I want to be emperor

Chapter 877
Luiz has come into contact with a lot of Chu people, especially in Mexico, and he often goes to Jinshan City to buy goods with a Spanish businessman boss.

All of these provided enough opportunities for Louise to get in touch with Chu people.

As for Chu people, especially ordinary Chu people, Louise is naturally very clear: In fact, that's it!

Especially in North America, many Chu people are immigrants, and many of them are low-level people with little knowledge and narrow vision. In Luiz's view, these people are no different from European farmers, but they are just born by luck. In the Great Chu Empire, that's why he was able to become an enviable farmer of the Great Chu Empire.

But Luiz is more aware that among the Chu people, there is no lack of elites to look up to, especially some military officers and civil servants in their colonies, as well as the clerks in trading companies. I admire it.

Generally speaking, Louise has a complicated impression of Chu people.

After all, the crowd itself is very complicated. Even if it is a single ethnic group, there are various distinctions within it. Naturally, Louise's knowledge of the people of the Great Chu Empire cannot deeply understand the situation of the people of the Great Chu Empire.

However, Louise's impression of Chu people is more complex and contradictory, but his impression of Chu is relatively simple and intuitive: self.

In addition to being extremely overbearing, he can do whatever he wants.

This is the conclusion Louise came to when she was in Mexico.

When she was in Mexico that year, Louise had an extraordinary understanding of the overbearing Chu people.

He can often hear that the Chu people have invaded and occupied places... At first, it was the Baja California peninsula, then the hinterland, and finally even the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Chu people continued to appear in the Mexican area .

And the Spanish couldn't resist, they could only keep protesting, but except for the first time, the Chu people never responded to the Spaniard's protests.

You have protested too much, and you have annoyed the officials and gentlemen of the governor of North America. They will discuss with the local garrison and directly give you a big sweep...

Why don't you occupy a few villages to resettle new immigrants? It's called wool...

Call it again, and call me again to take down the whole of Mexico.

Well, this is just a bragging point. Although there are many immigrants from Chu people in North America, they basically go to the east, and the number of immigrants to the south is a little less. After all, the central area of ​​Mexico in the south is also a plateau, which is not good. Where, how can it be as fragrant as the central and eastern regions of North America!
On the one hand, with the construction of the East-West Railway in North America, the more than 200-kilometer railway from Jinshan Port to the bottom of the valley was completed in less than a year, and then the railway line continued to extend eastward and began Enter the Dajinshan Mountains and the mountain plateau area.

Because of the complex terrain in this part, it is difficult to build the railway, and the workers who built the railway suffered heavy casualties. Even though the workers who repaired the railway were native laborers provided by some labor service companies, there were too many casualties, and the labor cost also increased, and there were more casualties. It also affects construction efficiency.

The complexity of the terrain has inevitably affected the progress. Today, in the 37th year of Chengshun, the North American East-West Railway only extends to the Great Basin of the Dajinshan Mountains, which is still a long way from the intended target of the Mississippi River.

It's just that the most difficult thing is actually the mountains and other places with complex terrain. As long as you pass through the Rocky Mountains, the road will be flat. At that time, with the railway construction capabilities of the Great Chu Empire, it will be possible to lay the rails directly to the Atlantic Ocean in two or three years. go.

In addition to this railway, the Great Chu Empire also started the construction of a second east-west railway in North America. The starting point is also Jinshan City, but it extends south.

Go south to Luohe City, the capital of Luohe Prefecture, and then continue to extend towards the southeast. This area is much flatter. Now it has crossed the Luohe River and continued to build eastward.

By the way, many of the places that this railway passes were basically controlled by the Mexicans a few years ago, um, they were controlled by the Mexicans only in name.

The population of Spaniards in Mexico is actually very small, especially in some marginal areas that don’t even have towns, they only own these places in name, and the people living in these places are still those indigenous people... Of course, these indigenous people Not much actually.

