Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 441 The Age of Iron and Fire (Part 2)
On September 2, 1640, the sea breeze, carrying a salty and damp scent, swept across the northern ridge of Goldstone Island (now Texelda Island). The deep green of the fir trees and the pale yellow of the alder trees intertwined under the sunlight, while moss-covered rocks and ferns spread along the edge of the mine, displaying a mottled rust-red hue.

Several seagulls circled around the cliff edge, emitting sharp cries that created an eerie harmony with the clanging of metal in the mine.

In the dim morning light, the bay in the distance rippled with waves, which gently lapped against the rocks on the shore, making a low, mournful sound.

A cargo ship flying the red flag of the five-starred chariot was quietly moored in the harbor, and a large group of coolies were silently loading the iron ore that had been piled up at the dock the day before.

The hillside in the northern part of the island is covered with simple mine pits and sheds, with the reddish-brown soil exposed like unhealed scars.

Hundreds of lean men, driven by their overseers, emerged from the camp in single file, wearing hempen clothes and carrying pickaxes.

They needed to chisel out chunks of black magnetite from the rock strata, pack them into wicker baskets, and then have them transported by mules and horses to a temporary storage yard. From there, they were transported by small railcars to the dock's cargo collection area, where they awaited loading onto ships.

The camp next to the mine was crammed with dozens of wooden row houses, their roofs weighed down with heavy stones to prevent the sea winds from blowing them off.

The row of houses on the east side was noticeably neater and more orderly than the others, and there were even a few brick and stone buildings, which were the living quarters of the overseers and guards.

Smoke wafted out from between the thatched roofs, carrying the aroma of salted fish and corn porridge.

Several mine guards, about to go on duty, yawned and dragged their lazy bodies out of the barracks.

One of them rubbed his sleepy eyes, and when he looked up and saw the smoke rising from the campsite and smelled the aroma of food in the air, his heart warmed and he quickened his pace.

"Master Shen, what's good to eat today?" Li Hongyu unfastened the sword from his waist, placed it on the long dining table, and peered into the kitchen.

He noticed two new iron pots on the stove, which must have been brought from the nearest supply ship.

"What good food can we expect so early in the morning?" Shen Asi replied with a smile, tapping the tin bucket with the iron spoon in his hand. "The usual, steamed buns, corn porridge, and a bowl of salted dried fish."

"Isn't there any other meat?" Li Hongyu's eyes swept over the steaming kitchen, her nose twitched a few times, and she smacked her lips. "Didn't they say yesterday that Liu Tou and his men hunted a deer in the woods?"

"Oh, then we'll have to wait until tonight." Shen Asi pointed his iron ladle towards the kitchen, where a skinned black-tailed deer hung. "Liu Tou said he's inviting the craftsmen over for an extra meal tonight. If you eat now, will you be gnawing on tree bark tonight?"

"That's good." Li Hongyu's lips immediately curled into a smile. "All we eat these days is corn porridge and salted fish, and our mouths have long lost their flavor. Today, with this deer, our stomachs are happy."

"Are you happy, or are you happy?" Shen Asi sneered. "Little Yu'er, you still need to practice your Mandarin, otherwise you'll keep saying the wrong thing and making yourself a laughing stock!"

"I understand, Master Shen." Li Hongyu held a rice bowl in one hand and two steamed buns in the other, muttering to himself, "Among the tribespeople, I speak the best Mandarin, which makes everyone envious. No one would laugh at me."

After breakfast, the sun gradually rose higher, dispelling the thin veil of morning mist on the island. The noise from the mining area gradually increased, with the clanging of chisels, the shouts of the overseers, and the neighing of mules and horses all blending together.

At this moment, Li Hongyu was already standing at the edge of the mine pit, staring down at the laborers who were working with a stern expression.

He had a steel knife slung at his waist and a leather whip in his hand. His thumb gently rubbed the dark red bloodstains around the handle of the whip, left from last month when he whipped a worker who dared to resist and disrupt the order of the mine to death.

The man's resentful gaze before his death still occasionally appears in his dreams.

"Stop slacking off, all of you get the hell up and get to work!" Li Hongyu walked to a recessed rock and kicked over a laborer who was curled up and dozing inside.

The man rolled twice before crashing into a protruding rock wall with a muffled groan.

More than thirty laborers were scattered around the mine, some sitting and some squatting, more than half of whom were Haida people captured from the north.

Their skin was dark, and their bodies were covered with whip marks and reddish-brown stains from rust.

Upon hearing Li Hongyu's shout, they scrambled to their feet like a flock of startled sheep, grabbed their pickaxes, and rushed toward the work area.

Several people who were slow to react were immediately whipped and let out a few shrill screams.

"This morning, everyone must collect ten baskets of ore. If you miss even one basket, you won't get lunch!" a native overseer shouted in broken Haida mixed with Chinese.

Li Hongyu glared fiercely at the Haida people, cooperating with the overseer to constantly brandish his whip as a form of intimidation.

He particularly loathed these northern barbarians; they always stared at people with those sinister eyes, as if they were ready to pounce and bite someone's throat at any moment.

