Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 477 Northwest Corridor ([-])

The arrival of Jiang Nanqi and other people made the small courtroom suddenly a little chaotic.Both the judge and the clerk have attended classes in the Dongfang County Law College that Jiang once taught. How can Mr. Jiang not recognize his dignity?Therefore, at this moment, they all stopped trying the case and greeted Jiang Nanqi and his entourage.

However, Jiang Nanqi did not intend to visit the cramped room. On the contrary, he was very interested in the foreign prisoners who were locked outside.These prisoners were ragged, and some even had only some rags to cover their bodies, looking extremely miserable.Most of them were turned over by the villagers, and a few were arrested by the police, but without exception, they all looked hungry.

These people were escorted by patrol police from various villages to the police station in the city. After the police station signed the receipt, they notified the judicial police to come and collect them without interrogation.The bailiffs used a prison van with iron cages to pull them to the open space outside the court gate. At this time, they were very weak. It could be seen that some rural policemen did not take good care of them during their detention.Their clothes were ragged, their hair was disheveled, they were riddled with parasites, and they were in a bad state of mind.What's more, they are hungry.

Some residents outside the prison car were watching, and a chubby child was holding a meatloaf in his hand, chewing and eating it in front of them.He ate so well that his cheeks swelled, and one prisoner, so hungry that he couldn't stand it, stuck his hand out of the cage and begged the child for something to eat.The child hesitated for a moment, and saw that he ate the largest piece of meat in his hand, and then reluctantly handed the remaining half of the meat pie to the prisoner.The prisoner immediately took the meatloaf in his hand and ate it voraciously. Of course, he was more loyal and didn't forget to share some with his companions.

Most of these people were beaten.Many people had bruised noses and swollen faces, and they hadn't eaten for at least two days and nights, so their condition was very bad.Some people were lying motionless in the prison car, some were weeping softly, and some were begging for some food from the onlookers feebly.Jiang Nanqi sighed deeply, then turned to Master Liu and asked, "According to the prison management regulations, these people should be treated well from the day they were detained in the village-level detention room, at least they should be given enough food. But what I saw here, they were starving, they were beaten, they were dying. Is that how you treat the law?"

Mr. Liu blushed, and then mumbled, "Master Jiang didn't know something. The higher ups had allocated some food, but recently the number of prisoners has been too large to be enough. The Yihe Patrol Court just left Changshan Fort this month. Going to Ningjinbao, the subordinate officials once sent people to catch up to ask for instructions, but Dean Wang said that there is a fixed amount of rations for prisoners every month, so it is not good to increase without authorization, let us find a way by ourselves. The subordinate officials also asked for local rations Mr. Larson from the library borrowed some food, but Mr. La said that the procedures are complicated and unprecedented, and it is not suitable to lend us food, so..."

Jiang Nanqi glanced at him and understood the difficulties of these low-level bureaucrats, so he didn't say anything.Maybe they really don't have enough food, maybe they are greedy for some of it themselves, but it doesn't matter, the reality is that not everyone can have enough food for prisoners, especially when the number of prisoners is exploding.

"Is there not even an Italian translator here?" After thinking for a while, Jiang Nanqi asked again, "They can't even defend themselves, this is not the legal procedure we need, it's unreasonable. President Liu, send someone to look for it now Qin Baozhu, just say that I need to find two Italian translators. Go, he will agree."

It is said that there are quite a lot of Italian immigrants in China nowadays, accounting for almost 5% of the population, and some of the Italians who immigrated in the early days are still quite good at Chinese, so there is no problem in using them as translators.Sure enough, President Liu soon brought two Italian immigrants over.Both of them are veteran Italian immigrants. One is from Tuscany and is a policeman; the other is from Palermo and is a small grain and oil merchant. They quickly figured out what they needed to do, and then Started to cooperate with the court to interrogate the captured prisoners.

"He said he crossed the Uruguay from La Plata, where they gave some ferrymen two riyals so they could sneak over in a boat. They followed the open steppes to the east bank, After walking hundreds of leagues, sometimes they couldn't find anything to eat for days and nights; the three-toed ostriches, foxes, and jackals on the road avoided them when they saw them, and they didn't have enough strength or tools to go They hunted to feed themselves; sometimes it rained for days on end, and they were soaked and cold enough that many fell ill and died on the road."

