Chapter Twenty-Four Transformation

  "Poverty is not innate, and wealth is not predetermined by fate." After the establishment of the autonomous government, this announcement was issued to the entire Guangxi Province with a population of nearly 20 million: no one wants to live a life worse than that of pigs and dogs, and no one wants to worry about their next meal; solving the problem of food and clothing for 20 million people is another major issue after education.

  Poor transportation, unfavorable natural conditions, long-term backward education and the corruption and incompetence of the old Qing dynasty government have all contributed to the economic backwardness and poor living standards in Guangxi and Hainan Island. Of course, these are subjective reasons for underdevelopment, but abundant resources, a mild climate, and a large population are also good reasons for development, just like the advocacy announcement issued by the Development and Reform Commission of the Autonomous Government: poverty and wealth are not predetermined, one's fate and happy life must be grasped and created by oneself.

  "Land belongs to the state, to the collective and not to individuals. No one can occupy land without reason, privately demarcate boundaries, every citizen has the right to own their own land, of course, also have the responsibility to take good care of their own land. Whether it is mountainous land, forestland or fish ponds, after contracting, they must fulfill the corresponding legal responsibilities. Without any agricultural tax revenue representing all income and operating profits on this land, it should be owned by the landowner, free water conservancy facilities, reservoirs, flood control projects built by the government, users have the obligation and right to supervise and maintain these public works."

  Regarding agricultural policies, the autonomous government fully adhered to Zhang Yusong's guiding principles, which is that farmers are the mainstay of society. Their income, food and clothing, housing, children's education, and elderly care all depend on their labor remuneration. Without a stable income, it is impossible to improve living standards, build new homes, or take good care of the elderly. The government can alleviate the burden of education for all citizens and devote all its efforts to helping farmers stabilize their income. For example, vigorously building water conservancy projects and rural transportation infrastructure is aimed at eliminating worries about drought and sales for agricultural production. Establishing fertilizer factories to provide cheap fertilizers, distributing various agricultural technology books, and dispatching large numbers of technical personnel who have received certain training are all aimed at increasing agricultural income and production. In short, everything ultimately boils down to ensuring the stability of agricultural production and the stability of farmers, the mainstay of society.

  Of course, the peasants are free from the burden of their children's education, and their income is also rising rapidly. Everything is moving towards a bright future. However, the government needs to consider another class, who have been the sworn enemies of the peasants since ancient times. They are the feudal landlord class, who will be the target of the government's continued reform efforts in order to establish a stable regime.

  "The landlord is, in feudal society, aside from the emperor, the most memorable term. Not only because this term's status is, in certain situations, more useful than the emperor, such as the landlord's relationship with their long-term workers and laborers, where their status is higher than the emperor in these people's eyes. Another reason for their esteemed position is the ownership of land."

  "Humans living in the world, first and foremost must satisfy their hunger, not eating is not human, humans must take in food to obtain nutrition, and the source of food is the cultivation of land. Without land, farmers are also without money and power, for them to survive they must obtain food or a piece of land that can be cultivated for grain. Landlords own large tracts of land suitable for planting. The supply and demand relationship between them is easily established, of course, the relationship of exploitation and being exploited, oppression and being oppressed is also easily realized. The landlord has become the emperor of his own territory, while laborers and tenant farmers have become his subjects."

  For the landlord, land is his basic guarantee for survival and wealth; For farmers, land is also their hope for survival, not seeking wealth but seeking warmth and fullness. However, the prevalence of republican winds seems to break such silence, but after a gust of wind, it unexpectedly ushered in even more violent blizzards, that is, a people's autonomous government with a bigger belly, a violent government that advocates for universal fairness.

  The People's Autonomous Government, which evolved from the Zhongzheng Group, has an absolutely good reputation among the vast number of poor people, and the relationship between them is also unquestionable. Just letting nearly 700,000 school-age children attend school for free and nearly one million people receive various technical training for free has made many poor people shed tears. However, for the landlords, a government as powerful as this replacing the traditional feudal government is a very bad thing, especially when it comes to taking away their land, which makes many people gnash their teeth in hatred towards the Autonomous Government.

  Peasants are the main body of social composition, and land is the initial root of human contradictions. The implementation of paid land recovery by the autonomous government was not very smooth from the beginning. Good explanations and persuasions were far less effective than later actions. When a team of fully armed people's soldiers followed the personnel in charge of paid land recovery to work on site, the order of land recovery became much more orderly, and the progress also accelerated greatly. Many people claimed that this was a violent law enforcement behavior that deviated from the rule of law society advocated by the autonomous government and did not conform to the interests of the broad masses of landlords, but after a long time they felt that they should have had a good talk with the government at the beginning.

