Chapter 1283 The terrible climate
This is just like after the living standard in the previous life improved, people's desires will also increase accordingly. For example, for a person who has a lot of fish and meat every day, what he will most recall is the food he ate when he was living in poverty.
Kumoyev had faced material shortages during the war in Ukraine before, and also experienced a difficult life in the Basra refugee camp. It was experiencing these difficulties that made him cherish his current life even more.
…
the next day.
Betzdorf appeared in the classroom on time and said: "Today, we will start our first practical class. Everyone will follow me in order of numbers."
There are more than sixty people in the class led by Betzdorf, and Kumoev and Lebulya are also in this class.
Later, under the leadership of Betzdorf, the whole class came to the warehouse of the study camp.
"Everyone gets an axe, a hatchet, and you two bring this whetstone." Kumoev and Rebulia were chosen to be the ones carrying the whetstone.
The weight of a whetstone is not small. From the appearance, it is estimated to be equivalent to the size of three or four red bricks, and the density of the whetstone is much higher. At the same time, they also carry axes and machetes.
However, in the face of Betzdorf's assignment, Kumoev and Lebrya did not dare to stab themselves, and could only admit that they were unlucky.
Afterwards, Betzdorf led a group of people to the forest area next to the learning camp. The group walked nearly two kilometers before arriving.
In fact, the study camp was originally built on the edge of the forest area. However, as the area of Davao City expanded, the surrounding forest area decreased, which resulted in this result.
"You obviously know what we are going to do today! That's right, logging. Logging is the most basic job in Mindanao."
"You should also have a preliminary understanding of Mindanao's environment, that is, there are many rainforests, and the forest coverage rate here can be said to be more than 90%."
"And the land we need is obtained from this huge rain forest, and the trees and rain forests in Southeast Asia are completely different from the forests you see in Europe."
“In addition to logging, we must also pay attention to threats such as venomous snakes and venomous insects. Many people in Mindanao have lost their lives due to bites from venomous snakes or venomous insects. Therefore, you must pay special attention when logging, and first use wooden sticks to remove possible threats in the surrounding area. Drive away and beware of threats in the trees.”
"There may be venomous snakes entrenched in the trees, and their colors are difficult to detect. It is difficult to find them hiding on leaves and branches, so you should pay attention next."
"At the same time, I also ask each of you to master the maintenance of tools. The axes and hatchets here are public items and cannot be lost. At the same time, the blades must be kept sharp..."
Betzdorf talked freely and personally demonstrated how to properly maintain tools, how to deal with trees and vegetation in the rainforest, and how to avoid dangerous creatures such as various venomous snakes, lizards, and even crocodiles, etc. .
Afterwards, they began to lead the team to "learn" logging work, which was actually equivalent to using their labor force for free. It was through such "learning" of batches of students that the area of Davao City continued to expand.
As Bettsdorf said, the entire available land in Mindanao is obtained from the rainforest. In Mindanao, any village or town must first clear an open space and then expand day by day.
Machinery is not easy to use here, and cultivated land and open space can only be continuously expanded manually.
After all, the rainforest is complex, with dense vegetation and lots of water, making it unsuitable for tractors and other large machinery to operate here.
Of course, if you want to speed up the development of overseas colonies, there is a shortcut, and that is to solve the population problem, which is not limited to introducing immigrants, increasing the local fertility rate, etc.
And this is what troubles East Africa the most. It has now passed the best stage of getting immigrants, especially European immigrants. The First World War provided East Africa with a short window period, which was the main reason why East Africa resorted to unscrupulous means to introduce war refugees from Europe.
Even so, the demand for white immigrants in East Africa is still a drop in the bucket compared to the current immigration rate.
Kumoyev and Lebulya naturally chose to act together. The two of them took axes and chopped down two relatively close trees.
Lebulia said: "Many of the trees here have strange shapes. The trunks are bare and the leaves are extremely large. This leaf can be used as a mat."
"I saw some houses here with roofs made of these leaves, which can probably be used to prevent rain."
Kumoyev said: "This is the so-called rain forest. It's really hard to believe that it has not been developed for so many years. I heard that East Africans only took it over later."
"I can't believe how backward the indigenous civilization was before the arrival of the East Africans. I have always heard that Russia is a relatively backward country in Europe, far inferior to Britain, France and Germany. But when I got here, I feel that the indigenous people here are definitely better than us. It’s even worse to imagine.”
"It's no wonder that European countries can grab so much land overseas at will."
Kumoyev does not believe that the rainforest here cannot be developed. The indigenous people here have lived for thousands of years without any civilization development. He cannot imagine how desolate Davao used to be.
Lebulia said: "Faced with such a huge rainforest, it is estimated that only the state can develop it on a large scale. This requires strong organizational capabilities. Obviously this is the difference between us and the indigenous people."
"I heard that many places outside of Europe did not have countries, but small tribes. This was also the case in East Africa."
"Although those primitive people are also developing, the speed is very slow. I didn't understand it before, but now I see this huge rain forest. If there are few people, it is really difficult to develop it. I heard that tropical vegetation grows very fast. "Without a certain population, the rate of deforestation may not be as fast as the rate of vegetation regeneration."
"As for tools, the tools of East Africans are of good quality, but without efficient tools, it would be even more difficult to develop this kind of natural rainforest, and many indigenous people don't even know metallurgy."
"Coupled with the bad weather, it's very hot and it rains easily. I'm already soaked to the skin now. I used to hate the cold in winter in Russia, but now I miss that kind of weather."
"After all, when the weather is cold, you can keep yourself warm by working, but here, the harder you work, the more you sweat. It's like a small waterfall and makes your whole body uncomfortable."
Bad weather is indeed one of the difficulties in the development of Nanyang. It was definitely not so difficult to develop in East Africa. After all, it does not rain at any time in East Africa and the temperature is relatively comfortable.
In Mindanao, it rains almost every once in a while. While it rains, the temperature does not drop at all, just like a big steamer.
Not to mention that there are a lot of mosquitoes, dirt, plant leaves, and fluff here. For various reasons, it gets on the body, making it hot, itchy, and very uncomfortable.
For the Slavs living in Ukraine, whose climate tends to be cold for a long time, the climate in Mindanao is simply life-threatening.
Visible sweat flowed down their clothes and into the ground. After a while, everyone's mental state seemed very depressed, and they were feebly holding axes and hatchets to chop.
Betzdorf had already expected this, and he did not rush it. After all, this group of Slavs had just arrived here not long ago, and if they really did too much work, there might be big problems.
It won't be too late to consider these issues after they arrive at the distribution area, and by then this group of people will no longer be under their control.
Of course, not all Slavs are treated this way. For example, female Slavs are still very popular in places like Mindanao where bachelors are everywhere.
(End of chapter)