Nanyang Storm 1864

Chapter 242 Immigration Center and the Big Iron Ship
After more than 20 hours of sailing, the galleon Lumina arrived safely at the port of Batangas at noon on July 1867, 7, the last day of July.

Compared to the Dagupan Port, the Batangas Port is much larger.

This port is a large seaport terminal that was built after mobilizing 7.3 convicts and took more than nine months to build. It has not yet been completed and has five large deep-water berths, second only to the Port of Manila.

Among them, three are dedicated deep-water ore terminals, used to import large amounts of copper concentrate, iron ore and coal ore, as well as sulfur, silver, lead ore or other ores required for heavy industry. They are iconic infrastructure for the development of heavy industrial cities.

On the ore dock
Standing at the side of the "Guangming" ship, King Zheng Guohui of Chu saw the tall figure of the famous "Stephen Battery", which was the giant ironclad ship ambitiously built by the Stephen Shipyard in the United States, which was on the verge of bankruptcy.

The lower end of the ironclad ship, which is close to the water surface, is painted dark black, and the upper end is bright light blue. It is quietly docked at the ore dock.

Its massive steel hull is 128 meters long, displacing 4683 tons, and each steel rivet is as big as a baby's fist.

This giant steel ship was originally planned to be equipped with five 5-inch Dahlgren smoothbore heavy guns and five 15-inch rifled heavy guns, becoming a fire-breathing monster on the ocean.

However, this advanced dream would cost a staggering sum of $120 million to realize, so after completing the initial investment of $58, it was eventually stranded on the slipway.

Zheng Xin, the Chu State's trade representative to the United States, was very optimistic about the giant ship. Zheng Yulan, the current Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, was also optimistic about the giant ship and tried hard to persuade them to buy it.

The State of Chu spent $15.8 and added another $3.3 to improve the sail power and other facilities, and finally brought the giant ship back.

Today, this giant ship is named "Taishan". It has four tall masts in front and back, and two large horizontal steam engines for ships, driving two propellers to assist navigation.

Under normal shipping conditions, the steam turbine will not be started to consume coal, and the ship is mainly powered by sails.

The "Guangming" docked steadily at the berth, and Zheng Guohui led a group of followers to disembark. While the guards were busy unloading the war horses, Zheng Guohui and his followers enthusiastically visited the "Taishan" cargo ship.

After boarding the ship, King Zheng Guohui of Chu knew why this ship was worth buying.

The ship is equipped with 6.5-inch waterline armor, and the thick I-beams separating the cabins are 2.5 centimeters thick. It exudes the four words "stupid, big, thick, and clumsy" everywhere, and is clumsy to an exaggerated degree.

According to the captain's introduction
The ship sails surprisingly steadily on the sea. Even in the face of level 12 waves, it is still safe and reassuring, allowing people to sit in the cabin with their legs crossed and drink coffee.

Why do I feel so at ease?
People who often sail on the high seas know that there is a fear called "thalassophobia", which is the fear caused by feeling extremely small when encountering waves of level 10 or above in the deep ocean.

In winds and waves above level 10, the waves can be more than ten meters or even more than twenty meters high. The huge waves hit the wall of the ship hard, making a huge hollow sound.

One sound after another seemed to knock on the hearts of the crew, and fear followed.

Even experienced crew members could only kneel silently in front of the bed at this time, praying devoutly to God and the gods and Buddhas for blessings, so that they could return to the port smoothly.

But on this ship, there is no need to worry at all.

The 6.5-inch thick waterline armor, coupled with the extremely thick bulkhead materials, allow the Taishan freighter to almost block all cavity echo sounds caused by the huge waves, and sail on the sea as steadily as an old cow.

There is neither violent bumps nor strong roll, but it is as smooth as going up or down a mountain, and you can actually find a lot of fun in it.

At that time, the giant ship "Taishan" was originally built according to the foundation of a giant ironclad warship. When it was purchased, a huge construction cost of 58 US dollars had been piled up. The entire ship was basically completed, and this was just the cost.

To complete the project, a budget of at least US$68 to US$72 will be required to install powerful cannons and other facilities.

need to know

Each 15-inch Dahlgren smoothbore heavy gun is a gold-eating behemoth, worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Equipping the ship with five heavy guns of this level at once, plus five 5-inch rifled heavy guns which are not cheap, as well as the matching armored turrets, enclosed upper steel decks, ammunition depots and various facilities, the procurement cost alone is more than 5 US dollars.

Add to that the labor costs, the costs of getting the ship off the slipway, and the final outfitting and sea trials, and it will cost another $15.