For example, after being developed by immigrants from Chu, the densely populated Luohefu area was actually very sparsely populated at the beginning. The total number of all Spaniards in a large area is estimated to be no more than 2000, which is directly controlled by the Spaniards. The indigenous population is estimated to be in the thousands.

This is a major feature of contemporary European colonization overseas. Rao, Spain, a country that is more inclined to directly control the region and then ruled by immigrants, is still limited by shipping costs, the country's population and other conditions, resulting in the population of overseas colonies. very few.

And why are there so many immigrants from the Great Chu Empire?
This is an advancement in technology!

The ships used by the Great Chu Empire were large-tonnage steam-powered sailboats. The immigrant cruise ships traveling to and from the Pacific Ocean were thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons in size, and they could take thousands of people in one trip.

And there are so many ships traveling to and from the Pacific Ocean. Almost every day, passenger ships depart from various ports of the Great Chu Empire, and then go to North America.

At the same time, there are immigration subsidies, immigration loans and other economic policy support.

All of these are based on the premise that immigration costs are greatly reduced.

Therefore, the overseas immigration of the Great Chu Empire increased significantly. In fact, it was also after the 23rd year of Chengshun. This year was the year when naval steam engines matured and were applied on a large scale. During this year, the Great Chu Empire emigrated to various places overseas The number has seen a blowout growth, and has continued to maintain a high growth rate in the follow-up.

In the age of sails before this, the immigration scale of Chu people was actually not that big. At that time, the Toyo Trading Company had been tossing in North America for so many years, but there were only ten thousand people.

It's just that it has been constantly invaded and expelled by Chu immigrants in these years, and now it has become the territory of the Great Chu Empire.

With the continuous extension of the railway to the east, after the traffic problem was solved, a large number of immigrant settlements blossomed around the two sides of the railway line.

With the continuous advancement of the two routes of the middle road and the south road, more and more immigrants from Chu State appeared in the central and central parts of North America, and even the western region. Even native.

In the past, although people have heard that the Midwest of North America is very rich, but after all, there is no real large-scale development and development, and many of them are hearsay.

However, as a group of immigrant advance teams first crossed the Rocky Mountains and appeared in the Midwestern region of North America, and then discovered the Missouri River, the main branch on the west side of the Mississippi River, they were shocked by this rich area.

Large tracts of incomparably fertile land, as long as they open up wasteland and plant whatever they want, they can reap something.

The terrain is flat, water resources are abundant, and there are many rivers of various kinds.

When the North American Central-Western Railway was still struggling in the Jinshan Plateau Basin, the immigrants from Chu State actually crossed the Rocky Mountains on foot, and then established a large-scale railway station with more than 3000 people along the Missouri River. Immigrant city: Mihe City.

At the same time, a large area of ​​dozens or hundreds of people immigrated settlements and towns along the Missouri River and surrounding areas.

And built a ship on the spot to sail and explore the lower reaches of the Missouri River, and finally went all the way south to the mouth of the Mississippi River, and established a simple small stronghold there, Mikou City.

Considering that this place is the estuary of the Mississippi River, and there are potential threats from the Spaniards nearby, and this place is too far away from the western part of North America and even the Pacific Ocean controlled by the empire.

Therefore, in order to protect themselves, it is also to prevent the Spaniards and other natives from breaking into the Mississippi River, which will affect the large-scale immigration plan of the Chu people in the Mississippi River Basin.

Even though it was difficult for the army, it also established a camp in Mikou City, where more than 100 soldiers and two 75mm field guns were officially stationed.

These two 75mm field guns are actually used as coastal defense guns...

It's a pity, I don't know if the Chu people are too famous. The ships of other European countries, including the Spaniards, saw a small town appearing in the mouth of the Mississippi River, and there was a big Chu on the town. Behind the dragon flag of the empire, no one dared to run to fight it, and no one dared to come over to test it.

The series of immigration and development of the Great Chu Empire in North America has penetrated into the Central America, and continued east along the tributaries of the Mississippi River.

