Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1949 Eastern Brazil ([-])

On June 1686, 6, in the northern part of Brazil, it was another extremely hot day.

Two ships full of migrants docked in the coastal waters of Puchang County. More than [-] Protestant immigrants from France stumbled out of the cabins with their packages.To tell the truth, this hot land did not please them.They came from northern France, where the climate is colder and the winters are often snowy, which is very different from northern Brazil, where there is no frost all year round, so it is no wonder that they are disappointed.

Of course, the disappointment only existed for a moment. Compared with staying in France and suffering persecution, coming to the relatively calm east coast has indeed made them feel overjoyed.According to the description of Michelet, a French scholar who specialized in the "Nantes Edict" in later generations: "...they (soldiers) poured scalding boiling water down the throats of the Huguenots...they whipped the Huguenots and burned them with candles arms and feet, and forced them to hold burning coals with their hands... Soldiers seized many by the feet and set them on fire; they forced Huguenot women to stand in the street, being insulted by passers-by Ridiculous... They tied a nursing mother to a bedpost and made her baby cry until she starved to death..."

The French army's persecution of the Huguenots was so frenzied that these poor people had long been terrified.Now that you can travel across the ocean to a stable, peaceful country with relatively loose religion, what is there to be dissatisfied with?Are those damp and sultry forests on land more terrible than the butcher knife of Catholic soldiers?How can it be!

There was a melodious sound of music on the pier. It was the first group of French Huguenots who arrived to welcome them.These former French art workers came here one after another from their respective places of work, such as farmlands, lumber camps, taverns, hotels, etc., for no other reason than to welcome these French refugees.

A few officials from the Bureau of Statistics and Investigation of Syphilis Patients in black skins walked among them, looking at these French Huguenots with gloomy faces, and made up their minds. Relatively sparsely populated places such as Hue, Jiangbei, Bac Ninh, etc. are all given one point, to see what big waves they can afford.

In the end, why don't you obediently contribute your blood and sweat to the great cause of tropical land reclamation on the East Coast!

It is said that the last two governments on the east coast have paid great attention to the development of the Pampa Plain, investing a lot of manpower and material resources there, so that the local population has exploded and the development speed has been rapid, and it has become an important economic area in the country.However, compared to the local people's extreme emphasis on the Pampa Plain, the two governments under Liao Xiaoyao's administration have really lacked investment in Brazil. Not only is there not much money, but there are not many people. There are always few people.

After the current Ma Wenqiang government came to power, although it still set the national policy of focusing on the development of the Pampa Plain, it also made some fine-tuning of the previous policies, that is, appropriately increased investment in the Brazilian region to avoid inter-regional development. Too unbalanced.Just at the beginning of this year, the Executive Committee approved the establishment of Jinguo County (under the jurisdiction of Jinguo Town, Gouqu Township, and Yanya Township, the 136th county in the country), Xiqiao County (under the jurisdiction of Xiqiao County) in Brazil. Qiao Town, Changshao Township, Waterfall Township, Xianggou Township, the 137th county in the country), Jinglong County (under the jurisdiction of Jinglong Town, Cuiwu Township, Feinan Township, Feibei Township, the 138th county in the country), Xinfu County (under the jurisdiction of Xinfu Town, Changshou Township, Linjian Township, and Lingqiu Township, the 139th county in the country), Puchang County (under the jurisdiction of Puchang Town, Liuzhong Township, Tuman Township, Wusun Township, Xianqing Township, the 140th county in the country), Cheshi County (under the jurisdiction of Cheshi Town, Qianting Township, Pingding Township, Neitian Township, the 141st county in the country), Changcen County (under the jurisdiction of Changcen Town, Feiru Township , Daifang Township, Lejiu Township, the 142nd county in the country), Changli County (under the jurisdiction of Changli Town, Gaoxian Township, Bintu Township, Anshi Township, Wangping Township, the 143rd county in the country), Zhuolu County (Under the jurisdiction of Zhuolu Town, Baodai Township, Lelang Township, Panquan Township, the 144th county in the country).

