Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2136 Development Wave ([-])

March 1691, 3, somewhere on the right bank of the Parana.

Although it was raining lightly, this did not stop the enthusiasm of the people who had just landed on the river. Under the leadership of several people who seemed to be cadres, they took a shovel and buried a stone tablet with engraved characters.Beside them, a string of firecrackers that had been prepared were set off "crackling", indicating the successful completion of the foundation laying ceremony.

This is the port of Salat in Argentina in later generations, and now the Xinbian port of the East Coast Republic, a township-level administrative region that has just been approved for establishment.Xinbian Port is located between the Spanish colonial towns of Rosario and Buenos Aires. At present, it is a wasteland with nothing, but it is favored by the people on the east coast and used to build a port.

Of course, there is nothing near Xinbian Port, not to say that the conditions here are not good, in fact the conditions of the port are good.Because it is located in the lower reaches of the Parana River, the river here is open and the water is abundant. It is a natural river port.No, it might not be accurate enough to just say the river port, this is actually a deep-water river port, a deep-water river port that can berth large sea-going ships!

In later generations, the Argentines actually only slightly dredged the Port of Salat to achieve an average berth depth of 8.2 meters and a maximum of more than 10 meters, which is a figure that many seaports cannot reach.As a landlocked country, Paraguay has rented some river banks here as a wharf for its own import and export commodities, and Argentina has also kindly turned this place into a free trade zone, and does not charge import and export costs of goods, so as not to increase its own The foreign trade cost of this neighboring country.So we can see from here that the conditions of Xinbian Port are actually very good. It is undoubtedly very discerning that the people on the east coast chose this place as the first stop west of the Paraná River.

Some people may ask, the conditions in Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Santa Fe are also very good, why not develop there?Do you have to go to the deserted Xinbian port to toss?Well, this question is actually easy to answer, that is, the East Coast Republic has not signed a formal land purchase agreement with the Spaniards after all!Although His Majesty Carlos II of Madrid has probably signed the contract change document at this time, the envoy has not reached the east bank for a day, and the west of the Paraná River has not legally belonged to the east bank for a day.Although the people on the east coast have done a lot of shameless things, but this time they decided to save face, so they decided not to touch the towns that had already been colonized by the Spaniards, and started from the uninhabited wasteland. This ushered in the first batch of builders.

The positioning of New Biangang has basically been designed, that is, the deep processing of food and meat, that is, the sixth category in the classification of cities on the east coast: other manufacturing cities.According to the plan of the State Development Bureau, Xinbiangang will rely on the relatively rich food resources in its hinterland in the future to develop many industries including noodle grinding, rice milling, oil extraction, and wine making; of course, they will also rely on the grassland Abundant bison resources-well, this is not a long-term solution, half-hunting and half-manual breeding is the kingly way-to develop industries such as cured meat, soap making, and leather.

All in all, Xinbiangang is positioned as another manufacturing city, but it focuses on agriculture, and the products it produces are also prepared for the future super city and comprehensive city of Buenos Aires.The people on the east coast of Putrajaya have already been named. It was recommended by Wang Yan who just passed away. They are called Shanghai, which is the same name as the county under Songjiang Prefecture in the Qing Dynasty.But it doesn't matter anymore, people from the East Bank are Miao descendants of the former Song Dynasty, so they can naturally use the names of Chinese cities, and this is not just once or twice.

The first batch of new Biangang plans to resettle [-] immigrant families, more than half of whom are native-born nationals, and the remaining half are from non-national laborers, immigrants from the Far East, and foreign exile families who have quickly obtained nationality, etc.Because a piece of white paper is easy to draw on, the people on the east coast have learned the lesson of the messy urban development planning in the early days. They decided to plan well for the newly occupied La Plata land, and they are determined not to repeat the same mistakes.For example, at present, where is the wharf area of ​​Xinbian Port, where is the commercial area (county seat), where is the industrial area, where is the countryside, how to build roads, etc., basically everything is planned.Moreover, these plans basically leave a certain margin, that is, taking into account the problem of whether there is enough space after economic development and population increase, and overall they are relatively advanced.

The newly arrived [-] immigrant households will not plan their residences and jobs as before. The development of the east coast has been more humane, and people are no longer forced to engage in certain jobs as in the past. The most typical The most important thing is to force people to go to the countryside as farmers to reclaim wasteland.At the end of last year, the East Coast government emphasized the principle of "professional freedom" for the first time and wrote it into the law.This has never happened before. Although there were farmers on the east bank who came out to do business, ran boats, and leased their land to others for planting, it was just that the government didn’t care about it. In principle, farmers are farmers and workers are workers. There will be no land tax as a special tax, which is aimed at the peasant class.

It is different now. The law has clearly stipulated "complete occupational freedom". Even a farmer can apply for a business license to open a store or start a business. No one will complain about it anymore.Of course, this is not complete freedom. Professions such as doctors, pharmacists, and lawyers still require licenses issued by the government, and not everyone can engage in them; in addition, owners of inns, restaurants, theaters, and publishing houses must also Possess a license issued by the police station-this is actually very necessary. After all, these either require certain qualifications or are related to social security. The benefits of a certain degree of control are obvious.

