Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1197 People's Livelihood ([-])

On April 1659, 4, a two-masted cod fishing boat slowly sailed into the port of the mall.After Zhu Chengdong and Zamparini greeted the boat boss, they went down to the pier together and found a tavern for a drink.

The wine is Madeira liqueur imported from Portugal—in Mall County, where Catholic immigrants gather, any food from the Old World can sell well, such as Madeira liqueur, Italian cheese, etc.— —The food is grilled steak, seafood soup and white bread, typical mall port characteristics, very good.

"Uncle Zan, can you believe that all the seafood here is imported from Haijiao Port." Zhu Chengdong cut the steaks one by one Then he picked up a piece with the tip of a knife, stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it. After eating, he took another sip of the seafood soup next to him.

Zamparini is not the first time to visit this restaurant named "Grape Tavern", nor is it the first time to eat the steak here. He thinks the reason why the steak here tastes "weird" is probably because the chef is A Buryat Mongol - he's such a poor cook that he spoils good veal de la Plata almost every day, it's unbearable.

"The vast upper water system of the Rio de la Plata carries a huge amount of nutrients and breeds plump cod in La Plata, but the people here only know how to do business and are unwilling to go fishing. It's ridiculous." Zhu Chengdong said again.

On the way here, they also saw that the upper reaches of the Rio de la Plata (that is, the channel from the river source to the port of the mall) are full of fresh water, which is light brown in color and has a white band consistent with the waterway.A large amount of suspended sediment makes the river very turbid (mostly from upstream tributaries, such as the Bermejo River, etc.), which is extremely nutritious, and a large number of fish and shrimp live in it. There are a considerable number of fishermen in Cape Port and Rocha Port. Came here to fish - the cod fishing boat that Zhu Chengdong took caught a lot of smooth fish on the way, which made the fishermen smile.

"The commercial atmosphere here is too strong. Spanish merchants from La Plata, Paraguay and even Chalkas all come here for trade. The local residents can live well only by business and some planting. Then there are Who wants to go out to sea to fish? This is a very clear thing!" Zamparini took a sip of Madeira and said, "Besides, the Spaniards are very lazy. Their atmosphere is very bad and they despise everything. An industry that requires hard work. At this point, whether it is the Spaniards on the south bank of the Rio de la Plata or the north bank (that is, the Hispanic nationals on the east bank), it is a virtue. You see, since the reopening of the Port of Mall Afterwards, a lot of farms in Buenos Aires were closed, because the Spaniards began to import flour directly from us, and the beef was exchanged for flour, what a good business, who would work so hard to cultivate wasteland!"

"That's right." Zhu Chengdong nodded upon hearing this.As a businessman, he is also very aware that more and more Spaniards are now coming to the Mall Port for trade (sometimes some Portuguese will also pretend to come to trade), which has led to the strange atmosphere of the Mall Port, that is, it is a place that emphasizes business and despises business. It is a region with a strong Catholic atmosphere (a large number of Hispanics, Italians and Lithuanians), and it has almost become a "land of aliens" - as evidenced by the long queue of worshipers in front of the San Jose Cathedral .

Of course, the East Coast government also noticed this unsightly situation, so they began to migrate a large number of new immigrants to settle in Shangcheng County two or three years ago, which naturally caused the local population to surge, and it has reached more than 5000 people so far. huge.The cod fishing boat that Zhu Chengdong and the others were on this time pulled two hundred immigrants from the Ming Dynasty. They will disembark at Shangcheng Port, and then enter the bank of the Yewu River for reclamation and planting, which will change the population ratio of the county along the way.

In addition to immigration, Taoism, the state religion on the east bank, has also begun to carry out multiple actions in Shangcheng County, striving to "purify" the entire county.But so far, although the county has built many Taoist temples, Chenghuang Temples and so on (even a Taoist hospital), it has still not been able to win many Catholics to convert, which surprised the officials of the Religious Affairs Office.You must know that in recent years, as the Taoist church has spent a lot of energy on researching medicine, promoting health and epidemic prevention knowledge, and at the same time providing a large number of "church daughters" to domestic bachelors, the Taoist church has an excellent reputation in all counties and townships. It has gradually integrated into the daily life of many citizens, but in a place like Shangcheng County, their efforts are actually greatly restricted, which is really strange!How come these stubborn Latin savages are harder to convert than those Ganishari soldiers?

