Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1602 He Jian (28)

June 1671, 6, Tonghe County, sunny.

The wheat in the field has just been harvested, and there are neatly stacked haystacks everywhere.Ghoshkin, richly attired, caressed the stalks with his hands, as if he were stroking his lover.Perhaps, Goshkin, who lived in the Russian countryside for many years in his early years, is recalling his past time in an alternative way.

Next to the farmland is a small meandering river, which meanders westward, joins other rivers, and finally flows into the Paraná River.Of course, this small river might have been called a river a few months ago, and the river surface could pass a small punting boat with a draft of a few tenths of a meter, and it could also provide irrigation water for farmland, but now, the river water is quite shallow.

The reason is probably because a large number of leaves, sand, weeds and even wood are washed into the riverbed year after year, causing the river to dry up during the dry season.And when there is more rain in summer, often after a heavy rain, the river begins to rise violently, swiftly and turbulently. At that time, this small river will show its true colors, just like most rivers in the Hejian area. , submerge the pastures, vegetable fields and small ponds on both sides of the river, carrying hay and crops into the riverbed - this kind of disaster is generally difficult to avoid, unless you don't live by the river bank, or build reservoirs, canals, etc. water conservancy facilities.

However, even in the face of the serious threat of floods, the more than a dozen households of Russian migrant workers who settled here have never complained, unlike the dozens of other households in the village who were immigrant from the Ming Dynasty or second-generation nationals who frown endlessly.In the Russian countryside, they have experienced countless times more difficult and painful things than this. What is this small difficulty in front of them?Is it already impossible for people to live?Obviously not!

Goshkin came to see more than a dozen former labor workers who had just become regulars and were assigned here today.He casually bought some spirits, sugar, spices and yerba mate as gifts, brought three or two entourages, and took a small steamer from the Inland River Transport Company from Puerto Iguazu to Tonghe County to "visit relatives".As a rather humane contractor, Goshkin has always been kind to his subordinates, and he has won the support of his subordinates, which is very important.

Tonghe County is a newly established county with jurisdiction over five settlements including Tonghe Township, Guangrou Township, Jinya Township, Shiquan Township, and Mapan Township. It is also the 89th county-level administrative unit in the country.Along with it, Dongsheng County (the 90th county-level administrative unit in the country) under the jurisdiction of five settlements, Dongsheng Town, Songliuxiang, Xiangsi Township, Dinglian Township, and Yifeng Township; Anxi County, the 91st county-level administrative unit in the country, has four settlements in Torch Township, Juan Township, and Xigou Township (formerly Pedro Castle); it has jurisdiction over Zhenrong Township, Lihu Township, and Goya Township (located near the later town of Goya), Dongqiu Township (formerly Shaosai Castle), Zhenrong County with four settlements, and the county is also the 92nd county-level administrative unit in the country.

The establishment of the four counties of Tonghe, Dongsheng, Anxi, and Zhenrong marked the completion of the division of a large area of ​​land in the sub-region of the Hejian Plain (that is, the Corrientes Plain in later generations), and officially entered the stage of construction and reclamation.As for the four major sub-regions in Hejian's geography—the plateau sub-region, the swamp sub-region, the plain sub-region, and the estuary delta sub-region-except for the swamp sub-region that has not yet been divided, the other three sub-regions have basically been completed. Each has divided the counties.

"Has the grain in the field been harvested? How is the harvest?" After Goshkin came back from the field, he sat in a house built with branches, bark, thatch and a few planks. The residence of laborers in Gniec Province. He has just been allocated five acres of land free of charge, and he is reclaiming wasteland here with his wife and children.

"It's not good. Because it's the first year of land reclamation, the harvest is very low, so I can only eat relief food. And there is only so much relief food. There are four children in my family, and I can barely eat enough. It's really difficult. But to be honest , it’s much better than Rose’s life.” A bearded man looked gratefully at the gifts that Goshkin brought over—these gifts he would never enjoy himself, because they were brought to the market. A good deal of flour and bacon could be traded back—and said.

