Wild North America 1846

Chapter 239 Fiery Paradise Island
The scene that took place on Paradise Island in full swing is the epitome of the rapid development of the Datang Kingdom over the past 10 years. The citizens of Datang, mainly Chinese immigrants, radiated great enthusiasm for construction under the favorable and relaxed development environment.

Everyone understands; they are working hard to create their own future happy life.

Pursuant to the Land Grant Act;
Any kingdom resident who moves to the sparsely populated north and southern inland provinces for reclamation can get a piece of land of 10 acres for free, and a piece of land of no more than 50 acres at a preferential price, which can be cultivated and grazing, and can be transferred after 8 years.

As an overseas territory of the Datang Kingdom, Paradise Island also implements the Land Grant Act. As long as the Chinese immigrants who arrive on the island can obtain the resident status of the Datang Kingdom, they can obtain no more than 60 acres of land per person, which is 300 acres.

The prerequisite is to work as a private worker for two years, without salary, only responsible for board and lodging, and work within one's ability according to the arrangement.

Finally, according to the performance, it is divided into four grades: excellent, good, medium, and poor. Immigrants with higher evaluations can give priority to selecting fields.

This kind of immigration policy has caused a great sensation in the land of China. Not to mention refugees, even landless farmers and landowners and hired farmers have all signed up to immigrate, and the number of people is hundreds of thousands.

The land has an unparalleled allure to the Qing people. Many wealthy small landlord families could not resist the temptation and immigrated to Paradise Island with their families.

The ferry ticket to Paradise Island is much cheaper. Datongcang starts at 26 taels of silver, and it takes 5 days and 5 nights to arrive in Xin'an from the southern provinces of China. Those who buy the ferry ticket at their own expense can be exempted from the two-year contract labor obligation.

Some landlord families have a large population, and it is common for more than ten or twenty family members to be relocated at one time, and even hundreds of family members migrate collectively.They have the ability to buy boat tickets, and when they arrive at Paradise Island, they can acquire up to thousands of acres of land (most of them are purchased at preferential prices, and a few reach tens of thousands of acres).

Such a huge temptation, even the landlord's family can't stop it.

The Tang Kingdom and the Qing Dynasty signed the "Wangxia Treaty" similar to the United States, also known as the "Sino-US Five-Port Trade Treaty". Deliberate interference must be respected and assisted.

He enjoys the same rights as the United Kingdom in terms of diplomacy and commerce, and enjoys consular jurisdiction, that is, citizens of the Tang Dynasty who violate the criminal law must be handed over to the embassy of the Tang Kingdom for disposal.

It is precisely because of the diplomatic treaties that most of the government officials in the coastal provinces dare not stay in trouble, and can only watch a large number of people outflow.

In fact

The large population outflow has also lightened the burden on the local government. The Guangdong and Guangxi regions have always had more people and less land. The same is true in the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian regions. Hundreds of clan fights are triggered every year due to land and water competition, and more than [-] casualties occur.

Huge population pressure is like a raging flood. Appropriate diversion can also help reduce the pressure on local governments. The most intuitive manifestation is that there are fewer refugees, fewer beggars in urban and rural areas, and the habit of drowning infants is no longer as common as it was in the early days. There are also fewer large-scale fighting in the room.

It's really hard to survive, let those young people go to North America, it's always a way to survive.

4/27

The first batch of immigrants from mainland China arrived in Donggang, Paradise Island (New Guinea Island). This group of immigrants traveled by sea for 10 days and 10 nights, which was twice as long as the Chinese who immigrated to New Xi'an.

This batch of immigrants totaled 1.63 people and arrived in 17 immigration ships and cargo ships. Their arrival made Donggang lively in an instant, and the progress of urban construction suddenly accelerated.

Dong Jie, as the director of the Donggang Construction Headquarters, had planned for this long ago. Under his confident command, he first assigned 2000 Chinese immigrants to the reclamation team, 500 people to the logging team, and 2200 people to the wasteland burning team. More than 3700 masonry craftsmen joined the construction team, and more than [-] women were assigned to the picking team, breeding team, and logistics team. The rest were able to see a doctor, burn bricks, weave, and cook. During the meal, when you can sing opera, you can sing opera for everyone, relax, and each has a division of labor.

