Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 674 The Will of the Navy

Araucan City (Puerto Natales) in midsummer is still relatively warm.Although the latitude here is very high, it is by no means a poor place. Because it is close to the ocean, the temperature is not very low.Perhaps the only shortcoming here is that the ocean current flowing through the sea in the west is a cold current, which makes the precipitation in the entire city of Araucan and its surrounding areas not very rich. In other words, it is a bit dry here.Although the annual precipitation will not be less than evaporation as in the Inner Mongolia grasslands of China, it is not much stronger. Therefore, to be honest, the conditions here are not very suitable for growing crops, and agriculture still depends on animal husbandry.

And the residents of Araucan City are like this.The population of this city has skyrocketed to more than 6000 in a short period of time, but the extremely low-level farmland outside the city cannot provide the food needed by the large urban population. Therefore, the core stronghold of the Araucans is not so much a city. , It is better to say that it is a large farm or livestock market.

The Araucan Liberation Army led by Vicente Jr. distributed the pastures in the vast surrounding area to some of the subordinates who first followed him to raise troops, and then these subordinates distributed the land to the soldiers under their command, thus forming a feudal military system. Noble group.This group uses resistance to the oppression of the Spaniards as its cohesion, and continues to strengthen its power by integrating the Araucans in Chile.

It's a pity that about 20 Araucans in the entire Chilean region basically live in the north. The southern mountainous area is sparsely populated, and the agricultural conditions are not good, so the population that can be accommodated is limited.If the Araucan Liberation Army wants to develop, it still has to expand its influence towards the north. If there is a chance in the future, it is best to move its stronghold to the north of Chiloe Island. Otherwise, it will always be a place that lives in the mountains. small regime.

But it is not easy to advance to the north!Leaving aside the fact that the Spaniards surpassed their weaponry and combat capabilities, it is still a question of whether the Araucans in the north recognize them or not.The so-called Araucans are just the way the Spaniards divided them. In fact, these Chilean natives are not a nation or tribe at all, and the hatred between many tribes is not small.Although everyone is being brutally exploited by the Spaniards, it is not certain whether the Araucan Liberation Army led by Vicente Jr. will develop well in the north-central region of Chile. Their mass base there is basically zero.

And it's pretty much the same.This armed guerrilla group that originated from Chiloe Island only advanced as far north as Puerto Barrios (Puerto Montt). The main founder of the guerrilla group, Vicente Sr., even died on that land.At that time, besides the Spanish whites, there were also a large number of Indians from Peru and northern Chile who fought with this guerrilla. These people had already believed in religion and became the lackeys of the Spaniards. The main composition of the Lima Army was These Indians—therefore, advancing north is extremely impractical for the Araucan partisans now.

Although the Araucans lived and died on the east coast, they would ask about it regularly, but they definitely didn't care much. For example, Captain Huang Yang from the Pacific Task Force of the East Coast Republic Navy was like this.His ship "Easternism" is moored by the only wooden pier near the city of Araucan. Some wounded and sick are being carefully lifted off by the sailors and sent to the sanatorium by the pier—in fact, some Wooden house - recuperate or wait for treatment.Several local doctors were sent here to perform some simple operations. At the same time, their professional nursing care also allowed the wounded and sick to recover faster.

It is located in the north of the city of Araucan, at the location of the post-World Borios Port, where the special docks and warehouses for the people of the East Coast were built.There are many messy cabins on the shore, which were cut down and built nearby by the Patagonian servants on the dock.This port and the surrounding area of ​​one kilometer have been bought by the people of the East Coast for a price of [-] cows. Regardless of whether the transaction is legal or not, at least in terms of actual effects, the fleet of the People of the East Coast is here Obtained a foothold and logistics base - although the area of ​​this base is a bit cramped, only a few square kilometers.

Captain Huang Yang also went ashore with the wounded, and Second Lieutenant Fabian, the person in charge of the shore logistics base, greeted him.Lieutenant Fabian was an early immigrant on the east coast, and also participated in the military operations that attacked Chiloe Island and Valdivia in 1633.After retiring from the military, he served as the deputy director of the township's armed forces department in Dingyuan Township, Dongfang County.With the rise of the war, Fabian, who was over forty years old, was once again enlisted in the army and came to southern Chile to serve as the director of the logistics supply base.

He, the director, has only fifty soldiers on hand, and they are all Patagonians. They usually live in the Taoist temple on the pier. Once a ship from the Pacific Task Force comes over, they will help the leader, transport supplies, pick up Generally speaking, the wounded and so on are relatively leisurely, so the enthusiasm is no longer the same as Second Lieutenant Fabian was quite satisfied.

