Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 944 Heaven-sent Land ([-])

"The Executive Committee has approved in principle the establishment of the 'New Railway', and will soon organize a group of personnel to survey the terrain and plan the route. This work is expected to be completed within three to five years, and the railway is optimistically estimated to be in five The construction will begin in the next year, and Xinhua Island will probably have the first railway that will be open to traffic before 1660." Shi Qinjie, who is getting fatter and fatter, is sitting in a chair made of precious wood, sipping green tea, and whispering .

The full name of the "new railway" in his mouth is Xinhuaxia Railway Company, which is currently under preparation.The company is controlled by local capital, of which the Central Railway Company holds 40% of the shares, the Southern Cone Railway Company holds 20% of the shares, the New China Pioneering Team holds 20% of the shares, and the other 20% of the shares are publicly offered to the whole society.

To be honest, the business prospects of this company are not optimistic for many people. The biggest reason is the extreme shortage of manpower on Xinhua Island - which means that the level of economic development is not high. One of the reasons why people are hesitant, in short, many people want to wait and see first, to see the development prospects of the local area in the next few years.However, no one has subscribed for the shares, and the sales of the 10 yuan corporate bonds of the New Railway Company guaranteed by China Railway and the Southern Railway have been relatively stable, because everyone knows how rich and powerful these two railway companies are in the East Coast Republic. In addition, the keen sense of smell and good connections of the Genoese came into play again, and they used their idle funds to quietly purchase 5 yuan of registered bonds, which can be regarded as the end of their investment in the East Coast.

However, it is easy to raise funds and prepare materials for the construction of the railway, but it is difficult to recruit manpower.Today, the construction of the Northwest Railway on the East Coast and the Southern Cone and Ocean Railway is progressing steadily, and the foundation laying of the Southwest Railway has also begun. The little talent that the Transportation Construction Bureau and the railway company train every year is not enough to grab everywhere, so let them draw out technical personnel Going to the "terrible place of death" Xinhua Island to survey and plan the railway line would kill them.

And if it is difficult to recruit engineering and technical personnel, it is even more difficult to recruit ordinary labor.You know, due to policy reasons, there are no indigenous people in the east coast control area today.There is no other way than to wage war—or instigate the natives to wage war—to obtain the mass of ordinary labor to build the railroads.

"Of course, opening a short section of railway to traffic before 1660 was just a wish of ours. Now it seems that the reality is quite difficult." Shi Qinjie smiled wryly at Ma Wanpeng at this time. Jie's family lives in a private house on the outskirts of Xinhua Port, so he speaks more casually: "Later generations of the French also suffered from the lack of manpower when they built the railway in Madagascar. In addition, the local natives were relatively lazy and impatient with hard work, so they came from China at the end of the Qing Dynasty. A large number of piglets were introduced to build the railway, which is the famous Tadong Railway (the railway from Antananarivo to the east coast), and these people are also the ancestors of the Chinese community in Madagascar. Is it possible that we also want to start from Daming A large number of people were introduced to build railways, but the Chinese in the late Ming Dynasty may not be as hard-working as the Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty..."

"Let's talk about it at that time. When building the roadbed in the early stage, we still use more local people. The railway travels through forests, grasslands, swamps, and deserts. It is often the time when the dead are the most, and a large number of lives are needed to fill the bottomless pit. At this stage Humans are nothing more than consumables. Let’s use as many natives as possible. If it doesn’t work, you can go to Comoros to capture the natives. Don’t look at me like this. Back then, you ordered the slavery to stop. But from time to time, some slaves are captured to repair the railway, and they are just consumables. It’s worth it to go online.” Ma Wanpeng picked up a cup of coffee and said with a smile: “This coffee is really bad. Look at the introduction of Robusta coffee beans. It was a failure..."

"Don't talk nonsense, what I'm drinking is the top-quality coffee from Guihua Island, which is exported to Ottoman's top products." Shi Qinjie glanced at Ma Wanpeng with contempt, and said: "The coffee plantation has been relatively successful in Guihua Island, Rob The production of Sta coffee beans has been increasing year by year, but it is a pity that the Ottomans have not yet accepted this kind of coffee beans, and the quality of most of our products is not good, so the export volume is limited. Fortunately, we are in Persia When Bass Harbor tested the water, the market responded well. Although the locals have a soft spot for tea, they do not reject coffee as a beverage, which made us breathe a sigh of relief.”

In fact, Shi Qinjie said it easily, but among the large number of coffee plantations developed by people on the east bank in Xinhua Port, Tacheng Port and Guihua Port, only one in Guihua Port succeeded, and the coffee trees in the other two places The growth is not satisfactory, and the quality of the fruit produced is also very problematic. It seems that the environment here is not suitable for the growth of coffee trees.

However, the "sturdy coffee tree" (Arabica species) planted in a small amount by the Ministry of Agriculture in Tacheng Port was unexpectedly successful, which made Shi Qinjie and others realize that the problem lies in the variety, that is to say, the new coffee tree The slopes along the eastern coast of Huaxia Island are actually more suitable for planting Arabica coffee trees.The coffee beans grown in this environment have a very good texture and are judged by the Ottomans to be high-quality goods, and the market prospect is very promising.

Based on this judgment, the people on the east bank immediately decided to expand the scale of the coffee plantation on the inland slope of Tacheng Port and plant Arabica coffee beans in an all-round way.In addition, later generations here is the most important clove planting area in Madagascar. The environment is very suitable for the growth of this kind of spice crop which is monopolized by the Dutch at this time and is extremely precious in Europe. It can be described as a heaven-sent place.

