Chapter 129: Urbanization

The primitive matriarchal commune system was finally torn open at a certain point: a native woman from Dazhang Village took the work points her man had saved up and went to Dayuan to spend them. Because she came from a policy support village, she not only got her teeth cleaned, but also exchanged the remaining work points for a string of glass bead jewelry — Master Miaoshu had finally gotten the dental chair he'd been wanting recently.

The villagers couldn't handle this kind of expensive personal income — deer were hunted collectively, grain was farmed collectively, so anything obtained in exchange for deerskin was shared by everyone. That had been the rule for a thousand years... but how do you divide up a gleaming set of white teeth?

Don't assume the natives didn't know the price of dental cleaning. Ever since the transmigrators forbade them from chewing betel nut anymore and gave out a few dental cleaning tickets to the headmen in small numbers, everyone understood that this was an expensive service.

The conflict erupted completely... The discontent that had been building up was brought by the conservative faction before the Public Office, and the villagers broke out into fierce quarrels.

"Finally, a dispute..." The arbitrators, who had been closely watching the civilizing process of the native villages, excitedly formed a working group and rushed over at once, AKs in hand, to do some reasoning.

Several native couples in their prime, secretly encouraged and goaded by certain people, announced they were giving up those thin fields and their share of the deer hunt. Just like that, they left the village they'd grown up in and moved into the new residences the transmigrators had prepared in Chikan; their children were also taken away on the spot by Principal Bai of the newly opened Chikan Academy — free board and lodging, and they could visit anytime.

The conflict was thus resolved: urbanization. These villages would one after another become empty nest villages. The left-behind elderly (forty counted as longevity) would die natural deaths. Left-behind children... didn't exist. Wherever there were children, there would be species like Principal Bai lurking nearby.

The targets of policy support always got the best deal, especially when they were the 'government's' model households. The five young native couples who dared to eat crab, because of their enormous symbolic significance, were not only each assigned an exquisite new housing type stilt house in the new district, but also received a personal promise from the big leader surnamed Xia, who came specially to offer congratulations: once property ownership certificates were issued, you would be the first to get one, no money needed — these school district houses were a 'government' award!

... The native couples didn't understand what a property ownership certificate was, but they understood medical insurance: normally, when they went to Master Miaoshu for medical treatment, the natives had to pay in deerskin! Today the big headman personally promised: from now on, you not only have medical insurance, but also dental insurance! Free dental cleaning! Fillings also free! Dental inlays only charge for materials!...

The jobs arranged for the role models were also excellent — right at their doorstep. The men could work at the district water room: every day they'd urge the donkey to pump water into the reservoir. Or they could go plant roadside trees along the district roads — either was fine. The women could go learn to be cleaning ladies, or help in the kitchen at the mess hall... In short, all were jobs with no danger, light physical labor, and not low work points.

With role models, naturally there had to be visitors — otherwise, wouldn't the role models have been set up for nothing?

So after the New Year Conference, the transmigrators organized a New Affiliated People Visiting Delegation to come to Chikan New District for a day trip.

The delegation had both men and women, mostly new affiliated warriors from the two societies of Xingang and Damujiang, plus some parents of Chikan Academy boarding students, as well as a few elders of prestige. The delegation leader was Village Chief Gongda, who had long since been designated by the transmigrators as the Chief Liaison Officer for the new dependents.

This open-faction native who had single-handedly brought about Xingang Society's internal annexation was now proudly leading his people along the gravel path of Chikan New District. Facts don't lie: whether it was the resolution of tribal security, the instantly effective medical measures, or the increasingly prosperous life in the tribe — everything proved the wisdom of his original choice.

The four-meter-wide Chikan Main Road, due to lack of equipment and power, had only a short three-hundred-meter stretch paved with fine gravel, located right in front of Chikan City — that is, the 'government' building.

The Chikan Building under construction was progressing slowly. At present, only the enclosing wall and corner bastions were in place. Designed as a three-story red brick building in a 'gate'-shaped layout, even the first floor wasn't finished yet.

Even so, the mighty force from an industrial society still greatly awed the visiting natives.

The beautiful Seaside Boulevard, the thick and orderly red brick walls, the neat rows of roadside trees on both sides, and the residential area planned in a checkerboard grid, with rows of stilt houses standing there.

Everything was orderly and uniform. This eerie style left the natives at a loss. They could sense the immense power implied by this architectural layout, but simply couldn't articulate it.

The bewildered people then went into the community for a detailed visit: the long rectangular labor dormitories, the exquisite family-style houses, the spacious mess hall, the level drill ground, and the water supply system — the donkey circling endlessly to lift water from the stream, the red brick reservoir, the purification pool, the bamboo pipes...

Finally, the highlight: Chikan Academy.

Relatives here saw the children who had been taken away. The children had long since changed — no longer snot-nosed brats running around bare-bottomed. They wore well-fitting clothes and had acquired some degree of manners. They slept in tidy dormitories and sat in the classroom for lessons on time every day.

To explain the philosophical question of why children needed to attend lessons, Feng Jun, the Great Monk Feng, who was serving as chief tour guide, had to expend considerable effort — the new dependents no longer fell under the diplomatic sphere; management authority had been transferred to Human Resources, which was the future Civil Affairs Department, so today's chief tour guide was Feng Jun.

Natives accustomed to knotted rope record-keeping and oral tradition as their means of transmission found it very hard to understand the large-scale collective transmission method of a 'school.' Fortunately, the transmigrators didn't need them to understand much. The new dependents only needed to know that the children ate well and dressed well at school. As for whom the friends would listen to once they were raised... that could be dealt with when the time came.

In the academy mess hall, the visiting delegation ate a hearty lunch. The children of Ming people and natives uniformly wore coarse cloth school uniforms, uniformly kept crew cuts. They were close and inseparable, indistinguishable — no one could tell by appearance who was Ming and who was native.

The half-day visit ended, and each member of the delegation received an exquisite gift: straw sandals.

These red-and-green machine-made slippers, with soles as fine and smooth as a summer sleeping mat, were impossible to produce by hand. The transmigrators didn't need to rack their brains figuring out how to sell leather shoes to black uncles — ever since the day they were created, they had always been one of the native Dayuan people's favorite products.

After seeing off the fifty family members, slippers hanging from their bodies, happily returning to their villages, the one hundred new affiliated warriors led by Gongda were brought to a checkerboard grid at the southernmost part of Chikan New District.

This checkerboard grid and the dormitories situated on it were newly built and had now been planned as part of the 'Chikan Military Camp.' And today, waiting for the native warriors on the camp drill ground were the Army officers headed by Han Bo, along with several other people wearing gaudy camouflage uniforms. Of course, at this moment, the drill ground certainly couldn't be without a group of men seizing every moment to practice standing at military attention.