Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2009 Beining ([-])

On January 1688, 1, in the border area between Bac Ninh and Hue, He Yuan was talking with local farmers.

He had already talked with the leadership of the Beining District Administrative Office before, and the two sides agreed to jointly fund the construction of the embankment of the Gui River and the irrigation canal system derived from it.

Regrettably, due to factors such as large water level drop and too many shoals, the Gui River cannot be navigated by larger ships—except for a small section of the most downstream river—that is, some built by residents along the way during their slack. Small wooden boats can only do closed-loop navigation in a limited area, and the utilization rate of shipping is really low.In this way, the significance of the existence of this river is only agricultural irrigation and aquatic fishing. It may be possible to use its relatively abundant water energy resources when the electric power develops in the future, but for now, it can only be used to irrigate agriculture.

"Our place is very different from the eastern coastal areas. I come from there and know everything there." A slightly younger village head of a village in Guihe Township said to He Yuan.He was smoking the Cosmos brand cigarettes that He Yuan gave him, and he looked very comfortable, and with his rough personality, he didn't shy away from speaking, he really had something to say.

"Let's talk about the road. In Luocha County, where I was born, the quality of the roads there is very good, just like the heavy-duty food wagon that just passed before, where it can walk steadily with only six horses pulling it. But here we need eight or even ten horses, and the lifespan of the six horses in Luo Qia must be longer than our eight or ten horses here, this is an obvious gap." The village chief continued: "When Guihe Township was still a post station, I reclaimed wasteland nearby. At that time, I was still young and had just left my parents and hometown. Now ten years have passed, and the road has been started five years ago. It’s still like this. I wonder where the money is spent. The people in Beining accused us of the materials sent from Hue area, and we also accused Beining of not allocating funds in place. What do you say? Yours, I tell mine, it’s so lively. But if you want me to tell it, it’s all bullshit, and the road is still so bad.”

He Yuan nodded secretly.In fact, he is also clear about this road.As a traffic artery connecting Bac Ninh County and the inland area of ​​Hue, to be honest, both Bac Ninh and Hue have devoted a lot of energy.Because of the lack of development and sparse population in the inland area, the two parties agreed at that time that Bei Ninh area would provide people and some funds, and Hue area would provide road construction materials (there are abundant resources in the nearby areas), and the Ministry of Communications would openly invite an engineering company to do the bidding. Mining and transportation.In short, this can be regarded as a road jointly built by the two regions. The Ministry of Communications provided half of the funds and invited bids for an engineering and construction company. Because of the proximity of the Beining region, part of the manpower and funds were used, and the Hue region only provided some materials. It may have caused some dissatisfaction in the Beining area, and the two sides had some unhappiness in this matter.

But no matter what, the road has been repaired. Although the quality is really not good, it has indeed played a role. All kinds of industrial products, food, wine and daily necessities produced in Beining County are imported to Hue through this road. The inland part of the area has laid the foundation for the inland development of the Hue area in the next stage.

However, He Yuan felt that this road really needed to be rectified.Before, he came all the way from Beining and Rongcheng (there is a branch line leading to this place), and found that the road surface was mostly damaged, and the materials used were different, which was rather messy.For example, he found that some sections of the road were made of cobblestones that were dug up from the bottom of the river and polished by the water flow, and some places used gravel from the blasted mountains, and some places used nothing at all, just soil. Press hard, making people unable to complain.It is very painful for a carriage to drive on such a road. It is common to have bumps, and sometimes it is very common to easily get stuck in the mud for half an hour.The merchants who transported goods from Beining have long complained that this road has caused great wear and tear on their carriages, and the lifespan of their horses has also been greatly affected. In short, they have lost a lot.

He Yuan has heard more than one complaint since he took office. There is a horse-drawn carriage company in each of Beining and Rongcheng counties asking the customs road company to reduce the charges for their vehicles, otherwise they will refuse to transport daily necessities here. Under the circumstances, they finally withdrew their complaints, but this does not mean that the bad roads are not true.He Yuan has been thinking of a way recently, planning to import some cinders and asphalt from the outside world to build roads and reduce the loss on the road.Even, if this is not enough, then he will order to mine a granite mine east of Guihe Township, and then use polished square stones to pave the road. That's it.

"Let's not talk about the road, let's talk about life, how about it?" He Yuan said, handing another cigarette to the village head.

