Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2214 Pampa (31)

On July 1693, 7, Jindal set foot on the land of Pampa again, but this time not as a passer-by, but as a host—he had just been appointed as the new county magistrate of Shanghai by the Government Affairs Council.

It is worth mentioning that although the Shanghai County government team has been established for a long time, it has been in a state of preparation. Even in official government documents, the word "funding" must be written in brackets after Shanghai County.Moreover, the geographical jurisdiction of Shanghai County has always been vague. This time, the central government officially confirmed the establishment of Shanghai County, clearly stating that it is the 158th county in the country, and it has jurisdiction over Shanghai Town, Nancun Township, Geliu Township, Fu Lixiang, Huating Township (located near the small city of Ezeiza in later generations), Jixian Township (located near the small city of Canuelas in later generations), Xiuzhu Township (located near Rodriguez City in later generations), Changren Township (located in later generations Mercedes City), Xisheng Township (located near the small town of Tigre in later generations), there are tentatively nine townships, which may be further expanded in the future. In short, it is a very considerable population size, geographical scope and economic strength. County.

The rise of Shanghai County on the Pampa Plain greatly shocked Qingdao County on the other side of the Song River.As the largest, wealthiest, and most developed city on the east coast for a long time, the county has never had much competition, and its fighting spirit is inevitably a bit slack.The establishment of Shanghai County on the south bank of the Song River, as well as its aggressive momentum, put pressure on Qingdao County.While consolidating their advantages in finance and foreign trade, they regained the gradually lost manufacturing industry (mainly high-tech industries), and began to strengthen their own competitiveness, so as not to be surpassed by Shanghai County in the future. That would be fun. big.

Several settlements to the east of Shanghai County also established a new county for unified jurisdiction, that is, Jiaocheng County, which includes 160 counties across the country, has jurisdiction over Jiaocheng Township, Luyi Township, Shansang Township, Chengfu Township and Tushan Township .The reason why Jiaocheng County is the 160th county, not the 159th county, is that before its establishment, the Government Affairs Council had just approved the establishment of Madao County (the county only governs a baleen whale town) to govern the sea area. Several islands, the county is the 159th county in the country, which is not affiliated to the Southern Patagonia region, but is directly administered by the central government, and its importance is self-evident.

It can be seen from the map that Shanghai County almost spans both sides of the Shangyan Railway (formerly Yanbu Railway), occupying a large area of ​​land.And the administrative division of the Pampa region—at least the eastern half—is bounded by this railway, which has caused some troubles for everyone.However, the Government Council also made it clear that Shanghai County is a special case. In principle, the railway is used to divide the border, that is, the seven counties of Jiaocheng, Gaoyuan, Luming, Wanji, Yinhai, Chenqiang, and Niuzhuang are still under the jurisdiction of the Niulanshan District Administrative Office. , Shanghai County is directly under the Central Government.In the future, a large number of new settlements will definitely be established west of the Shangyan Railway—in fact, the preliminary infrastructure construction is already underway, and a small number of immigrants have also been relocated to reclaim wasteland—these settlements will gradually merge into counties , and then set up a new area for integration, just like the Niulanshan area back then.

Before taking office, it was not that Jindal had never dreamed of passing the springboard of Shanghai county magistrate and leaping to become the commissioner of an administrative office of a certain region (the capital is Shanghai) that may be established in the future.However, considering the extremely important status of Shanghai County, such a county can only be directly administered by the central government, not managed by the local government. After all, Yancheng County, which is much lower than it, is directly administered by the central government. It makes no sense that Shanghai County is not.Furthermore, the opinions of the upper echelons of the central government are basically inclined to abolish the regional administrative offices and establish provincial administrative units. Therefore, the dispatching of regional administrative offices is subject to stricter and stricter control, and it is not as easy as before.

Therefore, Jin Dalai has now wisely given up this unrealistic fantasy, and plans to work hard in the position of Shanghai county magistrate, make some achievements, and then be like his predecessor Huang Chao (formerly Qingdao county magistrate, and Like Shanghai, which is also a city at the deputy bureau level), relying on its achievements as the county magistrate of Qingdao, it took one step to become the deputy commissioner of the administrative office in the Yicheng area. It is really enviable that Ban Jin, who is about to succeed Xiao Jingzong, will be appointed as the commissioner. endlessly.

After Jindal came to Shanghai, the first thing it did was to sign an order to approve the establishment of a large seafood processing factory.This food processing enterprise belongs to the newly established Songhe Food Company (an enterprise affiliated to the Ministry of Agriculture). The company also has a dairy factory that produces pika brand toffee, milk powder, and cheese. The two companies jointly constitute Songhe The backbone of the food company is in a faint challenge to the state-owned Dafeng Food Company, the leader in the food industry on the east coast of the Duck Lake Basin in the north, and its ambitions are not small.

Some people may ask, although Shanghai County is positioned as a comprehensive city, it actually still focuses on machinery manufacturing, chemical agriculture, shipbuilding and steel.It’s fine if you Jindal didn’t develop these things when you first came up, but why did you invest precious resources in light industries like food?This doesn't seem to match the positioning.

