Soon, the first batch of indentured servants recruited from Spain arrived at the Port of Cala. According to the pre-arranged plan, these indentured slaves were mainly used for the construction of various infrastructures such as docks and warehouses in the Port of Cala.
Some people work in the service industry.
It is worth noting that those young and beautiful women who were specially recruited were assigned to Chen Jingyun and many of his subordinates as maids to improve the strange population structure of all single men in the West African kingdom.
There is no way, now the Kingdom of West Africa, a strange small country that has not yet been officially recognized by the Chu Empire, is a paradise for typical adventurers.
So far, there are only more than fifty people who have officially joined the West African Kingdom. Some of them have abnormal minds... Even saying they want money rather than their lives is to praise them, because those mercenaries really want money rather than their lives. Few of them are willing to officially leave the nationality of Chu State and then choose to join this small West African country that seems like child's play.
Today's so-called West African Kingdom is said to be a country, but in fact it is more like a company... Its organizational structure and operating model are actually similar to many development companies.
However, although there are not many people with official nationalities, there are many desperado mercenaries and businessmen who are attracted by money.
First of all, there are mercenaries. In addition to the more than a hundred people at the beginning, they have successively recruited dozens more people. The current scale is about two hundred people, all affiliated to the West African Security Company, including the weapons and equipment they use, that is, those civilian Rifled gun, cannon.
In addition, there are a group of people who have heard that a small colonial stronghold has been established here in Kara Port. Although the name of this place is a bit nondescript and it is a strange example of Chu people establishing their country overseas, it does not prevent them from coming here to do business and make money.
Today's Kara Port is short of everything. Just transporting some daily necessities and selling them is a good business with huge profits.
Wherever there is money to be made, these businessmen will naturally be attracted.
As for the surrounding indigenous people, there are still many, and the West African Kingdom is still at war with the surrounding indigenous people, which will lead to some dangers... Few Chu people who dare to go to Africa to do business are afraid of danger... And they Many people came with armed personnel or personnel from security companies.
When doing business in an area controlled by indigenous people, you would be embarrassed to go out without some security personnel.
Then there is a group of freedmen who came from West Asia, Europe and other places, but the number is not large, and they are mainly women. Many of the female service staff in Kara Hotel are these people.
On the whole, before the arrival of a large number of indentured workers, there were actually not many people in the entire West African Kingdom, and only a few hundred people could survive...well, not counting the tens of thousands of indigenous prisoners of war.
Now that thousands of Spanish indentured workers have arrived, the population has finally reached several thousand people... However, according to the contract, these indentured workers actually have no personal freedom during the five years of free work, and It is not considered a formal immigrant.
Only after five years of free working time can these people officially obtain the citizenship of the Kingdom of West Africa and become part of the free citizens of the Kingdom of West Africa.
Of course, there are no exceptions. If you perform well and are selected to work directly for various departments of the West African Kingdom, you can also end the free service contract early and become a real free citizen of the West African Kingdom.
In order to prevent the population ratio under his rule from being too unbalanced, after bringing in several thousand Spaniards, Chen Jingyun suspended the introduction of contract workers from Spain, and instead sent people to France, England and other regions to introduce a group of people.
But what is more important is to find ways to attract more Chu people to come. He does not ask for the naturalization of these Chu people. This is most likely impossible. Chen Jingyun just wants more Chu people to come, and then for Just use it.
Only in this way can we talk about the real development of Kara Port and the subsequent large-scale plantation and even mineral development.
The development of these things requires technology... and Chen Jingyun does not have any professional technical talents under his staff, let alone the imported European contract workers. Although they can barely be regarded as people from the civilized world, they are not as good as those indigenous people. In the savage state of primitive tribes.
But they are basically all illiterate and ignorant, and can only serve as basic manual labor or service industry workers.
As for technical positions and management positions, these need to be filled by Chu people.
After all, if you randomly pull out a Chu country person, at worst he will be an elementary school dropout. He may not have enough education, but at least he has it. At the same time, if you are lucky, you can also attract some highly educated talents who have graduated from junior high school or even high school.
