Chapter 225: Funeral and Reflection

The deceased Transmigrator was named Chen Youguang, 37 years old this year, one of the shipyard's several Chief Engineers.

Chen Youguang was responsible for the shipyard's most important project right now: the construction of the 4-ton Motor-Sail Gunboat. And precisely because the project was so critical, that night, Chen Youguang, who was originally staying in the brick-concrete building, felt a bit uneasy about the dock's situation, so he went out and stood in the corridor, peering toward the dock.

Then tragedy struck: a tree beside the building was suddenly snapped by the fierce wind, and a branch whipped right into his head, causing his death on the spot.

After the second storm passed, large numbers of Transmigrators rushed to the Hospital on Dayuan Island to pay their respects to this brother, the first to give his life for the great cause of Crossing Over.

And when Cao Chuan returned after the rain and heard the terrible news, he was equally shocked. It must be understood that the Transmigrators had always taken adequate protective measures for themselves: any work with even a slight degree of danger was done by Apprentices, workers, or Slaves. Even in the military, acknowledged as the highest-risk group, up to this point, there had been zero Transmigrator deaths, not a single one.

Furthermore, the internal Hospital located on Dayuan Island was no slouch either. The hospital, which didn't look large in area, was fully equipped; its freezers stored all kinds of advanced 'medicines' not on the Medical Insurance list, such as Gleevec — not the Indian-made kind.

To put it this way, if Cao Chuan had the ability today to bring in a thoracic Surgery expert, then the hospital could start performing heart bypass surgeries tomorrow — the Equipment was all ready and waiting.

However, Chen Youguang died instantly. No kind of hospital could have helped.

After the deceased was kept in the hospital's Cold Storage for three days, preparations were made for his burial.

And regarding the accident discussion, on the Forum, this time, unexpectedly, there were no arguments, insults, or blame-shifting. One must know, normally, even the pettiest issue would have someone posting a wave of criticism against the current leadership.

This accident will cast a long shadow over everyone's hearts for a considerable time.

The cemetery was a Temporary one, opened up right behind the already basically completed Imperial City. According to Cao Chuan's thinking, since Dayuan Island was the starting point of everyone's struggle, then everyone should be buried here in the future.

On the day of the funeral, attendance was very full. Of the Transmigrators, whose Total Number had now grown to 21, apart from those currently away from the area, all the rest participated in the memorial ceremony.

At exactly 10 a. m., a heavy Nanmu Coffin began its Descent into the first grave pit of the Imperial City public cemetery. At the same time, all subordinates of the Transmigrators, including Slaves, observed three minutes of silence at their posts.

Regarding Old Chen's affairs in the Aftermath, the Great Office, besides naming the 4-ton motor-sail ship about to be fitted out the "Youguang," could not really offer any more compensation — because Old Chen had no descendants.

Chen Youguang had a girlfriend while alive. However, this Native girl, bought from Hangzhou, who had only been with Chen Youguang for two months and was not pregnant, naturally could not be allowed by the Great Office to inherit Old Chen's political legacy.

In fact, the girl had no right to inquire about any of the items Old Chen had brought from Later Generations.

The Great Office's final solution could only be to give the girl a sum of money, then arrange for her to do some light work in an administrative office, and finally, give her a free detached house in the Chikan New District.

This type of house was usually Assigned to complete immigrant families, the quantity was relatively small, and the immigrant family needed to use future Wages to repay the housing loan — ahem, the interest rate wasn't too high either, and there was also a property tax.

That was the entirety of it — the girl needed to move out of the high-end district where the Transmigrators lived.

This matter not only strongly stimulated the others but also had far-reaching influence.

One must know, if the girl were now pregnant, then Without a Doubt, she would enjoy all the daily treatment that Transmigrators could enjoy. Also, when the child grew up 18 years later, he or she would Be Certain To inherit Old Chen's seat in the Nobility council at the First Moment, and possess the foundational wealth share due to a "first-round" descendant of a Transmigrator.

Now, none of that existed anymore.

Due to the limitations of the selection criteria back then, the vast Majority of these Transmigrators who came to this New Time-Space were single individuals. And with over a year of continuous feeling out, discussion, and adjustment among the Transmigrators, on the vast majority of ideological issues, everyone had actually now reached a Consensus.

This included Inheritance Rights: the future Nobility council would not leave positions for adopted sons.

The First Generation Crossers were an extremely special generation, and impossible to replicate, because this was a group holding an absolute Monopoly position. This Monopoly position was not only external; internally, it was the same.

That is to say, the mutually monopolistic internal relationships created the inseparable 'nature' of the First Generation Crossers: no one could leave anyone else.

For example: if someone were Intending to leave this group, invent some soap or Mirrors to privately earn a family fortune for himself, then in the future he would face a price of 100 million for one anti-inflammatory 'pill.' No money? No money, then go die — the doctor has no time to fool the ancients, but the doctor's skills and 'medicines' are equally monopolized.

This principle also applied to the military: if a person going it alone needed military protection, then one Bullet would cost 100 million.

Detached from this group that provided mutual security, an all-powerful Transmigrator would suddenly find that he couldn't survive three days in this savage era.

