Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2377 Manchuria and India

July 1699, 7, Harbin, sunny.

"Harbin is actually very good now. You see, the communication building built in 1685." An open carriage drove across the straight bluestone avenue.On the carriage, two soldiers with beautiful mustaches were chatting.

The communication building was invested and constructed by the local Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. It cost more than 1685 yuan.The modern postal and communication industry is built by people from the east coast wherever they go.Although the Manchurian and Mongolian regions were poor and often fought, a small-scale cable telegraph service had been established before [-], mainly concentrated in the towns in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang, which greatly facilitated the development of the local society.

Later, because Harbin was located in the core center of North Manchuria, it was very important to communicate with the east and the west, so it got local investment, built a wired telegraph system, and built an additional small generator room for charging the battery. For the Manchurian and Mongolian regions, it really is like a pie in the sky.

The postal service in Manchuria and Mongolia started earlier, almost from the time when the people from the east coast first arrived.At that time, residents of the Outer Northeast had a corvee burden (which still exists today), which was to carry letters between various military strongholds and larger towns.Riding horses in summer and autumn, and sledding in winter, is not an easy job, but it is very necessary.Of course, it was the hard work of these people that allowed the people on the east bank to maintain smooth communication in the outer northeast region, and various orders were issued, which played a key role in maintaining local order.

Postal delivery has never been inseparable from military affairs and politics!

There were many carriages and pedestrians passing by in the street, and occasionally a heavy steam vehicle drove by.These cars don't have much horsepower, but they weigh a lot, so they can only walk on extremely hard roads, such as the stone road in front of them.However, even if it is a stone road, after walking too much, it is afraid that it will be damaged to a certain extent.So, the limitations of this kind of steam car are relatively large, unless it can replace a power system, replacing the heavy steam engine with a lighter one, such as an engine that uses liquid fuel for work.

"This is the headquarters and parking lot of Harbin Streetcar Company." The four-wheeled carriage roared past another low building, which was the combined office of Harbin Streetcar Company and Harbin Agricultural Machinery Company.

Streetcar companies still use horse-drawn railcars to serve tens of thousands of people in urban areas. However, the problem of street pollution has been serious for a long time due to the problem of horse manure and forage. Recently, there are faint voices calling for the replacement of steam-powered streetcars. .However, the Manchurian and Mongolian regions are too poor to be economically self-sufficient.Therefore, how easy is it to replace steam streetcars in such a place that relies on transfer payments to fill financial holes?What's more, they still have such a black hole as the agricultural machinery company...

As the name suggests, the agricultural machinery company produces agricultural machinery.But the situation here in Harbin, saying that production is really flattering them, saying that assembly is actually more accurate.That is, Harbin Agricultural Machinery Company assembles agricultural machinery with some spare parts sponsored by the local East Bank and the Heishui Management Committee every year, and then uses them in multiple state-owned farms around Harbin.There is no way, the vast land is sparsely populated, the labor force is extremely scarce, and if livestock and agricultural machinery are not used in large quantities, the grain production will not be able to increase.

"That's the factory area of ​​Harbin Brewery. It was organized in 1690, and the initial capital was only 2000 yuan..."

"That is the building of Qiulin Department Store invested by a local businessman. It is mainly engaged in wholesale and retail. It is Sun Chunyang Nanhuo's biggest competitor in Harbin..."

"That's the workshop of the Harbin Paper Mill, and next to it is the Manzhou Flour Mill, the largest local food production company..."

With the continuous introduction of the person next to him, Lieutenant Colonel Gao Shiguang sitting in the carriage slowly sat up straight, looked at the buildings going away one by one, and said in a somewhat surprised tone: "Before I came, someone told me , Harbin is developing very well now, with a lot of modern facilities. I didn’t believe it before, thinking that this place was a pure military fort, but now it seems that my stereotype is too strong, and it’s blinding my eyes.”

Gao Shiguang was indeed surprised.Because in his view, the entire Manchurian-Mongolian pioneering team was impossibly able to develop well because of its vast territory, frequent battles, sparse population, and extremely poor blood-forming ability.But after walking around like this, I found that seeing is believing. Harbin has indeed developed well, at least in the past 20 years.The street in front of me is full of factories and buildings, and it has a strong modern atmosphere. Even if there is only such a street in Harbin, it is very good.Apart from the fact that the city of Shengjing under the Manchu Qing may have a larger population than Harbin, what else can it compare to?Give people on the east coast another 20-30 years, Harbin may even surpass Shengjing in population, and it will be the largest city outside the customs.

"It's a pity that Manchurian and Mongolian ideologies were not unified before. The capital was once moved to Vladivostok, and a lot of money was spent there to build fortresses, military ports, commercial ports, buildings, apartments, many schools, libraries, and even railways. It’s been repaired for a while.” Another officer with the rank of captain said with a smile: “Now the capital of Manmeng has moved to Harbin again, and a series of constructions have started. Alas, if we didn’t have to worry about it and concentrate on building a city, Maybe it’s already a grand sight now? I’m so poor that I can’t stand repeated tossing.”

