Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 596 Winter (V)

It was already the end of June in 1647. Even in the warmer Duck Lake basin, the residents of the East Coast Republic wrapped themselves in thick clothes to keep out the cold.Most of them wore cotton clothes, but quite a few of them wore leather clothes—an old-fashioned oriental sheepskin jacket.

Thanks to the rapid rise of the tanning industry on the east coast, the popularity of leather jackets is quite high, especially in Ping'an County, where there are many industrial workers. Rich skilled workers don't care about the cost of buying fur jackets at all, and even some people who pursue fashion Some people will also buy some expensive dyed leather clothes.

Ping'an County, as the second old industrial zone established as a county in the country, now has four townships under its jurisdiction with a total population of more than 60. There are many factories and roaring machines. It is currently the only steel, chemical, coal, and pharmaceutical production area in the country. Important machinery Manufacturing, textile, and military production areas contribute more than [-]% of the country's fiscal revenue.It can be said that the loss of Dongfang County, the capital of the East China Republic, is harmless, but if Ping'an County is gone, the whole country will immediately degenerate into an agricultural society and be slaughtered.

Although the county seat of this county has now reached Liming Town (Alvorada), the essence of the county is still in Ping'an Township on the banks of the Yakui River—an entire elite company of the army is stationed here.With the deepening of the war with the Spanish in La Plata, after the long-term and well-trained Ping'an County Militia Brigade was transferred away, the Ministry of War did not dare to neglect, and immediately sent the newly formed Meilin County Militia Brigade ( 1000 people) were transferred to guard nearby, and at the same time conducted strict training.

In the middle of last month, under the order of the Ministry of War, the Meilin County Militia Brigade went northward to the area of ​​New Hamburg in the later generation, and built a military post here to ensure the safety of the industrial base in Ping'an County.The reason for this is mainly because a report submitted by the General Administration of National Intelligence pointed out that with the rapid economic rise of the east coast, the needs of more than [-] people in various aspects are not small numbers.Therefore, the Gerard Mountains area, which was originally ignored by the Portuguese, suddenly became a hot land. A large number of Portuguese, Mamelucos, and English, Scots and Irish who immigrated from the Old World lived in the Gerard Mountains. Reclamation and grazing at home and abroad, and many handicraftsmen settled here. While serving these pioneers, they also exported a large number of handicraft products to the east coast, and the business was very prosperous.

For example, sewing needles, fishhooks, locks, small leather goods, metal products and other small gadgets needed in the east coast. These gadgets are closely related to everyone’s production and life and are indispensable. It is impossible to produce it yourself.Why?One is that there are no corresponding technical talents (handicraftsmen), and the other is that the demand is not large, and it is not worthy of industrialized large-scale production. In addition, the labor force on the east coast is relatively scarce, and there are not many people to do jobs in various industries. So some less critical industry goods have been imported – partly from Brazil, partly from the Netherlands.

Prosperous trade will inevitably bring about many negative effects in the future.For example, the flow of people was mixed, and some people with ulterior motives mixed in with the normal trading crowd and took the opportunity to spy on the east coast.Last month, a Portuguese man somehow walked near the North Gunpowder Factory in Jushu Township, and wandered around the East Coaster’s nitrate fields for a long time before he was caught by the factory security guards who discovered it.According to the interrogation, before this person, many Portuguese "businessmen" had already observed here, and they had read the Nitrogen design of the people on the east coast.

The Executive Committee was furious when it learned of the incident, and immediately ordered Bai Siwen, president of the Circuit Court of the North Yazihu ​​District, to try the case himself, and sent someone to notify the Portuguese officials on the opposite side of the mountain, submitting to them the protest of the government of the East Coast Republic of China letter.Bai Siwen, who had recently stepped up from the bench to serve as the president of the North Yazihu ​​District Circuit Court and the president of the Pingan County People's Court, did not dare to neglect. He personally reviewed the interrogation files of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Intelligence Agency, and then organized another trial. The regiment tried the captured prisoners, and the result of the trial was announced just yesterday: Portuguese businessman Pinto was sentenced to hang for espionage.

Today is the execution day, and the place of execution is set at the security military post (ie New Hamburg).When Zheng Bin, Vice Minister of Agriculture arrived here with his entourage, he saw such a scene.Under the numb gaze of four or five hundred local immigrants from the northern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty, Pinto, a Portuguese businessman who was about forty years old, was hoisted high, and he calmed down after a fierce struggle.After unloading the corpse and examining it carefully, Du Xing's Marshal Captain nodded to Bai Siwen.Seeing that there was no problem, Bai Siwen ordered his followers to sort out the files, and then strode off the execution platform.

