Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 829 News from Hongji Base Station
Hainan Island does not produce silk products-this is the favorite commodity of the Dutch.Skade thought, maybe we can also follow the example of the Dutch and engage in intermediate trade.Large-scale imports of silk and porcelain from the mainland were then sold to the Dutch.The Dutch have always suffered from Zheng Zhilong's strict blockade of coastal trade, because the price of silk products monopolized by Zheng Zhilong to the Dutch is very expensive, which cannot satisfy the Dutch desire to earn super huge profits.

What if we sell to the Dutch?Skade came up with the idea that as long as the price was slightly cheaper, the Dutch would come to Lingao to buy silk.Or let them go directly to Sanya Port for transactions.

Of course, considering that Daming itself has a very large demand for spices, it is also possible for the Dutch to ship spices to fill the shortage of Lingao's export materials.Since the Dutch monopolized the export of spices from the Moluccas with violence, the price of the spices sold has been very expensive.However, Zheng Zhilong and others are still willing to accept Dutch spices as trade goods, and obviously the profits from selling them to the mainland are still considerable.Can we also earn this profit!

Skade took a pencil and scribbled on the paper, thinking about how to force the Dutch to sign an unequal treaty, and how to make the content of the treaty as beneficial to himself as possible.The quarantine period is coming to an end tomorrow.

While he was struggling with his brain, the phone rang again: Someone reported that Hongji had sent a telegram.

"The commercial station in Hongji was attacked by bandits!" The voice on the phone said urgently.

"What?!" Skade yelled involuntarily, and the female secretary who was waiting for orders outside the door immediately opened the door and came in. Skade waved at her and let her go out, "What's going on? There are casualties No."

"The specific situation is not clear. The telegram said that the business station is safe and the bandits have been repelled." The native clerk in charge of exchanging information said nervously on the phone.

"Send the telegram up immediately. Hurry up!" Skaide is most worried about the safety of Hongji—you must know that the development of Hongji is what he strongly advocates.If something bad happened to Hongji, for example, Bei Kai was killed or captured by the monkeys, he, the Minister of Colonial Trade, would not be able to be re-elected in the future.At most, he has been the Chief Secretary of the Department of Colonization and Trade since then.

The telegram was delivered immediately by the clerk who was trotting all the way. Skade grabbed the note and saw that there were very few words on it.It was only a few words more than what the clerk dictated.

"This is a fart telegram! Didn't say anything clearly." Skaide went crazy, "Quick, send a telegram to ask about Hongji's specific situation, do you want reinforcements immediately?"

Skaide issued instructions like a cannonball, and then grabbed the phone: "Take the Navy Command!"

Bei Kai has spent nearly two months in Yalong Bay.

In these two months, it was the first time for him to truly be the master of the house, breaking away from the command of the direct leader - at first he was really not used to it, but after a long time, he became more and more into the role.

The first week is the hardest.He stayed in a dirt enclosure, surrounded by 30 sailors, a life secretary and 1 prisoners.The life secretary didn't get an account above C-level at first, so he thought it would be no problem to buy C-level, but when he went to "see the goods" slowly, he found out that the C-level had already been bought out, and even the D-level was left. Not much.Bei Kai also bought a decent one with the attitude that little is better than nothing.After all, the life secretaries have been specially trained, and they are more attractive than the female naturalized people who came out of the quarantine camp.

On this uninhabited beach, apart from 36 people, what can be seen is the barren mountains and mountains outside.Although the scenery of Yalong Bay is picturesque, in Bei Kai's eyes, it is equally hideous - more than once, he looked at a captured pirate fishing boat that Yan Maoda left for them before leaving, and reckoned that if something happened, He wondered whether the boat would safely take them to Haiyang—crossing the Beibu Gulf.

Zhennanhao originally said it would be back in three or four days, but it actually waited for a whole week.Zhang Dascar brought the Zhennan back to make Bei Kai feel at ease—this old pirate is very familiar with the situation in Vietnam, and he still has such a powerful ship in his hand, which is not enough for ordinary thieves and pirates. For fear.

Zhennan shipped a lot of rice and daily groceries from Haiyang, and also brought him more than 100 haggard farmers from Beiqi.These were all fleeing peasants who were persecuted by the Northern Dynasty's excessive expropriation and conscription. Yan Maoda recruited them all at a very low price.

These Beiqi farmers and five pirate captives became the first batch of miners in Hongji Coal Mine.Bei Kai now has enough food, tools and construction materials in the warehouse, and immediately started a large-scale construction project in Hongji.

