Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 171 “Seeking common ground” or “maintaining differences”?
On December 1630, 12, at nine o'clock in the morning, the annual general meeting of all time travelers was held as scheduled.

Except for Meng Shengxin, Zhong Minghui who were far away in Guangzhou, and Qi Yongze and Wei Zhonglong who were in Hokkaido and could not make it back to attend, all the time travelers who stayed in North America attended the meeting.

Zheng Yuexin, the head of Fenzhou Fort, and Zhao Zhanpeng, the head of Jinchuan Fort, also returned to the main base ten days ago on transport ships carrying coal and gold. They discussed the development plans for the coming year with their fellow travelers, and collectively reviewed and discussed the adjustments to some strategic plans.

The first topic is about the replacement and addition of members to the decision-making committee.

In view of the excellent work results of the first committee, all members passed the unanimous vote of confidence and will continue to serve in the next term.

At the same time, the Finance Committee, Public Security Committee, Agricultural Water Conservancy Development Committee, and Transportation Construction Committee were added, and all of them were former student soldiers.

The Ministry of Navy, the Ministry of Internal Security (mainly coastal artillery, internal security police and militia forces) and the Ministry of Army were formally established under the Military Commission.

The second topic is the expansion and establishment of new settlements to properly allocate and accommodate the more than 2,700 new immigrants who arrived this year.

The resettlement plans made last year were basically formulated based on the scale of 1400 to 1500 new immigrants, including the construction of new houses, the provision of daily necessities, the storage of food, and the approximate number of personnel allocated to each colonization site.

However, no one expected that the Portuguese would be so "enthusiastic" and directly dispatched five merchant ships to participate in this year's immigration operation, which resulted in the number of Ming Dynasty immigrants who finally arrived at Qiming Island exceeding 2,700, almost double the original estimated number.

If the "Breaking Waves" had not returned in advance and informed this information, the time travelers would have been caught off guard by the sudden influx of so many people, causing the entire reception and resettlement work to immediately fall into great chaos.

Even though they were prepared, dealing with the additional one thousand unplanned immigrants still put a lot of pressure on Shixing Fort and various settlements.

The resettlement houses were originally planned to accommodate 4-6 people each, but in the end 8-10 people were crammed into them.

Moreover, during the busy autumn harvest season, many women had to be mobilized to take rolls of cotton and linen, light oil lamps and candles, and urgently cut and process more than a thousand sets of clothing for the new immigrants after finishing their work during the day.

Due to the massive increase in population, the hundreds of tons of grain stored in several granaries seem unable to sustain them until next year's summer harvest. It is necessary to organize people to increase the scale of fishing and hunting during the winter.

In addition, with the expansion of the settlements, there were not enough grassroots management personnel available, which forced the decision-making committee to consider allowing some students to graduate early, or to use the winter break to organize a "cadre crash course" to fill management positions at all levels.

In short, in the coming year, there will be many trivial matters to deal with. How to govern and tame so many new populations will really test the organizational and management capabilities of the time travelers.

Based on a detailed geological survey conducted in the early stages, the committee planned to build another fort in Oak Bay, a small town east of Victoria in the future, in April of the following year, to serve as the eastern wing of Shixing Fort to prevent the enemy (Spaniards) from landing there and launching a military raid on the main base.

In addition, the state fort in the north will receive a quota of 250 people to further strengthen local agricultural production and increase coal production.

Jinchuan Fort and Jinshatan (now the city of Chilliwack) received manpower reinforcements of 100 and 70 people respectively. In addition to striving to increase gold mining efforts, they also actively promoted the limited supply of local agricultural and sideline products, thereby gradually reducing the amount and frequency of material imports.

If the Spaniards come to attack, we may be completely blocked by them.

By then, various materials including food will definitely no longer be able to be transported from Shixing Fort to the above two strongholds. While maintaining a certain amount of reserves, we must also strive to improve our self-sufficiency.

The third topic is about establishing and focusing on building a forward base in Hokkaido.

After Wei Yingbin read out the development ideas and plans of Qi and Wei, the leaders of Linhai Fort, to the time travelers present, he immediately gained the approval of the vast majority of people.

