Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 409 Yihe ([-])

The weather in Uruguay in winter and spring is usually not very good.Cloudy rain and strong wind make it quite troublesome to go out in this season, but this is not a problem in the eyes of people who want to open up the east bank of Yihe River. On August 1644, 8, Peng Zhicheng, the commissioner of the Yihe District, rode a steed horse and patrolled along the Yihe River and Milin Lake surrounded by a large number of entourages.

There was still heavy snow falling in the sky, but Peng Zhicheng, who was wearing a big cap and military overcoat, had no intention of avoiding it at all, but stood at the mouth of the Yi River and carefully inspected the construction of a new town.This new town is located on the north bank of the Yi River, a few kilometers east of the later General Enrique Martinez's town, and only a few hundred meters away from the misty Mirin Lake.The name of this town was chosen by Peng Zhicheng himself, called Qishanbao, to commemorate the first batch of local pioneer residents—two hundred immigrants from the Qishan Thousand Households Institute in Shandong, Daming.

These people only came to Dongfang Port at the beginning of the month. It happened that several ships carrying cloth returned from New China, so they took these ships and ventured across the stormy sea to return to the mainland.In the end, less than 300 of their initial 200 people reached the mainland on the east coast, which is still a high proportion.Only 700 of the last wave of 50 North Koreans arrived at Fort Cheui, east of Lake Milin, less than [-]%, which is embarrassing.

After they spent the first 2000 days in the quarantine camp at East Coast Port, they were taken to the Yihe area on the west bank of Milin Lake by people from the Census Office of the Ministry of Civil Affairs. Laborers build their homes together.The planned Qishan Fortress is not very big, with a circumference of about 800 meters, which is much smaller than the Qishan Qianhusuo they lived in before, but it is stronger in terms of sturdiness.

The few local brick and tile kilns on the east bank, which were not considered small in later generations, produced large and small building bricks day and night, and then supplied them to construction sites in various parts of the country, but they were still not enough for use.This is mainly because the houses distributed by the East Coast government to the citizens are all brick houses that spare no expense: one living room, two bedrooms, one kitchen, one pigsty, and one storage room. 3 yuan brick.It doesn't seem like much, but once it spreads across the country, it will be scary. Among other things, [-] houses will consume the annual output of a large wheel kiln, and this is only enough to accommodate a few people?

Not to mention the castles that the people on the east coast have to build almost every settlement, which is also a big brick consumer.The densely packed fortresses on the east coast are a headache for any enemy, especially those pirates. They can plunder the Spanish towns without walls, but they have nowhere to say anything to the east coast castles that are as hard as tortoise shells. .In addition to the fortress, there are various facilities such as irrigation canals, reservoirs, docks, etc. Unlike Europe, which are basically wooden facilities to fool people, the people on the east coast are all masonry permanent buildings that are considered for a hundred years.

In the face of strong domestic demand, the Government Council intends to build the fifth brick and tile wheel kiln in the Yihe area in China, and the location is set in the current Qishanbao area.Like the wheel kiln in the Camaquan River Basin, this wheel kiln will use the deep river silt in the Yi River Basin as raw material to burn bricks to fill in the growing shortage of building materials in China.

At the mouth of the Yihe River, the water is rippling and the reeds are densely covered.In the vast swamp, some naive otters are foraging freely, and some water birds that have not overwintered are croaking and flying from time to time under their harassment, and then land in the swamp to catch fish and shrimp.Otters and foxes are now second-class protected animals in China. If someone kills them at will, they may be sentenced to huge fines or even exile. Therefore, even if people are greedy for their fur, there are not many people on the east coast of the country ruled by military law. Dare to touch this mold.

Near the swamp is the Yi River with a large flow.The "Qingtang Army No. 1" dredger puffing out black smoke and water vapor is quietly mooring on the north side of the Yihe River mouth, and all four positioning anchors have been lowered to stabilize the hull.From time to time, it grabs a lump of mud from the bottom of the river and throws it directly on the bank.On the bank of the river are hundreds of South African labor construction workers and some residents of Qishanbao. They picked up the first batch of precious shallow silt dug out with the dung pan, and then piled them on the cleared open spaces. ——There is the planned farmland.

Some young children dug some interesting gadgets in the mud in groups: small fish, shrimps, crabs and so on. Every time they found one, they yelled and yelled, attracting a crowd of onlookers.Looking at these little kids covered in mud, the adults could only shake their heads and let them play by themselves.Most of these children are the children of several groups of residents behind Qishanbao - more than 500 children of Estonians from Livonia, and the remaining ten or so are from Damingshan Mountain who escaped death by boat.Children's friendship is always very simple, and they got to know each other within a few days. Although the language communication with each other is not very smooth, this does not prevent them from playing together.

