Chapter 107: Training

The police trainees’ mouths were agape, their eyes wide. They had originally thought that the police were just yamen runners. Even if the Australians didn’t consider yamen runners to be a lowly class, there was nothing to be proud of. They never expected the Australians to start with such a grand principle of “serving the people,” elevating “a lowly person making a living” to the level of “a knight-errant upholding justice.”

“As for why you want to be a police officer, I believe everyone will have a variety of answers. Most people come here just to make a living, to support their families, to eat a little better, and to bring a little more money home,” he had barely finished speaking when the crowd below burst into laughter. Pan Jiexin himself also smiled. “There’s nothing wrong with that! We are human, we eat grains, we have emotions and desires, and we have a family to support. But don’t forget, our food and clothing are provided by the Senate and the people. Being a police officer is indeed for personal development and benefits, but more importantly, it’s about repaying the Senate and the people. No matter where you come from or what you did before, you must always remember this!” He swept his gaze across the field. “Always remember to be loyal to the Senate! Loyal to the state! Loyal to the people! Loyal to the law!”

He finished his speech and swept his gaze over the crowd. “That’s all I have to say!”

All the trainees shouted in unison, “Yes, sir!”

After the opening ceremony, the non-commissioned officers led the trainees to the training ground and began basic police etiquette and drill training. Pan Jiexin made a special trip to observe. Just as he approached the training ground, he heard two sharp whistle blasts. The squad that was practicing marching in step immediately stopped. A non-commissioned officer, acting as the drill commander, immediately ran over, saluted, and reported, “Reporting to the Chief! The trainees of the first short-term training class of the Guangzhou Police Academy are undergoing drill training. Please give your instructions!”

Pan Jiexin returned the salute and thought to himself, “Proceed as planned.” He replied. The non-commissioned officer then returned and shouted commands to adjust the squad’s pace.

The drill training at the police academy had always been handled by the army. Pan Jiexin had never worried about it. He saw that each trainee was wearing two different shoes, one cloth and one straw. This was a time-tested, rustic method for new recruit drill training—because most common people didn’t know their left from their right.

From the scattered formation, he knew that this drill training would take a lot of time. However, there was nothing better than drill training for cultivating a sense of discipline and obedience.

Li Ziyu stood in the ranks, complaining silently in his heart. This wasn’t being a constable; it was training them like soldiers! Even the camp soldiers didn’t train like this! As he was thinking about these random things, his steps unconsciously went wrong, and he almost stepped on the cloth shoe of the person in front of him.

“Halt!” the non-commissioned officer commanded loudly. “Number five in the third rank, why is it you again? It was you during the police stance training too. You don’t know how to keep your hands tight, so sloppy!”

“Ah, I—” Li Ziyu was momentarily stunned.

“What ‘ah’? Shout ‘report’!” the non-commissioned officer roared.

Li Ziyu finally reacted and shouted, “Report!”

“Fall out, ten push-ups! Count them out loud!” the non-commissioned officer commanded.

“Yes, sir! One—two—three—” Li Ziyu quickly fell out and got down, starting this new exercise he had just learned.

“Doesn’t count, start over!”

“Why is your butt sticking up so high?” With that, he received a heavy kick to his rear. Li Ziyu yelped and fell to the ground.

“Get up! Don’t be like a sissy!”

“Keep your elbows straight! Chest down! Right… don’t bend your legs.”

The non-commissioned officer “drilled” Li Ziyu alone for seven or eight minutes while the others stood at attention.

Pan Jiexin watched the entire training ground. This was originally the open space where Wanshou Palace held its Taoist ceremonies. Now it had been leveled to serve as a training ground, but it still felt a bit small. A few workers were installing horizontal bars and a balance beam next to the training ground.

Although their physical fitness had been tested during recruitment, so the trainees looked relatively healthy, their bodies wouldn’t be able to withstand the high-intensity training and continuous study—the standard of one thousand meters in five minutes didn’t even meet the physical training standard for junior high school students in the 21st century, but here it was enough to eliminate many people. The one doing push-ups in front of him was already breaking out in a cold sweat.

Pan Jiexin quietly went to the kitchen. The newly renovated kitchen was steaming. As mealtime approached, the aroma of dishes and rice filled the air.

His appearance immediately caused a small commotion. A Naturalized Citizen cadre in charge of the cafeteria trotted over to greet him. “Chief…”

“Give me my clothes,” he said without any pleasantries. “Don’t stop, continue your work!”

After putting on his work clothes and hat, Pan Jiexin began to inspect the kitchen. This kitchen was sent from the General Logistics Department. To reduce supply chain issues and redundant construction, all logistical work in Guangdong was currently handled by the General Logistics Department. Minister Hong had anticipated that feeding all the new government teams after they entered the city would be a major problem, so he had set up a “catering training class” in Hong Kong in advance, training dozens of catering teams that could meet the Senate’s standards for food and hygiene.

