Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1833 West Indian Ocean ([-])

The downpour began again.

A series of lightning bolts opened the dark rain curtain, illuminating the somewhat dim earth.In the rain, a large group of soldiers from the East Bank wearing rubber raincoats, holding shining bayonets, strode forward like menacing gods.The ground was a bit slippery, and people fell down from time to time, but they quickly got up again, and continued to move forward with bayonets in their hands, like a silent stone statue, rushing forward.

In front of them was a large black figure.There are a lot of these figures, but they seem to be in a panic, and there is a lot of noise. Some people seem to be frightened, and run into the big lake behind them without thinking; There were too many people, unable to walk at all; of course, more people knelt in despair in the mud by the lake, crying and saying something, probably begging for mercy.

The sergeants with bayonets were unmoved. Under the leadership of the officers, they stepped forward quickly, stabbing the enemy's chest fiercely like Lin's bayonet.Fiery blood sprayed out, splashed on the milky yellow raincoat, and splashed on the black-gray mud. The sergeants drew out their bayonets, kicked the entity away, and continued to move forward, looking for the next enemy.

At this time, if you look down at the earth from the sky, you will clearly find that on the bank of the wide lake, two "lines" extending more than [-] meters collided fiercely, and then one of them continued to move forward. , one was knocked back steadily, gradually scattered and disappeared into the invisible.

"Why didn't you accept the surrender?" Zhou Bo, a gendarmerie officer who had been demoted several ranks, asked.

Beside him is Lieutenant Colonel Peng Yuanzhi who is also the commissioner of the Zelu District Administrative Office, the commander of the garrison, the commander of the New China Infantry Battalion, and also the acting captain of the New China Pioneering Team.This man is smoking a pipe at this moment, his expression looks very melancholy, his eyes seem to be staring at the battle ahead, but if you look carefully, you will find that he seems to be looking at other places, and his attention is completely absent. On the foregone lakeside battlefield.

Lieutenant Colonel Peng Yuanzhi is now the acting captain of the New China Pioneering Team, but this acting mission will end almost next month. It’s not that he will become a full-time leader of the work, but because the throne that has not been warmed up under his buttocks has been Others snatched it away, and he couldn't compete with Shao Yaoguang, the commissioner of the Baoding District Administrative Office with a deep background. .

And speaking of Zhou Bo next to him, he is also an unlucky ghost!Previously, because he single-handedly planned and carried out the assassination of Father Ramos, he was judged by his superiors as unorganized and unrecorded, and his methods were too cruel and brutal, so he was dispatched to the Australian colony to guide the local battle against the natives.

But this guy refused to "waste his life" in that place in Australia, so he hurriedly ran around for a short time before departure, begged his grandpa to sue his grandma, and was finally transferred to the New China area, which was considered lucky.But when he came, Peng Zhicheng might have to leave. The reason was very simple. He didn't want to work in Xinhua Island anymore.For the sake of his own future, he planned to take some time to take up a post in Australia, where Zhou Bo didn't want to go, to be the captain of the pioneering team and take charge of the administration.If the conditions are tough, let’s make it harder. At any rate, the administrative level has risen, which is more real than anything else.

As for the vacancy left after he left, if there is no accident, it will be replaced by Yang Jie, who was dawdling in Quansheng Island before.That guy lived on that deserted big island until his eyes turned green. He really didn't want to continue to be a "savage". After making countless reports for several years, he finally moved Tianzun and gave him blessings, allowing him to jump to New China all at once. Island, taking Lao Peng's place, shoulders the heavy responsibility of the entire east coast.

These series of transfers are basically settled now, without any suspense.Peng Zhicheng estimated that in the middle of this year (1681), the official transfer order would come down, and then he could pat his butt off and go to Australia to continue to expand the country.

