Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1178 Agricultural Investigation

On September 1658, 9, after finishing dealing with the food distribution issues in six townships including Banqiao Township, Chen Ke sent two entourages back to the company headquarters in the capital to deal with business, and then took the rest of the entourages and a group of newly arrived Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, escorted by dozens of police officers, headed for Houying Township along the forest clearing.

On October 10th, everyone arrived at Houying Township, where there is currently only one wooden outpost, without any danger. After receiving some water and supplies from the defenders on the spot, everyone turned west and north again, along the route of Shengma The Lia River-Ibikuy River system arrived at the Uruguay River after more than ten days of hard work.

After arriving here, everyone was really tired and hungry, but there was no way, the final destination had not yet been reached, so everyone rowed across the Wujiang River in the boat they carried, and arrived at a simple pier on the opposite bank.Here is a market town formed by the spontaneous gathering of border crossers on the east coast, named Xiaolou Township (located near the later Yapeyu Township), named after a striking three-story wooden building in the center of the town.There are about 700 people in the township, most of whom are second-generation domestic residents. They grow rice and wheat on a piece of dry land near the river, and also graze cattle.The Spaniards pretended not to know their existence, and the Indians knew their existence but had nothing to do, so they could only sit back and watch them take root step by step.

"This western corridor is indeed a convenient path leading directly to the Hejian area, but there is little development and the road is difficult and dangerous." When everyone found a Datongpu hotel, they sat on the dry straw and ate roasted Daqu in the river. When Quan Yang was in full swing, Chen Ke couldn't help expressing emotion.To be honest, he now regrets taking on the task given by the above. After all, whether it is in the ministry or in the company (the National Grain Reserve is a state-owned enterprise at the deputy ministerial level under the Ministry of Agriculture), there are many people who are qualified for this task Yes, why bother to wade into this muddy water.

But the matter has come to an end, it is useless to regret it, and then I will seriously inspect the grain production conditions on the northern highlands with the people from the Ministry of Agriculture, and try to do things beautifully, which will be a qualification in the future .You know, Ma Wenqiang is only one year older than himself, and now he is the deputy county magistrate of Hai'an County, and he has actually presided over the development of several new settlements. There is a possibility of going further in a few years; look at yourself, just last year As a deputy department-level researcher of the Ministry of Agriculture, he was promoted to any small section chief of the State Reserve Grain Depot of a subordinate enterprise. This career was indeed firmly suppressed by Ma Wenqiang. Thinking about it, Chen Ke felt old and unhappy.

"Building a railway or canal from the Jiaohe area to the west is the only suitable way, but this kind of traffic artery designed to communicate with the Hejian area is probably not easy to approve the project?" Someone spoke with a big tongue, "This railway spans More than [-] kilometers, the terrain environment is complex, and there are no people along the way, in the eyes of the executive committee, it is probably the last in the construction order..."

"The way out of the Hejian area lies in the Wujiang River and the Parana River. There is no other way." An elderly police officer pulled a leg of lamb and said while chewing: "The five counties in the lower reaches of the Wujiang River and the Rio de la Plata The two counties along the coast are the most important economic and trade contacts in the Hejian area. Others are too far away and too unrealistic! The matter of the western corridor has not been mentioned before, but it has been rejected because it is not important. project, that’s pretty self-explanatory.”

Everyone sighed for a while when they heard the words, and they all felt that this western channel should be completely opened up. It is estimated that several counties will be developed in the Jiaohe area, with a population of more than 100, and the industry and agriculture will start to improve. It is more than [-] million, so the railways and canals of the Western Corridor are really not things that everyone should consider now.

After a group of dozens of people rested in Xiaolou Township for two days, on October 10, they took a small river steamer that had been waiting here for many days, and went to Liushuwan Township (located in Asa Township), less than 20 kilometers upstream. To the south of La Xiaocheng, on the west bank of the Wujiang River, there is a material transfer terminal) to go ashore.It is indeed much more convenient to go up the Shuo River by boat than to walk on two legs. The 200-kilometer voyage will arrive in just two days. No, with the sound of the arrival whistle, Liushuwan Wharf has already arrived.

After disembarking from Willow Bay, a Bingtuanbao cadre stationed here carefully checked the letters of introduction and official documents of Chen Ke and others, and took everyone to the field on the outskirts of the town to see it without any nonsense.Chen Ke was amazed by the enthusiasm of the cadres here, but with a hungry stomach, he rode to the suburbs with the local cadres.

