Chapter 10: The Daoist Priest Arrives

Subsequently, Xi Yazhou announced the implementation of the “Decimation Order” as a collective punishment for the rioting labor teams. No one except the elders knew what this meant. But soon, the term became one that struck fear into the hearts of all. The three labor companies that had participated in the riot were all driven into the center and lined up. Then, counting from one to ten, the tenth man was pulled out and hanged.

To the sound of military drums and the cold, emotionless counting of the provost marshal—”one, two, three, four…“—man after man was pulled from the ranks and dragged to the gallows to have a noose put around his neck. Some of those dragged out to be hanged were stunned into silence, some struggled desperately, and some, with bloodshot eyes, tried to scream, but were quickly silenced by the rope around their necks. The drums beat at a steady, unhurried pace, only quickening to a frantic rain-like rhythm just as a man’s neck was in the noose and he was about to be pulled up. And when his life was extinguished, the drums would beat a few heavy, final notes. After a moment of silence, they would return to their slow, steady beat. The watching laborers were all scared out of their wits, some even collapsing to the ground.

When the drumbeats finally stopped, another twenty-seven men had been hanged. It was then announced that the bodies on the gallows were not to be taken down, but left to rot, to be pecked by birds and eaten by insects, until they became dry bones and were then thrown into the sea.

The laborers who were not executed were all organized into “punishment teams,” specifically responsible for the hardest, most tiring, and most dangerous projects. Their ultimate fate would be decided by the General Political Security Bureau.

The Sanya Military Committee highly praised the native staff who died in the riot. Not only were their ashes solemnly collected and buried, but a telegram was also sent to Lin’gao, requesting special compensation for their families.

Killing could only control the situation temporarily. To ensure productivity, they had to distribute preventive anti-malarial drugs to those who had recovered and those who were still healthy. He Ma personally returned to Lin’gao and requested more compound anti-malarial tablets from the Ministry of Health. Shi Niaoren did not dare to make the decision on this matter—anti-malarial drugs were controlled substances. In the end, the Director of the Planning院, Wu De, agreed that the Ministry of Health could use the drug reserves as needed.

“Even if we use up all the medicine, we have to hold Sanya down first,” Wu De said. “If Sanya fails, the coal-iron complex can’t be built, and there’s no point talking about developing Taiwan and Southeast Asia.”

“And nutritional supplements,” He Ma said. “The laborers’ diet is still too poor. Too many carbohydrates, not enough protein. They can’t handle the heavy physical labor, and it also affects their resistance.”

If the laborers’ nutrition had been good, such a large-scale death toll would have been impossible.

“I’ll allocate five tons of dried fish and a thousand cans of fish sauce to you,” Wu De said. “By the way, do you need sugar? It’s the best way to supplement energy.”

“Of course,” He Ma said with satisfaction. “I’ll just take the brown sugar.”

“No one is in confinement after childbirth, why eat brown sugar? We have white sugar and rock sugar here.”

“Haha, you believe in that traditional Chinese medicine stuff too,” He Ma said with contempt. “Brown sugar is just crude sugar. It has a few more nutrients, that’s all. What does it have to do with postpartum confinement? Let’s save the white sugar and the like for selling.”

“Fine, five tons for you too.”

“Thank you so much,” He Ma said, thanking him. He then went back to the Ministry of Health to request more medical staff.

“We’re really short on nurses,” said Zhang Ziyi, the Director of the Nursing Department and Head Nurse, frowning. “I’ve already given you twenty nurses. If you need more, I can only give you third-year students, and not too many, just a few.”

She had her reasons for being reluctant to let people go. The Ministry of Health was currently strengthening its medical forces everywhere, especially the number of junior medical officers. The “Mongolian doctors” who were selected from the elders for crash training were inferior to the nursing class in both learning enthusiasm and effectiveness. Most of them dropped out and quit as soon as they reached the stage of memorizing medical books and terminology. Disappointed, Director Shi decided to focus the training on the native nurses. After screening, about half of the first nursing class were to be transferred to medical officer training. The rest were also to undergo advanced nursing training.

And a recent report submitted by Ai Beibei had exacerbated the shortage of nurses. In her report, Ai Beibei mentioned that with the imminent arrival of a large number of life secretaries, there would surely be a peak in pregnancies and births. She suggested that they start training obstetrics and gynecology medical officers, midwives, and pediatric medical staff now.

This was a major matter concerning the descendants of the elders, and Director Shi did not dare to neglect it. He immediately approved it, so even the promising talents in the second-year class had to start new training.