He originally wanted to spend the last half year in peace.But who would have thought that the natives would not give face, and actually try to take back Lake Arautra, a fertile land that had been sold to the people on the east coast, which is not bad!At the end of last year, after sending envoys to negotiate with the Melina people on the central plateau to no avail, Peng Yuanzhi decisively mobilized his troops and brought in the Xinhua infantry battalion with rich experience in tropical combat. Cheng Jianzhi came over and planned to launch a thunderous blow to the Melina people who invaded here, and strive for 20 years of peace in the First World War. After the people on the east coast completely digest the coastal plains, forests, swamps, mountains, and grasslands, they will find the Central Plateau The Melinas count the ledger.

The Xinhua Xia Infantry Battalion and the Xinhua County Security Regiment remembered that there were more than [-] troops. They were well-equipped to face these natives, and they were naturally invincible.You know, the Melina people in the Central Plateau couldn’t even handle the Sakarawa people at the beginning, so they had to purchase weapons from the people on the east coast (this is how the plains around Lake Alautra were sold to the people on the east coast at that time) , At the same time, we met to attack together, and this completely resolved the Sakarava people's half-century-long "grass-grazing" behavior on the Central Plateau.

Therefore, these Melinas are definitely not as good as the Sakaravas, and their equipment is extremely primitive because they live deep in the inland plateau and lack of trading partners. Although there is no shortage of iron weapons, guns and cannons will never be produced by themselves. , so how can one fight with the East Coasters?This time, I don't know which muscle they made wrong. Is it because they have repeatedly won the internal wars in the Central Plateau, so that their hearts are swollen?Thinking about it feels a little incredible.

But now that the enemy has officially bullied the east bank, invaded Lake Alautra and the surrounding plains, killed and injured more than 20 east bank pioneers, then there is nothing to say, just fight!Not only do we have to fight, but we also have to fight hard, making them painful. As the so-called World War I fought for [-] years of peace, so that the people on the east coast can digest the coastal area with peace of mind, and then encroach on the central plateau from all sides, and do something to the Melina people Catch a turtle in an urn.

At this time, the war has come to an end, and the East Bank army with the New China Infantry Battalion as the main force is unstoppable. Even though it will be the rainy season and the sky is raining heavily, it is not conducive to the power of the guns and cannons of the people on the East Bank, but they are well-trained. Using bayonets to launch hand-to-hand assaults is not something that the Melinas can compete with—these ignorant natives lost two battles around Lake Alautra. Today should be the last battle. More than 1000 officers and soldiers on the east bank fought in the field More than [-] Melinas were smashed, and then they were directly driven into Lake Arautra, where they threw water and trampled on each other, leaving countless dead, and the others were directly stabbed one by one by the ruthless east bank soldiers On the ground, the scene was unspeakable.

"Why do you accept their surrender? These natives are fearful of power but not virtuous. They must first teach them an impressive lesson, and then they will sit down and negotiate with you honestly. Xiao Zhou, you have also planned big things He is not like the kind of mother-in-law man, he shouldn’t ask this question.” Peng Yuanzhi withdrew his gaze looking into the distance, turned his head, shook his head and said with a smile: “Besides, from another perspective, we are now Let these Malina people know how powerful they are, and if they know how to be afraid, they will not resist us too fiercely in the future. And if their resistance is light, our invincible army will naturally not commit more crimes, after all These are all ready-made labor force, all of which are wealth, and it would be a pity to kill them. So, from this point of view, it may not be a bad thing for us to be more ruthless to them now, and the continuation of their entire ethnic group. Xiao Zhou, don’t you think? Such a reason?"

Zhou Bo was speechless for a while.Because it was really hard for him to understand that someone said that while ordering not to accept prisoners and exterminating the natives who had already become scattered, they said that I was doing this for your own good.It can only be said that Peng Yuanzhi has been an official in the colony for so long, and he has been able to climb up to a high position step by step.Perhaps, this is the main reason why he is still struggling while others are promoted step by step.

"What will we do after this battle? What will be the regulations for Lake Alautra? Will it be developed extensively?" Zhou Bo asked silently, seeing that half of the lake was almost stained red with blood.

