Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2084 The Circle

Continue north along the railway line, and you will enter the hilly area west of the lake.

The first stop is Songshu Township, then Zhongshan County, Luohan Town (the county seat of Luohan County), Zhongshoujiang Township, Baicaogou Township, Pingxi Township, Taquari Township, and Dingjun Township.These eight railway stations basically cover the hilly area to the west of Duck Lake and the valley plain between the hill and Dingjun Mountain. The climate is humid, warm in winter and cool in summer. They are all densely populated areas developed earlier and are also famous Agricultural production base.

To be honest, these counties are doing well economically. Many people think that this is due to their first-mover advantage, that is, counties were established in the early days on the east coast, and their population, capital, and technology have accumulated quite a lot. Therefore, although It is not as good as some famous industrial and commercial cities along the coast, but it is more than enough, and the small life is still good.

Of course, there are differences between these counties.The worst place is undoubtedly Luohan County, which is located west of Xihu County. This county is rugged and has a lot of arable land, but what is the future for developing agriculture these days?There are more than [-] people in the county working hard, and they are just working for Xihu County, a major economic county, providing them with some agricultural products in exchange for some income, that's all.Even though the Great Northern Railway was opened to traffic later, and it has a long mileage in the county, the driving effect on the economy is still not particularly obvious, and the foundation is really poor.

Somewhat similar to Luohan County, Zhongshan County to the south is almost entirely on hills. It is mainly engaged in forest industry and planting industry, plus some small local industrial enterprises. It is the second worst among these counties.Originally, the county still had some industries such as fruit planting and animal husbandry, but under the violent impact of the southern cone fruit, the profit rate plummeted. Although it would not completely disappear, it was completely different from the heyday.

The same is true for the animal husbandry industry. Due to the massive import of Pampa bison, not only Zhongshan County, but almost the whole country’s animal husbandry industry has been greatly impacted. Farmers have slaughtered most of the beef cattle and replaced them with dairy cattle to avoid risks. This resulted in a considerable drop in income.

The largest enterprise in Zhongshan County should be the state-owned modern special shipyard in Hekou Township.This factory focuses on various special ships, such as dredgers, whaling ships, lighthouse ships, medical ships, troop carriers, inland river shallow water gunboats, and early all-steam-powered ships. one of the factories.

But a large enterprise is too small for a large county with a population of 8, not to mention that the main profits and taxes of this shipping company have been taken away by the Ministry of Communications, leaving very little for the local government. The positive meaning is probably to support some supporting small manufacturers, but it does not help the overall situation.

The situation in Taiping County is better.This county has a medium-sized coal mine (operated and managed by the Ping'an Mining Bureau), as well as a large-scale medicinal material planting industry. It has signed a long-term supply agreement with the North Pharmaceutical Factory in Ping'an County, which has a considerable role in stimulating the economy. obvious.

In places like the East Coast, farming and animal husbandry alone cannot develop the economy, at best it can only keep your people at a relatively average standard of living.If you really want to get rich, you still have to rely on industry and commerce. You must have one of the two, and it is best to have both.Just like Xihu County, which is also located in the hilly area in the west of the lake, the county has a port, a large-scale bond trading market, large enterprises such as Dafeng Food Company and Dafeng Agricultural Machinery Factory, and some small shipbuilding industries, private financial institutions, etc. The industry is also very developed, so generally speaking, it is far more than the counties along the railway line, and it is the undisputed leader among the five counties in the Qiu District.

It took Zheng Dexiang, Luis Almeida and others three full days to cross the entire hill area.During these three days, they stayed at almost every station for a period of time to get acquainted with the local style.Zheng Dexiang is a good "tour guide". He was born in a diplomatic family and has done a lot of research on the customs and customs of various parts of the country. Therefore, he is able to talk about it when he is sightseeing, which makes Louis quite surprised. Zheng Dexiang went to Portugal for a visit, but he didn't have the confidence to introduce every town well.

In the early morning of October 10, the old East Coast Star train stopped at Dingjun County Railway Station puffing up black smoke.This is a large county with a population of more than 30, and the population of the whole county has exceeded 2, which is amazing.Louis smelled the faint smell of soot in the air as soon as he got out of the car. Looking up, he saw a tall chimney near the train station, emitting white and yellowish smoke continuously.

"It's really intoxicating, I smell the smell of wealth and power." Luis Almeida closed his eyes, sniffed the air, and said.

There is no doubt that there are no strict environmental protection laws in the East Coast Republic in this era.The legal provisions are very loose, it seems that they are tailor-made for those polluting enterprises.In fact, Dingjun County is not bad. Ping'an County, a northern metropolis with a population of 13, has the highest pollution level in China. It is the largest source of pollution in the county.

In addition, companies such as the Northern Chemical Factory and the Northern Arsenal are not clean owners, and they also produce a large amount of pollutants.Duck Lake, which used to be a vast expanse of blue waves, has ushered in a new ecological disaster after the crocodiles were killed by people on the east coast. The northern half of the lake is close to the waters of Ping'an County, and the pollution is very serious. The surface of the lake is often covered with white foam. The taste is also very touching, and there is often a pungent smell when you get close to it.Especially the lake near the northern chemical plant is even more polluted. The plant discharges pollutants including the waste liquid produced after making soda ash into the lake every day, which greatly deteriorates the ecological environment of the lake.And this, in fact, is the result of optimizing the soda ash production process at the Northern Chemical Plant and extracting waste (mainly sulfur extraction). The pollution before that was actually even more serious.