Decades ago, I heard from the elders of the clan about their cruelty and barbarity.

These northern barbarians, relying on their superior boatmanship and strong organizational skills, frequently attacked local indigenous tribes, burning down their villages and camps, capturing young men and women, and enslaving them.

Several years ago, they also brazenly attacked the settlements of the new Chinese in the north.

However, it was precisely their unbridled acts of looting and attack that ultimately brought them disaster.

The new Chinese dispatched multiple gunboats and a large number of armed soldiers to invade the Blue Ao Islands (now the Queen Charlotte Islands) occupied by the Haida people, destroying several of their strongholds.

It was originally thought that after this blow, these northern barbarians would restrain themselves and obediently follow the rules set by the new Chinese, and would no longer "cause trouble" or harass other indigenous tribes.

Unexpectedly, the Haida people were a bunch of barbarians who never learned their lesson and remained unchanged.

Although they no longer openly attack and plunder the indigenous tribes as before, they still secretly carry out robbery activities, still like to enslave people, and still engage in low-risk businesses as before.

As a result, one day, perhaps because they were used to robbing, they attacked the new Chinese again, raiding a trading warehouse and killing people.

This completely enraged the Xinhua News Agency.

The Northern Trading Company then recruited more than 200 armed volunteers in the country, along with its own guards, and mobilized hundreds of strong local indigenous men from the surrounding area to fight a two-year-long siege against the Haida people.

Roughly estimated, in this cat-and-mouse war, more than 700 Haida people were killed and more than 3,000 were captured.

The captured young men and women of Haida, apart from a small number who were exiled by the Northern Trading Company to the remote Lingzhou region (now Alaska) to be forced into hard labor, were mostly forcibly sent to the coal mines of Fenzhou and the iron mines of Goldstone Island to spend the rest of their lives "atoneing" for the mistakes they had made.

As a naturalized native who had attended school for a few years, Li Hongyu naturally felt that she was more civilized and superior to these barbarians.

On ordinary days, they would carry knives and whips, swaggering around the mining area. Any laborers who broke the rules or disobeyed the foreman's orders would be punished by these guards.

At best, their food rations were reduced; at worst, they were whipped or even executed.

However, given the difficulty of recruiting laborers for the mines, they generally do not kill them easily and will adopt some appeasement methods.

For example, if a squad exceeds its daily "performance" target, it will be rewarded with increased food rations, as well as wine and meat.

During major Han Chinese festivals, miners would receive half a day or a full day of rest and a hearty meal.

According to the mine manager and the head of security, the laborers here should not be treated with force alone, nor should they be oppressed too much. A combination of firmness and leniency is needed, putting pressure on them in terms of "performance" while also giving them the motivation to continue working.

Li Hongyu had a vague understanding of this. In his simple mind, the mine provided them with food and water, so they should work hard and not be lazy or rebellious. Otherwise, they would be considered "unruly" and would have to be severely punished.

There were two mines on Jinshi Island: one was the Beisha mining area where they were located (now Blasco Bay), and the other was located on the southwest side of the island (now Gillis Bay). In addition to mining magnetite, both mines also produced limestone, making them the second most important ore producing areas in Xinhua after the Fenzhou coal mine.

The Beisha mining area has more than 560 local laborers, divided into several work groups including tunnel excavation, ore mining, support, drainage, transportation, sorting, and loading and unloading. The annual output is more than 6,000 tons of iron ore and more than 8,000 tons of limestone.

This efficiency isn't particularly high, but it's still much better than the silver mine run by the Spanish next door.

Needless to say, thanks to the "compassion" of the new Chinese, the mortality rate of miners was much lower.

The mining area was filled with the sounds of picks striking rocks, a continuous clanging and banging.

Li Hongyu sat on a protruding rock, holding a knife, and listlessly looked at a group of laborers working on the west side of the mine.

There, a group of temporarily conscripted laborers, under the direction of several craftsmen, were leveling the foundation in preparation for extending the cast iron rails from the dock's cargo collection area. This would reduce the number of porters and allow the limited manpower to be concentrated in the mining area, thereby further increasing iron ore production.

It is said that the higher-ups have raised the target output for the Beisha mining area by 30%, which is giving the mine manager a real headache.

If more labor cannot be obtained, then the only option is to tap into internal potential. This means not only increasing the productivity of miners but also finding ways to introduce more advanced technologies and equipment to maximize operational efficiency on the existing production basis.

According to the master craftsman in charge of the construction, if the transportation track system could be improved and the ore mining site and sorting area could be connected by cast iron tracks, it would reduce the number of workers by 40-50 and the number of mules by 20, and increase transportation efficiency by 40%.

In addition, the mine plans to order several mechanical crushers from Xinhua Heavy Industry to double the existing ore sorting speed, while reducing the number of workers by 20-30.

如此一来，整个作业区将会额外增加60-80个人力，每天便可多采掘矿石5-7吨，一年下来就是1000-1200吨（考虑到不适合作业的雨雪天和恶劣气候）。

Of course, all of this can only be achieved under the most ideal conditions.

After all, mining is an extremely arduous and dangerous job, and coupled with the harsh working conditions, the injury rate among workers is still very high.

