Negotiations on detailed transaction details lasted for three days. On August 25, representatives from Brazil, the United States, and France jointly announced a warship transaction plan. The Brazilian Empire would purchase an ironclad ship from France and the United States respectively. At the same time, France and the United States
Each country will provide a sum of funds to support Brazil's economic reconstruction.
In the public declaration, the representatives of the three countries did not announce the size of the loans provided by the United States and France. However, after many inquiries from British Minister Edmund, they roughly clarified the contents of the three-party transaction. The transaction of two ironclad ships of more than 6,000 tons, with a total amount of about three thousand tons.
With millions of pounds of low-interest loans and a package of business transaction plans, it has to be said that the American and French ministers did a big business under the eyes of the British.
After the tripartite cooperation had been reached, Edmond wrote in frustration in the telegram from Black London: In the Brazilian warship transaction, the British did not seize the favorable opportunity, resulting in the commercial contract that originally belonged to the British businessmen falling to the British and French.
After this transaction, the British business expansion in Brazil has temporarily lagged behind the United States and France. The London government should carefully discuss the opinions put forward by the Embassy in Brazil and grant the Embassy more autonomy in commercial transactions to prevent similar situations.
things happen.
The telegram sent by Edmond to the London government has not yet received a reply. In Brazil, Lopez Jr. handed over part of the contracts in the commercial transactions to emerging domestic businessmen, who will be responsible for undertaking cooperation with the United States and France.
On the other hand, Lopez Jr. misappropriated a quarter of the funds from the first batch of loans to strengthen the military in insurgency-prone areas.
A two-pronged economic and military approach was adopted. The republican businessmen who received some contracts chose to cooperate with Pedro II's actions driven by actual interests. However, rebellions and rioters in various places also stopped their actions and temporarily ceased their activities after the Brazilian army continued to go to local places to guard.
The shortage of funds was effectively alleviated, and Pedro II rarely lived a stable life for a while in the Royal Palace of Rio de Janeiro. In Rio Grande do Sul, after a year of recovery, all the newly moved Chinese immigrants had settled down.
Outside Xinjing City, all the tents and collective wooden houses built to house Cuban immigrants have been cleared, and the Cuban Chinese immigrants who originally lived there have completed building their own Chinese-style houses.
In principle, Chinese workers who migrated from Brazil need to complete one year of labor before they can be allocated land. However, under Li Mingyuan's intervention, the Chinese workers' treatment was modified. The new regulations governing Chinese immigration stipulated that after the completion of the first year of labor,
After a few months, as long as the Chinese workers do not show signs of inactivity and complete the assigned work tasks, they can select a piece of land of thirty acres in advance. After one year of work is completed, different types of land will be added based on the specific performance of the Chinese workers.
area of land.
Thirty acres of land is the minimum standard for granting land. If a Chinese laborer is allocated thirty acres of land and performs mediocrely during one year of labor and does not receive additional land rewards, then he will have to rely on thirty acres of land as a means to marry a wife and have children.
, the capital to start a family and start a business.
Thirty acres of land for a family is enough for ordinary people to live a subsistence life on the mainland, but in Rio Grande do Sul, the situation is very different. Rio Grande do Sul has more people and less land, and the ratio of men to women is seriously unbalanced. Land represents the main wealth in the country.
During the period of peace and status, most of the few women of suitable age would be assigned to meritorious soldiers. The remaining few women would also choose Chinese with large land areas as marriage partners. It would be difficult for those Chinese who only guard thirty acres of land to marry.
Compete with others and get the opportunity to start a family and start a business.
The joy of gaining freedom and being allocated thirty acres of land was quickly replaced by competition under the explanation of the retired soldier who was responsible for managing the Chinese labor force.
Inheriting land and starting a family and starting a business are the traditional requirements of Chinese culture. The Chinese workers who had just had the hope of living a good life naturally did not want to be left behind by others and end up single all their lives without the consequences of future generations. Therefore, in the first batch of 30 acres of land allocation
After going down, the work efficiency of the diligent Chinese workers in the field improved a lot. Eight months later, on August 25, most of the first batch of Cuban Chinese workers who arrived had overcompleted one-third of their workload.
, and 123 Chinese workers completed their one-year labor tasks ahead of schedule.
It takes a little more than eight months to complete a year's work, which requires a lot of labor intensity. After Li Mingyuan learned about the situation from the officials in charge of the Chinese workers' labor, he gained a new understanding of the diligence of the Chinese workers, and on the other hand, he had a new understanding of the Chinese workers' diligence.
The development of Rio Grande do Sul adds more confidence.
The Chinese workers who settled in Rio Grande do Sul were all from lower-class farmers. They may not have as much knowledge as scholars, but the hard-working and obedient character of the Chinese workers was something Li Mingyuan admired and needed.
In the early days of the Chinese workers' uprising in South America, more than 100,000 people, old and weak, were all incorporated into the army to fight, and the ratio of soldiers to civilians reached 100%. Even after half a year of the founding of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio Grande do Sul absorbed Chinese laborers who built railways from the western United States.
