the wood processing capacity—industries whose main raw materials came from Qiongshan—for relocation, to "cultivate the local working class."

After finishing, he connected a dot-matrix printer. This 48-pin printer was also among his personal belongings, characterized by easy ink replacement and simple, durable construction. Amid the "zhi-zhi-zhi" of printing, his three masterpieces slowly emerged on paper.

Contradictions were contradictions, complaints were complaints; assigned tasks still had to be fulfilled to the best of his ability. He didn't want to earn a reputation for "passive sabotage."

"Alright, go swap shifts and rest. And call Vice Director Lu over." Liu Xiang waved at the sweating orderly. Guo Ling'er placed his written articles into a folder to send to the Archives Section for copying, then they would be dispatched to different departments as Liu Xiang specified.

Before long, Lu Cheng—nominally the vice director for women's work—arrived. As a transmigrator, Liu Xiang of course knew what her actual role was.

"Where is the tour group now?" Liu Xiang asked immediately. This was his biggest concern besides typhoon relief these days.

The "tour group" was a Lingao sightseeing tour led by Hai Shuzu. Besides Hai Shuzu himself, all members were direct heirs of other major households in Qiongshan County who had "survived" the northern Hainan pacification campaign, land surveys, and other movements.

Letting them visit Lingao was simply a traditional hearts-and-minds tactic—making the major households recognize the Australians' power and obediently buy tickets onto the ship. Although the Senate constantly coveted the major households' land and property, the general approach was still to "cure the illness to save the patient." As long as they cooperated with the Senate's civil affairs measures and agricultural policies and were sensible, major households not only wouldn't lose their lives and property, but might even gain new wealth.

After the baptism of fire in the northern Hainan pacification campaign and land surveys, appropriately giving the cooperative major households a little hope—this had been Liu Xiang's original plan.

They had been in Lingao for two weeks and should have returned the day before yesterday, but their return had been blocked by the typhoon and kept getting delayed. Yesterday's report had them still at the guesthouse in Chengmai. Now, calculating that the rain had lessened, Liu Xiang figured they should already be on their way back.

This activity was led by Qiongshan County, with the Political Security Bureau and Propaganda Department assisting. Since the Political Security system's intelligence transmission was faster, he'd asked Lu Cheng.

"Reporting, Chief! The latest news is they entered Qiongshan County territory this morning. They just passed Bailian Station." Lu Cheng blinked at the chief before her, inwardly excited at being summoned alone again.

"Send a telegram to the station immediately. Tell them to take their time." Liu Xiang instructed.

"Understood, I'll notify them right away."

Liu Xiang felt that at this critical moment, keeping the tour group "halfway" would be best—this would create some psychological pressure on major households who might push back, reducing their enthusiasm for obstructing the recruitment work. After all, superiors' tasks still had to be completed.

Organizing this group had taken considerable thought. The initial psychological breakthrough had begun with Hai Shuzu. Although Hai Shuzu, thanks to Lingao's victory at Chengmai and Guangdong officialdom's compensation, had completely escaped neighboring major households' scrutiny and now shone in Qiongshan County with his status as "having old ties with the Australians and doing big business together"—in his heart, Hai Shuzu still didn't quite accept the transmigrators' rule. After all, his ancestor was Hai Rui, a Ming official who had received Ming stipends and Ming favor. The Australians were merely "remnant seeds of the Song" and "overseas exiles," not connected to the "orthodox" in his thinking. Therefore, toward Qiongshan County's various operations, Hai Shuzu had consistently maintained a stance of "non-intimate cooperation." This attitude also influenced all of Qiongshan County's major households, causing the Qiongshan County government perpetual awkwardness when handling local affairs—especially when promoting agricultural technology, agricultural cooperatives, or bringing political power to villages, they always encountered invisible resistance.