Chapter 348: A New Look for Jeju (Part 1)

Zhu Mingxia, dressed in the gray woolen winter uniform of the northern detachment and a woolen officer’s cape, strode majestically down the gangplank to the sound of a march playing from a loudspeaker. Park Chang-beom, the administrative officer of the Chaotianpu port area, was already waiting on the shore. This Officer Park had become quite adept at identifying the flags of the constantly arriving ships. As soon as he saw a ship flying the “Yuanlao Command Flag” enter the port, he would immediately go to greet it, just as he used to greet officials arriving from the mainland.

Through diligent study and constant observation these past days, Park Chang-beom had fully grasped the intentions of these kūnzéi Kun people who had suddenly appeared from the sea, claiming to be from the “Great Song.”

They intended to stay on this Jeju Island for the long haul, and their actions and strength were like that of a rival nation. This was good news for Park Chang-beom, who had already sold his allegiance. His initial “betrayal” had been an act of vengeful anger against the Joseon court for its long-term neglect and suppression of him. Now, seeing that the other side was not only powerful but also intended to entrench themselves on Jeju and oppose the Joseon court, he, a newly minted “traitor to the dynasty,” felt even more invigorated. All of Park Chang-beom’s grievances against the Joseon court—the years of unrecognized talent, the humiliation of being looked down upon and mistreated by his superiors—had transformed into an endless workaholic fervor. He worked not for money, not for women, not for anything… but only to show the blind court the retribution they deserved for scorning him!

Most of Park Chang-beom’s subordinates had been replaced by people who shared his views—middle-class people and yangban-born government slaves. And so, under the “selfless public service” of this resentful group of collaborators, the labor efficiency of the “labor service teams” assigned to the port area increased exponentially. The speed of the increase was so fast that even the naturalized citizens from the Lingao construction team were astonished: “It’s like they’re on drugs, just like the Chief said!”

As soon as Zhu Mingxia stepped off the gangplank, Park Chang-beom rushed forward, bowed deeply, and announced his presence:

“Your humble servant, Park Chang-beom, administrative officer of Jeju Chaotianpu, pays his respects to Your Excellency!”

Zhu Mingxia returned a salute. “I am the commander of the northern detachment, Army Major Zhu Mingxia.”

“Yes, sir! Lord Feng has already informed me!” Park Chang-beom made a “please” gesture. “I will lead the way for you, Your Excellency!”

“Thank you for your trouble.”

At the entrance of the post station, a Dongfeng two-wheeled carriage, specially shipped from Lingao, was waiting for Zhu Mingxia. It was already flying his rank flag, and a cavalry escort of twenty men was lined up beside it.

This escort was composed entirely of former samurai from the Public Security Army’s Japanese company. Each man had two swords tucked into his belt and a rifle slung over his back. Although both men and horses were a bit on the small side, they looked quite imposing. Seeing Zhu Mingxia arrive, they all drew their swords in salute.

“Quite a grand display!” Zhu Mingxia muttered to himself, though he quite liked this sort of thing. He returned the escort’s salute and then boarded the carriage.

The post road from Chaotianpu to Jeju had been preliminarily repaired. A mixture of volcanic gravel and coal slag had been rolled flat by a large stone roller pulled by horses. This giant stone roller had been specially shipped from Lingao. The repaired road greatly reduced the travel time from Jeju City to Chaotianpu. Before long, Zhu Mingxia and his party arrived at Jeju City.

After changing masters, Jeju City hadn’t undergone any particularly significant changes in appearance, except for the addition of many watchtowers on the city walls. As soon as the carriage entered the city, Zhu Mingxia realized it had essentially become a large refugee camp.

Ji Runzhi, the chief planner of the Lingao Construction Company, who was currently in Sanya, had re-planned the three cities of Jeju based on the survey maps sent back. The population purification camp in Jeju City was his handiwork. He had made full use of the city walls and existing buildings, re-planning and dividing the entire city into five zones: reception, purification, quarantine, labor, and administration. The main large zones were further subdivided into smaller districts for easier management. The zones were separated by wooden fences and barbed wire, and connected by roads. In addition, five watchtowers were set up at the four corners and the center of the city, manned by soldiers equipped with telescopes and sniper rifles to monitor the entire city from above.

The Jeju refugee camp was designed to hold fifty thousand people, and could be expanded to a hundred thousand if necessary. The facilities were, of course, very simple. Since it was impossible to prepare so many building materials, apart from a few camp areas and special buildings, there was no large-scale construction of wooden longhouses like those in the Lingao quarantine camp. Instead, a cheaper alternative was used: pit-dwellings. These pit-dwellings were widely used as winter shelters for farmers during the “braving the journey to Guandong” and the development of Hokkaido in Japan. They were simple to construct, had good insulation, and saved on building materials. The downside was that the smoke from heating was difficult to vent, and people were constantly exposed to smoke and fire, which affected their health. However, the temperature on Jeju Island was much higher than in Northeast China and Hokkaido, so there was no need to light fires in the pit-dwellings. Ji Runzhi’s plan was to use them as an emergency measure first, and then gradually upgrade them to wooden structures.

