Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1637 Terrace (25)

On the banks of the vast, quiet and beautiful Amber Lake (that is, Lake Nahuel Huapi), Shuofang Town rises from the ground. It is located in such a cold and lonely place at 41 degrees south latitude. It is like a forgotten by the world. city ​​like that.There are green grassy pastures, farmland with criss-crossing paths, and orchards all over the mountains, but because of the barrier of the vast platform desert area, they can only live their lives in peace at the eastern foot of the Andes.

However, there is one thing in this world that can break through geographical barriers, and that is magic money!Yes, on the east coast where the woolen industry is gradually rising, wool, an important textile raw material, is now favored by more and more people, which makes Patagonia, an area that was originally destined to be unable to develop, become a The darling of capital, devouring foreign funds and labor.

The labor force comes from all over the world. Blacks, Ming people, white people, and Indians gather here in various ways, and then show great courage to fight against the sky, sweating in the short summer and long cold winter. Diandian built a beautiful city at the foot of the mountain and by the lake.

"It's really a beautiful city, quiet, beautiful, and distant." Sun Chengli, who had traveled a long distance from Jincheng County, stood on a high hillside in the south of the city, looked at this small city built with bricks and stones, and said with emotion. Said: "Of course, where there is light and beauty, there is darkness and ugliness."

The followers all understood what Sun Chengli meant, because at the foot of the mountain, in a large wilderness, many eagles and falcons were rising and falling on the ground and in the air, and they were pecking at something beautifully on the ground from time to time.And when they had a full meal, they spread their wings again and flew away slowly. Many falcons were so full that they had to find a place with a relatively high terrain when they took off, otherwise they could only slow down on the ground. Thumping slowly, it took a long time to fly.

As for what they are eating, there is nothing to avoid. Almost everyone in the Jincheng area, from the elderly to the children, knows that what they eat is the corpses of dead slaves or non-national laborers!These huge falcons have sharp beaks and claws, which can easily tear off the clothes on the corpse, and then go straight to the internal organs, leaving only a clean skeleton after eating, just like the handicraft of an old butcher who has been there for many years.From this, we can also know how many people have sacrificed in order to build a magnificent and beautiful city like Shuofang Town!

Fortunately, everyone is not a person with moral and cleanliness, and even most people take it for granted.After all, the east coast is not open to philanthropy. Although the country's productivity is very developed (of course compared to other countries), it is not an easy matter to accept 10 people every year out of thin air, so it can only squeeze non-nationals. This is also impossible.

Sun Chengli and others came to Shuofang Town under the sunshine. At the same time, this is also Shuofang County—a newly established county this year (1672), under the jurisdiction of Shuofang Town (now San Carlos de Bariloche) , Heqi Township (located near the later engineer town of Yacobach), Chiyang Township (located near the later town of Pietra Alquila), Mingsha Township (located near the later town of Los Menucos) and Wenchi Township (located near the small town of San Martin de Ros Antis in later generations), a total of five settlements, is the county seat of the 99th county-level administrative unit in the country, with a population of about [-] at present, in Bata The Goniatai area can be regarded as a place where people converge.

Sun Chengli and others went straight to the county government after entering the city, and after more than an hour of entanglement with the guards at the gate, they finally met Ma Wenqiang, the deputy commissioner of Northern Patagonia who was inspecting here (Suofang County is also the administrative office of Jincheng District) one of the counties).Ma Wenqiang was not in a good mood recently, so he didn't want to pay attention to it, but seeing that he sent a letter of introduction in small letters, he still received Sun Chengli and his party patiently.

The place where Ma Wenqiang finally received them was not in the county government, but on a pasture in the outskirts, and this was obviously to take care of their intentions.There are some workers in the ranch who are busy at this time. According to the introduction, they are all Buryat Mongolians or Gauchos with excellent riding skills. They help herd cattle and sheep to save enough money for them to buy land and houses.