Nine new counties were established in one go. Although most of them are old settlements established before, and there are very few new ones, giving these settlements the title of county-level administrative units is itself a kind of support.Because this means that these counties are now included in the budget of the central government's financial expenditures, and they can receive various funds allocated by the central government from now on, instead of the previous way, the money is first transferred to the escrowed county financial accounts, and then Pass it on to them.In that case, not only will there be little money, but the middle layer will have to pluck the feathers. Of course, it is not as strong as opening an independent account today.

And now that an independent account has been opened, the central government will naturally have to give some resettlement quotas and public land reclamation quotas in addition to appropriating funds. Otherwise, how can you let the work of these counties be carried out?Therefore, after some compromises and games, the above-mentioned nine counties in Brazil finally obtained a total of 1 immigrants: 1 from the new generation born in China, 1 from Far East immigrants, and [-] from non-nationals and European immigration.

The present group of Huguenots from northern France is part of that third.They believe in Protestantism, can only speak French, and are not the mainstream ethnic group on the east coast. In fact, they are not so-called high-quality immigrants.If it was given to the Pampa area, most of the local officials would not want it, so Brazil has been neglected by the superiors for many years, and there are piece after piece of wasteland in the territory, which urgently needs manpower development and is not picky.

But even so, the number of people allocated from above is very limited.After this wave of 3 people, how many places will be available next year is still unknown. In short, it is not very optimistic.You must know that with the increasingly tense situation in Europe, the number of people from the East Coast imported from the Black Sea has been greatly reduced. The special envoy to Europe, Gao Wen, has been trying to use more precious funds to enhance the influence of the East Coast since last year. There are very few funds that can be used to purchase population.What's more, the main force of the big patrons, the Crimean Tatars, was attracted to the northern shore of the Black Sea by the movement of the Russian army, and they had no time to go out to plunder, and the "stock" on hand was quite insufficient.Coupled with the bad reputation brought about by buying and selling people-even the allies on the east coast in Italy are quite critical of this kind of thing-the number of Slavs who came to the east coast from the Black Sea region has dropped by two-thirds, The number is very small.Given such a situation, how can a stepmother like Brazil get too many people?Impossible!

"The screening of these Frenchmen must be strengthened. Although I don't believe that there are French spies among them, it is better to be careful in everything, and there must be no less procedures. These Huguenots generally have a high level of knowledge and know a lot. Let them see something they shouldn't see, maybe they will find out the way soon. You have to remember, they are not citizens of the East Coast yet, and they have to work here for five years, so don't treat them too much. Be polite, you won’t cause any trouble.” A head of the Bureau of Statistics and Investigation of Syphilis Patients told his subordinates: “Of course, don’t overdo it, these people have been bullied enough in France already. , out of humanitarian considerations, we should also give them a stable living environment, provided that they abide by the laws and regulations of the east coast."

"Understood." Everyone whispered in a hurry.

The persecution of Huguenots in France intensified. The 150 million Protestants in the country either converted, pretended to convert, or bravely fled abroad. There was almost no fourth way to go.The Protestant countries in continental Europe, such as England, have laughed at one gift package after another in this wave of Huguenot immigration.Even some Catholic countries with more religious tolerance have absorbed some French immigrants, such as Courland and so on.

Although the east coast is a pagan country and lives in the remote southern New World, the religion is fairly tolerant, coupled with a stable life and a developed economy, it also attracts a considerable number of Huguenots to settle here.So far, the total number has probably exceeded 2, and it is still increasing, which is quite a lot.

These people brought a lot of money, and many of them were handicraftsmen, painters, musicians, scholars, etc., and they were high-quality immigrants that the East Bank liked very much.However, the mainland has not given the green light to these high-quality immigrants. They still need to meet the naturalization requirements in the East Coast "Homestead Law" before they can become East Coast nationals. It is quite different from the direct granting of citizenship in the Netherlands and England. .

