Chapter 1879 - Out with the Old, In with the New (Part 15)
"Elements' personal information, schedule arrangements, even the specific number of Elements...
"From the current situation, not only do naturalized cadres have extremely low security awareness, but a large portion of the Elements themselves could also be described as having extremely poor security consciousness. A major task of the Security Bureau is to conduct security education—to disseminate the significance, scope, rules and regulations, and penalties of security work to Elements, naturalized citizens, and especially retained personnel from the old society. We must make them recognize the importance of security work...
"The Executive Council should restore the State Secrets Protection Law as soon as possible to guide classified information and security work..."
Writing this far, Liu Xiang thought that if he could restore the Classified Information Bureau and Security Bureau establishments at the central level, this would be the largest departmental restructuring since the Second Five-Year Plan, involving the Great Library, Political Security, Police, Military, Telecommunications, and many other departments—it would absolutely constitute a major political earthquake. Moreover, under the current culture of "Elements' personal secretaries handling documents," establishing these two bureaus would also affect many personal secretaries' work.
So Liu Xiang very shrewdly wrote at the end: "Submitted for central review, recommending the pilot restoration of both bureau establishments in the Guangzhou area first." This way, it would only involve the cadre corps composed mainly of naturalized citizens, avoiding much of the internal Element squabbling. Once the framework was set up in Guangzhou and running stably, the "founding patriarch" of this system would naturally be the distinguished Prefect Liu before us.
Lai Xiao watched the barge slowly approaching the dock, then looked at the gleaming bayonets all around, and silently cursed: Fooled by the Australian pirates again!
The sun blazed overhead, scorching hot. Like the hundreds around him, he squatted on the ground with hands on his head, not daring to move. Surrounding them were Australian National Army soldiers and "black dogs" [police]. Every one of them looked like a vicious demon. They killed without hesitation: this was the Pearl River bank—one bayonet thrust, one kick, and the corpse went straight into the river, not even requiring burial. Since morning till now, Lai Xiao had already seen several unlucky souls disposed of this way.
His tattered clothes, after last night's arrest and the ordeal of "climbing the water pool," had become barely able to cover his body. Though the summer meant no freezing, squatting under the poisonous sun from morning till now was hard enough to bear.
Even begging wasn't permitted by the Australian pirates. Lai Xiao's hatred for these "plague-cursed short-hairs" intensified.
Ever since his elder brother Lai Da had been exposed and arrested in Lingao and the Second Young Master had fled in panic, Lai Xiao had stayed on at the Lingao County School as a servant for several more months. During that time, he heard that his brother Lai Da had been sentenced to death and executed by the Australians. In his grief, he silently prayed that the Second Young Master would return with government troops for "revenge."
Government troops did eventually come, but were crushingly defeated by the Australians. Lai Xiao's "restoration corps" dreams were utterly shattered by the columns of prisoners being escorted to Lingao.
On the night of the "torch parade" celebrating victory, Lai Xiao hid alone under his blankets crying—he didn't dare make sound. Even though his roommates had all gone to watch the festivities, he was afraid of being discovered.
Hatred and fear of the Australians mingled in his heart. Though he had once sworn to avenge his brother, in the end, fear won out—the Australians' inspections in Lingao grew ever stricter—and he slipped away. He figured he would go to Guangzhou to find the Second Young Master.
Not daring to take the highway to Qiongshan to cross the sea, he found a small fishing boat in Lingao, crossed the strait to Xuwen, and then headed for Guangzhou. Before he'd gone half the way, his travel money ran out. He could only beg his way along, barely making it back to Guangzhou.
But Gou Chengxuan wasn't in Guangzhou. He made inquiries everywhere but never learned the Second Young Master's whereabouts. At his wit's end, Lai Xiao finally registered with the Guandi Temple faction as a beggar.
Lai Xiao had been a slave boy since childhood. His skills at reading faces and flattering superiors were first-rate; toadying was second nature. Whether begging on the streets or currying favor with the dagu, he was completely at ease. Though his time at the den wasn't long, he had become something of a "person of note" there.
Guangzhou had thriving commerce and industry, many shops and wealthy households, and mild winters. After a few years of survival, Lai Xiao felt the beggar's life wasn't so bad—as the saying went, "three years of begging, and you wouldn't take a prefect's job."
The Australian pirates' sudden seizure of Guangzhou had temporarily terrified Lai Xiao, giving him thoughts of fleeing. But on second thought, he was just a beggar. With thousands of beggars in Guangzhou, what rank did he amount to? Would the Australians specifically come after him? Besides, even if he fled, how would he survive elsewhere? Begging was a trade where familiarity mattered. A new place might not be as easy to work as Guangzhou. And if the local Chief Beggar refused to register him, he couldn't even beg!
So he clung to his luck and continued surviving in Guangzhou.
