Chapter Nineteen: The Sanya Militia

For this plan, Ji Runzhi worked hard throughout the entire New Year holiday. To reduce his own workload, he delegated the task of drawing the planning maps to his apprentices, Ji Yuan and Ji Shu. Under his guidance, the two children had already learned to use drafting instruments to create maps. As high-achieving students who had obtained a Type B diploma within a year, their learning ability was very strong, and they grasped practical skills almost instantly.

However, talent cultivated in this way would only be “skilled workers” in the long run, lacking independent ability and the ability to grasp the overall situation. They were not qualified to inherit his mantle. Ji Runzhi decided that once the construction in Sanya was on the right track, he would start from scratch, teaching them the most basic mathematics, geography, and physics, and then gradually delve into the fields of architecture and planning.

“Time to wrap up!” Ji Runzhi saw that the sun was gradually setting in the west. He checked his watch; it was already past four o’clock. The winter days were short, and if they stayed in the wild too late, they would have to go home in the dark. No matter how bright the moonlight was, it was still too dark for modern people accustomed to walking under streetlights. A fall in a ditch or a hole could be fatal.

Ji Runzhi led his apprentices on the road home. He first returned to Tiandu Town, where he would take a small train to Yulin Fortress.

On the platform in Tiandu Town, he met Xi Yazhou. He was wearing training clothes, with a steel helmet on his head, and a circle of branches and leaves on the helmet—not for camouflage, but for sun protection. The winter sun in Sanya was also quite scorching.

Xi Yazhou stood on the platform, and behind him was a neatly arranged team of laborers wearing rattan safety helmets and work clothes. Although sweat and dust had blackened their clothes, the laborers, holding second-generation standard spears, were all in high spirits.

“…Today’s drill and marching training, everyone did very well!” Xi Yazhou said, his hand on his command saber. “You have trained your spirit and your courage! You already have the momentum that the Senate’s militia should have!…”

The event ended with the militia shouting three times: “Serve the Senate and the people!” Ji Runzhi waited until Xi Yazhou had finished speaking and given the order to “disperse” before walking over.

“Having a big training session recently?” Ji Runzhi knew that since the first batch of slaves arrived, Xi Yazhou had started training the militia.

Xi Yazhou took off the 80-style steel helmet from his head. This thing was heavy, and his neck was sore from wearing it all afternoon. He removed the branches and leaves from the camouflage net on the helmet, untied his towel, and wiped his sweat before taking a breath.

“Old Wang said that more than ten thousand slaves will be here by the end of the year. How can we not hurry up and train the militia? A slave rebellion, hehe, that would be unbearable.”

Since Quark Qiong’s visit, Sanya had officially made its appearance before the various nations. The news that a new commercial port existed at the southern tip of Hainan Island would soon spread. Along with the merchant ships of various countries hoping to open up trade with China, it was hard to guarantee that Chinese and Western pirates, the Spanish authorities in Manila, and the two East India Companies would not come to attack this place for some purpose. After studying the situation, Xi Yazhou concluded that the most dangerous were the Spanish authorities and the forces of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang. Of these three, the latter two were even more dangerous. Once they launched an attack, it was doubtful whether the navy’s six fishing patrol boats of less than 100 tons and their front-loading rifled cannons that fired once every three minutes could stop the enemy’s sea of ships—the 8154 that had held the line before had been transferred back to Lin’gao.

“The army is still more reliable,” Xi Yazhou muttered to himself. But the army’s scale was also a bit precarious. Including the marine platoon, he had no more than 400 land combat troops available. Of course, he was confident in repelling a landing of pirates, but once the troops were assembled for battle, they would not be able to protect the various facilities that were being built all over the shore. If the slaves took the opportunity to launch a major rebellion, Sanya would turn into a fiery hell on earth.

The only solution was to arm the militia. A few months ago, Xi Yazhou began to select “politically reliable and firm-willed” labor companies from the laborers and conduct military rotation training in their entirety. As the commander of the Sanya garrison, he had to devote all his energy to this matter, to the point where he had to voluntarily give up the opportunity to return to Lin’gao and stay in Sanya to train the militia.

The two of them took the Tiandu-Yulin Fortress train together. Although they were Senators, there was no special luxury carriage on the train. The only difference between them and the workers who were also taking the train home from work was that they occupied a separate flatcar—also an open-top one.

“The workers’ organization and discipline are still good,” Xi Yazhou said, unbuttoning his uniform to let the wind blow. “With some training, they would be very good soldiers. It’s a pity we lack weapons. We have very few spare Minie rifles here. The militia has to use cold weapons—I never thought that after we developed line infantry tactics, we would still have to use the Spanish tercio.”

“Just apply to the General Staff for some rifles.”

“Hmph,” Xi Yazhou sneered and lit a cigarette. “Want one?”

“No, thanks.”