"This is wrong." Gao Shiguang waved his hand and said with a smile: "The construction of Vladivostok will not be in vain. After all, it is a port city, and the inland hinterland is an agricultural and animal husbandry production area with very good conditions. There are fishing grounds nearby. , is naturally suitable for raising people. If the urban infrastructure is well established, it will naturally greatly promote economic development. These will be rewarded to us in the future, and we are just suffering a little bit now. After the past, spring will always come. "

Gao Shiguang was recently transferred from South Africa to replace Lieutenant Colonel Sun Wu who was about to return to China.In other words, this third-generation army officer who rose like a comet will soon be in charge of a huge force of tens of thousands of troops, including the Hulunbuir Advance Detachment, Mongolian Self-Defense Forces, and militias in various counties and villages. Thousands of people, but it is also very amazing. It can be said that he is the first-class general with real power in the area of ​​the Manchurian Pioneering Team, and his status even surpasses the two important positions of Harbin Garrison Commander and Vladivostok Garrison Commander who are stationed with new troops.

Gao Shiguang landed in Vladivostok port about a month ago, and then traveled all the way, watching and walking, and finally arrived in Harbin, where he had a discussion with Wei Wendu, the leader of the pioneering team.

Wei Wendu is also a leader among the third-generation generals. At the beginning, he led more than 100 people thousands of miles into the Hulun Buir Grassland, and laid down a huge piece of land. He has a high prestige in the Far East. Now he has been awarded the rank of colonel, and he can be called the third generation. The most outstanding person in the world.If nothing else, becoming Secretary of the Army in the future is almost a certainty.

Wei Wendu told Gao Shiguang very frankly that due to financial and policy factors, the Manchurian and Mongolian pioneers will suspend most of their military operations recently, and will instead focus on cannibalization and consolidation.Especially in the western theater where Mr. Gao is about to take office, except for some forces that continue to support the four Mongolias that are advancing westward to consolidate their territory and digest the existing results, the rest must stop and turn their limited energy to the east to cooperate with Harbin Garrison Commander The Ministry of Defense worked together to connect the control areas of both sides into one.

In addition, Wei Wendu also made a clear request to recruit "no less than 3000" Mongolian cavalry to go south to Dinghai Port in Ningshao, and together with more than [-] soldiers drawn by the Denglai Pioneering Team and the Southern Pioneering Team, serve as strategic reserves Team.As for the purpose of this reserve team, there are different opinions. Some say it was to go south to attack Luzon, some said it was transferred to India to fight, and some even said it was transferred to the south to occupy the land of the Dutch, such as Malacca and Ceylon. What.Of course, the last statement has been refuted by many people. It is generally believed that the East Bank and the Netherlands have no grievances or enmity, and even have a good relationship. There is no reason to attack them.

Gao Shiguang, as a high-level executive of the Manchurian Pioneering Team, knows some of the inside story.Strictly speaking, the tasks of this reserve team are diverse, that is, if the battle in Luzon does not go well, it is possible to join the battlefield in this area-in fact, the possibility is very high, because Lu Xiaofeng of the Denglai pioneer team is very He coveted the wealth hoarded by the Spaniards in Manila and did not want to leave it to Li Sixing's department-there was also a reason to take into account the Indian battlefield.

According to the intelligence of the people on the east coast, the French have set up a total of five strongholds in India, all of which are fortress-style trading posts, with 200-1000 soldiers stationed in each place.These soldiers were all transferred from the mainland of France. Now France is disarming due to financial difficulties. A considerable part of the laid-off soldiers has been diverted to various colonial strongholds in French North America, the Caribbean Sea, Africa and the Indian Ocean.These soldiers had participated in the brutal European war, and they had rich experience and strong will to fight. Although they had degenerated a bit after they came to India, they still had old roots and were not easy to deal with. Therefore, it is best to send troops with combat effectiveness to encircle and suppress them.The Man-Mongolian Pioneering Team has long received assistance from Denglai, Ningshao, and Heishui. As the saying goes, the Man-Mongolian Pioneering Team cannot fail to express their opinions at critical moments. The dispatch of [-] Mongolian cavalry is their feedback.

Once a war breaks out in the future, this force is likely to move south quickly and go to various battlefields.Especially in rich India, as long as the people on the east coast defeat the French colonists here, they can accept their inheritance in a grandiose manner, thus expanding their sphere of influence in India to the east coast of India, not just limited to northwest India.

In a place like India, one less competitor is one.If we deal with the French now, how can we know whether we can deal with the Dutch or the British in the future?These are hard things to say.

(End of this chapter)