Chapter 14: The Conference — Dividing Into Groups

From the beginning, Xiao Zishan had set his sights on small coastal cities. After half a month of scouting, he finally secured a lease on a maritime militia training base in a remote county.

The base was a relic of the "all-people soldiers" era—a training camp that had sat vacant for years following military downsizing. Nestled in hilly terrain with only a small harbor for sea access, it was nearly encircled by mountains. The sole road leading in had been poorly maintained and had fallen into disrepair. In short, it was inconvenient and far from anywhere worth going.

But these disadvantages were precisely what made it perfect. The location was isolated, with few passersby—ideal for staying under the radar. The barracks, warehouses, and drill grounds were somewhat dilapidated but structurally intact. The county People's Armed Forces Department, having found no takers for years, asked only minimal rent. Their sole condition was that the Crossing Company continue employing the two retired custodians who had been watching over the place. Xiao Zishan readily agreed. The old men took turns staying in the gatehouse week by week, minding the gate and sweeping up, and otherwise bothered with nothing else.

First, they hired a cleaning company to scour the entire base, then a renovation crew to fix broken windows and unclog pipes. Since the site remained a reserve barracks, the basic facilities were reasonably complete. Once cleaned up, it was ready for occupancy.

And so, on a certain day, the Crossing Company relocated to its new headquarters. Wen Desi kept the Guangzhou office operational—after all, that remained the company's registered address.

With a proper base established, the first cadre of key personnel began reporting in. These were individuals Wen Desi had personally selected after prolonged contact, most of them specialists in various technical fields.

Many arrived full of doubt. Quite a few assumed they were walking into an elaborate scam.

Then they beheld the stacks of RMB, the Ming-dynasty porcelain, and that strangely glimmering wormhole—and realized it was all terrifyingly real.

Some fled immediately, unable to accept what they'd witnessed. It was simply too insane. Others pondered for a few days before quietly departing. Still others erupted with irrepressible excitement, throwing themselves headlong into the cause. And some took it all in stride—registering, settling in, and joining the work as if traveling through time were just another Tuesday.

In this way, the team was preliminarily assembled.

For convenience of management, the Committee decided to convene all personnel for a plenary meeting to restructure the organization. The question of what form of government to adopt after the crossing remained off the table—not all participants had arrived yet, and establishing a power structure before a full assembly could debate it seemed inappropriate. The meeting's purpose was limited to setting up an administrative framework for the preparation phase.

They gathered in the base's conference room, a space just large enough for the nearly fifty attendees. The tables and chairs were old but serviceable. Xiao Zishan had discovered porcelain teacups in a cabinet, sparing them the indignity of disposable paper cups. The only new addition was a whiteboard propped at the front.

Xiao Zishan produced a voice recorder and tested it.

"I'd suggest we take minutes by hand instead." A young woman stood up. "Transcribing from audio is miserable work. I type fast with Wubi input—I can handle it."

"And you are?"

Dozens of unfamiliar faces had appeared in recent days, and Xiao Zishan couldn't keep track of them all. This woman was thin and small, not particularly pretty, but clearly limber—an athletic type.

"I'm Li Yiwo's girlfriend. Li Yuanyuan. I used to work as a secretary—meeting minutes are a piece of cake."

Xiao Zishan knew Li Yiwo. The man was trained in machining, a fanatical firearms enthusiast, and one of Zhan Wuya's gun buddies—the silent type who wouldn't say two words all day. Xiao Zishan suspected his only reason for wanting to cross eras was to manufacture guns without legal restriction.

And this young woman had followed him here. The old phrase "I'll follow you to the ends of the earth" apparently wasn't just talk. The thought stirred an unexpected twinge of envy in Xiao Zishan's chest.

"All right," he said. "But let's keep the recorder running too."

Li Yuanyuan brought over a netbook, typed in the date and time, then turned to him expectantly. "Please begin."

Xiao Zishan cleared his throat.

"Although most of us know each other, this is our first formal gathering. Let me announce the meeting rules.

"We'll discuss each agenda item in order. No straying off-topic before we move to the next.

"The meeting may run long. If a topic falls outside your field or doesn't concern you, you're welcome to leave. Exits are permitted after each item concludes, before the next begins, or during announced breaks.

"After each item concludes, the moderator will ring a bell and wait three minutes. Anyone wishing to re-enter must do so during this interval.

"To speak, raise your hand and wait for permission.

"Remarks must address the matter at hand—not comment on other speakers.

"That's all." Xiao Zishan surveyed the assembled transmigrators and nodded. "Now let's ask Director Wen to brief us on crossing preparations."