This is why North America can accommodate so many new immigrants.

Just relying on the golden valley in the west, as well as the large deserts or mountains, cannot attract so many Chu immigrants.

Many new immigrants went to the rich central or eastern North America.

In this context, in fact, the European free trade plan launched by the Great Chu Empire can effectively promote the Great Chu Empire's immigration plan to America in the future.

Because the Great Chu Empire’s immigration to the Americas today mainly uses large-tonnage ships. The smaller passenger ships basically have a displacement of three to four thousand tons, and the larger ones are even several thousand tons or even tens of thousands of tons.

And these small ships are fortunately motor sailing ships, but the larger ones are basically powered by pure steam engines.

There is no way to continue to use sail power for this ship, which is thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons, and can only use pure steam engine power.

The steam engine-powered ships have many advantages, but the disadvantages are not without, that is, they cannot run casually.

If you go to a place where there is no coal supply, you will never come back.

On the contrary, sailing ships do not have such shortcomings. With a bit of wood and canvas and not dying of hunger, they can float all over the world, wherever they go...

Therefore, steam engine ships must have fresh water and coal supply points, and without them, they will not be able to move around.

But fresh water is easy to talk about, but coal is honestly not common in places outside the control area of ​​the Great Chu Empire.

It's not that the reserves are not abundant, but that there is not much mining... The large-scale mining of coal is mainly after the Gongge Revolution.

Only with the huge demand of the industry will there be the motivation for mining.

Otherwise, dig it out and sell it to someone.

Unfortunately, on the contemporary earth, only one country, the Great Chu Empire, started industrialization. Other countries or regions were either in a primitive tribal state that was so ignorant that they could not even communicate, or they were in the feudal agricultural era.

Agriculturalization is too far away and too illusory for them.

what does this mean?
This means that every overseas coal supply station in the Great Chu Empire has to be built by itself.

Even if it is a coal supply station established in an indigenous country, the coal is produced locally, but the Great Chu Empire must send people to purchase it, let the local people mine it, and then transport it to the coal warehouse at the port.

In short, if the Chu people don't do it themselves, don't expect to get much coal supplies from the indigenous countries.

This is also the largest number of coal carriers in the European expedition fleet this time. These coal carriers guarantee the daily activities of the entire fleet and even many subsequent ships.

At the same time, subsequent ships from South Africa, even warships, have to fill their cabins with coal, not only to meet their own consumption, but also to set aside part of the subsidies for other warships after they get Tangier.

This is the embarrassing situation that there is no overseas coal supply station, and coal has to be transported thousands of miles away.

However, once the Great Chu Empire establishes a number of coal supply stations in this area in the future, it will not only meet its own needs, but also meet the coal needs of ships heading to the east coast of North America in the future.

If there are sufficient coal supplies along the way, then immigration ships and cargo ships can take the Indian Ocean-Atlantic route directly, and finally arrive at Mikou City directly, so that the transportation of people and goods between the mainland and the east coast of North America Costs are further reduced.

Even in the future, the North American East-West Railway will be fully connected. People or goods can take the railway from the eastern part of North America to Jinshan in the western part of North America, and then return eastward by boat... But this shipping route will continue.

Because the cost of sea transportation is lower...and it will become lower as it goes on. Until the 21st century, sea transportation was the lowest transportation cost in the same period.

Some bulk cargoes that value cost are still in great demand for this sea route that seems far away but actually cheaper.

From this point of view, the European free trade plan of the Great Chu Empire has one more benefit.

It's just that this can only be regarded as an incidental result. The European free trade plan is not as simple as just setting up a few coal supply stations.

What the Empire wants is all of Europe!
It can be said that in the short term, apart from not intending to directly annex this place, the empire wants everything in Europe: the agricultural resources and mineral resources that are incidental to population resources.

Only with a sufficient population can farming produce all kinds of crops that Chu people need; and only then can coal mining be able to produce coal and other minerals that Chu people need.

