Chapter 2858
After listening to Chen Yixin's explanation, everyone was full of curiosity about another cooperation project he mentioned - for the Manchus, what else could be more sensitive to buying and exporting horses to Haihan?
Chen Yixin quickly revealed the answer to them: it is labor force.
Haihan is facing a serious labor shortage in the Liaodong region, and everyone has truly felt this during this trip to Shenyang. In order to solve this problem that restricted the development of the region, the local government also made various attempts. Even business partners from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were targeted by Chen Yixin.
"According to the data we have, there are still 400,000 to 500,000 Hans, Koreans and other small tribes under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. They are the population plundered by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in its previous wars with foreign countries. The vast majority of them are in The Manchus were all at the bottom of society, even just private slaves.”
Chen Yixin explained: "These people can often only engage in the lowest level of physical labor in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the economic value they can generate is not high, so I plan to persuade the nobles with red flags to send their slaves out through trade channels. Come to work in our country, and then we will pay wages or designated materials as remuneration to the owners of these slaves. If this plan can be implemented, the labor shortage problem in Liaodong may be alleviated to a certain extent.”
Bai Kesi said: "If you want the Manchus to hand over their precious labor force to us, then the price you must offer is not low, right?"
Chen Yixin nodded and said: "That is definitely much more value than what they created by grazing and farming in the Manchus. But with these labor forces, we can use them to produce more wealth."
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One of the purposes of the Manchu Qing's foreign wars was to seize a large number of people from neighboring countries by force and bring them back to their own territory to be used as slaves. Even though they were retreating steadily during the battle with Haihan, the Manchu Qing still did not forget to take away these civilians when they retreated. This shows that they also knew the value of the population and would never hand over these people to Haihan easily. .
Chen Yixin's idea sounds like paying people to hire people, but when you think about it carefully, it is not the case. Although these people are under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there are probably not many people who are willing to be slaves of the Manchu Qing Dynasty for the rest of their lives. How can the Manchu Qing Dynasty let them escape their control?
Bai Letong asked: "But even if we are willing to pay to hire these people, can the Manchu Qing believe the conditions we give? If the wages are not received from us when the settlement comes, even all these laborers will be If we seize it as our own, we may lose both our people and our money. How will they deal with such a risk?”
Chen Yixin said: "The other party has clearly raised the issues you mentioned, but they are actually not difficult to solve."
Chen Yixin provided the other party with several cooperation guarantee measures. First, Haihan can advance a certain percentage of wages, and then when these slave workers complete this stage of work, Haihan can advance wages for the next stage. In this way, the Manchu and Qing parties can collect money first and do things later, and the risk of breach of contract can also be reduced.
Second, the Manchu and Qing dynasties screened the slave laborers sent to Haihan in advance and only selected those with families. This way, the expatriate’s family members, old and young, stayed in the Manchu and Qing dynasty and did not have to worry about these people never coming back.
The third is to send supervisors from the other side to confirm that the labor force can work effectively in Haihan. On the other hand, when these laborers are sick or die, the Manchu supervisors can immediately confirm it to avoid problems when settling wages. dispute.
Bai Letong said: "Since it is so troublesome and we have to send money to the Qing Dynasty, why not introduce immigrants from the south or the Ming Dynasty according to the original plan?" Chen Yixin did not answer this question directly: "According to our estimates, only Shenyang, If large-scale mining is organized in the mines in Liaoyang and Yangtze, a large number of infrastructure projects will also need to be completed, and there will be a labor gap of about 100,000 people in the mines and construction sites. These people do not need to master any engineering skills. , as long as you can understand the orders and work hard.”
"If calculated according to the normal population ratio, the labor force accounts for a little more than one-third, then we need to introduce 300,000 people to the area north of the Liaodong Peninsula to be able to meet the labor demand in this area. This is only the first step. In the first stage, we have calculated how much time we need and how much resettlement costs we have to invest to achieve this goal.”
"With the same time and the same cost, if we can get immigrants from other channels and solve the labor problem here, then of course we don't have to waste this time. I also hope that hundreds of thousands of naturalized immigrants can be moved to Liaodong effortlessly. Han people, but this is obviously far from the reality. ”
"As for sending money to the Manchus..." Chen Yixin smiled and said: "That's not a problem. As long as they dare to accept it, I dare to send it."
Compared with the expenditures required to resolve disputes between the two countries through military means, the expenditures on buying the Manchu nobles with money were only a fraction. A figure like Shuo Sai who could influence the national policy of the Qing Dynasty was worth spending a lot of money to maintain relations with. If the Manchus' will to fight can be broken down through such channels, it will be much more cost-effective than fighting.
And after the money is spent, a considerable part of it will be used by the other party to purchase supplies from Haihan, which is equivalent to going out and going around and then flowing back to Haihan in disguise.
Bai Letong said: "Then these slave workers, can they benefit from it?"
Chen Yixin said: "We will provide basic conditions of food and accommodation. At least the living environment will be better than when they were slaves in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but that's all."
Bai Letong said: "But many of them are Han Chinese..."
"They are not Haihan nationals, so they will not enjoy the treatment of Haihan nationals." Chen Yixin interrupted Bai Letong before he could finish his words: "Maybe you want to say that we can get these people back through military means. , but I can tell you that hiring them to work at this stage is far cheaper than if we continue to fight against the Manchus. This is the reason.”
Bai Letong opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Chen Yixin has mentioned more than once before that the truce between Haihan and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was the result of a comprehensive weighing of the pros and cons. It is extremely uneconomical to continue to attack the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the military risks faced will become higher and higher. It would not be wise for Haihan to launch a war just to plunder the slave population under the Qing Dynasty.
Chen Yixin's decision sounds a bit cruel, but as the ruler of this region, what he needs to consider is how to maximize the interests of Haihan, rather than the individual fate of the Manchu slaves. In the final analysis, they are just chips for Haihan to trade with the Manchus. Even if the transaction is successful, they are just tools for Haihan to develop Liaodong.
(End of chapter)