Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 796 Diplomacy and Crisis ([-])

January 1650, 1, Xingnan Port, sunny.

A 1200-ton large clipper sail transport ship slowly sailed into the port with the help of a steam tugboat, and then a fresh water supply ship immediately drove up to replenish the transport ship from the mainland. Fresh food - these are vegetables and livestock produced in the outskirts of Xingnan Port.

The ship was loaded with rails and had a deep draft, so it was pulled slowly by a steam tug to the side of a deep-water pier on the Sand River (Chico River).On the wharf, two heavy-duty steam cranes that had just been installed in place also started to unload the cargo.The unloaded rails were quickly transported onto horse-drawn railcars, and then sent directly from the pier to the far side of the embankment, and with the help of the 1649-type railcar, the laying of railroad tracks began.In addition, some other rails were transported to horse-drawn trucks with a load of about 2 tons, and then directly drove onto the Xingnan Highway via the Shugang Highway, and were transported to some construction sections between the Liangyang Railway.

There are a dozen or so small steamships following this ship, mainly steam tugboats, steam coal supply ships, steam water supply ships, and occasionally one or two small ice drive ships and disinfection ships, all of which are located in Xingnan Port. The total value of such essential facilities for a modern port is close to 30 yuan, which is not a small amount even for a large concern enterprise like the Southern Railway Company.

"The executive committee is very generous. It allocated so many ships for the port at once. In addition, it squeezed us 25 yuan in cash. Could it be that the sun came out from the west?" On the pier, the vice president of the Southern Railway Company Wang Qinian said with a smile towards the captain of the "Common Market", Lieutenant Commander Wang Tiechui.

"It was all owed by the executive committee to the Southern Railway Company in the past. As a major shareholder, the executive committee has not paid off its share capital yet, and the difference is at least 20. This time, only 25 of the 15 cash came The share capital, and the other [-] yuan is the subsidy for this year. They have been issued together and are currently stored in the account of the Union Industrial Credit Bank. But now that the government is in financial difficulties, it is really not easy to squeeze out so much money and goods for you all at once. Yes." Wang Tiechui grinned, showing his yellow teeth, and said.

Wang Tiechui had just been promoted to major by the Ministry of the Navy a while ago, but the rumored post of Commander of the Third Fleet has not been moved for a long time.It’s not that there are any powerful figures who object to him taking up this position. The main reason is that the Executive Committee and the Government Affairs Council do not agree with the continued expansion of the Navy. The current two fleets have made it difficult for them to support them. If they want to build a third fleet, Maybe we have to continue to buy more ships, the executive committee is afraid that the finances will go bankrupt immediately.Besides, Minister of the Navy Lu Ming was recently promoted to the Chief of the General Staff of the Military Department.Therefore, they also strongly opposed the establishment of the Navy's Third Fleet, otherwise their own military expenditures may be further squeezed by the Navy, which is unacceptable to the Army system.In this way, under the non-cooperation of many parties, Wang Tiehammer's commander of the Third Fleet was temporarily ruined.At present, the Ministry of the Navy is still working hard, but I believe that there should be no changes in a short time.

However, even though the Third Fleet is gone, the Admiralty still plans to send Wang Tiehammer to the Pacific Ocean, where he will be stationed in the port of Araucan.At the same time, he also allocated some sail frigates to him to form a fleet, which he commanded and was responsible for the maritime safety of the southeast Pacific.As for the name, it is called the Second Squadron of the First Fleet, and Major Wang Tiehammer will serve as the commander-in-chief of the squadron.

"This time the news from France was brought back to the mainland, which suddenly ignited the sense of crisis among the executive committee members." Wang Tiehammer said carefully to Wang Qinian, a veteran of the navy, "The French market is in danger, and it will be closed in the second half of this year at the latest. At that time, industrial production will be greatly affected, and the domestic economy will inevitably fall into depression. As for how to get out of the depression, whether we can get out of the depression, it depends on the various domestic policies. This time Isn't the purpose of sending the battleship "Common Market" and several frigates into the southeast Pacific waters to protect the safety of the Pacific immigration route and the smuggling trade route with Chile?As for the Spaniard's proposal that warships on the east coast should not enter the Pacific Ocean, fuck him, whoever wants to abide by it, anyway, we don't intend to give the Spaniard face.Of course, we wouldn't be so stupid as to go cruising north to provoke the Spaniards..."

"The prospect of the smuggling trade with the Spaniards looks very good, but there are bound to be many twists and turns. It is really hard to say how large it will be in the future. The Spanish nobles and Genoese monopoly merchants whose interests have been damaged , Holland, France, England, Portugal, and Sweden smuggling businessmen, in short, they offended all they could offend. Although they are all businessmen, they do not represent the attitude of their country, but it is not a good thing to set up an enemy for themselves for nothing." Wang Qi Young smiled slightly, and then said: "Of course, no matter how difficult it is, we have to do it. This is the way of the world, and dead friends don't die poor people. We have a crisis to overcome, and we have lost a lot of profits in other places. Then you have to make up for it from here. The cake is so big, if someone else eats an extra piece, you eat one less piece. If you can’t agree, you have to resort to force—this is the true universal value of this cruel world. Everything else is false."

