Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 609 A New Market for Coolie Trade (First update, please subscribe)
Go back to my hometown and have a look!

Sitting on the reclining chair under the corridor, Li Laile held a pipe in his right hand, and beside him was a foreign servant with gray hair and white skin who stood by and waited on him.

In fact, I don’t know since when, Ming’s "contract maid" trade is no longer limited to Japan, not only has it spread from Japan to Annam, Siam, Malay, Java and other places, I don’t even know where it came from. Since then, it has spread to India, Persia, Kuwait and other places. Those so-called "contract maids" are actually slaves!

It's just a different name, and all the slaves are beautiful!There are fair-skinned Persian and Indian women, as well as dark-skinned, mature and plump women, as well as young loli-type women, all of whom are brought in from all over the country under the name of "contract female workers".

These maids not only serve the daily life of the masters, but also bear children for the masters.It was by relying on these "contract female workers" that the extremely disparate male-female ratio in Daming was reversed little by little.

Of course, Li Laile was not exempt. Not only did he buy "contract female workers", but he bought three or four of them. These female workers were said to be female workers, but they were actually his concubines.

As a man, he has achieved great success, and it is only natural to buy two concubines.

But for Li Laile, these foreign wives can only be concubines.Until now he has not taken the main house.

But at the moment, compared with women, what he needs more is "labor", who can work in the oil palm plantation. After all, the supply of palm oil in the market is in short supply.As long as the plantation can be expanded, a lot of money will definitely be made, not to mention the most important thing now is the cheap land.

In the Chenggong Islands, a thousand acres of woodland only cost a few tens of dollars.Although the land is cheap, the land is full of trees that need to be cultivated and cut down.This also means that a lot of labor is required.

Where can labor come from?Only by immigration!As for those savages captured from the rainforest... In fact, there are hundreds of them in his garden, but there are not many savages in this place.Relying on the savages that those people went into the forest to capture could not meet the needs of the plantation at all.

"It seems that we still have to figure out a way at home!"

Li Laile took a puff of cigarette,

go back home!

It is indeed time to go back and look, not only to go back and recruit some immigrants to work on their plantations.You can also take advantage of the opportunity of returning home to talk about a daughter-in-law.

Is it a homecoming when we go back now?

Looking at the foreign woman beside him, Li Laile had another thought in his heart—not to mention anything else, if he just brought this foreign woman back to his hometown, then it would be considered returning home, even if you Fang Juren became Officer, but since when has a foreign lady waited on you!

It's still in the days of Daming... Comfortable!

Then he told the maid.

"Xiang He, let's go back to my hometown with Master and I in a while!"

Just hurry to the end of the year and go back to your hometown for the next year!

By the way, recruit some more people.

When you are poor, you want to change, even when you are in a hurry. In fact, when Li Laile was thinking about returning to his hometown to show off, and hired some people from his hometown by the way, someone had already set his sights on the country.

However, it is not imported directly from China, but from Singapore. There are dozens of halls in Singapore. These so-called halls are "coolies".

Coolie is a traditional trade of "My Great Qing Dynasty". In the "Coolie Walk" in Singapore, hundreds of ragged men are sitting on the ground with numb expressions, waiting for mine owners and plantation owners from all over the world to "buy" them.

"Mr. Li, what is the price of your coolies here?"

Zhao Fu looked at the coolies in the yard.

"Mr. Zhao, you are right to come to us... Uh, the coolies here are all from Guangdong and Guangxi. It turns out that they have been begging for food in the mountains for generations. Regardless of how thin they are, everyone can endure hardship. At this price It is also fair, as long as 80 yuan of HSBC silver dollar certificates, you can sign an 8-year contract, and the 80 yuan can be deducted from their wages..."

In the coolie industry, Li Mingkuan, a Hongmen tycoon, is just like this businessman from the Chenggong Islands in Ming Dynasty who sells "coolies". He who originally only spoke Cantonese can now speak substandard Mandarin!

In fact, he has always wanted to sell these coolies to Daming, but there is no way.

It's not that after learning that Mr. Zhao came from the Success Islands, he immediately received this potential big client in person.

After all, he has always wanted to bring the coolie business to Daming.No, it's not coolies, it's immigrants, but the cost of immigration here is lower.

