Chapter 43: Let's Sit Down for a Meeting (Part II)

On the night of the first day of the first month of the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, several special commissioners of the Beijing central government, who had many years of experience in receiving petitioners, as well as deputy leaders of certain relevant departments, had a "cordial and friendly" conversation with the board members of the Far Eastern Company in Vladivostok in this time and space.

Overall, the talks were beneficial, and the two sides had a frank and full exchange of views on a series of issues such as the development of time and space in the late Ming Dynasty and the subsequent impact of the time-traveling event, which enhanced the understanding of the two sides. Government negotiators expressed reservations about a number of important controversies and disagreements, acknowledging the need for officials to respect the views of Far Eastern companies. However, he still expressed great indignation at the unpleasant situation that occurred during the negotiation process, claiming that it would not be tolerated and reserved the right to react further.

Next, the representatives of the Central Committee expressed serious concern about the status of the Vladivostok Far East Company crossing the group, believing that it could not be ignored and allowed to act arbitrarily by non-governmental forces, which eventually led to various tragedies. If the Far Eastern Company has been evasive, procrastinating, or even engaging in some unfriendly behavior, the government will reconsider its position on this issue...... Eventually, after an unprecedentedly heated quarrel, the government issued an ultimatum to the Far East Company within six hours, otherwise the Far Eastern Company would be solely responsible for the consequences......

At the same time, the rocket artillery unit of the Marine Corps, which had passed through the "wormhole", also launched a rapid fire at the sea area of Vladivostok in accordance with the set coordinates, allowing the ignorant indigenous people to enjoy the brilliant and gorgeous romantic fireworks again.

Then, before the deadline expired, Far Eastern Company finally recoiled and accepted the government's ultimatum in the early hours of the next morning.

As a result, an armed conflict that was poised to break out was suddenly eliminated and ushered in a happy ending for all, which was really gratifying and congratulatory -- only a few radical frustrated elements of the Vladivostok Far Eastern Company raised their middle fingers and shouted: "Congratulations to you"

Of course, the distant barking of these defeated dogs does not hinder the overall situation at all. The Far Eastern Company can still only smile and welcome the nationalization and transformation......

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“…… What is this? The country advances and the people retreat? Public-private partnership? Socialist nationalization and transformation? ”

Standing next to the space-time gate that had moved to the commercial square in Vladivostok City, and looking at the copy of the minutes of the negotiations between the government representatives and the Far Eastern Company, Wang Qiu couldn't help but yawn and frowned and said, "...... You're going to confiscate the Far East Company? ”

-- After last night's urgent consultations, the government decided to set up a temporary department called the "Special Area Development Committee," or Special Committee for short, which is actually the Department of Colonization in Another World. Director Ma of the Paranormal Phenomenon Processing Office is also the chairman of the committee, and he is "remotely leading" this position in the modern world. Professor Guo was promoted to the line of fire because of his deep qualifications, serving as the executive vice chairman, responsible for the front-line command of time and space in the late Ming Dynasty.

Then, according to the results of last night's negotiations, on the one hand, the Far Eastern Company will have to bear a series of huge economic losses caused in modern time and space, and on the other hand, it will need to carry out nationalization transformation, specifically, a considerable part of the Chinese government's "capital injection" holding will offset the compensation and fines that Far East Company should pay in modern time and space), and the state will be stationed in the Ministry (the representative of the public side will guide the operation and management of the enterprise -- although the scale and business of this "new type of mixed ownership enterprise" are a bit scary, it has an army, an arsenal, and There are very large enterprises in subordinate cities, and the main business is to wage wars of conquest...... But referring to the successful precedents of the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company, there seems to be no reason why it cannot be played.

After the agreement on the nationalization and reorganization of the Far Eastern Company was finally reached, in order to show goodwill, the government immediately sent the Far Eastern Company in Vladivostok two truckloads of tropical fruits that they would never have been able to obtain in the late Ming Dynasty, plus boxes of Chinese cigarettes, chocolates, Moutai liquor, and other scarce materials in the time and space, as a sign of celebration -- of course, as for what it would be like to eat these things in the other side's mouth, I am afraid that only God knows.