He hadn't expected the Australians wouldn't even spare beggars! Yesterday afternoon, after eating and drinking his fill, Lai Xiao had been napping at the den when suddenly a whistle blew. The Australian "black dogs" swarmed in like bees, rudely awakening him from his pleasant dreams. Hands on head, squatting against the wall, he watched them "inspect" his ragged possessions with batons and bayonets, then was led away.
Lai Xiao was now filled with regret. He had been in Lingao and knew the Australians' methods: this boat would likely take them back to Lingao. Once there, it would be "cleansing" followed by endless labor. Even the lame and one-armed had work to do, as long as they weren't reduced to a "human stick."
Just as he was wallowing in self-pity, a commotion suddenly passed through the waiting beggars. An elderly beggar had suddenly collapsed.
In midsummer, with crowds gathered on an unsheltered dock, heatstroke wasn't unusual. The Health Bureau had sent a few medics; when they saw someone collapse, they carried them to a shaded awning nearby, gave them water, and dispensed a dose of Plague Prevention Powder.
"No moving! Stay down!" With a sharp reprimand, medics and two police with batons parted the crowd and came to the fallen patient.
The medic was a short-term trainee from the Health Department, transferred from Lingao. He glanced casually at the old beggar lying on the ground, then suddenly his face changed drastically. He stumbled backward several steps, his voice cracking: "Quick! Evacuate everyone from here!"
"...This was a year of great victory and rapid progress for the people. In this year, the people of Guangdong, under the Executive Council's leadership, continued the great march to eliminate the reactionary Ming usurper regime, completing the liberation of all Guangdong. Against this backdrop, the great Executive Council led the people of Guangdong in vigorous reform and construction work in political, economic, and cultural spheres..."
Liu San irritably tossed aside the newspaper, spread out the pile of documents before him, and began his routine worrying.
A full year had passed since the Executive Council liberated Guangzhou, yet progress on health and epidemic prevention was far from satisfactory to the Elements. Liu San had been bustling around Guangzhou for over half a year, but his title remained "Guangdong Health Commissioner of the Livelihood and Labor Ministry." His responsibilities kept expanding, but his staff had barely increased. Commissioner Liu, overwhelmed, suddenly realized he had been fighting almost single-handedly. As a noble Element who had been working on this for so long, he didn't even have his own team—never mind a team, he didn't even have a sign. He had hastily applied to establish the Guangzhou Special Municipality Health Committee to coordinate public health management in Guangzhou. After all, modern public health and epidemic prevention absolutely couldn't be managed by one person plus a few traditional Chinese doctors. But Element Liu encountered the same problem as every other Guangzhou department: lack of cadres.
Those who truly understood the Executive Council's modern medical system among naturalized citizens were few to begin with. Moreover, quite a few of this group had been assigned to the already stretched frontline health work—they had all become doctors. Every Guangzhou department was demanding cadres, while the Council's medical education had barely started. Health administration workers among naturalized citizens were virtually nonexistent, and follow-up training had naturally fallen behind. Just as he was scratching his head for solutions, his office door suddenly burst open.
"Re... port!" His messenger rushed in, panting—clearly he had been running hard.
"What is it?" One look told him something serious had happened.
"Transfer... transferring to Hong Kong... among the beggars, they discovered... discovered... discovered..." He said "discovered" three times. "Plague!"
Liu San was stunned. He shot to his feet.
Guangzhou having plague cases wasn't entirely unexpected—he had long heard from the medical officers that there had been plague transmission locally. But since safely getting through the "returning south" humid season, he hadn't received any plague reports—of course, it was possible patients had died without anyone realizing it was plague. In any case, there had been no plague outbreak.
He quickly asked: "Specific situation?"
"At Guangzhou Pier No. 3, the 4th batch of transferees." The messenger reported. "The patient is a man over fifty. He suddenly collapsed while waiting for the ship. Visual inspection showed chills, nausea, high fever, and swollen lymph nodes in the groin area..."
Hearing this, Liu San was almost certain: this was most likely bubonic plague—the most common type of plague. The medical officers had mentioned multiple times that this infectious disease existed in Guangzhou.
Even in the old timeline, plague was the dreaded "Number One Disease," heading the list of over 30 legally designated infectious diseases, one of only two Class A infectious diseases (the other being cholera). Moreover, the Executive Council currently had no sufficiently safe and effective vaccines or treatments. Unlike gastrointestinal infectious diseases, plague could spread through fleas and respiratory droplets. In an era of terrible public health environments and poor personal hygiene, its transmission and mortality rates were nearly apocalyptic.
The only consolation was that bubonic plague was the mildest form of plague.
"Has isolation been implemented?"
"The National Army has sealed off Pier No. 3."
"Immediately notify the Maritime Police Command. Have them dispatch quarantine ships to transport the patient and all contacts to an offshore island for isolation."
(End of Chapter)