Year 1876

Off the coast of Queensland, Australia

The blue sea is undulating, and large flocks of white seagulls dance and hover lowly on the sea, making a sharp chirping sound.

The Fleming, a 2,000-ton German merchant ship from Hong Kong, came from its tall chimney with thick black smoke chopping waves, cheerful dolphins jumping and speeding on the bow of the ship, the reciprocating steam engine on the freighter made a huge roar of machinery, and the brass pressure relief valve spewed out large clouds of white high-temperature steam from time to time, filling most of the hull.

In the front warehouse where the goods were piled up, dozens of Chinese workers wearing melon skin hats and long braids crowded on both sides of the ship, looking forward to the strange port city that appeared on the sea antenna, and their eyes showed hope, nervousness and uneasiness.

They came with dreams of gold rushing, and they didn't know what fate awaited them.

Australia's gold rush, which began in 1851, has lasted for more than 20 years.

Huge numbers of gold prospectors flocked to this unexplored and barren continent, including Chinese from the Far East and blacks from the small Pacific islands.

At the beginning of the Australian Gold Rush (1851-1854), there were not many Chinese in Australia, and from 1854, Chinese workers entered a stage of explosive growth.

In 1854, in the first census of Victoria, where gold was discovered, there were only 2,261 Chinese workers, but by mid-1855, the number had reached 19,300, and by the end of the year it had exceeded 33,000, a 14-fold increase in one year, making it the largest group of workers in the gold fields.

In 1857, there were 41,623 Chinese in the Victorian Goldfields alone. At its peak, from 1858 to 1859, the number was as high as 52,000.

At the height of the NSW Gold Rush, there were 26,300 Chinese workers, or one-eighth of the population.

In 1875, after the news of the discovery of gold in Queensland, the number of gold diggers from China increased significantly, and every month there were 600~900 Chinese workers who crossed the ocean with dreams, hoping to realize the dream of gold panning and making a fortune in this distant foreign land.

The German merchant ship Fleming was heading to Queensland, where it was about to arrive after a long voyage.

In the condescending wheelhouse of a freighter

Captain Ian Fleming stood beside the rudder, a Florentine briar pipe in his mouth, his breezed black face hidden in the thick choking smoke, and his gray-blue eyes sparkled with smugness.

The trip arrived at Queensland ports loaded with a wide range of goods from the Far East, including coffee, cocoa, milk and tea, as well as cloth, palm oil and aluminium ingots, bringing huge profits to the Fleming family in Mecklenburg.

Oh, and by the way, there are also 179 Chinese workers on board, each of whom will contribute 240 gold marks for a one-way ticket.

At the rate of 20 German gold marks to one pound sterling, this money is about 12 pounds, which is an additional income for the freighter.

Looking at the port city in the distance, the tall spires of the buildings loomed, which made Captain Ian Flamen feel a long-lost European architectural feature, and a sense of familiarity rose in his heart.

There was a condescending look of contempt in his eyes for this lonely and remote continent.

During the Second Industrial Revolution, the distant continent of Australia was almost indistinguishable from the indigenous people of all Europeans, inhabited by criminals and prostitutes exiled from the British Isles and Europe, almost another world.

And also...... If it weren't for these damn Australians' anti-Chinese policies, Mr. Fleming would have made a lot more.

More than ten years ago

In view of the rapid increase in the number of Chinese workers who rushed to Australia to pan for gold, which posed a serious threat to the European population of the Australian continent, the Victorian authorities passed the Restriction of Chinese Immigration Bill under the motion of the "Royal Commission on Gold Fields" headed by the Briton Faulkner.

The Act provides;

For every 10 tonnage of ships coming to Macao, one Chinese is allowed to carry, and each Chinese entering the country must pay a poll tax of 10 pounds, which is the first law in the history of Australia to restrict Chinese workers.

On the blue sea

The German merchant ship Fleming honked a long whistle and slowed down to approach the dock, and more Chinese laborers with long pigtails and melon-skin hats poured out of the cabin, all of them young men.

They were fifteen or sixteen years old, and the oldest was no more than 30 years old, and everyone couldn't help but cheer in unison when they saw the beautiful and strange city outside the ship.