  The idealized highest yield of a mu of rice field is only about 1,000 catties of rice, and even if it's three seasons of rice, the total yield is only about 3,000 catties. This is still an absolute idealization, but who can achieve a yield of 1,000 catties per season for all three seasons? The annual income from a mu of rice field is at most tens of yuan, and even if all the land owned by a landlord can reach such a terrifying yield, his annual income would be only thousands of yuan. Is there really such a high net income? Probably only the landlords themselves know.

  After the land is recovered with compensation, the autonomous region will definitely make suitable arrangements for them. In addition to getting a small piece of land that every citizen should have, there are also large sums of money in land acquisition compensation. Some big landlords' compensation is very generous, and if they put the money in the bank, the interest they get can be enough for them to live a life of leisure, but it's definitely not enough if they want to hire some servants.

  "A society where funds keep flowing can be truly called a commodity economy society." Zhang Yusheng's certain phrases are the best explanation for the flow of funds to these landlords, trying to make the landlords' livelihoods change from simply relying on land and exploiting hired farmers to investing in various industries, circulating surplus funds through investment, and ultimately benefiting the entire economy. Therefore, eliminating or transforming the term "landlord class" is best changed to "entrepreneur".

  Thus, the social subject of the future republic conceived by Zhang Yusheng is workers and peasants, followed by entrepreneurs and investors.

  The reason why workers are placed first is that in order to thoroughly revive China, in a world where technological innovation is emerging one after another, it must become an industrial power, and the most prominent feature of an industrial power is that the proportion of workers in the total population must be higher than that of agricultural population, otherwise it will be an agricultural country rather than an industrial country.

  Last but not least are the capitalists, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to use terms such as "entrepreneurs" and "venture capitalists". As he had expected, a commodity economy requires constant capital flow, people's lives require constant consumption, and with technological advancements, humans will have various needs. Society needs a large number of entrepreneurs to invest in these needs, not only to satisfy people's living requirements but also to create income for the country. Otherwise, how would the country support a large number of civil servants, military personnel, and continuously invest in public projects if agricultural taxes were zero?

  So, the main body that needs to be continuously assisted and coordinated is the peasants, the ones who need to be continuously educated and trained are the workers, and the ones who need to be transformed the most are the landlord class. For this reason, Zhang Yu-sheng specially held a grand meeting with a different style, the meeting had no record of time or place, and the people present at the meeting also kept their mouths shut after the meeting ended, but afterwards various economic trends still explained what Zhang Yu-sheng said in the meeting, and some content of the meeting was actually recorded by many people for future reference, through their notes, some people still understood part of the content of the meeting, especially some words spoken by Zhang Yu-sheng.

  "I suppose all of you present here must have already hated the People's Autonomous Government to death in your hearts. The government has almost confiscated your land and deprived you of the foundation on which you rely for survival. This action that hurts you, although only one, is enough to make you resent the newly-born People's Autonomous Government."

  "It cannot be denied that now, as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, China, especially in our remote southwestern border areas where the geographical location is inconvenient, the customs are simple, and the natural conditions are not very good, everyone can live a comfortable life completely relying on those pieces of land, mountains, etc. But the main body of society is people, and the people's autonomous government is the people's own government. In our society, what kind of people group is the main body? It cannot be you gentlemen who are dressed in bright clothes, nor can it be someone like me. The peasants, they are the main body, their needs are the main needs of society, and their warmth and happiness are the ladder for the progress of the whole society."

  "Even if you have thousands of acres of fertile land, but no farmers to cultivate it, you will still gain nothing. However, these thousands of acres of fertile land can bring extraordinary happiness to hundreds of families. Why is that? Because they are called farmers, yet in the over 2,000-year history of this agricultural country, they have never truly owned their own land. Whether there's a bumper harvest or a poor one, they can only barely make ends meet, and thus form a dead cycle. You rent out your land, they hire themselves out to plant it, you reap large sums of rent and grain, while they are left with only coarse grains to fill their bellies. Society has been circulating in this way for ages, but in reality, both parties can become truly wealthy."

  "Allocating land to those who truly need it will make better use of its original value, creating more practical value. The government needs to take good care of the agricultural population, the mainstay of society, and can achieve very good results. As you have seen and heard, after farmers own their own arable land, especially when the government does not collect a single penny in taxes and also greatly helps increase production capacity and guarantees output, they have walked out of the dark side of life and happy smiles are on the faces of the vast majority of people. Their success is what society urgently needs next, and as the people's own government, we have never forgotten every social unit, including you."