“…… How can it be said to be confiscated? Not only does the government have to wipe their butts in the modern world, but the cost of this operation has to be reimbursed - of course, from the point of view of the state, this money is nothing at all, as long as you turn on the printing press, you will have more money. But the whole course of events must not get out of control, and that is the most important ......"

Political Commissar Guo took a puff of his cigarette and replied to Wang Qiu, "...... Besides, for the gang of Far Eastern companies, this deal is definitely not a loss. In the past, they were single-handed, and their conquest and exploration activities were all completed by raising funds and bloodshed out of their own pockets, although compared to the other time-traveling groups in this plane, they seemed to be quite well prepared, and the number of people alone was close to the sum of the rest of the time-travelers. But if you want to conquer a world, it is not enough. Now that the state has a backer for them, there is no shortage of industrial machinery, vaccines, antibiotics, and munitions. When making decisions, it is better to have a national think tank to give them ideas, which is better than doing it behind closed doors themselves.

In fact, if I had acquired this planeswalking ability, and it was bound to myself, it would have been impossible to take it apart. So if I'm content with a little fight, and only plan to experience a few otherworldly trips and earn a few pocket money, then that's fine. But if I really make up my mind to do something great in another world...... I'm afraid I'll find a way to find a way to cooperate with the state. This kind of decision has nothing to do with party spirit and consciousness, the key is that the resources in the hands of individuals or companies cannot be compared with the resources in the hands of the state, and they are not in the same order of magnitude at all.

For example, according to our general ideas, such as space-time merchants, plane trade and the like, those who accidentally get the space-time door, because of the lack of capital and experience at the beginning, can basically only start from dumping modern hardware, haberdashery and other things, and organize the supply of goods in the wholesale market or even supermarkets. Moreover, cross-time and space trade is not so easy to do, the ancient world is full of dangers, there are many bandits and bandits, and many seemingly simple mountain villages are actually bandits' dens that eat people and do not spit out bones. But ordinary Chinese can at most get a set of body armor and a few daggers to defend themselves, and it is even more difficult to get a black gun - after all, we are not the United States that puts guns and ammunition in supermarkets to sell.

Then, even if they can make a deal smoothly and don't lose their lives in the first place, what valuable goods can ordinary traversers get from ancient times? Directly pour gold and silver? Ancient China has always lacked precious metals, and the price of silver in ancient times was much more expensive than in modern times, which was very uneconomical to convert. Get some porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, or something, and take them back to pretend to be antiques? Don't look at many famous paintings and antiques in the auction house can be auctioned at shocking prices, in fact, the market capacity of such cultural products is very small, and limited to some small circles, if there are only one or two pieces, then maybe it's okay, once there are more, then the value of such antiques will jump down like a dive - for example, the five baht money of the Han Dynasty and the Kaiyuan Tongbao of the Tang Dynasty, although the age is very old, but because there are too many of them, the price of an ancient coin is only enough to buy a bicycle at most.

In general, if you want to make a fortune by picking up leaks and gambling stones, it is very unreliable to make a fortune with all kinds of antiques, calligraphy and paintings, jade jewelry and other luxury goods, the actual value is usually not large, the reason why the price is high, is to play a psychological superiority, basically the same as stocks are speculated, and it is not accurate to do - compared with antiques, there is a more classic hype case is the Tibetan mastiff, the value of this dog is completely hyped out, once there is no hype value, the original millions of Tibetan mastiffs, In the end, it was sold for 50,000 yuan and slaughtered to make hot pot......

In the same way, imagine that if thousands or even tens of thousands of pieces of Song Dynasty official kiln or Yuan blue and white porcelain suddenly appear in the domestic antique market, then what kind of impact will the market price have to be? What's even worse is that at that time, how many bigwigs with damaged interests and hands and eyes will come to investigate and deal with you, a pit that maliciously impacts the market? With the body of an ordinary person, where can you bear it?

