Anda Fifteen walked backwards in the mining area with his hands behind his back, followed by a dozen or so soldiers with rifles on their backs, these people were shabby and bearded, but they were not diminished, and they looked like old fritters who had been rolling on the battlefield.

The mine in front of me is in the shape of a circle, like a deep pit, because it has just rained, and the bottom of the pit is full of muddy water. A dozen old-fashioned animal-powered pumps are struggling to pump water out, but this is somewhat useless in the rainy tropics, where it quickly fills up with water after a rainstorm.

There are 100 Malays at work in this pit, who use rudimentary tools (mainly iron drills and shovels) to dig out pieces of hard coal, put them into rattan baskets, and transport them by special people in horse-drawn carts through the tracks installed on the slopes. Such work is hard and dangerous, but these Malays have no choice. They were either prisoners of war who had been captured by the people of the East Coast in previous battles, or slaves who had been sold by the Eight Banners tribe of the island, in short, they were not free.

However, the people of the East Coast were merciful, and they announced to these people that as long as they served in the Tacheng Coal Mine for five years without any illegal record, they would be freed and some symbolic severance pay. However, according to Anda Fifteen, at least half of the people here will not survive to that day. The harsh environment, the heavy work, the poor food, and the rampant chronic diseases (scurvy, edema, lung disease, etc.) all erode their health, and even if they were lucky enough to get out of the coal mine of the East Coasters, they probably wouldn't survive for a few more years. This world is so cruel.

It is not that there are no wage laborers with free status in the mining area. And the proportion is quite a lot. Most are from the neighboring island of the Eight Banners tribe as well as some small tribes that have not yet been naturalized. These barbarians took a fancy to the "high" employment fees of the Easterners: five cents a day and a monthly salary, and after receiving a salary from the Easterners, they would go to the market outside the city to buy some cheap sweet potatoes or corn that were almost past their expiration date, and then take them home to supplement their family rations. Some people with heavier family burdens even work here all year round, and regularly ask their fellow villagers to help bring food back, so that they can stay here to work more and earn more food.

More than 500 of these Malay workers were employed throughout the Tacheng Mining Bureau, and these workers, who were far more industrious than their close relatives in the East Indies, did menial work that even South African labourers were unwilling to do. Humbly soaking in a muddy mine, trading your health and sweat for a paltry income. These people, together with 2,000 Malay slaves and 1,000 South African laborers, can produce thousands of tons of crude coal every day, excluding the days when they can't start work because of bad weather or stop production for various reasons, the annual output of 15-200,000 tons of crude coal in Tacheng Coal Mine has no pressure at all, which effectively guarantees the local demand for coal.

"2019, you won't be at work tomorrow, you're fired! Now you can roll! A snap came from an open plank room at the edge of the pit, and Anda Fifteen frowned and looked ahead.

I saw a darker-skinned, shorter Malay hired man leaning against the door. He seemed tired and coughed violently from time to time. It is clear that he has a lung disease, a common occupational disease in the mines. He held a slip in his hand with a bright red stamp, and Anda XV didn't need to look at it to know the contents of the stamp: "Dismissed due to illness." The Tacheng Coal Mine never takes care of a sick person, and once this person loses his full labor force, then he will be fired without hesitation. Unless he is a legal resident of the Eastern Republic of China, he is protected by some laws and regulations and enjoys some rights and interests. But the fate of these Malay hired workers was tragic, they would be swept out of the ground in the first place, and then driven out of the coal mines, left to fend for themselves.

"Today... Number 29... Wages... Give me! The Malay hired man prayed in Chinese, which he was not very proficient in, and before he could finish his sentence, he suddenly coughed violently again. He coughed painfully, looked like he had a bad lung problem, and his whole face was completely distorted.

"Yaga! You red deer, you still want money?! Get out! The male voice from before rang out again, with a hint of impatience in his voice. The two mine policemen who were originally sitting and chatting at the door also turned their cold gazes here, this Malay hired man really doesn't know what to do, and he still wants a salary after being fired, don't you know that your salary of one or two yuan has been divided by a few brothers?

"Salary... Children at home... Dine. The Malays still stood there stubbornly, and continued to plead between coughs. It seems that his family is not burdened, and he is counting on the salary of this dollar and five dimes to buy some corn or sweet potatoes at the market to take home to help the family with food rations. These tribes of Bezimisalaka have a very low level of civilization and are still in the slash-and-burn stage, and they spend most of the year struggling to find food, after all, the barren land does not support too many people. Even in the tropics, where food is relatively abundant, not everyone has enough to eat. Therefore, working with people on the East Coast in exchange for food seems to be a better way out - as long as you can stay healthy.

