Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 267 Deepening the Roots ([-])

Miannong Township and Zhenyuan Township (already dismantled and established as townships) were established at the end of 1638. In the past two years, with the help of a large number of mobile salesmen and technicians sent by the Ministry of Agriculture, the General Administration of Textile Industry, and the Northwest Reclamation Bank, nearly [-] residents in the two places are currently It has initially gained a firm foothold.

Among them, Miannong Township has successively opened up 1640 mu of cotton fields. It is estimated that 1500 tons of lint will be harvested in 70. Together with some cotton fields opened near Bingtuanbao and Pingan Town, it can already supply one-third of the domestic demand for cotton textile raw materials. up.However, this ratio is still too small in Zhou Dahe's opinion, at least it needs to be raised to over [-]% to be reliable.

The importance of cotton to the textile industry (military industry exports are unstable) that has become the financial pillar of the East Coast Republic of China is self-evident.Ensuring the supply security of raw materials is the basis for the development and growth of the entire industry.It is gratifying that the current thinking of the country's leaders is very clear, and they can also see very clearly the weak sea supply line of raw materials in the East Coast Republic. In the past two years, they have been working hard to increase the self-sufficiency rate of cotton and wool.

However, the growth rate of the textile industry is too fast. In the past few years, the annual export volume of cotton cloth has increased from more than 50 pieces at the beginning to more than [-] pieces last year. Correspondingly, the demand for raw material cotton has also increased rapidly.Although many cotton fields have been vigorously developed in China, the gap is still huge, and even the cotton production of French Santo Domingo (Haiti) is somewhat insufficient. The General Administration of Textile Industry has begun to import some local cotton from Brazil, Florida and other places. It also drove the colonial manor owners of the two places to invest heavily in cotton planting.

Recently, the Government Administration Council, the General Administration of Textile Industry, and the cotton farmers' township government have been investing heavily in infrastructure and opening up new cotton fields.However, due to the shortage of manpower, the growth of the cotton field is limited. Recently, they have begun to apply to the executive committee for slave quotas in order to increase domestic cotton production as soon as possible.In Zhou Dahe's view, it may not be a few years before the cotton self-sufficiency rate on the east bank will reach a new level.

The carriage was still driving unhurriedly, and the people in the carriage fell into silence.Fortunately, the distance was not too far, but in just over an hour, the carriage stopped steadily at the bus station outside the south gate of Zhenyuan Fort.The so-called bus station is actually just three brick bungalows plus a walled yard.Vehicles are parked in the yard, and among the three bungalows, one stores parts and tools, one is a horse shed, and the other is for duty personnel.

"Technician Liu" grabbed Zhou Dahe who was standing at the gate of the station looking around, and yelled, "Come on, little brother, it's already noon, let's go eat first."

Zhou Dahe was also hungry right now, so he didn't refuse, and walked towards the city together with Technician Liu.

There are several policemen standing at the south gate of Zhenyuan Fort, and one of them is wearing the black uniform of the police from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The spy case in Miannong Township has just passed, and Zhenyuan Township, as a neighboring area, does not dare to neglect. strict.No, the policeman from the Ministry of Internal Affairs took Zhou Dahe's ID card, registration card, and the introduction letter issued by the Northwest Reclamation Bank Head Office carefully for a long time, and then handed it back to him with a blank expression, and let him go.

Adjacent to the south gate is the commercial area of ​​Zhenyuan Fort.It is a commercial area, of course, it cannot be compared with big places like Dingyuan Fort, Dongfang Port, and Pingan Town. The so-called commercial area here is nothing more than a medium-sized grocery store, a grain store specializing in grain, oil and dried fruits, and Just a few small restaurants.Technician Liu told Zhou Dahe that grocery stores and grain stores are run by the government to sell production and consumer goods to the common people at a reasonable price, while those small restaurants are run by private individuals.

Zhou Dahe and Technician Liu walked one after the other. The ground was a gravel road, which looked fairly smooth.On the left side of the road are several warehouse-like stone bungalows. Technician Liu told him that this is the armory and material depot in the city, storing some weapons such as muskets and cannons, as well as food, cotton and other materials.Sure enough, Zhou Dahe observed that armed militiamen were on duty at the gates of these houses.

On the right side of the road are grocery stores and grain stores.There are a wide variety of commodities in the grocery store, ranging from agricultural tools and knives to needles and threads, from production tools to consumer goods.The commodities in the grain shop are also very rich. Except for a small amount of expensive rice, the supply of wheat is not very sufficient due to the massive purchase by the military. However, the east coast potatoes and South African sorghum that ordinary people eat and consume in large quantities are open to supply.In addition to staple food, the supply of non-staple food is not inferior: dried salted fish, sausages, preserved eggs, South African ostrich eggs, antelope jerky, etc. have filled the shelves to the brim.

