Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1537 Deep Plowing in Brazil ([-])

"The west coast of the Atlantic Ocean has now started a land enclosure movement. From the Yazihu ​​area to Beining, from Hue to Jiaohe, the coastline of thousands of miles has now become a hot land. Except for the hot and humid climate in the north, south of Hue The fertile land of thousands of miles has already been crowded with immigrants from all over the world.” Captain Nanjiro, wearing a whitewashed old military uniform, stood sullenly on the pier of Hue Port, and said to Captain Zhou Yafu, who was silently smoking a cigarette.

Nanjiro went to the North American continent this time to "pretend to fail". Five hundred soldiers suffered a big loss in the deserted Quebec: the disease broke out as soon as they disembarked, and then they were attacked by the French at night. Most of it was destroyed, and the mission has basically been declared a failure so far.Taking advantage of the situation before it got out of hand, Nanjiro decisively ordered to board the ship and retreat, which slightly saved the remaining 300 people from returning to the mainland in full.

However, although the soldiers who returned home safely are very grateful to Nanjiro—nonsense, they didn’t die in the icy and snowy Quebec, but returned to the warm east coast for naturalization, can they not be grateful—but the upper echelons of the Ministry of War It may not be good for a guy like Nanjiro who is "ineffective in combat", especially considering that this guy is usually smooth and professional, and he looks more like a politician than a soldier, so he decided to send this guy out of the army. Kicked out of active duty, sent to the reserve garrison in overseas colonies to fight against the natives.

Nanjiro was not dissatisfied with this ending.In fact, if it weren't for the old boss, Major Lan Fei, who took care of him and interceded for him, he, Nanjiro, might have retired from the army and returned to his hometown to farm this time. How could he get the opportunity to be a garrison officer in an overseas colony.You know, this has always been an excellent channel to settle the officers in the army who have retired from active duty due to age or other reasons and transferred to the reserve. Just think about it. I have worked hard for the country all my life. An opportunity to go to an overseas colony to be a dominator and make a small fortune is a reward no matter how you look at it.It's just that this kind of "reward" is not so suitable for Nanjiro, who is in his prime.

Minami Jiro was miserable, but Captain Zhou Yafu, who was standing next to him smoking silently, didn't have a good time.Although he has a rich background (his father is Zhou Shenwo, director of the State Administration of Precious Metals), he has changed the rank of lieutenant on his shoulder and officially became a captain officer, but at the same time, the color of his uniform has also changed. From Army Dark Blue to Navy Sky Blue.

To put it bluntly, Zhou Yafu is now a navy captain and no longer a member of the army system. This is somewhat sad for him who has been in the army system since he was a teenager. After all, many friends are there.However, things always have to look forward, because of all the bad things that happened before, Zhou Yafu's future in the army is quite bleak now, and the room for future advancement has been greatly affected. Solicitation of the advanced naval system, joining the navy, and forming a force for them to initially have the ability to go ashore is also a way.

And speaking of this military unit called the Marine Battalion in the Navy (it belongs to the small battalion organization, there are currently only three compendium companies, and the whole battalion has a total of more than 500 people), one cannot but mention that the forces on the east coast are becoming more and more powerful. The large Navy Department, not only won the army in the process of competing for military expenses, but they didn't even want to lead the army to play in the landing operations in the future.You must know that in the past, the navy went out to fish for wild food to find military expenses. Due to its natural shortcomings, it had to carry a large number of army soldiers to accompany it in combat. Otherwise, it would be impossible to effectively expand the results of the battle, let alone raise enough military expenses.But since the army was dispatched together, it is inevitable that the stolen spoils will be divided among others. This naturally makes the navy more painful, so they have long wanted to get rid of the army and go it alone.

