Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1459 Shandong Severe Drought ([-])

While Cai Shengguo and others were talking about future investment in the township government of Daze, a 1200-ton motor-sail carrier departing from the port of Rabaul was sailing northward melancholy in bad weather. The ship has sailed to the east of Admiralty Island (the main island of the later Manus Islands), but unexpectedly, the sea is covered with cloudy clouds, strong winds and choppy waves, which seem to be able to swallow this small ship at any time.

To be honest, this kind of weather is rare in the waters near the equator. Generally speaking, the sea here is calm, but there will be some violent storms from time to time, and the wind direction is often in all directions, making people feel at a loss and don’t know how to navigate. ——In the era when there was no steam power, it took a sailboat on the east coast more than two weeks to cross the equator with difficulty. According to the description of the sailors at that time: "At night, the sea is like fire everywhere, foam Splashing, like sparks, from the bow of the ship, but it ceased by daylight. This extraordinary sea fire surprised everyone, and we soon had good luck, caught the northerly current, and passed smoothly. Crossed the equator..."

The captain of the motor-sail transport ship named "Coconut Creek" (built by Xinhua Shipyard as soon as you hear the name), can't guarantee his own ship, just like the headless fly in the waters near the equator As lucky as a sailing ship that has been crashing for more than two weeks, they are now very close to the equator, and if it weren't for this damn, sudden gale, they would have crossed the equator and entered the northern hemisphere in a day, but now the captain is hesitant , do you want to take the risk of crossing?

"It's all the fault of the bloody Shandong immigrants! If it weren't for waiting for a batch of food, we wouldn't have been out to sea so late! If it had been a week earlier, maybe we wouldn't have encountered this disaster. Oh, By the way, there are those French pigs locked in the bilge, if they hadn't caused trouble in Rabaul, we would have left long ago. Damn, damn, what a bad luck!" A Malay in his thirties The sailors complained quietly, because their ship waited for a long time after sending a group of immigrants from Huai'an Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty to Jinshan Port in Australia for return and pulling a batch of industrial products, livestock and coal to Rabaul Port It was time to wait until the latest batch of grain raised by the management committee arrived at the wharf—in order to raise food to support Shandong, the local management committee has recently organized troops to subjugate the neighboring Melanesian tribes several times, which is enough. Yes, after all it's the same as scraping meat off a mosquito's leg.

The sailor's complaint quickly fell into the ears of the first officer who was patrolling here. The young first officer from the Fort Corps gave the Malay sailor a cold look, and said in a warning tone: "Sailor, if I hear you again Complain or insinuate about immigration and I'll throw you overboard, and the captain won't stop me, I promise."

After finishing speaking, before the Malay sailor was ready to answer in fear, the first mate grabbed the cables around him to fix his figure, then turned his head and ordered to the boatswain who was following behind him: "The captain has an order to report to Admiralty Island. Sailing in the same direction to avoid the wind and waves, execute immediately, and act quickly!"

The bosun immediately left to inform his men when he heard it. His movements were so agile that no one could see that he was walking on the deck of a ship that was shaking violently. This kind of old sea dog is rare. Talent is also the most precious wealth on an ocean-going vessel.

The next voyage was really quite tortuous, as if Tianzun was trying to test everyone. After a few hours of hard sailing to Admiralty Island with the southeast wind, the wind suddenly became smaller and disappeared completely, as if It's never been the same.And just after the captain ordered to turn on the steam power system on the ship again, raise the sails (most of the sails had been lowered in the previous strong wind) and turn to the north, in an attempt to leave this strange sea area as quickly as possible, the wind blew again. So everyone was in a hurry, and finally tossed for two or three hours before mooring in a small bay on the east side of Admiralty Island at nightfall, and then anchored, planning to wait until the next morning to see the situation.

