Chapter 370 - The Tiandu Development Plan
The review meeting continued throughout the return journey—no official report didn't mean no internal reckoning. While demanding strengthened internal management, Shi Niaoren resolved to draft various management protocols when time permitted, preventing such casual medication use from causing dire consequences.
Liu San waited half a day in the office before the group returned. Hearing Shi Niaoren recount the medical accident, Liu San could only offer consolation—this was an early stage; such incidents were inevitable. Official reporting might trigger complications. He then briefed them on Runshitang and the clinics. The proposal was inexpensive and leveraged civilian resources, but Shi Niaoren remained troubled by staffing.
"Given their performance, how can I deploy these barefoot doctors?" Shi Niaoren puffed his cigarette. "These people are actually worse than our trained indigenous staff. At least the locals understand lives are precious and ask questions when they don't know something. These fellows do whatever they please. Let them loose as clinic doctors and they'll all become killers."
"How do we staff so many clinics?" The planned nine clinics needed nine people minimum.
"Mobile medical rounds," Shi Niaoren said. "Now that Runshitang can provide clerks, clinics will have basic TCM services. I plan to select promising, capable students from our indigenous nurses as the core workforce. Then we organize doctors for circuit visits—one location daily. That should barely maintain medical service levels."
"Director Shi's thinking is comprehensive," Liu San said. "I suggest stocking clinics with common safety medicines—hemostatics, analgesics, fever reducers—for free patient access. This will massively expand our influence."
"That depends on both pharmaceutical factories' production capacity," Shi Niaoren replied. "Free medicines currently should focus on Chinese patent medicines."
"Production capacity won't be a problem." Liu San guaranteed. "By the time clinics are roughly completed, we'll be producing in batches."
"You need to hurry." Shi Niaoren's tone grew serious. "The Executive Committee has assigned new tasks—prepare anti-malarial drugs, snake and insect repellents, plus large quantities of standard emergency medicines. The plan is to develop Tiandu Iron Mine; Hongji probably enters development too."
"Developing Tiandu?"
"Yes—because iron is perpetually insufficient." Shi Niaoren had attended Executive Committee meetings and knew the details. "Put it this way: Guangdong pig iron prices rose 100% this past year—thanks to us." He lit another cigarette. "Can't help it. Coal supplies are still manageable for now."
"Tiandu," Liu San murmured the place name. "The Executive Committee is preparing for major rapid development."
Developing Tiandu had been repeatedly raised after the island circumnavigation expedition. The original approach of purchasing Guangdong pig iron for refining was becoming increasingly difficult. Though Ming-era Guangdong iron smelting wasn't backward by contemporary world standards, hand-industry-era iron output simply couldn't supply their industrialized needs. Guangdong iron prices had skyrocketed; now even supply was growing insufficient.
This gave Ma Qianzhu deep appreciation of WWII Japan's pain regarding steel allocations. Every department displayed enormous greed for steel—machine manufacturing, construction, transportation—all required massive steel supplies.
Which was more important: laying the Bairren-Bo-pu rail line first, or completing the under-construction thousand-ton iron-hulled ship? Should priority go to boilers for increased power supply, or batch-producing simple machine tools to expand manufacturing capacity? Military weapons required quality steel and cast iron, but so did modern farm implements.
Every application contained validity and necessity. No matter how the Planning Committee struggled, delays and bottlenecks persisted everywhere. Many projects were stuck on material supply—especially steel.
After discussion, the Executive Committee reached its conclusion: breakthroughs must occur in steel supply. Concentrate all available resources to solve this problem definitively.
Yet calculations revealed another thorny issue. Developing Tiandu Iron Mine required expanded coal imports to meet pig iron smelting needs. Contemporary Guangdong coal mining featured small scale, numerous mines, widely scattered. Coal quality varied. Organizing supply was exhausting—inevitably requiring Hongji Coal Mine development. Opening two branch bases simultaneously stretched manpower, resources, and military power beyond capacity.
"Especially developing Hongji," Bei Kai noted at the hearing. "Local Vietnamese aren't particularly cooperative. Our current small-scale hiring and purchasing proceeds smoothly, but establishing our own mining base would likely provoke local powers and LĂŞ Dynasty officials. Conflict is highly probable."
