Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2167 Pampa (28)

"Charles, tell me, what happened to the French court? You have to flee across the ocean to come to us alone?" On January 1692, 1, it was the hottest month in summer. Skillfully skinning the vicuña, he asked the French immigrant Charles Moreau who was helping.

Charles Moreau fled to the east coast a few years ago. After spending a few years in a lumber field off the coast of Brazil, he was determined to join the temporarily formed miscellaneous army, the Youguo Army. , went deep into the inland jungle to capture the Indians.After one and a half years of service, Charles Moreau was lucky enough to go through the formalities of becoming a naturalized citizen and became a glorious East Coast national.Later, he chose the Pampa Plain with better development prospects and settled down here.

Charles Moreau’s identity document shows that his surname is Charles Moreau. In fact, he originally wanted to use the transliteration of his French surname Moreau as his name, but the police at the police station who went through the naturalization procedures gave him a blank look and said "You are also worthy of the surname Mo", and then registered his name as Shire on his own initiative.

Charles was a Huguenot. Although the French Huguenots had a high proportion of craftsmen, businessmen, artisans, and scholars, Charles was an out-and-out farmer.After his elder brother was captured by the dragoons of King Louis XIV and disappeared, he fled to the Southern Netherland without his parents, and was taken in by the local immigration agency set up by the East Coasters, and traveled across the ocean. The sea has come to the New World.

In fact, Shire could have chosen to go to Chaco or the wet Pampa area, but because he wanted to buy more land (dry Pampa land is obviously much cheaper), he finally chose to settle in Zhongxing Township and use his own With the severance pay (including a large share of spoils) received from the army, he bought [-] acres of dry land in one go, and became a well-known land producer.

However, because of his background, Charles still has a bit of low self-esteem in the local area. When facing those native East Coast youths, he always feels inferior, even though he has been fighting for the East Coast Republic for a year and a half. Contributed probably much more than those.

Li is the most sympathetic local in Shire. The two families are relatively close, so they often communicate.This time Li Zheng caught a llama in the wild, so he called Shire over, and killed everything to try it out.In fact, strictly speaking, their behavior is not very legal. For creatures like llamas, the Ministry of Agriculture on the East Coast only allows licensed hunters to hunt them, and ordinary people do not allow them.But how could such a thing be prohibited?There are a lot of people who hunt and kill vicuña in private without a license. As the saying goes, people don't raise officials and don't investigate, and few people are willing to really take care of them. Anyway, there are such things everywhere, isn't it?

"I can't go on anymore." Charles sat on the ground, cutting potatoes, onions and other vegetables with a knife, and replied in fluent Chinese: "The dragoons arrested people everywhere, the churches were destroyed, and many pastors Imprisoned, there is no way to live."

"Well, that king of yours is a ruthless man. If you say you can do it, you don't hesitate at all. It doesn't matter if you escape. If you don't escape, you will be arrested." Li Zheng held a sharp pick The bone-pointed knife scraped gently at the mucous membrane between the hide and the meat of the vicuña.Vicuña hair is not very valuable, but the price of skin is not bad. Although it is not a rare commodity, it is possible to sell it at the market and exchange it for some farm tools. Therefore, Li Zheng is very careful at the moment.

"Let me help you." Charles stood up, looked at the llama hanging on the shelf with an iron hook around its neck, and said, "There is no rush for dinner, and there is not much to do today anyway. Be busy."

"No, no need to help!" Li Zheng waved his hand and said, "Just tell me about France, I'm very interested."

"Actually, there is nothing to talk about. The tax is too heavy, the income is too little, and there are years of famines. Many people can't eat enough." Charles tried to use the simplest language to explain: "In order to pay taxes and loans, many Peasants were forced to sell their ancestral land. The nobles played unfair tactics in this matter, and they basically passed the tax on ordinary farmers without paying a penny themselves. Heavy taxes basically squeezed With the last blood and sweat of the peasants, they have no choice but to sell their ancestral lands to make up the shortfall and pay the king's taxes."

"How the hell can he bear it?" Li Zhengyi shook his head and sighed, "What do you think King Louis is doing? It's a good life, but if you insist on killing people, just to occupy more fields and houses, Grab some more money?"

