Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 470 Tropical Fertile Soil ([-])

Anda Fifteen walked in the mining area with his hands behind his back. Behind him were a dozen or so soldiers who came forward with rifles on their backs. These people were dressed in shabby clothes and had unshaven beards, but they looked as tough as ever. They looked like they had been beaten on the battlefield. Old fritters.

The mining area in front of me was in a circular shape, like a deep pit. Because it had just rained, the bottom of the pit was full of muddy water.More than a dozen old-fashioned animal-powered water pumps are struggling to pump out the stagnant water, but this is somewhat useless in rainy tropical areas, because as long as there is a heavy rain, the place will soon be filled with stagnant water.

There are hundreds of Malays working in this mine. They use simple tools (mainly iron brazing and shovels) to dig out pieces of hard coal, and then put them into baskets woven with rattan. It is transported by horse-drawn carriage on rails installed on the slope.Such work is hard and dangerous, but these Malays have no choice.They were either prisoners of war captured by the people on the east coast in previous battles, or they were slaves resold by the Eight Banners tribe on the island. In short, they were not free.

But the people on the east coast are kind. They announced to these people that as long as they have worked in Tacheng Coal Mine for five years without any illegal records, they will be free and some symbolic severance pay.However, according to Anda Fifteen, at least half of the people here would hardly survive to that day.Harsh environment, heavy work, crude food, and rampant chronic diseases (scurvy, edema, lung disease, etc.) are all eroding their health. Most of them won't live for a few years, this world is so cruel.

It is not that there are hired workers with free status in the mining area, and the proportion is quite large. Most of them come from the neighboring islands of the Eight Banners tribe and some small tribes that have not yet been naturalized.These savages took a fancy to the "high" employment fee of the people on the east coast: five cents a day and monthly salary. After they received their salary from the people on the east coast, they went to the market outside the city to buy some that were about to expire. cheap sweet potatoes or corn, and then take them home to subsidize the family rations.Some people with heavy family burdens even work here all year round, asking their fellow villagers to help them bring food back so that they can stay here to work more and earn more food.

The entire Tacheng Mining Bureau employs more than 500 such Malay workers. These workers are much more industrious than their close relatives in the East Indies. Work, humblely soaked in the muddy mines, exchanged his health and sweat for a little income.These people, together with 15 Malay slaves and 20 South African laborers, can produce thousands of tons of crude coal every day. The city coal mine produces [-] to [-] tons of crude coal annually without any pressure, which effectively guarantees the local coal demand for various industries, shipping, and private use.

"No. 2019, you don't come to work tomorrow, you are fired! Now you can get out!" A shout came from an open wooden room by the side of the mine, Anda Fifteen frowned, and looked forward .

I saw a Malay hired worker with a dark complexion and a short stature leaning hunched over the door. He seemed very tired and coughed violently from time to time. It was obvious that he had lung disease—a common occupational disease in mining areas.He was holding a list in his hand, with a bright red stamp on it, and Anda Fifteen knew the content of the stamp without looking: "dismissed due to illness".Tacheng Coal Mine never takes care of patients. Once this person loses his full workforce, he will be fired without hesitation.Unless he is a legal resident of the East Coast Republic, they are protected by some laws and regulations and enjoy some rights to some extent.But the fate of these Malay hired workers is very tragic. They will be swept out of the house immediately, and then driven out of the coal mine, and left to fend for themselves.

"Today...the 29th...give me my wages!" the Malay hired worker begged in his unproficient Chinese, and before he could finish speaking, he suddenly coughed violently again.He was coughing very painfully, and he seemed to have serious lung disease, and his entire face was completely distorted.

"Baga! You red deer, you still want money?! Get lost!" The male voice from before sounded again, with a hint of impatience in his voice.The two mine policemen who were sitting and chatting at the door also turned their gloomy eyes here. This Malay hired worker really doesn’t know what’s good and what’s wrong. Was it divided by several reservations?

"Salary...children at home...food." The Malay still stood there persistently, and continued to beg while coughing.It seems that his family is not lightly burdened, and he still counts on getting the salary of one yuan and fifty cents to go to the market to buy some corn or sweet potatoes to take home to support the family's rations.The civilization level of these Bezimisaraka tribes is very low, and they are still in the slash-and-burn stage. They spend most of the year trying to find food. After all, the barren land cannot support too many people.Even in the tropics, where food is relatively plentiful, not everyone can fill their stomachs.Therefore, working for people on the east coast in exchange for food seems to be a better way out-as long as you can keep healthy.

