Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1456 Intense Preparations ([-])

Several large motor sailboats quietly sailed into a newly opened pier somewhere in Trinidad Island, then lowered their sails, turned off the steam power system, and anchored in the crystal-clear harbor.

This is the Port of Spain area of ​​Trinidad in later generations. The economy is dilapidated, the population is sparsely populated, and the people are lazy. It looks like a small tropical village that is not very lively.

Yes, this is neither a city nor a small town, but a village, a village through and through, with a small pier and a few old bronze cannons at best.There are only more than a dozen decent houses in the village. If you pay attention to the rest, you can build a wooden house. Light rain in heavy rain is not empty talk, but the locals seem to have gotten used to it.

There are now more than a dozen soldiers in khaki military uniforms, sabers on their waists, and rifles on their backs in the port. Anyone who is familiar with it knows that these are combatants hired by the Caribbean Shipping Company and belong to the command of Lieutenant Zhou Yafu, who was excluded by the army. Currently being seconded to Trinidad to do the initial defense work, there are more than 20 people in the village and equipped with two small cannons, which can be regarded as an extremely tyrannical force.At least, the few white Spanish men in Port of Spain dared not express any dissatisfaction with their arrival, because they were equipped with rapiers and halberds, not even a few matchlock guns, how could they resist?What's more, there are ships from the east coast coming over from time to time on the coast. If they find out that there is something strange here, the people in the village will have to go around.

It's not that the Spaniards didn't report to the Governor of Peru that the people on the east coast had blatantly occupied Trinidad, but the information from Lima was very interesting.Local officials first said that Trinidad was "temporarily loaned" to the people on the east coast, so that they could leave the crucial port of San Juan, Puerto Rico as soon as possible, because the threat of the British seemed to be less so. When it got too big, letting the people from the east bank squat there would do more harm than good; later on, the Peruvian governor, who knew the inside story of the secret agreement between East and West, simply ignored the reports from the people below about the people from the east coast stealing Trinidad. The "patriotic" Hidalgo and the missionaries looked at each other for this, and finally had to die, very depressed.

But in any case, with the arrival of a large number of sea and army personnel and immigrants from the east coast, Trinidad has been more and more deeply branded on the east coast, with a series of differences in language, customs, religion, architecture, etc. , so that both the Indians and the Spaniards living here deeply feel that the familiar way of life has been repeatedly broken.They resented the change, and while it might have brought them some financial benefits, was it really good to live in a country ruled by pagans from now on?Many people think so.

There were about 500 immigrants from the east coast in the early stage, and they were basically concentrated in two port towns (or fishing villages?), which have been marked as Huaiyuan Township and Qingyi Township by the East Coast National Development Bureau. , which correspond to Port of Spain and San Fernando in the later Trinidad Islands.The whites in the two places add up to only a few hundred, and some of the mixed descendants of whites and Indians are counted. The Indians are surprisingly large, perhaps because the Spaniards have never seriously managed the island, whether it is on the plains or There are a lot of Indians living in the mountains and forests, but they provide a certain amount of labor for the people on the east coast who want to build this island (which has been officially named Huaiyuan Island)—of course, the premise is that you have a way to drive them .

The total area of ​​Trinidad is about 4800 square kilometers, more than half of which is covered with dense forests. The land that can be used for agriculture is only one-tenth, and only half of this tenth can be used for planting Cereals or vegetables are really pitiful.Therefore, the less than [-] soldiers and civilians on the east coast who arrived here in advance needed to purchase food, vegetables, fruits and even salt for their daily lives from the nearby land in Spain. How possible, because there will be more people here in the future!

Zhou Shuren, who graduated from Bingtuanbao, has been on this island for almost three months. As the head of Huaiyuan Township, he is also the only department-level cadre on the island, and can be said to be the highest official in civil affairs.Before departure, his father, Zhou Shenwo, called him home from other places, and gave him some careful instructions, telling him not to delay after arriving on Huaiyuan Island, but to start work immediately, and all actions will be carried out according to plan, because Huaiyuan The island could be "useful"!

When Zhou Shuren came to Huaiyuan Island, he immediately got in touch with the officials of Air Canada, and then with the help of the other party's support staff and some supplies, he managed to gain a firm foothold in Huaiyuan Township and Qingyi Township. They also paid for the recruitment of some Indians and mixed-race mestizos, used locally purchased wood to build houses and warehouses, reinforced the docks, and tried to build new trestles to increase the port's material handling capacity.

Later, after more than [-] Ming immigrants from Guangzhou and Huai'an arrived, the progress of this work was also greatly accelerated. Many houses used as warehouses were built, and the wharves that had been in disrepair were restored. With the reinforcement, the appearance of the entire small fishing port has changed a lot.

While busy with all this, Zhou Shuren did not forget the task of establishing a local vegetable and fruit planting base—even one of the important tasks with a high priority.The land around Huaiyuan Township is composed of Jurassic and Cretaceous metamorphic rocks. An east-west corridor and a plain (Caroni Plain) are the most suitable land for farming. It is fertile and can grow all food crops including corn, rice, and cassava.

The climate of this island is a tropical rainforest climate. The rainy season is from June to December every year. There are frequent heavy rains. The rainfall in the north may even exceed 6 millimeters. It is humid and hot all the year round, which is very uninhabitable. The location is so good that people from the east coast must occupy it, so someone must come and settle here, even if it is enforced by administrative orders.

