Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 848 The Great Western Wilderness ([-])

"Researcher Chen, go north from here, cross this river, and you will enter the boundary of Taoyuan Township." The man from the shrub farm pointed to a small river with a width of more than ten meters in front of him, and said.

Because this place is too desolate and too sparsely populated, there is not even a bridge on this river, so we can only wade ashore.Fortunately, there were farm workers who were familiar with the nearby geography leading the way, so Chen Ke and the others quickly found a river section downstream that was suitable for swimming.

Today is January 1651, 1. Chen Ke and the others spent three weeks researching the Dahuang Farm, the Shrub Farm and the Guangrong Farm, and then they were ready to go to Taoyuan Township in the north (North of the Dahuang Farm) About 20 kilometers to the east, at the confluence of the Sausé River and the Little Olimar River) - the last destination of this survey operation - to conduct research.

A young man who acted as a guide—he was the son of a farm renter, just this year—ridden into the creek first, and saw him stripped naked and riding on a bare horse without a saddle.When the horse got close to the center of the river, the horse's legs could no longer touch the bottom of the river. The young man slipped off the horse's buttocks, grabbed the horse's tail tightly, and followed the horse to swim forward.Whenever the horse wanted to turn back, he splashed water on the horse's face, making the horse turn its head back and continue swimming; and when the horse's legs reached the riverbed on the other side of the river center, he jumped on the horse again back.Finally, when the horse stepped onto the opposite river bank, he had already stood firmly on the ground and was playing with his horse intimately.

The others looked at each other in blank dismay. They didn't have this young man's superb equestrian skills and familiarity with horses, which can only be achieved by people who have lived with horses all year round.I heard that in the western grasslands, many children of wealthy farmers would find ways to raise a horse when they were young. They would be familiar with riding skills while taking care of the horses. When they grow up, their riding skills are often very good.And these people are also the main force in every battle against the barbarians. They prepare their own horses, armor and sabers, follow the army's regular cavalry troops, and search for the camps of the Charuyas to attack.

Chen Ke spends more time working in the office than outdoors in a year, and his riding skills are naturally very average, so he can only take off his clothes honestly and swim down the river to the opposite side.Some of his entourage tried to imitate, others tried to learn the way of the guide-but most failed, and finally had to swim across the river honestly.

The deeper you go to the north bank of the river, the more desolate the ground becomes. There are scenes of animals living happily all the way, but there are no human habitation.The grasslands are covered with endless thistles and cardoons, two plants that seem to have been brought by the Spaniards from the Old World many years ago, but are now growing magnificently - it seems that the environment here is especially suitable for thistles Because of the growth of echinacea and echinacea, this kind of plant grows everywhere, almost forming a tendency of species invasion.

Chen Ke and others headed north along a sandy dirt road that could barely be called a road. The height of thistles and carnations on both sides was almost as high as a horse's back.According to a gaucho who was traveling with him, the thistles on the eastern prairie are not particularly tall. In many places on the fertile pampas prairie, the cardoons there are often higher than the rider Overhead, there are often cattlemen who carelessly lose their cattle in thistle bushes (and the domestic cattle happily become bison...), and the losses are heavy.

"It's all the fault of the Spaniards! Fortunately, this kind of plant does not grow well in wet areas suitable for farming. Otherwise, it will be troublesome when developing these areas in the future. It will take a lot of effort to clean them up. This is probably a stroke of misfortune. I'm lucky." Chen Ke looked at the tall thistles and carnations on both sides of the road, and thought with some gratitude.

In this way, they spent a day walking on the path among the tall thistles, and arrived in Taoyuan Township on the evening of January 1.The settlement in Taoyuan Township is not too many, there are about 21 people, most of them are European poor people who were attracted by the "Household Law" on the east coast, and the proportion of Ming people is about one-third—almost all Work in the orchard.

The number of settlers in this stronghold obviously cannot be compared with the Dahuang Farm (more than 1200 people), the Shrub Farm (more than 1300 people), and the Glory Farm (more than 900 people) in the south. Taoyuan Township, which has only 722 settlers, originally originated from a large orchard (Peach Orchard).Because the soil here is very suitable for the growth of peach trees, orange trees, grapes and other fruits, and because it is located between low hills, the terrain is excellent, so Tao Chenxi, director of the Textile Industry Bureau of the Eastern Republic, invested in the Taoyuan Township, a wilderness, rented a large piece of land, then recruited manpower, leveled the land, transplanted fruit trees, and started the pioneering action in a serious manner.

