Chapter 1016： Different world

The welcome banquet is very lively. Although the reception standard is not high, it is better than the price.

In order to welcome the two thousand new workers, the Outlet Viscount slaughtered 50 cows, 100 sheep, and several chickens, and the chef carefully prepared bread and vegetables.

No way, more people have a big appetite. As a good lord, this kind of large-scale banquet outlet will naturally invite all the leaders to participate.

Although 50 cows seem to be a lot, the African cows in the 19th century were all fed naturally. They were small in size and were not artificially modified beef cattle in later generations. The meat yield rate is naturally not much higher.

For a steak per person, 50 cows are consumed. As for the 100 lambs just for stewing soup, it is obviously not enough to cook barbecue. In contrast, the supply of chicken is much more abundant.

Of course, meat is not a luxury in Europe. Especially after the opening of Austrian Africa, the price of meat products dropped again and again.

The African continent is vast and sparsely populated, providing a favorable foundation for the development of animal husbandry. Take the territory of Outlets as an example, the population of more than 7,000 square kilometers is less than 10,000.

Excluding the elderly and children, the young and strong labor force is only five or six thousand. So much land is definitely not available for farming. The development of animal husbandry is a good choice.

For the noble lords who have enough land, the cost of raising cattle and sheep that can grow up purely by eating grass is really not high. If you raise me, you will raise more people and the price will naturally go down.

What is really eye-catching is that all the white bread on the table is the kind without any impurities. For workers who are accustomed to eating black bread, the impact will be great.

White bread is naturally available in the European continent, but because the production cost of wheat is higher than that of rye, the price of white bread has also risen, and it has become the standard for the rich.

For an ordinary welcome banquet, the lord actually took out all white bread, which is beyond everyone's cognition.

Many people stared at the white bread in front of them, and were too late to start, for fear that the chef had made a mistake and brought the wrong food. Seeing that everyone around me got white bread, I was sure that the chef was not mistaken.

A beautiful misunderstanding added a bit of conversation to this banquet. This is only for people who have just arrived in Africa to feel this way. After a long time, they will not be so surprised.

There is no other reason. The core of the problem is that rye is cold-loving and grows in temperate regions. The African continent is like a big stove, even if the high-yield rye is not alive, it is useless.

In contrast, wheat is less demanding on the growth environment. It is adapted to a variety of climates and has naturally become a staple food on the table.

If you don't see the limited supply of chicken, you will know that the Outlet Viscount is a master who doesn't lack food. In fact, more than 99% of the lords on the African continent have encountered the problem of overcapacity of food.

Restricted by the African localization agreement, overseas lords cannot sell food to the European continent to impact food prices, which directly cut everyone's desire to export food.

However, there are only those who starve to death due to food shortages in this world, and there is no food surplus that is supported to death.

The overcapacity of food obviously cannot scare the shrewd aristocracy. In the beginning, everyone cut their grain production capacity and switched to cash crops.

Later, everyone found that the income of cash crops was extremely unstable, with one price last year and one price this year, and the land might be rotten next year. Although the return is high, the ability to resist risks is too weak.

Soon someone thought of a new way. The inability to export grain does not mean that the inability to export meat products. Anyway, it's all about making money, and it's not bad to develop a sideline to share the risk.

Chickens and ducks that have short growth cycles, low breeding thresholds, and can eat bugs are the first choice.

The focus is on "eating insects." People do not like emigrating to Africa. Apart from the unsuitable climate, the biggest problem is that there are so many poisonous insects, which makes people miserable.

Someone found that after raising chickens and ducks in colonies, the caterpillars that were everywhere and often crawled into the house suddenly became scarce.

Of course, this alone is not enough to make everyone determined. It is the "locust plague" that really makes everyone determined to breed chickens and ducks.

Due to the dry climate, many areas of Africa are high-risk areas for locust plagues. There are no pesticides these days, agricultural production is most afraid of "locust plagues", and chickens and ducks can contain locust plagues. With this advantage, they instantly become everyone's favorite.

Due to the mismanagement of some lords, the domestic chickens and ducks were left in the wild, and now they are almost flooded.

The flooding is not entirely without benefits. Not only is there less poisonous insects and the plague of locusts is contained, even epidemic diseases are not as frequent as in the past.

