Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1751 Big Inspection ([-])

On March 1677, 3, after finishing a series of activities in Willow Camp—including the foundation stone laying ceremony for a wood processing factory—Qi Wangping and his party boarded the Star of La Plata train again and began their journey northward to the Brazilian plateau. trip.

From Dingjun Town to the southern tip of the Brazilian plateau, the mountains are gentle and the landform is relatively open. Therefore, the Northern Railway, which was urgently repaired before the East-Portuguese War many years ago, went north from here.Qi Wangping's special train stopped for a day in Dingjun Town, a key city connecting the north and the south, and took the time to meet with Luciano Jr., the head of the forest development company who was frowning and was building a railway here, and an agent of a consortium composed of many Italian families. .

Luciano Jr. was the youngest son of Luciano Sr., the first commercial representative of the Forest Development Company, and was originally engaged in the silk business in Italy.His father, Luciano Sr., was unlucky. A few years ago, he accidentally encountered a shipwreck while returning to China to report on his work, and the ship sank in the waters of the Canary Islands. has fallen into business difficulties), came to the east coast of the New World to manage a forest development company.

As the first foreign-funded enterprise to enter the interior of the east coast and take the east coast as its main market, the current operating conditions of the forest development company are still acceptable.This company has brought in many Neapolitans and Sicilians from the densely populated southern Italy. It operates grain planting, forest logging and processing, orchards and other industries in Jiaohe County and Hualong County. Duan (Mupai Township - Zhongying Township), the operating rights of multiple inland water terminals in Jiaohe County, there are still quite a few profit channels.Especially in recent years, they have actively learned from the food industry of the people on the east coast, and built a medium-scale canned food factory by using their own orchards, specializing in the production of canned fruits, supplying more than ten canned fruits in Jiaohe, Beiyazihu ​​and Baoding. In the county, although the sales volume is not as good as that of the state-owned Ping'an Canned Food Factory, it is still quite good.

The East Bank government also appreciates the Forest Development Company, a company that started "deep and barren" in the Jiaohe area at the beginning of its establishment. Qi Wangping once said at a meeting that this kind of enterprise that opened up wasteland for the East Bank should share The dividend of national development, even if it is a foreign-funded enterprise is no exception!Therefore, the forest development company has been very smooth in terms of financing channels for many years. Not only can the loan applications be basically satisfied, but the interest rate has never exceeded 6%, which has benefited a lot.

However, these benefits are not for nothing. While enjoying the benefits of low-interest loans for so many years, the forest development company must also undertake certain obligations. Back then, it was forced to build the railway from Jiaohe County to Hualong County. For example, this once drained the company's cash flow. Not only was it unable to build new projects in [-], but it was also unlucky to be unable to pay dividends to shareholders.After the company has developed steadily for many years, "bad luck" once again fell on the head of the forest development company: Cai Youguo, the former county magistrate of Jiaohe County, who has been promoted to the commissioner of the Jiaohe District Administrative Office, together with the Beiyazihu ​​District, found a small Luciano's head, jointly put pressure on him, asking him to build the railway from Mupai Township to Dingjun Town, that is, to connect the forest railway with the northern railway, so that this railway can play a greater role and prosper the local area. economy.

To be honest, Luciano Jr. is quite resistant to this, because it will obviously affect the normal operation of the company, because they are recently ambitiously planning to open a large-scale stone processing factory to take advantage of the Dingjun Mountains. Rich stone resources.To be fair, this business is very profitable, because both the Jiaohe area and the adjacent Yazihu ​​watershed have been developing at a high speed for many years, and the demand for various building materials, including large stones, is very high. Therefore, it is normal for Luciano Jr. to want to take advantage of this large infrastructure to export a large number of stones, stones, and timber.

However, now they are in trouble. The leaders of the local government on the east coast have asked them to build a railway to the east that can connect Dingjun Town, which is going to kill them.Undoubtedly, once the request of Cai Youguo and others is agreed, then with the current situation of the forest development company, it is definitely impossible to invest in building materials projects. Not only the roads leading to the mountains have no money to repair, but also the cost of recruiting personnel and purchasing necessities in southern Italy There is nowhere to go, which is difficult!

