Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 478 Northwest Corridor ([-])

A heavy-duty rail freight car pulled by four horses slowly stopped on the rails with a screeching sound of brakes.Several soldiers jumped out of the carriage, and then Long Xu, the commander of the Army's 103rd company, tidied up his appearance and got out of the carriage on the steps arranged by the soldiers.

This is Canyon Castle, a young town on the eastern edge of West Ridge.The railway station and the castle not far away are undergoing intense construction. The building materials companies in the capital area are producing large quantities of building materials day and night, and then transport them by water to the wharf of Lower Yihe Castle, and then use horse-drawn carriages or heavy rail freight cars Bring it to Canyon Castle.

About a thousand South African laborers, more than 900 hired workers, and more than 500 central and southern European forced labor prisoners from labor camps are active on the construction site, with a total number of nearly 1000 people.Thanks to their efforts, various works have been carried out relatively quickly, especially the walls of the canyon castle. This small castle with a circumference of no more than [-] meters has been completed for more than half, and it is expected to be completely completed before the end of this year.

Of the 500 people, 1000 from South Africa did not pay anything.Their coming to the east bank is equivalent to serving the suzerain country, but the labor time is a little longer.Of course, they themselves are not at a disadvantage. As long as they complete the three years of hard labor on time, they will be freed from their status as slaves and become free citizens of the upper six of the Eight Banners in South Africa. At the same time, they will also receive a severance pay.This treatment is not too bad for them, so although the work is hard and dangerous, they are still willing to work until they are sent back to South Africa to be free.

More than 900 hired workers come from various sources, some of them are local residents, about 500 people; there are also some Chaluyas and Guaranis who are attracted by high wages and relatively good living conditions, about There were more than 100 people; in the end there were more than 300 homeless people who entered the country illegally, mainly from central and southern Europe.Except for local residents who do odd jobs, who can get a daily salary of [-] cents, everyone else can only get a daily salary of [-] cents-because they cannot provide legal identification.

Identity certificates are more complicated. In addition to the basic elements such as the person’s name (up to four Chinese characters), age, gender, place of residence, and description of appearance, it also needs to include the village head of the place of residence, the director of the militia, and the village chief. Long sign and stamp.These identity certificates have a certain period of time, and they must be replaced when they expire, otherwise they will encounter a lot of trouble after they expire.For example, if you are looking for a job, you must never hold an expired ID card, as you will be rejected without any doubt.

The better ones among these outsiders, such as those Charuyas, someone helped them get a short-term temporary identity certificate, which allows them to get a little more benefits, such as project completion awards or something.But those homeless people in central and southern Europe are not so lucky. They don't even have a temporary ID card, and they are completely black households.

Surrounded by a platoon of heavily armed soldiers, Long Xu walked towards the city wall under construction. Along the road, some vagabonds in labor camps who were digging underground drainage ditches immediately stepped aside respectfully and took off their hats. They stood down, and then bent their waists extremely low, as if not doing so was not enough to show their respect.

Long Xu took a closer look, and found that these people were all naked, and some of them didn't even have any clothes on their lower bodies, but wore a piece of rags around their waists.It was mid-autumn now, and even during the daytime the temperature often did not exceed fifteen degrees, and they were doing heavy physical labor, sweating all over their bodies, which would undoubtedly increase their chances of getting sick.None of the faces had that healthy rosy color, replaced by various symptoms of malnutrition.It can be seen that they have not been in the east bank for a few days, and their physical condition is still poor, and they need a period of nutritional supplementation.

"Why don't they wear clothes? Don't they know that they will get sick?" Long Xu said while looking at the labor camp prisoners who were still draining in the ditch full of stagnant water in the distance, "Severe cold, typhoid, rheumatism, edema? It's going to kill them. Don't they really care about their health at all?"

No one could answer his words.After a long time, a policeman from the Ministry of Internal Affairs who was in charge of guarding these prisoners stood up and said: "Sir, in fact no one abused them, it was because they didn't want to wear them. They couldn't bear to throw away the original old linen clothes, let alone put them on. We’re sending out strong, comfortable denim overalls, so they’d rather work in the nude because the weather isn’t that unbearable for them.”