Of course, whether the reason for the decrease in diseases is due to the reduction of virulent insects or the removal of the source of the virus, there are also divergent opinions in the medical field, and there is no accurate answer for the time being.

In fact, not only chickens and ducks are flooded, but cattle, sheep, wild boars, and rabbits are also flooding in some parts of the African continent.

It's not a matter of species invasion, it's mainly because of the vast area and sparse population. In addition, for the safety of the people, the noble lords hunted and killed predators, destroying the ecological chain cycle.

Anything that overflows will cause profits to fall. Seeing the declining livestock industry, some people started the food industry.

Small workshops have emerged. The most common ones are the extraction of vegetable oil, wine, alcohol and jerky, and the higher-end ones are the production of sugar, starch, flavoring and so on.

Today, almost all local supporting grain processing industries have been moved over. The only problem is that the self-sufficient lord economic model restricts the development of these industries.

However, in the eyes of the parties, these are not problems. The evaluation of the "self-sufficient primitive economic model" given by the outside world even expressed deep disdain.

How can I make money if I don't play this way?

Regardless of the proliferation of these small workshops, they are actually forced out. Shenluo occupies more than 85 percent of the land on the African continent, but has a population of less than 160,000. It is conceivable how sparsely populated the land is.

If there are few people, there is no hope that the traffic will be better. Although the Vienna government has also built several railways on the African continent, this is only the main line, and most of the aristocratic territories are not covered.

Railways are impassable and roads are not perfect. The main means of transportation are horse-drawn carts, ox carts, donkey carts, and camels. Automobiles are only available in the first developed areas.

In inland territories like outlets, all large-scale machinery and equipment are first disassembled into parts, and then reassembled after being shipped in.

In this context, if you don't play in small decentralized workshops, is it possible to expect all the food to be processed together?

As for the development of small workshops, it is not too late to consider this issue after the road is clear. Anyway, with the advantage of more land, small workshops will be competitive for a long time in the future.

Looking at the international market, you will know that 30% of meat products in Europe come from Africa. Alcohol accounts for 43% of the market share, and beer production capacity is the largest in the world...

The original restrictions on food exports not only did not restrict the development of the African economy, but instead promoted industrial upgrading.

From raw grain export to small workshop processing, it is also a big progress. Despite the fact that mankind has entered the industrial age for many years, the production mode is still dominated by small workshops.

The economic model of large factories only exists in a few countries. Just "existence", until the advent of the era of great monopoly, a hundred and eighty people's workshop-style factories were the mainstream.

...

The banquet was over in the evening, and I returned to the assigned eight-person dormitory. Because of the lack of language, everyone just said hello and went to sleep.

In order to facilitate management, the dispatched workers are scattered and distributed, and the eight people in the dormitory in front of them come from eight countries.

In this world of "ten miles of different styles, and hundred miles of different customs", even if the same country also has multiple languages, laborers from eight countries are naturally unable to speak the language.

Although I have received language education on the way here, there is really no way to force my talent.

The vast majority of people have only mastered simple everyday language in more than a month of language learning. Some wooden fish bumps have only learned limited words such as "hello", "eat", "sleep", and "work".

It's okay to say hello. If you want to communicate in Austrian language, it is estimated that workers from Switzerland and Belgium can barely do it.

The problem is that you can communicate freely. You can't speak Austrian alone, and you have to be able to communicate with others. Of course, if you can speak other languages ​​at the same time, the question is, if you know a foreign language, will you still fall into an eight-person dormitory?

Who deserves what treatment? In this cruel world, even if it is labor dispatch, it is divided into three, six or nine.

If he is a language genius, he has shown himself as early as when he was learning Austrian. Now he has been promoted, acting as a temporary team leader, and occasionally appearing in translation work.

Although the wages and benefits have not been improved, the accommodation benefits have gone up first. The eight-person dormitory has become a four-person dormitory, which can be considered a small preferential treatment.

Suddenly coming to a strange world, normal people will feel uneasy deep in their hearts. The lively welcome banquet only slightly alleviated the anxiety in everyone's hearts.

Although the Outlet Viscount has been as approachable as possible, the aura brought by being in a high position all the year round still made everyone nervous.

Getting close is even more impossible.

"Jiaolong does not play with fish and shrimp, Kunpeng does not swim with Xuejiu."

The Outlet Viscount can be approachable, but everyone can't be indifferent. Regardless of the large number of recruits, it is assumed that the threshold for admission does not exist.

