Chapter 165: Institutional Adjustment

Besides the propaganda teams going to the countryside, Du Wen also found some cultural activists from the commune—so-called cultural activists were those who could sing local folk songs. She organized some writers to compose propaganda ballads and taught them to sing them in the Dongmen Market or with the teams going to the countryside. There was little folk entertainment in Lingao. To discover programs that the masses would enjoy, Du Wen even turned her attention to the monks and Taoist priests in the few dilapidated temples and monasteries outside the city. Although they were all religious figures, there was a great difference between being in a prosperous area and in a remote place like Lingao. The few temples and monasteries, though built by the government in the early Ming Dynasty, had not been repaired for over a hundred years and were in a state of disrepair. The seven or eight monks and five or six Taoist priests often lived a semi-starved existence. Du Wen recruited them all. After treating them to a few hearty meals, she proposed that they compose and sing religious ballads praising the transmigrators. These two types of ballads were religious songs sung by monks and Taoist priests in the past when they traveled and begged for alms. They mainly told religious stories and stories of karma, serving to exhort people to do good. In the past, when there were few folk entertainment activities, listening to and singing these ballads was also a pastime for the common people.

Now, these songs not only had to have content that exhorted people to do good, but also had to include the various “good deeds” of the transmigrators, such as relieving disaster victims, caring for the old and poor, clearing out bandits, and fighting pirates.

Du Wen was not very good at this kind of cultural work. Fortunately, there were people among the transmigrators who had studied Chinese literature and were engaged in folk art. They were invited to review the drafts. For every well-written song, the reward was one kilogram of rice, and for particularly outstanding ones, three kilograms. This price greatly motivated the religious workers who had been chronically hungry, and they quickly wrote thirty or forty songs. Du Wen asked them to go to the countryside to sing, and they were paid another kilogram of rice per day. After eating their fill and receiving “alms” of cloth from the transmigrators, the monks and Taoist priests all made new outfits and went to the countryside to do propaganda.

Under the bombardment of such a propaganda offensive, the voice of the transmigrators spread throughout Lingao County, from the county town to the most remote villages. The villages that had been procrastinating now had to reconsider their attitude, especially after the ballads infinitely praised the power and kindness of the transmigrators.

While the propaganda offensive for the “Political Consultative Conference” was underway, the Executive Committee also began the formal work of institutional adjustment.

Although a basic structure of six committees and four directly subordinate groups had been formed before the transmigration, several months of actual operation showed that this structure was too simplified. The result was that many professional groups appeared under each committee, some departments were suspected of overlapping, and some had completely deviated from their original purpose. The most typical example was the Security Group, whose function was now almost entirely focused on political security tasks, while public security was left to an un-established so-called “Dongmen Market Police Station.”

Another example was the current intelligence department. In theory, the Executive Committee had a professional intelligence and information group under it, but in fact, most of the people in it had nothing to do with intelligence and were mainly engaged in technical data and historical research. Although the Guangzhou dispatch station was nominally their subordinate, it actually belonged to another intelligence department set up under the Executive Committee.

Obviously, this simple and crude system could no longer meet the needs of the Transmigration regime. This was the unanimous view of the Executive Committee before the institutional adjustment meeting.

“Gentlemen, we are now a regime. Besides ourselves, we also have the common people. It is time to introduce civil administration institutions and methods,” Xiao Zishan said at the meeting. “The system of the Internal Affairs and Civil Administration Committee used to only serve the transmigrators. Such unclear functions are not suitable for future development.”

“So what is your opinion?”

“I propose to split the Internal Affairs and Civil Administration Committee.”

Xiao Zishan’s opinion was to split the Internal Affairs and Civil Administration Committee into two departments. One, as its name suggests, would manage civil affairs, that is, the native residents under their rule. The other would be changed to the “General Office.”

“General Office?” someone asked, puzzled.

“I know what Zishan means,” Wen Desi said. “The so-called General Office is specifically responsible for the daily life of the transmigrators themselves, their food, clothing, housing, and transportation, right?”

“Yes, that’s basically what I’m in charge of now. But the civil administration part will become more and more burdensome in the future. Ah De needs a dedicated institution to manage it. It’s not appropriate for him to always act in the capacity of the head of the labor group and the commune chief.”

Undoubtedly, this was great news for Wu De. Once this split happened, Wu De would become the de facto Minister of Civil Affairs, one of the members of the Executive Committee. Currently, he only participated in the Executive Committee meetings as the head of a professional group.

Wu De did not show any modest refusal—because what Xiao Zishan said was very reasonable, and he himself had thought about this issue. But in his speech, he proposed that his concurrent post as commune chief could only be temporary. In the long run, it was better for a local to hold the position of commune chief.

So, starting with this proposal, the Executive Committee held several meetings, large and small, not only including the committee members but also various groups and professionals. The discussions were very enthusiastic. Wen Desi made it clear in the institutional adjustment meeting that although the adjustment was a major event, it could not be at the cost of institutional bloat. The transmigrators themselves were still responsible for many basic tasks. If the institutions were set up too numerously and too finely, the final result would inevitably be that the vast majority of people would be busy with administrative affairs. And for a while, there were not many qualified locals to hold various positions.

After several days of discussion, debate, and private consultation, the institutional adjustment plan was finally released:

The Internal Affairs and Civil Administration Committee was abolished and replaced by the Civil Administration Committee and the Executive Committee General Office.

