The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 66 The Fate of Aboriginal People
June 1724, 6, Quang Ninh Governor-General, Xiping District (now Langas Betong City, Java Island, Indonesia).

In the vast wilderness on the outskirts of Xiping County, farmers in twos and threes faced the sunset, carrying farm tools and dragging their tired bodies towards the villages in the distance.Some half-grown children are still energetic, playing with each other and running around the adults.

At a railway construction site not far from them, a group of native coolies in shabby linen shirts just glanced at them briefly, then sighed softly, covered their heads and continued working.They all know that this is not a life they can enjoy. They still need to serve on one construction site after another for five years before they can return to the territory designated by the Qi people to live again.Until then, they can only endure.

Looking at these Qi immigrants occupying the land left by their ancestors for generations, deep in their hearts they felt envy and yearning, but also a trace of hatred.But the situation is stronger than the people. Not to mention them, the Dutch, who were once extremely powerful, didn't obediently transfer all the occupied territories to the Qi people and then concentrate on their lucrative Eastern trade.

However, compared to those compatriots who were sent to an unknown mine by the Qi people, the work on the railway construction site was obviously much easier.It is said that compatriots who go to the mines to "work" often encounter various safety accidents. Landslides, ore splashes, slipping, or fights between groups can cause them to lose their lives at any time.

Of course, the work here is also very arduous and the hours are long.Look at the farmers working in the fields who have finished their work, but they continue to work under the supervision of the supervisors. They will not be allowed to stop working and have dinner until it gets completely dark and they cannot see.

The meal for dinner is also very simple, either rice balls made of brown rice, or steamed buns made of cheap flour with bran, fish soup, a few vegetable leaves, and occasionally bacon - of course , a few compatriots who are devout in the True God Religion will refuse to eat this kind of salted pork - to be honest, if you can't have enough to eat and can't survive, what kind of faith should you consider?Sometimes, the people of Qi will kindly provide a little wine for compatriots who are willing to enjoy the drink.Oh, this challenges our religious beliefs again.

On the construction site, no one dared to go out of their way to cheat when working. Those fierce supervisors were extremely cruel and would often whip you or withhold food. If you pissed them off, they would even beat you to death.

It's sad to say that the overseers all have the same faces as them, and like them, they are natives of this island.However, they or their parents surrendered to the Qi people very early, accepted their rule, converted to their civilization, became accustomed to speaking their language, and served them wholeheartedly.As a result, they also gained a certain social status, and began to join the Qi people in enslaving and oppressing their former compatriots.

They may behave like a docile dog in front of the people of Qi, but when they turn to the "recruited" coolies, they look like a ferocious crocodile in the swamp.

"This Guangzhou (Ningxia) West (Ping) railway extension will connect to Guangchuan (i.e. Batavia) in the next four months. The task is tight and the time is short. We must seize all favorable conditions and speed up the construction progress. Don't If it is delayed until November, when the rainy season comes, it will be difficult to explain to the superiors." Zhou Wanqing, counselor of the Traffic Department of Quang Ninh Governor-General, was riding on a docile pony, looking at the hunched-over workers who were working hard. The native said in a serious tone: "If there is not enough manpower, let the township corps recruit more natives. In addition to young and middle-aged men, some half-grown teenagers and healthy women are not incapable of coming to work."

"Yes, Counselor Zhou." Sun Junbao, the person in charge of the construction section, nodded respectfully and followed Zhou Wanqing's words: "Tomorrow, I will send a message to Xiping County and ask them to mobilize the township corps to recruit native people. However, all counties and villages have We are engaged in extensive construction, building resettlement sites, digging canals, and laying roads, and the people's power is already very tight. Under this situation, I don't know how many native people 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, the rails must be laid on this railway before the end of October, and the rails must be laid by January next year. Open to traffic as scheduled.”

"Yes, Councilor Zhou." Sun Junbao heard this and could only bite the bullet and promised: "I will make every effort to build the railway to Guangchuan City as scheduled before the end of October."

It seems that in the next few months, the work enthusiasm of the local coolies must be fully mobilized, and the working hours may even be extended, and it may even be necessary to continue the construction work "overtime" at night.

Oh, in order to show the strong national power of Qi State, and to prove that Kaihua Island (today's Java Island) will develop better after the Dutch completely withdraw, Qi State not only stepped up its efforts to fill the island with immigrants, but also carried out research on the area. Large-scale infrastructure construction.A railway plan that runs through the entire Kaihua Island was released in this atmosphere. The ambitious Qi people planned to connect the Guang (Ning) Xi (Ping) Railway at the west end and the Hai (An) Long (Semarang) at the east end within two years. Rail connectivity.

