Louise has come into contact with many people from Chu, especially in Mexico. He often goes to Jinshan City with a Spanish businessman boss to purchase goods.
These provided Louise with enough opportunities to contact the Chu people.
As for Chu people, especially ordinary Chu people, Louise naturally knows very well: In fact, it’s just like that!
Especially in North America, many Chu people are immigrants, and many of them are low-class people with little knowledge and narrow vision. In Louise's opinion, these people are no different from European farmers, they are just lucky to be born. In the Great Chu Empire, that's why he was able to become an enviable farmer in the Great Chu Empire.
But Louise knew better that among the Chu people, there was no shortage of elites that people looked up to, especially some of the military officers and civil servants in their colonies, as well as the clerks in the trading companies, all of whom were of very high quality, which made Louise I admire you so much.
Generally speaking, Louise has a complicated impression of the Chu people.
After all, the crowd itself is very complex. Even within a single ethnic group, there are various internal distinctions. Louise's superficial knowledge is naturally unable to fully understand the situation of the Dachu Empire people themselves.
However, Louise's impression of the people of Chu was more complicated and contradictory, while his impression of Chu was relatively simple and intuitive: self.
He is extremely domineering and can do whatever he wants.
This was the conclusion Louise came to when she was in Mexico.
When he was in Mexico, Louise had an extraordinary understanding of the tyranny of the Chu people.
He could often hear about where the Chu people had invaded... first the Baja California Peninsula, then the hinterland, and finally the Chu people appeared on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Chu people continued to appear in Mexico. .
The Spanish could not resist and could only protest continuously. However, except for the first time, the Chu people never paid attention to the Spanish protests.
If you protest too much, you will annoy the officials of the North American governor. They will discuss it with the local garrison and directly carry out a large-scale sweep for you...
Why don't we just occupy a few of your villages to accommodate the new immigrants, and call them Maoxian...
If you call me again, I will take down the whole of Mexico.
Well, this is just a boast. Although there are many immigrants from the Chu people in North America, most of them went to the east. The number of immigrants going south is still a little less. After all, the center of Mexico in the south is also a plateau, which is not a good place. This place is not as fragrant as the central and eastern parts of North America!
On the one hand, with the start of construction of the East-West Railway in North America, the more than 200 kilometers of railway from Jinshan Port to the bottom of the valley was completed in less than a year, and then the railway line continued to extend eastward. Start entering the Dajinshan Mountains and the mountain plateau area.
Because the terrain in this part of the country is complex, it is difficult to build railways. Workers who built railways suffered heavy casualties. Even though the workers who built railways were indigenous laborers provided by some labor service companies, there were too many casualties. The labor costs also increased, and there were more casualties. It also affects construction efficiency.
The complex terrain inevitably affected the progress. As of the 37th year of Chengshun, the North American East-West Railway currently only extends to the Great Basin of the Dajin Mountains, and is still a long way from the intended target of the Mississippi River.
But the most difficult thing is actually the mountains and other places with complex terrain. As long as you pass through the Rocky Mountains, the road will be flat. By then, with the railway construction capabilities of the Chu Empire, it will take less than two or three years to lay the rails directly to the Atlantic Ocean. go.
In addition to this railway, the Chu Empire also started construction of a second east-west railway in North America. The starting point was also Jinshan City, but it extended southward.
Heading south to Luohe City, the capital of Luohe Prefecture, and then continuing to the southeast, this area is much flatter. Now it has crossed the Luohe River and continues to build eastward.
By the way, many of the places this railway passes were basically controlled by the Mexicans a few years ago. Well, they were only nominally controlled by the Mexicans.
The Spanish population in Mexico is actually very small, especially in some relatively peripheral areas where there are not even towns. They only own these places in name, and the people who live in these places are the indigenous people... Of course, these indigenous people Not much actually.
For example, after being immigrated and developed by the Chu people, the densely populated Luohe Prefecture area actually had very few people in the beginning. The total number of Spaniards in this large area is estimated to be no more than 2,000, and they belong directly to the Spaniards. The number of indigenous people under control is estimated to be only a few thousand.
This is a major feature of contemporary European overseas colonization. Even for a country like Spain, which prefers to directly control areas and then rule by immigrants, it is still limited by shipping costs, domestic population and other conditions, resulting in the population of overseas colonies. very few.
And why are there so many immigrants in the Chu Empire?
This is technological progress!
The ships used by the Dachu Empire were large-tonnage steam-powered sailing ships. The immigration cruise ships that traveled to and from the Pacific were often several thousand tons or even tens of thousands of tons in size. They could carry thousands of people on one trip.
There are so many such ships traveling to and from the Pacific Ocean. Almost every day, passenger ships depart from various ports in the Chu Empire and then head for North America.
At the same time, there are economic policy supports such as immigration subsidies and immigration loans.
And these are all based on the premise that immigration costs have been significantly reduced.
Therefore, the overseas immigration of the Great Chu Empire increased significantly. In fact, it was also after the 23rd year of Chengshun. This year was the year when naval steam engines matured and were widely used. During this year, the Great Chu Empire expanded overseas to various places. The number of immigrants has experienced a blowout growth, and has continued to maintain a high growth rate in the subsequent years.
