Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 108 Westward Expansion and Iron Ore ([-])

Since the first section of the river was dredged on June 6, in the next month, the fleet dredged two blocked rivers, three shoals, and widened a river, which can be described as a remarkable achievement.By the end of this month, they had advanced to the river near the city of 2 people in the later generations.

After arriving here, Shao Shude disembarked two hundred immigrants and one hundred pirate slaves. They will build a brand new city and port here as their future residence.From the Changshan Iron Mine Area to the downstream Milin Lake, the entire transportation channel stretches for nearly [-] kilometers. Even if it goes downstream, these inland shallow water transport ships will have to sail for about a week (no boats at night) to reach Milin Lake. .Therefore, it is necessary to add ports and supply points in the middle of the channel.

The city of 33 people of the later generations is located on the north bank of the I River, in the alluvial zone of several tributaries of the Negro River, with abundant water, fertile land, and convenient transportation. In addition, this place is already located on the east side of the Gran Cuccilia Mountains. At the foot of the mountain, it is natural and necessary to build a town here.In fact, not only here, but also an inland river port will be built at the place where the Yi River flows into Lake Milin in the future. With these ports and supply points along the way, this route will become smoother in the future.

The four inland river shallow water transport boats were sent back by Shao Shude to transport supplies, building materials and the second batch of immigrants. The rest of the people, including Shao Shude, all started to clear weeds and bushes, level the land, and dig foundations for the construction of the new castle. Add bricks and tiles.The men leveled the land, dug the foundations, and built the houses, while the women used crude tools to deal with the furs they had recently hunted.

The brothers of the cavalry battalion hunted and killed more than 200 large otters with fishing nets, hooks and other tools, and some Charuya sailors used slings to capture more than 100 South American ostriches, which not only added a lot of fresh meat to the whole team , and also got a total of more than 300 high-quality furs.

Meng Hu, a biologist accompanying the team, frowned at this hunting behavior. He was not sure if these people would hunt and kill all the aquatic animals that inhabit the banks of the Yi River in the future if the government did not order a ban , because their fur can be sold for a lot of money.

This time Menghu was sent by the Ministry of Agriculture to accompany the team on business. He took two young assistants and followed the fleet of the iron ore working group all the way upstream to investigate the ecological conditions on both sides of Milin Lake and the Yi River. .He and Shao Shude are also old acquaintances. When he went to Yazihu ​​to develop the coal mine last time, he squeezed into the expedition team and carefully investigated the ecology of the Yazihu ​​watershed.After returning, he published the survey diary on a "National Geographic" impurity that he had tinkered with. This survey diary vividly described the species and distribution of animals and plants around Duck Lake, as well as the local indigenous lifestyle. There is not a small market among Hong Kong cross-border personnel and a small number of immigrant senior staff.

This time he accepted the commission of the Ministry of Agriculture to investigate the fishery, forestry and soil fertility on both sides of Milin Lake and the Yi River. While completing his job, he did not forget to do private work.For example, there are a large number of big otters inhabiting the swamps in the middle and lower reaches of the Yi River, schools of fish visible to the naked eye, and South American ostriches and jackals in the grasslands on both banks are his favorite subjects.

"I have to regret to point out that it is extremely short-sighted and stupid for us to kill giant otters for their fur in order to obtain short-term economic benefits. Because this will cause a sharp decline in the entire population of giant otters and an imbalance in the ecological chain, and eventually What is endangering is our living environment. However, a senior officer of the cavalry has adopted an acquiescing and ignoring attitude towards this indiscriminate hunting and killing. He only has economic interests in his eyes. The wetland area with rich water and grass has established a human sanctuary. Cities, thousands of South American ostriches, jackals, giant otters and other animals were displaced and forced to migrate, all of which were caused by the order of a high-ranking government official..." Traveling back from the 21st century to the 17th century Meng Hu, an "angry youth" of the Communist Party of China, was scribbling on his manuscript paper, insinuating and pointing the finger at some leaders.

"Teacher!" one of his assistants suddenly shouted, his voice trembling.

"Don't make noise, I still haven't finished writing a paragraph, and I won't have this inspiration in a while." Meng Hu sat on the grass and continued writing without raising his head.

"No! Teacher, there is a situation!" Another assistant also yelled loudly, and while yelling, he picked up Menghu and ran back.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Meng Hu asked dissatisfiedly, but he quickly shut up, and then, like his assistant, turned around and ran back with his head covered.And behind them, a large group of Charuyas dressed in animal skins and linen rushed over with spears and... muskets!