Therefore, an heir was key.

The Transmigrator generation itself was indivisible, whether in wealth or political status; this was a special "Big Pot Rice" form that could not be replicated.

To some degree, the Transmigrators were all not normal people, and everything they were doing now all fell within an abnormal scope.

So, to distribute the future River and Mountain Dividends, it could only be taken over by the "normal" heirs everyone produced in this time-space, using a normal national system. By that time, all the unique political structures and secrets belonging exclusively to the Transmigrators would gradually fade away in the passage of years, leaving no trace behind.

Thus, an heir group was ultimately still needed.

Chen Youguang was a painful lesson.

Consequently, after this funeral, an unmentionable change within the Transmigrator community was: many people, because of this, accelerated their daily "baby-making" Rhythm. Some workaholics who treated the factory as home also silently increased the frequency of going home.

No helping it — looking at Old Chen's end, one knew they had to Be Sure To have an heir early to feel at ease. Besides, the Majority of Transmigrators were now between 23 and 35 years old, right in the prime of life, a convenient time for making babies — this matter could not be delayed any longer!

While Chen Youguang's funeral was being held, some other funerals were also being conducted.

The disaster did not just cause the death of one Transmigrator. During this fierce storm that lasted a full day and night, the entire Tainan society suffered enormous losses. The Aftermath statistics showed: a cumulative total of over 80 people died in various kinds of accidents, the injured were double that number, and a large number of houses and Equipment were destroyed by the storm and Mountain Floods.

The First Step of the disaster relief work was handling the dead. Under current conditions, if Corpses were not dealt with promptly, disease would quickly break out.

Although Chikan Wharf had Coal Gas Cold Storage for preserving fish catches, the Chikan General Hospital did not have a morgue like those common in Later Generations. Here, all the deceased were quickly cremated and buried; there was no need for a morgue — this was a rule that had been enforced all along.

The deceased workers naturally would not be buried on Dayuan Island: in the hilly area Upstream of Xingang Creek, there was a dedicated public cemetery, which was used for placing cremation urns. If the deceased were Slaves, the Corpses would be discarded into the open sea; there would be no ashes.

As for voices of Opposition? Initially, there were none. Dayuan's early immigrants were all beggars from Hangzhou. Even in the Great Ming, these people could not escape a trip to the cremation ground after death, so no one gossiped.

However, as time passed, more and more Refugees of "various backgrounds" gathered from different regions, and some idle chatter emerged — the land is so vast, why not let people be buried in the earth for peace?

So, all those who spoke, those who listened, and those who echoed, were all transferred to the Wood Cutting camp, and overnight, all the idle chatter vanished.

The ultimate goal of the Transmigrators coming to this time-space was to use these 20-plus people to assimilate all the Natives, not to be assimilated by the Natives.

Regarding the so-called "sense of identity," there was a key issue of primary and secondary here: who identifies with whom? If the Transmigrators, who held top-tier technology and historical lessons, accommodated the Natives for the sake of a so-called sense of identity, that would be the most ludicrous joke of all.

The Transmigrators did not need any so-called bullshit legitimacy of rule, nor did they need the approval of the Landlord class or the poor — all rules were to be newly established here from scratch. A Power Base that controlled Fertilizer and Percussion Cap Guns, in a medieval era, needed others' approval? It was about formatting this world, not being assimilated by the Natives in turn.

As for those who wouldn't cooperate? The Manchu Qing's method was to kill from the north down to the south. Once enough cities were massacred, the queue hairstyle naturally emerged. You see, the Natives still understood how to identify — those who didn't were all dead.

Although the Transmigrators' methods were not as barbaric as the Manchu Qing's, the essence was the same. In this savage world, if 20-plus people wanted to pass down their own ideology, they could not do it without using a heavy hand.

Therefore, the people of Tainan, currently under the rule of the Transmigrators, could be said to live in a social atmosphere of considerable harmony: Stealing? Go cut wood. Brawling? Go cut wood. Don't want to be cremated? Go cut wood.

In short, all the immigrants' bad habits, including Cremation, including setting off firecrackers, including those ritualist experts wanting to restore clan authority — in the face of Wood Cutting, All Are Scum.

This was the secret to the social stability and the absence of roadside theft under Transmigrator rule: go cut wood.

Of course, the Transmigrators' approach was actually the same principle as Comrade Zhu treating the heads of civil and military officials like melons to be sliced: the first generation who personally carved out the realm could naturally do whatever they wanted.

But the later generations could not. The Jianwen Emperor could not achieve chopping whoever he wanted to chop — in One Sentence, he had rendered no merit to the state.

But then Zhu Di dared to. The saying that breaking a jar isn't hard, but Xiang Yu could do it, probably describes this kind of situation.

As for the Transmigrators, they had no doubt that after everyone had kicked the bucket in the future, the society managed by their descendants would certainly evolve to the step of "I want to see my private Lawyer." But society at that time would have nothing to do with them anymore — after I die, let the floods rage. If you love reading, how can you not follow this public account? Search on WeChat: or, let's chat about web novels together~