Chapter 46: The Final Interlude

On this weed-strewn training ground, all the transmigrators gathered for the first General Assembly.

Although many plans had been formulated months ago, some key issues remained unresolved, with significant controversy and no conclusion. The committee decided that before the transmigration began, all these issues would be written into formal law by vote, to serve as the guiding principles for future actions. This later became known in history as the “Training Ground Assembly.”

The proposals that had been fiercely debated on the transmigrator forums for months were brought out one by one for everyone to discuss. After discussion and revision, several important proposals gained everyone’s approval, with only a few dissenting voices that lacked significant support.

First, the assembly made a series of definitions for various terms:

• Transmigrator: All residents of this time-space participating in this temporal migration, regardless of gender, age, profession, or ethnicity.
• Native: All local people of the 17th-century time-space, regardless of gender, age, profession, ethnicity, or nationality.

Because they had no practical experience in how a government should operate, the entire system was guided by the principle of simplicity and clarity, without getting entangled in excessive professional jargon. The meeting decided:

The supreme authority of the future transmigrator polity would be the Transmigrator General Assembly.

The General Assembly has the power to elect and reorganize the Transmigrator Executive Committee, formulate various laws and policies, and decide on important internal and external affairs. Under normal circumstances, it convenes once a month. In case of major emergencies, it can be convened by a motion of three or more Executive Committee members or more than one-third of the transmigrators. Except in special circumstances, the attendance of transmigrators at the assembly must exceed 90%.

All transmigrators aged 18 and above automatically become members of the General Assembly, with the right to elect and be elected as members of the Executive Committee. The number of members of the General Assembly cannot be increased or decreased. Upon retirement, a transmigrator’s seat can be inherited by one designated child in a 1:1 ratio.

The Transmigrator Administrative Executive Committee is the permanent administrative body of the transmigrators, with the authority to stipulate administrative measures, formulate administrative regulations, and issue decisions and orders; to propose motions to the General Assembly; and to be responsible for all administrative affairs.

Its members consist of full-time executive commissioners and the heads and deputy heads of the various administrative professional departments under the Executive Committee.

1. Committee for Industry, Communications, Energy, and Transport (Ministry of Industry)
2. Committee for Agriculture (Ministry of Agriculture)
3. Committee for Foreign Affairs and Commerce (Ministry of Commerce)
4. Committee for Military Affairs (Ministry of Military)
5. Committee for Internal and Civil Affairs (Ministry of Internal Affairs)
6. Planning Commission

Under each committee, various professional groups were established. Considering the limited number of professionals, the actual deployment of personnel and materials was still uniformly scheduled at the committee level.

The newly established Planning Commission was tasked with managing the collection, storage, auditing, and distribution of various resources; assessing the use of resources; and overseeing the implementation of various construction policies.

In addition to the various ministries, the Executive Committee directly administered:

• General Affairs Group: Responsible for paperwork, file collection and organization, and coordinating the work of the committees.
• IT Group: Responsible for the operation of all computer systems.
• Information and Intelligence Group: Manages all the information materials brought by the transmigrators.
• Policy Advisory Group: Provides policy advice to the General Assembly and the Executive Committee.

The leaders of these directly administered groups were also members of the Executive Committee.

There were many different opinions on the departmental setup. The focus was mainly on whether the power of the Planning Commission was too great and who would supervise the potential problems that might arise in the operation of the Executive Committee. Therefore, among the three full-time executive commissioners, in addition to the Chairman of the Executive Committee and the Secretary-General of the Executive Committee, a Supervisory Commissioner was also established.

Thus, the entire Executive Committee had a total of 19 members. Major decisions of the Executive Committee must be approved by a majority of the General Assembly to be effective. The term of office is 4 years. If a minister or other member gives up their seat before the end of their term, their department will hold a joint meeting to elect a successor to fill the seat until the end of the term or the next election. If the department cannot convene a meeting to decide, the Executive Committee may nominate or appoint a person to exercise the powers until the General Assembly convenes to elect a new person. The committee meets twice a week and can be convened at any time in an emergency.

Immediately after, the transmigrators voted to pass the Executive Committee’s first proposal: to authorize a temporary state of emergency in the early period of the transmigration. During this period, except for matters involving declarations of war, treaty-making, and major personnel reorganizations, all affairs would be handled by the Executive Committee with full authority. The Executive Committee has the right to implement any policy and action it deems beneficial to all transmigrators. The state of emergency will last for 6 months from D-Day, after which the General Assembly will decide whether to extend it.

