Wild North America 1846

The bustling scene that took place on Paradise Island is the epitome of the rapid development of the Tang Dynasty for more than 10 years. The citizens of Datang, mainly Chinese immigrants, glowed with great enthusiasm for construction in the favorable and relaxed development environment.

Everyone understands; they are working hard to create their own happy life in the future.

According to the Land Conferment Act;

Kingdom residents who move to the sparsely populated northern and southern inland provinces for cultivation can receive a 10-acre piece of land for free, and a land of no more than 50 acres at a preferential price, which can be cultivated and grazed, and can be transferred after 8 years.

As an overseas territory of the Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty, Paradise Island also implements the Land Grant Act. As long as Chinese immigrants arrive on the island, they can obtain the status of residents of the Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty and receive no more than 60 acres of land per person, which is 300 acres.

The prerequisite is to work as a bonded worker for two years, without salary, and only responsible for food and lodging. You must work according to your ability according to the arrangement.

Finally, they are divided into four grades according to their performance: excellent, good, medium, and poor. Immigrants with higher evaluations can be given priority in selecting fields. The better the land they are assigned, such as being close to streams and irrigation canals, high terrain that is not easily flooded, flat and fertile land, etc.

This kind of immigration policy caused a huge sensation in the land of China. Not to mention refugees, landless farmers, landlords and farm laborers all signed up to immigrate one after another, numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

Land had an unparalleled allure for the Qing people. Many wealthy small landowner families could not resist the temptation and immigrated to Paradise Island with their families.

The ferry ticket to Paradise Island is much cheaper, starting from 26 taels of silver in Datongcang, and it takes 5 days and 5 nights one way from the southern provinces of China to Xinxi'an. Those who buy the ticket at their own expense are exempted from the two-year bonded labor obligation.

Some landowning families have large populations, and it is common for more than a dozen or more than twenty family members to move at one time. In some cases, hundreds of family members migrate collectively. They can afford to buy boat tickets and get the most after arriving at Paradise Island.

Thousands of acres of land (most purchased at preferential prices, a few reaching tens of thousands of acres).

Even landlord families cannot resist such a huge temptation.

The Tang Kingdom and the Manchu Qing Dynasty signed the "Wangxia Treaty" similar to the United States, also known as the "Sino-US Five Ports Commerce Treaty". The treaty stipulated that the Tang Kingdom would conduct normal business, trade, labor and other exchanges in China, and local governments were not allowed to do so.

Deliberate interference must be treated with respect and assistance.

In terms of diplomacy and trade, they enjoyed the same rights as the British, and enjoyed consular jurisdiction. That is, Tang citizens who violated criminal laws must be dealt with by the Tang embassy. The Manchu government had no right to intervene, and they had a series of super-national treatment.

It is precisely because of the diplomatic treaty that most governments in coastal provinces dare not stay in trouble and can only watch a large number of people exodus.

in fact

The massive outflow of people has also reduced the burden on local governments. The Guangdong and Guangxi regions have always had more people than land, and the same is true in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian. Because competition for land and water sources triggers hundreds of clan fights every year, with more than 10,000 casualties.

Huge population pressure is like a raging flood. Proper diversion can also help reduce the pressure on local governments. The most intuitive manifestation is that there are fewer people fleeing, fewer beggars in urban and rural areas, the bad habit of infanticide is no longer as common as in the early days, and even clans

There are also fewer large-scale armed fights.

If you really can't survive, let those young people go to North America. There is always a way to survive.

April 27

The first batch of immigrants from mainland China arrived at Donggang, Paradise Island (New Guinea Island). This group of immigrants spent 10 days and 10 nights at sea, twice as long as the Chinese who immigrated to New Xi'an.

This group of immigrants, totaling 16,300 people, arrived on 17 immigration ships and cargo ships. Their arrival made Donggang lively in an instant, and the urban construction progress suddenly accelerated.

Dong Jie, as the director of the Donggang Construction Headquarters, had already planned for this. Under his confident command, he first assigned 8,000 Chinese immigrants to the reclamation team, 2,000 people to the logging team, and 500 people to the wasteland burning team, selecting carpenters and

More than 2,200 people with masonry skills have joined the construction team, and more than 3,700 women have been included in the picking team, breeding team, and logistics team. The remaining ones can see doctors, those who can bake bricks, those who can weave, and those who can cook.

