January 20, 1687, Southern Chile, sunny.

The bright sun shines through the mist over the valley and spreads to every corner of the plain, giving its light and warmth unreservedly to the plants, animals and human beings who are working the earth.

This is the Red Flag Prison Reclamation Area, which has now grown to 12 natural villages and a quarry, and there are fishing and aquaculture institutions in the lake to the east, and all the exiled prisoners and their families have exceeded 2,500 people, which is quite large, and it is enough to make the Spaniards tremble.

Of course, the colonization of the people north of the Boundary River was tacitly approved by the Kingdom of Spain, which was vaguely confirmed by the envoy of the Peruvian governor Arango. The reason for this, to put it bluntly, is that the people of the East Coast gave them a certain amount of loans, and at the same time sold a batch of mining equipment to Potosí to help them improve their production efficiency. This, combined with the growing tensions in Europe, eventually allowed the Spaniards to agree to the East Bank's terms, acquiescing to the existence of five prison colonies, including the Red Flag Prison, and one "academic and educational institution" (the Four Forts of the Corps) north of the Boundary River.

In fact, it won't work if you don't agree, after four consecutive years of immigrants from the east coast - this time it is not a prisoner, but an innocent immigrant - now there are more than 30,000 people in the five prison reclamation areas of Luyuan, Slatted House, Shihezi, Tuerling, and Hongqi, and if you count the students, faculty and staff of the four forts of the Corps, and the surrounding farmers, the total number of people is more than 36,000, which is very amazing.

Spain could not cope with such a large number of people, so after receiving the three main conditions promised by the East Bank, such as low-interest loans, help in the construction of roads, and the elimination of the Araucan Indians, they immediately withdrew, and no longer cared about the activities of the East Coasters, provided that they did not touch the silver mines of Valdivia and the mercury mines of Villarica.

Of course, the people of the East Coast are not very interested in those silver mines, mercury mines, etc.! Those things were temporarily deposited in the hands of the Spaniards. They took the silver (mercury is also used to refine silver), and in the end did they not obediently buy things from the people of the east coast? Over the years, it has been revealed that a large part of the silver mined by the Spaniards was eventually returned to the East Coast in the form of the purchase of various industrial goods. Just as the later dynasties lent money to Asian, African and Latin American countries to build infrastructure, people invited Chinese engineering companies, bought materials, and designed anything often returned to sixty percent of the loan in the form of profits, and then there was principal and interest to collect, and there were services to sell after the completion of the project.

The East Coast and Spain are actually in a similar relationship. Over the years, the country's loans on the East Coast have either been issued in the form of goods or designated for the purchase of East Coast goods, in which the East Coasters have recovered more than half of the loans, and then the rest of the loans are not repaid, and if they do not pay back, the East Coasters themselves take collateral (usually land, forests, mines and docks), and they also make a lot of money.

So, the people of the East Coast really don't really care about the silver mines in the interior of Valdivia. What they pay more attention to is the land that can be obtained for development. In particular, the fertile and sunny central valley of Chile, which is a place of nurturing people, has always been of great importance to the east coast from top to bottom. They have always insisted that there are people who have everything, and no one can support the "great power strategy" on the east coast, and they are unable to do anything, so they attach great importance to any agricultural area that can support people, and must be quickly obtained, such as the original river area, the Pampa plain a while ago, and the current central valley of Chile.

"Recently, I went to various villages to check the local health conditions, and the results were a bit shocking." Xiang Zirui, who had been promoted to a cadre at the department level, came to the battalion headquarters of the 12th Mixed Battalion and drank with his old friend Major Jiang Ning. As they drank, the two chatted about their work in the recent past.

