Chapter 2528: Complex Situation

"I see—factor endowments determine the laws of economic development." Lin Motian looked thoughtful. "But she must have had her reasons for choosing that location."

"She did, and to be honest, it ties directly into our current predicament." Zhang Xiao leaned back. "The Ministry of Agriculture and the light industry departments have their own plans for establishing a cotton textile industry. Her going there actually represents their combined interests. After all, Xiangshan has extensive sandy terrain—unsuitable for most crops, but adequate for cotton."

Lin Motian chuckled. "The classic 'might as well kill two birds with one stone' mentality."

"That's the Senate for you," Zhang Xiao said with a bitter smile. "Always trying to swat five flies with a single slap."

"Which inevitably leads to indigestion."

"Indigestion is guaranteed." Zhang Xiao sighed heavily. "People say we accomplished a miracle by taking all of Guangdong and Guangxi. But it could just as easily be said that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs—a snake trying to swallow an elephant. Now we're stuck, unable to advance or retreat." He paused. "I opposed launching the Guangdong-Guangxi strategy so early. We should have consolidated for another four or five years, built a stronger foundation. Instead, we're constantly putting out fires, neglecting one crisis while addressing another."

"Consolidating has its merits, but also its drawbacks. As for what those drawbacks are..." Lin Motian's smile turned cryptic. "Some things are better left unsaid."

"You don't need to spell it out—I understand." Zhang Xiao's expression matched his. "People aren't machines. Everyone has their own interests. Distribution is always a thorny problem. The factions in power were eager to expand the pie before dividing it."

"Good that you see it clearly." Lin Motian had his own reservations about the campaign's timing. Launching the mainland offensive prematurely had significantly strained the health and medical systems they had painstakingly established. The sudden influx of infectious and endemic diseases that followed the mainland strategy had created enormous pressure.

"Enough idle speculation. Let me explain why Xiangshan is particularly unsuitable." Zhang Xiao's tone became businesslike. "The Pearl River Delta is still actively silting up. The current coastline differs dramatically from what it will look like four centuries hence. Right now, it runs roughly through northern Zhongshan—what was Xiangshan during the Ming Dynasty. The Eighteen Sands of the West Sea in northern Zhongshan had already formed into arable flats after the Song Dynasty, and the Sixteen Sands of the East Sea have mostly emerged as usable land by now. However, despite the large stretches of productive sandy flats around Xiaolan, Guzhen, Nantou, Henglan, Huangpu, Gangkou, Sanjiao, and Minzhong in the north, settlements remain sparse. Only areas near the edges with higher terrain—Xiaolan, Guzhen, Haizhou, Greater and Lesser Huangpu—developed significantly after villages were established during the Song Dynasty."

He continued, "As you know, Mulberry Dike Fish Pond farming is extraordinarily labor-intensive. Mulberry gardens must be near silkworm rooms and cannot be too distant from residential areas. You understand the implications. Furthermore, the Sixteen Sands of the East Sea lies in a zone of continuously emerging sandy fields, with no hills to serve as barriers. Salt tides pose a constant threat. But most critically, the sandy fields in this region belong to absentee landlords. Powerful families from Panyu, Nanhai, Xinhui, and Shunde counties have all staked claims to arable land in Xiangshan while keeping their household registrations in their home counties. Local farmers may have built dikes and reclaimed land through years of backbreaking work, only to have landlords collude with officials to purchase vast tracts of emerging sand flats at rock-bottom prices—often designating land the farmers already cultivated as 'ownerless wasteland' before seizing it outright."

Zhang Xiao shifted direction. "That said, I can understand why Li Yao'er didn't choose Xiqiao either."

"Why? Stop keeping me in suspense."

"Because as the Ming scholar Fang Hao wrote: 'Xiqiao is not merely the Xiqiao of Lingnan, but the Xiqiao of all the realm. Xiqiao is not merely the Xiqiao of this age, but the Xiqiao of all ages to come.'" Zhang Xiao's expression was grave.