Under the guidance of such an idea, the Navy began the idea of ​​forming a separate marine battalion.To form a marine force, it is natural to need enough marine personnel, so Zhou Yafu, who has received a complete army education and graduated from the Infantry Department of the Dingyuan Military Academy with Zhengzheng Miaohong, has become the most satisfactory candidate for the navy, especially him. With his brother Zhou Yu still serving as the captain of a frigate in the navy, this fellow is simply the perfect candidate.

So, after a period of contact in the open and in the dark, Lieutenant Zhou Yafu, who was very embarrassed because of the storming of the Sugarloaf Mountain and the Fortress of the Conception of the Virgin, slowly hooked up with the navy, and finally with the army. Gradually drifting away, to the point of completely breaking off the relationship, becoming a captain of the navy, and taking charge of a landing combat force like the Marine Battalion from then on, it can be regarded as a good ending.

This time Captain Zhou Yafu returned to the mainland from the Caribbean Sea for the formal formation of the Marine Battalion.The company and platoon-level officers of the three infantry companies in the battalion have all been recruited, most of them were recruited by Zhou Yafu. One can imagine.

The quality of the soldiers is also quite suspicious. Most of them are non-national cannon fodder who have become regulars. Their military thinking and tactics are very old, and their morale is not very high. , Not to mention the "queue to shoot" tactic, in short, the combat effectiveness should not be overestimated.

But everything is difficult at the beginning!Just because the Marine Battalion is so scumbag now doesn't mean it will be so scumbag in the future.In fact, as long as the navy is willing to spend and invest, the combat effectiveness of the [-]-strong Marine Battalion will gradually increase. This level can't get up!

Today is January 1669, 1, the first day of the new year. Captain Zhou Yafu brought a group of officers to Hue Port to receive a batch of supplies such as tobacco, sugar, dried fruit, and flour. He planned to take a ship in a few days Go to the Eastern Cape Verde Islands, and then with the cooperation of several broken ships of the Cape Verde Squadron, Dongdu goes ashore to play with the local black uncle, and see if he can catch some slaves and come back to replenish the navy's small coffers—— Now the civil service system is very dissatisfied with the fact that military expenditure accounts for more than 1% of the country's financial expenditure. It is almost possible that military expenditure will be reduced at any time. The latter cannot make ends meet, which affects the normal operation of the troops.

The reason why he got involved with Nanjiro was mainly to see if the other party wanted to serve in the marine battalion, but now it seems that Nanjiro is still a hardcore army faction, even if he has been transferred to the reserve service, but for the navy His solicitation is still honest, perhaps this has something to do with his deep entanglement in the army.

And since people don't accept solicitation, there is nothing to talk about. Zhou Yafu also kept silent about it, and instead chatted with Minamijiro about other things, such as the past and present of Brazil and so on.

"The development of all parts of Brazil is still dominated by the port of Hue. After all, Rio de Janeiro was also a city under the control of the Portuguese. Naturally, the economic foundation is not bad." Zhou Yafu looked at the renovated fort fortress, quite emotionally Said: "Speaking of which, many businessmen who invested and opened plantations in the local area, such as the Dutch West India Company, Prince Cosimo of Tuscany, some nobles in Milan, and investors from Genoa*, were all my friends back then. I talked with them. These businessmen value a stable investment environment more than anything else. After all, in the Caribbean, threats of pirates and conflicts between countries can easily damage their interests. Hue Port and its The surrounding climate is suitable and the soil is fertile, which is suitable for growing commercial crops such as tobacco, coffee, and cocoa. However, the yield and quality are slightly inferior to those in the tropics, but the advantage is that the distance is short, and they can be sold locally without paying The cost of import tariffs is much lower, and there is still a certain degree of competitiveness.”

Nanjiro nodded when he heard the words. Now, in many towns and towns in Hue County, except for a small part of the wasteland that has been opened up to grow food, the daily needs of more than 3 people and more than [-] migrant workers in the county A lot of food still depends on external imports, such as the Bac Ninh grain purchased under the guidance of the national policy - of course, one Bac Ninh alone cannot supply the whole county of Hue, and the insufficient part still has to be obtained from large areas of grain in Changhua area in the south. On-farm purchases, which in turn gave birth to the development of the offshore transportation industry.

