The Australian Revolution of 1828

At 3 p.m. on March 15, 1828, after finishing the student assignments, Han Qingyun took a paddle steamer to Hanyang Port.

At this time, Luo Bingzhong, the director of the Immigration Bureau, had already arrived at the port and had been waiting for a long time. Upon seeing the Governor-General's ship arrive at the port, he personally directed the paddle steamer to dock.

Han Qingyun went ashore and, looking at the port staff and immigrants coming and going, asked, "Bingzhong, have the immigrants who arrived been settled?"

Luo Bingzhong, who was closely following Han Qingyun, was prepared and directly reported the actual number of immigrants arriving in Hong Kong, saying: "Reporting to the Chief Constitutional Secretary, the immigrants arrived in Hong Kong at 9:30 and have all moved into the immigrant dormitories. The total number of immigrants is 5779, including 2223 male immigrants and 3556 female immigrants."

"Due to the large number of immigrants this time, registration and other related matters will take another three days."

Immigrants come from different places, and their accents vary greatly, making communication very difficult. Moreover, immigration officials may not all understand them, so it takes time to complete and finalize each person's file.

As a former Director of the Immigration and Trade Office, Han Qingyun understands the difficulties involved and the intricacies of immigration matters.

Considering the upcoming immigration operations, the Immigration Agency definitely needs new personnel to assist with its work, so he casually asked, "Has anyone from the Population Administration arrived?"

The Population Bureau, a newly established agency, was described by Luo Bingzhong bluntly as follows: "Not yet!"

It has been established for many days, yet no one in the Population Administration pays attention to it, nor does it participate in immigration affairs, or even send anyone to follow up on immigration matters. This is unforgivable.

Regardless of the Population Bureau Director's reasons, Han Qingyun directly issued an extremely strict order to the guards, saying, "Shiwei, send someone to inform the Population Bureau that their Director must run to see me. He is not allowed to use any means other than running, such as riding a horse or taking a boat."

Shiwei, also known as Han Shiwei, is the son of steward Han An and Han Qingyun's childhood friend. He currently serves as the captain of the Governor's Mansion's guard, responsible for all security matters of the Governor's Mansion.

Han Shiwei was worried that running too slowly would delay Han Qingyun's schedule, so he couldn't help but remind him, saying, "Chief Censor, isn't time a bit tight?"

The port area is about 10 kilometers away from Hanyang City. A round trip by horseback takes only about an hour. If you run there, it will take at least an hour and a half, including the time it takes for the servants to notify you.

Even so, it still depends on the Director of Population and Family Planning being in good health and having no major health problems. If you encounter a Director with health issues, it will definitely waste time.

However, Han Qingyun, intending to urge the other new departments to work harder, couldn't help but take a jab at the Population Department, saying, "Shiwei, you don't understand them. If I loosen my grip even a little here, they'll loosen it up for you all."

"Only if I tighten the gates on my side can they work seriously and accelerate the development of Hanyang Prefecture."

Having understood Han Qingyun's "good intentions," Han Shiwei put aside his unnecessary worries and said, "This subordinate will send someone to inform them immediately!"

Han Qingyun nodded, then added, "Have your men keep an eye on things and make sure they come to Hanyang Port to see me."

Some problems still need to be fixed, otherwise it will be too difficult and time-consuming to use, and it won't be convenient at all.

Luo Bingzhong, on the other hand, had already been carefully trained by Han Qingyun. He was not only decisive and efficient in his work, but also knew how to prepare in advance so that he would be prepared for any eventuality.

However, Luo Bingzhong was not the kind of person to sow discord. Realizing that his previous reply was inappropriate, he covered up for the Population Bureau by saying, "Chief Censor, this is our fault. We didn't coordinate well between the two bureaus."

"When immigrating to Hong Kong in the future, we will definitely inform the Population Department."

In this matter, the slow workflow has severely hampered the efficiency of immigration work.

Fortunately, Han Qingyun only gave a warning and didn't intend to pursue the matter further, letting it go and saying, "Bingzhong, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go check on the immigration first!"

The immigrant dormitory is located in the port area, not too far away, about 1 kilometer, a 10-minute walk.

The entire port was well-organized, with six or seven police officers patrolling the concrete pavement, and rows of buildings forming warehouses, barracks, police stations, banks, canteens, clinics, and toilets, creating a modern watercolor painting!

Han Qingyun had no time to appreciate the perfect scene and went straight to the immigrant dormitory not far away.

The immigrant dormitories are three-story buildings constructed of concrete and bamboo strips. Each room is about 20 square meters and has two beds, accommodating up to eight people at the same time.

Eighteen dormitory buildings have been completed, including 10 for men and 8 for women. Each dormitory building has 20 rooms on the first floor and 25 rooms on the second and third floors, for a total of 70 rooms per building and 1260 rooms in total across the 18 buildings.

The 1260 dormitories can accommodate 10080 people at the same time, which can temporarily meet the needs of immigrants.

Of course, this is data under ideal conditions. If immigration surges in the future, and the first batch of immigrants has not yet been fully allocated or left their dormitories, the arrival of the second batch of immigrants will create a backlog and cause some chaos.

