1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 714
After all, Roger needed hundreds of years of knowledge reserves, and his knowledge was much higher than that of people in this era. He knew the problem when he heard what the company commander said.

Due to the comprehensive influence of geographical environment and natural conditions, the indigenous peoples in Southeast Asia have always been inclined to a lazy life attitude, which will not change much even after hundreds of years.Even if these people were introduced into the area under the Haihan rule, it would be difficult for them to quickly integrate into the local social system due to differences in living habits and values.In the past, Haihan chose to introduce immigrants to the source areas mostly considering the farming peoples in the mainland, and was not too interested in the island natives. Even if they were imported, they were mostly thrown into mines, forest farms, salt fields, road construction sites, etc. with low technical content. place for purely manual labor.

In contrast, the situation of African blacks is better. Among other things, at least the race is stronger than the island natives in Southeast Asia, and they also have advantages in manual labor.Whether it is used as a pure labor force or enlisted in the army to fight, African blacks can be regarded as a good choice. In the war between Portugal and the Netherlands for Macau in 1622, blacks 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 force composed of blacks.During Zheng Chenggong's battle to regain Taiwan, these black soldiers also instigated compatriots in the Dutch army and joined Zheng Chenggong's troops.

Of course, the traversers from 400 years later will not be so superstitious about the combat effectiveness of black people. After all, in the world before they traversed, the combat effectiveness of African black uncles can only be regarded as the lowest level in the world. The countries that receive military aid from **** are a little more decent.And considering the differences in ethnicity, the Executive Committee and the Military Commission have always held a relatively cautious attitude towards overseas ethnic groups from other continents entering the Haihan Militia.Countries like Annan, Japan, and North Korea are all okay, at least they have similar body shapes and appearances, and their languages ​​and characters are more than half the same, and various folk customs can be regarded as the same. It's not easy to accept personally.

Back then, when the bearded Johnson and the old Morgan applied to join the time-traveling operation, they also sparked heated discussions in the organizing committee because of their European and American races. Many people questioned the introduction of two blonde foreigners. The necessity to participate in the crossing operation.If it wasn't for the severe lack of professional medical personnel in the time-traveling team, perhaps they would have been directly rejected during the registration stage.Of course, their performance after the crossing still convinced all doubters. Not only did they make great contributions in the field of medical and health care, but they also performed military exploits in previous military operations and received awards from the Executive Committee many times.

However, after them, there have been no other white Europeans and Americans naturalized under Haihan's rule.After all, there are too few talents with special expertise, and most of the Europeans who voluntarily went to the Far East, except for the businessmen who stared at the treasures of the East, were poor civilians or criminals who could not get along in their countries of origin. Obviously, these people would not become A target of Haihan's interest.When Europeans came to the Far East to colonize, it was unlikely that they would choose to naturalize in eastern countries with great cultural differences, let alone Haihan, which had extremely strict management of the household registration system.

Similar to these Southeast Asian aborigines and blacks who were sold to Ambuna Island as slaves, in fact, there is still the possibility of naturalization, but the naturalization inspection period they have to go through is much longer than that of the Han people, and the conditions in various aspects are more restrictive. Harsh.

Li Dagui replied: "Then next time when the Kunlun slaves from the South China Sea arrive, I will lower the price even lower."

Roger nodded and said: "Not only must the price be lowered, but also the ratio must be stipulated. The slaves from the South China Sea region cannot exceed one-third. This is the bottom line. If it exceeds this ratio, we will directly reject it! This money is paid by ourselves, and we cannot buy it. Come back and raise some lazy bones!"

Li Dagui nodded quickly and said yes, and secretly wrote down Roger's instructions in his heart.

The plantations on the Abuna Islands were not entirely invested and developed by Haihan himself, and a considerable part of them belonged to investors from Daming, Annan and other places.These people invested in the development and construction of plantations on the island, planted cash crops according to Haihan's suggestion, and enjoyed the income share in the next few years.It stands to reason that the risk of a business like a plantation that takes several years to recover its cost is actually not low. However, due to the numerous successful cases of Haihan in the management of agricultural products and cash crops in the past few years, investors who have tasted the sweetness are still Boldly chose to follow Haihan's pace.

Not long after taking down the Abuna Islands last year, the Ministry of Commerce has raised more than 10 taels of silver investment for the comprehensive development of the Abuna Islands, which is enough to build thousands of acres of plantations on the island.However, because the location of Abunna 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, so Haihan provides another additional service, which is to provide labor for investors to construct, the boss We just need to reimburse the expenses.This is undoubtedly an excellent solution for investors who do not want to waste time. Anyway, it takes a lot of money to organize immigrants from the mainland to settle in the local area. It is better to hire cheap labor directly from the Haihan people, and also There will be no worries.

So in fact, after calculating this, it is investors who pay for the purchase of these labors, but the ownership right is in the hands of Haihan, and a considerable part of the value created belongs to Haihan.The quality of Kunlun slaves is relatively low, and Haihan's profit will also be affected. That's why Roger especially emphasized this point.

The slaves first cut down the big trees, planed off the stumps, then cleared the surrounding bushes, and finally transplanted the rubber tree saplings transported from Hainan Island into the tree pits at regular intervals.The felled trees will be dismembered and transported outside the mountain to be used as building materials for slave camps.

