Chapter 93: Negotiation Terms

The production team comrades next performed the classic program of mobile upward firing. When the natives saw the thrown targets burst one after another, debris falling onto their heads and faces, some began running back to their houses.

Seeing this scene, Cai Feiming smiled and said to the Japanese translator officer, "The negotiations can begin now."

In short, to avoid the cycles of relapse, extermination, and death that might occur in the future, the Company invested another batch of ammunition in the Xingang people — hopefully these people will take the hint.

Next, the final item of the day: negotiations between the "Native Propaganda Corps" and the "Xingang Society Indigenous Joint Conference" began.

"Pingpu Tribe" and "Gaoshan Tribe" are merely blanket terms outsiders use for the peoples living on Taiwan's plains and high mountains, just like "Northwesterners" — they carry little actual meaning.

All the natives in the Jianan and Pingdong regions are in fact affiliates of the Sirala Tribe. The Sirala Tribe has three major branches, and the one most closely tied to the Transmigrators at present is the first branch: four tribes distributed within twenty to thirty kilometers along both banks of the Xingang Creek — Xingang Society, Madou Society, Xiaolong Society, and Damujiang Society.

Each society here consists of several natural villages, worships different indigenous idols, and has a total population ranging from over 1,000 to over 3,000.

The ones responsible for negotiating with the Transmigrators today were the Village Chiefs or Elders of several natural villages under Xingang Society.

At the start of negotiations, facing several native leaders whose complexions were generally poor after watching the program, the Crossing Faction struck while the iron was hot and put forward in one breath several conditions, including paying taxes, cooperating in land reclamation, and allowing the Crossing Faction to freely hire labor.

After discussing for a while, the several natives responded: regarding taxation, if the Crossing Faction could guarantee fair trade between both sides going forward and ensure the natives would not be oppressed, they could pay a portion of deerskins as tax on schedule.

Cai Feiming happily gave his guarantee on this point. It was never about those few deerskins to begin with, but about the right to rule — taxation represents the exercise of governing authority. At this moment, the several people present were all a bit stirred: this was the Crossing Faction, through its own efforts in this New World, formally exercising "government" authority for the first time!

Regarding cooperation in land reclamation and hiring labor, the natives raised an objection: if all the warriors went off to work for the Transmigrators, then the Community's safety could not be guaranteed.

When Cai Feiming and Feng Jun heard the West Mountain translator officer relay these words, they couldn't help but exchange a smile. Before coming here, they had already assessed that the Xingang natives would most likely raise demands in this area — sure enough, here it came.

Historically, due to their sparse population, the Xingang Society natives had long been at a disadvantage in conflicts with nearby tribal peoples. This situation caused the Xingang Society natives, under strategic pressure, to be forced to seek aid from outsiders and be forced to open up.

Of course, there is no free lunch under heaven. The Dutch did protect them, but that was incidental. The brutal rule, exploitation, and serving as Auxiliary Soldiers and cannon fodder in the Dutch's many wars to conquer the entire island — these were the prices they would pay going forward.

Therefore, no matter what conditions the Transmigrators proposed today, the Xingang people would steer the conversation toward security — this was their most urgently needed solution. Cai Feiming and the others had naturally long been prepared; the Great Office had already discussed this issue before departure.

The Crossing Faction would not act recklessly the way the Dutch did. Sowing discord, manufacturing hatred, propping up one native faction to strike down another — these are the standard methods of colonizers who come in small numbers solely to extract profit.

As an unprecedented, industrialized bulldozer regime in this world, all natives, in the eyes of the Great Crossing Nation's powerful, are uniformly "Good Citizens." For now, conditions truly do not permit it, but once conditions allow, the Industrial Nobles would dare to mix mainland Good Citizens and local Good Citizens at a ratio of three to one. If production tasks are heavy, two to one is not beyond negotiation either.

Killing and fighting are not forbidden, but those fall under "government" action. Even if a certain tribe that refuses to be Good Citizens must be subjugated, it would be done openly and honorably with the "government" formally ordering troops, conquering them, then swiftly treating the wounded and sending everyone to be Good Citizens — absolutely not like the Dutch, who under the banner of helping the Xingang people take revenge, went and slaughtered the Madou People.

So after the translator officer raised the natives' concerns, Cai Feiming, with a solemn expression, said to Xishan Xingjian, "Tell them, since they pay taxes to the Kunlun People, then from this moment on, the safety of the Xingang Society people is the responsibility of the Kunlun People. The Kunlun People will put a stop to inter-tribal blood feuds. Additionally, if they submit sincerely, then in the future they will receive rewards and the qualification to seek Medical Treatment at the Hospital."

The Xingang Society Elder Council naturally would not refuse such conditions. It seemed they had lost nothing: if there was no need for Head-Hunting or Tribal War Pacts, then having the able-bodied go do some work was acceptable — not to mention there would be pay and doctors.

After the biggest problem was resolved, Xingang Society — historically the Tainan tribe that interacted most closely with outsiders, was most deeply dominated by outsiders, was the first to smash its idols, and whose entire population was baptized as Christians — today formally became the first batch of native citizens of the Crossing Regime in Tainan.

After the agreement was reached, Cai Feiming said a few polite words on behalf of both sides. The clever Village Chief Gongda also, with a semblance of formality, shouted a few native phrases to the villagers — since the other side Could Not Understand anyway, he spoke freely — the legendary "one issue, each side expressing its own interpretation."

The natives at this point brought out rice wine, and the Transmigrators happened to have bowls, so after cheerfully drinking a bowl of wine, the Transmigrators indicated: the bowls are yours...

The truth was there was no place to pack them. All the carrying poles were already Stuffed full of Mountain Goods; the gentlemen were naturally not going to carry bowls on their backs. So Cai Feiming had a flash of inspiration and gave the two pots and a Pile of blue-and-white bowls to Gongda as an Award; and designated on the spot that Gongda would henceforth serve as Chief Wind Scout... Chief Liaison Officer, Responsible For the Communication matters between both sides.

Immediately after, he felt around on his body, pulled out his wallet, and took out a Hualian VIP card, punched a hole in it on the spot, threaded a string through it, and hung it around Gongda's neck — the full set of Transmigrator henchman certification procedures was thus completed.

The "Native Propaganda Corps" mission was successfully accomplished. Later that evening, the delegation members who returned to the Shang Hall received a warm reception. The Crossing Faction leaders who came to the dock to meet the ship included: Comrade Cao XX, Comrade Xia XX, Comrade Wang XX, and others.

And early the next morning, a post jointly authored by Cai Feiming and Feng Jun appeared on the Crossing Forum: "Who Exactly Is Our Backer?"

The post analyzed in detail all the various peoples the Transmigrators had come into contact with up to that point, and reached the conclusion: adults in medieval societies, whose thinking has long been set in stone, are uniformly untrustworthy. These people can just serve well as screws in the future.

The only ones the Transmigrators can rely on are the children. Children are everyone's future; children can understand and carry on the Transmigrators' ideas, technology, and political system. The post urgently expressed that, as the investment with the highest rate of return, any reliable regime should place education first. And it listed various examples, including that after the bumpkins arrived in Shaanbei in '35, by April of '36 there were already 432 schools.

Although the Transmigrators do not have that many teachers at present, establishing one school is still doable — starting with the native children.

The post aroused great interest from many; the Discussion below was endless, so much so that this post became a hot topic for the next several days. Some Temporary military maneuvers did not even draw people's attention...