Guangling is the second largest city in the northeast of Hanzhou after Weihai (now Cairns, Australia), and is also an important transportation hub connecting the coastal railway and the Northeast Railway (Gansu-Guangzhou Line), and is the most important trading port in the region.

There are many large meat processing factories, large copper smelters, sugar, shipbuilding, iron and steel, hardware products and other industries in Guangling City, with a population of more than 320,000 (1720 census data).

Among the more than 700 sugar factories in Qi State, more than 500 are located in Guangling Province, which is the largest sugar production center in Qi Province. Every year, the capital city of Guangling alone crushes about 700,000 tons of sugarcane and produces 60,000 tons of finished sugar, which is more than 20,000 tons higher than the output of the entire Americas (South America) during this period.

After decades of development, many upstream and downstream factories have been established in Guangling around the sugar industry. They make bagasse, waste honey and filter sludge into paper, fiberboard, granule board, feed, alcohol (the raw material for honey wine), yeast, fertilizer, etc. The processed cane shoots, cane leaves, bagasse bran, waste molasses or alcohol waste are processed into cattle, sheep and other ruminant feed. The waste residue and waste liquid discharged from the sugar factory are not discarded, and after a little processing, it can be used as fertilizer for sugarcane fields.

It can be said that Qi has used a sugarcane to the extreme from beginning to end, and with large-scale machine pressing and production, the cost can beat all the sugar factories in the world.

After the train arrives in Guangling, an important town in the northeast, it needs to transfer here, whether it continues to go south or north. The eastern region is the most densely populated and economically developed region of Qi State. As a result, there are so many trains in Guangling that almost every less than twenty minutes, a train leaves the station, transporting countless passengers and goods to all parts of the country.

Li Yanliang bought a ticket for half past three in the afternoon, and seeing that it was still early, he left his luggage at the train station, boarded a public carriage, and prepared to visit the city.

Like many industrial cities in the country, it doesn't make a good first impression on visitors. The air of the city is filled with pungent smoke, from towering commercial buildings to huge and heavy factories, and of course, chimneys that constantly emit yellow or black smoke.

Guangling is located in the subtropics, the climate is humid and hot, and the streets are the same, so that people can not feel a trace of novelty. However, the city has a river that runs through the city, and with a long coastline and large green spaces, it feels a little more comfortable.

In the suburbs, far from the factories, you can see hundreds of beautiful villas, estates, and several leafy parks. The rich here, like the rest of the country, know how to enjoy the fresh air.

The river that runs through the urban area of Guangling, the amount of water is not large, only a few dozen tons of small boats can pass, and more than a dozen bridges have been built on the entire river, including concrete bow bridges, rough steel bridges, and wooden bridges for pedestrians only, integrating the urban areas of the two places on the river bank.

Located in the west of the city, Guangling University is one of the largest and most splendid buildings in the city, covering an area of more than 3,600 acres, and it is said that there are more than 1,500 students in it, receiving the best education in the country.

The Grand Theatre is a special building, with a large auditorium that can accommodate more than 4,000 spectators, and is famous for its plays, cabaret performances, circuses, and many large gatherings.

In fact, Guangling not only has a large number of light industries such as sugar, cotton spinning, food, and timber, but also several steel plants with an annual output of 10,000 tons, as well as corresponding supporting upstream and downstream metal products industries.

The most well-known is Guangling Steel Spring Factory, which enjoys a good reputation in China and even the world, and the steel springs produced have a very broad market. In the past few hundred years, copper springs have been widely used, so they are extremely expensive and rare. The first batch of steel springs was produced here in the 15th year of Hanxing (1685), and each one was sold for about one yuan (equivalent to about 3.5 taels of silver). Later, after continuously improving the technology and simplifying the process, the price was reduced rapidly, from each eight dimes, then five dimes, to the current dime.

It is reported that this kind of price reduction behavior began with the new machine invented and developed by the Guangling Industrial Research Institute more than ten years ago. Each spring goes through dozens of processes that are drilled, separated, heated, pressed, bent, reheated, cooled, wiped, polished, cleaned and packaged by machine. All the processes have been mechanized and streamlined, making Guangling Spring Factory in the leading position in the country and even the world in this field. This factory produces more springs per year than all the countries in the world combined.

In addition to the Guangling Iron and Steel Plant and the Guangling Spring Factory, the "Rui Fu Xiang" Glass Products Factory and the "Sheng Chang Ji" Gold and Silver Plating Products Factory are also a major attraction of Guangling City. The two factory buildings look like palaces from the outside, and the facades are inlaid with a lot of glass and metallized materials, giving them a golden appearance.

The latter produced a wide range of everyday and luxury products, from sewing needles for housewives to crystal crowns on the tombs of wealthy families, as well as luxurious gold basins and gold and silver tableware from the tables of princes and nobles. Except for a small part of these products, which are used in the domestic market, the vast majority of these products are exported to the mainland Qin, Japan, Korea, as well as India, Persia, Ottomans and Europe.

