It is not for nothing that Wang Shan made this decision.

If gold mining in San Francisco comes to a standstill, he'll be in big trouble for the rest of the winter.

After all, the construction here in San Francisco is supported by Wang Shan's sale of gold in the virtual world. If gold mining stops, San Francisco will soon run out of food.

In this cold winter, all the people living under Wang Shan's command have warm clothes and yurts. But there has never been a lot of food, and now there is only enough food for half a month.

Therefore, Wang Shan couldn't help but be nervous about this.

But fortunately, there is only a need for food here, and the demand for some other materials is not very large.

Otherwise, Wang Shan would definitely have a headache.

The vassal Indians who were free people were reluctant to go to work this winter, so in order to solve this trouble, let the captives do it.

And I can't feed them for a winter, which is a very loss-making thing.

After the Battle of the Great Plains, Wang Shan captured more than 200,000 prisoners. With such a large group of captives, they consume a lot of food every day.

Even if they are given chaff, it consumes a huge amount.

Therefore, it is impossible for Wang Shan to feed them for a winter in vain and let them live so comfortably.

To a large extent, these captives also came from the enemy.

For the enemy, then there must be a way to treat the enemy, and it must not be as comfortable as treating one's own people.

In Wang Shan's decision, he was even ready to sacrifice 10,000 captives to dig for gold this winter. In other words, he would rather die 10,000 captives this winter than let the gold mining business stop.

Absolutely not!

After hearing this, the clerk looked at Wang Shan with a serious face and asked, "Your Excellency." It's a good idea to let the captives mine for gold. It's just that I don't know how many people you plan to hand over to the gold mine? ”

The European clerk had the same thoughts as Wang Shan, and he also felt that Wang Shan's decision was very correct.

Of course, it was impossible for this European clerk to know the secrets of the Dao Empire, and the reason why he felt that Wang Shan's decision was correct was because the clerk felt that these captives could be used for mining, rather than feeding them for a winter.

Gold!

That's what matters more than the lives of the barbaric natives.

In this day and age, gold is something that can go crazy on the European side. It was precisely because of the desire for gold that the Europeans created the Age of Discovery.

Yes. Their desire for wealth and gold is their driving force.

The Age of Discovery had little to do with technology and discovery, and the Europeans of this era looked at the sea because they were eager to discover gold and wealth.

The great geographical discoveries were just an accidental product of their quest for wealth and gold.

Therefore, this European clerk who has been brainwashed and has become a citizen of the empire also has a thirst for gold in his heart.

It's just that he has this desire for gold. It's based on letting the empire get that gold and then become strong.

This is completely different from those who want to keep the gold for themselves.

As long as you can get gold, what does it matter if you die some people?

Person. It's the least valuable thing.

What's more, it will be those captives who will die at that time.

Besides, after this war, there is no shortage of manpower on their side. More than 200,000 prisoners. Even if you die, it's nothing.

I have to say that in this era, Europeans really look at life and death very lightly. their minds. In Wang Shan's opinion, it is very strange.

"Twenty thousand, now the gold on the surface has been mined. If we want to continue to get gold, then we need to start mining gold underground, so there are too few people to be of any use. What's more, if you want to mine gold underground, you need to dig tunnels or something, so I'm going to send 20,000 captives to the gold mines in the southern and northern forests. ”

After the clerk heard the number of people from his own governor, he couldn't help but smile brightly.

20,000 people, if there are 20,000 captives to mine gold, then there is nothing to worry about this winter.

These captives are definitely a great tool to squeeze the last drop out of their usefulness.

Hey!

What about the harsh winters?

The Indians who came over from the vassals were not willing to do it, so they were not allowed to do it well.

Without them, there are still captives here.

And it was much easier to manage the captives than the freedmen.

If the captives are disobedient, they can be tortured.

But not for the freedmen.

Therefore, the clerk was absolutely supportive of the use of captives to mine gold.

