Kong Lingyang guessed correctly. Mu Min and Fang Jinghan, who served as the directors of the Li Miao Affairs Office, arrived precisely to recruit the national army from the local Li and Miao population.

The population of Li Miao on Hainan Island has always been unusable for the Senate, which has made the planning institute with a shortage of labor resources linger.

However, the level of productivity of the Li Miao people is extremely low, and they are accustomed to the primitive commune-style mode of life and production, and there are strong contradictions with the local Han people in history, so it is very difficult to transform them into industrial and agricultural population

In order to effectively grasp and use the Li and Miao people, on the one hand, the Catholic and Neo-Taoist religions went deep into the mountainous areas to preach in the south and the north, and through the infiltration of religious missions and health services, they mastered the spiritual level of the local people, and then controlled the whole society.

On the other hand, by expanding trade, we abandoned the traditional profiteering method of Li Miao trade, and developed the local commodity economy with lower profits and more commodities, supplemented by medical treatment to the countryside and a small amount of agricultural technology promotion. Promote social evolution with physical shields.

Although there had been plans to recruit Li Miaomin to form mountain infantry in the past, the Military Affairs Governor's Court believed that there was no such urgent need at present, and that Li Miaomin's physical fitness was generally poor, and he suffered from malaria, which required a long period of treatment and recuperation. The cost of being a combat unit is relatively high.

The General Staff Department and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau summed up the materials of the Haitian and the Great Library and held that it was appropriate to use the security forces composed of Li and Miao soldiers in combat operations on the island of Taiwan. In particular, in future combat operations against Taiwan's Pingpu and Gaoshan tribes, the Li Miao soldiers' ability to move in jungles and mountains can play a role.

To this end, after discussing with the Li and Miao Affairs Office, the Military Affairs Command Department dispatched a joint working group to Lingao, Sanya, Changhua, and other areas where the two sides have had a lot of contacts and have a certain foundation of mutual trust, to carry out recruitment work.

Wei Aiwen comfortably took a sip of oolong tea and asked, "Lao Kong, are there many Li people and Miao people here?" ”

"That's a lot." Kong Lingyang heard him ask and knew that he had guessed right, "I won't tell you, Changhua's economy is Li Miao's economy." ”

It is true that if the Senate also counts the GDP data of the counties under its rule, 70% of Changhua's GDP comes from the trade activities of Li Miao.

"Are there many Miao villages, and how many Miao people are there?"

"Very little. As far as we can tell the information, there are less than 10 Miao villages, and each village has 20 to 30 to 100 households. The total population is about five or six thousand. There is no detailed data. Although Kong Lingyang has not been in office for a long time, when Li Haiping was in office, various investigations continued and a large amount of first-hand information was accumulated.

In general, there are many Li villages and few Miao villages. Moreover, Miao Village is smaller than Li Village, and it is poorer and more backward. Because the Miao people are latecomers to Hainan Island, they are the descendants of the "wolf army", "thugs" and "yào crossbowmen" who were recruited from Guangxi to Hainan Island as crossbowmen when they accompanied the Ming army to suppress the Li Min rebellion. After the end of the war, the Miao army was disbanded on the spot and scattered to settle down in various places. Because it came late, the land and mountainous land of Haode have been occupied by the Han and Li people, so the Miao people's villages are generally in the mountainous areas with poor natural environment. In addition to reluctantly cultivating some land, he made a living by hunting and gathering mountain products, and also cultivated the land and mountain forests of Han and Li landlords.

Fang Jinghan said: "What 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 major conflicts and small frictions are inevitable. 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 have little contact with outsiders. Kong Lingyang had never been to Miao Village, but he had obtained a lot of information about the Li and Miao people from his "Li and Miao Affairs Liaison" who led the expedition to the village and the Wang of the Shilu River.

Wei Aiwen listened very carefully, and he was particularly concerned about the Miao village in Hainan, which had the smallest population and the worst economic situation. There have been conflicts with the Li people in history.

So he thinks it's more secure to use. Since the Miao people in Hainan were recruited from conscription, they have a tradition of fighting. It would be a good choice to recruit them as security forces.

"Is there a Miao village that we are more familiar with?"

"Yes, Li Haiping had a good relationship with several Miao villages"

"Can you pay a visit?"