What's more, unless you have Doraemon's [Time Baggage] to make it old, the so-called famous porcelain that you got from the Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty that has just come out of the kiln and has not even retreated from the fireworks, because there is no trace of accumulation over the years, will only be regarded as a modern high-imitation product, and it will not be sold at all.

However, at that time, the owner of the empty gate had a high enough consciousness to choose to cooperate with the state, then it was completely different. First of all, if you work with countries, you can participate in some higher-level cooperation. What is the most lucrative thing in modern international trade? It is not a petty thing such as arms, drugs, and diamonds, nor is it a small thing such as antique jade, which has great fluctuations in market prices, but large-scale engineering aid and construction between countries, large-scale industrial equipment transactions, and the engineering cost of a modern port can be worth the cost of an aircraft carrier, from basic steel to textile fabrics, from cars and trains to large ships, from industrial machine tools to oil refining equipment, and China's productive forces can provide it. Even the arms business will not just stop at small pipes of less than 2 millimeters, but can sell tanks, warplanes, and even warships, and if it is another world, the country can even transfer a complete industrial system to the past, and stuff all the obsolete production capacity, even if it is sold for scrap iron - because these machinery and equipment have long been outdated in the 21st century, and they should have been recycled, worthless scrap.

Especially in our current situation, as long as the travelers here are sufficiently conscious and wholeheartedly cooperate with the tasks assigned by the party and the state, the state can even provide them with a large number of high-tech human resources - and it is still the kind of permanent skilled migration ......"

High-tech human resources? This awkward concept made Wang Qiu confused, "...... I'm sorry, but how can the country organize mass emigration to another world under secrecy? If you use deception or something like that, it's a very serious problem. But if you volunteer to recruit, not only will there be too much movement, but there will not be too many people willing to go. Do you have to learn from the experience of the British in reclaiming Australia and exile death row prisoners in this time and space? ”

“…… Of course, death row prisoners are also a source, but given their violent tendencies, they are not suitable candidates for immigration, and the number is too small - although the social security situation in our country is not as good as that in Japan, the number of prisoners executed every year is only one or two thousand. ”

Professor Guo raised his eyebrows and said, "...... In fact, we have a better way of recruiting immigrants -- millions of people die every year from various terminal illnesses in China, and every moment there are an unknown number of thousands of people suffering from cancer and AIDS, and there is no cure for it, so they can only lie in the hospital bed, waiting to sign the will and go to see Marx. If at this time the government handed over a non-disclosure agreement, saying that there might be a cure for his illness, but that they would need to give up their identity, say goodbye to their families forever, and start their lives all over again in an isolated place, would anyone say yes? ”

“…… Although I can't say that everyone will agree, there are definitely some people who will grasp this life-saving straw. What if you are deceived? Anyway, I can only wait for death, no matter how bad it is, how bad can it be? But the question is what to do next? ”

Wang Qiu replied casually, "...... What's the use of tricking a group of terminally ill patients into coming over like this? Oh my God, is it ......" His face changed suddenly.

“…… That's right, it's just like you thought" Speaking of this, a playful smile appeared on the corner of Guo Jing's mouth, "...... Comrade Xiao Wang, although the [automatic medical kit] you bought from Doraemon, although it can't work in our world, it works normally here, and AIDS, cancer, and organ failure are all pieces of cake. There are as many terminally ill patients as there are to cure the healthy workforce, and these people are legally 'dead' in our world, without causing any social unrest and media attention......"

Hearing such a seamless immigration plan, Wang Qiu couldn't help but gasp - as we all know, in any general hospital, you can find many terminally ill patients who have no money and are basically hopeless. To persuade such a patient to voluntarily sell himself to the state is simply a simple matter: when it is time to go to see Marx, even if a devil stretches out his long claws, takes out an agreement written on parchment with a mysterious flame, and tempts the patient to exchange his soul for the chance to live, many patients will surely sign it......

If the state really uses this method to make efforts to collect, I am afraid that it will not be a problem to organize a million safe and reliable immigrants every year

Moreover, he also thought of another thing...... "I am afraid that the use of the magic item of ...... [Automatic Medical Box] is more than that." There must be a lot of terminally ill senior or retired leaders in Beijing who want to use it to treat themselves, right? Wang Qiu suddenly asked.

