Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2164 Zhuoshui ([-])

"How is Paul recently?" Somewhere in the upper reaches of the Bianhe River, Shao Ruping, who had just taken office as the county magistrate of Yinguo County, asked the visitor on the opposite side kindly.

The Bian River is the official name of the Paraná River, which was promulgated and confirmed by the Ministry of Geology to commemorate the Song Dynasty in history. After all, people on the east bank also want to be politically correct.Correspondingly, the broad and mighty La Plata River was renamed the Song River to declare the sovereignty of the new land of the people on the east coast.

The youngest son of Shao Ruping, the current chairman of the executive committee, Shao Yaoguang, is just in his early thirties this year. After graduating from Bingtuanbao, he first entered the Ministry of Civil Affairs and his grades are not bad.During this period, because of the scandal with the Polish ambassador's daughter, Anne Korczka, she was kicked by her father to serve as the county magistrate of the newly established Yinguo County in the middle of the Brazilian Plateau.

There is no doubt that the conditions in Yinguo County, which has a population of less than 1, are very difficult.There are no roads or trains here, and the transportation depends on the Bianhe River, so the pressure is extremely high.However, when the Bianhe River reaches the upper reaches, the drop is extremely large, and there are many torrents and shoals, which pose a great threat to shipping safety.

Not to mention Yinguo County, it is the Jiangbei area further south, and it is very difficult for ships to come here.Generally speaking, big ships will definitely not be able to get through, and the 150-ton small steamer will also come, so the 72-ton small steamer with a very shallow draft can sail carefully for a while, and then pass through the locks, ship lifts, etc. very troublesome.

Therefore, the upper reaches of the Bian River are basically sailing in sections.After actually surveying the hydrological conditions of the upper reaches, the Ministry of Communications divided the upper reaches of the Bian River into several segments. Communicate with the boat lift and do whatever it takes to make use of the river.

In addition, the Ministry of Water Resources also sent personnel to work together with those from the Ministry of Communications.Their task is to plan reservoirs and artificial lakes in the upper reaches of the Bian River. The advantage of this is that when the reservoir is filled with water, some shallows can be artificially submerged to facilitate boat navigation (of course they will blow up some reefs in the water before ).At the same time, these reservoirs also have the functions of regulating flood peaks and irrigating the agricultural and animal husbandry land in the two places, which is still very necessary.

Undoubtedly, the cost of building such a waterway and the accompanying water conservancy facilities is extremely high, and even if all efforts are put into it, the construction period will be very long.The Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Communications once jointly set up a research team. After two years of careful investigation and demonstration, it was considered that the waterway in the upper reaches of the Bian River should be constructed, reefs should be cleared, reservoirs should be cleared, river channels should be widened, bends should be straightened, ship locks should be built, and machinery should be ordered. And other engineering projects may require a total of more than 2000 million yuan in funds.

And this is a conservative estimate. Anyone who has done the project knows that when the actual construction is underway, there will definitely be many unexpected things that will happen, and these often require capital expenditures.In addition, project delays and delays are also certain matters, which means additional expenses.Therefore, it is a high probability event that the overall cost of the project will reach more than 3000 million yuan.

Such a financial expenditure, even with the wealth of the East Coast people, is unable to afford it.People from the Ministry of Finance even ridiculed them, saying that instead of this, it is better to build railways and roads, which will save money.And when they said this, the people in the Ministry of Communications really thought about it seriously, and thought that extending the existing Yinan Railway to the north to the Beining area may have a greater effect, and the radiating area is also larger, benefiting population is also larger.

However, the construction cost of this railway is also very high. With the development of the La Plata Plain imminent and the large amount of land purchase fees just paid, it is impossible to spend a large amount of money to build the railway.As a matter of fact, the amount of funds flowing in from the Ministry of Railways is limited, that is, it must be used for designated projects, and there is no living money at all. Therefore, the extension of the Yinan Railway to the north is unlikely to happen in a short time.

We can't afford to repair the shipping, and we don't have the money to build the railway, so for the residents of Beining and even the newly opened land north of Zhuoshui, transportation has become the most fatal factor that hinders their development.When everything from the south and the east coast is shipped here, the price will double, especially the important agricultural tools, machine parts, medicines and other necessities. Sigh.

The batch of medicines Shao Ruping brought with him when he took office was almost sold out in just two hours, which made him fully understand the extent of the shortage of supplies here.I believe that if the residents here were not willing to spend money to buy the land, they would have run away long ago. It is better to go anywhere than to stay here.

And it is also in consideration of the relatively difficult conditions here that the State Development Bureau now plans to place more regular non-national laborers here.Anyway, these people can endure hardships and have low expectations. It’s crazy to have a piece of land of their own. They don’t know how to pick and choose. Nature is very important.

In addition, considering that the number of non-national laborers who become full-time workers is limited each year, and there are competitions everywhere, it seems that it is necessary to bring in more people to develop.In particular, the construction of the necessary roads—passing through the bustling area of ​​Beining, the standard is a third-class national road, in order to save costs, and will be upgraded after financial affluence—requires a lot of labor, and this must be done from the outside. import.

