Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 476 Northwest Corridor ([-])

In May, the east coast has entered the harvest season, and the fields are full of farmers working in full swing.Jiang Nanqi looked all the way, and there were endless farmlands on both sides of the railway line, and golden soybeans were planted in the farmlands.The horse-drawn soybean harvester newly developed by the North Harvest Agricultural Machinery Factory is being dragged by four horses and advancing at an unhurried speed. The bean stalks that have been cut by the blades are lying neatly on the edge of the farmland.

Several Serbian women wearing red turbans or small flower hats hummed an unknown tune, while using thatch to tie the bean stalks in the farmland into bundles, and then several bundles stood there next to each other, waiting for others to come and remove them. shipped away.Sometimes when they work violently, they will accidentally wake up the baby on their backs, and the loud cry of the baby will immediately resound throughout the field.

Some older children loaded the bean stalks bundled by their mothers into the cart, and then freely drove the ox cart full of soybeans to the threshing field.There, the men in the village have moved the entire animal-powered thresher. They help each other, while threshing the soybeans, and at the same time packing the coarsely threshed soybeans into large baskets.

These coarsely threshed soybeans still need to be blown in front of the animal blower to remove a lot of sundries.The soybeans that have been blown are immediately put into cloth bags, and then transported to the drying field not far away. They have to take advantage of the good weather to spread these soybeans on the tarpaulin on the ground for drying, otherwise the soybeans will be destroyed. It cannot be stored for a long time.Moreover, this kind of soybeans containing a lot of water will be rejected whether it is a state-run material reserve or a small private oil extraction workshop.So they have to do the necessary drying on it.

This is the May of Lower Yihe Castle, the harvest May.Seeing such a scene, Jiang Nanqi, a senior investigator of the Ministry of Justice, couldn't help being in a good mood. He will never get tired of looking at the golden field scenery, as if there is a unique aesthetic feeling that attracts him, so much so that he feels that there is something in the air. All full of fresh air.

This is along the railway line from Lower Yihe Castle to Canyon Castle. Countless workers are sweating like rain here, contributing their own strength to the completion of this north-south railway line.The Government Council recently proposed a "Northwest Corridor Railway Plan" directly to the future Corrales mining area under the instruction of the Executive Committee. Then it crossed the West Ridge to the northwest and went straight to the manganese, iron, and gold mining areas in the Corrales area through the Merlot of later generations, laying the foundation for the development of the country's machinery and material industries.

Of course, this railway line stretches for hundreds of kilometers, and more than one settlement needs to be built on the way. The time, manpower and material resources consumed are even more extraordinary. At the same time, they also have to face diplomatic and security threats. The difficulty is not small .However, the Northwest Corridor railway plan has received strong support from Peng Zhicheng, a veteran of the army, former executive member of the Central Committee, current Yihe District Commissioner, and national railway supervisor. project, and make policy and resource inclinations for it.

As for the issue of crossing the legal border of the East Coast Republic, the people of the East Coast decided to put it on hold for the time being, pretending not to know it, anyway, let’s talk about it first.They have already consulted some old friends in Buenos Aires about the Baron Bravo who came to the Oriental Port to "excuse the crime" a while ago. The Ma officials are also very puzzled by this. They do not have such strong hostility towards the people on the east coast, because no one would believe that the people on the east coast would demolish the city (Changshan Fort) suspected of crossing the border and close the Iron ore, this is absolutely impossible.

So now things get interesting.Everything sounds like the self-talk of the Baron Bravo who has a strong sense of religious mission. Based on this judgment, the officials of the Executive Committee decided to temporarily put aside this pretentious Baron and continue with the original policy. , that is, through the Northwest Corridor Railway Plan to connect the resource-rich Corrales mining area with the local core area, so as to exploit the manganese ore resources urgently needed by the domestic industry as soon as possible.

Many farmers who come to the railway line to do odd jobs during the slack season have already gone home. At this time, apart from South African laborers, there are only some immigrants from Central and South Europe who have crossed the border from the La Plata region. .Most of these people are Italians, and a small number are South Germans, Hungarians, and Bohemians. They are all poor people who were recruited by the Habsburg dynasty and couldn't get along in the Old World.They were sent from Austria to Barcelona, ​​and then boarded and transported to the La Plata area to enrich the sparse population here so that they have sufficient strength to resist the threat of the East Coasters.

