Chapter 994 - New Recruits

The Miao people lived in hardship and, compared to the Li, proved more willing to leave home and eat military rations. During the Ming dynasty, southwestern Miao, Yao, Dong, and other ethnic native troops had been conscripted for combat on multiple occasions. The most famous were Qin Liangyu's White Pole Soldiers—with proper training and command, their combat effectiveness as infantry of this dimension was quite respectable. Wei Aiwen and his colleagues' recruitment activities in Miao villages proceeded smoothly, though the time and manpower costs consumed proved unreasonably high. Miao villages were situated even more remotely than Li villages, in higher and deeper mountains. Without traders to guide them, they simply couldn't locate the places.

Wei Aiwen ultimately recruited four companies in Changhua, two of which comprised Miao soldiers. Had he been willing to recruit freely, more could have been enlisted. Considering that Li and Miao people generally suffered from malaria with poor constitutions, requiring significant costs for treatment and recovery, he stopped—it wouldn't be too late to fully utilize these populations once sufficient resources became available.

All these soldiers were concentrated in Changhua for quarantine treatment and preliminary centralized training. The training camp was established outside Changhua Fort. Their instructor was Old Di from the Training Directorate—he had been pushed out by the "American faction" officers led by Shi Zhiqi for strenuously advocating so-called "German-style" training within the Marine Corps and attempting to equip Marines with mountain caps. When he applied to the Training Directorate, Fu Sanni wasn't interested in his so-called "German-style" training or his German affectations, but seeing that Old Di possessed decent drive—military training instructors primarily needed enthusiasm, energy, and abundant physical strength to shout at new recruits all day while kicking and punching them—he was immediately appointed as a military training instructor for the Education Directorate. Leading a batch of staff sergeants and sergeants, he drilled new recruits and militiamen intensively every day.

After the General Staff's plan to recruit Japanese and Li-Miao new recruits as security troops materialized, Fu Sanni situated this batch's training base in Changhua. The security forces being organized from these soldiers didn't belong to the official Fubo Army sequence—not even the paramilitary National Army. If a comparison was needed, the security forces were essentially similar to "Blackwater"—mercenaries, just at lower cost.

Since they were mercenaries, training them at Maniao Fort was inappropriate. Changhua was vast with sparse population; terrain and topography were more complex than Lingao. More importantly, the locality possessed certain basic infrastructure, suitable for small-scale troop training without requiring extensive expansion.

The recruited Li and Miao soldiers were thrown into basic training almost immediately after "purification" procedures—Changhua was sparsely populated, requiring no extended quarantine isolation. A medical team led by Lei En, dispatched from Lingao, conducted physical examinations and treatment. Lei En had worked in disease control in the old dimension; though he hadn't had extensive contact with malaria, at least he had studied it.

To reduce medicine consumption while avoiding expanded infection, blood smear tests for malaria parasites were conducted during soldier recruitment. More severe malaria patients were not accepted.

What puzzled Lei En—the one responsible for testing—was that some applicants, though from villages with malaria patients, hadn't been infected with the disease. They seemed to possess some kind of antibodies. He recalled materials suggesting this was because thalassemia was prevalent in the southwestern coastal region, and malaria parasites couldn't infect thalassemia patients.

"Could this theory actually be correct?" Unfortunately, local conditions in Changhua were limited, and Lei En couldn't test those soldiers for thalassemia for the time being.

What arrived from Lingao wasn't the traditional old-dimension specific drugs for treating malaria—quinine, primaquine, chloroquine, or artemisinin—but rather Chinese medicine preparations experimentally manufactured by the Health Department according to formulas provided by Daoist Zhang: "Malaria Powder" and "Changshan Decoction."

These two medicines were formulas that Chinese medicine personnel in the 1950s and 60s—when China couldn't yet produce quinine and other antimalarial drugs domestically—had collected from various folk prescriptions and proven formulas and confirmed through extensive clinical use to have certain efficacy. Also identified during that period was sweet wormwood. However, extraction and purification of artemisinin required considerable chemical industry support, so the Health Department could only temporarily produce the more modestly effective Malaria Powder and Changshan Decoction. Runshitang Pharmacy conducted small-scale trial production, deploying limited batches to hospitals and clinics under the Health Department, as well as to the Li-Miao Affairs Office and Religious Affairs Office.

Malaria Powder was made from cangzhu, baizhi, guizhi, and other medicines combined and prepared into powder. For adult use, following a dose of one gram or more per application (reduced for children), the Malaria Powder was wrapped in gauze and inserted into the nostril half an hour before malaria onset for approximately three to four hours, then removed during the sweating phase after onset. The dose could continue to be used before the next attack. One dose could be used consecutively more than three times.

