Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1032 Advance Along the River ([-])

The reason why the executive committee is willing to give such preferential policies is, on the one hand, the strong request of old comrades like Xu Xin, and on the other hand, their "guilt" towards the Jiaohe area.After all, the next phase of the executive committee's business focus will always be on the eastern prairie in the south, such as the Wujiang area, such as along the two crossing railway lines, so the funds allocated to the Jiaohe Branch of the Development Bureau are not much. It is a drop in the bucket for the development of this vast area, so it is inevitable to attract foreign investment.

With his own means and contacts, Xu Xin contacted many investors from Italy through Sirigu, which made it possible for the executive committee to harvest some colonial towns without investing much resources, and then get some preferential policies It has become inevitable, and there are no exceptions for premium repurchases and low-interest loans.

"First of all, let's take a look at the specifics of these projects." Xu Xin pointed to the map and said, "First of all, it is a series of logging farms and forest railway construction projects at the southern foot of the Gerard Mountains. I plan to start next month A new settlement called Qingshan Township will be built here (near the southwest of the town of Agudu in later generations, near the Jiaohe River), and as our army continues to advance westward along the river, a series of towns will also need to be built on the large territory that has been opened up. The consumption of timber resources is undoubtedly huge. The construction of the Beiyazihu ​​area adjacent to the Jiaohe area has never stopped, and the demand for timber in these areas has never been reduced. Therefore, investing in logging farms is definitely a must. Profitable, too, is the forest railway that transports timber."

"We have sent teams to conduct investigations many times in advance. In the section from Qingshan Township to Mupai Township at the southern foot of the Geral Mountains, there are rich forest resources, and most of them are pine trees, many of which have grown for more than 1000 years. It's hard to see in Europe. Of course I'm not asking you to cut down these trees and ship them to Europe for sale, the transportation cost is too high, but I encourage you to invest in logging farms, and then sell the wood locally to nearby or even lack of forests Resources in the southern region of China. You must know that the construction of the southern region is now in full swing, and the demand for timber in the construction industry (including the railway industry) has been high. If you can seize the opportunity, you may not be unable to build in this round of tide You can earn a lot of money from it—of course, the premise is that you recruit people in the Old World, prepare tools and various supplies, and then come here to rent land to set up a logging camp.”

"As we all know, all of our country's forest and mineral resources belong to the state, so if you come to invest, you first need to pay rent - of course, this is not very expensive, and the price can be negotiated, in short, it can't make you lose money. Of course, if you If you want, you can also set up wood processing factories, wood drying kilns and other enterprises around the lumber field. Our Jiaohe area is responsible for obtaining the business license for you to start a business. As for the railway for transporting wood, each of the seven or eight lumber field The section is about 60 kilometers long, and the cost is not very high - but one thing is that all railways must be built with a standard gauge, and some light railways that are in disorder cannot be used, so as not to make it difficult for us to plan in the future. This has to be made clear first.”

The reason why Xu Xin solemnly proposed here that the 1500 to [-]-kilometer-long forest railway must adopt the east coast standard gauge ([-]mm) is that when the executive committee plans new railway trunk lines in the Jiaohe area in the future, The new railway can be connected with this old railway, which will save a lot of money.Of course, whether the small transportation branches (usually only a few kilometers long) from the logging camps to the forest railway use light rail or heavy rail, everything is up to the Italians themselves.

"The starting point of the forest railway is Mupai Township, and the end point is Qingshan Township. The main line of the line runs as close as possible to the southern foot of the Gerard Mountains. After all, most of the logging camps are set up in these places. All timber will be collected and distributed at the wharf of Qingshan Township, so we still A whole new wharf needs to be built here - and to be honest, it's a good investment, because it's clear that once it's built, it's going to be more than just lumber. As we With the gradual deepening of the development of the Jiaohe area, the transportation of other materials such as fuel, grain, non-staple food, tools, construction materials and even personnel will also enter a peak period. How much profit is there? I think you are all experts, and you will definitely be able to I have a rough estimate, so I won’t say more.”