In order to cooperate with Zhou Shuren, Section Chief Zhou, in Huaiyuan Township, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Communications, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Materials, the Ministry of Health, the State Development Administration, the Ministry of the Army, and the Ministry of the Navy have sent at least one or two staff members to stay on the island. In terms of construction, various facilities will be built together with it, especially the work of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ma Wanpeng, the leader of the agricultural system, had listened to the opinions of his subordinates before, and then felt that the island should be dominated by local native crops such as plantains, bananas, cassava, sweet potatoes, and yams, supplemented by a certain amount of vegetables and fruits—— In principle, the local fruits and vegetables such as eggplant, cowpea, bitter gourd, pumpkin, pepper, ginger, pineapple, mango, and citrus, which are growing well, are the main products.

After all, these crops are all adapted to the environment of the island, and if something goes wrong, the delay will be huge—but considering that foods such as plantains and bananas are not easy to preserve, then Corn, which is a small-scale crop planted by the local Spaniards and Indians (cassava and sweet potatoes are the most grown by them), must also be planted on a certain scale to ensure that when a large number of fleets and personnel arrive on Huaiyuan Island, there will be enough food. Sufficient food can be replenished.

Zhou Shuren is also very aware of the importance of this matter, so in just three months, they have achieved considerable results by purchasing the ready-made vegetable gardens and orchards from the Spaniards and developing them by themselves.It is believed that after the end of the rainy season (currently it is November), large-scale agricultural planting work will start, and it is said that the second batch of immigrants will also gather here one after another.I believe that by next year, the agricultural output of Huaiyuan Island will increase considerably. This big island, which has not been valued by the Spaniards for many years, now looks like it will finally be rejuvenated. I wonder if the Spaniards are blushing!

The cabins of several sailing ships that have just anchored in the harbor are filled with all kinds of military supplies, and have also sent a lot of seeds, livestock, labor tools and simple machinery to the settlers on the island-of course the same Immigrants are indispensable, a total of more than [-] Dan people from Guangdong - so that they can organize production more efficiently.

In fact, when things have developed to this point, the news that the East Bank may be involved in the war against France (at present, it may still be "rumours") has spread to middle-level cadres, especially those with connections such as Zhou Shuren who have been "distributed". "The officials who went to the front line, and the naval officers who sent supplies and personnel to the island, to a certain extent, they are clear about the target of this expedition, which is the Kingdom of France, and the probability is as high as [-]% !

"Section Chief Zhou, please receive this batch of equipment and personnel as soon as possible, and don't delay to avoid any changes." Lieutenant Cai Anguo, who has already taken the post of captain of the light cruiser "Southern Cross", said to Zhou Shuren.

This time, he and another light cruiser "Sirius" escorted several ammunition supply ships, water supply ships, coal carriers, and troop carriers to Huaiyuan Island. Well, then frantically hoard ammunition, food, medicine, boats, machinery parts and other things necessary for war, and make intensive preparations for future wars.

"It's natural. Although the weather is fine today and the sun is shining brightly, it's the rainy season. Maybe there will be a downpour at any time, and it will be fatal." Zhou Shuren replied immediately, and at the same time gestured for himself His deputy went to the village to call for someone to come and move supplies.

Captain Cai Anguo nodded when he heard the words. This time, he will be the commander of the Caribbean Provisional Task Force, and he will command the military operations of the East Coast Fleet in the Caribbean Sea, including seizing islands, blocking trade lines, and attacking French merchant ships.Although this is only a pocket-sized small fleet—it is expected that there will only be two star light cruisers under its direct command, and there may be a few old ships of Air Canada, but they may not come— The combat mission was not complicated, but it was a rare experience for him.You know, this is a task that has been overwhelmed in the naval system. If anyone grabs it and completes it well, it will be a rich stroke in the future qualifications, and it will also be an important reference factor for promotion.

Cai Anguo had read the information of the National Intelligence Agency before coming here, and learned that the largest French stronghold in the Caribbean is Santo Domingo, followed by Martinique, Saint-Christophe, and Guadeloupe. A small number of French immigrants are running plantations, but it is still unclear which country (or Indians) the island belongs to.

In addition, French Guiana is also a place to consider.Although it has never been valued by French businessmen or officials, it has been developed earlier. It can be traced back to the time when it competed with the Portuguese for the northeastern part of Brazil in the last century. At that time, the remaining French immigrants who were expelled from Brazil lived on this land. Temporarily settled down, while guarding against the Portuguese, while running a small-scale plantation-strangely, the scale is still not very large, whether it is worth visiting or not will be discussed later!

After counting them one by one, Captain Cai Anguo discovered that France has a vast territory (compared to other countries in Central and Western Europe), a large population (2300 million people), and relatively abundant government finances (Colbert After taking office, France has a huge fiscal surplus), but its efforts and achievements in developing overseas colonies are really lacklustre.Not only is it inferior to established colonial countries such as England, the United Provinces, Spain, and Portugal, but it also has no obvious advantage compared with a rising star like Courland, which is quite puzzling when you think about it.

In the end, there may be only one explanation, that is, after all, France is a land power country, obsessed with expansion on land, and the few overseas colonies she currently owns are mostly influenced by other surrounding countries and "caught out" out of fashion of.Otherwise, it is estimated to be another Austria, Russia or Ottoman, obsessed with building a land empire!

On December 1666, 12, another batch of transport ships loaded with supplies arrived at Huaiyuan Port. While sending 15 immigrants to Huaiyuan Port, they also sent 300 people to Qingyi Township, many of whom were The Shun army once "sent" to the Hunan Ming army prisoners on the east bank, who had somewhat combat experience.And with the people from the east coast frantically transporting immigrants to Huaiyuan Island for more than half a year, the number of people on the east coast of the entire island has been close to [-], and they are mainly concentrated in two settlements, which is crazy enough (in this humid and hot In a semi-wild land, the death rate of resettled immigrants in this way will be quite high).I am afraid that in the eyes of the members of the executive committee, these immigrants, like the livestock and seeds transported over, are "means of production" prepared in advance for the upcoming war against France!

(End of this chapter)