Chapter 1519 The dream of the two generations of the Lu family
When Lu Zhenjiang's fleet entered the port one after another, although the pier berths in the port of South Africa City had been expanded and several wooden plank roads were temporarily built, it was already a serious problem for the many merchant ships traveling to and from South Africa City.
Insufficient.
Therefore, even though many ships entered the port, they did not actually dock directly. Instead, they anchored in a fixed area within the port. Only some ships were able to dock.
What kind of ships are they, of course, those immigration ships and navy warships.
For navy warships, that is because the navy has its own dock, which is not in the same area as the docks where ordinary merchant ships dock.
Naturally, those immigrant ships need to dock as soon as possible. These immigrants have been floating on the sea for half a year after setting off from the country. Although they have not passed through important transit ports, they will be allowed to disembark.
I took a rest for a while, but the long journey was really uncomfortable.
Even though this is an immigration activity officially organized by the empire, the treatment in all aspects is relatively good. It cannot be the same as when contemporary Europeans go to America and other places. A small boat is full of people, and the conditions in all aspects are very harsh.
For such official immigration operations organized by the Imperial Immigration and Reclamation Department, the Immigration and Reclamation Department often organizes ships, which are also so-called immigration ships.
Some of these immigration ships are ordinary merchant ships, but there are also passenger ships from domestic shipping companies. These ships are hired by the Immigration and Reclamation Department. Immigrants taking these ships not only do not have to spend money to buy tickets, but the living environment is also good.
be protected.
Because of the large number of immigrants, the Immigration and Reclamation Division even specially ordered a number of immigration ships, which were converted from large-tonnage passenger ships and could transport large numbers of immigrants to the colonies.
However, the number of ships owned by the Immigration and Reclamation Department is still relatively small. The transport ships required for such large-scale immigration activities often require the requisition of ships from shipping companies or trading companies.
Naturally, it is impossible for a trading company's merchant ship to be specialized in transporting immigrants. They need to carry a large amount of goods, but such a large ship, even if it is fully loaded with goods, can still carry a certain number of passengers.
In recent years, most immigrants to the major colonies actually traveled on these merchant ships.
Contemporary ocean-going merchant ships not only conduct overseas trade, but also undertake the task of transporting passengers. Most of them are armed merchant ships and can even participate in sea battles when necessary.
Otherwise, contemporary ocean-going merchant ships are all multi-purpose vessels.
In order to ensure the safety of immigrants, after the fleet enters the port, immigrant ships dock first, and then, under the guidance of local overseas consular officials, enter the city's residences that have been prepared for them to rest.
In order to welcome the arrival of immigrants, local officials and the garrison have been busy for more than half a year, and have already built a large number of simple houses for the immigrants to temporarily stay.
Because the current situation in South Africa is still relatively complicated, these immigrants are still placed in urban areas for the time being, and not in immigrant villages and towns outside the city.
The immigrant villages and towns outside the city are reserved for the second and third batches of subsequent immigrants.
This group of immigrants will currently live in the Bastion City. They will go out to work in the city during the day and return to the city at night.
Anyway, most of the areas outside the city in South Africa, such as the north, are vast plains, which are very suitable for settlement. Immigrants can go directly to the fields to work as soon as they leave the city gate, and there is no need to go to immigration strongholds further away.
When the fleet was arranging for the immigrants to board the ship, Lu Zhenjiang and other merchants could only continue to wait for them to get on the ship again. However, although they were still floating on the sea, they were at least in the harbor and no longer attacked by wind and waves.
, the ship will not sway back and forth like when sailing in the deep sea.
At this time, Lu Zhenjiang also had a rare temperament. He and a few colleagues set up a small square table on the deck, and they drank some wine while basking in the sunshine of the southern hemisphere.
It is November at this time, and winter has already entered in the northern hemisphere, but it is midsummer in the southern hemisphere.
This change made Lu Zhenjiang feel that the world is full of wonders and wonders.
Although I have read in books before, the climate in the northern and southern hemispheres is very surprising, even opposite, but I only saw it in books before, but now I can really feel it.
This feeling is a bit surprising.
If you are still in your hometown in Taiyuan and haven't gone out, you can see the scenery there today.
However, when thinking about his hometown of Taiyuan, Lu Zhenjiang also missed his mother at home and wondered if she was eating well and sleeping well.
Before going to sea at the beginning of the year, he also received a letter from his family. In the letter, his second brother said that everything was fine at home and told him not to worry. He would take good care of his mother and let him work outside with peace of mind.
When Lu Zhenjiang thought of this, he felt a little sorry for his second brother.
There are four brothers and sisters in the Lu family. Lu Zhenjiang is the eldest son, followed by two younger brothers and a younger sister.
