Chapter Seventy-One: Before the War (Part 3)

“The doctors will be sent over when the war starts. For now, I’ll give you a few nurses and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to maintain basic health care. The medics in the troops and labor force should also be sent back after you get there.”

After He Ping left, Shi Niaoren buried his head in the table again, drawing a schematic diagram on the drawing board with his not-so-skilled technique. His idea was to create a few sets of standard procedures for the medical personnel in training. He knew that the quality of the native medical personnel was poor, their cultural level was low, and their ability to accept new things was low. So he wanted to use picture books to simplify the difficulty of education.

“Damn, this thing looks so magnificent!” Mei Wan looked at the steam-powered engineering machinery produced locally in Lingao, which was slowly moving from a distance, puffing out black smoke and steam.

It was more like “crawling” than “moving.” The speed was so slow that it was almost impossible to perceive that they were moving. Even the endless stream of ox-carts on the highway overtook them one after another.

“New equipment. I think its performance is much better than the Meteor No. 1 locomotive,” although the support team led by Shan Daoqian used ox-carts, they still arrived a long way ahead of the engineering machinery.

The matter of road construction was fully entrusted to Shan Daoqian, who was recalled from Sanya—Shan Daoqian had completed the construction of the simple railway in Sanya. He entrusted the matter of road construction in Sanya to Ji Runzhi. The design drawings had all been completed, and the road construction team also had experience. Ji Runzhi only needed to be responsible for supervising the progress of the project.

This renovation of the post road was almost a brand new attempt for Shan Daoqian—he did not use any modern construction machinery, and relied entirely on the local industrial support of Lingao. The mechanical department manufactured several bulldozers and road rollers using the Suichao steam engine.

The steam-powered road rollers and bulldozers, using the principle of a portable steam engine, puffed out steam and black smoke. They slowly climbed onto the highway from the industrial area of Bairen City at a speed of less than 3 kilometers per hour, followed by a group of workers and technicians, as well as a few ox-carts loaded with spare parts and maintenance equipment. Although these steel monsters had poor performance, leaked air and smoke everywhere, and made creaking strange noises, the sight of these steel monsters writhing and staggering forward gave the people along the road a shock that far surpassed the more modern agricultural vehicles and jeeps.

But for Shan Daoqian, the reliability of these devices was not good. The three steam-powered road rollers and bulldozers stopped and started, constantly undergoing maintenance and adjustments. It took them a full 24 hours to reach the construction section.

But as soon as they arrived at the section, the power of machinery was revealed. Although the steam engine equipment was inconvenient to use and kept breaking down, the efficiency was still much higher than that of manpower and animal power. The stone rollers pulled by oxen were no match for the steam road rollers. As for the bulldozers, although they could be used for less than six motor hours a day, the amount of earthwork they did was enough for a hundred people to work for a day.

Shan Daoqian started from Maniao to renovate the post road to Chengmai. The first batch of army troops and militia that had already been mobilized served as laborers, building the road while advancing towards Chengmai. As for Mei Wan himself, he was in charge of building the Maniao base.

As an important salt production base of the Lingao regime, and located at the junction of Lingao and Chengmai, the Planning Institute had originally planned to establish a local administrative agency, the Maniao Commune, and fill it with some new immigrants to serve as the eastern support point of the Small Crossroad Plan.

In the preparations for this anti-encirclement campaign, the Maniao Peninsula was again put on the agenda as a key target to be defended. The work of building the city immediately began.

According to Mei Wan’s original plan, the construction of Maniao was only to build a European-style bastion fortress, with a company stationed inside, equipped with a dozen or so cannons, to control the port and the salt field, and to ensure that the enemy could not engage in guerrilla warfare in the area.

But in the officially implemented plan, Maniao became a fortress city. Not only was it prepared to be a long-term army base with a considerable number of troops, but it also had to store a large amount of military supplies and have a certain ability to repair and maintain weapons—the General Staff was already preparing to make Maniao Fortress the main military base of the army in the future, and the main force of the army would be stationed there. For this purpose, a large area of training grounds and firing ranges were also planned nearby.

