Wild North America 1846

Chapter 589 Construction

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 589 Construction

Massawa is a port hub city composed of the main hinterland city and the dock area along the Red Sea. It was designed and constructed in accordance with the standards of the third-level city of the Tang Empire. In addition to the complete water dredging facilities, the width of the main street and the green belt setting are all improved.

Certain construction standards.

According to the short-term plan in the next 6 to 10 years, the city can host a population of 200,000 to 300,000, and the medium and long-term plan does not exceed a population of 500,000. It is a colonial city that mainly focuses on transoceanic transportation transfer port, fishery, agriculture and animal husbandry, and appropriate development of light industry.

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There are more than a dozen rivers in the surrounding areas of Massawa, which are suitable for the development of agriculture and fruit planting. The plateau areas deep in the interior are suitable for the development of animal husbandry. The planned development path is very clear.

The development of the Eritrean colonial area has been one of the key projects of the Colonial Department of the Tang Empire in recent years. It will inevitably divert funds from overseas colonial areas such as the Andes Governor's Mansion in South America, Beihai Province in East Asia, and Paradise Province, as well as some human and material resources.

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After walking out of the tent and standing on the flattened land of nearly 8 square kilometers, Colonel Liu Daqing looked around in a happy mood.

In his view, this is a field full of vitality and hope.

Cool and pleasant climate

Everywhere you look, there are figures busy working. Chinese people work in groups. When they are tired, they stop to smoke a cigarette and drink water, sit on piles of wood, chat, and imagine the bright future of life.

The Imperial Expeditionary Force robbed many Arab women in the area around Sana'a, Yemen. In addition to the expeditionary officers and soldiers, there are many remaining women. In the future, they will be distributed to Chinese immigrants in the form of rewards, which can be considered as a partial offset.

labor remuneration.

Therefore, these Chinese immigrants are highly motivated to work, because those who are selected as outstanding can select women first, and those who are selected as model workers can also select two more women.

From now on, whether it is the family farm or the plantation, there will be no need for a woman to work, give birth to children, do housework, or raise cattle and sheep.

Now the land reclamation teams are setting fire to the mountains everywhere, building roads and building bridges. After their preliminary land reclamation work is completed, the next step is to allocate women, fields, and farm tools to the Chinese immigrants, and then divide them into teams of 60, 70 or more than 100 people.

, form an agricultural team to reclaim wasteland.

In the initial stage of land reclamation

It is necessary to work collectively to build bridges and pave roads, build villages, build irrigation canals, etc., intensively use tractors, oxen, mules and horses and other machinery and large animals to level the land, and build houses and corrals in a mutually beneficial manner on a village-by-village basis.

After 2 to 3 years, when the village is basically formed, the agricultural team will naturally transform into a village, and the fields allocated by each family will be transformed into private farms or plantations. Agricultural equipment, large livestock, and tractors will also be sold to individuals at a discount.

Then, in accordance with government regulations, 30% of the agricultural tax is paid every year.

In the early days of pioneering, Chinese immigrants mainly exchanged labor for remuneration, which may have been Arab women rationed by the colonial government at a discount, or agricultural equipment, cattle, mules and horses, chickens, ducks, livestock, or black slaves.

Vouchers for materials such as masonry, wood, cement, etc.

These are all surplus materials from the construction of urban docks. Whatever is available will be distributed, and there is basically no room for choice.

The Colonial Office thought more comprehensively before setting sail from the mainland of the empire. It followed the fleet and brought rice mills, flour mills, oil mills, cement factories, food processing plants, thermal power plants, brick kilns, firewood kilns, small textile mills, and weaving mills.

Machinery and equipment such as cloth factories can quickly establish a relatively complete light industry system.

Even if there is any difference, the corresponding equipment can be easily purchased from Europe.

With a relatively complete supply of materials, Massawa will develop rapidly and become a dazzling pearl on the Red Sea.

Teams of dozens of people are working in hard labor camp prisoners. Each of them has a thin steel chain around his neck, and there is a number on the steel plate. From the first day of entering the hard labor camp, there are only numbers and no names, until they are tired.

die.

Prisoners in the hard labor camps are mainly engaged in more arduous work such as digging trenches, digging tree roots, building roads, quarrying mountains, and building docks. They will also be the main force in building railways in the future.

current stage

The number of Arab convicts is not large. In the future, they will be gradually transported from Yemen and Egypt. Together with the black slaves eliminated locally, they can basically meet the labor requirements for the colonial construction of Massawa and Yunzhong City.

Colonel Liu Daqing looked at a group of cavalry that had just returned, escorting hundreds of black slaves, mostly young men and women, and he couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction.

The Imperial Expedition costs a lot of money. Most of the officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy's 3rd and 4th Divisions will stay in the colonies. After retirement, they will be given fields and rewards, and they will bring their families here to reproduce for generations.

Depending on their meritorious service, officers and soldiers enjoy varying amounts of "ten taxes and one meritorious field" treatment.

