Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2081 Unity River ([-])

Although it is only eight or nine o'clock in the morning, as the sun gradually rises, a wave of heat gradually rises in the jungle.The heat was so humid that everyone's clothes were drenched from the inside out.Even the dry season (cool season) in the tropics is extremely unfriendly to people!

Especially this group of big soldiers who had just stopped to rest. They were all wearing long clothes and trousers.He wears cowhide military boots on his feet, a rattan hat dedicated to the jungle on his head, and a rifle slung across his back, plus some other odds and ends, the burden on his body is quite heavy.Therefore, under the influence of the hot weather, there were beads of sweat on each of their foreheads, and the chest and back of the military uniforms were all covered with wet marks, looking extremely hard.

"Take a break." Major Zheng Dalin, the battalion commander of the Fifth Mixed Battalion who walked like the soldiers without riding a horse, ordered.Zheng Dalin, who was no longer young, also felt a little tired after walking the road early in the morning.Although the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River to the mouth of the sea is a mature land passage, and many people and animals come and go every year, but in the final analysis, this is a road trampled by people and animals, not artificially built, which has many limitations.

For example, there are bumps and hollows on the ground, some were trampled by humans and animals, and some were washed away by floods, for various reasons.For another example, will there be a thick tree lying on the road, and these fallen trees will greatly hinder people's journey, making them have to spend a lot of time cleaning the road.

In addition, considering that this is a tropical rainforest environment, the trees grow very fast.Therefore, a large number of weeds and shrubs often grow overnight on this unhardened road, and many vines hang down from the sky, which makes it difficult for pedestrians and livestock to pass, and greatly reduces traffic efficiency.

All in all, the road is tough.Even for an elite unit like the Fifth Mixed Battalion, ten kilometers a day is already the limit. After all, they still carry a lot of supplies, including living supplies and combat supplies, as well as exploration tools and scientific instruments. Following a large expedition that was dispatched.

This expedition has a total of more than 100 people, with a large number of instruments, drawing maps along the way, collecting animal and plant specimens, collecting mineral specimens, and looking for places that may be suitable for human reclamation and settlement.They were led by Captain Xiao Guang, the captain of the expedition team, but they were not all under Xiao Guang's command. In fact, he also had a staff travel team from the Ministry of War under his command.

These teams, which are a mixture of military staff officers and intelligence personnel from the Gendarmerie Command, are mainly tasked with scouting the surrounding environment, looking for traces of the possible presence of Indians and drawing maps.In addition, because this road is an important passage connecting the former Portuguese era Bahia General District, San Vicente General District and other places, there are still some Portuguese military posts along the route.Backed by estates partially produced by slaves, these outposts were important transit points on the road and were traditionally places where Portuguese couriers and officials rested and resupplied.

One of the tasks of the intelligence officers on the east coast is to count these strongholds, and then expel them on the grounds of harboring bandits and covering criminals.If they refuse to accept it, then it's very simple, just report to the Fifth Mixed Battalion. They came here in full armor for fun, right?These military outposts have ready-made houses, and the surrounding forests are generally cut down to open up some farmland, which is a good pioneering spot.

Some people may say that the east coast and Portugal are currently in a period of friendship, and the relationship between the two countries is very close. The Kingdom of Portugal not only provides great convenience for goods on the east coast in terms of market and commerce, but also provides a local Viana do Castelo. military base, which gave the East Coasters an important foothold on the Iberian peninsula.

In addition, the country is now in the process of selling the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands with its east coast.Although they babbled about it and were full of reluctance, anyone with a discerning eye could tell that they had already decided to sell in their hearts.The reason why they are entangled now is just to ask for a good price.

Not to mention, this country sent volunteers when the east coast interfered with the Black Sea, and sent mercenaries when it interfered with the situation in Guangxi, and brought people from the east coast ashore in the northwest of India.Therefore, there are still quite a number of people in the east coast who have a good impression of this country, even in the military department, which is not an exaggeration at all.They are more opposed to the army's move to leave Xiande Township and enter the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River by taking advantage of the banditry in the gold mining area. They think that "their friends" should not be overly stimulated, because it is meaningless and will only mess things up. It's a mess.

