Chapter 623 - Before the Battle (Part Three)
"Doctors will be sent over when the fighting starts. For now, I'll give you a few nurses and traditional Chinese medicine practitioners to maintain basic health care. Once you arrive, the medics among the troops and laborers should also have been sent back."
After He Ping left, Shi Niaoren buried himself at his desk again, using unskilled techniques to draw diagrams on a board. His idea was to create several standard procedures for the medical staff currently in training. He knew the indigenous medical staff had poor quality, low education, and low aptitude. So he wanted to use illustrated manuals to simplify the difficulty of education.
"Damn, this thing looks truly magnificent!" Mei Wan watched the locally produced steam engineering machinery approaching slowly from the distance, puffing black smoke and steam.
Rather than "driving," it was more like "crawling." The speed was so slow that movement was almost imperceptible. Even the ox carts streaming endlessly on the highway overtook them one by one.
"New equipment, huh. Looks like it performs much better than the Meteor I locomotive." The support team led by Shan Daoqian, despite using ox carts, had arrived unexpectedly far ahead of the engineering machinery.
Road repair had been fully entrusted to Shan Daoqian, who had been recalled from Sanya—Shan Daoqian had completed the construction of the simple railway in Sanya. He had delegated the road construction in Sanya to Ji Runzhi. The design plans were all done, and the road construction team had experience; Ji Runzhi only needed to supervise progress.
Renovating the post road this time was almost an entirely new attempt for Shan Daoqian—he used no modern construction machinery, relying entirely on local industrial support in Lingao. The Machinery Department had manufactured several bulldozers and road rollers using "Suichao" steam engines.
Steam road rollers and bulldozers using the locomobile principle, belching steam and black smoke, crawled slowly up the highway from the Hundred Fathoms industrial zone at less than three kilometers per hour, followed by a crowd of workers and technicians, plus several ox carts filled with spare parts and repair equipment. Although these steel monsters performed poorly, leaked steam and smoke everywhere, and made creaking noises, the sight of these steel beasts twisting their bodies and shambling forward shocked the roadside commoners far more than modern agricultural vehicles and jeeps.
But for Shan Daoqian, the reliability of these devices was poor indeed. The three steam-powered road rollers and bulldozers stopped and started, requiring frequent repairs and adjustments. It took nearly a full twenty-four hours to reach the construction section.
But once they arrived at the section, the power of machinery was revealed. Although steam equipment was inconvenient to use and broke down constantly, efficiency was still a cut above manpower and animal power. Stone rollers pulled by oxen couldn't compare to steam road rollers. As for bulldozers, although they operated for less than six hours a day, the earthwork they accomplished was enough for a hundred people working all day.
Shan Daoqian started from Maniao to renovate the post road to Chengmai. The first batch of Army troops and militia mobilized served as laborers, repairing the road while advancing toward Chengmai. As for Mei Wan himself, he presided over the construction of the Maniao Base.
Maniao, as an important salt production base for the Lingao regime and located at the junction of Lingao and Chengmai, had originally been planned by the Planning Institute to host a local administrative organ, Maniao Commune, filled with some new immigrants as the eastern support point of the Small Cross Road plan.
In the preparations for this anti-encirclement operation, the Maniao Peninsula was put on the agenda as a target requiring key defense. Fortification work began immediately.
According to Mei Wan's original plan, Maniao fortification only meant building a European-style bastion fort, garrisoning a company inside, equipped with a dozen cannons to control the port and saltworks, ensuring the enemy couldn't conduct roving sabotage locally.
But in the formally implemented plan, Maniao became a fortress city. Not only was it preparing to station a considerable scale of troops long-term as an Army base, but it would also store large amounts of military supplies and possess certain weapons repair and maintenance capabilities—the General Staff was preparing to make Maniao Fort the Army's main military base henceforth, where the future Army main force would be garrisoned. For this, large training grounds and shooting ranges were planned nearby.
