Chapter 545: Anxi (First Shift)

What is a colony?

Ten years ago, few Chinese would have such a concept, they simply did not know what a colony was and what a country was. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

For the Chinese people who have been in Kaihong for four years, with the popularization of education, especially the increasing popularity of newspapers, through newspapers, people know about the colonies, and know that overseas, China has a colony that is not inferior to Jiangnan and no less than the empire itself.

"Colonies are the lifeblood of the empire and the lifeblood of the empire's billions of people!"

In the four years of Kaihong, almost every citizen felt the importance of colonization in China from this sentence, but for many people living in the empire's own land, the colony was just animals from foreign continents such as giraffes, Henan, and lions, and rare birds and animals in zoos. But for the immigrants who lived here, the colony meant their rebirth, their everything.

The Viceroyalty of Western Sahara is, for the most part, a real desolate place, desolate to the point of desert, which can be said to be nothing, even in its capital, Port Ansi (Laayoune), not because of an oasis on the shore, where even fresh water may need to be imported from abroad, nor is there any agriculture worth mentioning, and the people who live here eat the abundant catch from the Atlantic and the food imported from the Americas.

But for the Chinese Empire, it is extremely important, because this is the closest territory of the Chinese Empire to Europe, it is precisely because of its desolation that it will be ignored by the great powers, and because of this, China has the opportunity to occupy and control here, and established a port here, after years of development, now the port of Anxi has become the most important supply port for Chinese merchant ships to Europe, Chinese merchant ships are supplied here, and even last year with the completion of a dock, Chinese merchant ships can even undergo simple repairs here, and not expensive ones in Europe.

It was in this process, although it was built on a desolate desert, that another kind of prosperity slowly emerged, a boom from commerce and the port. Over the past few years, this once small seaside port has been constantly changing, with ports, immigrants, commerce, banks, and even some factories here, some run by immigrants.

"Vinegar!"

The banners erected on the tall flagpole swayed with the breeze blowing from the desert, and the strong smell of vinegar permeated the air, in the vinegar pool, dozens of slaves purchased from the hands of the desert's entangled natives, under the supervision of the overseer, turned over the vinegar pool, under the scorching sun, those slaves captured from the southern forest, the dark skin of good luck was glowing black, for Qian Lei, who used to work on the docks, whenever he saw this scene, he would think of the fine Welsh anthracite bought from England on the docks, The anthracite is reflected in the sun, and it is obviously black coal, but because of its shine, it is called "white coal".

"Turning the vinegar pond is hard work, you have to turn it once a day, and there are several tons of material in each pool......"

Standing by the vinegar pool, Qian Lei said to his son, who was only three years old.

"In the past, when your father and I turned over the vinegar pond in my hometown, it could dry people, and I held a wooden shovel all day long, and it was a few hours to turn it over......"

The son with slightly curly hair beside him, Qian Lei couldn't help but think of the daughter-in-law in the family, the daughter-in-law is different from him, not a countryman, but the daughter of a small chief in the desert, for those chiefs who marry more than a dozen daughters-in-law, there are dozens of daughters. And her daughter-in-law's eyes are like jewels, coupled with that exquisite figure, every time he sees his daughter-in-law, a thought will pop up in his heart, he burned high incense in his last life, but he knows that here, it is not him who marries this daughter-in-law, but his daughter-in-law, and his father-in-law chief.

Because of his people!

Of course, all he cares about is his daughter-in-law herself, and of course his son and newborn daughter. When he was in his hometown, Qian Lei naturally would not have thought that one day he would be able to marry such a beautiful daughter-in-law, and he would have both children and daughters, and it was because of this that he would cherish his current life even more.

It is this mentality that makes him like to bring his son to the vinegar factory, so that he can see the hard work of making vinegar, whether his son understands the truth or not, for Qian Lei, he doesn't mind letting his son understand the past of the Qian family, what is the past of the Qian family?

He was very poor, so poor that he was forced to immigrate to Africa because he had no land, but he didn't farm like everyone else, and besides, in Anxi Port, where even the city was built in a desert oasis by the sea, there was naturally no land to plant, he worked on the docks.