"Development will of course be developed. Of course it is not a large-scale development, but the investment will not be small. As you know, Xinhua Island now grows bananas, vanilla, coffee, cocoa, sisal, tobacco, sugar cane, spices, and cotton. More and more people are waiting for economic crops, which has led to a large reduction in the sown area of ​​food crops. People have abandoned traditional farming methods and turned to planting crops that can bring them more economic benefits. Therefore, the new Huaxia Island is not even self-sufficient in food. We have to import food from the Portuguese manor owners in the Zambezi River Basin and the mid-river region of South Africa to meet the needs of the island. In my opinion, this is really a bit outrageous. "Peng Yuanzhi took a few puffs of cigarettes, frowned and said: "Everyone who has been to the place of Alautra Lake knows that this is a good and fertile land with fertile soil, smooth drainage, flat land and good environment. It is also cooler than the coast, and it is the granary of Xinhua Island. We can no longer turn a blind eye to such a place, especially when there is already a lack of food cultivation here.”

"But now that the income from growing food is so low, will enough people be recruited to reclaim the wasteland?" Zhou Bo asked with some concern.

"The normal way is of course difficult, but we can advance this work by setting up state-run farms. Prisoners of war, exiled prisoners, and even migrant laborers can all be sent to these farms to work and open up farms along the lake. At the same time, fishing in the lake, it is said that the fish here have not been caught for thousands of years, and the number is outrageous.” Peng Yuanzhi said.

Peng Yuanzhi has read the survey report of the geological and agricultural department on the shore of Alautra Lake, and he learned that the swamp around the lake is very fertile, and if it is properly remediated, the harvest will be very good.This can be seen from the grain harvests planted by the local natives: According to the investigation and collation of the east coast expedition team, the local natives "engaged in a kind of crude rice cultivation" on the shores of Lake Alautra. In the past, they brought from the East Indies, which cannot be called excellent, and their farming skills are also very low, neither irrigation nor transplanting, so that they can obtain an average grain production of about two tons of rice per hectare. Outliers.The agricultural experts on Xinhua Island agreed that if the swampland by the Alautra Lake was properly rectified to make it drain smoothly, then the seed selection technology and rice cultivation technology of the people on the east coast would not be able to say much. It is easy to harvest more than five tons of rice per hectare, which can solve the food problem of Xinhuaxia Island to a great extent.

Like the people on the east coast at this time, in later Madagascar, the shores of Lake Arautra were the only mechanized rice-growing areas in the country. Average yield of 2 tons/ha.After the Somalac company in France treated the swampy wasteland here, the grain production increased to 3.5-4 tons, more than half of which was exported to foreign countries, and because of its unique taste, it was exported to France, the former suzerain country, as "high-grade rice" in exchange for a large amount of rice. Urgently needed supplies.At the same time, the value of these lands rehabilitated by the Somalac company has also increased from 1.5 Malagasy francs to 6 Malagasy francs, which can be seen from this.

"Coastal swamps can grow spices and oil palms, and inland swamps can grow rice and fish. If the Tadong Railway is built in the future, this area will be completely revitalized." Peng Yuanzhi said.

In his plan, the railway from Alautra Lake to Tacheng Port must be built no matter what, the so-called Tadong Railway.After the completion of this railway, grains from the shores of Lake Arautra can be continuously transported to the coastal areas and sold to local factories, logging camps and plantations.One must know that Peng Yuanzhi had just resettled thousands of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty to the eastern coastal area a while ago, and began to develop the large coastal swamps there.Those swamps are basically eroded ground that has been or is being submerged by sea water, and the drainage is not smooth. The vegetation is dominated by three-grass grassland, and the soil is often peat soil.

After the immigrants of the Ming Dynasty arrived here, each of them received 0.8 mu of land and two pigs, and then cultivated oil palm under the guidance of agricultural technicians to improve the local environment. It was called "oil palm operation". It can produce about [-] tons of oil per mu, which can provide raw materials for the edible oil and soap industries.

These people can foresee that there will be no food production for a long period of time in the future, so the action of developing the granary of Lake Alautra is already on the string and has to be launched!

(End of this chapter)