Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 776 On the Bank of Wujiang River ([-])

In August 1649, as the main force of the third convoy of the East Coast Republic’s concentrated convoy fleet successfully returned from Europe (and a few frigates were escorting the French transport ships transporting female slaves), the warm atmosphere in the East Coast reached its peak. reached the top.Because this time the east coast escort fleet was not attacked by the Spanish fleet, the Spanish ships staying in the mainland (the main fleet went to the New World, also for the Spanish treasure fleet) were all huddled in various ports, watching the east coast ships pass through Gibraltar Strait, crossing the Messina Channel, bypassing the Bay of Biscay without being indifferent, all this shows that the strength of the East Coast Navy should not be underestimated.In particular, its small-scale but extremely capable lineup of main battleships has made Spain and other veteran maritime powers quite afraid, not to mention the navies of Britain and France with only 8 to [-] professional military ships. People on the east coast of the New World raised their faces and ambitions.

The convoy returning from the trade also brought back a considerable number of female slaves—all Bulgarian, Romanian, and Greek female slaves purchased from the Azov Sea Caravan of the Ottoman Empire. The number of them was about three to four thousand.In addition, there are less than 4000 immigrants from Livonia, who were recruited by the Riga merchant station within a year.They have no religious beliefs, even their ethnicity is vague, and they have been discriminated against and oppressed by Poland and Sweden, the two suzerain countries for a long time.

The female slaves will enrich the old settlements in the country to enrich the local population and balance the gender ratio in the region, while the newly arrived Livonians, according to the planning of the Ministry of Immigration, will be resettled on the banks of the Wujiang River (Uruguay River) in several settlements.These settlements have not been established for a long time, and the degree of development is not enough. After the war with the Spaniards, the executive committee decided to develop the area along the Wujiang River, and strive to build it into another land of prosperity and prosperity in the east coast.

After years of hard work by the navy, the hydrological conditions in the middle and lower reaches of the Wujiang River have basically been clarified.According to the information given by the Navy, this section of the river is extremely wide and the water flow is extremely abundant. The narrowest part of the river not far south of Jingjiang Port (New Palmyra) is more than one kilometer wide, and it can completely navigate large ships.Moreover, the water depth of the central channel of the Wujiang River is generally more than 4.3 meters, which has exceeded the draft of the deepest ship on the east bank. If the vicinity of the wharf is dredged and cleaned up, several good ports can be created along the Wujiang River.

On August 8th, a new batch of 15 new immigrants from Livonia came to Jingjiang Fort. After a year and a half of development, this settlement, which was founded in early 1648, now has a little bit of urban prototype.Castles, reservoirs, military camps, lumber mills, farmland, residential houses, brick kilns and other facilities are neatly planned, and the number of residents has expanded to 500 (plus [-] new arrivals). After being liberated, he lived a comfortable and fulfilling settled life ever since.

The river bank is a fertile virgin land that has been abandoned for many years. From time to time, a stream of air with a slight river smell blows from the river. Seagulls are flying up and down above the river, and long-billed egrets stop at some wetlands on the river bank. From time to time, they stick their beaks into the water to hunt fish and shrimp.In the distance, a fiery red fox was looking at the group of egrets greedily, thinking about what to do with his lunch.

"Standing here, you can see the other side of the river." Tang Yuan, the first executive member of the Central Committee and former Minister of Finance, stood on the bank of the Wujiang River with her huge beer belly and said, looking at the lush forest on the other side.He is 51 years old this year, and he is fat. He was exhausted after walking around all afternoon, and he was already panting heavily with his hands on his hips.

Tangyuan is the commissioner of the Wujiang District Administrative Office newly established by the Executive Committee, and is in charge of the development of Wujiang area and the development and construction of various settlements.As a "big man" who served as a member of the Central Executive Committee, Tang Yuan, who came out of the mountain again, decided to do her best to develop Wujiang, a good place, even if...even if she was herself I don't hesitate to lose thirty or fifty catties!

Liao Xiaoyao, who had just passed his 35th birthday, smiled and said, "Yes, not only can I see the forest on the other side, but also the Kelandi people who live and work on the edge of the forest. , This is the most important thing. To be honest, I am not interested in the forests, pastures, mines, and cultivated land in La Plata. What I am most interested in is fighting the Spaniards. It's a pity It’s a pity that even that fun is now taken away.”

Liao Xiaoyao is the head of the 35th Regiment of the Guards Corps of the Executive Committee, and is also quite influential in the 36th and 37th Regiments. Now, as the soldiers of the Academy Corps enter the local military and political departments and major enterprises in large numbers, Liao Xiaoyao's own political future also rose accordingly.At present, he has been valued by many military and political leaders and is competing to win him over, and he is very popular in the political arena on the east coast.

