Chapter 949 - Tiandihui Contracting System

The Hai family had also jointly invested with the Australians to develop the Jiazi Coal Mine. Since the Australians occupied Qiongshan, Hai Shuzu had further invested in cargo transport on the Nandu River and at Haikou harbor. Wealth was flowing in from all directions. Under these circumstances, whether the Australians recruited workers or not had nothing whatsoever to do with him.

But ever since the Australians arrived in Qiongshan, thanks to his prior connections with them and because the Civil Affairs People's Committee had consistently sought to cultivate him as a bridge to the gentry and major landowners, Hai Shuzu had gradually become the leading figure among Qiongshan's gentry. Many matters requiring negotiation fell to him to discuss with Liu Xiang.

Since the gentry and large landowners looked to him as their anchor, he could hardly refuse. He invited everyone to his home to deliberate.

"Grain comes from rent—if everyone runs off, how are we supposed to pay the summer and autumn taxes?" The crowd lamented. "After the disaster with no one to work the land, where will the grain to pay taxes come from..."

"I hear the Australians are also planning to change the tax system and make the large landowners pay more grain. Do the Australians still want us, the foundation of the dynasty, or not? Are they planning to share the realm with commoners? Landowners are the foundation of the realm—ruin us, and who's going to pay their grain levies? You must speak to them properly, sir."

Hai Shuzu's modest reception hall was packed with the gentry and large landholders of Qiongshan County, along with some local xiucai and other scholars. Though their families might own only a few mu of land, they shared common cause with the large landowners. Rumor had it that the Australians had already abolished the xiucai's exemption of two shi of grain in Lingao. This was not merely an economic issue—for the scholars, it was a matter of face. Though the news remained unconfirmed, the xiucai of Qiongshan County were already deeply anxious.

"Master Hai, you mustn't let the Australian Chiefs run wild. We're all proper families. The dynasty has always treated landowners and scholars with favor. Never mind our dynasty—even the former Yuan and former Song did the same. They claim to be heirs of the Great Song—when did the Great Song ever pull something like this?"

Hai Shuzu listened patiently through the whole clamor with perfect composure. Truthfully, none of this rhetoric moved him—since it had nothing to do with his own interests, he naturally felt no personal stake.

But since he was meant to "benefit his homeland," Hai Shuzu could hardly refuse outright. He knew what Liu Xiang was most concerned about at the moment was actually the grain problem. If the grain problem could be resolved, "Director Liu" would be much more amenable.

The Hai family didn't have much grain stored. Under its contract with the Tiandihui, the land rent was settled using Food Circulation Vouchers. With these vouchers, he could purchase all sorts of Australian goods at the "Wanyou" shops and cooperative stores in Qiongshan, then resell them for even greater profits. So he had no objection to the surplus grain purchase.

When the speeches finally wound down, he spoke:

"Gentlemen, this humble scholar cannot guess at the Chiefs' intentions. But in my shallow view, the Australians' first priority is grain..."

At this, many faces grew even more uncomfortable.

Of course there was grain. Traditional Chinese agricultural landlords all treated grain hoarding as a means of preserving wealth. This was partly because in an era of underdeveloped commodity economy, converting grain to cash wasn't easy; partly because grain was in fact the primary "hard currency" of the countryside. Especially in regions like Hainan where commercial economy was underdeveloped and trade volumes were small, grain served not only as wages for laborers but played an important role in rural usury as well. In disaster years, grain became a critical tool for the unscrupulous acquisition of land and bondservants.

Asking the large landowners to hand over grain was like carving out their hearts. Moreover, after the land surveys, all the various exemptions the gentry had enjoyed through privilege and corruption had been wiped clean. Their previously light burdens would inevitably increase substantially with the summer and autumn taxes. Many had already been resentful about this. Now, hearing they were supposed to give up grain as well, they found it even more unacceptable.

The crowd hemmed and hawed, some resuming their cries of poverty—claiming they had already strained themselves donating grain during the disaster relief fundraising, and now the people in their households could only drink thin gruel, and so forth.

For a while the reception hall was so noisy that speech became impossible.

Hai Shuzu waved both hands with a bitter smile: "Gentlemen, say all this to the Chiefs—telling this humble scholar is useless. I'm not asking for a single grain of your rice..."

The hall immediately fell silent. The Hai family might be reasonable, but the Australians were decidedly unreasonable. And everyone had witnessed their methods during the bandit suppression and rural pacification campaign in Qiongshan—thorough and decisive, never sparing those who deserved death yet never killing indiscriminately.

Then they thought back to the scene half a month ago when tenant debts were being settled, and many involuntarily hunched their shoulders. Though the crowd had been indignant moments before, their fervor now visibly deflated. Most were pragmatists: at present, there was no sign that the Great Ming would return to Qiongzhou within at least the next decade. The Australians were the "emperor" of Hainan Island.

