Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 631 War and Peace ([-])

On November 1647, 11, Mocaoling Township.

As the most economically backward town in Xihu County, which will be officially established on January 1 next year—yes, you haven’t seen it, even the low bunker, which was established later than Mucaoling Township, relies on its unique agricultural conditions to catch up from behind, Steadily beyond the hilly Mocaoling Township——Mocao Ridge is cold this spring.

The current population of this township is no more than 500, of which there are about [-] young and middle-aged men.As the war with the Spaniards continued, the East Coast Republic, which had a growing demand for troops, had mobilized deeply in the country, and a large number of militiamen who had participated in military training were transferred to the front line.Mucaoling Township is no exception. This agricultural town has contributed [-] high-quality soldiers to the newly established Xihu County Militia Brigade, which is considered to have done its best.

The village where Shao Yuanyi lives is located on the fringes, and the local farmers often fought with the Guarani people who came here, so their combat effectiveness was strong. They won the first prize in militia competitions in dozens of villages in four townships and towns in Xihu County all the year round. During the militia brigade, as many as 30 people were transferred from the village, nearly one-third of the adult male labor force in the village.

After the men went to the front line, the burden of the family suddenly fell on the women.Doing farm work in the fields, taking care of children at home, digging mud in the river, and building roads in the fields, there is nothing these "healthy women" can't do.There is no way, the labor force in the village is too tight now, even a well-known doctor like Shao Yuanyi has to carry a rifle on his back every Friday and go to the village office on duty.

In the village office, there are usually two patrolmen, one militia chief, one militia captain on duty, two weapon depot guards, and one handyman. , while the patrol police and the militia leader on duty live in the main room.The village government of each village was located on the south side of the road entering the village when it was built, and there was often a small gun tower next to it, where seven or eight militiamen were stationed at any time, commanded by the militia leader.

Shao Yuanyi was one of the captains of the militia, and it happened to be his turn to be on duty today, so he went to the blockhouse early in the morning to confess, and then slipped into the village office.Petrov, the patrol sergeant of the village, is his father-in-law, and they just sat down and chatted together when they were bored.

But today he obviously forgot to look at the calendar when he went out, because old Petrov was walking up and down in the main room angrily.Another patrolman, who was sitting in the room flipping through Pravda to read the latest news about the battle situation, immediately winked at Shao Yuanyi when he saw him coming in, and then went out for a stroll with a strange smile on his face—— um, The patrol went.

"Anna was abducted by a sailor. The sailor was a pauper. He just came from Dongfang Mingguo at the beginning of this year. I met him at the time. I should be wary of this. That guy can speak well and is very good at deceiving people. He saw He took Anna’s money and wanted to persuade her to spend money to buy a boat, so he tried to sweet talk Anna, and he succeeded in the end!” Petrov cursed a few Russian slang words when he said this, “That guy is in I work on a cod fishing boat of the South China Sea Fishing Company. Recently, they are auctioning off a batch of small Spanish fishing boats from La Plata. The price is very cheap. This guy didn’t have enough money, so he tricked Anna away and wanted to buy a boat with her. Oh, I shouldn't have given Anna that much money."

Hearing what his father-in-law said as soon as he arrived, Shao Yuanyi was also a little speechless.His father-in-law had always wanted his youngest daughter to marry an officer, or some decent engineer, technician, or whatever, but not a sailor!However, Shao Yuanyi has a different opinion on this matter. He met the young man and chatted with him. An Shiji used to be a bodyguard teacher before, and he has traveled all over the world for many years and has seen a lot. No wonder he was able to deceive that little girl, Anna.

This person gave Shao Yuanyi a pretty good feeling, and he was more self-motivated. Anna's marriage to him was not necessarily a bad thing.But at this time, he couldn't say that in front of the old man, so he just tried to persuade him a little bit and then diverted the topic elsewhere: "The brick kiln in the village is about to resume work, do you know?"

"Of course I know." Petrov sat down on a chair, took a sip of a cup of warm yerba mate tea, and then said: "This brick kiln faced a shortage of manpower when it was put into production. The production capacity has been inferior to the other four domestic wheel kilns. There are only a few dozen full-time workers, so a large number of seasonal temporary workers are usually recruited. Many temporary workers are local residents. Pocket money, so this time is often the time when the output of the wheel kiln is the highest. However, once the busy farming season or other projects that require a large amount of labor are started, the output of the wheel kiln will drop sharply after a large number of temporary workers leave. It may even be discontinued for a while.”

