Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1328 Premeditated Premeditation

On March 1662, 12, it rained moderately.

A group of men wearing rubber latex raincoats stood on the pier of Changshun Port, looking at the slightly choppy sea, speechless for a long time.The seabirds flew up and down not far away, plunged into the sea from time to time, and then flew towards the distant cliff with a small fish in its mouth. Qi Wangping, the deputy prime minister of the Government Affairs Council, was deeply attracted by this scene, and sighed again after a long time , wryly smiled and said: "What a fertile and fertile land in the Beining area. It is virgin land that has not been cultivated for thousands of years. The humus on the ground can even go up to the ankle. It's a pity that this endless cliff Across the wall, all the ambitions of the Beining area have been extinguished. The transportation of materials by mules, horses and even manpower over the mountains and mountains is okay, but the cost is unbearable if it is too much. In the future, the economy on this plateau will be quite For a long period of time, it will be a relatively closed economy, and internal exchanges are far greater than external exchanges, which is a pity, a pity!"

"To be honest, after the establishment of Changshun County (which has not yet been established, and in principle governs the four settlements of Changshun Township, Qingyan Township, Yanhe Township, and Gaosha Township, and the county borders the narrow coastal strip), it will serve as The only bridge to communicate with the outside world in the Beining area, the economy will not be bad, and the entrepot trade alone can make a living. However, although it is difficult, the rugged mountain road from Changshun Port to Beining Town should indeed be repaired After a while, if you keep ignoring them like this, I am afraid that even mules and horses will not be able to walk on this road, and you can only rely on people's backs, what does that sound like." Qi Wangping, who is rumored to be a popular candidate for the next prime minister, said The words are also full of official authority, just listen to Xu Yu, the commissioner of the Beining area who came to him, and said: "Commissioner Xu, the development of the Beining area should be more based on ourselves, don't wait, don't rely, don't want, now the war expenditure is so huge , The central government has no surplus food, so you should figure out a way for yourself, it is not easy for us to maintain so many immigrants every year.”

Xu Yu used to be the battalion commander of the cavalry battalion, an old army man, and later joined the military and political organization of the National Power Alliance founded by Mo Ming, Liu Ang and others. For the white shirt among the white shirts like Qi Wangping—this person is a civil servant One of the founders of the association organization "Glory Club" has a lot of influence - he doesn't like it very much, but considering that he is the vice premier of the State Council and it's the first time he came to the north to inspect the land newly occupied by the country, he had to give some face, so Xu Yu immediately said: "What Vice Premier Qi said is very true. Infrastructure is indeed the biggest bottleneck restricting the future development of the Beining area. If this problem is not resolved, everything will be difficult. Therefore, rectifying the existing transportation facilities in the Portuguese era is a top priority. Most importantly, our regional administrative office is also considering this issue. However, the central government has no money to support, so it is not difficult to send some non-national laborers and some food, right? Although the grain production decreased last year, it was worth a thousand dollars. Eight hundred tons, what is it? Right, Vice Premier Qi?"

Qi Wangping smiled when he heard the words, and didn't take the trouble.This group of old army bureaucrats has almost become instinctive to eat more and occupy more. The officials who came out of them sent telegrams to the central government for money, people and things all day long, and they stopped every day.The same is true for Yang Mingyang in Patagonia, and the same is true for Xu Yu in the Beining area now. We must take care of the logistics, and we must not let these guys take advantage of it.Therefore, he quickly changed the subject, and said to Major Xu Gang, the captain of the road protection team of the Southern Railway Company standing on the other side: "How about it, Captain Xu, this time we will attack the general area of ​​Pernambuco to sweep the place and raise supplies." , and shake the Portuguese's will to fight, how sure are you? I heard that it is a place where the Portuguese are heavily concentrated."

Xu Gang was dismissed as a company commander during the last disarmament of the army. He had no choice but to join the Southern Railway Company and served as the captain of the Southern Railway Guard Team as an active military officer. It has been many years.As a result, after the report on the war with the Portuguese, the South Railway Guard Team, which was not small, was transferred to the front line by the Ministry of the Army. Therefore, Xu Gang, a man with glasses, suddenly seemed to be in a hurry again—according to unreliable sources According to gossip, Xu Gang, who had just been promoted to major, was supported by the chiefs of the Army Department. More than 1000 officers and soldiers, including non-national labor workers), went north to carry out a large-scale raid on the general area of ​​Pernambuco, Brazil.And if the timing and conditions are right, then their large force will also try to attack the Bahia General District in order to plunder more materials to support the war.