Based on this consideration, the higher-ups have ordered New Courland and South Africa to transport more black non-citizens to work in the Brazilian plateau.In addition, increasing the import of external immigrants has also become a top priority. In addition to increasing the import of oriental immigrants proposed by the Chairman of the Executive Committee Shao Yaoguang, the introduction of European immigrants has also been put on the agenda-according to unwritten regulations, The number of European immigrants must be less than that of oriental immigrants, and they must not be introduced every year, so as not to cause too much impact on the domestic population composition and cultural traditions.

At present, they have negotiated with the Poles about the introduction of road construction labor, and as another major source of European immigrants on the east coast, the Italian Peninsula naturally cannot be let go.The Italian Claudio that Shao Ruping met in Yinguo County today is the special envoy of Paulo, one of the ruling families in Genoa, the spokesperson of the Doria family. The two discussed the introduction of [-] Savoy laborers to build the The matter of the road - thanks to Louis XIV, the French army ravaged the Principality of Savoy, and many people were forced to flee to Genoa for refuge, so they were targeted.

Shao Ruping and Paul Doria were considered acquaintances, so after talking about the business, Shao Ruping asked about his recent situation.However, the special envoy's mind was obviously not on this. After a few perfunctory words, he turned to inquire about the opinions of the people on the east coast on the formation of the Northern Italy Federation.

The Genoese seem to be very enthusiastic. Perhaps it was the two fiascos of the Principality of Savoy to the French that stimulated them. The upper class of Genoa, including the Doria family, became more enthusiastic about forming a federation and hoped to See results as soon as possible.Originally they expected the people on the east coast to push forward strongly, but who would have thought that recently they have shifted their attention to countries such as Britain, France and the Netherlands, and have not made much effort in the Italian peninsula, which disappointed the Genoese people.

Before coming to Yinguo County, Claudio met the diplomats on the East Coast in Dongfang Port. They believed that the Genoese needed to make more efforts instead of waiting for it.For example, they suggested that the Genoese find a way to completely control Sicily. Although for now, the Genoese capital has controlled the economy of this big island, this is not enough!They pointed out that if the Republic of Genoa could also exert positive influence on the island politically, then things might become easier.

Of course, there is a huge obstacle here, and that is the Kingdom of Spain in between. After all, Naples and Sicily are both territories of the Kingdom of Spain in name, although the local area has long been a form of aristocratic autonomy.

Claudio is very interested in this proposal from the people on the east coast, but he is not sure how far the people on the east coast will support the Republic of Genoa in this matter.It is a well-known fact that only people on the east coast can settle Spain. The Genoese don't think they can get Madrid's understanding on their own, and then plant the Genoese flag on Sicily.

The officials on the east bank did not directly answer Claudio's doubts. They only promised to act as an intermediary at an appropriate time and bring this matter up to King Carlos II of Spain.Claudio was not satisfied with this. In fact, he wanted to get a more definite promise, but in the end he was unable to do so.

After leaving Porto Oriental sullenly, Claudio began a series of journeys in the Brazilian plateau, and finally arrived at his final destination, Yinguo County.After realizing that he might get some information from Shao Ruping, he immediately tried his best to get something out of him.It's just that Shao Ruping's mouth was strict and he didn't say anything. He was really pushed, and finally he only told him that the future of Genoa was in Sicily.That island has a large area, with millions of people, fully twice the size of Genoa. If Genoa can completely control this place, the future of the country will be complete.

Shao Ruping finally reminded Claudio that controlling Sicily does not necessarily have to be done through military means, economic or diplomatic means are equally effective.Anyway, Carlos II doesn't receive any taxes from the island every year, and even has to invest resources and money to protect the island from the French, which is really not worth the candle for him.If the Genoese have the right means and a sincere attitude, it is possible to gain full control over it.

Sicily is like this, Sardinia is the same, and the Genoese can work hard in this regard.People from the East Coast may step in at the right time to help them complete this seemingly impossible task.

Claudio could only smile wryly at this, which was hardly any substantive promise.However, he did not intend not to report this matter back. In fact, he felt that this idea was still valuable. The Republic of Genoa broke the bottleneck of resources and population, and the opportunity for greater development was here.And once Genoa's strength has been substantially increased, then the formation of the Northern Italian Federation may become clear.

Shao Ruping did not send Claudio away, but went to the countryside with a group of county government officials.Yinguo County is a county just established this year. It is the 153rd county-level administrative unit in the country. There are four towns under it, namely Yinguo Town (located near the small town of Iturama in later generations), Donghe Township (located in the later Shengsai Near the town of Bastian, Sao Sebastiao do Pantal), Jinbei Township (located near the later town of Ituyutaba), Damuqiao Township (located near the later town of Campina Verde), with a total population of 9000 , It can be said that he is poor and white, and has nothing.At present, even food cannot be self-sufficient, and it needs to be transported by mules and horses from the Beining area next door, which shows how difficult it is.

And the misfortunes never come singly. Recently, it was heard that there was an epidemic in the villages and towns below. It was quite serious. Shao Ruping couldn't sit still, so after meeting with Claudio, he hurried to the countryside with the county leadership team went.At this difficult time, as the main leader of the county, it is impossible for him to sit in the office, and the assessment system does not allow him to do so, even if he is Shao Yaoguang's son!

(End of this chapter)