"Absolutely." Kong Lingyang nodded again and again, "There is a local employee in the cooperative who is in charge of Li and Miao trade, named Wang Daliang, Han Li hún blood, who is from a local shop, can speak Li and Miao dialects, and is very familiar with various villages. ”

Wei Aiwen nodded: "Arrange for us to go to a Miao village tomorrow." He said and asked: "Lao Kong, we are here this time to recruit some Li and Miao young and middle-aged people to serve as soldiers, do you think the local Li and Miao people are willing to come to serve as soldiers?" ”

"I will definitely be able to recruit them," Kong Lingyang said, "whether it is the Li people or the Miao people, they have a hard life." Although the labor intensity of planting mountain pens is not large, there are not many days to eat well. ”

Kong Lingyang then talked about the current situation with the Li Miao Village in Changhua, at present, most of the Li Miao Village in Changhua have trade contacts with the Changhua branch of the cooperative. The relationship is not hostile to the least. It's not a problem to recruit some Ding Zhuang.

The next day, under the leadership of the local vendors of the cooperative, the members of the delegation once again embarked on the road of visiting Miao Village.

The location of Miao Village is very remote, although from the map, the straight-line distance from Changhua Fort is less than 30 kilometers, but the terrain is rugged, the grass is high and the forest is dense.

The whole team could only follow the guide's steps, shuttled through an unrecognizable path, and arrived at Miao Village early the next morning.

Before they could enter the stockade, they were startled by the horrific sight in the woods outside the stockade. On the branches of the large tree lay many reed-like objects, some of which were half-rotten 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 Miao Village." He introduced, "The Miao people here are placed on the trunks of trees in the forest after they die......

When Mu Min heard this, he hurriedly hid away, although Wei Aiwen was used to seeing dead people on the battlefield, he was not terrified.

"Why haven't we heard of this custom?" Mu Min was so strange that she had traveled to the southwest and been to several Miao villages, but she had never heard of such a custom.

"It's a local custom, no doubt." Fang Jinghan said, "As for whether there is such a custom in the Miao village on the mainland, I haven't researched it. However, if you are traveling, the other party will not necessarily use such customs as a propaganda point. ”

They soon arrived at the entrance of the village, Wang Daliang came and went here from time to time, familiar with the road, and the Ding Zhuang who guarded the village immediately let them in.

The condition of the Miao village is far worse than that of the Li people's trench village they have visited, it can be seen that it is very poor, there are only about 40 households, the village has no decent walls, it is a natural fence with thorny plants, and the houses in the village are extremely simple: bamboo frames, bamboo strips woven into walls, yellow mud on the outside, and the roof covered with straw. In the village, there are some free-range pigs and jī ducks.

According to Wang, the Miao people here could hardly afford anything and relied only on hunting and gathering mountain produce to exchange salt and iron for the cooperative.

The hunting economy is a very unstable source, so they also grow mountain barn rice, which is not very productive and barely supports the basic livelihood of the village. Kong Lingyang is promoting the cultivation of some simple cash crops in Changhua's Li and Miao villages, but it is too inconvenient to pass it out for the time being.

"The Miao people live on such a difficult mountain, it is certainly difficult for others to come in, isn't it easy for them to go out?" Mu Min said.

Wang Daliang said that this is nothing to the Miao people, the Miao people have a great ability to climb the mountains and mountains, and the speed of climbing the mountains and mountains is not only fast, but also tireless, the people of the Miao village go to the market every time, and the journey of 100 miles back and forth is completed on the same day.

"This is the material for the mountain infantry of Shanghaode." Wei Aiwen said, with a greedy look in his eyes to make them a security army.

Mu Min observed the village with great interest and felt that the standard of living here was really difficult. Ordinary people eat gruel or multigrain porridge for three meals, except for the ròu that can be eaten after hunting, there are almost no ròu even vegetables on weekdays, and there are no vegetable fields around the village, so only salt is used for meals. The gift of the southwestern peoples: the pepper has just been 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 allowed them to easily recruit people.

She suddenly asked, "I think the Miao people here are very different from the Miao people on the mainland. ”

"The Miao people on Hainan Island, some experts believe that they are actually the Yao and Dong people from Guangxi, and there may be some Miao people." Fang Jinghan said.

Under Wang Daliang's recommendation, they soon met with the village elders. At the fire, Mu Min gave gifts to the elders, and in the ensuing conversation, Wei Aiwen played a three-inch tongue, boasting about how promising he was for the recruitment of the Song Dynasty and the service of the Senate, and how "eat white rice for three meals and ròu for every meal". Recruit to win souls and settle down with food. Even the elder himself was a little tempted, and he sighed that he was too old.

Although the elder did not have any direct feelings about the treatment of the Fu Bō army, the cooperative has been honest and trustworthy in the past two years, and its reputation in the local area is very high, so the elder did not doubt the truth of this statement.

The mission quickly 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.