June 24, 1724, Quang Ninh Governor's District, Xiping County (present-day Rangasbetung City, Java Island, Indonesia).

In the vast fields on the outskirts of Xiping County, farmers in twos and threes greeted the evening sunset, carrying farm tools and dragging their tired bodies, walking towards the distant villages. Some of the half-grown children were still energetic, playing with each other and running around the adults.

Not far from them, at the railroad construction site, a group of native coolies in shabby linen shirts glanced at them only slightly, then sighed in a low voice, and went about their work with their heads covered. They all knew that this was not a life they could enjoy, and they still needed to serve on one construction site after another for five years before they could live again in the territory designated by the Qi people. And until then, they can only endure.

Looking at these Qi immigrants who occupied the land left by their ancestors, there was a trace of hatred in their hearts. But the situation is stronger than people, not to mention them, even the once powerful Dutch, who have not obediently transferred all the territories they occupy to the Qi people, and then concentrate on their lucrative eastern trade.

However, compared to those compatriots who were brought to an unknown mine by the Qi people, the work on the railway site was obviously much easier. It is said that those who go to the mines to "work" often encounter various safety accidents, such as landslides, ore sputters, foot stumbles, or fights between groups, which can cost them their lives at any time.

Of course, the work here is also very heavy and long. You see, the peasants who were working in the fields had already finished their work, and they were still under the watchful eye of the overseers, and they continued to work until it was completely dark and they could not see, and they were not allowed to stop their work and eat dinner.

The meal for dinner was also very simple, either rice balls made from brown rice, or steamed buns made from cheap flour with bran, fish broth, a few vegetable leaves, and occasionally bacon - of course, a few devout people of the True God Church would refuse to eat this kind of salted pork - seriously, there was not enough to eat, and survival could not be maintained, so what faith should be considered? Sometimes, the people of Qi will also be kind enough to provide a small amount of wine for their compatriots who are willing to enjoy it. Oh, and it's again challenging our religious beliefs.

On the construction site, no one dared to go out of their way to steal and play tricks, and the fierce overseers were so brutal that they would whip you or withhold food, and if you annoyed them, you would even be beaten to death.

Sadly, the overseers all wore the same faces as them, and were the same native people of the island as they were. However, they themselves or their parents submitted to the Qi people very early, accepted their rule, converted to their civilization, learned their language, and served them with all their hearts. As a result, they also gained a certain social status, and began to enslave and oppress their former compatriots together with the Qi people.

They may behave like a docile dog in front of the Qi people, but when they turn their heads to face these "recruited" coolies, they are like a ferocious crocodile in the mire.

"This extension of the Guangzhou-Ningbo-West (Ping) railway will connect Guangchuan (i.e., Batavia) in the next four months, the task is tight, the time is short, we must seize all favorable conditions, speed up the construction progress, do not delay until the rainy season in November, it is not easy to explain to the above." Zhou Wanqing, counselor of the Transportation Department of the Quang Ninh Governor's District, rode on a docile bantam horse, looked at the natives who were lying on their backs and working hard, and said in a serious tone: "If the manpower is not enough, let the township corps recruit more natives." In addition to young men, some half-grown teenagers and healthy women are not unable to work. ”

"Yes, Senator Zhou." Sun Junbao, the person in charge of the construction section, nodded respectfully, and followed Zhou Wanqing's words and said: "Tomorrow, I will send a message to Xiping County and ask them to mobilize the township corps to recruit natives." However, all counties and villages are engaged in large-scale construction, building resettlement sites, digging canals, and paving roads, and the people's resources are already very tight. In this situation, I don't know how many natives can be recruited. ”

"I don't care what the process is, and I don't want to hear any complaints, I just want a satisfactory result." Zhou Wanqing said with a calm expression: "In short, this railway must be laid by the end of October, and it must be opened to traffic as scheduled in January next year." ”

"Yes, Senator Zhou." When Sun Junbao heard this, he could only stubbornly promise: "I will make every effort to build the railway to Guangchuan City as scheduled by the end of October." ”

It seems that in the next few months, it is necessary to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of the local coolies, not to mention, but also to extend the working hours, and even to "work overtime" at night to carry out continuous construction.

Oh, in order to show the strong national strength of the Qi State, but also to prove that Kaihua Island (now Java Island) will develop better after the Dutch completely withdraw, the Qi State not only stepped up the filling of the island with immigrants, but also carried out large-scale infrastructure construction in the area. It was in this atmosphere that a railway plan was planned to run through the entire island of Kaihua, and the ambitious Qi people were ready to connect the Quang (Ning) Xi (Ping) railway at the western end and the Hai (An) Ridge (Semarang) railway at the eastern end within two years.