Until the General Assembly deems it necessary to amend the transmigrator welfare policy, all transmigrators will enjoy a supply system for basic necessities, including food, clothing, and healthcare, all free of charge.

The distribution of benefits would use a joint-stock system for dividends.

The equipment brought for the transmigration is divided into two parts: personal and public.

• Personal Part: (e.g., someone’s private liquor) The ownership and right of use belong entirely to the individual.
• Public Part: Composed of items and cash contributed by the transmigrators to the organization (or items originally privately owned but requisitioned by the committee). Once contributed, the items belong entirely to the organization, and their distribution and use are decided entirely by the organization. Accountants and asset liquidators will conduct a comprehensive liquidation based on the pre-transmigration value and post-transmigration use value, which is then converted into dividend-only shares and distributed to each member.

Every transmigrator, regardless of whether they contributed funds or equipment, unconditionally receives 100,000 original dividend shares—children are no exception. This is to provide a minimum guarantee for transmigrators with limited financial means.

The unit of stock is the point coupon (the internal accounting currency of the transmigrators), with 1 share = 1 point coupon.

The distribution of benefits is divided into 5 parts:

1. Positional Salary: Each transmigrator receives a different salary according to their job, i.e., distribution according to labor. In principle, the highest salary will not exceed twice the lowest.
2. Bonuses: To stimulate work enthusiasm, bonuses (in kind or in accounting currency) are given to those who make significant contributions to the work of the transmigrators. Bonuses are one-time and temporary, divided into three levels: Assembly level, Department level, and Group level.
3. Allowances: Extra allowances for transmigrators with special skills, engaged in dangerous affairs, or working long hours.
4. Dividends: 10% of the total annual profits from the transmigrator organization’s commercial institutions and the spoils of war from its military institutions will be extracted and distributed as stock dividends to each shareholder.
5. Welfare Foundation: 2% of the total annual profits will be extracted as special income for the Transmigrator Foundation. The proceeds of this foundation will be used to cover future welfare expenses and children’s education costs for the transmigrators.

Shares only have dividend rights and only affect the amount of dividends received. If a General Assembly is convened, it is still one person, one vote, not one share, one vote.

Upon the death of a transmigrator, half of their shares will be given to a person or institution designated in their will (no limit on the number), and the other half will be returned to the state. This applies to all shareholders.

Currently, all benefit distribution is calculated in point coupons. Under normal circumstances, individuals cannot increase their shareholdings.

As for those with amorous intentions who had already proposed whether the transmigrator state could provide multi-child subsidies, the Executive Committee’s answer was to wait until they actually had children. The issue of welfare was too complex and could not be planned in too much detail at present.

Overall, everyone was quite satisfied with the entire political and distribution system. After the meeting, everyone received their stock certificate—custom-printed at great expense by the Executive Committee at a local printing factory. It had the crisp feel of banknote paper, with blue ink and incredibly complex patterns. The central motif was a ship sailing on the waves under a rising sun. It was also printed with the holder’s name, code, and a serial barcode—for re-issuance in case of loss or damage. The Executive Committee even specially provided a plastic waterproof pouch with a lanyard for each certificate.

“200,000 shares, damn. I wonder how much dividend I’ll get in the future. It should be enough to support 4-5 wives, right?”

“No ambition. What’s this little dividend?” Wu Nanhai stuffed his stock certificate into the waterproof pouch. “I hope that after I die, dozens of my children will fight over my inheritance!” He looked up at the 21st-century sky with great ambition. Under the sky of the 17th century, Wu Nanhai—this otaku graduate of an agricultural university—would satisfy his grand ambitions.

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The first Saturday after the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, just as Guo Yi had woken up, his mobile phone rang.

It was his section chief.

“Little Guo, that Transmigration Company you investigated last time—”

“Yes! I have submitted the relevant report.”

“There’s a problem with this company. Get to the office within 20 minutes.” The section chief hung up. This sent a cold sweat down Guo Yi’s back—the words “there’s a problem” were not used lightly. If they said there was a problem, it meant there was a big problem.

He arrived at the office in 18 minutes. In addition to his section chief, there was a leader from the agency’s foreign affairs department, accompanied by two foreigners, a man and a woman. The woman was blonde and blue-eyed. The man, although having the black hair and black eyes of a pure-blooded Chinese, Guo Yi could tell from his years of work experience that he was an ABC (American-Born Chinese). These two foreigners looked fit and capable; they were most likely personnel from a law enforcement agency.

