On November 11, 1867, the giant ship "Great Eastern" sailing south from the coast of Shandong received nearly 40,000 immigrants from Henan, Shandong, Zhili, Anhui, and northern Jiangsu off the coast of Haizhou. These immigrants
Most of them arrive at Haizhou via the Huaihe River and the Yellow River.
Si Dongli and his cousins were among this group of immigrants. Like everyone else, after being stunned by the size of the giant ship, he was immediately stuffed into a narrow cabin, where thousands of people were crowded.
In the coffin-sized space of the cabin, the small electric light on the roof prevented the cabin from falling into darkness.
Two days later in the morning, when it was Si Dongli's turn to go to the deck to let out the wind, the giant ship slowly sailed away from the coast of northern Jiangsu and headed eastward toward the Osumi Strait at the southern tip of Kyushu Island, Japan. Because there were few reefs in the strait,
Being clear of obstructions has always been one of the preferred routes for Nanhua immigration ships.
When sailing through the Osumi Strait, the "Great Eastern" stopped for a while in the open sea, and then thousands of Japanese women were put on board by small boats. These Japanese "contract maids" will go to Nanhua with the ship. According to the Immigration Department
According to the regulations, all immigration ships must reserve 10% of the cabin space for "contract maids". Unlike the original maids who were mainly from Japan, now with the development of the market, there are both Japanese maids and Korean maids, as well as Annan maids.
In the market that has emerged, what is certain is that businessmen have always been pervasive in the face of profits.
In the next month, the "Great Eastern" sailed all the way east in the Pacific, only temporarily stopping at ports rented by companies such as Southern New Guinea (northern Papua New Guinea and the Bismarck Islands) and the Marshall Islands along the way.
Add coal and water. Then we drove all the way to Linhai.
Forty days later, the "Great Eastern" finally sailed into Linhai. Every time it arrived, it was a grand event for Linhai - in its huge cabin, more than 60,000 immigrants were stuffed like sardines.
, Just getting off the ship takes two days. After tens of thousands of immigrants disembark from Linhai, as in the past, they first have to be quarantined and observed in an immigrant education camp for half a month, and then they are sent from the Pacific Railway
To various places.
Immigrants entering Nanhua must undergo training, which is not to say that there are no exceptions.
At least for Li Sidong and Li Siliang brothers, they are not ordinary immigrants. On the Great Eastern, they do not have to squeeze into a large cabin converted from a coal bunker. One cabin can squeeze hundreds of people into it. Instead, they live in
There are ten "VIP cabins" in one cabin.
“This place is really nice!”
Standing on the deck, looking at the city behind Linhaiwan Pier, Li Sidong was so surprised that he was speechless.
"It looks really nice here."
"Even so, Uncle San can still lie to us?"
The third uncle they refer to is Li Yunqi from the Discipline Division of the Immigration Department. As the director of the Discipline Division, he is definitely a big shot in Nanhua's administrative system, and his rank is almost equivalent to that of a minister.
When they got off the boat and took a small steamer to the shore, a young man in a white military uniform shouted at them.
"Cousin."
Li Sijie, a naval officer trainee, waved at them,
"You guys are here. In the past two days, whenever I have time, I will come here and wait for you. How about it? Are you still used to it on the road?"
"But it's okay!"
Li Sidong smiled,
"Except for seasickness, there's nothing wrong with it. By the way, Citrix, where is Uncle San? My father asked us to join him."
"Cousin, according to Nanhua's rules, you have to be quarantined for two weeks first, and then you have to train for several months. My father is responsible for this."
After saying that, Li Sijie pointed to the camp in the distance.
"However, the doctor on the ship has given you a certificate proving that you have no infectious diseases and let you off the ship. Otherwise, you will have to work in the isolation camp for two weeks."
"That's all for Third Uncle's sake."
Li Sidong brothers said.
"Citrix, what are we going to do next?"
Li Sijie replied.
"What else can you do? You are too old. Otherwise, I will send you to the academy to study. Well, I am at the naval academy now. After the probationary period is over, even if I graduate, according to my father's wishes, you will arrive first. The troops go."
"To the army?"
Opening their eyes, the Li Sidong brothers said.
"What army are you joining? What does the army do?"
"The army means the army, and it means being a soldier,"
"Why do you want to be soldiers? It took me a long time. Third uncle asked us to come here from such a distance. That's why we are here to be soldiers!"
Seeing the unhappy expression on his cousin's face, Li Sijie said.
"This is what dad wants. If you don't like it, the immigration office is over there."
Pointing to the Immigration Department in the distance,
"Look, go over there to register, then go to the farm, go to the factory to see your luck. Cousin, don't think that being a soldier is not good. Not to mention the military pay is high, and there are many opportunities for promotion in the future. Cousin, you guys If they are all literate, they will definitely have the opportunity to be promoted in the future..."
What is the difference between people?
I'm afraid this is the difference. Although they came to Nanhua on the same ship, they still embarked on a completely different life path.
But for Si Dongli, he is full of expectations for the future. After all, in this troubled world, it is extremely rare to have such a paradise.
At least the meat sold at the meat stalls here is not human flesh. In other words, although the meat eaten here is only fish, it is definitely not human flesh.
After half a month of isolation, Si Dongli and his party finally got on the train.
Amid the sound of a loud whistle, they squeezed into a stuffy car covered with new wheat straw and headed east. The train traveling from west to east began to travel at a low speed after entering the Andes Mountains. Through the gaps in the wooden boards of the car, Looking at the majestic snow-capped mountains outside the car window, everyone in the car was dumbfounded.
In fact, along the way, the train passes through mostly rich and fertile areas, and farms can be seen everywhere along the route. After passing the mountains, you can see endless fields as far as the eye can see, and the number of company farms is increasing day by day.
With this railway, transportation from Linhai to Nanhua has become much more convenient. This railway across the Andes is the only railway in South America that runs directly from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
It was through this Pacific Railway that immigrants were scattered like seeds along the route. They entered the grassland through the railway, reclaimed the fertile grassland for farming, and then planted crops there.
On the second day after entering the grassland, the train turned to a branch line and crossed the North River to the north. The railway under construction there still has 150 kilometers to reach the trench dug by the Argentines to block the Indian excavations. On the west side, immigrants have established new farms.