With this in mind, Han Qingyun pointed to the dormitory area across the street as he walked, giving instructions and saying, "The immigrant dormitories should also be prepared for construction as soon as possible. If the immigration office is short of funds, just come to me directly. We must not delay the immigration work."

"This matter concerns the survival of Hanyang; we cannot afford to be slow, nor can we delay!"

The population development of Hanyang was elevated to a matter of life and death, something that had never happened before.

Now that Han Qingyun has brought it up again, Luo Bingzhong has no choice but to take it seriously. He said firmly, "I will do my utmost to complete this year's immigration plan."

10 immigrants a year is no small number.

Han Qingyun understood the difficulty of immigration matters and said, "I have given you financial support. The rest is beyond financial support, and that can only be done by you."

"In recent years, the Far East has been plagued by frequent disasters and food shortages. We could try to persuade coastal officials to send disaster victims and refugees elsewhere to reduce unnecessary uprisings and deaths."

"This would not only stabilize the village, but also reduce the government's responsibility for governance, and we'd also get some money. Why not do it?"

With just a simple question and answer, Luo Bingzhong's thinking was opened up, and everyone was full of admiration, saying, "The Chief Justice's vision is truly remarkable; your subordinates are impressed."

Having heard countless compliments, Han Qingyun accepted them with ease, but didn't forget to add a few words of advice: "Don't just admire them; you also need to use your brain."

"Our ethnic group has had it so tough. We'll help if we can, as long as we can move the immigrants to Hanyang."

The two walked and talked until they entered the immigrant dormitory.

Inside the dormitory, immigration officers were registering everyone one by one. If they encountered a name that was too offensive to customs, they had to help them come up with a new name, which was quite a waste of time.

Han Qingyun walked over and asked one of the newly arrived immigrants, "Brother, where are you from?"

The middle-aged immigrant appeared to be from the Fujian area, speaking in a language Han Qingyun couldn't quite understand. Fortunately, someone at the Immigration Bureau understood and translated for Han Qingyun, saying, "Reporting to the Chief Inspector, this man is from Zhangzhou, Fujian!"

Han Qingyun asked a few more people before she learned that the immigrants in her dormitory were all from the Zhangzhou area of ​​Fujian.

Afterwards, I looked around at the other dormitories. Some were from the Huanghuai region, some from the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, and some even from the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. It can be said that there were people from all over the coastal areas, but not absolutely.

After understanding the basic family circumstances of the immigrants, Han Qingyun gave instructions for the next steps, saying, "Immigrants are our foundation. We cannot mistreat these people. If any abnormal injury or death occurs during anyone's duty, don't blame me for being ruthless."

The words were quite strong. Luo Bingzhong took the lead in stating his position, saying, "Under my command, we will absolutely not allow any unnatural deaths among immigrants."

"Ensure immigrants have access to sufficient food and water, as well as timely medical treatment."

With Luo Bingzhong taking the lead, the person in charge of maintaining security in the port area followed suit and said in a firm and powerful voice, "This subordinate obeys the order and will ensure the safety of the immigrants. No one will be allowed to bully or beat the immigrants."

Only after the two men had stated their respective positions did Han Qingyun give instructions for what to do next.

He summoned the head of the port bank and said, "This time there are a lot of immigrants, and the later allocation will involve different government offices. The related loan work must be clearly defined to avoid any problems."

The Hanyang Port Branch is the most important department in the port area. Since immigrants need to handle loan and other matters as soon as they arrive in the port, the Hanyang Port Branch has a heavy workload.

Loans are divided into three categories:

The first category consists of fixed expenses. The cost of the boat ticket for immigration is 35 silver dollars, and the cost of food and drink on the way is 20 silver dollars. The personal immigration expenses are 35 silver dollars. In addition, 10 silver dollars can be advanced to deal with temporary expenses. The total amount required is 100 silver dollars.

If you have cash on you, you don't need to take out a loan; you only need to pay the immigration fee of 90 silver dollars.

The second category is family and marriage-related expenses, applicable only to men. If a male immigrant of marriageable age needs to get married, he/she needs to pay 100 silver dollars as a marriage agency fee.

Of course, it won't work if you don't want to get married and have children.

The third category is property-related expenditures. Purchasing a completed house requires 100 silver dollars, and developing farmland requires 2 silver dollars per mu, with a minimum loan amount of 50 mu.

According to the current Hanyang regulations, immigrants only need to borrow the first type of loan, which is 100 silver dollars. At an annual interest rate of 5%, it is to be repaid in five years, totaling 125 silver dollars, with an annual repayment of 25 silver dollars.

若是三类全贷，则为100块的刚性支出+婚姻100块+房产100块+田产2块*50亩耕地，总计约400块银元。

If the loan is repaid in five years, the interest will be 100 silver dollars, and with the principal, 120 silver dollars will be repaid each year.

Therefore, it is clear that immigration is extremely profitable; it is very lucrative and you don't lose money at all. It just takes five years to break even.

As for how immigrants will repay bank loans and interest, there's no need to worry.

At present, Hanyang Prefecture can be said to be in dire need of reconstruction. Mining and industrial enterprises such as gold mines, iron mines, coal mines, copper mines, silver mines, and farms all need a continuous supply of labor, and earning a generous reward is not difficult at all.

As long as immigrants are willing to work hard, repaying the principal and interest is very easy.