After more than 30 days of arduous sea drifting, we finally arrived at the dream of producing gold, and everyone's eyes were full of anticipation and excitement.

In the mouth of the Chinese, the distant American continent is called San Francisco, and the Queensland isolated on the overseas Australian continent is called the new gold mountain.

A tall teenager stares at the city looming on the distant skyline, his black hair fluttering in the salty sea breeze, and his eyes are filled with mixed emotions far beyond his age

He is Li Fushou, a young body with a mature soul from the afterlife.

This ancient steam age, the time point of China's century-old sinking, this barren Australian continent, alas......

Li Fushou sighed softly, with a hesitation and confusion in his eyes, his face was full of worries about the future, how could it not be a sense of loss without the blessing of the system, and he didn't have much confidence in his heart.

Under the interweaving of various complex emotions, a long sigh was issued.

All of a sudden

Li Fushou turned his head in disbelief and saw that someone had touched him hard on his ass, very hard.

A sense of extreme humiliation arose, and he would never have imagined that such a thing would happen.

This was a thin man of medium stature, Wu Zhanyuan, a green-skinned ruffian in the next cabin, and there were several companions standing beside him.

Wu Zhanyuan's eyes stared at Li Fusheng's childish young face, smiled maliciously, stretched out his finger and sniffed at the end of his nose, revealing an obscene meaning and said;

"Hey, hey, hey...... Boy, I can't see that it's quite material, it feels good! ”

The boring and tasteless sea journey for more than a month has made this group of men with strong blood and strength have nowhere to vent their energy, and they are really idle and painful.

This moment

Li Fushou surged into his head with an evil fire, and he kicked out with a kick of "Rabbit Kicking Eagle", hitting Wu Zhanyuan's soft lower abdomen, and the strong force made him kick back a few steps, holding his lower abdomen in pain and unable to stand up.

Li Fushou was unforgiving, and then caught up with two steps, and hit him with a sharp hook on the door in front of him, and immediately hit the peach blossoms.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Stop."

The speed of these rabbit falcons was very fast, and several of Wu Zhanyuan's neighbors and companions reacted too late, and immediately shouted angrily, and some people rolled up their sleeves and were ready to come up and make a move.

At this moment, I saw Li Fushou take off the one-handed iron hook on the warehouse pile, raise his arm high and swing it down.

This change stunned everyone.

The one-handed hooks used to load and unload cargo on cargo ships are extremely sharp, shaped like those of a hook captain, and are used to hook large luggage and bags.

Once it is pierced in the flesh and blood of a person, the consequences are ......

"Don't wow!" Wu Zhanyuan covered his nose with his hands and spurted blood, looking extremely panicked, but unfortunately it was too late.

I saw that the sharp iron hook emitted a cold glow in the sunlight, and pierced down fiercely in an extremely short arc.

After a terrible scream, blood splattered out, and the sharp iron hook pierced deep into Wu Zhanyuan's right shoulder, causing him to scream like a dead dog, lying on the deck and unable to move.

The neighbors who were ready to help, and the Chinese workers on the bow of the boat not far away were all stunned by Li Fushou's ruthlessness, and the original footsteps shrank back silently, and the sleeves rolled up were also put back.

This kid is a ruthless man, and he can't be provoked.

When you go out, more things are better than less, and you can't offend a ruthless character for a green-skinned ruffian.

Li Fushou wiped a handful of warm blood droplets that splashed on his face, and the blood on his young face surged, revealing a look of extreme resentment.

He coldly glanced at the Chinese laborers around him who were cowering, and they all took a few steps back to make room for a large area.

"The surname is Wu, I want to be crazy, why are your hands so cheap, you just used your right hand, right? Should I throw you into the sea and feed the sharks? ”

Li ...... Young Master Li, spare your life! ”

Wu Zhanyuan was so painful that his nose and tears fell, and he prostrate on the wooden board on the bow of the boat and kowtowed a few times, he didn't expect that his hands would be so cheap that he would be scared to pee; "The villain has eyes and doesn't know the hero, and he deserves death for offending Young Master Li's tiger might, please look at the faces of the people in your hometown, spare me this time, and I will never dare in the future."