As if infected by his words, his wife who was standing beside her lowered her head sadly, but she did not shed tears, because this kind of life did not exceed their bottom line.Goshkin sighed softly, and turned his head to look inside the room. There was no furniture, and half of the room was occupied by a dark, gloomy stove.Beside the mistress, the children were crying and the chicks were chirping.

"The difficulty is only temporary. After all, there is hope when there is land." Goshkin lit a cigarette, smoked a few puffs, and said, "Have you joined the cooperative in the village? If you can join the cooperative, life may be easier .”

"No." The man spread his hands helplessly. His hands were full of calluses and chapped wounds, and he complained: "This village is newly built, and there are not many people. And those Ming people or young people born in the local area are very rude to us. It’s not very friendly. They formed a cooperative, but they haven’t allowed us to join. The village head is an injured amputee veteran who only knows to drink all day long and doesn’t care about anything. It’s really hard for us, really! My wife Every day when Anna went out to mow grass in the field, the children and chicks followed, crying and chirping everywhere, it was because they were hungry."

"This..." Goshkin was also a little embarrassed when he heard the words. How to integrate into the mainstream society on the east coast is indeed a real problem.Because even a rich and powerful boss like Goshkin sometimes encounters the kind of bright people or second-generation citizens who have an inexplicable sense of superiority, which makes him very unhappy.On the contrary, there is very little discrimination encountered in the upper class, which is probably because there are more mixed blood among those people and the atmosphere is more open.

However, in order to avoid unnecessary troubles, Goshkin had already changed his son Ivan's name to Goivan, and planned to marry a second-generation national woman with decent status to try to wash away his bloodline.Although this sounds a bit sad, it is a reality. In a country where there are more and more people of the yellow race, few people think that mixed-race people are the mainstream backbone of the country. After all, their proportion in the total population of the country is only Less than a third.

"We still have to try our best to integrate into the mainstream society on the East Coast." Goshkin handed the man a whole pack of cigarettes that had only been smoked, and then said to him with a serious face: "The situation is still very optimistic. Discrimination is everywhere. Yes, I said that the people of Ognets province are not despised by the people of Moscow? And the half-civilized barbarians in the northern ice fields and forests are not despised and excluded by you? But in fact, all People are all the subjects of the tsar, and they are the same and equal in the legal sense. The conditions on the east bank are still very good, with a mild climate and fertile soil. The most important thing is that there are no tax collectors who extort money and nobles who disregard human lives. The burden of ordinary people In fact, it is not heavy. As long as you work hard, your life will get better little by little. You have five acres of land now, and in the future two people can own up to sixty acres. You will raise some cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock for food. Delicious meat and fish, bread with honey, and delicious wine, I am not bragging. Many of your seniors have already achieved this goal in other places. Moreover, when your living conditions improve in the future, you can still think about it. There is a way to bring over relatives and friends who are still suffering in Russia, so that everyone can live a good life together. Now, many Italians from Sicily and Naples are already doing this kind of thing, we Russians can’t let them compare Go on, we must not let the number of Italians get rid of us too much."

However, when it came to increasing the Russian population on the east coast, Goshkin's mood suddenly became gloomy, and his expression gradually became a little gloomy.Without him, I just remembered the nephew who died tragically on the southern Russian grassland and a large number of old people. For the benefit of the east coast, they resolutely—well, resolutely is an exaggeration, because they were obviously forced to follow the east coast. The elite agents of the State Intelligence Bureau on the shore entered Astrakhan and other places, but unexpectedly, they were attacked and robbed by horse bandits, and lost a lot of manpower and property; The Tsar’s Tatars (not the Crimean Tatars, referring to the descendants of Eurasian mixed blood on the South Russian steppe after the collapse of the Golden Horde) and the Kalmyks encircled and attacked, although the mercenaries who accompanied them fought bravely , but in the end they were outnumbered. Except for a few people who fled back to Azov, the rest were either killed in battle or captured (later executed publicly), and ended up in a miserable end.

