Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1361 Dismal Ocean Economy

After a thunderous salute, on February 1664, 2, the three-deck battleship "East Coaster" was accompanied by a water supply ship and an ammunition supply ship, and a small number of them were transferred back to China. Officials and their families from the three towns of Heishui said goodbye to the heavy warship "Cádiz Rock" stationed in Macau, then adjusted the yards and sailed towards the South Pacific without looking back.They are about to return to their native land!

The East Coast Fleet, including the battleship "East Coast Man", has been really majestic and majestic in the Far East Ocean these past few months.Originally, the "Cadiz Rock" with more than 40 guns was scary enough, but it turned out that a super battleship with 108 long and short guns came, which really scared many people. It faded a lot.

Among them, the most typical ones are the North Koreans. Lieutenant Colonel Han Dezhi, who led the team, still remembers the scene when he went to Ganghwa Island in North Korea to talk with North Korean officials and fired artillery demonstrations on the sea: knowledgeable North Korean officials When we saw the guns in the gun windows on the side of the battleship firing door after door, some people were almost shocked. There is such a powerful battleship in the world?Compared with this kind of warship, those turtle ships of the Navy can really be chopped up and burned!As a result, some of the small thoughts in my heart disappeared, and it seemed that Jeju Island, Busan Port and Wonsanjin were destined to be irretrievable!

In addition, Shao Shuguang originally wanted to invite the battleship "East Coaster" to go to Zeelandia Port and Haizhu Island, thinking that they were powerful, but they didn't make it.The main reason is that the water outside Zeelandia Fort is shallow, and it is too dangerous for a large warship with a displacement of 1730 tons to sail in the past.The Haizhu Island Commercial Station also considers this, because the navy has not yet conducted a detailed survey of the hydrological conditions there, and dare not let the warship that enshrines the spiritual symbol of the East Coast people take risks in the past, what if it runs aground?Wouldn't it make people laugh out loud!

But in any case, many powerful warships including the "East Coast Man" have come to the Far East, which still makes the various forces deeply entangled with the East Coast People deeply afraid. The same is true of the country, the Portuguese, and the Dutch. I believe that even if the battleship "East Coast Man" has returned to its homeland, the deterrent force it left on the Far East will not be eliminated for a while. The benefits of local development are self-evident.

On February 2th, the three-ship formation approached the port of Manila and requested to stop at the port for supplies. Of course, this move was more of a deterrent intention.The Spanish colonial governor of Manila insisted that warships on the east coast should not enter the port, because they were obviously frightened by such a powerful ship, for fear that they would destroy the Spaniards on the pier with their super side firepower. , so no matter what the people on the east coast say, they are only allowed to supply in the open sea, and said that they will send a boat to load the supplies and send them to the door.

At the same time, Lieutenant Colonel Han Dezhi also found that the Spanish soldiers in the forts on the high ground on both sides of the port were also indistinct, and seemed to be on strict guard.The officers and soldiers on the east bank who discovered this laughed loudly, pointing at the Spaniards on the shore who were facing a formidable enemy, and they looked extremely arrogant. Of course, they had reason to be so proud.

After paying a small supply fee, the Spaniards sent food and fresh water to the water supply ship "Grocery Merchant No. 3".What is amazing is that at this time the Spaniards made a strange request, that is, they asked the people on the east coast if they would like to take away the many Chinese in Manila, because they believed that the people on the east coast were blood relatives to them , these people should be accepted to help them solve a big problem.

To be honest, the Spanish colonial governor is now having a great headache for the increasing number of local Chinese. Although these people have always been more gentle and obedient, they have basically paid all the taxes that should be paid. Compared with those cunning and lazy natives Know how much better.But what cannot be ignored is that these Chinese people hold huge wealth in their hands. From the perspective of the Spaniards who believe that money is power, this is a potential major threat and must be cut off, otherwise their rule in Manila may be overthrown in the future. turn.What's more, these heretics are still very rich, just like the Moors and Jews who had a lot of wealth in Spain back then (mostly merchants, farmers or craftsmen, the average is richer), expel or send them to the stake The pillars are very profitable, so the Spaniards in Manila also hoped to kill or expel these Chinese heretics.