At this time, the left-behind personnel in the camp had already discovered the abnormal situation here, and the crisp gong and sharp whistle sounded almost at the same time.Shao Shude organized personnel to start distributing weapons, and each of hundreds of engineering construction personnel, technicians, and management personnel was assigned a musket.Many of them have participated in more than one battle, and now they take up weapons and make some adjustments, and they are a force not inferior to the regular army.As for the new immigrants, they were assigned some spears. Shao Shude's order to them was to line up in a tight formation and stab them with spears when the Charuyas charged the barbed wire, blocking them and fighting for the Musketeers. More shooting opportunities.

The musketeers composed of 72 officers and soldiers of the cavalry battalion and hundreds of construction personnel scattered among the spearmen, loaded the ammunition, and waited quietly for the arrival of the Charuyas through the barbed wire.At this time, almost everyone is thankful that they brought a large amount of barbed wire before the departure, and their good habit of pulling the barbed wire and hanging the barbs every place they go.Sometimes, this kind of good habit can really save a life.

Xu Yu looked solemnly at the Charuya who was rushing over about 200 meters away. As the highest-ranking officer here, the command had been handed over to him after the battle began.Normally, it would be very difficult for the army to catch some Charuyas to replenish the population. Unexpectedly, hundreds of them rushed out at this moment when they were not needed. This is a big deal!And there is even more unpleasant thing, that is, these Charuyas still have muskets in their hands!

Where did they get the muskets?How can they have muskets? !Xu Yu was depressed. Although they seemed to be matchlock guns, they were also muskets, and there were dozens of them.Damn, it must have been given by the Spaniards!Those Jesuit missionaries, you just teach them how to farm, how to raise livestock and how to believe in God. Why did you get them muskets!Isn't this a deliberate blockade?

There is no more time for him to sigh.Because the Charuyas had rushed to a distance of about [-] meters, Xu Yu stood on the far right side of the queue and blew the copper whistle in his mouth suddenly.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The first row of musketeers fired a salvo in front of the barbed wire. After the shooting, they quickly retreated into the line of spearmen and began to reload nervously.

Panting heavily, Meng Hu was familiar with charging and loading the flintlock rifle in his hand, and then rammed the lead bullet with a cleaning rod, while he kept muttering: "Bodhisattva bless you, Taishang Laojun bless you! Lao Tzu It’s been a long time since I’ve fought a battle, and it’s rare to go to battle, the swords and guns have no eyes, you old man must keep me safe.”

The musketeers in the second platoon also fell back after firing their volleys, and the Charuyas charged even closer.Meng Hu consciously took a step forward. At this time, he clearly heard the increasingly heavy panting from a tall blond spearman on his left. He looked a little young and nervous, and his legs couldn't help it. The ground trembled a little.

The musketeers in the third row retreated after firing the volley. Meng Hu patted him on the shoulder, said "Don't be nervous, you won't die!", and then took two steps forward to stand still.Raise the gun, level it, aim, and then under the officer's sharp copper whistle, close your eyes and gently pull the trigger.

The firing hammer with the flint in it hit the fire curtain fiercely, and the hot sparks generated fell into the medicine pot, successfully igniting the priming powder, and the musket fired smoothly.After firing, he didn't even look at the results of the battle, and quickly retreated to the spear bushes again to start charging and reloading.

After four rounds of volleys, the Charuyas fell a total of seven to eighty people.The remaining charua spearmen were still rushing forward bravely, while their arquebusers had already begun to line up on the spot and prepare to shoot.They carried long matchlocks and tinder pots on their bodies. During the trot charge just now, some of them dropped their matchlocks, and some of them went out. At this moment, they were all busy making preparations before shooting.

But the precious time they waste on the battlefield proves to be deadly, as the enemy doesn't wait for you to light the match before taking on you.The musketeers who traveled through the crowd fired two rounds of volley again, and this time the focus of greeting was the Charuya musketeers in front of them.The dense formation of these rare Charuya musketeers facilitates shooting, and of course also facilitates the enemy's shooting.So under the intensive shot of lead bullets, the first row of Charuya musketeers fell in pieces.

The death of the first row of musketeers made the second row of musketeers even more flustered, and their lack of training was exposed.Some people started shooting alone after finishing the shooting preparations, while some were still busy loading ammunition, and some even inserted the cleaning rod into the barrel of the gun and fired it.Their sporadic shooting only resulted in the death of a few soldiers on the side of the crossing crowd, but what the crossing crowd responded to them was a more violent volley of guns.

The fighting qualities of the two sides determine their fate in this battle, and the balance of victory has begun to tilt at this time.

(End of this chapter)