Chapter 239: The Enlistee

But to serve as a mere “translator” felt like a waste of Bi Da’s talent to Mu Min. Although she had not had much contact with Bi Da, she found her to be intelligent, straightforward, decisive, and had shown her negotiation skills in several contacts with the Li people. If properly cultivated, she would be a good cadre in the future. Although the Council of Elders and the Executive Committee had made it clear in their instructions to the Li and Miao Affairs Office that the Council of Elders’ ethnic policy was “no ethnic policy”—only the distinction between naturalized citizens and natives, and no special cultivation of “ethnic cadres” or special policies like “ethnic classes.”

“Whether a native can become a qualified naturalized citizen under the Council of Elders’ system depends first on whether his loyalty to our system transcends his own ethnic and religious feelings!” said Ding Ding, the Council of Elders’ propaganda theorist, in an internal speech. “Anyone who cannot meet this standard cannot become a naturalized citizen!”

Although that was the official line, locally, it was almost impossible to go deep into the interior of Hainan Island to handle Li and Miao affairs without a naturalized citizen familiar with the local situation as a guide. Therefore, Mu Min still tried to cultivate a few naturalized cadres of Li and Miao origin in Lin’gao, Changhua, and Sanya. Of course, the specific work was still done by Fang Jinghan—he was now in charge of the office’s daily affairs.

Mu Min was considering how to talk to her again in the evening to encourage her enthusiasm for study and work and persuade her to follow her back to Lin’gao to attend the training at the National School. She planned to train a batch of Li and Miao naturalized cadres, but Bi Da was unwilling to go to Lin’gao to study. She felt that life in Changhua was free and easy and was unwilling to be constrained by “schooling” in Lin’gao. Suddenly, someone was arguing at the gate of the training camp. She couldn’t help but feel strange. Although this was not Changhua Fort, it was less than a kilometer from Changhua Fort and was also a military control area of the Council of Elders, not a market that anyone could enter and exit at will. On weekdays, whether Han, Li, or Miao, they all kept a respectful distance from this heavily guarded place with sentries on duty day and night, let alone coming to the door to argue with people.

While she was puzzled, a soldier had already run back and said a few words to Bi Da. The person who came was probably a Li, and she was needed to translate. Unexpectedly, after a few words, Bi Da’s face changed, and she turned and ran.

Mu Min was very confused and had to go and see for herself.

At the gate of the camp, she saw five or six young Li men arguing at the gate. The leader was a young man, looking healthy and strong, with wild chicken feathers on his head and well-dressed, looking like a leading figure in the village. Mu Min felt that he looked familiar. At this moment, she saw him talking to a person at the gate. Mu Min recognized this person as Wang Daliang’s uncle, Li Benqing.

For the past two years, Li Benqing had been a guide and translator for the cooperative’s caravan, no longer living by hunting, and had gained a lot of benefits. With some money in his hands, he had officially married the girl he had been seeing in the “longgui.” Although he continued to live in Qiandui Village, he came to Changhua Fort several times a month to report on his work and was considered a semi-naturalized citizen.

Seeing the “chief” coming, Li Benqing quickly came over to report. It turned out that these five or six Li men had come to enlist—but the recruitment was already over. The other party refused to leave and insisted on enlisting, and even asked him to call out the person in charge.

Mu Min was not concerned. “If they want to enlist, let them come in and register. What’s the big deal about a few more people?”

Li Benqing whispered, “If it were anyone else, it would be fine, but this is Zhen Huan!”

Before Mu Min could figure out who Zhen Huan was, Li Benqing had already added, “He is the son of Zhen Aoya of Qiandui Village!”

Mu Min suddenly understood. “Is he Bi Da’s sweetheart?” All at once, the memories of the past flooded back. This Zhen Huan was quite loyal. When they took Bi Da away, he had even intercepted them halfway. Their relationship was also entangled in the power struggle between the Wang and Zhen families in Qiandui Village, and the details were complex. Mu Min had taken Bi Da away at that time, partly out of sympathy for this innocent victim of the power struggle, and partly because she did not want the friendly Qiandui Village to fall into chaos due to internal strife.

“That’s him!” Li Benqing nodded repeatedly. “Since Bi Da returned from Lin’gao, he has come to Changhua Fort several times to find Bi Da, but Bi Da refuses to see him. He makes a scene like this every time.”

This time, he heard that the “Australians” who had taken Bi Da away were recruiting soldiers, so he simply brought a few of his brothers to enlist. In his mind, since Bi Da was with the Australians, as long as he became an Australian soldier, he could see her all the time.

“He’s quite a romantic,” Mu Min sighed with envy. “So romantic.”