“…… You guessed it accurately, the central leadership really had such intentions. Professor Guo nodded in acknowledgement, "...... At present, the central government has specially approved a secret fund of 2 billion yen, and your mother has purchased a large number of 22nd century black-tech medical equipment, mainly [automatic medical kits], through the channel of Guò Doraemon. Originally, I planned to choose a site to prepare for a medical base as soon as I crossed over. But the problem is that the winter in Vladivostok is too cold, the heating conditions are relatively simple, and the climate and living environment are not good for the health of the elderly. Therefore, the relevant departments decided to build the medical base on Hainan Island, and the next step is to inspect and select the site...... Anyway, it was only a few days of hard work, and the leading comrades could afford to wait. ”

As for whether the Hainan Island crossing group will obediently obey the government's orders and make room for the former and current central leaders to provide services to them...... There is no need to consider this question at all, even the Far Eastern Company in Vladivostok, which has the military strength of the Cold War level, has succumbed to the hardest thorn, and the Hainan Island Crossing Group, which is still playing steampunk, where will it have the courage to die?

-- Wang Qiu couldn't help but imagine for a moment that in the midst of the picturesque coconut groves, blue seas, and sandy beaches of Hainan Island, a heavily guarded fortress complex suddenly stood up, hung up with a sign reading "The Medical Base of the Central Committee of the Old Yu Department in the Late Ming Dynasty," and a row of heavily armed Zhongnanhai guards stood at the door.

Then, the former national leaders, even the former prime ministers, former presidents and other top dignitaries who used to be seen in news broadcasts and newspapers, and even in textbooks, inspected the construction achievements of the time-travelers in the late Ming Dynasty while recuperating from illness, and at the same time inscribed commendations and commemorative photos; On the one hand, he "cordially and kindly" met with a group of representatives of the traversers who were sincerely frightened and sweating, as well as the ancients of the Ming Dynasty 400 years ago, and gave some important instructions and encouraged them to continue to work hard for the early realization of the industrialization of Hainan Island and the great cause of conquering the world......

Well, it's too beautiful to look at......

At the same time, Professor Guo's nagging continued, and the conversation changed:

“…… In short, don't underestimate the magnanimity of the state, which did not come to Vladivostok to pick fruit from the beginning, or even to directly seek economic benefits from Vladivostok in this time and space, but really wanted to provide some help and guidance to these time-travelers - in fact, such a small 'fruit' is not at all eye-catching from the government's point of view. What really matters is to eliminate the unstable factors and bring everything under control: our core task is to find out the ins and outs of this crossing incident, and what else Far Eastern has done in the modern world, and if something really happens, we can make up for it in time, so as not to be caught off guard when the time comes......"

“…… So, at least on Vladivostok's side, the investigation of the events itself is the focus, and colonizing the other world is just a side task? ”

Wang Qiu touched his chin thoughtfully, "...... But this is too conservative, a whole Northeast Asian resources and markets are in front of you, won't the country feel excited? Relying on the little profits and taxes paid by the Far East Company, I am afraid that I will not be able to get back the capital of this rejuvenation."

“…… The problem is that this new resource source and market are really unreliable, how long can the connection between the two worlds be maintained? How much appetite can be satisfied by the amount of transportation in the cat's pocket alone? Can we still build a railroad in his pocket? ”

Professor Guo smiled wryly and pointed to the space-time gate propped up by Doraemon's pocket on the side, one after another big trucks were coming in and out, sending some machinery and medical equipment that could not be produced in this time and space to the Far Eastern Company, and at the same time transporting the furs, ginseng, high-grade wood, etc. they had hoarded here, as the first profit and tax paid after the nationalization, "Make large-scale investments here, establish various mines, and then exchange modern industrial products for natural resources in time and space at the end of the Ming Dynasty?" That's a good idea, of course, but the question is how do you get things back?

