On January 1, 1682, there was a rare day of rest on the construction site.

As the bosses of the workers, the Goshkin father and son also bought large quantities of food, alcohol, and tobacco from the Rodriguez family, the main water supplier, to feed the company's workers. After being tired for so long, I really need a good dinner to boost my morale so that I can work better in the future.

"Now that our way to the Rus is open again, the lords of each county are very good to the people in our company, so we have saved more people from the sea of misery in Rus." A middle-aged man in modest clothes sat on a flatbed carriage, holding an apple from Patagonia in his left hand and nibbling vigorously with his right hand to strengthen his speech, only to hear him say: "In the middle of Rus', there are many complaints that our life is not good, that the harvest is small, and the taxes are heavy, and it is breathless. Compared with us, the people of Perm Province have a better life, bread, honey, fish, life there is called life. So I recruited some people who were desperate for life, and decided to go to Perm to see what life was like for wealthy peasants. But guess what I saw and heard? That's right, the same complaints as in the central region, where people complain to me that our life here is really bad, in Tobolsk, where there are rich forests and vast unallocated land that has not yet been occupied by the old men, they are living so much better than we are, we can't live anymore. Well, I stopped here, hired some poor vagabonds (there were huge vagabonds in Russia, an important source of Cossacks) to work for me, stuffed money into the old men so that they would not be informed, and then I sent my close assistants to Tobolsk to see how the peasants in the fabled best living areas lived, but what did you suppose my assistant told me when he returned? ”

"Another bunch of poor people who have been deceived, haha." Some of the laborers from Ross burst into laughter. Many of them had been on the East Coast for several years, and they had been busy tirelessly to this day, not far from exchanging their wounds for official status, and they felt that they had a very bright future, so they had a strong sense of superiority over their compatriots who were still stranded in the old land of Rus'.

"That's right, my assistant told me that the winter in Tobolsk was so cold that no crops could grow, and that it was hard to face the attacks of the Gazan (Geldan) cavalry. So, my dear assistant Evgeny had to buy some furs and come back to pay for the journey, and nothing else. What is even more ridiculous is that the residents of Tobolsk swear that the life of the peasants in Kuznetsk is very good. Come on, Evgeny didn't believe them anymore, and he laughed at it, saying that the mothers there wished that their children had never been born, because they didn't want these little wretches to be born and suffer, and he was from the Kuznetsk province. The middle-aged man said even more passionately, and when he reached the climax, he simply jumped out of the cart, looked at the Rus' laborers who were sitting around the iron pot and feasted, and said: "Actually, all the provinces of Russia are fucking like birds, and there are serfs and vagrants who live in difficulty, and the old men and some so-called educated gentlemen are still saying in one voice, we have no proletarians here, everyone is happy, rye bread is unattended, and there are no poor people in bark shoes who cannot open the pot, All the calves and children are robust. It's fucking nonsense, these cultured people whip peasants, miners, lumberjacks, vagrants, give them very little food, and work in single clothes in winter. I ask you, how can you believe the words of such a despicable person who wantonly insults the peasants in terms of personality? His Majesty the Tsar is in the Winter Palace, can you hear the voice of the people? ”

"So, you bastards, don't fucking eat any more and listen to me. When you earn money, you have to find a way to send it back, and now there are three East Coast banks that have been approved to open branches in Arhanglesko and Nicholas, through which you can send money to your loved ones. Our company has invested a lot of energy in helping you do this for many years, so please try to inform every loved one so that they can come to the East Coast for a better life. Yes, even your life now is better and more promising than in Russia, isn't it? Also, don't worry about whether His Majesty the Tsar will take any measures, rest assured, they are on good terms with the East Bank now, whether you go out to sea from the White Sea or from the Don River, not many people are interested. Those vampires, as long as you have enough money, never care what you do, and even they would rather have fewer wanderers in their jurisdiction, lest the nobles catch him and accuse him of harboring escaped serfs. The middle-aged man finally got to the point, and it seemed that it was still the traditional propaganda agitation for the laborers to mobilize their friends and relatives to emigrate to the East Coast, and to create a snowball effect so that the labor force of the Goshkin Construction Company would not be depleted.

This is no joke! According to the Homestead Law promulgated by the East Coast, after a person comes to the East Coast from Russia, as long as he has worked for five years and can speak simple daily Chinese, he can apply to become an East Coast national. In other words, Goshkin can only squeeze them for five years at most, and after the five-year contract expires, these people can legally leave, and few people are willing to stay and continue to work, and even if they do, they will do some more casual work such as technical or managerial work.

Therefore, in the long run, it would be nice to maintain the competitiveness of the Goshkin construction company without a significant decline and to be able to continue to undertake enough construction projects (which is the basis of Goshkin's money) that the labor force should not shrink, and it would be great if it could continue to expand, but now it seems to be slightly difficult.

A few years ago, when relations between the East Bank and Russia were tense, Goshkin's construction company was also declared illegal in Russia, and the old men everywhere were no longer willing to send the vagrants and prisoners in the area under their jurisdiction to them, and at the same time, they also vigorously cracked down on serfs and even ordinary peasants and citizens who had a tendency to emigrate, in short, Goshkin suffered enough.

During those difficult years, the Goshkin Construction Company was forced to find ways to recruit people from Poland, Ukraine, and the Caucasus, and even hired many outlaws to form horse teams in Western Ukraine, which was controlled by the Ottomans.