However, for some essential infrastructure of the camp, such as toilets, hospitals, and water supply and drainage systems, he had spared no expense, shipping sufficient building materials from Lingao.

Jeju Island, being conveniently located between China, the Korean Peninsula, and the Japanese archipelago, was very suitable as a transport hub between the three places. In the future, there would inevitably be more population transfers passing through here, so investing more in it would not be a waste.

To ensure his design was fully implemented, Ji Runzhi had sent his apprentice, Ji Yuan, to Jeju Island to directly supervise the work. This young man, dressed in blue work clothes, carrying a canvas bag and a clipboard, was effectively the chief architect of the island. Not only did the naturalized citizens have to follow his arrangements, but even Feng Zongze had to consult him on many professional issues.

The horse’s hooves clattered on the newly paved streets. Zhu Mingxia looked out the window at the endless barbed wire fences, watchtowers, and simple pit-dwellings. Gray figures moved slowly among them. These slow-moving, emaciated people, after sixty days of quarantine here, would be transported to various places to become healthy and capable soldiers, workers, and farmers of the Senate, a cog in the Senate’s high-speed, orderly machine…

The carriage entered the Jeju Supervisory Camp. This was the location of the northern detachment’s Jeju Island forward command. Zhu Mingxia’s accommodation was also set up here.

Neither Feng Zongze nor Nangong Wudi were present; their work kept them busy. Only Xue Ziliang was here—he was in a meeting with his special reconnaissance team members. The one who came out to greet him was the local “collaborator” and translator: Park Deok-maeng.

Park Deok-maeng led him to the room specially prepared for him: it was small, but had both a bedroom and an office, which was very convenient. Zhu Mingxia expressed his satisfaction. He then asked:

“Where is the headquarters of the Jeju Island detachment?”

“Reporting to the Chief, it’s in the rear hall here,” Park Deok-maeng reported. “I’ll go and fetch Commander Nangong from outside the city right away.”

Zhu Mingxia nodded. His orderly brought in his suitcase and backpack and began to unpack. With nothing to do, Zhu Mingxia strolled out of his room and headed towards the rear hall where the headquarters was located.

In the headquarters, the special reconnaissance team’s meeting had just ended, and the team members were dispersing. To avoid the trouble of saluting and returning salutes, Zhu Mingxia waited at the corner until everyone had left before entering. Xue Ziliang was staring blankly at the large map.

“Winnie, were you in a meeting?” he greeted.

“Oh? It’s you,” Xue Ziliang nodded. “Good, you’re here. We were just compiling intelligence to prepare for the next phase of operations.”

Before them was a large-scale map of Jeju Island, densely marked with various symbols. It was clear that a comprehensive reconnaissance and survey of the island had been conducted.

“You’ve done a lot of work,” Zhu Mingxia said. “The reconnaissance is very thorough.”

“Of course, my team has been doing this for the past few months,” Xue Ziliang said with a smile. “It’s a bit of an overkill, but we can treat it as training.” He snapped his fingers, and an orderly came in.

“Get Major Zhu some tea!”

A cup of Korean-produced Songluo tea was brought over. Zhu Mingxia sniffed it and said, “Good tea. You guys know how to enjoy yourselves.”

“There’s not much to enjoy here,” Xue Ziliang shrugged. “It’s desolate, there are no women, and even the wine is bad. It’s practically a barren land.”

“Let’s talk about the next step. You mentioned to Nangong Wudi last time that you were preparing to launch a pacification campaign here. What’s the security situation like?”

“To be honest, it’s calm and peaceful,” Xue Ziliang said. “From a purely administrative perspective, the Senate’s rule over Jeju Island is already indisputable. But for the Senate, such a rule is not satisfactory…”

“You understand the Senate very well now…”

“That’s right, I’m a member of the Senate now. I have to think like a Yuanlao,” Xue Ziliang smiled, lighting a cigar. “The Senate is obsessed with absolute control at the grassroots level, so the current situation can only be considered a good start.”

Zhu Mingxia carefully examined the various markings on the map and couldn’t help but admire his work. The map not only marked residential areas, pastures, and farmland, but also the capacity of bridges, roads, rivers, and ferries. With this map, the success of a pacification campaign was more than eighty percent certain.

In a pacification campaign, mastering the local situation was the top priority. Although Zhu Mingxia’s battalion had not directly participated in one, he himself had attended many summary meetings and subsequent specialized studies on the topic and was no stranger to it.

“Beautifully done!” he exclaimed.

“It’s nothing special,” Xue Ziliang said with a smile. “We had basic maps to begin with, and the islanders aren’t hostile. It just took some effort, but no real cost.”

“What’s the next step? Hold a Jeju Island Political Consultative Conference and then eliminate those who don’t listen?”