There is no hope for college students. In overseas areas, especially in Africa, college students are very rare. There are only officials in official imperial agencies. Senior managers in large enterprises generally have university degrees. Among the general population, Not many.
Not to mention the West African kingdom of Chen Jingyun, even if the Golden State Governor's Office wants to find a few college students to work locally... This is not a question of treatment or lack of treatment, but that there are not many in the Golden State. College students who are free at home are available for recruitment.
The reason why Chen Jingyun was able to pull Li Datong, who graduated from university, into the car was purely because Li Datong had some mental problems. He did not enjoy the life of a good man and had to go to Karagong to be the personal consultant of the king of a small private country.
The reason turned out to be for ideals...
But regardless of what Li Datong is thinking, his abilities are real.
After serving as Chen Jingyun's personal consultant, it didn't take long for him to lead a few subordinates to come up with a complete plantation development plan.
Even the economic crops to be planted have been planned.
According to his plan, in the early stage, grain and cotton were mainly grown in the area around Kara Port.
Both of these things are hard currencies. Food can not only meet self-use, but can also be exported...cotton is also mainly used for export.
In the global economic system of the Great Chu Empire, the demand for food and cotton is almost endless... No matter how much you grow in overseas areas, the merchants of Chu State can also buy it all.
Even cassava, which is considered inedible to the Chu people, can be used as rations for prisoners of war and dispatched laborers. As long as you plant it, a lot of grain merchants will come over to buy it and transport it to where it is needed. Place for sale.
There are also potatoes (potatoes) with extremely high yields. These things are more expensive than cassava, but they are still not considered a staple food in the eyes of Chu people. They are at most used to make wine or eaten directly as vegetables, such as making spicy and sour potatoes. Silk or something.
But this is just the view of the Chu people... In fact, potatoes can be used as a staple food, especially in Europe today. The Chu people import potatoes to Europe on a large scale to supply people in vassal states everywhere.
Then the wheat and other cash crops grown by these indigenous people were purchased and transported back to the country.
Under this operation, although the current overall output of wheat and other grains in Europe is not too low, in fact local Europeans cannot afford wheat, and their staple food has turned into potatoes in just a few years.
Some of the potatoes were grown in plantations owned by local Chu people in Europe, but more were grown in plantations in Africa.
Whether it is cassava, potatoes, or corn, these so-called supplementary grains may not seem very good, but they are all hard currency, and they can be grown without worrying about marketability.
Of course, the harder ones are the two staple foods of wheat and rice... The empire has almost opened the door to the long-term purchase of these staple foods, and has given a large amount of subsidies, mainly shipping subsidies, so that the price of these grains will not be too high after they are shipped back to the country. People can afford it.
Every day, a large number of ships sail on the sea loaded with these two staple foods, heading towards the mainland.
This was the only way to support the huge annual per capita grain consumption of 400 kilograms in the hinterland of the Chu Empire!
Otherwise, relying solely on current agricultural technology, how could the local area be able to supply such a large population with a high level of food consumption?
You must know that until now, the chemical fertilizer technology in the Dachu Empire has not been able to achieve a breakthrough, and it is temporarily impossible to produce large-scale and cheap synthetic fertilizers... And without chemical fertilizers, crop yields are limited.
In order to provide crop products, the Chu people even went to South America or some other islands to dig guano... These guano are a very good natural fertilizer.
However, the supply of guano seems to be large, but it is still far from enough for a huge empire. In addition, the cost becomes lower after transoceanic transportation. Therefore, contemporary guano can only be used for the cultivation of high-value crops. , ordinary crops, or places far away from the coast, don’t expect it.
The huge local food consumption, immature fertilizer technology, limited supply of guano and high prices have resulted in the local area needing a large amount of overseas food imports.
Why did the Great Chu Empire engage in the European trade free plan and why did it engage in the Eastern European grain production plan... It was not to obtain more grain.
