Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 554 War Years ([-])

As the temperature rises day by day, the east coast area gradually enters the early summer season.The rural farmers who have finished their farm work have nothing to do. Apart from the more and more intensive militia training, everyone can only squat in the countryside with nothing to do, waiting for the weekly preaching team tour while busy with farm work.

The performances of the preaching team are worth looking forward to, because in addition to some drama performances, there will also be people who will broadcast the latest popular events and the new policies of the country.Among them, the most concerned one is naturally the current situation of La Plata.The citizens on the east coast—whether they are from the Old Continent Europe or the Eastern Ming Dynasty, they never thought that a war started by the gentlemen would be closely related to every resident of the country.

Today, when the economy is more and more closely linked with Europe, and when a sea storm can affect domestic price fluctuations, everyone—whether he wants to or not—he is forced to be involved in this war.Unlike the princes and aristocrats on the European continent at this time who fought back and forth while the living conditions of ordinary people did not change qualitatively, the war that broke out between the East Coast and Spain profoundly affected the fate of this country, and also profoundly affected each person's fate.Among other things, at least their food and clothing costs have been affected to a certain extent by this war.

According to the preaching team, if the east coast is defeated, the Spaniards will inevitably occupy the entire east coast region, and the China East Coast Republic, which has been established for more than ten years, will collapse.Factories, ships, cattle and sheep, land, and forests will be occupied by greedy Spanish nobles, and then everyone will return to the life of serfs in the Middle Ages. A little sweet potato every day is already a great gift from the nobles.You do not believe?Go and see the life of the people of La Plata, there are living examples there!

After listening to the tragic life of the European peasants told by the preaching team at this time, the people on the east coast were finally afraid. They were afraid that they would never eat bacon, flour, fruit, etc. They can no longer drink beer, they are afraid that most of their annual income will be taken away by the nobles, they are afraid that they will be thrown into prison for offending the nobles, in short, they are afraid of the rule of the Spanish.

Since they are unwilling to be ruled by the barbaric Spanish nobles, they can only hope that the country can win this war, and they only have this expectation.At this time, they have never realized so deeply that they belong to this country, and this country means everything to them.They are the citizens of the East Coast Republic of China, and they are people from two worlds completely different from the serfs ruled by the ignorant princes and nobles of the old continent. war.Naturally, the preaching team will not let go of this excellent opportunity for patriotic education. If they don't take the opportunity to strengthen the sense of identity and cohesion of the immigrants at this time, then they simply don't get along.

Of course, in order to improve everyone's sense of belonging and identity to the country and the collective, the necessary benefits must be given. This is the war dividend.For this reason, the Government Council ordered half of the large number of cattle and sheep seized from La Plata to be sold publicly across the country at a relatively low price, probably more than one-third lower than the market price before the outbreak of the war.At present, the news has been brewing and publicizing in China for a month, and almost everyone has already known about it.

On December 12, the statistics on the purchase of trophies (mainly cattle) in Dongfang County were basically completed, and almost every household of more than 20 farmers in the county subscribed for a cow.On weekdays, the frugal farmers took out the silver coins that had been treasured for many years from the bottom of the clothes box, and went to the village office to pay the money and deliver the goods.An adult vegetable cow is 2000 yuan a head, which is very cheap, which is nothing to the east coast farmers with a decent income level. They readily pay the money and then take the cattle home to raise them.

What a joke, 10 yuan to buy an adult cow, how can there be such a good thing nowadays?Didn't you see that the beef cattle imported from La Plata before the war cost 15 yuan a head?Recently, I heard from those cattle dealers that the price of vegetable cattle sold from Brazil is even 18-20 yuan a head!Damn the Portuguese guy, he knows how to take advantage of the fire, and sooner or later he will make you look good!

In fact, this time the east bank attacked La Plata, and successively broke through cities such as Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, and Corrientes. They are all very moving.I only knew that La Plata was rich, and there were more than ten times or even dozens of times more cattle than people, but I didn't expect that the level of wealth was higher than people on the east coast imagined.They just found an excuse to confiscate the properties of more than a dozen big businessmen and ranchers around the three cities including Buenos Aires, plus some "filial piety" sent by the rebellious Kelandi people, they collected There are more than 4 cattle, more than 2000 sheep, 130 horses, more than 200 tons of grain, more than [-] sacks of wool, more than [-] pieces of cattle and sheep skins, and other properties, with a total value of more than [-] yuan. ten thousand yuan.If you include all kinds of gold and silver coins worth more than [-] pesos seized, the total harvest of this battle is close to [-] million yuan.