Lu Zhenjiang's sister got married last year, his second brother is 17 years old this year, and his third brother is only 13 years old and currently studying in the county primary school.
When Lu Zhenjiang was studying, his younger brother had also reached the age of enlightenment. However, given the financial situation of the Lu family at that time, it was definitely impossible to support his second son in studying.
Therefore, in the end, only Lu Zhenjiang continued to study in the county primary school, while his younger brother did not even go to the village kindergarten for enlightenment.
However, his younger brother is also a very ambitious person. Although he has never been to school, he has followed Lu Zhenjiang since he was a child. Lu Zhenjiang, the eldest brother, acts as a teacher and provides enlightenment education to his younger brother.
It's just such a half-baked family education. Although his brother can learn basic reading and writing, it can only go so far.
When Lu's father died in an accident, not only did the Lu family lose its backbone, but Lu's father's treatment after the accident also cost a lot of money, and in the end he was not rescued.
In addition, the house, which had been in disrepair for a long time, had collapsed and the family had no fixed place to live. The situation of the Lu family at that time could be described as extremely embarrassing.
Although Lu Zhenjiang dropped out of school in time and took over the important task of supporting the family, Lu Zhenjiang was still young at the time, and the salary he earned as a clerk in a business firm in the county was not high. He had to pay off debts, rebuild his family's earthen house, and there were many other things at home.
He has an old mother and three younger siblings waiting for him to support, and his salary alone is not enough.
Although the farmland at home is not much, it cannot be left unused, so it can only rely on my mother and younger brothers and sisters to farm at home. Even though the income from farming is not high, it can at least solve the family's food problem.
After four years of this, his brother also transformed from a twelve-year-old boy into a sixteen-year-old boy.
His skin is now dark, and his palms are covered with calluses just like his father back then. Whether he is acting or speaking, he does not look like a sixteen-year-old boy, but rather like a twenty-six-year-old adult.
On the other hand, Lu Zhenjiang, although he dropped out of school to work, he still worked as a clerk in a county business firm, out of the wind and rain. After several years, he still looked like a thin scholar, fair and fair.
After paying off the debt, repairing the house, his sister got married, his second brother grew up, and his third brother went to school safely. After initially stabilizing the family, Lu Zhenjiang no longer wanted to be trapped in a remote small county. He wanted to see more.
The book talks about the distant world, looking for your own ideals.
After his younger brother learned of Lu Zhenjiang's idea, he was just like his father back then. He didn't say any objection or make Lu Zhenjiang have any concerns. He just nodded and said that there is no need to worry at home, because I am here!
The same was true for Father Lu back then. When Lu Zhenjiang said he wanted to go to school when he was a child, Father Lu nodded and told him to go to school and study hard. Even when he came home from school, he would not let Lu Zhenjiang work and let him concentrate on studying.
.
From then on, Lu's father left early and came back late every day. Every year during the busy farming season, he always wanted to finish the farm work as quickly as possible, and then go to work in the city to make money while others were still doing farm work at home and there was a shortage of workers in the city and the wages were relatively high.
Lu's father, a traditional peasant father in the Chinese land, spent his whole life to barely support Lu Zhenjiang's education expenses and provide the Lu family with a scholar, even if it was just a scholar with a primary school diploma.
Now Lu Zhenjiang's second brother, like his father, continues to support Lu Zhenjiang's dream!
This is not only Lu Zhenjiang’s dream, but also the dream of two generations of the Lu family: to rise from the lowest level of society!
Whenever he thinks of his father and second brother, Lu Zhenjiang will feel guilty.
This feeling of guilt prompted him to work harder outside. When he found that he could not make further progress with ordinary work while working in Shanghai, he did not hesitate to join the Azure Trading Company and then go overseas.
He wants to be more successful and earn more money so that his mother can enjoy her old age and his brother can escape his father's fate and live a different life.
Becoming a crew member to go to sea has already allowed him to initially achieve his goal. Since becoming a crew member of the Azure Trading Company, his monthly salary has been more than 30 yuan, and by the time he completes this African trade, he will go smoothly.
When I returned to my hometown, I received a generous bonus. I don’t know how much the bonus was, but I heard from several other colleagues that it was at least several hundred yuan.
Most overseas trading companies in the empire are not stingy in treating their employees, and they provide sufficient money. Otherwise, how could they recruit enough crew members to go overseas?
That's a job with your head stuck in your trouser pocket. Every time you go to sea, it's unknown whether you can come back.
Huge risk means huge reward.
Lu Zhenjiang's overseas trip is expected to last about a year. The fixed salary alone will be more than 300 yuan. If bonuses are added, he is expected to receive 500 to 600 yuan.