Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 838 Across the Ocean ([-])

Half a month passed in a flash.

During this period, four motorboats from the mainland called at the port. This is a fleet dedicated to transporting immigrants to the Southern Cone on the South Pacific route.They brought some cement, lime, agricultural tools, seeds, food, machine parts and other materials from the mainland, and a ship was fully loaded with hundreds of tons of coal produced in the Montenegro coal mines.These materials will be stored in warehouses on the island to supply local construction and ship repairs.It can be seen that the local people are paying more and more attention to the important intermediate node of Tahiti Island.

In addition to supplies, about forty or fifty technicians from all walks of life arrived here.Among them are students from Bingtuanbao, students who graduated from shipyards and machinery factory technical schools, and some experienced masters directly transferred from the workshop. These people will be combined with the last batch of technicians who arrived here , and then recruit some clever apprentices locally, which constitutes the local industrial base, and can almost operate some extremely basic factories.

"With these technicians and two or three thousand immigrants, we can almost gain a firm foothold around Jinhua Port." Zhang Jinhua stood on a wooden watchtower outside the city, looking at the nearby grass with high spirits. Kazuki.

Jinhua Port is the later Afa Ashiti, and the lagoon bay surrounded by coral reefs is also called Jinhua Lake or Jinhua Bay.It can be seen that this is named after him—of course, this has also been approved by the Executive Committee—and he himself is the special commissioner of the South Pacific route handpicked by the Executive Committee, in charge of all aspects of the South Pacific immigration route. For the construction of the node, the node will be stationed in Tahiti for the time being.

This newly built port city is located on a coastal flood plain, surrounded by large virgin forests, with lagoons on the north and south sides, and towering peaks on the west.The climate is warm and the sea breeze is blowing. Apart from being too humid, the living environment is quite good, at least not as hot as imagined, perhaps because of the southeast wind blowing here all the year round.

The coastal flood plain, formed by volcanic ash brought down by rivers to the west, is roughly similar to the plains of northern Argentina and is very fertile agricultural land.Coupled with the unique excellent climate here, it is no wonder that such exquisite varieties as Tahitian sugar cane and Tahitian lime can be bred. Duandi is a good place.

In the past half month, [-] new and old soldiers of the Tahiti garrison took turns to fight, and the coastal plain in the area east of Jinhua Port has been roughly cleaned up, annihilating more than ten Tahitian tribes, killing and wounding two natives. More than a thousand, it can be regarded as basically controlling this area.Even if there are still some natives hiding in the dense forest in the mountains at this time, it will be fine.

As for the territory west of Jinhua Port, due to the undulating mountains and extremely complicated terrain, Zhang Jinhua does not plan to set foot in it for the time being.What the people on the east coast currently control is basically the essence of the island.If it is well developed, it can feed tens of thousands of people.When they finish digesting this place, they will go west to search and suppress the natives, and take advantage of the trend to occupy the entire island.

However, not occupying the western half does not mean that they will not conduct preliminary surveys here.Also within half a month, Zhang Jinhua ordered Navy Sergeant Liu Fubo to lead a fully armed expedition westward into the mountainous area to conduct a detailed survey of the local vegetation, terrain, climate, and native villages.

Here is a conical mountain range, very steep, made of ancient volcanic rock.The steep mountains are separated by deep valleys from time to time, and the land in the valleys is often very fertile. There is no doubt that there are people living in such valleys, but they may not be enemies, because the natives on the island do not come from a land that does not fall Or it is not a single heart.They used shells as currency and lived a very primitive life.If the people on the east coast are willing, they may be able to send a ship of shells over, buy up their goods, and create an impressive inflation for them by the way-of course this is just a joke.

The valley plain at the bottom of the canyon is extraordinarily fertile and well-watered, and the rainwater that falls can be fully retained.Unlike the hillsides on both sides, it is difficult to get in touch with the humid rain outside the mountains, and it cannot retain much precipitation, so it is relatively dry and barren, with more ferns growing, which is quite different from the trees on the bottom of the valley and on the mountains.

According to the agricultural technician who went together, rice and corn can be planted in the valley, and grass can be planted on the hillside. If it is well developed, many people can indeed live.In particular, the mountains here have a vast area and great development potential, which is more than enough as a node for ocean transportation.And if the local officials are willing, they can also plant a large number of tropical cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, and sugar cane on this island, and then vigorously cultivate black pearls artificially. If it is well developed, it will definitely be a fortune.

