Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 84 Duck Lake ([-])

early October.The expedition team that stayed at Zhenhai Fort for many days finally set off after bringing all the supplies. Xu Yu left behind a cavalry platoon to guard Zhenhai Fort under construction. Together with the boat, sail slowly north along the west shore of Duck Lake.

After spending the day, they stopped at the San Gonzalos River, which connects Duck Lake to Lake Mirin in the south.From here, the water of Milin Lake flows into Duck Lake, and finally flows into the Atlantic Ocean.There is a barren and primitive atmosphere on the river bank, and a large stretch of Brazilian pine forest stretches out and can't be seen at a glance.Meng Hu, a biologist accompanying the team, was overjoyed when he saw it, and kept memorizing things in a small notebook.

On October 10, the expedition team set off again after a short delay. This time they will no longer deliberately stop at a certain place, but head north along the Duck Lake at full speed, reaching the "legendary" place where the five rivers converge.

On October 10, after half a month of hard work, the expedition team arrived at the impact plain at the confluence of the Yakuy, Takquari, Kay, Sinos, and Gravatay rivers. .On the way, we experienced the baptism of many dangers such as poisonous snakes, jaguars, duck lake crocodiles, etc. Fortunately, no casualties were caused.This fragmented estuary floodplain is where Porto Alegre, the capital of Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state, would later be located.

On the east side of the estuary, the expedition encountered for the first time several local indigenous people - they came from a sub-tribe of the Guaraní people.These Guarani people didn't seem to be very vigilant about the arrival of such a group of strangers, especially when Xu Yu, the leader of the team, gave them some gifts such as knives and iron pots, these Guarani people seemed to be very vigilant. Even more enthusiastic.However, there are obviously still obstacles to communication between the two parties. These indigenous Guarani people speak a completely unfamiliar dialect, and even a Spanish immigrant in the expedition team who is familiar with the language of the Guarani people in Paraguay cannot understand it.

Of course, no one is surprised at this point.Aicha, the leader of the prospecting team, directly took out a few lumps of coal from his backpack, and while pointing them to the Guarani people, he pointed to the surrounding woods and mountains, meaning to ask the Guarani people where they had seen coal.The Guarani obviously understood what he meant, chattered a lot, and then took Aicha's hand to signal everyone to follow him.Xu Yu pondered for a while, and then decisively decided to go with the Guarani people.He brought the Guaranis onto the flat-bottomed boat, and a group of 60 people followed five Guaranis and began to walk upstream along the Yakuy River among the dense cinnamon groves on both sides of the river.This cinnamon grove was so drooling, he told Xu Yu that at this time, cinnamon, a condiment, can be sold at a high price in Europe, and how much wealth must be hidden in this grove.

At noon, they turned right at a confluence of rivers and entered the Kai River, followed the Kai River for a few kilometers, and when the expedition members were exhausted from rowing, they finally arrived at their destination.

Here is a river valley, the left side is the remnants of the Gerard Mountains, and the right side is the Kay River with abundant water. The land is quite fertile.There are a large number of simple Indian-style houses standing on the valley. Like the simple houses in Zhenhaibao, they are all made of reeds and branches.A lot of farmland has been reclaimed along the river bank, but the fields are still empty and there are no crops, but according to Menghu's guess, these Guarani people should usually grow corn.There were some livestock pens beside the field, and what made everyone a little nervous was that they found cattle in the livestock pens!

damn it!Where did they get the cattle? !This shows that they had contact with Europeans!Lu Ming kept his composure and exchanged winks with the others silently. Everyone understood and became more vigilant. Some even opened their pistol holsters to load ammunition.

"Take it easy, stranger!" came an elderly Guaraní man with white oil paint on his face and a crown of bright feathers on his head.After seeing Xu Yu and others' alert expressions, he smiled and said slowly: "Are you surprised? I have lived in the Paraná mission area in Spain for many years, so I can speak a little Spanish. Here are my people. We migrated from the Paraná River valley in the west. We have lived here quietly for many years. You are the first outsiders to enter this place in 20 years. Stranger, tell Aya Joe, where are you from? What are you doing here?"