If symptoms disappeared after use, blood could be tested the next day; if positive, the treatment could continue. According to clinical trials at the Health Department General Hospital, this medicine and Changshan Decoction proved indeed effective for some malaria patients. After several applications, malaria parasites actually disappeared during blood tests.

However, the overall effective rate wasn't as high as stated in the literature. But this at least provided a means of treating malaria—one should remember that by old-dimension standards, even quinine, the historical specific drug, had only modest effects, not to mention significant side effects.

The Religious Affairs Office's two major denominations were the biggest consumers of these proprietary Chinese medicines. For proselytizing in Li areas, medical and health means proved most effective, and malaria was a disease common among Li and Miao people. Daoist Zhang had initially gained many converts in southern Qiong precisely through these medicines.

The Li-Miao Affairs Office also distributed considerable quantities, primarily through dispatched health teams. These so-called health teams' main purpose remained trading with Li areas; they simply dispatched a medic with the team carrying medicines to villages for diagnosis and treatment. This treatment was free, with the primary purpose naturally being to win hearts; secondarily, it provided medics and nurses attending health training courses with practical independent diagnosis and treatment experience.

Mu Min had personally led teams to quite a few villages and understood what this kind of health service meant in mountain communities. So successfully recruiting many soldiers this time didn't surprise her—one should remember that initially quite a few Senators had been skeptical about whether they could recruit Li and Miao able-bodied men as soldiers.

The able-bodied men were undergoing the most basic formation training under Old Di's shouted commands. The infantry companies composed of Li and Miao soldiers weren't being equipped with firearms for now—they received Model 1631 standard knives instead. Thus training content was greatly reduced: no complex formation changes or anti-cavalry charge drills, no Minié rifle shooting training. Only the most basic formations, fundamental tactical movements, and physical conditioning. After basic training would come two additional weeks of mountain combat and village security tactical training.

Mu Min watched for a while the new recruits wearing somewhat oversized training uniforms, looking severely malnourished. After several days of training, their movements were starting to take shape. Then she turned her gaze with interest toward Old Di. He wasn't wearing Fubo Army uniform but rather a "German-style" mixed uniform that looked uncomfortably hot. His upper body sported an Afrika Korps regulation tropical shirt, but below he wore combat boots, German-style puttees, and knee pads, buckled with a double-breasted belt. On his head sat a combat soft-top peaked cap—all domestically produced civilian versions, naturally.

Beside Old Di stood a young girl wearing the girls' uniform of Lingao National School, holding a tin megaphone. Every time Old Di spoke, she quickly raised the megaphone and spoke for a while. This translator sometimes obviously didn't know how to render certain commands and had to consult with Old Di. The Li people mostly didn't understand Chinese—much less Mandarin. Chinese language instruction couldn't be achieved overnight; they could only train while learning.

Mu Min knew this girl was Bi Da. When they had departed Changhua to return to Lingao back then, they had brought her along. She had studied Chinese for a period at National School and also received basic literacy education, obtaining a C-grade diploma. As one of the very few "completely reliable" Li people under the Li-Miao Affairs Office's control, upon completing her studies she was dispatched back to Changhua, serving as a local staff member of the Li-Miao Office. On one hand as interpreter, dealing with local Li people; on the other hand collecting materials on the local Meifu Li. Mu Min had read some of her reports written in crooked simplified characters riddled with typos.

Bi Da played a crucial role in Changhua. Though they also had control of local people with close Li village connections like Wang Daliang, they weren't ultimately from Li villages themselves. Compared to Bi Da—a native-born Li person—they fell short in negotiations and material collection. Fang Jinghan in particular had gathered enormous quantities of first-hand materials on the local Meifu Li through conversations with her.

Whether Mu Min or Fang Jinghan—currently responsible for the office's routine operations—both valued her greatly. Every time they came to Changhua, they would speak with her and bring her many booklets, personally cultivating her. Mu Min had once wanted her to pursue a B-grade diploma at National School.

The Li-Miao Office wasn't alone in valuing Bi Da; Daoqianzi was also very interested in her. After a successful proselytizing campaign, Daoist Zhang had persuaded Bi Da to convert to Neo-Daoism. He then hoped to cultivate this girl into a "Libationer" of Neo-Daoism, becoming his capable assistant for proselytizing in Li areas—ideally a model figure.

Unfortunately, Bi Da's enthusiasm for learning was only average—Li people didn't possess the universal recognition that "all trades are base, only study is lofty." Thus whether National School's advanced study plan or Daoqianzi's religious education, both came to nothing. However, in two years Bi Da could at least communicate with Senators without obstacles, and her loyalty to the Senate was sufficiently high—she was clearly quite qualified as a bridge between the Senate and the Meifu Li.

(End of Chapter)