Half a month earlier, they had sent their eldest sons to Lingao for "observation and study." From their sons' accounts they had learned even more about the Australians' true strength, which had produced a subtle "calming" effect on the gentry and large landowners.

Seeing that the group had fallen silent, Hai Shuzu finally conveyed what Liu Xiang had instructed him to communicate. Several days prior, Liu Xiang had met with him privately and spent hours discussing the land and grain issues in depth. Hai Shuzu had fully grasped the Chief's intentions.

The policy Liu Xiang had formulated was relatively moderate. He knew that if he stubbornly resisted the Executive Committee's policies, things would not end well for him. After all, "great righteousness" and "national policy" were two enormous hats—if they came down on him, he absolutely could not bear the weight.

Fortunately, Governor Ma's primary objectives were just two: grain and land consolidation. As long as these goals were achieved to a certain degree, he would have ample room to maneuver—after all, the radical rural policies of Ma Qianzhu and Ye Yuming had their share of opponents.

After much deliberation, he had devised a new approach. Of course, whether it would work depended on whether the local landowners would "see reason." Liu Xiang believed that after the pacification campaign and land survey work, they should understand that the world had changed.

"The people—the Chiefs have already transported them to Lingao. Getting them back is absolutely impossible. And besides, tenants aren't your household slaves. Tenants can be recruited, and tenants can be dismissed—even the Great Ming's government follows this principle, doesn't it?" Hai Shuzu first extinguished any remaining hopes with these words.

A sigh of regret rippled through the crowd. His words were entirely correct. On this matter, the Australians could not be accused of wrongdoing. Though the debt settlement had been somewhat forceful, everyone privately understood that the Australians had done nothing unfair.

An old man interjected nervously: "Then—then what about the land? More than half my family's fields lie fallow already!"

Immediately many others began clamoring as well. Hai Shuzu calmly waved his hand: "Since you gentlemen lack the manpower to farm, you could contract the land to the Tiandihui to work..."

These words were like throwing a block of ice into a pot of hot oil. First came a moment of silence, then pandemonium—some questioning, some inquiring, some so panicked they could only cry "heaven above, earth below" without managing to articulate anything coherent.

The Tiandihui had already been operating in Qiongshan for some time. Besides contracting land directly, the Tiandihui was also cultivating small and medium landlords and rich and middle peasants in the countryside, using "Australian farming methods" to guide cultivation. Their various accomplishments had indeed attracted the gentry's interest—especially Hai Shuzu himself, who had contracted all his land to the Tiandihui. Though harvest time had not yet arrived, the crops were clearly growing far better than on ordinary fields. If not for the typhoon, there would certainly have been an excellent harvest.

But entrusting their fields entirely to the Australians was simply too bold. They were not like those small and medium landlords and yeoman farmers with just a hundred mu or so—the Hai family itself was really only at the small landlord level. Most of the large landowners gathered here owned over five hundred mu, with a dozen families having several thousand mu each. Many worried that if they really contracted their land to the Tiandihui, what if the Tiandihui cheated them? The Tiandihui, after all, was not some easily bullied tenant farmer—it was the genuine "Australian government."

After the commotion had subsided somewhat, Hai Shuzu said: "This humble scholar has only this one solution. As for the Australians' credibility: to this day, they have meant what they said, never breaking faith. Their conduct is open and aboveboard. In my shallow view, they would never stoop to swindling people of their land." He glanced at the assembled company—several gentry members' faces immediately turned sour. Using "commendation" to dishonestly acquire the land of small landowners and yeoman farmers was something they themselves had done before.

"Besides, contracting to the Tiandihui isn't selling land. If you want to contract for one year, it's one year; three or five years, or even eight or ten years—all acceptable." Hai Shuzu smiled. "In my view, since the land surveys and with the Australians about to implement the new tax system, it might actually be less worry to simply contract everything to the Tiandihui."

These words, mixing threats and inducements, moved quite a few hearts. Several people began inquiring about the specific practices and profit-sharing arrangements for Tiandihui land contracts.

The Tiandihui's land services were divided into two categories. The first was similar to what the Wan brothers did in Lingao—primarily providing superior seeds and technical services without directly participating in the landlord's farming operations. The entire harvest belonged to the landowner, who only needed to pay the Tiandihui a technical service fee and materials fee. Land taxes were also paid by the landowner.

The second category was the contracting system, generally aimed at larger contiguous parcels of land, such as the various counties' school lands or landlords like Hai Shuzu who had no interest in personally managing their land. Profit-sharing arrangements varied. Ye Yuming classified these lands into different sharing tiers based on soil fertility, irrigation facilities, and the number of attached tenants and laborers—ranging from the Tiandihui's minimum fifty-fifty split up to a maximum seventy-thirty split.

(End of Chapter)