Five yuan a month, that work is easy, really very easy, because as a countryman, he doesn't need to work at all, just urge the slaves on the docks to work, slaves, are those desert herdsmen who believe in the Heavenly Sect, they use the slaves plundered from the southern forests to exchange for cloth and other goods, and for the city, although these slaves after being castrated by the Heavenly Sect have a short lifespan, but they are also the cheapest labor, half a year's salary, you can buy a slave who can be forced for ten years.

Although life is easy, five yuan a month, but after working for more than a year, Qian Lei is not satisfied with the days of being a supervisor on the dock for six hours every day, whipping people all day long, that kind of day is too boring, once when eating noodles, the noodles seem to taste good, Qian Lei always feels that something is missing. But no matter how I thought about it, I didn't come up with a reason.

That night, Qian Lei didn't sleep all night, and it wasn't until the sky was bright that he remembered that there was less vinegar in that noodle, because there was no vinegar, so there was less taste.

At first, he didn't think there was anything, but later he found out that there was no vinegar, but there was not necessarily vinegar in the entire African colony, because at that time, the food and living materials here were all imported from Europe, and there may be flour there, but there is no vinegar!

This discovery made Qian Lei's eyes light up.

"Son, you remember, the easiest business to do, that is, no matter what kind of business, as long as no one does it, then if you do it, nine times out of ten, you will definitely be able to do it!"

Although he had never done business before, after Qian Lei found that there was no vinegar here, he immediately remembered the vinegar he learned to make when he was working in a vinegar-making workshop, so he built a vinegar pond in the place where he lived and brewed vinegar.

Compared with the hometown of Shaanxi, Anxi Port is simply a place where vinegar is born, there is no rain all year round, the sun is hot every day, at least five or six hours of the sun can be seen a day, the vinegar needs to be dried, the longer the drying time, the better, the same sun in the first half of the year, in this place is equivalent to more than a year in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and because of this, the vinegar he brewed tastes more mellow than the vinegar in his hometown.

It is this kind of vinegar with a mellow taste that made Qian Lei quit his job and started a vinegar brewing workshop, from one person and one vinegar pond at the beginning, to hundreds of slaves and dozens of vinegar ponds now, and even his vinegar has now been sold throughout the African colonies.

The once whipped man on the dock became not only a well-known local businessman, but also the "Colonial Vinegar King" reported in the domestic newspapers, a successful businessman who allowed the colony's nearly a million immigrants and local natives to enjoy traditional Chinese condiments.

"Baby, you remember, to make vinegar, not only must have good koji and good light, but also have good water and good raw materials, our vinegar is ......"

Smelling the thick sour smell in the air, Qian Lei sighed,

"These things are actually gathered in this place, this water is the 10,000-year-old water gushing out of the desert, and the corn that makes vinegar is also from ......"

Just as Qian Lei was talking like this, there was a burst of dust in the distance, but Qian Lei was stunned, could it be that the nomadic entanglement who didn't open his eyes wanted to attack the vinegar factory? How is this possible? Wouldn't those people have been scared by the Wehrmacht? The Defence Forces were not merciful to any native who dared to invade the immigrants, and even in some parts of the south, extermination orders were issued, and thousands of natives were exterminated because their tribes had harmed the immigrants, and even the merchants felt sorry for them, because they were the best source of slaves.

Even here, the nomadic tribes in the desert who had never obeyed the king were scared and killed by the defense army, and the defense army even went thousands of miles into the desert to hunt down a tribe, just because it had robbed the Chinese caravans, and finally ended with that tribe and the tribe that took them in being cut down and eradicated.

With such a prestigious name, who dares not to open their eyes and offend Chinese immigrants?

When the horses approached, Qian Lei, who was standing at the door, noticed that the cavalry on horseback was a guard wearing a khaki uniform, and he was the herald of the defense army.

"Are you Qian Lei?"

The dusty herald of the Guard, when he rode his horse and came running, stopped his horse and asked him directly.

"I'm Qian Lei, what does the chief command?"

Looking at this dusty herald, Qian Lei hurriedly asked.

"According to the order of the Defense Force Commander's Department, all immigrants are mobilized and integrated into the Defense Army, Qian Lei, you have forty-eight hours to say goodbye to your family, if you do not go to the Defense Force barracks on time to report, you will be punished as a deserter!"

What the!

The chief's words made Qian Lei stunned, he looked at the chief in shock, and then looked at the conscription order he had just received in his hand, for a while, he didn't even know how to react.

What's going on?

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