Chapter 177: The Assembly (Part 4)

Representatives like Fu Buer arrived in East Gate Market one after another over the next few days. Some were visiting the area controlled by the transmigrator group for the first time, while others were frequent visitors. Regardless of who they were, the safety, cleanliness, and convenience of life in the area controlled by the transmigrator group left a deep impression on them. For many, the county town was the most prosperous place they had ever been, but the prosperity of East Gate Market was on a completely different level. Even those who had traveled far and been to Guangzhou, the number one commercial port in southern China, could see that the level of detail in East Gate Market far surpassed that of Guangzhou.

The representatives’ spending greatly stimulated consumption. Although each representative received meal tickets, their attendants were not provided with food. Many representatives also wanted to try the Kun people’s food, especially the scrambled eggs with tomatoes at the merchant’s guild restaurant, which was sweet and sour, appetizing, and went well with rice. There were also green tender pea pods—according to the waiter, they were called “Dutch beans”—which were sweet and tender when stir-fried. There were also vegetables that looked like flowers, some white and some green. The white ones were firm and crisp, while the green ones were soft and tender, each with its own unique flavor.

The chefs at the merchant’s guild restaurant were selected from several chefs who had come to seek refuge from the Gou family. Although the cooking habits and techniques of the Ming Dynasty were different from modern times, professionals were professionals. After being trained by several “gourmets,” they soon became much better than the transmigrators who were part-time chefs in the canteen. The merchant’s guild restaurant hired them as soon as it opened. The county-wide assembly was a good opportunity to advertise the restaurant.

Some of the gentry who enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle simply gave their meal tickets to their attendants and paid for their own meals at the restaurant with silver. The sales of scrambled eggs with tomatoes surged, so much so that the eggs in the transmigrator canteen became scarce for a time—the tomato scrambled eggs in the canteen became tomato egg drop soup, and everyone had a lot of complaints about it.

The one who had no complaints was Wu Nanhai. It was his idea to supply the conference representatives with a variety of new vegetable varieties. Compared to high-yield grain crops, farmers in the past had little incentive to grow new vegetable varieties—anyway, green vegetables and cabbage were edible, so there was no need to serve another kind. A wide variety of vegetables was a demand of the leisure class. To get farmers to grow them, you had to first move the stomachs of the rich and idle class and let them create the demand.

The conference organizing committee deliberately let this group of representatives eat, drink, play, and sightsee in East Gate Market, allowing them to fully experience that the sky was bluer, the water was greener, and the food was better in the area ruled by the transmigrators. Only then did the plenary session begin.

The county-wide militia joint defense conference, or as it was later called in the history books: the first Lingao Political Consultative Conference, was finally officially held on the second day of the second lunar month, the day the dragon raises its head.

Early in the morning, special reception staff came to the inn to welcome the representatives into the city—the conference venue was chosen to be the open-air cinema in Bairen City. This cinema had relatively complete facilities, especially the sound amplification equipment that had already been installed, which made it very convenient for meetings.

The representatives all changed into their best clothes. When they came out, they saw that the reception staff were all young boys and girls. The boys wore short, dark blue jackets that were almost black, with two bright pockets, a stand-up collar, and a center placket instead of a left or right one, with a straight row of black round wooden buttons, the collar buttoned tightly. Paired with their short hair, they looked clean and neat. The girls wore similar dark blue blouses in a pullover style, with a handkerchief-like lining on the back of their shoulders, and a blue pleated long skirt. It was both simple and beautiful. The only thing that was a bit shabby was their hair—it was clear that they had been shaved bald not long ago, and their hair was still just short stubble.

The reception staff were all students of the Lingao National School. These children, who were first bought from Guangzhou, had received more than two months of education, learned culture, and had been repeatedly brainwashed. They were considered relatively reliable personnel. Having them serve as receptionists was a way to train their ability to deal with people—after all, they would be the main source of cadres for the transmigrator regime in the future.

Originally, Xiao Zishan had considered the issue of segregation of the sexes and wanted to send only boys out. Later, Du Wen made a fuss, saying that this was discrimination against women. In addition, Yu E’shui also said that the so-called segregation of the sexes was never a thing in the countryside, especially in the rural areas of the south. Women were the main force in agricultural production, so ordinary rural women never bound their feet, and it was also common for them to show their faces in public. With female receptionists, the representatives would at most think that these were maids bought by the short-hairs.

