Chapter 641 Apprentice (Second update, please subscribe)
Life is different for everyone. For a newly-made plantation owner like Chen Erqiang, he is enjoying life while thinking about making as much money as possible.
The colonies are full of possibilities, and everyone has the opportunity to succeed as long as they are willing. In fact, this is exactly what attracts them to the colonies.
"In the colony, as long as we have been here for a year, we can apply for a loan from the bank."
In a small tavern in Xinyouzhou City, over a plate of braised beef, a plate of beef offal, a dish of peanuts and a dish of fennel beans, Ding Dashuan looked at the two friends in front of him and said.
"Although we can only earn 20 or 30 dollars a month here, this amount of money is just enough to live an ordinary life. We won't starve, but we won't be rich either. In the colonies, not only will the wages increase by a few dollars, but the most important thing is the loan after one year. Even if it is government land, you can apply first and get the money later."
What Ding Dashuan said were actually special preferential conditions offered by the colonies in order to attract Ming people - after working for a year, you can first apply to the government for a 1,500-acre piece of land, and then use the land as collateral to apply for a loan of 1,500 yuan from the bank. The rest is simple. With land and money, you can apply to the government for native laborers. The government will help coordinate 200 laborers and hire a few supervisors to reclaim the rainforest and build plantations. As long as you can survive the first 3-4 years of oil palm fruiting, the penniless worker will become a plantation owner.
In fact, there was no need to support them at all, because banks were very happy to provide them with loans. After all, plantations were the most profitable business in the colonies. And it was also the government's responsibility to support Ming immigrants to get rich.
"But, Brother Ding, we don't even know where Africa is. If we just go there, what good can come of it? What if, when we get there, it's different from what we imagined? What should we do?"
Zhao Yujiang took a sip of wine and said with some uncertainty.
"At least everything is stable here."
"That's right, Brother Ding. We are just a group of ordinary people. We just want to live a peaceful life. We don't care about getting rich or not. Look, the factory has bought us some kind of pension insurance. When we retire at the age of 65, we can get a pension from the emperor. This is a promising life. I heard that there is no such thing in the colonies..."
Li Dongchun's agreement made Zhao Yujiang agree. It was a good life for Daming. Even if they were not married yet, they could work hard for another year or two and then marry a "contract maid". Then they could apply for a house, have children, and finally have a wife and children. What a comfortable life it would be.
Even if you get old and can no longer work, you still have a pension to live on when you are 65. If you don't want to live such a comfortable life and insist on going out to make a living, you are asking for trouble!
For the vast majority of ordinary people, their demands are not high. They just want to live a peaceful life and don’t care about things like getting rich, or even think about it.
"Why……"
The brothers' words left Ding Dashuan speechless. He drank a sip of "Victory Wine" gloomily, then poured a glass for each of them, and finally poured a glass for himself, and finally raised the glass and said.
"Everyone has their own aspirations, and no one can force them. If that's the case, then let it be."
After drinking a glass of wine, Ding Dashuan picked up the beef on the plate with chopsticks. The palm-sized piece of beef tasted very satisfying. In the past, when he was in the Qing Dynasty, he never thought that he could eat meat and drink wine every day. Logically speaking, people should be satisfied with such a life.
But Ding Dashuan wanted more, so he stopped talking about these topics and drank with them, chatting about things in the factory and his hometown. The next morning, when Zhao Yujiang, Li Dongchun and others arrived at the factory, they unexpectedly learned that Ding Dashuan had resigned last night.
"Ah, after all, I left..."
Thinking about not seeing him in the dormitory in the morning, the two couldn't help but sigh.
"What a pity. The peaceful life here has to go over there. If something happens, not only will I not get rich, I might even die."
Two days later, Ding Dashuan boarded a cargo ship bound for Madita. The ship was a cargo ship of the Central African Company. The ship brought palm oil, rubber, logs and other commodities from Madita, and then transported industrial products produced in Ming Dynasty back. Of course, immigrants would also take cargo ships to Madita, but not many people were willing to go to the colony from Ming Dynasty. After all, not many people were willing to give up their peaceful lives.
People are like this, most of the time they always choose comfort.
More than ten days later, after the ship entered the port of Madita, at the customs registration office, the customs officials took a special look at Ding Dashuan.
"Come from Xinyouzhou?"
"Yes."
The customs officer looked at him seriously and then said.
"Not many people are willing to come to the colony from China, but I can tell you that it is definitely a good idea for you to come here. Once you register, you will be able to go to the plantation in two days at most. First, learn how to run a plantation from others. In one or two years at most, you will have your own plantation. Don't worry, with the support of the government and the bank, are you afraid that you can't succeed?"
The information revealed by this simple sentence made Ding Dashuan nod his head repeatedly.
"Hey, hey, thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. Don't worry, I will study hard when I get there."
"Where is your hometown?"
"My hometown is Shanxi. Where is your hometown, sir?"
"It's a bit far. I'm from Jiangsu, and Chen Erqiang's family is from Shanxi. I'll tell someone later and you can go to his place. We're both from the same hometown, so we can have someone to look after us."
In this way, Ding Dashuan came to Chen Erqiang's plantation. Once he arrived at the garden, although he knew nothing, he immediately became a supervisor according to the rules. Of course, his supervisor was different from ordinary supervisors.
"Dashuan, we are all family, so I have to make something clear. The most important thing for you to do while staying in my garden is to learn how to manage people. The work in the plantation is not difficult, but the most important thing is to manage people. It is a science to employ people, how to employ the laborers, how to employ the supervisors. As for the work of planting and oil pressing, when you have your own garden, you can take a few supervisors from me. The key is still to manage people..."
After some instructions, Chen Erqiang emphasized again.
"Don't be in a hurry to thank me. We are fellow villagers, but if I think you haven't learned well enough to leave the garden, I can't let you go out to work on your own, let alone for one year, even if it's three or five years, you will harm the bank's money, and the key is the reputation of Chen Erqiang. This is the rule. If you leave me, I have to take responsibility, understand!"
"I know, what the boss said makes sense. I am here as an apprentice. If I can't learn, I can't leave."
"Okay, as long as you understand, you can follow Zoten first. That guy is smart and has a good chance to be a foreman. When you go out in the future, you can take him with you... By the way,"
Before leaving, Chen Erqiang said again.
"Just watch more, learn more, and listen more. As for the rough and heavy work, let them do it. There's no need for us to work ourselves to death..."
(End of this chapter)
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