Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1300 The Leisurely Wartime Years ([-])

"Manager Ventura, Mr. Goshkin, this way!" Xu Hao shouted, waving his hand vigorously at the pier of the mall port.

Captain Ventura, who was wearing an elegant dress, also waved back, and then walked over with Goshkin, who was wearing a leather robe. They were the people Xu Hao had made an appointment with in advance, and they planned to go to Puerto Iguazu together. The area—manager Ventura was on behalf of the Messenger Liner Company to investigate the feasibility of opening regular liner business in the La Plata-Parana water system, while Goshkin simply took a group of Russian laborers to repair the ship there. Railway, the specific route is from Iguazu to Nansheng Township (Guaira).

It is said that since the outbreak of the East-Portuguese War and the army on the east bank has been advancing all the way, many people in China have seen the business opportunities behind the war—for example, the development of the Puerto Iguazu area—too many people are now eyeing this big piece of fat , the messenger liner company, Xu Hao who opened the restaurant, and Goshkin, the head of Ross Labor Labor, everyone wants to get a share of it.

"Captain Ventura, I haven't seen you for a long time. How are you doing?" Xu Hao stepped forward to shake hands with the two, and asked with a smile on his face.

"I got a serious illness and was almost inspired by the Lord, but I recovered later. The Lord didn't want me to serve him so soon." Captain Ventura shrugged and said indifferently: "So I'm here again for the company. Served, Paraná River, it’s my first time to go there, so I have to investigate carefully.”

"Then you have to hurry up." Xu Hao said with a smile, "The state-run inland water transport company has been operating this route for some time. To be precise, they have been transporting people and materials through this river with mixed reputations since the war. Yes, I have a relatively comprehensive grasp of the information on the entire waterway, where there are shoals, where there are reefs, and where there is fierceness, I can’t say it clearly, but there are roughly the numbers. It’s not easy for you to compete with them.”

"No matter how difficult it is." Captain Ventura smiled wryly when he heard the words, "Nowadays, the competition in offshore passenger and cargo transportation is also very fierce. Liner companies and South China Sea Fisheries Company) are strong, their ships are relatively new, their personnel are more experienced, and they can even get more bank financing. There is no need for state-owned enterprises like them to be forced to bear a large amount of policy losses, and they don’t need to hand over profits, let alone do things we don’t want to do, so we don’t have anything to complain about, we just compete together.”

"The strength of the Nanhai liner company is strong. Isn't the inland water transport company a giant in the industry? Hehe, Manager Wen, it is really not easy for your courier liner company to survive until now. But I am optimistic about you. Subsidies (mostly policy subsidies, such as boatmen from Huai'an Prefecture), but they will not be allowed to engage in monopoly, so your future development is very promising." Xu Hao said.

"I will accept your auspicious words." Captain Ventura said. After so many years on the east coast, Chinese has become more and more slippery.

Listening to Xu Hao and Ventura chatting on the sidelines, Goshkin, who looks rough but is careful, is a little envious, and at the same time feels a little inferior.Although he earned a lot of money by importing Ross laborers to the east coast, his status is still not high after all. He is still a foreigner, and his profession is also despised by some people, and he is ridiculed as "" "Vampire", you will meet strange eyes wherever you go.After all, the reputation of non-national laborers on the east coast is really not good. Many criminal and civil cases are related to them, and there are still internal fights from time to time, which further deepens people's resentment.

Therefore, on the east bank, Goshkin desperately wanted to gain a living, wanted to meet more energetic people, so as to expand his career, and even successfully went ashore to join the high society on the east bank.For this reason, he previously squeezed the workers under his hands to help the army build the Northern Railway; later, he selected some people to join the third battalion of the Volunteer Army, landed in the Paranagua Bay area, and fought for the local government on the east coast; now When he heard that the East Coast government wanted to develop the Puerto Iguazu area and planned to build a railway between Puerto Iguazu and Nansheng Township, he volunteered to undertake part of the project and sent a group of laborers who came from Russia last year to Working in the past and serving the heart of the East Coast is very eager!