The number of Lanhua and naturalized women has reached 300,000. The National Defense Force still maintains a regular field army of 38,000 people and a garrison force of 20,000 people. Not counting the militia force that is half soldiers and half civilians, the ratio of military to civilians in Rio Grande do Sul has reached nearly
Five to one scale.
In the mainland, due to the interference of local gentry forces, it was impossible for Li Mingyuan to find 50,000 soldiers from 30 people. However, it was different in Rio Grande do Sul. There were no complicated local power relations. Chinese laborers who came to different areas
With a simple identity and high obedience, Li Mingyuan can direct and govern all Chinese people according to the plan, and develop the industrial development plan set in Rio Grande do Sul, which is like a blank piece of paper.
The centralization of power in the initial stage of power was conducive to concentrating efforts to deal with external enemies. At the same time, in order to maintain the stability and competitiveness within the Chinese community, Li Mingyuan planned to take advantage of the development of Rio Grande do Sul for more than half a year to publicly commend Chinese workers who have outstanding performance in labor.
The scope of the commended Chinese workers is not limited to Chinese workers in Cuba, but also includes Chinese workers introduced from the United States, Canada and other American regions after the end of Cuban immigration.
Mainland Chinese workers went to the United States to mainly engage in railway construction. In March 1869, when the U.S. Pacific Railway was about to be completed, Li Mingyuan ordered Wang Youtian, who was stationed in the Caribbean, to go to the United States and be responsible for guiding Chinese workers in the United States to immigrate to Rio Grande do Sul.
After receiving the order, Wang Youtian handed over the affairs of Torti Island to his deputy, and then took two armed merchant ships to head to the United States.
On May 3, three days before the completion of the American Pacific Railway, Wang Youtian reached an agreement with the Americans. The agreement stipulated that Rio Grande do Sul needed to pay immigration fees to the Pacific Construction Company at a price of US$30, while Rio Grande do Sul
The Party will not pursue the issue of Pacific Company’s unpaid wages...
The agreement contained only a few items. The most controversial issue between the two parties was the issue of Pacific Company's unpaid wages. When the railway construction was about to be completed, the Americans reduced and withheld the wages of the Chinese workers for road construction in various ways. After Wang Youtian visited the Chinese workers for road construction,
They argued hard to fight for the legitimate interests of the Chinese workers, but the Americans never relented. Finally, Li Mingyuan personally sent a telegram and decided to give up pursuing the Chinese workers' back wages and reach an agreement to introduce Chinese workers as soon as possible.
The situation was at a disadvantage, so Wang Youtian had no choice but to compromise. After announcing that he would give up the pursuit of back wages from Chinese workers, the Americans also lowered their requirements on immigration fees. Each Chinese worker who was willing to immigrate to Rio Grande do Sul only received a fee of US$30.
After the agreement to introduce Chinese workers in the United States was signed, one hundred ships belonging to the Ocean Shipping Company immediately set off for the United States. After more than three months of transportation, a total of 20,000 Chinese workers arrived in Rio Grande do Sul.
The total number of Chinese in the United States is about 50,000. Except for a few who have established families and businesses locally, most of them are alone. In 1869, the United States had already begun to exclude Chinese people. The situation of the Chinese in the United States was not easy, but out of respect for Nanli
Not familiar with Rio Grande do Sul, most people chose to wait and see, hoping to get precise information from the Chinese workers who went to Rio Grande do Sul before making a decision.
Few Chinese workers who come to the United States to make a living choose to return to the mainland, because although Chinese are discriminated against in the United States, their wages for the same work are more than three times that in the mainland. Rio Grande do Sul pays Americans $30 in fees
It is a month's salary of an average Chinese worker. The Chinese work hard to earn a meager 30 US dollars a month. Not only do they suffer from deductions from Americans, but they also suffer from their blind discrimination. In the original history, they could only choose to tolerate it.
And now the existence of Rio Grande do Sul has given Chinese people in the United States a new choice. When they really can't survive anymore, they still have a way to survive.
The labor intensity of railway workers is greater than that of Cuban Chinese workers engaged in agricultural production. Therefore, among the 300 outstanding Chinese workers compiled and screened by Liu Pu, 62 are American Chinese workers, 200 are Cuban Chinese workers, and the rest are
The next thirty people are Chinese workers from Canada, the Caribbean and other places.
Chinese American workers came to Rio Grande do Sul relatively late, so it is a good thing that 62 people were selected for their outstanding performance in labor.
After reviewing the list of three hundred people, Li Mingyuan signed his name on the order to issue land rewards. As a result, the three hundred Chinese workers will end their one-year labor early and will also receive a reward of one hundred acres of land each.
.
After the award list was announced and one hundred acres of land were allocated to those Chinese workers with outstanding performance, the other Chinese workers looked at them with envy and jealousy in their eyes. Many of them were secretly encouraging at the same time:
After completing the labor task, I will serve as a soldier and perform meritorious service. Then the land I will earn will not be less than yours!