It was already noon at this time, and Ma Wenqiang invited Sun Chengli to sit under a thatched shed, drinking yerba mate and watching the "show" on the ranch.Yes, there is a show going on in the open pasture at this time, and several skilled riders are lassoing a cow from the herd.

They were some gauchos wearing black hunting suits and red handkerchiefs around their necks. One of them began to gently swing the rope made of leather straps with his wrist, and a perfect circle suddenly rose to the top. Above his head, wrap him in the center.Not long after, he saw his target, and suddenly threw out the leather ring that was spinning on the top of his head, hitting a cow's neck; and following his shot, several other people also threw out the lasso in their hands , tied the cow firmly, and then started slaughtering on the spot-in the eyes of these gauchos, it was not a cow, but steak, sirloin, fat, milk, cheese, leather shoes, belts, official documents Bags, ammunition packs, etc. are the source of food, clothing and medicine for their survival.

It was also the first time for Sun Chengli to see this kind of cattle catching on the grassland, so he sighed and said: "The riding skills of these gaucho people are really excellent, if they are willing to join the army, they will have a bright future. "

"Shopkeeper Sun, how do you know they didn't join the army?" Ma Wenqiang smiled slightly and said, "This year, the country will transfer the third mixed battalion in South Africa to go out to fight. Niah has conscripted soldiers once. Our Jincheng, Shangluo, and Shuofang counties sent a total of [-] cavaliers to South Africa to garrison, at least one-third of them are Gauchos, although their discipline is not very good good."

In fact, gaucho people are really not good material for soldiers.Although they are extremely skilled at riding—according to the Spaniard's ridicule, "I have never seen a person more like a centaur"—they are also full of wildness, but their discipline is extremely lacking, so in the battlefield There are more hidden dangers, at best they can only be some scouts or rangers.

However, if you are dealing with Indians or blacks who lack professional cavalry, then there is no problem, and you can use them with confidence.Therefore, the enemy has few horses and fewer cavalry, and they can be easily defeated with ranger tactics, and the effect may be better than that of disciplined professional cavalry.

"For you, Tang." The Gauchos, who was the first to trap the ox, quickly came over, holding a piece of meat from the back of the ox's eye, half-kneeling in front of Ma Wenqiang, and said in honorific terms.Ma Wenqiang nodded with a smile, and then ordered the chef to take this piece of meat and tidy it up, and everyone will have lunch here in a while.

"Different from the drier areas in the east, the Jincheng Valley area is relatively humid, and there are also rivers, which can grow fat and juicy pastures for cattle to survive. Therefore, the cattle breeding industry is also extremely developed. However, as the saying goes, everything is market-oriented. , There are fewer and fewer people raising cattle now. After all, those bastards who are working hard on the Pampa Grassland can catch a lot of fat bison every day. The income of raising cattle is really too low. So, now more and more Many people have started to raise sheep, and even the state-run ranch is planning to reduce the number of cattle on hand every year, and then graze more sheep to harvest wool and make profits.” Ma Wenqiang signaled the secretary to pour a new glass of horse for the two. Dai Cha, and then said: "I already know the purpose of your visit. It's no problem to buy wool. But I have to explain to you that although Jincheng and Shangluo counties are currently the two counties with the largest wool production in the country, they are The wool produced has basically been ordered, and more than half of it has been given to the state-run woolen mill in the eastern coastal town of Patagonia; the remaining half has its own owner, as early as two years ago. Signed a package purchase agreement with the wholesaler, basically there will be no surplus, you guys—after all, you came too late!"

"So Sun came to Shuofang County." Sun Chengli bowed his hands to Ma Wenqiang when he heard this, and said with a smile: "It is precisely because we know that Jincheng and Shangluo counties don't have much wool surplus, so we plan to go to Shuofang County. Way. Deputy Commissioner Ma, how about this, our Sun family can also sign a wool outsourcing contract with Shuofang County, and the price is negotiable, what do you think?"

