Chapter 797 - The Sanya Militia

Ji Runzhi had sacrificed the entire New Year holiday to this plan. To lighten his own burden, he delegated the drafting of planning maps to his apprentices, Ji Yuan and Ji Shu. Under his tutelage, the two children had already mastered drafting instruments. As top students who had earned their Grade-B diplomas within a single year, their aptitude was exceptional—they absorbed practical skills almost effortlessly.

Yet talent cultivated in this manner would ultimately produce nothing more than skilled technicians. They lacked the capacity for independent thought, the vision to grasp the broader picture. They were useful as stopgaps, nothing more. Neither was suited to inherit his mantle. Ji Runzhi resolved that once Sanya's construction was on stable footing, he would start fresh—beginning with the fundamentals of mathematics, geography, and physics, then gradually advancing into architecture and urban planning.

"Time to wrap up!" Ji Runzhi noticed the sun sinking toward the horizon. A glance at his watch confirmed it was past four o'clock. Winter days were short, and lingering in the field after dark meant groping one's way home. Even under a bright moon, the light remained too dim for modern eyes accustomed to streetlamps. One misstep into a ditch or down a slope could mean a nasty fall.

He led his apprentices homeward, first returning to Tiandu Town, where he would catch the small train to Yulin Fort.

On the Tiandu Town platform, he encountered Xi Yazhou. Xi wore a combat uniform with a steel helmet on his head, its crown ringed with branches and leaves—not for camouflage, but for shade. Even in winter, Sanya's sun remained fierce.

Xi Yazhou stood on the platform backed by a column of laborers in neat formation, clad in rattan safety helmets and work clothes. Despite uniforms stained black with sweat and dust, the workers held their second-generation standard spears with spirited bearing.

"...Today's formation and marching drill was excellent!" Xi Yazhou rested his hand on his command saber. "You've trained up your spirit and your courage! You now carry yourselves as militia of the Council should!..."

The drill concluded with the militia shouting in unison three times: "For the Council of Elders and the People!" Ji Runzhi waited until Xi Yazhou had finished speaking and given the order to dismiss before walking over.

"Been drilling often lately?" Ji Runzhi knew that ever since the first batch of slaves had arrived, Xi Yazhou had been conducting militia training.

Xi Yazhou removed the Type 80 steel helmet from his head—the thing was dead weight, and after wearing it all afternoon his neck ached. He stripped the branches from the helmet's camouflage net and mopped his sweat with a towel before finally catching his breath.

"Old Wang says we'll have over ten thousand slaves here by year's end. How can we not train the militia fast? A slave uprising—" he chuckled darkly "—would be more than we could handle."

Ever since Quark Qiong's visit, Sanya had officially made its debut before the world. News that a new commercial port existed at the southern tip of Hainan Island would spread quickly. What followed, besides merchant ships hoping to crack open trade with China, might include Chinese and Western pirates, the Spanish authorities in Manila, and both East India Companies—all of whom might attack for various reasons. After studying the situation, Xi Yazhou had concluded that the greatest threats were the Spanish authorities and the rival fleets of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang. Of these three, the latter two were more dangerous. If they launched an attack, could the garrison really hold them off with the Navy's six sub-100-ton fishery patrol boats and their muzzle-loading rifled guns that fired once every three minutes? The 8154, which had been their trump card, had been recalled to Lingao.

"The Army is still more reliable," Xi Yazhou muttered. But even the Army was stretched thin. His available ground forces, including the Marine Platoon, amounted to no more than four hundred men. He was confident he could repel any landing pirates, but once his troops concentrated for battle, they couldn't protect the facilities scattered along the shore. If slaves then seized the opportunity for a mass uprising, Sanya would be reduced to a smoking hellscape.

The only solution was an armed militia. For months, Xi Yazhou had been selecting "politically reliable, firmly committed" laborer squads and putting entire units through military rotation training. As Sanya's garrison commander, he had poured his heart into this effort, even forgoing his chance to return to Lingao to stay and train the militia personally.

The two of them boarded the train from Tiandu to Yulin Fort together. Though they were Elders, the train offered no luxury carriage for them. Their only distinction from workers commuting home was occupying a car by themselves—the same open-topped flatbed car.

"The workers have good discipline and organization," Xi Yazhou said, unbuttoning his uniform jacket to let the wind blow through. "A little training and they'd make excellent soldiers. Too bad we lack weapons. We've got precious few Minié rifles here. The militia have to make do with cold steel—who'd have thought we'd still be drilling pike-and-shot and practicing Spanish infantry squares."

"Why not apply to the General Staff for some rifles?"

"Hmph." Xi Yazhou snorted, lighting himself a cigarette. "Want one?"

"No, thanks."