According to the revised operational plan by He Ming, all the army forces participating in the anti-encirclement campaign: four infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, and one engineer company would be concentrated in Maniao for training and replenishment to form a field army, waiting for the Ming army to assemble in Qiongshan before setting out to fight.

Although Maniao Fortress was still under intense construction, He Ming and his staff, as well as most of the officers, had already arrived in Maniao and had set up the field army headquarters in the original blockhouse.

He Ming had set up the headquarters in Maniao also to avoid the overly dense concentration of Elders in Bairen and Bopu. Although he had already informed the Senate that he would not receive any Elders on non-official business, they could still find various reasons to come to the headquarters. They were all very enthusiastic about offering advice and suggestions for the future battle—since the Senate no longer discussed this issue, it was more convenient to talk directly to the officers. Some talked about strategy, some about the use of tactics, and some offered their own “new weapon” plans. He Ming was tired of such visitors, so he simply moved the headquarters staff to Maniao earlier.

Because of its importance, the Salt Field Village had long since opened a wired telegraph system next to the blockhouse. After He Ming brought the headquarters, the wired telegraph station was immediately expanded. Not only were telegraph operators added, but also some equipment was added to enable it to serve the army effectively. Li Yunxing even specially sent a telecommunications engineer, Hu Muye, to be stationed at the telecommunications bureau in Bairen to be responsible for equipment maintenance. He also brought a radio as a backup.

Hu Muye set off from Bairen with the equipment on a slow ox-cart. On the ox-cart were also He Ping from the Ministry of Health, Wu Shimang from the Lingao Church, and Yang He, the head of the quarantine camp. The specific tasks of these people were different, but the general purpose was the same—to prepare for the expected prisoners.

The few people chatted and talked along the way. They set off at dawn and arrived at Maniao around noon. From a distance, they could hear the sound of military drums and flutes, and white cooking smoke and black smoke were swirling. From time to time, they could hear the roar of guns and cannons.

On the flat training ground, teams of infantry were drilling in formation to the accompaniment of drums and flutes. The non-commissioned officers shouted commands at the top of their lungs, and sometimes there were bursts of shouts in unison: “Kill! Kill! Kill!” and the roar of “fire.”

Around the unfinished earthworks of Maniao Fortress, the leeward and sunny slopes and mountain hollows were dotted with gray-white tents. On the open ground, rows of artillery and vehicles were neatly parked. Smoke billowed from the field kitchens. Queues of soldiers in gray uniforms and shouldering rifles passed by from time to time.

On the post road to Chengmai, groups of laborers, soldiers, and construction machinery were busy. Steam rollers occasionally puffed out a cloud of black smoke. In the distance, people could be seen building a bridge over a river.

“It’s only a few kilometers to Heshe. After Heshe is Chengmai County,” Wu Shimang knew more about the geography of Lingao because he needed to do missionary work.

“Now that our road is built, the magistrate of Chengmai County will have a hard time. He’ll probably be like an ant on a hot pan.”

“He can play deaf and dumb like Magistrate Wu, and be a member of the Political Consultative Conference or something in the future.”

“It’s smart to know how to play deaf and dumb. I’m afraid he doesn’t know what’s good for him. Then he’ll have to be sent to heaven.”

“So many carts!” He Ping suddenly exclaimed in amazement.

The ox-carts carrying grain, supplies, ammunition, and building materials moved slowly in a long line on the highway, with no end in sight. It looked extremely spectacular.

They usually knew the power of industrial society, but seeing the huge energy displayed by the industrial society they had created with their own eyes, everyone was very excited.

The periphery of the Maniao city construction site was already completely under martial law. There were barbed wire, abatis, watchtowers, and trenches everywhere. Their ox-cart was stopped by a sentry as soon as it reached a turn in the road. Everyone’s documents and order documents were checked. He Ping saw that in addition to the fixed sentries, there were small mobile patrols everywhere. He Ping saw that the security here was so tight, and it had the air of being on the verge of war.