After hearing the translation by his subordinates, Xu Yu felt relieved, and then explained in words: "Dear Elder Ayaqiao, we are an expedition team from the Eastern Republic of Huaxia in the south. Plant something." Soon, Ai Cha took two pieces of coal and handed them to Ayaqiao under Xu Yu's signal.

After Ayaqiao took it into his hand and looked at it, he smiled and said, "Stranger, this kind of thing is everywhere nearby. You can find it if you dig anywhere. We don't even need it to light a fire." stuff, because it produces too much smoke and too much ash, and it's not as good as wood."

Xu Yu and others were surprised and delighted when they heard this.Surprisingly, it seems that the quality of the coal here is not good. Most of them are low-quality lignite and bituminous coal with low calorific value, heavy dust, and many impurities. On the coal field, and the coal seems to be buried extremely shallow, so it is easy to mine.

"Strangers, do you need these black stones?" asked the old Guarani. "You want to come here to dig stones? Don't try to deceive me, strangers. The Guaranís betrayed us again by killing after trusting..."

Xu Yu stared fixedly at the indigenous elder in front of him, and then smiled: "Wise Elder Guarani, as you think, these black stones are exactly what we need, and we are indeed here to explore and mine Coal. As far as I know, your village may be located above a large coal field. Next, I will go back and report to my superiors. In the future, maybe we will send a team here to build houses and mine coal. "

"Then how will you treat me and my people?" Ayacho asked immediately.

"I can't answer this for you. But according to our country's policy, we may give you and your tribe some compensation, material compensation. Of course, your tribe can also accept our employment and work for us. Our compensation is Very rich."

Guarani old man Ayacho pondered for a long time, and then said lonely: "Young man, do you know why I led my people to migrate here from Paraná? When I was young, I met a The same young Spanish priest. The priest was a good and honest Valencian who taught me a lot about farming the land, raising livestock, and the way of life in the so-called 'civilized' world. But none of this meant anything to me. Attractive, what I yearn for is the life of our Guaranís themselves. We grow corn, we set up dams to fish, we hunt wild animals, all this is the real life of our Guaranís. In order to find our own Life, me and my people left Parana and came here. Now that 20 years have passed, has someone come to destroy our life again?"

Xu Yu was silent.

"Hehe, young man, don't blame yourself too much." Ayaqiao smiled wryly, "I can feel that some kind of change that I can't understand is happening in this world, and the previous way of life may no longer be able to continue quietly ...maybe you're right, look at my lads, they love your little presents so much. Go, young man, go talk to my lads, they're impressed with you, and will be To help you dig stones here. After all, they are the future of the Horde!"

The expedition stayed in this friendly Guaraní village for another three days.Within three days, they surveyed in detail the range of more than ten kilometers nearby, and got a general idea of ​​the location and size of the coalfield.The area of ​​this coal field is not large, and the coal produced is of low quality. In future generations, no one will invest in it.But now there is no coal mine in the whole country, and a large amount of industrial coal can only be imported, which consumes a lot of money.Moreover, according to the data of later generations, the coal in Brazil is basically of this quality. Are you looking for high-quality anthracite?Excuse me, cross the sea and dig in South Africa, there are plenty of them!

Thinking of this, Xu Yu discussed with Ai Cha, and then decided to stop the exploration and return to Zhenhai Fort to report the situation first.The time to come out is not short, it is time to go back and show yourself, so that everyone will not worry about whether your expedition team is in danger.

On October 10, the expedition bid farewell to the Guarani people and began to return.Before parting, the Guaraní people gave the expedition team some jaguar furs as gifts, and the expedition team also left the salt, spirits, ironware and other supplies brought by them. The two sides had a good time.

The expedition team went down the meandering Kai River, then entered the raging and wide Yakui River, and finally rushed into the vast and endless Duck Lake along the rushing water, where the color of the lake gradually changed. deep, showing changes in the salinity content of the lake water.

On November 11, the expedition returned to Zhenhai Fort at the south end of Duck Lake in just six days.And the news they brought back, unsurprisingly, aroused cheers in Zhenhai Fort: finally found coal!

(End of this chapter)