The East Coast government also has some reasons for doing so.Because in some places with a large number of immigrants, especially in remote cities, traditional ideas still occupy a dominant position.Many craftsmen have monopoly and xenophobic practices, and people who are not approved by them cannot even perform their work.When the East Coast government released this law, it clearly told everyone that anyone can apply for any job. This is a right protected by the government to encourage the development of various private industries.

Of the [-] immigrant households who came to Xinbiangang, there is no doubt that not many of them chose agriculture, and half of them died.Especially those immigrants from the east coast who were born in the native land. They are the non-eldest sons without inheritance rights in their families. Many of them do not want to do this "promising" occupation after they have done enough farm work since they were young.They complained that the job was too hard, but the income was not as expected. Even their elder brothers who inherited the family property were a little reluctant to continue to work in agriculture, let alone them.Having received a rough primary school education, they are more interested in a job as a government employee. At worst, they also want to go to a store to engage in commercial work and other service jobs.Working in a factory is of course also a good choice. Although it may take a certain number of years to learn enough skills and technology, the advantage is that the development prospects are good and the income is also good.

In short, farming is impossible, and it is only considered when there is no other way!

Of course, some people are not willing to farm, and naturally some people are willing to farm.Most of these people are regular non-national laborers, or immigrants from the Far East.These people come from a traditional agricultural society, and they value land more, so they are actually quite satisfied with being able to get a starting allotment of five acres of land.Moreover, they are also sincerely willing to reclaim wasteland and farm land, and feel that the land is more real than anything else, and it makes people feel safer than anything else.To be honest, these people are the main force in reclamation.

And considering that there are more and more young people in rural areas who are unwilling to farm land, the government is also considering whether to revise the policy in a timely manner, that is, whether the original limit of [-] mu of land for individuals needs to be abolished?To be honest, this policy is not very meaningful now after it has been implemented for decades.At the beginning, it was considered that the development of agricultural mechanization on the east coast is relatively low, and you can’t develop too much land if you are given. At the same time, although the east coast is sparsely populated, the land merger must be restrained from the beginning by establishing good rules. Because of the fact that the government retains more land in order to sell it for profit, it has set a policy of a maximum of [-] acres of arable land owned by individuals.

But now the degree of agricultural mechanization on the east coast is increasing day by day, making it possible for individuals to cultivate more land.Coupled with the current agricultural downturn and the general decline in farmers' income, which has continued for many years, there are not many people willing to farm in rural areas.Under such circumstances, there is really no need to continue sticking to the old rules. If you make some changes and raise the upper limit to [-] mu, it shouldn't be a big problem.

Of course, under such circumstances, it is inevitable to further strengthen the construction of rural grassroots organizations and strengthen the role of agricultural cooperatives.Otherwise, no matter how much land you give them, it will be useless, and it is impossible for them to effectively develop and obtain income.Instead, they have to pay land taxes for nothing, which is not beautiful!

With agricultural cooperatives purchasing seeds, leasing machines, purchasing insurance, and selling products, the production costs of farmers will be reduced to a minimum, which saves a lot of money.And considering that the area of ​​land cultivated by them per capita has greatly increased, the per capita grain output must have also greatly increased, which is also a large sum of money.It is not only open source, but also cost-saving. It may be very difficult for farmers to increase their income.

In this process, the only dissatisfaction is probably the army.Now the main source of the East Coast Army is the children of farmers. Many soldiers who have been demobilized have also gone to the rural grassroots to serve as officials. This is their biggest base.If the number of farmers decreased, their influence would certainly be greatly reduced, which they did not like.

But they also understand that this is actually the general trend, and no one can stop it.Therefore, it is said that the army has begun to develop its influence in the cities, especially heavy industrial cities such as Tieling and Pingan. They have recruited many children of coal mines and iron and steel workers into the army. This is probably the way to play in the future, and it should be a good source of troops.

It is estimated that more than [-] households of the first batch of [-] immigrants who came to Xinbiangang will be engaged in agriculture.They will be scattered to the suburban villages not too far from the planned county seat for resettlement. In addition to officials from the East Coast Agricultural Bank and the State Development Bureau, the army will also follow up.

The East Coast Agricultural Bank provides farmers with seeds, poultry (livestock) and even low-interest loans in cash. The State Development Bureau helps them establish agricultural cooperatives and popularize the benefits and operating mechanisms of cooperatives.As for the army, they will send some wounded and retired veterans and junior officers here to establish the village military association, and then support the training and training of the militia, while increasing the cohesion of these immigrants.

The above-mentioned measures are actually the standard templates for the future development of agricultural work in the La Plata area by people on the east coast.These undoubtedly need to recruit a large number of personnel, invest a lot of time and money, but there is no doubt that everything is worth it!Getting the immigrants familiar and settled down as soon as possible can create value for the government as soon as possible and promote social development as soon as possible. This point is still very clear to the upper echelons of the government.

(End of this chapter)