Chapter 1702 The New Look of Star Island

Since Haihan entered the Xingdao area at the end of 1633, the project to build a colonial port here has entered its fourth year. However, because it is too far away from Hainan Island and the Ming Dynasty, it is necessary to recruit Han people from the north who are willing to move here.

Immigration is not easy. Over the past few years, the local Han population has only been three to four thousand. Moreover, Xingdao has a critical terrain. Guarding the eastern exit of the Strait of Malacca, which connects the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, can be said to be a strategic piece that many countries secretly covet.

It is an important place, so at least half of the local infrastructure projects in Xingdao are military-related. The engineering standards are much higher than those of civilian facilities, and the amount of projects has increased a lot as a result.

This means that the amount of labor that ordinary people who immigrate to Star Island have to do for the government every year is much greater than that of ordinary Haihan colonies. Without getting more tangible returns, people who are willing to take the initiative to move to Star Island will naturally

Even less. In 1635, after Tan Ju was appointed as the chief civil affairs officer of Nanxia Xingdao, he also tried to increase the area of ​​cultivated land allocated to immigrants and reduce or reduce taxes to attract people to move in. However, due to the limitations of publicity and the congenital environment, the results were not great.

How big is it.

After the Sing Tao authorities recognized the current situation, they gradually shifted the focus of population introduction from the far north to channels that Sing Tao could directly contact, such as purchasing cheap slaves from surrounding countries. Most of these slaves came from the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra.

Some of the prisoners of war produced by the many years of war between the two countries were trafficked by Dutch and Portuguese slave traders from Central Asia and East Africa. What Xingdao needed was this kind of labor with extremely low labor costs, so they simply

A large amount of the immigration and resettlement budget was used for the purchase of slaves, so in just a few years, the proportion of the slave population in Xingdao to the total regional population has probably become the highest in the Haihan Colony.

In addition to these slave populations, Xingdao also has another source of population that cannot be ignored, which is a group of prisoners transported from Manila this time. They were exiled to Xingdao from various areas under the rule of Haihan to perform hard labor. The labor costs

Even lower than slaves. Although dozens of people or even less may be transported at one time, the number may seem small, but the number of South China Sea colonies under Haihan's rule has increased year by year, and over time it is still a large number.

As of now, the number of hard labor camp laborers in Singdao is second only to the two traditional penal colonies of Shilu Iron Mine and Black Tugang Coal Mine. These hard labor prisoners can be seen on the construction sites of many important local projects. Only in Manila

After the war, more than 500 prisoners of war and exiled prisoners were transported from China.

Regarding these hard labor prisoners, the attitude of the Singdao authorities is basically the same as that of several other places of exile, that is, making the best use of everything and squeezing out their labor as much as possible during their sentence. As for the life and death of these prisoners, Roger is more concerned about it.

He didn't take it seriously, but Tan Juren was relatively soft-hearted, and would still try his best to provide them with basic living conditions, and would not deliberately deprive them of their rations and other due treatment.

Tan Juren was sent to Singdao to be in charge of civil affairs, so Roger simply handed over the management of these exiled prisoners to him. After the prisoners who had recently arrived in Hong Kong completed the handover with the escort team, they would be transferred from the local

They took over the hard labor camps, roughly classified these people according to their sentences and personal health conditions, and then assigned them to work on suitable construction sites.

Of course, there are also examples of people receiving special treatment due to outstanding personal conditions. For example, some people with special skills may be able to get rid of the hard labor arrangement and give priority to filling local civilian positions with serious shortage of human resources.

In this selection process, the past personal information records of prisoners are particularly important. Their professional experience can attract the attention of the competent authorities more than the crimes they have committed.

Qin Huacheng is very clear about his situation. He said that his level of education can be regarded as basically getting rid of illiteracy, but he is definitely not a scholar. He can only master two-digit addition and subtraction in arithmetic. Anything more complicated than this is a bit scratching his head. As for him,

With his level, it is obviously impossible to get special treatment in a penal colony, but if we talk about his professional experience, he still has a chance to get ahead.

