Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 882 South Patagonia ([-])

On September 1651, 9, with the sound of the siren, the Port of Araucan Railway Station arrived.

A large group of road guard soldiers in khaki military uniforms came out of the carriage with loaded guns and live ammunition, and then firmly occupied the key positions in the train station.After the two officers wearing riding boots checked alternately, Mo Ming, the president of the Southern Railway Company, surrounded by a group of entourages, slowly walked out of a rather well-decorated carriage.Behind him are the leaders of various key departments of the Southern Railway Company, big and small. They are smiling, some are wearing Chinese tunic suits, some are wearing army uniforms, and they are scanning the now quite large-scale Araucan railway station. Look ahead to the rows of shops, warehouses, factories and residences on the main street along the coast.

Today's Port of Araucan is getting more and more beautiful!

"President, please have dinner here." The station master of the train station limped over in a white-washed military uniform, and said a little nervously.

Mo Ming looked at the station master's left leg, which was fitted with a prosthetic limb, and stepped forward to help him straighten the big black cap (the work cap of the railway system staff) on his head, then patted his shoulder affectionately, and said, "It's noon, have a meal together."

In the train station restaurant, decorated with stained glass, lunch is already set.According to the requirements of the President's Office of the Southern Railway Corporation, everything is based on the working meal standards of the company's branches in various places, and this standard is based on the average living standard of local residents.In the port of Araucan, due to the double impact of the smuggling trade and the opening of the Pacific immigration route, the market is still very prosperous today-of course, this so-called prosperity is only limited to Araucan on the east coast. The northern half of the port is gone, and the coastal area here was bought by people from the east coast, and then a large-scale modern port (over 300 million yuan in ten years' investment) was built.And next to the port, there are row upon row of commercial facilities and residential areas. Its prosperity has even surpassed that of Xingnan Port, where the headquarters of the South Railway Company is located.

The urban area of ​​the Araucan people, which is just across the river from the business area on the east bank, has a gray tone as far as the eye can see, that is, there are gray thatch, gray reeds, and gray branches everywhere. houses.There are occasional buildings that look good, but they are usually the houses of the nobles (the guerrillas and their descendants who followed the old Vicente in the uprising against the Spaniards). They exchanged the cattle and sheep from the people on the east coast for Some building materials came, and then some masons who immigrated from the Ming Dynasty were hired, and some East Coast-style houses with cornices and cliffs were slowly built to show their identity with those ordinary Araucans. Difference—class really is everywhere.

Of course, the East Coast people's leading position is not only in these aspects, in fact, their biggest leading point lies in the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities.Using their hardworking hands and relatively sufficient labor force (a large number of Ming people who came via the Pacific immigration route), coupled with a little technical and material help provided by the Southern Railway Company, they have tried their best in the wilderness. Using rivers, streams and lakes, a series of dotted artificial lakes have been built as water sources for life and production.

The reason why they spent a lot of effort to do so is mainly due to the relatively special geographical conditions of this place.In the Port of Araucan and its surrounding areas, although it is called "dry", the average annual rainfall is not a lot, generally between 500-1000 mm, and in many places it even exceeds 1000 mm, which is already different from that on the east coast. As if.The reason why so much rainfall is called drought is because of the lack of large-scale surface runoff (this is somewhat similar to the eastern prairie), and the second is that the special soil structure here makes the shallow surface unable to hold water, and a large amount of water seeps into the deep underground, thus creating the so-called "drought".

There are really not many ways to deal with the water shortage caused by such surface factors. We can only use stupid tricks, that is, to find areas with little water leakage (such as swamp wetlands and natural rivers and lakes), expand them and build them into artificial reservoirs. Find a way to save the water.And the people on the east coast have indeed done the same. They have built more than a dozen reservoirs outside the port of Araucan, and the farthest one is even tens of kilometers away from the city.In order to bring the water in these reservoirs to the urban area and villages in the suburbs, people on the east bank have to build a large number of masonry anti-seepage canals, and this work is currently in full swing.

After water conservancy facilities take shape, agricultural production can flourish.Although the local latitude is not low, due to the maritime climate, the temperature in winter is actually not very low, generally around minus ten degrees, and in extreme cases, it is only minus twenty degrees.Unfortunately, the local summer temperature is also not high. Generally, it is difficult to exceed 25 degrees. In many cases, it is only in the early 20s. This brings troubles to agricultural production. Planting crops such as wheat and rice is risky. too big.Therefore, in the planning of the Southern Railway Company, the local area is mainly planted with rye and potatoes, that is, after a season of rye is harvested, a crop of potatoes or radishes will be planted immediately to increase farmers' income.