But this time the Ministry of the Army insisted on doing it, and the executive committee did not want to offend others because of the re-election next year, so they did not stop the army's reckless actions.The strength of the military on the east coast is a problem left over from history. They have great freedom of action. The chief of the military's general staff has always been a member of the executive committee. Therefore, civilian officials headed by the Government Affairs Council have limited restraint on them. .Just like this time, the task of the Fifth Mixed Battalion is to ensure the security of the settlements and gold mines in the Tuanjie River Basin. The order itself is extremely vague, without any additional clauses on how to do it, so there is a lot of room for free operation.

Therefore, the leaders of the Ministry of the Army seized the opportunity and transferred the No.11 mixed battalion and three security regiments to the Tuanjie River Basin to carry out security strengthening operations, and then liberated the fifth mixed battalion so that it could be gathered The troops, and then the whole army advanced to the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River to carry out the so-called "cross-border bandit suppression" operation, which they have been setting out for more than a week.

"Officer Zheng, smoke!" Captain Xiao Guang came over, first gave a standard military salute, then took a small Mazha and sat opposite, and passed a Garden brand cigarette over.

Zheng Dalin took the cigarette and blew out a smoke ring comfortably, saying, "Are the people under your command all right? Several people got sick yesterday, how is the situation today?"

"It's okay. They're not frail scholars. They're getting better today. There's no problem keeping up with the big troops." Xiao Guang knew who Zheng Dalin was asking.Those few people were all scholars in the team, including surveyors and botanists. A heavy rain made them sick, but they were all in good health, so they carried them all over, saving a lot of trouble.

"Hey, it seems that they are all carefully selected people, with good physique and good will. These white shirts are just talking happily, saying that they don't want to destroy the friendly relationship with the Portuguese. What happened?" Zheng Dalin sneered after hearing this, and said sarcastically: "I said no, but in the end, I rushed to send people to survey and map, and prepare to plan new settlements. At this time, I don't consider the feelings of the Portuguese? And these people's physical fitness, The business ability is very good, is it launched in a hurry? It must be carefully selected people. Those white shirts have long thought about expanding to the lower reaches of the Tuanjie River, and it is not a day or two. They guys, It’s just that they want us to sing the red face, and they sing the bad face to pretend to be good people.”

"Actually, that's not bad." Xiao Guang also said with a smile: "We are warriors and rough people. We do the dirty work of expansion. White shirts are full of nonsense all day long, let them talk to the Portuguese. Let’s explain it in a long way, and it’s up to them whether we can get the understanding of the Portuguese in the end. Anyway, we won’t hand over the land we gained from expansion, and the country will benefit in the end.”

"Well, that's not a bad thing to say, it's good for these grandchildren." Zheng Dalin took a sharp puff of cigarettes, then stood up, and said, "When I came out this time, there was a separate order from above. For the final boundary, do not break through this line to go north for the time being. From our gold mining area in the Tuanjie River Basin to the 14th parallel south latitude, we have advanced several hundred kilometers. We can go all the way to the seaside at the junction of Bahia and Pernambuco along the Unity River, we can’t eat up this huge area, can we? It’s impossible.”

"Besides, here is a large area of ​​tropical rainforest. Its value is very low, but it can easily devour people's lives." Having said this, Zheng Dalin sighed silently.Along the way, there have been dozens of non-combat attrition due to snakes, rats, ants, etc., and I don’t know how the Sao Paulo flag team survived the entire Brazilian inland to capture the Indians.Their casualty rate should be high too!

Of course, everyone knows that snakes, insects, rats and ants are not the most serious threat.For pioneers, once they settle down in a place and make up their minds to change the surrounding natural environment, as long as they pay some price in advance, the surrounding wild environment will always be changed, which is not difficult.The real problem is that once you live for a long time, facing the hot and humid weather around you, as well as the unfamiliar and dangerous environment, the health of an outsider can easily be quickly destroyed.Or even if it is not destroyed, his body is likely to suffer from many chronic diseases, be worn down day by day by the harsh environment, and eventually die a miserable death.It is unrealistic to conquer this tropical wild area without two generations!

"There is really no need to expand too fast. Mr. Su from the Ministry of Geology said that the further you go down the Tuanjie River, the lower the chance of discovering gold mines. If we go to the 14th parallel south latitude, I believe it is enough to include all the resources. It’s almost impossible to find any valuable gold mines in the future.” Xiao Guang echoed, “Besides, the capital is now talking to the Portuguese about the Cape Verde Islands, so it’s really inappropriate to take any action Great, it irritates them."

(End of this chapter)