The government also attaches great importance to their beliefs.Because Protestantism has not gained legal status on the east coast for a long time, and there are very few Protestant churches in China—in fact, there are not many Catholic churches, which are generally seen in slightly larger cities—so the The Office of Religious Affairs also allocated an additional 5 yuan in cash to build a Protestant church in each of Puchang, Jinglong, and Changcen counties for these Huguenots to use for religious ceremonies.

The Protestant pastors in charge of the church are all dispatched by the Religious Affairs Office. They are all pastors trained by the East Coast Republic and have no relationship with the outside world (similar to the Three-Self Church in China in later generations, self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating), so as not to be attacked by foreign forces. Take advantage of.In the field of ideology, people from the East Coast have actually been very tightly grasped. Privately preaching is generally regarded as a cult organization, and if they are caught, they will be sentenced without discussion.

The clergy who already existed among this group of French Huguenots need to go to the Religious Affairs Office to study in a unified way, and then obtain the qualification certificate issued before they can preach.Otherwise, he is also an illegal spreader of cults, and if he is caught, he will also be exiled to overseas colonies.

No doubt some of these French clergy were unwilling to accept this condition.But the people on the east coast will not change their policies for them. If it is not possible, these people will be introduced to New Courland, where the Holy See is still respected, but I don’t know what will happen if the Protestant priest goes to the Catholic territory That's it.

"Cooperate with the people from the State Development Bureau later. Since these people are here to develop the wilderness, it is naturally impossible for all of them to stay in the developed areas. The Development Bureau has planned a route for them, and they all head inland. Cut down trees and mow grass while building new villages and towns. This process is undoubtedly difficult and dangerous. These Frenchmen may not always be so obedient. You should pay more attention to the unstable elements in the crowd and record them as soon as they appear. The key point Observe. If necessary, you can take it on the spot, but you must communicate with the village head of the local pioneer village to avoid misunderstanding." The intelligence continued secretly: "In addition, you also keep an eye on the grandsons of the Development Bureau, there are some birds People have a big appetite, and they don’t even bat an eye when they embezzle tents, tools, food, clothing, and medicines necessary for land reclamation—especially expensive medicines. We can’t tolerate silverfish in these countries anymore. If you have solid evidence, come and arrest people immediately.”

It is said that people on the east coast have always had a certain fear of difficulties in the development of Brazil.The hot and humid environment of the tropical forest, the raging snakes and insects, the frequent diseases, and the back arrows of the elusive natives all make people feel headaches.Therefore, they would rather resettle more immigrants to the Pampa Plain with a mild climate, endless stretches, and fertile soil, rather than throw them into the forests and mountains of the Brazilian plateau for consumption.

For many years, they have insisted on introducing a large number of Slavic slaves from the Black Sea to carry out the first round of "conquering" the above-mentioned tropical wild areas.After these people have finished wading through the landmines, the second wave of immigrants (generally immigrants from the Far East + native-born new generations) will flock in to reclaim the land, build villages and towns, and take root thoroughly.And in this process, although the death rate of immigrants is still high, it has been greatly reduced compared to the completely primitive environment of the first round.

Therefore, these foreign contract slaves have always been very important, and every year, a fixed number of Slavic slaves are sent to various places for pioneering.This time, so many French people were caught at once, and the people on the east coast also did not intend to waste them. They were all resettled in many counties newly established in the Brazilian plateau, making them the backbone of the local land reclamation.

The only pity is that the attraction of the East Coast Republic is still not loud enough among the French Huguenots, and the distance is a little farther away, so it cannot compete with Protestant countries such as the United Provinces, England, Brandenburg-Prussia, and Sweden.But as Su said, people on the east coast don't have to be such a proud Frenchman.Now a big war is brewing on the northern shore of the Black Sea. If the war goes well in the future, another wave of big business will come if the war is not complete (the Crimean Tatars captured a large number of Russian prisoners of war). Don't be intimidated by Moscow's diplomatic pressure, then there will be absolutely no shortage of cannon fodder for land reclamation!

(End of this chapter)