Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1804 Central Valley ([-])

The Central Valley has been a little rough lately.This kind of unrest does not come from the Indians, but from the local Spanish or Mestizo people. The main reason is that the policy of the East Coast Republic has changed. More than [-] people brought a lot of trouble.

Lin Qingbo is in his 20s this year, and his ancestral home is Luojiang, Quanzhou, Fujian. He was trafficked and sold to an agency on the east coast to collect immigrants when he was a child, and then traveled across the ocean to come to the mainland.After the ten-year study period, Wang Zhijie, a famous botanist and naturalist on the east coast, took a fancy to him and accepted him as a disciple.Since then, he has become a rising star in the field of botany and natural history on the East Coast (in recent years he has also studied archeology), and he often goes to various schools to give lectures and has an outstanding reputation.

Of course, in exchange, he also had to follow in the footsteps of his teacher, and since then joined the field of field exploration and surveying, and often worked with officials from the Gendarmerie Command, the National Intelligence Agency, the Statistics and Investigation Bureau of Syphilis Patients, the Ministry of Geology, etc. , travel to every corner of the country and even overseas colonies, investigate resources for the country, draw maps, investigate people's conditions (usually the situation of indigenous people in the territory), and survey routes. It is absolutely hard work, and the degree of danger is not low. What a good job - but there is no way, there are only so many talents in the field of domestic exploration, it is impossible not to be good.

This time Lin Qingbo led a team to the Central Valley of Chile. The main task was to carefully survey the plains, forests and mountains of more than 1 square kilometers south of the Boundary River (Bueno River). Resources, such as what trees and animals are in the forest, the size of rivers and lakes and their products, the amount of land on the plains that can be reclaimed as arable land, and the number of valuable mines including sulfur and limestone in the mountains, etc.

It can be said that their work determines the intensity of investment in a certain area by the relevant higher-level departments, and also determines the speed of local economic development. The importance is self-evident.In fact, for the chief officials in remote areas like southern Chile, no matter whether there is wealth such as minerals on the land, it is not easy to invite such expeditions and exploration teams from their home jurisdiction. Well, even if there is no investment from the superiors, they themselves can carry out targeted construction based on the maps and information compiled by the expedition team.

Lin Qingbo and the others came to explore the area under their jurisdiction at the invitation of the Regional Administration of Southern Chile (of course, it had been approved by the superior management department in advance). The Central Valley south of the Boundary River was the first stop of their trip.However, it was this first stop that caused them to encounter some troubles, and of course it seemed that they were just minor troubles.

"After the concession of the Southern Railway Company expired at the end of last year (1678), the Government Council spent more than half a year sorting out the civil affairs and military affairs of the former Southern Railway subsidiary and southern Chile. The counties and townships vigorously implemented various local laws or rules and regulations, which suddenly caused a rebound from some Spanish remnants in the jurisdiction, of course, mainly in the Central Valley south of the Boundary River, um, it is the area under our feet today This land." An official from the Southern Chile Regional Administration who accompanied Lin Qingbo and his party on the expedition explained: "I have sent Xiaoqian Kuaima back to the village to recruit soldiers, and fifty or sixty reserve cavalry can easily be assembled there. , with enough ammunition and water, it is not a big problem to deal with some fried Spaniards, mestizos or Indians. But no matter what, we should pay more attention to our own safety, especially Captain Lin like you Professionals, we cannot afford to lose."

It is said that for more than 1678 people in six counties in southern Chile, the Southern Railway Company, whose monopoly trade concession expired on December 12, 31, is really an existence that cannot be ignored.Before the end of 1678, this company almost held the economic lifeline of six counties in southern Chile, including Qingfeng, Qinghe, Guanhai, Liucheng, Maolin, and Boling. Enterprises such as Nantie Flour Mill, Nantie Leather Factory, Nantie Seafood Processing Factory, Nantie Shipyard and other enterprises under the large Concern Enterprises eat them up and then replace them with various finished products, either selling locally for profit or exporting locally Or Peru made a profit. In short, it made a lot of money by playing tricks, and most of the profits were basically taken away by the Southern Railway.

