Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1951 Eastern Brazil ([-])

In fact, Xiao Guang guessed correctly. After receiving the news reported by them, Ma Wenqiang, the chairman of the executive committee, immediately instructed the State Development Bureau to take the telegram to Jinglong County, the telegraph terminal closest to Zhuolu County, and then sent a messenger to arrive on a fast horse. In this place, the latest instructions were issued to Xiao Guang's expedition team.

The messenger first affirmed the Xiaoguang expedition team’s spirit of fearlessness and sacrifice, and at the same time authorized the Ministry to recruit any government officials in Zhuolu County, including but not limited to cadres, militiamen, policemen, hunters and even ordinary farmers and herdsmen. The upper limit is 30 people, and the required money and food will be unconditionally spent by the Zhuolu County Government, and then the Central Ministry of Finance will make a delivery with the Zhuolu County Government.

Along with the messenger, there were also two cadres from the Ministry of Geology who were prospecting in Jinglong County. They came to supplement the officials of the Ministry of Geology who died unfortunately during the previous expedition.In addition, they also took a telegram from the central government and withdrew 2000 yuan in cash from the Finance Bureau of Jinglong County, and carried them all the way to Zhuolu County on horses to distribute part of the bonuses and pensions for the previous expedition. It is better to boost people's morale with white silver.

Xiao Guang didn't expect such a big fight from above, and he was also excited about the huge power given to them by the State Development Bureau.People, money, food, and funds are pouring in, so that he can fight a lot. How can this not make people happy?Xiao Guang is only in his early thirties now, with the rank of captain, it's time to pursue advancement.With such an opportunity falling in front of him, he would wake up with a smile if it was a dream—of course, he had worked so hard to get it, and no one else would envy it.

And just as Xiao Guang and the others were gearing up in Zhuolu County and preparing to do a big job, the other expedition teams also returned one after another.Among these several expeditions, one was completely missing and no news was sent back. I don’t know if it has not had time to return or something really happened. The two suffered severe attrition, and it is said that they were attacked by the Tupinamba Indians. , and another one suffered little loss, and also discovered a large-scale emerald mine, which was of considerable value.

This team did not receive the grand treatment from Xiao Guang and the others.Maybe it's because the higher-ups don't particularly value the value of emerald mines. They feel that the market for this kind of thing on the east coast is not particularly broad, and they have to find a way to sell it. At the same time, it doesn't help the currency reform that has been brewing for many years by the Ministry of Finance. , and therefore not given special attention.

Xiao Guang felt a little fortunate about this, because it meant that there were fewer people fighting for funding.Zhuolu County is a newly established county, and it is not very well-off financially. After the increase in the number of Xiaoguang's expedition team, the monthly expenditure will be about [-] yuan worth of food and materials, and the consumption is not a small amount.In a small and poor county like Zhuolu County, it is not easy to maintain one of their expedition teams. If they have two expedition teams, they will definitely go bankrupt, no matter what.

At the end of December 1686, before Xiao Guang and others set off, an immigrant team of more than 12 people came from Changcen County in the west by a large number of ships.Their destination is not Zhuolu County, but to continue eastward and set up new settlements on the half-cooked wilderness east of the county to prepare for the further development of the country.

Their arrival was not due to the discovery of gold or gemstone mines, but the discovery of these important mineral deposits must have boosted the determination of the higher-ups, making them more determined to establish settlements in the Zhuoshui and Tuanjie River basins.After all, if the executive committee decides to vigorously open up roads to the gold mining area and gemstone area in the future-it has to be said that judging from the current situation, this is actually a high probability event-then these settlements can play a very important role. key role.

Xiao Guang's expedition team was rewarded, and together with these pioneer immigrants, they took a small steamer and went up the river to their destination.Because this meeting has entered the summer flood season, the lower reaches of the Zhuoshui River are wide and conducive to navigation, so the 72-ton small steamer with a shallow draft sailed quickly, and it took only a few days to reach the first goal. Dishiyi Township (located in the small town of Pasus, Brazil in later generations) is near the river bank in the north.

Here, the immigrants were divided into two groups. One wave (more than 800 people) carried a large amount of supplies and went south to Shiyi Township to establish settlements. Establish a solid stronghold around Fangshan (the place where the Tuanjie River originated).

In addition, about 2000 people will go to the east of Zhuolu County by land to establish Zhending Township (located near the city of Ribeirão Preto in later generations) and Jiumen Township (located near the small town of Franca in later generations) Three settlements including Guquan Township (located near the small town of São João da Boavista in later generations), this is almost the scope of a county.

In the future, the State Development Bureau will continue to set up settlements in the east, namely Lunu Township (located near the later town of Alfinas), Lingshou Township (located near the later city of Pouso Alegre), Fei Lei Township (located near the later town of Tresco Lassonis), Xiyang Township (located near the later town of Carrancas), a total of four settlements, and strive to make the settlements in the Zhuoshui River Basin all the way To the east, it connects with Yanle County and other places in the coastal Hue area, although there seems to be a Brazilian shield in the middle.