Li Yanliang walked around until 2 p.m. and had a simple but delicious lunch in the city before returning to the station and preparing to continue south.

Calculating the journey, from Guangling to Daxing, about 1,300 kilometers, plus stops along the way, the train almost takes more than 20 hours. In this way, when I arrived in Daxing, it was almost four or five o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, and I could still eat my mother's dinner when I returned home.

As soon as he thought of this, Li Yanliang couldn't help but get excited in his heart. I haven't seen each other for nearly four years, and I don't know if my mother is okay?

In the huge Han continent, the population of Qi is only more than 20 million, and even the more densely populated eastern region is extremely sparsely populated, with large areas of barren land and mountains, forests and grasslands everywhere.

Then, when you are in the train station, you see a bustling crowd, crowded, pushing, and full of passengers. The long queue, which extends from the ticket gate to the waiting room hall, gives people a prosperous scene of Qi people.

With the huge flow of people, Li Yanliang slowly passed through the ticket gate and squeezed to the train platform. Seeing the crowd in front of the carriage door, Li Yanliang stopped and put his luggage on the ground, not ready to rush to board the train with them.

"Toot ......, Toot ......"

The train let out a loud whistle, thick puffs of black smoke were emitted from the flue at the locomotive's head, and the inspector who checked the safety of the train also blew a sharp whistle in his mouth, reminding passengers who were still hovering on the platform to board the train quickly.

Gwangneung Station is a large station, and there are a lot of passengers on the train, not only all the seats are full, but also many people are standing at the junction of the carriages and in the aisles.

It's too black-hearted, and the railway company doesn't know how many station tickets have been oversold!

Li Yanliang carried two pieces of luggage, and while trying to squeeze forward in the aisle, he secretly slandered in his heart.

In just two dozen rows, he squeezed for two or three minutes before he walked to the middle of the carriage to find his place.

A man who had temporarily occupied his seat, seeing that the main man had arrived, and that it was also an officer, hurriedly got up and got out of the way, with a somewhat flattering smile on his face.

Sigh! After placing the luggage, Li Yanliang let out a long sigh of relief.

Come to think of it, the environment of the first-class box is still comfortable!

"Two big brothers, you can do it, just give us a seat. …… I was holding the child at home, and I couldn't stand for long. ”

The train had been running for more than ten minutes, and a few pleading words came faintly from the seats behind him.

"Your daughter-in-law can sit on the ground with the child in her arms! …… She couldn't stand for long, and my legs and feet were sore! Wait, when I get to Xiangjiang (now Rockhampton, Australia), I will give way when I get out of the car. ”

"But ......, but there are still more than ten hours to go to Xiangjiang, how can you wait? Your ...... The seats are ours. We had tickets ......"

"You have a ticket, I don't have a ticket yet!"

"How is this possible? Our tickets were obviously for these two seats in a row......"

"Hehe...... maybe, you Qin people have just arrived and bought fake tickets."

"No, we bought the ticket at the station, how can it be a fake ticket? Then ......, then ......, can this big brother take out your ticket and take a look? ”

"Yo, what's the matter, you still suspect that you don't have a ticket! Besides, what qualifications do you have to come and see your tickets? …… Stay out of the way! Don't dwell on us! ”

“……”

Li Yanliang couldn't help but turn his head to look at the situation in the back row.

I saw a husband and wife holding their children, standing pitifully on the edge of that row of seats, as if they were begging the two passengers in the seats to give up their seats.

"Eighty percent bought a standing ticket for a cheap price, but took advantage of the fact that people didn't come, and occupied the seat." A man next to Li Yanliang whispered.

When Li Yanliang heard this, he glanced at him, he was forty years old, had a chubby round face, and was wearing a pair of tortoiseshell eyes, and he looked polite. He seemed to be unhappy with the rear passengers' forced seats, but he did not stand up for the couple.

"If you have a ticket, take it out and take a look, if you don't have a ticket, quickly return the seat to someone else!" Li Yanliang got up and stood next to the couple, staring coldly at the two men occupying the seats.

“…… I have a ticket, I have a ticket. Suddenly, seeing an officer standing in front of them with a majestic expression, the two men looked a little flustered.

In the state of Qi, the identity of a powerful department such as the military and police still has a strong deterrent effect in society. Moreover, when the Qi State established itself, it gave the soldiers a higher status, coupled with a series of brilliant achievements in overseas battles by the officers and men of the Qi Army and Navy over the years, so that the soldiers were generally respected by the people in the country.

Intimidated by Li Yanliang's status as an officer, coupled with the disgusted glances of the surrounding passengers, the two men who occupied the seat finally left in a huff and gave up their seats.

