Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 307 Rectification
Pingyang County, Yunzhou, formerly Resistencia, Corrientes Province, Argentina. The Paraná River rushes down for thousands of miles from its source. When it reaches Pingyang County, the water flow gradually slows down.

The river banks are intertwined with tributaries on both sides, and tall, dense primitive trees stretch their branches crookedly above the water, expanding their living space bit by bit.

Yunzhou is located in the northern part of the La Plata Plain, with a hot climate and dense forests. During the period of white rule in Argentina, due to the limitations of the natural environment and insufficient manpower, the number of local permanent residents has never exceeded 10. It was not until the National Defense Forces completely annexed Argentina and the government coordinated and organized a large number of immigrants to the border and newly occupied areas that the permanent population of Yunzhou reached the average level of all states in the Han Kingdom.

Getting off the small boat, dozens of people stepped on the simple wooden pier, making a creaking sound.

Sun Bin, Zheng Huaide and others traveled stealthily when they arrived in Pingyang County without alerting the local authorities.

"My lords, after a few days of sailing, we brothers are a little tired. Why don't we find an inn to rest first and continue our journey tomorrow? What do you think?"

"That's fine. We are about seven or eight miles away from the county town. Let's take a break. It won't be too late to go to the county town tomorrow."

Sun Bin, Zheng Huaide and He Yanliang dressed up as traveling merchants, and more than a dozen security officers disguised themselves as shop assistants and deliberately lagged behind them.

"Dear guests, are you going to eat or stay at the hotel? A new chef has come to the hotel and I guarantee that you will be satisfied with the food."

We walked into an inn and the waiter greeted us warmly.

"It's okay to eat later."

Sun Bin waved his hand and said, "We are going to Yunzhou to transport goods. There are 20 people in total, including the bosses and the waiters. Are the guest rooms in your store enough for us to stay?"

"Sir, please don't worry. Although our inn only has a row of shops facing the street, if you walk more than 30 steps to the back street, you will find three courtyards inside, all of which belong to Mr. Lin's family. You can just rest assured and stay here. There are both ordinary guest rooms and private rooms available. You will not be disappointed."

"Oh, we just came from the port, and along the way we saw several stores with Lin's signs hanging on them. Could it be that all these businesses belong to the same person?"

Sun Bin signaled his men to hand over two silver dollars and asked with a curious expression on his face.

"This may be the first time for you to visit Pingyang County, and you may not have heard of the name of Lin Dongjia."

The clerk took the silver dollar and did not notice anything unusual. He introduced enthusiastically, "Speaking of the great name of Lin Dongjia, I am afraid everyone in Pingyang County knows him. Lin Dongjia was a famous figure in Xingzhou, Nanyang. Have you heard of the name of Yixing Company? Our Lin Dongjia is the second boss of Yixing Company. And since the big boss Chen Xunian left Xingzhou and went to Borneo, the business of Yixing Company in Nanyang and America is decided by Lin Dongjia. I have told you this. Do you understand?"

The Ngee Hing Company was founded by Nanyang Chinese businessman Chen Xunian. In the early days of the company, it was mainly engaged in plantation reclamation and port construction. When the Han Kingdom annexed northern Argentina in 1872, the Ngee Hing Company controlled by Chen Xunian was already the largest Chinese plantation owner and port contractor in the Malay Peninsula. The establishment of the Han Kingdom led to a wave of investment in the Nanyang region. By using his familiarity with Han officials such as Zhang Fanglin and Hu Yaji, Chen Xunian caught the fast track of the rapid development of the Han Kingdom. The business of the Ngee Hing Company also expanded rapidly to South America, Annan and other places. The shadow of the Ngee Hing Company can be seen in industries such as shipping, immigration contracting and transportation, and plantation reclamation.

In order to quickly reclaim land and speed up the development of local agriculture and industry, the Han government issued a targeted decree for some primitive areas, allowing Han citizens to apply from the government in the name of private merchant groups for the right to reclaim land in the northern forests of Argentina and the southern Patagonia wilderness. As long as the merchant group itself has the ability to reclaim wasteland and the application is approved, the government will sell 3000 to 10 acres of wasteland to the merchant group at a very low price for special commercial agricultural planting and production.