Fortunately, Xu Hao also took care of Goshkin's face. After exchanging a few words with Captain Ventura, he smiled at Goshkin and said, "Congratulations, Mr. Goshkin, you have contracted again this time." You have completed a considerable project, and in time, you will definitely become a well-known construction tycoon in the East Coast Republic of China, and I don't think that day will be too far away."

Goshkin was a little elated when he heard it. Although he knew that the other party was complimenting him, he was happy to hear this, because it was Goshkin's goal in life to go ashore and become the boss of a construction company.So he immediately replied in broken Chinese: "Thank you, Mr. Xu, I will finish this project well. Really, my men are all from Ross, they are hard-working and incredibly strong, as long as a little food It can work for a long time, and I will take good care of them, the quality of this project, there will be no problems, there will be no problems, and it will be completed on schedule, really!"

"Then I wish you success in your future career." Xu Hao smiled slightly, and patted Goshkin on the shoulder——fuck, this guy is wearing the best sea animal skin robe, and he really is a local tyrant, and he doesn't know how much Ross he drank The blood of laborers——said: "By the way, you are not the nationality of the East Coast Republic of China, right? You have the opportunity to apply for it. This is extremely important for your future development. You want to expand your career and break away from the current state." level, you must have a nationality, understand?"

"Understood, I have passed the daily Chinese conversation test, but the residence period has not yet expired. I will apply for citizenship as soon as it expires." Goshkin said immediately.Now that Goshkin's business is getting bigger and bigger, there are many horses under him, and he is making money every day, so he lives on the east bank most of the time, and then sends some confidantes (mostly his own nephews or trusted friends) to Albania. Ross ports such as Khangelsk and St. Nicholas recruited immigrants (many of whom were even brought directly from prisons) to work on the east coast. As a result, their Chinese proficiency improved rapidly, and their local network of connections gradually formed.Especially after he gradually got acquainted with some staff officers of the Ministry of War, his prospects on the east coast suddenly became clear, which made him overjoyed.

Of course, he himself liked being on the East Coast.The weather here is warm and the products are abundant - if he wants, he can even eat Russian-style food every day - what's more, the laws here are stricter and the social atmosphere is good. Living on the east coast, he doesn't have to worry about himself His property and life are safe, unless he really offends some great people, otherwise he can do what he likes with peace of mind.You know, if a person like him from a very humble background was in the Old Continent, if he was rich and ostentatious, he would have been arrested and imprisoned, and his property would be divided up by the nobles. Kishi is so ostentatious?So Goshkin still hopes very much to be able to mix with the skin of the East Coast, just like his gang of hard-working Ross laborers.

"Everyone, the boat has arrived, we might as well go up here." Xu Hao stretched out his hand and made a gesture of invitation, and said to the two: "Could it be that the two of you still have someone to wait for?"

Naturally, Ventura and Goshkin had no one to wait for, so they quickly boarded the boat with their entourage and headed for Puerto Iguazu.The boat they took was still a classic 72-ton inland river steamer. Except for a dozen or so passengers, there were only some food on board. There were private consignments, but most of them were public goods, such as flour and soybean oil. , sorghum, sucrose, salt, white wine, wine, beer, salted fish, cured meat, biscuits, coffee, cocoa, canned food, etc. There are a variety of them, and they seem to be equipped for state-owned department stores.

In addition, there was another 72-ton small steamer traveling with them. This was the first new ship purchased by Sun Chunyang Nanhuopu (previously it was an old ship that was eliminated by the inland water transport company). A lot of daily necessities such as needles, threads, pots and pans, candles, and bookcases. In addition, some fine varieties of rice and soybeans were consigned by the Northern Seed Company, and some chickens, ducks, geese, and even dogs were consigned by the Dongfang County Animal Husbandry Station. It's still quite complicated.