Compared with the harvest, how much is the military expenditure on the east coast due to the war now?First of all, let’s not talk about the army. The expenditure here is very little, and it seems to have spent more than 10 yuan more than usual in the past few months.The real cost is in the navy. For example, the three major shipyards built seven logistics support ships such as supply ships, troop carriers, and repair ships for the war, with a total cost of about 30 yuan; plus a battleship and For two escort gunboats, the total cost of all ten ships is only a little over 50 yuan.If you include the sailors’ resettlement expenses, training expenses and extra spare parts and ammunition that were raised due to this, the total expenditure is only about 55 yuan.Moreover, these ships are not one-off, and they will disappear after spending.As long as they are not sunk by the enemy, these ships will always exist in the battle order of the East Coast Navy and will always be able to serve the East Coast Navy.

Of course, except for those gold and silver coins among the "enemy property" seized, most of the materials are difficult to convert into cash in a short period of time.Without cash, it is natural that all kinds of materials cannot be purchased, and the war will be difficult to continue.Therefore, the Government Affairs Council arranged such a subscription activity in China to withdraw some of the funds from the people to support the war. At the same time, it was also to give the common people a little bonus from the war and improve the morale and cohesion of the people.

As of mid-December 1646, the Government Affairs Council had sold more than 12 beef cattle in China, and returned more than 2000 yuan of funds.The rest of the livestock such as cattle, horses and sheep are all handed over to the state-run ranch in Ranch Township, where a large number of black laborers are doing work such as grazing, shearing sheep, and milking cows.It is believed that after the delivery of tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and horses, the livestock size of the state-owned ranch on the east bank will usher in a period of rapid growth.At the same time, more than 3 tons of La Plata wheat were hoarded in the warehouse of the Bulk Trade Center in Port Rocha, waiting for Dutch ships to come to buy them.As for the remaining logs, cattle and sheep skins, and wool, they were allocated free of charge to relevant state-owned enterprises, which were processed into finished products and then exported to foreign markets in exchange for funds.

All in all, judging from the three and a half months since the outbreak of the war, at least the people on the east bank have not suffered any financial losses, and even made a lot of profits, which made the military and even the officials in the government very excited.The Argentine region is so rich, so how rich will Asunción, known as the Pearl of La Plata, be?How rich is Paraguay, which is densely populated and rich in products?If you go to grab one, how much will you gain?

After the cattle subscription was completed, the Government Council auctioned a batch of high-end furniture, leather clothes, clocks and bonds used by the rich in La Plata in Dongfang County, Zhenhai County, and Ping’an County, respectively. (Amsterdam Bank issued, anonymous), works of art and other items, and more than [-] yuan of funds were withdrawn again.According to Xu Wenxuan, director of the Xuji Oil Extraction Factory who participated in the auction, he recalled afterwards that all those present at the meeting were workshop owners with a certain net worth, military officers above mid-level, senior technicians, and businessmen.The atmosphere at the auction was warm. Before the auction started, everyone sang the national anthem together. During the bidding process, the bids were even more enthusiastic. The transaction price of each auction item was not low.

In this process, it is not without noise.A Dutch mirror maker living in the east coast could not understand the fanatical war atmosphere in the east coast. He satirized the East China Republic in public as "a gang of robbers pretending to be a country".As soon as this remark came out, Henan Glass Factory immediately settled the wages with him, terminated the employment contract ahead of schedule, and asked him to leave the country within a specified time limit.In desperation, the Dutch technician could only pack his luggage, give up this well-paid job, and return to Amsterdam on a returning Dutch ship.

Encouraged by the dividends of the war, on December 12th, Liao Meng, Minister of the Army, ordered that about 20 Polish and Tatar mercenaries (recruited for the Far East) currently staying in Dongfang Port should be gathered at the dock to stand by. On the 25th, after some officers were dispatched to give them some training, this unit of [-] militiamen from Zhenhai County was transferred to Buenos Aires in batches, and then transferred to the current The city of Corrientes under the control of the East Coasters.They will join the Changkaisheng detachment in Corrientes City, and then wait for the next order from the military while training.

(End of this chapter)