Chapter 714
After all, Roger had hundreds of years of knowledge reserves and was much more knowledgeable than people of this era. When he heard what the company commander said, he knew what the problem was.
Due to the combined influence of geographical environment and natural conditions, the indigenous ethnic groups in Southeast Asia have always preferred a lazy and lazy life attitude. This will not change significantly even after hundreds of years. Even if these people are introduced to areas under Haihan rule, it will be difficult for them to quickly integrate into the local social system due to differences in living habits and values. In the past, Haihan had mostly considered the farming peoples in the mainland when choosing where to introduce immigrants, and was not too interested in the island natives. Even if they were introduced, they would mostly be dumped into mines, forest farms, salt fields, and road construction sites with low technical content. places where purely manual labor is performed.
In comparison, the situation of black Africans is better. If nothing else, at least they are stronger than the island natives of Southeast Asia and have more advantages in physical labor. Whether used as a pure labor force or recruited into the army to fight, black Africans can be considered a good choice. During the war between Portugal and the Netherlands for Macau in 1622, black people from Africa were the main force of the Portuguese army stationed in Macau. In the original history, Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Chenggong and his son had an elite foreign gun unit composed of black people. During Zheng Chenggong's battle to regain Taiwan, these black soldiers also instigated their compatriots in the Dutch army and joined Zheng Chenggong's troops.
Of course, the time travelers from 400 years later will not be so superstitious about the fighting power of black people. After all, in the world before they time traveled, the fighting power of African black uncles can only be regarded as the lowest level in the world. There are only a few long-term Countries that receive **** military aid are slightly more decent. And taking into account racial differences, the Executive Committee and the Military Commission have always been cautious about overseas ethnic groups from other continents entering the Haihan Militia to serve. Countries like Annan, Japan, and North Korea are fine. At least they have similar physical appearance and similar languages. Their various folk customs can also be considered to be of the same origin. However, the racial differences in other continents are too great. Travelers from It’s not too easy to accept personally.
I think when the bearded Johnson and old Morgan applied to join the time-travel operation, there was a heated discussion in the organizing committee because of their European and American ethnicity. Many people questioned the introduction of two blond foreigners. The need to participate in crossing operations. If it weren't for the serious lack of professional medical staff in the travel team, perhaps they would have been directly kicked out during the registration stage. Of course, their performance after time travel still convinced all the doubters. Not only did they make great contributions in the field of medical and health, but they also performed military exploits in previous military operations and received many awards from the Executive Committee.
However, after them, no other European and American white people have been naturalized under Haihan's rule. After all, talents with special expertise are too rare, and the Europeans who voluntarily went to the Far East, apart from the businessmen eyeing the treasures of the East, were mostly poor civilians or criminals who could not survive in their countries of origin. Obviously, these people would not become A target of interest to Haihan. When Europeans came to colonize the Far East, it was unlikely that they would choose to naturalize in an Eastern country with huge cultural differences, let alone Haihan, which had extremely strict management of the household registration system.
Southeast Asian indigenous and black people like these who were sold to Ambon Island as slaves actually still have the possibility of naturalization, but the naturalization examination period they have to spend is much longer than that of the Han people, and the conditions in various aspects are more stringent. harsh.
Li Dagui responded: "Then next time Kunlun slaves from the South China Sea are shipped, I will lower the price even lower."
Roger nodded and said: "Not only must the price be lowered, but the proportion must also be stipulated. The number of slaves from the South China Sea cannot exceed one third. This is the bottom line. If it exceeds this proportion, it will be rejected directly! We paid for this ourselves and cannot buy it. Come back and raise some lazy bones!”
Li Dagui quickly nodded in agreement and secretly wrote down Roger's instructions in his heart.