In addition to these, the most popular in the store is the fruit shipped from all over the world.A few months ago, the local residents of Zhenyuanbao just brought the sheared wool to the wool purchasing station of the General Administration of Textile Industry for sale, so they now have some spare money on hand. Under the circumstances, there is now a certain consumer demand for fruit, which was not a daily necessity in the past, which can be seen from the slightly dense crowd in front of the fruit shelf.

Zhou Dahe glanced at it for a while, and saw a lot of locally produced raisins, jujubes, chestnuts, and some tropical fruits from Brazil, and even coconuts from the New China region were placed on the shelves in a stately manner. superior.

"Hey, didn't you expect that?" Seeing that Zhou Dahe was attracted by the bustling crowd in the grain shop, he said proudly: "The local people raise sheep in every household, and at the end of the year, everyone will kill a goat that can't be sheared to celebrate the New Year. No, it’s only a few months before Chinese New Year, and everyone is already tired of eating this stuff. I’m afraid you don’t know it yet, but in Zhenyuan Fort, the price of pork is three times that of mutton. Hehe, why, there are so few pigs Ah! They have to be transported from Dingyuan Township in the south by small steamer. Isn’t it expensive? By the way, this fruit is not much cheaper than mutton! Especially the coconuts transported from the New China area are big and thick. It tastes good! Do you know the New China region? That is another piece of land that our country has conquered. I heard that it is very rich there, and the natives sleep every day without working and never go hungry."

Speaking of this, I have to mention that since the east coast is in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are opposite to those in the northern hemisphere.Therefore, the Government Affairs Council organized staff and spent several years compiling an East Coast calendar.This calendar imitates the Chinese lunar calendar, and Bai Siwen, director of the Shizhi Office, compiled a new 24 solar terms based on the local climate. It is parallel to the Western calendar and has the significance of guiding agricultural production.After the promulgation of the East Coast Calendar, the date of the Spring Festival is generally moved from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year, so there is the saying that the local people have just passed the New Year as technician Liu said.

Hearing what Technician Liu said, Zhou Dahe chuckled and didn't say anything.Of course he knew about the New China Colony, because one of his buddies who had fled from Daming was now serving as a platoon leader in the 101st Company of the Army.In January, he was still growing potatoes at home. In February, he was urgently recruited for intensive training, and then their entire company was shipped to South Africa, and then went to Xinhua Castle.

Last month, a letter he wrote from Xinhua Castle was transported to Dongfang Port by a ship from South Africa, and then delivered to Zhou Dahe by a postman.In the letter, his buddy first complained about how terrible the mosquitoes were, how bad the weather was, and how stupid the slaves were, and then described in detail the richness of the land there, the fish in the bay, and so on. The richness of the prawns made Zhou Dahe a little tempted.If the Northwest Reclamation Bank had opened a branch there, Zhou Dahe would definitely be the first to sign up.

The two walked forward for a while, and at this time several small private restaurants appeared on both sides of the road. Technician Liu led Zhou Dahe into the first one.To be honest, this store is not big, there are only five or six tables, and it is meal time at this time, and the store is full of people.Technician Liu looked around, and then dragged Zhou Dahe to sit at a table in the corner.

There is already a person sitting at this table.Zhou Dahe took a casual look and was shocked.This gentleman was wearing a tattered shirt, and exuded an unpleasant smell all over his body. It seemed that he hadn't showered for many days.There are still such miserable people in the East Coast Republic today?

"The Albanian, named Bogdan, crossed the border from the west a few days ago." Technician Liu and Zhou Dahe whispered: "Now they are collecting sheep manure for others outside the city, and there is someone from Ping'an Town to buy it. It is said that this person She used to be from a famous family in Albania. She could read, write, and do arithmetic, and I heard that she had fought with the Turks. Later, she fled to Austria, but she was sent to La Plata by the Spaniards by the Austrians. Hehe, it's really miserable. In the past, people like him wouldn't be so downcast, and it wasn't difficult to find a normal job. But who made a major spy case happen a while ago, and now people like them No one dares to hire a European who can write and count, and whose origin is unknown, hehe, he is unlucky."

While the two were talking, Bogdan looked up at them, then lowered his head and continued to eat his bowl of beef vermicelli soup.

Zhou Dahe said oh, just now when Bogdan raised his head, he glanced at him. This man has a scar on his face, which looks extremely scary, but his eyes are extremely resolute, probably because he has been training in fighting the Turks in adversity all the year round. The reason for coming out.

"Boss, here are two bowls of beef vermicelli soup, another plate of sauced beef, and two dishes of side dishes." Technician Liu shouted.The owner of this store is said to be an immigrant from the Huainan area of ​​Anhui in the Ming Dynasty. The small shop specializes in beef soup. Later, according to the eating habits of the East Coast, vermicelli made of potato powder was added to the beef soup, and it became beef vermicelli soup. It is said to be not bad.

(End of this chapter)