The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 93 Desires
"Gentlemen, I have truly told you everything I know, without hiding anything."

Captain Fénelon Albert was politely invited into a separate room by two policemen, then locked the door and left, ignoring his pleadings.

"Oh, God, you can't treat me like this! I am a subject of the Kingdom of France and a friendly businessman of your country. ... I have not committed any crime except charging high-priced ship tickets from those Jews. You are restricting me like this. It is extremely barbaric and rude to let an innocent foreign businessman go free!... I will report this matter to our king, and I will also launch the most severe accusation against your superiors!..."

After Captain Albert was intercepted by several policemen, he was taken to the police station and then subjected to a rigorous interrogation. From his purpose of going to Hanzhou to his itinerary of several days after arriving in Guizhou, he was even questioned about He was cross-examined in detail about the list of goods he purchased and the amount he spent.Finally, he took the trouble to ask those Jews what they wanted to do to find him, as well as the identities and backgrounds of those people.

These police officers intercepted and detained him very purposefully. They were obviously monitoring and tracking him, and they might even have some very unfavorable evidence against him.

Captain Albert, in order to avoid getting into trouble, told everything he knew very freely.How those few Jews offended a prominent nobleman of Qi in Hanzhou, how they were persecuted by him, and how they came to Guizhou and planned to escape to the European continent on their merchant ship.

As for the identities of those Jews, Captain Albert didn't really know. At that time, he was only thinking about how to squeeze more money from them.

To be honest, Captain Albert didn't care much about their identities when he agreed to take the Jews on their merchant ship. He just wanted to carry an extra batch of special "cargo."He even planned to rob them with the crew in the depths of the sea, kill them and throw their bodies at sea.

In the vast ocean, killing a few stranger passengers without anyone noticing would not cause any trouble.Moreover, this move can not only rob them of their belongings, allowing themselves and the crew to make a small unexpected fortune, but also save a lot of fresh water and food on the ship. It can be said that it kills multiple birds with one stone.

Of course, this kind of crime that only exists in thoughts and has not yet been implemented must not be confided to the police of Qi State.After all, we are gentlemen from the civilized world, not pirates who commit murder and swindle goods.

When Captain Albert was questioned, he answered the questions carefully while constantly thinking about whether he had inadvertently committed any serious crime after arriving in Hanzhou, which led to the questioning of the Qi police. Inquire.

As the interrogation continued to deepen, he gradually came to realize that these policemen were mostly targeting those Jews and seemed to suspect that they had committed some serious crime in Qi.Otherwise, I wouldn't be holding a lot of gold yuan coupons in my hand, and I can't wait to exchange them all into gold and silver currency, and I don't want to wait too much time.What makes people even more suspicious is why they were eager to leave Hanzhou by boat, and they did not dare to take a specially manned liner transport ship, so they specially selected a European cargo ship.

"Damn Jews!" Captain Albert slammed his hands on the closed door and cursed.

Oh, God, I hope the people of Qi can quickly find out the ins and outs of the whole incident and don't let themselves get involved.
-
"Mr. Sassoon, those people are indeed watching us." After entering the room, Redona Bevin said solemnly: "And, it is certain that they are military police spies from Qi. ...It was the French captain who reported Killed us?"

"No, he didn't report us." Victor Sassoon shook his head and said: "Perhaps we exchanged large amounts of gold and silver currency in several banks, which attracted the attention of the local police. They are just doubting us at the moment. identity, otherwise, they will just rush in and arrest us all.”

"Then what should we do now?" Redona Bevin was confused and panicked for a moment.

"When you were at the dock just now, did you see the whalers preparing to leave the harbor?" Victor Sassoon asked softly.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Sassoon. I wasn't paying attention..."

"Those whaling ships should have completed their supplies, and their crews are hanging the drying sails on the masts. They may set off soon. Therefore, we now need to find a way to board one of the whaling ships and follow them Let’s get out of here together.”

"But, there are people watching us outside..."

"So, I hope someone can sacrifice themselves and bravely rush out to lure away those who are watching us."

"Mr. Sassoon, what do you mean..."

"Dear Redona, once I arrive in Europe, I will definitely bring a message to Baghdad as quickly as possible to ask my family to move to England. At that time, I will specifically ask them to send your wife and several children to England. Take them together too. I swear that I will definitely treat them as my family in the future, let your children grow up happily and safely, and ensure that they achieve something."