After renovation

The Taishan cargo ship was simplified into an open bulk carrier, divided into 6 cargo compartments with a horizontal steel longitudinal beam in the middle of the compartments, covered with tarpaulin to form a pointed cargo hold shape.

Each voyage can carry more than 4,000 tons of ore, which is almost the carrying capacity of an entire sailing fleet. It is no exaggeration to call it a behemoth.

Such a large steel cargo ship was only available to individual operators in the Yangtze River shipping in later generations, and they were relatively small cargo ships. The largest ones were about 10,000 to 20,000 tons.

But in this era, it is already remarkable.

The entire ship employed 55 sailors, which was much fewer than the sailors on the sailing warship, and less than half of the 132 sailors on the sailing warship Light.

Cargo ships are more concerned with economic efficiency, and many cargo ship sailors have multiple roles.

If the steam boiler is to be turned on, many sailors will have to go down to the cabin to burn the boiler to increase the power to assist navigation.

It is not usually used. Cargo ships do not care about timeliness. It doesn’t matter whether they arrive two hours earlier or a few hours later.

When visiting this big iron ship, King Zheng Guohui of Chu was amazed and shocked by the thick materials of this ironclad giant ship. He thought that even if it was bombarded by 40-pound heavy artillery, it would probably not be able to break its defense.

After being scrapped after decades of use, the money spent on purchasing the ship can be recovered by selling the scrap metal, which is indeed a good deal.

The "Taishan" ore transport ship will travel between the copper and iron mines in Cebu Island and Batangas all year round, and can make a round trip in three days.

Including two days for loading and two days for unloading, one voyage takes about one week, and four voyages can be easily completed in a month, carrying 16000 tons of ore.

The Taishan has taken over this ore transportation route.

Zheng Guohui saw at the ore terminal that the transmission belt driven by a steam engine was quite efficient in loading and unloading ore.

In the six open holds of the Taishan
Each of the six open cargo holds was equipped with a transmission belt, which rotated rapidly under the drive of the steam engine, continuously transporting the ore to the shore.

In each open warehouse

There are more than a dozen strong men sweating profusely, moving shovels like flying, sending ore shovel after shovel to the conveyor belt,
On the pile of ore next to them, there were more than a dozen big men covered in coal dust sitting and resting. They were working in shifts.

This is high-intensity labor. Each worker can load more than six tons of ore per hour (note, two shifts, changing every 15 minutes, with a 5-minute break between shifts). A total of more than 60 tons can be loaded and unloaded per hour, and 6 tons in 360 warehouses, which is quite efficient.

If the workers work in shifts day and night, excluding the time for eating and resting, a shipload of 4000 tons of ore will take only one day.

After unloading the ore, the "Taishan" will go to the bulk cargo terminal and use a steam crane to load the goods needed for the return trip, such as iron farm tools, soybean meal, rice bran, oil, daily necessities, etc. needed for the Cebu Islands.

It also serves as a ferry flight, carrying people to the Cebu Islands.

Short-distance transportation only takes a little over a day. These people just lean against the pile of goods and make do with it without much hassle.

Just like when we came here, people traveling from Cebu Island to the Greater Manila area can also take the boat to Batangas Port by paying a little for the boat ticket.

As for the conditions, you can't be too picky. Just find a piece of cloth or a torn mat and put it on the pile of minerals. You can lie down or sit on it. If you think the dust is too thick, just cover it with a headscarf.

Basically, when they arrived in Hong Kong, both men and women were covered in dust.

Many near-island routes like this have been opened one after another, mainly for cargo transportation and supplemented by passenger transportation. There are generally no passenger cabins and the conditions are simple and makeshift.

Fortunately, the boat ticket is cheap. The longest route from Zamboanga in Mindanao to Manila only costs 1 silver dollars, which is equivalent to one silver dollar and 2 copper and iron coins.

The fare for routes between the Cebu Islands that are a dozen to several dozen kilometers long is mostly between 1 cents and 2 cents, which is between 100 and 200 wen.

The Chu State now issued copper coins of one and two mao to replace the inconvenient iron coins. They quickly became popular and were widely used throughout the country.

This 1-2-cent copper coin is exquisitely made and is rolled from high-quality copper. The obverse is the emblem of the five-clawed giant dragon of the Great Chu royal family, decorated with curtains on the top and wheat ears and ocean patterns on the bottom. The pattern is extremely exquisite and delicate.

On the back of the copper coin are the seal characters "一角" and "二角". The value of "一角" is equivalent to 100 wen.