“Please wear your representative badges, thank you,” Li Yuanyuan held an electric megaphone and a small triangular flag, shouting continuously like a tour guide. “Everyone, please pay attention to the order and don’t cut in line. Attendants are not allowed to enter the venue. Please leave your attendants in the market. We have special personnel to entertain them.”

Having Li Yuanyuan play this role was to make the representatives aware of the status of women among the transmigrators and to prepare them psychologically for some future measures to improve women’s rights. Although there were no feminists in the Executive Committee except for Du Wen, and they were not interested in protecting women’s rights, in this time and place, liberating women was liberating productivity. Everyone understood this principle.

The representatives gathered together according to their respective districts and diagrams. Each diagram was assigned a few students to lead the way. The student at the head of each group also held a small flag with the words “Lingao X District X Diagram” written on it. To accommodate the illiterate representatives, the small flags were also painted with different animal and plant patterns for them to identify.

As each team was formed, they were led into the city by the students. Although East Gate Market was very lively every day, and there were many natives coming and going on the highway, the interior of Bairen City had always been heavily guarded. Although the earthen ramparts were not high, they were lined with watchtowers and gun platforms, and there were also many barbed wire fences. The moat outside was several meters deep. Even the police and New Army soldiers trained by the transmigrator regime itself rarely had the opportunity to enter this forbidden zone within a forbidden zone. There were many legends in the county about what it was like inside. Some said it was like a fairyland, while others said it was like the Avici Hell. There were many different opinions, so the representatives were all very curious about the interior of Bairen City. Now that they had the opportunity to see it, everyone was a little impatient.

Upon entering the city, they saw that it was indeed different from the outside. The streets were paved with bricks and stones just like in East Gate Market, with trees planted on both sides. There were also black-painted wooden poles standing in a row along the roadside, with a white hat-like thing on top and a glass ball under the hat. No one knew what they were for. The houses here were also different from those outside. The ones outside were either red brick or green brick, but the ones inside were all blue and white, square and extremely regular. The representatives suddenly discovered that the walls and roofs of these houses were actually made of iron!

This discovery caused a sensation. Although iron was not a valuable object, it was definitely a rarity in Lingao. The iron products here were all imported from the mainland. There was only one blacksmith in the county town who could repair farm tools and make some daily ironware. He couldn’t even make larger things like farm tools. This group of overseas visitors not only sat on large iron ships, but even their houses were made of iron! This alone was enough to inspire awe.

“It’s glass!” a representative suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

It was not white window paper, nor was it the mica sheets used by wealthy families, but large pieces of glass, shining and arranged on the houses, reflecting the winter sun of Lingao. A low but extremely surprised sigh came from the crowd of representatives.

Huang Bingkun followed the team and walked inside, and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of admiration in his heart—no wonder his father, leading the combined forces of the entire county assembled by Old Master Wu, couldn’t break this fortress. The amount of iron here alone was enough to scare people to death. Huang Bingkun had not participated in the attack on Bairen Fortress at that time. After his father, Huang Shoutong, returned, he remained silent about the battle, but he still learned from the village braves who had survived by the skin of their teeth that the other side’s firearms were extremely sharp, and their own side couldn’t even stand a single confrontation. In the past, he still felt that the village braves were exaggerating, but now it seemed that he had underestimated this group of “Kun bandits.”

He thought about how he and his elder brother had originally advocated ignoring the matter of the meeting—it was one thing not to avenge his third brother’s death, but to have to flatter them? Thinking of his third brother who was killed by the Kun bandits, Huang Bingkun’s heart was still filled with resentment, but his father insisted that he go. It seemed that his father was the one who best understood the strength of the “Kun bandits.”

Now, he could only feign compliance and take the opportunity to probe the Kun bandits’ strengths and weaknesses, waiting for the day when the imperial court’s army would come to annihilate them and he could avenge his hatred.

With this thought in mind, he looked more carefully than the others. He saw that the houses in the city seemed to be scattered here and there, but upon closer inspection, the layout of the houses had a certain order. There were very few independent houses; they were all arranged in clusters. The gaps between the houses were either sealed with bricks and stones, or had additional walls and the Kun bandits’ unique iron mesh walls built around the clusters. The four corners were defended with high and thick protruding platforms. Each cluster had only one entrance and exit, with a small and sturdy watchtower guarding the entrance. It could be said to be heavily guarded. The clusters were connected by roads, and various watchtowers and blockhouses were staggered at different heights. Not to mention firearms, even bows and arrows could provide a very tight blockade.