As a result, the remaining second-year students became the backbone. The third-year students had just finished their basic training and were not very useful, and the fourth-year students were even less so.

“Third-year students are fine too,” He Ma said, describing the situation in Sanya. “Many people are sick, and there are too few nursing staff. Besides, you don’t have to officially assign them to the Sanya clinic. You can use an internship model.”

“That’s not the same thing,” Zhang Ziyi said dismissively. “How about I give you a batch of fourth-year students to take with you for an internship?”

“I don’t know anything about nursing,” He Ma shook his head repeatedly.

“You have several first and second-year nurses there. The old can lead the new.”

As for doctors, not a single one could be spared. Even Zhang Ziyi’s husband, the veterinarian Yang Baogui, was not available. Disappointed, He Ma was about to leave when Zhang Ziyi called him back.

“There’s someone, quite strange. But he is a genuine doctor of traditional Chinese medicine…”

“Who is it?” He Ma wondered. This person was clearly not Liu San.

“The Religious Affairs Office just transferred his personnel file over. They want us to arrange something for him first. By the way, he has explicitly stated that he is willing to go to the most arduous places to practice medicine. That suits your needs perfectly,” Zhang Ziyi said. “You should go find He Ping for the specifics.”

He Ping was the office director of the Ministry of Health, responsible for all sorts of miscellaneous matters for the ministry and its subordinate units. He also occasionally had to moonlight as an equipment maintenance engineer at the pharmaceutical factory. He had no objection to the latter, as the factory director was his wife, Zhao Yanmei.

He Ping was usually very low-key, a good employee who was not particularly capable but absolutely obedient to his superiors, and he never gossiped. He had good relations with others.

“This person was transferred from the Religious Affairs Office,” He Ping said, pulling out the file. “His name is Zhang Yingchen. Judging from his resume, he’s a genuine graduate of a traditional Chinese medicine hospital.”

“How come I don’t know about such a talent?” He Ma was surprised. Doctors, especially those trained in modern medicine, were the most scarce talent in the transmigrator group.

“He’s been messing around in the Religious Affairs Office doing religious research since he landed. He’s not very interested in his own profession. I don’t know how skilled he is, but he definitely has a physician’s license,” He Ping said. “That’s what Director He from the Religious Affairs Office said.”

“Damn, he’s not some kind of Christian missionary, is he?” He Ma was not interested in this foreign religion. “But that’s fine too. We need some spiritual opium right now.”

“I don’t think he looks like a missionary,” He Ping said, struggling to find the right words. “He’s a bit mystical, talking about qi and the Dao all day long…”

“He’s not some kind of qigong master, is he?” He Ma became wary. He handed the list in his hand to He Ping. It was a list of requested supplementary drugs, consumables, and equipment. It had already been signed by the Planning Committee and Shi Niaoren.

“The rest is fine, but we don’t have that much refined salt. And we don’t have enough iodine tincture for the amount you want,” He Ping shook his head.

He Ma found this hard to believe. Refined salt and iodine tincture were the most common consumables in the Ministry of Health, disinfectants that could be used without any procedures.

“How can these be out of stock?”

“There was an accident at the saltworks in Ma Niao,” He Ping said. “Before Director Wang was transferred, he set up a steam salt factory for them, with four steam boilers. A few days ago, for some reason, they all exploded, one after another. The chemical plant and the food factory have a high demand for salt now, so it’s suddenly in short supply.”

“And the iodine tincture?”

“Well,” He Ping coughed embarrassedly. “You know our iodine is mainly extracted from seaweed like kelp. But recently, eating kelp has become popular—the supply of seaweed can’t keep up with the demand.”

This had started spreading suddenly in the last few days: it was said that eating kelp and seaweed would prolong life and make one immune to all poisons. First, it spread among the natives, and the previously worthless dried and fresh kelp in the market was sold out in no time. Eventually, even the elders got involved, though the claim changed to eating kelp could whiten skin, protect against the sun, and enhance sexual performance. All kelp dishes in the canteen were suddenly in high demand. Not only did they cook kelp and soybean paste soup for all three meals, but the food factory also rushed to produce a lot of dried seaweed as snacks.

Meanwhile, in the office of the Director of the Religious Affairs Office, He Ying was flipping through a copy of meeting minutes.

This was a religious affairs seminar held within the Religious Affairs Office after the New Year. In the second half of last year, He Ying had launched a social survey on religion in Lin’gao and collected a lot of first-hand data.

