Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2231 Playa

479 Playa

December 1693, 12, Puerto Praia.

Today, the Dragon Lord did not know what kind of favor he gave, and made the Cape Verde Islands rain for a whole day in one breath.In the capital, Playa Port, almost all officials, police, and soldiers were dispatched to check the conditions of the various water storage reservoirs to ensure that there is no danger of dam failure.It has been a long time since there has been such a heavy rain in the Cape Verde Islands. Many riverbeds have been occupied by local farmers and planted with vegetables, which have now become a safety hazard.

There are also big problems with reservoirs and dams.How can there be such a heavy rain in normal times, so it is easy to be paralyzed, resulting in the aging reservoir not being well maintained.What's more, the capacity of the reservoirs near the Port of Playa is not large, and they are all received from the Portuguese. The people on the east coast have only slightly repaired them, so the quality is a question mark.

Fortunately, a group of people were worried for nothing.The condition of the reservoir is not bad. Although it has reached the warning water level, there is no danger of the embankment breaking on the whole.The situation in the river is a little bit worse, because the river bed has narrowed and shallowed a lot, and the water looks a little scary.But luckily, after people from the east bank took over, more than 3000 Chinese immigrated to settle here. They developed a lot of farmland on both sides of the river, and there are often ponds dug by themselves (covered with wooden boards to prevent evaporation) beside the farmland. , A large amount of river water will be diverted by the diversion canal, and the pond will be filled to the brim, which will solve a lot of troubles.

"Thanks to the Dragon King, this year's harvest has come to an end." A farmer looked at the wheat and corn planted in the field and thought with relief.Most of them came from the hot and humid areas in the south. When had they seen such a dry climate?The hot weather, the salty sea breeze, the yellow sand all over the sky and the thirsty land all made them collapse.Fortunately, it still rains here and there from time to time, and the spring water in the mountains has never dried up, otherwise I don't know how to live.To be honest, the torrential rain today surprised them a lot. There should be a good harvest of vegetables, food, and fruits in the front and back of the yard.

Grain, vegetables, fruits, and livestock have always been the best-selling commodities in the Cape Verde Islands besides coal.When ships traveling from north to south or from east to west dock here, they often purchase these things in large quantities, and the price they give will never be low-who makes the ship repair facilities here excellent, and the geographical location is also very superior What? It has always been the main source of income for the residents of the Port of Playa and even the entire Cape Verde.

But it is said that the good times of the islanders are coming to an end.The National Grain Reserve Depot, a domestic giant enterprise on the east coast, will soon build two grain depots, one large and one small, in the Cape Verde Islands.The small one is located in Henghai Port, and the large one is located in Playa Port. It will be completed almost before the end of 1694.

After the grain depot is completed, if there is no accident, the national grain reserve depot will purchase grain on a large scale on the island, and at the same time, it will also transport a batch from the country to fill the inventory of the grain depot.According to insiders who have seen the design drawings, the volume of the grain depot is large enough to store the rations of the entire island's residents for more than five years, which surprised many people.

As we all know, although dried grains can be stored for a long time, can grains that have been stored for five years still be eaten?It's not that people from the east coast are hypocritical. They have always been rich in food and meat. It's really hard for them to imagine eating old food that is more than five years old. This is really rare.Therefore, everyone unanimously judged that the food stored here should not be for them to eat. If it is not guaranteed, this is a material transfer base, and the food will have to be shipped to other places in the future.

The truth is not far from their guesses.The main purpose of the National Reserve Grain Depot building a grain reserve base in the Cape Verde Islands is to intervene in the situation in Spain in the future.In the future, not only food will be stored here, but also a large amount of weapons, medicines, tools, horses, mechanical parts and even daily necessities will be stored here.

The number of garrisons may also increase significantly. One of the two marine battalions of the navy will definitely be stationed here, and the army will send a mixed regiment to garrison if it is not complete. If you count the logistics support personnel accompanying the army, the number will be too many .Therefore, considering the possible surge in the number of various types of people on the island in the future, it is necessary to prepare fresh water reserves in advance, so as not to be in a hurry when things are imminent.

The residents on the island may not know these things very well, but the officials must know them very well.They are well aware of the future role of this archipelago, so they have been giving necessary assistance to these projects as much as possible.Otherwise, do you think the military won't spank them?You know, this is still the military area of ​​the navy!