Bakay organized another labor camp set up by the miners outside the bastion.The residence is a simple semi-underground shack.Another trench was dug outside as a simple defensive measure.

The miners immediately threw themselves into the excavation of Maoshi No. [-] Mine.Each worker digs with the tools given by Bei Kai, and the coal dug out is packed in baskets and transported to the seaside with a purple electric trolley, and piled up in the open space beside the pier waiting to be transported away.Although Yan Maoda did not instruct him to start digging coal immediately.However, Bei Kai believed that if the first ship from Lingao could go back without empty load, it would be of great benefit to improve his prestige in the Senate.

Bekay found that a miner could dig up 50 kilograms an hour with simple iron tools and move them to the yard with a pannier or cart.Even a miner works 10 hours a day.The coal production per person per day can reach half a ton.

Another week later, two transport ships from Dabo Shipping Company arrived at Hongji.In addition to bringing in more construction materials and tools, a hundred naturalized laborers were also brought in.These workers will be used as the core strength of Hongji.In addition to the basic laborers, there are also a small number of trained clerical workers, health workers and some skilled workers, including blacksmiths and carpenters.

With twice the number of workers, things get done faster.Workers built the wooden trestle out of prefab.The original earthen enclosure was also expanded—a second earthen embankment and trench were built around the earthen enclosure.The area occupied by the Xinde embankment has been greatly increased, forming a so-called "outer fort".The residences, administrative facilities and warehouses of naturalized migrant workers are located in the outer fort.Six 6-pound cannons were also unloaded from the ship, and the naturalized migrant workers were all equipped with the standard kit of the militia: helmets, standard spears and machetes, which greatly increased Beikai's sense of security.

The ship of Dabo Shipping carried more than 100 tons of anthracite coal on its return journey. Although the amount is small, it has great symbolic significance.Skade took this matter to brag at the Executive Committee meeting and the Senate.The news also appeared in the Lingao Times.After receiving the news, Bei Kai had both joy and sorrow: Now he has to "produce coal to serve the country" here.

With naturalized migrant workers and indigenous managers as the backbone, Bekay reorganized the work process.The naturalized migrant workers immediately set about building a small light railroad.It extends from the coal yard to Maoshi No. 3 mine pit.The ore bucket trucks transported from Lingao are running on it.The miners are now working in small groups, and the efficiency has been greatly improved: a team of three uses shovels to dig coal, and can quickly fill a 200kg bucket truck.And one person can quickly get this truck of coal to the storage yard.There are 3 bucket truckers and 3 shovelers.Based on a 10-hour work day, 7-8 tons of coal can be obtained.On average, about 200 people work in the mine, including naturalized migrant workers.The daily output of coal can reach more than 250 tons.This amount of coal is enough for Dabo Shipping to open a special line for coal transportation.The big ship Qionghai Coal finally did a real job and became a special ship for coal transportation.

The surge in coal transportation has made the loading and unloading of coal in Hongji a bottleneck again.Qionghai Coal soon shipped steam engines, boilers and bucket elevators.Then, in order to supply the workers with clean drinking water, large stationary water filters were brought in.

Then more naturalized migrant workers were sent in—the development of Hongji was like a snowball. After the scale expanded, the demand for manpower began to emerge from all aspects.People needed to build houses, build tracks, maintain machinery and equipment, load and unload goods, and even cook... By the end of February 1631, the number of workers in Hongji had expanded to 2.More than 600 of them were naturalized people, and the rest were recruited locally from Beiqi.Many people who could not bear the pressure of taxes and military service were sent here from the recruitment station in Haiyang, and some people came here by themselves after hearing the news.

The ever-increasing number of local miners and their families in Beiqi soon formed a simple settlement outside the outer fort.The settlement is protected by a moat and a bamboo fence with sharpened tops.Between the miners’ settlement and the outer fort, there is a side road paved with cinders and coal gangue. The cooperative beside the side road has opened a large canteen—in order to improve the efficiency of the workers and make full use of the labor force, it is obviously a waste of time to let them cook by themselves; Relatively high-end food and alcohol small restaurants, cooperative stores: various commodities are sold in them—the surge in the number of miners has attracted the commercial sector, and Li Mei went to Hongji in person to open a cooperative branch in Hongji according to the Nanbao model.In addition to selling various commodities, we also handle exchange business as an agent.The main purpose is to promote the use of circulating coupons.

In the other direction of Hongji Fort and the miners' settlement, there is another small settlement.There are specially recruited newcomers from the local area - this is Hongji's quarantine camp.Those living in the quarantine camps are given free meals, and their job is to build roads.To ensure that there is no contact with other miners.

(End of this chapter)