You know, the war has been going on for two and a half years, and the people on the east coast have spent more than 450 million yuan in military expenditure, which is the highest in history.In the past two and a half years, the cash, supplies and other trophies that the navy and army have seized from various places are only worth 480 million yuan, which is just enough to cover the expenses.

But God knows how long the war will go on!

Although the East Bank government has disbanded a large number of county security regiments and returned home to farm, they have also formed miscellaneous troops such as the Zhongguo* Army, the Youguo* Army, the Fengguo* Army, and the Baoguo* Army to replace the six Volunteers who have been reduced in number. The brigade (partly because a large number of Indians were to be sent to South Africa and Xinhua Island) carried out security operations in the occupied areas and escorted the people on the east coast for their great cause of reclamation.But even so, military expenditures are still extremely high, and 200 million yuan a year is basically impossible—especially when the Army’s seventh mixed battalion is about to be formed—so the Executive Committee and the Joint Staff Headquarters are now eagerly hoping that the Army Then go to the coast of Brazil to look for food, don't expect to give back to the superiors, at least find out the whereabouts of my military expenditure for the next year, so as not to cause trouble to the debt-ridden central finance.

Speaking of the seventh mixed battalion of the army, it has basically been determined that the first brigade of the Southern Railway Guard Team will be the backbone, and some recruits will be recruited to form it. The number of personnel is also set at 1450, and it is complete , is a mixed force with independent combat capability.The battalion will use Xiayihe County as the recruitment site. It is said that after the formation is completed, it will be collectively shipped to the Heishui area in the Far East to rotate the local East Coast Army units. It will be reorganized into the Eighth Mixed Battalion of the Army, and the shortfall will be replenished by drawing outstanding members from the five brigades of the Volunteer Team. In the future, the battalion will use Xihu County as the recruiting site.

And although the seventh mixed battalion to be formed is mostly the old subordinates of Major Xu Gang, the throne of its battalion commander is destined to have nothing to do with Xu.Without him, he is old, and he himself is unwilling to take the risk of crossing the ocean—there are so many shipwrecks, and the high-ranking Major Xu Gang doesn’t need to prove anything at his age—to go to the Far East, so The commander of the battalion will be Liao Xiaoyao from the Far East, and Xu Gang will serve as a senior officer in the Ministry of Army to advise and advise.But before that, it didn't prevent him from commanding a landing attack off the coast of Brazil, which was a perfect end to his military career.

Therefore, when he heard Qi Wangping ask about the upcoming expedition to General Pernambuco, he immediately said: "From Fortaleza in General Ceara to Recife in Pernambuco, before that, it was the Dutch West Indies. The territory occupied by the company. After the company’s financial crisis caused Recife and other places to be recaptured by the Portuguese, the Portuguese once stationed heavy troops here, and the local fortress was strong and well-fortified, and it was impossible to attack by force from the front, otherwise casualties It's huge, and the gain outweighs the loss. However, after Major Xiao Xi led his army to fight against the coast of Brazil last time, we found that the Portuguese, under the might of our tens of thousands of troops, can only be a coward and hold on to the major cities. Towns, surviving on walls and cannons. In this way, vast rural areas were naturally abandoned by them to our plunder, and we could levy taxes (in kind or in money) with impunity, those Portuguese The manor owners can only stare blankly and hand in the full amount, unless they dare to risk the serious consequences of offending our army on the east coast..."

Speaking of which, since Major Xiao Xi led an army to siege and aid the coast of Brazil last year and knocked out a large number of Portuguese troops, the current Portuguese are really less courageous than rabbits. Once they see the huge east coast army landing, They will only defend themselves in the city, build a stronghold to protect themselves, and dare not rashly send troops to reinforce this or that. It is tantamount to giving up the vast land in the outskirts and still relying on the east bank army to carry out organized robbery.

