1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 26 Li Ren ([-])

With the gradual rollout of infrastructure projects, the shortcomings of human resources, especially the number of laborers, have begun to emerge.Except for the young and old members who make up a very small percentage of the crowd, almost all of them have become cheap labor. No matter if they were big bosses or engaged in scientific research before, they all have to move bricks on the construction site.And this is just the infrastructure project in the area of ​​Victory Port and Base No. [-]. Next, the development and construction of the inland Tiandu Industrial Zone will require a lot of labor.

The villagers in the fishing village where Yu's father and son are located have gradually returned to their homes after being assured of safety, and most of them have chosen to work on the construction site of Base No. [-] - the white rice refined salt brought home by Yu's father and son is what makes all the people in the village work. People's eyes are red.Yu's father and son can sell their physical strength for food, why can't others sell it?

Yu Dashan was appointed as the foreman by the executive committee because he was an early "conglong dragon" and behaved more honestly and obediently.And Yu Xiaobao, who wears camouflage training uniforms to "work" in Victory Harbor every day, has been regarded as the first naturalized citizen by the people across the world. In a local school, Xiaobao and several other children from fishing villages will receive income, and a special class for indigenous children will be set up, and will gradually instill in them various ideas that have been ahead of the times for hundreds of years.

Yu Dashan still feels a little flattered that he can get such attention from short-haired gentlemen. You must know that there is no place for children to read within a radius of dozens of miles. If you want to read and write, you have to send your children dozens of places. Phoenix Town, which is miles away, but the high cost is not affordable for a fisherman's family like them.Now that the short-haired men say they want to run a school, and they don't charge tuition fees, it's just good news.Yu Dashan was grateful, and found the executive committee to offer advice, saying that there was a way to alleviate the current shortage of labor.

Yu Dashan's solution is actually not complicated, that is to go out to recruit workers.The neighborhood of Victory Harbor is sparsely populated because in recent years, a small number of pirates have come here to make trouble during the monsoon season, and many people who can't be disturbed have gradually moved out of this place.But there are several villages and towns with thousands of residents in the coastal plain of more than [-] miles between Yacheng and here.Especially in the urban area of ​​Sanya in later generations, because there are two big rivers, the Sanya River and the Linchun River and several tributaries, they have abundant fresh water resources, so there are many villages along both sides of the river. Recruiting some labor in these places is not a problem at all.

Yu Dashan's proposal was immediately taken seriously by the Executive Committee. After a short discussion, the Executive Committee entrusted the fishing village to send several village elders to form a recruitment team and set off to recruit workers in a slightly distant place.According to optimistic estimates, two or three hundred laborers can be recruited within half a month, which can alleviate the current labor pressure to a considerable extent.However, to employ so many people for a long time, the food problem that was not in a hurry to solve must be put on the agenda immediately.Fortunately, the development of the two agricultural lands on the east bank of Tiandu is relatively smooth, and it is still possible to sow the first batch of crops before the Grain Rain.Yuan Qiuye, who is in charge of livestock breeding, has also inspected the site on the east bank, and plans to transfer the livestock breeding base from the current humble temporary resettlement site.

On the morning of April 1627, 4, the pioneer group that went deep into the Tiandu area to open a temporary camp contacted the No. 9 base headquarters, saying that there were Li people near the camp, but they could not communicate due to language problems, and hoped that the headquarters would send a professional as soon as possible. Personnel support.

When it comes to dealing with Li people, Zhou Hengxing is currently the number one expert in the traversal community.Zhou Hengxing himself is a Li nationality. His work in the Danzhou City Cultural Center before crossing the road was to collect and study relevant materials of the Li nationality in Hainan in ancient times, and he knows the folk customs of the Li nationality best.Now the executive committee is going to set up a special working group for the Li District, and Zhou Hengxing has become the leader of the group.

The Li people originated from the ancient Baiyue, and the proper name "Li" began in the late Tang Dynasty. The ancestors of the Li people came across the sea as early as the Han Dynasty, and developed Hainan Island as the first group of residents. , sent troops and civilians to Hainan several times, and established two counties, Zhuya and Dan'er.In the following dynasties, the Li people have also been included in the central dynasty. The pearls, tortoiseshells, spices and other items produced by the Li people have always been "tributes" to Qiongzhou. In the Yuan Dynasty, the central government even directly gave Hainan Li people. The head of each cave is granted hereditary "thousand households" and "ten thousand households" official positions.Of course, the consequence of doing this has also intensified the class contradictions within the Li people, and since then the relationship between the Li people and the Han people has become tense.

