Kong Lingyang's guess was correct. [Read the latest chapter]... Mu Min and Fang Jinghan, who are also directors of the Li and Miao Affairs Office, arrived precisely to recruit the National Army from the local Li and Miao population.
The Li and Miao population in Hainan Island has always been unavailable manpower for the Senate, which has made the Planning Institute, which is in short supply of labor resources, always worried.
However, the productivity level of the Li Miao people is extremely low, and they are accustomed to the primitive commune-style life and production model. They have had strong conflicts with the local Han people in history. It is very difficult to transform them into an industrial and agricultural population.
In order to effectively grasp and use the Li Miao people, on the one hand, the Religious Affairs Office "double religions", Catholicism and New Taoism went deep into the mountainous areas to preach in the south and north, and mastered the spiritual level of the local people through the penetration of religious preaching and health services. , and then control the entire society.
On the other hand, by expanding trade, abandoning the traditional profiteering method of Limiao and Miao trade, we can stimulate the development of the local commodity economy with lower profits and more commodities, and then assist with the delivery of medicine to the countryside and a small amount of agricultural technology promotion. . Use material shields to promote social evolution.
Although there was the idea of recruiting Li and Miao people to form mountain infantry in the past, the Military Affairs General Office believes that there is no urgent need at present. The physical fitness of the Li and Miao people is generally poor, and they are prone to malaria, which requires a long period of treatment and recuperation. The cost of organizing into a combat force is relatively high.
Operation Engine was about to land on Taiwan Island. The General Staff and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau compiled the information from the Haitian and the Great Library and believed that it was appropriate to use security forces composed of Li and Miao soldiers in combat operations on Taiwan Island. Especially in future combat operations against the Pingpu and Gaoshan ethnic groups in Taiwan, the Li and Miao soldiers' ability to move in jungles and mountains will be able to play a role.
To this end, after discussing with the Li and Miao Affairs Office, the Military Affairs Directorate dispatched a joint working group to carry out recruitment work in Lingao, Sanya, Changhua and other Li and Miao inhabited areas where the two sides have more contact and have a certain basis for mutual trust.
Wei Aiwen took a comfortable sip of oolong tea and asked, "Lao Kong, are there many Li and Miao people here?"
"There are many." Kong Lingyang heard him ask and knew that he had guessed correctly. "To tell you the truth, the economy of Changhua is the economy of Li and Miao."
This statement is true, if the Senate also collects statistics on the GDP data of the counties under its rule, 70% of Changhua's GDP comes from trade activities with Li and Miao.
"Are there many Miao villages? How many Miao people are there?"
"Very few. According to the information we currently have, there are less than ten Miao villages, and each village ranges from twenty or thirty households to one hundred households. The total population is about five or six thousand. There is no detailed data." Although Kong Lingyang took office not long ago, when Li Haiping took office, he continued various investigations and accumulated a large amount of first-hand information.
Generally speaking, there are many Li villages and few Miao villages. Moreover, the Miao Village is smaller, poorer and more backward than the Li Village. Because the Miao people are latecomers to Hainan Island. They are the descendants of the "Wolf Army", "Thugs" and "Medicine Crossbowmen" who accompanied the Ming Army and were recruited from Guangxi to Hainan Island as crossbowmen to suppress the Li people's uprising. . After the war, the Miao army was disbanded on the spot and dispersed to settle down in various places. Because they arrived late, the better land and mountains have already been occupied by the Han and Li people, so the Miao villages are generally located in mountainous areas with poor natural environment. In addition to barely cultivating some land, they make a living by hunting and collecting mountain products, and they also share the land and forests of Han and Li landlords.
Fang Jinghan interjected: "How is the relationship between Miao and Li, and what is the relationship with the local Han people and us?"
"No matter who the Miao people are with, there are no big conflicts or small frictions. The Miao people are very poor and have no land, not even land in the mountains. Most of them make a living by fishing and hunting, and rarely have contact with outsiders." Kong Lingyang has never been to a Miao village. However, he got a lot of information about the Li and Miao people from his "Liaison Officer for Li and Miao Affairs", Wang, who led the expedition team to Qi Dui Village and Shilu River.
Wei Aiwen listened very carefully. He was particularly concerned about the Miao Village in Hainan, which has the smallest population and the worst economic situation. They also had conflicts with the Li people in history.
So he thinks it is more secure to use. Since the Miao people in Hainan came from conquests, they have a tradition of fighting. It is a very suitable choice to absorb them to serve as security forces.
"Is there any Miao village that we are familiar with?"
"Yes, Li Haiping had a good relationship with several Miao villages..."
"Can I come and visit?"
"Of course." Kong Lingyang nodded repeatedly, "There is a local employee in the cooperative who is responsible for trade with Li and Miao. His name is Wang Daliang. He is of mixed Han and Li descent. He was a local store clerk. He can speak Li and Miao dialects and is very knowledgeable about various villages. familiar."