"To be honest, the environment in southern Chile is still relatively humid, the air humidity is extremely high, and the temperature is relatively cold in winter and spring, which is very unfriendly to newcomers, and if you are not careful, you will get sick." Xiang Zirui, who took a sip of pre-dinner tea, complained with a wry smile: "Take Hongqi Prison as an example, there are so many villages nearby, a total of more than 2,000 men, women and children, I took people to make a rough count, and found that more than 10% of adults are physically weak or temporarily lose the ability to do heavy physical work. Even those who are able to do heavy work may not seem to me to be healthy, they are always very pale, and it is clear that the long-term unsatisfactory living conditions have made them very uncomfortable, both physically and psychologically. Some people are even yellow-skinned and ragged, and they don't know where the rations, cotton cloths, woolen shoes, and other items allocated by the state to the prisoners have gone, and whether they have been embezzled. ”

As a person who has gone around several prisons in Hebei, Xiang Zirui is naturally not unaware of all kinds of joints, knows the style of many prison administrators, and knows that many people who have worked here for many years are very hard. When the water is clear, there are no fish, as long as things are not too much, they don't bother to care. But the problem is that the physical condition of these prisoners is so bad that they have to be rectified, and he thinks in his heart, after a while, he will give those people a little warning, so that they don't go too far. Although he is a prisoner, he also has human rights, right? In general, the things distributed by the state must be distributed, and they should not be withheld too harshly, which will affect production efficiency.

"You, aren't you just a prisoner, what a big deal. In the newly developed area, there are already many things and thieves, and you are not the first time to govern the place, why are you not used to it? Instead of staring at this area, you should put more effort into building an effective rural health care system. Jiang Ning didn't think much when he heard this, and shook his head directly and said.

In fact, to some extent, Major Jiang Ning was right. Because the newly developed area is like this, it is full of unknown risks. People like these are just weak people who are fine, but those who die of sudden illness are really unlucky, because germs are really unreasonable, maybe the day before this person was still alive and well, tending to corn in the field, but the next day suddenly he was bedridden, and then dragged on for two or three days, and died in a daze—yes, yes, he died in a daze, because the only one in the village who had a simple training of health care workers had a limited level of skills, and did not have enough medicines or equipment, and most of the time there was nothing to be done at this moment.

The so-called health care workers are actually primary health workers who have undergone short-term intensive training in county-level hospitals, have mastered some simple medical knowledge, and have a certain understanding of several diseases that are highly prevalent in the region. Their general characteristics are that their level of education is not high, their skills are not high, and they are not full-time, that is, they are basically relatively flexible people selected in the local village (those with experience are preferred), and they usually have to reclaim wasteland and grow all kinds of crops. It's just that when a fellow villager falls ill and asks for help, they do what they can to help them, although it is doubtful that this help will be of any use.

But from another point of view, if they have a high level of medical skills, why do they stay in your remote village, why don't they go to big cities such as Ping'an, Dongfang, and Qingdao? You must know that in the East Coast Republic of China, due to the lack of qualified medical personnel, doctors generally have a very high income level, with a monthly income of several tens of yuan, which is just the beginning, and the annual income of the more famous ones can even reach thousands of yuan, which is not an exaggeration.

Many of them have come out and opened their own clinics. On weekdays, he often went in and out of the families of wealthy business officials, dined and watched plays in the most famous restaurants on the exposition street, hired Italian ladies as nannies, and had people help carry suitcases and bags in and out, and went to patients in luxury four-wheeled carriages to collect a lot of money for consultation.

Such a character that you can reach as a farmer in a remote village? Are you kidding! Therefore, whenever a health care worker has a certain level, he will try to get a formal medical license and then go to work in a hospital in the city. More and more hospitals are being built across the country, but there is a serious shortage of doctors, so these people have no worries about finding jobs. Not here, I can go there, as long as you're good enough. And if you have worked in a hospital for a long time, have rich experience, and become famous, you can also find a way to quit (although it is not very easy) to come out and open your own clinic, which is another level.