"Fortunately, we have steam power as an auxiliary, otherwise, it is really not easy for sailboats to cross the equator. Many times, we may have to look around for ocean currents to catch sudden strong winds in the equatorial waters-this is not common. , and the direction of the wind is hard to tell—so that everyone has to be prepared for long-distance and long-term sailing, which undoubtedly increases the risk of illness for everyone, and a large number of illnesses often occur at this stage.” Experienced pure sailing The captain of the era was rich in experience. At this moment, I saw him looking at the dark cliffs and forests on Admiralty Island, and commanded in a tone that had experienced many vicissitudes: "It is not easy for the Rabaul Management Committee to raise such a small amount of food, and I don't know that it is a raid." How many native tribes did it? Speaking of which, these native tribes have acquired a lot of improved seeds, farm tools, and learned a lot of agricultural technology from us over the years. The food production has increased a lot, and the number of livestock is also increasing day by day. Otherwise, the management committee organized a large-scale attack with more than a thousand horsemen and soldiers, so it is expected that such a large amount of food will not be obtained? Unfortunately, I have seen all those Melanesian tribes. The relationship between us in Rabaul Port is good, and we have done trade a few times, and now we have wiped them all out for food. Alas, this is really a person sitting at home, and the disaster comes from the sky. These natives, how do you know? A severe drought that lasted for two to three years in Shandong, thousands of miles away, caused their tribe in the southern hemisphere to be wiped out, which is really unpredictable even if you think about it."

It is said that the severe drought in Shandong has developed so far, and the severity of the situation has long exceeded the capacity of the Denglai pioneer team. In order to rescue more and more Ming Dynasty victims who went to Denglai This is a shocking and desperate number...), Heishui and the Southern Pioneering Team also showed their talents——

Dried whale meat from Heixiazi Port, a huge amount of seafood from the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk (salmon, saury, sardines, and pollock are big heads), potatoes, rye and livestock from Sakhalin Island, and seafood from the Amur River Basin. Oats and livestock, wheat, rye and livestock from Ezo, rice traded or looted from Japan, various grains, beans and fodder extorted or "borrowed" from North Korea, fish from the Zhoushan Islands, smuggled from the Qing Dynasty Grain, grain traded with other forces in China, grain traded with the Dutch East India Company, grain raised by the Rabaul Management Committee, and even two places in Australia contributed some wheat and a large amount of pickled kangaroo meat , plus Ningbo's efforts to "destroy mulberry and change grain" to produce incremental grain...

The collection of so much food to more than ten counties in Denglai can be regarded as the largest disaster relief operation in the world in the 17th century, and such a large-scale disaster relief activity can only be carried out by the East Bank of China, which represented the most advanced productivity at that time. The Republic "made" it.It’s just that the cost of this kind of disaster relief activities, if you really want to study it carefully, is indeed a sky-high price: if you count the consumption of various materials, livestock, stored food, ships, personnel, etc., it may already be around 200 million yuan, and this The numbers are still rising rapidly, and the savings of the Far East for many years have been emptied, and there is also a butt of debts, which made the insiders shake their heads.

However, this kind of "heroic" disaster relief operation with extreme determination saved as many as 27 victims' lives. Is it really not worth it at all?This question, maybe the benevolent see the benevolent and the wise see the wisdom, it depends on what angle you think about it.At least, Commander-in-Chief Liang Xiangjian Liang, who led the disaster relief operation and passively involved three other pioneering teams and a management committee area, has his own views on this: "It seems easy to watch the fire from the other side. But it is always unacceptable to let so many lives die, so it is better to save some. Anyway, there are not many refugees left in Huai'an Prefecture. The farm land and houses they left behind are just for future generations to live. After the first two years, it will be much easier later..."

Of course, perhaps the number of "some" and "these" victims that Liang Xiangjian said in his mouth is too many, and it has reached 27, which is far from being described as "some", and it is far more than the number of people living on the east coast at that time. The capacity of the three major feudal towns in the Far East.But just as the old saying goes, "You will never know what you can do if you are not pushed to a corner." The people on the east coast were slowly pushed to a corner by the huge influx of disaster victims, and then they had to Don't try your best to raise food everywhere, and after all kinds of twists and turns, you will maintain the fragile food supply in the Denglei area from a complete collapse. The 30 million people who survived may not be able to survive in the original history. The dead victims of the disaster in the four prefectures of the East and West.

