Chapter 331: Problems to Be Solved

Bai Duolu was shocked by Wu Shimang’s fantastical speech. It was only after he finished his tirade that Bai Duolu spoke again: “If the church really becomes so powerful, aren’t you afraid that one day the Executive Committee will revolutionize the church?”

The history of secular power and religious power first cooperating and then fighting is not uncommon, both ancient and modern, at home and abroad. Once the church’s power becomes too great, it will inevitably tend to interfere with secular political power. The transmigrators have enough precedents in this regard.

Although Wen Desi had once thought of being an archangel, this was on the premise of his sole dictatorship. A theocracy would naturally be an advantageous approach. In the current situation, no matter who was in charge, no one would like to see a powerful religious order emerge.

Even if it was purely a matter of cooperation within the Transmigration Group, the first generation of transmigrators might be able to maintain a tacit understanding of cooperation, but as time went on, it could not be guaranteed with the third and fourth generations of Elders—the existence of such a powerful organization would be attractive to any ambitious person.

“That’s a possibility,” Wu Shimang nodded solemnly. “How to balance and check this will require everyone to think more about it.”

“I think this matter cannot be so high-profile,” Bai Duolu couldn’t help but lower his voice. “At most, we can make some noise about ‘winning the hearts and minds of the people,’ but we must not overemphasize the organization of the church.”

Wu Shimang thought for a moment and nodded repeatedly. “That’s right, we shouldn’t be too aggressive.” He said with full confidence, “But there is still a lot of work to be done in this area.”

Bai Duolu broke out in a cold sweat, thinking that it would be best for him to gradually withdraw from church affairs to avoid getting in too deep. He thought of He Ying. “What does Director He think about this?”

“He’s been busy recently with research on local Buddhism and Taoism, to see if we can restore a few temples and monasteries in Lingao to enrich the spiritual life of the people. He has no time to think about these things,” Wu Shimang said. “We’ll talk again when he gets back.”

The beginning of 1630 passed in small meetings among various factions. Many people, with different feelings, were planning proposals, canvassing, and gathering information. Shan Liang’s reputation skyrocketed after he led the demonstration—since the Lingao Times was also for external distribution, it did not cover the Maid Revolution, but it published a detailed internal extra as a substitute. Shan Liang’s name and appearance thus became familiar to all the transmigrators.

After Shan Liang returned to his dormitory and slept it off, he woke up with the effects of the alcohol gone. Recalling the events of the previous night, he couldn’t help but feel a little scared. For several days, he was on edge, always feeling that Ran Yao would lead a group of people from the Political Security General Bureau to rush into his dormitory, handcuff him, and then drag him to a public trial and execution, or worse—silently place him under house arrest in some room.

When he returned to the telecommunications building for work, he had expected to be called in by his superiors for a talk, to listen to some teachings, advice, and warnings. To his surprise, Li Yunxing didn’t mention it at all. Everyone went about their business as usual. Shao Zong, however, chatted with him a lot. Shan Liang felt a little comforted—the masses generally approved of his actions.

As time went on, everyone’s attention gradually shifted to the discussion of the general assembly and the maid distribution plan. The Maid Revolution began to be forgotten, and people no longer gave him strange looks when they saw him. The Political Security General Bureau’s action team did not appear in the middle of the night to arrest him. As Shan Liang gradually felt at ease, he also felt a little lost. Was this the end of his activism?

There was no turning back. Shan Liang knew very well that after the Maid Revolution, although the members of the Executive Committee, with their shallow power base, did not dare to retaliate against him, it was inevitable that he would be excluded from the future central power circle. Not only that, but he would definitely have a glass ceiling over his head in the future. After several nights of deep thought, he made up his mind. He could not remain silent—on the contrary, he had to constantly make his voice heard to ensure his future.

“To be forgotten is to die,” Shan Liang thought to himself, deciding to go and have a good talk with Cheng Mo—he didn’t have much of a relationship with Cheng Mo, but the problems he faced after this demonstration were also the problems Cheng Mo had to face. They had a common language.

After the two met, they had a long talk on the Wenlan River embankment. After this conversation, Shan Liang was even more determined to “go into politics”—since the path of rising through technology was no longer possible, he could only try to use the aftermath of the Maid Revolution to portray himself as a representative who petitioned for the people. To this end, he became actively involved, dedicating all his spare time to “political activities.”

After some organization, the preparatory committee for the general assembly, chaired by Ma Jia, summarized the topics for the second general assembly.

Many proposals that met the co-sponsorship requirements were received one after another, but many of the transmigrators were clearly not clear on what the general assembly should do. Many proposals were actually specific administrative measures and plans.

