Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1037 Journey to Yi River ([-])

Agnelli's purchase of wheat in the town of Lower Yihe went relatively smoothly.

Although there was no large-scale harvest of grain last year, many settlements (which have been developed for many years and have a large population) along the Northwest Railway still exported a large amount of grain to Xiayihe Town Railway Station/ Wharf, ready to be shipped to the eastern seaboard for sale.Of course, in this case, the income of farmers in the eastern coastal areas will definitely decline to a certain extent, but fortunately, overseas demand is strong (such as the Netherlands and its overseas colonies), so farmers in the eastern coastal areas will not be too enthusiastic about farming. Too much down - Of course there must be losses, but who cares?

"Perhaps everyone should be grateful for the immigration policy that the executive committee is unswervingly implementing, because only in this way will there be tens of thousands of more mouths to eat every year in the country, and only in this way will it be necessary to build a few new settlements every year. The impetus to the development of the food, transportation and construction industries is really too great." Agnelli stood at the bow of the boat, thinking to himself.At this time, the boat was already full of wheat, and the high-grade flour brought earlier had already sold for a good price in Xiayihe Town. It is said that the final destination of this batch of flour will be Tieling County, where there are enough high-grade flour Crowds come to buy this relatively expensive flour.

The wharf of the Xiayi River Port is much more busy at this time, and a large number of transport ships of inland water transport companies gather here, concentrating all kinds of materials and personnel transported by trains (mostly), ships, or horse-drawn carriages. Get up, and then uniformly shipped to Qishan Township, Meilin County downstream.They estimated that they would resupply there for a while, and then continue northward until they reached the North Duck Lake area to participate in possible military operations.

Agnelli glanced at the pier and found that most of the supplies brought in from the north by railway were firearms, artillery, bayonets, sabers, engineer shovels, picks, shovels and other military equipment. Needless to say, it must be Tieling County produced.Over the past year or so, the Dayuhe Arsenal, which was originally located in Dongfang County, the capital, has gradually begun to relocate and transform, that is, to relocate some workshops and production capacity to Tieling County, which is closer to the upstream source of raw materials. , Machining supporting enterprises, producing military supplies such as muskets, cannons and sabers.

After all, in Dongfang County, in addition to being close to the sea for convenient transportation, both raw materials and sales markets are far away, and unnecessary transportation costs are very high.Therefore, under the instruction of the top management of Dong'an Company (the state-owned shares of Dayuhe Arsenal are only 40%), Dayuhe Factory plans to spend two to three years to carry out the task of relocation, and take the opportunity to innovate production equipment (the old machines are No more), increase production capacity, because God knows if there are any important production tasks down there-maybe there will be, maybe the Spaniards? ——It is better to take the opportunity to innovate the production equipment.

At present, the factory has relocated more than two-thirds of its workers to Tieling County, and there are only a few "old, weak, sick and disabled" left in Dongfang County, guarding some old machines (some of which were even made in the early days of crossing). Hydraulic or foot-operated machinery), completed the last batch of trivial "gadgets" such as breastplates, sabers, spears, arrows, horseshoes, horse bits, and flintlock pistols for the Crimean Khanate.And after completing this order, probably at the end of this year, they will pat their butts and leave, and the last batch will rush to the new factory in Tieling County to resume production while familiarizing themselves with the equipment.

"There should be a considerable amount of military resources transported to Daxing Port via the Northwest Railway, and then shipped out to sea." Agnelli pondered, "The Northwest Railway, an artery-level railway, has been under heavy load almost since it opened to traffic. During operation, the transportation of iron and steel, coal, grain, machinery, metal utensils, building materials, wood, non-staple food, daily necessities and personnel almost crushed this single-track railway instantly. Especially the three major sectors of grain, wood and building materials These items have occupied more than 120% of the railway's transportation capacity, making the transportation tasks of the Tieling-Xiayi River section of the Northwest Railway in a tense state all year round. Large ships are transported to other places. Obviously, if the shortage of transport capacity continues like this, the State Administration of Railways should almost find a way, and must increase the transport capacity of a single train (currently most trains can only transport about [-] tons per trip) , or reduce the failure rate of the train (this is extremely terrible, and it will affect the entire line for a long time), or simply double-track the existing line..."

The sound of bugles not far away interrupted Agnelli's reverie. He looked around and saw a red flag with the words "Xiayihe County Militia Brigade" raised up, and many soldiers held flintlock rifles Cheering loudly under the flag, morale looks pretty good.It's just—uh, why don't they wear military uniforms?You know, even if they are militiamen, they should wear khaki military uniforms, but look at what they are wearing now?Messy clothes!It's just like training in the countryside, it's so strange!