Director Wen rose and cleared his throat. A roomful of expectant faces stared back at him.

"Regarding the current state of our crossing preparations, I'll begin with an overview."

He gave a concise summary of the wormhole's condition, the cross-temporal trading situation, their contacts with Ming-era people, and the profits they'd earned so far. The moment he finished, someone raised a hand.

"I'm Jin Keshou. I'd suggest Director Wen stop selling porcelain. The antiques world is quite insular—everyone knows everyone in it. Selling a few pieces is fine, but if we keep offloading inventory at this pace, within days the whole province will know. Very bad for secrecy. We might even attract attention from the cultural-relics authorities."

Wen Desi leaned forward with interest. He didn't know much about antiques. "Then what do you suggest?"

"Medicinal materials," Jin Keshou said. "Many precious traditional Chinese medicines are extremely scarce nowadays, commanding high prices. Rhinoceros horn, natural ox bezoar, musk—these would fetch a fortune."

"Rhino horn is out," someone objected. "We'd attract the Industry and Commerce Bureau. But rare spices might work."

"Good, accepted. We'll try it on the next run."

"The next agenda item is industry," Xiao Zishan began. "Let's start with energy—"

Ma Qianzhu raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Shouldn't we first establish the administrative structure and divide into working groups? That would make the discussion more manageable."

"I agree," Wang Luobin chimed in. "Otherwise there's no order to any of this."

"Then let's begin with the Agriculture Group." A sturdy man rose from his seat. "I'm Wu Nanhai, graduate of ** Agricultural University. Food is the foundation of any nation—feeding ourselves has to be our top priority."

"Agreed. Agriculture Group." Xiao Zishan wrote it on the whiteboard.

What followed was a deluge of suggestions:

"Industry Group!" "Transportation Group!" "Geology Department!" "Railway Ministry!" "Highway Bureau!" "Crossing Mobile!" "Aviation Committee!" "Military Group!" "Army Department!" "Navy Department!" "Urban Management!" "Cheka!" "Development and Reform Commission!"

Seeing the naming devolve into trolling, Xiao Zishan had to rein in their enthusiasm.

"All right, all right. These groups are for preparing the crossing. How we set up institutions after we've established a base on the other side is a separate matter entirely. Let's not overcomplicate things." He smiled. "We haven't even crossed yet—there's no point playing the promotion ladder game."

Laughter rippled through the room. After further discussion, they settled on eight professional groups: Industry, Agriculture, Construction, Energy, Communications, Athletics, IT, and Intelligence & Documentation. In addition, they created two support groups: General Affairs and Procurement. General Affairs would handle coordination, personnel contact, registration, and daily operations. Procurement would acquire equipment and supplies according to the shopping lists generated by the other groups.

Each group elected its leader, and the leaders together formed a Provisional Executive Committee. They would meet weekly to align operations, with ad-hoc meetings called as needed.

Wen Desi was unsurprisingly elected Chairman. Zhan Wuya initially nominated Wang Luobin for Industry Group leader, but Wang declined, claiming he wasn't professional enough for the role. Zhan Wuya ended up taking the position himself.

Nobody wanted General Affairs. It was all eating, lodging, sanitation, personnel management—tedious, thankless work. In an ordinary enterprise, such a position might come with certain perks. But they were crossing in a year—any money saved now would be wastepaper on the other side.

Xiao Zishan gave Wen Desi a subtle hint. Wen Desi promptly nominated him, and he secured the leadership role.

Xiao Zishan's reasoning was simple: he possessed no specialized technical skill. During the preparation phase, the technicians would inevitably rise to prominence. Using this administrative position to keep himself in the management layer was his optimal strategy. By the time the next reorganization came around, he would have accumulated sufficient seniority.

However, to avoid any appearance of impropriety, he proposed that the Committee also establish a directly subordinate Accounting Section to handle income, disbursement, and auditing.

Once the groups were finalized, chairs clattered as everyone rearranged themselves to sit with their new colleagues. The newly elected leaders surveyed the people to their left and right, already beginning to feel like leaders.

The General Affairs roster, by contrast, was essentially an army of wives. This first batch of recruits were all technical cadres, so those assigned to General Affairs were the girlfriends and wives these cadres had brought along—plus one mother, the mother of a female technician. A parent's love, it seemed, knew no bounds.

Xiao Zishan began to dread how he would get along with this army of wives. Even worse: they were all other men's women. He silently reminded himself to tread carefully and avoid any hint of scandal.

(End of Chapter)