Chapter 2364: Agricultural Company (Part 4)

"At the current scale, yes." Hu Wumei nodded. "I've developed six thousand mu of land. With machines assisting the planting, fifty to sixty male laborers are sufficient. The remaining workers can handle the plantation and factories. During busy seasons, even children and the elderly pitch in."

"What if you didn't use slaves?" Xu Yanliang asked. "Would that create difficulties?"

"Difficulty... well, not exactly... difficulty..." Hu Wumei was caught off guard by Senator Xu's sudden question. His mind worked quickly, discerning from the inquiry that Senator Xu disapproved of using slaves.

Unfortunately, the question had come too fast. Though he promptly grasped the other party's thinking, his speech faltered. Xu Yanliang naturally noticed.

Obviously, Farm Owner Hu was not averse to using slaves—or rather, the benefits derived from slave labor far exceeded the costs he incurred.

Xu Yanliang chose not to pursue this line of inquiry further. Instead, he changed the subject: "Your farm now holds six thousand mu. Do you want to expand further?"

"Naturally, the more land the better." Hu Wumei laughed, projecting an air of ambition. He knew Senators appreciated such attitudes. "But too much land creates its own problems. Workers have to walk a long way to reach the fields and back. It wastes time."

"Why not establish additional farms? Isn't it inconvenient having all your workers concentrated here?"

"I have, actually—I set up a new farm near the coconut plantation." Hu Wumei said. "With so much land, you need foremen, and capable ones are hard to find..."

Xu Yanliang nodded. He had no intention of offering opinions on the production and management here. Agriculture wasn't his focus anyway. His visit to Hu Wumei's farm was simply to understand Sanya's agricultural situation and glean lessons for future colonial ventures.

"There's another question," Hu Wumei hesitated. "Since you've come from Lingao, Chief—do you know what the Senate's current regulations on land are?"

"What regulations?" Xu Yanliang didn't immediately grasp his meaning.

"Well..." Hu Wumei grew nervous, knowing that land issues had always been contentious within the Senate—though he could never fathom why something as straightforward as buying and selling land had remained unresolved for so many years.

"I'm just asking casually..." He stammered slightly. "Actually, it's not just me who has this question. People in both Sanya and Lingao want to know."

"Tell me about it. If I know the answer and there's no violation in sharing, I'll certainly tell you."

Encouraged by this, Hu Wumei gathered his courage and asked: "What exactly does the Senate intend regarding land deeds? I've been farming here for several years yet still have no proper land deed. I've asked several Senators, but none have given a clear answer. Farming in such confusion, my heart is never at ease."

Xu Yanliang's heart sank. The question of land ownership would have to be confronted eventually. The Senate had been skirting around it vaguely for years, never issuing a clear plan. Various departments had resorted to implementing temporary measures regarding property rights and usage rights, playing word games to avoid the core issues.

For common people with modest holdings—a house to live in, a few dozen mu to farm, light taxes, and full bellies—this was already the greatest fortune. They naturally wouldn't investigate who actually owned the house they lived in or the land they cultivated. After all, even they themselves were "the Senate's people."

But for outside "investors" or members of the "emerging class" like Hu Wumei, their perspective on property rights was entirely different. Who owned the land and whether they could dispose of it—these were their paramount concerns.

Whether land should be state-owned or private was a long-standing debate within the Senate. The only point all factions could agree upon was "those with constant property have constant perseverance." The problem lay in defining what constituted "constant property," how to ensure the Senate's control over land, and how to ensure that the poor could also obtain land relatively fairly.

Though the Senate's future lay in building the nation through industry and commerce—and though land's importance as a means of production would diminish significantly—as the most fundamental resource for human production and livelihood, its scarcity and irreplaceability made it inevitably the focus of social contradictions. This made the Senate particularly cautious on the matter. For years, the policy had been "discussion only, no voting"—partly to prevent major internal rifts. This was also why many Senators were reluctant to broach the subject.

Xu Yanliang could follow the example of other Senators, offering a vague laugh and some specious official platitudes to deflect. But after a moment's consideration, he felt it better to be more forthcoming.

"What is the nature of the land you're cultivating now?" he asked. "Didn't the Senate give you written documents or certificates?"

"Yes, they did, only I can't understand what they say." Hu Wumei laughed bitterly. "To be honest with you, Chief, if I could understand them, I'd be willing to reclaim more land. But being so confused, I dare not proceed..."

