Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2245 Unity River ([-])

Although it is late autumn in the southern hemisphere, the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River are still very hot.

This is about 10 degrees south latitude, a tropical area with eight longitudes. Even if the point of direct sunlight moves to the Tropic of Cancer, it will not be much cooler here.Not to mention, the surrounding environment is relatively rough, and there are airtight forests everywhere. Except for the some walkable passages on both sides of the big river (Tuanhe River), it is basically places where the wind is difficult to reach, so the whole environment Very hot and humid.

And in the sweltering environment, a group of men in long-sleeved military trousers and wicker hats had just finished a trek.After they saw several wooden houses by the river, they immediately dispersed and surrounded them.The Portuguese soldier who discovered the outside situation had just had time to draw out his rapier and shouted "Santiago", before he was knocked to the ground by a gun butt.

"Pedro, I know you, don't struggle. We're not here to hurt you, we're just here to hunt down fugitives." A lieutenant officer from the East Bank stepped forward and turned the Portuguese commander who was still a little dizzy Pedro stood up and said, "Is there any food in the barracks? Black bread doesn't matter. We are so hungry that we haven't eaten all day. Fortunately, I remember the location of your outpost, otherwise we would have to go hunting in the forest."

"It's you! Company Commander Ding?" Pedro waved his hand to signal to the Portuguese soldiers who rushed out of the barracks, and then complained: "You are too ruthless, and the uniforms are not right, who knows who you are Ah! But you may be seriously overstepping the line, gentlemen, by going so deep into this place, though you seem to always do so."

"It's different this time." Company Commander Ding waved his hand and asked his soldiers to go up and put the Portuguese weapons aside.I saw soldiers from the east coast approaching in groups of two. The Portuguese were extremely entangled. They didn’t know whether to resist or obey. They all turned their attention to Commander Pedro. As a result, Pedro didn’t say a word, and seemed to acquiesce. This made them very discouraged, obediently handed over their weapons, and then stood aside, looking very pitiful.

"Yes, it's different this time. I never thought that you would invade our country so far." Seeing that his soldiers had been pushed aside, Pedro rubbed his still sore cheekbones, speaking with Said sarcastically: "Are you really not afraid of causing diplomatic disputes? What on earth do you want to do? Advance along the San Francisco River, and then roundabout surround San Salvador? Gentlemen, we are allies, and you can't humiliate them like this!"

"Don't worry, Pedro, go and prepare dinner for us." Company Commander Ding took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, handed it to the Portuguese officer, and said, "We don't have that big of an appetite yet, we're just here to catch up with you." Suppress fugitives."

"You say that every time." Pedro quickly put the pack of universe brand cigarettes into his pocket, and then said angrily: "That's what you said when we drove our people out of the gold mining area last time. According to the sacred We can also occupy a part of the gold mining area, and it is unreasonable for you to do so."

"How can there be so many reasonable things in the world? If everything was reasonable, I would have been a captain two years ago." Company Commander Ding laughed, patted Pedro on the shoulder, and said, "Are you still angry? We trained together in Angola (people from the east coast once helped Portugal to rectify the Angolan colonial army), I remember you are not so stingy. Forget it, I will ask the chief to give you some money later, you have been in arrears with the army for a long time Bar?"

The words of Company Commander Ding hit Pedro's vitals.He muttered for a long time, but he didn't say anything in the end, and when he finally said this sentence to others in Portuguese, the ragged and unshaven Portuguese immediately looked at each other excitedly, and the hostility in their eyes disappeared immediately Mostly.

Pedro sighed secretly and said nothing.It was really not easy for everyone to come to this inaccessible forest clearing and build this outpost with one hand and one foot.And after paying the military salary for the first few months, the gentlemen of San Salvador seem to have forgotten them. Except for sending some food and ammunition over regularly, the military salary is not seen by Cruzado, which makes everyone very upset. anger.

You know, the people on the east coast of the south have been very restless in the past one or two years.They first forcibly searched the Portuguese outposts along the San Francisco River (Unity River) under the pretext of "funding criminals", and later closed these outposts, expelled the local Portuguese soldiers, and mined gold dignifiedly.

Of course, these can't satisfy their appetite.After seeing the weakness of the Portuguese, they went a step further and sent professional soldiers along the river to the north, dismantling all the Portuguese outposts or camps they could see along the way, on the grounds that these people secretly sold food to illegal gold miners, Ammunition and daily necessities, and even accused some other people of illegally mining gold in the Tuanjie River Basin or doing other criminal activities.

To be honest, there must be unlucky supplies. Because of the long-term arrears of military pay, Portuguese soldiers have a strong urge to steal weapons or grain depots.There must be illegal gold mining, after all, it can make money, the premise is that you have life.As for the other scary crimes of robbery and murder that the people on the east coast accused, it's hard to say, maybe there is, maybe there isn't.Or even if there is, you don't have evidence, and you can't pinpoint exactly who did it.

But people from the East Coast will not tell you these truths.Their soldiers are a group of very violent guys. Once they feel that you are a threat to them, they will immediately attack and eliminate the germs invisibly.Not to mention, they often take advantage of the issue, turn small things into big things, and make big things into the fuse of war between the two countries, and then expand their own interests.

