Chapter 801 Nanzhou Ji: Xu Fu's new life

Stepping on the white and soft sand, Xu Fu suddenly felt guilty, the sand under his feet was too much like salt, seven or eight years ago in Jiangnan, the family could not afford to eat the white fine salt.

Actually, I can't afford to eat it now...... Otherwise, why would he be willing to leave his hometown and come to Nanzhou so far? I heard a few old men say that this place is called Coral State, and it is a remote place in Nanzhou.

I'm afraid I won't be able to go back in this life, Xu Fu thought so, and suddenly rushed to the door with a sour feeling. Behind him, there were quite a few people getting off the sampan, and they were all as stunned as he was.

Turning around and taking his daughter-in-law from the sampan, feeling the warm blood in the palm of his hand, looking at the woman who was also in tears, the sourness suddenly dissipated a lot, Xu Fu thought again, as long as he can live a good life, as long as he is with his daughter-in-law, where is not home?

"Don't run, be careful, who knows what beasts will be on the shore?"

Li Shun got off the sampan and beckoned the first group of people to come ashore. There may be local affairs in Coral State, only the top executives of these companies know about it, and if the news spreads, I am afraid that not many people are willing to come here.

Sixty peasant couples, including Xu Fu and his wife, thirty mercenaries, thirty laborers, plus a prospecting head, a mason who built a house, Lang Zhong who prevented the epidemic and treated diseases, and a calculator and a literate person who managed materials, and there were 261 people who arrived in Coral Prefecture on the same boat as Zhong Shangwei and others. But there is a difference between these people, only Xu Fu, the sixty peasant couples, are the real residents of Coral State, and the others are hired laborers, and they will return to China after a few years.

Xu Fu's gang were all proletarian tenants in Jiangnan, Fujian, Guangdong, and even Huguang, especially Jiangnan and Huguang, who had signed overseas immigration contracts and would be placed under the jurisdiction of the Coral State Colonial Company from now on.

With the heart of Zhong Shang's profit-seeking, these people are a burden, and if he can, he really doesn't want it.

Unfortunately, this is the cost that the colonial company must pay, and if the overseas territory wants to become the trusteeship of the colonial company, so as to obtain the industrial and commercial rights of the territory, be exempt from the payment of mineral taxes, and the products are also exempt from customs duties, just by paying the royalties, then there must be a hundred Anglo-Chinese adult men in the local settlement, and at least a village courtyard must be set up.

This is the basic national policy of the British and Chinese to promote overseas colonization, and in response to this policy, there is also a French language attached to it, but all citizens who move overseas, as long as they have no property in the country, must enjoy the necessary land to ensure their survival, based on the standard of an adult man, that is, "Yiding". The size of the area is formulated according to the actual situation of each place, and the quota of Nanzhou is one hectare, that is, one hundred acres.

In fact, the latter clause does not need to be stipulated by the state, and the colonial companies themselves will regard it as the basic condition for recruiting immigrants. Overseas is more land and less people.

To sum up this policy, if the colonial company wanted to charter a piece of trust land to operate and make a profit, it would have to let about 100 families feed themselves. This was a matter of course for most colonial companies, and with a hundred peasant households, they would have a basic food guarantee and the necessary manpower for other matters.

But for Zhong Shangwei, they are here to open mines, not to farm, and the grain is cheap, so there is no need to grow it themselves. Before the Coral State Company made a profit, it had to bear the burden of feeding a hundred families, which was a real loss.

But from another point of view, after feeding a hundred families in Coral State, and then hiring foreign laborers or even slave labor, Zhong Shangwei is also relieved, this is just a necessary price.

Xu Fu, the sixty couples, are here to fight the front station, and they will add more people or stop depending on the situation. In business, if there is no future in Coral Prefecture, Zhong Shangwei and others will not make this place a trusteeship, and thus carry a burden, and Jinghai Port in Dongming Prefecture is a precedent. …,

"The climate here seems to be a bit dry, no wonder the general directors will bring wheat seeds, grow wheat, beans, plus sweet potatoes and buds, and feed their family of two. No, even if you feed ten people, it's no problem, a hundred acres of land......"

