Chapter 2541: Corporatization Reform

Chen Ding led his people to the Ancestral Hall. When he saw the sign for the Nansha Village Office, his brow furrowed. Two young men beside him moved to take it down, but Chen Ding gave a slight shake of his head. Chen Lin caught the signal and waved them off, then addressed the local braves standing guard at the gate:

"No need to stand watch. Go home, all of you."

The guards exchanged puzzled glances, unsure what had provoked such a show of force. Chen Lin walked at the head of a column of Chen clansmen, their faces grim and purposeful. The sight was enough to make anyone nervous. Chen Xuan had been summoned to the county seat days ago, and without their leader present, no one knew how to respond.

Wu Quan hurried out from the gatehouse. "Ninth Master, what's all this about?"

"Uncle Wu," Chen Lin said pleasantly, "Second Uncle made a scene in court and has been stripped of his Baojia position by the county. As for Fengshenghe—that's been returned to its rightful owner as well." He gestured to one of his companions, who produced the court notice.

"Post the notice! We're going in!"

Reclaiming the Ancestral Hall wasn't police business, so the officers kept their distance, watching from afar in case violence broke out. A handsome young man under Chen Lin's command picked up the notice and moved to paste it on the wall beside the gate. Before he could finish, a young militiaman who'd been seething finally snapped. He rushed forward, grabbed the lad by the collar, and threw him aside. Snatching up the notice, he tore it to shreds, threw the pieces on the ground, and spat on them.

"You think you can seize power with a piece of paper? Dream on!"

The Chen clansmen behind Chen Lin bristled with fury. Fists clenched and sleeves rolled up, they surged forward. The local braves responded in kind, drawing swords and spears.

Wu Quan squeezed between the two groups, arms raised. "Everyone calm down! No fighting!"

Chen Lin turned to him with a thin smile. "This young hothead—he's a relative of yours, isn't he?"

"Yes, yes! A distant relation of this humble old man!" Wu Quan was sweating profusely as he tried to keep the peace. "Ninth Master, there's no need to reclaim the hall this very moment. Wait for Second Uncle to return and discuss matters properly. After all, we're all family here..."

Before Chen Lin could respond, Chen Ding arrived with two police officers in tow.

"Officers, take a look at this," Chen Ding declared, gesturing at the scattered paper. "This notice was just posted and has already been torn to pieces and spat upon! Such contempt for the Senate's laws—what crime does this constitute?" He rounded on the local braves. "What is the meaning of this? Are you staging a rebellion?"

At the sight of the police, the fight drained out of the guards. They lowered their weapons and exchanged uneasy glances, uncertain what to do.

"Which one tore it?" demanded an officer.

The deed had been done in plain sight of everyone. Two policemen produced a rope and bound the young militiaman on the spot.

Wu Quan, experienced enough to recognize a trap when he saw one, understood that the Chen family had laid this snare deliberately—and his foolish relative had walked right into it. He turned to Chen Lin, pleading. "Ninth Master! Show mercy! The boy is just impulsive, he meant no harm—"

Chen Lin had dealt with this young man before. Every time he'd entered or left the Village Office, the militiaman had regarded him with barely concealed hostility, his words barbed with veiled insults. Chen Lin had appeared to let it slide, but he'd nursed the grudge. Now, seeing an opportunity to crush the morale of Second Uncle's guards, he let his smile turn cold.

"This matter has nothing to do with me. Since he chose to defy the County Government and the Senate, what can I do? I'm just a common citizen like him. As they say, 'Official hearts are hard as iron, and the King's Law burns like a furnace.' I can only hope fortune favors him." He turned away from Wu Quan. "We're going in." He pointed at the remaining braves. "All of you—hand over your weapons to Third Uncle Chen immediately. You'll receive this month's wages as usual. Those from this village, go home and tend to your own affairs. Those from elsewhere, return to your native places. There's no free rice for you here anymore."

With that, he strode through the gates of the Village Office, his entourage following close behind.

Uncle and nephew had struck like thunder, seizing control of Nansha's village administration and clan authority in a single blow. When Chen Xuan, still wining and dining in the county seat, received word of the takeover, he vanished without even showing his face. Chen Lin felt a deep satisfaction. Though he was too young to serve as Clan Leader himself, Third Uncle had been appointed "Head of Case" on his recommendation. As a precaution against future complications, they also nominated a new Clan Leader.

What followed was a "Shareholders' Meeting" to reform clan property according to Australian law. Initially, the clan favored dividing assets by branch, but Mr. Lu's research revealed that the relevant statutes required distribution based on "Male Heads"—adult males—and mandated equal shares for all.

This sparked heated debate. Distribution by person meant that families with more sons would benefit disproportionately, while those with fewer would lose out. It didn't matter whether you came from the eldest branch or the main line, from a prestigious lineage or an obscure one.