The reason is so simple and pure.
Therefore, growing food is a good business that ensures a steady profit. Of course... the profit margin for the cultivation of this kind of bulk commodity is not high.
The same situation applies to cotton, which is also a commodity that is in short supply. After all, Chu people have to bear the clothing and heating needs of people all over the world. The demand for cotton in the textile industry is huge... In order to obtain enough cotton, Chu people People are about to turn India into a cotton peninsula... As far as the eye can see from many places, they are all cotton fields.
Grain and cotton are the kind of crops that are absolutely easy to sell, but the profits are low. The main thing is stability.
Therefore, Li Datong also arranged to open plantations for several other high-value economic crops, mainly cocoa, palm olive oil, and coffee.
The current market prospects for these three items are also very good. The market is in urgent need, but the supply is relatively small... because it will take many years for cocoa trees, coffee trees, and palm oil trees to produce fruit after they are planted.
So even though cultivation is now being promoted in many places, the output is still very small.
This also makes related products more expensive. For example, chocolate is very expensive to sell in the local market, and ordinary citizens cannot afford it.
And even if in a few years there are more places to grow these economic crops, and the supply seems to increase, there is no need to worry about not being able to sell them.
Because the cultivation of these things has certain requirements on geographical climate, it cannot be grown anywhere and obtain sufficient yield... The reason is probably the same as why most places in the north are not suitable for growing rice, because the environment is not suitable.
Why didn't the Chu people promote the cultivation of cocoa in North America, Europe, India and other places...but instead promoted the cultivation of this thing in South America and Africa.
It's because places like North America, Europe, and India are not suitable for growing this thing.
In contrast, South America and Africa, especially West Africa, are very suitable for growing cocoa.
The Kara Land where the West African Kingdom was located, later known as Cameroon Land, was very suitable for growing these things.
It's just that these high-value economic crops will take many years to be harvested. For the time being, for the weak West African kingdom, growing crops that can be produced in a short period of time, such as grain and cotton, is the only and best way.
As for the planting of these crops, Li Datong personally controls it, so there is no big problem. Li Datong is very capable in terms of technology and general direction planning.
As for the specific labor force, there are also a large number of indigenous prisoners of war available, so there is no need to worry about no one planting.
Chen Jingyun also expressed his affirmation of Li Datong's ability, and sent more than ten blond beauties to Li Datong to take care of his daily life... to avoid any difficulties in the life of this only high-level technical talent.
Although Li Datong is married and has children, like almost all employees, and even those who are naturalized in the West African Kingdom, he came alone... No one would foolishly take a family and settle down in this ghostly place called Port Kara, in the West African Kingdom. of.
There were no family members here, and so many singles gathered together that Chen Jingyun had to import a group of young beauties from Europe to alleviate the gender crisis!
Otherwise, he is really worried that these bachelors under his command will get together with those indigenous female prisoners of war... After a long time, let alone a black indigenous female, even the sight of a sow will probably be pleasing to the eye...
In order to avoid this kind of thing, Chen Jingyun very thoughtfully brought a large number of young beauties from Europe.
As for the cost, it doesn't cost anything...it's just a transportation trip on our own ship, and it doesn't cost a lot.
As for the contract workers themselves, there is no cost. They don't even need wages. They only need to bear the cost of food along the way.
Just here, there are still a lot of people over there in Europe trying to come over.
Today's Europe is not a good place. Countries are fighting, the economy is collapsing, and the lives of the people at the bottom are even more difficult than in the Middle Ages.
Although Africa is not a good place, if it is an African area under the control of the Chu people, then the situation will be different.
Well, that's right. The people sent by Chen Jingyun to recruit contract workers would not say that their West African Kingdom was legally an indigenous country. Instead, they would blur the concept and only say that they were from the Chu State...actually responsible for recruiting The West African Security Company that contracted workers and provided transportation was indeed an enterprise of the Chu Empire, and its employees were all Chu people.