With the logistics department’s kitchen supplying the food, at least the Senate members could rest assured. The hygiene standards of the new and old time and space were completely different. Even the cleanest native’s hygiene habits were problematic by the standards of the old time and space. Most importantly, the Naturalized Citizen chefs had much better integrity than the native chefs who were used to the idea that “if the cook doesn’t steal, the grains won’t be harvested.”

Although running a cafeteria seemed like a small matter, if it was run poorly, it would become a big one. Although the first phase at Wanshou Palace was just a short-term training class, Pan Jiexin regarded it as the starting capital for the National Police in the Guangdong region and attached great importance to the trainees.

The large steamers were taken down, revealing neat rows of galvanized iron lunch boxes inside. Pan Jiexin picked up a pair of tongs and took out a box, opened it casually, took a chopstick and stuck it in, waited a few seconds, then pulled it out and examined it.

The rice was of the right consistency, not too soft or hard, and had the right amount of moisture. No extra water had been added to increase the “rice yield.” He then took a little rice and put it in his mouth. It had the slightly coarse texture of unpolished rice, and the aroma was normal, with no musty or strange taste. The rice grains were whole, not broken or powdery, indicating that there was no problem with the rice used.

“This lunch box is for me later.”

“Yes, Chief.” Although the head chef was already used to all kinds of surprise inspections, he was still very nervous when the Chief personally came to inspect the kitchen—everyone knew the Chief’s requirements were high.

The dishes were already prepared. The police academy trainees’ meals were prepared according to the new recruit supply standards set by the General Logistics Department. Because the physical condition of the recruits in this time and space was generally poor, this meal standard was relatively high, with an increased intake of protein.

On the large iron plates were fragrant, golden-brown baked fish cakes that had just been taken out of the oven. Next to them was a large pot of stew. The stew was made with vegetables, “frozen minced meat,” and crushed bean dregs. The so-called frozen minced meat was the residue cleaned from the machines on the sausage and fish paste production lines every day, mixed together and frozen solid, specifically for making large pot dishes.

Finally, there were seasonal vegetables, “stir-fried” with salt water. In theory, these vegetables were “locally sourced”—in fact, they were all shipped from Hong Kong. Because Minister Hong found that it was much cheaper and more convenient to transport vegetables grown by the agricultural reclamation teams from Hong Kong than to buy them from the four townships of Guangzhou. By the general supply standards of this time and space, this meal was quite sumptuous.

Pan Jiexin tasted a bite of each dish, then checked the hygiene and the separation of raw and cooked food. He felt it was barely acceptable. Although the Naturalized Citizens were more reliable, they could not be completely trusted and had to be supervised from time to time.

“Good,” he said. “Serve the meal on time!”

The morning’s training quickly ended. The trainees, led by their respective captains, came to the auditorium to line up for their meals. Besides the auditorium, there was no other hall in Wanshou Palace large enough. Even so, they had to eat in shifts.

The auditorium was filled with the sound of panting and voices. The purpose of drill training was to cultivate good discipline. For this group of natives who were not used to discipline, the “rigid” drill training was nothing short of torture.

The meals were served individually, with each person receiving a box of rice and dishes. Since its establishment, the Fubo Army had not used a communal eating system. The communal system was not only unhygienic but also easily led to situations where the dishes were “barely covering the bottom of the plate.” It also gave non-commissioned officers and veteran soldiers the opportunity to take more than their share.

For most people, this first meal was unbelievably good. So much so that even before the food was fully distributed, the sound of loud swallowing could be heard everywhere. With the command “Start eating,” the cafeteria was instantly filled with the sound of ravenous eating. Some people were even eating with tears streaming down their faces.

For Li Ziyu, although the food tasted good, it wasn’t good enough to make him cry. Besides, it was the first day of class, and there wasn’t even a whole chicken, duck, or fish. It seemed a bit stingy. Looking at the people at the next table who looked like they were starving, he couldn’t help but feel a little contemptuous. “What a bunch of poor ghosts!”

His gaze shifted, and he suddenly saw the “principal” who had spoken to them in the morning also eating here. He was sitting at a table in the first row, and from where he was, he could clearly see that this “chief’s” meal was the same as the trainees’.

Li Ziyu was secretly surprised. He had seen the phrase “sharing weal and woe” many times in the Australian magazines, but he had never believed it to be true. Although the books mentioned that Bai Qi “wore the same clothes and ate the same food as the lowest-ranking soldiers, slept without a mat, did not ride a horse when traveling, personally carried his own provisions, and shared the hardships with the soldiers. When a soldier had a boil, he would suck out the pus for him,” this was an ancient story. At least in the Great Ming, he had never seen any general or officer who could do this. It was normal for officials to be dressed in finery and eat delicacies while the soldiers were hungry and cold. No one thought there was anything wrong with it. So he had also been skeptical about whether the Australian magazines were exaggerating.

“I never thought the Australians could actually do this!” He was shocked and suddenly realized that the reason the Australians were invincible and the Kun soldiers were “daring to fight” was not just because of their sharp firearms.