During the meal, I can sing opera for everyone in my free time, relax, and everyone has their own division of labor.

Changes visible to the naked eye are happening every moment, and the burning continues. Due to the arrival of abundant labor, the charred woods after the burning were quickly felled, and countless large tree roots were dug out and dragged away, and then walking tractors entered the site.

Clean up the site.

Irrigation canals were built according to the lime lines, and tall waterwheels were built along the river. Clear streams flowed into the fields along the irrigation canals, and endless green buds sprouted from the newly cultivated fields.

more than three months later

When these farmlands harvest the first crops of grain and vegetables, it will mean that Donggang has the ability to develop itself. In this fertile land, crops will be harvested three times a year, so there is no need to worry about not having enough to eat.

In the gentle hilly area of ​​Donggang, which covers thousands of square kilometers, patches of forest were burned by fire, and then the process of felling big trees and cultivating fertile land was repeated. The industrious Chinese immigrants quickly changed the appearance of this place, turning it into another Jiangnan water rice.

Town of.

Under construction in Donggang Town

Deeply dug drainage channels are built with bricks and stones. After the covering soil is compacted, it is repeatedly rolled with lime and cinders, and then a layer of gravel is spread, followed by a layer of coal ash. Finally, stone slabs are paved to form a spacious and tidy road.

.

A large number of buildings are rising on both sides of the road, and thousands of workers are building houses every day.

Since this area is located in a tropical humid area, facing the sea and having mountains at its back, the houses here are paved with red bricks, which are built to a height of one and a half feet, and then built with wooden squares.

The houses built in this way are moisture-proof and strong. Since the wood reserves of Paradise Island are almost endless, materials are used sparingly when building wooden houses.

The logs with the bark peeled off were simply processed and then built directly. It is really strong and strong, and it is very fast to build.

Just over three months later, Donggang has thousands of houses with strong Chinese characteristics, with overhanging eaves and numerous pavilions, initially showing the style of a port city with unique oriental characteristics and charm.

on the outskirts of the city

Hundreds of bridges have been built one after another. The first large-scale reinforced concrete bridge across the Bishui River has taken shape. The four tall bridge piers have been built to a height of more than 10 meters. In more than two months, it will be almost 22 meters tall.

Meter high design height.

By the time

With the large-scale steel components transported thousands of miles from the Tang Kingdom in place, the first bridge across the Bishui River will show its majestic appearance and promote the rapid development of Donggang.

In Donggang Bay

The newly built reinforced concrete pier and stone bank extend for 4.2 kilometers in length. There are brick and stone warehouses on the pier one after another. Steam freighters from the Tang Dynasty and immigrant ships from China are parked on the wide pier.

, there is a bustling scene everywhere in the town.

late July

Waves of wheat are rolling outside the city of Donggang. The first hundred thousand acres of wheat fields have ushered in the harvest moment. This is the biggest festival for the people of Donggang. Nearly 100,000 people in the city have put down their work and poured into the wheat fields to harvest. The joy of the harvest

Brighten everyone's face.

Starting from late July, Donggang will enter the harvest season for more than 10 consecutive days, starting from the harvest of more than 100,000 acres of farmland near the city and extending inland.

The wheat fields sown later have also entered harvest time, so on the road leading to the inland from Donggang, at around four o'clock every morning, horse-drawn carriages full of laborers leave the city one after another, and go deep along the wide and flat road.

The head and tail of the carriage convoy cannot be seen.

As soon as they see the wheat fields, the laborers on the carriages jump down, rush into the wheat fields with sickles in hand, and start harvesting.

The harvested grain was transported back by horse-drawn carriages. The horse-drawn carriages loaded with grain traveled between the city and the countryside day and night. At noon, lunch was brought to the workers, which was vegetable soup and flatbreads packed in large wooden barrels along the fields.

Let it go all the way.

The tired people wiped the sweat from their foreheads, ate cakes and soup, gathered together to chat excitedly, and thought about a better life in the future.

This kind of fiery large-scale production scene takes place in almost every field in Donggang City.

