Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1532 He Jian (24)

Constantin de Obando stood in the steeple attic of the Cathedral of Santa Maria, and with a monocular produced by the Henan Glass Factory, he looked carefully at the land of the East Bank people on the other side of the Paraná River.An astonishing construction activity was going on there, and it had been going on for a long time. Ovando estimated that the people on the east coast mobilized at least more than 5000 people to work, a number that the Spaniards could not imagine.

5000 people, not to mention their working expenses and maintenance costs, even transporting 5000 people here from the Old World would cost a huge amount of money, at least 150 million rials.It's not that many people can't afford the funds of millions of rials, but it's just a job with no income, and only a fool will do it!From this point of view, aren't people from the east coast just fools?It is said that the cost of immigration is 3000 to [-] million riyals every year, which is really scary.Because this is not a one-year expenditure, it is a huge expenditure that has lasted for many years. It is somewhat incomprehensible that people on the east coast spend so much money on immigration.

However, it was their government's persistent investment in immigration that was able to quickly establish towns, factories, and roads on their own land, while maintaining a small but elite Navy and Army.Of course, the monarchs of the Old World are not unable to do this level of immigration. For example, the Spanish Habsburg royal family may spend more than 3000 million riyals per year, which is higher than the total immigration expenditure of the people on the east coast. Do you want them to take all the money out to organize immigrants on the peninsula to the New World?This is basically impossible, because there is no need, His Majesty's roots are still in the Old World, not Mexico, Lima, Charcas or Buenos Aires, and rooted in the east coast of the New World People are fundamentally different.

Well, let's go.Let us look again at the scene of people working on the East Coast. Most of the 5000 people are immigrants, to be precise, immigrants from the Huai'an Prefecture of the Qing Dynasty who just arrived on the east coast in the first half of this year.At this time, the Weirong County Government obviously exercised the right to expropriate corvee, and used a lot of manpower and material resources to start building flood control and water control projects on the left bank of the Parana River. This project should also be part of the "50 million central water conservancy investment in 1500 years", mainly including reservoirs. , The construction of the embankment, the dredging of the waterway, the development of the land, etc., the local government should have also contributed a lot of manpower, material resources and money, which will make the total expenditure of water conservancy construction in the inter-river area reach an astonishing 50 to 3000 million yuan in [-] years!

Such a level of expenditure and such a great determination, compared with the wild scene here in the Spanish era, does it mean that the people on the east coast are more qualified to occupy this place than those lazy and stupid people from the peninsula?They only know how to ask for all kinds of things from the New World, but they seldom get decent construction and rewards. Shouldn't such people be driven out of the New World?Of course, that’s all for the future, but at least there is such a concept among many people on the East Coast—especially the second-generation citizens.

Ovando quickly turned his attention to the sparkling Parana River. On the river near the settlement known as Jiacheng Town by the people on the east bank, a strangely shaped boat was dredging the river. Instead of dredging the majestic Paraná River, a small tributary on the left bank of the great river is being dredged-these tributaries are also of great use value in the eyes of the people on the east bank and must be widened and dredged.

In Obando's opinion, this ship has a displacement of no less than a thousand tons, and it is no longer a small boat in the Paraná River Basin (of course, it is not a small boat on the sea), let alone some ships that seem to have special purposes.The boat that was dredging the river has attracted Owando's attention for a while. I saw some hammer heads with chisel points on both sides of the boat. The hammer heads seemed to be made of steel, which would be driven by the steam engine. He quickly knocked on the rocks at the bottom of the river—the bottom of many river sections is full of rocks, which brought great inconvenience to the work of the dredger. The appearance of this kind of engineering ship can be said to have solved the urgent need——Hammer The head hammers the rock very fast, about 200 times per hour.At this speed, no matter how hard the rock can withstand it for a long time, Owando thinks this kind of machine is really great.

Rocks shattered by steel hammerheads are picked up by some steel grabs (similar to those on a dredger) and thrown into an open-air cabin amidships, or directly to a barge moored nearby , to extend the working hours outside the home.Ao Wan counted them. There are three hammerheads installed on each side of this ship. The hammerheads can be lifted up to the height of the second deck.

Ovando does not know the horsepower of such a ship, but judging from his limited knowledge of steam engines, it is likely to be no less than 250 horsepower, perhaps higher.A steam engine of this level can't be considered small for people on the east coast, but it is actually used on a dredger—well, it is a dredger with the function of breaking river bottom rocks—it is true. Some people are surprised, which also shows that the people on the East Coast are becoming more and more proficient in the design of special ships.

"The gap in Castile is really getting bigger and bigger." Obando sighed and put down the binoculars in his hand, then subconsciously touched a bank draft of [-] reals from the Bank of La Plata on his chest, Slowly went down to the attic.

Today the church is empty, except for some clergy who are praying, there is no one else.Ovando watched the meeting steadily, feeling a little guilty. Although his faith has not been very stable, the benefits he received from the people on the east coast several times have not been less than [-] rials. He has done a lot to Spain and even God. Therefore, he didn't dare to stay in the Santa Maria Cathedral any longer, he greeted his followers, and then went outside the door in a hurry.

There is a large-scale livestock market nearby, in which there are a surprising number of draft animals such as donkeys and mules, all of which are for export to the people on the east bank on the other side.The inter-river region has been developed for a long time, and there is a great demand for livestock, especially draft animals. Therefore, places rich in livestock such as Córdoba, Jujuy, Tucuman, and La Rioja have ushered in a rare business cycle , a large number of gray donkeys and mules were exported to the east bank, in exchange for a lot of cash and industrial products, which effectively prospered the local economy.And Santa Fe City, located on the west bank of the Paraná River, is such a distribution market for selling livestock. All the draft animals in the west are gathered here for the east bank merchants who come from the opposite bank to choose at will.

