Chapter 539: First Prize

Macau is very close to Guangzhou — the straight-line distance is under two hundred li. Even going against the river's flow, the day after Zong Ben set out, he arrived at the New District Pier with his ship and men.

Once here, everything became easy. Zong Ben and his gang of followers swaggered ashore carrying several chests full of silver coin, hired wagons on the spot without a worry for safety, and set off.

What the Transmigrators brought to this world was not only iron spears and cannons, but also many concepts of public administration.

The New District Pier was now extraordinarily bustling, a tide of people. It drew countless Ming People from around Guangzhou, even from all over Guangdong Province and Fujian, coming to make a living. Yet even with crowds gathered on this scale, the order was perfectly methodical, every face wearing a gentle smile — it had reached the fantastical level where lost articles are always returned.

To be honest, public safety at the New District Pier was far better than at the Guangzhou train station of later generations.

The reason was simple: cost. In later generations, for a police uncle to catch a petty thief who stole a cell phone, never mind how many officer deployments were needed — even if caught, the thief would generally only be sentenced to a few months or a year... and even that required catching them in the act, then going through a series of cumbersome procedures. In other words, it consumed judicial resources far exceeding the value of the phone.

In fact, very often, due to the relatively high judicial cost, many petty thieves simply wouldn't be jailed at all: filing a report also had its thresholds, okay? Even in impoverished areas, you had to be stolen from for at least 1000 yuan to qualify for the police station.

This situation led to criminals who never reformed — so what if they went in? Even if they went in, they'd be out soon enough, and they'd still be a tough guy. They might even pick up the car-theft skill point inside and upgrade into a professional with technical expertise.

All these chronic public-administration ailments of later generations naturally did not exist among the Transmigrators.

Steal one qian — go work on the New District construction site for half a year. Steal ten qian — go support construction at the Yizhou Reservoir worksite. Steal one tael of silver... that one gets you sent to Taipei to watch the rain.

None of the above required cumbersome procedures. All it took was a New District "Public Gate" man in a blue security uniform hauling the petty thief to the Pier Police Station, where the station chief would record and fill out a form, then stamp it — and the thief could board the passenger ship without needing that old boat ticket.

Therefore, from the very moment the New District was established, public order was at MAX level. The Ming People may not have previously had the habit of obeying order, but after every petty thief, bandit, swindler, money lender, as well as beggar, thug, idler, and other "social undesirables" who disembarked at the pier intending to score were all "processed" at the first moment — overnight, all Ming People became gentle, refined, courteous, and deferential.

With good social order, even if only regional, it was enough to make the majority of ordinary people who had genuinely come to make a living feel safe. With a sense of safety, people developed a sense of belonging, and would redirect the energy and assets originally spent on security toward how to produce and improve their lives. Advancing step by step like this, the embryonic form of an efficiently divided modern society emerged.

Zong Ben's party, men and silver together, hired three donkey carts that specialized in hauling goods at the pier, and traveled smoothly all the way down the motor-vehicle lane of New District Avenue to the front gate of the South Seas Development General Company.

Since they were going down to the South Seas, then according to the traditions of this era, they naturally had to establish an East West North South India Company — the Transmigrators were no exception. This was because it involved the issue of the executing entity: the Government could not directly step forward to operate and develop a specific project. Otherwise, whose plantation would it be in the future — the Agriculture Department head's?

Thus, the entity of the South Seas Development General Company came into being.

The General Manager of the South Seas Development General Company was Tang Qiao, who had hurriedly taken office a few days earlier.

Previously, the position of General Manager of South Seas, due to its high rank and heavy authority, plus a certain romantic, frontier-pioneering legendary flavor that losers liked, had actually generated a bit of competition under the current general trend of everyone getting an official post.

In the end, after quite a bit of delay, Tang Qiao, only 27 years old, managed to prevail over the others.

Tang Qiao worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had previously gone aboard Dutch trade ships as a negotiation representative, and then used a headset to direct an Italian Cannon to blast a Dutch ship's sailboat to the bottom of the sea.

Considering that going down to the South Seas required dealing with numerous foreign powers, including the Spanish and the Dutch, the one who ultimately won out was Tang Qiao. If that isn't knowledge changing fate — this gentleman's mastery of three foreign languages was the biggest bonus point.

Due to a certain matter of credibility, the newly opened South Seas General Company was very conspicuously located, right next to the New District Government's "U"-shaped two-story building. It was likewise a U-shaped structure, the building enclosing an open space in the middle.

When Tang Qiao, who was working in his office, received the guard's report that someone had delivered one hundred thousand taels of share capital — to be honest, Tang Qiao was still a bit surprised. So he immediately led his subordinates and hurried out from the building to greet them: Zong Ben was the first Ming Person since the investment fair to bring actual silver and buy shares.

One had to realize, the investment fair had only ended three or four days ago. At a normal seventeenth-century rhythm, in this amount of time, some attendees from remote areas hadn't even made it home yet, let alone mobilized and delivered such a large sum of silver.

Even for a family dictator, such a huge investment, plus the enormous "policy" risk — never mind a Ming Person, even a modern person would always need to consider, observe, discuss, and weigh things repeatedly before making a decision.

So according to the estimates of Tang Qiao and Ding Liqiu, the matter of share subscription would only slowly get underway about ten days to half a month after the meeting.

Who would have thought that Zong Ben, this merchant who had originally been inconspicuous at the meeting, would appear at the door just like that, carrying his money chests.

As he went downstairs, Tang Qiao obtained a brief summary of Zong Ben's information on the spot from a subordinate's mouth. Of course, this did not affect the performance he put on the next moment. The very instant he stepped out of the building, General Manager Tang burst into loud laughter and spread his arms wide: "Hahaha, Macau Boss Zong, you've boldly seized the first prize! Welcome, welcome!"

Seeing Tang Qiao dressed in "bizarre underclothes," Zong Ben couldn't help but feel his spirit lift.

Yes, even in the eyes of Ming People who had already silently accepted the new style of dress, General Manager Tang's outfit could be considered bizarre: an orange Korean-fit slim shirt, a pink checkered tie, pea-green Western-style Trousers, black-and-white color-block Leather Shoes... this color combination, which even people of later generations generally wouldn't dare wear in public, plus the outlined muscle lines — no Ming Person was used to it.

However, Zong Ben did not dare in the slightest to look down on this parrot-like young fellow dressed in "close-fitting clothes."

Earlier, during the investment fair, since he had only just taken office two days prior, Tang Qiao hadn't stood out too much. But no matter what, he was the internally designated boss of the South Seas General Company, and he had still spoken a few general words at the meeting's closing. And once he spoke, the many shrewd minds in the audience understood: this man was the direct authority!

So today, seeing General Manager Tang personally come out to greet him, Zong Ben immediately felt a jolt. Although he hadn't yet fully grasped the situation, upon hearing the words "first prize," he more or less understood.

Overjoyed in his heart, Zong Ben hurriedly stepped forward a few paces, somewhat clumsily extended his arms, and imitated the other's gesture to clasp hands, his face full of smiles: "For General Manager Tang to come so far to greet me, Zong is overwhelmed by the honor. Ashamed, ashamed!"