However, as the grain market in the Nantie area is about to be fully opened to the Spaniards today, the income of local farmers will definitely be affected to a certain extent.But this kind of influence is also limited, because the products of local farmers are mainly rye, which is not grown by the Spaniards, but there are still many people who like to eat it in the east coast and southern Patagonia. .In particular, some local cross-country people who are not low in "competitive style" often consume rye, oats, and barley, and they have attracted a large group of followers, which has greatly increased the price of rye.In addition, this thing can also be used to make wine, especially in the local area of ​​southern Patagonia. Residents are still very sure about the taste of spirits made from rye-they don’t like the Daqu in the river imported from South Africa, but prefer the local Rye shochu, which further protects the interests of farmers.

Today's main meal is the mutton stewed noodles that President Mo loves very much. It is made of goat meat carefully grazed in the land with rich water and grass by the Xingnan River, and rye noodles ground by the wind mill of the Nantie Flour Factory in the Port of Araucan. It is very unique and very popular with President Mo.In addition, there are pickled steamed buns made of rye flour, mushroom fish soup, high-quality trout from the Maolin River, grilled steaks, and a bottle of Snow Mountain beer brewed from Beechburg barley.

"The specifications are a bit too high, but they are still within the acceptable range." Mo Ming looked at the meals on the table, thinking that there must be no Chilean trout and snow mountain beer in the usual working lunch, which is obviously caused by the people below. It was collected by flattery, but the entertainment expenses should not have seriously exceeded the standard.

It is said that in such a sparsely populated place as Southern Patagonia, the life of ordinary residents (especially residents who have settled down for several years, have jobs, families, farms and livestock, and ID cards of the Eastern China Republic) The standard is really not bad.Just as the gauchos in Argentina in the early 19th century were often able to eat meat (they were even picky about the meat of different parts of the cow), the east coast residents of southern Patagonia would not be as exaggerated as the gauchos , but eating meat is really not a big deal for them. Those who save a little money eat cheap whale meat, those who have a little money eat beef, and the richest can eat mutton, venison, and ostrich meat.Their staple food is rye, and they often consume seafood such as Chilean horse mackerel or Calamari squid, and sometimes buy some meat to eat.

The frequent intake of high-energy grains and animal protein has greatly alleviated the health problems caused by long-term malnutrition (chronic hunger) for these people (mainly Ming people) after they settled down for several years. Work efficiency is also greatly increased.The adults who were tortured in the old continent are all like this. The "new east coast people" born in the new continent are naturally strong and strong. According to the incomplete rule, the children born in the east coast natives grow up to be generally taller. more than their parents.You must know that there is no significant difference in height between Ming people and Europeans at this time. The children on the east coast can grow so tall and strong mainly because of adequate nutrition, such as sufficient supply of meat, dairy products and grains.

This statistical result once made some local cross-travelers on the east coast feel very sad. It is associated with the historical "My Great Qing" period that China could only barely survive on sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn due to the population explosion, while Europeans discovered the rich resources. The living standards of the New World and overseas colonies have spiraled upwards, and the height and body shape gap between the two races has gradually widened.Now people on the east coast enjoy the dividends of fewer people but rich resources, and the living standards of the domestic people are also rising year by year. In time, this body shape and height will inevitably far surpass Europeans and Ming people—perhaps only the Indians in southern Argentina The height of the person is higher than that of the people on the east coast. It is purely because of their good genes.

Lunch ended in silence.After eating, Mo Ming picked up the hot towel handed over by the attendant and wiped his mouth, then looked at the Southern Railway officials sitting on both sides of the long dining table, smiled, and said: "The meal everyone ate today Rice, the specifications are not bad. Let’s count, there are dozens of beer bottles alone? There are only a few people in Beech Castle, and there is not much barley produced in a year, and the output of brewed beer is even more limited. Now we have killed them After so much, the pressure is really not small.”

Several subordinates who thought they had a close relationship with President Mo laughed amusedly, while the others sat in their seats solemnly, their brains spinning rapidly, trying to figure out which play President Mo was singing today.Reminiscent of the recent rumors in the company that Peruvian grains will be allowed to enter the Nantie District, and then looking at the lunch with rye as the main food on the table today, some people have an idea in their hearts that this is to make a fuss about grains!

(End of this chapter)