About an hour and a half later, the train finally arrived at the final stop, Shiroku Iron Mine. ↗ ↗ ↗ ↗ Although it is not open to the public and the flow of people is relatively limited, the platform of this railway station is really not small, similar to the railway station in Changhua Port, and there is also a special platform for loading and unloading dry bulk cargo. After the initial crushing and beneficiation process, the iron ore mined from the nearby pit is transported here by a smaller rail car, which is then loaded into a freight wagon by belt conveyor.

The people on this side of the passenger car have not finished getting off, and they have already begun to hurry up and load the goods later. Although the merchants in the visiting group had seen a similar scene when they disembarked at Changhua Port, they still had a strong interest in this efficient way of loading. Most of these businessmen who can come to Qiongzhou Island to buy property and invest are people with more active brains and high acceptance of new things, and they can naturally see how much help such equipment will play in improving the efficiency of material transfer. The one who moved quickly had already found Gu Kai and began to inquire whether these belt conveyors were for sale and what the price was.

However, some discerning people have noticed that the security measures at this railway station are much stricter than those in Changhua Port and Changhua County, and there are dozens of militia soldiers in gray clothes standing guard on the platform alone. Those who don't know may think that this is a temporary security measure for the arrival of the visiting group, but in fact, this scene is actually the norm in the Shilu mining area, because the vast majority of the labor force working in the mining area is from the Haihan Forced Labor Camp.

Since the implementation of the Shilu project, the location of the forced labor camp has been changed from Sanya to this side. According to incomplete statistics, during the construction of the Changhua-Shilu railway alone, more than 1,000 prisoners died on the road construction site one after another. After the Shiroku Iron Mine was put into operation, these prisoners were successively transferred to the mine and continued to be driven to perform heavy labor.

At present, there are still more than 4,000 prisoners working in the Shilu mining area, which is the area with the highest concentration of prisoners in the area under the rule of Haihan. As a supporting security measure, it is naturally stricter than in other places. Although only two companies were stationed here, the army was strengthened according to the strength of the company, with a total strength of nearly 500 troops. In addition, there are two squadrons of nearly 300 police officers in charge of the prison area, not including the armed forces stationed in Changhua.

Lingao, Chengmai, Ding'an and other places that are also county-level units are currently stationed for a long time and only maintain one or two companies of arms, and the scale of the garrison on the side of Changhua Hualu is already comparable to that of Danzhou, and most of them are concentrated on the Shilu side, so the defense strength here is indeed significantly higher than that of other places.

And this is also one of the few points that can be boasted about locally, and Qiao Zhiya lost no time in introducing it to the visiting group: "...... Compared with the past, when all the prisoners were concentrated in Yacheng Prison and the money of the imperial court was used to support these prisoners, we can now make better use of these laborers, allowing them to work in the mining area, reforming their minds and creating wealth at the same time. The living and production facilities here, including the camp nearby, were basically built by the prisoners under our command. ”

The purpose of bringing the delegation to Shilu is threefold, one is to let the group see the railway line from Changhua to Shirok, the second is to let them witness the current scale of iron ore mining in Haihan, so that they can have more confidence in the future development of Haihan, and the third is to show them how Haihan manages prisoners and uses them as labor.

"Everyone, please see, there is the No. 1 pit of the Shilu Iron Mine in front of you!" Qiao Zhiya stopped the topic and turned to introduce the production site.

The shallow veins of the Shiroku Iron Mine are convenient for open-pit mining, so the mining method here is the same as that of the Tiandu Iron Mine and the Black Tugang Coal Mine, and the huge pit is like a funnel, cascading underground. At the bottom of the pit are a dense crowd of miners, using various mining tools to crush the ore, load it into trucks, and then a steam-powered winch pulls the ore bodies up the tracks laid on the pit walls and then transfers them to another track leading to the railway station.

Qiao Zhiya continued: "More than 2,000 miners work here every day, and after completing the required mining tasks, they can receive corresponding personal points, and this point is used to help them obtain basic living conditions and reduce their sentences. ”

One visitor asked, "It seems that these prisoners are not all Han Chinese, can Director Qiao tell me where they came from?"

Qiao Zhiya nodded and responded, "Of course you can." Some of these prisoners are from large prisons across Qiongzhou, and most of the prisoners sentenced to prison by the local government on the island are sent here to serve their sentences. In addition, there are a considerable number of prisoners who are prisoners of war captured by our Haihan militia in various places, which is more complicated, in addition to the Han people, there are also mountain people of the Annamite people, Li Miao and other ethnic groups, Japanese Japanese Japanese people, Nanyang natives, blacks, red-haired people, and so on. ”

"I heard that Haihan and Li and Miao get along very well, how can there be prisoners of war?" someone in the crowd asked.

Qiao Zhiya said: "We will not take the initiative to wage war against the Li and Miao cottages, more often we will provide job opportunities and all kinds of materials they need, and teach them how to grow some high-value crops in the mountains to trade with us, most of the Li and Miao cottages are still willing to get along with us friendly." However, this does not completely rule out the fact that individual regions are still hostile to us, unwilling to accept our help, and even take hostile actions against us. It may take some time to bridge these barriers. ”

"Will the situation mentioned by Director Qiao affect the sericulture area of the Ministry of Commerce in Qiongzhong?" someone asked worriedly.

As we all know, silk is one of the high-profit products exported overseas, but because of the climatic and geographical conditions, there are not many areas suitable for sericulture on Hainan Island. At present, Haihan has several cooperative villages in the Qiongzhong area, and has made some progress, and the next step is to invest more resources to gradually promote it in the Qiongzhong area and form a large-scale industry.