After the prisoners disembarked and assembled on the pier, civil affairs officials soon came to check their personal information to complete the handover. Unsurprisingly, Qin Huacheng attracted the attention of the civil affairs officials.

There is no precedent for a policeman who knowingly and illegally breaks the law and is then sentenced to exile on Star Island. This is not completely unheard of, but it is extremely rare. Qin Huacheng was one of the first police officers appointed by Haihan New Colony. He was sentenced to death for making a mistake only a month after taking office.

After being sentenced, this wealth really came and went quickly. The civil affairs official who came to receive these prisoners was a middle-aged Confucian scholar in his forties. After reading Qin Huacheng's file, he asked him to come out.

After asking about his personal situation, he finally let him go back to the team without commenting.

Qin Huacheng could feel that the official seemed a little interested in him, but he didn't know what the other party liked about him, and he didn't dare to take the initiative to talk rashly. He had to try his best to look more stable first, so as not to cause trouble.

The other party’s resentment.

After counting these prisoners who were lucky enough to have completed their death voyage and arrived at Star Island, a team of local soldiers came forward to escort them to an immigration reception center near the port. In addition to receiving exiled prisoners, this place also received immigrants from

Slaves from other areas mainly complete the process of physical examination and bathing and disinfection here. Haihan has accumulated and compiled a set of standard procedures for accepting foreigners over the years, but the prisoners transported by this ship have suffered from diseases during the journey.

Their handling and inspection will definitely be more stringent than usual.

After spending two hours completing these complicated procedures, Qin Huacheng and the other prisoners finally got on the carriage to the camp. The physical examination just now left a very deep impression on Qin Huacheng. This was probably the first time since he was born.

Being naked in front of so many strangers. After taking a shower, a whole team of Haihan soldiers and about five or six doctors in white coats conducted physical examinations on these prisoners one by one -

—In other words, it was an inhumane onlooker.

However, Qin Huacheng didn't feel much shame about this, or in other words, after experiencing the recent series of attacks and hardships, he no longer took such things to heart. He was just surprised at how much Haihan valued this group of people.

But he didn't know that basically every batch of prisoners sent to Star Island was treated in this way, but this batch was inspected particularly strictly due to the epidemic.

After completing this link, everyone got a new prison uniform, and all the clothes they were wearing were thrown into iron barrels and burned to prevent the disease from spreading as much as possible. Qin Huacheng was slightly surprised.

What's strange is that the officials did not put handcuffs or shackles on them, and they seemed not to be afraid of anyone taking the opportunity to escape.

But soon the guard who was traveling with them in the car explained the reason to them: "This is Star Island. The place is only so big. Even if you escape, where can you go? You have also seen that the south is surrounded by the sea, and the north is separated from Johor.

There is a strait. If you are good enough to swim across it, you'd better pray not to be caught by the Johor people, otherwise you will definitely end up with cramps and skin peeling!"

Qin Huacheng asked in surprise: "Is there a deep hatred between Haihan and Johor?"

The guard smiled and said: "The year before last, the Johor people colluded with the British and fought from the north to seize Star Island from our country. In the end, they were beaten like dogs and lost thousands of elites in vain. You

Do you think they hate it?"

Qin Huacheng didn't know anything about the Three Kingdoms War that took place in mid-1635 over the control of Star Island. The speed of information dissemination in this era was already very slow, and Star Island was five thousand miles away from Manila.

, and the Strait of Malacca is not within the scope of activities of Spanish navigators, so there is a lack of understanding of the causes and consequences of this war. If Qin Huacheng had not come here by accident, it might have been a long time before he came from

Stories about this war were heard in certain storytellers that reached Manila.

However, Qin Huacheng heard the name of the British mentioned by a Spanish officer. It is said that this country has been at war with Spain in the far western continent, and there have been many armed conflicts overseas due to the fight for colonies. It can be said that this country is at war with Spain.

They were enemies. Qin Huacheng didn't know the causes and consequences of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, nor did he understand what it meant for the Western maritime powers to compete for maritime hegemony on a global scale at this stage. He only knew that the Spanish were also quite afraid of the British.