As for the people who traveled through, these semi-civilized Li ethnic mountain people are undoubtedly very dangerous contacts, but if they are used properly, the manpower of the Li people's cottage can also be used for themselves.Ning Qi, who is more familiar with history, pointed out that it is recorded in the "Qiongtai Zhi" of Ming Zhengde that there were nearly 1200 Li caves in the Yazhou area during the Yongle period, and an astonishing 20 Li caves in the entire Hainan Island area. The combined population of so many large and small Li villages is around [-] at least, which is definitely a large amount of human resources worth developing.Therefore, the executive committee attaches great importance to the work in Li District. For this working group, almost all the elite soldiers from various departments have been mobilized together, trying to open up a new source of manpower in the inland area of ​​Hainan.

In addition to Zhou Hengxing, an expert of the Li nationality, the special working group includes people from mining, agriculture, construction, communications, commerce, military police, culture, education, medical care and other departments. There were more than [-] people in the mighty team, and among them there were many talented people like the bearded Johnson who had both military, police and medical positions.The materials to be traded have been prepared long before the crossing, mainly salt and a large number of iron farm tools, which are also the most needed things for the Li people living in the inland mountainous areas.

In order to ensure that there is enough medical power ahead, Morgan, another doctor specializing in cardiovascular disease in the North American Gang, was also recruited into the team.In addition, there is Qiao Zhiya, who majors in chemical engineering. This guy, like Tom Wang, is an ABC (American-Born Chinese) born in the United States, and he can't even speak Chinese very well.The reason why Qiao Zhiya joined is that the triacid and dialkali production base of the Ministry of Chemical Industry is also planned near the Tiandu mining area.

Johnson, Morgan and Qiao Zhiya had all served in the U.S. military before crossing. In particular, Qiao Zhiya served in the U.S. Army Fort Buchanan in Puerto Rico and was very familiar with the tropical rainforest environment.The three people with military experience were transferred to the special working group, which also relieved the pressure on the escort of the military and police department to a large extent.

This time, half of the North American Gang of Six were included in the special working group. For this reason, the Military Police Department and the Shipping Department had to re-coordinate their manpower, temporarily reducing the original two catamaran patrol system to one on duty and one on duty. Waiting for work.This is also impossible. After all, there are too few people in the shipping department, and there are only a few people who can sail independently.Fortunately, the captured Haicang ships have now been put into normal patrols. With the assistance of ten Ming sailors, they can barely maintain the scale of two ships per day.

In order to save time on the road, the Executive Committee specially put down several lifeboats on the "New World" to transport the personnel of the special working group.These four lifeboats all have small displacement diesel propellers and have certain self-propelled capabilities.In addition, four small wooden boats were mobilized from the fishing village and hung behind the four lifeboats to transport the building materials to be used in the No. [-] base.Then everyone filed into the boat, and the fleet went upstream along the Tian Du River at a speed of less than five knots, heading towards the camp far inland.

After about two or three miles away from Victory Harbor, the river began to gradually narrow, from a few hundred meters wide at the sea outlet to just over ten meters.Both sides of the river bank are flat and wide land, but it is still covered by lush forests. Although the logging team has brought dozens of local fishermen under their banner, they are working hard to cut down trees every day to clear the way. It will take time.With nothing to do on the boat, Ning Qi asked Zhou Hengxing to tell everyone about the situation of the Li people and do some popular science in advance.

Zhou Hengxing smiled and said, "Then what do you want to know?"

"Teach us a few words of the Li nationality first." "Yes, it would be a pity that the little girl of the Li nationality would not be able to strike up a conversation!" The crowd responded in a frenzy.

"The Li dialect is not so easy to learn." Zhou Hengxing explained patiently: "The Li dialect is divided into five major types according to different regions: Ruo, Qi, Meifu, Run, and Sai, and there are different minor languages ​​in each major type. Dialects, such as the Li people in the area of ​​Sanya, speak the Wa dialect, but there are Luohuo, Hayan, Baoxian, etc. under the Wa dialect, with different pronunciations.”

"It's so complicated, it seems that there is little hope for the girls of the Paoli tribe!" Someone said regretfully.

"The Li girls in this era are not as ethnic as you see on TV. In fact, Li women have the traditional habit of writing face since ancient times. This is to prevent being kidnapped by outsiders, and the second is to represent loyalty to feelings. , this custom disappeared slowly after liberation. In addition, Li people like to eat betel nut, so their lips and teeth are all black, which is probably far from the beauty standard in your impression." Zhou Hengxing poured mercilessly. A bowl of cold water.

The members, who originally had a little fantasies of having an affair, made up for the girl with black patterns all over her face, one mouth and two rows of black teeth, and their minds suddenly disappeared.Someone immediately questioned Ning Qi: "The executive committee has been propagating that it will arrange ethnic customs tours before crossing the road. There are countless ethnic minority girls waiting for us to marry and go home. What about the beautiful girls we said?"

Ning Qi responded righteously and sternly: "Don't change the words without authorization. When we were promoting, we always only mentioned girls, but we didn't add the word 'beautiful'. Don't worry, it's your freedom to marry or not. The Executive Committee will never force you to marry in an arranged marriage."

(End of this chapter)