Chapter 37: The Backyard Alliance

Cao Chuan laughed. "Oh? Looks like you were up very late last night."

"I didn't sleep at all, alright?" Xia Xianze glared at the Daoist priest Cao, then said with a serious face, "Alright. First, and most important question: how do you plan to handle relations with all the future transmigrators? You have to understand, you're the only one who controls the means of production and livelihood."

At this, he fixed his gaze, straining to observe every flicker of expression on Cao Chuan's face.

"I have considered this question." After hearing him out, Cao Chuan smiled faintly. "Actually, I'm not as ambitious as you imagine, especially since I can very soon become a man at the top in the old world. You know, in this world, you people couldn't build a Gulfstream or a Beneteau in a lifetime. So, the focus of my life won't be here. Just remember to save me a share when you're dividing up the pork."

Cao Chuan thought for a moment, then added, "My definition of myself is very simple: a logistics provider. As for how resources are allocated and how the new world is built, naturally that's for you people, the ones actually doing the work, to discuss and accomplish. I figure, facing a brand-new parallel world like this, you can't possibly do worse than the Great Qing, right?"

Hearing this, Xia Xianze chuckled, waved his hand, and said, "You really know how to joke. How could there possibly be a piece of work like the Great Qing... Hmm, with you putting it that way, the stone in my heart can finally be set down. I was just afraid you'd want to play some kind of long-term indentured servant model, where internal interests can't be coordinated and nothing gets done."

Cao Chuan burst out laughing at this. "Old brother, I did go online, after all, and studied business management. Ahem, even if the school wasn't great, you didn't think that after breathing a few breaths of the Ming Dynasty's feudal air, I'd turn into someone with the same mindset as Zhu Baba, did you?"

"It's naturally best that you can think this way. It's not wrong for me to confirm it on my side, either. This is a matter of procedure."

"There's not even the first stroke of the character eight yet. Is there really a necessity to make things this ugly?"

"This is ideology! It's the guiding principle! It's the foundation! How can it not be necessary?"

"Alright, alright, I'm scared of you. What nasty question comes next?"

"Next, we eat breakfast first."

"???"

"The matter of principle is already settled. What follows are just some specific, technical issues, not important. I'm suddenly hungry now. Let's talk while we eat, shall we?"

"I remember there's lunch meat in the chest. Go open it yourself."

The conversation above represents the first formal negotiation between Xia Xianze, representing the "transmigrated upon" class, and the resource controller Cao Chuan — the two poles. The content of the talk implicitly contained the future political structure and ideology of the crossing regime. It was an incomparably important meeting, known to history as: the Backyard Alliance.

While eating breakfast, Xia Xianze began to slowly recount his life story.

Like most traditional businessmen, he too had a green and youthful period of going south to work. After that, he partnered with others to open a trading company and earned his first pot of gold. Then, bobbing in the sea of commerce, his business grew larger and larger. At the age of thirty-five, Xia Xianze reached the peak of his life — he won the bid for a plot of urban land in a certain second-tier city.

What came next was the arrival of terrible luck. An anti-corruption storm swept in overnight. His backer was taken to a certain guesthouse to answer for his problems. The bank, catching wind of this, pressed for loan repayment, and his capital chain snapped. By the time he had packed up his valuables, preparing to escape, the economic crimes police, tipped off by a "concerned citizen," had him blocked at his own doorstep.

What followed was a dilemma: should he sell out his backer, who was still putting up a desperate fight, to beg his opponents to let him off, or should he stubbornly hold on and gamble once more?

Xia Xianze chose the latter. He simply could not bring himself to kick a man when he was down.

The final outcome was that his backer was put on ice, and General Manager Xia naturally had to sacrifice for choosing the wrong side: after losing all his businesses, he was merely exempted from criminal prosecution. It was just that at this point, he was all alone, comparable to Stephen Chow back in his day.

Struck by this blow, he resolutely decided to first quiet his mind and properly reflect on his past, and incidentally, to show those unyielding opponents a display of his dire straits. He never expected that just half a year later, as he was just beginning to grasp the true meaning of life from the alleyways, he would be guided back to the mortal world by True Man Cao.

Hearing this, Cao Chuan couldn't help but give a thumbs-up. "Being ruthless to yourself is the real ruthlessness. Old brother, your method of reflection is really hardcore."

Xia Xianze tossed his chopsticks onto the table and smiled self-deprecatingly. "What kind of tough guy goes begging?" As he laughed, he asked again, "If I didn't mishear yesterday, the internal space of your ring is a cube with a side length of 28 meters, and it can transmit roughly once every seventy hours, correct?"

Cao Chuan nodded. "Correct. I've physically measured the ring's space. The side length is 8 meters, and the total internal space is 22 cubic meters. Roughly every three days, it can accumulate enough energy for a one-way transmission. Hmm, which means, if I disappear now, I can be back in six days."

"But the energy can be stored," Cao Chuan added. "As of today, I've already accumulated the energy for 9 crossings."

Hearing this, Xia Xianze lifted his eyelids and asked slowly, "Then do you know what we lack most right now?"

"People?" Cao Chuan thought for a moment, then asked back, not very certain.

"Correct." Xia Xianze tapped the table. "To be precise, transmigrators like you and me. Without people, nothing can even be discussed."

Then his expression suddenly became a bit unnatural. "Since this old white mouse of mine has successfully survived, I imagine that once Cao Zong returns, he'll transform into a midnight maniac, going around the world kidnapping beggars?"

"How is that possible?" Cao Chuan laughed awkwardly at this. "Yours was a special case, a temporary solution I thought up. As for how to send people over here in the future, hmm, I haven't figured out the routine yet."

Xia Xianze's face wore an expression that said, "Just as I expected." "A nouveau riche is a nouveau riche. Has money but doesn't even know how to use it. Good thing I already thought it over for you last night."

After saying this, old Xia struck a pose as if starting a major lecture, cleared his throat, and then began to speak. "Judging by the current situation, even if we just cobble together a makeshift team, we won't be able to get things rolling without a few dozen transmigrated individuals at the start."

Seeing Cao Chuan nod, he continued, "In the future, you'll need to continuously transport people and supplies between the two worlds. We have requirements for the people. Those who've studied medicine, fired a gun, raised pigs... In short, the transmigrators who come here from now on all need to have some professional skill. Just looking for beggars won't do."

He paused for a moment, then added, "The same goes for supplies. Last night, I saw guns and bullets in the chest. In the future, all sorts of necessary contraband will increase more and more. So, on this trip back, don't rush to scout out any transmigrators. The first thing you need to do is change your nationality."

"Ah!?"

Xia Xianze ignored him and continued on his own. "First step, use that money from selling antique furniture to get an investment immigration visa. Don't go to those large countries with sound legal systems. I personally recommend Saint Kitts. No residency requirement, passport has visa-free access to many countries, and it's a tax haven. This is very important for you."