Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1001 South Pacific ([-])

Unexpectedly heavy fog appeared on the sea, which made the captain of the "Tierra del Fuego" immediately order to slow down. If the leading paddle steamer was not still leading the way, the cautious captain might have ordered The anchor stopped, after all, it would be extremely dangerous for a ship to hit the rocks in this cold season.Fortunately, they have already crossed the Guafukou Strait (the waterway between Guafu Island and Port Montes), not far from the southern tip of Chiloe Island, and the captain of the paddle steamer leading the way is very familiar with this sea area Recooked, so the whole fleet finally decided to move on.

On October 10, the fog finally cleared.Liu Jianguo, standing on the front deck of the Tierra del Fuego, saw a large plume of thick smoke erupting from an unknown volcanic crater in the distance, which made him a little worried.It is a mountain completely covered with snow, about 4 meters high, the scenery is spectacular and beautiful, but it is enough to make people worry-Chile has the second largest volcano group in the world after Indonesia, this is not a joke of.

At this time, the fleet sailed into the southern section of Corcova Bay, and a steam whaling ship passed by everyone. There was a large piece of whale skin hanging on this ship, and it seemed that they had a few days ago A large blue whale was caught in this calm bay.The whaling business that the Southern Railway Company has gradually started in recent years seems to be developing well.

That night, the fleet sailed to the outer sea of ​​Guanhai Harbor and anchored here for the night.The next day, a very strong wind suddenly blew up on the sea, and the sky was also cloudy. It seemed that it was going to snow, which made everyone helpless.This is the case near Chiloe, and if you can have a week of sunny days then you should burn yourself because it is so rare.Here is like England, the latitude is not low, the temperature is not high, and there is a lot of precipitation, which is really annoying.

Several small steamers bravely passed through the choppy sea area, and then plunged into the strait between the left-view island and the middle-view island—the left-view island, the middle-view island, and the right-view island, which are the seas outside the small city of Clion. The three islands, including Isla Cailin, had good agricultural conditions - and then sailed into the calm harbor.

After seeing it, everyone on the Fuego hurriedly followed them, and at the same time blew the siren loudly, in case an unknown fishing boat broke out at the corner of the waterway.In this way, after half an hour, the all-steam-powered ship "Fuego" finally docked at the only deep-water wharf in Guanhai Port after exhausting all efforts.At this point, everyone on board can finally disembark to take a breath.

The residents on the island are busy collecting the salted fish that are drying outdoors—there were few sunny days before, it’s a pity not to hurry up and dry the fish—the first batch of people who have settled here for two years The pioneer residents have basically established themselves at this moment. They grow wheat, potatoes and other crops for a living, and also raise many cattle, sheep, pigs and even horses.And during the slack season, many people will go out to sea to fish and then come back to pickle and dry it as one of their food reserves for the winter; sometimes they will sell it to outsiders in exchange for some cash income, and their life is not bad. That's right—at least these penniless guard soldiers in Daming feel that they are in heaven now, and that's enough.

Liu Jianguo decided to rest his feet under a simple tea shed by the pier. At the same time, the immigrants on the "La Fuego" were also being organized by the militia and the police, and they went down from the deck to the pier one by one.They were very quiet and gentle, with no dissatisfaction or unruliness in their eyes, so under the guard of the police and militiamen, they ran to the designated place - a piece of withered grass - sat down, opened their packages at the same time, took out Dry food and drinking water are eaten.The police have revealed to them that Guanhai Port is not their final destination. Their future home is in Mishan Township, and they need to walk tens of kilometers north from Guanhai Port to arrive. Replenish yourself with strength.

This road was marked by the expedition team led by Liu Jianguo, Wang Dali, and Xu Gang. Of course, before them, this road was already waded out by the residents of Guanhai Port who sent supplies to the logging camp. Now—two years later, after the joint efforts of three or four thousand residents in the two settlements, a simple sandy road has been roughly built here, and it is already possible for horses or mules to pass. Communication between them is crucial.

The urban area of ​​Guanhaigang is not big, so far there is no wall.The residents lived scattered, and vegetables were planted in front of and behind the houses of every household. A few dirty children were rubbing bare donkey dung eggs on the ground and playing with each other; adults looked down when they saw people in black uniforms. They bowed their heads to the side. In their perception, these were people working in the yamen. Some European immigrants would even bow down and take off their hats in salute.

