Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 279 Xinhua Castle ([-])

The situation has temporarily stabilized, but it does not mean that peace is coming. On the contrary, both sides are actively preparing for war, and the cloud of war hanging over both sides is getting thicker and thicker.Unless the leaders of both sides change their will, which seems unlikely at present.Leaving aside the Hezhongbao area, which was clouded by war due to some people's ambitions, the construction of the New China Colony was still proceeding step by step.

On February 1640, 2, the fleet of the East Coast Republic of China led by the main force of the Second Fleet of the Navy sailed into New China Bay in the drizzle.The fleet this time is still led by Navy Captain Wang Tiehammer. The fleet includes the battleship "Common Market", the cruiser "Super Brave", the transport ship "Galicia Flying Fish", and the newly built South China Sea Transport Company. "" and "Tianmu" flute-shaped transport ships.

The transport fleet brought a total of 500 slaves, 50 Eight Banners supervisors, and a large amount of food, cloth, agricultural tools, building materials, fuel and other production and living materials to the New China Colony. The soldiers of the army rushed over by boat carrying a large number of weapons and ammunition.

During the rainy season, the construction of Xinhuabao Wharf has been delayed a lot, so there is still only one trestle beside the wharf, which is only enough for two ships to berth and unload at the same time.In desperation, Wang Tiehammer could only order the entire fleet to berth in the bay, and then let the transport ship berth at the port first.

Several pointed brick houses have been built by the pier, and several bored Irishmen are sitting on a few wooden piers under the corridor, bragging and chatting while nibbling coconuts.At this moment, as soon as they saw a ship with the flag of the East Coast Republic of China approaching the port, they immediately put on their ponchos and rushed into the rain towards the pier. The copper whistle blew.Soon, under his whistle, dozens of Eight Banners slaves also wearing rain capes poured out from under some thatched sheds on both sides. They also took tools and walked towards the pier one after another, ready to unload.

Wang Tiechui walked slowly on the pier, and his adjutant, Second Lieutenant An Chu, followed behind him holding an umbrella.Every time I come to the New China Colony, it is rainy, as if the sky has collapsed a hole here, and it rains endlessly day after day.People have been in such an environment for a long time, and if they don't adapt, they will become sick even if they are not sick.

The Shugang Highway has been rehabilitated, and the road surface is paved with waterproof asphalt material, which looks much better than the muddy red dirt roads around it.After the rain falls on the road, due to the radian of the road, it begins to collect into the many drainage holes on both sides of the road.The drainage hole is made of red bricks and cement, covered with a perforated iron cover, and the rainwater seeps into the underground drainage ditch from here.The main body of the drainage ditch is connected by cement culvert pipes, which are buried about one meter underground. The entire pipe system has a certain inclination angle, and finally all the rainwater is discharged into the bay through the pipes.In New China, where the annual rainfall is about 2000 millimeters, the construction of urban sewers is the top priority. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, the city will be flooded and everyone will be affected.

This is a huge project. At present, Xinhua Castle has only built a section next to the important road that is hundreds of meters long on the Shugang Highway.As for the construction of the sewer network in the entire urban area, at present, we can only prepare in advance when building the city wall. As for the large-scale laying, on the one hand, it depends on the surplus of materials and manpower, and on the other hand, we have to wait until the end of the rainy season. Massive construction isn't it?This is not like building a city wall. During the rainy season, the rain canopy can still be started. This requires the excavation of a large number of underground pipes, which must wait until the dry season.

The wild coconut groves on both sides of the road seem to have been picked on a large scale.Coconut trees produce dozens of coconuts a year. This coconut grove may have hundreds of trees. The wild coconut groves on the far coast are even richer. After this area is developed in the future, just exporting coconuts to the local area can produce enough coconuts every year. Gained a lot.Speaking of coconuts, I still have to thank the Malay descendants on the island.Back then, their ancestors traveled thousands of miles to Madagascar on a small raft, carrying this magical tree species that was originally only produced in the Malay region. Since then, coconut trees have spread all over the island.Coupled with the climate suitable for its growth here, after thousands of years of reproduction, it has the scale it is today.

After crossing the coconut grove, the outline of the gray city wall of Xinhua Castle appeared in front of everyone.More than three months have passed. Perhaps because of the inconvenience of construction during the rainy season, the progress of the construction of the city wall has not been too great. It is still in the state of sporadic repairs here and there, and there is still a long way to go before completion. distance.The city wall is surrounded by a wilderness and flat land. According to the information Wang Tiehui heard from here before, it seems that Shi Qinjie plans to turn this place into a commercial area, and at the same time build a large square here.In the square, merchants from various countries with licenses can be allowed to come and trade. At that time, industrial products from the east coast, local building materials, cattle and sheep, grain and timber, gems and spices from India, camels and horses from the Middle East, and Commodities such as fruits, tobacco, and slaves in the East African continent can all be traded here.

