Chapter 6: The Three Old Men
“...Principal Sun, Teacher Zhou, rest assured! None of the children at Longgang Middle School have reached adulthood. Providing them with material support and education is our responsibility and duty as adults!
I believe the vast majority will agree with this!”
Li Yingchun first gave a clear response, then began to emphasize the difficulties and demands.
“…However, you’re aware of our current situation. Even if we conserve the grain and supplies in the warehouse, it’s enough to feed everyone for about four months. But what about after four months?
What will we eat?
To avoid going hungry after four months, we must establish a new, strong government body. Everyone must participate in labor—agriculture, house construction, and other tasks within our capability!”
Sun Debo immediately responded: “Mr. Li, you can rest assured on this point. Our middle school teachers understand the difficulties and will definitely take part in labor. As for the students, as long as we ensure normal classes and adequate nutrition, it’s fine for them to do some labor too!”
Zhou Jixin nodded and added: “Mr. Li, we can discuss the specific labor arrangements later. Also, regarding the students’ classes, we feel... after establishing the Education Bureau, we should adjust the school structure and curriculum to adapt to present realities!
Currently, our plan is to set up a preschool kindergarten, a unified nine-year compulsory school, and a comprehensive college offering practical and forward-looking majors.
The kindergarten will admit children under six. The unified school will consist mainly of current Longgang Middle School students, and besides general education, will include multiple practical skill courses so that students master at least one survival skill while in school!
If we need to establish a military academy in the future, we can arrange military instructors early on to cultivate students’ military qualities.
As for the university, beyond teaching professional content, its role should include continuing our modern knowledge system, incubating scientific research institutions, and raising our overall productivity…”
Zhou Jixin spoke for half an hour, analyzing things pragmatically. His assessment impressed Li Yingchun and Chen Wenyun. Li Yingchun even directly invited Zhou Jixin to be his secretary, but Zhou declined.
His reasons were reasonable, earning Li’s greater respect.
“…Sorry, Mr. Li. If this weren’t the Year 1671, I’d be happy to be your secretary. But with only 4,500 of us and future population needs, we’ll be forced to seek immigration. That time won’t be long.
And our main future immigrants will certainly come from the Qing Dynasty, so now I’d like to serve as a diplomat and commerce official. If I can take an intelligence position, even better. I plan to learn about Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Qing Dynasty through those 19 VOC sailors to lay groundwork for future immigration…”
Zhou Jixin candidly shared his thoughts.
Li Yingchun stopped insisting and nodded: “...Alright! It’s rare to see someone with such foresight and ambition. I’ll certainly help you!
I’ll inform Major Qiao Ke Cheng at the Security Bureau and organizational affairs—just report to him when the time comes… with your abilities, he’ll definitely accept you!”
Major Qiao Ke Cheng?
Zhou Jixin nodded in acknowledgment and thanked Li Yingchun.
Over the next half hour, the other five members of the Emergency Committee arrived in this second‑floor hotel room—two middle‑aged men and three old men.
Among them, Captain Yang Yunfeng of the destroyer Guiyang and Captain Su Shengyun of the missile destroyer Rizhao arrived together—one a naval colonel, the other a naval lieutenant‑colonel. In crisp uniforms, they only exchanged brief greetings with Li Yingchun, Chen Wenyun, and a middle‑aged major in black uniform, without speaking to others.
The boss of Hengda Machinery Manufacturing Factory, a chubby middle‑aged man, chatted warmly with Li Yingchun. His factory supplies the shipyard, so they are usually close.
The final two committee members are the homeowners’ reps from the Happy Home community: university professor Jiang Dalong in his 40s, and renovation company owner Zhang Jian.
As for the two other middle‑aged men and three old men: one middle‑aged man is Major Qiao Ke Cheng, former state security head at the shipyard; the other is Liu Zhonghao, a lawyer from Tongda Law Firm.
The three old men: Jiang Weiguo, a retired shipbuilding engineer living at Happy Home; Xia Chunze, retired city prosecutor; and Wu Fanli, retired agronomy professor from Jilin University.
These three old men arrived last. When they entered, Li Yingchun, Chen Wenyun, and those familiar with them all stood to greet.
“...Old Jiang! Old Xia! Old Wu! Why did you come? Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”
Li Yingchun hurried to the door, smiling broadly, extending his hand to Jiang Weiguo, the middle of the trio.
Old Jiang clearly wasn't fooled, looked straight at Li Yingchun, and retorted: “Kid Li, if I had told you ahead, would you even have let us old folks come?”
Li Yingchun’s smile froze, but he soon laughed it off to hide his embarrassment: “What are you saying, Old Jiang? How would I dare not let you come? I was just worried your age—and not liking too much commotion—so I didn’t invite you…”
“That’s enough! You’re just saying I’m too old, too talkative, right? We came just to say a few words! After that, we’ll leave! You just keep your mouth shut for now!”
Jiang Weiguo waved his cane, impatiently rebuked Li Yingchun, who sheepishly smiled and shrugged, stepping aside.
There was nothing to do—when Li Yingchun joined Bohai Ship Group, Old Jiang was his mentor’s mentor. He received great care from him, and could only treat him like a venerable ancestor.
Having dismissed Li Yingchun, Jiang Weiguo, leaning on his cane, his cloudy old eyes scanning the room, pointed at Zhang Jian and Jiang Dalong, and said:
“...We old folks have come because we heard from Dalong and Xiao Zhang that there’s a meeting tomorrow to discuss forming a new government, deciding new laws and systems.
That’s a good thing!
Without rules everyone agrees with, without a locomotive to lead, sooner or later these people will fall apart!
But that’s no excuse to disregard the people’s rights and opinions and form small‑circle cliques to rule!”
As soon as he finished, the room fell silent.
His words were heavy, and Li Yingchun was stunned for a moment, then quickly exclaimed:
“Old Jiang! Do you have some misunderstanding? We never thought of forming small circles!”
Chen Wenyun also hurried to say: “Old Jiang! You know who we are! We would never do something that stabs people in the back!”
Jiang Weiguo snorted, tapped his cane on the floor, and asked again: “Then why are you here today? Isn’t it to decide who gets what office? Who sits in which chair?
You all close the door and make the decisions yourselves—so what’s the meeting tomorrow for? A fig leaf? For show?”