Chapter 2134 - The Hundred-Li Lord
Leaving corpses scattered unburied risked plague. Scattered weapons posed an equally insidious threat. After the Battle of Wuzhou, fleeing officers and soldiers had abandoned vast quantities of weapons, armor, and firearms inside and out side the city walls—visible nearly everywhere. Such proliferation of military equipment represented a potential threat to the new government. Confiscation had to proceed with utmost urgency. Additionally, his desperately thin military forces required supplementation. Zhu Quanxing's single battalion bore responsibility for security across multiple counties within Wuzhou Prefecture—an impossible task for comprehensive coverage.
The final agenda item addressed repairing city walls and various infrastructure projects. The Battle of Wuzhou hadn't witnessed particularly fierce fighting, but both sides had deployed overwhelming firepower. Specifically, the Army's artillery and Navy detachment had essentially treated Wuzhou as live-fire training grounds, raining shells upon the city and surrounding areas, severely damaging Wuzhou's defensive facilities. Now, all of it required restoration.
Beyond the walls lay two critical transportation hubs. One was the Gui River Pontoon Bridge spanning the Gui River toward the Sanhezui Grand Drill Ground; the other, the Canglong Pontoon Bridge crossing the West River. These two pontoon bridges connected Wuzhou's eastern, western, and southern banks, facilitating internal and external commerce.
The siege had destroyed both pontoon bridges, severing traffic and rendering travel inconvenient everywhere.
Xie Erren made rough calculations. Even excluding his planned sewage system overhaul, restoration projects alone would consume half a year. As for money and grain expenditures—needless to say, this single "Grand Rehabilitation Fundraising" couldn't begin to suffice.
Following the Rehabilitation Bureau meeting, Xie Erren convened a gathering of naturalized cadres.
Wuzhou's naturalized cadre contingent remained extremely limited. Beyond his right-hand man, City Office Secretary Zhao Fengtian, and 7th Company Commander of the 3rd Line Infantry Battalion, Qian Duo—one civil, one military—no more than twenty naturalized cadres existed. Most had been hastily promoted and trained from naturalized citizens within Senate-ruled territories. The majority came from Guangdong, with some from Shandong and Hainan. After incorporation into the Qiongya Detachment and specialized training, they could at minimum communicate in Cantonese.
Now these individuals gathered, awaiting Xie Erren's "instructions."
Surveying this assembly of naturalized cadres—old and young, men and women—Xie Erren felt his confidence waver. He understood these northbound cadres' caliber well enough: most hailed from grassroots rural positions, with only a tiny minority deployed from administrative departments or veteran ranks.
Xie Erren possessed absolutely no certainty regarding these cadres' competence. Yet right now, no one proved more useful or reliable.
"Comrades!" He cleared his throat. "Wuzhou has been liberated—all credit to our heroic Fubo Army officers and soldiers, both Army and Navy. We, the first cadres to assume control of Wuzhou, entered the city behind Fubo Army guns. This isn't unusual. The key lies not merely in entering, but in staying."
Having spoken, Xie Erren suddenly discovered some confidence returning.
"Before arriving, everyone studied the External Intelligence Bureau's 'Overview of Wuzhou.' It catalogs detailed social and civil conditions throughout Wuzhou Prefecture City and surrounding areas. This will serve as our critical reference for future operations. I hope everyone will study it thoroughly during downtime—one can only execute effective work by grasping specific conditions."
Next, he assigned several immediate priorities. In Pearl River Delta cities like Guangzhou post-liberation, taking-over Senators and naturalized local officials primarily focused on regime-building tasks: household registration verification, industrial and commercial registration establishment. But Wuzhou's situation differed—Wuzhou was a "frontline city," where safety constituted the paramount concern. Thus his assigned work revolved around the "safety" issue.
The specifics largely mirrored what he'd just delegated to the Rehabilitation Bureau. Xie Erren distributed responsibility zone work among naturalized cadres, requiring them to continuously supervise and urge the Bureau's relevant activities. He also designated several cadres to specifically lead labor teams conducting corpse and rubble removal.
Since the National Army units allocated to Wuzhou hadn't yet arrived, and Xie Erren urgently needed to expand military capacity, he decided to select seasoned, trustworthy men from surrendered local Wei-Suo soldiers to form a militia team under Fubo Army leadership.
His plan involved allocating one platoon from Qian Duo's company, with each soldier commanding ten militiamen, creating a three-hundred-person militia force. The remaining regular troops would remain mobile, serving as a rapid-response force.
"Do you foresee any difficulties with this arrangement?" Xie Erren asked Qian Duo.
"No particular difficulties. It's just that soldiers carry rifles while militiamen lack firearms—they can only wield spears and broadswords. If combat erupts, it essentially means losing thirty rifles' worth of firepower."
Dispersing thirty soldiers among three hundred militiamen as commanders prevented concentrated platoon-level fire. The loss carried some significance. After all, Wuzhou city possessed only one hundred guns total.
"The militia team can be equipped with bows, arrows, and old-style firearms. At minimum, we gain three hundred men."
The 7th Company's hundred men were manifestly insufficient for defending and patrolling all of Wuzhou city, so Qian Duo raised no further objections. After all, the National Army's arrival date remained uncertain, and even when they arrived, only one squadron would materialize.