And the people on the east coast are naturally so happy, after all, it saves effort.What's more, their robbery is relatively regular. There are rules on how much money and supplies each manor should pay, and they will never take more but never ask for less. There is no danger of destruction.In this regard, the reputation of the East Coast Army is actually very good-this was the case with the East Coast Army in Chile and Peru during the Second East-West War that year-it also helped to disintegrate the Portuguese's will to resist and reduce their own casualties .

"It's a good thing that the Portuguese are weak in resistance. However, the executive committee also has some special requirements for this expedition." Speaking of this, Qi Wangping didn't care to wipe the raindrops from his face, only to see him a little closer to Major Xu Gang , said in a slightly deep voice: "Last time when Major Xiao Xi led a brigade to raid the coast of Brazil, some Portuguese manors and sugar workshops were damaged during the battle, which caused Brazil's sugar production to decline. A small increase in the price. We have already learned about this through the European business station system, and appropriately increased the price of refined cane sugar exported to the Japanese and the Florentines. For this reason, the profit of the Beidao Sugar Factory has increased. A substantial increase. This time you go out again, you must pay more attention to this aspect. Although the price of sucrose has increased a lot, it does not prevent us from making more money by taking advantage of this shareholder wind."

In fact, in the past two years, as the east coast and Portugal fought back and forth in Brazil, the export and transportation of Brazilian sugar was seriously affected, and the price of sugar in the European market has risen slightly for this reason.Last year, Major Xiao Xi led the army to toss along the coast of Brazil, which further reduced the production capacity of sugar in Brazil, which undoubtedly stimulated the rise of sugar prices.Now Major Xu Gang is about to lead tens of thousands of troops to the coast of Brazil for the second time. If the focus is on the sugar cane plantations outside the city, then the price of sugar in the European market will soar again. It is a high probability event.

Even if it is done well, it is not impossible for the price of cane sugar to return to the historical high of about [-] yuan per ton during the war between Brazil and the Netherlands. In this way, it is believed that the sugar cane planting and sugar extraction industries in Xinhuaxia Island will usher in a new era. In a period of explosive growth, all kinds of idle capital will definitely swarm into this super big market and grab huge profits from it. Corresponding shipbuilding, shipping, sugar refining, slave trading, machinery manufacturing and other industries will be driven, and it is almost inevitable that more immigrants from the old continent will flow into the new continent.

In addition to the cane sugar industry, the prices of European dyes (red dyes extracted from Brazilian hematoxylin), timber, tobacco, cotton and other raw materials will also be more or less affected, which will undoubtedly further stimulate European capital investment in the New World With the massive influx of immigrants, the competition in North America and the Caribbean will become more and more fierce in the future, and Westerners will become more and more angry at the East Coast's attempt to monopolize the two major colonial trade markets of New Spain and Peru.Whether these are good or bad for the East Coast Republic is really hard to say, but fortunately, there is no need to worry too much for the time being, after all, it will be a long time later.

"Is this what the executive committee means?" Hearing this, Xu Gang was also a little awed, thinking that these civil servants sometimes get black-hearted and there is no limit. This is to force the Brazilians to death. If the Brazilian colony If there are so many incidents, it might be abolished, and immigration will be greatly reduced in the future.

Qi Wangping looked into Xu Gang's eyes and nodded lightly, and then said: "This is for the great cause of the East Coast Republic of China. The worse Brazil is, the better our life will be. This is a very clear thing. We knocked out Brazil The production capacity of sugar, tobacco, timber and other bulk commodities can greatly enhance the competitiveness of our country's commodities in the international market, and the benefits to the economy are self-evident. Therefore, you have to fight this time, and you have to fight if you don't Hi, Brazil has as few sugar cane plantations and sugar mills as possible, preferably none."

Xu Gang nodded silently when he heard the words, indicating that he knew, and then nervously calculated in his heart: With the "unruly" chaos of the East Bank army, how fiercely will the local manor owners in Brazil resist the East Bank? Human invasion, and the casualties of the army on the east bank will increase dramatically.Thinking of this, he also felt a little uncomfortable. Each of these white shirts indirectly held shares in various plantations on Xinhua Island. This will weaken Brazil's sugar production, and they will definitely make a lot of money.Compared with the so-called noble reasons for the country, the main reason is that they can earn more, right?Hmph, it really is a bunch of selfish bastards!

(End of this chapter)