According to He Ming's revised operational plan, all Army forces participating in the anti-encirclement operation—four infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, and one engineering company—would successively concentrate at Maniao for training and reorganization, forming a field army. They would wait for the Ming army to complete assembly in Qiongshan before setting out for battle.
Although Maniao Fort was still under intense construction, He Ming, his staff, and most officers had already arrived at Maniao, setting up the Field Army Headquarters in the original blockhouse.
He Ming's move to Maniao also served to avoid the overly dense concentration of transmigrators in Hundred Fathoms and Bopu. Although he had already informed the Senate that he would not receive any transmigrators on non-official business, they could still find various reasons to come to the headquarters. Each one was very enthusiastic about offering advice for the future battle—since the Senate was no longer discussing this issue, talking directly to military officers had become a more convenient method. Some discussed strategy, some discussed tactical application, and others offered their own "new weapon" proposals. He Ming was annoyed by such visitors, so he simply moved the headquarters staff to Maniao early.
Because of Saltworks Village's special importance, a wired telegraph system had been opened next to the blockhouse long ago. After He Ming arrived with the headquarters, the wired telegraph station was immediately expanded. Not only were telegraph operators added, but equipment was also augmented to serve the military effectively. Li Yunxing had specially sent a telecom engineer, Hu Muye, to hold the fort at the Hundred Fathoms Telecom Bureau responsible for equipment maintenance. He also brought a radio as backup.
Hu Muye took his equipment and hitched a ride on a slow ox cart departing from Hundred Fathoms. Also on the cart were He Ping from the Health Department, Wu Shimang from the Lingao Church, Yang He the head of the Quarantine Camp, and others. These people had different specific tasks, but the general purpose was the same—to prepare for the expected prisoners.
The group chatted along the way. Departing at dawn, they only reached Maniao around noon. From a distance, they could hear the sound of military drums and flutes, with white cooking smoke and black industrial smoke curling up. Gunfire and cannon blasts could be heard occasionally.
On the flat training ground, squads of infantry were drilling in formation to the accompaniment of drumbeats and flutes. Non-commissioned officers shouted commands with elongated voices. Sometimes bursts of uniform shouting drifted over: "Kill! Kill! Kill!" and shouts of "Fire."
Around the unfinished earthworks of Maniao Fort, patches of grayish-white tents dotted every leeward, sunny hillside and hollow. Rows of cannons and vehicles were parked neatly in open spaces. Cooking smoke curled from field kitchens. Soldiers in gray uniforms shouldering rifles marched past occasionally.
On the post road leading to Chengmai, crowds of laborers, soldiers, and engineering machinery were busy. Steam road rollers puffed out bursts of black smoke from time to time. In the distance, people could be seen erecting a bridge over the river surface.
"A few more kilometers past here is Heshe. Past Heshe is Chengmai County territory." Wu Shimang, due to his missionary work, knew more about Lingao's geography.
"Now that our road is being built through, the Chengmai Magistrate's days must be hard. Probably like an ant on a hot pan."
"He could play deaf and dumb like Magistrate Wu, and be a CPPCC member or something later."
"Knowing to play deaf and dumb means he's smart. Just afraid he won't know life from death. Then we'll have to send him to the West."
"So many carts!" He Ping suddenly exclaimed.
Ox carts transporting grain, baggage, ammunition, and construction materials moved slowly one after another, stretching into a long line on the highway, with no end in sight. It looked truly magnificent.
They usually understood the power of industrial society in the abstract, but seeing the immense energy displayed by the industrial society they had created with their own eyes, everyone felt extremely stirred.
The periphery of the Maniao City construction site was completely under martial law. Barbed wire, abatis, watchtowers, and trenches were everywhere. Their ox cart was intercepted by sentries as soon as it reached the turning intersection, checking everyone's IDs and order documents. He Ping saw that besides fixed sentries, small roving patrols were everywhere. Seeing such strict precautions, He Ping felt it really had a pre-war atmosphere.