"Smack!" With a thud, a bag of dried sweet potatoes was thrown at the feet of the Malays, one of the only benefits for the dismissed workers, the food they nibled on the way back to their hometowns. The hound, at the mine guard's feet, looked up at the bag of dried sweet potatoes, and then closed his eyes disinterestedly, pretending to sleep, the crude food was not yet in its eyes.

The Malay clutched the small bag of dried sweet potatoes tightly in his hand, and although there was a faint musty smell coming from it, he still refused to let go, because the food was a life-saving delicacy for him. However, he still seems unwilling to give up his salary, and he has been here for 29 days, only to be fired and not even paid, which is somewhat unacceptable to him. You must know that a salary of one yuan and five dimes can buy more than 100 catties of cheap corn, which is enough for his family to eat for a month. If you save a little, add some leaves and wild vegetables, and then go to the forest to find some fungi and fruits, you can deal with it for almost two months. Therefore, he really didn't have the courage to give up the salary that should have belonged to him, because it meant a lot to him.

A mine policeman touched the scabbard on his waist, and was about to stand up to teach this unknown Malay hired worker a lesson, when he suddenly heard a voice of "Bastard!" Angry shouting. The voice was so familiar that he immediately stood up in fright, stared ahead, and did not dare to make the slightest movement.

Surrounded by soldiers, Anda Fifteen walked into the wooden room, which was filled with a strange smell of foot odor, sweat, and burning tobacco, and Anda Fifteen looked up at the somewhat frightened Malay hired man, and sighed softly. Then he touched his waist, but only touched five dimes, so he turned to the foreman who had just spoken and the two mine policemen, stretched out his hand, and said, "Each of the three of you will come out with five dimes, immediately!" ”

The three of them, you look at me, I look at you, and then reluctantly took out the five-dime silver coin from each of their waists and put it in Anda Fifteen's hand. Anda XV weighed the four full five-dime coins and stuffed them into the tattered pocket of the Malay hired man, then turned to the foreman and yelled, "Bastard! We East Coast people are credible! You're ruining our reputation on the Great East Coast! Now that domestic industry and agriculture are developing, the demand for high-quality coal is so strong, and it is likely that our Tacheng coal mine will continue to expand production and will need more hired workers. Your harsh treatment of the employees who leave us will create a very negative opinion among their tribes, which may hinder us in recruiting workers. Hyotaro, what you did this time is really too much, punish you for not eating dinner today, and reflect immediately when you go back. ”

"Yes, I see!" The foreman Hyotaro bowed his head and accepted the reprimand, and the two French mine policemen also stood to the side, embarrassed and did not know what to say. However, Anda Fifteen did not intend to spare the two of them, and they were punished to volunteer an extra medium shift until 12 o'clock tonight, and to inspect the entire mine area at least twice.

After reprimanding several managers who had deducted their salaries, Anda XV inspected several other mines, surrounded by soldiers, and instructed them to do a good job of rain prevention and drainage, as well as to ensure production. After this was over, he took people to several newly built factories nearby: honeycomb coal factory, coal washing plant, and brick kiln factory (washing coal ash and pulverized coal to make bricks). These plants have been built in the last two years to take advantage of the region's abundant coal resources.

However, although the factories were opened, the number of workers was insufficient, and the three factories still lacked hundreds of workers, which restricted their development. However, this can not be helped, Tacheng Port is still a military area under the direct jurisdiction of the Madagascar Pioneer Team, with a population of only more than 1,200 people, mainly French, Guarani and their Malay wives, and occasionally some East Asians from the 1st Squadron of the Progressive Team. It was not easy for such a small population to support the docks, forts, towns, and farmlands, and there was no surplus population to invest in coal mines and factories, so it was necessary to use slaves on a large scale or to hire Malays from nearby tribes at low prices.

And this is also the reason why Anda Fifteen is angry with these people. More and more projects have been approved, and the required output has become larger and larger, but the promised new immigrants have repeatedly failed to materialize, which has made Anda 15 very disappointed and stressed. If we want to support these factories and coal mines, we have to rely on these ignorant and backward Malays for the time being. (To be continued......)