Chapter Twenty-Four I Returned to Ningwu Prefecture

  After the first snow of winter, Kang Fan and Mei Xiang returned to their home in the Ningwu military camp. The military camp had been renovated according to Kang Fan's design drawings, although the renovation was not large, it only made partial changes on the original basis, but it had modern water, electricity, heating supply systems and sewage systems, and the living conditions were greatly improved. Classrooms, barracks, playgrounds, shooting ranges, communication centers, armories, logistics warehouses, stables, hospitals, canteens, boiler rooms, bathrooms, etc. were all available, becoming a comprehensive military base with multiple functions, Kang Fan named it Qing Sheng Camp, meaning the prosperity of the Great Qing.

  After the 2,000 officers and men of the cavalry regiment arrived here, systematic training work was carried out. Kang Fan planned to let the 200 officers of the cavalry regiment receive further education first, and then have them serve as instructors to train their respective officers and men, so that they could free themselves from their duties. Kang Fan entrusted Yu Hao with printing his own military textbooks in modern complex characters, gave a set to each officer, and lectured on them himself. Since these officers had higher cultural quality, outstanding military skills, and had followed Kang Fan for some time, after such comprehensive and systematic further education, they all passed the final examination with excellent results, which made Kang Fan quite relieved. Then, he divided these officers into four departments: infantry department, cavalry department, artillery department, and logistics department, and conducted specialized training. Among them, the logistics department was a comprehensive skills training unit that covered multiple specialties, and the department was further divided into intelligence, sniping, reconnaissance, communication, engineering, and logistics classes, which was the most technically demanding department. Especially the intelligence class was the one that Kang Fan valued the most, these officers and men would constitute the foundation of the intelligence agency he planned to establish in the future, so Kang Fan's selection of members of the intelligence class was much stricter than other classes, the qualified conditions were almost harsh, and the training content and time were the longest and most difficult.

  After the first batch of 300 German-made Mauser M1896 semi-automatic pistols ordered by Duonowan arrived, Kangfan equipped each officer in the cavalry regiment with one, making them the first army in modern times to use this expensive semi-automatic pistol as a standard weapon, causing envy among other troops stationed in the province. This semi-automatic pistol significantly improved the cavalry regiment's close combat firepower, perfectly complementing the long-range Mosin-Nagant rifle, and together with the Maxim heavy machine gun and saber, it was almost flawless.

  After the renovation of the mansion in Qing Shengying, the original kang was dismantled and replaced with a large wooden bed. The living room, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, storage room, even the stable and doghouse were all brand new. Now, the window paper that separated him from Meixiang had been broken through, and their brotherly life of mutual torture should have ended. Meixiang put in great effort to tidy up this home, her attention to this house moved Kangfan deeply, and he often helped out voluntarily, doing this and that. Although they were busy all the time, they were not tired of it. Kangfan's main energy was now focused on the formalization construction of the cavalry regiment, most of the time was spent in Qing Shengying with the officers and soldiers, which made Meixiang feel at ease. Meixiang went to the county hospital every day by horse-drawn carriage, making four round trips a day, and cooking all three meals herself, not letting Kangfan interfere. Kangfan couldn't bear to see her busy, so he took the initiative to complete lunch himself. Besides, the food quality and taste of the Qing Shengying cafeteria were very good, and Kangfan often brought back ready-made hot meals. Over time, Meixiang got used to it.

  As Ningwu Prefecture's various undertakings developed steadily, Zhong Hanqiang's financial work became extremely heavy, and he had been overwhelmed for some time. Mei Xiang became his savior. In this way, Mei Xiang took over the financial work of Ningwu Prefecture with Zhong Hanqiang, and the hospital's work became secondary. Fortunately, with classmates taking charge of the hospital's management, there was no need to worry. Kang Fan handed over the weapon design drawings to the students at the research center, instructing them to speed up their preparations and strive to start mass production in the shortest possible time. The students were all very excited, each rubbing their fists and palms, and set off with their orders.