This policy has been in place for nearly ten years. During these ten years, the Spaniards transported more than 5000 Central and South European immigrants from the Old World to La Plata.It's a pity that they overestimated La Plata's ability to bear. This underdeveloped area has not been able to take on these immigrants well, and the local farmers and ranchers are not very enthusiastic about employing these people, so many People's lives are difficult.Over the years, nearly [-] people (mainly Italians) have entered the territory of the East Coast Republic illegally through various means, and then do odd jobs around, in order to obtain a legal identity certificate after waiting for a long time.

Now there are such a group of illegal workers from La Plata active on the railway line from Lower I River Fort to Canyon Fort.Due to the shortage of domestic labor, the military police and militiamen on the east coast border have always turned a blind eye to these poor people who crossed the border, and rarely arrested or deported them.They go to the east coast to do odd jobs, and the wages that the employers need to pay are extremely low, and in many cases they only need to pay for their living.People are also very honest. Many private owners and even farmers will hire two or three people, which is much cheaper than those Charuya and Guarani people who claim to be cheap labor.

Jiang Nanqi rode on the horse and looked at the refugees who crossed the border in ragged clothes and rested under the trees. Their eyes were dull, and their faces rarely showed any expression.The words are even more pitiful—or this may be related to their poor Chinese ability. They may only say a few words of gratitude when they receive their lunch—salted fish and steamed potatoes.They had a reason to do so. The locust-like armies of princes on the Old Continent fought back and forth, messing up their lives. Many of them even starved to death, so they had no choice but to come to the New Continent to seek a living.

Who would have thought that the longing-for "New Life in La Plata" would give them another blow. The local farmers or ranchers don't need to hire too many people, and the Spanish officials who are responsible for their resettlement are also very irresponsible. He only recruits A small number of people were left to open up new lands, and at least one-third to half of the people had nothing to do and wandered around all day.Some of them went to try their luck in Paraguay, because they heard that it was richer and needed more manpower, while others went to the eastern prairies, planning to find work opportunities with the easterners to support themselves .

In this way, the King of Spain was like a transport captain. His relatives helped him bring a large number of people from central and southern Europe, but he could only keep some of them. In the past ten years, at least 5000 people have entered Eastern Europe through various means. Work in the Republic of the East Coast, and then settle down, effectively enriching the population of the East Coast.

Of course, so many people come to the east bank every year, which naturally causes some troubles for the residents in the western inland area of ​​the east bank.Because these hungry homeless people steal potatoes, sweet potatoes or some vegetables they planted in the ground from time to time to satisfy their hunger, sometimes they also steal some poultry or even livestock.Even recently, there have been sensational rumors of robbery and murder by homeless people who crossed the border in two places.All of the above made the local residents "see them differently" to these homeless people from the west, and their sympathy for them gradually decreased or even disappeared, replaced by prejudice and disgust.

The court that Jiang Nanqi inspected this time has heard many such cases recently.

This court is located in Lower Yihe Castle, under the jurisdiction of Yihe District Circuit Court, and is responsible for handling various litigation cases inside and outside Lower Yihe Castle and nearby rural areas.The courtroom is small, only two rooms, a judge, a clerk, two bailiffs, that's all.The judge is a famous criminal master from Jiaozhou, Shandong, about [-] years old; the clerk is also from Shandong, and he was originally a down-and-out scholar. The soldiers of "Marshal Mo" came to the east bank by force; the two bailiffs were from Ninghai Prefecture, one was a sergeant in the guard station, the other was a policeman in the Yamen. Dozens of people are going through the trial a day.

The criminals are basically Italians who have crossed the border, and the crimes are all theft.These people couldn't understand the language, and they didn't know what to ask. The middle-aged judge who was privately called Mr. Liu by the others didn't think it was offensive, because he didn't intend to listen to those people's answers or justifications at all, and that was unnecessary.Why?Because most of these people were turned over by the villagers, and they were caught on the spot when they stole, so what else can we say?The evidence is conclusive, witnesses and material evidence are all there, even the court trial is avoided, and the verdict is just pronounced!

This is what Jiang Nanqi saw as soon as he got off the horse.The two bailiffs kept bringing the prisoner over. Mr. Liu asked a few symbolic questions, and then directly convicted him. The clerk next to him simply recorded and stamped the sentencing notice, and the case was closed.

(End of this chapter)