"A few Minié rifles wouldn't be a problem, but the Executive Committee won't give us more." Xi Yazhou didn't want to dwell on the subject and turned to gaze at the scenery slowly receding behind them. The last time he'd cabled the General Staff on this issue, he'd requested five hundred Minié rifles for militia training and equipment. The General Staff had replied that rifle stocks were limited. Their eventual solution was to ship him one thousand hand grenades, one hundred training grenades, and two hundred training rifles.

With only formation and bayonet drills, the militia could still be thrown into battle—but when the time came to pick up rifles, militia without shooting practice would only be good for making noise. Xi Yazhou had no choice but to dip into the dispatch battalion's reserve rifles, issuing them in batches so the militia could practice marksmanship.

"Could it be a manifestation of Director Wen's generational-gap theory?" Ji Runzhi mused. "Keeping a technological gap between regulars and militia to ensure the regulars can suppress any militia uprising."

Though the theory of maintaining a technological gap between armed forces had never been formally proposed, it had many adherents among the Elders—to the point of being treated as gospel.

Xi Yazhou finally couldn't contain his frustration: "Generation gap, my ass! At least give the militia Brown Besses. Training with spears—the gap's too damn wide. If the enemy comes, are we supposed to have the militia form a Spanish tercio? Even tercios had harquebusiers for support. We might as well go full Macedonian phalanx."

The two disembarked at Yulin Fort. He Fanghuai had already returned from "inspecting defenses." Per regulations, all Elders stationed at remote posts had to take turns on duty, ensuring at least one Elder was awake at all times. Today was He Fanghuai's shift.

"Old Xi!" He Fanghuai waved a telegram in his hand. "Tomorrow the Dajing is bringing the bucket elevator and ore-dressing equipment—we'll be shipping the first iron ore load any day now!"

"Good heavens, not a single specialist here, and they're sending equipment to install!" Ji Runzhi exclaimed. "None of the three of us knows anything about machinery."

"There'll be an Elder coming with the ship," He Fanghuai said. "Plus quite a few people." He winked at Xi Yazhou. "The female servants we commissioned the General Affairs Office to draw lots for will be arriving with the ship too."

"Hell yes, that's great news!" Xi Yazhou had been lucky in the lottery, drawing a Grade-B, and was especially eager.

"At least there'll be someone to do laundry," He Fanghuai said. "Let's throw a drinking party tonight. Drink up everything in the care packages! Too bad there's no girl to do a striptease!"

A few days earlier, the stationed Elders had all learned from private telegrams about the Year's End banquet—the "wine pools and meat forests" and the cosplay extravaganza. The stranded personnel were green with envy. They didn't much care about the food and drink, but missing the sight of all that bare thigh felt like a genuine loss.

"You're on duty tonight," Xi Yazhou reminded him.

"I'll drink kvass instead." He Fanghuai shrugged. "Actually, with my alcohol tolerance, I'm just as alert after eight beers..."

On the day before New Year's, to compensate the stationed Elders who couldn't return to Lingao for the Year's End banquet, the General Affairs Office had shipped "care packages" via Navy transport to every overseas Elder.

The care packages came in sturdy wooden crates resembling ammunition boxes. Inside were many items preserved by the Planning Commission from the old timeline: one tin each of PLA-issue braised beef, luncheon meat, Western ham, and anchovy; one jar each of Sichuan pickles, Korean kimchi, Jinzhou assorted vegetables, and chili sauce produced by the Tianchu Food Factory. For a festive atmosphere, there were five hundred grams of sliced and dried Ningbo New Year's cake, to be boiled or stir-fried at one's pleasure. Beverages included four bottles of beer, two bottles of rum, and six bottles of kvass, packed separately in specialized drink cases before being boxed. Regardless of whether the recipient smoked, everyone received one carton of "Gold Saint Ship"—the highest-grade cigarette newly developed by the Monopoly Bureau exclusively for Elders (though in truth it tasted no different from the regular variety). Additionally, there was one tin each of coffee and tea, two hundred fifty grams of white sugar, and two hundred fifty grams of assorted fruit candies.

By old-timeline standards, the contents were pitifully meager. But to the Elders, they were delicacies brimming with nostalgia. If instant noodles hadn't been completely exhausted, many Elders would have loved a few packets for old times' sake—even though the Elder's Cafeteria now made yi-fu noodles flavored with real chicken broth.

That evening, Xi Yazhou ordered the Army quartermaster to purchase several sheep from the immigrant villages settled at Anyoule and elsewhere—the Tiandihui also operated among these villages. After slaughtering the sheep, they improved the troops' rations. The best cuts were set aside for the Elders' lamb feast, supplemented with opened care-package canned goods. They washed down grilled lamb and seafood with beer, and capped the meal with stir-fried New Year's cake with luncheon meat and spinach to celebrate the just-passed New Year.

(End of Chapter)