Combining these factors, you can see how nervous they are when God rains unexpectedly, for fear that something will affect their fortune.The possible turmoil caused by the succession of the Spanish throne will be the top priority for the East Coast in the next few years. If King Carlos hands over the succession to the French Bourbon royal family, then the East Coast will have to mobilize the navy and army to fight—— Yes, you read that right, the navy is also one of the main forces of intervention. In the future, the Cape Verde Islands may have "Bianliang" class ironclad warships stationed-take an attitude of armed intervention against Spain and let them know why the flowers are so popular.

Of course, compared with the intervention wars in Europe, the intervention wars launched by the East Coasters in the New World will be more handy.There, they can recruit militias across the country, gather tens of thousands of people within a month, and then send them to the Spanish border by sea and rail to attack the two governors of Peru and New Spain. to reap their own interests.

The land of the New World is something that people on the east coast have been eyeing for a long time.Originally, they wanted to swallow and digest slowly, so as to avoid many problems in the future.But now Carlos II's body doesn't seem to be able to last for too long, and there is a possibility of dying at any time, so we can only activate the emergency plan: send troops as quickly as possible, and take down his own interests first. Besides.As for whether others will admit it after taking it, and whether they will think about taking it back by force, that is another matter, and it is the main battlefield for diplomats.Of course, the people on the east coast have the confidence that as long as they eat in their stomachs, they don't want to make me spit it out again.Do not believe?Come and get it if you have the ability, I can't kill you!

Members of the executive committee also discussed this matter behind closed doors a while ago, and generally speaking, they took a positive attitude towards it.Of course, the most ideal situation is to support an obedient new king and continue to implement the previous strategy of cannibalization and digestion, because this way the sequelae will be minimal and the domestic economic construction will not be too disrupted.But to be honest, there are almost only the Habsburg family and the Bourbon family who are expected to inherit the Spanish throne. No matter which one of them is, it seems unlikely that it will be controlled by the East Bank.Then there is no other way, we are also forced to do this decisive thing!

The port of Praia and even the entire Cape Verde Islands will then be the rear general food platform for the navy and army on the east coast.A large amount of materials transported long distances from the mainland will be unloaded and stored here, and then transported by naval transport ships to ports such as Lisbon, Genoa, Ceuta, etc., for consumption by the intervention army-local allies may also Part of the supplies will be provided. Portugal, Northern Italy and even the United Provinces will send money and soldiers if they have money, but you can't expect too much.

And considering that once the war is launched, the material consumption will be huge.Therefore, the local side sincerely hopes that the Cape Verde Islands can produce as much grain, livestock and fruit as possible, so as to reduce the transportation intensity of these bulky food materials.Therefore, many towns in the Cape Verde Islands, including Playa Port, have reclaimed a lot of land with the support of superior funding and immigrants in recent years, and have made use of the precious local water resources in every possible way to develop a certain amount of land. Farming basics to ease transport stress.

As if the gods were also protecting the east coast, last year (1692), there was more precipitation in the Cape Verde Islands than usual, which increased food production a lot.This year was even more exaggerated. There was a torrential rain, and some springs in the Dalian mountains that had been dried up for many years were bubbling again, which made the local soldiers and civilians very happy.

"The harvest is more, and I hope that those who serve as soldiers will have more, so that they can sell more money." Another farmer was wearing a raincoat, and while cleaning the drains in the field, he said to his neighbors with a smile: " Look at the bay, there are more than a dozen large warships parked. I’m afraid it will double in the next year? It will be more comfortable if the large ships with several floors I have seen before come here. There are hundreds of people on that ship. There is still a lot of money, and I don’t want to haggle when I buy things, so I will definitely have to kill them.”

"It's not easy for people. It's not easy for ordinary people to do the job of pinning their heads to their belts. When a war really breaks out, I don't know how many people will come back." The previous farmer held his hoe, sighed, and said: " But I still hope to win the battle. Otherwise, those red-haired and golden-haired ones will kill us, and I'm afraid we won't be able to keep our land."

"That's right, the more national wars we win, the more prosperous our lives will be. If we are all like that Da Ming, who loses every time we see a battle, and loses every time we fight, then we will not be able to live well." The word "Da Ming" was mentioned. , the two immigrants from Guangxi were silent for a while, and then they both sighed and said nothing.

There were bursts of dull sounds of "rumbling" from the sky. The two were used to hearing it, and they both knew that it was not rain and thunder, but that the naval warships stationed in the harbor had left the port for training in the rain.Farmers are producing food, soldiers are training and everything is in order!It seems that this battle is probably unbeatable!

(End of this chapter)