And the captives are definitely easier to manage than the freedmen, and they are very easy to use. Although food was to be provided to the captives, the so-called food was certainly not comparable to that of the free people.

I guess it's just starving people, as for the taste...... The obvious ones will certainly not be good.

After all, there is a shortage of food in San Francisco right now, so even if there is food, it will not be able to feed the captives. After all, there are many free people here in San Francisco, as well as soldiers of the Imperial Army, right?

Therefore, if it is really impossible to replenish food in half a month, then it must be eaten by the imperial soldiers first. Then it was the turn of the Indian tribesmen who came over as vassals, and the captives came after the last.

In other words, even if the captives starved to death before this, it would have to be done with the two groups of people in front of them.

As for the captives...... Do captives of this era have human rights?

Joke!

"Your Excellency the Governor, 20,000 captives are enough to get a few mines to work. Although it was already the harsh winter season, the captives would not be picky about this. ”

This European-American clerk actually had a little humor.

For this guy's sense of humor, Wang Shan is really not interested.

But he also agreed with the guy in his heart, and the captives were obviously not picky about working in the winter.

As for the reason, it's obvious that as captives, they don't have a choice at all, do they?

Yes, even he himself became a prisoner, and his personal freedom was gone.

What options do they have?

In this situation, they can't even grasp their own life and death.

"Your Excellency the Governor, the problem of the gold mines has been solved. But my subordinates still want to ask you, how to solve the problem of eating and drinking after these captives go to the mine? After all, we only have half a month's worth of food left. ”

Yes, the gold mine can continue to produce because a large number of captives have solved this problem.

However, if 20,000 captives were to be committed at one time, it would also lead to other problems.

The freedmen who worked in the mines before the winter were basically brought their own food to work.

For now, these freedmen don't do it in the winter, so they have to replace them with a group of captives to continue their work. But after the captives are gone, you always have to provide food.

If they are not fed, then these captives will starve to death in a few days, and then there will be no one to work.

You must know that Wang Shan is not thinking about using them for a while, but for a whole winter.

If there was no food to feed them, the captives would not be able to do anything for five days.

Therefore, when he provided the captives to do his work, he also had to provide a batch of food to the mines, so that the mines could meet the daily food needs of the captives, so that they could have enough food and strength to mine.

"I'll write to Manhattan, who can provide us with a lot of food. So you don't have to worry about anything here, this can be solved. ”

Of course, Wang Shan will not tell the clerk his secret, but will use the excuse of getting food back from Manhattan. For Wang Shan and the others, the biggest secret of the empire is what they have to keep all their lives.

You must know that the empire was able to start from scratch, and in just over three years, it rose on the American continent, and it was still rolling in Europe, which was not unrelated to the 'plug-in' owned by Zhao Hongyu.

Think about it, this thing can connect to a virtual modern world, through which they can buy countless materials and materials they need, and at the same time, they can also sell the resources of this world.

This is a great benefit for both parties.

Zhao Hongyu They have a lot of resources on the coast of the Americas, and it can be said that they are full of gold.

And the virtual world is more than ten times larger than the world world where Zhao Hongyu lived before.

Therefore, the population of such a large world has also expanded tenfold. Then the same amount of resources required is also increased tenfold.

At the same time, because the virtual world is similar to Zhao Hongyu's previous real world, the Huaxia in the virtual world is very hungry for resources.

Zhao Hongyu's resources in the Americas can be said to be in short supply in the virtual world.

It is precisely because of this that the empire has gained a perverted speed of development, and all this is not unrelated to the abundance of supplies and materials.

And this secret is only known to the Chinese people in the empire, and the European and Indian citizens except the Chinese will not know the secret at all.

Wang Shan also didn't say too much to the European clerk.

"Is it possible to bring food from Manhattan to solve the problem?"

The clerk's brow furrowed.

He was somewhat noncommittal...... (To be continued......)