Where was the border between East and Portugal decades ago?In Dingjun Mountain!At that time, Mr. Mo Ming, a well-known military strategist on the east coast, took advantage of the problem and uttered wild words to "solve the problem with bayonets". Finally, he forced San Salvador to make concessions and obtained the piece of land at the southern end of the Brazilian plateau.Later, there was a larger-scale territorial annexation war. The border of Portuguese Brazil was suddenly pushed northward to the line of Porto Seguro (Jiaohe Port). , copper, agate, emerald and diamonds (this was recently discovered, but the reserves are not large) in the San Francisco River Basin.

Now that the people on the east coast have started to send troops north again, the older Portuguese began to tremble involuntarily. This is another trouble!Although Pedro was not born in that era, he knew more or less why the territory of Portuguese Brazil became so "narrow", so he immediately had some bad associations, especially in their outpost south. There have been cases of places being occupied by the East Coasters - who set up roadblocks and makeshift camps there and then cut off traffic in the name of "finding fugitives" so that Portuguese officials heading south from San Salvador were stopped.What?Argue?No kidding, then you will be a "prisoner" in no time, no kidding, really!

Therefore, Pedro was skeptical about the purpose of dozens of armed East Coast soldiers coming to this outpost (roughly located near the later town of Piran Alcadu).But he wisely did not resist, because it is meaningless, not only because it may incur more violent retaliation from the people on the east coast, but also because it is related to the weak strength and subordinate status of Portuguese Brazil today-Pernambuco and other places surpass Half of the tropical goods are sold to the east coast, and more than [-]% of San Salvador's arms are purchased from the east coast. The colonial armies in Portuguese Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and other places were built with the participation of the east coast advisory group. From these aspects, they Really lack the capital to resist.

Company Commander Ding is also very satisfied with the knowledge of the Portuguese.Although they have gone through untold hardships along the way, they have also realized the richness of the Tuanjie River Basin.In this undeveloped virgin land, the resources may not only be those towering giant trees, but there may also be countless treasures buried underground.After all, great treasures have been discovered in the upper reaches of the Tuanjie River, so according to normal logic, there must be considerable minerals in the middle and lower reaches of the Tuanjie River, especially gold mines.

In addition, Company Commander Ding’s team also included several experts from Gongyekou. They said excitedly along the way that Tuanjie River has many sections with high drop and extremely rich water resources.Considering that the East Coast government is now discussing things about electricity, then these water-rich river sections are very valuable, because they can be developed to build hydropower stations, aren't they?

Just like the outpost where they are now, there are many large and small waterfalls and shoals nearby. Navigable ships will definitely not work, but if a lot of manpower and material resources are invested to build a huge reservoir, then it can be built. power station.Moreover, while building the power station, ship locks can also be built, which will also solve the obstacles affecting the navigation of ships. It can be said to kill two birds with one stone, how wonderful!

It is reported that after Tepco's experimental small-scale power station in Patagonia has been operating stably for a long time, the possibility of launching a larger-scale power station has been discussed in a small area in the local area.However, due to technical and material considerations, as well as insufficient training of relevant personnel, it is unlikely that this plan will be approved for the time being.But no matter what, at least this trend is quite obvious, and the footsteps of electricity, a new energy source, are getting closer and closer to people on the east coast!

Under such circumstances, it is almost inevitable to seize as much land as possible on the Brazilian plateau, which is rich in water resources.The behavior of crossing the border to the middle and lower reaches of the Tuanjie River to "hunt for fugitives" was the product of this kind of thinking. The upper echelon of the government turned a blind eye to these actions of the military department, which caused the army on the east bank to take a look. The son rushed downstream for thousands of kilometers, and directly stabbed to the Bahia General District in Portuguese Brazil.

Of course, maybe the people on the east coast will not go out that far in the end. After the negotiation between the two countries, they will eventually retreat for quite a while.But one thing is certain, that is, expansion is inevitable. All the Portuguese need to consider is how to reduce the lost territory and how much compensation they can ask for from the people on the east bank—— The army has set up more than five outposts and depots along the way. Do you think the Portuguese soldiers have the ability to dismantle them one by one?Don't be kidding, His Excellency the Governor clearly knows that his army is unreliable. People on the east coast only need to tick their little fingers to "maintain the neutrality" of this colonial army that has been deeply infiltrated by them. What a mess!

Fortunately, Portugal and the east coast are basically allies. Considering that the east coast needs the assistance of the captains of the Kingdom of Portugal in European affairs, their expansion in Portuguese Brazil should not be too much, and it should be enough. something decent.Besides, if King Carlos in Madrid is in poor health and there are undercurrents in the courts of European countries, if the people on the east coast are smart enough, the main direction of expansion should be on the two governors of the Spaniards in Peru and New Spain.On the side of Portuguese Brazil, to be honest, the value to them is not as great as the former, and it will only let them take advantage of it if they are exhausted.Regarding this point, the Portuguese are still very clear-headed and reliable.

(End of this chapter)