In fact, the entire Qi State has entered a period of rapid development in the past few decades. Whether it is Hanzhou itself or several nearby overseas territories, almost all construction sites are short of people. It is unimaginable that if these " How will all construction projects be carried out by the native coolies who work hard and never complain.

It was already dark, but due to the inspection of Qi officials, the native supervisors could not order the coolies to stop working and rest for a while. They continued to inspect the entire construction section and shouted to the natives to continue working.

Zhou Wanqing rode a few steps forward and arrived at the railway construction site.Some natives who were working on the roadside immediately stepped aside. They took off their straw hats and bent their waists very low. Their sweaty faces were full of anxiety and fear.

Behind Zhou Wanqing was a group of heavily armed policemen, holding muskets with bayonets in their hands and staring at them fiercely. This posture frightened them.Whether it is the mighty Qi Army or these cruel and unhuman police, they have always been a nightmare in their hearts.

Although the State of Qi prides itself on being a civilized and orderly modern country, it has various laws and regulations regarding personal safety and security.But there is no law to protect the rights and interests of these natives. They are in a state of de facto legal powerlessness and are not even formal citizens.

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

Zhou Wanqing looked at these pitiful and miserable native coolies without any emotion in his heart.For the development of the empire and the happiness of future generations, they can only squeeze these native coolies to their death.

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

The native coolies who had worked hard for a day were already exhausted. Their eyes were wandering, and their hands and feet were obviously weak. If they were not afraid of the supervisor's whip, they would have collapsed to the ground long ago.Seeing this, Zhou Wanqing turned his head and gave a calm order to the accompanying project management personnel.

When driving native coolies, you should be relaxed and relaxed, and don't use up people in such a way that you are fishing all the water.Although they are all consumables, we must also pay attention to the actual effectiveness ratio and maximize their value to be cost-effective.

Can't we imitate some remote mines or construction sites with harsh conditions? In order to save costs, the supervisors will cruelly only provide food supplies that can ensure their "animal minimum living standards" and then let them work day and night. Live until you die of exhaustion or illness.In less than three to five years, all the "recruited" native coolies were exhausted, which can be described as brutal.

Oil lamps were lit one after another at the construction site, and the native coolies squatted eagerly at the dining area, waiting for the arrival of meals.A group of wolf-like overseers carrying knives and whips were patrolling around, maintaining the order of the entire construction site. Their gloomy eyes glanced at the crowd from time to time, as if they were about to break out at any moment and teach someone a lesson. A well-behaved native.

As early as 40 years ago, the Qi people sought to acquire the island of Java and renamed the island Kaihua. In fact, they had the intention of assimilating the natives and taking their rich human resources as their own.

But as time went by, the people of Qi found that these native people were really difficult to "absorb". In addition to many differences in religion, culture, and traditional habits, they often showed unruly, disobedient "kings", and laziness in character. And intellectual stupidity, it is impossible to integrate into our Chinese civilization in the short term.

In this case, they can only become the cornerstones of the construction of our Daqi Empire and become coolies. Coal mines, iron mines, copper mines, brick kilns, lime plants, quarries, railways, and highways have become their main work places.In these places, countless slave laborers die almost every day, and new slave laborers are brought in every day. The rosters that count the number of slave laborers have also been repeatedly altered or accidentally lost. Over the decades, how many slave laborers have there been? It is difficult to verify how many people’s bones were buried in the above-mentioned industrial and mining sites.

Regarding the miserable situation of the Nanyang natives, it is not without the mother-in-law people in Hanzhou who sympathize with them and constantly call for them to be given formal national treatment.But this voice is very weak and suppressed by an invisible hand.

Are you kidding me? If the foreign robbers don’t consume all the original owners of this land, can they still live there with peace of mind?Are you still trying to integrate and absorb these aboriginal people?There is simply no limit to seeking death.

To put it bluntly, the people of Qi can absorb people from mainland Qin (previously Ming people), Japanese, Koreans, Annan people, and even Europeans with completely different faces, but they cannot absorb the natives of Nanyang.Whether they are Javanese, Gowans, Papuans or Dayaks, the reason why they are in such a situation is, in the final analysis, because they have the aura of being "indigenous" - they naturally enjoy all rights to this land. , even their mixed-blood descendants have more rights to occupy this land than pure-blood outsiders.

For the sake of future generations and the country's stable development in the future, some things still need to be done first.

(End of this chapter)