  The research center was actually the original metal mechanical processing plant, which had complete and perfect scientific research hardware conditions after adopting new equipment designed by students and manufactured by foreign companies. It can conduct systematic studies on materials, processes, technologies, and equipment in industries such as metallurgy, mechanics, chemical engineering, medicine, electrical engineering, optics, etc. These research results will be used to develop the industry of Ningwu Prefecture, which will surely promote the industrial technology of Ningwu Prefecture to lead the world. For students, these things that seem extremely novel and practical in the eyes of modern people are actually just ordinary things in their living era, but modern people think this is innovation, while students think they are just reviewing, and reviewing doesn't take effort.

  Kang Fan sat in the county government, and Yu Hao jointly presided over various tasks in the jurisdiction. Now, some industrial enterprises that were built and put into production earlier in Ningwu Prefecture have begun to create profits. The pharmaceutical factory is constantly developing and growing, and several commonly used antibiotics such as penicillin, streptomycin, and cefalexin have been successfully developed one after another, and have started mass production. Other common Chinese and Western medicines have also emerged like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. At present, the market demand for these new and strange medicines is not very large, which is because people of this generation are not very familiar with them, and most informed people only realized the high efficiency of the medicines after being treated at Ningwu Hospital. But Kang Fan was not worried, the massive demand for these medicines from the people of this generation is just a matter of time, and waiting patiently will do.

  Next are food and condiments, the production of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, sugar, monosodium glutamate, canned goods, biscuits, etc. have started to be put into the markets of Taiyuan, Beijing and Tianjin, and sales are currently not bad. And such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, combs, soap, washing powder, shampoo, matches, lighters, toilet paper, pencils, stationery, writing paper, thermoses, flashlights, batteries, etc., the market demand for daily necessities has increased dramatically, and is widely accepted by the people of today, it is currently the main profit growth point of Ningwu Prefecture's industry.

  After the coal mines, coal chemical industry and building materials enterprises went into production, with the continuous improvement of industrial capacity, a huge demand for labor force was created, especially for students and technicians with modern knowledge or skills. However, the local population was scarce and could not meet the demand for a large number of workers.

  Those jobs that required lower cultural levels, such as manual labor, were relatively easy to find qualified workers, but some positions like machine operators, equipment maintenance personnel, management staff, technical personnel, etc., needed people with higher cultural levels. Fortunately, after more than 30 years of the Westernization Movement and the trend of studying abroad in the Qing Dynasty, such talents were no longer scarce.

  The vigorous industrial construction in Ningwu Prefecture attracted people from all over the country who yearned for a better life. What attracted them most was not the generous pay but the modern employment system, humanized management, and fair welfare treatment. As a result, a large number of workers, farmers, students, handicraftsmen, merchants, intellectuals, etc., poured into the jurisdiction, and with the widespread dissemination of information, the number continued to increase, meeting the needs of various industries.

  Thus, although the number of patients treated by Ningwu Hospital increased dramatically every day, medical professionals also increased accordingly. The problem of lack of talent that had been plaguing Mei Xiang was solved. Although the hospital had hired many people, it was still difficult to accommodate the large number of doctors, pharmacists, and nurses who came to apply for jobs.

  These talents were precious, and Mei Xiang did not want to let them go. After consulting with Kang Fan, she decided to try her best to retain all of them, assigning them to practice in batches at the hospital, as a talent reserve for future hospitals or military medical services.

  At the same time, with the large influx of outsiders, Ningwu Hospital was also expanding continuously. A magnificent three-story building had already risen from the ground. The next step would be to research and produce advanced medical equipment and instruments to enhance the hospital's strength, but this would have to wait until the mechanical manufacturing industry in Ningwu Prefecture took off.

  For now, they still had to continue using the medical equipment and instruments brought over, despite Mei Xiang's eagerness.

