Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2055 Central Valley ([-])

The waves slapped on the beach, stirring up the spray, and receding lazily.Kelp thrown up by the sea covered the entire shore in a brown fringe.The kelp exudes a sweet but not unpleasant smell of rotting algae, typical of Chile's southern waters, as are the ever-present shore seals.

This is Corral, the outer port of Valdivia, a city that was captured by the East Coasters during the East-West War.And now, this city at the mouth of the Valdivia River has turned into a super-large construction site. About [-] people from the east bank of the counties in the southern Chile region have come here to renovate forts, build dams, clear They even built a large number of facilities including warehouses, residential buildings, office buildings and prisons on a wasteland with serious salinization outside the city, making the town of Coral The few Spanish residents on the scene were stunned.

It can be seen that the people on the east coast really intend to manage Coral Port well, and for this reason they have spared no effort to invest in its infrastructure and improve transportation conditions.This may sound a little inconsistent, because Port Corral is the land of the Spanish Kingdom, but the people on the east coast have occupied it and managed it as their own land. What about the violation?

There is not much suitable agricultural land near Coral Port. There are mountains and seas here, and the local residents have only developed a small amount of flat land for farmland.However, with the gradual expansion of the city in recent years, these farmlands are also facing the doom of being crowded and encroached by the city, but no one seems to really care about it. After all, the upper reaches of the river have a large area of ​​high-quality plains, which can all be developed into farmland.

It was already noon, and the harbor was peaceful.The Spanish dock officials hid in the customs house, drinking coffee helplessly, and seemed to have nothing to do.In fact, they have been deprived of the right to work and can only stay in the house all day, drinking and praying to pass the time.But fortunately, they can still receive a salary similar to the original one, which is paid by the people on the east coast. After all, this place is still nominally the territory of the Kingdom of Spain.

In fact, the East Coast government has been talking with the Kingdom of Spain recently about the status of parts of southern Chile.Their demands are mainly two points. One is that the land south of the Boundary River (Bueno River) originally leased to the East Bank is bought out at one time, making it an undisputed territory of the East Bank; The first condition is to lease the land south of the Valdivia River-Cayekaye River system and north of the Boundary River. For this reason, they can promise to increase the import of commodities from the Spanish colonies, and at the same time pay a relatively high lease fee. Not less than [-] pesos, payable in one lump sum for ten years.

To tell the truth, Trinidad, the governor of Peru in the Kingdom of Spain, laughed when he first heard the news.He didn't laugh because he was happy, but because the people on the east bank had such thick skins that he didn't know how to respond.The governor of Trinidad looked through the historical materials in the archives, and learned that the people on the east bank leased the south of the boundary river for not too long, and they began to openly go north many years ago, penetrating into the vast land north of the boundary river. In the Central Valley, those who settled and pioneered, mined and transported, fished and logged, and even opened factories did not take the Spaniards seriously.

What's more, their inland water transport company has blatantly monopolized the cargo transportation business of the Valdivia-Caye Caye River system, completely expelling all Spanish shipping forces, so that the task of transporting mercury and silver now has to There is no one to entrust this company to them.

The Governor of Trinidad knows that there are already a very large number of people on the east coast near Valdivia. It is conservatively estimated that there are as many as 1 people, and it may even be as many as 1 to 3, because this cannot be accurately counted.But whether it is [-] or [-], they are no less than the local Spanish nationals. They control money and force, and at the same time penetrate into the economic system step by step, so that the Spaniards will find that their neighbors have changed when they wake up. , There are also ships and outposts flying the flag of the East Coast everywhere around.

The Governor himself does not believe that he has the ability to deport the local East Coasters, and in fact this may lead to war, which is an option that is absolutely impossible to use.However, leasing the area south of the Valdivia River is also a difficult proposal to accept, because there are still a large number of silver mines here (although the output is not large, and some of them are close to exhaustion), and the city of Villa Rica There is also a large-scale mercury mine nearby, which is critical to the production of the Potosi silver mine in upper Peru, so it cannot be easily given up.

The people on the east coast later revised their proposal. They expressed that they had no interest in silver mines and mercury mines. They could still hand over these mines and some of the surrounding land to the Spaniards, and the rivers they had dredged and the roads they had repaired could also be handed over to the Spaniards. There are fields provided for the Spaniards to transport these minerals.Even, they are willing to provide some more advanced machinery to help the Spaniards improve mining efficiency and increase silver production in disguise in exchange for the right to lease this land.

To be honest, this proposal is already very sincere.In fact, people on the east coast are not very interested in those silver mines. What they value most is always the land.In particular, the fertile land that can be cultivated is the most valuable in their eyes. It seems that they are born as a group of farmers, and only these are in their eyes.

