Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2139 Development Wave ([-])

On March 1691, 3, on a sunny day, Ma Wenqiang, who had stepped down as chairman of the Executive Committee of the Eastern China Republic, came to the Hexi area of ​​the Chaco Plain.

Because of the cross-border reclamation before negotiating with the Spaniards to buy land, the colonial townships set up along the river in the Hexi area have developed well and have begun to take shape.However, the content of its development seems to be somewhat different from the local plan, and it may be revised to a certain extent in the future.

"There was no plan in the Hexi area at the beginning. It just kept crossing the border and occupying the land first. As a result, everyone is now in a mess. Wheat, rice, corn, soybeans, fruits, vegetables, everything, everything. , This is not good. But this is a mistake by the central government, so don’t blame your local government.” Ma Wenqiang, who was standing on the deck of a 150-ton inland river steamer, said to the left and right.

The closest to him is Wang Dazhuang, who has been promoted to the magistrate of Hexi County. He also brought some county officials with him to accompany Ma Wenqiang to visit and inspect—this has now become a reserved benefit for the outgoing executive committee member of the East Bank. The executive committee can go to the department in charge of inspection and inspection, and the chairman of the executive committee will inspect the whole country according to the route established in advance.

Hexi County is a county specially approved by the central government to support the newly acquired land of La Plata (December last year). It has jurisdiction over Hexi Town, Houbo Township, Jiefang Township, Shanfu Township, and Desheng Township. The 12th county in the country.Along with it, there is also Rongrong County in the 150st county, which has six townships under the jurisdiction of Rongfu Township, Shengli Township, Fenden Township, Jinjin Township, Fansheng Township, and Fusheng Township; Wangxi County, the 151nd county in the country, the There are five townships under the jurisdiction of Wangxi Township, Baima Township, Baisha Township, Saibo Township and Shagou Township.

These three counties and Chaigou Township, Houshui Township, Shengshui Township, Nanyuan Township (the city of Resistencia to be taken), Shuiqing Township (located near the later town of Herradura in Argentina), Jingting Township (located in Eight entrusted townships (near Formosa City in Argentina in later generations), Shande Township (near the small village of Alejandra alejandra in Argentina in later generations), and Wangu Township (near the high official town of Crespo in Argentina in later generations) together form the East The entire colonial network of the An people in the Hexi area.There are a total of more than 5 people here. At present, it cannot be said that it is self-sufficient as a whole, and it still needs some assistance from the government in private. However, some of the areas that developed earlier have indeed barely achieved a balance of income and expenditure.

Of course, this so-called balance of payments can only be achieved without major projects.In fact, given the current situation in the Hexi region, large-scale infrastructure construction activities cannot be stopped for a moment, the most important of which is undoubtedly the river water conservancy project. This is a bottomless pit, and nothing can be done without the support of the central government.

"Chairman Ma, do you mean that we need to change the direction of development here? In fact, we also felt that we had no idea what to do. We can only start from the most basic survival. Now it seems that we are indeed a little conservative. Now, since the central government has a new plan, then..."

"No, the central government has a plan, but it is not aimed at you." Ma Wenqiang waved his hand and said with a smile: "Actually, what you are doing is right. Grain, meat, fish, and wine are hard currencies for pioneering. It is needed at any time. The country plans to open up wasteland on a large scale in the inland areas of the Chaco Plain and plant cotton as a cash crop. Obviously, the grain production in these cotton-growing areas will be seriously insufficient and need to be transferred from outside. Your counties are set up along the river, and the soil is relatively fertile. You can indeed plant some grain and raise some livestock to supply the cotton-producing areas nearby. Of course, based on your size, it is estimated that it is far from meeting the needs of the cotton-producing areas. Yes, the Pampa Plain in the south and the Hejian area in the east will transfer a large amount of food to meet the demand at that time. You guys, let’s do it as usual, but we need to increase production efficiency, understand?”

While everyone was talking, the small steamer had already entered the harbor puffing out black smoke.And at this time, two three-masted sailboats were also being towed by steam tugboats, slowly sailing into the port to anchor.Wang Dazhuang, who has worked in Hexi County for many years, knows that this should be the merchant ship of two human traffickers, Wang Bingji and Zhang Yilan. They specialize in recruiting people from the Far East, and sometimes take some oriental specialties from the Zheng family in Fujian and the Li family in Guangdong, and sell them locally. Profitable.

But sometimes they will go to the Caribbean once, do some suspicious things, and then return with a full load of commodities including general merchandise, metal tools, clothes and cloth.These commodities can be seen from the old continent at first glance, and the prices are surprisingly cheap, which is very suitable for the pioneers in the Hexi area who are not very rich.Wang Dazhuang vaguely knew where these commodities came from, but because they were of great benefit to him, he pretended not to know.I didn't expect to meet these two goods on the pier today when I accompanied the resigned Chairman Ma to visit the county today, and I was a little embarrassed.