Occupying Hokkaido will not only effectively improve immigration efficiency, but also allow for future strategic expansion into Japan and Korea, allowing for a glimpse into Sakhalin and Outer Manchuria, and ultimately, the opportunity to intervene or influence the Liaodong war. This is of great strategic significance to the development plans of the time travelers. This must be supported!
It is still unknown whether the possession of Hokkaido can influence the situation in the Ming Dynasty in the future, but this move will definitely affect the future situation in Japan.

At least we can "grab" a large piece of land from this annoying country. Just thinking about it makes people feel inexplicably refreshed.

If we can use this as a basis in the future, go south to beat it up from time to time, and constantly interrupt Japan's rise, that would be the most wonderful thing.

As a result, this agenda was almost unanimously approved by all the time travelers, and they were prepared to fully cooperate in its implementation during the annual immigration and trade affairs, with the aim of completing the construction of the Hokkaido forward base within four to five years.

The next topic is more sensitive and controversial.

That is, whether naturalized Indians should be given "normal status" and whether they can enjoy the same treatment as Ming Dynasty immigrants.

That is, whether to assimilate the Indians.

Before this, the base of time travelers was very small and their population did not have an absolute advantage. Even in the early days, the number of Indians was far greater than that of time travelers.

In that situation, the attitude of the time travelers towards them was mostly to win them over and unite them, using their powerful military force and relatively abundant material civilization to attract them to their side and rely on them for assistance, thereby accelerating the speed of primitive accumulation.

With the joining of some Spaniards and the arrival of the first batch of Ming Dynasty immigrants, the time travelers had gained a certain strength and began to occupy a dominant position. They not only forcibly incorporated several surrounding Indian tribes into the rule of Shixing Fort, but also gathered more than ten large and small Indian tribes within a hundred miles through force and economic infiltration, thereby obtaining a large amount of human resources and fur resources.

Nowadays, the time travelers have a population of nearly 6,000. Not only in Qiming Island, but also in the entire west coast of North America, they are a very powerful force that can easily crush any Indian tribe or tribal alliance.

So, what policy will the time travel generals adopt towards the hundreds of Indians under their rule?
Some radical representatives of time travelers believe that the Indians have a low level of civilization and an extremely backward lifestyle, and still need further "transformation" and "domestication", and therefore will not be given "national treatment" for the time being.

However, some representatives also expressed that Indians could be accepted to a limited extent. As long as they could speak Chinese fluently, change their ignorant Indian traditions, and wholeheartedly submit to Chinese civilization, they could be included in the normal "national group" and given continuous education. With the inclusiveness and advancement of Chinese civilization, the Indians could be completely assimilated.

Just like in the history of China, one ethnic group after another, either actively or passively, were assimilated into the Chinese nation.

Where are the many barbarians in the past, such as the Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong, and Beidi?
In the end, didn’t they all become part of the glorious Chinese nation?
"In fact, national identity, or rather, national identity, can be artificially created and exaggerated." Li Xianqing looked at the time travelers present and said slowly, "Any imagined community, under the influence of a certain environment and culture, can be constructed, continuously strengthened, and given new meaning."

"Similarly, the commonalities among ethnic groups can be constructed and continuously strengthened through continuous education and publicity; and the differences among people can also be constructed and continuously strengthened."

"Whether it's a group, an ethnic group, or even a country, there may be people from all corners of the country, and more likely from all over the world. If you want ethnic integration, or assimilation, and unity, the best way is to seek common ground and build a common interest."

"People from all different places and ethnic groups should seek common ground, build on and strengthen it, and develop shared values, a shared culture, and even shared interests. Over time, a common community and a common nation will naturally emerge."

"If you don't want to integrate, don't want to assimilate, don't want to become one nation, then the best way is to seek difference. Constantly tell you that you are different from me, including your skin color, your language, your culture, your traditions, and your beliefs. Everything is different from ours."

"Even if you don't want to be 'different,' I will still find ways to be 'different.' A different identity, different policies, different treatment, a different language—these will always be with you throughout your life. Even if you want to actively integrate, to actively belong to the same, I won't let you, and will exclude you."

"Thus, the best way to achieve integration is to seek common ground, while the best way to achieve differentiation is to seek differences. Given our current situation of limited population and limited strength, how should we choose and how should we implement this? I implore the representatives present here to carefully consider and make the appropriate decision."

(End of this chapter)