Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1434 Baoding Area ([-])

On March 1666, 3, Shao Yaoguang returned to Dingjun County in a carriage and lived in the district administrative office's own apartment.

The newly established Baoding area has no commissioner for the time being, and Shao, who is the executive deputy commissioner, is actually the de facto leader of the whole region, so he still likes to live in the district administrative office, and usually works here, so that Dingjun When county cadres or businessmen want to find him, they often don't go to the county government, but go directly to the district administrative office to ask for instructions.

"Two-thirds of the construction of the underground canal renovation project in Dingjun Town has been completed. Mayor Shao, should the project funds for the second phase be released? You know, our Valentino company has increased its investment from Naples, Sicily recruits laborers, and the financial pressure is very high. Please approve it quickly so that I can go to the Finance Bureau to get the money. My company is almost out of business..." Working in the labor market on the east coast for many years, Valentino, who could be called the oldest, sat across from Shao Yaoguang, crying pitifully.

This fellow has now also joined the nationality of the East Coast Republic of China, and has changed his name to Batino. He is also very good at Chinese. He is very familiar with many officials of the Ministry of Construction and has done a lot of business.At present, following the example of Goshkin, Batino has set up a company that specializes in infrastructure construction projects, such as the current sewage river reconstruction project that started in 1663.

The main reason why this project has not been fully completed after three years is that Dingjun Town and even the county government have no money, and the content of the construction project has been changed again and again, from the original sewage river to an underground culvert. It has become the renovation of the entire county's water and sewage facilities, and the total investment in the project has soared from 5000 yuan at the beginning to more than [-] yuan, which is really scary!And this is the cost when the Dingjun Town government continues to enlist the residents to serve labor, otherwise it may be even higher, which also shows the difficulty of the old city renovation project, otherwise why do you think there are so many in the country now? Is the old city waiting in line for renovation?It is really too much financial pressure!

When Shao Yaoguang was in charge of Baode County, he also engaged in such municipal construction projects. At that time, it was to improve the sanitation and environment of three industrial towns in the south of the county. For this reason, he temporarily levied environmental taxes on various enterprises there. And mobilized a large number of laborers to do hard labor, which was barely completed when I left office (the total cost of the project was 6 yuan, half of which was allocated by the central government), so I am very clear about these municipal projects and know the difficulties involved.

The project in Dingjun County cost more than 7.5 yuan, and there was no appropriation from the superiors. Everything had to be self-raised. Therefore, it is understandable that the project is progressing so slowly. The money is not enough!Fortunately, after the reform of the central tax-sharing system, about 40% of the land sales income (mainly from the cost of farmers buying farmland) was allocated to local finances. As a result, many counties have a lot of money, and Dingjun County is no exception.

Therefore, this time Batino came to demand more than 2 yuan of construction funds. Shao Yaoguang, who knew that there was still a lot of money in the Northwest Reclamation Bank account, did not intend to default on him. He put down the quill pen in his hand and looked at Baba Tino, the human trafficker, said with a smile: "Boss Ba, I should give you the money. I'll approve it in a while. You can apply to the Finance Bureau. After all, this project is beneficial to the country and the people. You are willing to advance part of the funds to start construction." , our county government should accept your favor. Well, it just so happens that the county’s finances are a little better now, so the project funds can’t be in arrears, thank you, Boss Ba, you have made contributions to the people on the east coast, and I hope you can do it in the future Continue to share concerns for the country."

Batino was naturally very grateful when he heard the words, so after a lot of "nonsense", he walked out of Shao Yaoguang's office with a smile on his face, and headed towards the County Finance Bureau.After Batino left, Shao Yaoguang seemed to have thought of something, so he also put down his work, called his secretary and guards, and took a carriage to stroll around the street.

There are really more and more non-national laborers on the streets of Dingjun Town!This is the first intuitive impression Shao Yaoguang observed from the car window.Among them, people from Batino Company and Mendes Company accounted for the vast majority. Even compared with Batino Company, which has a large project at hand, the number of laborers under Mendes Company, which has recently begun to recruit Irish people in large numbers There are more, as you can see from the Irish people all over the street.

Although Ireland has had many disasters and disasters in the past few decades (repeatedly beaten by the English), it is miraculous that the population of this country has not dropped too much, and even in some periods of long intervals of peace, other There will be no small increase in the population.The National Intelligence Service explained that this may be due to the early marriage and unrestrained birth of the Irish, which has created a soaring population and widespread poverty in Ireland, which is obviously why the Mendes Company was able to recruit a large number of Irish people. The most important reason for becoming a migrant worker.

"Many cadres in the county joked that our city already has an Irish 'colonial area'..." Seeing Shao Yaoguang's eyes on the Irishmen who were sweating and working on both sides of the street, his young The secretary immediately said softly: "The population of the 'colonial area' changes greatly. During the pasture or grain harvest season, many villages lacking agricultural machinery will hire them to work. At this time, the Irish in the county town flock out; And during the slack season, these people flocked back from the countryside to find work on construction sites in urban areas to make sure they would not starve to death."

Shao Yaoguang's secretary was actually right.In today's Eastern Republic of China, more and more "lowly" jobs such as masons, porters, coal pickers, bearers, and mikes are taken over by the Irish. Among them, the broker group of Mendes Company seems to be played a great role.According to the description in the County Public Security Bureau document: "Mendez's small brokers always hire poor Irishmen at ridiculously low wages, and then pay them what real employers pay them. The difference between the wages of laborers is collected into their own wallets. During the harvest season of grain or pasture, more than a thousand Irish laborers flock to the countryside to find work to fill their hungry stomachs. Rotten, rude and disrespectful, looks like a mass invasion of barbarians..."

