Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1803 Pampa (Seventeen)

The evening glow of the setting sun coated the grass with a layer of gold, and the frozen lake was silvery white.Several teenagers in fiery red hunting suits yelled across the ice, like a few bonfires shining with quiet and warm light.The sky was as blue as washing, and several solitary houses stood among the weeds. An elderly veteran sat silently in front of the house, smoking a cigarette, and his thoughts had drifted thousands of miles away.

According to the 24 solar terms in the southern hemisphere compiled by people from the east coast, this meeting (August 1679, 8) is already the so-called "beginning of spring".However, the cold weather tells people that spring is still lingering in distant Brazil, even though the howling northwest wind sweeps across the flat and low land, there are only a few red bricks and blue tiles standing proudly between the strong wind and strong grass, facing everyone A first-timer heralds the conquest of an uncharted land.

Inigo quietly appeared in front of several red brick houses.The old soldier suddenly woke up, and subconsciously picked up the rifle in his arms. Seeing that it was his old acquaintance Inigo, he let out a bah, sat down on the chair again, and asked in a weak tone: "Inigo Ge, why are you here? Lao Siji is in the village, and he just brought his family over, what? Looking for him?"

This is Franco Town, also called Xinying Township, a small town established in the first half of this year.This town was breached a year ago by the prairie bandit Inigo, Wu Yifei and others. Now it has been recuperating for more than a year, but it still hasn't fully recovered its previous firepower.More than three months ago, the East Coast Immigration Department decided to set up a new settlement here to control this geographically critical town that is the only way for trains to pass.

The newly established settlement imitated the old example of Mar del Plata, and found new land on the outskirts of the old Spanish town, which was called the "new city".But the current situation in Xincheng, everyone has seen it, just a few lonely houses, used to store some railway equipment, canned food, weapons and ammunition, it may be more like a military outpost, anyway, it doesn’t look like a Resident settlement point.

In fact, it is similar. At present, there are only dozens of households in Xinying Township who have settled down in advance, and most of them have only one person in the so-called "households", that is, bachelors who came here alone.These people are generally the second or third generation born in the local area, unable to inherit the family business, so they can only pack their bags and leave the relatively prosperous hometown to come to this deserted place to cultivate, just like their parents and grandfathers were overcoming obstacles to build. Homeland is the same.

"No, I'm here to stand at the front, or to send someone here." Inigo got off his horse, lifted the brim of his hat with a whip, and said wearily: "This place looks pretty good. Where are those children? Why don't you work?"

"The children of the only few families who moved here are very wild. Besides, what work is there to do in this severe winter? Digging canals and building reservoirs? No, look over there. It’s a big puddle, how can dozens of people fix it? Besides, we have only one cadre here now, and he’s the hairless one who hangs out with that railway technician all day long, flattering him. It's on." The old soldier curled his lips, tightened his coat, and continued to puff.

"Really? That's too bad! The railway hasn't left Yancheng County yet, so why is he so busy? The most important job now is neither busy with railway repairs nor agricultural production, but to do well for the new immigrants. I can’t do this job well, I think this guy doesn’t want to do it, right?” Inigo was used to seeing big men, and his tone became louder day by day, and he pointed to the room next door. The hut woven with reeds by the lake said: "I remember that this hut was erected when I came last time, and it was said that it was used as a kitchen and firewood house for the new arrivals. In addition, they will build some extra Why didn’t I see the hut as a temporary residence for immigrants? Where is it? Don’t tell me it hasn’t been built yet, people will die in this freezing weather, no one can take this responsibility.”

"Inigo, you have become the commander of the garrison. After all, you have a different confidence." The old soldier sighed, stood up from his chair, frowned and said, "It may be the same as the horse bandits that appeared on the grassland recently." This involved a lot of our energy. You see, Director Wang and the others set off more than a week ago, and Township Chief Chen was busy raising supplies and horses for them at that time, so I’m afraid we couldn’t take care of some things.”