But that's all for the future, maybe it will take several years, and wilderness development is not so easy.Information, technology, money, food, supplies, and population are all indispensable. It depends on whether the National Development and Development Bureau has the determination.However, with the upsurge in the development of gold and gemstones in front of us, these places that are closer to the hinterland of Minas Gerais, Brazil, may be able to gain exposure, take a shortcut, and develop ahead of schedule. This is all to say uncertain things.

Well, without further ado.The members of Xiao Guang's expedition got off the boat on the north bank together with the 200 young and middle-aged men, and then they walked for a while out of safety considerations until they arrived at Fangshan Mountain in the upper reaches of the Tuanjie River.The 60 people planned to find a suitable place to settle down nearby to prepare for the construction of settlements in the future, while Xiao Guang's expedition team of [-] to [-] people, with a large group of pack horses and supplies, meandered all the way north along the Tuanjie River, Continue to search for gold along the old road.

While making a small raft before setting off, they found a skeleton in a nearby forest.If there is no accident, the bones should belong to people from the east coast, because the superiors also sent expeditions to the nearby area before, but not many times.Next to the skeleton was a package carefully sealed with rain cloth and rubber. Xiao Guang had someone open it and found some mineral specimens, hand-painted maps and other documents.Undoubtedly, this is a missing member of the East Coast expedition, who lost his way or died of sudden illness during the field expedition, and became one of the countless unsung heroes who died in the wild forest.

There was also a half-written letter in the package. Xiao Guang opened it and looked at it, and the words "Father, my lord, I have been away from home for a long time, and I am in good health..." came into view at the beginning.He sighed, and asked people to collect all the belongings of this person, pack them up and hand them over to the young and strong who plan to open up a stronghold in Fangshan, so that they have time to send them to the Geology Department.This person may have been an employee of the Ministry of Geology during his lifetime. If he was a regular worker, then his identity would be relatively easy to determine, but if an official of the Ministry of Geology used money to temporarily recruit him in the countryside, then it would be more troublesome to determine, and may even be impossible to confirm. , because there are too many expedition members who have disappeared in the wild these years.

"No one knows your name, and your achievements will last forever..." Xiao Guang personally collected the bones of this person and handed them over to others. Yes. In the past 50 years, life has become better and better, and the country has become stronger and stronger, even to the point where European and Far Eastern countries can’t keep up. Our children have had rice noodles, beef, milk, and fruit since they were young. This kind of life is unimaginable to the people of the old continent. And all this, is it all for nothing? No, it is all created by heroes like this brother who unfortunately died in the jungle Yes. Our mission this time will also be dangerous, and we will also go through the test of life and death, but so what? Our country is different from the old continent. It is not a private kingdom of one family, but a republic shared by all citizens , all sacrifices are not meaningless, they are all for the better future of this country."

Strictly speaking, Xiao Guang's words are actually not in line with the "rules".Gein, on the east coast today, the actual power holders (more than 500 members of the Founders' Council) have not instilled such republican ideas on many occasions, because the seats in the Founders' Council are obtained by blood, not others.This system, which is exactly the same as the British House of Lords, is undoubtedly "decaying"-of course it is relatively speaking, in fact, the Founders' Parliament, which is composed of bureaucrats, business owners, and scholars from all walks of life It is still advanced to a certain extent - it is not democratic enough, so the descendants of the Five Hundred Travelers generally try to avoid mentioning these, so as not to create "bad associations" with the citizens and create political pressure for themselves in vain .

Therefore, when Xiao Guang said this, it was actually a bit of a taboo, and it would cause many people to have opinions on him.However, who told him that he wasn't a member of the Founders' Council, since he wasn't the eldest son in the family, he didn't bother to look at the faces of those posturing people in the Council.He even wished to make those people look ugly and feel a sense of crisis. Of course, he hides this kind of careful thinking very well, and generally speaking, it is not easy to reveal it.

After dealing with the bones and relics, the expedition continued to move forward.They're going the old way, which seems easier, but it's still hard and dangerous work.The virgin forest has never been friendly to people!Especially there are many Indians who are peeping at them maliciously.

Xiao Guang and the others finally spent more than two months, sometimes by boat, sometimes by land, while fighting against the poisonous insects and beasts in the mountains, while dealing with the Indians, they finally arrived at the gold-rich area discovered last time.Here, they spent a lot of time searching, but unfortunately there was no other major discovery except a small gold mine, so they could only leave a dozen smart and capable people to set up camp here, and then brought The rest moved on.

