Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 107 Westward Expansion and Iron Ore ([-])

东方港码头，财政部、物资部联合组织的一次清点工作正进行得如火如荼。折合华夏元约16万余元的各类金银币、珠宝首饰、剩下的7000多张皮毛、60吨棉花、100多根巴西红木、染料和一些纺织品，总价值超过了25万元。这就是这次私掠行动的成果，这还不包括俘获的350吨级战舰“小猎犬”号和320吨级战舰“海上文学家”号，以及400多名海盗俘虏。

Such fruitful results even shocked the Executive Committee.A privateering operation actually got back half a year's expenditure of the financial budget!According to the sharing agreement reached by the Ministry of the Navy and the Executive Committee, the Ministry of the Navy will receive a huge amount of more than 75000 yuan from it.Excluding the deficit of more than 3 yuan in shipbuilding funds for the "August 4th" battleship, the construction funds for the new Zhenhaibao shipyard, and the settlement expenses for the craftsmen of the new shipyard, the Ministry of the Navy will have about [-] yuan in its hands. Active funds.For this reason, Wang Qinian immediately took out from the drawer the application for the construction of the second "Common Market" of the "August [-]th" class battleship that was shot at the executive committee meeting last time.After the application was submitted, it was unanimously approved at the executive meeting of the executive committee, and the preliminary preparations for the basic work began immediately, and construction began only after the Zhenhai Shipyard was completed.

60 tons of cotton were sold by the executive committee to the machine textile factory under the jurisdiction of Dong'an Company at a price of 150 yuan per ton, and the capital returned was 9000 yuan; more than 100 mahogany were directly allocated to the Zhenhai shipyard under construction. This will serve as the first batch of start-up funds for the battleship "Common Market".

When it comes to Zhenhai Shipyard, we have to talk about Zhenhai Fort, which has begun to take shape.This castle, which is basically used for military purposes, now has nearly 600 permanent residents. Due to its strategic location, the Executive Committee also attaches great importance to this place, and all kinds of supplies are given priority.By mid-May, most of the construction of the city walls of Zhenhai Fort had been completed, and the two forts located on the top corners of Bather Island and the peninsula had also been basically completed. A security lock and key.

The trade situation has also been very stable in the past few months.200 bolts of woolen cloth, 1000 bolts of cotton cloth, and some hardware products, building materials, clean coal, etc. are regularly exported to La Plata every month. The monthly income can reach about 12500~13000 yuan, and the expenditure is basically controlled within 14000 yuan. The financial gap has gradually narrowed to a barely tolerable level.

Since March, more and more European ships have come to Dongfang Port for trading, especially some old friends from the Baltic Sea region have returned one after another.Their arrival not only made the weapons export of Dayuhe Armory start on the right track, but also brought hundreds of immigrants.

The new immigrants brought the long-needed labor force to the young East Coast Republic. In April, the Executive Committee approved the plan of the Government Affairs Council to set up a pasture in the northwest of Dongfang Port and about 4 kilometers northeast of Dingyuan Fort. Two hundred new immigrants were sent to live here as shepherds and wool shearers.The ranch is mainly used for grazing sheep and providing high-quality wool raw materials for the fast-growing textile industry in the East Coast Republic.

In addition to this project, the most ambitious project in the past few months is the Changshanbao Iron Mine Project, which has been officially implemented for more than a month.This magnetite located at the junction of the four provinces of Florida, Dulasno, Cerro Largo (Spanish: Changshan) and 33 People City has been inspected and verified by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and it is indeed a place with relatively large reserves. Abundant vanadium-containing titanomagnetite.The mining area is located in the large hills at the junction of the four provinces, in the Negro River basin, only a few kilometers away from its major tributary, the Yi River.The mined iron ore can be transported down the Shunyi River-Great Aurimal River-Sevoyati River system by boat, transported along the river for about [-] kilometers, and then directly enters Milin Lake, and then passes through Milin Lake Enter the San Gonzalo River, then drive along the San Gonzalo River into the Duck Lake, and finally sail through the Duck Lake to the Ping An Iron and Steel Plant at the northern end.

The entire voyage is about 670 kilometers, and the navigation conditions are acceptable.Some sections of the voyage may need to be appropriately widened and dredged. Most of the remaining waterways have sufficient water depth and abundant water volume. The river can be navigated throughout the year, and flat-bottomed riverboats with tens of tons can sail without any pressure.It only takes [-] to [-] days to transport a ship of iron ore from Changshan Iron Mine to Pingan Iron and Steel Plant, and the traffic conditions are quite good.