"Life is decent. I plant some land myself, and harvest some grain every year, which is enough for the whole family. There is not much left, but it is enough to pay the land tax and exchange some sugar, wine, tea, spices, and cloth from Beining County. Life is not as good as in my hometown, there are no delicious canned food, no fresh seafood, no biscuits and snacks, and the restaurants are full of rural restaurants, and there are no theaters and concerts to watch, but there is nothing to complain about, because this is my life Life, my real life. This truth, I understood when I was 16 years old ten years ago, it doesn't belong to me, I will start again somewhere else, this is here."

"Don't you miss Rocha? There are opera performances, concerts, circuses from Italy, all kinds of clothes and food, girls who can dress up, books, newspapers, and everything in a civilized society. You Just like this, coming to a wild land, fighting with mosquitoes, snakes and ants, fighting wild beasts and savages, earning very little throughout the year, and even having nowhere to spend the money, is everything worth it?” He Yuan asked.

"There is nothing worth it or not. This is already my life. I have been fighting here for ten years and I am used to it." The village chief shook his head and said, "Life here is quite peaceful. Moreover, the price of food It’s not as low as back home. My wife and I have planted [-] acres of land, and the annual income is not bad. Oh, yes, we hired two poor Italians to help, and they lived and ate in the woodshed , the cost is not much. I raised some bees during the slack season, and the honey produced is still very marketable, and even people from Beining County came to buy it, which added a lot of income to me. Haha, it sounds a bit Funny, I used to raise cattle for a while, and I almost went bankrupt. You know, there are many free bison on the Pampa Plain in the south. Import tariffs have been reduced in recent years, and these cattle have flooded into the mainland in large numbers. Many cattle farmers have lost a lot of money, and they have switched to raising dairy cows or other livestock. There are several households in our township, and those who came here with me are now raising dairy cows, and then making some cheese and butter by themselves, which is better than raising beef cattle. Earn more."

"Some Russians have come to the village recently, right? How are they?" He Yuan asked again.

"A total of five families came to our village, accounting for about one-eighth. As the village head, I have been to their homes several times. To be honest, they are all very honest people. I heard that under the rule of the tsar, what kind of suffering They have eaten everything and done all kinds of work. After coming to our east bank, they worked in the road construction team for five years. They are considered poor people. Now they have become regulars, and I am also happy for them. These people Ah, trying to assimilate into our culture and life in general, now that they don't have their own traditional festivals, or at least not publicly, no one asked them to do it, but they did. Ah, yes , This may be related to the fact that Orthodoxy is not a legal religion in our country? In short, they are already celebrating our festivals, such as the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Spring Festival. They also celebrate together. We feel a little strange, but it’s nothing. Some of them brought their families from Russia and spent a lot of money. According to my observation, those small children play with our children, and now they are less and less like Russians. I guess In another ten or eight years, it will be difficult for you to distinguish whether they were born on the east coast or in Russia, which is really amazing.” Hearing about He Yuan’s culture, the village head thought for a while before recalling He said: "But if there are more people, I'm not sure if it will be like this. You know, once there are too many people, they will form a group, which is a problem."

"It was a great conversation, Mr. Lin, you provided me with valuable first-hand information, which is of great reference significance for my future policy implementation. Soon the inland areas will usher in a new round of There is a boom in development. I think I have learned a little about the lives and sufferings of the pioneers. I will pay attention to this in my future work, and I will give a certain degree of inclination in terms of policies to help them solve some problems as much as possible. It’s actually difficult.” He Yuan stood up and shook the hand of Village Chief Lin, and said: “At the same time, you also reminded me of the ethnic issue, so I think I will be more cautious in arranging the immigration destination. The theme of our country Culture is Chinese culture, and this will never change. If immigrants want to live better, they must first integrate into our culture, especially their children. Of course, religious issues are also a top priority. People from Russia, Italy, Much of the culture of the Ottoman immigrants is rooted in religion, and if they cannot live a collective religious life, they will lose most of their cultural characteristics, which is indeed a powerful tool for assimilation."

"Goodbye, Village Chief Lin, I wish you good health and happiness for the whole family." He Yuan waved his hand and asked his subordinates to give him a box of canned honey fruit, several boxes of malted milk and two bags of shredded tobacco as gifts, and then turned over Get on the horse and move on to the next goal.

I went back to my hometown today, and I am extremely uncomfortable typing on my daughter-in-law's Apple computer.I have something to do in the next two days, so try to make time.

(End of this chapter)