"Deep waters? Treacherous currents?"

"So deep and so treacherous that no single vessel could contain them."

In the early years after the crossing, Zhang Xiao had assisted Senators Zhang Haogu and Li Zhuoxian in compiling Ming Dynasty historical materials. Through that work, he had developed a thorough understanding of the Pearl River Delta's complexities.

Guangzhou people who gathered firewood on Luofu Mountain called it East Qiao; those who gathered on Jinshi Mountain called it West Qiao—hence the saying, "The famous mountains of Southern Yue number Two Qiaos." Xiqiao lay at the confluence of the West River and North River waterways, a quintessential Lingnan water village. Rivers and creeks crisscrossed its territory, more than a dozen waterways stretching over a hundred kilometers, linking internal villages while providing external access to Foshan, Guangzhou, and beyond. Xiqiao Mountain produced stone and tea, commodities that flowed through an extensive network of waterways and rural markets. During the Ming and Qing periods, seventy-eight rural markets operated within its borders—a commercial density rivaling even Lingao Special City under the Senate's administration, testament to geography's profound influence on economic prosperity.

The economic base, as ever, determined the superstructure. During the Zhengde and Jiajing reigns, academies and study houses proliferated across Xiqiao Mountain. The most celebrated were the Four Great Academies: Dake Academy and Yunguk Academy, founded by Zhan Ruoshui; Shiquan Academy, established by Fang Xianfu; and Sifeng Academy, created by Huo Tao. These four institutions flourished under the intellectual leadership of Fang, Zhan, and Huo. During this period, Guangdong produced famous scholars in abundance, and for decades afterward, the four academies remained vital centers of learning and discourse for the province's scholar-officials.

The Qing scholar Liu Zixiu later observed: "When Master Zhan held the lecture seat, scholars from all directions gathered to study under him. The reputation of Dake in the mountains rivaled even Yuelu and Bailu; hence Xiqiao earned the title 'Mountain of Neo-Confucianism.'" Fang Xianfu recorded his intellectual exchanges with Zhan Ruoshui and Huo Tao in his Manuscripts Left from Xiqiao: "Three academies stood in balance; the three of us traveled constantly between them. During our years of lecturing, we cultivated ourselves in scholarly seclusion for more than a decade."

Wang Yangming himself wrote to Zhan Ruoshui: "Shuxian's ambitions and integrity far transcend common custom. Though I spent little time with Weixian, I recognized him as a man of loyalty and trust at first meeting. Yet I hear you seldom convene together—why? How fortunate that such heroes should be born at the same time and place, yet you let precious time slip away, squandering this rare opportunity. Future generations will surely lament it!" Wang Yangming's words revealed his high expectations for their scholarly collaboration, hoping they would seize the moment and leave an enduring legacy for Confucian posterity.

These men shared common traits: mastery of Neo-Confucian philosophy and distinguished official careers. Zhan Ruoshui served successively as Minister of Rites, Personnel, and War in Nanjing. He founded the "Ganquan School" of Neo-Confucianism, and his teachings were paired with Wang Yangming's "Yangming Learning" under the joint designation "Learning of Wang and Zhan." Huo Tao, together with Fang Xianfu and Liang Chu, were collectively known as the "Three Grand Secretaries" of Nanhai County during the Ming Dynasty.

Throughout the Ming period, Guangdong hosted more than 290 official and private academies—far exceeding the combined total from the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. Nanhai County alone had eighteen. Political struggles during the Jiajing and Wanli reigns led to nationwide bans and destruction of private academies, and Guangdong's numbers declined during the Tianqi and Chongzhen periods, with the lecturing tradition waning. Nevertheless, the academies' significance extended beyond training future officials for the feudal ruling class. They served as instruments of cultural transformation, shaping public morality, reforming customs, and propagating feudal ethics. The academies' regulations, charters, couplets, stone inscriptions, and plaques all projected specific values and educational ideals, influencing generations of students and common people alike, leaving lasting imprints on their character, morality, and sensibilities.

