Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1241 Terrace ([-])

"A true map must show the precise location of every topographical feature on the sphere of the earth, showing their mutual distance and direction." Patagonian Terraces Blooming Wildflowers In the depths, Army Lieutenant Guo Handong stood beside the horse, pointing to a certain scout.

There is no way, in such a remote place as Patagonia, there is a shortage of all kinds of talents, not only industrial and agricultural talents, but also qualified non-commissioned officers and military officers.No, Guo Handong has to take the time to personally instruct the scouts in the army how to draw, which is really annoying.In fact, most of these scouts are of Mongolian or Shandan origin. They are good at riding horses, scouting, fighting, capturing prisoners, and setting traps. The ability to understand the intentions of superiors is poor, and the ability to accept modern military skills is poor.

Therefore, Guo Handong could only roughly give the scout some pointers and ask him to make the picture a little less "abstract".As for accurate maps that meet the specifications, it still depends on the staff of the Ministry of War or the exploration team members of the Ministry of Geology.Because only those who have received strict education in mathematics, astronomy and geography, and are proficient in using various surveying and mapping tools, can accurately reflect the mountains, rivers, forests and grasses in the vast land of Patagonia on the map.

Of course, if you want to be a qualified naval staff officer, the knowledge you need to master is even more complicated: trigonometric functions must be mastered. It is set to zero longitude—measuring distance is also the content of frequent assessment. In addition, various measuring instruments such as sextant, rangefinder, and math tables must be mastered or memorized. In short, every naval officer after graduation from the navigation school, It can be said that they are intellectuals who have mastered a lot of knowledge and skills, not just vulgar people who only know how to fight and kill.

After finishing this multi-day patrol, Guo Handong quietly returned to Sanshan Township with 400 or [-] cavalrymen under his command—the later town of Gastre, a newly established settlement with only a mere [-] immigrants ( Almost all of them are non-citizens who become regulars after expiration), and live on animal husbandry and water-saving agriculture.Of course, the so-called water-saving agriculture does not exist at present. Most of the residents rely on grazing and some relief food to live, and life is still relatively difficult.

When Guo Handong and others returned to the stockade, a funeral was going on here to commemorate the nine militiamen who died in resisting the Tehuelche people’s raid—their settlement is close to the swamp and river, which is a good place in the desert. It is located, and it was indeed snatched from the Tehuelche people, so repeated conflicts are inevitable.

The cemetery is in a lowland surrounded by woods, the wind blows them crookedly, and its branches and leaves form a vast green dome, protecting the peace of those who sleep here.At this time, the funeral was coming to an end. A registered priest of the Religious Affairs Office (who has no relationship with the Holy See and is not recognized by the other party) held a silver cross in his hand and said to the people attending the funeral in an affectionate tone: "They are in the old church. The mainland has suffered, and before coming to this magical land in the south of the world, it was full of dreams, ambitions, hopes, visions, love, and hate! They gathered from all directions, with their own customs and Language, here ends, in this forgotten cemetery where the wind blows, in the peace of the earth and the universal language of death. Amen, God bless!"

"Amen." The crowd of men in ragged cotton overalls bowed their heads and prayed to the God they believed in.

"Is Sergeant Marcos Queiroz buried here? He died of his injuries last night." Guo Handong walked gently to the funeral crowd and asked.

"Sergeant Queiroz is a man full of courage. Although he is a Portuguese Jew and suffered discrimination in the Old World, at the last moment of his life, he still killed two Thuelche barbarians with his excellent combat skills, protecting The safety of several women and children. He was buried with his beloved 1633 pistol. You'd better not disturb him. If he gets upset, he will let you eat the gun." , In fact, the middle-aged man who was the undercover agent of the Mei Agency did not look back, still watching the cemetery quietly, and said.

Guo Handong ignored him and went straight to a grave.The tomb has been covered with loess, dry and solid, just like the character of Sergeant Queiroz himself that Guo Handong knew.There are some beautiful daisies in front of the grave, the petals have withered, and there is nothing else. This makes Guo Handong a little sad. The brothers who once fought together have nothing to decorate his final resting place after death. Place.

Guo Handong silently arranged the flowers on the tomb, then stood up and scanned the remaining tombs one by one—there were Poles, Italians, Russians, and even a Greek.He knew these people, and many of them were vulgar, dirty, and rude people in the eyes of the bureaucrats or wealthy people in the capital. Everyone here remembers.They don't need money or official positions to embellish their lives, but they are all real men worthy of admiration. At least Guo Handong and the more than 400 citizens of Sanshan Township will continue to gain fighting courage from their epitaphs.

"The war between us and the Tehuelche people will not end." Guo Handong turned to the somewhat surprised priest and said, and at the same time, he said this to everyone who attended the funeral: "We have taken the fertile land in this desert." the land where we dwell, plow, and graze, for which we have shed our blood, and no one else can take it from us except by stepping over our dead bodies. From tomorrow onwards, all men We must spare time to participate in military training. The three of us will take turns shooting live ammunition with each gun. If possible, it is best to learn how to ride a horse. This is good for us to protect our homeland. Don’t worry, I will ask Jincheng Castle and even Hai’an County for money and food. It’s resolved, County Magistrate Cai Huaze has always supported us in eradicating the barbarians in Thuelche, and he will increase the supply of food and supplies to us, I have confidence.”

After saying this, he walked up to the priest again, and said in a voice that only he could hear: "To be honest, your temperament and conversation really don't look like a priest."

The priest grinned and showed his yellow teeth: "Before I converted to God, I once killed a Spanish officer and his two stupid men in battle. If I didn't think that kind of life is really boring, I won’t join the church anymore, this life is good now, at least it will make my life more fulfilling, young lieutenant.”