"..." Upon hearing this, Redona Bevin immediately widened his eyes and looked at Victor Sassoon in disbelief. After a while, he sat slumped on a chair, biting his lips in pain. He nodded.

"Thank you, Redona!" Victor Sassoon stepped forward and gently hugged Redona Bevan, "The Lord bless you, my dear brother!"

"Mr. Sassoon, when you see my wife and children, please tell them that I love them very much." Redona Bevin had tears in his eyes.

"I will." Victor Sassoon nodded and said solemnly: "I swear, if anything happens to you, on behalf of the Sassoon family, I will make every effort to avenge you. ... The Holy Lord is your witness!"

------

"Why are there so many young and middle-aged men in Guizhou City, and all of them are wandering the streets with nothing to do?"

After leaving the train platform, a group of five people from the Daxing Branch of the Gendarmerie Intelligence Office immediately summoned a carriage and instructed the driver to drive to the Guizhou Gendarmerie Headquarters, preparing to ask for help from local colleagues and mobilize all their energy to search. Find out whether the Yi people who committed the crime are still stranded in Guizhou City.The carriage was driving quickly on the street. Through the windows on both sides, the guests from Daxing noticed that there were many young and middle-aged men on the street. Some were drunk and staggering on the roadside, or they were shouting and shouting excitedly in twos and threes. There were words like "making a fortune" and "gold digging".In addition to doubts, Gong Qibin, deputy station chief of the Daxing Branch of the Gendarmerie Intelligence Division and Colonel Xuanjie (Major), asked the coachman curiously.

"Oh, those people!" The coachman glanced at the young and strong men on the roadside with his peripheral vision, and his face instantly showed an excited expression. "They are all gold diggers from all over the country, preparing to take a passenger liner to Qianzhou ( Today in South Africa), I heard that the mineral veins there are very vast, with a radius of no less than hundreds of kilometers. You can dig out gold by just digging in the soil. Darling, I thought that more than 20 years ago, our gold mines in Guizhou There are enough mines. Unexpectedly, compared with Qianzhou, it is simply incomparable."

"Gold mine is the most important strategic material of the empire. How can it be allowed to be mined by private parties?" Gong Qibin asked curiously: "Is it true that the Governor-General of Qianzhou cannot control the entire mineral vein?"

"Oh, sir!" the coachman said with a smile: "Didn't I just say it? The gold mine discovered in the Xingshan area of ​​Qianzhou (now Johannesburg) stretches for hundreds of miles and is so wide. The reserves are so abundant that it is definitely the largest gold mine in our country, oh, no, it may also be the largest gold mine in the world. How many troops can be stationed in Qianzhou? I estimate that there is no way to guard it! I heard that there is The gold mine also attracted many barbarians from Europe. As soon as they got off the boat, they exchanged all the money they had for a few horses and ran towards Xingshan like crazy. Damn it, so much gold, We can’t take advantage of those stupid European barbarians in vain!”

"Haha... Then why don't you rush to Qianzhou and instead drive a carriage here to transport people?"

"I would like to go, but which of my parents will take care of me?" the coachman said in frustration: "However, my two brothers sold some valuable things at home and met with more than a dozen friends, and we made arrangements more than a month ago. I bought a boat ticket and went to Qianzhou. God bless me, I hope my two brothers will make a fortune and have great luck, and try to dig out more than ten or twenty kilograms of gold. Hey, that will make you rich all at once. Got it!"

"According to what you say, then aren't all the people in Guizhou running away?... Who will do the work in the factories and the crops in the fields?"

"Just the three melons and two dates in the factory, and the few grains of wheat harvested in the fields, how can they be as valuable as the gold dug out of the soil?" The coachman said with a meaningless look: "If there is no one, the worst is to drive to Annan. , Qin State, or Japan and North Korea are recruiting immigrants! Those new immigrants can be given to a few big men and they will work harder than animals! "

Gong Qibin couldn't help but shook his head after hearing this.

Sure enough, gold enchants the eyes, and wealth touches the hearts!

When these people heard that there was gold everywhere in Guizhou, how could they still think about working in factories or farming in the fields.Looking at Guizhou, I am afraid that the entire southwest region will lose a lot of population in a short period of time.