The current Hue County is such a city infiltrated by foreign investment and prosperous business.Italian can even be spoken as a lingua franca in some places, and some of the tobacco, sugar, coffee, cocoa and other commodities produced in the day are sold across the country—although the output has not yet returned to the level of the Portuguese era—and some are taken away by ships , transported to the Old Continent and sold to other countries, of course they have to pay export duties at this time.

When talking about the "Italian characteristics" of Hue Port, we have to mention that some wealthy Italian businessmen have immigrated to the east coast, or at least some of their children have immigrated to the east coast (I continue to live in the old continent. make money).The success of Castelli, Viviani, and Torricelli on the east coast has become a "legendary story" in some parts of Italy, which makes the east coast the first choice for many people who can't get along in their hometown for various reasons. overseas immigration destinations.

These Italians from the east coast, who brought a lot of capital, now seem to like to live in two cities, namely Qingdao and Hue. The latter has now surpassed the former, probably because of the strong Catholic atmosphere here—— Except for one catholic church in the Portuguese era, which was requisitioned by "overbearing" Taoism, the others have been greatly preserved, and the number of clergy is relatively sufficient. These are undoubtedly the reasons why Hue surpassed Qingdao and became the first choice destination for Italian immigrants. Of course, Rio de Janeiro's reputation in the old continent seems to be one of the reasons.

In addition, it has to be explained that all the Catholic clergy in Hue Port have no connection with the Holy See in theory. The biggest difference between countries.

If there is a strong Catholic atmosphere in the port city of Hue, then when you go out of the urban area and go to the countryside, you can easily find that many large or small Taoist temples have been densely distributed everywhere.The Taoist priests spread the teachings, recruited believers, and consolidated the faith for Tianzun.

Due to the shortage of funds, some Taoist temples were rebuilt on the basis of the original Catholics.This kind of behavior of magpie's nest and dove's occupation naturally aroused the dissatisfaction of the servants of God, but in a society like the East Coast, they can only put away the set of ways of doing things in the Old World and obediently become a "religion of peace." ", "The Moderate Priest".Otherwise, just wait in line to register for the gallows at the Bureau of Statistics and Investigation of Syphilis Patients. This is not a joke. I still remember the mass hunting of "cultists" in Wei Boqiu's era. Although the current policy is looser than before , doesn't mean you can do whatever you want.

"I wish you all the best when you go to Xinhua Island this time." A "Star" class light cruiser sailed on the sea, and Zhou Yafu knew that it was a naval warship that came to pick him up.They will resupply fresh water at Hue Port, then head north to Huaiyuan Island in the Caribbean Sea, pick up some marine battalion officers and soldiers who are still stationed there, and then find a way to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the Cape Verde Islands to carry out the next stage task.

As for Captain Nanjiro, he has retired from active duty and will wait for some time in the port of Hue until a group of miscellaneous units of the Ukrainian Army who went to the deep inland to suppress the Indians return, and then reorganize them on the spot. The garrison team boarded a ship and headed to Xinhua Island to garrison—their number of troops was tentatively set at 500, and the name was "Zelu District Garrison". Captain Nanjiro himself has also been appointed as the acting security commander of the newly established Zelu area. According to rumors, he may take over the post of the soon-to-retire Xiao Baitu as the security commander of the Daqing area. A colony can be regarded as a high position and weight.

At this time, Captain Nanjiro smiled back at Captain Zhou Yafu's blessing. In his heart, he was not very willing to leave the mainland. Although it might be more expensive to work in an overseas colony, it was a done deal, and he could only accept it.It seems that in the future, for quite a long time, I will say goodbye to the affluent life of the local people. Dealing with native people in the mosquito-infested, humid and hot valleys of New China will be the mainstream of my life in the future—then , Get ready in advance, start with medicine reserves!

(End of this chapter)