Of course, Jindale said on the surface that Shanghai County has such a good location, and in the future, it must be important and important, and all industries will go hand in hand and develop in a balanced manner.But those who are familiar with the inside story know that this is just an excuse.The real reason is that Jin Dalai was pushed to power by the political force of the Department of Agriculture, and he must give the system benefits and compensation.Therefore, Songhe Food Company received a large amount of capital injection from the county government in a short period of time. It not only upgraded the production line of the original dairy factory, but also established a seafood processing center to purchase all kinds of seafood from fishermen. Products are sold after processing.

It is conceivable that Songhe Food Company can rely on the location advantages of Shanghai County to achieve further development in the future.The hinterland of Shanghai is the Pampa Plain, and the Patagonian Terrace is also very close to it. The offshore fishery resources are not bad, and the bison resources on land are even more abundant. The number of cattle, sheep and horses in captivity is also huge, and the development of dairy products , Seafood processing plants have natural advantages.In addition, the areas passed by the Shangyan Railway are all good agricultural counties, and the output of agricultural products such as grains, fruits, and vegetables is also amazing. Therefore, it is reasonable to vigorously develop the food industry, and it is not such a foolish move.No, many investment companies and funds that were once spun off from Dong'an Company have also injected capital into Songhe Food Company, and together accounted for about 20% of the shares in it, which shows that the company's prospects are still good, otherwise It won't attract the famous Mr. 20%.

After Jindal returned the agricultural system, the second thing he did was to visit the relocated Hyundai Special Shipyard.He has negotiated with the Ministry of Communications that the Shanghai County Government will publicly issue a batch of 20-year bonds in the Qingdao financial market, and most of the proceeds will be used to acquire the former Zhenhai County and Hekou Township governments. About 25% of the shares of the factory, and the remaining part can be refurbished the roads in and out of the factory.

The Zhenhai county government is actually reluctant to sell its shares, because Hyundai Special Shipyard makes money, and it distributes a lot of dividends to the county and townships every year, so it is really hard to give up.But the problem is that they are determined to move away, and they are no longer in your jurisdiction, so it is meaningless to occupy these shares any more.Therefore, with the joint efforts of Hyundai Factory and the Shanghai County Government, this part of the shares held by Zhenhai County was transferred and sold to the Shanghai County Government. ——Fortunately, Zhenhai Shipyard, the largest shipyard in the country, is still in its territory, which is more or less comforting.

There is also a gossip, that is, the private Xinxing Shipyard, which ranks the fifth largest shipyard in the country, is said to value the dock and factory area vacated after the departure of Hyundai, and wants to move here to seek greater development.At present, this factory mainly builds sailboats and flat-bottomed inland river boats. Occasionally, some inland river/offshore general-purpose small steamers are temporarily authorized by modern factories and other enterprises.The reason is that the three major state-owned shipyards (Dayuhe, Zhenhai, and Hyundai, and the Pacific Shipyard in Chile is a series of its own) have oppressed it, warning Xinxing at every turn. Their patents were infringed during the shipbuilding process, which made Xinxing Factory very depressed and unable to enter the field of high-profit large steamships, warships, and special-type ships.

They hope that after relocating to Zhenhai County this time, they will have the opportunity to get the help of the Zhenhai County Government to break the joint monopoly of the three major factories and obtain the authorization of some key technologies, so that they can safely manufacture large ships with more lucrative profits. Don't worry about nasty lawsuits from patents.

Well, without further ado.Only a few days after Jindalai was in charge of Shanghai County, he had already determined the two major directions of developing food processing and shipbuilding.As for the iron and steel plant that was originally planned to focus on, the progress may be a little slower. This is not only a lack of financial resources, but also the issue of whether there are enough industrial workers.

As of July 1693, according to the census of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the consumption of various daily necessities such as food, clothing, and salt, the total population of the East China Republic has reached a new historical peak of 7 million— —Among them, immigrants from the Far East accounted for about 841.2%, and nationals born on the east coast accounted for 24%, and they are increasingly becoming the backbone of the country—but most of the more than 65 million people still live in the prairie and duck lake on the east coast , the southern section of the Brazilian Plateau, Hejian and other so-called old areas, where the economy is developed, there are many job opportunities, the medical conditions are good, and life is convenient. It is not surprising that there is a large population.Even if the Pampa area has preferential policies, the annual allocation of immigrants is not unlimited, not to mention the diversion of the new capital Luoyang Prefecture, Niulanshan area, and Hexi area.

Therefore, it seems to be a little difficult to gather a sufficient number of workers among the immigrant population who came to Shanghai County in the short term.Jindal is not stupid, let alone stupid, so he can naturally see the problem.Songhe Food Company, which he gave back to the agricultural system before, is itself a labor-intensive industry. At the same time, this industry also needs a larger number of farmers, herdsmen and fishermen to provide raw materials for a long time, which takes up a large number of people.Therefore, steel, chemical, machinery manufacturing and so on should be slowed down first, and the construction industry has to be patient for the time being.When the central government further strengthens its support for Shanghai County next year, they may get more people.By that time, projects such as the Shanghai Iron and Steel Plant will probably be launched, almost at the same pace as the construction progress of the row of supporting factories in the hinterland of the upper reaches of the Bian River. The pace is just right, neither too fast nor too slow.

(End of this chapter)