They reached the headquarters easily. He Ming wasn't there; duty staff officer Dongmen Chuiyu arranged things for them according to their purposes. As for opening a field hospital, Dongmen naturally welcomed it very much.
"Currently there are no prisoners for you to treat, but with frequent drills lately, there are some injuries. Also epidemic prevention. Several thousand people have gathered in this small area successively. Although every company has a medic, we'll feel reassured having someone from your Health Department here to oversee things."
"I'll check the camp first. Especially latrines and drinking water. If those are good, there won't be large-scale epidemics."
"Sure, take a look first. The Health Department gave us a centralized water purification station. Now it's mandated that all troops must fetch water from the station."
Dongmen Chuiyu took everyone to a camp area where several rows of prefabs had already been set up, with signs hanging at the doors. These were office and accommodation spaces for representatives of various departments sent to Maniao to coordinate work for this operation.
He Ping's Health Department office was ready. Inside was only a wooden plank bed and a folding table; without a chair, he sat on the bed to work.
Dongmen Chuiyu said: "Conditions are crude, everyone just bear with it for now. The Maniao hospital just started construction; move there when it's built."
"It's fine, I'll look around at the epidemic prevention situation first."
"Xie Shu!" Dongmen Chuiyu called out.
"Here!" A young officer immediately stepped out from behind them, standing at attention and saluting. He Ping looked him over; this person was probably in his early twenties, dark-skinned, with regular features, hair cut very short like all soldiers. He wore an Army uniform with Army Second Lieutenant rank insignia, but red staff officer bars were sewn on his sleeves. This was likely an indigenous probationary staff officer.
"Xie Shu is a probationary staff officer in charge of logistics. He'll accompany you." Then he ordered, "Take the Special Commissioner Comrade to inspect the health support situation!"
"Understood!" Xie Shu asked with a voice full of vigor, "Chief, where would you like to inspect first?"
"Start with the water supply station."
He looked at the water purification station first. He recognized the medic in charge; he had graduated not long ago from the Health Department's medic training class a few months prior. His name was Niu Yutian, and he had fled to Lingao from the mainland three months ago. Fifteen or sixteen years old, very fair-skinned, and spoke softly. When assigning roles, staff felt he was too delicate, so he was assigned to the health sector as a medic. Medics wore white armbands on their uniform sleeves, printed with the Health Department symbol: a blue snake winding around a wooden staff.
He Ping asked about the station's status. He learned this mobile water purification equipment used by the army was recently shipped. It used fine sand and activated charcoal to filter water, then disinfected with bleaching powder. Drinking water also underwent a boiling procedure. The entire water supply station could be disassembled and pulled by livestock. Very convenient to use. He Ping checked the equipment condition and whether activated charcoal and sand were installed and replaced correctly. He checked the bleaching powder dosing records.
After viewing, he concluded the station itself had no problems, but water supply volume was insufficient—especially when he discovered this station had no pumping equipment and relied entirely on manpower to carry water. He Ping shook his head. Such supply volume could barely guarantee the Field Army's daily training use. Supplying during marches would be difficult.
"This set is battalion-level field water supply equipment," Xie Shu said. "It's not quite enough to supply so many troops."
He Ping knew this was likely a sample from the Machinery Department used for experiments. He secretly considered this reckless; given Maniao's current garrison and population scale, establishing a waterworks would be appropriate.
"Let's go look at the camps."
The Field Army's units were garrisoned separately by battalion and company. Deer abatis surrounded every garrison area. Small blockhouses were stacked with stones at the front and rear camp gates, with firing ports. Each blockhouse could hold up to three people for sentry duty and shooting. In a surprise attack, they could resist for a while, buying time for troops to assemble.