Isn't it!In this era when great voyages have just entered the middle stage, if there should be any axioms, there is probably only one such as "the truth is within the range of naval guns".No matter how reasonable you are and how good you are at talking, it’s still no match for someone with more guns and a thicker barrel than you.Everything depends on strength, there is no justice, no human rights, only power!

"...So, this time, the executive committee showed great kindness and distributed part of the long-overdue materials and subsidies, just to support the Southern Railway Company to speed up the progress of railway construction. But what about people? There are still not enough people, and the current construction There is a shortage of manpower everywhere on the construction site, and if there is not enough manpower to replenish, I can say responsibly that the Liangyang Railway will not be open to traffic within four to five years.” Wang Qinian and Wang Tiehui chatted for a long time, and by this time the executive committee had reached The committee intends to speed up the development of the Southern Railway Company and increase the intensity of immigration on the Pacific route, so Wang Qinian immediately raised doubts.

"The executive committee has considered it." Wang Tiehammer said affirmatively, "I heard people from the immigration department talk about it in the capital. Next, the local side will continue to send more than 1000 Polish prisoners of war to Xingnan Port. In addition, Livonian immigrants from Europe at their own expense and Italian immigrants introduced by labor brokers will be given priority here. These people should be able to effectively supplement the shortage of manpower in some railway construction sites. If it is not possible, After the summer harvest of food is over, the Ministry of the Army will carry out local mobilization in several counties in the south, and organize thousands of militiamen to capture some Kelandi people as slaves. The church in Dingxi County in the north has also been trying to move westward, with Kuala The conflict between the Nigerians will inevitably become fierce, and it will not be too easy to find a reason to catch thousands of Guaranis to build the railway, it depends on your determination..."

"In addition, the Executive Committee has made up its mind." Having said this, Wang Tiehammer's face became serious, as if this is something that may cause great social turmoil: "The Executive Committee has ordered the Government Council to raise funds a month ago , has intensively placed a batch of orders for immigrant ships from the three major shipyards, and strives to build them before the departure of the immigrant fleet at the end of May, and then sail to the Far East on time. The number of these newly built ships will reach an unprecedented 8, fully It is more than twice as many as in the past. After these ships have passed, according to the plan, there will be 22 transport ships from Heishui to Australia, and 7 ships from Heishui to South America via Australia. Excluding losses, the annual About 1.5 more people can be sent to the mainland. In this, the Southern Railway Company will also benefit a lot, after all, there are as many as seven ships transporting immigrants for you."

It is said that as the fishing fleet of the South China Sea Fisheries Company is getting bigger and bigger, more and more sailors have been trained on the cod fishing boats with twice the manpower.Among these sailors, those with average qualifications were assigned to merchant ships and immigration transport ships, and those with excellent qualifications were assigned to the navy (of course, this is a minority).In other words, today's East Coast Republic can already have more transport ships, because the bottleneck of sailors that restricted the East Coast has been partially alleviated.

Of course, the sudden increase in the number of immigrants is also a test for the social tolerance of the East Coast: housing, food, women, etc. will all face huge gaps. In addition, too many Ming people entering the mainland will also cause social indigestion , the decline in the efficiency of integration and assimilation, changes in the social atmosphere that are not controlled by the Executive Committee, etc., in short, it is a bunch of troubles that need to be handled properly, otherwise it may cause turmoil in the country.After all, the current old citizens are not fools. Whether it is to increase the number of immigration transport ships or increase the number of immigrants, the huge transportation and resettlement costs are actually subsidized by them. How to appease their emotions and deal with the old and new The friction between citizens is also a very challenging thing.

"People from the immigration department said that the executive committee's intention is very clear: at least the immigrants on the Pacific route for the first five years will all settle in the subsidiary of the Liangyang Railway (one league on both sides of the railway) under the jurisdiction of the Southern Railway Company. Of course you You don’t have to be so honest. The Spaniards in Southern Patagonia have sold us a lot of rights and interests. Among them, there are many terms that are ambiguous and borderline. You don’t have to be limited to the railway annexes. You can also settle in other places. Well. The first priority is to build this place well, anyway, we will renew the contract with the Spaniards in the future, and these places will be ours sooner or later." Wang Tiehammer finally said.

He didn't say how he would renew the contract with the Spaniards in the future, and Wang Qinian didn't ask, was it nothing more than spending money or going to war!

(End of this chapter)