“A few Minie rifles are nothing, of course, but the Executive Committee is unwilling to give more,” Xi Yazhou didn’t want to talk about this issue any further and looked at the scenery that was slowly receding. Last time, he had telegraphed the General Staff about this issue, requesting 500 Minie rifles for militia training and equipment. The General Staff, however, said that the stock of rifles was limited. The final solution was to send him 1,000 grenades, 100 training rounds, and 200 training rifles.

A militia trained only in drill and bayonet fighting could also be put into battle, but when they needed to pick up a rifle, a militia without shooting training could only make a loud noise. Xi Yazhou had to take some from the reserve rifles of the dispatched battalion and conduct shooting training for the militia in batches.

“Could it be a manifestation of Wen Zong’s generation gap theory?” Ji Runzhi said. “The regular army and the militia maintain a technological generation gap to ensure that the regular army can suppress a militia rebellion.”

Although the theory of equipment generation gap in the armed forces had never been formally proposed, it had many supporters in the Senate and was even on the verge of being regarded as a golden rule.

Xi Yazhou finally couldn’t hold back his complaints: “Generation gap, my ass! At least give the militia some Brown Bess muskets. Training with pikes, this generation gap is too big. If the enemy comes, should we just let the militia form a Spanish tercio? The Spanish tercio at least had musketeers to support them. We can only form a Macedonian phalanx.”

The two of them got off the train at Yulin Fortress. He Fanghui had already returned from “inspecting the defenses.” According to the system, all externally assigned Senators in stationed units had to take turns on “duty.” This was to ensure that at any given time, there was always one Senator awake. Today it was He Fanghui’s turn.

“Old Xi!” He Fanghui waved a telegram in his hand. “Tomorrow, the ‘Great Whale’ will bring the bucket elevator and ore dressing equipment. We’ll be able to ship out the first batch of iron ore right away!”

“My God, not a single professional is here, and we have to install the equipment! None of us three know anything about machinery,” Ji Runzhi exclaimed.

“There are Senators coming with the ship,” He Fanghui said. “And many more people are coming.” He winked at Xi Yazhou and He Fanghui. “The maids we commissioned the General Office to purchase through the lottery will also be sent with the ship.”

“Damn, that’s great news!” Xi Yazhou was lucky in the lottery and got a B-grade, so he was particularly looking forward to this.

“At least someone will do the laundry,” He Fanghui said. “Let’s have a drink together tonight. We’ll finish all the wine in the consolation boxes! It’s a pity there are no girls to do a striptease!”

A few days ago, the stationed Senators had learned through private telegrams about the “wine pool and meat forest” and the cosplay extravaganza at the annual meeting, which made the stationed personnel green with envy. They didn’t care much about the food and drink, but they felt it was a pity to miss the opportunity to see the fair white thighs.

“You’re on duty tonight,” Xi Yazhou reminded him.

“I’ll just drink kvass,” He Fanghui said. “Actually, with my tolerance, I can drink 8 bottles of beer and still be sober…”

The day before New Year’s Day, to compensate the externally stationed Senators who could not return to Lin’gao for the annual meeting, the General Office sent a “consolation box” to each of them via a naval transport ship.

The consolation box was wooden and looked like an ammunition box, very sturdy. Inside were many foods from the old world preserved by the Planning Institute: a can of PLA military-grade braised beef, a can of luncheon meat, a can of Western-style ham, and a can of anchovies; a bottle each of Sichuan pickles, Korean kimchi, Jinzhou assorted small dishes, and chili sauce from the Tianchu Food Factory. To create a festive atmosphere, there were 500 grams of sliced and dried Ningbo rice cakes, which could be boiled or fried as one pleased. For drinks, there were 4 bottles of beer, 2 bottles of rum, and 6 bottles of kvass, packed separately in a special beverage box before being boxed. Regardless of whether the person smoked or not, a carton of “Golden Holy Ship” was provided, a new top-grade cigarette developed by the Monopoly Bureau exclusively for Senators—in fact, the taste was not much different from the ordinary Holy Ship. There was also a can each of coffee and tea, 250 grams of white sugar, and 250 grams of assorted fruit candies.

The contents of the consolation box were pitifully meager by old-world standards, but for the Senators, they were delicious dishes full of memories. If it weren’t for the fact that the instant noodles had been used up, many Senators would have hoped to receive a few packs of instant noodles for the New Year for nostalgia—even though the Senator’s canteen made yee mee with real chicken broth.

That night, Xi Yazhou also instructed the army’s logistics personnel to buy a few sheep from the immigrant villages in Anyoule and other places—the Tiandihui was also active in the local immigrant villages—and slaughter them to improve the troops’ food. The best meat was taken out to make a lamb feast for the Senators. They also opened a few cans from the consolation boxes and enjoyed grilled lamb and seafood with beer. Finally, they had a luncheon meat and spinach stir-fried rice cake to celebrate the past New Year’s Day.