"I heard that the Golden Castle has delineated a large area of ​​pasture, just at the foothills to the west of the city. This pasture has plenty of rain and lush vegetation, which is very suitable for cattle and sheep to live in. Although it is a public land and does not belong to any one family, but Right now, it can be distributed equally to each herdsman to graze. The only trouble is that the children need to buy ammunition to destroy the enemies on the land. Guo Handong walked side by side, talking softly as he walked.

"It's nothing difficult. I just know that the Golden Castle has decided to be self-reliant and expel the Indians." Guo Handong said, "Originally, Ma Wenqiang, the deputy county magistrate, planned to issue bonds in the local area and recruit experienced military personnel to help. It’s just that you also know that the place is in disrepair, and the residents are simply a bunch of miserable people, and it is difficult to pay the high employment costs. So they decided to rely on themselves, and the local self-defense guns were not enough, so they began to raise funds to buy more Weapons and ammunition. For this reason, many young people of the new generation who have come here to reclaim land have already tried to find a way to borrow money from their hometowns, vowing to fight this battle for living space.”

"You are very optimistic about them?" the yellow-toothed priest asked in surprise. "In my opinion, those young people who are always messy are not much better than the Indians except for their courage."

"It doesn't matter whether you like it or not, I just admire their spirit. In an area like Patagonia, weak people are destined not to survive. This is not a 'gentle town' like Dongfang County and Qingdao County. , but a platform desert where life-and-death struggles will erupt at any time." Guo Handong said, "Besides, more than a dozen experienced wounded and retired veterans have gone to guide this group of stunned youths, which will definitely make their actions more efficient. , causing greater damage to the Indians."

As they walked, they came to the south gate of the stockade. There was nothing there just now, but suddenly ten huge flatbed carts pulled by castrated South African cattle appeared by magic.There are tents set up on these flatbeds, which are like floating hotels, and the 'hotels' live with many girls in dresses-mostly from Italy.

To be fair, most of these girls from Italy are not beauties. Their hometown is overpopulated and life is difficult, so many of them can hardly support themselves even if they work very hard.So some sensible girls, realizing that between their legs there is a treasure more coveted than gold, farms, and sheep, throw away the sickle and dung fork without much thought, and replace it with Clothes with loose necklines, traveled overseas and joined mobile brothels, cruising the Patagonian plateau.

The target group of these Italian girls is mainly soldiers and officers stationed in various villages, because only they will have enough spending power.Of course, if some bachelors in the fortress are willing to pay, they will not refuse, as long as these hungry men don't feel sorry for their silver coins disappearing.

It's just that they are destined to be disappointed today. The funeral has just been held here, and everyone is immersed in a heavy and slightly sad mood-even if some guys with sperm and brains want to do something, they will not do it because they are concerned about others. Give up the idea - it is obvious that there will be no customers to patronize.

A bearded man leading the team sighed when he saw this, turned around and greeted the men and women in the convoy, untied the tarpaulins from the last few carts, and unloaded bags, barrels and boxes.These huge containers are filled with all kinds of goods, but most of them are daily necessities, such as cured meat, dried fish, cheese, wine, salt, fat, sugar, tobacco, knives, agricultural tools, candles, seeds, needles and threads, and even rich people. Green tea, yerba mate tea, and Xinhuaxia coffee—the last three are obviously aimed at consumer groups like Guo Handong.

There is no doubt that these convoys will also serve as grocers, especially in Patagonia, where the transportation is not convenient and the settlements are scattered. Their arrival is often welcomed by the residents, and the government also treats them Not levying any tax burden is obviously an encouraging attitude, because it will effectively fill in the lack of government power and meet the daily necessities consumption needs of residents in remote areas.

In addition, the men in the convoy are not ordinary people. These people have a variety of talents, such as proficient use of various musical instruments, such as performing tricks, such as performing dramas and even arranging various dirty jokes, etc.In short, it can entertain residents everywhere, and then make them generous, so that these wandering entertainers can also support themselves.

After a brief exchange with the residents of Sanshan Township, the leader of the convoy understood that the business would be lost this time unless they could stay here for a while longer.But this is obviously impossible, because the county magistrate Cai of Hai'an County has already hired them to perform at the birthday celebration at the beginning of next month, and now the time is very tight, so we can't stay here any longer.

The team leader with a face full of regret can only choose to trade with the residents, and this is what the local residents like.They take everything, gold and silver coins, bills of exchange, buckskins, wool, and all kinds of strange things looted from the Indians (provided that such items have a certain value), and the residents want to buy almost everything, Both parties are happy—perhaps the only loss is that those Italian girls with white necklines and blinking eyes are watching the trade fair. Today is obviously not their day.

The mobile grocery store, circus and brothel left in the afternoon of the second day. They purchased some hay from the residents, and then turned to the east, along a dry ancient river (the ancient river often grew lush reeds and pastures, many There is also a source of water in the area) heading east, their next destination is Polu Township.

Guo Handong and others only rested one day longer than the circus.On the third day, these sturdy men on horseback also dressed neatly, left the village of Sanshan Township, and headed north.This time, they brought double the number of horses, and more water and ammunition than before, intending to cross the 42nd parallel north into Spanish territory and attack a Tehuelche tribe hiding there to completely wipe out This hidden danger is close at hand.

I didn't get home until 12:2000 pm after working overtime, taking a shower, eating, and typing until 2000:[-] pm.Fortunately, I coded half a chapter of [-] words yesterday, and today I continued to write half a chapter of [-] words, which was enough to complete the task.The status of the first update will last until the weekend. I'm too busy. Let's see more at that time.

(End of this chapter)