The township government is located not far from the wharf.It seems that a meeting is being held at this time, which is related to the construction of water conservancy facilities after the beginning of spring. The officials of the township government set up a few large tables, and then they all sat around to discuss work. The table was surrounded by a low fence. If the residents are interested, they can also come and listen to it - this is the request of Liu Ang, the new president of the South Railway who will take office soon.According to his words: "Opening up wasteland is an extremely hard work, which requires everyone to work together and trust each other. Our Southern Railway Company needs to unite everyone's strength to seize food from the enemy's tiger's mouth. Therefore, our policies are all It is very clear, and there is nothing that cannot be said to others. From now on, general affairs will be discussed in the compound in front of the township government. It is the right to decide whether to accept their opinions)! If you want people to put down their farm work at home and go out to work to build roads, houses, reservoirs, and canals, then you must first win the trust of people, otherwise how can you convince everyone? "

"Father is also confused. These immigrants who don't know a lot of Chinese characters and have a natural fear of the government, how could they be interested in caring what you say? At most, they will take a glance at it from a distance and treat it as a show." Duanduan would have no guts to get close, maybe they are afraid of being locked up by the police on guard." Liu Jianguo looked towards the township government yard while drinking rough tea, and saw outside the fence made of branches, At the moment, only the new generation of East Coast people in twos and threes are listening. Others may have work to do, or may not be interested, but it is generally deserted outside.

Looking at it coldly for a while, the tea was finished, and the snacks (multi-grain pancakes) to satisfy the hunger were eaten. Liu Jianguo took out a five-cent silver coin from his pocket, settled the bills for both tables, and then did not want the tea shed owner. Looking for the rest of the money, he waved his hand proudly and said loudly: "Ready to go!"

The long line soon set off again.According to the prior agreement, the government of Guanhai Township provided them with [-] mules (which Nantie bought from the Peruvians) and corresponding drivers.Speaking of this, I have to mention that some people may say why there is no need for a horse-drawn carriage to go to Mishan Township. The road conditions there are so bad that horse-drawn carriages cannot pass at all, so only these pack animals and people can walk away. It can be seen that the local difficulties.

Liu Jianguo and others soon realized the difficulty of this road in the dense forest and swamp. The soil formed by the decomposition of volcanic rocks is indeed very fertile. This simple sandy soil road has only been opened for a year. Weeds and shrubs grew again in and around the area.Some dead trees that were blown down by the strong wind lay on the road like this, and they had to be cleaned up every time, which greatly hindered the speed of everyone's progress.

Some sections of the road were even submerged in stagnant water, and most of the starting team did not have rain boots, so they had to wade barefoot through the icy stagnant water.And after repeating this several times, Liu Jianguo had to order everyone to use the few tools they carried to fill up the road flooded by stagnant water, but in this way, their trip would definitely be delayed a lot. Is the dry food enough for them to stick to Mishan Township?

On October 10, this long team finally arrived at the legendary Mishan logging camp after going through untold hardships, and one fifth of the people in the team were too sick to walk. It was renamed Mishan Township.Looking at this impossibly simple settlement, Liu Jianguo, who was wet and his teeth were chattering from the cold, almost burst into tears. Nima, this is really not easy, but he has reached his destination. What he wants to do most now Just take a comfortable hot bath, drive away the cold air on your body, and then think about other things.

"Burn more hot water, everyone will freeze to death." Liu Jianguo said while rubbing his chilblained hands after checking the documents and letter of introduction to the Bingtuanbao cadets staying here.

"I understand, Deputy Township Chief Liu, I'll make arrangements right away. There are not many other things here, but there is a lot of firewood, so it's very convenient to boil water." The young Bingtuanbao cadre saluted, and then left in a hurry .

There was a harsh sawing sound in the distance, and the sound of splashing water. Liu Jianguo knew that it must be the wood processing factory cutting wood.In Mishan Township, a place that started with logging, except for this very small wood processing factory (for local consumption), most of the logs are still discharged to the east in Wanghai Township (later Galen Township, Chiloe Island) )of.Because only there is a port where large ships can pass. Although there are rich forest resources near Mishan Township, the water is shallow due to silting and it is not suitable to build a good port, so it can only be discharged to Wanghai Port.

The vat of hot water was quickly brought up, which made Liu Jianguo heave a sigh of relief. He didn't want more than half of the more than 600 immigrants he brought with him to collapse due to illness.

(End of this chapter)