With a bang, a bag of dried sweet potatoes was thrown at the feet of the Malays. This was one of the only benefits for the dismissed workers, and it was the food they gnawed on the way back to their hometowns.The hunting dog at the foot of the mine policeman looked up at the bag of dried sweet potatoes, then closed his eyes and took a nap in disinterest. This kind of crude food was not in his eyes.

The Malay held the small bag of dried sweet potatoes tightly in his hand. Although there was a faint musty smell inside, he still refused to let go, because this kind of food was life-saving for him. tasty.However, he still seems unwilling to give up asking for his salary. He has been working here for 29 days, but he was fired in the end, and he was not even paid, which made him a little unacceptable.You know, the salary of one yuan and five cents can buy more than 100 catties of cheap corn, which is enough for his family to eat for a month.If you save some, add some leaves and wild vegetables, and then go to the forest to find some fungi and fruits, you can deal with it for almost two months.Therefore, he really didn't have the courage to give up the salary that should belong to him, because it meant everything to him.

A mine policeman touched the scabbard at his waist, and just when he was about to stand up and teach the ungrateful Malay laborer a lesson, he suddenly heard an angry shout of "Bastard!"The voice was so familiar that he immediately stood up in fear and stood upright, staring ahead, not daring to make any more movements.

Anda Fifteen walked into the wooden house surrounded by soldiers. The room was filled with a strange smell of foot odor, sweat and burnt tobacco. Anda Fifteen looked up at the somewhat frightened man. The Malay hired worker sighed softly.Then he touched his waist, but only found fifty cents, so he turned to the foreman who had just spoken and the two mine policemen, stretched out his hand, and said, "You three, take out fifty cents each, immediately!"

The three of them looked at each other, and reluctantly took out five cents of silver coins from their waists, and put them in Anda Fifteen's hands.Anda Fifteen weighed the four full five-cent silver coins, stuffed them into the tattered pocket of the Malay hired worker, and then turned around and cursed at the foreman: "Bastard! We people on the east coast value credibility. You are tarnishing the reputation of our Great East Bank! Now that the domestic industry and agriculture are developing rapidly, the demand for high-quality coal is so strong. Next, our Tacheng Coal Mine will probably continue to expand production and will need more employment Workers. If you treat resigned employees so harshly, they will have a very unfavorable evaluation in their tribe, which may hinder our recruitment of workers. Bingtaro, what you did this time is really too much, punish You are not allowed to have dinner today, and reflect on it immediately after you go back."

"Yes, I understand!" Foreman Heitaro bowed his head to accept the reprimand, and two French mine policemen also stood aside embarrassedly, not knowing what to say in embarrassment.But Anda Fifteen didn't intend to let the two of them go. They were fined to work overtime until 12 o'clock tonight, and to inspect the entire mining area at least twice.

After reprimanding several managers who had withheld their salaries, Anda Fifteen, surrounded by soldiers, inspected several other mine pits, instructing them to do a good job of rain prevention and drainage, and at the same time ensure production.After finishing here, he took people to several newly built factories nearby: honeycomb coal factory, coal washing factory, brick kiln factory (coal washing coal ash, pulverized coal to make bricks).These factories have been built successively in the last two years to make full use of the abundant local coal resources.

However, although the factories have opened, the number of workers is seriously insufficient. The three factories still lack hundreds of workers in total, which seriously restricts their development.But this can’t be helped. Tacheng Port is still a military area under the direct control of the Madagascar Pioneering Team. East Asians of the 200st Squadron.It is not easy for such a small population to support piers, forts, towns, and farmland. There is no surplus population to invest in coal mines and factories. Therefore, it seems that large-scale use of slaves or low-cost employment of Malays from nearby tribes It is very necessary.

And this is also the reason why Anda Fifteen got angry with these people.More and more projects have been approved from above, and the output required is also increasing, but the promised new immigrants have repeatedly failed to be fulfilled, which makes Anda Fifteen very disappointed and at the same time the pressure has increased sharply.To support these factories and coal mines, we have to rely on these ignorant and backward Malays for the time being.

(End of this chapter)