As they were talking, Zhen Huan had already run over. He was very agile, dodging the soldiers who tried to intercept him a few times, and rushed to a place not far from Mu Min. The few guards accompanying Mu Min immediately raised their bayoneted rifles and forced him to a stop.

Zhen Huan was very emotional, but he was very wary of these soldiers holding muskets with gleaming short swords. He just shouted something in a jumble of words and did not make any more drastic movements.

Li Benqing quickly came out to translate. Mu Min heard Zhen Huan’s request: he still wanted to be recruited into the army.

Mu Min nodded. “You want to be our soldier, that’s good. But why do you want to be a soldier?”

Zhen Huan was stunned for a moment. He was a privileged class in the village, with no worries about food and clothing. His own hunting skills were also very strong. There was no need for him to come out to be a soldier for food. It was entirely because he wanted to be with Bi Da that he thought of enlisting.

After a moment’s hesitation, he said loudly, “You took Bi Da away! I want to be with her, so I have to be your soldier!”

Mu Min said, “I know you want to be with Bi Da. But even if you become a soldier, you may not be able to see her. She is her, you are you. She is now a cadre of the Council of Elders, and you will become a soldier of the Council of Elders in the future. You have to obey the Council of Elders’ command in everything. You can’t decide where you go, so how can you see her?”

Zhen Huan said without hesitation, “Anyway, she is with you. One day we will meet.”

Mu Min nodded. “Then I’ll tell you, as soon as you enlist, you will be sent to a foreign land to fight in a few days. You may go for a few months, or a few years. You may die on the battlefield before you can see her. Besides, even if you can see her once, it may not change anything. Do you still want to be a soldier?”

Zhen Huan was unmoved and insisted on enlisting. Mu Min nodded. “Alright, let’s take him. Since he is willing.”

Li Benqing smiled helplessly and took him away. The few friends and companions with Zhen Huan also enlisted.

Fang Jinghan was a little uneasy. He whispered, “He’s going for Bi Da. Bi Da is the translator for the military training. When they meet on the training ground, who knows what new tricks will be played!”

Mu Min smiled. “No problem. She’s not the only Li cadre who can speak Chinese. Besides, this way, Bi Da will beg us to go back to Lin’gao to study.”

“Director, you are so insightful,” Fang Jinghan took the opportunity to flatter her, and then sighed, “Little Zhen is so pitiful—what a devoted man. That woman Bi Da is really abominable!”

Mu Min shook her head, smiled, and said no more.

Under the escort of the soldiers, they strolled along the simple road. Many sand dunes could be seen on the coast of Changhua Fort, covered with shrubs and pasture grass. This was the result of artificial intervention.

Due to early human development, the vegetation on the coast of Changhua was severely damaged. Combined with the special geographical and natural environment, the coastal sand dunes continued to encroach inland, resulting in a large area of desert grassland terrain. In the 20th century, such coastal desert encroachment even reached more than ten kilometers.

Because the rainfall here was still abundant, and with the nourishment of the Changhua River, low shrubs and wild vegetables that were tolerant to poor soil could still survive. After Kong Lingyang took office, he used his agricultural knowledge to plant a large scale of leguminous pasture grass tolerant to poor soil on the local ranch for the animal husbandry industry. It also played a role in solidifying and improving the soil.

In the summer pasture, the vegetation was dense, emitting the fragrance of green grass. By the Changhua River, scattered flocks of sheep and herds of cattle grazed. In addition to Changhua sheep and Li area’s yellow cattle and water buffalo, there were also fine breeds of cattle and sheep collected from Hainan Island and Guangdong, as well as some fine breeds of cattle and sheep from the old world bred with frozen semen and local mother stock, all grazing here to expand their populations. Although there was a lot of arable land in Lin’gao, industrial and agricultural production occupied a large area, and the land resources were much tighter than in Changhua. Therefore, the Nanhai Farmstead was now mainly engaged in breeding stock and a small amount of dairy farming. The animal husbandry for meat, leather, and wool had all been transferred to Changhua.

By the river, many cattle were drinking water. In the summer, the Changhua River was in its high-water season, with a large flow and overflowing river water. There were large and small ponds everywhere by the river, with dense reeds and other aquatic plants growing—very different from when they first came here.

Mu Min noticed that there were some canals and water-lifting waterwheels here. Kong Lingyang had used local labor and materials, combined with a small number of professional workers sent from Lin’gao, to build a simple irrigation system for the ranch, which made the artificial pasture grow better. To support a large number of livestock on natural grassland, natural pasture and natural irrigation were far from enough.

On the tidal flats of the Changhua River, personnel from the exploration team from Lin’gao were conducting surveys. Mu Min recognized one of them, Yan Quezhi. He had originally worked at the Wenlan River Hydrological Station in Lin’gao. This time, he came to Changhua with the exploration team, probably to investigate the local water resources.