Chapter 184: The Food Processing Center

The Great Whale returned to Hong Kong for a temporary refit. A steam-powered gantry crane was installed on its deck, along with a lifting winch and a dredging bucket. To ensure stability during operation, anchors were taken from several other ships and fitted onto it, giving it a total of eight anchors.

When the refitted vessel shakily arrived at Humen, everyone couldn’t help but chuckle at its strange and ugly appearance. Of course, they were also extremely concerned about its safety.

“This crane is so high, the center of gravity must be a bit unstable,” Huang Zhaozhi said. He had traveled with the Great Whale to Humen. The journey hadn’t been too rough, but every time a wave slapped against the hull and the steel gantry crane creaked and groaned, he couldn’t help but worry—what if it capsized?

A nerdy-looking man with glasses spoke eloquently, “It’s fine. According to my calculations, taking into account a series of factors like wave-making resistance and roll coefficient, the probability of the ship capsizing is less than 12%.”

“That still sounds pretty scary.”

“The wind and waves in the Pearl River are much smaller than at sea, so this probability will decrease further.”

“I hope so.” Chen Haiyang looked at the bizarre monster and felt a little uneasy, but right now it was a matter of having something versus nothing. He couldn’t afford to get too hung up on safety.

Le Lin had a long face. As the captain of the Great Whale, bringing this ship to Humen had been a painstaking effort. With so many long, thick things installed on board, the ship’s power system remained unchanged—the same old diesel engine. Not only was there no increase in power, but the ship’s center of gravity had shifted, making it heavy and clumsy to operate. He had personally steered the whole way, finally reaching Humen at a speed of 3 knots.

“This ship is too difficult to handle…” Le Lin complained. “I should be building my mansion on Victoria Peak right now…”

“Stop complaining. Check the ship’s condition immediately and prepare for departure.”

At the pier on Humen’s Aniangxie Island, the air was buzzing with activity. The sounds of workers’ chants, military songs, the roar of steam engines, and the cries of prisoners blended into one.

Over four thousand prisoners, captured from various places, had been transported to Humen. Some were considered hostile or a threat to their future rule, while others were poor people taken in from the local area. They were to be shipped to Hainan to supplement the local population.

The Pearl River Delta was already experiencing overpopulation by the late Ming Dynasty, with large numbers of people moving into the mountainous areas for agricultural development. Therefore, removing a portion of the population did not harm local production and economy; on the contrary, it could reduce the pressure on the local ecological environment. The elimination of many gentry and large households also opened up more business opportunities for small and medium-sized landlords, rich peasants, and small merchants.

The prisoners—men and women, old and young—were transported to Humen by boat, where they were temporarily housed, waiting for ships to take them and the confiscated spoils of war to Hong Kong.

The vast amount of loot brought back by the returning detachments over the past month was piled high in Humen. The transmigrators, still lacking in taste, took everything, not even leaving behind the tables and chairs from the homes of the “cleansed” gentry. To eliminate the potential instability caused by a large gathering of people, the population was the first to be transported to Hong Kong. As long as the weather and sea conditions permitted, several special service boats, fully loaded with people, sailed to Hong Kong every day, where they would undergo initial purification and quarantine.

The returning detachaments also underwent a short period of rest and sanitation in Humen. Zhang Tumu administered deworming medicine to all officers and soldiers and carried out several delousing sessions—these parasites were very active in rural areas. Anyone with health problems was transferred to Hong Kong for treatment.

Fifteen-year-old Fu Ji carried a small blue cloth bundle on his shoulder. His mother had given it to him when he left home to join the army. Inside were a few tattered clothes and a pair of newly made shoes. He couldn’t bear to wear them, not even the straw sandals. He hung them on his body and, with bare feet, patiently waited for the group ahead of him to board the ship.

His group consisted of volunteers who had joined the Australians, so they were orderly and unguarded. The Australian in charge of transportation gave each of them a black leather bowl and a water gourd for eating and drinking on the way.

He longed to reach Lingao and eat his fill—that was his sole purpose for going there.

Fu Ji was an ordinary country boy. He originally had no name, just Fu Ya’er. He was given a name by his master after becoming an apprentice.

He started his apprenticeship at twelve, which was supposed to last for three years of learning and three years of assisting. But just as he began the “assisting” phase, where he could learn some real skills and earn a little money, his master suddenly died.

Fu Ji and his whole family were plunged into hardship. He had been learning a trade since he was young and had neglected farm work. His family was already large with little land. Besides his older brother and sister, he had three younger siblings. The family relied on their two-odd mu of poor land and tenant farming to barely get by. With so many mouths to feed, an extra one was a huge burden.

One day, Fu Ji squatted on the ridge of a field, his stomach growling. The thin, watery sweet potato porridge he had for breakfast had long since vanished, and the next meal wouldn’t be until dusk.

