Chapter 620 The Happy Life of the Workers (Fourth Update, Please Subscribe)

Just as the royal airship was heading towards the Ming Dynasty's Guinea Company, a clipper three-masted sailing ship was slowly sailing into the Xincheng Port.

"We're here, we're here..."

The deck of the ship was crowded with people. Most of them were wearing tattered robes, and many of them had shaved heads.

Japanese.

The Nishiyama Maru was a Japanese merchant ship. Although its captain was a British captain, it had already opened a route from Nagasaki to Europe as early as last year. In addition to a lot of ordinary cargo, its cabin also carried 712 Japanese "contract laborers".

Unlike the immigrants who went to Linhai, these Japanese laborers were mostly men, with only a few dozen female laborers. Of course, they came here to find a new life.

"Oh my, it really is a black country, there are black people everywhere!"

When the ship entered the port, Yamaguchi, standing on the side of the ship, sighed as he looked at the natives from the nearby villages.

"Look, those black people...are not wearing any clothes!"

“A lot of women are like that!”

"What a barbaric place..."

Although they shouted about barbarism, they soon began to discuss the figures of the native women with shining eyes.

Their dark and shiny skin glowed alluringly in the sun, making the men who had just arrived look at them with longing.

Soon these laborers boarded the ship, and when registering as usual, they had to enter their name, place of origin and other information.

“Another group of workers have arrived at the port!”

While the workers were registering, Xu Chenggong said to the Governor with a smile.

"The natives in the mining area are resisting fiercely. These laborers can be put to good use. Sir, look at these people..."

"As usual, we will select the samurai, give them Japanese swords, and add them to the sword-drawing team. As for the others, we will also add them to the search team."

With his eyes narrowed into slits, Wei Chenglin sneered.

"We will try to completely eliminate the resistance in the mining area this year. All the men will be sent to the railway and iron mine construction sites. As for the women, we will continue with the old practice!"

As the governor, Wei Chenglin was very depressed. There were only two African companies in the Ming Dynasty, one was the Central African Company and the other was the Guinea Company. There was almost no resistance from the Central African Company, but on his side, the resistance became more intense the further he went into the hinterland.

The resistance of the natives even affected the construction of railways and the development of iron mines. That large iron mine was a mineral that the Ming Dynasty urgently needed.

Therefore, these factors that affect the progress of the project must naturally be eliminated.

"In short, the railway must be built to the mining area this year, and the iron ore must be transported out this year..."

iron ore!

The Simandou Iron Mine, located inland, is the largest iron mine under the control of the Ming Dynasty. According to the calculations of geological experts, the reserves are as high as billions of tons, and it is a high-quality iron ore with an iron content of more than 60%. Such a high-quality iron ore is naturally of great importance to the Ming Dynasty, which is short of iron ore resources.

Otherwise, they would not have built a railway to the inland in the primitive jungle. In order to build that railway, the company recruited more than 100,000 local workers. It is not easy to build a railway in the tropical rainforest. Not to mention the local workers, more than half of the 7,000 Japanese workers died or were injured due to diseases such as malaria. It can be said that every step left a corpse.

Such a tragic death rate made Wei Chenglin dare not send Ming-American workers there at all. That was not sending people to work, it was clearly sending people to die.

The environment over there is too harsh. It is better to let outsiders develop it first before letting our people go there. The diseases and miasma in the tropical rainforest are really deadly.

Why use our own people to fill the cannon fodder when we have them?

"How's the progress at the railway construction site now? It will be completed this year!"

"It will definitely be completed, sir, don't worry. If not, we can recruit tens of thousands of laborers from the tribe!"

In response to the Governor's question, Xu Chenggong spoke confidently.

"As long as there are enough workers, we can definitely catch up with the deadline. After all, the days are long and the nights are short here, so working sixteen or seventeen hours a day will definitely be no problem!"

"That's good, that's good. The sooner the railway is built, the sooner the iron ore can be shipped out. The country is waiting for our iron ore!"

…

Deep in the rainforest, groups of dark-skinned laborers dumped cartloads of dirt on the roadbed. The railway roadbed slowly took shape. When the bulldozer had spread the dirt to a height of more than half a meter, a roaring steam roller began to roll the roadbed. The steam roller, dragging tall and large iron wheels, would rumble and roll the dirt flat and compact it. This was the unique "roller" of the Ming Dynasty. Although high-power gasoline engines had long been used, steam rollers were more effective on railway and highway construction sites - they were heavy and not picky about fuel. They could work on wood and water, unlike gasoline engines which required gasoline to be transported from behind.

Although there are two steam shovels digging the roadbed soil ahead, the construction site still relies more on people. More than 100,000 laborers conscripted from the tribes work day and night on the hundreds of kilometers of railway construction site. Despite the large number of people, their daily per capita quota is still very high. They must work hard from dawn to nightfall, otherwise it will be difficult to reach the quota. The diggers keep digging, the cart pushers keep pushing, and each group counts the number of carts.

“Hurry up…”

The supervisor, Matsuda, standing on the dirt slope, shouted in awkward Chinese, holding a cane in his hand. If a worker was a little slow, he would whip him immediately. As a supervisor, he wore a Ming-style short-sleeved shirt, shorts, and a straw hat. Although he was arrogant in front of the native workers, when he saw the Ming-American technicians passing by, he would bow deeply and respectfully, and speak respectfully.

"Hello, sir."

On the construction site, people are divided into different classes. There is no doubt that a Ming Dynasty person, even if he is just an ordinary craftsman, has a much higher status than a laborer or a Japanese supervisor.

However, Matsuda did not think there was anything wrong with this, and like all Japanese workers, he would actively maintain this hierarchy. After all, in this hierarchy, he, who was just an ordinary person in Japan, was also superior to them, and even the white people could not catch up with them.

Those who can benefit from this system will of course try their best to maintain the status quo.

After lunch, when the workers took a break, Matsuda smoked a cigarette and chatted with Nomura, a newly promoted foreman from another team. Although Nomura did not smoke, it did not stop them from chatting.

"Matsuda-kun, have you heard? Inoue is getting married."

"Married? Didn't he just get married?"

Matsuda was surprised.

"He married a local concubine for only 4 yuan. I can't believe that a rural man like Inoue would marry a concubine."

Nomura's envy made Matsuda sigh.

"This is all the blessing of the Ming Dynasty!"

Nomura nodded in agreement and said:

"That's true. It's very difficult for poor people like you and me in Japan to get married. But here, you can choose any native woman to marry. It's a pity that they are a little darker. It would be better if the daughters of those white people were older."

Those white children's skin is not that dark, and they look very beautiful. The only regret is that they are too young.

If they could wait a few more years, that would be fine. But they certainly can't wait that long. And the local women are not bad either.

"Haha, you wishful thinking. The daughters of those white people will definitely marry Ming people in the future. How could they be interested in us? You must work harder and strive to become a naturalized citizen as soon as possible. Only by becoming a naturalized citizen can you become a superior person like the Ming people!"

Nomura nodded in agreement with Matsuda's words:

"That's true. Being able to naturalize as a Ming citizen is indeed a blessing for us!"

Looking at the Ming people enjoying after-meal tea in a tent equipped with mosquito-proof nets in the distance, with native maids serving them on the side, it is really enviable that they still enjoy such a life even in such a rainforest construction site.

(End of this chapter)