The weather on New Huaxia Island in the rainy season has always been like this, it was just a sunny day, and then it was soon rainy for several days. It rained heavily until November 20, when it became a little lighter.

Shire. McKinley walked a foot deep through the rain-soaked dirt road, followed by four or five men, all of whom were local investors who were said to be leasing plantations that had been abandoned for months. Before McKinley set off, he had already received advice from Assistant Kyle in Xinhua Town to take the group to see the major plantations around Xinhua Port.

Everyone has seen the sisal plantation on the Saigo Peninsula, and in general they are quite satisfied. Those are already developed and mature areas, and the earliest sisal can be cut on a small scale in about a year, and then it will enter the large-scale harvesting period in three or four years, and the profit margin is very large. As a result, the merchants of the two major merchant groups from the mainland, the chambers of commerce of Luoqia County and Dongfang County, were eager to take over the vacant plantations, and began to compete fiercely.

Chen Tingmei, as an inconspicuous little person in the industrial industry of Dongfang County, saw that the competition in the sisal planting industry in Xinhua Port was too fierce, and he didn't want to mix his small body into it, so he came to a small coffee plantation in the back mountain with several small and medium-sized businessmen in the county.

The varieties to be planted in this coffee plantation are medium-grain varieties native to West and Central Africa, which are the precursors to the famous Robusta beans and are all diploid and have a high caffeine content. It is somewhat different from the small species (Arabica), which is the dominant species in the Muslim world. But it can't be helped. There is a lack of conditions for the cultivation of Arabica species (alpine area) in the eastern control area of the island of New Huaxia. Only West African species can be planted that can grow at low altitudes and on flat ground.

The area is said to be a coffee plantation, but it is actually a barren mountain, and the logging team has cut down all the trees on the hill, leaving behind bare stumps and large patches of shrubs. Considering that the hill could not be left bare, the government planned it as a coffee plantation. As for the mature, well-established coffee plantations, how could it be the turn of outsiders like them? The farmers of the local coffee growing associations can make a share, and he can put down the vacant plantations with a bunch of them, and it is impossible to cheapen outsiders? Even if the local farmers can't get it, most of these mature plantations will be taken over by the relatively powerful big businessmen.

Don't say anything else. Chen Tingmei knew that among the businessmen who came from the county this time, there were quite a few big businessmen with deep backgrounds, and most of these people had received capital injection from some high-ranking officials and nobles, and the funds they brought were generally more than 10,000 yuan, and some even had tens of thousands of yuan, which was staggering. And he Chen Tingmei only has 2,000 yuan on hand, what can he do? Of the 2,000 yuan, only 500 yuan was his savings for many years, and the other 1,000 yuan was lent to him by his friend Xu Wenxuan to start a business, and the remaining few hundred yuan were also borrowed, if the price was raised too high during the auction. This little money of my own is not enough to see. Fortunately, at least the wasteland is not auctioned. As long as you register with the town government and pay the rent for the first five years, the wasteland is yours (20 years of tenure). There is also the right of first refusal to renew the lease after it expires, which seems to be a good deal.

After walking up the hill in the rain along a road cleared by lumberjacks, they took a closer look at the surrounding environment and found that the surrounding mountain was covered with large expanses of tall trees. Most of the mountains are in the Ming Dynasty more expensive red sandalwood, yellow sandalwood, red sandalwood, ebony (African ebony), I don't know if it is hundreds or thousands of years, but here it is just ordinary wood. The areas of the mountains that had been deforested were all designated as plantations to prevent soil erosion, and the main crop was coffee, a commodity in great demand in the Islamic world.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I also know that these wastelands are troublesome to clean up. For example, these wooden stakes have to be dug by special personnel; These shrubs also have to be set on fire during the dry season. But it's clear to everyone that those mature plantations won't be your turn. For example, the plantation on the hillside in front of it has a total of more than 2,000 acres, and the coffee trees have been planted for a year or two, and the growth is quite good. However, as far as I know, several chambers of commerce have already offered bids, and I estimate that the rent per acre of land has more than doubled on the basis of two dimes. And next, there will be an organization from Ping'an County called the 'Township Military Investment Association' to inspect the investment, they have already arrived in South Africa, and it is estimated that they will arrive early next month. The group's large number of investors, all of whom have been wounded and discharged from the front line, and whose financial strength cannot be underestimated, are likely to continue to drive up the land prices and rents of those mature coffee plantations. "Charles. McKinley, wearing an oilcloth raincoat, stood on the hillside and looked at five or six small and medium-sized businessmen from Ping'an County in front of him.

