Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1223 Opening the Road to the West

"When will this road to the west be truly opened!" Chen Ke, who has officially moved his office to Xiaolou Township, said with a sigh: "If the Jiaohe area can speed up the progress of land reclamation, we don't have to do so in the Hejian area." Thank you for your hard work."

Today (October 1659, 10) in the morning, a group of young men and women came to Fengyu Township, a new settlement spontaneously established in the west, to complain that their pioneering actions on the banks of the Dafeng River (that is, the Miriniyai River) encountered difficulties. We have encountered great difficulties: many people are sick and cannot be treated in time, lack of rain gear and various waterproof equipment, lack of livestock and necessary machinery, etc. In short, the meaning revealed in the words is that it is very difficult. I hope Shangfeng can support some, Even if they pay for it.

Chen Ke could only helplessly smile at this. In fact, even in Xiaolou Township, which is the residence of the highest colonial institution in the Hejian area, there is a shortage of such supplies, especially when the population of Xiaolou Township has reached more than [-] this year. , the gap in various materials is even greater, and there is really no room to support other settlements-for no other reason, this place is too closed, and it is not navigable to the Wujiang area on the east bank, and the Jiaohe area in the east The furthest settlements are only in Zhongying Township and Qianying Township (and the history of these settlements is also very short), and there is still a distance of about [-] kilometers from Xiaolou Township. It is difficult to get through this westward route.

To carry out reclamation in such a slightly closed area, you have to face the attacks of the Guarani natives and the harassment of the Spanish colonists with malicious intentions at any time. You can imagine how their lives are going. Persevering instead of giving up halfway is already a kind of kindness for these second-generation young men and women who have grown up in China. This probably has something to do with the education they received when they were young and their stubbornness that they don't want their blood to be wasted. After all, here " "Buried" the youthful memories of many people.

"Go and have a look at the Sun's shop on the opposite side." Chen Ke put on his coat, and took a group of young men and women representatives from Fengyu Township (located on the east bank of the Dafeng River due west of Xiaolou Township) to the pier, and then took a boat The dilapidated little steamer sailed towards the opposite bank.There is also a settlement that was also spontaneously established—perhaps it is more accurate to call it a market—located at the confluence of the Ibikuy and Uruguay rivers. There are probably hundreds of people who have settled, and the races are mixed. Many people They are still non-citizens without status, and it looks like a settlement that formed spontaneously.

Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop is probably the most magnificent building in Sun's shop.This two-storey store was built by the Sun family by transporting bricks and tiles from Daxing County and hiring people to cut wood nearby. As for the store, although the Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Store has increased its capital and shares several times, the Sun family's shares have long been no longer an absolute controlling stake, but this does not prevent the world from recognizing it.

There are still many good things for sale in Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop!Don't be fooled by the word "Nanhuo" in its name. In fact, the business scope of this store is now more and more in line with the state-run East Bank department store, ranging from needles and thread brains to farm tools and livestock. The upstream (and the downstream are blocked by Daxing Waterfall) and even the adjacent river area are absolutely monopolized commercially.

However, although it has a monopoly and the goods it sells are not cheap, it is very popular among the pioneers in the Hejian area (especially in the northern half). Without him, it is better than anything else to be able to buy urgently needed things. important!Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop has specially prepared two 35-ton scrapped paddle steamers at the wharf in Sunjiadian Township, which were eliminated by inland water transport companies. The goods purchased from the entire Wujiang area are transported to the Sun Chunyang South Store here for sale, and by the way, some local specialty products are purchased and sold in the south. Although it cannot be said to be huge profits, after deducting various high costs, the Sun Chunyang South Store It is an indisputable fact that there is a small profit.

Operating in such a place where the national power is still insufficient has filled the gap in national power and strongly supported the cross-border reclamation activities of the people on the east bank in the Hejian area. It is no wonder that Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop was awarded "Excellent" by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce last year. Enterprise" award, it is indeed that they have responded to the country's major policies, well done!

The shop is run by the third generation of the Sun family, Sun Chengli's nephew Sun Zhengyi, a business talent who stands out among the younger generations of the Sun family, so he is able to manage this small shop at a young age.You must know that the current Board of Directors of Sun Chunyang Nanhuopu is not only the members of the Sun family, but also the capital spokespersons of Dong'an State-owned Shares and various bigwigs. Sun Zhengyi's ability to obtain the support and approval of these people is a kind of ability in itself embodiment.

"Manager Sun, do you have any good products recently? The children in Fengyu Township are suffering a lot. Let's see if we can buy some materials for reclamation. You know, there are many swamps there." Chen Ke walked up to the second floor familiarly, and Grabbing Sun Zhengyi who was ordering goods in the warehouse, he asked eagerly.