In the future, to replenish the troops, young Chinese men will be recruited from Paradise Island, the mainland or the Indo-China Peninsula, and sent to Eritrea for centralized military training. After passing the training, they will serve in Suez City in Egypt, Sana'a in Yemen, and various towns in the Eritrean colonial area.

After their service period expires, these Chinese soldiers will stay in the local area to start families and start businesses, or become government employees or police officers in towns, or apply to work in factories, trading houses or multinational bank branches, or go to the countryside to become a police officer.

Famous small and medium farmers.

Only a very small number of senior officers from the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the Royal Navy are likely to return to the homeland. Even the four armored cruisers participating in this expedition will be transformed into part of the newly formed Red Sea Fleet.

Just like what His Majesty said; the Chinese are like seeds blown by the wind. Wherever they fall, they will take root, sprout, and thrive...

In the early days of colonizing Eritrea, the imperial colonial policy would be relatively loose, allowing some private farms and plantations to retain a small number of black slave labor to meet labor needs.

But in the long run

The empire will definitely tighten relevant policies step by step. During the relatively mature stage of the development of the Eritrean colonial zone, it will seal the borders and implement a strict no-black policy to develop this African land into an overseas paradise for the empire.

In the planned tent area, you can often see some Arab women wearing robes busy. They are all Yemeni women assigned to expeditionary officers and soldiers and government officials. Their ages range from 15 to 21 years old. Their long robes are difficult to hide.

Slim figure.

These Arab women are responsible for cooking meals, washing clothes, and doing some logistical work within their capabilities. They also stimulate the Chinese immigrants in foreign lands to work more enthusiastically.

Colonel Liu Daqing led more than 10 officers to inspect the tent area. Along the central streets of the city, the foundations of dozens of houses have been repaired. Chinese carpenters are building houses. Basically, there are more than a dozen craftsmen working on each homestead.

Work.

The sewer ditch on the commercial street has been built. It is padded with loess and compacted, then a layer of fine stone and stone powder is laid, and finally it is paved with smooth stones.

A green belt is built in the middle of the road, and everything is built in accordance with the standards of the third-level cities in the empire. Street trees are also transplanted along the road to provide residents with shade in hot weather.

"Sir, I heard that the 4th Royal Marine Division fought very well in the city of Suez. After defeating the enemy, they bloodbathed the city and gained quite a lot of money!" The officer following Colonel Liu Daqing said with a smile.

Colonel Liu Daqing nodded and followed the words, "Those stupid Egyptians would still not be able to recognize the situation without resorting to some thunderbolt tactics. Your Highness's move of "knocking on the mountain to shake the tiger" is skillful and can save a lot of energy."

"I wholeheartedly agree, but the British... I'm afraid they don't want us to occupy the city of Suez, right?"

"That's for sure, but the problem is that the Tang Empire is the second largest shareholder of the Suez Canal Company and has the right to defend its legal rights of passage. It also has the right to station troops in the canal zone. In the case of winning a comprehensive military victory, the British opposition will also

invalid."

"This imperial expedition fought two beautiful battles, which is enough for these indigenous chiefs in the Middle East to have a good memory."

"It is easy to conquer, but it is much more difficult to truly take root and develop. I hope that the imperial soldiers will not be afraid of hardships, take root in the colonial area, build the colonial area, and develop it into a reliable logistics base for long-term military garrison!

"

"Sir, I think this place is much better than the barren mountains and remote areas of Yemen. The climate is cool and pleasant, and the plateau in the hinterland is also more vast and fertile. It is indeed a good place."

"Yes, this will become one of our overseas colonial provinces in the Tang Dynasty in the future. At the very least, it must be self-sufficient in food, develop into an important supplementary transshipment port on the Eurasian route, and exert an important influence in the Near East and Central and North Africa."

"The only drawback is that it is too far away and it is inconvenient to immigrate!"

"This is indeed a big problem. Only 10,000-ton large immigration ships are suitable for such a long route. They can transport five to six thousand immigrants at a time, which is very expensive!" Colonel Liu Daqing also nodded with deep feeling.

Large 10,000-ton immigration ships have been the main force in trans-Pacific migration in recent years. They travel more smoothly on the ocean and have longer self-sustainability. They can create a relatively good accommodation environment for immigrants, and the value of a ship ticket is also much higher.

Without imperial colonial subsidies, mainland Chinese immigrants would hardly be able to afford ferry tickets.

The only possible way is for immigrants to be responsible for part of the problem, mainly through borrowing.

Part of the imperial government's subsidy is mainly through tax exemptions and related fee reductions for shipping companies, in order to reduce the trouble of high fares.

As part of the colonial charity fund subsidy, the imperial government has established a subsidy policy to encourage colonization. In the early stages of developing the Eritrean colonial area, it should provide focused support.

As long as the Chinese immigrants arrived in the colonial area, the rest would be simple.

Regardless of whether it is labor to pay off debts or loans to operate, under the policies that encourage development, debts can always be paid off quickly and the company can develop on a rolling basis.

The industrious and simple nature of the Chinese nation makes them the best colonial team.

Alamas

(End of chapter)