At this seminar, Zhang Yingchen of the Religious Affairs Office had presented a paper titled “A Survey Report on the Religious Situation in Lin’gao.” He then proposed the idea of creating a “New Daoism.”

Zhang Yingchen was nearly thirty years old. He was originally a doctor at a traditional Chinese medicine hospital and had a particular interest in the field of religion. He had dabbled in Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. He was a semi-researcher of religious studies, with a particularly deep interest and research in Daoism.

His idea sparked a heated debate at the Religious Affairs Office seminar. Wu Shimang, Bai Duolu, and others were opposed to it. The Lin’gao Church did not want to see such a division of the pie. Especially Director Wu, who, although he couldn’t even recite the Rosary anymore, had been planning a comprehensive “holy war” to spread the faith throughout Lin’gao and eradicate all old beliefs.

Wu Shimang’s opposition was not out of faith—he simply didn’t want a competitor to share the pie with him. A new religion would first occupy the resources of the Religious Affairs Office, and secondly, it would create difficulties in proselytizing. In his speech, he listed many of the after-effects that would be caused by the two sides competing for believers.

But Zhang Yingchen’s proposal received He Ying’s support. He had initiated and presided over the county-wide religious survey, and a major reason for it was to see which religious form was more suitable for the needs of the natives of this time. He Ying was well aware of the Executive Committee’s thinking: introducing Catholicism to Lin’gao—no matter how enthusiastic the Jesuits were about it—the Catholic Church in Lin’gao was essentially just a skin for a future new religion. A new body would evolve behind this skin, eventually becoming a completely new religious form controlled by the transmigrators.

This ultimate goal was clear to everyone in the Religious Affairs Office, but Father Wu’s recent activities had greatly concerned He Ying. Wu Shimang spared no effort to strengthen the church organization, accumulate church property, reform customs, and train missionaries… Obviously, old Wu was preparing to establish a state religion.

He was troubled about how to deal with this matter. From a practical point of view, Wu Shimang’s approach was very beneficial to the entire transmigrator group. On the other hand, this promotional effect would inevitably create a Roman Curia-style religious order in the end. He Ying knew very well that the Senate would not like a powerful religious order. They needed tools, thorough tools. Even President Wen, who was most concerned about the construction of the Religious Affairs Office, had mentioned in his instructions multiple times: pay attention to the “degree” of church construction.

Zhang Yingchen’s idea gave him an inspiration: monopoly is dangerous; only competition will create a virtuous cycle.

To this end, after the meeting, He Ying submitted a report to the Executive Committee, reporting Zhang Yingchen’s specific ideas. This matter involved ideology, and it was not something he could decide on his own.

The reply was written by President Wen. The first sentence was: “Under the domain of a God of Light, any religious form can be discussed.”

He Ying was a little baffled. Where did this “God of Light” suddenly come from? Was President Wen planning to create his own church? Reading on, there was another sentence: “The Daoist sages, such as Laozi and Zhuangzi, are all archangels under the command of the great archangel of the God of Light. The Palestinian carpenter, Christ, is also an imitation.”

“So that’s how it is!” He Ying somewhat understood President Wen’s meaning. He notified Zhang Yingchen and officially called him for a talk to discuss this issue.

“Director He, it would be better if you came to my office. I have a lot of things I want to show you, and it’s not convenient to bring them over,” Zhang Yingchen said on the phone.

So He Ying went to his office. Zhang Yingchen’s office was in the same courtyard. Compared to the scale of the Lin’gao Church, the Religious Affairs Office was a very small yamen. Of course, it was not convenient for them to work in the Lin’gao monastery—they now shared a courtyard with the Li and Miao Affairs Office. The latter was almost empty on weekdays. The courtyard was very quiet, with lush flowers and trees in the flowerbeds, giving it a classical Chinese charm. Staying in the courtyard, one could hardly feel the hustle and bustle outside.

Zhang Yingchen’s office was elegantly arranged, full of traditional charm. The furniture, calligraphy, and paintings in the room were all bought by him from the cooperative with his own money, not the modernist furniture issued by the Planning Committee.

Zhang Yingchen was sitting in a purple sandalwood bamboo-joint chair, wearing headphones and writing furiously. Beside him was a portable CD player. On the purple sandalwood desk were the four treasures of the study, as well as a locally made dip pen with an iron nib. A three-tiered rosewood shelf was neatly lined with books. These were Ming Dynasty books he had personally commissioned the Guangzhou station to purchase. Most of them were on Daoism.