Each year, approximately 5% to 8% of workers die from accidents or injuries. If the timeframe is extended to three to five years, this rate would be even higher.

In fact, during this period, whether in the Ming Dynasty or in Europe, the injury rate (including injuries and occupational diseases) of miners was alarmingly high, which was one of the cruelest realities of mining in the pre-industrial era.

If a mine collapses or floods during mining operations, it is quite normal for hundreds of people to die at once.

However, the Jinshidao mine has been under development for less than three years, and most of the working areas are still shallow veins. There is no serious accident such as deep mine collapse or water inrush, which is a great stroke of luck for these workers.

In the Spanish American colonies, the annual mortality rate of native silver miners who had been operating for decades was typically around 22%-25%, while the injury rate was 30%. At least 50% of the workforce needed to be replenished each year in order to maintain normal production.

In contrast, the management of mines by Xinhua people is more "compassionate". They not only provide mine workers with various protective equipment, such as safety helmets (wooden or leather) and masks, but also provide simple first aid after workers are injured, which greatly reduces the mortality rate.

Even so, the mine managers are still very troubled by the nearly 10% loss of personnel every year.

This damage rate means that to achieve continuous production at the mine, and with output increasing year by year, 15-20% of new workers need to be added each year.

Although Xinhua's current annual immigration scale has reached 20,000 people, considering the huge cost the government spends on these immigrants, it is unwilling to send them to the mines to consume them in such a way!
Since immigrants are relatively valuable and cannot be easily lost, the manpower needed for the mines can only be invested in the indigenous people of the surrounding tribes, sacrificing their interests in exchange for the development of Xinhua Industry.

As the sun gradually climbed overhead, the temperature in the mine began to rise.

Li Hongyu unbuttoned her collar and raised her right hand to shield her eyes from the glaring sunlight.

He noticed a group of laborers gathered in the distance, seemingly arguing and shouting over the ownership of a work area, completely ignoring the shouts of the overseer beside them.

He immediately gripped the hilt of his knife and strode over.

"Are you courting death?" Without saying a word, he brandished his whip and lashed out at the crowd.

"If you cause any more trouble, you'll be locked up in solitary confinement!" Li Hongyu shouted sternly, pointing at the coolies who were scattering with their heads in their hands.

The confinement he referred to was in those iron cages near the mining camp, each less than a meter long, wide, and high. Inside, a person could neither stand upright nor lie flat, and had to endure the sun and rain. If they couldn't endure it for a day, they would cry out and beg for mercy.

"You good-for-nothing, is that stick in your hand just for decoration?" Li Hongyu glared at the disheveled native overseer beside her. "If you can't manage these people, you'll be going to mine with them!"

"Yes, I know what to do next time," the foreman said timidly, head bowed.

As the noon bell rang, the laborers breathed a sigh of relief, put down their tools, and squatted on the ground, waiting for their meals to be served.

Li Hongyu watched them line up to receive their lunch: a bowl of oatmeal porridge, two potatoes, and a corn bun for each person.

Those who complete the task will receive a few extra spoonfuls of vegetables, and those who exceed the target will receive a large piece of salmon.

Although the food wasn't great, it was enough to make everyone feel about 70-80% full, so they wouldn't be too tired to work in the afternoon.

“A ship is coming.” Standing on the high slope, his companion looked out at the sea. “The deck seems to be crowded with people; they must be here to replenish our manpower.”

"Really?" Li Hongyu took three steps at a time and climbed up the cliff, following her companion's gaze to look at the dock.

Sure enough, a two-masted sailboat slowly sailed in, and the guards on duty at the dock waved their arms excitedly in response.

"Besides replenishing our labor force, I wonder what other good things the ship will bring us," Li Hongyu muttered to herself.

"There's bound to be a drink you like," his companion said with a smile.

“You don’t like it?” Li Hongyu looked at her companion from Xing’an (now Campbell River City).

It is said that no indigenous person dislikes drinking alcohol.

Although the liquor is spicy and pungent, the intoxicating feeling after drinking it is quite addictive.

As evening fell, the day's work in the mining area came to an end. After supervising the workers to return to the camp, Li Hongyu hurriedly headed towards the canteen.

As I passed the supply depot, I saw several craftsmen debugging newly arrived water pumps.

Although this hand-cranked water pump is not very efficient, it is much more time-saving and labor-saving than the original method of carrying water in buckets.

He remembered that Liu, the head of the guard team, had said that once the deeper mine shafts were excavated, they would introduce the kind of steam-powered water pumps used in the state coal mines.

This machine requires no human intervention; it simply shovels in a few shovels of coal and pumps out the water from the mine itself—it's truly amazing.

Perhaps one day in the future, Xinhua's skilled craftsmen will be able to create automated ore mining machines to replace the heavy and dangerous manual labor.

I still remember an elder in my clan saying, "Ever since the sails of the new Chinese swept across the bay, the sun and moon that our ancestors knew so well have been shattered into pieces that can never be pieced back together."

What happened here is far greater than the changes that have occurred over the past hundreds or thousands of years, and its impact on them is far more profound.
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(End of this chapter)