Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1905 West Indian Ocean (Twenty)

Qi'an Township is not far away, only about tens of kilometers away, so Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang and the supply troops arrived the next day.

Yang Liang walked all the way to observe, not only including the terrain, but also the vegetation and soil. Gein's current Yiyang Bay area has become a complete military-controlled area, and the civil affairs and affairs of thousands of pioneers in the four settlements The military affairs of the first regiment of the army are all managed by him, Yang, so now he has to understand the local agricultural conditions.

On the side of the wooden fence outside the field in Qi’an Township, many vegetables were originally planted. In summer and autumn, you can see the lush vegetable beds full of common vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, cowpeas, and leeks. However, it will be winter, and only Some large greens provided by Northern Seed Company.

Yang Liang took a closer look at the soil. They were all slightly reddish soil. An agricultural cadre accompanying the army told him that it was "weakly soluble leaching soil for dry grassland shrubs". It was not very fertile, but it was not bad either. That's it.The reason for the appearance of this kind of soil is probably because the terrain here is relatively high, the vegetation is relatively small (you must not choose good agricultural land when building the village, which is a waste of money), and the leaching effect is relatively strong.

In the lowland area to the east and closer to the coast, red soil and yellow soil common in subtropical regions develop. These two types of soil are very fertile, and various subtropical plants grow on them, and because of the climate and precipitation, they are generally very lush.Taking Yiyang Town as an example, in addition to a large number of staple foods such as corn and wheat, people in the East Bank also widely plant various crops including cotton, citrus, tobacco, and sugar cane in its suburbs (although the scale is relatively small. ), there is no doubt that the growth is very good, it can be seen that the grade of the soil texture is very high, which is incomparable to the higher-lying areas in the west.

With such conditions, it is no wonder that Xinhua Island once planned to move southward from the Yicheng area to occupy the lowlands on the east coast of South Africa and vigorously develop the grain planting industry.Their wishful thinking is obviously to plant their own cash crops and let the eastern lowlands of South Africa grow food, and call it "the country's strategic deployment".However, the Yicheng area obviously has its own ambitions. They actually got the Yicheng Iron Works project, and with the increasingly stable output of Chenggao coal mines and the huge domestic demand for products on the east coast, the characteristics of industrialization in this area have changed. It is very obvious that it is impossible to return to the old way of agricultural society.

Since the Yicheng area is committed to industrialization, it naturally regards the eastern coastal area of ​​South Africa as its own agricultural base. How can it be given to others?What's more, they are now mainly concentrated in Yicheng and Chenggao counties in the north. There are iron factories and coal mines in these two counties, and they are also overhauling railways, roads and docks. Urban construction is also in full swing. The problem is that they are still at war with black tribes all year round.In such a situation, how many people will go to farm?This can be seen from the thousands of poor immigrants in Yiyang Bay and other places for several years. There is really no surplus population to invest in, so that they are still eating sorghum and wheat transferred from the Hezhong area. Food is not self-sufficient at all.

In desperation, in addition to continuing to strengthen the import of grain from the Hezhong area, Xinhua Island had to face the dilemma of expanding its grain planting area and reducing imports.However, in the Xinhua Island society where the atmosphere of commercialization is extremely strong, it is indeed difficult for plantation owners and even ordinary farmers to abandon the more profitable cash crop planting areas to engage in food.In the end, this kind of thankless task has to be borne by the government, so many new state-owned farms are now mainly planted with rice, just to reduce the risk of food shortage on the island-of course, this does not mean that the new Huaxia Island will be able to be self-sufficient in food. In fact, it is difficult and impossible. Therefore, they now have to import food from the middle of the river and the Zambezi River Basin controlled by the Portuguese almost every season. Otherwise, this day will be impossible. pass.

Well, the topic is getting far away, let us turn our attention back to Qi An Township.As a matter of fact, as soon as Head Yang arrived here, after exchanging pleasantries with the cadres in the village, the first order he gave was to formulate an agricultural production plan.Before he came, he had already received news that about three thousand immigrants from Ningshao and Guangdong would arrive at Yiyang Port by boat in the next month or so. The place where the Ministry is located has a quota of about 1000 people, which is as enviable as Yiyang Town.