Life at home was nothing like it was with his master. Although his master rarely let him eat his fill, whenever they catered for weddings or funerals in town or at a wealthy household, he could always stuff himself with leftovers. The occasional feast amidst long-term semi-starvation was much better than the current situation of seemingly never being full.

Not far away, smoke rose from the Humen fortress—it was the cooking smoke of the Kun thieves, or the Australian army, who had driven away the government troops. Like the landlords, they ate three meals a day. This alone made Fu Ji green with envy.

When the Australians arrived at Humen, they had a big fight with the government troops and routed them, occupying Humen. The nearby villagers had all fled for a few days. After a few days, seeing no harassment, they returned to their villages. The Australians did not plunder, burn, or rape in the vicinity. They only sent people to demand that each village pay a “burden,” which wasn’t too heavy. The Australians personally oversaw the process, making the large households pay the most and the small ones pay less, so there were no major disturbances. However, it was said that a large nearby village, relying on its large population from a single clan and its fortified walls, had resisted and was wiped out in a day. Many were killed or captured by the Australians. The leading family that had organized the resistance had not only their entire clan and property taken away, but their ancestral hall was also dismantled. This left the local wealthy households terrified.

But for Fu Ji’s family, the Australians had little impact on their lives. Fu Ji was still hungry. One day, he went with a neighbor to the Humen fortress to sell vegetables, chickens, and ducks. Since the Australians had stationed themselves in Humen, the nearby villagers had been continuously and voluntarily coming by small boat to sell them vegetables, fresh poultry, and eggs. According to the “Food Management Regulations,” when the Fubo Army purchased meat from the populace, they would only buy poultry, eggs, and aquatic products whenever possible. The Chinese were natural merchants. They didn’t ask why the Fubo Army only wanted vegetables, poultry, and eggs; they quickly adjusted their goods to meet the customers’ demands.

Fu Ji had already seen the Fubo Army’s military bearing and equipment when they came to the countryside to assess the “reasonable burden.” This time, he witnessed their quality of life. The soldiers ate large bowls of rice, unlimited, as much as they wanted, with fish and a large pot of vegetable soup with eggs… Fu Ji couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. This life was better than that of the village landlords! Even the landlords added a few slices of dried sweet potato to their rice.

He couldn’t help but ask his neighbor, “Uncle, are they having a feast today?”

“What feast? The Australians eat like this every day. And three times a day!” the neighbor said with envy. “If I didn’t have a family and three hungry mouths to feed, I would have followed the Fubo Army long ago! I’d be willing even if I died in battle!”

These words struck a chord with Fu Ji. Instead of starving at home, with no prospects of work elsewhere, he might as well join the Australians. At least he could live comfortably for a few years. He thought about it for a few days, secretly went to Humen twice more to observe the soldiers’ daily lives, and felt he could do what they did. He then proposed to his family that he wanted to join the Australian army.

His parents, though knowing that once he joined he might never return, and might even die somewhere, agreed due to their dire circumstances.

When he arrived at the Humen fortress, he saw that many people had come to enlist. Not only young men, but also boys his age, and even old men, women, and children. The Fubo Army’s food supply was so good that many poor local people wanted to “join the group.” Chen Haiyang ordered that no one be turned away, regardless of age or gender. Not only were individuals welcome, but it was even better if they brought their families. As a result, many families came, driven by poverty and hunger, willing to go anywhere that promised them a full stomach.

In a shed, Fu Ji stripped naked for an inspection. His teeth were checked, and he was asked a few simple questions like his name and age. Then, he was required to press his thumbprint on a piece of paper. He couldn’t read what was written on it, nor did he care.

Coming out of the shed, his head was shaved, he took a shower, and received a clean set of old uniforms. He was now a “new immigrant.” The person in charge told him that all new recruits would first be sent back to Lingao for a few months of training before officially “joining the group.”

The new immigrants lived in separate barracks while waiting to board the ships. Their food was worse than that of the regular soldiers, but the thick rice porridge with fish and vegetables still made him want to cry with happiness. Although it was only one bowl each time, at least he got three meals a day.

The thought of going to Lingao, officially becoming a soldier for the Australians, and eating his fill of sumptuous meals, made Fu Ji incredibly excited about the prospect.

“Fu Ji!” Just as he was patiently waiting to board the transport ship to the “happiness of a full stomach,” a clerk-like Australian suddenly appeared.

“Here!” he raised his hand as he had learned in the camp. “I’m here!”

“You are Fu Ji?”

“Yes—” He began to feel uneasy.

“Are you a cook?”

“I was an apprentice for three years…”

“Come out. You’re not leaving for now. The food center is short-staffed. You’ll go work there directly,” the clerk said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Follow me!”

