Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 281 Xinhua Castle ([-])

Shi Qinjie soon met Wang Tiehammer and other navy members in his office in the city.And, soon his deputy, the deputy captain of the Madagascar Pioneering Team and the commander of the Army's 101st company, Xu Gang, also rushed over.

Xu Gang is of medium build and wears a pair of glasses. He always gives people a gentle impression on weekdays.But this guy is an out-and-out veteran. He has participated in almost every battle since time travel, and his seniority in the army is quite old.This time, in order to escort the development of the New China Colony, the military department has mobilized the 101st Company, the reserve force, from the beginning of last year. Chinese colony.

The intention of the executive committee and the military department to appoint Xu Gang as the deputy captain of the Madagascar pioneering team and the commander of the 101st company of the army is very clear. The rich combat experience gathered together stabilized the situation of the New China Colony, the most important stronghold of the East Coast Republic of China in the Indian Ocean, and gradually opened up a larger living space.After all, the members of the executive committee were a little worried about whether Shi Qinjie, who was too peaceful and even weak, could effectively control the situation here.Therefore, there was a scene where Xu Gang, the executioner with "hands stained with indigenous blood", was sent to Xinhuabao to take office.

After ordering the orderly to serve a cup of tea to each of them, Shi Qinjie eagerly asked what Wang Tiechui had brought to them this time.

"A batch of cement, lime, refractory bricks, steel bars and other building materials, and the rest are food tools and other daily necessities and production tools. By the way, some food seeds have also been shipped to you. Potatoes, soybeans, rice, wheat, etc. The seeds are all available, and it is said that they are selected from the experimental field of the Agricultural Bureau Seed Cultivation Center after several generations of hybridization. However, when Zheng Bin handed it to me, he said that it was stronger than ordinary seeds, with disease resistance and The yield is limited compared to ordinary seeds, and they are still researching on better seeds." Wang Tiehammer took out a piece of white paper with words written on it from his pocket, and said while looking at it.

"It's fine as soon as the seeds come." Shi Qinjie smiled contentedly, and said, "I will find some experimental fields to plant these seeds, and then select the best ones to continue planting."

"Well, that's the reason." Wang Tiechui lit a pipe for himself, and said in agreement.Suddenly, he seemed to think of something again, and turned to Shi Qinjie and said: "By the way, Lao Shi, before I came out, Zheng Bin from the Agriculture Bureau asked me to persuade you to plant less rice here, saying that rice fields are easy to breed mosquitoes. , As a result, a large number of laborers on your side are infected with malaria, lose their ability to work and even die. I think it makes sense, you should think about it for yourself.”

"Why don't I know how powerful the mosquitoes are here?" Shi Qinjie smiled bitterly, lit a pipe for himself, and continued: "Without chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and no special seeds or intensive cultivation, Rice is currently the only major crop besides corn with a seed yield ratio of more than 1:10. What’s even more rare is that the environment here is very suitable for growing rice. It’s a pity not to grow it. But the malaria you mentioned is indeed a very serious disease. In reality, from planting rice seedlings to transplanting, weeding, fertilizing and harvesting, it is easy to be bitten by mosquitoes, and you will die if you get malaria."

"Old Shi, I've always wanted to ask, is the malaria in New China really so mysterious? Is the disease rate really that high?" Xu Gang, who had been sitting silently by the side, also asked.

"How to say this question, it's high or high, and it's not high or high." Shi Qinjie first said a few words that were not nutritious, then changed the subject and said: "Actually, it all depends on how well you protect yourself. The malaria parasites in the mosquitoes here are basically Plasmodium falciparum, but the disease-carrying rate is not too high according to my observation. A little more than 1%. That is to say, if you are bitten by a mosquito, then you only have a 1% chance of contracting malaria. It seems that the probability is not high, but the problem is that if you are bitten by mosquitoes seventeen or eight times a day, then The chances of getting sick are a bit scary when you add them up. After a long time, it is actually very difficult not to get caught, unless you rarely go to places where there are mosquitoes. If you want everyone to stay safe, you need to strengthen your protection In addition, the best measure is to eliminate all malaria-infected people on this island. In this way, there will be no source of virus, even if you are bitten by a mosquito, then you don’t have to worry too much about contracting malaria, but the problem is that this is unrealistic, at least It's not realistic right now."

Xu Gang nodded silently.He had just arrived here, and he didn't have an intuitive concept of malaria before. Now, after listening to Shi Qinjie's "science popularization", he has some understanding in his heart.