Wei Aiwen nodded: "We are scheduled to go to a Miao village tomorrow." He said and asked: "Old Kong, we are here to recruit some young Li and Miao people to serve as soldiers. Do you think the local Li and Miao people are willing to come? Be a soldier?"
"They can definitely be recruited," Kong Lingyang said. "Whether they are Li people or Miao people, they all have a hard life. Although the labor intensity of farming in the mountain farm is not very high, there are not many days when there is enough to eat."
Kong Lingyang then talked about the current negotiations with the Limiao Village in Changhua. Currently, most Limiao Villages in Changhua have trade relations with the Changhua branch of the cooperative. The relationship was at least not hostile. It's not a problem to recruit some strong men.
The next day, under the leadership of local traders from the cooperative, the members of the delegation once again set foot on the main road to visit Miao Village.
The location of Miao Village is very remote. Although the straight-line distance from Changhua Fort is less than 30 kilometers from the map, the terrain is rugged, with tall grass and dense forests.
The whole team could only follow the guide's footsteps, traveling on an unidentifiable path, and arrived at the Miao Village early the next morning.
Before they entered the village, they were startled by the terrifying scene in the woods outside the village. There were many reed-like objects lying horizontally on the branches of the big tree, some of which were half-rotted and scattered on the ground. The group was very curious, but Fang Jinghan knew that this was not something interesting.
"This is the cemetery of the Miao village." He introduced, "The Miao people here place their dead people on tree trunks in the forest like this..."
When Mu Min heard this, he quickly hid away. Even though Wei Aiwen was used to seeing dead people on the battlefield, he was not frightened at all.
"How come we haven't heard of this custom?" Mu Min was surprised. She had traveled in the southwest and visited many Miao villages, but she had never heard of such a custom.
"This is undoubtedly a local custom." Fang Jinghan said, "As for whether the Miao villages on the mainland have such a custom, I have not researched it. But if you are traveling, the other party may not necessarily use such a custom as a promotional point. .”
They soon arrived at the gate of the village. Wang Daliang came and went here from time to time. He was familiar with the gate and the roads. The men guarding the gate of the village immediately let them in.
The condition of the Miao village is far inferior to that of the Li people's Qiandui village they have visited before. It can be seen that it is very poor, with only more than 40 households. The village does not have decent walls, and uses thorny plants as natural fences. The houses in the village It is extremely simple: the frame is made of bamboo, the walls are made of bamboo strips, the outside is painted with yellow mud, and the roof is covered with straw. In the village, there are some free-range pigs, chickens and ducks wandering around.
According to Wang Daliang, the Miao people here can hardly afford anything, and they only rely on hunting and collecting mountain products in exchange for salt and ironware from the cooperative.
The hunting economy is a very unstable source of income, so they still grow mountain rice, but the yield is not high and they can barely maintain the village's basic livelihood. Kong Lingyang is promoting the cultivation of some simple cash crops in Li Village and Miao Village in Changhua, but the transportation here is too inconvenient, so he has been excluded for the time being.
"The Miao people live in such a difficult mountain. Although it is difficult for others to come in, wouldn't it be very difficult for them to go out?" Mu Min said.
Wang Daliang said that this is nothing to the Miao people. The Miao people are very capable of climbing over mountains and ridges. They are not only very fast but also tireless. Every time the people in the Miao village go to the market, they have to go back and forth for a hundred miles on the same day. Finished walking.
"This is the best material for mountain infantry." Wei Aiwen said, with a greedy look in his eyes. It would be a waste to let them serve as security forces.
Mu Min observed the village with great interest and lamented that the living standard here was really difficult. Most people eat gruel or multigrain porridge for three meals. Except for the meat that can be eaten after hunting, there is almost no meat or even vegetables on weekdays. There are no vegetable fields around the village, so only salt is used for meals. A gift to the ethnic groups in the southwest: peppers were only recently planted in Lingao in this time and space.
The reason why Kong Lingyang asked Wang Daliang to bring them to this village was naturally because poverty would allow them to recruit people easily.
She suddenly asked: "I think the Miao people here are very different from those on the mainland."
"Some experts believe that the Miao people in Hainan Island are actually the Yao and Dong people from Guangxi, and may also be mixed with some Miao people," Fang Jinghan said.
Under Wang Daliang's introduction, they quickly met the village elders. Beside the fire pit, Mu Min presented gifts to the elders. In the subsequent conversation, Wei Aiwen was very talkative, bragging about his great future for being recruited into the Australian Song Dynasty and serving the Senate, and what kind of "three Eat white rice for every meal and meat for every meal.” Recruit people and provide food for the family. Even the elder himself was a little tempted by what he said, and continued to lament that he was too old.
Although the elders have no intuitive feelings about Fu Bojun's treatment, the cooperative has been operating business here for the past two years and has always been honest and trustworthy. It has a high reputation in the local area, so the elders do not doubt the authenticity of this statement.
The mission soon achieved its goal: the elders agreed to let them recruit soldiers locally. With his strong cooperation, Wei Aiwen recruited more than a dozen people in this village.
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