They easily reached the headquarters. He Ming was not there. The duty staff officer, Dongmen Chuiyu, made arrangements for them one by one according to their purpose of visit. As for the matter of opening a field hospital, Dongmen was of course very welcoming.

“There are no prisoners for you to treat now, but there have been frequent exercises and training recently, and some have been injured. In addition, there is the matter of epidemic prevention. Several thousand people have already come to this small area. Although each company has a medic, it’s reassuring to have someone from your health department stationed here.”

“I’ll check the camp first. Especially the toilets and drinking water. If these are done well, there won’t be a large-scale epidemic.”

“Alright, you take a look first. The Ministry of Health has built a centralized water purification station for us, and now it is stipulated that all troops must go to the water station to get water.”

Dongmen Chuiyu then took everyone to a camp. A few rows of simple houses had been built there, with signs hanging at the doors. These were the places where the representatives of various departments sent to Maniao to coordinate the work for this operation would work and live.

He Ping’s health department office was already prepared. There was only a wooden plank bed and a folding table inside. There was no chair, so he sat on the bed to work.

Dongmen Chuiyu said: “The conditions are simple, so everyone will have to make do for now. The hospital in Maniao has just started construction. You can move there when it’s finished.”

“It’s alright, I’ll take a look at the epidemic prevention situation first.”

“Xie Shu!” Dongmen Chuiyu called out.

“Here!” A young officer immediately came out from behind them and stood at attention and saluted. He Ping sized him up. This person was about in his early twenties, with dark skin, regular features, and his hair was cut very short like all the soldiers. He was wearing an army uniform, with the rank of second lieutenant, but his sleeve was decorated with a red bar representing a staff officer. This was probably a native intern staff officer.

“Xie Shu is a trainee staff officer, in charge of the logistics part. He will accompany you.” He then ordered, “You take the special commissioner to inspect the health and security situation!”

“Understood!” Xie Shu asked in a sonorous voice, “Sir, where do you plan to inspect first?”

“Let’s start with the water supply station.”

He first looked at the water purification station. He recognized the medic in charge of the water purification station. He had just graduated from the medic training class of the Ministry of Health a few months ago. His name was Niu Yutian, and he had fled to Lingao from the mainland three months ago. He was fifteen or sixteen years old, with a fair complexion, and spoke in a soft voice. When he was assigned, the staff felt that he was too delicate and assigned him to the health department as a medic. The medic wore a white armband on his uniform sleeve, with the symbol of the health department printed on it: a blue snake coiled around a wooden staff.

He Ping asked about the situation of the water purification station. He learned that the mobile water purification equipment used by the army had only recently been delivered. It used fine sand and activated carbon to filter the water, and then added bleach to disinfect it. The drinking water had to be boiled as well. The entire water supply station could be dismantled and pulled by animals, which was very convenient to use. He Ping checked the condition of the equipment, and also checked whether the activated carbon and sand were correctly installed and replaced. He checked the records of the bleach application.

After looking at it, he thought that there was no problem with the water station itself, but the water supply was insufficient. Especially when he found that this water station had no pumping equipment and relied entirely on manpower to carry water, He Ping shook his head. This supply could barely guarantee the daily training use of the field army. It would be difficult to supply it during marches.

“This set of equipment is a battalion-level field water supply equipment,” Xie Shu said. “It’s not enough to supply so many troops.”

He Ping knew that this was most likely a sample from the mechanical department, used for experiments. He secretly thought that this was reckless. According to the current military and population scale in Maniao, a waterworks should have been established.

“Let’s go and see the camp.”

The various units of the field army were stationed separately by battalion and company. There were abatis around each station. Small bunkers were built with stones at the front and back gates of the camp, with loopholes. Each bunker could accommodate at most three people for sentry duty and shooting. In the event of a surprise attack, it could resist for a while and buy time for the troops to assemble.

The rows of military tents in the camp were neatly pitched. There was an open space in front of the main gate that had been leveled for assembly and roll call. The roads in the camp were regular and very clean. All kinds of vehicles and utensils were neatly arranged. Each camp had toilets set up according to the number of soldiers, and disinfectants were prepared.