In addition, the Royal Nanyang Bank also issued 1-cent and 2-cent steel coins. The front of the coins also had the royal emblem pattern, and the back had the seal script characters "一分" and "二分". The value of "each fen" was equivalent to ten coins.

This coin was made using a 220-ton large steam rolling mill imported from the UK. The material is solid and the pattern is exquisite, making it almost impossible to imitate.

In the current territory of Chu State, the largest denomination of silver is the "one yuan" denomination. The Royal Nanyang Bank once considered issuing the "two yuan" denomination of silver, but was rejected by King Zheng Guohui of Chu.

The silver dollar issued for the "two yuan" denomination was too large and heavy for each piece, so the silver content had to reach more than 89%, and a certain amount of copper alloy was added to increase the hardness of the currency.

In this case, the weight of each unit will be quite large.

In this case, it would be better to issue more "one yuan" silver coins. Why bother taking off your pants to fart? What a waste of time!

In the future, the ultimate solution for large-denomination currency will still be to issue paper money, but the time is not ripe now.

It would be best to wait 5 to 10 years, when the country's foundation is consolidated, its credibility is improved, its national strength is strong, and all conditions are ripe. It will not be too late to introduce paper money at that time.

The starting point of King Zheng Guohui of Chu is "stability". After all, he is still young, and as long as he exercises well, he will have a long life ahead of him.

Every step must be taken steadily and firmly.

The Batangas Port is very large. In addition to the bulk cargo terminal and the ore terminal, it also has a passenger terminal specifically for accommodating immigrants and individual tourists, as well as corresponding supporting buildings.

According to plan
In the future, all Chinese immigrants will have to transit through Batangas and then be transported in batches to the areas that need resettlement via cargo ships on various routes, rather than the immigration fleet making a special trip.

Thus

This greatly enhances the efficiency of the immigration fleet, eliminating the need to dock here and there due to the different conditions at the ports in different places and the limited capacity for loading and unloading.

An immigrant fleet can easily contain thousands of people, and upon arriving at the port, it is easy to become flustered and chaotic, which in turn causes delays in efficiency.

Batangas is located in the center of the archipelago and has cargo routes to various places. Evacuating and relocating people to various places by ships on the routes greatly saves transportation capacity.

At the Batangas Immigration Center, immigrants received education, had their braids cut off, took baths, registered their files, and were briefed on the laws of the Chu State, the preferential policies available to immigrants, the obligations they needed to fulfill, etc. This greatly saved the government the trouble of traveling to various places to handle tedious immigration matters and improved administrative efficiency.

In the past, after arriving at the local area, we would temporarily explain the policies, establish personal registration files, and go through all other procedures one by one, which was both cumbersome and fragmented.

This involved a large number of government officials, who were forced to run around to keep up with the resettlement trends of immigrants. Some resettlement sites had insufficient conditions, poor environment, and incomplete preparations, which instead attracted a lot of complaints.

After the construction of this immigrant resettlement camp is completed, it will officially begin welcoming new immigrants in early August.

All Chinese immigrants to the Hainan Islands will enter the Batangas Immigration Center to complete a series of procedures such as policy briefings and file registration, making this government service quick and efficient.

Zheng Guohui walked from the passenger terminal and asked questions to local officials along the way. He was very interested and pointed out the shortcomings in the arrangements.

For example, there are no large arrow symbols on the immigration channel, which is much better than shouting with a brass trumpet.

There is no need to waste time explaining the evacuation of people. Just follow the arrows and the Chinese immigrants will know where to go.
Zheng Guohui pointed out;
Iron fences must be set up to separate Chinese immigrants queuing for registration, and at least 30 registration windows must be set up at one time to divert the waiting crowd.

In the reception hall, you can use bricks and stones to build a counter half the height of a person to divide the inside and outside. The outside of the counter is covered with white marble, which looks simple and solemn.

Such a counter is not afraid of being squeezed or pulled, and is strong and reliable, and can be used for decades without any problems.

It can also separate government workers and immigrants to avoid confusion.

Immigrants are not allowed to enter the staff's office area at will.

This is to avoid causing confusion and loss of archival documents, increasing the burden of order management, and the effect is not good.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu also pointed out;

Benches should be placed against the wall so that weak immigrants who have experienced a long sea journey can sit down, rest, and wait.

Water boilers should also be set up to provide free hot water to immigrants, and simple food stalls can also be set up so that immigrants with extra money can buy something to eat.