"So, I advise you to be realistic. These wastelands do not participate in the auction, and the land rent is fixed at two dimes per mu, and I think you all come together, and it would be good if you formed a group to eat a piece of one or two thousand acres of wasteland to grow coffee. To tell you the truth, I myself subscribed for 300 acres in the vicinity of here, and I am ready to open up the wasteland to grow coffee. If you're interested, I can help you solve some practical problems, such as labor problems. "Charles. McKinley continued. He had previously worked with Pei Sooning to make the famous 108 drug, and according to the agreement, he had a 5% interest. And as the fortune wine derived from the 108 drug has gradually become a mass consumer product in the new China area, McKinley's net worth has really increased a lot in the past two years, so he can now buy hundreds of acres of wasteland to grow coffee without blinking.

"Oh? Can you really help us solve our labor problems? Hearing this, Chen Tingmei's heart moved, and then immediately asked: "It can't be a black person from Guinea, right?" I heard that this kind of black people are born with malaria, but most of them with hidden diseases can only live to be in their forties, and the death rate of children born is also very high. However, I have heard that the government prohibits private people from hiring and raising black slaves without permission, and only state farms, forestry farms, and mines can use them. I know that there are hundreds of Guinean blacks in the Tacheng coal mine, it is indeed easy to use, and it will not get malaria, but the problem is that it is illegal for us to hire these people, right? It's not appropriate, it's not appropriate! ”

"Why is Mr. Chen so anxious?" was robbed by Chen Tingmei like this, Charles. McKinley was not angry, and still said with a smile: "Of course, the labor force I am talking about does not mean black people, and we will not do anything that violates the law." And by labor I mean Persians or Balochs, and we have some Muscat merchants we know well, yes, the ones who provide us with slaves and children all year round. They are now more and more powerful in Muscat, and their business is getting bigger and bigger, and now they can often send out thousands of people to hunt slaves at a time. At the beginning of the previous year, they also ordered two flute-type boats from our Xinhua shipyard to carry out armed slave hunting activities in the coastal area. In the past, we only needed female slaves and children, and the men they caught didn't know where to sell, but last time we tentatively suggested that male slaves could also be sold, and they seemed very happy. I estimate that they can now provide one or two thousand adult males a year, and maybe even more if we work harder, enough to meet a large part of our needs. ”

In fact, it's just like McKinley's. The Muscat merchants, who had profited handsomely from years of trade (slaves, commodities) with the East Coast, were now strong and famous. The year before last, they not only ordered two flute-shaped ships from the east coast, but also bought 200 pairs of armor, 300 muskets, 1,000 sabers and six small cannons, and also asked the new Huaxia side to send a few officers to train them, and now this strength is really not to be underestimated in the Gulf region. Attacking Persia and India across the sea is easy to capture, provided that they do not collide with the main forces of the other side.

Last year and this year, the number of Persian and Baloch female slaves exported to New China doubled, bringing good news to a large number of singles in New China, South Africa, and Australia, and at the same time, they also acted as agents for many East Coast commodities in the Gulf region, and also made the commodity entrepot trade in New China prosperous.

"That's fine." Hearing McKinley say this, Chen Tingmei was also a little happy: "It is not forbidden to hire Persians and Balochs, and it is appropriate to use them in these plantations." By the way, how much do they cost? I mean the price of an adult male slave? ”

"Well, look at the strong Cheng dù." Shire. McKinley pondered for a while and said, "But in general, it should be around sixty yuan, which I think is quite reasonable, and it really can't be considered high." Of course, if you are too high, there is no other way, and now a few dozen kilometers further south from here, there are eight small tribes that depend on us, well, all of them are Bezimisaraka. These tribes, known to us as the Eight Banners of the Islands, are more aggressive and aggressive. Now that we are instigating them to march south and encroach on the territory of other tribes, they have some of the high-quality weapons we provide, and they should not be too defeated in the fight. As soon as this war begins, there will inevitably be a considerable number of slaves. The women and children are estimated to be swallowed by themselves, after all, they also want to strengthen their tribe. But not necessarily with adult men, and according to the usual practice, I would have supposedly that they would sell us a batch in exchange for the necessary weapons or goods. And the price is extremely low, which is a good choice for investors with weak capital strength, you see, this can also solve a considerable part of the labor gap. ”

"It's really good." Chen Tingmei agreed. I didn't expect that the problem of labor shortage that I had been worried about before coming to New China was not as difficult as I imagined, and there were still many channels to solve it. Now he can't wait to go back to his residence to discuss with a few partners, although the risk is not small, but the expected benefits are also extremely high. (To be continued......)