The population in Europe is quite large, with a population of several hundred million, which is more than that in India. In addition, the labor resources in this place are relatively high-quality, and there is a relatively complete agricultural social system in the local area. Only the economy and A little political and military guidance does not require much action at all. They can continuously produce various crops or mineral resources that the people of Chu need, and then beg you to buy their things.

This is not much better than catching a group of natives and forcing them to work with a whip...

Many plantation owners of Chu State who are living abroad despise the slave production method of European colonists: the production efficiency is too low and the cost is too high!
So some overseas plantation owners of Chu State, um, mainly some plantation owners in non-Chu State-controlled areas, they will not engage in slavery with their European counterparts next door, they will engage in free labor recruitment.

Freedom to come and go, wages are only paid five cents full, do what you like, don't do it, get out, what you pay attention to is freedom!
Of course, plantations cannot be opened in too remote places, and it is best to open next door to European planters.

Not to mention, a large number of slaves or indentured slaves who escaped from the European plantation next door, especially many white indentured slaves from Europe, like to escape and go to work in the plantations opened by the Chu people...

Although the food was worse than in the plantations of the European colonists, they were free!
This is equivalent to the plantation owners of the Chu State, who paid a lot of contract slaves for nothing without spending a dime, and the wages are particularly low...

The plantation owners of those European plantations were naturally very dissatisfied with this. They spent a lot of money to get these contract slaves, and they would have to die if they ran away.

But it is basically useless to go to the people of Chu to ask for someone, and the boss of the Chu plantation will basically not talk to them.

If you refuse to accept it and want to use force privately, there will be a large number of runaway slaves armed with flintlock guns fighting for freedom in the manor every minute to resist.

There are also professional, local mercenaries armed to the teeth rushing behind!
If you hit him, hit him, and whoever dares to hit him is a grandson.

If you can't do it privately, your colonial officials will also do it yourself. As soon as the colonial officials start, the owner of the Chu State Plantation dares to call the parents: Navy father landed!

At that time, if the compensation is paid and the land is ceded, it may be possible to get a bigger ticket.

Based on the powerful deterrent power of the navy father of the Great Chu Empire, at present, few European colonial officials have the courage to act openly on the plantations of the Chu people.

As for the private struggle among plantation owners... This kind of thing is inevitable, and whoever wins depends on strength and luck, but in most cases, the plantation owners in Chu State are the winners.

This situation is more common in Africa and South America, but it is relatively rare in other places where there are no plantations of European colonists.

It's not that the Great Chu Empire didn't have plantations in other places, in fact there were, and there were a lot of them, but there was no competition from Europeans.

For example, in India, the Great Chu Empire opened a large number of plantations on the northern side of the Mughal Empire, and still adopted the free labor system.

What stands out is a freedom!
As for the slavery system that imprisoned the freedom of life, the people of Chu State even looked down on the economic efficiency of this thing, and disliked the high cost of this thing.

After all, people are everywhere in India. Am I supposed to catch a group of slaves to work?
Because slaves require cost, purchase cost, maintenance cost, and supervisor cost...

And hired workers... they don't need you to purchase, they don't need supervisors, they don't need you to treat illnesses, and they don't need to consider long-term use...

In this kind of densely populated place, you only need to give them a little food, and you can make them work hard. Not only young and middle-aged people will work for you, but women and children will work for you, and the cost is very low.

Therefore, the plantations of the Great Chu Empire in India are very civilized and moral, and they all pay attention to the freedom of coming and going. Anyway, where the work and wages are placed, you can do it if you want to, and leave at any time if you don’t want to.

The gentlemen of Chu State are civilized people, what you care about is your love and my willingness!
Just like this, countless local aborigines rushed to go... Although they are tired and hungry to work in the plantations or mining areas of Chu State, sooner or later they will be exhausted.

But it's better than starving to death now!
(End of this chapter)