Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 517 Indentured Labor
Before leaving Europe, Bai Mingxiu did something that caused a certain amount of controversy among the top brass of the Global Fleet.

This thing is to buy "indentured labor".

Indenture labor is a word that is not much better than slaves in the Western world. Even though Europeans hate this word in later generations, they did a lot of this kind of work back then.

European countries are filled with a large number of poor people who are economically bankrupt. They owe usury, or simply cannot afford a boat ticket to the New World, so there are a group of "human snakes", or entities such as colonial companies, who have to deal with these debtors. The poor people with money sign a contract and require them to work for themselves. The general cycle is often 15 years or even longer, and only a few people may work for five or seven years.

These contract laborers often face very harsh and harsh working conditions in the New World. They work more than ten hours a day, have no food to eat, and have a high mortality rate. Many people even die before working for enough years, and some people die escaped.

The most famous indentured laborers in Europe were the Irish, who were once regarded as the blacks among the whites, the most inferior existence.During the potato famine, a large number of Irish people went to North America to survive as indentured laborers in order to avoid starvation.

At a later stage, the piglets who were sold to build railways in China were also a kind of contract labor.

As soon as Bai Mingxiu arrived in Europe, he began to make people contact usury groups or underground forces, and bought a batch of such contracts, that is to say, he controlled a batch of contracted laborers.And when the Global Fleet was about to leave Europe, Bai Mingxiu was going to take these contract laborers to America.

Liang Haisheng asked Bai Mingxiu: "Commander, we opened up the American colony. According to the words of the Holy One, we opened up a living space for us Chinese, and that is the home of our future descendants. Now you are going to transport thousands of poor Europeans there. Isn’t this taking our own living space?”

Although Yu Chenglong didn't speak, his attitude was similar.

Bai Mingxiu smiled and said, "Then tell me, before the Department of Immigration Affairs can increase the population of North America on a large scale, what will we do with our colonies of tens of millions of square kilometers in North and South America?"

Liang Haisheng was dumbfounded.

Because although the Global Fleet brought out a lot of immigrants this time, the number is still very limited.To receive a large number of American colonies, Ming's officers, soldiers and population are needed, and it is impossible for the Global Fleet to leave many people in every place.

"The embarrassment now is that there are already many Latins in colonies such as Cuba and Peru. We can only arrange dozens of officers and soldiers to be stationed there for the time being, and it is difficult to arrange large-scale immigration. Now there are only a few remaining in the fleet. About 600 people from our Ming Dynasty have immigrated. We now plan to put down a group of people in Hongwu Xuanwei Division, a group of people in Yongle Xuanwei Division, a group of people in Panama, and another group in La Plata and Chile. Waves of people, so calculated, basically each wave of people is about 100 people. For everyone, the initial development work will become very difficult. Therefore, it is inevitable that even our Ming Dynasty will use foreign workers. Let them reclaim land, build houses, and create better conditions for our subsequent Chinese immigrants."

Bai Mingxiu smiled confidently: "The true culture of Ming Dynasty is all-embracing, even if it is a foreign race, if you are willing to be a person who contributes to the country and society on our land honestly, and accept the civilization of Ming Dynasty sincerely, then I am willing to admit that they are smart people. What's more, their proportion is actually very small."

He prefers to regard this purchase of indentured labor as a last resort. Even if there is such an importation of indentured labor from Europe in the future, it will definitely be limited to a very low ratio. One such degree.

Liang Haisheng nodded and said, "Since the commander said so, then I have nothing to object to. But, aren't you worried that these European contract laborers will oppose Ming's rule?"

"There is no precise rule. These newly developed colonies are basically organized in the form of immigration autonomy. Unless they develop to a certain scale, or if our Ming army or colonial companies have relatively large interests, they will set up direct subordinates." Office of the Council of Governors. Moreover, I am also prepared. First of all, these European indentured laborers come from different places, including Spanish, English, Scottish, Irish, French, German and Italian. They even They don't understand each other's languages. We have deployed them and placed them under our Chinese immigrants. It is impossible for them to collude to cause trouble. Furthermore, in every wave of immigrants, there are escort groups. These are all ruthless For those who can fight, suppressing these people is not as easy as chopping melons and vegetables. I will not let these European indentured laborers have access to real weapons. In the end, being able to come to the New World is already a favor to them. , we did not overly restrict their freedom, but only required them to obey the production orders of the Colonial Autonomous Committee. They can also own their own houses and the fruits of their own labor, which is much more tolerant than their European compatriots. Escape from our colonies, They faced ferocious Indians and a difficult natural environment. Even if they went to colonies built by other Europeans, the conditions would only be worse than ours."

Yu Chenglong praised: "It seems that the commander has indeed considered all these matters clearly."

Liang Haisheng said: "Compared to getting some European laborers to go to America, I am a little worried now, whether those Spanish colonies will accept their fate of being handed over to us well. There are not many people in places like Florida, but Places such as Peru, Grenada, and Cuba have a large number of Spaniards, and if we do not deter them enough, we will actually lose control of this area."

"Well, in fact, I am not prepared to completely take over and control the former Spanish colonies this time. It is just to show my face and suppress those who are obviously dissatisfied. Those native whites in the colonies are not very powerful now. It turns out The Spaniards, just drive them away. We will eventually send people to this land gradually, the emperor is considering establishing a war zone in the Americas, planning the defense as a whole, maybe it can be realized in a year or two."

(End of this chapter)