This time they took about the same amount of time and arrived at the confluence of the later Velias River and the Unity River.Although the river bed was a little swollen, they still found placer gold—in fact, placer gold can be found in the Tuanjie River and its larger tributaries, the difference is more or less—and this time the amount is relatively large, it seems It indicates that there is a gold mine with large reserves nearby.So, they started to advance along the Velias River, carefully searched and explored section by section, and finally discovered a gold mine with huge reserves in a river valley.

Of course, the large reserves of this gold mine were also estimated by Xiao Guang and the others.They mainly judged from the scope of the gold mining area, the fineness of the gold mine, etc., and concluded that the reserves of this gold mine are huge, which seems to far exceed the Tieling Gold Mine, which is currently the only mine on the east coast. Several times that, the premise is to invest a huge amount of money to open up the road to here.

The Vellas River Basin is the most densely populated area of ​​gold mines in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was called the "General Mining Area" by the Portuguese Governor at that time. Countless gold prospectors landed in El Salvador and waited for the summer flood season. , went up along the river, went through hardships and arrived at the Villas River for gold mining-although the Governor of Brazil has repeatedly banned private gold mining there, but with their low administrative efficiency, how is this possible? I can't stand it, so I can only let things go in the end.

These fanatical gold diggers with dreams of making a fortune took advantage of the summer monsoon to go upstream, cross over a hundred shallows on the river, and finally reach the periphery or core of the general mining area.This journey is arduous. When the water is high in summer, the current is fast. The small wooden boats full of people or supplies are often overturned. The Indians on the river bank are even more ferocious. They often hunt and rob the Portuguese alone or in groups. The goods caused huge losses to the gold prospectors-it is said that only one Guaikulu Indian, when it was finally wiped out by the Brazilian army in 1795, had killed more than 4000 people who traveled from El Salvador to Gold. Portuguese in the mines.

But the magic is that no matter how difficult the road is, the enthusiasm of these gold diggers cannot be dispelled.They began to form larger groups and traveled to the goldfields together.For example, in 1726 in history, a total of about 3000 Portuguese took 305 canoes and went upstream along the Unity River to the general mining area, including the Portuguese governor who passed here to Sao Paulo to take office.

It can be seen from this that the huge gold reserves here are so tempting to the Portuguese that they have to go there to mine at any cost.The poor settlers in Portugal, the poor people living in difficulties in Madeira and the Azores, the farmers off the coast of Brazil, the adventurers of the Old World (mainly from England, Ireland, France and the United Provinces), the deserted garrison soldiers and even from the The male monks in the monastery all contracted a "disease" called gold rush and went to the Vellas River to look for gold.

These people were starving - because only a small number of people were willing to grow food at the beginning, so that the local cats and dogs were caught and eaten by hungry gold diggers - intrigues and even fights with each other, just to Get exclusive rights to that lovely gold.It's a pity that most people's luck is not very good. They either died of mine accidents, diseases, or battles. In short, most gold diggers have gone through untold hardships and paid a huge price. Just some nameless graves covered in pain, poverty and wilderness.Only a few capable people with both intelligence and luck can survive the gold rush and make a fortune!

Of course, the gold rush wasn't all bad.At least, after the mid-term, many people turned to grow food or engage in handicrafts near the mining areas. Merchants, prostitutes, and mercenaries also came from the coastal areas chasing the smell of copper, which made the gold mining areas slowly develop, one after another. Villages and towns sprung up from the ground and made great contributions to the development of the interior of Brazil in later generations.

Of course, the way people on the east coast developed gold mines could not be as chaotic and disorderly as the Portuguese in history.Portuguese Brazil has a low level of organization, lack of funds, and not enough supplies, so everything is very difficult.But the east coast is different. First of all, this is a country with a high degree of organization, and it has been established for more than 50 years. The government can only focus on the large and let go of the small, and it is impossible to monitor all gold mines), orderly production, smelting and transportation, and maximize efficiency.

Don't underestimate this.Under the government's planning, roads can be built soon (it took the Portuguese nearly 30 years to build a simple road of about 400 leagues in history), followed by settlements, pioneer immigrants and a sufficient number of people. Reservists responsible for safety, various production and living materials can also be transported to the nearest distribution center through roads and rivers, and then distributed to various places to ensure the production of the gold mining area as much as possible.

Once the "General Mining Area" on the banks of the Velias River is in normal production, it will easily become the largest gold-producing area in the East Coast Republic of China, surpassing the Tieling Gold Mine in the south that has been producing gold stably for many years, and becoming the largest gold-producing area in the East China Sea. The most important source of the shore's gold reserves.And if the Huma gold mine in the Far East and the gold traded from Japan (including gold extracted from copper) are included, the source of this gold reserve is even richer.You must know that although the output of gold mines in the Far East is a bit average, the amount of gold obtained through trade and other channels is quite a lot. Among them, Japan, which is rich in gold, silver, copper and other resources, is undoubtedly the top priority.

(End of this chapter)