On the south side of the dredger, from time to time, a 72-ton inland river transport ship that also puffed out black smoke passed quickly.It can be seen that these ships are all newly built, because they all use propeller propellers, hang two schooners as auxiliary power, and generally have a speed of about 8 knots.All the ships are loaded with iron ore, and they enter Milin Lake from here, and then go all the way north to the pier of Pingan Iron and Steel Factory at the northern end of Duck Lake.

"How is the channel dredging going?" Peng Zhicheng looked at the swamp for a while, and then asked his secretary Liang Jian who was following him.

Upon hearing this, Liang Jian immediately replied: "This dredger has been here for more than two months, and the section from Shangyi River Fort to the bottom has almost been dredged once, only the last section is missing. This is the entrance to the lake. Originally, the silting was serious, and only the center of the river was allowed to sail. After this period of cleaning, the navigable area has more than doubled, and I believe that in another half a month, work can be almost finished here."

After he finished speaking, Liang Jian thought for a while and couldn't help asking: "Mr. Peng, how does the country arrange Qishanbao? What is its positioning? A purely agricultural town or an industrial town?"

"What an arrangement!" Peng Zhicheng helped a four or five-year-old child who accidentally knocked down on his lap during crazy play. The child was wrapped in a thick cotton padded coat, dressed like a ball of cotton balls, and there was a hole under his nose. A stream of snot was hanging from his nose, and he accidentally wiped it on the leg of Peng Zhicheng's brand new military uniform trousers.Peng Zhicheng pinched the child's chubby face, then let him go.His parents from Daming stood in a distance in panic, and when they saw their child running back, they immediately grabbed their children and carried them away.

"The country doesn't have a plan, but I do!" Peng Zhicheng added, "The large swamp near the estuary will be cleaned up according to the old rules, and an artificial reservoir will be dug to drain all the accumulated water into it. All the reeds will also be cut down. Didn’t South Africa send a lot of ducks, I’m ready to use these reeds to build some duck sheds along the river, and let the farmers raise ducks by themselves. At present, there is a great demand for chickens, ducks and geese in China, and the price is always high. After all, everyone Tired of eating beef, I want to change the taste. There are a lot of small fish and shrimps here, raising ducks is not difficult at all, and can increase a lot of income for farmers. Build some small fishery wharves by the lake, and the fishermen themselves can enjoy Build small fishing boats on the tidal flats, and they can learn from Luocha Lake and use lights to trap fish and shrimp. The fishery resources in this lake are so rich that they cannot be wasted.”

"Also, domestic hemp rope and twine cannot always be imported from abroad. I have discussed with people from the Ministry of Agriculture that the land here is only relatively fertile near the river mouth, and the soil fertility in other places is really average. Therefore, I decided to promote it in this place. Plant flax to gradually get rid of the dependence on imported hemp rope. Flax is quite useful, whether it is for military or civilian use, the demand is very high. Money can’t be left to foreigners, and you can solve it yourself Solve it." Peng Zhicheng said, "With the stable output of flax, we can make ropes and weave fishing nets here. I heard that Lao Shao in the Xiling area in the south is planning to develop ocean fishing and even whaling in Luocha Port. The demand for fishing nets and cables will definitely rise sharply. We are planning ahead and preparing in advance. As for the fertile soil, I plan to arrange for them to plant soybeans and vegetables. In the future, a small ship repair shop will be built here. The coal and water station provides supplies and maintenance for the passing ships. The geographical conditions here are quite superior, and the development will only be better than the unembarrassing place of Lower Yi River Fort."

Liang Jian nodded. In fact, as Peng Zhicheng's secretary for many years, he already had a general understanding of the planning of this place, and this time it was just a confirmation.Previously, Xu Wenxuan, assistant to the county magistrate of Ping'an County, followed Shao Shude's route to inquire about him in a roundabout way, and asked Commissioner Peng how the arrangements for this place were.This guy has made a lot of money by running an oil extraction workshop in the past few years. Although it is not as good as Liang Jian's annual dividends from Dong'an Company, he has to admit that this guy is already the first in the country. One of those who got rich.

Xu Wenxuan has been in the oil extraction business for many years, and now he is getting more and more angry. This time, he recruited several new shareholders—including Liang Jian's [-] yuan investment, and then applied for [-] yuan from the United Industrial Credit Bank. A loan of [-] yuan to prepare for a machine oil press plant project.Domestically, private capital is not prohibited from entering these industries that are "not related to the national economy and people's livelihood". Therefore, Xu Wenxuan's project to build a large oil extraction factory was quickly approved by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

At present, his only worry is that it is too troublesome to purchase raw materials - because domestic soybean planting has always been scattered. This time, he heard that Commissioner Peng plans to open up a large soybean planting area around Qishanbao, and use machines to harvest to improve efficiency. He moved his mind and prepared to open the factory here.As one of the shareholders, Liang Jian also appreciated his idea very much. After helping him to make a final confirmation this time, the matter was settled.

(End of this chapter)