"Rice must be planted, but I will plant a little less, and only plant a few acres of experimental land, which is considered to be the best choice for some seeds." Shi Qinjie added, "I have thought about the others, planting soybeans in the dry season , Wheat, due to the intense leaching effect during the rainy season, the surface soil is not fertile enough, so we should plant deep-rooted crops such as corn and sweet potatoes. It happens that this high-yield crop is also needed to solve the food problem here, otherwise we will only grow soybeans, wheat, etc. There are definitely not enough things to eat. Considering that we will receive a large number of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty in the future, it is not a problem that the food reserves are not abundant. By the way, it is also very suitable for planting some sisal, which should be needed in China Well, whether it is for civilian or naval procurement, the demand has always been great. After the planting here is scaled up, there will be no need to import from Britain and Russia in the future."

"I think this will work." Wang Tiehammer echoed next to him, "In the dry season, we can just plant only one kind of soybean, which can also improve the soil, and soybean is also an extremely important military material, whether it is the demand of the army or the navy. They are all very big. It is just right to plant corn during the rainy season, and the slightly acidic soil here is also suitable for planting this thing, hehe, although the land here is a little barren, it will not matter much to plant corn at that time."

"It's definitely not enough to just grow corn." Shi Qinjie waved his hand and said, "It's better to interplant sweet potatoes and corn, otherwise the yield per unit area will be very poor. Believe it or not, without enough chemical fertilizers and effective insecticides Although the soil and climatic conditions here are quite suitable for the growth of corn, and we have also selected some seeds, the yield per mu is mostly between 250 and 300 jin, which will not be higher. Corn has become a high-yield Crops, that is under the circumstances of vigorously cultivating hybrid varieties and using a large amount of pesticides and fertilizers in later generations. With our current agricultural level, the production capacity per mu can reach 250 catties, which requires intensive cultivation. Look at the corn, Sorghum, although the ponds are cleared to fertilize the fields every winter, and there are people from the agricultural technology station to guide intensive cultivation, but the yield per unit area cannot increase without the use of chemical fertilizers. Even if complete irrigation facilities are built, the yield of sorghum per mu is always around 300 jin Wandering around, the yield of wheat per mu is only about 200 catties, sometimes less than that. Therefore, we still have to interplant corn and sweet potatoes, which can greatly increase the yield per unit area. Moreover, these two crops are deep-rooted crops, able to absorb nutrients from deeper layers of the soil, reducing the impact of leaching in the tropics."

"Then how much grain can be harvested per acre if sweet potatoes and corn are interplanted?" Xu Gang asked next to him.After he finished asking, Wang Tiehammer also looked at Shi Qinjie, obviously he was also more concerned about this question.

"It's hard to say, I can only estimate." Shi Qinjie shook his head and said: "The Ministry of Agriculture has never done any planting experiments in this area before, and even if there were experiments, it would not be accurate. After all, the soil and climate The environment is different. I can only make estimates based on the data collected by the Ministry of Agriculture in various farmlands over the years. Well, I estimate that I can harvest 150-200 catties of corn and 500-600 catties of sweet potatoes per mu. Of course, the actual planting There may be some fluctuations in the hourly yield, because the yield also depends on the state of land fertilization, climate, pests and diseases, and the degree of intensive cultivation, but on average, it should not be a big problem to harvest about six to seven hundred catties of grain per mu."

Wang Tiechui and Xu Gang looked at each other, both of them felt very satisfied with the output.For an enclave far away from the mainland like the New China Colony, it is better to be self-sufficient when the sea transportation capacity of the home country is extremely limited.Of course, this self-sufficiency refers to being able to meet the basic needs of life. As for the self-sufficiency of industrial products, it is basically impossible. After all, the colony must have the consciousness of the colony, and at this stage, the local side will definitely not allow those advanced The outflow of industrial technology and technological processes to the colonies is not a matter of restricting the development of the colonies, but a matter of national security.

To meet the needs of life, the most basic point is food.Now the small 2000 people in the New China colony, including slaves, have been eating sorghum transported from South Africa's River Fort, but this situation must be improved.Otherwise, when sorghum occupies valuable transport tonnage, other materials such as slaves, building materials, cloth and iron products, etc. will be correspondingly reduced, which is very detrimental to the development of the colony.

And more importantly, according to the latest agreement reached with the Portuguese, by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, a considerable number of Ming Dynasty immigrants will arrive at Xinhua Castle by sea, with a conservative estimate of two to three thousand people.This number is almost twice the current population of Xinhua Castle. Could it be that so many people rely on foreign transportation for their food and drink?It’s okay for a short period of time. After a long time, Boss Ding of the South China Sea Transportation Company will definitely jump in a hurry. His transportation company co-authored it to serve your family in the New China Colony?So, everything still depends on yourself.

(End of this chapter)