Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1973 Central Valley ([-])

On February 1687, 2, with a piercing siren, two 1-ton offshore/inland river general-purpose small steamers swaggered into the port of Valdivia.

When the Spanish officials at the port saw the flag of the east coast hanging high on the mast of the ship, their legs softened three points at first. No more, just let the subordinates go to negotiate with Dong'an, and go back to the dock office to "rest".

Everyone in Valdivia knew that these soldiers on the east coast were not the ones in their own city who couldn't even uniform their clothes.They come from a regular unit named No.12 Mixed Battalion, with advanced equipment, frequent training, and high morale, they are far from being able to compete.

These small steamers from the east coast are actually not the first day to violate the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Spain.When they sailed to the port for the first time, the Spaniards were stunned and thought they were here for business, but when they saw that they ignored them and drove directly upstream, they didn't know where they were going, and they became anxious all of a sudden.

But what's the use of rushing?Valdivia does not have a decent coastal defense turret now. The Royal Government’s investment in the Pacific side is really low. Almost all the money is spent in the Caribbean Sea. Could it be that they really entrusted the defense of the Pacific side to the Has the Third Fleet of the East Coasters been dispatched?what that looks like!

In this way, the small steamer of the people from the east coast was going up all the way, and no one dared to stop them, so they drove to a place far upstream, and then docked at the port to unload the goods, and a team of mules and horses came from the land to take the goods away.The whole process was closely monitored by the Spaniards, and their cavalry even approached only a few tens of meters away from the river bank. However, because the army soldiers on the east bank drove them away, they did not dare to step forward to question, but it was enough for them to understand the whole story up.

It turned out that the evil people on the east bank actually took a fancy to the good navigation conditions of the Valdivia River and the Caye Caye River, and wanted to use them to transport a large amount of goods to the inland by boat, and then cross the border from the local area Reclamation personnel came to receive it.In this way, a large amount of materials urgently needed for reclamation—especially some bulky materials—can be delivered to those who need them at the fastest speed and at the lowest cost, and support their reclamation efforts on this land.

At this time, the Spaniards suddenly realized, but they were powerless to stop it.With a deep understanding of the powerful strength of the East Bank, they try their best to avoid any direct conflicts all the time, so that they are forced to "cut the sausage" step by step by the East Bank people, and they are extremely embarrassed.You see, what was the reaction of the port of Corral, the city's outer harbor and barrier, when the steamboat from the east coast first sailed into the Valdivia River?Sorry, no response!

This city was occupied by the East Coasters when the East and West were at war, and the fort was also destroyed. After the peace, the Spaniards rebuilt it.But the rebuilt fort was controlled by a group of cowardly soldiers, who dared not fire on the ships of the East Coasters, and let them sail into the Valdivia River swaggeringly, although they were still relatively brave when facing pirates. of.

After the people on the east coast tasted the sweetness of using the Valdivia River and the Caye Caye River to transport goods, they immediately got out of hand.Now their ships come almost once a week, most of the time to transport goods, and sometimes to transport people, so that more and more people from the east coast are farming, logging, and fishing in the inland Central Valley. In just one year, it surpassed the achievements of the Kingdom of Spain in more than a hundred years of colonization, which is a great irony.

Of course, Valdivia reported the violation of their sovereignty on the east coast to Lima, but they never expected the Peruvian Governor Arango to give them any solidarity, and the higher-ups should treat it as if nothing happened. Bar.Pretending not to be seen has been the consistent policy of colonial officials at all levels in the Viceroyalty of Peru these years.

But who would have imagined that the people on the east bank didn't even give them a chance to pretend to be ostriches!No, just yesterday, several envoys came from the south. It is said that they were sent by Zhao Ke, the commissioner of the Southern Chile Regional Office of the East Coast Republic, with the purpose of discussing the Valdivia River, Caye Caye Dredging and dredging of rivers.

This is really fucking hell!For the rivers in the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, you people from the east bank rushed to say that you want to dredge, dredge, or to facilitate the navigation of your own ships. Is there anything more absurd than this?Has the Government of the Kingdom of Spain invited you here?Have you ever been awarded any dredging contracts?No doubt, neither!

Therefore, what the people on the east coast did is quite speechless, especially the officials of Valdivia. They don't know how sensitive they are to these rivers that can lead to the inland.There was no way to be forced into by the small steamer on the east coast before. Now you still help you dredge and dredge the silt so that your larger ships can drive in?We're not that stupid yet.You know, the Caye Caye River extends upstream to the foothills of the Andes, and there are many large and small silver mines in the middle.Most of them have been mined for decades, and some have even been for hundreds of years. Although the individual silver output is not much, the cumulative amount is not a small amount. It has always been the local colonial officials and native white elites. How can you allow outsiders to covet your family's money bag?

I believe that if it weren't for the notorious East Coasters who broke into this river of silver, these guys would dare to unite and kill you!Historically, those special envoys who came to investigate the actual production of silver mines in the interior of Valdivia, either at the order of the monarch of Madrid or the governor of Peru, were either bought by the local government or died inexplicably. , This is already very illustrative of the problem. In order to defend their property, these lawless guys will definitely use any means to get it out!

But the problem is that it is the East Coast people who threaten their property, which is difficult!As the forefront of trade with the East Coast, every Spaniard with some common sense in the Chilean region knows that the East Coast Army - especially their army - is a fierce group of people, ruthless against what they consider the enemy .Take the extermination of the Araucan Indians in southern Chile as an example (this is an agreement reached by the two governments), their only solution to any tribe that disobeys and persists is to eliminate them all, leaving no one behind!Those who went to see the scene were terrified. After the victory in the battle, the soldiers of the East Coast Army, armed with the rifles of the last bayonet, unhurriedly pursued the Araucans running everywhere, and then killed them. They fell to the ground one by one, and the ground and the river were stained red with blood.The only ones who were pardoned were the Araucan tribe who declared their surrender before the battle began. They will be escorted to the coast by the people on the east coast, and then shipped to South Africa to compete with the blacks for the land under the sun and become the Yellow River. A member of the black line.

