Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2333 Unity River ([-])

On December 1697, 12, in the mountain valley north of Taihe County, a caravan quietly walked in the vast forest.

There are some roads in the forest with a long history, dating back to the Portuguese colonial period.In those days, between San Salvador and Sao Paulo, this was basically the only way to go.After the general bid farewell to the governor, many times he did not go south by boat, but took hundreds of entourage and a large number of mules and horses, along the forest path all the way south, and arrived at the land so fertile that "you can stand on it without ankles." Sao Paulo took office.Therefore, this road is actually quite busy, especially after the people on the east coast have intentionally repaired and expanded it, the traffic volume has become even greater, and it has become the first choice for people from all walks of life in the south and north districts.

The team in front of me is not big or small, there are about 60 mules, and each mule is covered with heavy cargo boxes.There were dozens of tough-looking men on both sides of the mule team, including East Coast faces, bronze Indian faces, and even Iberian faces. There were more than a dozen of them. The composition was very mixed, and their origins were unknown.

The convoy traveled south for two days and entered a relatively open area, but it was still inaccessible. Occasionally, some shepherds drove bighorn goats wandering in the lush wilderness.Hou Wu, the leader of the caravan, has been escorting the team to the end, and the nervous tension along the way gradually eased with the spread of the grassland and the broadening of the field of vision.He let out a deep breath, looking at the blue sky and the sea-like field, a fresh and clear feeling surged from the bottom of his heart, and he couldn't help humming a few obscene tunes.

Just as he was complacent and humming a little tune, he galloped over from the front. It turned out to be the scout of the caravan. He only heard him report breathlessly: "There is a horse team ahead."

"Who is it?" Hou Wu's face was a little dignified, after all, they were doing a shady business.

"I can't identify them for a while, but there are about five or six people."

Hou Wuyi was a little relieved when he heard that there were 90 to [-] people on their side, and there was no shortage of guns and ammunition.Moreover, I made an appointment with the next family of the joint before, and we will meet dozens of miles ahead, pay the money with one hand, and deliver the goods with the other hand. The few riders in front may be the people of the next family.

"Don't panic, it may be someone sent by Wang Laizi to meet us, just keep going. Monk Sun, ask your men to load the ammunition and ammunition, just in case." Hou Wu rode on a rather handsome horse. Lusitano got on his horse and said.

However, before the scouts turned to the pier to leave, the caravan stopped suddenly, and there was noise in front. "What's going on? Why did you stop?" Hou Wu was a little surprised, and asked loudly.

Afterwards, Yiqi galloped over again, and the scout said in a somewhat flustered tone: "There is a patrol team of black dogs in front. However, they only asked a few words and left. I don't know what their intentions are." .”

"What? Heigouzi?" Hou Wu's head suddenly "boomed" and asked hastily, "How many people? What did you ask?"

"Only those few people asked what the cavalry team was transporting, and then left." The scout replied: "The second leader is worried that the government will play tricks, so he came here to ask the first leader to make a decision."

Hou Wu was silent when he heard the words.Heigouzi is the armed police of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. His combat effectiveness is not strong, not as good as the local police force, but he is not weak either.This group of people has always been arrogant. Since they suspect that the caravan has shipped illegal materials, it is impossible not to dismount and check.I asked a few words casually, and then left. Is this normal?If it is said that they have no doubts about the caravan (the caravan has complete procedures), why did it appear at this juncture?You must know that this place is already very far north, and there are only a few caravans passing by in a month on weekdays, and Heigouzi is not very diligent in coming here.Hou Wu's head was in a mess. Everyone's belongings were lost in this batch of goods, but there must be no problems.So, after he forced himself to calm down, he immediately decided to leave the road, turn into a trail known only to gold diggers, and speed up to leave this dangerous place.As for the risk of encountering gangsters and eating gangsters when walking on the back road, it is very risky, fuck it, I can't control that much, black dogs are the most difficult thing to deal with!

At night, the caravan camped on a high ground to rest.Hou Wu originally planned to drive overnight, but firstly, the small road was really dangerous, and secondly, he was exhausted after traveling all day, so he had no energy to continue tossing around, so he had to rest for the night.

The bonfire was lit, and the faint blue flame dragged light black smoke in the night sky for a long time, and the smell of rotting grass mixed with horse manure permeated the camp.The members of the caravan opened their bags one after another, took out dry food and roasted it on the fire.Some people were probably very hungry, and started to gnaw on the dry food before it was soft and cooked.At this moment, an unknown person yelled in alarm: "Oh, there seems to be someone over there, everyone be careful!"

Everyone was shocked when they heard the words, and looked in the direction of the exclamation, only to see a fire was lit about a hundred meters away to the east, and more than a dozen policemen from the Ministry of Internal Affairs in black uniforms raised their rifles and loudly asked them to put down their weapons ,take inspection.

Before the shocked crowd came back to their senses, someone shouted again, and there were also people from the west.Indeed, another pile of fire was lit over there. It was also a group of police officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, holding guns, and the police officer leading the team was still pointing here.

"There is a yellow dog in the north, I don't know how to get around it!" With the exclamation of the caravan members, piles of fires were lit, and everyone understood that they were surrounded.There are two choices now, either put down the weapon and accept the inspection as requested by others, or do it directly.

Obviously, this batch cannot withstand inspection.Hou Wu had no choice but to choose to break out with arms.At this time, the moon was high and the stars were shining, and the second head of the caravan took the lead and rushed eastward with a dozen horsemen.The armed police reacted very quickly. They lined up directly, kneeling in the front row and standing upright in the back row. They fired several rounds of guns under the command of the leading police officer.