Rows of military tents were pitched neatly in the camp. An open space in front of the main gate had been leveled for assembly and roll call. Roads in the camp were orderly and swept very clean. Various vehicles and equipment were all categorized and stored. Each camp had latrines set up according to soldier numbers, with disinfectants prepared.
The soldiers had gone out for drill, leaving only a few cooking staff and logistics personnel guarding the camp. Seeing a chief coming to inspect, everyone stood up together, standing neatly side-by-side in silence to salute them.
Even a layman like He Ping could see this military camp had strict discipline and well-trained soldiers. He couldn't help praising: "These troops are really well-trained."
"It's all due to the chiefs' effective training," Xie Shu said.
To He Ping, this sounded a bit like flattery. He couldn't help glancing at this young officer, seeing his face frank and extremely sincere, seemingly not fawning at all.
"Oh, this Australian method of governing the army hasn't really fought a war with real swords and guns yet. How do you feel it compares to the Great Ming's border troops?"
Xie Shu said seriously: "Just the four words 'orders strictly enforced' make it far superior to any army of the Great Ming."
Discipline was indeed one of the biggest differences between modern and ancient armies. That this young officer didn't talk about the transmigrators' huge firearms advantage—the thing that shocked indigenous people most—but discussed discipline first made He Ping look at him with new appreciation. He became interested:
"I heard the discipline of government troops is bad—"
"No, by 'orders strictly enforced' I don't mean whether discipline toward commoners is good or bad, but that the chiefs can drill troops to advance and retreat freely, like controlling one's own limbs."
He Ping nodded, feeling his insight was really not bad. He couldn't help being interested in him.
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from Tongchuan, Shaanxi."
"You're from a border army background, right?" Hearing he was from Shaanxi, He Ping thought northerners were pitifully scarce here, mostly deserters from government troops.
"No." Xie Shu smiled. "My family were originally small grain merchants; my father was a scholar. In the Tianqi years, rogue bandits plagued our hometown, and we couldn't stay—bandits and government troops took turns ravaging us. The whole family had to flee to the Central Plains. My father said the Central Plains was a battleground and we couldn't stay, so we ran south, running all the way to Guangdong."
"How did you end up in Lingao?"
"The family did some small coastal trading to scrape by. Government extortion aside, in the end, our boat was robbed by sea lords. My father got angry and said: 'Everywhere getting bullied by thieves and officials; might as well become thieves ourselves.'" Xie Shu suddenly realized he was implicitly calling the chiefs thieves too, and quickly stopped talking.
He Ping laughed. "We are indeed thieves; we are 'Hair' thieves."
"The chiefs' conduct—never mind sea lords and local bandits, even the Great Ming isn't one-tenth as good." Xie Shu said. "I considered myself well-read in military matters at home. I read many books like Wujing Zongyao, Wubei Zhi, and Jixiao Xinshu. I admired Qi Jiguang most. I pondered how to train a strong army myself. Only after joining the Fubo Army did I realize my thoughts..." He didn't continue, just shook his head.
He Ping found this fresh. Most indigenous officers, soldiers, administrative staff, and students he met were refugees—either bitter with deep hatred or desperate. Their gratitude and worship of transmigrators came from the bottom of their hearts. But Xie Shu's "worship" had no flavor of "gratitude," nor the bitterness of hatred. When he spoke of his family affairs, there was even a bit of mocking irony.
Moreover, this young man's speech and attitude were completely different from indigenous people. If not for his strange Mandarin, He Ping would almost have thought he was a transmigrator he didn't know.
"Aren't you afraid of being exterminated by the government army for following us thieves?" He Ping asked intentionally.
"The government couldn't even exterminate the rogue bandits in my hometown," Xie Shu laughed. "Fighting the Eastern Barbarians, they lose more than they win. Defeating the Fubo Army is even more delusional."
"There's a dressing station below that slope over there," Xie Shu said. "Does the chief want to see it?"
"Of course." He Ping asked, "A dressing station is already set up?"
(End of Chapter)