Winning local plantation owners' cooperation and support wouldn't happen overnight. Whether they'd even cooperate was uncertain—requiring heavy troop protection.
Even without security issues, mining required massive machinery, explosives, housing construction, road-laying, mining equipment manufacture, miner logistics...
This was an enormous systems engineering project touching every aspect of transmigrator industry. And Hongji wasn't like Lingao—specialists and equipment weren't nearby for quick problem-solving. Landing one or two thousand people with hundreds of tons of materiel on an unfamiliar coast—the coordination alone was monumental.
Liu San took a prescription list, glancing through it. "Pharmaceutical production faces heavy pressure." No posturing here—mainland orders, clinic inventory needs, plus all these additional medicines. Never mind anything else—Chinese medicinal ingredient shortfalls were substantial.
"Stop being burdened—there's plenty to do," Shi Niaoren said. "Another matter: the Executive Committee's social work teams have begun large-scale rural surveys. They want us to comprehensively screen and centrally deploy all TCM talents discovered—including herb farmers and folk healers. The Health Department has only you who understands these things. Screening is your responsibility."
Liu San was stunned. "The whole county! That's massive workload! How many villages in all of Lingao?"
"It's manageable," Shi Niaoren said. "TCM talent here is naturally scarce—just asking around reveals everything. I'm telling you, numbers are pathetic—fewer than twenty countywide including midwives. Mostly concentrated at several markets, with a few scattered in villages. Work teams identified them all during surveys—currently being transported to East Gate Market for screening."
"Don't need midwives," Liu San said. "Rather than retraining them, better to cultivate our own midwife-nurses."
"Correct. But local midwives often know some gynecological herbal medicine—they count as quasi-physicians."
"Fine—get me a translator."
"Xiong Buyou can help translate."
"What's the plan after screening these people? Training classes?"
"Some training, then assignment to clinics. Also external deployment to Tiandu and other bases for basic medical services. The Executive Committee wants at least three to four medics stationed."
"Urgent?"
"Second half of the year—after typhoon season ends." Shi Niaoren sighed. "The Planning Committee people are tearing their hair out. I think Director Ma is nearly going crazy—crowds of people blocking his office door daily."
"The capable bear more burdens. Hahaha."
After the Planning Committee's repeated calculations and multiple Executive Committee hearings, the decision was made: begin Tiandu development in October 1629. Yulin was relatively safe with less security pressure, requiring fewer protective troops.
Before launching Tiandu development, a six-month material preparation phase would commence, gradually stockpiling base supplies. Additionally, resources would be concentrated to first complete the thousand-ton steam-powered iron ship—meeting subsequent development engineering's transport needs for materiel, personnel, and ore return shipments.
Calculations showed Tiandu development initially required at least five hundred young adults landing for basic construction—building docks, roads, and fundamental mining facilities. Subsequently another five hundred would land for mining operations. Per Health Department estimates, monthly replenishment of one to two hundred would be needed to replace deaths. This ratio shocked Wu De—at least ten percent monthly labor force losses?
Shi Niaoren explained: "Our calculation is well-founded. Mining is extreme heavy labor—" He stopped Wu De's interjection. "I don't doubt Committee Member Wu will supply adequate calories and allow sufficient rest. But consider the surrounding environment: extreme heat, humidity, subtropical conditions... plus high-intensity labor. Personally, I think one to two hundred monthly deaths is a low estimate."
"We painstakingly recruit laborers just to send them to their deaths?" Naturally, someone valued human resources.
"I say, for Tiandu development, we should use cheap slaves," Wang Luobin said. "Just keep throwing lives in."
"Like the Japanese did back then."
"Exactly." Wang Luobin nodded. "To minimize death rates, basic infrastructure must be built first—that means at least a year before large-scale production capacity forms."
"How about we go to Japan to capture slaves!"
"That's too far! Besides, Japanese are armed too—they're in their Warring States period, fighting constantly. Their combat effectiveness won't be weak."
(End of Chapter)