In the previous era of sailing, the scale of Chu people's immigration was actually not that big. At that time, the Oriental Trading Company had been struggling in North America for so many years, but it only had 10,000 people.
However, it has been continuously invaded and expelled by Chu immigrants over the years, and now it has become the territory of the Chu Empire.
As the railway continued to extend eastward and the transportation problem was solved, a large number of immigrant settlements sprouted around both sides of the railway line.
As the Chu immigrants continued to advance on the two routes of the Middle Road and the South Road, more and more immigrants appeared in the central and even western regions of North America. The richness of central and western North America also continued to be spread back to western North America. Even local.
In the past, people had heard that the central and western parts of North America were very rich, but after all, they had not been visited and developed on a large scale, and many of them were just hearsay.
However, as batch after batch of immigrant advance teams crossed the Rocky Mountains and appeared in the central and western regions of North America, and then discovered the Missouri River, the main branch on the west side of the Mississippi River, they were shocked by this fertile area.
There are vast tracts of extremely fertile land. As long as you open up wasteland and plant whatever you want, you will be able to reap something.
The terrain is flat, with abundant water resources and numerous rivers.
While the North American Midwest Railway was still struggling in the Jinshan Plateau Basin, the Chu immigrants had actually crossed the Rocky Mountains on foot, and then built a settlement with more than 3,000 people along the Missouri River. Immigration city: Mihe City.
At the same time, large immigrant settlements and towns of dozens or hundreds of people were established along the Missouri River and in surrounding areas.
They built ships on the spot and sailed and explored the lower reaches of the Missouri River. Finally, they went all the way south to the mouth of the Mississippi River, where they also established a simple small stronghold, Mikou City.
Considering that this place is the outlet of the Mississippi River, there is a potential threat from the Spanish nearby, and it is too far away from the empire-controlled western North America and even the Pacific Ocean.
Therefore, in order to protect themselves, but also to prevent the Spanish and other indigenous people from breaking into the Mississippi River and affecting the large-scale immigration plan of the Chu people in the Mississippi River Basin.
Despite the difficulties, the army established a camp in Mikou City, officially garrisoning more than a hundred soldiers and two 75mm field guns.
These two 75mm field guns are actually used as coastal defense guns...
Unfortunately, I don’t know if the Chu people are too famous. Ships from other European countries, including Spanish ships, saw a small town appearing at the mouth of the Mississippi River, and this town was hung with a big Chu After the empire's dragon flag, no one dared to run over to fight or test it.
The Chu Empire's series of immigration developments in North America have penetrated into the central region of America and continued to the east along the tributaries of the Mississippi River.
This is why North America can accommodate so many new immigrants.
The golden valley in the west, as well as the vast deserts or mountains, alone could not attract so many immigrants from Chu.
Many new immigrants went to the rich central or eastern parts of North America.
In this context, the European free trade plan launched by the Chu Empire can actually effectively promote the Chu Empire's immigration plan to the Americas in the future.
This is because the Chu Empire mainly uses large-tonnage ships to immigrate to the Americas. The smaller passenger ships are basically three to four thousand tons in displacement, and the larger ones are even thousands of tons or even tens of thousands of tons.
Fortunately, these small ships are motor sailing ships, but the larger ones are basically powered by pure steam engines.
Ships of several thousand or even tens of thousands of tons can no longer use sail power and can only use pure steam engine power.
Steam engine-powered ships have many advantages, but they also have disadvantages, that is, they cannot run around casually.
If you go to a place without coal supplies, you won't be able to come back.
In this regard, sailboats do not have such shortcomings. With a little bit of wood, canvas and starvation, they can float all over the world, wherever they go...
Therefore, steam engine ships must have fresh water and coal supply points. Without them, they will be unable to move.
But fresh water is easy to talk about, but to be honest, coal is not common outside the areas controlled by the Dachu Empire.
It’s not that the reserves are not abundant, but that they are not mined very much... The large-scale mining of coal was mainly after the Gongge Revolution.
Only with the huge demand from the industry can there be motivation for mining.
Otherwise, dig it out and sell it to someone.
Unfortunately, on the contemporary earth, only one country, the Chu Empire, has started industrialization. Other countries or regions are either in a primitive tribal state where they are too ignorant to even communicate, or they are in the feudal agricultural era.
Agriculturalization is too far away and too illusory for them.
what does that mean?
This means that every overseas coal supply station in the Dachu Empire has to be built by itself.
Even if it is a coal supply station established in an indigenous country, the coal is produced locally, but the Chu Empire still has to send people to purchase it, let the locals mine it, and then transport it to the coal warehouse at the port.
In short, if the Chu people don't do it themselves, they can't expect to get much coal supplies from the indigenous countries.
This is also the reason why in this European expedition fleet, the largest number of coal ships in the huge fleet are coal ships. These coal ships ensure the daily activities of the entire fleet and even many subsequent ships.
At the same time, subsequent ships coming from South Africa, even warships, have to fill their cabins with coal, not only to meet their own consumption, but also to allocate part of the subsidies to other warships after obtaining Tangier.