But killing is easy, but the follow-up is not easy to deal with, because now the Spaniards also know that the people on the east coast call themselves "descendants of the Song Dynasty". Aren't there many Chinese here in Manila who sailed south to seek refuge when the Mongols invaded?Therefore, the consequences of killing these people are uncontrollable, and it is very likely to trigger a war, so it must be treated with caution.Therefore, when the Spaniards saw the ships coming from the east bank, they had an idea and tentatively asked if the east bank was willing to accept these people.If the people on the east coast are willing to accept, then they can give these people to the people on the east coast, and at the same time ensure that they can take away their private property; if the people on the east coast are not willing to accept, then things are simple, they can Just like how it treated the Moors and Jews back then, a carnival feast of gluttony is coming.

Lieutenant Colonel Han Dezhi, as a traveler, still vaguely knows the massacres of the Chinese in the ruled area by the Spaniards in history.So after thinking about it for a while, he expressed his willingness to accept these Chinese, but their boat could no longer carry more people, so they could only wait for the follow-up boat to come to pick them up, which may take some time.

The Spaniards breathed a sigh of relief. Although allowing these Chinese people to leave with their property may bring them less benefits, at least it solves a big hidden danger that has been hanging in their hearts for many years, which is not bad.What's more, when these Chinese left, many fields, forest farms, and houses could not be taken away. They could only be sold at a low price or even abandoned directly. This naturally gave the Spanish gentlemen in the city an excellent opportunity to make a fortune—and After sending away these heretics, the Chinese in the city were only those who were willing to convert to Catholicism. For them, the Spaniards were more at ease and tolerant, so everyone was happy this time.

Han Dezhi is well aware of the Spaniard's small calculations, but considering that his country does not have any plans to colonize Luzon, and does not intend to destroy the harmonious relationship with the Kingdom of Spain in the near future, plus Xinhua Island, Rabaul, Yicheng The area is also relatively short of people—especially those who have a certain ability to adapt to the tropical climate—so it should be more feasible to send this group of Chinese to the above-mentioned places, and the local executive committee members should also be able to agree , That's why he won the Spaniard's proposal on the spot and moved these people away.

After leaving Manila Bay, the formation of three ships began to adjust its course, heading southeast, and arrived at the port of Rabaul on March 1664, 3.This coast, which was not valued by the people on the east coast at all, was only used as a midway supply of coconuts and fresh water. As more and more Ming people left here (and more and more descendants were born by intermarriage with the aborigines), they had to Hastily established a colonial institution, the Rabaul Management Committee, in 3, originally subordinate to the Australian pioneers, but is now an independent local institution directly under the native council.

This organization now has 8 committee members and 1 general secretary, and almost all matters of the port are decided by them.At first, all the committee members were selected by the local people, but now, except for the general secretary and some committee members who are dispatched by the local people, the rest are selected from the local residents with high prestige to serve as the management of this city, which is an important intermediate node of the immigration route.

Rabaul Port now has more than [-] Han residents, and the growth rate is quite fast.Although the environment here is harsh and the disease is rampant here, but the immigrant transport fleet is humiliated here every year, plus a few naturalized and settled natives, it is normal for the population to grow to the current level.

However, the people here are still too ugly after all!This was the first thought of Han Dezhi and others after they landed. A large number of Kukuku Kuku and Melanesians filled places that required a lot of labor, such as docks, coconut groves, and plantations. The offspring who were born worked in hotels, restaurants, shops and other institutions. Therefore, the naval officers and soldiers on the east coast were a little dumbfounded when they saw so many ugly "barbarians" living in the city in such a grand manner. , When did the people on the east bank clean up the aborigines first when they went to a place?

The market in Rabaul Port is relatively prosperous—of course, this kind of prosperity is limited to the South Pacific region—cane sugar, tobacco, cocoa, coffee, dried fruits, black pearls and other commodities in the area under the jurisdiction of the Islands Pioneering Team (formerly Tahiti Pioneering Team) Gathering here, immigrant ships going south from the north will occasionally bring some medicinal materials, leather, salt tea and other commodities, and ships going north from Australia will often bring some livestock, local products, wine, and metal utensils. After so many years of development, the Convergence Land has now become very large-haven’t you seen the large and neatly planned crop production area in the outer suburbs of Rabaul, supplying taro, bananas, and large potatoes to and from ships? Rice, rice, and coconuts are mostly produced there, which can be said to have made a great contribution to the immigration of the East China Republic, and at the same time made the local residents richer.