To further substantiate his military forces, Xie Erren decided to absorb all three classes of yamen runners from the original Wuzhou Prefectural and County yamens. Though the duties of Lictors (Zao), Fast Constables (Kuai), and Strongmen (Zhuang) differed, they generally inclined toward public security work. While these personnel weren't ideal, they at least possessed local knowledge and could manage immediate security needs.
After implementing various miscellaneous details one by one, finally Xie Erren instructed Zhao Fengtian: Immediately assemble a propaganda team.
Xie Erren himself came from journalism background—he was most familiar with and valued propaganda work above all else.
"Chief! The propaganda team matter isn't urgent, is it?" Zhao Fengtian ventured. "The county's surrendered officials have been waiting outside to see you. It's been half a day."
"Since they've already surrendered, what's the rush? Just give them positions and draw salaries." Xie Erren sounded rather impatient. He withdrew several pages from his briefcase. "This is a plan I drafted. You need to implement the personnel and required equipment as rapidly as possible."
Zhao Fengtian accepted the pages and reviewed them—this plan was genuinely comprehensive! Organizational structure, personnel numbers, gender ratios, skill requirements—everything enumerated. It even detailed specifics down to brooms and lime buckets for painting slogans, plus coarse paper, brushes, and ink for writing proclamations. The Chief truly prepared thoroughly!
But examining further, some requirements proved problematic because they involved a "Culture and Propaganda Team."
Zhao Fengtian understood Culture and Propaganda Teams—nothing more than organizing groups of men and women capable of playing instruments, singing, and dancing to conduct performances or stage "living newspaper" productions preaching policies. This was extremely common propaganda in Hainan. Every county maintained a Culture and Propaganda Team. They'd been in Wuzhou merely days—where could they find these "professionals" who could perform music, singing, and dance? Moreover, whether people would willingly "propagandize" remained questionable.
Finally, there were "coverage targets." Reading down, short-term targets within seven days; medium-term targets within fifteen days; long-term targets within thirty days. Divided into three stages, specific slogan coverage rates had to be achieved, Propaganda Team lectures must reach certain quantities, and attendee numbers must meet certain thresholds...
He murmured, "Chief! These things aren't difficult, but they aren't urgent tasks either, especially this propaganda team..."
"For the propaganda team, just recruit more literate refugees. It's merely writing characters anyway," Xie Erren replied. Sensing Zhao Fengtian lacked sufficient appreciation for propaganda work's significance, he spoke earnestly: "Propaganda work constitutes the focus of our civil administration. Don't dismiss it as mere pen-wielding without tangible output. Wuzhou's local populace mostly knows only our Senate and Australia's name, nothing more. Some probably think we're pirates coming ashore to plunder, which severely hampers our operations and provides the Puppet Ming opportunities to smear us. Besides, after entering the city, we have a series of administrative measures requiring wide advertisement so the masses all understand..."
Zhao Fengtian nodded repeatedly, expressing that the Chief possessed foresight and comprehensive vision. He would certainly handle it properly. Still, he reminded the Chief that the "surrendered personnel" outside remained waiting.
"Then tell them all to enter." Xie Erren's mood was good.
Since both the Prefect and County Magistrate had committed suicide, no officials with particularly impressive "credentials" existed among Wuzhou's "surrendered personnel." Most were yamen-level clerks and headmen; the highest rank was merely academic officials like instructors or disciplinarians. Xie Erren had spent too long in meetings and had no interest in extended conversation with them. He made perfunctory remarks, instructed them to "perform duties earnestly," and dismissed them.
As the meeting dispersed, he suddenly remembered something and instructed Zhao Fengtian: "Tomorrow, find someone intimately familiar with local conditions to serve as guide. I want to inspect Wuzhou City."
"Understood, Chief!" Zhao Fengtian replied. "The candidate is ready-made; I'll arrange it immediately!"
After receiving the surrendered personnel, dusk approached. Xie Erren rested in the Prefectural Yamen that night. Bright kerosene lamps illuminated the rear yamen, tables and chairs set in place. Because this marked the first time in many days he'd enjoyed proper lodging, Xie Erren's life secretary proved particularly attentive, and dinner was exceptionally sumptuous.
Wuzhou was a Two Guangs commercial port, with thriving commerce and sophisticated culinary culture. Though this was still the Ming era, and many later-famous Wuzhou dishes hadn't yet emerged—like Paper-Wrapped Chicken and Crisp-Skin Dog—some renowned local specialties already existed. The Prefectural Yamen naturally kept stocks. Knowing he hadn't eaten a proper meal in ages, the life secretary cooked meticulously: Wuzhou Paper-Wrapped Chicken made with local Three-Yellow Chicken, yielding fresh, mellow flavors; rice cooked with Mengshan Oil-Sticky Rice. Only fresh vegetables proved scarce due to war, so vegetable dishes were barely cobbled together.
Since landing in Guangdong, Xie Erren had scarcely enjoyed a decent meal. This time counted as genuine indulgence. Seeing beauty attending him, and considering that he now qualified as a "Hundred-Li Lord" (Prefect), he unconsciously experienced the satisfaction that "a true man should live thus."