These two guys have almost become Wang Dazhuang's regular partners now.The stolen goods they got can always be sold for a good price in Mr. Wang's jurisdiction, and then they can buy food and drinks at a favorable price and leave.Moreover, Wang Dazhuang paid the headcount fee for the immigrants in a very timely manner, unlike some local governments that procrastinate and make people feel unhappy.Therefore, over time, the two parties have become fixed partners, which can be regarded as a model of win-win cooperation.

It seems that the "goods" that Wang and Zhang brought in this time came from a more legitimate way. They were all immigrants from the Far East, and there were no particularly eye-catching stolen goods. This made Wang Dazhuang heave a sigh of relief.Sending people to Hexi is a good thing, and it is something that the central government has always encouraged and supported. Ma Wenqiang will only be happy when he sees it, and will not say anything else.

According to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs in the middle of last year, the total population of the East China Republic is believed to have reached a record high of 750 million.Among them, native-born East Coasters accounted for 62.4%, becoming more and more the backbone and mainstream of the country; Eastern immigrants accounted for 25.7%, while the number of whites hovered around 11.9%. Shore culture has some influence, but it has been greatly reduced.

The figure of 750 million is not too much, but not too much.It is certainly not enough to fill the current country, but it is enough to control most of the elite areas in a point-to-surface manner. Why is it so radical and has to fill the entire country?It is difficult to sustain the behavior of interfering for a long time. After all, the current environment in many inland hinterlands is not very friendly to humans.

However, now the people on the east coast have set their sights on the vast La Plata, a piece of fertile land with a population carrying capacity not smaller than the existing land—or even higher.So if you look at the problem from this perspective, the population of 750 million is obviously insufficient!You must know that many local governments on the east coast are now very dependent on land finance, that is, they rely on selling public land to private people to maintain government daily expenses. Their demand for population has always existed, and it is quite large.Therefore, any captain who can attract people from the outside world will be welcomed by them, especially if it is an oriental population that is similar to the national culture, that would be even better.

Sure enough, Ma Wenqiang was very interested when he saw a large number of oriental immigrants filing out of the cabin and boarding the wharf of Hexi Port.After asking Wang Dazhuang that most of these people came from Ningbo and Denglai—even some from the Qing Dynasty—he became even happier, and urged them to make persistent efforts to establish a good relationship with these immigrant captains. If it is in place, it cannot be in arrears, and the Immigration Department will allocate funds in time.

"La Plata will be the focus of the country's development in the future. There is no doubt about it. This is what I planned when I was in office. I believe that the new chairman who will succeed me will also unswervingly promote this work." After Ma Wenqiang stepped on the pier, Walking forward, he said: "Many people think that our country's current industrial and agricultural development is quite good, and it is in the leading position on this planet. But what I want to say is that this is far from enough! The opinion of the central government is , to recreate an eastern coastal area in La Plata, and it is an area with a similar population and economic scale, which will double the strength of our country. There are textile enterprises in the old area, and there must be one here, and it must be larger. The old area If there is a steel factory, there must be one here. There are mechanical processing centers and chemical industry centers in the old districts, and there must be both here. The future of our country is beyond your imagination. This is also the common voice of everyone, and this Everything actually needs population, massive population! Xiao Wang, you have done a good job, but you have to keep working hard, and you cannot be complacent."

Wang Dazhuang and others naturally nodded after hearing this, expressing that they would focus on advancing the work in this area.He is now the magistrate of Hexi County, and he has supported the development of many towns in Hexi, and he has a high prestige in this area (not only in this county).If there are no accidents in the future, the counties in Hexi will also establish a regional administrative office.It is not that Wang Dazhuang has never imagined the position of administrative commissioner, but this undoubtedly needs to be supported by actual achievements.

Although Ma Wenqiang has stepped back, his influence is still there.If you do a good job and get his praise and even favor, you will definitely be able to add strength to your future career.This truth, Wang Dazhuang can still figure it out.He is just an official who studies meteorology, and his grandparents are far away from the core political circle. It is indeed too difficult to get a position. At this time, the addition of any big man with his own eyes can bring him great benefits.

Ma Wenqiang ended up wandering around Hexi Township for three or four days before heading south by land to two other counties.At this time, in the port of Santa Fe in the far south, two large ocean-going merchant ships had just finished unloading their cargo at the pier.Next to these goods, there are more than a hundred students from the east coast who are ready to go. Their goal is Cordoba in the west, the future capital of the republic.

(End of this chapter)