Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2256 Soft Power

"Haji County is really good now. The houses are beautiful, the streets are clean, and the air is very fresh. I like it very much." After living for a few days, Cai Zhenguo found that he liked this place in the Crimea Peninsula more and more. The seaside city is gone.At least the air here is much cleaner than that of Cadiz. The city is full of pungent smelly fish and rotten shrimps, and dirty and drunk pirates can be seen everywhere, even in the harbor that goes deep into the sea. With all kinds of animals and even human corpses floating around, the environmental problem is bad enough.

In comparison, Port Haji is much better.Although the port here is deep inland, the sea water is very clean, and the management of the East Coast Port Authority is very strict, which is commendable.In addition, the bitter sea breeze also blows away the waste gas and smog produced by living or production inside and outside the city, keeping the air quality of the whole city at a relatively good level.

Of course, we must not forget the strict protection of the river by the Haji County Government.Not only can industrial wastewater not be dumped in, but even domestic wastewater is strictly prohibited.There is actually a reason for such a strict policy, that is, the rainfall in Haji County throughout the year is really not that much, at best it can only be considered to be on the passing line, and the city's domestic water is more dependent on those few water volumes. There are plenty of small streams on it (where the Haji Water Supply Plant draws water), so they must be strictly protected.

All in all, the management of the city of Haji can be called fine, even finer than that of many local cities.In this regard, Wu Yifei (Hajishang is a military-administered area) as the top leader of urban management has contributed a lot.It is his military-style iron-fisted style that has lasted for many years that made this city unique and gradually became the pearl of the Black Sea.

Some people may say that this kind of strict militarized management will cause the vitality of the whole city to decline, and the economy will stagnate, because businessmen do not like to be restrained by nature.But you have to take into account that Haji Port, as the first stop for most goods from the east coast to enter the Black Sea (at the same time, there is also a branch of the South Sea Shipping Company), is naturally a distribution center.The transit trade of a large number of commodities not only brought a large number of jobs to the city, but also brought a seemingly inexhaustible flow of funds, which was of great help to the city.

Also, you can't fail to take into account the surrounding political environment.Although Haji is located on the Crimean Peninsula, it is a leased land on the east coast and is under the rule of the east coast government.To put it bluntly, this is a "land of alienation" for the surrounding countries, large and small. It is a safe place protected by the powerful east coast government, so it attracts many outsiders to settle here. .

Take the extremely turbulent Ottoman Empire as an example. Every high-level personnel change in this country will bring about a reshuffle that affects the middle and lower levels.Although not everyone will have trouble, there are always people who are destined to become victims.In the past, they could only be caught or fought desperately, but later they could go into exile on Xinhua Island or the mainland on the east coast.But now there is no such trouble, they can pack up their belongings and escape to Haji County, and their political opponents will not come here to kill them all, let alone they do not have the ability.

Moreover, politicians are relatively rational.Today is a political enemy, but it does not mean that they will always be political enemies. They have all surrendered and fled. Naturally, it is not appropriate to kill them all.Judging from the situation where the upper echelon of the Ottoman Empire is changing like a lantern, maybe one day he will have to run away?There was an example of this in Haji County. Two officials who belonged to different factions and fought to the death, ran away with their families to Haji within two years, and then reunited here, drinking tea and chatting like old friends.They didn't have much personal animosity in the first place, but now that they have let go of everything, naturally nothing is impossible.

Compared with these runaway officials, there are many families of lords from Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia, Bessarabia, Hungary, Dalmatia and other places in Haji County .These lords are located on the front line of the confrontation between Austria and Turkey, and they feel a little precarious.One day the Austrian army came to fight, and the next day the Turkish army fought back. Like grass on the wall, they would fall to one side and fall to the other side.Although for now, the Austrian and Turkish sides still mainly win over and appease them, but God knows when the policy changes, they will be sacrificed to them, so the sense of security of these people is actually very low.

Considering this factor, some nimble lords have already arranged for their families to settle in Port Haji.These family members bought land and properties here with a lot of money, and opened many bank accounts at the same time, and saved an unknown amount of money to ensure that they (if they can escape) and their families can continue to be rich and dignified in the future. live on.

Whether it's the running officials or the lord's family in the Three Caves of the Rabbit, they all have one thing in common, that is, they are very rich!The influx of a large amount of funds has greatly pushed up the land and housing prices in Haji County. While selling land at high prices to obtain huge fiscal revenue, the county government is also sweating about the soaring housing prices and has to take measures. I built a lot of apartment buildings and sold them cheaply to government employees and guard officers and soldiers to ensure the stability of social order.

Foreign funds also flooded into the banking system of the people on the east coast, and the balance of deposits rose rapidly, and many of these accounts fell into a dormant state after depositing a large amount of money. Lying quietly inside, the people in the bank were pleasantly surprised.

