Chapter 219: The Banquet
Most delegates were not harboring ulterior motives like Huang Bingkun. They adhered to the standard traditional Chinese mindset: muddle through one moment at a time. Since the baldies were powerful—and even the yamen's Master Wu sat on the stage—going along with things as common folk was hardly unreasonable.
The afternoon session was relatively simple. After a round of tea was served, Wu De asked each village to nominate a "liaison officer." These liaison officers would come to the Bairren public office on the first of each month for meetings and to receive instructions from the transmigrator collective.
"Liaison officer—you might as well just have each village establish a maintenance committee," someone had remarked uncomfortably when the system was first being designed.
"The term 'liaison officer' is quite neutral—nothing wrong with it," Ma Qianzhu had failed to see the problem. "No need for maintenance committees. Eventually we'll simply have each village establish a village committee."
The liaison officer system nominally received directives from the Bairren public office, but in practice served as the transmigrator collective's mechanism for remote command over each village. It was also stipulated that whenever public office personnel visited villages, the liaison officer would be responsible for reception and support.
"All support will be compensated with circulation vouchers at market rates," Wu De explained. "Circulation vouchers can be used to offset villages' allocated grain quotas."
For items whose value could not be immediately determined, public office personnel would issue receipts in duplicate, detailing the support provided, with both parties signing or making their marks. The liaison officer would bring the receipts to the public office each month for price verification and settlement, offsetting the grain levy accordingly.
This system was both simple and clear, and did not harm the people's interests. The delegates expressed their approval. However, many privately doubted whether such a system could actually be implemented—those in power saying one thing and doing another, breaking their own word, was the most familiar common knowledge to Chinese commoners.
The Political Consultative Conference was drawing toward its close. All major policies had now been explained; what remained were details. Such details could not be clarified in a large gathering of hundreds, so group meetings were convened, with transmigrators explaining matters to each group.
The attendees were divided into groups by du and tu districts, with a transmigrator assigned to lead each group. At most, each group had only thirty or forty delegates. Anything they did not understand could be asked immediately, making communication far more efficient.
First, each village was issued a set of simple measuring instruments: a set of large and small 500-gram weights, designated the "big jin," and a one-meter wooden ruler, designated the "big chi." Both related to future material collection and represented the first standards the transmigrator regime needed to unify.
Wen Desi had also wanted to promote the Gregorian calendar, but calendars had always been the imperial court's prerogative. Unauthorized promulgation of calendars was tantamount to rebellion, so they ultimately decided against issuing one. They would address that after completely breaking with the court.
Finally, each village received a booklet of circulation voucher samples, complete with written instructions on usage and exchange methods. This booklet also bore the public office's credentials—in the future, transmigrators traveling to the countryside would need only to carry credentials to request support from villages.
By now it was nearly dinner time. Among the village elders and clan heads were many old foxes. Taking advantage of the face-to-face discussions, they insisted that militia sent to join the Security Regiment must be led by their own sons and nephews. How could that be allowed? The Executive Committee immediately rejected this unreasonable demand.
At this point, some landlords from along the Wenlan River raised the land issue—some of the land currently occupied by the transmigrators was supposedly unused wasteland but actually had owners. In the past, landlords had been afraid of the transmigrators' force, and no one had dared raise the matter. Now, seeing their friendly attitude and apparent reasonableness, some came forward weeping that such-and-such parcel was their family's property, that their entire household depended on it for sustenance, and now that the lords had taken it, the whole family was going hungry, and so on.
Ma Qianzhu frowned. The government troops had not even arrived yet, and already these landlords were trying to settle accounts in anticipation of a regime change! Now they were demanding land. When the transmigrators had occupied the territory, they had been very careful not to disturb or harm the people. Any land showing signs of cultivation or use had been left alone; they had selected only overgrown, desolate wasteland—and Lingao had no shortage of wasteland, including along the Wenlan River. Looking at the complaining delegates—each one plump and well-fed—none of them appeared remotely hungry. He was about to react sharply when Wen Desi stopped him:
"Don't do that. We've only just arrived—this is precisely the time to win the people's trust. We cannot be too heavy-handed."
This rightist really does have a soft spot for the exploiting class. Ma Qianzhu was quite displeased, but this was indeed the time for cultivating local goodwill, and landlord elements were targets for united front work. He could not afford to break with them, but he could not be too soft either, lest they push for more.
After consulting with Wu De, they announced: if transmigrators had occupied owned land, landlords could bring their deeds to process transfer procedures, and the public office would purchase at market rates. Since Lingao had such abundant wasteland, uncultivated land was essentially worthless—purchases would not cost much.
Unexpectedly, as soon as this decision was announced, Wu Ya also emerged to solemnly point out that much of the land occupied by the transmigrators, though wasteland, was government land. The transmigrators still had not processed deed transfers since occupying it. He suggested the public office visit the county yamen to arrange the deeds—now that the transmigrators had the entity of Bairren Village, they could handle various paperwork.