"Hehe, I know, I know, just kidding." Ma Wanpeng laughed nonchalantly, and then said as if he suddenly remembered something: "By the way, I heard that you just gave away a batch of wheat last month. Envoys from the Linas? And promised to sell muskets and cold weapons to them?"

"There is such a thing." Shi Qinjie nodded and confirmed: "The Andrina Dynasty of the Kingdom of Imerina established by the Melinas is located in the Central Plateau. At present, it seems that many feudal and One of the more powerful kingdoms of slavery. Their king is called Andrea Chitacatrandriana-damn, the name is a mouthful-is the fourth generation king of this dynasty. Their territory is relatively large, It reaches the edge of the plateau in the east and connects with the territory of the Bezimi Salaka people; it reaches the grassland in the west and fights with the Sakarawas all the year round-in fact, they were beaten by the Sakarawas. In addition, the current kingdom is in the upper A generation ago, Antananarivo was just occupied ('thousand people' means, to commemorate the thousand soldiers stationed here), and the capital was moved here. Now it is the economic, political and military center of the kingdom. Here they built royal palaces, fortresses, trenches, water conservancy irrigation facilities, and developed terraced fields to grow rice. The army used their own javelins, machetes, iron spears, and axes as their main weapons, and continued to annex the surrounding area through wars and marriages. The rise of other small countries on the Central Plateau is becoming more and more obvious..."

"Damn, why do we sell weapons to these rising countries? They already had the upper hand in the battle with those countries. Now that they have muskets, wouldn't it be even more powerful, and they will soon be able to unify the princes? The central highland?" Ma Wanpeng cried out as soon as he heard it, and said loudly: "Shouldn't we contact those small countries in the area? Selling weapons to small countries to offset the advantages of the Kingdom of Emerina is serious!"

Shi Qinjie was also a little embarrassed by Ma Wanpeng's robbing, because he made this decision, so he can only explain at this moment: "We can't contact other countries on the Central Highlands. At present, there is only this Imory The Kingdom of Nabe sent envoys to communicate with us. In addition, they have a feud with the Sakarava people of the Kingdom of Manab, and they also agreed to attack with us from east to west, and together destroy those Sakarawa who are fighting against us on the grasslands and hills at the moment. The Wa people, this is a great thing for us. Moreover, they agreed to sell us a territory that has a sovereignty dispute with the Bezimi Saraka people, which will be used to offset the account for this batch of arms.”

Having said that, Shi Qinjie took out a hand-drawn map of Xinhua Island that was carefully preserved from the bottom of the drawer, pointed to a slope in the inland of Tacheng Port, and drew a circle, saying: "Trace from the east coast to the central highland. The second step of the Central Highlands - draw a straight line about [-] kilometers east of Antananarivo, less than ten kilometers to the left of the straight line is the second step of the central highlands - to the east is the Bezimi Salaka people The traditional activity area, but the Kingdom of Emerina claimed sovereignty over it before, and sent troops to conquer it many times, but unfortunately, no stable rule was established; the west is naturally the territory of the Merina people, and Tacheng Port has been there for so many years I have figured out the complex historical ownership of that land a long time ago, so this time I took advantage of the situation and proposed to the emissary of the Melina people to purchase part of the land east of this straight line—well, the approximate area is the later Tadong Railway The area to the north, south of Lake Alautra, and east of the straight line is dominated by basins and mountains—as a result, after several rounds of negotiations, the envoys of the Melinas decided that this area did not belong to them. In exchange for six hundred muskets, a thousand sabers, two thousand spears, and five hundred leather armors, I don't think the deal is a bad deal—if we ignore the land If you think about the thoughts of the Bezimisaraka people living in the sky..."

"This land is very fertile and rich in animal and plant resources, and its climate is very suitable for growing commercial crops such as cloves, coffee, pepper, vanilla, sisal, and cocoa, so the value is still great." Shi Qinjie added Said, "In addition, Lake Arautra was the most important mechanized rice production area in Madagascar in later generations. The agricultural conditions were very good, but it was not known in this era. The French were at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The planned construction of the Taman Railway - Antananarivo-Tamataf (Tacheng Port) has built a northward branch line directly to Lake Arautra, in order to transfer the rich resources of this heaven-sent land. Agricultural and fishery resources are transported out, and this is exactly what we can emulate."

"The prospect sounds good, but we still need to build the railway on the west coast, and you have to build the railway to Lake Alautra. It feels unreliable to bloom everywhere, and our manpower is still so short." Ma Wanpeng said a little Weakly said, "Forget it, the business is over, and it's useless to regret it. It seems that our New China Development Team will prepare for extraordinary development in the next period of time, right? Otherwise, it will take until the year of the monkey to complete such a grand plan? No. One step, let's talk about it first, Captain Shi, Commander Shi, Brother Shi?"

"People must be organized." Shi Qinjie said, "In the past few years, the export of materials from our New China region to the mainland has increased rapidly. In 1651, the seafood, timber, sisal, cocoa, coffee, and vanilla exported throughout the year The total amount of agricultural and mineral products such as rubber, cotton, and coal has reached more than 63 yuan, of which there are still quite a lot of taxes and profits attributable to the local finance. Therefore, I plan to expand the fleet size of the East African transportation company, and then organize the ship to Daming Immigration and trade fleets. Of course, this requires the locals to help us coordinate with the Dutch, because our route must pass through the Strait of Malacca..."

I continue to recommend the colleague "Looking West. From China to the East Coast" written by book friend Liang Xiangjian. It is really well written.

(End of this chapter)