Commercial wasteland reclamation is different from agricultural land. Pure agricultural land is based on household registration, and each household can only own 300 mu of land at most. If the land exceeds the limit of 300 mu, an additional land value-added tax will be levied. However, the plantations and other industries developed by Yixing Company in the name of reclaiming wasteland not only do not have to pay agricultural taxes in the first 20 years, but the company also has the priority right to contract and purchase ports, timber and other resources within the scope of the reclaimed wasteland.

The implementation of the wasteland and port contracting laws attracted many Chinese businessmen to invest in it. In the mainland of the Han Dynasty in South America, spanning thousands of kilometers of territory from north to south, especially the lush plains in the north, six or seven hundred plantations of all sizes were reclaimed from the dense forests. The original forests were interspersed with flat plantations. It was in this way that the agriculture of the Han Dynasty developed wildly.

"Lin Yaxiang of Yixing Company."

Sun Bin and He Yanliang may not be very familiar with Lin Yaxiang, but Zheng Huaide, whose ancestors lived in Southeast Asia, knew a lot about the details of Yixing Company and Lin Yaxiang.

"The Yixing Company is a branch of the Tiandihui. Seven years ago, Chen Xunian represented the company to join the Taipinghui. Since then, the Yixing Company has been divided into two. The backbone of the gang, led by Chen Xunian, led a group of core members to set up a branch in Borneo, while the rest of the company, led by Lin Yaxiang, was transformed into a pure private company, mainly engaged in immigration transportation between Southeast Asia and South America."

After learning some basic information from the innkeeper, the twenty people sat in several guest rooms. Zheng Huaide said, "When he was in Southeast Asia, Lin Yaxiang's most profitable business was opium and gambling. Now that smoking and taking opium is strictly prohibited in the mainland, Lin Yaxiang probably doesn't have the courage to go against the law, but he probably did a lot of gambling and loan sharking."

"I'm afraid it's more than just running a gambling house and lending money at high interest rates."

Sun Bin took out a stack of documents and placed them on the table.

"This is the information given to us by the Security Department. In the past two years, there have been a total of 180 accidents in the shipping companies and plantations under the name of Yixing Company, with more than workers injured or killed. There have also been seven or eight cases reporting the involvement of Yixing Company and Lin Yaxiang. Fortunately, every time Yunzhou sent a commissioner to investigate, Lin Yaxiang was able to clear himself of suspicion."

"Master Sun, don't be surprised. Yixing Company has a complete industrial channel chain. Take an ordinary worker under their company as an example. From signing up for voluntary immigration to South America at the immigration base established on the mainland, to boarding the transport ship to South America, until arriving in South America, applying for a two-year employment certificate, residence certificate, and becoming a formal citizen of the Han Kingdom, all the processes are handled by Yixing Company. Ordinary people who have just moved to South America owe money to Yixing Company, and their personal freedom is illegally restricted by the company. Unless casualties happen to themselves, it is difficult for workers who have just fled to South America from the rule of the Qing Dynasty to risk offending their employers to report Yixing Company."

"The behavior of the workers of the Ngee Heng Company is understandable. The government is short of funds, and the immigration transportation business is gradually outsourced to private companies. If nothing goes wrong, they can be patient for a while and endure the two-year transition period. When their identities are changed to official citizens, their hard times will be over. Compared with enduring two years of hard times, the risk and cost of reporting the company are too great for them."

Sun Bin understood the difficulties of the workers of Yixing Company who did not dare to speak out and report, but from the perspective of the long-term stability of the country, it was necessary to promptly govern and correct the various chaos in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Otherwise, the more problems accumulated, the greater the price to be paid for reform.

"Shipping and plantations are the main industries of Yixing Company. Distribute the personnel we brought this time to secretly investigate the relevant situation of Yixing Company. The three of us will stay in Pingyang County for the time being. After we have figured out the problems of Yixing Company, we will go to other places for inspection."…………

(End of this chapter)