The two ships left the Port of Mall one after the other, sailed into the vast and wide La Plata River, and then went up the river, heading straight for the Paraná River.Having said that, I have to mention that although the land purchase between the East Bank and Spain is still passing news back and forth between the two countries, the Executive Committee has basically confirmed that the free navigation rights of the Paraná River will also be included. In the new land purchase agreement, the sailing of ships on the east bank on the Paraná River has become more justifiable-although ships can also sail on it at present, but that is after the Joint Chiefs of Staff put pressure on the Spaniards. The temporary right of navigation during the war, reluctantly granted by the Buenos Aires Prosecution Court, is not valid for a long time, so it needs to be fixed later.Otherwise, there will be a lot of trouble in the connection between Puerto Iguazu and the hinterland of the mainland in the future. Therefore, the right of navigation of the Paraná River is what the people on the east bank are determined to obtain, and this does not depend on the will of the Spaniards.

On August 1661, 8, two ships arrived at the Spanish port of Rosario - this is another city that was proposed and spawned by the intervention of the people on the east coast. It was established after the Second East-West War and currently has About 1 white residents——After buying some leather and tallow here, the two ships continued northward and arrived at the famous Santa Fe port in the afternoon of the second day.

There are more than 2000 Caucasian residents in Santa Fe Port, and there are thousands of Kelandi and Quechua people. It is also a big city.Because of its location, goods from south to north and from west to east are gathered here. Timber, leather, livestock, fruits, grains, flax, tallow, cured meat and even imported goods from the east coast, etc., all have to be collected here. It is collected and distributed here, and then exported to Asuncion, Buenos Aires, Cordoba and other places in all directions.Even after the end of the Second East-West War, the Spaniards began to transport more and more Chilean and Peruvian gold and silver to the Port of Santa Fe via mules and horses, and then shipped them to Seville on the Old Continent.Gein was transported back to the mainland of Spain through the South Atlantic Ocean. It was concealed and safe, and the nearby sea area had been rectified by the people on the east coast for many years. Pirates were extinct. Now it is more and more popular to transport gold and silver from Santa Fe back to the mainland, and the proportion of its transport volume to the total has also begun to increase year by year.For the pirates in the Caribbean Sea, this should be a huge disadvantage. They probably need to transfer their base of operations to the Canary Islands to ambush them, otherwise it may be difficult to gain anything.

After Santa Fe, it's mostly backcountry.There are wild grasses, jagged rocks, turbulent rivers, and forests of wild trees.On the prairie, a group of gauchos herding horses are singing far away songs, slowly drifting away in the red clouds and morning fog.They uphold the way of life handed down from their ancestors and live a free life. Although too many gauchos have been incorporated into Spain and the East Coast due to poverty in recent years, there are still many who stick to their traditions and are willing to be poor.

Two 72-ton small steamers sailed unhurriedly on the Parana River, and only Corrientes and Posadas could stop for supplies on the way.But after passing Posadas, the river surface suddenly became uneasy. Rapids, shoals, and hidden reefs began to threaten every careless captain all the time, and made them pay a heavy price for their carelessness—— Xu Hao, Ventura, Goshkin and others noticed that some dredgers of the "Qingtang Army" series were often seen on the river, which should be sent by the Ministry of Communications to clean up the river silt.Some of the more dangerous waterways have also been marked with buoys, and some simple wooden lighthouses have even been built at some big turns where the water is turbulent. These lighthouses with combined concave mirrors transmit the fire light far away , to remind the captains who sail at night to pay attention to the danger. These measures will undoubtedly greatly improve the safety of navigation on the Paraná River.

On August 8, the two ships entered Iguazu Port, which is still under construction, one after the other, and moored beside the beautiful jacaranda tree.Xu Hao and others disembarked, and then, under the guidance of a manager of a Penglai restaurant who heard the news, they lived in a building that was under construction, and it was also another restaurant that Xu Hao planned to open here— - Cantonese restaurant.

The manager who introduced Xu Hao and others was named Lao Siji, who was born as an immigrant from Yangzhou in the early days, but most of his staff were cooks from Guangzhou and Huizhou, who had just arrived on the east coast by long-distance sea transportation (Xu Hao’s hometown in the Far East) friends helped to search), this will be familiar with the situation, and help build the restaurant by the way.As the main investor of the restaurant, Xu Hao naturally wanted to ask his project manager about the current situation of the restaurant's preparations.

(End of this chapter)