After more than four months of large-scale construction, Donggang City has undergone earth-shaking changes. A prosperous city has emerged. Hundreds of thousands of acres of land have been developed from Donggang to the depths of the interior, connected by several spacious roads and countless small roads.

together.

Irrigation canals crisscross the area, and more than 100 large irrigation waterwheels have been erected along the Bishui River, creating a unique pastoral scene.

The gentle and vast hilly area of ​​Donggang has been developed for more than one-third, but it still retains large areas of dense forest.

This is because there is one policy in the Tang Kingdom’s land expansion policy;

In order to preserve local water, soil and forest resources and maintain coordinated development of the environment, no more than 40% of the land should be reclaimed in any place. This is a rigid rule.

Low-lying land, land next to mountains and water, land easily affected by flash floods, mudslides and other geological disasters, periodically flooded land, wetlands, swamps and land adjacent to lakes will not be developed or reclaimed in principle.

On the developed land, a certain proportion of original forest and shrub greening must be retained to form a natural barrier against storms and rain disasters, which is more conducive to the harvest of cultivated fertile land.

The burning team continued to advance inland, followed closely by the road construction team, followed by the tractor team and the logging team, forming a set of efficient land development processes.

The reserved forest green space is mainly controlled by the logging team. In the endless burned-blackened forest, the logging team fells the big trees according to the plan and opens the road. The trees in the forest reserve area do not need to be felled.

It won't take long, as long as a few moist rains moisten it, these forests that have been burned by the fire will be rejuvenated. The charred trees will sprout buds, and the thick forest ashes will bring rich nutrients, allowing countless people to

Green grass grows vigorously.

Ignore it, a few years later it will be a lush forest again, with no trace of the fire that once burned it.

As for the farming areas, you're welcome. The logging teams cut down trees as they see them. Each logging team is composed of 10 people. While logging, they dig out tree roots.

Each team's daily quota is two large trees (which need to meet a certain diameter standard). Those that do not meet the diameter standard need to be cut down and the roots dug out, but this amount of labor is not included in the quota. Which team's task area

If there are many small trees, whichever group is unlucky? There is nothing we can do about it.

Basically, each logging team has one big tree in the morning and one big tree in the afternoon. Not only do they need to cut down the branches, they also need to cut off the branches, saw them into large sections of the specified length, and dig out the roots. This workload is not small.

Especially the work of digging tree roots is really tiring.

Fortunately, there are many people and strength. A logging team of nearly 3,000 people works together and can cut down more than 600 large trees in one day (small trees below the standard are not included). An excellent team can cut down more than 600 large trees in one day.

5 trees, the average logging group also has 3 big trees.

Why is everyone so motivated?

Firstly, the excellent logging team can have meat to eat every day, which is part of the reward, accounting for about 10%.

Secondly, for a logging team that performs well, the overall evaluation is likely to be excellent or excellent, which means that during the two-year contract period, the overall evaluation will be "excellent".

According to the competition rules, these outstanding candidates can have priority in selecting their own land, priority in enlisting in the army, priority in recruiting workers, priority in promotion, becoming village and town team leaders, militia squad platoon leaders, priority in recruiting village and town police officers, and obtaining honors such as model workers, etc.

Rewards from superiors, etc.

It is precisely because of a series of evaluation and incentive measures that the nearly 100,000 labor force on Paradise Island has doubled its motivation, showing a gratifying situation of chasing each other, which has greatly improved labor efficiency and pioneering achievements.

And this contains the hard work of Dong Jie and the Donggang Construction Headquarters. In this field full of hope, their ingenuity has been greatly displayed.

The advanced experience of Donggang's colonization was also summarized and promoted immediately, benefiting emerging towns including New Xi'an a lot.

Dong Jie did not forget that he was the Minister of the Colonial Department, not just the commander-in-chief of the Donggang Construction Headquarters. Whether it was Donggang or New Xi'an, he had an indelible contribution to the construction achievements of these two emerging port towns.

Among the nearly 100,000 immigrants in Donggang, more than 13,300 are self-funded immigrants, accounting for nearly 15%.

These are Chinese immigrants with relatively strong financial strength. After arriving in Donggang, they do not have to fulfill the two-year bonded labor responsibility and can obtain a large amount of land by virtue of preferential policies.