"In the section near the Jiaohe River, the width of the river is generally more than 100 meters, and the water volume is also abundant. Even in the coldest winter (when the temperature is likely to drop to a few degrees below zero), there is no freezing period. Also That is to say, this river can be used for shipping all year round, and all kinds of economic activities along the river do not need to stop in winter. Whether the number of boats on the river is sufficient or not, I ask everyone to rest assured. A while ago, under the leadership of my lord and the regional administrative office, some domestic private boat owners who undertook the transportation tasks of the Yazi River, the Takquari River and the Jiaohe River jointly established the An organization of the Jiaohe Shipping Federation. Currently, the organization has 15 registered ships of various types, with a total transport tonnage of 910 tons. It has initially possessed a certain transport capacity. At present, the Chinese government's land reclamation operations and infrastructure projects in the Jiaohe area Even a considerable part of the material transportation for military operations is undertaken by this organization, which is already very telling."

"Moreover, the state-owned inland water transport company, which has the largest inland water transport fleet in China, will also send some ships (15 ships, with a transport tonnage of 1080 tons) to the Jiaohebao Wharf next month to establish a Jiaohe regional branch and carry out transportation This will definitely greatly increase the value of the Jiaohe waterway, and the income of the piers along the river will naturally increase, which is actually very clear."

Xu Xin said a lot in one breath, and the Italian businessmen present basically understood the general idea under Sirigu's fairly good translation.To be honest, they are a little moved by these projects, but they have not yet decided to invest immediately, because they still have a lot of doubts, such as tax issues, safety and environmental issues, market issues and even religious issues.If these problems are not resolved, it will be difficult to persuade them to invest huge sums of money to develop the Jiaohe area.

"I think we still have some doubts about the security situation in this area. I heard that your country's field exploration team has been attacked by barbarians time and time again, and caused a certain degree of casualties. If we recruit a large number of laborers from the old continent If you come to work, I am afraid it will be difficult to avoid this situation. Regarding this, how does your country plan to solve it? This is very important!" After a brief exchange, Luciano, a famous businessman from Lucca, came forward to Xu He asked a question in the letter, and the question he pointed out was obviously also of great concern to everyone present.

"About this point, I don't think you need to worry too much." Xu Xin laughed as soon as he heard it, and then said confidently: "It is now winter, and various activities in the countryside have gradually come to a standstill. Last month, on behalf of the Regional Administrative Office, I requested the central government to mobilize militiamen from various counties in the south to carry out round-robin battles in the Jiaohe and Beiyazihu ​​areas, so as to carry out precise strikes against the Guarani barbarians—we have already obtained a lot of information, and we know that The hiding places or supply points of many barbarians - I am honored that this request has been approved by the Executive Committee, the highest authority in our country, and plans to mobilize tens of thousands of militiamen from seven counties in the south in turn to come here during the winter slack The war against bandits is being carried out locally. I think that the persistent ailment of the poor security situation will definitely be greatly improved in the next few months."

In fact, what Xu Xin said was only part of it.In their plan, they will also send capable diplomatic personnel to San Salvador to make serious negotiations with the Portuguese Brazilian colonial authorities, asking them to strictly restrain the Indians under their rule and prohibiting them from entering the Gerard Mountains and the East Coast. Otherwise, the First Fleet of the East Coast Navy will retain the right to act freely.In addition, they also approved an advance plan drawn up by the Ministry of War. In this plan, the East Coast Republic will send a large number of military personnel into the Gerard Mountains for the first time (but it is only limited to this mountain range and will not enter sensitive areas. The Brazilian plateau) and crack down on the "anti-East Coast elements" hiding in it. This unprecedented behavior is estimated to have an extremely profound impact on the Portuguese's psychology, but there is no need to go into detail about these Italians at this time.

Of course, the executive committee also made it clear to the army that the strike operation is limited to three months, and only some "militiamen" with ambiguous identities are allowed to cross the border to attack, and retreat immediately after the completion, leaving no soldiers in the Gerard Mountains , so as not to arouse the Portuguese's stronger sense of uneasiness, and prompt them to fall to some old countries in Europe early, so that things may be complicated.Of course, the Army was not very satisfied with this. They even once wanted to occupy the southern tip of the Brazilian plateau connected to the Gerard Mountains, and push the actual control line of the northern border to the upper reaches of the Uruguay River (that is, the Uruguay River-Pelotas River line) ——If the Army really did this, then the northern border of the East Coast Republic of China would reach the boundary between Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, Brazil, almost extending over 15 square kilometers.However, out of various considerations, Minister of the Army Mo Ming finally agreed with the Executive Committee's opinion and suppressed the strong demand for war within the Army.

At this time, it is still necessary to focus on stability, and not to spoil other major events-this is the unanimous opinion of the members of the Executive Committee.

(End of this chapter)