Chapter 616: The General Assembly (Part 1)

"Achoo! ~"

After the resounding sneeze, Yao Jianshe, his face covered in stubble, pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his nose, then drew up the collar of his blue fine-wool overcoat, wrapping himself a bit more tightly.

At this moment, Yao Jianshe was sitting at the bow of a large seagoing vessel, enjoying the view. Though he had just sneezed, his attention remained fixed on the scene before him: "Flying snow across the river in Lingnan — a spectacle, truly a spectacle!"

It was now November of the 16th year. As one of the Northern Trio, Jin Station Chief Yao Jianshe had actually boarded a ship southward at the end of last month.

He had traveled in stops and starts along the way, and when passing by Shanghai, Yao Jianshe had even disembarked specifically for a two-day inspection before catching the north wind back to Guangdong.

He never expected that as soon as the seagoing vessel entered the Pearl River, he would encounter a scene common in northern winters here in this southern land: heavy snow swirling in the air.

Although he had previously received meteorological intelligence from the south, witnessing with his own eyes the great snowy spectacle blanketing the river south of the Five Ridges instantly stirred Sir Yao's interest. So he sat himself at the bow, wagging his head and brimming with poetic impulse before the snowflakes filling the river, on the verge of composing a poem.

Regrettably, until the ship docked, the great sir failed to produce even a doggerel of the "Seen from afar, Black Mountain looks like a club" caliber — who could blame him? The fellow had never paid attention in class back in the day, leaving early to go work in society.

Before long, the large seagoing vessel from Shanghai Port slowly docked at the passenger pier in Guangzhou New District.

Once the ship berthed, a high-ranking figure like Yao Jianshe naturally had no need to queue and disembarked at the first moment. Walking unhurriedly, surrounded by a retinue of seven or eight guards, he braved the snowflakes cutting through the cold wind and stepped onto the pier via the gangplank.

Every pier had, as a rule, a shed and registration personnel set up. Such duty teams were usually staffed by several departments; inside the shed were not only Peaked Cap civil servants sent by the civil administration, but also police in soft armor carrying loaded firearms, with ropes for binding men tossed in a corner.

The registration teams dealt with all sorts of characters at the piers daily, so their eyes were sharp. Even from a distance in the drifting snow, they could roughly gauge a visitor's caliber. Thus, when Yao Jianshe's party entered the shed, what they saw were standard staff sitting upright and performing their official duties.

The civil servants' guess was correct. The registration officer wearing a blue Peaked Cap immediately saw the large red-covered identification booklet that the tall gentleman in the top hat opposite him produced from the inner pocket of his overcoat.

The large red-covered identification, issued only to Transmigrators, was the top-tier clearance "waist token" known to all Native civil servants. Before the registration officer could speak, Yao Jianshe, holding the ID up before him, flipped it open with a finger to reveal the inner page.

The high-resolution half-body photo and the identity card made with an anti-static surface film were simply impossible to counterfeit in this plane. The registration officer only needed an instant's glance, without scrutinizing the text, to confirm the visitor's identity from the exquisitely detailed "Shadow Play" and the uniquely textured inner-page waist token.

What followed was every "official" in the shed rising collectively to salute: "Good day, Governor!"

Yao Jianshe was long accustomed to being a big shot and paid such scenes no mind. He waved a hand and made his request: "Yes, prepare a carriage for me. I need to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs."

He knew that Transmigrators usually used the exclusive pier for their daily comings and goings, but the merchant ship he had sailed in on from afar could only dock at the public pier. He now needed an official carriage.

"Yes, sir! Dispatching immediately."

Not long after, a four-wheeled carriage specially used to transport dignitaries drove over from the exclusive pier.

The carriage traveled along the broadest Central Avenue to the administrative district. The administrative district was not a place ordinary Natives could wander into freely, but fortunately, Yao Jianshe had the large red ID, and ultimately proceeded unimpeded to his own workplace: the Intelligence General Bureau, located near East Square on Central Avenue.

The current Intelligence General Bureau had long since relocated from No. 76 in Tainan to Guangzhou New District; its present address was Plaza Road No. 11.

The Intelligence General Bureau, which did not even have an official agency signboard hung, looked from the outside like an ordinary compound of two-story buildings. The main gate was an old wooden door painted with blue lacquer, and an old man dozed by the entrance, serving as the gate guard.

Yet the moment Yao Jianshe stepped through the main gate, he spotted the concealed sentries on both sides. Then, relying on his extensive experience in surveillance deployment, before he even reached the building, he located the duty sniper at the vantage point.

Inside the building, Yao Jianshe met the General Bureau's big boss, Dai Yun.

Dai Yun placed great importance on an externally assigned Feudal Official like Yao Jianshe. The moment they met, he grasped Yao Jianshe's hand and questioned him incessantly, his words radiating warmth and familiarity.

Yao Jianshe, for his part, was also quite happy. After all, the New District was now tantamount to the Old Home for externally assigned personnel like them, and returning to one's Old Home for a family visit naturally put one in a good mood.

Pleasantries aside, the most important work of debriefing still had to be done. Subsequently, Yao Jianshe first produced a USB Drive: this contained the Northern Trio's series of reports on all major work in the north over the past year or so.

Additionally, the USB Drive held other data and materials. Top-secret information such as the list of Native intelligence agents the trio had developed in the north, stockpiled materiel data, and the Native officials they had co-opted — all of it was on this USB Drive.

Next came the oral report. No matter how much was written in the paper reports, it could not replace verbal communication between Both Sides. Dai Yun asked very detailed questions, and Yao Jianshe answered very meticulously.

In this manner, a full two hours passed, and it was nearly dinner time before this debriefing session came to a pause — not that the debriefing was over, only that the general-level reporting was complete. Both Sides would still need to find time for separate, specialized debriefings later.

