50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 767 A Thousand-Mile Migration
Although the first batch of immigrants arrived quickly from China, the choice of immigrants was not so easy to make.

First, we must consider their own wishes. It's hard to leave one's homeland. For many elderly people, the farthest place they've ever been in their lives is just a small town a few dozen miles away.

They have lived in the village for generations, and even their ancestral graves are buried on the mountain behind the village.

In the past, there was a term for funeral processions called "going up the mountain," which meant that descendants would carry the coffin to the ancestral graves on the mountain to bury the deceased.

Therefore, although life in the village is very hard, and some people have never seen an electric light in their entire lives, even if their families are extremely poor, the villagers there are unwilling to leave the mountains.

In a village, without a person of sufficient prestige to persuade the villagers, it would be very difficult to accomplish something like a mass migration.

Furthermore, the location of the villages that migrated was often the poorest, and most of the time, the poorest places were the places with the least developed transportation.

These impoverished villages are mostly located deep in the mountains, far from the sea. Bringing them to the port and taking good care of them along the way is no easy task.

If you want them to bring their families along, and you can't force them, then you can only go along with their wishes.

For example, some villagers wanted to bring along the large vats used for pickling vegetables, and the officials couldn't openly stop them.

This relocation was already a political task, watched by countless eyes from top to bottom. The mobilization officers could only try their best to reduce the amount of luggage the villagers carried.

Keep in mind that they were going to travel thousands of kilometers away. Even bringing just one more book would significantly increase the shipping costs. The organizational capacity required for the entire migration and the expenses along the way were no small sum.

Later, one of the officers came up with a solution: to give money and buy back all those heavy possessions.

It's like that big vat for pickling vegetables, a meter in diameter, weighing several hundred kilograms. People have been using it for generations, so it's impossible to get them to throw it away.

But letting them transport this huge vat thousands of kilometers away is definitely not an option; the shipping cost would probably be enough to buy a large color TV.

So, the clever clerk paid 5 yuan out of his own pocket to buy the large vat for pickling vegetables, and the family was able to make their trip smoothly.

Similar incidents occurred frequently throughout the migration, from the place of departure to the port, a journey of thousands of miles, requiring care for their food, water, and sanitation, as well as prevention of illness.

The relocation of just the first batch of 10,000 people required the mobilization of tens of thousands of people along the route to serve them; it was truly no easy feat.

The first batch of immigrants migrated from entire villages, and their internal organizational structures were not disrupted.

Therefore, many of the original orders and organizations continued to exist, such as village committees and militia brigades.

Upon arriving at Greater Natuna Island, the militia members from various villages were reorganized and became the guards of the new town, as well as the Republic of Natuna.

They were quite happy when they received the weapons.

The weapons Sun Zhiwei provided to Natuna last time were all improved versions of the M16, which were much better than the guns the village used for training and hunting before.

The former militia captain, now the guard captain, is a bit of a pity that there are no anti-aircraft guns here.

Back in their hometown, they learned a lot about military operations such as leveling anti-aircraft guns.

Besides, there are many things that new immigrants from the mainland need to adjust to after arriving, such as what currency is used on the island.
This requires a serious decision, because they have already separated from Java, so it is naturally not appropriate for them to continue using Java's currency.

Ultimately, the Natuna Parliament decided to temporarily use both US dollars and RMB for settlement. Sun Zhiwei also played a significant role in this resettlement effort.

For example, to make it easier for villagers to buy things with their own money, Sun Zhiwei also had Cathay Bank urgently allocate manpower and funds to open two branches in two cities on Greater Natuna Island to support currency exchange business.

Whether other currencies will be used here in the future, or whether they will simply print their own banknotes, depends on the island's future development.

In addition, Sun Zhiwei purchased a large number of daily necessities from surrounding cities, transported them by cargo ship, and opened a grocery store in each of the towns where the new immigrants settled.

What made Sun Zhiwei happiest was that among this first batch of immigrants, 500 were recently retired soldiers, and their families were among the 10,000 immigrants.

After they settled down, Sun Zhiwei sent people to the island to recruit all 500 soldiers into the Pinkerton branch and immediately gave them an advance of $800 for their first month's allowance.

With this $800, their family will soon be able to make ends meet.

The number of warriors on Subi Island thus successfully exceeded 1500.

The population problem on Grand Natuna Island is visibly beginning to be resolved.

That's not all. To build a complete country, there are still many specific things to do.

For example, designing national symbols includes flags, badges, uniforms for soldiers, and so on.

Once all these preparations are complete, they still need to wait for mutual recognition from other countries before they can truly build this new nation from scratch.

There are many ways for a new country to gain recognition from other countries.

Some new countries are artificially created by major powers to serve as buffer zones between them, such as the two Koreas and the two Germanys.

When you have someone backing you up, the big brother supporting you will naturally be the first to acknowledge your founding of the nation.

With the guidance of a powerful backer, it becomes much easier for a fledgling nation to participate in international organizations.

For example, joining the United Nations, and then joining its member agencies such as the World Health Organization, UNESCO, the International Monetary Fund, UNICEF, and the World Food Programme.

These international organizations may seem useless, but they are often very important to some small countries.

The World Health Organization often provides medical assistance to many small countries, the World Food Programme can apply for relief food, and the International Monetary Fund can borrow money from them to help countries overcome difficulties, and so on.

Only then did this country become a sovereign state recognized by most countries in the world.

The Republic of Natuna is currently a small, newly established country, and no country recognizes its sovereignty.

Although it has the support of its hometown, it cannot openly receive care from its hometown.

However, this is only a matter of time. Once our homeland becomes stronger, we can hold another referendum here, and everyone will be able to smoothly integrate into the embrace of the motherland.

Of course, this will take time; before that, the nascent republic needs to protect itself.

(End of this chapter)