So, for construction companies like Goshkin, Batino, Mendez and other construction companies (or labor import organizations), the constant introduction of new people is always one of the most important tasks, otherwise once the old employees are turned into regular employees, then who will help them do the work? How can you make money by contracting projects? Therefore, it is very natural for this middle-aged agitator to boast about the new life on the East Coast like a lotus flower, attack Russia's difficult days, and let everyone try to bring their relatives and friends to the East Coast as much as possible.

"Very good agitation speech." Not far away, on the platform of a brand-new station, Alvarez, the head of the Rodriguez family, said enviously to Goshkin: "Sometimes I really envy you, Mr. Goshkin. You squeezed into the high society of the East Coast through the business you founded, and met many powerful Hidalgos, laying the foundation for the rise of yourself and your family for the next three generations. This is an epic achievement, and it is very admirable. ”

"Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez." Goshkin took a sip of wine, smiled slightly and said, "Actually, things are not as good as you imagined, and I've been a little anxious lately. On the one hand, the project payment is very much in arrears, which makes me bear huge financial costs every day, and the other is that it is too difficult to find people now, and it is becoming more and more difficult to get new workers. Russia is big, and I've made a lot of friends, but it's not going to be able to get me a large population for long, and neither the nobility nor the tsar will allow me to do that. But you, Mr. Rodriguez, now that Sicily and Naples are populating and the South Netherlands is in turmoil, you can try to get into this business, because it's easier to recruit people. Seriously, you can give it a try, and even I can second some managers to you. Nowadays, there is a shortage of road construction workers on the Yanbu Railway, and if you set up a labor company at this time, then the East Coast government will definitely be grateful to you, and at the same time, it will naturally give you shelter, and the convenience of social status, nationality and capital will follow, not much better than if you were struggling to maintain a business in La Plata? ”

As soon as Goshkin said this, Alvarez was also a little tempted. Doing business to the point where they are, to be honest, they don't particularly value nationality and religion anymore, especially when the East Coast is as strong as it is getting stronger. Therefore, it would probably be a good idea to set up a labor company on the east bank to contribute to the construction of the Yanbu Railway, and the upper echelons of the east bank should easily accept the Rodriguez family as part of them.

The only question now is whether recruiting people to work on the construction site of the salt cloth railway will be at a loss. The Rodríguez family lives in La Plata and is well aware of the many things that are happening in this land. For example, he vaguely heard that the capital problem of this railway is very big, the investor Central Railway Company cannot make ends meet, and it is about to go bankrupt, and this railway is likely to be unsustainable, so he will spend a lot of money to plunge into it, is it really worth it? You must know that just now, even Goshkin, a guy who is used to saying good things about people on the East Coast, mentioned that the Central Railway Company owed him a large amount of money for the project, which had already affected his business layout somewhat, so he was still a little hesitant.

Goshkin, of course, saw this, so he smiled again and said, "Don't worry too much, Mr. Rodriguez. To put it mildly, the Yanbu Railway is very important on the east bank today, because it is the foundation for digesting and annexing the Pampa Plain, so no matter how difficult it is, the east bank government will also build this railway, which is a political task, different from others. Yes, they have defaulted on a lot of my project payments, the longest of which has been in arrears for more than two years, but I have never worried about their ability to repay, because the income of the East Coast government is extremely staggering, and as long as they are willing and pay a little price, it will not be a problem to build the Yanbu Railway. Of course, you may not believe it, but what I want to say is that the revenue of the government on the east coast far exceeds that of your country, and even if your country ships back more than 10 million pesos of gold and silver bars from the Americas a year, it is likely that some taxes will not be able to catch up with the revenue of the people on the east coast. ”

Goshkin continued his good walk. Now he has consciously worked everywhere for the interests of the East Coast, for example, he will very enthusiastically persuade the principal of the Rodriguez family to find a way to pay for the grain and recruit manpower, set up a labor company, and contribute to the construction of the Yanbu Railway, which is far less easy than Goshkin just said, and in fact the construction has been intermittent until now, mainly due to the lack of manpower and funds.

Needless to say, the predicament of the State Administration of Railways and China Railway Corporation is now well known, there is no money! China Railway Corporation is now burdened with 2,000 kilometers of railway (negative) road (capital) lines (production), which can be described as a scorching mess, how can there be too much money to build the Yanbu Railway. Therefore, now this road relies on some funds barely squeezed out by China Railway Company and some subsidies issued by the central government every year to maintain a long-term shutdown. Moreover, many investors in the East Coast are not very optimistic about the profitability of the railway, and the stock cannot be sold, and the bond sales are also cold, which fully explains the attitude of the industry.

Therefore, as a very conscious "new easterner", Goshkin was obliged to bring money and manpower for the railway that ran through the eastern half of the Pampa Plain, especially those big merchants and big families who had a certain ability to advance money. Prior to this, he had already made sense of the Portuguese Almeida family, who had re-entered the East Coast market after many years, and the family had officially decided to buy a long-term bond of 50,000 yuan on the Yanbu Railway as a stepping stone (or a more appropriate indulgence) to enter the East Coast market. Now it is the right thing to drag the Rodriguez family into the pit, anyway, it will not be harmful to them in the long run, and I believe they will understand it in the future.

Serving the railway industry of the Great East Bank, how sorry do I Goshkin have this face!