Looking at the grass and trees in this strange land, Xu Fu, who was familiar with farming, thought so. These immigrants enjoy the benefits of 100 acres of land, and the obligation is only to pay the land tax, which is very low in the colonial company, and the coral state is set at one percent in kind, which is almost symbolic

When the land was established as a trusteeship, the residents had to pay taxes to the company for running businesses and businesses, but at that time, they were able to bargain with the company because they had built a village house. It's just that this matter is not known and felt by people like Xu Fu who are not familiar with the Anglo-Chinese national system, in his opinion, the company is also a yamen, and they are just handing over imperial grain to this yamen.

The future planned by Zhong Shangwei and others is of course very inconsistent with the future planned by Xu Fu and others. Especially when the head was found on the map and the location of the copper mine was found, and it was found that it was a rich mine, Zhong Shangwei's eyes were green.

The magnificent scenery of the Great Barrier Reef is like a blessing from heaven, and for the rest of the day, Zhong Shangwei and others are happily busy.

Now that the outlook has been confirmed, it's time to start laying a solid foundation. First, a floating trestle was erected at a suitable harbor to serve as a temporary wharf to transfer supplies from large ships to shore, and then a suitable place to shelter from the leeward tide was set up near the wharf to set up temporary housing. There is a small river ditch two or three miles from the coast, and there is no need to worry about fresh water.

Li Shun was in charge of managing these engineering affairs, and he led soldiers in the army, and these things were not much different from camping in the field. At the same time, he is also responsible for security, and the surrounding environment is dominated by shrubs and grasslands, dotted with sparse woods, and there are no predators for the time being. "The Geographical Chronicles of Nanzhou" also said that there are no tigers and wolves in Nanzhou, there are many marsupial beasts and koalas, and many people have seen them in the rare bird garden, so the security pressure is not great. The only thing to be vigilant against, in addition to the possible natives, is the snake and scorpion in the grass and trees, which has its own accompanying Langzhong to advise and treat.

Zhong is busy with mine planning, including manpower estimation, mine planning, and output estimation. Although Wang Zhiyan was immersed in business before, he did not lose his talent foundation, and he was responsible for logistics and housekeeping, eating, drinking, living and people's hearts were settled properly.

To be honest, the three of them are really a golden combination, each of them can stand alone, and the three of them also have a tacit understanding

"I had to buy a pumping machine, and then buy two steam engines, one for transporting ore and one for grinding. According to the calculation of 1,000 miners, one million catties of copper can be smelted in a year, and now a catty of copper and eight coins of silver, this is 800,000 taels! ”

"In addition to the company's franchise fees, labor, amortized machine costs, as well as coal money, freight and the like, we can at least earn half, 400,000 taels! One year, it's just one year! ”

Zhong Shangwei was sweating on his forehead, his eyes were shining, Wang Zhiyan and Li Shun were also excited, good guys, there can be 400,000 a year! After removing some miscellaneous expenses, the four shareholders will divide it, and each person can have 70,000 or 80,000 yuan a year. This mine is really profitable!

Of course, it is not the mining that produces large profits, but the huge profits of colonial overseas undertakings. This mine is legally state, but in fact it is a company, which is like a domestic mine, and you have to pay mineral tax to the state. In addition, recruiting a large number of workers overseas is not something that ordinary people have the ability to do, and anything can happen in the wild places overseas, and the risks are not affordable for ordinary people.

"Wait...... Isn't it something missing? Their expenses ......"

Wang Zhiyan didn't forget a class of people, and following the direction he pointed, Zhong Shangwei and Li Shun saw those peasant couples who were happily thinking about the future. …,

"They are short of a lot of things now, so we will give them extra credit, let them buy cattle to build houses, and then use these IOUs to force them to go into the mine to help, and use labor money to pay off their debts, so that we can continue to reduce the labor in the mine!"

Zhong Shangwei came as soon as he opened his mouth, this was his mature routine of running a black mine before.

As soon as the words came out, the other two were silent, Zhong Shangwei suddenly woke up, and hurriedly smiled: "I don't mean anything else, isn't this also to help them set up a family business as soon as possible?" ”

In terms of attitude towards the people, Li Shun and Wang Zhiyan are very different from Zhong Shang, and now this guy spits out the truth, wanting to use usury to tie up the people and pressure them to serve the company, both of them feel a little uncomfortable.