If you want to enter this world, there are only two ways, one is your "Book of Travel", which can bring in a group of up to twenty people at a time, and you can't bring much goods. There is also a kind of Doraemon's pocket like it is now, which is through Guò Doraemon's pocket - even if the oil field is developed on Sakhalin Island here, we can't put an oil pipeline in Doraemon's pocket, let him stand here for many years as an adult, and make a cameo appearance as a fixed transit station."

-- By national standards, large-scale interdimensional trade is as unrealistic as space colonization if transportation bottlenecks cannot be resolved.

Therefore, the state's investment in the time and space travelers at the end of the Ming Dynasty can really be said to be subsidized or even charitized in a large way.

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“…… Well, what you're saying makes a lot of sense...... If the transportation bottleneck can't be solved, we can really only take a small number of high-value small things from this plane (a few hundred trucks is also a small amount by national standards). And this resource is of no significance to the state at all......"

Wang Qiu nodded and sighed, "...... Therefore, the state-owned holding of the Far Eastern Company is just a formality, and it is good to be able to earn back the funds for the operation. The main goal is to explore and investigate, and to perform the functions of the government, and to rescue those who have accidentally been displaced to another world, right? ”

“…… That's pretty much it, maybe some help for those who want to stay here, and maybe historians and archaeologists come and look it out...... Isn't it a bit of a pity? Professor Guo smiled, "...... But no matter what, a big deal has finally been solved...... Huh? Ma Tong, what is she doing over there? Where did all that mess come from? He exclaimed.

Wang Qiu looked back and found that Ma Tong was standing in front of the relief pattern decorated with the zodiac signs, which was easily reminiscent of the "Monument to the People's Heroes of the Far East" in the "Saint Seiya" comics, and commanded several workers to erect a statue and a relief plate, and at the same time said to an engineer of the Far East Company, "...... This monument of yours is good, but the square below is inevitably empty, even if it is a "Saint Seiya" theme square, you should erect the statues of Athena and Zilong or something, just one Saint Seiya alone, what is it? ”

“…… It's not that there is not enough time, the ordered Saint Seiya statue has only arrived, and Boss Li's space-time gate will run out of energy. ”

The bespectacled engineer explained, "...... If you want to carve it yourself, you really don't have the energy......

“…… Therefore, I have specially collected a lot of good things for you from Shanghai this time, which can be used as a decoration for the city's streetscape and surprise the indigenous people of this world. Ma Tong said proudly holding up her flat chest without undulation, and at the same time commanded many strong men in military coats to unload a delicate and luxurious and lifelike white stone sculpture, "...... Alas, the manga "Saint Seiya" is really too old, the kind of animated version of Athena, or the statue of Miss Saori Shiroto is really unavailable, I had to get you a genuine Marble statue of Athena in the ancient Greek style, that is, wearing an ancient Greek helmet, holding a spear, and an owl standing on the shoulder, do you think it's okay? ”

“…… It's a good fit, it's a good fit. The anime nerd engineer's eyes lit up with excitement and nodded repeatedly, "Is there anything else?" ”

“…… Of course, there are many more, I have brought all the statues I can find, and you can find a way to pour a base with cement and install them."

-- To the great pleasure of the engineer, there were many decorative statues that Ma Tong had brought, including statues of Poseidon the sea god holding a trident, Medusa a snake-haired banshee, Zeus throwing lightning, as well as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Nobita and Nobita, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Detective Conan and Inuyasha, Haruhi Suzumiya and Yuki Nagato, Hakurei Reimu and Yakumo Murasaki, and even a yellow-orange-orange Pikachu and a white and chubby "Uncle KFC" …… And those relief panels are impressively engraved with fairy tales such as "Cinderella", "Little Hat", and "Three Little Pigs...... Where did you get all this mess?

Noticing Professor Guo's inquiring gaze, Wang Qiu, who was originally looking fixed, had no choice but to cough and explain to him with some embarrassment.

“…… Well, I remember that there seemed to be a township in Pudong that was being demolished, and there was a European-style garden residential complex that was unfinished before it was built, plus a theme park that was so abandoned that it didn't look like it...... Ma Tong's stuff is probably from where he picked up the rags......"