The western region, including Kunzhou Province, accounts for almost a quarter of the mainland of Hanzhou (the former Kimberley Plateau region of Western Australia was included in Beiling Province), but its total population is only more than 300 million, which is less than that of the entire country. 11% of the total population, so only two provinces were divided.

West Desert Province, with Linhai (now Port Hedland, Australia) as its capital, like Beiling Province, is vast and sparsely populated, with a population of less than 30. It is mainly engaged in mining and animal husbandry.

Therefore, most of the population in the western region is concentrated in Kunzhou Province, which has fertile land and a pleasant climate.However, it is located in a remote area and is at the end of the immigration route. For a long time, the population growth was far lower than that of other areas in Hanzhou.

Fortunately, more than 30 years ago, several gold mines with rich reserves were discovered in Kunzhou, which triggered a wave of immigration. Countless gold prospectors with dreams of getting rich flocked there, causing a sudden and explosive growth in the population of the area.

But as time goes by, almost all important gold mines in Kunzhou area are controlled by the government, and the gold exposed on the ground in the peripheral poor ore areas has basically been mined. If the mines are to be dug, further to the surface Mining at depth cannot be done with just a few shovels and pickaxes.

Therefore, those gold diggers who made a fortune, with huge sums of money in their pockets, left the gold mining areas one after another, either returning to their hometowns in glory, or nearby Guizhou, Linjiang (now the small town of Fremantle south of Perth, Australia, Swan River At the mouth of the sea), Guangxin (now Bunbury, Australia) and other cities built mansions and named maids, and lived a luxurious and wealthy life.

Most of those frustrated gold diggers stayed in Kunzhou. They either entered manufacturing factories and trading companies in the city and worked honestly to make money, or they came to local counties, towns and villages to apply for a loan from the local government for agricultural supplies. and land, returning to a peaceful rural life.

Later, Qi State began to increase the development and construction of colonial territories such as South Africa, Mozambique, and Hailing Island (today's Madagascar Island). Kunzhou Province, located in the southwest, relied on its convenient geographical location to expand entrepot trade. Prosperous.Countless amounts of hot money continue to pour into this area, which has greatly promoted the development of the local economy and improved local people's livelihood.

The southwest region of Kunzhou Province has sufficient sunshine and precipitation, as well as suitable temperature, soil and climate, providing the most superior conditions for the growth of wheat. Therefore, it is also the main wheat producing area in Qi, contributing to the national wheat output. Nearly [-]% of it is a proper granary of Qi State.

However, in the past 20 years, due to the impact of a large amount of cheap rice on tropical islands such as Weiyuan (New Guinea), Xuanhua (Timor), and Kaihua (now Java), the overall price of domestic food has been hovering at a low level, making the The profits of the majority of wheat farmers in Kunzhou Province are far lower than before, which has greatly dampened the enthusiasm of farmers.

Many young people have left the countryside, or entered the city, to find jobs in factories and trading companies that are much higher than the income of farmers, or directly boarded ocean-going merchant ships and came to Qianzhou, Mozambique, and Hailing Island to strive for a century of wealth.

Yes, Kunzhou Province, which originally lacks sources of immigrants, is also the largest immigrant exporter in Qianzhou.It is conservatively estimated that the number of immigrants sent from Kunzhou to Qianzhou every year is about [-] to [-].

This situation has always troubled local governments.Think about it, in one year, the population of a county has been wiped out, and the Qianzhou Governor-General has benefited in vain.

Nowadays, huge gold mines have been discovered in Qianzhou, attracting countless gold prospectors from all over the country, all hoping to get rich overnight.So, the Kunzhou area, which has always maintained close exchanges of people and materials with Qianzhou, and has regular liner transportation, wouldn't it be possible that more locals would catch wind of this, leave their jobs, and flock to Qianzhou without hesitation? .

Under this situation, Kunzhou will inevitably lose a large number of people, and it may also have a considerable impact on its local economy.

"Oh, why am I, a small officer in the Intelligence Department, worrying about such a big thing? I just hope that I can be lucky enough to capture those barbarians who committed the crime. In this way, I, the Military Police Intelligence Department, can be in front of His Majesty. Show your face and get more favor and attention!”

(End of this chapter)