It can be seen that changes are happening all the time with the naked eye, and the burning of wasteland continues. Due to the arrival of abundant labor force, the scorched forest after burning wasteland was quickly felled, and countless big tree roots were dug out and dragged away, and then walking tractors entered the field Clear the grounds.

Irrigation canals were built according to the lime line, tall waterwheels were built along the river, clear streams flowed into the fields along the irrigation canals, and green shoots sprouted from endless fields that had just been reclaimed.

More than three months later

When these farmlands harvest the first batch of grain and vegetables, it will mean that Donggang has the ability to develop itself. On this fertile land, the crops are grown three times a year, so there is no need to worry about not having enough food.

In the gentle hilly area of ​​thousands of square kilometers in Donggang, patches of woods were burned by fire, and then the procedure of felling big trees and reclaiming fertile land was repeated. Hardworking Chinese immigrants quickly changed the appearance of this place, making it another Jiangnan water rice. Town of.

In the construction of Donggang town
The deep-dug drainage canal is built with bricks and stones, covered with soil and compacted, then repeatedly rolled with lime and cinder, then paved with a layer of gravel and then a layer of coal ash, and finally paved with stone slabs to form a spacious and tidy road .

A large number of buildings have been erected on both sides of the road, and thousands of workers are building houses every day.

Since this area is located in a tropical and humid area, facing the sea and backing the mountains, the houses here are paved with red bricks, which are built to a height of one and a half feet, and then the houses are built with wooden squares.

The houses built in this way are moisture-proof and strong. Since the wood reserves of Paradise Island are almost endless, they are very willing to use materials when building wooden houses.

The logs that have been peeled off the bark are simply processed and then directly built. They are really strong and strong, and they are built at a faster speed.

In just over three months, there are thousands of houses with strong Chinese characteristics in Donggang, with overhanging eaves and numerous pavilions, initially presenting a port city with unique oriental characteristics and charm.

on the outskirts of the city

Hundreds of bridges have been built one after another. The first large reinforced concrete bridge across the Bishui River has shown its prototype. Four tall piers have been built to a height of more than 1 meters. In more than two months, it can be built to almost 10 The design height of m high.

By the time

With the large steel components transported thousands of miles from the Tang Kingdom in place, the first bridge across the Bishui River will show its majestic appearance and promote the rapid development of Donggang.

in Donggang Bay
The newly built reinforced concrete wharf and stone bank slope extend 4.2 kilometers long. The warehouses made of bricks and stones are built one after another on the wharf. Steam freighters from the Datang Kingdom and immigrant ships from China are parked on the wide wharf. , the town is full of bustling scenes.

late july
The waves of wheat are rolling outside Donggang City, and the first 10,000+ mu of wheat fields ushered in the harvest time. This is the most grand festival for the people of Donggang. Nearly 10 people in the city put down their work and poured into the wheat fields to harvest. The joy of harvest is reflected Brighten everyone's face.

From the end of July, Donggang will enter the rush harvest season for more than 7 consecutive days, starting from the harvest of more than 10 mu of farmland near the city and extending to the inland.

The subsequent sowing of the wheat fields has also entered the harvest time, so on the road leading from Donggang to the inland, at four o'clock every morning, the carriages full of laborers leave the city one after another, and go deep along the wide and flat road. The wagon team couldn't see the beginning and the end.

As long as they see a wheat field, the laborers on the carriage will jump off and rush into the wheat field with a sickle in hand to start harvesting.

The harvested grain is transported back by horse-drawn carriage, and the wagon team full of grain travels between the city and the countryside day and night. At noon, it brings lunch to the laborers. Let go all the way.

Tired people wiped the sweat from their foreheads, ate cakes and soup, chatted excitedly, and imagined a better life in the future.

This kind of fiery large-scale production scene happened in almost every field in Donggang City.

After more than 4 months of large-scale construction, Donggang City has undergone earth-shaking changes, and a prosperous city has appeared. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been developed from Donggang to the depths of the inland, connected by several spacious roads and countless small roads. together.