However, the Qiongzhong area is no longer a Han ruled area in the traditional sense, and it is basically within the strength range of the Li and Miao ethnic groups, even if it is as strong as the Haihan people, it is difficult to directly intervene in the local area. Of course, this is not because the military strength of Haihan is insufficient, but because the Qiongzhong region is a mountainous area, and the communication with the outside world is very inconvenient, and it is actually quite difficult to take military action in the local area. In consideration of practical problems such as supplies, communications, and medical treatment, the military has not spared any energy to clean up the undisciplined cottages in the vast mountainous area of Qiongzhong.

Geographically speaking, if the mountainous terrain is used as the difference between the coastal zone and the Qiongzhong mountainous area, then Shilu is actually quite close to the uncivilized area. Although the Shilu iron ore mine project has been going on for more than two years from the beginning, until now, Baishatong, a major Li settlement about 80 miles away from Shilu, has not established a relatively normal relationship with Haihan.

After Shizitong, who used to settle here, completely moved out of Shilu, there is no Limiao cottage within ten miles around the Shilu mining area. Since there are no ethnic disputes in this area, he will not find trouble for himself, and take the initiative to contact those mountain people who live in the mountains and do not want to interact with Haihan.

Qiao Zhiya responded: "Everyone, please rest assured, the world is big, the business is the biggest, if there is any force that affects our business, then I'm sorry, such behavior will be regarded as the enemy of Haihan." I think you all know that our attitude towards the enemy is uncompromising. Whoever makes us unhappy, then we have to be prepared for our own unhappiness!"

As soon as Qiao Zhiya said this, some people at the scene applauded. In fact, it is no wonder that Haihan's short-term armed force is indeed difficult to see elsewhere. Not to mention the government, when the displaced people in Guangdong rioted a few years ago, the officials and soldiers often turned a blind eye to local calls for help, and it was at that time that the Haihan militia became famous in Lijiazhuang. And other private armed forces cannot have the strength of Haihan, if one is wrong, they will mobilize a fleet to fight across the sea, and even such a far place in Fujian dares to send troops to fight in the past.

However, the merchants also knew that the Haihan militia would not do those things that blackmailed the local and bullied others, and their dispatch was almost always to protect their own interests, even if they accepted the invitation of Annan or Daming to send troops, they were actually fighting for the Haihan themselves. As long as they stand on the same front as Haihan, the industries of these businessmen can often be protected by the Haihan militia, so for Qiao Zhiya's statement, these people not only feel disgusted, but are very supportive, because no one knows when they will need assistance when they are in trouble, and Haihan's commitment to this aspect is the most reliable.

It took a lot of time on the way to Ishiraku, so after visiting the No. 1 pit, it was already time for lunch. And Qiao Zhiya also arranged a luncheon in advance, and yesterday he specially sent more than a dozen people up the mountain to hunt a lot of mountain delicacies and game, and today he will make it for these guests to enjoy. Although the conditions here are not as good as those in a place like Sanya, Qiao Zhiya has long ordered to go down, and the seasoning and spices will be put hard, and these people will eat a taste, as long as the taste is important, they will naturally feel that they have received enough preferential treatment. Of course, this kind of occasion is also indispensable to Haihan's specialty Sanya rum, when a few glasses of wine are over, the guests will not care so much about the dining environment.

After lunch, rest for an hour or two, and then take the guests around the No. 2 pit to take a look around, and the expedition is basically complete. Before dark, the group can be allowed to take the train back to Changhua, after all, the garrison here is either a military camp or a prison restricted area, and it is not suitable for these merchants to stay overnight.

There is indeed nothing wrong with Qiao Zhiya's plan, but the change often comes when it seems to be a qiēshun lì. During the lunch at the site headquarters, as soon as Qiao Zhiya finished speaking, someone came to report to him the news: the No. 1 pit counted the number of people during lunch and found that more than 30 people were missing.

In order to ensure work efficiency, the mine will not completely stop work during the meal, but will eat in batches. The miners do not have to go out of the pit, and the logistics department will deliver their lunches to the various working faces with coal trucks, and then the foremen will distribute them to the miners on a per capita basis, and by the way, the number of people will be counted. Generally speaking, it is normal for the number of people to be counted with a single-digit error, because it is inevitable that someone will not be there when the number of people is counted, such as going to a latrine or something. But if the error is in the double digits, the caretaker in charge of safety at the mine has to report the situation immediately so that appropriate measures can be taken. And today it happened that Qiao Zhiya was working here, so this situation was naturally reported to him quickly.

After hearing this, Qiao Zhiya just calmly ordered: "I know, go according to the prescribed procedures, if there is new news, come and report to me in time!"

Since most of the miners are prisoners, the safety regulations in the mine are relatively strict, and if they find that the team is missing, they will immediately stop the work of the team and gather at a designated place outside the pit to be questioned by the guards. Generally speaking, as long as you don't run away, you can quickly find the missing person, at most it is a warning, and if you are strict, you will deduct your personal labor points. However, if the guards are unable to determine the whereabouts of the missing person through inquiries and searches, they will be classified as fugitives and the treatment will be changed.

Even if the fugitives escaped from the mines, it was impossible for them to leave Shilu by train, and the dozens of miles from Shilu to Changhua were almost always in a primitive environment, and it would take a considerable amount of time for the prisoners to escape to a populated place without carrying any food or tools. And even if they fled to Changhua, it would be difficult for the fugitives to hide their identities due to the local conditions, after all, they had no other clothes besides standard prison uniforms.

Of course, there is another way out, and that is to escape into the mountains. However, the possibility of survival is less than fleeing to the sea, because the inland mountains are the territory of the Li and Miao tribes, and as an alien outsider, fleeing to those places may die faster. As a result, it is rare for a fugitive to be pursued unless it is clearly known that the route or direction of his escape.