Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1901 West Indian Ocean ([-])

After a long hot and rainy season, the dry and cool dry season finally arrived on time. This made many soldiers and civilians on the east coast who work and live on the shore of Quicksand Lake (that is, Lake Alautra) very happy. This annoying day is finally temporary. It's over!

Today is May 1684, 5, which is a very happy day for Shangdang County to be established.The county has jurisdiction over Shangdang Township (located near the small town of Ambushitraliwu on the shore of Lake Alautra), Gaoqi Township (located near the small town of Ambu Aburi in later generations), and Tongdi Township (bit map of later generations of Amba Near the small town of Tusulatra), Changzi Township (located near the later town of Andreba), Xiangyuan Township (located near the later town of Ampala Fala Ula), Huguan Township (located in the later Ambatundra Township) Near the small town of Zhaka) and Licheng Township (near the small town of Andiranatubi in later generations), there are a total of seven towns. Over the years, about 22 pioneers have been resettled, and there are still about 9000 people. In Xinhua Island, it can't be regarded as a small county.

This Shangdang County, to be honest, does not meet the conditions for establishing a county. Whether it is population, economy or other aspects, it is not a small distance from Jianxian County. It was specially approved for the extremely important geographical location and agricultural conditions here.

From the map (controlled outflow) printed and published by the Xinhua County Paper Mill, it can be found that the territory of Shangdang County is vast, just like an irregular polygon, which firmly surrounds the Quicksand Lake, while the periphery is undulating Hills and mountains.In other words, this county can be roughly divided into three types of land, one is naturally the famous Great Lake and its swamp flood area, the other is the surrounding hills and mountains, and the third is the plain along the lake.

Among the three types of land, Liusha Lake (named because the lake water is relatively turbid) has a vast area, vast mist, rich fishery resources, and great potential for aquaculture, which is a resource that can be utilized.The surrounding hills and mountains are somewhat tasteless. This kind of "Savoca" terrain is relatively dry. Although there are some forests, they dare not cut them down, because if the protection is not good, there will be catastrophic consequences, that is, the degradation of short grass, thin trees and hills It is a semi-arid grassland, which has been learned before, so a similar ecological protection policy has been introduced.

But in addition to the above two types of land, Shangdang County also has a rather large lakeside alluvial plain.These plains are very fertile because of the rich nutrients in the soil, which can be seen from the fact that many animals like to eat the fresh and juicy pastures that grow on them. This is indeed a very suitable place for agricultural production.

Moreover, even those swamps and semi-swamps that are closer to the lake 01:30 are not impossible to develop.In fact, people on the east coast have too much experience in this regard. Whether it is the native Hejian area, the Yicheng area in South Africa, or the east coast of Xinhuaxia Island, there are countless swamps that have been drained. , develop into fertile land, orchards or plantations of economic crops, such as the "oil palm operation" on the east coast, which is currently thriving under the leadership of Yang Jie, is a clear proof.

Therefore, the development potential of the plain farmland in Shangdang County is very broad. No wonder the superiors regard this place as the grain production center of the east coast and even the whole island. It is indeed unique.Therefore, without waiting for the local officials of Shangdang County to say anything, Shao Yaoguang, the leader of the development team, directly issued instructions to formally establish Shangdang County, and transferred some more capable cadres from the Daqing Basin on the west coast to be in charge of The preparation and construction of the county can be described as very attentive.

The reason why Captain Shao is like this is actually related to the increasingly "distorted" agricultural production situation on the island.Because of the arrival of the so-called "sugar bull market" and the massive demand for rubber, sisal, cotton, coffee and other cash crops from local industries and businesses, more and more farmers in Xinhuaxia Island are now driven by economic interests and abandoning traditional Instead of cultivating the two staple foods of rice and corn, they turned to the cultivation of cash crops to increase their income.

This is the case, especially in the north and west coast irrigation areas where the climate is relatively humid.Those places were built earlier and traded frequently with the outside world. Farmers generally have seen the world and know that growing food is not good for their wallets, and they should grow cash crops to make money.Even if you can’t grow popular crops like sugar cane, cotton, and coffee, you still have to engage in some businesses such as orchards, nursery gardening, and beekeeping. If it’s not good, you can also graze or fish. In short, it’s more cost-effective than growing food. .

Therefore, in the densely populated areas on the west coast and the north, except for some dry farming in the Daqing Basin where wheat or sorghum is grown, there are really few people who grow food. The shortage had to be imported from the Portuguese across the sea, which promoted the development of colonial manors in the Zambezi River Basin in disguise, making it advance at a speed far exceeding history.

But will the East Coast leadership tolerate this going on for long?The answer is obviously no.The previous leaders of the pioneering team from modern China in later generations have a deep-rooted awareness of food security in their minds. They have been trying to reverse this situation for many years, but because of the rapid development of trade in New China Island, their efforts The effect is greatly reduced.But no matter what, after so many years of hard work, the effort to open up a new grain planting area on Xinhua Island has finally yielded results, and that is the grain planting base of Shangdang County by the Liusha Lake.

At present, the development team government has also written a report to the local Ministry of Agriculture, and won a considerable amount of financial subsidies and technical assistance for the rice planting and fishery production bases in Shangdang County. It is said that Xinhua Island is the base camp of agricultural officials. Naturally, it is very simple for the Ministry to subsidize - this has laid a good foundation for the next stage of work in the county.

The acting magistrate of Shangdang County is a "young man" who just turned 30 last month. Cora's grandson-in-law, named Stanley, graduated from the Capital Youth Cadre School.He had previously worked in a rural area where the commodification of the suburbs of the capital was deeply commercialized, and then worked in the Ministry of Agriculture. Finally, before coming to Xinhua Island, he worked as a head of an agricultural village in the tropical area of ​​Brazil for a long time. This time he went to an overseas colony As the county magistrate, it's not a matter of high promotion or not, let's just count it as an experience.