Little Luciano wanted to procrastinate, but Cai Youguo did not give him this opportunity. He joined forces with his colleagues in the Beiyazihu ​​area and Baoding area to put pressure on the forest development company, and finally made them succumb, agreeing to use their own funds and make additional A loan of 80 yuan was provided to build the railway.Of course, they also received a railway equipment subsidy worth 8 yuan from the East Coast State Railway Administration, which was a comfort for them to build roads.

This time I saw Luciano Jr. in Dingjun Town. Qi Wangping, who knew the cause and effect of the incident, praised their company. He believed that the forest development company played an unparalleled role in the initial development of the Jiaohe area, allowing the development of the East Bank government. Costs dropped dramatically.At the same time, the construction of the railway to Dingjun Town by "understanding the righteousness" this time made the forest railway, which has been running smoothly for many years, no longer a lonely road, but connected to the national railway network.

Little Luciano could only force a smile on his face and nodded in agreement.However, the news that Qi Wangping promised that Forest Development Company could enter the winemaking industry made him feel a little happy, because this is a lucrative industry, and the licenses for foreign investment have always been very strict (accurately, there has not been a single case so far). This time Chairman Qi actually promised to let them enter this industry, which is really a great reward, because the fruits in the orchard will be useful.

Therefore, now little Luciano is finally relieved, and he should be able to restore the impression of the heads of some merchant families in Italy, so that he will not lose too many points because of the construction of this railway. The prospect and future of the company is a big plus.

After bidding farewell to Luciano Jr. of the Forest Development Company, Qi Wangping and others continued to move forward, and on March 3, they arrived at the phased end of the Northern Railway, a small station located in Xingguo County on the south bank of the Wujiang River, opposite the Jiangbei area A wharf in Anyuan Township, Langya County.

As Qi Wangping saw, the existence of the Wujiang River blocked the further northward extension of the Northern Railway, so the railway became a dead end here, unless a railway bridge across the river was built.It is not that the State Administration of Railways has considered building a railway bridge across the north and south here (the narrowest point of the Wujiang River here is only more than 500 meters), so as to continue to extend the northern railway to the depths of the Brazilian plateau in the north, but only when they carefully calculated After the cost, all of a sudden died down, because the cost is too great.

In addition, such a long railway bridge is also a challenge for several companies in the east coast construction industry, because everyone has never tried a bridge of this scale, and there may be technical obstacles, so in the end they had no choice but to give up the plan .Subsequently, some people in the General Administration of Railways also proposed whether a specially designed large ship could be used to load the train so that the train could cross the Wujiang River and reach the north bank.

This bold idea has attracted much attention and discussion, and it is believed that here the train carriages could be split into two or more parts so that ships of limited length could accommodate them.When the ship approached the north bank (a railway trestle bridge needs to be built here, it doesn’t need to be too long), a locomotive was used to pull out the carriages on the north bank, and then assembled again, and continued to run on the rails.

This idea is good in theory, but there are still many technical details that need to be realized. In addition, the design of such a big-bellied flat-bottomed ship also requires specialized personnel to take over, so this will be able to load the entire train and arrive safely. The idea of ​​the North Shore has not yet been realized, and Chairman Qi Wangping still has to take a boat to reach Langya County on the North Shore.

On the morning of March 3, Qi Wangping, who arrived at the North Bank by a small steamer, boarded a train coordinated by the Jiangbei District Administrative Office, and then drove into the Chengyang Township Railway Station.This is really the final point of the Northern Railway. Going further north, the track is still being laid intensively. Many road construction teams, including Goshkin Company, Batino Company and the First Bureau of the General Administration of Railways, are working on the road. With his own hard work, the railway track was extended 22 meters to the north, so that the control of the east bank government continued to extend into a large area of ​​undeveloped wild land.