Irrigation canals criss-cross, and more than 100 large-scale irrigation waterwheels have been erected beside the Bishui River, forming a unique pastoral scenery.

The gentle and vast hilly area of ​​Donggang has been fully developed by more than one-third, but still retains a large area of ​​dense forest.

This is because there is an item in the land colonization policy of the Tang Kingdom;
In order to maintain the local water, soil and forest resources and maintain the coordinated development of the environment, no more than [-]% of the land should be reclaimed in any place. This is a rigid rule.

Lowland depressions, land next to mountains and water, land susceptible to mountain torrents, mudslides and other geological disasters, periodically flooded land, wetlands, swamps and land near lakes shall not be developed or reclaimed in principle.

On the developed land, a certain percentage of virgin forests and shrubs must be preserved to form a natural barrier against storms and rain disasters, which is more conducive to the cultivation of fertile land and high yields.

The burning team continued to advance inland, followed by the road construction team, followed by the walking tractor team and the logging team, forming a complete set of efficient wasteland development process.

The reserved forest green space is mainly controlled by the logging team. In the endless scorched forest, the logging team cuts down the big trees according to the blueprint plan to open up roads, so that the trees in the forest reserve area do not need to be felled.

It won't take long, as long as a few moist rains moisten, these forests that have been burned by the fire will be revived again, the scorched trees will sprout new shoots, and the thick forest ash will bring rich nutrition, so that countless Green grass thrives.

Don't worry about it, a few years later it will be a lush forest again, and there is no trace of being burned by the fire at all.

As for the farming area, you are welcome. The logging team cuts trees when they see the trees. Each logging team consists of 10 people, and they dig the roots while logging.

The daily ration of each group is two big trees (need to meet a certain diameter standard), and those that do not meet the diameter standard need to be felled and the roots must be dug out, but these labors are not included in the ration. There are many small trees, whichever group is unlucky, there is no way.

Basically, each logging team has a big tree in the morning and a big tree in the afternoon. Not only do they need to fall down, but also need to cut off the branches, saw them into large pieces of specified length, and dig out the roots. The workload is not small.

Especially the work of digging roots is really tiring.

Fortunately, there are many people and strong strength. A logging team of nearly 3000 people works together and can cut down more than 600 big trees in one day (not counting small trees below the standard). An excellent team can cut down 5 trees a day at most. trees, the average logging group is also 3 big trees.

Why are you all so motivated?
One reason is that excellent logging groups can have meat every day, which is one aspect of the reward, accounting for about 10%.

The second is the logging team with excellent performance. The comprehensive evaluation is likely to be excellent + or excellent, which means that during the two-year contract period, the overall evaluation is "excellent".

According to the evaluation rules, these outstanding people can give priority to choosing their own land, enlisting in the army, recruiting workers, being promoted, becoming village team leaders, militia squad leaders, recruiting police officers in villages and towns, winning honors such as model workers, and being promoted. Senior awards and more.

It is precisely because of a series of evaluation and incentive measures that the enthusiasm of nearly 10 laborers on Paradise Island has doubled, presenting a gratifying situation of chasing each other, which has greatly improved labor efficiency and pioneering achievements.

And this contains the hard work of Dong Jie and the Donggang Construction Headquarters. In this hopeful field, their ingenuity has been brought into full play.

The advanced experience of Donggang colonization has also been summed up and promoted in the first time, which has greatly benefited emerging towns including New Xi'an.

Dong Jie has not forgotten that he is the Minister of the Colonial Department, not just the commander-in-chief of the Donggang Construction Headquarters. Whether Donggang or New Xi'an, the construction achievements of these two emerging port towns all have a contribution that he cannot deny.

Among the nearly 10 immigrants in Donggang, there are more than 1.33 self-funded immigrants, accounting for nearly 15%.

These are some more economically powerful Chinese immigrants. After coming to Donggang, they can get a lot of land with preferential policies without having to fulfill the labor responsibility of two years of contract labor.