This is the embarrassing situation without overseas coal supply stations. Every coal has to be specially transported from thousands of miles away.
However, once the Chu Empire establishes several coal supply stations in this area in the future, it will not only meet its own needs, but also the coal needs of ships heading to the east coast of North America in the future.
If there is sufficient coal supply along the way, then immigration ships and cargo ships can directly take the Indian Ocean-Atlantic route and finally arrive directly at Miikou City, thus allowing the transportation of people and goods between the mainland and the east coast of North America. Costs fell further.
Even in the future, the East-West Railway in North America will be fully connected. People or goods can take the railway from eastern North America to Jinshan in western North America, and then return eastward by ship... But this maritime route will still continue.
Because the cost of sea transportation is lower... and it gets lower as time goes by. Until the 21st century, sea transportation was the lowest cost mode of transportation in the same period.
Some bulk cargoes that are more cost-conscious are still in great demand for this seemingly distant but actually cheaper sea route.
From this perspective, the Chu Empire's European free trade plan has one more benefit.
But this can only be regarded as a by-product. The European free trade plan is not as simple as establishing a few coal supply stations.
The empire wants all of Europe!
It can be said that in the short term, apart from directly annexing this area, the empire wants everything in Europe: the agricultural resources and mineral resources incidental to the population resources.
Only with a sufficient population can we farm and produce all kinds of crops that the Chu people need; only then can we mine coal and mine to produce the coal and other minerals that the Chu people need.
The population in Europe is quite large, with a population of several hundred million, which is more than that in India. In addition, the labor resources here are relatively high-quality, and the local agricultural social system is relatively complete. It only requires economic and With a little political and military guidance, they don't need much action at all. They can continuously produce various crops or mineral resources that the Chu people need, and then beg you to buy their things.
This is no better than arresting a group of natives and forcing them to work with whips...
Many Chu plantation owners who were living overseas despised the slave production methods of European colonists: the production efficiency was too low and the cost was too high!
Therefore, some plantation owners of Chu State overseas, well, mainly planters in areas not controlled by Chu State, would not engage in slavery at all with their European counterparts next door, and they would engage in free labor recruitment.
You are free to come and go, you are only paid five cents of your salary, you can do what you like, and get out if you don’t, what is important is freedom!
Of course, plantations cannot be opened in too remote places. It is best to open them next door to European planters.
Not to mention, a large number of slaves or indentured servants who escaped from the European plantations next door, especially many white indentured servants from Europe, like to run away and work in the plantations opened by the Chu people...
Although the food was worse than on the plantations of European colonists, they were free!
This is equivalent to the Chu plantation owners who prostituted a lot of indentured slaves without spending a dime, and the wages were extremely low...
The plantation owners of the European plantations were naturally very dissatisfied with this. They spent a lot of money to obtain these indentured slaves, and if they ran away, they would die.
But going to the Chu people to ask for people is basically useless, and the bosses of the Chu plantations will basically ignore them.
If you are dissatisfied and want to use private force, then there will be a large number of escaped slaves fighting for freedom in the manor every minute, armed with flintlocks and resisting.
There are also professional, armed to the teeth local mercenaries raiding the rear!
Just fight, whoever dares to fight is a grandson.
If private individuals can't do it, your colonial officials will take action themselves. As soon as the colonial officials take action, the owner of the Chu plantation dares to shout to the parents: "Navy Dad is landing!"
When the time comes to pay compensation and cede territory, we might be able to make a bigger profit.
Based on the powerful deterrent power of the Chu Empire's navy, at present, few European colonial officials have the courage to take action openly on the Chu people's plantations.
As for the private struggles between plantation owners... this kind of thing is inevitable. Who loses and wins depends on strength and luck, but in most cases, the plantation owners of Chu are the winners.
This situation is more common in Africa and South America, but it is rarer in other places where there are no European colonial plantations.
It’s not that the Chu Empire didn’t have plantations in other places. In fact, there were many, but there was no competition from Europeans.
For example, in India, the Chu Empire opened a large number of plantations in the north of the Mughal Empire, and still adopted a free labor system.
What stands out is freedom!
As for the slavery system that imprisons freedom of life, the Chu people even looked down upon the economic efficiency of this thing and despised its high cost.
After all, India is a poor place with people everywhere. Do I need to capture a group of slaves to work?
Because slaves require costs, including purchase costs, maintenance costs, and supervision costs...
As for hired workers... they don't need you to purchase or supervise work, they don't need you to treat them when they are sick, and they don't need to consider long-term use...
In such a densely populated place, you only need to give them a little food, and they can work hard without complaint. Not only young adults will work for you, but women and children will also work for you. The cost is very low.
Therefore, the plantations of the Chu Empire in India were very civilized and moral, and all about freedom of coming and going. Anyway, the work and wages were wherever they were. You could work if you wanted to, and leave at any time if you didn't want to.
The civilized people of the Chu State pay attention to the love between you and me!
Just like that, countless local natives broke their heads and rushed to go... Although working in the plantations or mining areas of Chu State is tiring and not full, sooner or later they will die from exhaustion.
But it’s better than starving to death now!
(End of chapter)