The soldiers had already gone out for training. Only a few logistics personnel were left in the camp to cook and guard the camp. Seeing a leader coming to inspect, everyone stood up together, stood in a neat line, and saluted them in silence.

Even an outsider like He Ping could see that this military camp was strictly disciplined and the soldiers were well-trained. He couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration: “These troops are really well-trained.”

“This is all due to the good training of the leaders,” Xie Shu said.

To He Ping, this sounded a bit like flattery. He couldn’t help but glance at this young officer. Seeing his calm and extremely sincere expression, it didn’t seem like flattery.

“Oh, this Australian method of governing the army has not yet been tested in real combat. How do you think it compares with the border troops of the Ming Dynasty?”

Xie Shu said seriously: “It is these four words, ‘orders are carried out and prohibitions are observed,’ that are far superior to all the armies of the Ming Dynasty.”

Discipline was indeed one of the biggest differences between modern and ancient armies. This young officer did not talk about the huge advantage of the Transmigrationists’ firearms, which was the most shocking thing to the natives, but first talked about discipline, which made He Ping look at him in a new light. He couldn’t help but become interested:

“I have also heard that the discipline of the government army is not good—”

“No, what I mean by ‘orders are carried out and prohibitions are observed’ is not about the good or bad discipline towards the common people, but that the leaders can train the troops to advance and retreat as freely as their own limbs.”

He Ping nodded, feeling that his insight was really not bad. He couldn’t help but become interested in him.

“Where are you from?”

“I am from Tongchuan, Shaanxi.”

“You are from the border army, right?” He Ping heard that he was from Shaanxi. He thought that there were very few northerners here, and most of them were deserters from the government army.

“No,” Xie Shu smiled. “My family was originally a small grain household, and my father was a scholar. In the Tianqi era, there were bandits in my hometown, and we really couldn’t stay there anymore—the bandits and the government army took turns to ravage us. The whole family had to flee to the Central Plains. My father said that the Central Plains was a place of four battles and we couldn’t stay there, so we ran south, and we ran all the way to Guangdong.”

“How did you get to Lingao?”

“My family did some small coastal business to make a living. Not to mention the extortion from the government, in the end, our boat was also robbed by the sea masters. My father was angry and said: ‘Everywhere we go, we are bullied by bandits and officials. We might as well become bandits ourselves’.” When Xie Shu said this, he suddenly realized that he was also cursing the leaders as bandits, and quickly stopped.

He Ping smiled: “We are indeed bandits. We are the short-hair bandits.”

“The actions of the leaders, not to mention the sea masters and local bandits, even the Ming Dynasty is not one-tenth as good,” Xie Shu said. “I was originally a good soldier at home. I have read many books like ‘The Compendium of Military Classics,’ ‘The Treatise on Armament Technology,’ and ‘The New Book of Effective Discipline.’ I admire General Qi the most. I have also thought about how to train a strong army. It was only when I came to the Fubo Army that I realized that what I thought and thought…” he did not continue, just shook his head.

He Ping found it very new. Most of the native officers, civil servants, and students he had met were refugees. They were either full of bitterness and hatred, or had nowhere to go. Their gratitude and worship for the Transmigrationists came from the bottom of their hearts. But Xie Shu’s “worship” had no “gratitude” in it, nor the bitterness of being full of hatred. He even had a bit of a teasing tone when he talked about his own affairs.

And this young man’s speech and attitude were completely different from the natives. If it weren’t for his strange Mandarin, He Ping would have thought he was an unknown Elder.

“Following us as bandits, are you not afraid of being annihilated by the government army?” He Ping deliberately asked.

“The government can’t even wipe out the bandits in our hometown,” Xie Shu smiled. “They also lose more than they win when fighting the Eastern Tartars. It’s even more of a pipe dream to defeat the Fubo Army.”

“There is a dressing station down the slope over there,” Xie Shu asked. “Does the chief want to go and see it?”

“Of course I do,” He Ping asked. “Why has a dressing station already been set up?”