But there is no doubt that the willingness and low wages of the Irish have also attracted the attention of employers. According to some data, in many villages in Baode County and Dingjun County, Irish laborers have almost "relatively Lazy Neapolitans are driven out of the market."In addition to unskilled work such as harvesting, other tasks such as logging, swamp drainage, river pond dredging, ditches digging, and gravel and sand removal have gradually been monopolized by Irish laborers. People were defeated by them and had to rely on some big infrastructure projects to maintain their jobs.

The Irish are so capable that more and more employers like to hire them, and the income of Mendez's brokers has soared, and then, stimulated by market demand, they are flicking more and more from Ireland at a faster rate. People are coming, unless the British take action to stop them-there are already signs of this. The British once intercepted a ship full of bitter laborers off the coast of Ireland and ordered it to sail to Liverpool.

However, it is difficult to say how effective the British Navy's efforts have been.The Irish laborers working in Baoding area rented simple and cheap dilapidated houses on weekdays, and their living expenses were pitifully low. They searched for jobs during the day, and even though the wages were very low, they could still save a lot every month. Save cash.Even, many of them sent their saved wages back to their hometowns in Ireland through the Mendes Company, so that their families could use it to pay the rent of the fields and pay various taxes and fees. Like those Russian laborers at the Goshkin Construction Company.

"In the future, unskilled coolies will be introduced, but the recruitment of skilled handicraft workers must not be left behind. I see that some Irish workers in some workshops in this county are skilled workers. This is very good and saves a lot of training costs. It can also create value for us faster." Shao Yaoguang looked at the densely packed workshops and residential buildings on both sides of the street, and said: "Now that there are frequent wars in Europe, the United Provinces have placed orders with us several times, and the total amount has even reached 400 yuan. It goes without saying that this will promote the development of industry and agriculture. Our region should also seize this opportunity. Some regions in the south have already begun to supply goods to the United Provinces, and they have supplied goods to Europe. It is doomed to be unable to satisfy the local market, and we need to fill this gap. Even if there is a chance, we will try to win orders from the Dutch. Anyway, what they signed with the Chinese government is only a framework agreement. As for the goods imported by our country, as for which company to buy, the decision is still in the hands of the Dutch, and this is our opportunity.”

"Blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelmakers, shoe repairers, plasterers, and even rural peddlers can be imported in large quantities. It is still a bit slow to cultivate by ourselves." Shao Yaoguang continued: "I remember that the Baoding area was lacking in the last calculation. 250 shoe repairers, 120 rural blacksmiths, 180 tailors, 550 plasterers, 600 coopers, and I don’t bother to mention other shortages of less than [-] people. In short, the gap is still very large. These gaps are filled by overseas non-nationals. It’s just a good idea. If a country wants to develop by leaps and bounds, doesn’t it have to borrow chickens to lay eggs.”

Shao Yaoguang's opinion is actually the mainstream opinion of many leaders in many areas on the east coast, that is, under the circumstances that the Dutch are "explosively buying" and the market supply and demand are relatively tense, craftsmen from the old continent can greatly fill the domestic market on the east coast. There are gaps and gaps in the gaps and blanks. The country should come forward to guide such things that can effectively enhance national strength—Shao ​​Yaoguang is also one of these people. There are currently more than 200 workshops or factories in Baoding, but the average number of employees is only 5.5. The workshop owners have long complained about the scarcity of qualified craftsmen. They either reluctantly rejected the order, or recruited completely unfounded newcomers to start as apprentices. In short, none of the choices satisfied them. .

The lack of qualified craftsmen is particularly evident in the wine and barrel industry. Last year (1665), the entire Baoding area produced more than [-] barrels of wine, but this is not the limit of their production capacity. Dingjun The terrain and climate in the mountains provide a very good environment for grape production, but if you want to absorb all the local grape production, there are at least three times the shortage of winemakers and coopers, which makes Shao Yaoguang especially regretful.

You know, the Dutch signed a purchase agreement with the east coast trade department to import up to 700 barrels of wine per year. Who would not be envious of this super big cake, and the same is true for the merchants in Baoding area!But the sad thing is that their current annual output is only more than [-] barrels a year, and the training period for qualified brewers and coopers is relatively long, and the production capacity cannot be effectively expanded in the short term. This is really worrying. dead!And at this time, if a large number of such craftsmen from the Old Continent are added, then the production capacity can be expanded immediately, and this will undoubtedly mean huge economic benefits.Therefore, the local officials and business owners on the east coast actually had a strong urge to introduce handicraftsmen from the old continent. The case of the Dutch waving checkbooks all over the world to purchase supplies.

"Forget it, the introduction of foreign craftsmen can't be done overnight, let's do it slowly. As long as we continue to promote this work, it will be fine, so as to save us from missing business opportunities when there are business feasts such as the Anglo-Dutch War in the future." Shao Yaoguang lowered the curtain on the car window, and said to his secretary: "However, there are too many immigrants, and our assimilation work cannot be left behind. If non-national laborers want to become regular workers, it is necessary to take Chinese names, speak Chinese, and use Han nationality, otherwise They will never be given a chance to become a full-time member, and they will be exploited to death for the rest of their lives. In addition, religious issues are also a big problem. Ming and Qing immigrants are okay, but European immigrants are troublesome. In short, they can convert to Taoism. Convert to Taoism. If you can’t, you can refer to Buddhism, Catholicism and other religions in your country. Anyway, you must cut off the connection with European religious forces. Assimilation, assimilation, if we can’t go deep into the ideological field of new immigrants, how can we still assimilate? What's the point? Why don't you bring in these people, and you can be quiet, and there won't be any hidden dangers in the future!"

(End of this chapter)