Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2188 Central Valley (22)

The spring breeze blew across the earth, dyeing a piece of greenery.

Near the mouth of the Wa River (Valdivia River), a passenger and cargo ship from Fenggu Island has just docked.Because the pier has just experienced a fire and is being renovated and rebuilt, this small passenger ship can only berth at the temporary pier in the east.

The temporary pier is relatively simple and very small.There are a few huge smooth stones on the shore as a springboard, and a row of steps made of wooden piles lead to a row of wooden houses on a higher ground, which is the temporary office of the Port Authority.

The wooden stakes are almost perpendicular to the ground, and when climbing up the steps, one must hold them firmly with both hands, which is very frightening.Xiang Zirui, a commissioner of the Regional Administration of Southern Chile, walked carefully up the steps. Before he could take a breath, a large group of mosquitoes swarmed towards him. They were so dense that they bit his neck and cheeks, and his mouth was sore. Scolding.

"I can't imagine how the Spanish colonists who first came here to pioneer survived? Such powerful mosquitoes, if you camp at night, you might be carried away by mosquitoes when you fall asleep?" District," Xiang Zirui, who was standing in front of the temporary port authority, said with some resentment.

The wooden house is divided into two parts: on the left is the office area, where several port authority and customs officials sit smoking and chatting; on the right is the living area, where a woman in an apron is cutting and cooking, and two little girls sit On the bench, they were playing around while choosing vegetables.

Xiang Zirui's arrival caused a commotion among the crowd, especially after an official introduced Xiang Zirui's identity and issued relevant documents, these people hurriedly cleaned up several tables and chairs, and asked the group to sit down .The woman who was cooking next door also stopped the kitchen knife in her hand, and two little girls whose faces were covered with mosquito bites also walked over, their big eyes flickering, and they looked at Xiang Zirui curiously.

"It's really not easy, the conditions are a bit rough." After sitting down, Xiang Zirui looked at the furnishings in the wooden house and said gently.Apart from the desk, there are only some simple ornaments in the house.There is also a landscape sketch hanging on the wall inside. I don’t know who drew it, but the level looks pretty good.

"Commissioner Xiang, in fact, the new office building of the Port Authority is under construction. We are only working here temporarily, and it is estimated that we will be able to move to a new house by the end of this year." Seeing Xiang Zirui's kind attitude, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The director of the Port Authority, whose hair was already a little gray, stepped forward and said: "A fire burned down the old port area where the Spaniards used to have a messy layout. We just re-planned and re-built."

"Yes." Xiang Zirui nodded upon hearing the words, and then encouraged: "Green Fir Port (that is, Coral Port, named after the local green fir trees) is now our leased place, everyone can rest assured and boldly There is no need to have any worries about construction. Everything is done in accordance with the law, our law!"

What Xiang Zirui said was very clear. In the land purchase agreement signed with the Kingdom of Spain, in addition to officially buying out the area south of the Boundary River, the vast area north of the Boundary River and south of the Wa River was also leased by people from the East Bank. , the annual rent is 5 yuan.In other words, the East Coast Republic has full power to dispose of this land, and can exercise the laws of the East Coast Republic, including the aboriginal migration decree that made the Spanish colony discolored.What Xiang Zirui said just now actually implied this level of meaning, and everyone here is not stupid, so naturally they all understand.

It is said that there are actually many Spaniards or Araucan Indians living in the area north of the Boundary River and south of the Wa River.Regarding the handling of these people, the above opinion is very firm: follow the established policy!The so-called established policy is that people of Indian descent must be forcibly relocated away and cannot stay where they are.The destination of these people is generally near the yellow-black dividing line in southern Africa, and a few will be assigned to Xinhua Island, Djibouti, the jurisdiction of the Diu Management Committee, Australia, Dili, Brunei and other places.

There is no doubt that these people are definitely unwilling to leave Chile.Everything on the African continent is unknown and full of horror for them.Even those Indians who undertake heavy labor are instinctively unwilling to change their living conditions, let alone the mixed-race Mestizos who serve as low-level civil servants, low-level soldiers and small businessmen. .

Faced with this situation, there is basically one way, and that is enforcement.The army and the militia went into battle together, forcing them to make a choice with bayonets, either to leave this land and return to Spain, or to go overseas honestly and according to the arrangements of the people on the east coast.

This kind of clean-up work is going on here in Green Fir Harbor.They do not have the help of the army, mainly relying on the police system that has been established in the past six months. Tax police and customs officials will also assist and help.Fortunately, there are not many Indians or mestizos here, and they can almost handle it, but it is more troublesome.

