Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2195 New Life and Ji'an

"This winter, it's really much warmer." Kong Xiaoer, a grain station guard in Dandong County, Liaodong Region, finished his inspection with a lantern and quickly returned to the shed of his squad.

Lanterns are a rare item sent from the local area. It is said that the price is high and the output is not much.The army purchased a batch from Guangming Candle Factory, and then distributed it to various places for use. Their food station was allocated two, one in the hands of the station chief and platoon leader, and one for patrolling.Kong Xiaoer, as a grain station guard who often patrols at night, is particularly fond of this kind of light that is not afraid of the wind, not afraid of slight vibrations, can be carried around, and is very bright (this is very important). Much better than that dimly lit lantern.The only disadvantage is probably that lamp oil is too expensive, so that the platoon leader strictly controls it, and usually does not light it when there is nothing to do, in order to save precious fuel.

However, I heard from the platoon leader that when he went to the county for a meeting, the battalion commander revealed to them that in 1693 every grain station in the county would install a gas lamp system.These gas lamps are the first-generation gas lamps that have been eliminated in the local area. The army bought them at a low price, and then transported them to the Far East through the transport ships of the Immigration Department and distributed them to various ministries.Because the grain depots are located at important traffic nodes, they not only store grain, but also store a large amount of military materials here. It is a logistics depot, so it is necessary to install a gas lamp system, which is of great significance for security.

"Come on, let's serve dinner." The cook Lao Zhou brought Kong Xiaoer a plate of cakes, a piece of salted fish, a small dish of pickles, and then scooped a bowl of cabbage soup from a big wooden bucket to Kong Xiaoer, saying : "Eat more. Those animals have eaten them all. I specially saved them for you and Wang Bold. The boldness has already been eaten. It will be a dead body. You can eat it while it is still hot."

"Old Zhou, how is the situation at home?" Kong Xiaoer asked after putting the rifle on the rack, grabbing a stool and sitting down.

Lao Zhou and Kong Xiaoer are both members of the First Infantry Regiment, and they are still in the same village. Lao Zhou joined the army four years earlier and is almost 40 years old this year, while Kong Xiaoer is only 25 or [-] years old.Lao Zhou is tall and tall. In the early years, he was also a warrior wearing heavy armor and throwing bombs in front of the enemy. Later, because of an injury, his legs were not very agile. Receive a military pay.Kong Xiaoer has been in the army for several years, but he has not achieved much. So far, he has not even killed the capital. He has always been a big soldier carrying a musket.

Lao Zhou took a leave of absence a while ago, and returned to his hometown with some money and rare things such as cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, and cocoa powder that he had saved in his daily life.His two children are grown up now. The youngest son works in the lumber field in the village, and the eldest son farms at home. They are both honest and responsible people.

Lao Zhou chatted with his eldest son and learned that a cooperative has also been established in the village, and what kind of "new life movement" is being carried out now, forcing the common people to get rid of some bad habits in the past and learn a more advanced way of life.For example, bad hygiene habits must be eliminated to reduce the incidence of various diseases, improve people's physical fitness, and reduce mortality.In fact, people on the east coast have emphasized this point before, and Denglai, Ningbo and other places in the south have implemented it better, but in this Liaodong area, due to the arduous land reclamation activities and the threat of war, it has not been systematically carried out.

In addition, the seedlings of clans in rural areas must also be suppressed.Most of the people in several counties in eastern Liaoning are from Shandong, and a small number are from Ningbo and Manchuria. They are immigrants, and these things should not exist.But over the past few decades, the population of many families has increased significantly, and some whole families moved over when they immigrated, so the signs of the clan began to appear.In many villages, the village chiefs and militia directors had to consult with the larger families in the village when doing things, which made some cadres in the county very unhappy, so the "de-clan" in the countryside was later added to the "new life" Movement".

The cadres also had good reasons.Rural clans have a great negative meaning to agricultural cooperatives, and at the same time are very unfriendly to rural taxation activities, and must be suppressed when they are just beginning to emerge.Otherwise, if it becomes more powerful in the future, it will inevitably have an impact on the governance of the East Bank government at the grassroots level.

Another major content of the New Life Movement is to enrich the spiritual life of the people, that is, all kinds of artistic performances such as dances and dramas should be promoted as soon as possible.One can adjust the atmosphere, relieve mental tension and fatigue, and two can also enhance cohesion and improve organization, and will not do useless work.

When Lao Zhou came home, he saw a troupe performing in the village. The price was not expensive, just a few cents per person, and people flocked to it.In addition, he also participated in a tug-of-war competition, and felt that the atmosphere was very strong, and everyone's cohesion had increased. Once the enemy attacked in the future, it might play an unexpected role.

