Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 843 Construction of Ancillary Lands ([-])

In December, the southern Patagonia region has entered the midsummer.

Outside the Qingniwa Fort (the town of El Turvio in Argentina, named after a rare swamp in the Gobi Desert), outside the fort wall, a group of newly arrived immigrants from the Ming Dynasty are busy in full swing.Beside them, there is a railway extending to the distant sky. This railway rushes towards the east like a long dragon with unstoppable momentum, and disappears in the vast Gobi.

Li Dayan, the senior editor of "Pravda", came to the Southern Cone Railway and its affiliates (extending one league on both sides of the railway line) again after more than a year for an interview. As for the content of the interview, his immediate superior ——Deputy editor-in-chief and director of the news department of "Pravda"—There is no hard and fast rule, just ask him to come here for an interview, find out the hot spots, and then come back to write a documentary interview.

Li Dayan thought about the explanation from his superiors, and had a deeper understanding of some of the thoughts of the executive committee in his heart-the members of the executive committee really look forward to the Southern Railway Company!Although the financial support is limited, the support in terms of talents, technology, materials and personnel is not insignificant.For example, the construction of the fourth phase of the local Northwest Railway (from Tieling Fort via Linxi Fort to Daxing Port) has delayed the expected opening time by a lot because a considerable number of construction personnel transferred the South Cone Railway to the south. The railway is even more distant, and it is estimated that there will be no possibility of large-scale start until the Southern Cone Railway is opened to traffic at least on a single track.

In addition to providing a large number of skilled workers for the construction of the railroad—they had been working on the Northwest Railroad for several years and had a lot of experience—the Executive Committee also provided a lot of personnel assistance to the Southern Cone Railroad and its dependencies.For example, more than three months ago, the executive committee sent more than [-] Greek slave girls to Qingniwabao to act as daughter-in-laws for the newly immigrated Ming immigrants from Shandong and Zhejiang, which made some local villages and towns extremely dissatisfied.

You must know that although a large number of Polish female slaves were purchased from the Cossacks and Tatars for two consecutive years (of course, the purchase of female slaves from the Ottomans was also carried out as usual, but the number was far less), due to the fact that the executive committee brought in immigrants from the Far East. The ratio is still extremely disparate, so although the number of male bachelors in the East Coast has declined, there are still 8000.If this kind of thing is not done well, it will easily cause dissatisfaction among the old immigrants on the east coast.It can also be seen from this that the executive committee made a difficult decision to send Balkan female slaves to the Southern Cone region!How much pressure they withstood again!

And the efforts provided by the executive committee in terms of immigration ships are also quite huge!Not much else to say, the number of 1200-ton motor-sailboats sailing on the circular immigration route in the South Pacific has officially reached as many as seven, and all the immigrants in the early stage will be resettled by the Southern Railway Company on the spot, and the local immigration department will not They will ask for any population from them, and on the contrary, they will subsidize part of the population here-for example, many Livonians who immigrated at their own expense were guided by the government to settle here.

According to the latest statistical data of the Southern Railway Corporation this month (December), the total number of settlements in the Southern Cone Railway affiliated settlements (Araucan Port, Montenegro Coal Mine, Qingniwabao, Sandcastle, Zixinbao and Xingnan Port) The population has reached 12, an astonishing increase of almost 2.45% within a year.Of course, in the short term, the increase in this number has almost reached the limit of the South Railway subsidiary.This area with a poor natural environment urgently needs a period of precipitation and construction before it can afford a larger population.

I believe that after the second half of next year, the Southern Railway Company will have to divert some immigrants from the Eastern Ming Kingdom to the northern mainland.Unless they are willing to take the risk of being discovered by the Spaniards, destroy the expressly stipulated content in the "Valladolid Treaty", and expand the settlements to a wide area outside the southern railway attachment - this is naturally feasible in the short term. No way.However, Li Dayan also deeply doubts whether the Southern Railway Company is willing to send the precious population back to the mainland.Maybe they will send a large number of Ming people to the Kingdom of Araucania (not accepted by the Kingdom of Spain) to divert the unaffordable population in the Southern Railway Attachment?

It was noon at this time, and the midsummer sun was drying the mouth and tongue.Li Dayan handed over the pack horses to his followers, and then several of them crossed to the bank of the Montenegro River (the Montenegro River is the later Turbio River, a seasonal river whose main water source is snowmelt in the Andes Mountains), and drank the cool snowmelt water stand up.After drinking, he took off his shoes and socks, and rudely put his feet into the cool water of the river.