Compared with them, the situation in the relatively inland city of Valdivia is much more complicated.Many mestizos rose up to riot. They had weapons, funds, and familiarity with the local conditions. They fought a guerrilla with a battalion of the East Coast Army stationed there.Although this kind of riot was suppressed in the end and all the thugs were punished, it also cost the East Bank government a lot of manpower, material resources and energy, which made them very annoyed.

But this is also impossible.As mentioned above, there are still few people now. What if a densely populated place like Paraguay is captured in the future?Or do a "drill" in advance!South Africa needs a large number of light-skinned people to build the isolation zone, and the soil in Zambia is not bad, and the climate is not too harsh. As long as it passes, everyone will have land. Speaking of it, the people on the east coast are not too harsh. them.As long as we change our mentality and adapt to the local environment, we can still live a good life.

"Talk about recent business activity. Has there been any noticeable change in business activity since the land was handed over to the Kingdom of Spain? I've seen some figures on government documents, but I think it's better to check with the frontline staff on the ground. "Xiang Zirui gave everyone a circle of smoke, and then asked: "Do the Spaniards still come here to trade? Do they still export their specialties in the inland areas through here?"

"Commissioner, judging from the actual situation in recent months, the enthusiasm of the Spaniards for trade has not diminished too much. Their ships still regularly stop at Green Fir Port, bringing us a large number of Central American specialties, mainly It is agricultural products, such as dried fruit, Italian millet, beans, capsicum, cocoa, tobacco and other products, our demand here is still quite large.” After hearing Xiang Zirui’s question, a customs official stood up and respectfully He replied: "In addition, there are many towns in the Spanish-controlled area in the Wa River Basin. Their products-mainly silver bars, tin bars and copper bars-also need to be exported from here, because the cost is the lowest and the speed is the fastest. , they have no choice. Generally speaking, the trade volume has fluctuated, which is mainly due to the departure of many Spanish businessmen who originally lived nearby, but to be honest, the impact is not too great, and it is still slowly recovering. I don't think it will take long to restore Fir Harbor to its prosperous past."

It is said that the two colonies of the Kingdom of Spain in the Americas, Peru and New Spain, have been extremely profoundly transformed in the long-term trade with the east coast.Especially on the Pacific side, they are relatively farther away from Europe, and are more economically integrated with Chile and the Southern Cone under the control of the east coast, and have become a purely agricultural and mining economy.

The South Chile region established by the East Coasters has opened regular flights to many ports in Peru and New Spain, and imported a large amount of minerals, fruits, herbs, and lima beans, runner beans, sharp leaf beans, papayas, tomatoes, Native American agricultural products such as peanuts, cocoa, and tobacco.In order to quickly transport perishable agricultural products to the ports on the east coast, the local Spanish merchants specially ordered many schooner clipper ships in the Pacific Shipyard that had been relocated to Liucheng Port to ensure that when the wind direction was suitable, the It is really hard work to send the newly harvested agricultural products to the southern Chilean region in a few days.

"The Spaniards didn't respond much better. This can not only maintain the economic ties between the two sides, but also allow us to concentrate on development. It is rare that there are so few people in such a good place in Chile. We must seize the opportunity to clean up the aborigines and then turn them into If it is a densely populated place like Paraguay, cleaning up the local indigenous population will consume most of the energy of our local government, let alone doing other things, it is impossible." Xiang Zirui said with a smile: "Don't think too much about things now, just focus on agriculture and commerce with peace of mind, and just give me more children and plant trees. First build up the grassroots, increase the population, and then The rest will come naturally."

"Understood, Commissioner Xiang, we will work hard towards this goal." A group of officials immediately responded in a hurry.

"That's good. I can see everyone's hard work, and I will find a way to allocate a batch of supplies to you later. It is really difficult here." Looking at the two waving their hands, they were still overwhelmed by the ferocity of the mosquitoes. The poor little girl whose offensive was retreating steadily, sighed to Zirui, and said, "Everyone work hard, better days are ahead."

After saying this, he asked his subordinates to bring a case of wine, and had a lively lunch with everyone in the wooden house.After eating, he didn't stay long, but continued to take the boat that came, and headed upstream towards the city of Valdivia.A lot of bad things happened in that city recently, and he felt it necessary to visit the scene to see it in person.

I am on a business trip, have a lot of entertainment at the end of the year, and my brain is not working after drinking, so I wrote a chapter in a hurry, everyone will read it @[email protected]

(End of this chapter)