However, these are actually trivial matters. Today, the mileage of the Southwest Railway has reached 364 kilometers. Except that the distance has not yet been opened to traffic, the rest has been repaired - in Guangling County (which has just been established and has jurisdiction over Guangling Town, Dahua Township, Xiping Township, Dalong Township, and Dade Township), the economy of Shangcheng County has become more and more integrated with the hinterland. , totaling 9000 people), Minghe County (nearly 5000 people), Taoyuan County (nearly 5000 people) and other places were connected together; when the residents of Shangcheng County communicated more and more frequently with the outside world, this The region will eventually be assimilated by the dominant East Coast people and completely lose its cultural identity.

Zhu Chengdong and Zamparini stayed in the mall port for more than a day. After buying all kinds of supplies, on April 4, the cod fishing boat slowly left the calm freshwater sea - La Plata River—then headed south to Yancheng Port, and finally arrived at the busy Yancheng Port pier on the afternoon of May 26.

After so many years of development, Yancheng Port has grown in size, and the number of residents has reached more than 50.With a population of this size, it will naturally not be confined to the so-called "one-shot" near Yancheng Port.Today, at the end of the [-]s, when cross-border reclamation became common practice, Hailing Township (located near Port Belgrano, Argentina later) and Shoutian Township (located near Major Bratovic’s village) were successively established, marking the people on the east coast’s recognition of Burrato. The invasion of this later famous wheat and cattle and sheep production area along the coast of Lanka Bay has taken a substantial step.I believe that as more and more people from the east bank immigrate to this place in the future, this place will be completely reduced to the territory of the people on the east coast just like the river area - not to mention that there are still an astonishing number of salt deserts and huge fishing grounds here With such capital, it is no wonder that the Government Administration Council is planning to establish Yancheng County (which governs the four townships of Yancheng, Yanshan, Hailing, and Shoutian, and the government is located in Yancheng). It is indeed a well-developed family.

After Zhu Chengdong went ashore, they first went to the bank to process the remittance, and then waited for the opening of the auction a week later with peace of mind.However, since we have come to Yancheng Port, we must taste the famous local three-toed ostrich!

Next to the bank is a restaurant that sells three-toed ostriches. There is boiling water on the stove outside the restaurant. Next to the stove is a small enclosure with many ostriches in it.These poor ostriches are now facing a cruel choice by their masters. In this choice, some of them can continue to live fortunately, while others can only be bled, plucked, and disemboweled. The grill adds a few aromas to people's lives.

"My old mother in the country loved to set up the huge dining table under the grape arbor, then carefully arrange the wine glasses symmetrically or pick the fresh flowers, when the lemons were smelling and the embroidered napkins were like a welcome banner. "The young man who killed the ostriches for Zhu Chengdong and Zamparini (it seems to be a mixed race) skinned the ostrich skillfully, and said in a rambling manner: "After that, she will stand in front of the door and wait eagerly for us brothers and sisters She is a down-and-out Basque noble descendant, she was well-bred and taught us a lot of principles of life. She likes to say 'anayaenea' in Basque, which means a place where brothers and sisters meet. She said this It’s a magic word, and every time we go home, we will taste an ostrich meal made by our mother..."

"It's a pity that my mother passed away due to illness the year before last, and I can no longer enjoy the delicious food made by my mother under the grape arbor..." Speaking of this, the young man wiped the corners of his eyes with his sleeve.

Seeing this, several workers of similar age laughed and joked: "Hey, I'm still emotional." Several people barked for a while, and after throwing them a contemptuous look, they wagged their tails and retreated to the master again.

Zamparini sighed and didn't say anything else, but decided in his heart to tip the young man an extra [-] cents after the meal.In today's world, everyone is running around for a living. The young man lives in the countryside uncomfortably, but goes to the city to work. No matter what the reason is, this is not an easy task.

After eating the delicious grilled ostrich, ostrich eggs and soft fish feast, Zhu Chengdong and Zamparini started wandering around the city until May 5, when the auction started.

The spoils auction organized by the navy was not as grand as in the past (but not too small), but Zhu Chengdong and Zamparini still managed to successfully bid for a small boat of less than 200 tons. A lot, so it only cost more than 800 yuan, which is extremely cheap.

After photographing the small boat, the two planned to take the seven sailors recruited in advance to drive it back to Luocha Port for refitting, which may take nearly two months.In other words, after more than two months, the first fishing boat of Chengxin Fishery Company will be ready to go fishing, and they will take the first step of transforming into an industry!

(End of this chapter)