The desperadoes rushed their horses recklessly, and from time to time some people screamed and fell off their horses.Behind them, Hou Wu was reluctant to give up the goods, so he let the grooms lead the mules and horses, and the guards rode on the horses, and rushed eastward together.After they acted, the armed police and guard soldiers from all directions started to move. They were not in a hurry to catch up, but formed a queue, firing guns while advancing.There are also desperadoes who turn around and shoot backwards. These people use trees or mounds as cover and fight extremely tenaciously.Fortunately, the police and soldiers who surrounded them were not vegetarians, they usually trained a lot, so they would not panic under the command of the officers, they would move forward slowly and suppress the enemy's firepower with volleys of guns.Behind them, several small-caliber artillery pieces were being vigorously pushed up to the high ground. Once in position, they could launch a fatal blow to the bandits.

The two sides worked "ping, ping, pong, pong" for more than ten minutes. Perhaps because some people died in battle, the grooms had to come forward with long guns to help.As a result, the mules and horses were left unattended, and stimulated by the gunshots and gunpowder smoke on the battlefield, they ran away directly, and incidentally disrupted the formation of the bandits.It just so happened that the small cannons of the security team were placed in place. After a few cannon shots, the gangsters who had been panicking for a long time dispersed in a rush, fled around in the dark, and disappeared into the forest and weeds on both sides of the path.

"So, this Hou Wu smuggled a large amount of bullets, bayonets, and other contraband from the Portuguese?" A few days later, in the Taihe county magistrate, Xiao Guang, the police commander of the Tuanjiehe area and director of the military management office, was listening to the adjutant's report.

To be honest, he was a little annoyed.I have been in the Tuanjie River Basin for two years, but the local desperadoes are like leeks, once you cut a crop, another crop will grow again.Did he ever suspect that there were so many lawbreakers in the East Coast? Later, he discovered that it wasn't that there were too many lawbreakers, but that money moved people's hearts. Many originally good citizens gradually became lawbreakers.

The gold mines in the Tuanjie River Basin are really rich!At the beginning, everyone was just panning for gold by the river. As a result, after so many years, many gold mines of different sizes have been discovered in the mountainous area to the north, most of which have not been registered by the government. The gold diggers went.

Gold diggers are generally lawless, and even brothers can turn against each other for gold, let alone other things.Vendettas and homicides occur almost every day. The Portuguese soldiers in the north were not paid all the year round, so they stole and sold their arsenals, muskets, gunpowder and even bronze cannons. This made the local security situation even more chaotic.In the past two years, soldiers who couldn't get along in Portugal and unemployed slave trappers also poured in, making the local area even more lawless.

At the beginning of this year, Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Guang mobilized hundreds of police officers from the Ministry of the Interior and soldiers from the garrison to sweep the gold mining areas north of Taihe County. In the end, it seemed that the effect was not very good.Those desperadoes were thieves and thieves, and they fled before the army arrived. Ordinary local residents and even grass-roots cadres were disconnected from them and kept reporting. The situation was not so complicated.

In the end, Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Guang decided to focus on the big and let go of the small, and first improve the law and order in the gold mining areas in Taihe, Yonghua, and Renqiu counties. After all, there are dense people and gold mines here, and the East Coast Gold Company is also here. Stable production of gold, ensuring social order and gold production here are more important than anything else.

Of course, this does not mean that Xiao Guang has given up those places in the north.In fact, on the one hand, he asked for the expansion of the Tuanjiehe garrison, and on the other hand, he asked the Ministry of the Interior to deploy [-] more policemen to form a detachment of these extra troops to continue patrolling several towns in the north, especially in the areas controlled by Portugal. At the junction, the inflow of prohibited materials is strictly restricted, and those who can be strictly checked are planned to trap those lawless gangsters step by step. For regular gold miners, the east bank government is still excellent, at least it will not stop them from mining. The gold mine that was circled by Dongjin Company, but then again, are there any regular gold diggers?Or are there any good people?

"Since Hou Wu has been caught, let's clarify the canonical punishment. There is no need for a trial, and he should be executed immediately." Xiao Guang slapped the table and said, "These lawless people actually smuggled arms from Portugal. Those weapons should be new. Right? The Portuguese government can’t get rid of this matter, so it must be involved. Let the Ministry of War know. This matter has to be resolved through diplomatic channels. If the Portuguese governor really can’t control the greed of the people below, we will help They take care."

When the adjutant heard the words, he naturally responded repeatedly.

"By the way, you should go get ready in the afternoon. I'm going to the Meijing Township Iron Mine. Our country has never discovered iron ore with such a rich reserve and such a high grade. It will be trial-mined soon. There can be no problems in the local area. " Xiao Guang said: "Oh, it's gold, iron ore, and precious stones. Well, there are also a lot of diamonds. The Tuanjie River is a bit too rich. But the more this is the case, the more we must ensure law and order. "

In fact, the law and order in the Tuanjie River Basin is much better than when Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Guang first arrived. After all, his title of "Xiao Yan Wang" is not for nothing, and he has wiped out many famous gangsters.But as a soldier with ideals and aspirations, Lieutenant Colonel Xiao Guang has always had very high demands on himself.The Tuanjie River is the treasure house on the east bank, and he will never allow any Xiao Xiao to mess it up.If there is, then Thunder Town!

(End of this chapter)