Up to now, it is said that there are still two infantry companies and one cavalry company on the east coast, operating in the mountains and river valleys in the south-central region of Chile, eliminating the few remaining Araucan Indians.This is part of the cooperation between the East Bank government and the Governor of Peru in exchange for their tacit approval of the East Bankers' establishment of a prison colony north of the Boundary River.

Therefore, the Spaniards in the central and southern regions of Chile really intuitively recognized the combat effectiveness of the East Coast Army.Therefore, these guys who dared to hate the air for the silver mine, and even dared to kill the investigators sent from above, did not dare to hate the people on the east coast, because they knew that the people on the east coast would really take action against them, Including force measures-they don't want to have soldiers from the east coast with rifles descending from the sky in the middle of the night, kicking open their gates, and putting bayonets on their necks, that would be too bad.

Therefore, even though some people from the east bank were shameless and sent people to discuss the dredging of the Valdivia River and the Caye Kaye River, they could not categorically refuse, they could only pinch their noses to admit it, and at the same time cursed Governor Aaron in their hearts Ge, you actually asked the East Coast Army to enter the country to help clear up the disobedient Indians. Now they are still lingering and still not leaving, what should you do?

The two sides talked in Valdivia for more than half a month, but nothing came out.After learning that the group of Spaniards did not report to Lima at all, the representatives of the East Bank became angry and stopped talking with them at all. They returned directly to the Regional Administration of Southern Chile and reported to Commissioner Zhao Kezhao.

Zhao Ke's attitude towards these Spaniards was both angry and funny, and then he made a decision, no matter what those poor Spaniards thought, he would dredge the Valdivia River and the Caye Caye River by himself, forgive those people Dare not stop.It just so happens that there is a special fund for "wearing a hat" in the account of the regional administrative office. It was originally intended to be used to dredge the boundary river (Bueno River), but this river has a fatal weakness, that is, there are strange rocks near the mouth of the sea. The water is shallow and silted, and the project volume is huge, which is not suitable for a port.At first, there was no way. After all, in addition to the dredged and dredged Maolin River in southern Chile, a large irrigated agricultural area has been established on both sides of the river, which produces a huge amount of wheat, soybeans and pastures every year. The second largest barn in southern Chile after Fenggu Island——Zhao Ke really can't think of any places where the special funds for transportation can be used.

Well now, the Valdivia River, the Caye Caye River came into his view.He only briefly sketched the locations of Valdivia, the Fourth Fortress of the Corps, the Red Flag Prison, Villarrica, and several small silver mines and mercury mines on the map, and immediately gave up on the immature project of dredging the boundary river. The idea is to use the money allocated by the traffic lottery fund to Valdivia.Anyway, in his opinion, those areas will all be the territory of the Eastern China Republic in the future, and there is basically no difference if they are developed one day earlier and later, so there is no need to think too much about them.

Based on this idea, he made a decision in the shortest possible time, and then ordered various departments to start operations. The current dredging contract has been awarded to a department under the jurisdiction of the Canal Bureau (formerly the Canal Affairs Office) of the Ministry of Communications. The engineering company, which owns the professional "Qingtang Army" series dredgers, is also very experienced and the price is even lower, so they were immediately awarded the contract by the regional administrative office.

As for the nonsense that this kind of behavior may cause the Spaniards to protest, which in turn will affect the relationship between the two countries, Zhao Ke is not worried at all.He is a middle-level official of the government. Of course, he is aware of the current situation in Europe. He knows that the French army is still encroaching on the territory of the southern Netherlands of the Kingdom of Spain.And the East Coast Republic of China, which once beat them up and helped them "selflessly" in the past few decades, is naturally the one that the Kingdom of Spain wants to win over and win over. Therefore, it is conceivable that they do not want to have anything to do with the East Coast now. conflicting.

In fact, there are many such moments in history. It seems that people on the east coast can always use the crisis of the Kingdom of Spain in Europe to seize various interests including territory and commerce. There have been quite astonishing gains.The Spaniards have also tried to reverse this unfavorable situation, but they have failed every time. The main reason is that they have too much trouble in Europe, and there are many enemies who are eyeing them, so that they have nothing to do. Everything that you do can be attacked, so what else is there to say?Keep your own European mainland first, and then think of other ways, as long as the people on the east coast don't touch their money bags.

The attitude of the Kingdom of Spain is now known even to the local officials on the east bank, which is why Zhao Ke openly ordered the violation of the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Spain to dredge the Valdivia River and the Caye Caye River.And once the dredging of these two rivers is completed, ships can sail directly from the sea to places very close to the Andes Mountains, then they can directly contact the richer counties such as Dingnan and Luyang on the other side of the mountain, which greatly facilitates travel on both sides of the mountain. Material exchange.

And if you consider that the central government may invest in the construction of the Patagonia wool transportation railway that has been hotly discussed for many years, then the value of this is even greater!The special line for wool transportation is said to transport wool, so can't it transport other goods?There is no doubt that this railway can transport all kinds of materials along the Atlantic coast to Dingnan County at a very low cost, and then transfer them to the west of Shanxi through mules and horses. If the Valdivia River waterway transport trunk road is used, then the cost will be much lower, and it will also bring great benefits to the people in southern Chile.Not to mention the benefits that the canal would bring in connecting the two sides of the mountains and eliminating centrifugalism, if any, in Chile, far from the native core.At this political height, does a little Spaniard opinion matter?

(End of this chapter)