Of course, there are very good reasons why people do this.Gein, these places mentioned above were originally authorized by the local government and developed by China Southern Railway. If China Southern Railway had not invested huge sums of money, if they had not spent money to maintain the South Pacific route to receive immigrants, if China Southern Railway had not repeatedly negotiated with the Spaniards in exchange for safety. Environment, without them sending troops and ships to deter the Spanish governor of Lima with the Third Fleet, the southern Chilean region would not have developed at all, or would not have existed at all.

This can be seen from the fact that more than 60% of the cadres in many settlements in the six counties of southern Chile are from the Southern Railway Company. It can be seen how much energy the company has spent building these sites from scratch.Even after the Local Government Council negotiated with the Southern Railway Company, they handed over all the administrative powers of eleven counties, including Southern Chile, to the state in exchange for other interests.But in the final analysis, even after that, although the influence of the Southern Railway Corporation on these areas has declined year by year, it has remained at a very high level. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is under dual control with the government.And perhaps because of this reason, the Government Council has not yet successfully implemented various systems including taxation policies in the local area. Many taxes in the eleven counties were even transferred through the Southern Railway Company, which lasted until about 1675. It looked like he was drunk too.

However, it is now 1679, and all the privileges of the Southern Railway Company have expired. Under such circumstances, the Government Council has finally started drastic rectification and reform. The first is to fully implement the laws of the East Coast, which naturally includes the famous The Homestead Act.According to this law, citizens of the East Coast Republic of China can only own 6000 acres of land (of course, there is no absolute, and some places will exceed the limit of [-] acres, reaching [-] acres), while Maolin, Liucheng, Bo Among the [-] Spaniards, Mestizos, and Indians in Lingsan County, many of them are undoubtedly not qualified, and they must report to the government agencies at the township level on the east bank within the specified time. Then wait for the government to send personnel to measure the land and make a redemption plan.

There is no doubt that these former Spanish nationals—because the south of the boundary river is a leased land, so many of them still retain the status of nationals of the Kingdom of Spain—do not want their land to be used by the pagans on the east bank in a "disgusting land". "Ridiculously low price" ransom, so after they protested unsuccessfully, they took more drastic countermeasures, such as armed confrontation.

Of course, the Spaniards chose a relatively wrong way to express their protest.People from the East Coast have gone through all kinds of ups and downs since their founding, but they have never been afraid of armed confrontation!Therefore, the officials of the above-mentioned three counties severely rejected the demands of the Spaniards in their respective jurisdictions, and then began to suppress them by force.As an important trading port, Maolin County was the first to act, and the Southern Chile Regional Administration, which had moved its seat to Puerto Maolin, mobilized a large number of militia and guard soldiers, easily defeated the Spanish resistance, stabilized the situation, and then Cooperating with the various working groups dispatched to the local area, the vigorous land surveying and redemption operations began, and the Spaniards were powerless to stop it.

As for Liucheng County, which is the home port of the Navy's Third Fleet, its actions and efficiency are a bit worse than those of Maolin County, but it is not bad.They didn't have enough troops, but they borrowed some soldiers or sailors who guarded the base from the navy, and sent out to the countryside to sweep up the area. They only suffered more than a dozen casualties, and stabilized the situation in the county. Later, with the help of the higher-level government, Started land surveying and redemption work.

Compared with these two counties, Boling County, which is more remote, close to the Spanish-controlled area and also relatively poor, is not so agile.They had only a handful of militia reserves, none soldiers in the garrison, and in this respect even worse than the institution that managed the exiles for cross-border reclamation—the Slat House Prison.

However, the Spanish forces under their jurisdiction are the strongest and most stubborn, facing the greatest resistance, so this pot of rice was boiled into raw rice at once. At present, they can only control Boling Town, where the county seat is located, and the transportation hub. Dao Wangdu Township's situation, and started land surveying, inventory work.As for Lucheng Township, Xinchu Township and the vast rural areas, this work has not been carried out at all, and the situation is also quite delicate. The hostility of the Spaniards is very strong. This is something Lin Qingbo and others have learned these days. I also greeted the whole family of cadres in Boling County many times—this craft is really too trendy. If there is not enough troops, we must prepare in advance. Now the limited number of people are exhausted everywhere, which seriously affects the production of the people. Life, you county magistrate, I'm afraid you are not far away from getting out of class!

