Chapter 713 New Immigrants from the South China Sea
You Yihan said sternly: "It is true that we cannot see what will happen more than ten or twenty years later, but it is definitely not wrong to make plans early. Xiao Liang, if you have plans to start a family, I can help you keep an eye on it. After all, you soldiers don’t have that many opportunities to contact the outside world. I have met a lot of maritime businessmen from Fuzhou and Guangzhou here, and many of them are interested in getting married to us Haihan.”
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Xiao Liang smiled and said: "Director You, you are changing your career to a matchmaking agency!"
You Yihan responded: "This is also for everyone's benefit! After all, there are so many singles in our circle, and there are only so many single women, so internal resources are definitely not enough. The executive committee has always advocated the introduction of external resources, and we are also responding to this The superior’s call!”
"Although the Executive Committee advocates it, there are still some identity requirements for this kind of thing, right?" Xiao Liang felt a little moved after hearing You Yihan's advice. He was not yet 25 years old when he participated in the crossing operation. He had been serving in the militia for the past few years, but he had never thought too much about starting a family. Now five years have passed, and he is nearly thirty years old. Starting a family and starting a business should really be put on his personal agenda.
You Yihan put down his chopsticks and wiped the grease stains on the corners of his mouth with a napkin, and then responded: "You have asked the right person. During the fifth anniversary, the Executive Committee has passed a new policy on household registration. For those who have naturalized through marriage, The regulations are more specific than in previous years.”
“Has it become stricter?”
"It's not very strict. In fact, it's easy to handle as long as there are no current Ming officials in the other party's immediate family." You Yihan winked and said, "You should understand what the executive committee means."
Xiao Liang nodded silently. Although there were relatively close contacts between Haihan and the Ming Dynasty officials in Fuguang and Guangzhou provinces, they were basically in the name of public relations, and there were no personal relationships such as marriages or sworn vows. situation. This is also a red line drawn by the executive committee to avoid as much as possible someone among the members of the group from betraying Haihan’s collective interests intentionally or unintentionally because of personal relationships.
The current situation of marrying a citizen of the Ming Dynasty is not uncommon among the cross-country groups, but no one has crossed this red line, and the executive committee’s re-examination of the naturalization policy this year is equivalent to making a decision on this rule that everyone has acquiesced in. official explanation. For the special status of military personnel, the implementation of this rule will only be stricter. In a situation like Xiao Liang's, if you want to marry a Ming Dynasty woman and start a family, you must first report to the authorities, and the person you want to marry must first pass the identity review of the Ministry of Security.
Xiao Liang was still waiting to ask a few more questions, but then a subordinate came in to report that hundreds of immigrants from Huizhou had just arrived at the Causeway Bay Pier. After hearing this, You Yihan put down his chopsticks and went out. The situation in Guangdong has slowly calmed down in the past two years, and the number of immigrants voluntarily moving to Haihan is not as good as it was a few years ago. It is rare for hundreds of immigrants to come at once. You Yihan naturally wants to personally intervene. .
In the past few years, Haihan had to consider how to transport many immigrants back to Hainan Island for resettlement. However, in the past two years, with the end of the Annan Civil War, the suppression of bandits in Fuzhou and Guangzhou has been progressing smoothly. The two main immigrants The places of origin are slowly becoming calmer, and the number of people willing to give up their current lives and settle in Hainan Island is also decreasing year by year. Judging from the Executive Committee’s plan for Hainan Island, the labor gap in the next few years will still be quite large, and may even affect the development process of some areas. This is exactly what the Executive Committee is trying to do from a distant place. The main reason for the introduction of war refugees in the northern part of the Ming Dynasty.
It is indeed a good idea to introduce immigrants from the Central Plains region, but due to the long distance and the complexity of the local situation, the effect of implementation is difficult to predict. Of course, the Executive Committee has no intention of hanging on a tree, so in addition to the Central Plains, the Executive Committee is also trying to obtain labor from other places.
May 26, Ambrosia Islands in the South China Sea.