"Horse bandit?" Inigo was stunned when he heard this.If you talk about horse bandits, aren't they the biggest "horse bandits"?A year ago, he and Wu Yifei, under the planning of Sheng Dehong, an official of the National Intelligence Agency, led the "horse bandits" to break through Franco Town, which shocked the entire Buenos Aires.How long has it been since then, why is there a new horse bandit appearing on the grassland?Could it be the Spaniards pretending to be it?

The old soldier also seemed to understand Inigo's confusion. He shook his head and said, "I don't know their identities for the time being, but maybe, as you suspect, they are Mestizo people. There are a few people who are like them. The pastoralists support this statement. But this is all for the future, they only have dozens of people, and they dare not stay in one place for too long."

Inigo nodded, and then saw him stroking the sword in his left hand and the horsewhip in his right. He walked quickly to the reed shed next door, opened the rough wool stall hanging at the door, looked inside, and was immediately disappointed: " Let’s not talk about the horse bandits for now. But what does this mean? Not only are there shortages of food and kitchen utensils, but even fuel. What’s the matter? Five days, just five days later, 300 people will be escorted here Come to settle down and become a resident of Xinying Township, but the place is not ready to welcome it. What is this, this is dereliction of duty! Dereliction of duty!"

The old soldier scratched his head when he heard this, and saw him leaning his gun against the wall, then gestured with his hands, and said with a little emotion: "Oh, you don't have to worry about food and cooking utensils, most of them will be transported to the planned There is a warehouse on the other side of the railway line. But fuel is indeed a big problem. There is a serious shortage of firewood. People can only use reeds and thatch to light the fire. They can use whatever they catch, but there is still a serious shortage. But no one sends The briquettes come over, which is really a headache. You see, I now have to collect dry thatch everywhere to boil water for yerba mate, but they are gone without burning."

"How are the Spaniards around here?" Inigo asked.

"They grow wheat and corn, and they have wheat stalks and corn stalks to burn. People who usually pay attention to collecting some thatch and reeds must be fine. And, have you seen the forest? Spaniards planted it for some years That's a good source of firewood in itself, they don't need coal, not at all," said the old army.

"That's good, that's good." Inigo shook the rapier in his hand, and said: "If you don't have any, ask them to borrow food, firewood, anyway. There is a work team Let them figure out a way to work in Franco Town, anyway, those guys are good at lip service."

Inigo's tone was a little mocking, and the old soldier could hear it.But as far as he is concerned, he actually has no complaints about those task forces, and even understands their hard work.Those working teams are basically composed of grassroots civil servants from the diplomatic, intelligence, and propaganda departments, as well as some Bingtuanbao students. They are called "Pro-East Working Groups". Some towns, villages, manors or military outposts with few people carried out propaganda offensives, preaching such words as "the two countries of the East and the West go hand in hand to build La Plata together", highlighting the embarrassment of the East Coast people after they settled in the Pampa Plain. What a positive impact on the lives of the local Spaniards, such as the increase in the production of food such as flour, salted fish, fruits, vegetables, and wine, and the cheaper prices of daily necessities and labor tools, etc.

These things are actually facts, but the working group speaks more skillfully and artistically, exaggerating a bit, especially when they frame it with words such as "goodwill", "hand in hand", and "cooperation". , the persuasive power will obviously be stronger, which is no wonder some people in China say that these working groups are not engaged in "propaganda" work, but "propaganda and appeasement" work, which is indeed the case.

Of course, the Spaniards are not fools, and it is impossible to watch you busy there without being indifferent.Especially those priests who can be seen everywhere, they are the best of the best. They have long spread negative news about the East Coast people in Spain and the Indians who were naturalized by them, for example, they are "evil" and "deceitful" Those who dare to cooperate with them are all "traitors", and their souls cannot rest in peace after death, etc. All in all, it has caused a lot of obstacles to the work of appeasement by the people on the east coast, and even suffered a lot of hostility from the Spaniards wherever they went. look.