Of course, their so-called wealth is actually not worth mentioning in the eyes of the local people.Geinrabul Port is limited to its geographical location, after all, it is in the same economic circle as the archipelago pioneering team and the Australian pioneering team, which is the so-called "Ocean Economic Circle".But the flaws of this economic circle are quite obvious, that is, the population is sparsely populated, and it is far away from all major routes in the world, which makes people feel helpless. It is no wonder that some wealthy people in Rabaul Port also choose to immigrate to the east coast after they developed. As for the native land, I really don't want to circle around in this poor mountain valley.

On March 3th, the rested fleet of ships on the east coast left the port again and headed for Jinshan Port in Australia. The trip went smoothly and at high speed, and finally arrived at Jinshan Port in only 5 days. Jinshan Port has just entered autumn, and the fields are full of large yellow wheat, which is very pleasing to the eye.

Although the stronghold of the East Coasters on the Australian mainland has been repeatedly drawn blood in recent years (the population was shipped to Chile), but under the painstaking management of the Australian pioneer team leader Wang Yan, nearly Over the years, there has been a certain degree of development, such as the establishment of Gushan County in Western Australia.

In the Dong'ao area, as an important shipping intermediate node, after 20 years of development, the population of Jinshan Port is quite large, and it has begun to spread to the surrounding areas.A while ago, Wang Yan, the leader of the pioneering team, officially ordered several large villages to be upgraded to township-level settlements, namely Zhehu Township near the later town of Geelong and Damang Township near the later town of Frankston. And Xingta Township, near the small town of (PointLonsdale) in later generations.These three settlements plus the existing Jinshan Port basically surround and include the entire Jinshan Bay (Philip Bay).

These four settlements around the bay have a combined population of less than 2000, most of whom are descendants of immigrants from the Ming Dynasty in poor health, followed by Shandan people, Koreans, Japanese and local exiled prisoners. The quantity is relatively small.With such a small population, there are really not many things they can do. After all, their main task is to provide drinking water and temporary accommodation for passing immigrant ships. At the same time, they provide coal burning and maintenance services for ships. It is impossible to think according to their own wishes. Do whatever you want.So you can see that these 2000 people basically live around the bay, and basically do not expand to the inland hinterland. The main reason is that they need to serve the huge number of immigrants and ships every year, so they have to do so.

However, the Australian Pioneering Team has its own interests after all, and Wang Yan himself has the urge to develop places and highlight political achievements, so this time after hearing that there are a large number of Portuguese residents and their descendants in Macau, this guy plans to recruit three of them. 5000 people (or even more if possible) came to settle and clear these two areas on the south coast of Australia to maximize the local economy.He has even thought about the livelihood of these people. He grows wheat, grows grapes, makes wine, and exports flour and wine to the neighboring Dutch East India Company. The total number of whites served by the Dutch East India Company is only more than 1), but it is also a way. If it is done well, it can feed many people, and even develop a little trade, earning a little money for the Australian pioneering team government. import and export duties.

It's just that it's hard to say whether his wish can be realized. After all, the executive committee has too much neglected this "remote place where birds don't shit", and the voice of the Australian mainland is difficult to reach the sky most of the time. Listen, so that this place was once reduced to a blood transfusion place for the Southern Cone and Chile, it is miserable to think about it.

Han Dezhi and others were not interested in listening to or knowing about the messy things in the Australian colonies.After the three ships rested here for a few days, on March 3th, after purchasing supplies, they set sail again, left this poor colony in a remote corner of the world, and headed for the Southern Cone.

This is going east, away from the sea area on the northern edge of the westerly belt, the wind is smooth along the way, and the speed of sailing is relatively fast.Although there are constant strong winds and waves on the sea, and the weather is as bad as ever, the navy officers and men still sailed to the port of Araucan in southern Chile with a calm mind and relatively rich sailing experience. The whole journey only took 20 Days.

After repairing the damage to the hull and canvas caused by strong winds and waves in the Pacific Shipyard under the Southern Railway Company, the three ships set off again on April 4, heading south through the Strait of Magellan and heading east toward the Atlantic coast. ——Their final destination is Dongfang Port, the capital of the East Coast Republic of China.

On May 1664, 5, the three ships that had inadvertently sailed around the world dragged their tired bodies and slowly entered the military dock of Dongfang Port. So far, the entire journey that lasted more than a year came to an end.

(End of this chapter)