"The Basalt Plateau (the Misiones Plateau, so named because it is covered with a large amount of basalt) is covered with a layer of basalt produced by large-scale volcanic activity. The outcropping of this basalt caused the riverbed to fold and form waterfalls, For example, the Iguazu Falls in the upper reaches and the Daxing Waterfalls in the lower reaches are examples. In these places, hard rocks are often seen isolated on the surface. For this kind of landform, because the soil is mostly weathered basalt, it is not as good as ours. This piece of land." The hairless Bingtuanbao cadre talked so eloquently that everyone thought he was an expert from the Ministry of Geology (in fact, he had studied geology courses), and only heard him say: "The land under our feet , is a wavy plain formed by the denudation of the ground by the river and its tributaries. Well, it is on the same base level as the Parana River and the Wujiang River, and extends to the Aguape River in the Corrientes Plain in the south. The locals call it Apo The Stoles Plain, of course we call it the Xinji Plain.”

"Some places on the plateau have cold feet, but our side is generally warmer." The young student cadre jumped off his horse skillfully, pointed to the endless soybean fields in front of him, and said, "There is no obvious dry season here, and the precipitation is common throughout the year. At around 1300 mm, the frost period is very short, the sunshine intensity is very high, and the average temperature in the coldest July is rarely lower than 7 degrees (meaning that the lowest temperature in winter is basically above zero), only when the cold air suddenly erupts in Antarctica (the probability is very high) In years when the minimum temperature may drop to zero, there is nothing special about winter. All in all, this is a land that is very suitable for agricultural planting, especially for rice and other crops. Well, if you really want to compare it with the Ming Dynasty The climate in the southern part of the south of the Yangtze River is somewhat similar, but there are also subtle differences. Our theory is that it is a temperate zone, but because it is in the transition zone from the subtropical zone to the temperate zone, it is relatively warm and lacks some characteristics of temperate zone winter. It has unique agricultural conditions."

With the continuous introduction of the student cadres, everyone who inspected nodded frequently, feeling that the conditions here are really good.Especially after they focused on the hydrological conditions of several nearby rivers, and reviewed the meteorological data and agricultural data recorded for more than a year, they became more confident in this wavy plain, because the conditions here are indeed quite good , now perhaps there is only one last question left——

"If we relocate a large number of citizens here for reclamation and build water conservancy facilities, logging camps, wharves, roads, and grain storage, will there be any risks? I mean political and military risks, nothing else." In the introduction report After a while, Chen Ke asked suddenly.

The cadet cadres were stunned when they heard the words, and then they said with a smile on their faces: "The superiors decided to invest more in this place? That's a great thing! When Section Chief Chen mentioned political and military risks, did he mean the natives or the Spaniards?" ?”

"All." Chen Ke said, "Besides, most of the natives here are under the jurisdiction of the Spaniards. There are parishes everywhere, and there are many missionaries. Are the Spaniards not in a hurry when we wantonly encroach on the land of the parishes?"

"Hurry? What's the use of being anxious! Do it if you have the ability!" The cadet cadre said with a little disdain, "I heard from some students that the English are also wantonly encroaching on the Spanish missionary areas in North America. How can the Spaniards stop it?" Are they dead? No! We are the same here. You officers may not know that the Spaniards have withdrawn the only mestizo regiment in the river area a few days ago, because of the outbreak in the core area of ​​​​their rule. The Kelandi people rioted, and the new judge of the Buenos Aires Prosecution Court also wanted to strengthen the defense of Putrajaya, so the outlying territory of Hejian was naturally given up in fact. Oh, yes, After the Mestizo regiment withdrew, the nearby Spaniards became less honest, and the Spanish officials who came here and there to stop us from crossing the border also disappeared, as if they had never been here before, haha, What a joy! I said, officers, just take advantage of this good opportunity to send a large number of immigrants here first, and occupy the land to make it a fait accompli. Anyway, the native land is there, and you can’t escape it. It will be developed later. It's not too late, swallow the land in the river first."

"Let's talk about this later, the central government will consider this issue." Chen Ke and everyone looked at each other and smiled without saying anything.However, as he said just now, the central government is indeed considering this issue now. The industrial and agricultural potential in the Hejian area is huge, and the transportation is relatively convenient. It is indeed possible to organize a large number of immigrants while the Spanish are weak and have no time to take care He Tun reclamation and enclosure, anyway, can't it be used in the name of investment and development now.If the top and bottom officials in the La Plata colony are all arranged, it is estimated that the Spaniards will turn a blind eye and close their eyes, pretending that they have not seen it, what a big deal!

And once the cross-border reclamation has become a reality, and the people on the east coast can't be driven away, considering the bad international situation and poor financial situation of the Kingdom of Spain, at this time the two sides can sit down and discuss the ownership of the Hejian area—— Isn't it just money? What can be solved with money?

(End of this chapter)