Chapter 149: It’s better to come to Nanhua than to go to Guandong (first update, please subscribe)
Sailing conditions in this era were terrible, let alone such a crowded immigrant ship.
In order to maximize the transportation potential of merchant ships, the "multi-layer bed" designed by Zhu Xianhai has an extremely narrow space, 55 cm wide, 1.9 meters long, and 60 cm high, which is about the same size as the sailors' beds on many warships during World War II.
However, medical conditions in this era are limited.
Besides, they had to spend at least two and a half months' journey in such a crowded and dim environment. Fortunately, he had considered the ventilation problem from the beginning - using iron pipes or a large number of bamboo pipes as ventilation pipes to ensure ventilation between the cargo holds.
Otherwise, after two months, countless people would have suffocated to death.
But even so, on every voyage, about 10% of the people died forever under the waves of the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean.
This was our own merchant fleet, and the passengers on board could eat two meals a day and drink one liter of water. If it were a foreign Chinese labor ship, the conditions would be even worse. During the long sea voyage, the climate was extremely hot, and hundreds of coolies were locked in the bottom cabin, with extremely poor living conditions. The death rate at sea on the coolie ship to Cuba was as high as 45%. That was truly a "floating hell on the sea."
Because it is their own fleet, the transportation mortality rate is reduced. After all, the income of the captain and crew is linked to the immigrant mortality rate. If nothing unexpected happens, every six months, Nanhua's merchant fleet will bring about 30,000 Chinese immigrants to Nanhua.
The living are lucky. They arrived in Nanhua smoothly and started their new life in this paradise far away from China and the war.
"Alas, there is nothing we can do about it. This is the only way we can do it now!"
While sighing, Zhu Xianhai pointed at the "Great Eastern" and said.
"But everything will change when the Great Eastern arrives. You see, when the Great Eastern comes, its speed will be as high as 14 knots. With its steam power, it will no longer need to grab the wind like a clipper ship. By then, the journey time can be shortened to about 40 days."
Zhu Xianhai was well aware of these numbers. After all, he was full of expectations for this ship. After all, with it, the immigration speed of Nanhua would be completely changed.
"Just one ship like the Great Eastern can bring 100,000 immigrants to South China every year. Add to that the 11 current immigration ships, and at least 160,000 immigrants can be brought in every year.
It is now 1862. Even if the transport capacity does not increase, the number of immigrants introduced by Nanhua from Huaxia will be conservatively estimated to be no less than 1.6 million in ten years. Adding the newly born population, the Chinese population in Nanhua will exceed 3 million in ten years! This is still a conservative estimate!"
This is indeed a conservative estimate. After all, in the next ten years, Nanhua will put more immigrant ships on the ocean routes, and they will all be steamships. If the "Great Eastern" is successful, Zhu Xianhai will consider ordering several large steamships from the UK, the kind with a capacity of 10,000 tons.
Until then, the pace of immigration will only accelerate.
3 million!
But these are just conservative numbers!
"Three million! That's a lot!"
For a moment, Sun Muli didn't even know what to say, but seeing his lord's excitement, he couldn't hide his excitement in his heart.
Three million!
This will also be the territory of a country in the future. He is the first prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture. If everything goes well, won't he be a first-rank official and a central government official in the future?
People have different pursuits.
For Zhu Xianhai, after learning the lesson of the sparse population in the simulator, he had only one thing in mind - to increase the Chinese immigrant population in Nanhua as much as possible.
This is about Nanhua’s survival!
"But, my lord, this ship is so big. When he arrives in the Qing Dynasty, where will the ship stop?"
This seemingly casual question made Zhu Xianhai dumbfounded. Yes!
How many ports in the world can accommodate the Great Eastern these days?
Fortunately, Nanhua Bay is deep and wide, and can accommodate it.
"Don't worry about that. China is so big, why worry about not having a place to park?"
After thinking about it, Zhu Xianhai said.
"In the future, when it arrives in China, it can first be anchored in the bay, and then people can be transported aboard by small boats. Well, it doesn't have to be in Hangzhou Bay. It can sail to Shandong and then sail along the coast from Shandong. People along the coast can then use small boats to send immigrants aboard. In this way..."
Suddenly, Zhu Xianhai's eyes lit up and a word emerged in his mind - immigration mother ship.
Just like the "fishing mother ship" in another world - a larger ship as a mother ship leads a fleet of several fishing boats, engaged in the industry of ocean fishing production, transportation and marketing. The mother ship collects the catch and transports it, provides supplies to the fishing boats, while the small fishing boats catch fish in the deep sea.
"Yes, yes, that's right, that's it!"
Zhu Xianhai walked to the map with some excitement, then pointed at the map and said.
"Nanlin, aren't you from Shandong? Don't Shandong people like to make a living in Guandong? Shandong must have a large population and little land. We can send people to Shandong to recruit people, and then hire small boats to send the recruited people to the "mother ship". The mother ship will be parked in the deep sea. In this way, even if the Qing Dynasty wants to ban it, they can't stop it!"
That’s right!
Zhu Xianhai clapped his hands vigorously, stared at the map and said.
"We can put one ship in Bohai Bay, one in the Yellow Sea between Shandong and Jiangsu, and one in Hangzhou Bay. If we have more than a dozen large ships, we can transport at least hundreds of thousands of people a year! As long as we send enough people to these places to recruit people, we can bring people to Nanhua continuously. By then, let alone millions of people, even tens of millions of people are not impossible!"
Looking at his excited lord, Sun Muli couldn't help feeling a little confused. He first glanced at the map, then at his host. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart, why is this happening?
He knew without thinking how those people would recruit people. It must be fraud! In a word, they must have used all means to trick people onto the ship. Once they were on the ship, they would be helpless!
"Boss, then...are they willing to come?"
After thinking about it, Sun Muli still wanted to say a word for his fellow townsmen.
"After all, this is not Kanto!"
Zhu Xianhai, in a good mood, smiled.
"So what if it's not Guandong? Forced by life, they left their hometowns. They went to Guandong, and they came to Nanhua! Who said that they can live a good life in Guandong? Going to Guandong? Life over there is definitely not as good as ours. Ours is just a little far away, but life is definitely better than Guandong!"
I have set up a book club: 335260551. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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