If you encounter the other party's ship at sea, it will probably end in a fight of life and death.

And such a country does not seem to have taken any advantage under Hai Han. From the tone of the guard, it is obvious that the joint attack between Johor and the British failed miserably, so much so that Johor still holds grudges after a long time.

, will use any means to deal with people from the Haihan-occupied areas - even fugitives.

Qin Huacheng secretly thought to himself that since Haihan did not shackle the hard laborers, it seemed that he was really confident. He should not try to escape easily unless he had to, so as not to ask for trouble.

On the road, the carriage passed through the towns in the southern part of Xingdao. The prisoners on the carriage were all from Manila. They had never been to a place actually operated and built by Haihan. They were quite curious when they saw the appearance of a city, but they soon discovered that Haihan

There are no defensive fortifications such as city walls or towers in this city. We only saw a ravine area about one mile deep in the northern part of the city. However, from a distance in the car, we couldn't see clearly what kind of facilities were built there.

After leaving the city and going further north, there are large tracts of farmland and plantations. Qin Huacheng is no stranger to this pastoral scenery. Similar scenes can be seen outside Manila and on the coastal plain north of the Pasig River. He originally

He thought that since this Star Island was the border of the empire, there would probably be frequent wars and the local people would not have any hope of living a peaceful life. However, looking at the agricultural development situation here, it was much better than he expected. It seems that the Haihan people are concerned about the security situation here.

It is relatively certain. Otherwise, if faced with the threat of war, we would not dare to engage in agricultural development here.

About ten miles after leaving the port, the carriage carrying the prisoners finally arrived at its destination, a camp surrounded by barbed wire. When the carriage drove into the gate of the camp, Qin Huacheng noticed the sign hanging on the gate that read "Star"

The words "Island No. 2 Hard Labor Camp" indicate that this is just one of the camps where hard labor prisoners are imprisoned.

The No. 2 hard labor camp was built after the war in 1635. It was also a demonstration site for Tan Juren to implement the "new type of hard labor camp" he advocated in the local area. The environment in the camp was actually pretty good, and the barracks were all made of standard wooden materials.

The layout of the bungalows is very neat. The twenty barracks can accommodate about 800 prisoners. The camp is fully equipped with basic public facilities such as bathhouses and canteens, and prisoners on duty are responsible for cleaning the camp every day. This environment

It's many times stronger than the dark prison Qin Huacheng imagined on the way.

Of course, if we only look at the living conditions, this place is not worthy of being called a hard labor camp. The labor tasks of the prisoners are not easy. Most of them leave early and return late every day to nearby construction sites.

There are currently three construction sites under construction within a five-mile radius of the hard labor camp: a dam, a defensive stronghold and a military dock, and these hard laborers are the ones who contribute the most on the construction sites.

A small number of weak prisoners serve as support staff, responsible for laundry, cooking, and miscellaneous tasks in the camp. In fact, there are only two platoons of armed guards in the entire camp on duty, but emergencies such as escapes rarely occur.

.

After Qin Huacheng saw the environment here with his own eyes, his uneasy mood had eased a lot. This place looked even better than the refugee shelter built by Manila after the war. Compared with the dark and depressing place when he came,

The cabin is even more different. If you stay here, at least you can see the outside world every day, and you don't have to go crazy in a small space.

Although the establishment of the Xingdao hard labor camp was assigned by Roger to the civilian management of Tan Juren, at the local level, the garrison was still responsible for the daily operation and security measures of the hard labor camp. The person in charge of the No. 2 hard labor camp was

An officer under Roger, but due to changes in staffing, the administrative aspect was responsible to Tan Juren, while the security aspect followed Roger's instructions, which was equivalent to accepting dual leadership.

Qin Huacheng didn't know that there were so many ways in the hard labor camp of Xingdao. He just felt that the environment here was much better than he imagined. Maybe the next three years would not be as difficult as he feared. As long as he could live well.

, staying here for three years is not unbearable.
Chapter completed!