Accordingly, these lands are all undeveloped virgin forests, which require them to open up, cut trees, dig tree roots, level the land, build irrigation canals, and build houses.

Whether it is harvested grain, vegetables, or grazing cattle or sheep, you must pay 30% of the land income income tax every year. This is almost the only tax for farmers, ranchers, and planters.

There is no room for slippage in taxation in the Tang Dynasty, and there is no room for bargaining. Those who dare to evade taxes will face severe punishments of losing their entire fortune. This is an iron rule.

Therefore, the entire Donggang, from the city to the countryside, is full of bustling work scenes. Whether it is contract work or for one's own clan, there is almost no soil for lazy people to survive here.

The dragon gives birth to nine sons, each of whom is different.

Among so many Chinese immigrants, there are indeed some who are lazy, bullying, and afraid of evil. However, after arriving in Donggang, they were quickly taught how to behave and curbed their bad habits.

Among the immigrants who entered Donggang, some of the bonded workers were too lazy to work and bullied the good. After receiving the word "bad" in the evaluation, they were immediately removed from various work teams and put into the "bad team".

Everyone in the "Bad Character Team" has the word "bad" in capital letters on their clothes, indicating that they are the worst group of people, looked down upon by everyone, and have no face at all.

There is no meat in the food of the "bad character team" all year round. They eat the worst scraps, such as cabbage, potato peels, and expired and moldy wheat grains mixed with gravel. They can only survive from starvation.

besides

The "bad" team has to do the dirtiest and most tiring work, such as digging out manure, composting, digging trenches and clearing mud, digging out mountains to extract rocks, and then smashing the stones with hammers, etc. Moreover, the "bad" team has whips in hand.

The fierce overseers can torture them until life is worse than death.

If you don't want to do it, I'll whip you with a whip.

This is in sharp contrast to the "excellent" and other teams in the competition who eat rice and flour every day and have meat every day. Even a fool knows how to choose.

In this way

The atmosphere among the entire immigrant team quickly improved, and those who were lazy and lazy also gritted their teeth and worked every day, gradually getting rid of laziness and inertia, and experienced happiness from labor.

Those who oppress good people do not dare to show up again. It is really the lives of those in the "bad" team that are miserable.

Donggang is a place where there is no soil for evildoing. If you want to live well, you can only obey the rules.

Objectively speaking

The experience of colonizing Paradise Island cannot be replicated because the Tang Kingdom invested a lot of money to allow penniless refugees and young people from poor families to immigrate, and the Royal Charity Federation borne most of the funds.

Accordingly, these Chinese immigrants need to fulfill their obligation to work for two years and use their labor to repay their immigration tickets and other expenses.

This includes two pairs of clothes for each immigrant, daily necessities and bedding, as well as food and lodging expenses for the past two years. This part of the expenditure is basically more than 4 months in the initial period. The grain, vegetables and other materials produced in the later period will be directed by Donggang

The Ministry of Finance allocates them collectively, and the same goes for building properties. They are owned by the Kingdom and can be used free of charge in the initial stage. Those who need it later will buy it at a price.

In order to build these two towns, the Kingdom Charity Fund invested more than 3.7 million yuan in immigration alone. Of the total 240,000 immigrants, 213,900 were able to immigrate to Paradise Island through the help of the Kingdom Charity Fund.

Calculated at cost price, this part of the expenditure exceeds 2.48 million yuan. Coupled with massive material investment, the current bright development prospects can be formed.

It is clear

Such a large investment cannot be sustained for a long time. According to the plan of the Kingdom Charity Fund, large-scale immigration will last until October and last for half a year.

It is expected that by the end of October, the population of Immigrant Paradise Island will reach 470,000 to 500,000, mainly distributed in the two cities of Donggang and Xinxi'an and surrounding towns, forming a stable and sustained agricultural and animal husbandry production capacity.

On this basis, we should develop fishery production capacity, establish canned food production and processing enterprises, develop sugar cane, forest fruits, tobacco, spices, pig raising, sheep raising and other industries to make up for the shortcomings in the agricultural and animal husbandry production of the Tang Kingdom.

The two cities will initially be built into agricultural and animal husbandry production bases, supporting powerful transit ports on the Central Pacific Immigration Golden Route, and laying a solid foundation for the next expansion of immigration.