After the war with the Spaniards ended, Liao Xiaoyao, who was originally the garrison commander of Buenos Aires, was transferred back to China.After resting for a while, he was reactivated by the executive committee and transferred to the Wujiang area to serve as the regional security commander. While assisting the district commissioner Tangyuan to improve local security, his most important task was to liaise and move to Jingjiang. The gang of Kelandi people on the opposite side of the port keep abreast of their developments and give them all-round support at any time to ensure that they will not be quickly wiped out by the Spanish army, and they can also play a role in the interests of the East Coast Republic of China when needed in the future .

Now there are quite a few Kelandi people who have moved here. According to the rough statistics that Liao Xiaoyao sent people to the other side, there are probably no less than 5000 people.In addition, in the north opposite Yong'an Port, there are about thousands of Kelandi settlers who have just settled down.The more than [-] Kelandi people in these two places are basically former rebels and their families who escaped from the Spanish in the south. Now these people are afraid of being strangled by the Spanish army, and at the same time they are unwilling to follow the people on the east coast to develop colonies overseas. Under the compromise, they could only flee to the forest and swamp area east of the Paraná River and west of the Wujiang River to "recluse" in seclusion.

While accepting aid from the East Coast people, of course, they also have to accept the other party’s secret control. Judging from the current situation, these Kelandi people are still clear-headed, knowing that the basis for their survival is the East Coast people. aid, so one by one is still cooperative.The instructors sent by the East Bank to guide them in their military training reported to Liao Xiaoyao that the Kelandi people realized their own shortcomings and were very interested in participating in the military training organized by the East Bank.Although the degree of hard work and hard work is far inferior to that of the militiamen on the east coast, and they also have various chronic diseases of barbarians-such as freedom and laxity, they have improved a lot compared to before.It seems that they are already aware of the huge survival pressure they may face in the future, so they are working harder now.

While the people on the east coast provided military training to the Kelandi people, they also gave them considerable economic assistance.The most important way is to provide some corn seeds cultivated by the Northern Botanical Garden on the East Bank. These corn seeds are some phased results obtained by the garden in the breeding process. Traits are not yet fully grasped.At present, the Northern Botanical Garden is looking for some places to plant on a large scale to see how the actual effect is, so as to have enough data to support the next seed cultivation process.

But the Northern Botanical Garden did not dare to plant these potentially defective corn seeds to domestic farmers. They were really afraid that those township cadres who were extremely defensive would come to trouble them because of the poor harvest.Therefore, throwing these fields to the Kelandi people for planting at this time is a good move for them.Even if the seeds have some flaws—such as poor tolerance to disease—the yields plummet when harvested, but what does it matter?Anyway, it will not be Dong'an's own people who will have no food at that time, and the children of other people's families will never die.

"Don't hang around here anymore, get out. It's very windy on the river, and it might snow tonight. I have to go back and see if the residents don't have enough warm clothes." Tangyuan straightened the mink hat on her head, and then put her hands together Putting a cage in his sleeve, he walked slowly to the beautifully decorated carriage like an old farmer in the Northeast, got into the carriage with the support of his followers, and ordered the driver to go to the city.After the carriage moved, more than a dozen patrolmen also stepped on the horses, shouting and following.

After they left, Liao Xiaoyao stood aside boredly, looking at some farmers who were mowing the grass not far away.Now that Jingjiang Fort has just started, the three-crop crop rotation system has not yet been effectively implemented. Most of the farmers' fields are planted with grains, and very few leguminous pastures.Therefore, farmers often drive their livestock to the wild public land to graze during the slack season, and sometimes they also cut some pasture and take it home for storage.Anyway, there are fewer people and more land, and the per capita resources are very rich, but it is not enough.

The sheep raised by the farmers are provided by the breeding farm in Capital Ranch Township. At present, the farm has bred the seventh generation of East Coast bighorn goats. In addition, it has also produced some new breeds named Heihe sheep and Wujiang sheep. It's a good thing for all kinds of meat.Although it is not as good as top breeds such as European Merino sheep, the meat production rate and wool yield rate should not be underestimated, at least much better than before.At present, they are being donated to farmers to raise them separately to see if the genes can be passed on stably.

Liao Xiaoyao watched for a while, seeing that it was getting dark, so he called seven or eight of his subordinates to get on their horses, and then they also headed towards Jingjiang Fort.He will stay here for one night, and tomorrow morning he will take a small inland steamboat upstream to inspect the upper reaches of the Wujiang River.

(End of this chapter)