The Juan Ugarte mine, where the men on the ship Yang Xiaoshan stayed, is a concave valley with only one exit and cliffs on the other three sides. Once you're in, don't try to run out.

Juan, the mine manager, is the big boss of the mine, but he doesn't work here. He spent his life comfortably in Lima, Peru's capital. The manager he hired, Di Mari, was the head of the place, a very black-hearted white man, who would take care of the mine for him and help him make money for his lavish expenses in Lima.

More than 200 Native Americans were hired as guards to ensure the safety of the mine and prevent the workers from rioting.

In addition to these guards, there were a dozen sturdy blacks who served as mine thugs, punishing undisciplined workers with leather whips and sticks. This Dimali manager was very shrewd, he divided and conquered, using people of color to manage the Chinese, who were the lowest status here as "infidels" from the East.

There were originally more than 2,000 Chinese workers here, but nearly half of them died in two years, which shows the danger of working here. Most of them are from Fujian, they arrived here two years ago, most of them were cheated, saying that they can make a lot of money here, and a small number of them are second-rate gamblers, because they can't afford to pay their gambling debts and sell themselves here, one of them nicknamed "Sun Dabang" is the foreman of the Chinese here, and the other is tall and big, it turns out that he is a ruffian and hooligan in China, and he has a little effort. When I got here, I tangled up a few little hooligans to bully others, and others were afraid of them, so I relied on this to get the appreciation of Manager Di Mari and became a Chinese foreman.

As soon as Yang Xiaoshan and the others got off the carriage, they were taken to the open space in the square of the mine.

Sun Dabang came over with a few followers and beat him with a wooden stick. "Be honest, hold your head and squat!" Before some people could react, they were hit with sticks several times.

Weng Derong is Di Mali's manservant, he was originally a langzhong, good at massage, literate and can write Braille. Di Mari liked his massage skills very much, and made him a valet to take care of his daily life. In the past two years, Weng Derong has also become fluent in Spanish, and he also works as a translator here.

Weng Derong stood on the high platform and read out their obligations to the new miners:

"It is stated that during the eight-year period, as a worker, he shall not work for himself or anyone else, except for the Juan Mine, and shall not leave his residence without permission from his employer."

"It is stated that one peso per month shall be deducted from the salary according to the regulations, up to one hundred pesos, to offset the cost of the ship to Peru."

"It is stated that the workers eat two meals a day for one hour each at the designated place."

"It is stated that after entering the mine, the employer will pay the coolie a monthly salary of four pesos, provide shelter, two sets of work clothes, and a sleeping blanket. In case of illness, the employer orders the doctor to diagnose and administer medicine, and the cost is deducted from the salary. ”

"I'm afraid that there is no basis for empty words, so the two sides will make this contract, draw it in public, and hand it over as evidence."

After Weng Derong finished reading the obligations of the miners, the new arrivals were ready to start registering in turn.

"Strip all your clothes and disinfect you!" Sun Bangzi shouted loudly.

Some old coolies in the mines poured the disinfectant powder on the new coolies in wooden basins, and burned all their original clothes to prevent germs from being brought in.

One by one, the new coolies went up to press their handprints, and then took the overalls and sleeping blankets that were given to them. Manager Di Mari watched the new coolies from the sidelines and began to comment.

Yang Xiaoshan stepped forward, and this Di Mali shook his head and said, "I'm a little tall, so I can't go down the mine." ”

Li Shixian followed, and this Di Mali shook his head again: "The mouth is too big, and there must be a lot of food." ”

After Wu Ruxiao followed closely, this Di Mari was angry: "How can such an old man be stuffed in the middle, the Chinese are too cunning, next time you must not charter a boat to buy, you have to set a price!" I saw him wave his hand: "Come on, throw this old guy out, he can't work and waste our food, it's better to get rid of it as soon as possible." ”

I saw two strong black men coming, stretching out their hands to grab Wu Ruxiao and drag him out.

"Why did you arrest him? Let him go! Li Shixian was anxious, and when he saw that the black man was going to be rude to Wu Ruxiao, he hurried over to save him.

The guards next to him saw that the situation was not right, and several people came over and aimed their breech guns at Li Shixian's head, and one of them smashed him on the back with the butt of the gun.

“NO！ NO！ Yang Xiaoshan hurriedly came over to stop them, and he suddenly said in a hurry: "Old Wu, don't you know a little Spanish, say a few words, hurry up." ”

Wu Ruxiao was an accountant in Guangzhou Thirteen Banks in his early years, he is very fluent in English, but he is not very familiar with Spanish, but as an accountant, he can still read a few numbers.

"One, two, three。。。。。。" Wu Ruxiao was reminded by Yang Xiaoshan and hurriedly read out the numbers in Spanish.

Di Marie was overjoyed when he heard this, and waved his hand to signal the guards to stand back.

"Do you know Spanish numbers?" Di Mari wondered.

"Yes, yes, I'm an accountant and I know some Spanish." At the moment of life and death, Wu Ruxiao hurriedly explained, although he stammered, he could see that Di Mali understood.

Di Mali took out an inventory sheet from the stage, put it in Wu Ruxiao's hand, knocked on the inventory table with his hand and said, "Do you know how to fill in these?" ”

"This is coal。。。。。。 It's explosives。。。。。。。 Wu Ruxiao's Spanish may be stumbling to communicate, but he knows simple words, and he used to do this.

Manager Di Mari was overjoyed, for it cost 20 pesos a month to find a local accountant these days, and the people who gave them money were reluctant to come here. This is a bargain, which greatly reduces his burden, because there is no accounting, and he has to go through all the numbers here, which is his most tiring job.

"Very good, you just stay on the ground, don't go down the mine to mine, count the output for me, and count the materials." Di Marie patted Lao Wu on the shoulder with great satisfaction, and put the pen and watch in his arms.

Lao Wu listened and guessed while looking at his face, and probably understood the meaning of this white manager, this is a blessing in disguise, his old bones go into the well, the danger is too great.

Bao Chao saw this situation in the back, and said to Feng Zicai beside him with some discouragement: "How can these bandits have all talents, and they are all better than us when they come here, looking at that expression, it seems that they have been reused." ”

Feng Zicai sighed and said, "Who told us that we are uneducated." ”

Bao Chao was unconvinced: "If you don't have culture, don't you also become a commander, aren't you also a chief soldier?" I don't believe in my fists, I can't fight a place in this group! ”

"Master Bao, so far, let's not fight with Yang Xiaoshan first, we can't beat him in terms of kung fu, now it is a win-win situation, and a fight is a lose." Feng Zicai thought that he was going to settle accounts with Yang Xiaoshan.

"Who said I was going to fight with Yang Xiaoshan? I mean him! Bao Chao glanced at Wang Dabang who was holding a big wooden stick, and began to think in his heart that he would replace him as the foreman here.