Although Huang Bingkun was a xiucai, he had a good understanding of military affairs due to his father’s influence and his practical experience in fighting bandits. With such tight defenses by the Kun bandits, the government army would probably not be able to break in without five or six thousand men and red barbarian cannons. Huang Bingkun’s mood sank a lot.

Huang Shoutong’s instructions to this son were simple. Right now, the entire county had no strength to resist them. A direct confrontation would definitely not have a good result.

“The Kun bandits are playing a game of chess in Lingao,” Huang Shoutong said to him in a private instruction before he left. “I can’t see how big the game is right now. But they are like a national master, making their moves one by one. Our small Huang Family Village can’t resist them. The only way is to ‘drag’!”

“The Kun bandits’ intentions are now known to everyone, but the gentry and wealthy households still have the idea of ‘using bandits to control bandits,’” Huang Shoutong said. “Since the Kun bandits have occupied this county, they will naturally not tolerate other bandits causing trouble. Therefore, they will do their best to annihilate the local bandits and resist the pirates. This county has suffered from banditry, and the gentry and wealthy households are mostly short-sighted. It is difficult for them not to be tempted.”

“The general trend is irreversible, and we cannot go against the current. Fortunately, there are two or three hundred villages in this county, and at least three hundred people will attend the meeting. The allocation of grain and labor involves complex entanglements. Even officials find it tricky, let alone a few overseas Kun bandits. As long as we give a few hints to the wealthy households on minor details, someone will naturally come forward to object. The more they discuss, the more complicated it will become.”

Huang Bingkun thought that his father’s “dragging” strategy was not bad, but how should he carry it out? He was pondering when two more sedan chairs came from behind. One was an official sedan chair with the window curtain raised, and inside sat the county magistrate, Wu Ya. The person in the other one behind was not clear, but he estimated it should be Old Master Wu’s strategist, Wang Zhaomin.

Even these two key figures from the county yamen had come. The Kun bandits really had a lot of face. However, he felt even more pressure. The county yamen sending people here meant that Old Master Wu had reached some kind of agreement with the Kun bandits, not only tacitly agreeing but possibly even supporting their actions.

These officials are good for nothing but spoiling things, Huang Bingkun thought with disappointment. They were probably bought off with silver by the Kun bandits. They would leave after their term was over, leaving behind endless troubles for the local area.

When they arrived at the shell-shaped, tiered cinema, the representatives all found it very novel. But soon, under the guidance of the male and female students, they sat down according to their respective districts and diagrams. On the stage in the middle, there were some strange, shiny things with long black leather cords attached to them. A short-hair walked up and put his mouth to it. Suddenly, a huge, noisy “hello, hello” sound echoed throughout the venue, startling everyone.

The first consultative conference began just like that. The Executive Committee had been preparing for this conference for several weeks. Of course, the so-called consultative conference itself was not about “consultation,” but about informing. It was to make the local villages initially accept the rule of the transmigrator regime.

Adhering to the guiding principle of boiling a frog in warm water, the transmigrators’ first step was very simple: to have the villages provide grain and labor. The transmigrators were not money-scattering boys who could endlessly pour silver into this land—this would only cause inflation, and the transmigrators currently lacked the light industrial products to withdraw the currency.

Light industrial products required a complete industrial system. This system could not be completed by the transmigrators themselves and the two thousand natives attached to them. They had to obtain a wider range of labor support from the local area, so that they could liberate the most reliable commune members from the simplest labor-intensive industries such as logging, quarrying, and brick-making, and cultivate them into Lingao’s first generation of industrial workers.

The transmigrator regime’s currency was backed by grain. To ensure the safety of the currency and at the same time support the growing non-productive industrial population, more grain had to be reserved. Peaceful means such as purchasing alone could not effectively guarantee the safety of grain. This was the first point.

Second, only through the disguised tax of levying grain could the natural-economy villages feel the change of rulers. At the same time, it would also let them see the superiority of the transmigrator regime in using taxation compared to the traditional government.