This matter has a very far-reaching impact on both the East Bank government and Goshkin himself.At the government level, the Russians closed the east bank trading stations in Arkhangelsk and Moscow, and put all the personnel of the trading stations in prison. In addition, they detained two ships in St. Nicholas and Arkhangelsk It is a serious warning for the merchant ships on the east coast—of course, the technicians and managers on the east coast in the Tula Arsenal and the Little Star Shipyard were fortunately unaffected, perhaps because the Russians needed them, but it is said that Tsar Alexei also sent people to persuade these professionals to become Russian citizens and promised them generous treatment, just like the Germans and Dutchmen who served in the shooting army.

For Goshkin personally, the current situation is indeed quite critical, because his construction company has found it difficult to recruit enough fresh blood from all over Russia to supplement it, but it is enough to pass the Chinese test every year (simple daily conversations are enough) ) After that, the number of laborers who became regular nationals of the East Coast has never decreased.If this situation continues for a few more years, wouldn't he, Goshkin, be unavailable?And at that time, what capital should he use to contract construction projects?Because even if the East Coast government owes you Goshkin Construction Company again, the problem is how do you have no one working under your command?

Therefore, Goshkin, the construction tycoon, is indeed facing a problem now.It is unreliable to wait for East-Russia relations to pick up, because who knows when the trade will be reopened?If it doesn't reopen in five years, wouldn't his company close down?It is necessary to find another way and find a new way to recruit manpower to overcome the current difficulties. This is the consensus view of Goshkin and his core followers now!

As for where to introduce new personnel, after much deliberation, Goshkin and others think that the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which is also a Slav, is the most suitable. To put it bluntly, it is Poles, Lithuanians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians!The country of Poland has been in great chaos these years, and the trend of national decline and decline is quite obvious. The Russians who were beaten by them at random decades ago are now starting to shit and pee on their heads. Can't explain the problem?Moreover, as a construction tycoon who has a little relationship in all aspects and has rich sources of information, Goshkin also vaguely heard that the relationship between this country and the Ottoman Empire has deteriorated significantly in recent years. Lu had already announced that he would conquer Poland himself. This was undoubtedly a godsend opportunity for Goshkin, because everyone knew that Poland was usually unprepared. This means that invaders have an excellent opportunity to plunder its population, as the Tatar cavalry in Crimea often do.

You know, the Poland-Lithuanian Federation has more than 1100 million people (about 300 million people before losing half of Ukraine, of which the core crown territory directly under the king has 300 million people, Ukraine 500 million people, and half of the rest of Poland There are about [-] million people in Livonia, Prussia, Lithuania, Belarus, etc.), and the southern region is especially rich and prosperous. Once the Crimeans enter, they can really arrest as many people as they want.At that time, maybe I really have to come to buy some from others. Anyway, they are also buying and selling without money. Selling one more and earning more money, why not do it?

The only thing to worry about is that I have to spend a lot of money to buy people, which is much more than what I have to pay for recruiting people from Russia in the past.But fortunately, the higher-ups also hinted to themselves that if liquidity is tight, they can apply for loans from United Industrial Credit Bank and Northwest Reclamation Bank, and the government will make proper arrangements. After all, honest people can’t suffer!He Goshkin said that he is also a person who has made meritorious service to the country!

It's not bad that this thing can be done like this.Thinking of this, Goshkin breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the bearded man sitting in front of him, patted him on the shoulder lightly, and encouraged him: "Do well, Maxim, good days are waiting for you!" It’s up to you. Now the Hejian area is relatively difficult, but once the water conservancy facilities are built and the population increases, industry and commerce will definitely develop, and those of you who settled early will benefit from it in the future, believe me.”

(End of this chapter)