Roger and his men spent more than half a month rushing back here from Penghu. He took over the management of the Ambuna Islands from Mushaba in August last year, and spent half a year building various fortifications on the island to further strengthen Haihan's defense capabilities on the island. Due to the peace agreement signed with the Dutch last October, the situation in the Ambrosia Islands had eased by early 1632. After receiving the order from the Military Commission at the end of March, Roger was able to lead the naval fleet under his command north to Fujian and participate in the Battle of Penghu.
Compared with his army colleagues, Roger was relatively lucky. He sank and damaged many pirate ships in two naval battles on the way from Kinmen Island to Penghu. However, only one of his own warships needed to be docked for repairs after the war. In the pursuit of victory the next day, Roger's fleet once again made great achievements by sinking three ships and capturing two pirate ships. Such a long-distance march with a round-trip voyage of more than 3,000 nautical miles was finally not in vain.
Originally, there should be a short vacation after being honored with military exploits. However, because the Ambuna Islands are far away, and the military commission, which is strapped for manpower, almost all its capable officers were sent to Fujian to participate in the war, and there were no other reserve personnel to be sent there for the time being. , so Roger could only give up his vacation and hurried back to his station in Nanhai. After all, the strategic value of the Ambrosia Islands is quite special. Although the Dutch have surrendered, they may not have given up their coveting of the local area. Not to mention the executive committee, even Roger himself was somewhat uneasy about leaving the Ambrosia Islands to be managed by naturalized people for a long period of time.
When Roger returned to Ambuna Port, he went directly to the Port Management Center. Before his butt was even warm, Li Dagui came in with a pile of information and reported on his work.
Li Dagui had been a detective on the island for a long time. After Haihan captured it, Li Dagui was retained because he was familiar with the local situation, and his department was also transferred from the Ministry of Security to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. On the island In charge of civil affairs and trade affairs.
"Chief Luo, this is the registration information of ships entering and leaving the port recently." Li Dagui placed the notepad in front of Roger, and then explained: "During the more than sixty days of Chief Luo's trip, all local ships docked, except for Haihan's In addition to the ships, there are thirty-seven Ming ships, eleven Portuguese ships, nine Dutch ships, two Annan ships, one Champa, one Persian, and one Siam..."
Roger quickly scanned the information and saw that there were no obvious flaws, so he nodded and asked: "The Dutch didn't cause trouble here, did they?"
"According to the chief's instructions before leaving, the number of people disembarking and the scope of activities of the Dutch ships were restricted during the docking here. In addition, the militia forces were always on alert, so nothing exceeding the rules occurred." Li Dagui responded.
"They are honest!" Roger felt more relieved after hearing this answer. When he went to Fujian to participate in the war, what worried him the most was whether the Port of Ambrosia could cope with the Dutch merchant ships docked here without a leader. However, judging from Li Dagui's reply, there should be no major problems. Although the Dutch may have resented the restrictions they suffered during this stop, who made them the losers? If you want to get better courtesy, you still have to rely on your strength to speak for itself.
"How's the progress on other fronts?" Roger continued.
Li Dagui immediately opened another book and explained to Roger: "Last month, the Ministry of Agriculture sent people over to guide local people to open up wasteland in the inland mountains to plant sugar cane, tea trees, coffee trees, oil palms, rubber trees and other crops. Currently, they have More than 1,700 acres have been planted, and land reclamation is still ongoing. The area of the plantation can increase by about 40 acres every day." Roger couldn't help but asked in surprise when he heard this: "There are so many laborers on the island. Open up wasteland? ”
Li Dagui responded: "During the time when Chief Luo left, the Portuguese and the Dutch brought a lot of Kunlun slaves, and the labor force was enough."
Kunlun Nu generally refers to the darker-skinned indigenous people in Southeast Asia and black people from Africa. Since Haihan established diplomatic relations with Portugal, the Portuguese have been trafficking these foreign slaves to Haihan at Haihan's request, but the scale is not very large. Taking into consideration the issue of race, the Executive Committee did not introduce a large number of black slaves to Hainan Island. Most of the black slaves it bought were placed in the overseas territories of Annan to be used as laborers.
Roger also knew about this, but Li Dagui's words still surprised him a little: "The Dutch are also trafficking black people to us?"