"How much do they pay in a month according to the contract? What about meals? How long do you work in a day, how many days do you need to rest in a month, and do you have any requirements for accommodation?"

As the owner of an oil palm plantation, Zhao Fu asked such detailed questions because he wanted to know if it was a good deal.If it is not cost-effective, there is no need to buy people from here at all.

"Eight yuan a month's salary. As for food, two and a half catties of sweet potatoes are enough a day. It would be great if you can eat a meal of bacon every now and then. As for rest, there is no such thing. But according to the rules, Every year from the [-]th of the twelfth lunar month to the [-]th day of the first lunar month, they do not work, but they have to pay wages. As for the place to live, this is very simple. Give them some axes, saws, etc., and let them cut some materials by themselves. A shed will be enough. There is no need for bedding, blankets or anything, just a mat. Anyway, our place is warm, and it doesn’t matter if it’s covered or not..."

Li Mingkuan's words made Zhao Fu dumbfounded!

It's not because it's high, it's because...it's cheap!

The wages are only eight yuan a month. As for the food... No, the government stipulates that workers must ensure that they eat three taels of fish and have one day off every week.

Daming.

It's always more humane than other places!
On the contrary, Zhao Fu was a little lucky. Looking at those coolies with numb expressions, he thought that when he got on the boat, he was similar to them. Fortunately, it was his turn to be a good owner. If he was like these people, he might have died in the boat. I don't know where.

"Mr. Zhao, this is my business card. Although I dare not say that the coolies here are the cheapest, they are definitely the best. If Mr. Zhao needs anything, you can directly ask me."

Seeing that Mr. Zhao seemed to be still hesitating, knowing that the other party might want to shop around, he hurriedly handed over his business card, and then specifically mentioned his own advantages.Where are the Success Islands?
He hasn't figured it out until now, but as long as he can catch this line, it will open a new door.

What is the most in the Qing Dynasty?
Of course, there are the most people who can't eat. Besides, how many years have you been killing me and you among the natives?There are a sea of ​​dead people, and I don’t know how many people want to go to Nanyang to seek a living, but they can’t find the way. There are not so many people here!
If you open the way to the Success Islands, you will get rich.It doesn't mean getting rich, saving a life is better than building a seven-level pagoda.If we transport those common people to Daming, isn't that just saving a life?

This is also a business of accumulating Yin virtue.

When he was thinking about it in his heart, Zhao Fu over there thought for a while, and then said as if he had made up his mind.

"Mr. Li, since you send coolies here from Tangshan, you must have money, so can you ship people to New Xiamen?"

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Li Mingkuan's face.

"There is a ship, there is a ship, of course there is a ship. To tell the truth, Mr. Zhao, I have an 800-ton ocean-going clipper ship in my museum, not to mention transporting it to the Success Islands, or sailing across the sea to Xinjinshan. , the same luck."

Xinjinshan is on the Australian side, and many of the gold diggers there are coolies, and many of them also pass through him.

"That's fine, as long as you can send people there, I want as many as you have."

For Zhao Fu, he doesn't care how much money a person has at all. After all, what he needs now is labor!This is the most important thing compared to others.

Now there is nothing the government can do, so they can only figure out a way by themselves.These coolies in Nanyang are the best choice.

Since these coolies can bring hundreds of thousands of people from Guangdong to Nanyang every year, they must also have a way to send people to the Success Islands.

Of course, it needs to be returned to the need, but the price still has to be paid back.After all, in business, earning more money is always the duty of a businessman.

Staring at Li Mingkuan, the big brother of Hongmen, Zhao Fu said with a smile,
"As you said, 60 yuan per person, as for the shipping fee to Xinxiamen..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Mingkuan laughed.

"Mr. Zhao, let's treat the first ship as a friendship, and the shipping fee will be waived. Let's talk about the second ship in detail. What do you think..."

Just as his voice fell, there were successive gunfires outside the courtyard.Seeing that Zhao Fu was taken aback, Li Mingkuan laughed.

"Is it the foreign devils setting off the cannons again? Foreigners have a lot of things to do, and the cannons are set off just like we set off firecrackers. Foreign warships set off cannons when they enter the port. The queen also sets off cannons on her birthday, even when someone dies! Who is dead again..."

(End of this chapter)