In fact, the entire Qi country has entered a period of rapid development in recent decades, whether it is Hanzhou itself, or a few nearby overseas territories, almost all construction sites are short of people, it is impossible to imagine that if there is a lack of these "hard-working" native coolies, how all construction projects will be carried out.

The sky was already dark, but due to the inspection of the officials of the Qi State, the local supervisors did not order the coolies to stop work and rest for a while, and continued to inspect the entire construction section, calling for those local people to continue to work.

Zhou Wanqing rode his horse and took a few steps forward and came to the railway construction site. Some of the natives who were toiling by the roadside immediately stepped aside, took off their straw hats and bent them low, their sweaty faces full of unease and fear.

Zhou Wanqing was followed by a team of heavily armed policemen, holding muskets with bayonets in both hands, staring at them fiercely, and this posture frightened them.

Whether it is the mighty and majestic Qi Army or these fierce and impersonal policemen, it has always been a nightmare in their hearts.

Although Qi prefers itself to being a civilized and orderly modern country, various laws and regulations on personal safety and security are also complete. But there was no law to protect the rights and interests of their natives, who were de facto powerless in law and were not even full citizens.

Their situation is so helpless that they can only passively face the bullying and oppression of the overseers. Perhaps, only physical damage is the limit of their oppression and plunder.

Zhou Wanqing looked at these poor and miserable native coolies, and there was no slightest wave in his heart. For the development of the empire and the happiness of future generations, they can only squeeze these native coolies to the death.

"It's getting late, let them stop work."

The native coolies, who had been tired for a day, were already exhausted at this time, their eyes were scattered, and their hands and feet were obviously a little weak, if it weren't for the fear of the overseer's whip, I am afraid that they would have been paralyzed to the ground. Seeing this, Zhou Wanqing turned his head and gave a faint order to the accompanying project management personnel.

To drive the local coolies, they should be relaxed and moderate, and they should not be so exhausted and fishing, and the people will be wasted. Although they are all consumables, it is also cost-effective to pay attention to the actual effect ratio and give full play to their value to the extreme.

In some remote mines, or in the harsh conditions of a construction site, in order to save costs, the overseers would cruelly provide only a supply of food that would guarantee their "animal minimum standard of living", and then make them work day and night until they died of exhaustion or disease. In less than three or five years, the "recruited" local coolies were exhausted, which can be described as rude.

Oil lamps were lit one after another at the construction site, and the local coolies were squatting at the dining point, waiting for the arrival of the meal. A group of wolf-like overseers, armed with knives and leather whips, patrolled around the shuttle, maintaining order throughout the construction site, and their gloomy eyes glanced at the crowd from time to time, as if they were about to burst out at any moment to teach some unruly native.

As early as more than 40 years ago, the Qi people sought to seize the island of Java and renamed the island as Kaihua, in fact, they had the intention of assimilating the natives and taking their rich human resources for themselves.

But with the passage of time, the Qi people found that these natives were really not easy to "absorb", in addition to many differences in religion, culture and traditional habits, they often showed recklessness, disobedience to "kingization", as well as laziness and intellectual stupidity, and could not integrate into our Chinese civilization in the short term.

In this case, it can only become a cornerstone of the construction of our Great Qi Empire, reduced to coolies, coal mines, iron mines, copper mines, brick kiln factories, lime factories, quarries, railways, and roads have become their main places of work. In these places, countless slave workers die almost every day, new slaves are sent in every day, and the rosters of these slave workers are repeatedly altered or accidentally lost.

For such a miserable situation of the Nanyang natives, the native people of Hanzhou did not have a Virgin Mary to sympathize with them, and constantly campaigned for them to be given formal national treatment. But the voice was very faint and suppressed by an invisible, large hand.

What are you kidding, can foreign robbers live in peace without consuming the original owner of this land? Still delusional to integrate and absorb these aborigines? There is no limit to what you can do.

To put it mildly, the Qi people can absorb the Qin people from the mainland (formerly the Ming people), the Japanese, the Koreans, the Annamite people, and even the Europeans with completely different faces, but they can't absorb the Nanyang natives. The Javanese, the Gowa, the Papuans and the Dayaks, in the final analysis, are in this situation because of the "aboriginal" aura they wear on their heads - they naturally have all the rights to the land, and even their half-blood descendants have more power to occupy the land than pure-blood outsiders.

For the sake of future generations and for the sake of the country's stable development in the future, there are still some things that need to be done in advance.

(End of chapter)