Therefore, the rural areas have to be combined with their own realities, and if they cannot retain a high level, then they should retreat to the next best thing and hire some health care workers with a reasonable level. Anyway, they are all local farmers with active brains, learn some simple knowledge, and deal with it on a daily basis, without being too powerful. People like them are generally more respected in the countryside and have a high income, so they are more willing to stay in their hometown and serve the villagers for a lifetime.

Compared with them, where the cost is extremely low, how can you keep decent doctors in rural areas? Not to mention that you can't afford to keep it, this is a very realistic thing. As for the diseases that the health workers can't handle, they can only go to the county hospital or wait for the regular doctors in the itinerant hospitals to diagnose them, but the fees are certainly much more expensive than the health care workers in the countryside.

"I heard a while ago that the batch of rural health care workers you applied for have been approved? So what are you waiting for, hurry up and make all the preliminary preparations, just wait for the people to arrange it as soon as they arrive, and you must find ways to keep them. Jiang Ning continued: "Let me tell you, these are all effective policies in the eastern coastal areas of the country, and they have been promoted to our side only when they are good, and you yourself know it very well, so I won't say more." ”

"Well, you're right. Rural health workers are indeed at the heart of the rural health system. Xiang Zirui nodded and agreed: "They are members of the rural society, they have lived in the local area for a long time, they are familiar with the local environment, and they understand the characteristics of the local disease. There are even blood relations with many patients, and they are also classmates, friends, and acquaintances, as the so-called 'all villagers', so there should not be too much problem in the work attitude, and the treatment of various diseases will not be simply perfunctory, but will be taken seriously. Otherwise, the local people will not give him a good evaluation, and this will undoubtedly have a greater negative impact on their foothold in the countryside. So, they are an absolutely trustworthy group, and of course, the only option we have at this stage. ”

In fact, there is indeed such a benign interaction between the rural health workers and the villagers. This is a society without strangers, and the eyes of the masses are bright, which means that the health care workers are working under the supervision of the masses, and together they form such a rural health care ecosystem that helps each other. When Xiang Zirui used to work in Fenggu Island, there was a local village health worker who was conscientious and responsible, worked tirelessly, and the fees were very low, which won the appreciation of many people. Later, when his eldest son got married, many people gave a big gift to express their gratitude; When the second son bought a fishing boat to recruit sailors, he also responded to the call, which is really not something that a doctor in the city can do.

And when it comes to the low fees of health care workers, it is impossible not to mention the way they are charged. In fact, in the rural areas of the East Coast, there are no places where cash is used, but there are not too many, for example, when you go to a flour mill you can take wheat and then exchange it for a certain amount of flour in proportion, without having to pay a penny in cash. The same is true for health workers, including grain, eggs, poultry, skins, wool, etc., which is very convenient for rural people.

Of course, in the more developed coastal areas on the east coast, rural health workers may receive a higher proportion of cash because many rural cooperatives have been established and are mostly engaged in the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, flowers and other high value-added crops. For example, in some wealthy villages, medical expenses are regularly settled through cooperatives and then distributed to health care workers, which is different from place to place and cannot be generalized, but in general, health care workers are very cost-effective and worthy of vigorous promotion.

The introduction of the rural health worker system in the reclamation area of prison exile is not actually Xiang Zirui's invention. In fact, there have been small-scale pilots in Shihezi Prison and other places before, and someone Xiang was also researched there at that time. This time, when he saw the poor medical and health conditions of the peasants in the villages in the reclamation area of Hongqi Prison that he was in charge of, Xiang Zirui moved his mind and planned to establish the same system of health care workers here to serve the general public, although many of them were exiled prisoners.

Therefore, he used to report to his superiors every month for more than half a year, and after many failures, his superiors were finally "moved" and agreed to send them a group of trained health care workers to move their families to the above-mentioned areas.

The next thing he wants to do to someone is to make preliminary preparations and make every effort to create a good living environment for these rural health workers, so that they can take root here, live in a stable way, and at the same time serve the vast number of people, which is the most important thing. Compared to this, the slight dispute with the Spaniards actually seemed trivial.