This move made the couple busy thanking Li Yanliang for his righteous deeds.

After a few simple inquiries, the couple were indeed immigrants from the Qin State, and they had been in Hanzhou for five years. This time, I took the train to Daxing and took refuge with a fellow villager who immigrated to Qi and created a career earlier. It is said that this fellow has a lot of energy, which can not only provide them with a more favorable job, but also help their family of three quickly become naturalized Qi and become real Qi people.

"The Ministry of Immigration Affairs of our country does not have a decree stipulating that all immigrants who spontaneously immigrate to the mainland and overseas territories and have lived for more than three years can apply for naturalization from the local immigration department." Li Yan asked curiously, "Why haven't you been naturalized for five years?" Until now, even the children are three years old, and they are still quasi-nationals? ”

"This chief doesn't know anything." The Qin immigrant said with a wry smile: "To apply for naturalization to the local immigration department, you need to have your Qi people as a guarantee. In addition, the guarantor must also be the owner of the factory or the person in charge of the trading company where the applicant is employed, and they must provide proof of residence and work. ”

"Then you have been in Guangling for five years, why doesn't the owner of the factory where you work give you a guarantee?"

"They ......, they want me to do it for a few more years......"

"A few more years? What does that mean? ”

"The so-called extra years of work means that the owner of the factory where he works hopes to hire him for a long time at a lower wage!" "You know, immigrants who hire them who have not yet obtained national status not only pay much less wages, but they also don't have to pay government-mandated social security contributions," said the chubby man. At the end of the year, it can save a lot of money for the factory owner. ”

"Is that so?"

The Qin immigrant nodded slightly, and then, let out a long sigh.

"In fact, at present, there are not a few immigrants in a situation like him in my Qi country." The round-faced and slightly chubby man said sarcastically: "Many black-hearted factory owners and trading companies like to recruit these new immigrants in order to save the so-called production costs. I even learned that many factory owners are colluding with some underground gangs and associations to organize ships to go to Annam, Qin, Korea, Japan and other countries and regions, under the guise of immigration, charging high migration and transshipment fees on the one hand, and collecting labor 'referral fees' from these domestic factory owners and plantation owners on the other. Hmph, these deeds are said to have formed a stable and prosperous industrial chain! ”

"Do the cabinet and local governments care about this kind of thing?"

"How? The so-called people do not raise it, and the officials do not hold it accountable. These newcomers are not familiar with the place, and they don't know where the yamen is going, so how can they go to complain? Besides, although they received relatively little wages from those black-hearted factory owners and plantation owners, they still earned more than in their hometowns, and they were not familiar with the laws and regulations of our Qi country, and some of them had never read a book, how could they make a claim? Only those immigrants who report to the local immigration department and are arranged by the government will be subject to naturalization administration in accordance with the normal procedures and then registered. ”

"In this way, isn't there a large number of immigrants who have not officially become naturalized in my Qi country?"

"That's inevitable." The round-faced slightly chubby man nodded and said, "Even if the crowd like them is counted less, there are at least hundreds of thousands." …… Well, it's also possible to reach a million. Although the country has to conduct a census every ten years, the final official figure certainly does not include these unregistered immigrants. ”

"......" Li Yanliang listened, and was stunned for a while, speechless for a while.

As early as more than 30 years ago, it spared no effort to spend large sums of money on large-scale immigration from the mainland, Korea, Japan, and Annam to fill the vast and empty territory.

Although the Qin war on the mainland was completely stopped, the country gradually stabilized, and the source of immigrants gradually shrank, but the Qi government never completely cut off the absorption of foreign immigrants, but from the previous government-led large-scale immigration to increase the attraction of non-governmental spontaneous immigrants, and opened many regular ocean liners in the coastal ports of the Qin State to transfer people who were interested in immigrating back to their homeland and overseas territories.

As for the large-scale refugee wave triggered by the outbreak of natural disasters in Qin, Qi often used food for population to surprise "large-scale" immigration operations.

According to the current trend of Qi's overseas expansion, the demand for immigrants should be unrefusable and endless. In order to attract more Qin immigrants to come, according to the Qi Emperor Han thought, the main body of the people should be Han Chinese, and the Qi State should be kind to those immigrants who came to Han Zhou after a lot of hardship. Even if it is not as preferential as the division of land, houses, and daughters-in-law as it was decades ago, it should not be like the black-hearted factory owners and plantation owners, who wantonly oppress and bully, and even deny them to be naturalized as a guarantee in order to achieve the purpose of exploiting them for a long time.

What is the difference between their despicable behavior and the behavior of the rich and powerful in ancient times who concealed their population?

"I think that the census conducted by the government in the future should include these unregistered immigrants in the statistics." Li Yanliang muttered, "They should also belong to my Qi country." ”

(End of chapter)