"Do you want to have a next time?"

"Oh, I can't even speak clearly with this broken mouth, I don't dare to ...... I really don't dare, I'm crazy, please spare my life. ”

For this kind of thing, it is not enough to fight for your life.

Now that he has found the field, the anger in Li Fushou's heart has calmed down a little; "I should have abolished you, for the sake of my hometown and spared your life."

"Thank you, Young Master Li, woo woo woo ......" Wu Zhanyuan had already cried bitterly.

"You Laipi dog, you will have to shout Master Li when you bump into me in the future." Li Fushou looked at Wu Zhanyuan, who collapsed to the ground, with a disgusted expression, what was there to be polite to this kind of hooligan ruffian, he jerked his hand, pulled out the bloody iron hook in the other party's screams, and rolled up a large piece of flesh and blood.

Wu Zhanyuan was trembling in pain, and his whole body was weak and he couldn't get up on the deck of the ship, like an injured Laipi dog.

At this moment, the sound of noisy footsteps came from the rear cabin, and the curse of Captain Fleming's deep voice; "Damn it, get out of the way, what the hell is going on?"

The onlookers gave way to the way, and Captain Fleming hurried with a few armed crew members, and when he saw the bloody scene in front of him, he was immediately angry and shouted loudly;

"Hell, who's making trouble on my boat, it looks like a slaughterhouse, it's you, stinky boy, I'm going to skin you and throw it into the sea."

"You're not going to do that, Captain Fleming." Li Fushou responded in a deep voice.

"Why? I need you to give me a reason. I didn't expect the other party to speak English, and Captain Fleming was visibly stunned.

The crew of the freighter consisted of British, Spanish, Germans and Dutchmen, and Captain Fleming gave orders and spoke common English, which Li Fushou was highly educated in his previous life, so he was certainly no stranger to this.

Li Fushou looked at the muzzle of the black hole in the crew's hand with a calm expression, and tried his best to calm his tone; "It's just a lesson for a house slave, in our ancient empire this is disposing of your own property, you don't want to meddle in it, please trust me, Mr. Captain......"

Relying on his proficiency in English, and being the only person on this boat who could understand both English and Chinese, Li Fushou had the courage to be double-faced, and was sure that Captain Fleming would not ask for trouble.

"Oh my God, that's a backward and ignorant rule."

Captain Fleming looked at Wu Zhanyuan who was prostrate on the ground, the blood had already turned his clothes red, and there was a helpless look on his wrinkled bronze face, he was not in the mood to know the truth; "Young gentleman, you need to know that this is my ship, and I can't tolerate making a mess here."

Sure enough, Captain Fleming's tone softened, he had been running the Far East route for many years, and he had a half-understanding of the ancient Eastern Empire, and waved his hand to let the crew put down their weapons.

"I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused the captain."

"It's not something that can be solved with an apology." Captain Fleming had a sly look in his eyes, and the meaning was obvious; Want to extort some benefits out.

It's a pity that Li Fushou's pockets are cleaner than his face at this moment, how can there be half a penny to squeeze?

solved the imminent crisis, Li Fushou put his heart back in his stomach, and he coped with it more calmly;

"Mr. Captain, I am teaching my house slaves a lesson, according to the ancient Oriental rules, outsiders should not interfere, otherwise it will be an offense to my noble family, most of the people on the ship obeyed my orders, and now they have successfully arrived in Queensland, seeing that the journey is coming to an end, you don't want to cause any trouble at this time, right?"

Captain Fleming couldn't make up his mind, and looked hesitantly at the crowd around him, trying to see something in their faces.

"This captain is asking if you still want to get off the ship?" Li Fushou quietly translated.

Hearing this, almost all the Chinese workers nodded their heads like garlic, but this meant something different in Captain Fleming's eyes, revealing an obvious look of jealousy.

In his interpretation, most of the Chinese workers will obey Li Fushou's arrangement, and this young man is obviously a nobleman.