Wu De was appointed as the Civil Administration Commissioner, with full authority to manage the native residents who had submitted to the Transmigration regime. The Bairen Commune, the labor teams, and the labor reform teams would continue to be under his management. New departments were established: the General Legal Affairs Department, the General Taxation Department, and the General Industry and Commerce Department.

Xiao Zishan was appointed as the Director of the Executive Committee General Office, responsible for all the life affairs of the transmigrators and the administrative and personnel affairs of the Executive Committee. The original General Affairs Group and IT Group directly under the Executive Committee were merged into the General Office.

The Committee of Industry, Communications, Energy, and Transportation was renamed the Committee of Industry and Energy, with the Ministry of Mechanical Industry, the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Metallurgy, and the Ministry of Light Industry under it.

The communications and transportation sections under the former Committee of Industry, Communications, Energy, and Transportation were separated to form the Telecom General Corporation and the Postal and Transportation Bureau, respectively. The construction group, which originally belonged to this committee, became the Lingao Construction General Corporation. The committee also established a new Water Affairs Bureau and a new Power General Corporation.

The Agricultural Committee remained unchanged, and it was explicitly authorized to operate food processing enterprises. The transmigrators’ cafeteria, managed by the Ministry of Agriculture, was transferred to the General Office, and the laborers’ cafeteria was transferred to the Civil Administration Committee.

The Committee of Foreign Affairs and Commerce had under it the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Foreign Trade Company, and overseas stations. It was responsible for all external contact matters, including negotiations, trade, and representations. The so-called foreign trade referred to all foreign trade directly participated in by the transmigrators with regions outside of Lingao. The Guangzhou advance station was subordinate to this committee in terms of organization. The institutions and members of this committee were also responsible for collecting intelligence and information and were accountable to the Intelligence Committee.

The Planning Committee did not undergo major adjustments, but its subordinate Finance and Banking Committee became an independent department with the same status as other committees. Ma Qianzhu continued to serve as a member of the Planning Committee, and Cheng Dong was appointed as the Finance and Banking Commissioner.

The Military Committee underwent a major adjustment, with the formal establishment of the General Staff Department, the Training General Corps, the Department of the Army, and the Department of Maritime Forces. The Department of Maritime Forces was not only responsible for naval affairs but also for all maritime affairs, including sea transportation, fishery production, and fishery management. The Training General Corps managed all healthy adult male transmigrators, using modern weapons. In case of an accident where the native army was unreliable, the Training General Corps would be mobilized. The transmigrator militia within the former military group formed its backbone.

A new Internal Affairs Committee was established as the general command institution for the powerful departments. Under it were the new Police Headquarters and Customs. The original Security Group was reorganized into the General Political Security Administration, and the internal security forces from the former Military Committee system were merged into the General Political Security Administration.

The Propaganda Department had under it the radio station, the printing factory, and the propaganda office. The Lingao Times was officially given an establishment.

The Resources Department had the remote resource exploration team, the Great Library, and the surveying team.

The Ministry of Education was responsible for local education work.

The Intelligence Committee, besides having the Foreign Intelligence Department, which directly dispatched and controlled full-time intelligence personnel, also served as an intelligence coordination and analysis agency. It was responsible for analyzing and summarizing intelligence and information from various sources, such as the military, foreign affairs and trade, and political security. The Guangzhou dispatch station was under its dual leadership with the Committee of Foreign Affairs and Commerce.

This new system had clearer functions and took into account the needs of all parties, so everyone was quite satisfied. Then, Ma Qianzhu struck while the iron was hot, announcing that from that day on, a project approval system would be adopted. No department could arbitrarily start any new facilities or projects without the approval of the Planning Committee.

“In the previous stage, all the ministries and commissions were scrambling to improve their own office environment, building buildings, renovating, and purchasing furniture. Every one of them was preparing to enjoy life,” Ma Qianzhu said with a pained expression. “How much labor, cement, and bricks and tiles were consumed!”

“Comrades, I know that everyone has braved dangers and hardships to come to this era, for no other reason than to have food and clothing, wealth and honor, and to become officials. Right now, everyone is living a carefree life. Although it’s a bit hard, with a few plates of seafood and a couple of small cups of wine every day, life is indeed quite good. Some comrades are even thinking about ‘life secretaries.’ This is not impossible.”

“But we must also remember the old saying: if a man takes no thought for the distant, he will find sorrow near at hand. At present, the Transmigration regime is only entrenched in a corner of this small county of Lingao. The pirates Zheng Zhilong, Zhu Cailao, and Liu Xiang are eyeing us covetously. The Ming army will come to suppress us sooner or later. And there are all kinds of foreign robbers. We are sleeping on a volcano! We must not let our guard down!”

Everyone looked at Ma Qianzhu with a serious expression. He then spent ten minutes denouncing the Army’s private construction of a club, expressing his extreme pain at such an undisciplined phenomenon. The Army’s people never expected to be pulled out by Ma Qianzhu as a living target. They all hung their heads in dejection.

“As for the Army club, since more than 70% of it has been completed, we will not demand a halt to the work here. But this is not to be taken as a precedent.” Although Ma Qianzhu had singled out the Army club for criticism, like all similar matters, it was concluded with very Chinese characteristics.