The military should send personnel on duty to maintain order, punish those who lead riots, instigate and mislead the public, those who violate the law and other intentionally bad people, and maintain an overall stable environment.

This will greatly calm the people's hearts and avoid frequent conflicts and unnecessary troubles caused by anxiety, boredom and uneasiness.

King Zheng Guohui of Chu spoke as he walked, recalling his memories of working in the government and saying whatever came to his mind.

What he didn't notice was the surprised looks of the officials, many of whom were hurriedly taking notes.

The facilities that local officials thought were well prepared were full of holes and had too many shortcomings according to the comments of His Majesty the King of Chu.

These are all details, and they make a lot of sense when you think about it.

A complete immigration center cannot be completed by simply building a building. Instead, it must be divided into areas according to responsibilities and functions, and different areas must be given independent functionality.

Immigration can go through the entire process from beginning to end, basically completing the required education process, saving a lot of repetitive and unnecessary labor, and being concise and efficient.

In the immigrant camps at the rear, there were rows and rows of neat tiled houses, like long rows of warehouses.

Each large separated room is equipped with 20 bunk beds, which can accommodate 40 people at the same time. There is a row of wooden shelves at the door of the room, which is divided into four layers.

Each Chinese immigrant can be assigned a separate locker to store their personal belongings and carry-on luggage.

There is no lock on the cabinet. If you need a lock, you can rent one. It only costs 1 cent, which is 10 cents.

If you don't have even 10 cents on you, there's no point in locking the cabinet door.

Each row of houses has 12 such large dormitories, which can accommodate 480 Chinese immigrants.

The immigration camp implements a policy of separating men and women. If a couple is a family, they can receive a bamboo sign with a number representing the family.

When registering personal information, you can register a joint account by simply recording the number on the information registration page.

When the registration information of the women's camp arrives, the information with the same registration number can be combined and archived.

In the immigration camp

Zoning management is implemented, with every ten rows of dormitories forming one zone, which can accommodate 4800 people. The zones are divided according to the ten heavenly stems, namely "Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, and Gui". After completion, the zone can accommodate 48000 people.

When King Zheng Guohui of Chu inspected the camp, the early camp had been completely built, and many convicts were still working on compacting the foundation, spreading fly ash and gravel, or building concrete water platforms.

The so-called concrete water table is a water pool.

The water pool is equipped with a lever-type suction water pump, which is a new product produced by the Batangas Water Pump Factory. There are two water stations in front of each row of dormitories, each equipped with one.

There are three immigration camps under construction in the rear. You can see that the masonry buildings are more than one person tall and are neatly arranged in rows towards the rear.

With the current size of the Batangas Immigration Center, it can roughly handle 5 to 6 immigrant fleets, totaling approximately 3 people, which is sufficient to meet current demand.

The current immigration scale is about 10 people per month. It is sufficient to accept 10 to 4 Chinese immigrants in about days.

As the current batch of immigrants leaves, the entire camp needs to be systematically cleaned and maintained to welcome new immigrants with a tidy environment.

In the immigration camp

There are also small rooms with better facilities, which also have bunk beds, but each room only has 4 bunk beds, which can accommodate 8 people or a family of 5-6 people.

Those who could live in these small rooms were Chinese immigrants who paid for their own expenses. They spent money to buy the boat tickets, and they also spent money to live in the small rooms. They could also spend money to eat meals in small pots, and the conditions were much better than those in the big pot.

After seven days of education and registration, these self-funded immigrants will receive new stamped identity papers and can leave the immigration camp freely and go wherever they want.

You can go to Manila, Quezon, or any other town, but after arriving in the town, you need to go to the local police station to complete the registration procedures.

This is a right exclusive to self-funded immigrants, which Chinese refugees cannot enjoy. They must accept a unified allocation.

As for the assigned location, they will be placed wherever they are needed, and there is no room for bargaining, otherwise their fate will be a labor camp.

Compared with other immigrations, self-funded immigration has a much higher degree of freedom, but it requires a certain amount of financial resources.

After more than three years of large-scale immigration, many landlords or wealthy families in East China, South China and Central China, who heard the news of immigration, spontaneously bought tickets to go to Southeast Asia to seek new development opportunities.

This type of spontaneous immigrants usually have a certain economic strength and a certain level of knowledge. Nowadays, this type of immigrants account for an increasing proportion of the total immigrant population, approaching 10%.

But no matter what type of immigrant, they must all go to the Batangas Immigration Center, receive policy briefings and register, and obtain a stamped identity card.