The members of the Law Club believed that these topics and proposals, from a certain perspective, were unrelated to the purpose of the general assembly—discussing technical details. The essence of the general assembly was to amend the constitution—or more specifically, how to distribute power and benefits, not to discuss where to attack next, how the Qiwei Escort Agency should be fully accepted, and how the dispatched stations should spend their money.

The purpose of the meeting, in the eyes of the members of the caretaker cabinet, was twofold: first, the internal distribution of benefits, and second, the determination of goals and programs. The former was to appease the people, and the latter was to inspire them.

The preparatory committee discussed and decided that the primary goal of the meeting was to formulate and pass a “basic law,” a programmatic document similar to a constitution.

The Law Club was no stranger to creating constitutions. Some of them even specialized in constitutional law. Whether it was copying or mixing various sources to create a hybrid version, it was not a problem. However, Ma Jia knew from several conversations with the members of the caretaker cabinet and from Chief Wen’s stray remarks that the current group was in no hurry to formulate a constitution—Ma Jia himself also agreed with this line of thinking.

As the fundamental law of the country, the constitution has a special significance and sanctity. Once it is established, it is best not to be amended or changed casually. This was the opinion of most people. Neither the caretaker cabinet nor the Law Club had a clear idea of what the future state system should be like or how power should be distributed. Rashly formulating a constitution would inevitably lead to many anachronistic problems in the future.

Therefore, the general opinion of the preparatory committee for the general assembly was to first create a document like a “Common Program,” to clearly define the long-term and short-term goals of the Transmigration Group, the organizational form of the transmigrator regime, the status of the transmigrators, the method of distributing benefits among the transmigrators, and how power is generated. In other words, to set the rules of the game.

With the rules of the game, everything would operate according to the rules. Whether you felt you were at a disadvantage or that others were taking advantage, this rule was decided by the general assembly, so you couldn’t blame others. Ma Jia believed this was the cheapest “stability maintenance” measure.

“As for the issue of the constitution, it is a long-term plan,” Ma Jia said. “We can request the new government to set up a special constitutional group to be responsible for this matter and conduct a long-term investigation first.”

The members of the Law Club in the preparatory committee smiled knowingly: this matter of the constitution would not have a result for five or ten years. They could safely and slowly conduct “research,” which was a very good position.

Secondly, to clearly define the relationship between the Transmigration Group and the natives, and to determine the status of the natives within the system. This issue had already attracted the attention of the Law Club. As the Transmigration Group continued to expand, the number of native members absorbed into the group continued to increase, and they had also risen from low-level laborers and cannon fodder to lower-level management.

“…not long ago, a batch of natives in the navy were commissioned as ship captains, commanding a ship. It can be expected that in the near future, more natives will participate in various aspects of the transmigrator regime, and the power they hold will become greater and greater, and their positions higher and higher. What will the other transmigrators who have no position and only hold an empty title of ‘chief’ think when they see this? They will definitely think, will these natives climb over their heads in the future? Will the transmigrators in power feel that native cadres are obedient and useful and then kick them away after they’ve served their purpose? I believe that there are definitely not a few people with such thoughts,” Ji Xin said. “If we don’t give a clear statement to the ordinary transmigrators without positions, the fear and distrust of the natives will escalate.”

“The army has many complaints about this,” Dong Shiye said. “Many people in the army are only captains. The navy already has native captains. If the Executive Committee hadn’t been suppressing the commissioning and promotion standards in the past, the number of native officers in the navy would be even greater.”

“This kind of thinking is not only in the army, but many people have it,” Ji Xin had participated in a special investigation and knew that there were not a few transmigrators with such worries.

Behind this worry, there was a deeper concern. Would the transmigrators who had become leaders by virtue of their own ability or by seizing the opportunity abandon them because native cadres were “useful” and they themselves were “useless”? This was a question that many people were very concerned about.

Third, institutional reform. In Ma Jia’s view, the current political structure of the Transmigration Group had major flaws. The key was that the administrative and power institutions were not separated. The so-called Executive Committee system only had an administrative institution. The leaders of the administrative institution were not only responsible for specific administrative affairs, but also decided on major policies. In fact, it was a system of chief responsibility under the principle of centralization. The broad masses of transmigrators were called elders and enjoyed the right to participate in politics, but in reality, they were completely excluded from decision-making.

The members of the Law Club believed that although this system was efficient in the early stage, it was not appropriate from the perspective of scientific decision-making and checks and balances of power. Under such a system, power was too concentrated, which could easily lead to a tendency towards dictatorship and corruption.