Chapter 154: Shipping the "Goods"
"Alright, you can take the people away now!" Mikhail waved his hand and said to Giovanni.
"Sure, brother, be sure to contact me first next time you've got goods." Giovanni shouted back at Mikhail from atop the wagon.
The "goods" Giovanni was transporting were peasants from the Russian Empire after its bankruptcy. Although Alexander II's reforms granted freedom to the serfs, the local nobility had no intention of making unprofitable deals. They used all kinds of methods to squeeze the newly freed peasants as much as possible.
Take land distribution for example. As part of a compromise with the feudal conservative forces, priority was given to ensuring land ownership for landlords and nobles, with additional compensation. The land allocated to freed serfs (for which they had to pay redemption payments) was determined by region. The landlords and nobles kept the fertile land, forests, and pastures for themselves and distributed the most barren land to the serfs.
Even so, given the vast size of Russia, the amount of land that serfs received in terms of area was still considerable. But much of it was worthless. For example, the northern parts of Russia were covered in snow and ice, making crop cultivation nearly impossible, while in southern Central Asia and other areas, serfs were given sandy steppes or saline-alkali wastelands. In the end, peasants ended up redeeming this land—often at three times the market value—only to find themselves stuck with deserts, high-altitude terrain, and other unusable plots.
Besides the land being small (compared to the estates of landlords) and of poor quality, the nobles and landlords deliberately scattered the plots assigned to the peasants during land allocation. This left the peasants with fragmented and widely dispersed fields, many of which were undevelopable.
After emancipation, serfs also lost access to essential production tools such as oxen, horses, and farming implements—all of which were taken back by the landlords.
So, although they technically received land, many serfs found it nearly impossible to develop it. On top of that, they bore heavy debt burdens. The government still needed to maintain its finances, so it continued to impose high taxes on the freed serfs. As a result, many lived even worse lives than they had before emancipation.
Of course, the reforms weren't entirely ineffective—they did produce a class of wealthier peasants. But for the majority, bankruptcy followed. Lands were re-consolidated, and with Russia's high birth rate, there were always people looking to venture out. Many peasants were forced to move to cities for work or to return to toil on the land of local landlords and nobles.
With this surplus population, the Hechingen Consortium naturally saw an opportunity. Immigration from Germany and other regions had slowed, and these surplus Russian laborers were perfect to fill the gap.
What Ernst appreciated most was that female labor from Russia was much cheaper than male labor. To balance East Africa's population structure, there was a concerted effort to encourage intermarriage among different immigrant groups.
East Africa had long worked to increase the proportion of mixed-race families, and the results were promising. Aside from arranging marriages between Chinese male immigrants and purchased white women, white men were also marrying women from Southeast Asia.
Of course, this applied primarily to those people East Africa had obtained through irregular means—people bought with real money or exchanged for slaves. Whether the parties were willing or not was irrelevant; these were arranged marriages, with no choices for either side. Only the East African government had the authority to decide.
Immigrants from Russia belonged to the category of "low human rights immigrants"—people East Africa had purchased. Their social status in East Africa was only slightly higher than those from Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The Hechingen Consortium secured these laborers through financial transactions, working with the local power structure in Russia. They bought male laborers for 25 rubles each and female laborers for 17 rubles.
Russia wasn't just Russians—it also included Poles, Ukrainians, the Baltic States, Belarusians, Central Asians, the Caucasus region, and Finns...
So there were plenty of sources for people. As long as the money was right, getting people wasn't a problem.
That said, the Hechingen Consortium didn't import Slavs into East Africa in large numbers. Instead, they kept it within a manageable scope. When buying anything, impatience is the worst approach—it only drives up the price. So the consortium imported immigrants in small, planned batches, which gave them more bargaining power and saved costs.
At the same time, the consortium's staff in Russia could take their time to carefully select quality laborers.
Ideally, they wanted descendants of traditional Russian serfs with three generations of pure peasant background. These people were uneducated, had nothing but physical strength, and were easy to assimilate.
…
Saint Petersburg.
This was the main transfer port for Russian emigrants heading to East Africa. Other Eastern European regions under Russian control—like Poland—had their own ports.
Giovanni brought the purchased laborers to Saint Petersburg for shipment.
"Giovanni, you brought the most people this time. Teach a brother your secrets!" Maxim asked.
Giovanni didn't say anything; he simply held up three fingers. Maxim immediately understood—it was their usual code—but still looked troubled. "Brother, three meals is too much. Two at most."
"This is hard-earned knowledge—three meals is a bargain! If not, go find someone else," Giovanni replied.
"Alright, but you better not be fooling me!"
With no other choice, Maxim agreed to Giovanni's terms.
Giovanni, not stingy, began sharing his knowledge. "If you want to find 'goods,' you've got to get out to the countryside more. Don't just sit around the office. Spend time getting to know the local nobles and landlords. Build good relationships with them, and you won't have to worry about finding people.
"Don't just look in the cities. Sure, there are unemployed peasants looking for work in the city, but once they're here, they've already found their own connections—relatives or friends—and anyone who's taken the initiative to come to the city is probably sharp and not so easy to trick.
"Trying to con people in the city doesn't work. But in the countryside, it's a different story. The nobles and landlords are much more persuasive than us when talking to the villagers.
"And many villagers are in debt. Their fate lies in the hands of the local nobles and landlords. Plus, rural folks have big families—lots of sons, not enough food—some of them have to leave and try their luck elsewhere.
"So when we head out to the villages, we can pretty much always bring back a good number of people. Sure, dealing with landlords and nobles costs more, but it saves trouble..."
Giovanni wasn't worried that Maxim would use his tricks because they were in charge of different regions and weren't in direct competition.
Giovanni managed the area around Moscow, while Maxim operated near Saint Petersburg. There were also others in charge of Poland, Ukraine, the Caucasus...
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