“This is Xue Ziliang, and this is his partner, Sarlina,” the section chief introduced. “They are field agents from the USA’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. Half a month ago, the bureau issued a bulletin that several Chinese nationals had transported a large number of firearms and ammunition to Hawaii, rented a 100-ton yacht there, and then left port. The sailing papers they filed were for Vietnam. They suspect that these firearms and ammunition are on that boat.”

“Will it enter our waters?”

“Let’s put it this way, I believe their destination is not Vietnam at all, but very likely mainland China!”

“And they were in frequent contact with the Transmigration Company you investigated last time!” the section chief added.

Guo Yi’s head buzzed. This is huge! Smuggling weapons and ammunition, and from the US to China? The nature of this case is serious.

The department agreed to let the two American agents accompany them as observers to provide assistance. Guo Yi, holding the materials, returned to his office in a daze. It felt a bit like being drunk—both apprehensive and expectant. If he could solve this case, it would be a great merit.

“Hello, let’s start as soon as possible,” said the Chinese-American agent named Xue Ziliang, who spoke fluent Mandarin.

In the conference room, Xue Ziliang and his partner introduced some of the suspicious circumstances they had uncovered.

“There are five Chinese men, two Chinese women, one Latina woman, and one young Chinese girl on the boat.”

He handed Guo Yi a folder containing photos and personal information of each person.

“According to our investigation, there are two families on board, one of which has a child. The Latina woman seems to be the girlfriend of one of the Chinese men. However, we are not very clear, because we don’t even know her name.”

Guo Yi was a bit baffled. Was this a combination for arms smuggling? It wasn’t strange to have women, but why a child?

Seeing his confusion, Xue Ziliang said:

“We believe they may be using a family sailing trip as a cover for some illegal smuggling trade.” He told Guo Yi that in the past month, the ATF had discovered these people were buying large quantities of firearms, mainly SKS semi-automatic rifles, and ammunition. The quantity was astonishing, far exceeding the needs of a normal gun enthusiast. Moreover, they already owned a considerable number of private firearms. To purchase hundreds more weapons was not a common behavior for Chinese-Americans in the US—their motives were clearly not good.

“So you think it’s appropriate for white Americans to do this?” Guo Yi took great offense at this last sentence. You banana, you don’t even know what color your own skin is!

“No, no, that’s not what I meant.” Xue Ziliang was a bit flustered. The issue of race was always a sensitive topic in the United States. “I mean, this is not in line with the behavioral habits of the Chinese-American community. I am not denying that they enjoy the rights granted by the US Constitution…” Eager to change the subject, he quickly continued, “There is also a person with a prior record among them.” He pointed to a page in the folder. The photo showed a square-faced Chinese man with graying hair. “This person is named Lin Chuanqing. He was once a snakehead in a human smuggling ring and is familiar with the smuggling routes from the United States to the South China Sea. With him at the helm, we have to doubt their true destination!”

“Besides the phone calls, are there any other suspicious points that can be linked to the Transmigration Company?”

“We don’t know who they were contacting. It was only when we came to your department that we learned those numbers belonged to the ‘Transmigration Company’ and related personnel. We made inquiries back home and found that one of the five men had returned to China seven months ago. The port of entry was Guangzhou. Here is his file.”

Guo Yi glanced at it. Shi Niaoren. What a strange name. His profession was a doctor, specializing in infectious diseases. Would such a scholarly-looking middle-aged man be involved in arms smuggling?

Guo Yi made phone calls, checked files, and on the way, asked the general affairs section to bring some instant coffee—these two Americans showed no intention of resting. It looked like they were in for a long haul.

The result of his call to the local department startled Guo Yi: the Transmigration Company had terminated their lease two weeks ago! The base was now empty, except for two clueless old gatekeepers. There was no one left.

Where did they go? After a flurry of phone calls, he finally learned from the highway administration that several vehicles registered to the Transmigration Company had gone via the expressway to a county on the Leizhou Peninsula—a county that happened to have a port!

A port? Could it be the rendezvous point? Then there must be a ship! Guo Yi’s thoughts turned to this. Suddenly, he recalled his solo reconnaissance of the training base: the base had a harbor, and there were small boats in the harbor…

He immediately started making phone calls.