Damn—even the government wants a piece of the action. They truly spare no effort in revenue collection. Wu De thought: with a sword's handle in hand, the other party would not dare quote outrageous prices. Grease a few officials' palms, and state assets would naturally come cheap. They had seen this game played many times before; he simply had not expected to experience it firsthand in this timeline. He readily agreed, saying he would pay a visit another day. Wu Ya was delighted, thinking these baldies were becoming increasingly sensible.
This matter also reminded the transmigrators of the need to further investigate the county's land situation. Their development plans included road network construction and development of industrial and mining zones—all requiring collection of land data.
The First Lingao Political Consultative Conference finally drew to a successful close. Wen Desi delivered the closing address, then announced that all delegates would be hosted at a banquet that evening, complete with entertainment performances.
The evening banquet was held in the Commercial Hall at the East Gate Market. The main hall was put to excellent use. Originally a bare shell, the hall had been renovated especially for this conference. The interior decoration was the joint handiwork of Dongmen Chuiyu and Dugu. To impress this timeline's natives with a level of material civilization beyond their era and inspire awe, the Fengcheng once again served as a provider of modern goods. Despite the Navy's fierce objections, Dugu Qiuhun led a team to strip the Fengcheng's banquet hall of its crystal glass chandeliers, decorative paintings, and wall tapestries—all of which became the Commercial Hall's interior décor.
According to Dongmen Chuiyu's original plan, the floor would have been covered entirely with natural stone like marble. But stone-cutting machinery was currently in short supply, and no one knew how to operate it, so they settled for a traditional brick floor—decorated with red corridor carpet salvaged from the Fengcheng.
As Office Director, Xiao Zishan handled all these matters personally. Preparing a banquet for over three hundred delegates would have been convenient in the modern timeline—everything readily available. Here, everything had to be done from scratch. They sorted through the captured loot from the Gou Manor and cleaned up over a thousand pieces of porcelain tableware. Chopsticks were easy—the woodworking shop could produce them immediately. Food ingredients proved more difficult. Though vegetables were now plentiful, meat, eggs, poultry, and cooking oil were all in tight supply. Lin Quanfu rushed out to purchase and managed to obtain some chickens, ducks, and live pigs. The dishes would have to emphasize fish and shrimp. The Naval Forces Department used ship refrigerators to make ice and sent over plenty of fresh fish and shrimp, frozen. Fortunately, the canteen was not short on seasonings and spices, allowing for diverse preparation.
To demonstrate grandeur, a huge block of salted ice was specially made in the Fengcheng's cold storage and sent to the Commercial Hall. This ice block had been carved into a lion by the area's most skilled stonemason—it was the only thing he knew how to carve.
The ice lion now stood on a table in the center of the banquet hall. Under the chandelier's illumination, it gleamed brilliantly, wisps of white vapor rising from its surface. Around the ice sculpture, various tropical fruits and fresh flowers gathered by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Team from the Li territories and the Gaoshanling mountains were arranged in brilliant colors. Every dish and vase was glassware from their own glass factory.
The delegates had never seen anything like this. They stood dumbstruck—these short-hairs were truly extravagant! And extravagant far beyond their imagination! But what amazed them most was not the ice sculpture or the glassware—it was the glass chandelier hanging overhead, continuously releasing soft, bright light.
The delegates had long heard rumors that every night, the short-hairs' camp glittered with brilliant light, making even starlight and moonlight pale in comparison. At this moment, nearly everyone was gazing up at the chandelier, transfixed.
"Everyone please be seated, please be seated," Wu De called out, snapping them back to reality. They took their seats.
Since they used local eight-immortals tables, eight people sat at each table. The dishes were not numerous—the standard was six dishes and one soup, which by Ming dynasty banquet standards was quite modest. But because the cuisine was novel, everyone was quite satisfied. The white liquor that was served proved exceptionally mellow—far superior to the local rotgut. At first the delegates were somewhat reserved, but after Wu De and others made rounds encouraging drinking and a few cups were emptied, the atmosphere quickly livened up.
"Who would have thought these bal—short-hairs could even make such fine wine!" a gentleman could not help sighing.
"Indeed, I simply cannot figure it out," another delegate said. "Looking at how they eat, dress, and live—even the wealthy families in Guangzhou city might not compare. Why didn't they stay in their homeland? Why travel thousands of li to come to our poor backwater?"
"Look how small they build their houses, and they love building multi-story. Perhaps their homeland lacks land with too many people."
"I think they're short on women," a gentleman who had had a few too many blinked and laughed lewdly. "Look at those real baldies—basically all men. And women giving orders? If they weren't short of women, would they let womenfolk climb all over them?"
Everyone roared with laughter, agreeing heartily.
(End of Chapter)