It's just that they came forward to recruit a West African security company, but in fact the party A who signed the contract labor contract was a labor service company in the Kingdom of West Africa.
In this matter, the West African Security Company was entrusted to help recruit and transport personnel to Kara Port. In fact, it had no direct connection with these contract workers.
In fact, this is not to deceive these Europeans... These Europeans are not worth letting Chen Jingyun and others go through these twists and turns. The reason why it is still so complicated is purely to avoid some legal risks of the empire.
To put it simply, the West African Security Company's direct hiring and use of indentured workers is a violation of the empire's anti-slavery laws. However, the West African Kingdom is not part of the empire, so the use of indentured workers does not violate the empire's relevant laws... The empire's anti-slavery laws are temporarily Regardless of the fact that the natives use native slaves...
Well, it's just for the time being. It's not certain what to say in the future. After all, the laws of the Dachu Empire are also advancing with the times. If one day it is felt that it is not feasible for the indigenous people to use indigenous slaves, then relevant laws will be directly introduced to interfere.
Do not doubt the Empire's ability to intervene.
There are provisions for long-arm jurisdiction in the laws of the Dachu Empire.
The meaning of this long-arm jurisdiction is that even if you are not from the Chu State and are not on the territory of our Chu State, as long as your actions are related to our Chu State and the rights you raise are related to our Chu State, then our Chu State will The country's courts can regulate you... It's a nonsense law.
For example, the West African kingdom used goods grown by indentured workers and exported them to the empire... thus creating a basic connection.
At this time, if a grain merchant feels that you are using contract workers to grow low-priced grain in the West African Kingdom, resulting in his high-priced grain being unable to be sold, he can directly go to the Chu State Court to sue you for unfair competition and low-price dumping, and ask you not to use contract labor. Planting food... At the same time, the food grown by these contract workers is not allowed to be exported to Chu State or even the vassal states under Chu State, and the empire's shipping company is not even allowed to help you transport the food grown by these contract workers, etc.
And this kind of law was very easy for Americans to play in later generations... Well, in fact, not only Americans, but basically most modern countries will have this kind of long-arm jurisdiction clause, but these countries are not strong enough and their hands are not that long... It's not that I don't want to stretch a little longer, but my strength doesn't allow it.
It's not a superpower playing long-arm jurisdiction... but no one will pay attention to you.
And does the Chu Empire have the strength to play around with this law?
There is no need to ask about this. Now the entire earth is either directly under the jurisdiction of the Chu people, administrative territory, or a vassal state... The few countries that have not yet joined the vassal state system are also under the threat of the Chu Empire's military front. And it is estimated that it will not take long to become a vassal state of the Great Chu Empire, or some areas will simply become the administrative territory of the Chu State.
The contemporary Dachu Empire is larger and more powerful than any empire in human history.
In history, the sun never sets on Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union. Compared with the Great Chu Empire, their global control during their peak period was just a little brother... not worth mentioning.
Therefore, the long-arm jurisdiction of the Da Chu Empire was serious and capable of being implemented.
It is difficult to say whether the empire will directly ban the use of slaves in indigenous countries based on this long-arm jurisdiction in the future.
But so far, the empire is obviously not interested in taking care of these troubles within the indigenous countries... Because even if the indigenous people use indentured workers or even slaves to grow food, the cost is far higher than the large-scale mechanized planting of the Chu people. Much more.
Those who engage in low-priced grain dumping today are not the indigenous people, but the super interstate grain merchants in the Chu Empire!
As for the West African Kingdom, it can currently use cheap labor such as indentured workers and prisoners of war to gain extremely valuable development time!
The initial stages of development were crucial for the West African Kingdom.
And while Chen Jingyun was tossing around in his Shankara place, the Eastern European grain production plan in Eastern Europe was also coming to an end!
In the winter of December of the forty-third year of Chengshun, Moscow, Russia, was captured by the Chu army. A large number of nobles, including the Russian royal family, who had resisted for a long time, became prisoners of war.
(End of chapter)