Although these people were sold here as slaves, apart from the armed guards on the outskirts of the plantation area, no special precautions were taken against them, and there were no shackles or other restraints on their bodies.On the first day after these people landed, they had been informed of the environmental conditions they were in.In this place, there is no future for escaping. Even if he escapes, he can only circle 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 treatment in terms of food supply and accommodation conditions is much better than that of the hard labor camps where they serve as criminals.Of course, this is also partly due to the impact of the Shilu riots last year, and the relevant departments did not want to squeeze these laborers so hard that they would arouse their resistance.

Although Luo Jie also intends to follow Qian Tiandun's approach in Annan, he recruited a group of natives to train his own army, and reported to the Military Commission on the way back from Fujian.However, the Military Commission did not agree to adopt the operation method of the Annan militia on Abunna Island. The reason is that considering the complex races on the island, it will inevitably cause many problems if a special local security force is formed.This also basically eliminates the possibility of slaves obtaining Haihan nationality through enlistment. They can only survive the long inspection period before they have the opportunity to use their labor points to compete for the limited number of naturalization places.

On June 6, two Dutch merchant ships carrying the flag of the East India Company sailed into the port of Ambuna.

Li Dagui immediately ran to the port center and reported to Roger: "Mr. Luo, the East India Company's slave ship has arrived. Do you want to go and see it yourself?"

Roger was also curious about what the real slave trade was like in history, so he nodded and said, "Okay, let's go and have a look!"

During Roger’s service in the U.S. military, he also had the experience of being stationed overseas. He saw the real filth behind the “Fight for Democracy” and the plight of refugees at the bottom. Therefore, he did not have a Madonna mentality. More curious than disgusted.Human trafficking is difficult to stop even after hundreds of years, not to mention the current 17th century. In this era, no big country is completely insulated from human trafficking. At most, it can be distinguished by whether it is officially registered or not. and illegal.

The displacement of the two Dutch merchant ships docked at the port was about 200 tons, and they put down their sails one nautical mile from the pier.This is also the rule that Haihan set for the Dutch after they took control of Ambuna Port. When entering the port, they must first undergo a boarding inspection to ensure that no contraband is carried on board and there is no illegal attempt before they can dock at the shore.Although the Dutch were very dissatisfied with this treatment and protested every time they docked here, Haihan didn't care about their protests and still insisted on this approach.Although the Dutch were dissatisfied, they did not dare to use wooden sailboats to challenge Haihan's newly built coastal defense guns.

One year ago, after Mu Xiabai repelled the Dutch attack on Abunna Island, the military had already abandoned the original decentralized linear defense system, and concentrated all the new coastal defense batteries on the front of the port, and realized them through movable batteries. A certain range of shooting corners.In this way, it is easier for the commander to issue unified orders to each artillery position when it is necessary to focus fire.Moreover, when the enemy conducts landing operations, the infantry can also concentrate their forces to protect the surrounding areas of the fort.

In addition, the main artillery on the turret has also been updated and upgraded, and two receding breech-loading artillery were installed on the turret.This is a new type of artillery made of the first batch of refined gun steel after the steel complex in Shilu Changhua was put into production.Since the production capacity of gun steel is still very low, the current military industry department has only produced a few of them as experimental products and handed them over to the army and navy for trial use.Due to the scarcity of materials and troublesome processing techniques, the cost is far higher than the artillery currently installed in the army. It is estimated that it will take at least one to two years of trial use, and the mass production will not start until the production capacity of the gun steel has been significantly improved. Formation of troops.

Although the Dutch have not tested the power of the Haihan coastal defense fort, it is obviously much more difficult than the scattered forts built by the "pirates" they faced last year. Therefore, the Dutch insist on inspecting Haihan 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, the two Dutch merchant ships had completed their inspection and were docked on the shore.However, because the permission to disembark has not been obtained, although the gangway leading to the shore has been built, the people on the boat and the shore are still watching each other.

"Let their captain come down to go through the formalities." Roger gave instructions to Li Dagui.

Soon a red-haired Dutch middle-aged man came to Roger, bowed slightly, and said in very unfluent Chinese: "Geerter Jansen of the East India Company pays tribute to your honorable Excellency, and is willing to serve you!"

"Hello, Mr. Jansen." Roger nodded slightly, and then responded directly in English: "I heard that you brought us a lot of young and strong laborers this time?"

"Yes sir, after I heard the news that you are in urgent need of labor, I immediately shipped a batch of healthy labor from Batavia to you." Hearing Roger's pure English accent, Jansen also agreed. He immediately gave up his poor Chinese and switched to English: "These people are all in good health. On the way here from Batavia, only five people were thrown into the sea."

Roger understood what he meant by "thrown into the sea". These slaves were loaded into the cabin like sardine cans, and they didn't even have a chance to let the wind out during the entire voyage. It is often difficult for people with poor health to survive the voyage and reach their destination.As for the unlucky ghost who died on the way, the people on board 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 Ambuna Island, which is indeed a number worthy of showing off by Jansen.

"It sounds like a good situation, but I still believe that seeing is believing." Roger replied with a smile: "If you find out that there is such a dying guy later, Mr. Jansen, don't blame me for lowering the price."

"No, no, no, of course there won't be." Jansen hurriedly packed his ticket and said: "Honorable sir, you see, in order to maintain good ventilation, these two ships have canceled all the gun positions on the second deck and replaced them with ventilation. And we have a doctor on board to ensure that these guys can get enough fresh water supply on the way. Maybe some of them will be a little weak, but I can guarantee my life, these guys just need to recover for a while on land. Be alive and kicking!"

Regarding Jansen's self-boasting, Roger still just responded with a smile: "Let's see the goods first, Mr. Jansen."

(End of this chapter)