After hearing this, Long Xu nodded silently, and then patrolled around the place where these labor reform prisoners were working. Wherever he went, these homeless people bowed respectfully, as docile as a flock of lambs.Many of them are barefoot and shirtless. Perhaps this situation is very common in Europe, especially in Central and Eastern Europe, because the local productivity level is low, and farmers who are no different from serfs live in this way.The people are numb, docile, and ignorant, and the remnants of the Middle Ages are everywhere on them, but they are so dazzling in today's Eastern China Republic, which made Long Xu feel deeply moved.

There are at least 100 reform-through-labor prisoners digging ditches here, but there are only five internal affairs police officers in charge of supervising their work. This makes people sigh that these central and southern Europeans are really easy to manage.Maybe they have wandered enough and are tired, and they don't want to run away anymore, maybe they are simply satisfied with their current life, who knows.

As if seeing Long Xu's doubts, the policeman from the Ministry of Internal Affairs explained again: "In fact, we don't need to arrange too many people to monitor them, because so far there has not been a case of escaped labor reform prisoners. They are very docile. Here There are dry and warm wooden houses, meals such as potatoes and salted fish, soft bedding full of sunshine, and they don’t have to work overnight with lights every day. They even receive a small amount of wages, which makes them feel very at ease. For a short time Within half a year or a year, I think no one would think of running away, because it is meaningless. Running away from a labor camp means that you become a homeless man again, and you will still be wanted. Enough is enough, they don't want to repeat this nightmare."

"The potatoes and wheat cakes they eat here are crude foods, but they are distributed by weight, and there is no shortage. They can also eat whole salted fish to supplement salt, and at the same time they can drink some Hot soup with floating oil foam or a few pieces of fatty meat. Although the work is heavy, although once it rains, the originally dry cabin will become damp again, but it is much more comfortable than lying on the wet grass when wandering in the wild , here they have at least a bed, and they can take a hot bath every day. In the wild, if you encounter such unlucky weather, you may unfortunately contract lung disease, and then huddle in a corner where no one cares about it. Died quietly with countless concerns and nostalgia." The policeman from the Ministry of the Interior from Naples continued to add, "This is the result of my long-term conversation with them. Looking forward to getting official identification in a year. They're easy to get along with and don't need to be treated like those vicious savages."

"Try to give them good treatment if possible." Long Xu urged after listening, "This will help attract more people to the east bank. A new building is already being planned on the northwestern mountain side of Canyon Fort. The town is over, and the railway will also extend from here. We need more people to help us build this road, and these homeless people are just a very suitable labor force. They work hard without complaint, and only need the most basic treatment and low wages. Can help you do a lot of work, I hope there are as many of them as possible."

The new town in the northwest mentioned by Long Xu is located near the village of Freile Muerto in the later Uruguay, and is an important intermediate node of the Northwest Corridor Railway Plan.According to the plan, the people on the east coast will build a railway station and a small masonry fortress with a circumference of about 1000 meters there, and at the same time immigrate at least 1000 people to settle there.The first batch of 1000 Ming immigrants and [-] Polish women are ready to go. They will first use their hardworking hands to build a temporary settlement for [-] people there, and then follow-up troops will continue to drive there.

In order to ensure their safety, the cavalry battalion, which has expanded to more than 600 people, will also send more than a hundred cavalry to escort them along the way, and finally will be stationed at this place named Baichiyabao on the map.This place name is also to commemorate the first batch of pioneer immigrants here - a group of guard soldiers from the Weihaiwei Baichiya Post in Shandong, Ming Dynasty. They will be the first group of conquerors from the old continent to set foot here.

The distance between Baichi Cliff Fort and Canyon Fort is long, and they have to pass through low hilly areas, so the road is not easy to walk.Although most of the planned railway lines pass through some gentle hills and slopes, and the altitude will not exceed 50 meters at most, it is still a big test for those railways built on flat prairie.Because this means that the project volume is much larger, and the materials and manpower that need to be consumed have also increased exponentially.

But correspondingly, if the railway is successfully opened to traffic, it will really mean that the people from the east coast have officially entered the area west of Xiling, and they are one step closer to the planned special steel production base in the Corrales mining area.This northwest-trending railway from Fort Lower I is like a corridor leading to the mining area, passing Canyon Fort, Hundred-foot Cliff Fort, Merlot, and then crossing the Black River (Negro River) to Corrales, This resource-rich mining area is firmly in the hands of the people on the east coast.

(End of this chapter)