1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 407 Labor
May 1641, 5, Hanzhou, Weihai.

Wang Zongping, head of the Weihai (now Cairns, Australia) gauze factory, accompanied Wang Zhenliang, the general manager of Weihai, to inspect the warehouse and the mountains of cotton piled up in the flat field outside, and the corners of his mouth could not help but curl up.

In the entire Weihai County area, there were more than [-] mu of cotton. By the end of April, a total of more than [-] tons of seed cotton had been produced. If the southern Guanglingbao (now Townsville, Australia) and Gaopingbao (now Innisfail, Australia ), Yunyang (now Mackay, Australia) and other places have been transported one after another, and the cotton production in the entire eastern Hanzhou region can reach more than [-] to [-] tons, which is enough for the Weihai gauze factory to run at full capacity and run at full capacity. Five to six months of production.Of course, before spinning and weaving, the seed cotton needs to be deseed, which may delay a little.

Why not store and store cotton while removing seeds, and then directly process it into gauze?
Gein, Weihai County and the entire region are short of people!

Although there are currently more than [-] residents in Weihai County, and there are also more than [-] natives of Hanzhou and more than [-] natives of Timor Island, but when tens of thousands of acres of cotton are opened one after another, these people are simply not enough.Seeing this situation, Wang Zhenliang gave an order that, except for the necessary fishing and coast guard personnel, all the people in Weihai area, including the personnel of various factories and mines, all devoted themselves to the cotton picking work.As for the natives who were sent from Timor Island, they were used to death. Apart from eating and sleeping, there was almost no extra rest time.

Every day, before the sky is bright, hard-working farmers have gathered in all the cotton fields, bending over and arching their backs, before the cotton stalks, their hands are dexterously flying up and down, picking the blooming white cotton. In each big cloth bag.Those Hanzhou natives captured from the inland, because of their clumsy hands and feet, can only carry the cloth bags full of cotton from the cotton fields to the ground with bare upper body one by one because of their clumsy hands and feet. Fill the carriages and transport them to the storage yards in various villages.

The natives of Timor Island have strict regulations on the amount of harvesting. If they cannot complete the harvest, the light ones will be hungry, and the heavy ones will be whipped and beaten by the village soldiers.Looking at the miserable natives, the new immigrants can't help but feel sorry for them. If they are not very flexible in their hands and feet, they will automatically extend their working hours until it is dark and there is no cotton in sight.I'm afraid that the masters of Hanzhou here will punish them like they punished those black and thin natives.

"Fireworks are strictly prohibited here, and people must be sent to patrol at any time, so we must not slack off." Wang Zhenliang turned his head and said to Wang Zongping solemnly: "If anything happens, don't blame me for not predicting it!"

"Don't worry, my lord!" Wang Zongping said quickly: "We have arranged several teams of guards for both the warehouse and the storage yard. In addition, just in case, we specially prepared many water tanks and buckets near the warehouse and storage yard. Cotton will suffer any accident."

"I heard that your gauze factory is planning to build another cotton processing factory in Guanglingbao?" Wang Zhenliang asked, "The amount of cotton fields cultivated in those places is less than half of that in Weihai, and the output is even less than [-]% of that in Weihai. It is necessary to build a processing factory there." Is it? If not, it will be built in our Weihai area, okay?"

"My lord, the establishment of a cotton processing plant was planned by the Civilian Government's Department of Industry and Commerce. How can a villain have the right to decide where to build it!" Wang Zongping said with a smile: "The cotton processing plant was built in Guanglingbao mainly for the purpose of building it." The nearby cotton seeds are deseed, and then they are conveniently packaged and transported back to Weihai. At the same time, the cottonseeds can also be used for oil extraction to provide some oil for the local people’s life.”

"Thinking that Guanglingbao, which is poor and poor, can receive such a large amount of investment from the civil government in less than two years after establishing the settlement." Wang Zhenliang sighed: "Maybe in a few years, its development will surpass that of our Weihai area." .”

Wang Zongping just smiled and didn't answer.According to officials from the civil government, the eastern part of the Hanzhou continent has the best natural environment in the southeast region, that is, south of Yunyang, which can be called a fertile land.In the future, when the population of Hanzhou is abundant, that area will be filled slowly, and this area will be used as the foundation of Hanzhou to vigorously build it.

Moreover, the climate and environment in the southeast of Hanzhou is similar to that of the Daming Jiangnan, with abundant water, fertile land, and obvious four seasons.And here, in the future, it will be the main grain and cotton planting area in Hanzhou.However, this may take decades to be realized.

"My lord, don't always think about building more workshops in Weihai area. Your primary goal is to get more people to come. Look at this year's cotton picking season, not only all the officials and people in Weihai have come to the fields to help, Even the workers in our gauze field, cotton processing field, and oil extraction field are forced by your government to pick cotton in the fields." Wang Zongping said with a wry smile: "You have made the entire upstream and downstream processing chain of our cotton almost Everything has come to a standstill. In mid-June, the immigrant fleet will set off for Daming, if our gauze field cannot hand over enough cotton cloth, we will be blamed by the officials of the Industry and Commerce Department!"