"I understand, I understand." After hearing this, Lin Qingbo waved his hands immediately, and said, "The country's policy is correct. Although the three counties south of Jiehe River were leased from the Spaniards, they said After all, we can fully implement the laws of our country. There is no doubt about it. Therefore, there is no problem in principle to implement the "Homestead Law" here to acquire Spanish land. The trouble now is that there are some minor flaws in the implementation process. , Understood, understandable. Ah, by the way, did the Kingdom of Spain not negotiate on this matter? There are so many Spanish merchants, farmers and their naturalized Indians in the three counties of Boling. I don’t believe that no one went to Lima to complain. Didn’t the governor of Spain respond? You know, these people haven’t given up their Spanish citizenship yet, and they don’t care about the situation of their own nationals, isn’t it good?”

"Of course someone went to the north to file a complaint, but to put it bluntly, who cares about them now!" The accompanying cadre talked about this with a look of disdain, only to hear him continue: "They can only send us verbal complaints. It’s just some questions or protests. I don’t think anyone, whether it’s the regional administration or the capital’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, takes the noise of the Spaniards seriously, or at least not yet. We still follow the established plan and continue to measure the land. Pastures and forest farms, and then buy the land according to the relevant state regulations, everything is done according to the rules.”

Lin Qingbo nodded when he heard the words, and said nothing more.Of course he knew that the Kingdom of Spain was now in deep war in the Old Continent, and the situation was critical. He had no will, let alone possibility, to come head-to-head with the people from the east coast on this matter.The Spanish adherents in the three counties of Boling have suffered a loss, and no one can ask for an explanation for them. You can bear it yourself. Who made your motherland so poor and weak, so decadent to the extreme?

Of course, it would be inaccurate to say that people from the east coast did not have any negative effects in such a way.Among other things, the people from the east coast forcefully enforce a certain law in their jurisdiction, and the Spaniards in the prosecutorial court districts of Chile, Charcas, Lima, and Quito all see it in their eyes. What do they think of it? Attitude, the answer is self-evident.

In other words, in the future, if the East Coast Republic of China wants to march northward and occupy vast lands including Chile, Chalkas, La Plata, and Peru, the resistance it will face is likely to increase geometrically, unless you The Homestead Law can be abolished, and the legitimacy of the frighteningly large amount of land controlled by Spanish nobles, big businessmen, and the church will be recognized, otherwise everything will be impossible to talk about, and it will inevitably be strongly resisted by the upper and middle classes of the local society, The cost will undoubtedly be much higher.In fact, there are already some signs of this point on the Pampa Plain, but it is not very obvious.

From the perspective of the current practices of the people on the east coast in southern Chile, they basically do not intend to compromise with the Spaniards, that is, they do not recognize their right to occupy a huge amount of land, and they want to engage in compulsory redemption. Under the protest of the officials sent by the Governor of Lima, Spain, the people on the east coast restrained themselves a little, and their actions were much lighter. The main method of suppression was to "send out of the country" the resisting Spaniards, that is, to rush to the north of the boundary river. Let it run its course.

Naturally, these people were unwilling to lose all their property and returned to the north of the boundary river alone.Therefore, taking advantage of the lack of control of the people on the east bank over the wild and rural areas, they wreak havoc everywhere, causing the security situation in Boling County to deteriorate sharply, and many productions were affected.However, it now appears that neither the Southern Chile Regional Administration nor the Boling County locality should have any possibility of compromise.They seem to want to be a model, a model for how to deal with similar incidents when they march into the densely populated north in the future. It is also of great reference and experimental value.

I went back to my hometown. I was stuck in traffic for a long time today and I was very tired.There are a lot of things during the eleventh period, in case—I mean in case—the update is not timely, please forgive me ^-^

(End of this chapter)