"Sir, I've figured out what you asked me to investigate." Captain Fabian walked to Huang Yang's side and said in a low voice, "There are indeed coal storage points in the mountains in the northeast, and it seems that the reserves are very rich. We Coal seams appeared during the trial excavation at several locations. However, the coal seams are buried in different depths. Some can be mined in the open pit, and some may need to dig shafts and tunnels. However, the quality of the coal is good, much better than the local ones. Most of them can be used to make thermal coal, and it is not a big problem to supply naval ships after washing. Moreover, according to experts from the Ministry of Geology, some of the coal can also be used for coking, and the sulfur and ash content are very small , the industrial value is relatively large, and it is definitely worth mining.”

Huang Yang nodded upon hearing this.The place Fabian mentioned was called Rio Turvio in later generations. It is the largest coal mine in Argentina, with abundant reserves and good quality coal, supplying the needs of industrial production throughout Argentina.This exploration operation here has lasted for a long time, mainly funded and sponsored by the navy, because this coal mine is on the edge of Patagonia, only a few tens of kilometers away from the city of Araucan.If it is mined, of course the navy itself will benefit.

The reason why the Navy is willing to invest in the exploration of this coal mine is mainly because many people in the Navy Department are still unwilling to give up on getting a foothold in the southeast Pacific.They were going crazy to get a port here, and they even did not hesitate to bring the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Communications into their chariots.

The big pie they drew for the Ministry of Civil Affairs is the South Pacific immigration route, and the city of Araucan is its terminal.It only takes about [-] days for this immigration route to reach South America from Australia, and it can be sailed at any time of the year.Immigrants who arrived in Araucan lived here temporarily, and then waited for their superiors to organize them to go east along the Gallegos River, cross the entire Patagonian plateau, and arrive at the port of Rio Gallegos on the Atlantic coast. , and then return to China by boat.This immigration route is much closer and easier than taking the routes of Western Australia, New China and South Africa. The survival rate of immigrants along the way is bound to be high, which is still very attractive to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Of course, this route itself is also a pie drawn by the Navy for the Ministry of Communications.Because there must be a ship, a sailor, and a port if there is a route.And to cross the Patagonia region, it is necessary to build a road or railway. This is undoubtedly expanding the sphere of influence and influence of the Ministry of Communications, which is what they wish for.

In the end, the benefits of the Ministry of Agriculture are of course obvious, that is, the extremely rich fishery resources in Chile and Peru.You must know that the production here in later generations accounts for more than 20% of the total fishery production in the world. It is still being caught by Chileans and Peruvians. If the Chinese were to catch it, it is hard to imagine how high the production would be.Therefore, this one of the world's three major fishing grounds, whose fishery resources are ten times or even dozens of times that of the vicinity of the Port of Blanca, is also a fat meat that the Ministry of Agriculture must swallow.

After attracting so many allies, the Ministry of the Navy finally started substantive exploration and demonstration work under the impetus of some officers.This survey of coal mines in the Rio Turvio area is one of the important tasks. If this coal mine is developed, then the navy will no longer have to transport coal from the mainland to Araucan for storage. It can be pulled from the nearest coal mine dozens of kilometers away, which is very convenient.

The only obstacle now is probably that this is the nominal territory of the Spaniards, and they will probably not allow outsiders to set foot here.But for the navy, what is this? That is something that civilian white shirts need to consider. For the navy, they need to advocate their own interests.

Of course, Lu Ming, who is actually the number one man in the navy, still dislikes this kind of self-talking behavior, so this actually destroys the overall situation and adds a lot of unnecessary trouble to the government.But helplessly, this is the collective will of the Navy, and even some of his students are secretly asking him for support. After seeing this situation, Lu Ming suddenly felt very dizzy: Wang Qinian, these birds, have made the Navy How did you play?It's no different from those gangsters in the army, they have no country at all!

Thinking of this, Lu Ming secretly became ruthless: After this battle is over, I have to communicate with the executive committee to clean up the navy.Some incompetent officers were taken down as early as possible, so as not to become a self-talking military group like the Army in the future, and this is exactly what Lu Ming, who has a strong view of the overall situation, cannot bear.

But when it comes to the actions of the navy, the East Coast Navy, which has been wandering off the coast of Peru for more than two months, is almost ready to end the fighting in Peru, at least to return to the city of Araucan to rest and replenish ammunition temporarily.After the Spanish-Peruan fleet was wiped out, they simply pretended to be dead, and only cared about keeping the land, and ignored the rest.Under such circumstances, Lu Ming decided to lead the fleet south to see if the situation could plow the Chilean area.Because the connection between Chile and Peru has actually been cut off (the land is either a desert or a mountain), the people on the east coast can comfortably send the army ashore, and then name the Spanish colonial towns in the weak Chilean area one by one.

But before doing all this, the officers and soldiers of the Pacific Temporary Task Force first need to resupply—mainly ammunition. Captain Huang Yang's battleships went south in batches to resupply under such circumstances.

(End of this chapter)