In fact, those who can come here are those who have been beaten up by society and accept the reality of life. Those who are rebellious and pretentious were rejected early.

As an ordinary person, Yamani, who lives in a room of eight, suffered from insomnia tonight.

Although the Outlet Viscount seems to be very kind, like a benevolent lord; but according to previous workplace experience, the more friendly the leader is, the more fierce the following stewards.

Thinking of all the difficulties he may face in the future, Yamani can hardly sleep. In my mind, I can't help but come up with various scenes of making things difficult, as well as the coping styles that my brain makes up.

There is no way to make money.

The country is experiencing an economic crisis. Now the family has to support themselves, and this relatively well-paid job must be kept.

What's more, it's all here. In this unfamiliar place, even if he wants to leave, Armani doesn't know where to go.

The domestic officials responsible for the export of labor services sent them to the ship bye bye. There is a high probability that there will be no such thing as the so-called joint tracking management by governments of various countries.

From the moment they left the mainland, they became the rootless ping. If you really lose your job, you won't know what to eat next.

...

The next day, the sun was shining and it was a good time to work. Armani, with dark circles under his eyes, naturally joined the labor force.

I want to "rest", no problem. However, according to the contract, when you start to work, you will start calculating your salary.

We must know that nearly two months have passed since our departure in China. Except for the rest of the week after arriving on the African continent, the rest of the time was on the road. Everyone experienced it in boats, trains, cars, and carriages.

Although physically and mentally exhausted, the pressure of life leaves everyone no choice. As a migrant worker, you have to bear all expenses after arriving at your destination, including daily living expenses.

The vast majority of people have empty pockets. If they don't go to work and mix up a work meal, they will soon be hungry.

You don’t need to be urged, one by one gets up early and waits for work arrangements. I'm afraid I'm late and miss a day's work.

Yamani admitted that he didn't love work so much. He got up early and was afraid that being late was only one aspect. More importantly, he was afraid of missing breakfast.

Only those who have been hungry know that three meals a day are valuable, even though it is already in the industrial age, in fact, two-thirds of the world's people cannot be full.

Even in the most economically developed Europe, many people still only have two meals a day. Especially after the outbreak of the economic crisis, starvation is a common phenomenon in the bottom society.

A piece of bread + a glass of milk + an egg + a few pieces of vegetable leaves + jam, is the hearty breakfast of Yamani and others.

In continental Europe, the food that only the middle class can enjoy every day has become an ordinary work meal here.

The territory is severely lacking in labor, and the Outlets Viscount, who could have been mayor, became the mayor sadly.

All food comes from the territory and is self-produced. It is pure natural green food without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Even the seeds are self-retained, and the production mode of wide-spreading and low-harvesting is not high.

In order to buy people's hearts, the Outlet Viscount will naturally not save on food. One of the most important reasons why many European migrant workers choose to stay in Africa is good food.

The effect is very obvious. Seeing everyone's enjoyment expression on their faces, you know that everyone is very satisfied with the breakfast.

At least European capitalists are reluctant to provide ordinary workers with such a rich "free" breakfast.

The job content is very simple. Except for a small number of skilled workers who were taken away, all workers, including Yamani, had the same job: repairing roads and digging ditches.

What's different from the past is that everyone's work here is quantitative.

Every sixteen people are a team, and one team leader is appointed. The management personnel divide the construction section, and the teams decide the construction section by drawing lots. They are all carried out in full view, and it is up to God to bless you or not.

Working hours still follow the oldest "work at sunrise, rest at sunset".

The salary is determined by the completion of the project, and you can do whatever you want if you don't want to get the salary. Personal performance is bad, after more than three-quarters of the team members vote, they can report to the management to apply for kicking out.

The members who were kicked out were grouped separately and again performed poorly-expelled.

Hearing the word "expelled", Yamani chilled. This is the African continent. Once expelled, it is not as simple as unemployment.

Although the territory is severely lacking in labor, once you are expelled from the lord’s mansion, you don’t want to find a job again in the town. As for leaving, you have to make sure you have travel expenses.

Don't even think about making troubles. Even though the town is small, it has all the internal organs.

The Viscount Outlets concurrently held a series of positions including the mayor, judge, police chief, and militia chief. In short, he had the final say on everything in the territory.