At the sound of an order, once so many young and strong men make a fuss, it is useless to rely on these few smoothbore rifles in their hands.

Captain Fleming didn't want to get along with Kinmark, and even more so didn't want to get into trouble, so he thought about it for a while;

"Okay, you guys settle your own affairs, we won't get involved, you can leave after the gold mine pays the poll tax for you, until then, I hope this young gentleman can stay with our crew, and we will provide the necessary treatment, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble."

After Captain Fleming finished speaking, he looked at Li Fushou with an inquiring eye.

After a long voyage, these foreign sailors are full of stinking, pungent smells, foul smells, and vulgar language, so that the devil wants to stay with you.

Li Fushou scolded secretly in his heart, and continued to translate quietly; "The foreign captain said that if you continue to make trouble with Wu Zhanyuan, he will drive you into the sea with a foreign gun, are you willing to bear such a price?"

Of course not, why should Wu Zhanyuan take responsibility for the matter.

All the Chinese workers shook their heads in unison, and they all spoke out in defense, and for a time the noisy southern and northern tones were very noisy, and they looked at Captain Fleming eagerly, but unfortunately no one could speak foreign.

The scene was a mess, looking at the emotional Chinese workers, the crew couldn't help but nervously hold the weapons in their hands, but they couldn't understand what the other party said at all.

Europeans in this era can't read a single big word, let alone be proficient in difficult oriental languages, which is absolutely hellish difficulty.

Captain Fleming also looked at Li Fushou suspiciously, waiting for him to translate the meaning of Huagong.

"I'm sorry Mr. Captain, my people don't trust you." Li Fushou shook his head helplessly, seeing that the freighter had slowly approached the dock, and his heart was settled at the moment; "I hope the ship side doesn't stir up public anger, you know that there are 179 of us, it's better to let your people put away these front-loading smoothbore guns, and continue to maintain the previous stable state until we leave the ship, I think this is the best solution."

"Uh...... All right. ”

Captain Fleming finally backed down in the face of the other party's strength, and he didn't want any accidents to happen on this journey, especially at the last moments; "You've got to keep these people in check, and keep them quiet."

Li Fushou nodded in agreement and said to the Chinese workers around him; "Mr. Captain, let me take care of you, don't do anything like Wu Zhanyuan again, otherwise, he will use a foreign gun to speak."

"That won't happen, we'll all listen to you."

"Everyone is a villager, and they are definitely not people who cause trouble, please ask Young Master Li to help us talk to Lord Yang, don't wronged a good person!"

"That's it, it's ......"

The hustle and bustle of the surrounding Chinese workers reappeared, and they were more about defending themselves.

Li Fushou stretched out his hands and pressed down, stopping everyone and saying; "Don't talk about it anymore, a few of you helped Wu Zhanyuan back to the cabin to wrap up his injuries, whether he can survive depends on his life, the others keep quiet, wait for the people from the gold mine to pay the poll tax, we can get off the ship, if there is anything I will communicate with the captain alone, he will not deliberately embarrass us, then let's all disperse, don't gather together, this is the rule that the foreign captain strongly requires to follow."

Using foreigners to suppress Chinese workers, and in turn using Chinese workers to negotiate terms with the ship, Li Fushou turned over the clouds and played well, and solved a big trouble in just a few words.

After he completed the assignment in an orderly manner, the Chinese workers immediately went their own way, and the crowd gathered at the bow of the ship quickly dispersed, and the effect was immediate.

This made Captain Fleming look at Li Fushou even more differently, it turned out that the young man on the ship was the hidden strong man among the Chinese workers.

Invisibly, take a look at it.

Captain Fleming took a hard puff of his pipe, exhaled a large cloud of strong choking tobacco flavor, and waved his hand impatiently; "Damn Bill, don't you see that the beautiful ship deck has been soiled? The guy with you rinsed me off and polished it like a mirror, or I'll cancel your plans to go ashore, hell, I've had enough. ”

The captain loudly drove his men to wash the deck, venting his frustration.

Li Fushou could only pretend not to hear, and walked back to his cabin amid everyone's whispering and concerned gazes, he needed to seriously consider his next move.