"Fortunately, this wheel kiln is mainly used to supply several towns near us, and the demand is not particularly large. It is almost enough to fire a batch on the kiln every now and then." Petrov continued, " But this time there is obviously some trouble. Dingxi Fort, Baoan Township, and Northern Botanical Garden by the Duck Lake in the north are all expanding settlements and constructing water conservancy facilities to accommodate the group of oriental immigrants who will arrive in two or three months. There is a great demand for building materials. We are the nearest brick kiln to Beiyazi Lake, and most of the bricks and tiles needed are provided by us. In addition, the construction of the second phase of irrigation canals in the low bunker has a great impact on the red kiln. The demand for bricks is even greater. This time the township government hastily demanded that the brick and tile wheel kiln factory resume work, which is the reason.”

"Nowadays, there is an urgent labor shortage everywhere in the country. Why are there so many projects to be started? Where can we get the manpower?" Shao Yuanyi sat down depressed and said with a frown.

There is a reason for him to be so depressed, because the township requires every village to send people to the brick kilns to help in turn. Although they say they will be paid, who cares about those scraps of paper?Now the alfalfa fields in the mountains are about to be harvested, and the harvested pastures need to be dried, cut, and silaged, all of which are time-consuming and laborious tasks; the livestock at home also need to be fed, and the cows will be in estrus in a few days. From time to time, people from the agricultural technology station are invited to guide artificial insemination techniques in order to increase the number of pregnant cows as much as possible; in addition, the township has also issued a notice, and the construction of gravel roads between villages in the township is also on the agenda. At present, the site selection of the route has been selected, and the village requires that the land leveling work will start in the near future. This is another project that requires a large amount of labor.

Calculating in this way, in the next few months, the people in the village will hardly be free for a moment. When a large number of men are transferred to the front line to fight, the remaining people need to work together and get up early in the dark to finish what they are doing now— — After all, the wheat seedlings in the field also need care.In such a situation where the use of labor is extremely tight, the superiors actually need people from all villages to go to the brick and tile wheel kiln factory to work in production. How is this possible!

"If you don't have any manpower, you need to gather people for the project." Petrov's awareness is not low. He also expressed his understanding of the government's various measures, and he continued: "What is the difficulty for us now? We are short of manpower. Especially during the war, the manpower is even more insufficient! Then in the first few months of next year, a large number of new immigrants will flood into our country. This is a correct measure to alleviate the current shortage of manpower and enhance our national strength. But we must resettle these New immigrants have to build new settlements. Don’t just stare at the three expanded old settlements in the north. In the depths of the southern grasslands, the technicians of the Construction Bureau of the Ministry of Communications are working hard to plan for the new settlements. As for the site selection, the construction of those places is the big head, it is really built from scratch, bit by bit, and of course most of these are the work of the new immigrants."

"With talents, national power will be improved." Petrov's cadre training course was not in vain. At this time, he commented on major national affairs in a clear way: "With people, wheat production will increase, and with people, road traffic will increase." It is more convenient to repair, the catch will be greatly increased with people, etc. In short, there are people who have everything. Seeing that the war with the Spaniards is not over, it may continue to be fought for many years. There are constant battles on the front line Death, illness and death are all the labor of strong and strong men. If there are no new recruits to fill in, how will the vacancies after their death be filled? If there is no supplement, how will this battle continue? Is it right now to admit defeat and let the Spaniards come over? Come here and take everything from us? Of course it won't work!"

Hearing his father-in-law giving him a political lesson so eloquently, Shao Yuanyi suddenly felt a little dizzy, and now he regrets bringing the topic to this direction.He just casually complained a few words about the devastation of the domestic people's livelihood and the squeeze on the labor force of the people caused by the protracted war, and then led his father-in-law to teach himself a class, which was really depressing.

So he immediately explained: "Of course I am not opposed to the government's decision, I am just worried about how to deploy the labor force, but this is not my business, it is the village head's business, why should I worry about it! At worst, the villages will be completed. , The dolls of the Township Central Primary School were organized and concentrated in the brick kiln factory to make bricks. This is not heavy physical work, nor does it require much technical content. We organize them to suspend classes for ten days and a half months, and concentrate on producing a batch of red bricks. Brick to get rid of some of the most urgently needed projects first. If it is not possible, let the children work during the day and go to school at night, which should alleviate a considerable part of the labor shortage situation.”

But when he was talking about this, Shao Yuanyi couldn't help complaining again: "Even the dolls have to contribute their strength to the war, what a fuck! Why is this battle so futile, I hope that after this truce, there will be no more wars It’s easy to start a war, and I usually don’t know it, but it takes a long time to know that it’s better to be peaceful.”

(End of this chapter)