"Hehe, it's not very easy to sign this outsourcing contract now." Ma Wenqiang waved his hands as soon as he heard it, and said, "A few years ago, the wool market just became popular, and our cadres didn't know much about it, so I hastily agreed to some wool textile enterprises and wool wholesalers' outsourcing agreements. Now it seems that I have lost a lot. Therefore, in principle, the regional administrative offices and county governments no longer encourage signing outsourcing agreements with wool merchants. Even though shopkeeper Sun was introduced by my old friend, I can only tell you the truth, I will give you one-third of the wool from Shuofang County at most, and no more."

One-third is already a very good ratio, and Sun Chengli is also somewhat satisfied. This must be the benefit given by others for the sake of the letter of introduction. Otherwise, you, an outsider who has never been in this industry, why would you He could easily grab his share of the profits in the fast-rising wool market, so Sun Chengli immediately thanked Ma Wenqiang sincerely.

Ma Wenqiang smiled and waved his hands, he didn't take it seriously, it was just a small favor, nothing at all.After working in the Jincheng Valley area for so many years, such as wool sales, he thought he could still manage the situation.It's just that working in this isolated place all day is a bit small after all. It's not as good as Liu Jianguo, who jumped out of this circle and went to the Far East as the leader of the pioneering team!Alas, everyone has their own fate, and this cannot be forced. The most realistic thing now is to think about how to climb up to the throne of Northern Patagonia Regional Commissioner, and let him go out to serve as the leader of a pioneering team. In the short term, it seems a bit unrealistic.

Sun Chengli and Ma Wenqiang, who had negotiated the "loot sharing agreement", soon chatted about other things.Sun Chengli talked about the sour feeling of traveling from the eastern coast to the inland hinterland, and bluntly said that Patagonia should build a railway, and the inland wool, wood, coal, kaolin, melons, fruits, leather, animals, etc. Resources such as fat and bacon are shipped out.Especially wool, as the number of people in Patagonia increases and the number of sheep populations becomes larger and larger, the amount of wool produced each year is bound to increase exponentially, so building a special railway will become a problem. urgently needed.

In fact, to a certain extent, Sun Chengli's words are also reasonable.At the end of the 19th century, for the wool resources of Patagonia, the British paid their own money to build a north-south arterial railway here, which was specially used to purchase and transport wool along the railway line, and then passed a branch line directly to By the sea, they are shipped back to the UK for processing.It can be seen from this that it is indeed necessary to build a special railway in a place such as the Patagonian Terrace, which is extremely suitable for raising sheep. They will definitely not spend huge sums of money to build a railway here. If Patagonia wants to have its own railway, it can only find a way to fool foreign or private capital into it, otherwise it may not work for decades.

Sun Chengli and his party finally lived in Shuofang County until late September, and then set off for Shangluo County. Together with a convoy full of wool, they went to Qiaocheng Port in Xuanwu County in the east, and then boarded a ship back to the mainland.

The treacherous and arduous journey across this Patagonian plateau also featured many newly established colonial towns along the way—such as Yitun Township (near the later minister town of Ramola Mesia), Huile Township ( Located near the later town of Barceta), Luqu Township (located near the later town of Conagnieo), Pule Township (located near the later town of Sierra Grande), etc.——for this convoy Supplies, so that they will not be too difficult.

In the first ten days of October 1672, after Sun Chengli and others and the team of wool merchants arrived at Qiaocheng Port, they rested here for about a week before waiting for an offshore passenger and cargo ship from a messenger liner company, and then boarded the ship and headed south. , to Xingnan Port, the final destination.After arriving at Xingnan Port, Sun Chengli will take the Star of La Plata train on the Southern Cone Ocean Railway to Araucan Port, and then change boats there to Liucheng County in the Central Valley of Chile. The journey along the way It's still growing, and I don't know if his old bones can hold on.

(End of this chapter)