"The situation at home is good, don't worry. The agricultural cooperative is still very reliable and has helped our farmers a lot. Now there is enough food in the field, and the surplus can be sold to the grain station for some money for the children. It’s good to buy new clothes and new food. Now the village measures the height and weight of children under the age of 18 every year, and compiles them into a booklet.” Lao Zhou took out a bag of dry tobacco and said, "Smoking, said at the same time.

"The children now eat much better than when we first came here." Kong Xiaoer said enviously, "The food is good, and each one of them is growing fast. They will all be good soldiers in the future."

"Hey, why do you need so many people to serve as soldiers and eat food! I heard that our village and several nearby villages are going to set up a primary school, and these children will have a place to go to school in the future. This is no better than you being a big soldier going around Is it much better to work hard?" Lao Zhou said bluntly: "On our grain depot, there are no more than twenty soldiers in total. Even counting the grain depot, weapon depot guards and helpers, there are only forty or fifty men. Once the enemy troops come I am afraid that you, Kong Xiaoer, will be the first to die because you often have to patrol at night. I don’t want my son to continue to do this kind of business with his head on his belt. One person is enough."

Kong Xiaoer didn't quite agree with the words, but he didn't want to argue with Lao Zhou.Old Zhou was also a warrior back then, but after being seriously injured, his thoughts changed a lot, which seemed almost cowardly to Kong Xiaoer.Kong Xiaoer is very supportive of the current imperial court, because in his opinion they are doing well enough, the common people have food to eat, clothes to wear, and money to spend, and there are no bandits and thieves in the territory to disturb the law and order. It is also generally better, and the taxes are not heavy.Therefore, such a rare court in ancient times is indeed worth fighting for!Yes, that's right, he is not just serving as a soldier, he feels he has an obligation to fight for the court.If the enemy came, even at a critical moment, he felt that he might not choose to run away, but continue to fight.This is the biggest difference between him and Lao Zhou. Lao Zhou has become too philistine and cowardly as he gets older. He doesn't want to be such a person. He also wants to make meritorious deeds and protect this peaceful and prosperous world.

The last time Kong Xiaoer listened to the chat of the platoon leader, he learned that maybe in a few months, they will have a platoon rotation with the Second Infantry Regiment, and then return to the organizational system of the First Regiment. Places to build new settlements.The higher-ups even thought of the place name of the new city, which is called "Ji'an County".

The construction of Ji'an was jointly undertaken by the Liaodong District Administrative Office and the Kingdom of Korea. Basically, each side contributed half of the funds, and the Koreans had to send extra civilians to help build the city.Ji'an County is built on the riverside, with a wharf attached. Future immigrants will mainly come from the south, that is, people from the area under the jurisdiction of the Southern Pioneering Team.The environment in that place is pleasant, the economy is developed, the population is growing very fast, and the fierce competition has caused many people to go to sea to seek life.

Marshal Liao of Denglai has already made an agreement with Liu Houfei that next year (1693) a group of Ningshao immigrants will be introduced, the number is about 3000.In order to let the men's pioneering team cooperate with them in recruiting immigrants to open up wasteland, Liao Degong will make full use of his influence to let the Southern Railway Company speed up and do everything possible to open the Shangding Railway to traffic.The people of Ningshao have waited too long for this first modern railway in the history of southern China.

And once Ji'an County is built and established, the defense line of the people on the east bank in the Yalu River Basin will extend a lot further north, which already has the meaning of echoing the westward and southward troops in the direction of Vladivostok.Some people may say that this line of defense is too long, lacks strategic depth, and is not very stable.But you have to take into account that the people on the east bank have the Yalu River, the main transportation road, and the supply of logistics materials is actually not a big problem, especially during the wet season.Moreover, the Yalu River not only did not replenish food, weapons and other materials, it could also replenish soldiers.Soldiers can easily go south and north by taking small steamers or even small wooden boats without power, which is much faster than walking.Although there are many rapids and dangerous shoals in the middle of the channel, people on the east coast have been trying to clear the channel over the years. Besides, we can still sail in sections. At most, it’s faster to disembark and board a few times than to walk.There is no doubt that water transportation has such advantages.

Another advantage is that now the Qing court's troops in Manchuria have been deployed in large numbers, and their archenemy Galdan is wandering on the grasslands, ready to bite Kangxi at any time.No matter how angry Kangxi was, he would never dare to go to war with the people from the east bank. Therefore, Ji'an was relatively safe in general and had enough time to gain a firm foothold.

And when the Qing court managed to take care of Galdan's power, it was almost exhausted.At this time, they will definitely have to recuperate for a few more years before they have the energy to look around.At this time, the people on the east bank may have already managed Ji'an County like an iron bucket. If the Qing Dynasty does not come, it will be over.

(End of this chapter)