Obando, as the newly appointed supreme chief of the Buenos Aires prosecutorial court district, many cities including Putrajaya, Rosario, Santa Fe, Corrientes, Asunción are in his position. It is within the jurisdiction, so no matter what the purpose is, it is still necessary for him to come to these places for inspection. He has been staying in Santa Fe for almost a week now, and he has gained a lot of benefits—well, this is not the point The key point is that he formed a tacit understanding with the people on the other side of the East Bank and reached some agreements on economic complementarity.

Ovando, an official who was born as an illegitimate son of a nobleman, is actually very clear-headed. He knows why he was able to defeat many competitors who were eyeing him, and successfully entered the district of the Grand Prosecutor's Court in Buenos Aires. It's not because in the eyes of many people, he is familiar with the affairs of the East Coast and has a good relationship with the East Coast people.

As early as when he served in Maolin City and Santiago, Mr. Constantin de Obando was a well-known "pro-East Coast" bureaucrat. He was once severely suppressed by conservative aristocrats and church forces.However, with the drastic changes in the international situation in recent years, the Kingdom of Spain and the East Coast Republic of China tend to form closer ties, and the relationship between the two countries has also risen to a new height. Therefore, the Kingdom of Spain has slowly adjusted its position. Policy, determined to tie up the east bank by a large margin, and use it as a aid.Therefore, people like Owando will come and go, and they generally rise faster.

Ovando, as a smart man, of course understands that Madrid and Lima need such a pro-Eastern faction like him to run the Buenos Aires Prosecutor's Court District bordering the East Bank and take advantage of the relatively good relationship between the two parties , to start business exchanges with the east coast, to prosper the local economy, and to eliminate the threat of war.Therefore, even though some nobles or religious forces in the jurisdiction opposed him, he still went his own way, fully opened up La Plata's economy, and abolished all the previous policy obstacles that restricted trade. It may not be without the effect of the silver bullet offensive of the people on the east coast.

Some people may find it difficult to understand why the Spanish royal family turned in such a way, which is actually very understandable, because the Spanish royal family has once again seen who their first and deadliest enemy is: there is no doubt that it is Louis XIV Kingdom of France.This kingdom is Spain's evil neighbor, and it is always trying to seize the land and even the crown of Spain (this kind of bullying of the Habsburg royal family's orphans and widows is especially unbearable). , is nothing more than a colony of the Kingdom of Spain in the New World, and the threat is far less than that of France.

Therefore, the lesser of two evils, the Spaniards are very clear at the last moment of last resort, which interests can be given up (to put it nicely, they can be exchanged), and which ones cannot be given up.France is close at hand, and what they seek is the core territory of Spain, which cannot be regressed; the people on the east coast are far away, and what they seek is the uninhabited wild land, which can be traded when the situation is critical, so it is very important to choose Clear.

What's more, the people on the east coast are really righteous this time. During the peace talks held in Aachen, their representatives repeatedly pointed out that the "natural rights" of the Kingdom of Spain in the Caribbean Sea should be protected, because this is the What the Pope promised is sacred, and any country should stop illegally occupying Spanish territory in the Caribbean Sea, and establish a timetable for returning the occupied land to safeguard the interests of the Kingdom of Spain.

Naturally, this formulation was greatly ridiculed by the representatives of the Kingdom of France, clamoring for the Spaniards to take it themselves, and the mediating officials of the United Provinces were also quite embarrassed, because their country also invaded some islands here, the people on the east coast said so, It knocked them down with a stick.

Facing the arrogant attitude of the French special envoy, the East Coast representative pointed out that the French navy was "as shy as a woman" hiding in the fortresses of Toulon and Dunkirk. Under the control of the French, if necessary, the powerful east coast navy and army would not mind launching a second battle to completely occupy all the French strongholds in the Caribbean Sea. I don't know what kind of expression King Louis will have at that time.

This attitude of upholding justice of the people on the east coast won the great favor of the Spanish royal family.The Spanish royal family is really too isolated and helpless now. There are not a few people in the country staring at orphans and widowed mothers. The illegitimate son of the former king still holds power, and the relatives of Austria have betrayed them. If the support of the nobles and the bondage of tradition, it is estimated that Madrid has changed, right?

Therefore, they resolutely ended the war with the Portuguese, recognized their independence, and at the same time established a closer relationship with the east bank. Put pressure on France, because this powerful neighbor is their number one enemy.Under such a background, it is not difficult to understand that someone like Constantin de Obando is in the top position, and they are all routines.

After staying in the smelly livestock market for a few minutes, Owando couldn't bear it anymore, and then hid on the side of the pier to breathe fresh air.At this time, another east bank fleet was sailing on the Parana River, and two of the ships looked quite strange, probably they were newly developed by their modern special ship factory to dredge the river.

In fact, Ovando's guess was correct. These two ships were indeed newly developed by Hyundai.This type of ship is called an "erosion dredger". Simply put, a rotatable conical cutter with many cutting edges is installed on the ship. The rotation speed of the cutter is about tens of revolutions per minute. Powered by a marine steam engine.The cutter shreds the material on the river bed and at the same time creates a centrifugal flow that helps the river water carry the chopped particles away. It sounds pretty good, but I don't know how it will work in practice. I hope it works well.

The steam engine rakes the dry river, the water guide wall constricts the water to deepen the depth, the dredger with the chisel head removes rocks, the ship with the cutter "erosion dredging", and the traditional grab dredger. There are really many tricks to dredging the river.And this also shows from another aspect that they attach great importance to the convenient (maybe not now) Parana River Basin. No, another group of new immigrants was sent to the north of Weirong County to set up settlements.

(End of this chapter)