Chapter 1434, technology is the primary productive force
You must know that the current market price of a slave in the Ming Dynasty is at least thirty or forty taels of silver, and good-looking female slaves are even more expensive.
As long as you immigrate to the South African colony, you will be assigned a few female white slaves, a few horses, two cows, land, seeds and farm tools, and a house, etc.
After all, for one immigrant, the South African colony needed to spend several hundred taels of silver.
Only the rich and powerful United Commercial Bank of South Africa could afford such horrific expenditures. Other colonies and vassal states simply could not offer such conditions.
Of course this is calculated based on market price.
In fact, the United Commercial Bank of South Africa does not need that much money at all.
As far as slaves are concerned, the major shareholders behind the South African United Trading Company are the largest slave merchants in the Ming Dynasty. The Tianjin Ocean Trading House, which Liu Jin, Zhang Mao and others have a stake in, is the largest trading house in the Ming Dynasty, and the various businesses they engage in are the largest in the Ming Dynasty.
of.
Like the slave trade, although King Ning made his fortune from the slave trade, the slave trade done by Ning Guo was nothing compared to the Tianjin Ocean Trading Company.
As the earliest trading company to carry out overseas trade and overseas colonization, and also controlled by Liu Jin, Zhu Houzhao, Zhang Mao and other top-level trading companies in the Ming Dynasty, the resources it obtained overseas were not at all comparable to those of ordinary trading companies, and those of vassal states.
.
It was the first to enter into any business, the first to dig out gold, and quickly expanded to become the largest trading house.
Therefore, you can get the most and the best slaves at the lowest price. Therefore, a large number of female slaves landed in the South African colony, and the price is only the cost price. In many cases, these slaves do not need money, and they can be obtained through various invisible means.
It was brought here to the South African colony by light means.
As for horses, let alone that, there are a large number of Tianjin Ocean Trading Company's pastures in the best pasture areas around the world.
There are ranches everywhere in Central Asia, the northern grasslands, the Southern Golden Continent, Australia, Africa, etc., specializing in breeding excellent horses. At the same time, each of these major shareholders has a large amount of land, pastures, etc. overseas.
For them, horses, cattle and sheep are just products produced on their own pastures, and the cost is very low.
Even if such a luxurious provision is made for immigrants, they can still afford it, and this policy has been able to be implemented.
This is also the confidence of the South African colony. We do not need the local indigenous Kunlun slaves, nor do we need a large number of imported slaves. We just rely on our Han people.
Under such a policy, after these years of immigration, the number of immigrants attracted by the South African colony has almost exceeded one million. It can be regarded as the largest number of Han Chinese among many overseas vassals and colonies.
Moreover, the most numerous people in the South African colony were children. One immigrant was given several female slaves for free, and they had nothing to do every day to create humans. The number of these children can be imagined. In almost every town, you can see them everywhere, all of them are children.
The number is several times that of Han immigrants.
"Master Marquis, the number of schools is not enough, we have to continue building schools."
Zhang Ye thought for a while and said again.
"Are there not enough schools?"
When Du Mingen heard this, he asked in surprise.
"Yes, Mr. Hou, it's not enough~"
"Mr. Hou, you also know that our children here go to school for free. The number of children of the right age to go to school now happens to be the time when the immigration surged in those years. This year, the number of children of the right age to go to school has exceeded 100,000, and it will start in the next few years.
, the number of children going to school will be even greater.”
"So we need to build more primary schools to meet the schooling needs of these children, and we also need more teachers to teach."
Zhang Ye said helplessly.
Other colonies are trying their best to create wealth and value for their shareholders, but the South African colony still needs shareholders to pour in a lot of money every year.
The reason why this is very important is this policy. The key is to implement compulsory education. All children, regardless of gender, must go to school. Among many vassal states and colonies, this is unique.
"Let's build it. It seems that at the shareholders' meeting at the end of the year, the shareholders will curse again."
Du Mingen thought for a moment and smiled bitterly.
"There is no other way. Who told Mr. Liu to insist on such a policy?"
"And next, we have to build more middle schools, and also colleges and universities, otherwise middle school children will have no way to continue their studies after graduation."
Zhang Ye also smiled and said.
"The reason why Mr. Liu insists so much is naturally justified."
"This South African colony is the last resort for big families like us. Otherwise, why do you think everyone would be willing to spend a lot of money on it?"
"If it was really to make money, I wouldn't do it like this."