After leaving the immigration camp, the spontaneous immigrant must register at the police station in the immigration town within one month and have the local stamp affixed before his or her identity card can be converted into a local official resident identity card.

This resident identity card is very important. Each person has a unique number on it, which records detailed personal information, facial features and specialties. The resident identity card is required for purchasing houses, land, shops, getting bank loans, buying women and various important purposes.

You will also need to show your ID when being questioned by the police.

If your identity card is damaged or lost, you need to go to the local police station to reissue it in time. You will have to pay one silver dollar each time you reissue it, which shows that it is very valuable.

Within a month's time limit
Identity papers that are not stamped by the local police station will automatically become invalid, and their owners will become illegal immigrants. If they are stopped by the police, they will be thrown into jail and face great trouble.

That is not a problem that can be solved by one silver dollar. It may cost tens or even hundreds of silver dollars. In serious cases, you may even be thrown into prison or a labor camp.

These considerations will be highlighted in policy briefings.

According to the new immigration regulations proposed by the government

Newly arrived immigrants need to stay in the immigration camp for 7 days, receive instructions on the laws and etiquette of the Chu State, and complete personal information registration.

This includes past growth experience, where one is from, where one has been, whether one is working or doing business, whether one has served in the military or joined a banditry, and whether one has combat experience.

How old is he? How many parents and siblings does he have? What are their names? Is he married? Does he have any disabilities? Does he have any special skills? Does he have any connections that can be utilized? And so on.

How tall, how much does he weigh, what are his facial features, how long are his arms and legs, and any medical history?

Almost all of a person's detailed information from birth to the present is registered, and in earlier policy announcements, serious warnings would be given to immigrants if they gave honest answers.

Anyone who hesitates during data registration will be placed in solitary confinement after receiving one warning, two serious warnings, or three warnings. This indicates that this person has serious problems and must be thoroughly checked.

So when the immigration officer asks any questions, you must answer naturally and fluently. Answer what is asked. If there is no question, just keep silent. This is the rule.

If you talk nonsense and ramble on, you will be kicked out on the spot, and it will be recorded in the information registration in the future, which will not be worth it.

The Batangas Immigration Center is not only the first window for Chinese immigrants to enter the Chu State, but also an important screening agency that can screen out some problematic Chinese immigrants.

For example, there are bandits who have committed murder and robbery, rioters who have joined the anti-bandit army, swindlers and pickpockets with ulterior motives, and some immigrants who come with ulterior motives.

If you can't answer the immigration officer's questions frankly, you must have something to hide.

Those who are found to have problems will be transferred to the General Administration of Punishment. However, the soldiers in military uniforms will not be so kind. If they are not honest, they will often be tortured.

In every batch of immigrants, there are more or less immigrants with such problems.

Immigration officers are very knowledgeable. If you immigrated from southern Shandong, they will chat with you about the geography, customs, eating habits, or other light topics of southern Shandong.

If you can answer normally, then there will be no problem.

If you cannot answer, you are definitely not telling the truth and you will definitely receive a serious warning.

If this happens twice or three times, it will be a serious problem and officials from the General Administration of Corrections will need to take over and conduct a thorough investigation.

In the immigration center
King Zheng Guohui of Chu inspected the large bathhouse, the large kitchens in each district, and the places where prisoners were detained by the Correctional Service one by one, and made many important instructions for the improvement of the immigration center.

The large bathroom in this immigration center uses steam transmitted from the steam engine pipes at the dock, which can heat the water to 40 or 50 degrees, as long as it is not cold.

When new immigrants enter the immigration camp, each person can receive a bathing bamboo card. They need to place a bathing bamboo card when bathing, and a small thumb-sized soap is given for free.

Bathing bamboo plates can also be purchased, one cent each, which is equivalent to ten cents for a bath.

All immigrants' clothes need to be disinfected in boiling water to prevent the spread of disease, and this is done very quickly.

Basically, the new immigrants line up and throw their clothes into the boiling pot. After boiling for more than ten seconds, they take them out and throw them aside. Then the new immigrants pick them up and hang them out to dry themselves.

The most troublesome thing was cutting off the braids. Those old people whose heads were full of old ideas cried bitterly and rolled on the ground, unwilling to cut their braids.

The options provided by the immigration camp are also very simple. Either spend money to buy a boat ticket to go back, or just jump into the sea and swim back by yourself.

If I don't choose either of these two paths, then if I don't cut my braids I'll be beheaded, there is no other way.

Actually

After making a fuss for a while and seeing that it was useless, everyone cut off their braids, without exception.

(End of this chapter)