Stanley clearly knew what his mission in Shangdang County was, and that was to try his best to clean up the grain production base by the Quicksand Lake.If the results are achieved in a short period of time, then everything is easy to say, and he, Shi, will use this as a step to advance and continue to climb.And if it has been delayed for a long time and no results have been seen, and if a large number of people die due to war or disease, then his resume will probably be written with disgrace, so that no matter how deep his background is, in the future Not very talkative either.After all, in today's East Coast, everything is still based on grades. Relationships are useful, but they can only be used when the hard indicators of two people are about the same, that's all.

Therefore, as soon as Stanley arrived, he immediately convened a meeting of cadres above the deputy department level in the county to fully unify their thinking and formulate a work plan for the next stage.This plan was formulated in great detail, basically decomposing every aspect of the work to individuals, so that they could not shirk or delay.

Of course, there are not no voices of opposition, but Stanley doesn't care about these people. He only emphasizes that Xinhua Port is watching, and more than 27 soldiers and civilians on the island are watching. There is no reason for everyone to relax.This reason was so unassailable that everyone could only go back with a sad face, and rolled their lives in the mosquito-infested mud.

Considering that Shangdang County is deep inland and located in the transition zone between the Central Plateau and the eastern coast, the transportation is not very convenient. Therefore, Xinhua Island started the construction plan of the Tadong Railway a few years ago, and It was formally implemented in 1682.

The Tadong Railway connects Shangdang County and Tacheng County, an important seaport in the east, and shoulders the important task of transporting three kinds of materials, rice, grass, and dried salted fish, which will be produced in large quantities in the Liusha Lake area in the future. It plays a very important role.At the same time, as one of the important seaports in Xinhuaxia Island, Tacheng Port will also transport industrial products and daily necessities from the outside world to the inland plateau for the production and life of the local people.

Of course, we must not forget that the Tadong Railway still has important military significance!Although the Melina people were temporarily repulsed by the East Coast people, it was only one of their forces.The native kingdoms on the central plateau are now in the late stage of fierce annexation wars. The kingdom that once fought against the people on the east coast has been conquered by the enemy country, and the originally fragmented central plateau is gradually becoming unified.It is still unknown what attitude the unified kingdom will take towards the East China Republic and how it will treat the pioneers on the east coast by the quicksand lake.Therefore, people on the east coast need to be ready for war at any time—of course not now, but the future must be unavoidable, because people on the east coast are also coveting the central plateau with a cooler and more pleasant climate, and they must seize it quickly. .

The builder and operator of the Tadong Railway is the New Huaxia Railway Company.This railway company rooted in the island has successfully operated the Daqing Railway on the west coast for some years and has accumulated a lot of experience.The construction of the Tadong Railway has been in preparation for many years. The initial exploration, preparation, and personnel recruitment cost more than 20 yuan, which is amazing.In order to subsidize this local railway company, which is not very financially well-off, the captain of the pioneering team of Xinhua Island has given the company a total of about [-] yuan in monetary and material subsidies, and confiscated many people for free to help them repair the railway company. Road work, just like the Far East Denglai Pioneering Team tried their best to help the South Railway Company build the Jiaoyan Line Railway.

This time after Captain Shao Yaoguang took office, he also paid great attention to Tadong Railway, and squeezed out about 3 yuan in cash and 5 yuan in materials from the government's finances, donating them to New Huaxia Railway Company to encourage They should not be afraid, persevere, no matter how difficult it is, they must complete the construction of this artery-level railway.

The basic route of the Tadong Railway is to go around the quicksand lake first, connecting all major agricultural production areas in the future.After this, the Tadong Railway will extend from Huguan Township, an important pass from the lakeside plain to the high mountains, pass through Licheng Township, and wind along the winding and flat valleys of the mountains, basically going around a After a short circle, I finally arrived at the Tacheng Port Wharf along the coastline north.

This line is roughly marked on the outer wall of the Shangdang Railway Station construction site.Anyone with a little common sense understands that the Tadong Railway is not close at all, and the conditions of the area it passes through are complex, with swamps, hills, forests, and sandbars, and many bridges may need to be erected between them—— Although with the development of construction technology, the production cost of the East Bank Railway Bridge has been greatly reduced, but if there are too many, it is still a big financial burden-the cost must be huge.It is no wonder that many people say that the construction cost per unit mileage of the Tadong Railway will be much higher than that of the Daqing Railway, and it will even be two to three times as much. In fact, it is not without reason.

But no matter how difficult it is, this railway must be built. This is not only an economic need, but also a political task.Ma Xiaoling, the president of the New China Railway Company and a famous strong woman, has been running around the island for the past two years, and even went back to the mainland once, in order to raise enough funds and get enough money. In short, everything is for the smooth completion of the Tadong Railway, which has already started construction across the board, within the specified time.

Ma Xiaoling knew in her heart that this railway would have a profound impact on the company's future development, and she had to start it no matter how difficult it was.This is not only because many units and individuals from the central to the local level are helping them reduce their burdens, but it is also a relatively good starting point for her ambitious railway plan to communicate with the whole island in the future.For a strong man who aspires to be the railway queen of Xinhua Island, what are the difficulties in front of him?Main railway roads, cable and telegraph lines, and railway ancillary lands are the three major weapons that the New China Railway Company will use to reap profits across the island in the future. Ma Xiaoling is optimistic about this for a long time.Now that she has initially tasted the sweetness in the Daqing Basin area (although the total profit is not very large, it is better than a steady flow of water), she naturally wants to replicate it to the east coast.

Tadong Railway must be completed as soon as possible!

(End of this chapter)