On October 1650, 10, after preliminarily settling all matters on the island, Zhang Jinhua left Jinhua Port, sailed eastward against the southern equatorial warm current, and arrived at the Galapagos Islands on November 11. sea ​​area.Before they left, two ships from Australia brought 11 Ming immigrants to Tahiti again, as well as some livestock.Among the livestock are four horses, six cows, ten pigs, and twenty goats. In addition, there are four hump cows specially caught from Xinhua Island, two Indian bison, and seven or eight elephant birds unique to Xinhua Island. ——This is an animal that the local government has worked so hard to get. I really don't know if it is the last few on that island.

After arriving at the Turtle Islands against the current (named by people on the east coast, the Galapagos Islands, which originally means the island of giant turtles), the steam-powered ship "Tahiti" slowly docked at a large island in the archipelago. ——San Cristobal Island offshore, and sent people to land.Except for a few harbors, most of this island is a seaside cliff mainly made of black basalt. The island is full of weeds and trees that have been scorched by the scorching sun. The water vapor in the air is obviously abundant, but there is no rainfall in the dry season. .Of course, this is not a big problem for plants, but it is a trouble for the sailors on the east coast who go ashore to fetch water.They found the small stream they used to get water from when they camped, but they had no choice but to return to the boat when they found it had dried up.

"The water vapor in the air is obviously very large, it looks like a steamer under the transpiration of the sun, and the clouds are so low, but why doesn't it rain? This island is really strange! Animals probably can only eat plants or dew to quench their thirst Let's go!" Zhang Jinhua depressedly put down the binoculars on his chest, poured some beer from the kettle at his waist and drank it, then smacked his mouth and said, "Change another place and go to the biggest island to try your luck."

On October 10, the "Tahiti" moored in the waters near Bank Bay on the northwest side of Isabela Island, and then continued to send sailors ashore in small boats to fetch water.The island—at least its northern half—has a much harsher environment than San Cristobal Island, arid, hot, and sparsely vegetated, with large swathes of black volcanic rock exposed.

The island is full of large and small conical craters. Liu Fubo, who led the team, felt that if these volcanoes had not erupted for many years, a lake would naturally form in the craters, which could be used by people on the east coast to draw water.His suggestion was approved by everyone, so a group of people went straight to the largest crater.

The exposed rocks at the foot of the mountain are full of lizards of various colors, and when they see people coming, they hide in their caves.The East Coasters paid no attention to the animals as they made their way up the slope to the summit.The more you go up, the more green plants there are, and the more water you can see.At the beginning, there were low shrubs and weeds, then cacti, acacia trees, and finally even large trees, which made people marvel at the magic of nature.From time to time, some panicked wild boars or wild goats appeared in the woods, but the people on the east coast didn't know it, and they went to the top of the mountain with all their heart.

There is indeed a lake at the bottom of the crater!After Liu Fubo and others climbed to the top of the mountain, they immediately discovered this fact.There is also a small island at the bottom of the lake, which seems to be the real crater.Regardless of 21, everyone began to descend the ash-filled hillside to the bottom of the crater, but to their disappointment, the water here turned out to be salt water!

The dejected people went down to the starting point at the foot of the mountain. At this time, the two sailors who stayed here had just killed a tortoise weighing more than 90 kilograms, and they were processing the turtle meat.After everyone ate a tasteless roasted turtle meat here, they continued to set off in the afternoon, and after searching several craters, they finally found a freshwater lake, and then sent people back as if they had found a treasure. report.

After the fresh water problem was resolved, the people on the east bank did not evacuate immediately.On the contrary, they spent about a week or so on a rough survey of several large nearby islands, and found an extremely rich amount of sulfur mines here-this is an extremely scarce resource on the east coast.It's a pity that this place is still nominally the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, and the geographical location is very sensitive. People on the east coast can't make mistakes in a short time, so they can only slowly find a way in the future.

It has such a good geographical location (on the immigration route), no tropical diseases such as malaria, and rich minerals and unique animal and plant resources, whether it is used as an immigration transfer station or a fishing port (backed by Peruvian fisheries), Or the development of minerals, both have considerable value.It's just that due to the situation, you can't occupy it in a hurry, so you can only plan it slowly in the future.

After leaving the Turtle Islands, the "Tahiti" returned to the Port of Araucan. The technicians from Zhenhai Shipyard, who had been waiting for a long time for a month, came to check the status of the ship, understand the problems that occurred during the voyage, and prepare to go back and continue to optimize This type of ship, and strive to finalize mass production as soon as possible.

And Zhang Jinhua also took a carriage to Xingnan Port, preparing to return to the east coast.In addition to reporting to the executive committee, he also planned to take his family over, and then continue to take the "Tahiti" to Jinhua Port to take up his post there.

(End of this chapter)