Du Mingen looked at the busy port and said.
To be honest, he actually didn't understand why Liu Jin did this at first. He could obviously have an easier life, there was no need to be so tired, and there was no need to squander his huge wealth like this.
But gradually he understood something.
Look at the South African colony. In less than ten years, the fertile wilderness originally controlled by barbarians became the cradle of the Ming Dynasty.
The land here is fertile, rich in resources, and the climate is pleasant, but in the hands of the indigenous Kunlun slaves, everything is wasted.
For a long time, they have not developed a decent country or civilization.
But it was different in the hands of the people of Ming Dynasty. Yanran here had become a brand new country full of vitality.
Beautiful towns rose up on the earth, vast fertile fields appeared on the earth, and herds of cattle, sheep and horses appeared on the pastures.
More importantly, this place is very different from the traditional Ming Dynasty.
There are no so-called private schools and academies in the education here at all, but a new style of school education is adopted uniformly. The content taught is no longer the Four Books and Five Classics. These things are included in the content of Chinese studies teaching, and account for a proportion of
Very small.
The New History School adopts later teaching models and similar teaching content, divided into mathematics, Chinese studies, physics, chemistry, biology, physical education, history, etc.
In addition, in the recruitment of personnel in many administrative agencies under the Governor-General's Office in the South African colony, the unified examination of later generations was more often used. Interviews were used for recruitment. The content of the examination was not the eight-part essay, but similar to the civil service examination of later generations.
Even the colonial government adopted the system of later generations and was service-oriented, which was fundamentally different from the traditional government yamen.
All of this was set up by Liu Jin, and the purpose was naturally to create a brand new country far away from the Ming Dynasty.
In the future, if you can no longer play in the Ming Dynasty, you can retreat to the South African colony.
Blank paper is easy to draw on.
Under this system, the South African colony was also full of vitality.
Although a lot of money and material resources still need to be invested.
However, the South African colony itself has begun to gradually develop its strength. I believe that in ten or twenty years, when the children here gradually grow up, the South African colony will develop rapidly.
Just like the Nanzhou City in front of you, it seems to have risen from the ground overnight.
"By the way, how is the construction of the machinery factory going?"
Soon, Du Mingen came back to his senses. There were a lot of children in front of him, but they were still very small after all. Each mouth needed to be fed, and the food they needed was a headache.
Fortunately, although there were no local indigenous people or a large number of slaves in the South African colony, they had attached great importance to the power of technology from the beginning.
Steam cultivators and steam harvesters are widely used and can be compared with the Liaodong region of the Ming Dynasty, and in order to save transportation costs.
Liu Jin even established a whole set of industries here in South Africa, from textile factories to glass factories, from cement factories to steel plants to the machinery factory currently under construction, as well as the shipyard that has begun operation.
These numerous factories not only provided a large number of jobs, but also allowed the South African colony to become self-sufficient, and even the cloth, cement, and glass produced could be exported to other colonies and vassal countries.
Liu Jin knows very well that if you want to create wealth, you cannot rely on traditional farming. Only by relying on technology, the primary productive force, can you create more wealth.
To put it simply, in terms of farming, traditional farming, even if it gives you cattle and horses, a farmer who works hard and diligently cannot cultivate more than a few acres of land.
However, relying on agricultural machinery, including steam cultivators and steam harvesters, a farmer can easily cultivate hundreds or thousands of acres of land.
The South African colonies were vast and sparsely populated, with fertile, open and flat land, which was very suitable for large-scale mechanized farming. Therefore, from the beginning, the southern colonies attached great importance to the use of agricultural equipment.
Steam cultivators, steam harvesters, steam rice mills, flour mills, etc., as soon as the Ming Dynasty appeared here, the South African colonies would soon be able to use them. Now they have opened a machinery branch to produce them themselves.
Develop various types of machinery.
"The construction is almost complete, and it is expected to be put into production by the end of the year."
Zhang Ye replied.
"Can it be put into production by the end of the year?"
"In this way, we will still buy a lot of steam cultivators and steam harvesters from Daming this year."
When Du Mingen heard this, he thought about it and said.
"Yes, I still need to buy a lot this year. I have placed the order very early. It is estimated that it will be shipped gradually in a month or two, and it will not delay this year's farming season."
Zhang Ye nodded, and then he suddenly remembered something and said: "Japan and North Korea have recently opened up colonies in West Africa and hope to buy food from us. Should we also go to West Africa to seize some colonies?"