Is it to hide identity?But the problem is, they have marched with such fanfare, are the enemies stupid, can they not know?Besides, even if they really don't know, they will know when they fight, right?Unless you disperse these militias into small teams one by one, so that people can't see the truth, but the problem is that this is completely unnecessary.Could it be that the members of the executive committee are afraid of the enemy's censure, so they forbid the regular army to fight?So even if the militia were sent, they hoped that these people would try not to reveal their identities, lest there be room for compromise in the future?What a strange idea, Agnelli shook his head, whether it is a Spaniard or a Portuguese, if they are afraid of their fart, tell them clearly, I just want to fuck you, what's the matter?

The wharf officials at the Lower Yihe Port came over impatiently, repeatedly urged Agnelli and others to sail quickly to get out of the berth, and warned them that if Agnelli and others still hesitate to leave, then they will This ship might be requisitioned by the army.These words made Agnelli sober, so he repeatedly urged the sailors to start the ship quickly, and then within half an hour all preparations were made before sailing.

"Let's go." Seeing more and more people gathering on the shore, Agnelli waved his hand and left the busy Xiayi River Port with the old paddle steamer, and then returned to Hekou Township, Zhenhai County on July 7 .At this time, the steam propulsion system of this old ship had several small faults, and it had to be driven into the dock of the repair workshop of the modern special shipyard for repairs. As for the wheat purchased on the ship, it has naturally been transported to the rabbit hole Inside the warehouse of the flour mill.

"Old man, your telegram is so timely! The telegraph operator in the village, Lao Sun, also has a heart. As soon as there is news, he will send his apprentice to send it to us. It is not in vain for us to treat you to a few meals. It is worth it." When Nelli came back, Gao Jinzhong limped over immediately, patted him on the shoulder vigorously, and his joy was beyond words: "One week before you came back, the troop transport ships from Taoyuan County and Meilin County just passed by the east pier. Guys, their purchasing manager made a sweeping sweep and almost wiped out most of the poultry eggs and fresh meat on the market, and even bought out all the biscuits and bread in various restaurants. Grandma is a bear, where to eat Where to go, I can’t say! But this is a good thing for us, a bunch of flour orders have been placed, which is enough for us to produce for a long time, it’s shipped, it’s shipped!”

"It seems that a fight is really going to happen." Agnelli grumbled and said, "This is a temporary war, temporary mobilization, and temporary assembly of troops. What's more, tens of thousands of troops hundreds of kilometers away in the south will be here. Transferred to the northern Duck Lake Basin in a short period of time, such a quick response ability is really amazing."

"That's for sure." Agnelli's words suddenly reminded Gao Jinzhong of the years of war, and he only heard him say: "The militiamen in the seven counties have as few as 1000 people and as many as 2000 people. How much transportation capacity will be occupied? ? Not to mention that there are still a lot of equipment, military resources and supplies, even if it is an internal battle (without hoarding a huge amount of supplies in advance), many things can be purchased and used on the spot. This is still a huge project-of course Thanks to the increasing economic level of our counties, in the past, where could they buy so much rice, noodles, vegetables, meat, fish eggs and so on? What a big deal! Unknowingly, our country has gradually been able to mobilize tens of thousands of people to fight in another place in a short period of time without having to prepare for a long war in advance. This rapid mobilization ability is really getting stronger and stronger."

"Telegraphs, railways, canals, unimpeded sea routes, large-tonnage seagoing ships, good seaworthy inland steamships, efficient docks, and strict organization. The action cannot last for more than a week, and the food is full of moldy pancakes. There are various shortages of supplies, and it is inevitable to be sick, hungry, cold and tired, but now it can be achieved to this extent. Tens of thousands of people! Not 100 people, but also Not 1000 people! Put it in Portugal, give him three months, he may not even be able to deliver all the food to the front line, not to mention the personnel and equipment scattered all over the place, it is really powerful and good means, this is the above Is it the organizational and mobilization ability of the old-fashioned industrialized society?” Agnelli said with some fascination, “With this kind of ability and means, why should the Portuguese fight with us? Why do we still keep Brazil in the eye? Forget about calling San Vicente, it’s just right to celebrate the Lantern Festival there!”

"Then do you want to plow in the spring?" Gao Jinzhong asked stupidly.

"Forget it, let's grind the noodles." Agnelli patted Gao Jinzhong's shoulder and said.

(End of this chapter)