Of course, he himself did not forget to buy a homestead in this Taoyuan to build a villa garden designed by himself, which is called "Taoyuan".Only later, with more and more local immigrants and the gradual growth of peach forests, outsiders began to call this place "Taoyuan" instead of "Taoyuan". Over time, "Taoyuan" became the official place name here.And in mid-December last year, the Government Affairs Council clearly named this settlement Taoyuan Township, and moved a new batch of 12 Livonian immigrants here—they are still on the road , should arrive here in a few days, after all, the traffic is inconvenient.

Chen Ke and others lived in a small guest house next to the township government. They said it was a guest house, which was almost the same as a farmhouse.Vegetables were planted and some chickens and ducks were raised in the front yard, and there were seven or eight sheep penned in the back yard, which not only smelled fishy, ​​but also bleated all day long, making it difficult to be quiet.But that’s how it is when you’re on a business trip. At least there’s hot water, hot meals, and clean beds for everyone to live in. It’s much better than living in a tent in the wild, isn’t it?

The hostel was run by a middle-aged retired soldier from the Ming Dynasty who was missing a leg. He was wearing a prosthetic leg, and it was not particularly difficult for him to walk.Chen Ke saw that he didn't have the sad expression of ordinary disabled people, and he seemed to have a cheerful personality; his Polish wife was beautiful, and his son and daughter were also very cute and hardworking.It was already sunset, and the little girl came back from the yard with a pile of firewood. Her mother was cooking in the kitchen, her younger brother was lighting a fire in front of the stove, and her father was pouring hot water on the briquette stove in the yard. Everyone is busy.

After the dinner was ready, Chen Ke called everyone to help move the table to the yard, and then a group of more than ten people sat around together, opened a few bottles of West Lake beer, and then began to eat and drink.Potato stewed beef, garlic mutton, steamed cod and some vegetables, everyone was already hungry, so the food was still delicious.

After eating, the son of the owner of the hostel, who was less than ten years old, brought a few plates of washed peaches to everyone, and then ran to the stable in the corner of the yard, picked up a brush and washed a pony. Take a bath.The foal should have been prepared for him by his father, and he was licking the little guy's face affectionately at this time, playing with each other with great joy.

Chen Ke watched in silence for a while, and then asked the father of the child how the child went to school. There are only more than 700 people in Taoyuan Township, so there may not be a school, right?Unexpectedly, the facts far exceeded Chen Ke’s expectations. Although there were only dozens of children in Taoyuan Township, and only 20 of them lived in the township, and the rest were scattered in various villages, a primary school was built in the township to teach students thinking. Character, Chinese, arithmetic, labor (usually handmade), singing, gymnastics; in addition, boys have additional simple agriculture and business classes, and girls have additional tailoring classes.

It is worth mentioning that the current education system on the east coast is generally similar, but there are still some differences in different regions.For example, Dongfang County in the capital, Ping’an County in the north, and Zhenhai County in the old shipbuilding base. These rich counties do not include agriculture or tailoring in their curriculum, because there are many local handicraftsmen and the social division of labor is relatively small, so there is no need to specialize in it. Learn this knowledge.But in the inland grassland areas with closed traffic, it is necessary to study these courses, because there are not many handicraftsmen here to do this and that for you. What is needed here is all-rounders, not specialists. Individuals must master multiple skills.

Another difference from coastal areas is that because of population density, traffic factors, and weak governance, children here—especially those in remote rural areas—may not necessarily go to townships or counties to receive compulsory education. They often help with work at home since they were young. Even if the village urges them to go to school in the county or town, they will probably delay. In addition, the distance is really long, so the enrollment rate of rural children is not very high.

In order to solve this situation, local governments in various places have tried their best to create educational opportunities for rural children.For example, they arranged for some low-level scholars from the original Ming Dynasty to teach them in the village (with the increase in the number of immigrants, the number of teachers trained by the East Bank was seriously insufficient), but the methods of teaching knowledge by these scholars were traditional and old-fashioned, which seriously did not conform to modern education. Way.

For example, they mainly teach literature (ancient Chinese, vernacular), and occasionally add some things like abacus and chidot. The most common scene in the classroom is to memorize memorization from dawn to dusk. The educational methods are extremely backward and quite incomplete.After the training of teachers gradually catches up in the future, sooner or later these private schools will be merged and abolished.But for now, the existence of these informal schools like private schools still has its positive significance, because it gives children in remote villages who are inconvenient to go to school an opportunity to receive education, regardless of the teaching methods and teaching content. How out of place, but at least it taught these kids to read and that's enough! (It’s a great event to drop pie in the sky, cool mobile phones are waiting for you! Follow up~click/Chinese website official account (add friends on WeChat-add official account-enter qdread), and participate immediately! Everyone has a prize, now immediately Pay attention to qdread WeChat official account!)

(End of this chapter)