During the early Jiajing years, Guangdong Education Commissioner Wei Xiao converted five Buddhist temples in Guangzhou Prefecture—Guanyin Pavilion, Wuxing Temple, Yingzhen Temple, Tianzhu Temple, and Renhuang Temple—into the academies of Lianxi, Yichuan, Mingdao, Chongzheng, and Hui'an, dedicated to venerating Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Yi, Cheng Hao, and Zhu Xi. The academies' sacrificial ceremonies were open to the public. Beyond those within the academy walls, officials, gentry, scholars, and commoners all had opportunities to participate. People from different social strata attending these ceremonies were, in effect, receiving moral education and Confucian baptism. The influence of academy sacrifice extended far beyond commemorating sages and preserving academic traditions—it functioned much like Western churches in shaping society.

By the mid-Ming period, Guangdong's people had been steeped in Confucian culture for over a century. They had developed their own intellectual and cultural traditions and no longer considered themselves Southern Barbarians. They could discuss the Dao with the realm's foremost Neo-Confucianists and exchange poetry with literary luminaries. As the lecturing tradition declined, a literary movement rose to take its place, and poetry societies flourished across Guangdong. From the Jiajing reign through the late Ming, more than a dozen major and minor poetry societies emerged in Guangzhou Prefecture City alone. Their founders invariably maintained connections to Xiqiao Mountain, which also became a refuge for Guangdong's literati and scholar-officials during later periods of turmoil.

Another significant social transformation began in the mid-Ming: a trend toward rural militarization swept through Guangdong. After Huang Xiaoyang's Uprising erupted, the Ming court proved unable to suppress it and was forced to seek assistance from local powerful families. Under gentry leadership, some villages and towns rapidly organized local militias and mounted desperate resistance against Huang Xiaoyang's rebel forces. After the uprising's suppression, the region underwent a reorganization of local order and redistribution of power. The renowned Foshan Town had stood firmly with the court throughout the turmoil. As reward, their local deities received imperial titles and worship, and the control of powerful families over the locality expanded further.

Jiujiang in Nanhai had similarly leveraged its strategic terrain of mountains and rivers to participate in suppressing Huang Xiaoyang, much like Foshan. When Huang Xiaoyang's assault on Guangzhou failed, his forces scattered to plunder the countryside and attacked Jiujiang by water. The people of Jiujiang defended Li Mountain, Ma Mountain, and Zhen Mountain, defeating him. After Huang Xiaoyang's death, Li Mountain was renamed "Zhongliang Mountain"—Loyal and Good Mountain—and Jiujiang received generous rewards. In the first year of the Jingtai reign, Ming Emperor Daizong bestowed upon Nanhai Jiujiang the title "Rulin Xiang"—Confucian Forest Village.

Due to continuous unrest and rampant banditry, rural militarization in Guangdong reached its zenith at the Ming-Qing transition. Villages throughout the region constructed walled stockades for self-protection, giving rise to the characteristic pattern of "no village without a stockade" and dramatically strengthening local armed forces.

The people catching fish fry in the West River were Tanka boatpeople. The Ming court had forcibly registered them into the household system and levied fish tax rice upon them. However, large numbers of Tanka households along the river had participated in Huang Xiaoyang's uprising. After its failure, these Tanka people fled en masse, breaking free from Ming court household registration control. By the Hongzhi reign, Tanka households had almost entirely dispersed, making tax collection impossible. Under these circumstances, Viceroy of Liangguang Liu Daxia received an imperial edict to summon Jiujiang villagers to contract the fish ports on both banks of the West River. This stretch spanned five to six hundred li from Fengchuan to Gaoming, encompassing eight to nine hundred fish ports. From that point forward, Jiujiang villagers monopolized the right to catch fish fry, forming a formidable non-governmental power that would endure for generations.

(End of Chapter)