  In agriculture, with the excellent crop seeds being vigorously promoted in Ningwu Prefecture first, the planting area of wheat and corn this year has not increased, but the total output has grown more than 5 times compared to last year! Dispelling the worries of farmers, it will be easier to promote planting throughout the province later. In addition, large-scale fruit tree cultivation and planting were carried out in the river basins of Fenhe, Huifu, etc., which can increase the greening rate, protect water and soil, and increase fruit production, improving the supplementary food supply for the people, achieving a win-win situation. As for the utilization of local forests, Zhong Hanqiang did it very well, strictly cutting down trees according to needs and replanting new ones in time. In order to strictly control the phenomenon of excessive felling and other behaviors that damage the ecological environment, Kang Fan added the content of supervising and protecting natural resources within the jurisdiction to the task list of the cavalry regiment.

  He Shuichang and Zhong Hanqiang co-founded several state-run farms, which became the main force of local agricultural production. These farms are mostly concentrated in Shenchi area with rich arable land resources and Ningwu, Wuzhai areas with good conditions for animal husbandry and farming. Due to the typical mountainous terrain in this region, all four county towns are located in intermountain basins or river valleys, so arable land is not abundant. However, apart from meeting the normal needs within the jurisdiction, it can also basically solve the problem of food supply caused by the massive influx of outsiders. If developed well in the future, accumulating a certain amount of strategic reserve grain will not be too difficult. Therefore, the plan to seek more suitable agricultural bases was temporarily shelved. Although Duonouwan had made great efforts, the Qing government's policy of banning grazing and farming in its own ethnic homeland - Northeast China - had relaxed but not yet been clearly lifted. As a result, it was still very difficult to rent or buy large tracts of land in Northeast China, and the outcome was always unsatisfactory. Kang Fan thought that Hui Feng, as a Manchu from Heilongjiang, should have more connections in Northeast China than himself, so he had the idea of cooperating with Hui Feng. However, without meeting Hui Feng again, he could only wait for an opportunity to make his intentions clear.

  Kang Fan understood that the living standards of modern people are far behind those in Europe and America. Through observation, it was found that most people across the country have obvious symptoms of malnutrition, not just in Shanxi Province. Therefore, increasing the intake of meat, dairy products, eggs, vegetables, and fruits in local people's diets is crucial to improving their physical fitness. He Shui Chang and Zhong Hanqiang did an excellent job in developing the local animal husbandry and aquaculture industries, which already had a certain scale in the area, making this work relatively easy to carry out. He Shui Chang formulated a package of preferential policies, encouraging people in the jurisdiction to expand their animal husbandry and aquaculture businesses, achieving good results in a short period. However, another task assigned by Kang Fan to He Shui Chang did not go very smoothly, which was horse breeding.

  Kang Fan was committed to building an army of divisional scale, which required a large number of horses for riding, traction and transportation. However, even the current cavalry regiment of over 2,000 people did not have enough good warhorses, let alone the demand after expansion. Although Duonowan had completed the introduction of fine breeds from Arabia and Central Asia, large-scale breeding of warhorses required vast pastures, which was not available in Yanpingdao. They could only find a solution from the neighboring Guisui Bingbeidao. Guisui Bingbeidao was the northernmost road in Shanxi, extending deep into the northern grasslands, with vast pasture areas suitable for horse breeding. However, crossing administrative boundaries created many problems that He Shuichang couldn't solve. In the end, Kang Fan found Hu Pingzhi and had him act as a matchmaker to reach an agreement with Guisui Bingbeidao, where Ningwu Prefecture invested in the venture and Guisui Bingbeidao took charge of breeding, solving this problem.

  Due to the products produced by Ningwu Prefecture having 21st-century characteristics, being cheap and good-looking, and carrying the name of "Made in Qing Dynasty", He Shuikuan's several shops rented in the prosperous areas of Tianjin City started a buying frenzy among citizens as soon as they opened for business. For a time, the European, American, Japanese and other foreign products that originally filled the Tianjin market were severely unsold. This drew attention from various governments.