"You don't need to complain to me. Once the machines in your factories are started, they will definitely be able to produce thousands of pieces of cloth in less than 20 days. The cotton cloth needed by the immigrant fleet is nothing more than making more cotton-padded clothes and quilts. Near Daming, I thought it would be used for the winter.” Wang Zhenliang said with a smile: “As for the demand for cotton cloth in Jianye Mansion and Weiyuan District, it is estimated that it is not particularly urgent. cotton cloth."

"But next year, in your Weihai area, stop arresting our workers to help you pick cotton. You must know that not only your Weihai, but also the seven or eight new settlements in the south will expand the cotton planting area. By then, our gauze field and Cotton processing plants, but you can’t spare extra personnel and time to go to your fields to pick cotton.”

"I also want to get enough manpower, but every year there are only over 3000 migrants here, at most two to [-] people, and we have to build houses, reclaim wasteland, and build water conservancy. There is indeed a shortage of manpower." Wang Zhenliang is also distressed. , "I thought that our Weihai area, as the cotton spinning center in the early stage of Hanzhou, could develop rapidly by virtue of this. Who would have thought that this cotton planting is so labor-intensive that we cannot spare enough manpower to build some of our infrastructure .”

"How about applying to the immigration department to send more natives from Timor Island and Weiyuan Island, so as to ease the situation?" Wang Zongping suggested.

"It is impossible for the immigration department to allow too many natives to flow into Hanzhou." Wang Zhenliang sighed: "I have few Han people, and there are many natives here. If more natives are moved in, there may be danger of disaster in the future." .”

"Your Majesty, you are worrying too much!" Wang Zongping said disapprovingly, "We Han people have political power and powerful force. No matter how many natives and natives there are, they don't have a weapon in their hands, so they obediently submit to under our guns."

"General Manager, oh, no, the Commander once said that there are too many motley races in the country, which is not a blessing for the country. In time, these ignorant natives will multiply too much, and they will flood the four regions of Hanzhou. After a few years, Their minds are gradually enlightened, how could they be willing to be driven by us Han people forever. Could it be that they were all slaughtered?" Wang Zhenliang said seriously.

"It's against the peace of heaven to slaughter them all. But there are many islands in Nanyang, and then we can drive them somewhere." Wang Zongping said: "Besides, some natives use them too much, and they may not be able to survive to the end. .”

Wang Zhenliang was a little displeased with his blunt words. Although the locals in Hanzhou and the natives of Timor Island and Weiyuan Island were indeed treated a little harshly, such unscrupulous words from the mouth of a workshop owner Saying it, um, it's really harsh.

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"At present, in addition to the nearby Jiansheng, Qingping, Zhuxi, and Guangping forts in my Xinxiangpu, two fortresses, Shahe and Xinmin, have been newly built more than 50 kilometers east of Xinxiangpu, controlling land with a radius of tens of kilometers. Human tribe..." In the Xinxiangbao commander's hall, Xu Lin was reporting the current basic situation of Xinxiangpu to the new commander Luo Ziwei.

"By the end of April this year, the total population of my Xinxiangbao was 730 people. Oh, the population here does not include natives." Xu Lin glanced at the expressionless Luo Ziwei, feeling a little apprehensive, "Indeed , Xinxiangbao has been developing for nearly three years, and the population growth is indeed a bit slow. But the climate and environment here are really unbearable, and many people die of malaria and other tropical diseases every year. In addition, at the request of the military government, our Xinxiangbao In the past two years, more than 700 people have been relocated to Dili City. Therefore, the population of Xinxiangbao has not exceeded [-]."

"Dili City has been changed to Zhenhai Fort in April." Luo Ziwei said: "Relocating some of the population to make Zhenhai Fort have a certain self-sufficiency is also to reduce the export of materials from our new township in the future, isn't it?"

"That's what the lord said."

"Also, how many natives are controlled and used by our Xinxiangbao?" Luo Ziwei asked.

"There are more than [-] people near Xinxiangbao." Xu Lin said: "As for Shahe and Xinminjiao in the west, it is estimated that there are also one or two thousand natives under control."

"Before the end of June, prepare 500 people and send them to Jianye City." Luo Ziwei ordered.

"Need to send so many people at once?" Xu Lin was a little surprised.In the past, when Xinxiangbao sent native coolies, it was only dozens or hundreds of people to Hanzhou mainland and Weiyuan Island each time. The transportation of more than 1000 people like this had never happened.

"Guangling Fort in the eastern part of Hanzhou needs mining. In the next two years, a stronghold will be set up in the southwest. There must be a number of supply points along the way. These will require a large number of people to fill in." Luo Ziwei said solemnly: "So, Xinxiang In addition to providing a large amount of rice for the local people, the mission of the Fort also has enough labor.”

"Don't worry about not being able to catch the natives." Seeing Xu Lin's troubled face, Luo Ziwei smiled and comforted him: "I heard that the Sudanese of the Weihali Kingdom on the island is dead, and the natives will definitely be in chaos for a while." , Whether we send out local soldiers to catch it, or the forces in the Weihali Kingdom need our support, there will always be many opportunities."

(End of this chapter)