However, the Spaniards resisted the erosion of the East Coasters from the ideological field, and the East Coasters would of course repay them in the same way.For example, just last month, the Local Religious Affairs Office selected more than a dozen Catholic priests with strong professional ability and eloquence from all over the country, and they came to the Pampa Plain by boat, intending to join the The so-called "Pro-East Working Groups" in Mar del Plata, Franco Town, Buenos Aires, Nancun Port and other places have carried out propaganda and appeasement work.

It is worth mentioning that these priests have been carefully selected. They are familiar with the scriptures, good-looking, and good-natured. They usually have a kind-hearted image, which is a natural bonus for influencing the believers.Moreover, after years of education on the east coast, they inexplicably feel that they have the "civilization mission" to liberate the backward people in the Spanish ruled area. with great interest.I believe that after these people join the working group and officially play a role, the currently stagnant publicity work should improve to a certain extent.

Although Inigo is Hispanic, he has also fought against the Spaniards on the east coast for many years. He knows how deeply they distrust aliens and pagans, so he has no doubts about the effectiveness of the propaganda work. Confidence, because it has been proven in history.He always believes that the best way to deal with those Spaniards is to continue to immigrate here in large numbers, dilute them, submerge them through the overwhelmingly superior population, and finally assimilate them. This is the right way.

For example, this time, the East Coast Immigration Department has closely implemented the spirit of the Central Executive Committee, and has successively established several new settlements on the Pampa Plain in recent months—these are located near the small town of Cachari in later generations. Wanji Township, Niutun Township near Rauch Township, Liugu Township near Caprins Village, Sanyi Township near Maipu Township, and Castelli Township The nearby Beita Township, Xita Township near the later town of Pila, and Gaoyuan Township near the later General Belgrano Township, including Xinying Township, will have a total of eight settlements—a preliminary plan of [-] Yu immigrant, this is the right way that Inigo thinks, instead of doing advocacy work when you are full, this is completely putting the cart before the horse.

Oh, by the way, there is something I forgot to explain.Since Inigo successfully completed several operations planned by the National Intelligence Agency and the Gendarmerie, he was rewarded for his meritorious service and was appointed as one of the three full-time deputy commanders of the Yanbu Railway Garrison Zone. The public security issue in this plain area on the south bank of the Lata River is mainly to ensure the security and defense of the towns along the Yanbu Railway and the railway ancillary areas that are being naturalized. The position is not very high, but the power is very heavy. It can be regarded as a real deal. It's a reward for him, and it can be regarded as compensation for his life and death over the years.

Therefore, as one of the few middle and high-level officials sent by the east coast government on the Pampa Plain, Inigo will feel bad after hearing that the conditions for receiving immigrants are lacking and that there are horse bandits nearby. I got up, so I didn't have a good temper with the veteran who had fought together on Huaiyuan Island (he was Inigo's boss, and after retiring from the army due to injury, he simply took the resettlement fee to the Pampa Plain to start a new life) , I saw that he checked the supplies in the warehouse again, then he took a breath and said, "Fortunately, there is still some food. Otherwise, I might really have to borrow it from the Spaniards. It may cause some disputes, and it will be troublesome to deal with. But if it really gets to that point, there is nothing I can do, anyway, I robbed them once last year, so what if I rob them again this year!"

Looking at Inigo, who was still a gangster even though he was an official, the old soldier smiled and shook his head.Of course, he didn't doubt that Inigo would do such a thing. In his opinion, the Pampa Plain had been "ceded" by the Kingdom of Spain to the east coast in exchange for peace. Could it be that the Spanish "remnants" on it still What big waves can it withstand?He vaguely heard that the guards from the east coast of Chile have already "gifted" the Spaniards out of the country several times. Compared with those there, they are already more polite.

Going back to my hometown tomorrow, it is rare to have time to rest on the 8th.I've been really tired recently, and I'm so sleepy on the subway to work every day, I often miss the station.I plan to take advantage of the [-]th and [-]th days to adjust it, and try to change the update time by the way. Update every day in the middle of the night, it is too tortured.

Finally, I wish you all a happy National Day!

(End of this chapter)