Yang Liang felt that because Major Mao Jun had carried out several major sweeps before, now most of the black tribes withdrew from the triangular sphere of influence of the people on the east coast, and lived in the hilly and mountainous areas with more complex terrain in the west.Here is also rich in water and grass. Although there are not many flat lands suitable for farming, it is not an insurmountable difficulty for nomadic or nomadic blacks. Maybe there will be some fighting between each other for pastures and cultivated land, but compared to facing the east bank People's sharp bayonets and artillery like thunderbolts, they still prefer to fight with people who know each other well.

The black tribes who lost the battle have no choice but to continue westward, but this may encounter the remnants of the Kama Kingdom. They have a low level of civilization and cannot resist armed groups that are much more organized than them; or Therefore, they can only return to the coastal lowlands and live cautiously under the power of the people on the east coast. Although they are sometimes forced to enter the territory of the people on the east coast to plunder because of natural disasters or other factors, but on the whole It's still relatively peaceful, except when the people on the east bank pull out their troops to mop up.

Perhaps some thought they could escape to the coastal plains to the south or north.But don't forget, there are also tribes there, and their strength is naturally comparable to those tribes who have suffered a lot of losses at the hands of the people on the east coast. I am afraid that they will not be able to please them, so their whereabouts are basically clear.

According to the data given by the Gendarmerie Command, they believe that most of the nearby black tribes may have fled westward into the mountains, which is the area west of today's Qi'an Township.Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang believed that this data was credible, not to mention that the expedition team had also collected dog head gold and coal in the west mountain, and the quality was quite good. The westward raid was listed as the first choice, not only to catch black slaves, but also to occupy possible gold and coal mines.

And if you want to move westward from Qi'an Township, then a relatively stable base is essential.After all, the materials in South Africa and Xinhua Island are not unlimited, and they also have too many places to spend money. The money, food and materials that can be squeezed out and used in Yiyang Bay are all there, so you'd better have a certain amount of production yourself Ability, so that the funds at hand can be more flexible, so that you don't feel powerless to do anything extra.

Furthermore, the eastern part of South Africa has not been effectively developed so far, the landforms are very primitive, and the transportation facilities are out of the question.Therefore, it is already a very heavy task to transport a large amount of materials from Yiyang Port to the mountains in the west.Yang Liang has also seen how many vehicles have been damaged in the baggage camp these days, so the materials that can be raised locally (such as food, melons, fruits, vegetables, draft animals, etc.) should be raised locally as much as possible, which can effectively reduce the risk of damage. Logistical pressures.

"Commander Yang, we will definitely pay attention to agricultural production, but you also know that we are short of money here. Without money, we can't do anything, even the necessities of life are not in place." Looking forward to seeing through the autumn water, as soon as I met Yang Liang, I immediately poured out bitter water, complaining about the pain of lack of money and goods.

"If you lack money, you have to find a way." Yang Liang waved his hand to stop these people from complaining, and then said: "Let me give you a solid background. Yicheng District probably has no money for you. They have a lot of projects now. One You can’t wait to spend the money in half, don’t count on it. Xinhua Island, they are ‘outsiders’ after all. Even with the care of the central government, it is the limit to support some money and food on weekdays. How can it be possible to support you for a long time? Hezhong area No, no, no, don't count on them! They are still digesting the debts of the railway construction, not to mention that the financial pressure on them from years of wars is not so great, so don't count on them. You-well, it's us ——The only one you can rely on is yourself! Do you understand?"

The township cadres were speechless after hearing this, and hope was lost, so what's the matter?

"I heard that many people found coal, iron ore and dog's head gold in the west mountain? Is this true? Don't talk to me, it's useless, I want to be clear, is it true?" Yang Liang Throwing the whip to the adjutant, Da Ma sat down on a long bench in the countryside and asked imposingly.