But now that everyone has been rescued, it is already impossible to send them back to the Qing government-controlled area in the west, and the people on the east coast can only grit their teeth and carry it to the end.After all, the first 99 steps have been completed with gritted teeth, and the last trembling is short, so why not just stick to the end and count the ball!Therefore, even though many people are dissatisfied with Liang Xiangjian's "going alone" to save the disaster victims no matter how difficult it is, they can only hold their noses and cooperate, otherwise the 27 flood victims who flooded into Denglai will fall into another trap. Hungry?What is this called!

In addition, it is said that the members of the local executive committee have different opinions on Liang Xiangjian's handling. Some are in favor, some are against, and some are neutral. "Warning" punishment, let this guy pass the test smoothly.Moreover, after the Executive Committee learned of the disaster in the Far East, at the end of last year, it instructed the Government Affairs Council to temporarily build six large immigration transport ships in the form of credit, and put them into the three routes. It is expected to increase about 1666 people a year. The transport volume of immigrants, to reduce the food pressure of Denglai a little - this year (at the end of [-]), it is expected that six large immigration transport ships will be built to further increase the transport of immigrants. After a little compensation, the transport of immigrants has not increased over the years At the same time as the shortfall in the number of ships, it is also preparing for the succession of many immigration ships that will retire from active service in the next few years.

And the executive committee has this attitude, and the chief officials of the other development teams and the management committee can naturally see it, so they have become a little more cooperative now.No, even the Rabaul Management Committee, which has the worst basic conditions and is near the equator, has begun to collect food to support the Shandong Denglai pioneering team. What to do next, continue to cooperate with someone Liang!

Right now, the immigrant transport ship, which is taking shelter from the wind, is fully loaded with [-] to [-] tons of food such as taro, rice, and big potatoes loaded in the port of Rabaul, as well as [-] French Huguenot soldiers—food It was for the victims of Denglai, and the [-] Huguenot soldiers came from a French transport ship that was intercepted by the Second Fleet of the Navy off the coast of New China Island. The ship has now been refitted by the Second Fleet Armed transport ships, people were dispatched to the Blackwater region of the Far East to serve, and now these poor people locked in the bilge are just that.

"Give double meals to all crew members, a canned fruit for each person, and a small barrel of wine for each group. Everyone, be alert tonight. If the wind is not strong tomorrow morning, continue sailing north and arrive at the final destination, Rongcheng Port. .By the way, the Frenchmen in the bilge also give them half a piece of cake, and some leading officers who are still kind to us can give them some extra shredded tobacco and beer, so that’s it.” The captain ordered with the final word.

At this time, no matter what the status of the people on board is, and what purpose they have, they are all people on the same boat, and they can be regarded as helping each other in the same boat. Therefore, it is common to give them certain treatment.

After the captain's order was issued, everyone went to work in an orderly manner.At this time, the wind and waves are still very strong, and many people are a little flustered, especially the French officers and soldiers in the bilge who are suffering from seasickness and the infiltration of humid sea water. Everyone is devoutly praying to the gods of their beliefs, praying that the gods can May this sudden severe weather pass quickly, and everyone will sail safely to the final port of destination.

Perhaps it was the people's prayers that had an effect, or perhaps the weather near the equator was unpredictable. The changeable sea breeze that night had completely disappeared, replaced by a completely still wind, which was almost invisible from the top of the mast. You can tell by how the flag flutters.

But the "Coconut Creek" has steam power!Under the command of the captain, the crew lowered all the sails, and then activated the steam propulsion system. It only took a short time to sail out of the sheltered bay, and then set sail, heading straight for the Shandong Peninsula in the northern hemisphere. ——Perhaps it was due to the exhaustion of bad luck, the "Coconut Tree Creek" arrived at Rongcheng Port smoothly, and nearly [-] tons of taro, rice and potato were sent to the people who were suffering from food shortages. ***************************************************************************************\’s hands of local officials, and was immediately sent to an empty treasury, where it was strictly kept as a grain reserve.

The "Coconut Creek" will continue to sail to the neighboring Jeju Island, where it will receive simple maintenance, and then continue to embark on the journey of immigration transportation.

(End of this chapter)