The plantations on the Ambon Islands were not entirely invested and developed by Haihan himself. A considerable part of them belonged to investors from Daming, Annan and other places. These people invested money to develop and build plantations on the island, planted cash crops according to Haihan's recommendations, and enjoyed a share of the income in the next few years. It stands to reason that businesses like plantations, which take several years to recoup their costs, are actually not low-risk. However, since Haihan has had numerous successful cases in the management of agricultural products and cash crops in the past few years, investors who have tasted the benefits are still Boldly chose to follow Haihan’s footsteps.
Shortly after taking over the Ambrosia Islands last year, the Ministry of Commerce had already raised more than 100,000 taels of silver investment for the comprehensive development of the Ambon Islands. This amount of money was enough to create thousands of acres of plantations on the island. However, because Ambona Island is too far away, it is difficult for investors to organize a large number of immigrants to come here to engage in development and construction work. Therefore, Haihan provides another additional service, which is to provide labor for construction work for investors. The boss We just need to reimburse the expenses. For investors who don’t want to waste time, this is undoubtedly an excellent solution. Anyway, organizing immigrants from the mainland to settle locally requires a lot of money. It is better to hire cheap labor directly from the Haihan people, and also There won't be any worries.
So in fact, when the accounting is calculated, it is actually the investors who pay for the labor, but the ownership rights are in the hands of Haihan, and a considerable part of the value created also belongs to Haihan. The quality of Kunlun slaves is low, and Haihan's profits will also be affected, so Roger will emphasize this point.
The slaves first cut down the big trees, dug out the stumps, then cleared the surrounding shrubs, and finally transplanted the rubber tree saplings transported from Hainan Island into the tree pits at specified intervals. The felled trees would be dismembered and transported outside the mountains to be used as building materials for slave camps.
Although these people were sold here as slaves, apart from the armed guards outside the plantation area, no special precautions were taken against them, and they were not restrained by shackles or handcuffs. On the first day after these people landed, they were informed of the environmental conditions they were in. In this place, there is no way to escape. Even if you escape, you can only wander around the island. It is impossible to find food and a way to leave the island, because the only port is under the control of Haihan.
Although these people are called slaves, their food supply, accommodation conditions, etc. are much better than those in hard labor camps where criminals work hard. Of course, this is partly due to the impact of the Shilu riots last year. The relevant departments do not want to squeeze these laborers so hard that they will arouse their resistance.
Although Roger also wanted to follow Qian Tiandun's approach in Annan, he recruited a group of indigenous people to train his own troops, and reported to the Military Commission on his way back from Fujian. However, the Military Commission did not agree to adopt the original Annan militia's operating method on Ampurna Island. The reason was that considering the ethnic diversity of the island, many problems would inevitably arise if a specialized local security force was formed. This basically eliminated the possibility for slaves to obtain Haihan citizenship by enlisting in the army. They could only survive a long inspection period before they had the opportunity to use their labor points to compete for the limited naturalization quota.
On June 3, two Dutch merchant ships carrying the flag of the East India Company sailed into the port of Ambona.
Li Dagui immediately ran to the port center and reported to Roger: "Chief Luo, the East India Company's slave ship has arrived. Do you want to go and take a look for yourself?" Roger was also curious about what the real slave trade in history was. Whatever the situation was, he nodded and said: "Okay, let's go and have a look!"
During his service in the US military, Roger also had the experience of being stationed overseas, and saw the real squalor behind the "fight for democracy" and the tragic situation of the refugees at the bottom. Therefore, he did not have a Virgin mentality, and he was not interested in things like the slave trade. More curious than disgusted. Human trafficking will be difficult to eradicate even after hundreds of years, let alone the 17th century now. No major country in this era will be completely insulated from human trafficking. At most, legality can only be distinguished by whether it is officially registered. and illegal.