Cai Zhenguo heard about this when he was in Cadiz and was very happy because it meant that he could mobilize more funds.Once upon a time, in order to meet the loan needs of the Ottoman Empire, Cai Zhenguo had to go to Genoa* and Venice to ask the local Italian wealthy to provide low-interest loans, and then relent the money to the Ottoman Empire.Now that there are so many deposits in the banking system of Haji County, the money that will be loaned to the Ottoman Empire in the future will also be available, and there is no need to waste favors to raise funds in Italy. How wonderful!

And considering that a large part of the money comes from the Ottoman Empire, Cai Zhenguo is tantamount to taking money from the Turks and lending them to them to obtain other political or economic benefits, which is simply a business without capital.I don't know if the Ottomans will cry when they learn the truth!

The influx of a large number of people has provided a huge boost to the economy of Haji County, but it has also brought certain difficulties to their social management. The first thing to bear the brunt is the religious issue.

Because Taoism played a huge role in the early construction, Haji County was basically dominated by Taoism, and 3000% of the residents believed in Tianzun.But after so many years of development, with the crazy influx of foreign population, the proportion of religious belief in Haji County has undergone tremendous changes.According to private statistics from the Taoist Federation, the current permanent population of Haji County is about [-], of which less than [-]% believe in Taoism, and the proportion of ethnic groups has changed from the majority of people from the east coast to people of all colors. There are, and the degree of internationalization of the whole city seems to be very high.

The Taoist General Assembly believes that this is a safety hazard that cannot be ignored.For this reason, while paying their own money, they tried to find a way to send immigrants from the mainland or even the Far East (because the distance is far away and the cost is high, so it must not be too much), while they tried to convert the influx of Green Christians and Orthodox Christians. .

It should be said that this kind of operation by the Taoist Federation is relatively sensitive and bears certain political risks.Cai Zhenguo must have wanted to post an article to stop this kind of behavior of the Taoist Association, but people around him always advised him not to do so, which made him a little startled. The influence of the Taoist Association is so strong?Therefore, after much consideration, he still did not issue this order.As for the complaints raised by some Ottomans, he also gave some consideration, that is, ordered the Haji County government to allocate a piece of land, and the local Green believers in Haji raised funds to build a mosque as a place of worship for these people.

The style of the mosque is limited to traditional Chinese buildings, that is, similar to Taoist temples and Buddhist temples in terms of shape, with blue bricks, red bricks, and painted eaves. At first glance, it seems to be a traditional Chinese religious place-people on the east coast are still very proud of their own culture. Onion temples in Turkey and Arabia are absolutely prohibited—and the imam who presides over the mosque is also designated by the East Bank government. Any imam who has not been registered with the Haji County government and has obtained permission will not be allowed to work, and those who violate it will be fined. to the penalty of deportation.

The Orthodox situation is similar, but slightly better.Its church is a blend of east and west styles. It is allowed to build a spire, and some idols are allowed to be carved on the outer wall of the church. Other than that, the other parts are basically Chinese style, so it looks a little weird.

Because they were used to being second-class citizens in the Ottoman Empire, the Orthodox Christians in Haji County hated to accept the control of the East Coast people calmly, in stark contrast to the fierce opposition of the Green Christians.Unlike mosques, the priests of the Orthodox Church are appointed from the mainland by the East Coast government.These people themselves are both priests and officials on the east bank, and their positions are very ambiguous, which provides great convenience for the Taoist Federation to poach the wall.In this regard, mosques are much worse.

Either way, neither religion is mainstream in Haji County.As long as the Haji Police Command tightens entry control—this seems a little difficult, it is really unreasonable to ask for money from others and not want them to come and live—they are confident that they will spend decades to completely "purify" The religious beliefs in Haji County have enabled a large number of Green Christians and Orthodox Christians to have the "correct belief" and made it a bridgehead for the spread of Taoism on the east coast in the Black Sea region.

Yes, that's right!East Coast Taoism is also ambitious!In fact, they are not content to spread their beliefs only in the East Coast and overseas colonies. They have been trying to spread the name of Tianzun to farther places by relying on the strong national power and cultural output capabilities of the East Coast Republic for many years.Like the Black Sea region in front of them, they have also made long-term and short-term plans.The short-term plan is to unify the local beliefs in Haji County, and then slowly infiltrate to other parts of the Crimea Peninsula. A group of tribes in the mountainous area were pulled over and became loyal followers of Taoism on the east coast.

The benefits of controlling religious beliefs needless to say.Today, the hard core strength of the East Coast in the Black Sea region - the army and money - is already good, and the soft power is needed to cooperate with it, so that the influence can be deeper and more profitable for the East Coast Republic.

Religious weapons are sometimes more effective than muskets and cannons!

In yesterday's chapter, I thought about it and didn't write anything too extreme. Why did it violate the rules, and I didn't bother to find out what was deleted. . . . . .Originally, the title of the chapter wanted to write religious weapons, but after thinking about it, forget it.

(End of this chapter)