"Principal Bai, I'm really 'flattered' to see such a scene when I came here." Zheng Bin came to inspect the dredging project of the Sinos River near the security military post today. The Sinos River leads directly to the Duck Lake. Ideal transport access.This time, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Communications jointly planned to take advantage of the dry season in winter to slightly dredge some shoals in the river channel from the mouth of the Sinos River to the security military post. Of course, some river channels that are too narrow will also be dredged. Widen to prevent silting and make it impossible to sail.

The manpower for dredging and widening the river comes from hundreds of immigrants from the Northern Zhili of the Ming Dynasty who immigrated here. In addition, after the naval escort fleet returns, hundreds of Livonians and a few Ottoman female slaves will be arranged to continue dredging and widening. For the project of the river course, we will strive to complete this section of the river course after the beginning of spring at the end of September.If they have time, they will also dig some irrigation canals to open up farmland.Of course, in order to speed up their work, the superiors will also arrange for the newly launched "Qingtang Jun No. 9" dredger to drive here to assist them in digging the river.

"Hehe, Minister Zheng, why did you come here? Oh, yes, you must have come to inspect the river." Bai Siwen, who had been sitting on the bench for many years, finally came out of the mountain again. Facing him, who was only a middle school student at that time, and now he is now a member of the Ministry of Agriculture Zheng Bin, the deputy minister, showed no embarrassment at all, and still greeted him enthusiastically.

"The superior is going to set up a military outpost in the north of Ping'an County, and at the same time immigrate here to build a new settlement like Bao'an Township. I think the work here may not be well arranged, so I want to come and have a look." Zheng Zheng Bin stepped forward to shake hands with Bai Siwen graciously, and then said: "But now it seems that the little guys in Bingtuanbao have arranged and organized well. I think they have dug a considerable part of the drainage canal in advance, and then The nearby dam was built to drain the accumulated water and widen the river. It was done in an orderly manner and quite well. I think my worries are for nothing. I will go to Liming Town tomorrow to see how the orchards are doing there. If there is no problem, I will go back , there are a lot of things in the department, there is no time to delay outside."

"Baan'an Township is the only barrier in the northern part of Ping'an County, and the executive committee has arranged for the garrison here to protect the safety of the heavy industry base." Bai Siwen wrapped himself in a bearskin coat. He was already in his fifties and couldn't stand the cold. "Moreover, the Government Council has also restricted the places for trading with the Portuguese to Baoan Township, stipulating that all Portuguese must conduct transactions here, pay taxes according to the regulations, and are not allowed to run around and look around, otherwise they will be punished by law." Severe punishment."

"It should have been like this a long time ago, otherwise we don't know how many secrets will be seen by the Portuguese." Zheng Bin echoed, "It's just that I didn't expect these Portuguese to be so flexible and good at capturing business opportunities. It's only been ten years. , They actually created such a big situation in the Gerard Mountains. They really deserve to be a merchant nation and an economic animal, and everything is based on economic interests."

It is said that since the flag team of Sao Paulo, Brazil, which crossed the Gerard Mountains to capture slaves, started land trade with the east coast for the first time many years ago, the Brazilian towns located between the Gerard Mountains have been established one after another. stand up.For example, the two official strongholds of the slave town (South Caxias) established in 1641 and the captain Ricardo town (San Francisco de Paula) established in 1644; in addition, there are five or six small folk settlements here points, the two largest of which are New Dundee (Egreznia) and Blacksmiths Town (Feliz) – all of these folk settlements formed spontaneously.

These settlements are all outside the de jure territory of the East Coast Republic, and theoretically belong to the territory of the Kingdom of Spain - based on the "Treaty of Tordesillas" (that is, the Pope's Meridian) signed by Spain and Portugal and the later added " Treaty of Zaragoza.But now the Portuguese did not hesitate to take a stab at this place and take it as their own, and set up settlements in a grand manner, and even migrated a large number of immigrants from Portugal and the British Isles.

These settlements are now quite numerous.For example, the first slave town - as the name suggests, provides logistical support for the capture of slaves - now has more than 400 whites and more than 200 mixed-race Mamelucos; the town of Captain Ricardo also has about [-] Portuguese and over [-] Englishmen.As for the various civilian settlements, the combined number of white residents has exceeded [-], not to mention that there are also a large number of mixed-race Mamelucos.

After chatting with Zheng Bin for a few more words, Bai Siwen boarded a carriage surrounded by his followers, then turned around and left the execution ground, heading south.After Bai Siwen left, Zheng Bin didn't linger too long. He took a group of entourages and headed eastward to the river digging site. Before that, hundreds of Ming immigrant cadres who had graduated from Bingtuanbao after the group observation Under their organization, they left here and returned to the river construction site first——the "ideological education" is over, and they still have to work.

(End of this chapter)