Chapter 2858

After listening to Chen Yixin's explanation, everyone was full of curiosity about another cooperation project he mentioned - for the Manchus, what else could be more sensitive to buying and exporting horses to Haihan?

Chen Yixin quickly revealed the answer to them: it is labor force.

Haihan is facing a serious labor shortage in the Liaodong region. Everyone has truly felt this during this trip to Shenyang. In order to solve this problem that restricts the development of the region, the local government has also made various attempts, and even Even business partners from the Manchu and Qing Dynasties were targeted by Chen Yixin.

"According to the data we have, there are still between 400,000 and 500,000 Han people, Koreans and other small tribes under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. They are the population plundered by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in its previous wars with foreign countries. The vast majority of them are in The Manchus were all at the bottom of society, or even just private slaves."

Chen Yixin explained: "These people can often only engage in the lowest level of physical labor in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the economic value they can generate is not high, so I plan to use trade channels to persuade the nobles with red flags to send their slaves abroad. Come to our country to work, and then we pay wages or designated materials to the owners of these slaves as remuneration. If this plan can be implemented, then the labor gap problem in Liaodong may be alleviated to a certain extent."

Bai Kesi said: "If you want the Manchus to hand over their precious labor force to us, then the price you must offer is not low, right?"

Chen Yixin nodded and said: "That is definitely much more value than what they created by grazing and farming in the Qing Dynasty. But with these labor forces, we can use them to produce more wealth."

One of the purposes of the Manchu Qing's foreign wars was to seize a large number of people from neighboring countries by force and bring them back to their own territory to be used as slaves. Even though they were retreating steadily during the war with Haihan, the Manchu Qing still did not forget to Taking these civilians with them during the retreat shows that they also know the value of the population and will never hand it over to Haihan easily.

Chen Yixin's idea sounds like paying people to hire people, but after careful consideration, it is not the case. Although these people are under the rule of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there are probably not many people who are willing to be slaves in the Manchu Qing Dynasty for a lifetime. How can the Manchu Qing Dynasty allow them to do so? Are they out of their control?

Bai Letong asked: "But even if we are willing to pay to hire these people, can the Manchu Qing believe in the conditions we give? If the wages are not received from us when the settlement comes, even all these laborers will be If we seize it as our own, we may lose both our people and our money. How will they deal with such a risk?"

Chen Yixin said: "The other party has clearly raised the issues you mentioned, but they are actually not difficult to solve."

Chen Yixin provided the other party with several cooperation guarantee measures. First, Haihan could advance a certain percentage of wages, and then when the slave workers completed this stage of work, Haihan would advance the wages of the next stage. In this way, the Manchu and Qing parties could advance By collecting money and doing things later, the risk of breach of contract can also be reduced.

Second, the Manchu and Qing dynasties screened the slave laborers sent to Haihan in advance and only selected those with families. This way, the expatriate’s family members, old and young, stayed in the Manchu and Qing dynasty and did not have to worry about these people never coming back.

The third is to send supervisors from the other side. On the one hand, they can confirm that the labor force can work effectively in Haihan. On the other hand, when these laborers are born, old, sick, or dead, they can also be confirmed immediately by the Manchu supervisors to avoid problems when settling wages. dispute.

Bai Letong said: "Since it is so troublesome and we have to send money to the Qing Dynasty, why not introduce immigrants from the south or the Ming Dynasty according to the original plan?"

Chen Yixin did not answer this question directly: "According to our estimates, if large-scale mining is organized in the mines in Shenyang and Liaoyang, a large number of infrastructure projects will also need to be completed. By then, there will be about There is a labor shortage of about 100,000 people. These people do not need to master any engineering skills, as long as they can understand orders and work hard."

"If calculated according to the normal population ratio, the labor force accounts for a little more than one-third, then we need to introduce 300,000 people to the area north of the Liaodong Peninsula to be able to meet the labor demand in this area. This is only the first step. Phase one. To accomplish this goal, we have calculated how much time we need and how much resettlement costs we have to invest.”

"With the same time and the same cost, if we can obtain immigrants from other channels and solve the labor problem here, then of course we don't have to waste this time. I also hope that hundreds of thousands of naturalized immigrants can be moved to Liaodong effortlessly. Han people, but this is obviously far from reality."

"As for sending money to the Manchus..." Chen Yixin smiled and said: "That's not a problem. As long as they dare to accept it, I dare to send it."

Compared with the expenditure required to resolve the dispute between the two countries through military means, the cost of buying the Manchu nobles with money was only a fraction. For someone like Shuo Sai who could influence the national policy of the Manchu Qing, it was even more worth spending a lot of money to maintain relations. If the Manchus' will to fight could be broken down through such channels, it would be much more cost-effective than fighting a war.

Moreover, after the money is spent, a considerable part will be used by the other party to purchase supplies from Haihan, which is equivalent to going out and going around and then flowing back to Haihan in disguise.

Bai Letong said: "Then these slave workers, can they benefit from it?"

Chen Yixin said: "We will provide basic conditions of food and accommodation. At least the living environment will be better than when they were slaves in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but that's all."

Bai Letong said: "But many of them are Han Chinese..."

"They are not Haihan nationals, so they will not enjoy the treatment of Haihan nationals." Chen Yixin interrupted Bai Letong before he could finish his words: "Maybe you want to say that we can get these people back through military means. , but I can tell you that hiring them to work at this stage is far cheaper than if we continue to fight the Manchus, and this is why."

Bai Letong opened his mouth, but didn't say anything. Chen Yixin had mentioned more than once before that the truce between Haihan and the Qing Dynasty was the result of a comprehensive weighing of pros and cons. It was extremely uneconomical to continue to attack the Qing Dynasty, and it faced military risks. It will get higher and higher. It would not be wise for Haihan to launch a war just to plunder the slave population under the Qing Dynasty.

Chen Yixin's decision sounds a bit cruel, but as the ruler of this area, what he needs to consider is how to maximize the interests of Haihan, rather than the individual fate of those Manchu slaves. In the final analysis, they are just Haihan and Manchu They are just bargaining chips for the transaction. Even if the transaction is successful, they are just tools used by Haihan to develop Liaodong.
Chapter completed!