Working hard together with these road construction troops, there are also a large number of new immigrants and regular non-national laborers. They told that each person can get [-] mu of land for free (generally, each person can only get [-] mu of land for free) , but they need to work for the Northern Railway Construction Project Headquarters for a certain period of time. These newcomers have no choice but to agree.

They were originally residents of some newly established settlements in the north. These settlements also belonged to the Jiangbei area, namely Shilai Township (located near the later town of Palmas and currently managed by Langya County), Jiping Township (located in the later Ka Near the small town of Sadore, which is currently under the management of Pingyi County), Feinan Township (located near the small town of Timbo Grande in later generations), Linjian Township (located near the small town of Tres Barras in later generations), Feibei Township (located in Wu Niang Port), Beiqiu Township (near the later city of Sao Bento), Xinfu Township (near the later city of Curitiba), Changshou Township (near the later city of Ponta Grossa), Jinglong Township (located near the later town of Guarapuava), Cuiwu Township (located near the small town of Pinyan), Xiqiao Township (located near the small town of South Laranjeras), Waterfall Township (located near the Iguazu Falls near the small town), Changshao Township (near the later town of Pitanga), Xianggou Township (near the later town of Campo Moran), Jinguo Township (near the later Francisco Bertrand town), Yanya Township (located near the small town of Patublanco in later generations) and Gouqu Township (near the small town of Lealeza in later generations), a total of 3 new settlements, with a total of about [-] people resettled, showing the east coast The strong determination of the government to gradually advance to the north of the Brazilian plateau.

For the establishment of these seventeen settlements, the Jiangbei region is naturally obliged to provide money, food and materials, and the adjacent counties such as Xinba, Nansheng, Fuxing, and Iguazu on the east bank of the Paraná River cannot escape their own responsibility. Obligations, like providing food and money, and sending people to help, so that the more than [-] people in these [-] settlements can settle down as soon as possible.

After Qi Wangping, chairman of the executive committee, heard about the situation here, he insisted on going north along the planned northern railway to see this large piece of wild land sandwiched between the Beining area and the Jiangbei area.In desperation, the Jiangbei District Administrative Office and Langya County had no choice but to find a specially modified luxury carriage, and then sent a team of cavalry guards, trying to choose a relatively smooth and easy road to go north, all the way. look.

During this process, Qi Wangping, an old man who was over seventy years old, was like a child, constantly asking the local officials who accompanied him about this and that, and seemed very interested in everything. This may be because the journey is over. In the end, his national inspection tour basically came to an end (Qi Wangping basically didn't go to places farther north and south).

On March 3, after arriving at the place marked Feinan Township on the map, Qi Wangping delivered a speech here, focusing on the hardships of the development of the East Coast in the past 30 years and the expected faster development in the future, encouraging them Continue to work hard to build the country, and I don't know if some new immigrants in the local area can understand or not.

Afterwards, Qi Wangping even visited the local natural scenery with great interest. He was very fond of the lush forest and even touched several ancient trees that plunged into the blue sky with his own hands accompanied by his guards.Of course, I was also slightly sad afterwards, saying that this may be the last time in my life that I will touch the precious wealth of these countries with my own hands. In the future, the cause of building the country will be passed on to young people. I hope they will not have any lax mentality. Continue to inherit the banner of the father's generation and make the East China Republic "great forever".

After finishing his inspection in the Jiangbei area, Qi Wangping left the land accompanied by his entourage, and then returned to Ping'an County by the same route, and finally returned to the capital directly on a 150-ton inland river/offshore general-purpose small steamer here. Eastern Harbor.

On April 1677, 4, Qi Wangping, chairman of the Executive Committee, held a meeting. At the meeting, he made it clear that one of the important tasks in the second half of the year was to prepare for the National People’s Congress, which opened in December. There are nine permanent members of the executive committee for one term.Many people expect that the new executive committee members elected in December will probably be the last one composed entirely of time travelers. In the future, even the youngest time traveler will be over seventy years old and will no longer be suitable. Serve in front-line leadership positions.

At this point, an era is finally coming to an end!

(End of this chapter)