The Overseas Colonization Act stipulates that colonial companies must act as agents for the overseas loan business of various banks, provide a certain amount of loans to new immigrants, and support immigrants to start their businesses, and Zhong Shangwei means to induce farmers to borrow more usury.

Seeing that the two objected with silence, Zhong Shangwei hurriedly surrendered, after so many years of training, he also knew that there was no need to make trouble with his partner in the details.

"Master Zhong, you, let's keep an eye on the big part and let go of the small place."

Li Shun was born in the lowest, and he didn't understand Zhong Shang's thinking that he was already a family fortune, but he still stared at the blood and sweat of the peasants.

Zhong Shangwei muttered in a low voice: "The big place is gathered from the small place, 10,000 taels of silver, it is 10,000 taels of silver......

didn't know that they had walked under the clutches of Master Zhong, and Xu Fu and his wife were still immersed in endless joy.

They have enclosed their own land, and the soil in this land is not only dry, but also sandy, and it is a barren field in the middle of the country, but even if it is barren, it can grow crops, let alone a hundred acres. In fact, if you want to occupy more, no one cares, and if you rely on them and their husbands, they will not be able to cope with a hundred acres, let alone more land.

The mine is at the foot of a mountain about ten miles from the coast, and twenty miles southeast of the western edge of the mountain is a large river. The farmers' fields were divided between the mines and the river, and the area was shallow forest and meadow, which was easy to cultivate.

Wang Zhiyan helped the farmers make plans, and everyone's fields were put together to facilitate collective land reclamation and farming. There were only temporary granges in the fields, and the peasants still lived together, and each person first cultivated some fields in the settlement as food rations, fruit and vegetable fields.

Xu Fu and the others were initially opposed, they wanted their fields so much that they couldn't wait to sleep under their heads. Let them stay away from the hundred acres of land to live, and they always feel unsteady. And from a professional point of view, the fields are not taken care of, so how can it be done?

Wang Zhiyan said with a smile: "This is not Huguang, let alone Jiangnan, why do you need to be so carefully served?" After ploughing, you can sprinkle the seeds directly. What else do you need to do besides patrolling and repelling birds and beasts? ”

Everyone was stunned, it is true, the field is as many as 100 acres, and it really has to be carefully served, but it can't be served.

In addition, at this time, Wang Zhiyan also revealed that it is not excluded that there are natives who must live together to ensure safety, Xu Fu and others reluctantly accepted it, and they all felt that the way to survive overseas was really different from that in the country.

After helping the company build the simple wharf first, and then the mine facilities, Xu Fu and others happily devoted themselves to the work of building houses, and even followed like-minded farmers to burn wasteland in their spare time.

In May, Nanzhou is approaching winter, the preliminary preparations have been completed, and the three points of the first line of Coral State are beginning to take shape. The wharf is in the northeast, which is also the "administrative office" of Coral State, the mine is ten miles to the southeast, the peasant village is ten miles to the west, and the previous large sea ships have also brought supplies from Dili, enough to allow more than 200 people to survive the winter. ――

Wang Zhiyan wanted to return to Nanyang with the ship to recruit miners and purchase mining and smelting machinery and equipment, and Li Shun and Zhong stayed behind. For Xu Fu, among the three general directors, General Secretary Wang is the most amiable, and General Secretary Li is also a good person, but he is not very easy to talk to, as for General Secretary Zhong......

"I really don't understand, how Mr. Wang and Mr. Li got together with that fat man."

Xu Fu's opinion is also the opinion of all the peasants, and they all think that the fat man Zhong is extremely cunning, and his eyes always look at them like a fox looking at a rabbit.

"It seems that at this time, you can only grow beans, and you can't grow wheat or other grains."

Fortunately, at present, Mr. Zhong still generally abides by the rules, and Xu Fu's attention is focused on the time of day in Nanzhou. Although I was told in advance, in the end, it was supposed to be spring and summer in the middle of the country, but here it was like late autumn, and the season of crops was different, which made Xu Fu a little dazed.