  "Not a few people, after losing their land, did several things. First, they immediately had a big argument with our staff on the spot. Second, of course, was to gather and discuss what to do? Perhaps you have thought about overthrowing this evil People's Government, and of course, getting rid of me as the leader, but fortunately, you didn't do so, which allowed me to survive until today to tell you about your future path. Third, you must have also discussed with your families whether to move out of Guangxi, using the generous land compensation to buy a large amount of land in other provinces and live a good life as landlords, but fortunately, you didn't do so. The traditional Chinese concept played an important role here, which is the hometown complex. No one wants to leave their hometown where they have lived for decades or even hundreds of years."

  "The reason for holding this conference is mainly to discuss the future livelihood after losing land. According to the population calculation standard, and ordinary farmers, in fact, there are still many lands at home, as long as they are diligent in farming, they can still get very good returns, at least enough to support a family. However, if you want to live a comfortable life for a long time, going up and down the mountain for a little food is extremely unrealistic. Therefore, what you urgently need is no longer how to deal with a government that is highly supported by the people, but a path of continued prosperity and happiness."

  "The Chinese have always been diligent and intelligent, and everyone present here has the same mind. It's just that some of you may not have experienced poverty or hunger for a long time, or maybe never at all, so you're used to living a life without worrying about food and clothing. Naturally, you wouldn't be able to work hard on the land anymore. However, your clever minds are still sharp and agile. Through our investigation, some of you here have actually been exploring other paths for yourselves, such as starting businesses, investing in industries, buying government bonds, etc. These are all your own bold attempts. The main purpose I gathered everyone today is to tell you that in front of the people's autonomous government, everyone including myself is equal and fair. If you have capital, you can start a business; if you don't have money, you can make a living by farming; if you have talent and skills, you can work in a factory. In short, as long as your actions are legal, they are correct."

  "My experience, I'm sure many of you are well aware of, is that our government used to be a huge industrial conglomerate, a meticulous investment group. Even now that we've evolved into a people's government, we're still investing in various industries, such as railways, highways, ports, education, and so on. Some may not see immediate returns, but the benefits the people receive are also a kind of gain. The industrial projects we invest in, for example, automobiles, munitions, food processing, textiles, light and heavy industry, are also guarantees for the government's long-term maintenance of massive expenditures. Those with vision can naturally see the profits that opening these factories can bring, profits that far exceed those from purely agricultural cultivation."

  "The annual profit that can be obtained from investing in the right enterprise is far beyond what can be achieved from the annual harvest of a thousand or even ten thousand hectares of land. Our government-controlled automobile manufacturing plants can produce hundreds of millions of cars per year, with each car generating more sales revenue than the agricultural income from ten hectares of land; our machinery factories can produce tens of millions of various machines per year, and our other factories have similarly massive production capacity. In high-sounding language, this means that the productive power of the machine industry era has far surpassed that of the agricultural society, and its ability to create wealth is also astonishingly fast and numerous. When the world, especially the imperialist powers, are almost all embroiled in a great war shrouded in smoke and fire, isn't this an opportunity for our national enterprises to flourish? Isn't it a good chance for us to shed our reputation as an agricultural nation and strive towards becoming an industrial power? Isn't it a good time for everyone to cast off their dependence on land and boldly invest in and venture into industry?"

  "You are also citizens under the people's autonomous government, and you are fully free to choose your own future path as long as you abide by the law. You can make your own decisions that belong to yourself. The people's government fully respects every choice of every member of society, and as a government that serves the people and works for the people, we have the responsibility to lead the whole society towards prosperity and strength. Therefore, we will not ignore your various difficulties.

  For the needs of starting a business and setting up a factory, including all social citizens present here, the government can provide certain tax incentives and even technical support as appropriate. For financing needs for investment projects, major banks will also provide certain policy support. In short, as long as it is a legitimate investment activity, the government will definitely support rather than suppress it. For undertakings that benefit the people, the government will only encourage and protect, not bully."

  "Your various investments not only bring about the thriving development of industry, but also indirectly drive social employment, increased income and even wealth."

  The conference lasted for a full three hours, not because Zhang Yu's speech was too long, but because many people asked questions afterwards, making the conference almost a policy Q&A session for the Ministry of Commerce. It can be said that this conference is extremely significant. Even if the People's Government had three heads and six arms, it would still be impossible to cover all industries, and the opportunities brought by the war to the development of the entire neutral world cannot be satisfied by a small people's government alone. Therefore, mobilizing more people to take advantage of this opportunity to create a miracle of rapid industrial development belonging to the Chinese people is necessary. With various technical reserves, the autonomous government naturally has the ability to let many entrepreneurs make a fortune in the war, perhaps not just that.

  Poverty is not innate, and wealth is not predetermined by fate. A large agricultural country that has been oppressed into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society only needs some changes to stand up again and become rich, whether in thought or action!!