"Commander, since you said that, I will tell the truth." A township cadre thought for a while, and then summoned up his courage and said, "There have indeed been three expeditions to the west to explore, except for one army that was wiped out and died." In addition to the siege of the black tribe, the other two returned to Yiyang Port smoothly. They did bring back a large number of mineral specimens from the west, but there are also differences."

Seeing that Yang Liang was listening intently, the cadre did not dare to be negligent, and immediately continued: "They found the coal samples more than 100 kilometers away from here to the northwest, and they said there was a very large coal deposit belt there. The coal is of good quality, rich in variety, and shallowly buried, which is very valuable for mining. The location of the iron ore specimen is a little farther away, in the southwest of the large coal storage belt, about two hundred kilometers away from our Qi'an Township, and the reserves are also large. Quite a lot, the grade is quite high, and it is of great mining value. And, more importantly, there is also a super-large coal deposit belt near this iron mine, and the quality of the coal is equally good. The technicians of the expedition said that if the If the local coal-iron complex is built, it will definitely develop very well, unlike Yicheng Port, iron ore still needs to be transported from Kanghua Port in Xinhua Island, which has relatively large limitations."

"Then what about the dog's head gold? It's also in the west?" Yang Liang asked the question he was most concerned about.

"This can't be guaranteed." The township cadre also told the truth, only to hear him say: "The leader of the expedition team once told us during the meal that the dog's head gold was traded from black hands. Where did it come from? They have conducted a lot of investigations, and all the clues only point to the west, which is about 300 kilometers away from us, maybe [-] kilometers away. They believe that there should be a gold belt with large reserves, and they have suggested to their superiors to organize a larger and more well-equipped expedition team to go deep into that area for investigation, and there may be surprises.”

In fact, the gold mine guessed by the expedition team is located in the large-scale gold belt at the junction of the Free State of South Africa and the Transvaal Province in later generations. It includes most of the gold resources in South Africa, and the reserves are astonishing. The straight-line distance of Qi'an Township is about 300 kilometers.

Normally speaking, this distance is actually very far.Because there is nothing here, the traffic is very primitive, and everything has to be walked.Moreover, you have to climb over the mountains along the way, and the road is not smooth, which is terrible.But then again, this is a "normal situation", what if the situation is "not normal"?That is, what if there really is a gold belt with huge reserves?

Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang believes that the distance of three to four hundred kilometers is not an insurmountable difficulty under the temptation of a super-large gold mine—if it exists.Especially now that the international silver price has ushered in a rapid depreciation channel, and the East Coast government has also been preparing for the gold standard system for many years. Unfortunately, it has been unable to change the current gold and silver bimetallic standard system to the gold standard system due to insufficient gold reserves. Coupled with the current high debts of the government, they also have a strong impulse to obtain a certain amount of precious metals to repay the principal and interest of various debts that are about to mature, so as to reduce the financial burden.

Therefore, after comprehensively considering these factors, Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang believes that if it can be confirmed that there is indeed a large gold mine more than 300 kilometers to the west, the central government will definitely be moved in a desperate situation. In that case, this distance is a fart!The east coast is now a primary industrialized country anyway, once the war machine is activated, it will be frightening for me!far away?Just build the road!Understaffed?Just catch the black man!Need to fight?Just allocate money and people!They don't care about other things, they only care about whether this gold mine can bring them enough income!

Perhaps too much collection of precious metals is not good for the country's industrial development and the formation of national morals, but this is not as crazy as the Spaniards. It is just a small reduction of the debt burden, and most of the rest will not be put into the market. Stored in heavily guarded vaults as a reserve for future monetary reforms.

"It seems that we need to send someone to the west to confirm again. At the same time, the report to the local area cannot be delayed. Whether it is true or not, it will not be a disadvantage if it is reported first. Damn, we can't delay it later. I will write a report, let the nearest ship take it to the mainland, and blow up those stupid old men in the executive committee." Yang Liang rubbed his chin, and he had already made a decision in his mind.

(End of this chapter)