To put it bluntly, if this commercial area really develops as expected, then the trade along the coast of East Africa will basically have nothing to do with the Portuguese Mozambique Island.That small island with an area of ​​just over one square kilometer really has no potential for development, so it's not surprising that it was replaced by someone.

After entering the city, Wang Tiehammer went straight to Shi Qinjie's office.Several Irish militiamen who were standing guard at the door saw a group of naval officers coming, and after a moment they stood at attention and saluted.Wang Tiechui saluted back, and then went straight into the house.

"Huh..." Wang Tiechui took off his oilcloth raincoat, hung it under the eaves of the corridor, and said, "This annoying heavy rain does not make people feel refreshed for a moment, eh, there is no one?"

There was no sign of Shi Qinjie in the house, but Rodrigo, Shi Qinjie's secretary who had recently come from the mainland, was sorting out the documents in the house.Seeing Wang Tiechui's question, Rodrigo hurried over and explained: "Captain Shi went to the health center to visit the wounded and sick, and then he will go to the wood processing factory to inspect. It may take another hour to come back."

"Oh? He worked tirelessly. Are there many wounded and sick in the clinic?" Wang Tiechui sat down on a chair and asked casually.

"A lot." Rodrigo said with some concern: "There were three batches of slaves in May, August and November last year, totaling 1300 people. So far, 119 people have died due to illness, work-related deaths, and fighting. More than 400 people fell ill before and after, among which there were as many as 87 patients with incurable falciparum malaria, and the rest were more or less suffering from some chronic diseases. The rate has now climbed to more than 30%..."

"Hmm." Wang Tiehammer didn't know what to say.Although the time-travelers have made some progress in science and technology, there is still a blank space in medicine. The reason is that there is a lack of knowledge and talents in this area.Correspondingly, the level of doctors and nurses trained by domestic health schools and medical schools is also very low, and the effect they can play on the sick is really limited.Not to mention that the New China Colony has just partly escaped from the barbaric atmosphere. All the limited medical staff here can do is to provide patients with a relatively comfortable living environment and more careful care.As for letting them see a doctor for you, it’s better to forget it, it’s better to bear it by yourself.

"Fortunately, most of the dead and sick are the slaves of the Eight Banners." Rodrigo explained cautiously, "The health status of the officers, soldiers and valuable technicians of the 101st company is not bad, even the newly arrived The more than 400 Irish immigrants are also generally healthy, which can be seen from the number of sick leave during each intensive military training."

"Everything will get better gradually. The development of the barren land is limited, and death is inevitable." Wang Tiehammer encouraged a few words casually, "I think your place is doing well now. At least a few hundred meters around the city. Refreshing, if you don't leave the city, the chance of getting malaria is greatly reduced. By the way, the production of the coking plant in the mainland is gradually on the right track, and if you give them some time, they may be able to use benzene to make some insecticides Take the medicine out, and then let them send some over here to test the effect for you.”

"That would be great." Rodrigo said happily, "Now the demand for wood in the local area is gradually increasing, and we need more and more slave labor to log into the mountains every day. There are only four logging camps, and these people will be bitten by mosquitoes and contract malaria if they are not careful. Although we have filled some water holes there, it is still difficult to completely eliminate mosquitoes. If there are some insecticides If so, it should greatly improve their situation."

Wang Tiechui chuckled, and didn't say anything else. He just said it casually just now, and he couldn't take it seriously.

It is said that it is so easy to make pentachlorophenol, 666, DDT and other disinfectants with benzene extracted from coal tar.Among other things, the production of pentachlorophenol first requires hexachlorophenol, and hexachlorophenol needs to be obtained by the action of benzene and chlorine gas, and the production of this chlorine gas is not an easy task for the current China East Coast Republic.The traditional method of preparing saturated brine by electrolysis is unrealistic for now, because everyone has not yet played with electricity, and it is too wasteful to produce chlorine gas by reacting concentrated sulfuric acid, sodium chloride and pyrolusite.

Therefore, Wang Tiechui's words are just comforting others now. At least in a few years, it will be difficult for the chemical industry to produce enough insecticides and disinfectants through low-cost industrial production models.

(End of this chapter)