"That's right, and the price is 10% lower than the Portuguese." Li Dagui explained: "I have asked the executive committee for instructions. The chiefs want to purchase it at their discretion to make up for the gap in the local labor force."
Because the Ambrosia Islands are relatively remote, not many people are willing to immigrate here. Even though the Ministry of Civil Affairs has previously offered conditions including land allocation and naturalization preferential treatment, not many immigrants have been attracted. The Executive Committee also hopes to recoup its previous investment through the development of the Ambrosia Islands. Naturally, it hopes that there will be more labor on the islands and the development process will be faster. At the request of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce, Ambuna Island was specially approved as a pilot area for trade with the Dutch.
Among the list of goods that the Dutch can provide, there are not many things that Haihan really needs. Most of the goods are also produced in Hainan Island, and the production scale of some things even far exceeds that of the Dutch. Haihan looked over it and finally selected the transaction content of introducing labor force as the main subject.
These Kunlun slaves sold here from overseas are much easier to settle than immigrants. As long as they have a house to shelter from the wind and rain, and food to fill their bellies, it is enough for them to work. Therefore, although it costs money to purchase, the actual cost of use is much lower than that of immigration. During the time Roger left the Ambrosia Islands, the Portuguese and the Dutch had already sent over a thousand Kunlun slaves. As soon as these people arrived, they were immediately used as the main labor force for plantation development.
"More than a thousand?" Roger was surprised again when he heard this number. He didn't expect that the population situation on the island would change so much just about two months after he left.
"According to the contract signed between the Ministry of Commerce and these two companies, at least 3,000 Kunlun slaves will be sent to the island this year." Li Dagui introduced: "If Chief Luo is interested, he can lead the way to the plantation to see these Kunlun slaves. The working conditions of slaves.”
"Then let's go and have a look." Roger really wanted to see how the naturalized cadres had done with the pioneering work assigned by the Executive Committee during his absence on the island.
Li Dagui owed his lower body and went out to make preparations. Roger stood up and put on his riding boots, inserted his pistol into the holster on his waist, and put on the Yankee baseball cap that never left his body. At this time, Li Dagui had already asked his servants to prepare the horses and wait outside.
Due to the limited conditions on Amborna Island, only the main road from the port to the town is slightly well-maintained. After leaving the town, it is almost all wilderness trails. Horseback riding is the most time-saving and labor-saving means of transportation. However, the horses assigned to the island are not the war horses carefully raised by Harugong, the chief riding instructor, on Hainan Island. They are just ordinary pack horses.
Roger's horse is already a specially selected "tall horse", but the horse's head is not as tall as Roger himself. However, he was not too picky about this. After getting on his horse, he gave the order to set off. As the local second-in-command, Li Dagui was also equipped with a mare as a mount. The other accompanying guards were not so lucky and could only follow on two legs.
Li Dagui led the way, starting from the port and heading southwest for about five or six miles inland. After passing through a dense forest, he could already see plantations cut out of the woods on the slopes in the distance.
After getting closer, Roger noticed that almost all the laborers in this area were dark-skinned aliens, and on the outskirts of the plantation, there was a company of armed militiamen responsible for guarding them.
"How big is the area you are responsible for? How many workers are there? Tell me briefly." Roger asked the militia company commander who had just appeared in front of him.
After the company commander saluted with a military salute, he began to explain: "Report to the commander, this is a rubber tree plantation planned to be 300 acres, and it is expected to plant 9,500 to 10,000 rubber trees. Currently, all the people working here are from the last month. A total of 874 Kunlun slaves were transported.”
"How are the labor disciplines of these people?" Roger continued to ask.
"Reporting to the leader, the Kunlun slaves also have different origins. Those from the South China Sea tend to be lazy and will stop quickly if they don't use beatings and scolding. But the Kunlun slaves from the west of Persia, who are as black as charcoal, are slightly better. , most of them are very strong and work more efficiently," the company commander responded.
Roger turned his head and said to Li Dagui: "Write down what he just said. Next time a Kunlun slave comes, I will make a clear request to him."
(End of chapter)