"There is always a shortage of goods." Sun Zhengyi helped the glasses hanging on his eyes, sighed and said: "To be honest, a ship just arrived this morning and replenished some supplies for the store. Didn’t spread out, so tell me, what do you want? Well, you must need a poncho, rain boots, water, etc., right? After all, it’s a swamp. Do you want some fishing nets? It’s not the kind of bad linen, Xinhua sisal The fishing net is very strong! What else do you want? Drugs? I’m sorry, I don’t have any, this is hard to get, you might as well report to your superiors.”

"Where did I come from the higher-level department? Our organization is not clear. There is neither a county government nor a regional administrative office. The ghost knows how the central government arranges it. Who do I go to? I can't just go to the Government Affairs Council." Right?" Chen Ke said angrily: "To put it simply, I still need some livestock, preferably buffaloes. Forget about sheep, the hooves of the swamp environment must be rotten, unless it is Wujiang sheep that is resistant to rotting hooves, But I’m afraid it’s more difficult than medicine, so I won’t make it difficult for you. By the way, do you have a water pump? Animal-powered ones are fine, sorry you don’t have any steam pumps for sale.”

"Please forgive me. If I can sell steam pumps, I will be found by the people from the Mei Agency the next day and exiled to Tahiti. Is that kind of strictly controlled thing we can afford? Sun Zhengyi said with a bitter face, "But the animal-powered water pump you mentioned is indeed there. How many mules do you need? This thing is resistant to rough feeding, and the cost is not high. It is just used to drive the water pump to draw water and drain it. There is water in the swamp. In addition, I really have a few of the buffaloes you mentioned, but they are all determined by others. The Liziyuan Township in the south (located near the later Paso de Res Ribres city, because someone successfully cultivated plums locally The pioneers who got the name) made an appointment, and the deposit has been paid, so I can’t sell it to you anymore, and someone over there will come to pick up the goods in about two days.”

When Chen Ke heard that the buffalo had been ordered by Liziyuan Township, he immediately fell silent. Fengyu Township was managed by him, and so was Liziyuan Township.However, this trip was not fruitless. At least some rain gear, waterproof equipment, water pumps, and fishing nets were available. In the end, Sun Zhengyi even sold a batch of improved rice varieties recently produced by the Northern Seed Company to Chen Ke. It was a big help—the climate in Fengyu Township is warm and the rivers are criss-crossing, which is suitable for growing rice, which is a relatively precious grain on the east coast.

"Manager Sun, you have worked hard all day to transfer supplies between the upper and lower reaches of the Wujiang River, filling the vacancy in the country's power, which can be described as a great act of righteousness. Look, how many people in the nearby settlements accept your affection, don't worry, Once the Hejian area develops in the future, I, Chen Ke, will definitely give you the greatest convenience for Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop. A conscientious enterprise like yours that cares about the development of the country should be greatly praised, developed, and become a century-old enterprise. company." After solving some of his own difficulties, Chen Ke naturally did not hesitate to praise Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop to the sky.However, there is one sentence in his words that is true, that is, Sun Chunyang Nanhuopu is so deeply involved in the Hejian area that others look down on. Once it develops here in the future, the company will indeed be able to gain more than others by virtue of the foundation laid in the early stage and a good image. Faster development and larger market share, perhaps, this is one of the goals of Sun Chunyang Nanhuo Shop.

"Then I can thank Section Chief Chen first." Sun Zhengyi said with a smile, "But let me tell you, the transportation in the upper reaches of the river is really not very convenient. If you want to achieve great development, it is best to rely on the country to develop vigorously. In the Jiaohe area, the settlements were built to the east bank of the Wujiang River, and the road to the west was completely opened up. In fact, this is not very difficult. As far as I know, the local rivers are criss-cross, and it is not full of dense forests. It is difficult to build roads and railways. It's not as difficult as I imagined, but it depends on the overall arrangement of the above, and it's not something I can say."

"Hehe." Chen Ke could only smile wryly, how difficult it is to get through the road to the west!Or even if it is barely opened, those newly established settlements will not have much production capacity, and they may not be as rich as the pioneer settlements in the Hejian area, so it is difficult to say who will support whom.Therefore, the Hejian area—especially the northern half, the southern half is actually very convenient in transportation—if it wants to develop, it really has to be self-reliant. No one can count on it, and no one can rely on it. You can only rely on yourself !

After returning satisfied from Sun Chunyang South Store, Chen Ke and his party left the wharf of Sunjiadian Township again by boat, and returned to Xiaolou Township on the other side.And at this moment, a message from the north was handed to Chen Ke's desk, causing him to get up and walk towards the pier immediately - he must rush to the area of ​​Shancha Castle in the north as soon as possible, otherwise he might be in trouble .

(End of this chapter)