The river here is beautiful blue, the water quality is very clear, reflecting the deep blue sky.The river flows fast, and some milky white waves appear from time to time. Compared with the thick gravels on the surrounding Gobi Desert, the river bottom here is mostly smooth and fine pebbles, which seems to be the result of the river's years of polishing and carving.

The aquatic plants along the river are quite luxuriant, including the nearby Qingniwa Wetland. The banks of the river are covered with blue moss and large dense reeds.Lesser ostriches (slightly smaller than the three-toed ostrich, another subspecies that mostly live in the Patagonia region), swamp deer, mallard ducks, agouti are the most common animals here, jackals, foxes, and pumas are common Of course, we must not forget the Andean vulture of the vulture genus, this ferocious animal is everywhere-well, it seems that the pattern on the flag of the East Coast Army is this animal.

Of course, in the eyes of the officers and soldiers of the Southern Railway Company's road guard team stationed in the local area, the most numerous "animals" in the local area are probably the guanacos and the Tehuelches.There are dozens to hundreds of guanacos in groups, and they are everywhere in the Gobi, grasslands, and oases. The number is unimaginably huge, and they are not afraid of people at all. Alfalfa or veggies, it's annoying.

The Tehuelche people are even more harmful to the residents on the east coast than these guanacos. They are very unfriendly aborigines, and they often rob the residents of the east coast.Li Dayan encountered an indigenous attack on the way here, those Tehuelche people still have some horses, God knows how they got here - of course this is not surprising, there are still many wild horses in Pampas and Patagonia now , are all descendants of the horses left by the Spaniards on the grasslands.To be honest, as far as Li Dayan has seen and heard, many Indians have pretty good equestrian skills, and of course the best are the Gauchos.Li Dayan suspected that the gauchos were even better at horsemanship than the Tatars of the Old World, because they could ride without a saddle and perform all kinds of incredible movements.

The Qingniwa Station of the Southern Cone Railway was built not far from the north of the wetland.The two-story brick and tile house serves as the main building of the station, and there is an open space with sparse weeds in front of the station, which is the platform.Of course there were no customers on the platform at this time, but there were some engineers and technicians who were making their final efforts to merge a section of branch railway extending from the Black Mountain Coal Mine into the east-west main line in front of the platform.

And after the merger of these two sections is completed, the coal in the Black Mountain Coal Mine no longer needs to be transported by horse-drawn carts on difficult slopes. The massive amount of coal can be transported to Qingniwa Station by train, and then turned around and transported westward to Aarau. Can Harbor.As for the railway to the east, it has only been extended for a short period so far, and it has not been repaired at all-even the roadbed is still far away.

Of course, the construction process of the eastbound railway will be accelerated, because the South Railway Company’s road protection team conducted an attack in the inland area of ​​Yancheng Port a while ago: Yancheng Port mobilized only a few hundred militiamen, and the South Railway Company Two cavalry squadrons (220 people, withdrawn under the sanction of the army) were dispatched. This mixed force suddenly attacked two Tehuelche tribes who came to drive away the small Kelandi tribe attached to the east bank, killing and wounding the enemy in one fell swoop. More than 300 people, and more than [-] people of men, women and children were also captured.The captured Indians have all been dispatched outside Qingniwa Fort, under the supervision of local patrolmen and Patagonian foremen, and the foundation has been leveled to build the railway.

As for the local residents, of course they built reservoirs in the Qingniwa area (built using natural wetlands) and opened up wasteland.Residents have reclaimed some fertile and moist land at the edge of the wetland, and alfalfa has been planted to improve the soil.Don't underestimate the development speed of Qingniwabao. This town, the midway node of the Southern Cone Railway, has been connected to the Montenegrin coal mine and the port of Araucan by railway. It is destined to develop faster and faster in the future—about this , Li Dayan firmly believes it!

After wiping his feet with a dry towel, Li Dayan put on his shoes and walked towards the township government surrounded by a circle of earth walls surrounded by his entourage.When he first came to this settlement, he heard something that interested him very much: since a considerable part of the first local immigrants came from Guanhaiwei and Cixi County, Ningbo Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, the newly arrived Zhejiang Encouraged by the energetic young cadres of Bingtuanbao, the immigrants put forward a plan to build Qingniwa into a beautiful "Jiangnan on the Fortress".They will dig ditches here, level the acres, develop orchards, and raise livestock. In addition, this place is at the intersection of the branch line and the main line of the railway, and the future development prospects are bound to be bright.And this is undoubtedly an excellent interview material for a veteran reporter like Li Dayan.After the content of the interview went back, a certain degree of artistic processing was carried out, and then it was an excellent documentary article in line with the main theme of the Executive Committee and the core values ​​of the East Coast. It would be perfect for publicity.

(End of this chapter)