The two Dutch merchant ships that docked in the port, both with a displacement of about 200 tons, lowered their sails one nautical mile away from the dock. This is also the rule that Haihan set for the Dutch after he took control of the Port of Ambrosia. When entering the port, you must first undergo a boarding inspection to ensure that the ship does not carry contraband and has no illegal intentions before it can dock and stop the ship. Although the Dutch were very dissatisfied with this kind of treatment and would protest every time they stopped here, Heihan did not care about their protests and still insisted on this approach. Although the Dutch were dissatisfied, they did not dare to use wooden sailing boats to challenge Haihan's newly built coastal defense guns.
After Mushaba repelled the Dutch attack on Amborna Island a year ago, the military had abandoned the original decentralized linear defense system and concentrated all new coastal defense batteries on the front of the port, and implemented it through movable forts. A certain range of shooting angles. This makes it easier for the commander to issue unified orders to each gun position when concentrated fire is required. Moreover, when the enemy conducts landing operations, the infantry can also concentrate on protecting the area around the fort.
In addition, the main artillery on the fort has also been updated and upgraded, and two retractable breech guns were installed on the fort. This is a new type of artillery made from the first batch of gun steel produced after the steel complex in Shiluchanghua was put into production. Since the production capacity of gun steel is still very low, the military industry department has only built a few of them as experimental products and handed them over to the army and navy for trial use. Due to scarcity of materials and cumbersome processing techniques, the cost far exceeds the artillery currently installed by the army. It is estimated that it will take at least one to two years of trials before gun steel production capacity is significantly improved before mass production can begin. Line up the troops.
Although the Dutch have not tested the power of the Haihan coastal defense fort, it is obviously much more difficult than the dispersed forts built by the "pirates" they faced last year. Therefore, the Dutch insist on Haihan's insistence on checking before entering the port. Although he was dissatisfied, he did not dare to easily challenge the patience of the Haihan people.
When Roger arrived at the port, two Dutch merchant ships had completed their inspection and docked at the shore. However, since we have not yet received permission to disembark, even though a springboard to the shore has been built, people on the ship and ashore are still watching each other.
"Let their captain come down to handle the formalities." Roger gave the order to Li Dagui.
Soon a red-haired middle-aged Dutch man came to Roger, bowed slightly, and said in very broken Chinese: "Geert Janssen of the East India Company greets your distinguished Excellency and is willing to serve you!"< br>
"Hello, Mr. Jansen." Roger nodded slightly, and then responded directly in English: "I heard that you brought us a lot of young labor this time?"
"Yes, sir, after I learned that you were in urgent need of labor, I immediately shipped a group of healthy laborers from Batavia to you." Hearing Roger's pure English accent, Jansen also He immediately gave up his poor Chinese and spoke in English: "This group of people are all in good physical condition. Only five people were thrown into the sea on the way from Batavia."
Roger understood what he meant by being "thrown into the sea". These slaves were loaded into the cabin like sardine cans. They didn't even have a chance to relax during the entire voyage. After a long period of turbulence at sea in a harsh environment, People with poor health often have difficulty surviving the voyage and reaching their destination. As for the unlucky guy who died on the way, the people on the ship would definitely throw the body into the sea for hygiene reasons. The longer the voyage, the higher the mortality rate. Only five people were lost during the voyage from Batavia to Ambrosia, which is indeed a number worthy of Jansen's showing off.
"It sounds like a good situation, but I still believe that seeing is believing." Roger responded with a smile: "If you find that kind of dying guy later, Mr. Jansen, don't blame me for lowering the price."
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"No, no, no, of course there won't be." Yang Sen quickly confirmed: "Dear sir, you see, in order to maintain good ventilation, these two ships have canceled all the gun emplacements on the second deck and changed them to ventilation We also have doctors on board to ensure that these guys can get enough fresh water on the way. Maybe some of them will be depressed, but I can guarantee with my life that these guys will be able to recover after a while on land. Becoming alive and kicking! ”
Regarding Jansen's self-promotion, Roger still just smiled: "Let's take a look at the goods, Mr. Jansen."
(End of chapter)