Therefore, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of the Government Council finally decided in early May that the Changshan Iron Mine Project has entered the substantive implementation stage.The Changshan Iron Mine is located in a mountainous area with a complex environment, far away from the core ruling area of ​​the crossing people, so it needs an experienced person to lead a team to develop it.The Council of Government elected and elected, and finally recommended Shao Shude, the former head of the coal working group, to the executive committee.The reason is that Shao Shude had the experience of leading the development of coal mines, so this time the development of iron mines is naturally done with familiarity and not raw.At this time, the coal working group had been disbanded, and the Ping'an Coal Mine had been producing coal steadily for several months. Shao Shude's work results were obvious to all, so most members of the executive committee still preferred to let Shao Shude continue to preside over the development of the iron mine.

Shao Shude didn't refuse either.The difficulty of developing the iron mine this time must be more difficult than that of the coal mine, but this iron mine is of great significance, and it is related to the cornerstone of the future development of the people across the world, and no matter how difficult the difficulty is, it must be overcome.From the beginning of May, Shao Shude began to select manpower, make plans, and urge materials. By May 5, the executive committee allocated 5 new immigrants to him as the first batch of residents and miners of the planned Changshan Iron Mine. , and at this time his personnel and supplies are almost selected.

On May 5, when the executive committee and the Joint Chiefs of Staff held a celebration banquet for the successful return of the naval privateer formation, Shao Shude brought a group of engineering construction personnel, prospecting personnel, management personnel, 21 officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion, and 72 The new immigrants and one hundred pirate captives took four 4-ton inland river shallow water transport ships, carrying a large amount of food, building materials, tools and weapons, from the Chui River ① into Lake Milin, and then went up the Yi River to The Changshan Iron Mine Area proceeds.

Milin Lake is located at the junction of Brazil and Uruguay in later generations. It is the boundary lake between the two countries. Most of them belong to Brazil, and a small part belongs to Uruguay.The lake is deep, with an average water depth of 12 meters and a maximum water depth of 30 meters. The lake is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by sandbars and swamps. It is a typical brackish lagoon.Milin Lake has beautiful scenery, rich fishery resources, and many freshwater rivers flowing into it. It is a fertile land with rich water and grass.A few years ago, there were some Charuya tribes living here, but most of them disappeared under the continuous capture of the East Coast Republic Army. They were either captured or fled into the mountains.And this will also become a potential threat that the iron ore working group will face in the future.

After crossing the Milin Lake, the fleet went upstream and entered the Yi River connecting the Changshan Iron Mine Area and the Milin Lake (crossing the Yi River, the Great Aurimar River, and the Sevoyati River were unified and named as the Yi River ).At the mouth of the Yihe River, the water flow is slow, and the river branches are vertical and horizontal. Aquatic jungles can be seen everywhere in the swamps and Hexinzhou. This is a paradise for birds and giant otters.Some naive big otters are playing freely in the water, not afraid of the arrival of strangers at all.Those European immigrants looked at these big otters playing in the water or chasing fish, and they were already thinking about how to hunt these animals for their beautiful and priceless fur.

The four inland river transport ships unloaded their sails, and the pirate slave oarsmen rowed slowly forward. The sailors on board were still measuring the water depth of the channel from time to time.The 72 cavalrymen of the cavalry battalion, one man and two horses, were divided into two sentries, galloping in the grass on one side of the river bank to protect the safety of the fleet.

After advancing for 4 days, the fleet finally ran aground in a river shoal.Immigrants who had been dangling on the boat for several days went ashore one after another, and began to build simple camps under the command of the managers of the iron ore working group.The soldiers of the cavalry battalion also took bundles of thick iron wires from the ship under Xu Yu's order. These iron wires were made by several manual wire drawing machines in the comprehensive workshop of Dayuhe Arsenal. suitable.

200 new immigrants and 100 slaves began to drive piles into the ground and set up tarpaulin tents.And on the periphery of these tents, the brothers of the cavalry battalion pulled up a circle of barbed wire.The barbed wire was fixed with wooden stakes, and the soldiers took the trouble to hang many barbs and bells on the wire to serve as a warning.There is only one entrance and exit for the entire barbed wire fence, and that is the exit to the boat mooring on the river bank, from where immigrants and slaves will set out to dredge the river.

After everything was ready, the 200 immigrant men and 100 slaves went to the riverside to dig sand and dredge under the command of the managers, while the women prepared dinner in the camp.They took out a lot of fuel mixed with coal gangue and peat from the boat, and then set up a large pot to boil water for cooking.Food is standard: cured meat, salted fish, bean products, and some vegetables that are easy to store. In addition, each person can share a small spoonful of sugar and a little wine.

The simple field work meal is delicious and nutritious, which made the European immigrants who were used to eating black bread and the pirate slaves who ate maggot-infested biscuits all the year round burst into tears. Even many gentlemen in the Old World may not eat this meal. You can eat every meal. It seems that the standard of living in the New World is generally relatively high.

With the expectation of a better life, these people naturally work very hard. On June 6, after a few days of hard work by 2 strong laborers, the silted river channel was finally fully dredged, and the water depth returned to about 300-2.5 meters.

(End of this chapter)