After much argument, the government's position prevailed. Every Male Head in the clan, regardless of age, received an equal share of clan property—houses and fields alike—converted into company stock.

Chen Lin immediately announced that the Chen family's share in the Nansha Demonstration Cotton Textile Factory, invested by Master Wu, would be added to the Clan Company's assets. Proceeds would be distributed according to each person's shareholding.

With the company established, expenses for maintaining clan buildings and supporting widowers, widows, and orphans were handled through the company's cost accounts, all with detailed line items. Anything beyond the defined scope would come from each Male Head's personal dividends; the company would provide no additional subsidies.

This arrangement dramatically reduced the clan elders' control over property distribution and brought all clan assets under formal tax supervision.

Following the Corporatization Reform, Chen Lin rode the momentum of his legal victory to become General Manager of Nansha Chen Clan Co., Ltd., while the Clan Leader assumed the role of Chairman. The cotton textile factory's land acquisition, which had stalled under the previous administration, now proceeded smoothly. Chen Lin invoked the Company Law to issue non-preferred shares, paying land requisition costs in stock. He also promised that once the factory was operational, children from the affected families would receive priority for employment.

Because Nansha's Chen clan was the first in Xiangshan County to complete the "Corporatization" reform, they received a commendation from the county government. A commemorative certificate was issued to mark the confirmation of their land rights. When Li Yao'er returned from the county seat, Chen Lin hurried to meet her, pledging in his capacity as General Manager of "Nansha Chen Clan Co., Ltd." and proprietor of the "Fengshenghe" Silk Factory to "unconditionally cooperate with the sericulture improvement program."

The upheaval caused by the Chen family dispute had, paradoxically, opened doors throughout Nansha. Both Li Yao'er and the internship group found their work suddenly going smoothly. The civil construction of the Nansha Textile Factory entered its implementation phase: excavating the water channels.

While it was possible to install a water wheel directly on the river, such an arrangement was vulnerable—boats and floating debris could easily damage it, and there was no way to regulate flow when the current ran too fast. The water turbine would instead be housed in a wheel pit within a diversion channel running parallel to the main river.

The construction team from Guangzhou surveyed the site according to the topography mapped earlier by the internship group, marking out the work area with small wooden stakes. Then the civil construction crew, recruited from Nansha villagers, began digging. The tailrace came first, serving to drain seepage water generated during earthwork.

Once the tailrace was complete, the team excavated the water wheel pit under Zou Feng's guidance. They lined the bottom with wooden boards to reduce friction, speed water flow, and prevent erosion of the side walls. Next came the curved breast section, constructed from wooden ribs and planking fixed in place within the pit. Workers filled the gaps with stones and sealed everything with additional boards.

Factory Bay had a natural drop in water level, so Zou Feng was able to skip the most demanding element of a typical water channel project: building an overflow weir to raise the upstream level. His calculations showed that the natural terrain drop at this river bend would generate sufficient kinetic energy to drive the wheel. Constructing a weir would have required cofferdams and a whole series of additional projects.

Progress on the diversion channel was swift. The channel bottom was lined with stones and cement. The section adjacent to the main river remained sealed for the time being, fitted with a simple sluice gate to control water flow. By early summer, a team of technicians arrived from Lingao with their equipment—they had come to assemble the water turbine.

The water turbine represented unfamiliar technology for the locals, since China had never introduced modern water turbines. Fortunately, its structure and principles were straightforward, and the material requirements modest, making reconstruction relatively simple. No Senator was needed to supervise the installation.

The gap between the water wheel and the curved breast section of the pit needed to be as small as possible without allowing the parts to rub together. All components were therefore manufactured with a margin of tolerance. Before installation, technicians carefully measured every accessory's dimensions and shape, then cut and fitted each piece on site.

The workers began by installing the main shaft of the water turbine—a heavy wooden beam constructed from multiple timbers spliced together, bound with iron hoops using composite mast technology. Iron journals fixed with iron hoops capped both ends, fitting into cast iron bearing housings on either side of the wheel pit. Though the original design called for bronze sliding bearings inside the cast iron shells, large ball bearings were used instead. The advantages were obvious: reduced friction and significantly improved operational efficiency.

After carefully calibrating the level, the workers secured the main shaft in place. They then inserted spokes into pre-cut slots along its length. The wheel rim was assembled from thick wooden boards fitted piece by piece at the spoke ends. Finally, technicians chiseled fine grooves into the rim boards and inserted the wooden blades. Before installing each blade, they drilled two small holes and covered the inner side with leather flaps fixed at one end—simple one-way valves. When water flowed into the buckets, the valves sealed shut automatically. When water drained out, the valves opened, preventing the vacuum that would otherwise form as the buckets rose from the pit. Without this feature, the vacuum would impede drainage and reduce efficiency.

(End of Chapter)