Faced with the conditions offered by the people on the east coast, the governor of Trinidad could not make the decision, so he could only report the news to Madrid and hand it over to King Carlos.However, he had heard that King Carlos' body had deteriorated more and more over the past few years, and his mental state was also very unstable.He only hopes that the interests of the Kingdom of Spain will not be unreasonably damaged any more, which is of no benefit.

In addition, the "smart" Governor of Trinidad also solemnly suggested in the report that more gold and silver should be transported to the sea by the Rio de la Plata and sent to Spain.This part of the transportation task can be completely entrusted to the people on the east coast. Their ships are large, fast, and reliable. They can also avoid the Caribbean Sea where there are so many pirates, so that the gold and silver in the Americas can reach Spain more safely. , Enrich the country's finances.

The governor of Trinidad believed that the silver mines in Potosi were transported to Panama for a long distance, with rugged mountain roads, and the cost was too high.And if it is transported to Santa Fe or Puerto Rosario via Jujuy, Tucumán, Salta and other places through the Chaco Plain, not only will the distance be closer, but the traffic conditions will also be much better. will descend to a level of extreme satisfaction.

They can sign an agreement with the East Coaster's insurance company in Buenos Aires to insure that these precious metals can successfully reach Cadiz via the Atlantic Ocean.The East Coast Republic hopes to see the stability of the Kingdom of Spain more than anyone else, so it is absolutely possible to transport these gold and silver to the Old Continent smoothly, which is beyond doubt.

The governor of Trinidad is not sure whether his proposal will be accepted by the Madrid court, but he hopes it will.Because all the signs show that the people on the east bank seem to be impatient to encroach on the area south of the Valdivia River. They have invested a lot of resources here and relocated a large number of residents. It is impossible to just leave .It was fine if they didn't make any demands before. The governor of Trinidad was happy to pretend to be confused, but now that the issue of negotiating its status has been formally proposed, it is doomed that this land can no longer be owned by the Kingdom of Spain.

If so, it is better to sell it for a good price!The Chilean region is not the focus of the expansion of the East Coast people. They do not put as much energy here as the Pampa Plain or the Chaco region, so the expansion speed is not as fast as imagined.Valdivia is still far from Santiago. The Central Valley is a long and narrow north-south longitudinal plain. If the people on the east coast eat one bite at a time, it will take at least many years to reach the area around Santiago.The Kingdom of Spain can take advantage of this precious time window to grab more technology, money and other benefits from the people on the east coast, enrich the country and strengthen the army, develop the economy, improve the level of industry and agriculture, and then have a good deal with the people on the east coast.And this, in fact, is the only possible mode for them to rise.

Regardless of how the diplomats on the east coast wrangled with the Spaniards, the pioneers on the east coast who had crossed the border to Valdivia had already started their life step by step.This year is their first year of large-scale land reclamation in the nearby area. Standing on the top floor of the San Sebastian Cathedral, the tallest building in Valdivia, you can see large golden wheat fields in the wild that have begun to be harvested.

People from the east coast dispatched a large number of machines to assist in harvesting.Among them, there are even several full-steam harvesters in trial operation.Thanks to the rapid development of domestic material technology, the weight of the steam engine has been greatly reduced, and some practical small steam harvesters have gradually become popular, and have become the objects of limited lease or purchase by many agricultural cooperatives.There is a state-run farm on the east bank outside the city of Valdivia. Because it is a little farther away from the river, the soil is not so soft, so this kind of steam harvester can be used. The harvesting speed of wheat in the field is faster than that of a horse-drawn harvester. Fast on a lot.

Of course, the agricultural machinery of the people on the east coast is not limited to these. In fact, they have a variety of machinery such as steam trenchers, fertilizer spreaders, seed drills, rolling machines, and steam rakes.The price is not too expensive, and the villages that have established agricultural cooperatives can buy a lot if they bite their teeth. This is very important for improving the efficiency of agricultural production.

In addition, they pay great attention to the use of fertilizers.In addition to steelmaking waste, Peruvian guano, Falkland seal dung, whale bone meal, Djibouti potassium salt, and superphosphate (produced by the northern chemical plant, the main raw material is the relatively abundant cattle and sheep bones on the east coast) and other fertilizers are also widely used. In agricultural production, this actually improves the efficiency of agricultural production in disguise.

All of these machines or fertilizers are currently being used in cross-border reclamation in the Chilean region.Especially those state-run farms have few workers and large areas. Without these, it is impossible to produce a large amount of grain.The Spaniards once saw the wheat fields of the people on the east coast, the grains were huge and full, and the grains were few, so they didn't know how envious they were.Under such circumstances, some people even feel that it may not be so unacceptable for people from the east coast to rule them. This seems to have disintegrated many obstacles to the annexation of Chilean land, which is very good.

(End of this chapter)