"Bring all your certificates here and explain this land situation to me." Xu Yanliang said. "Actually, I don't fully understand it myself. But since you've raised it with me, I will definitely submit this matter to the Senate as soon as possible."

This was the first time anyone had given such a clear response regarding land in all these years. Hu Wumei's spirits soared, and he stood up. "Chief, please wait a moment—I'll fetch the documents immediately!"

Taking advantage of Hu Wumei's absence, Xu Yanliang asked quietly: "Was there any exaggeration in what he said?"

Yuan Fei smiled. "Don't believe everything. He doesn't have fifty or sixty slaves—it's at least two or three hundred, all working in the coconut plantation. Coconuts alone earn him a fortune every year. If he used paid workers, imagine the wage bill! He saw that you disapproved of slavery, Chief, so he deliberately understated the numbers."

Xu Yanliang nodded; this aligned with his suspicions. Slave labor's production efficiency under the plantation economy was considerable. The cotton and tropical crop plantations in the Americas had been keen on using slaves for good reason, just as Western Europe's grain demand from the sixteenth century onward had caused a large-scale revival of serfdom in Eastern Europe.

"How much does a slave cost now?"

"Prices fluctuate. Generally, a young and strong male slave costs over ten yuan. Females cost seven or eight. Those with good physiques command higher prices."

"Are many people using slaves here?"

"Many. Workers who don't require wages and only need to be fed—who wouldn't want a few? But small households can't afford to buy them and don't dare try. Only wealthy households make purchases." Yuan Fei added, "Under Ming Kingdom rule in the past, weren't there people buying bondservants to work the fields too?"

"What about the land issue he mentioned?"

"That's genuine. What old Hu cares about most is his land. That old codger—insatiably greedy!" Yuan Fei said without restraint.

Hu Wumei returned shortly carrying a tin box. He carefully unlocked the padlock, extracted a portfolio from inside, and delicately pulled out several sheets of paper.

"This is the Mouth-share Field distributed to me and my family when I came to Sanya. At that time, my household registration included fifteen people—a total of 450 standard mu. This portion was additionally rewarded by the Senate—a total of 3,000 standard mu. All wasteland. And these..." He unfolded each voucher and laid them on the table, weighing them down with teacups. "This is my Real Estate Certificate. This is the Reclamation Ticket I received for clearing wasteland later..."

Xu Yanliang picked them up one by one to examine. The styles and formats of these "certificates" varied considerably. Not only did the nomenclature for land ownership differ, but even the issuing departments were different.

The "Mouth-share Field" bore the seal of the Civil Affairs People's Commission. There was no description of the land's legal nature—only the designation "Mouth-share Field," noting 30 standard mu per person based on registered population, regardless of gender or age.

As for the "Senate Reward," the certificate was actually an "Agricultural Production Land Tax Payment Certificate" issued by the General Tax Bureau. Xu Yanliang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What kind of land certificate was this? Clearly, the people in the Political Affairs Yuan had racked their brains to avoid the land ownership question.

The "Reclamation Ticket" was stranger still—issued by the "Sanya Special City Municipal Government." Whoever had devised this system must have realized the inadequacy, because later seals from the Agricultural People's Commission and the General Tax Bureau had been added.

Judging from these vouchers alone, they possessed many characteristics of real estate certificates—attached drawings, clear land boundaries, even latitude and longitude coordinates. The problem was that legally speaking, they had nothing whatsoever to do with land title deeds. Only a few Real Estate Certificates were standard, at least noting the "Real Estate Owner." Of course, for the land occupied by the real estate, only the area was recorded, with no specification of legal nature.

No wonder Hu Wumei was troubled. Honestly, with the Senate conducting affairs like this, gaining the trust of naturalized citizens was probably only possible because they were in desperate times with no alternatives.

Hu Wumei watched him alternate between surprise, sarcasm, and expressions of disbelief. Unable to contain himself, he ventured: "Chief, what do you think..."

Xu Yanliang shook his head. "This is my first time seeing these certificates. Truly an eye-opener!"

"Then these vouchers..."

"Since they all bear official seals and were issued by the Senate, they are naturally valid. You needn't worry too much." Xu Yanliang hastened to reassure him. "Don't overthink it."

"Yes, yes, thank you, Chief Xu." These words offered Hu Wumei some relief, but the muddled documents remained a thorn in his side. After all, these were nothing like the clearly written land deeds of the Ming Kingdom!

From the expression on his face, Xu Yanliang could tell that his guarantee had failed to convince. Honestly, even he himself felt these words carried no persuasive power.

(End of Chapter)