Not that no one has questioned this.Especially the traversers from later generations have a deep understanding of environmental pollution, so some people in the Founders Council proposed to punish polluting companies and require rectification to reduce environmental pollution.However, the opposing forces are also very strong. They think that punishment is easy, but rectification is difficult, because there is no relevant pollution treatment technology at present.The companies that can do have basically done it, because they are not indifferent to the environment. In fact, some local residents have protested and they have made rectification, but this is the limit of what can be done at this stage. If there is no pollution, that is Impossible, unless discontinued.

Things were delayed in this endless wrangling.In the end, no one can convince anyone, the solution is that both parties take a step back, and you don’t pursue the perfect state, that’s impossible, everyone still has to make money, no one benefits from stopping production, and your own dividends will also be reduced. "Mr. 20%" also participated in it.In addition, although there is no such institution as the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the competent department, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, is also obliged to urge these enterprises to restrain themselves and allocate some funds to improve the production process—just like the soda ash production line improved by Weng Guangan and Liu Xuefei. Similarly, it not only reduces pollution, but also recycles sulfur from waste——researching key environmental protection equipment to reduce environmental pollution.

You must know that the technical level and production efficiency of East Coast in these areas are very high. There is no second company on the earth that can match it. Therefore, even if it is engaged in environmental protection, the cost is still lower than other companies, and it is still competitive enough.What can constrain their efforts to reduce pollution is actually the technical level. This is a flaw that is difficult to solve in a short time.

"Yeah, this taste is full of power and exudes the beauty of industry. Louis, your country is very lucky to have friends like the East Coast. As you can see, our country is developing rapidly and can easily produce a large amount of Materials, and then quickly transport them to any other place by ship or railway, this ability is not possessed by others.” Zheng Dexiang walked over at the right time and said: “With such friends who care and take care of you, your country’s interests will naturally be can be guaranteed.”

Zheng Dexiang's words have another hidden meaning, which is that the East Bank protects the interests of Portugal. Shouldn't Portugal reciprocate and protect the interests of the East Bank?The circle dominated by people from the east coast is not that big. At present, there are only Portugal, Genoa, Tuscany, Courland, Spain, North Korea, Ming Dynasty, and the Free State. Both Crimea and Dashun can only be regarded as peripheral members. After all, one has a suzerain state, and the other has recently fallen out.But from another point of view, the land, population, and resources owned by the countries in this circle are quite amazing, and they are spread all over the world. Everyone can exchange what they have and vigorously develop trade, and they can all get good benefits.

The Portuguese squeezed into this circle and reaped a lot of benefits, such as the re-prosperous trade in Macau, such as Mozambique's trade with Xinhua Island and South Africa, such as security guarantees in India, and so on.Without the East Bank, it is hard to imagine doing this on your own. Therefore, the Portuguese must be content and grateful, otherwise they may be squeezed out of this circle.

Louis did not understand this truth, or did not understand it deeply enough.But after this sightseeing trip, he understood a little bit, and he knew the strength of the East Coast Republic.At the same time, the accompanying diplomats from the east coast kept instilling some obvious principles into him, so that they would not stand on the wrong side at critical moments and know how to make the right choice.

"Please rest assured that the interests of the Kingdom of Portugal and the East Coast Republic of China are consistent, and we will not do anything that violates the common interests of both parties. I think King Pedro and the distinguished ministers will make a wise decision regarding the ownership of the Cape Verde Islands. Regarding this point, I will also report and make a statement to the king, England cannot guarantee the interests of the Kingdom of Portugal, this is an obvious thing." Luis Almeida said.

At the moment he spoke, a train came from the west with a sharp whistle. It was a freight train transporting grain and timber along the forest railway.The forest railway has been built for many years. Although there have been many twists and turns, the people on the east coast still press the necks of Luciano and Gianluca, the two bosses of the forest development company, and let them reluctantly combine this horizontal railway with the Great Northern Railway. connected.

Since then, from Ping'an County to Zuocheng County, you can travel by train all the way, which is very convenient and fast, and the logistics cost has also been greatly reduced.And in this way, Dingjun Town Railway Station has also become a well-deserved railway hub. The Pingding Line, Forest Railway and Great Northern Railway meet here, which greatly improves the strategic position of the city and at the same time gives birth to economic prosperity.Otherwise, why do you think that an inland city like Dingjun County (even one-third of the land is mountainous) can have nearly [-] permanent residents?Everything happens for a reason!

After resting in Dingjun Town for half a day, Almeida, Zheng Dexiang and others changed trains again.This time they took a faster Star de la Plata train and traveled all the way west along the Forest Railway.There were several employees from the Italian forest development company who opened the traffic with them. Louis talked with them in proficient Italian and learned a little about the situation of the old enterprise of the forest development company, and he was full of emotion.

How important is a stable political environment for a company aiming at long-term development!The forest development company invested huge sums of money, hired people and purchased goods from Italy, and came to this wild land at the southern foot of Dingjun Mountain. It started with logging, and then built roads, docks, railways, and planted food and cash crops. So far, it has achieved fruitful results.The long-term cooperation agreement they signed with the East Coast government and the large tracts of land they leased now seem to have become cash cows that steadily provide profits to the company.

All of this is actually thanks to the strong industrial production capacity of the East Coast and the stable domestic environment. Without these two points, everything is empty talk!At this time, Luis Almeida felt that his thinking was extremely clear. The energy of the circle dominated by the East Coast Republic was extremely huge, and it could provide countless benefits to every member in the circle. The Kingdom of Portugal really shouldn’t be half-hearted. This will only alienate them from this circle, and the loss outweighs the gain.

So, what is there to hesitate?Louis shook his head, it's time to make a decision!Agree to the conditions of the people on the east coast, then expand the scale of investment in the east coast, and finally the two sides will send higher-level professional missions to sit down and discuss how to develop in northwest India and expand their influence.If all these are completed, the interests of the Kingdom of Portugal in the next few decades or even hundreds of years will be firmly guaranteed.

(End of this chapter)