There was no helping it; the work represented by Yao Jianshe's Northern Trio was simply too vast and complex.

One had to realize that even the seemingly least conspicuous member of the trio, Jin Station Chief Yao Jianshe, had a scope of work in the north that not only encompassed the key city of Tianjin, but in fact, all areas south of Tianjin, and even all intelligence, infiltration, and materiel allocation affairs in the Shandong region, were all under Yao Jianshe's responsibility.

The other two went without saying. Beijing Station Chief Xue Haiyuan was responsible for intelligence affairs and united front work concerning the entire central apparatus of the Ming Empire, as well as work targeting the northern Jian slaves, Menggu, the Nine Border Garrisons, the Guanning Clique, and other powers.

Zhang Zhongqi managed military affairs. All armed forces in the north belonging to the Transmigrators, including the Tianjin Direct Cavalry Battalion, the Yongping Li Jichun Division, the Dengzhou Kong Youde Li Jiucheng Division, the Guanglu Island Mao Chenglu Division, and other military forces deployed in the north, were all controlled and allocated by Zhang Zhongqi.

Beyond their core duties, the trio was also responsible for local trade matters and construction matters — they could be said to hold both military and administrative authority in one hand, each a versatile generalist.

This was also why only one person was sent to debrief. The trio was simply too busy to get away.

At dinner time, Dai Yun naturally laid out a banquet to welcome Yao the Feudal Official. Today's spread was a top-tier feast of seafood and mountain delicacies, and the caliber of attendees was very high; basically, all the Transmigrators from the intelligence community who were at home had come.

Amidst the warm conviviality of wine, the conversation turned to the General Assembly that was about to convene.

Speaking of which, this General Assembly had also experienced twists and turns.

The original plan, long in gestation, was to convene the meeting as early as last month, in October. Unexpectedly, just before the meeting, multiple areas in Guangdong were suddenly struck by an extreme blizzard disaster. Consequently, a certain Power Base, fully engaged in disaster relief, shelved the meeting.

Subsequently, Xia Shoufu, who had intended to hold the meeting at the beginning of this month, suddenly shelved the meeting schedule once again. During this period, he frequently met with his partisans for secret discussions and communications, and only after he felt confident about the Constitutional New Deal agenda concerning the Emperor did he announce the meeting's exact date a few days ago: November 5th.

That was the day after Yao Jianshe's debriefing today.

Yao Jianshe, who only learned of this at the banquet, found it an unexpected pleasant surprise.

Coming to the New District this time, he had originally only come to debrief on behalf of the Northern Trio. Regarding the General Assembly the Cabinet had been brewing, the Northern Trio simply could not get a fix on the exact timing, nor could they speak of attending in time; they could only use telegrams to transmit messages and opinions during the meeting period.

Unexpectedly, by a twist of fate, Yao Jianshe happened to be present for this meeting.

After the banquet, Yao Jianshe returned to the district-assigned room to rest.

A night passed, and early the next morning, Yao Jianshe dared not delay. He left the house at the crack of dawn and went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

It must be said that because the Crossing Faction was too young, the construction of administrative institutions had always been chaotic — a hammer here, a stick there, lacking foresight.

The various police and intelligence departments established earlier had, before long, developed issues of conflicting orders and unclear divisions of authority. The Cabinet then had no choice but to add a Minister of Internal Affairs to oversee the military, police, gendarmerie, and special services.

Yao Jianshe's core post was Jin Station Chief. After returning to the home base, his first order of business was naturally to report to the Intelligence General Bureau. But next, he had to go to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to debrief with the boss.

The Minister of Internal Affairs was also one of the early Transmigrators, named Deng Xin. This man wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and was refined in manner. From the very start of the Crossing Over, he had been the Grand Office Director. Later, after the Ministry of Internal Affairs was established, he was nominated by Xia Xianze and transferred to the post of Minister of Internal Affairs.

Deng Xin was likewise Very Enthusiastic upon seeing Yao Jianshe. Unlike Dai Yun of the Intelligence General Bureau, Deng Xin, who had long been engaged in administrative work, focused more on the state of officials and civilians in the northern Ming Empire, social conditions, commerce, and even social issues such as refugees and peasant uprisings in the north.

On the contrary, regarding the core work of Yao Jianshe and his colleagues, Deng Xin was not particularly interested.

Seeing that his "superior's" focus was different, Yao Jianshe naturally went with the flow and shifted the emphasis of his report to social conditions work in the north.

The entire report lasted roughly 50 Minutes — which was already considered quite long, given that the Minister of Internal Affairs oversaw quite a few powerful departments, and there were other big shots waiting outside to handle affairs.

Coming out of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Yao Jianshe rushed without pause to the Cabinet to pay his respects to the Senior Grand Secretary.

Had it been any ordinary day, the Senior Grand Secretary would certainly have spent a bit more time listening to a report from a key figure in the north. However, with the General Assembly imminent, the Senior Grand Secretary's current focus had shifted to agendas and party factions, leaving him with little energy to attend to the affairs of the north.

Thus, Sir Yao was dismissed from the Prime Minister's Official Residence in under 5 Minutes.

After This, Sir Yao Jianshe, who could summon wind and rain in the north and whose mere stomping of a foot scared the people of Tianjin into not daring to eat Goubuli, began a continuous road of "Running Between Departments" — one never knows how many officials there are until coming to the New District.

Fortunately, three days later, the "Second All-Transmigrator Assembly," which hundreds of Transmigrators had their eyes on, finally convened in the Parliament Building.

Yao Jianshe therefore also spruced himself up, puffed out his chest and belly, sat down in the intelligence sector's square formation, and settled in to listen to the reports.