Correspondingly, these lands are all undeveloped virgin forests, and they need to open up wasteland, log, dig tree roots, level the land, build irrigation canals, and build houses.

Whether it is harvested grain, vegetables, or grazing cattle and sheep, they have to pay [-]% of land income tax every year, which is almost the only tax paid by farmers, ranchers and planters.

There is no room for slick taxation in the Tang Kingdom, and there is no room for bargaining. Those who dare to evade taxes and evade taxes will face the severe punishment of ruining their fortunes. This is the iron law.

Therefore, the entire Donggang, from the city to the countryside, is full of bustling scenes of working hard. Whether it is a contract worker or for one's own clan, there is almost no soil for lazy people to live here.

The dragon has nine sons, each of which is different.

Among so many Chinese immigrants, there are indeed some lazy people who bully the good and fear the evil, but after coming to Donggang, they were quickly educated to be human, and they curbed their bad habits.

Among the immigrants who entered Donggang, some private workers were lazy and oppressed good people. After they got the word "bad" in the evaluation, they were immediately transferred from various work teams and put into the "bad character team".

Everyone in the "Bad Character Team" has a capital "Bao" on their clothes, indicating that they are the worst part of the people, they are looked down upon by everyone, and they have no face.

The "bad character team" does not see meat all year round, and eats the worst leftovers, such as cabbage, potato skins, and expired and moldy wheat grains mixed with gravel. They can only survive starvation.

Besides
The "bad team" has to do the dirtiest and most tiring work, such as excavating manure, composting, digging ditches to clear mud, digging up mountains to fetch rocks, and then smashing them with hammers, etc., and the "bad" team has a whip in hand The vicious supervisor can torture them to death.

If you don't want to do it, you will be whipped to do it.

This is in stark contrast to the "Excellent" and other teams who have rice and white noodles, and have meat every day. Even a fool knows how to choose.

In this way

The atmosphere in the entire immigrant team quickly turned for the better, and the lazy people gritted their teeth and worked every day, gradually getting rid of laziness and inertia, and experiencing happiness from labor.

Those who oppress good people dare not show up again. Those people in the "bad" team are really living a miserable life.

In Donggang, there is no soil for doing evil at all.If you want to live a good life, you have to obey the rules obediently.

Objectively speaking
The experience of cultivating Paradise Island is not replicable, because the Tang Kingdom has invested a lot of money to allow penniless refugees and young people from poor families to immigrate, and the Royal Charity Federation has assumed most of the funds.

Correspondingly, these Chinese immigrants need to fulfill the obligation of two years of bonded labor, and use their labor to repay the immigration ticket and other expenses.

This includes two sets of clothes for each immigrant, pots and pans, daily necessities and bedding, and board and lodging expenses for the past two years. This part of the expenses is basically more than four months in the initial period. The food and vegetables produced in the later period are directed by Donggang. The same is true for the construction and real estate, which is owned by the kingdom and is free to use at the beginning, and can be purchased at a price later if needed.

In order to build these two towns, the Kingdom Charity Fund has invested more than 370 million yuan, only for immigration. Among the total 24 immigrants, 21.39 people immigrated to Paradise Island through the help of the Kingdom Charity Fund.

Calculated at the cost price, this part of the expenditure is more than 248 million yuan, coupled with a large amount of material input, can form the current bright development prospects.

It is clear

Such a large-scale investment cannot last for a long time. According to the plan of the Kingdom Charity Fund, the large-scale immigration will last for half a year until October.

It is estimated that by the end of October, the population of immigrants to Paradise Island will reach 10 to 47 people, mainly distributed in Donggang, New Xi'an and surrounding towns, forming a stable and sustainable agricultural and animal husbandry production capacity.

On this basis, develop fishery production capacity, establish canned food production and processing enterprises, develop sugar cane, forest fruit, tobacco, spices, pig raising, sheep raising and other industries to make up for the shortage of agricultural and animal husbandry production in the Tang Kingdom.

Initially build these two cities into agricultural and animal husbandry production bases, support the strong transit ports on the golden route of Central Pacific immigration, and lay a solid foundation for the next step of expanding immigration.

(End of this chapter)