"The roads are full of swamps, and there are no roads in many places. Sometimes when it rains heavily, they have to wade through puddles or muddy pools up to their waists. Their clothes or shoes are often rotten, and they have no place to warm up." , it is difficult to find a place to rest, the few Spanish immigrants in that land are not friendly to them, and many people refuse them to rest in the farms. Even if they are sometimes allowed to rest in some dark huts that are also cold and damp, they will Will be sucked out of my last few rials by those Spaniards."

"Some places are barely populated, but it's better than meeting the Charuyas. Those savages will kill you and take the last of you. They don't have much mercy for outsiders. There's just hatred. They're trudging along while avoiding the Charuyas, and they spend a lot of time sleeping in the wet grass. They can't find anyone to complain, they can't find anyone to complain about, no one cares about them, they just encourage each other .Sometimes you will meet a group of gaucho horse bandits in the wild. At this time you have to take off your hat and bow to them. These despicable gauchos have no interest in people who are poorer than them, but if he happens to be in a bad mood Jia, you are likely to be humiliated."

These people chatter mainly about what happened to them on the road.While translating, the two Italian immigrants felt sorry for each other. Fortunately, they paid a lot of money to sneak here by boat, so they didn't suffer such a serious crime.But seeing their fellow villagers have experienced so many hardships along the way, they were also emotionally excited for a while, it was really not easy!

But Jiang Nanqi heard something else from the narratives of these people.

“Have the Spaniards also colonized east of the Uruguay River?” he asked, because he noticed that the accounts of these people mentioned that they would stop at the farmhouses of Spanish immigrants on the way.

"They said that there were indeed some Spanish immigrants along the way, but it seemed that the missionaries of the Jesuits managed to get them here, and they had nothing to do with the Kingdom of Spain. And there were not many of them. They often had to walk for several days before they could meet them. A few Spanish farmhouses standing alone on the grassland." After questioning them carefully, the patrolman replied to Jiang Nanqi.

This is information worthy of attention.Jiang Nanqi secretly paid attention to it, and decided to find a few more people to verify it later, and then sent someone to report to the executive committee that the Spaniards' claws had officially extended to the west of the Uruguay River, and all preparations had to be made.

The ensuing interrogation was nothing new.It took two Italian immigrant translators a long time to figure out the crime of the first man: he secretly dug up some sweet potatoes to feed his hunger.Unfortunately, he was found by the villagers, and he was weak because he hadn't eaten for two days. The villagers caught up with him and beat him up, and then he was sent to the detention room in the village.

Others committed similar crimes, including stealing food, clothing, and even livestock.As for the vicious cases of murder and robbery that have been circulating among the people for a long time, there are no such vicious cases. Neither the sufferer came to accuse them, nor did they themselves admit to having committed such evil deeds.In fact, if you think about it, what kind of violent crimes can a few "travelers" who have been starving for a long time, are in poor health, and have straight legs when walking?This is really hard to imagine.

"The trial of all 32 people has been completed. They are basically minor crimes of theft. According to the spirit of the Ministry of Justice and the Executive Committee, they will be sent to labor camps for forced labor reform. The main work is to build nearby railways and Settlement. They will get two sets of work clothes, three standard meals a day, a dry and comfortable wooden house, and a salary of five cents a day. In addition, they will also receive the most basic medical treatment.” Liu Yihebao, the judge of the court The master stepped forward to report to Jiang Nanqihui, "All of them will be sentenced to one year in prison. During this year, they still have the opportunity to learn Chinese pinyin and writing, which is already a kind of preferential treatment. Prata and the dark life on the way, this is their paradise."

"Don't comment on these poor people in such a frivolous tone, Judge Liu." Jiang Nanqi suddenly turned to look at the Ming immigrant in his thirties, and then said with emphasis: "In fact, they only committed some very serious crimes." A minor crime, but now they need to pay the price of a year of freedom. In fact, we are enslaving them. I don’t want to comment too much on some policies of the country, but for now, we should maintain mercy and respect for them. Respect. I remember you also hired a few Italian bums in your family. They have created a huge economic benefit for you. The decent life you can maintain today is mainly due to them. You should be grateful to them for this, not so Cynicism. It's not their fault they're poor, they're just unlucky, don't they work? People who love work shouldn't be so poor!"

(End of this chapter)