"I don't know either." Charles said in a daze. "I only know that even Catholic peasant families have a hard time. The king wants to fight and raise taxes constantly, which makes people almost die. Some people don't have their own family. The land, rented by the nobility or the church, has to pay a rent of 30 livres a year, and at the same time bear a tax of 20 livres. And how much can the land produce? The horses that can cultivate the land are confiscated by the king There is not much fertilizer in the land, and there is not much food to grow, and the price of wine has not been very good for many years. The life is really difficult. Many people have no choice, either go to the army, or become sailors, or go to the The development of overseas colonies, in short, life in France is not easy."

"It's really a crime." Li Zheng sympathized: "Let's live a good life in the future. You have been carrying a gun for two years, and your head is tied to your belt. Now it's hard work, and you can wait to enjoy the blessings in the future. Look at our side. The land is so good. The top-quality wheat fields don’t need to be fertilized, and there will be more wheat, soybeans and corn growing in the fields. It’s not a problem to earn tens of dollars a year. When you save some money on hand , go to the cooperative to sign up, find a way to buy a few calves back, and then we can all work together."

"Who says no?" Charles also grinned when he heard this man, and said, "But I hope that all those warmongers will fall. Senior sir, sir told me that the special envoy of Louis XIV has come to our country and wants to talk to us about importing advanced weapons, mechanical equipment, food and other commodities. It is said that many businessmen in the country are interested in this, and they can't wait to buy it. Tap into a huge market of 2300 million people."

It is said that the special envoy of the French did come to the east bank a while ago.In fact, their purpose is not only to think of purchasing goods from the East Bank, they want a lot, including asking the East Bank to withdraw its support for the United Provinces, including military and trade support.Obviously, this "unreasonable request" of the French was flatly rejected by the people on the east coast, and they could not come up with any conditions that could be used in exchange.Based on a French market that has been exhausted and poor, can it be compared with the larger market dominated by Dutch businessmen?

Besides, containment of all major land powers is originally the basic national policy of the east coast.When you, Louis XIV, made it clear to launch a war to annex territories, don't we people on the east coast just watch?What was the area of ​​your territory when Louis XIV first came to power?What is the area of ​​the new territory of the hexagon now?The Kingdom of France, which has annexed Alsace, Lorraine, Franche-Comté, Strasbourg, some towns in the Southern Netherlands, parts of Italy, and the territory north of the Spanish Pyrenees, is also a part of mainland China. The territory of a province is now, and most of it is an elite plain area, with a lot of precipitation, moderate temperature, sufficient sunshine, and abundant fishery resources nearby. If this is not curbed, when will it be curbed?

Therefore, the French are destined to get no promises from the people on the east coast.Even, the people on the east coast will step up their assistance to the United Provinces, vigorously promote the formation of the Northern Italian Federation, and even relax England's trade restrictions, allowing them to import more industrial equipment-for England, the people on the east coast are now very confident , I don’t worry about the threat it poses at all—I will do everything possible to create trouble for France, so as to weaken the war bonus brought to it by the French population and system.

If all the countries in the old continent fight, it will be beneficial for the countries in the new continent to siphon their population, capital, technology and resources. Otherwise, you will all be unified and play by yourself, so what's the matter with me on the east coast?Is it fun to be an orphan of the world?

"Businessmen are often very short-sighted. They will do a lot of unlimited things just to earn an extra dollar." Li Zheng finished peeling the vicuna hide, threw the knife away, then sat on the ground, and took out a bag full of clothes from his waist. After taking a sip of the cowhide water sac of inferior local brewed shochu, he said comfortably, "Leave them alone, that's what the gentlemen have to worry about. You and I, two muddy legs, what are you doing so far away? Charles You should think more about how to marry a wife, ha ha. In fact, as you have been a soldier (although you are not a serious soldier...), it is not difficult to marry a wife. But you are too demanding, unexpectedly If you want to marry an oriental daughter-in-law, it will be a little troublesome. Stop, I know what you mean, but this is not easy to do. You fool, most of the money was spent on buying land and materials to build a house. Money is still tight. If you didn’t bother with these things, you might not be able to marry an oriental wife with the hundreds of dollars you have on hand, but now that you don’t have money, it will be difficult.”

"Let's take this matter slowly, don't rush it, anyway, I will help you pay attention." Li Zheng said: "Now, forget about those crap things. Let's clean up the meat first, and then cook in a big pot Meat. Eat more and eat better to build strength. In two days, we will have to go to the construction site. It seems that this road planned by the masters is going to be serious, and I don’t know if it will be overdue. , Alas, there are many things going on in the field.”

(End of this chapter)