Fu Ji dazedly followed the clerk to a small shed. Only then did he understand that he was to be a “kitchen soldier.” This wasn’t a difficult task; after three years of apprenticeship, he had the basic skills of cooking.

“You won’t be cooking,” said a higher-ranking clerk sitting behind a desk. “Do you know how to kill and butcher chickens and ducks?”

“That’s mainly what I did during my apprenticeship,” Fu Ji said. “I’ve even helped with slaughtering pigs…”

“That’s even better.” The clerk picked up a card, filled something out, and handed it to the junior clerk. “Take him for purification! Process him at the food and medical grade!”

Fu Ji was taken to have his head shaved and to bathe again, and then his nails were cut. His entire body was thoroughly inspected for any wounds or skin diseases. Finally, after everything was normal, he had to drink several kinds of bitter medicinal water. At last, he was taken to a separate compound by the river. In a room at the entrance, an Australian met him. This person was completely different from the others; he was tall and fat, with glasses framed in black tortoiseshell, and a rectangular patch on his left breast stitched with colorful small pieces of cloth.

“From today, you are a member of the Field Kitchen Processing Center,” Ren En said, looking him up and down, then at his hands and nails. “You must always pay attention to personal hygiene!” He then gestured with his chin. “Read it to him!” A young girl in uniform next to him immediately read out the hygiene regulations of the kitchen processing center in a loud voice: bathe before and after work every day, wash hands with soap, no long hair or nails…

“Did you remember everything?”

“I… understand…” After hearing all this, Fu Ji was already dizzy. He hadn’t had time to digest it all, so he just said he remembered.

“Good, take him in. He’ll need regular education in the future,” Ren En said with a frown. “Hygiene habits aren’t formed in a day or two!”

Fu Ji was dazedly led into the heavily guarded camp. As soon as he walked in, his eyes widened. When had a building of this scale been built here?

To support the needs of a long-term campaign, the task force had established a large field kitchen and logistics processing center in Humen, equipped with a mobile gas-powered cold storage.

Rows of simple houses and bamboo sheds stood on the high ground by the river. A steam-powered water pump was puffing black smoke and roaring, continuously drawing water from the river. The water was initially purified and disinfected in filtration pools here before being supplied to the troops. A strange large ship was docked by the shore, with a huge rectangular wooden box on it, as big as a house. Above the box was a large reed mat canopy, looking ugly and bizarre.

This was a refrigerated ship. The wooden box was actually a mobile gas-powered cold storage unit converted from a 40-foot container. To insulate it, a wooden insulation layer was added to the outside of the box, filled with multiple layers of diatomaceous earth and kapok. The gas for refrigeration was supplied by a gas generator installed on the ship, or it could be supplied from the shore. This refrigerated ship could store 22 tons of frozen goods. Its only drawback was that it had no power unit and was towed by a Daihatsu boat.

The clerk first took him into a large bamboo shed: “Your workplace is in the butchering workshop. This is where you bathe and change clothes. Every day before entering the workshop, you must bathe and change here, and only then can you enter. Understand?”

“I understand,” Fu Ji thought. The rules here were really strict; even killing a chicken or duck required bathing and changing clothes.

“You’re not allowed to wander around. You work in your designated workshop and don’t go anywhere else.” He pointed to a steamy bamboo shed not far away. “That’s the slaughterhouse. It’s full of boiling water. Don’t go in casually, or you’ll get scalded to death!”

And so Fu Ji started working at the processing center. His job was to butcher the raw carcasses. The chickens, ducks, and geese purchased were slaughtered in the slaughterhouse, scalded in boiling water for de-feathering, and then sent to his workshop.

The so-called workshop was a temporary structure combining modern architecture with traditional shed-building techniques, using bamboo, reed mats, and ropes. It was tall and well-ventilated. The rows of windows near the top had no glass but were covered with mosquito nets. When it rained, the rolled-up reed mats could be lowered with ropes to provide shelter, which was very clever. The butchers worked in such a workshop.

A strange smell always permeated the workshop—he didn’t know it was the smell of disinfectant. A dozen workers, holding butchering knives, processed the slaughtered poultry on tables.

He had never done such a strange job before. His master and other cooks usually used whole chickens and ducks. Sometimes they would take the breast or leg meat for a dish, but this was the first time he had seen a chicken being completely cut into pieces.

The cleanliness standards were so strict that Fu Ji found them nitpicky. After using the toilet, someone would supervise handwashing, which had to be done with soap. Nails were checked every seven days and had to be cut immediately if they were too long. As for hair and beards, they were of course not allowed—everyone’s head here was as bald as an egg.

Clothes were changed daily. He didn’t know who did the laundry, but there were indeed clean clothes to change into every day. Even the aprons were spotless.