Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1678 Pampa ([-])

December 1674, 12, was a hot summer day.

Inigo walked into the only tavern in Yedianzi Township in a hurry, and then threw two rapiers, one long and one short, on the table with a bang, and looked at a disheveled guy who was buried in his meal with piercing eyes. .This guy had almost finished eating at this time, and after carefully picking out the vegetable leaves at the bottom of the bowl into his mouth one by one, he finally stood up reluctantly, and when Inigo's patience was almost worn out, he finally left The seat was given up, and the whole table was given up.

"I said Inigo, I heard that you caught a large herd of cattle near Dajiao Township (near the later town of Gonzalez Chavez) and sold them for more than 5000 yuan? Damn it Shit luck, that place has been swept by many people, but no one found the herd of cows, God knows where they came from, and they were hit by you when they were blind, is there any reason?" This figure When the short and stocky man was passing by Inigo's figure, he couldn't bear the jealousy and resentment after all, and yelled sourly at Inigo.

"You'd better get out of here quickly, while I'm in a good mood. If you don't, I don't think I don't mind letting you taste my rapier." When he said this, Inigo raised his eyes I glanced at the entire tavern, and found that there were not many people in it at the moment, except for the boss who was dozing in the corner of the counter, and a young man who was buried in the carpentry work in his hand, there were only some cattle catchers or traders in a hurry, They were eating breakfast with red eyes.

The most important thing is that there are no patrolmen here, and Inigo, who has superb sword skills, has always been a lawless person!

The man who spoke before seemed to be aware of this too. He subconsciously glanced at the rusty heavy rapier in Inigo's hand, then closed his mouth tightly, and walked out of the tavern quietly.

The young man who was sitting on the side of the counter, suspected to be the owner's son, raised his head at this moment, smiled at Inigo friendly, and said, "I thought you would fight him, but I didn't expect you to go out for a few months. Your temper has calmed down."

"People who have money are always in a good mood." Inigo took the yerba mate tea handed by a Polish non-national laborer, poured himself a cup skillfully, and said loudly: "I used to I have been trying to calm down my heart, but I can't do it. Until I transferred to Tianzun and found such a herd under the guidance of Tianzun, I found that it is easy to focus myself. Yes, that's right, Tianzun calmed me down."

It is said that in such an alien place as the Pampa Plain, Inigo, the adopted son of the former Spanish mercenary leader Captain Alatrist, the apprentice of the swordsmanship master Alqueza, and known as the "brave musketeer" is really a bad name. A notorious character, this guy is brave and ruthless, but he is very strong, and he is surrounded by five or six outlaws as companions, he is like a bully.Even He Yuan, the mayor of Niuzhuang Town, had faintly heard about this mission, and sent a few policemen to "talk" to Inigo, telling him not to make troubles, which slightly curbed Inigo's actions. Arrogance—Although the ruling power of the east coast government on the Pampa Plain is quite weak, it does not mean that these lawless people dare to do things against the government, otherwise he may not be able to successfully control the land in some towns. Rest, play, deposit and withdrawal, and insurance business.

Inigo and Lao Siji wandered the grassland with nearly twenty people for a long time this time, but found nothing. When they were frustrated, they found a small herd of cattle on the way back , captured them, and slowly drove them to the cattle pens in Dajiao Township, where they were sold to local cattle dealers at a price of five yuan and fifty cents a head.

This successful operation greatly enhanced the confidence of the people, and at the same time enabled them to have enough money and materials to persevere on the Pampa Plain.Over the past year, they have seen too many former cattle catchers who were forced to give up cattle hunting because they were unable to continue, and instead planted grain, vegetables, melons and fruits in Niuzhuang, Yinhai, Niulanshan and other places.Such days are feared by those who are unwilling to be lonely like Inigo and Lao Siji. Otherwise, they would have lived in the Hejian area honestly, why would they travel thousands of miles here to eat ice cream? What about Lying Snow?

The golden-roasted mutton was brought up. The young man put down the tools in his hand, picked up a musical instrument next to him, gestured to Inigo, and asked, "Would you like some music?"

It turned out that what the young man had been working on just now was a violin. He used tools such as awls, pliers, files, and copper brushes to process and polish it continuously, hoping that this handmade instrument could produce a more pleasing sound. Although there seemed to be few artistic people in this wild land-Inigo would bet that no one here could sing "The Uruguay River" in its entirety, including himself.

Inigo shook his head slightly between the yerba mate and the mutton, expressing his disapproval to the young man's inquiry.The young man sighed in disappointment, and seemed to regret the loss of an audience, but then he chattered with Inigo about some experience in wood and musical instrument making: "... Generally speaking, the wood for making musical instruments is still There are strict requirements, such as toughness requirements. Musical instruments made of wood with good toughness can continue to be used for a long time even when the wood is cracked. Various musical instruments produced by the Haidiao Musical Instrument Factory of General Mo’s family are used Some famous woods from Brazil and New China are made, so the quality is excellent. But I can’t do it here, I don’t have money to buy such an expensive instrument, so I can only make it by hand. Well, cedar wood from the eastern foot of the Andes can be used to make resonance I asked someone to bring some back from Shuofang Town; ebony is a bit expensive, and Patagonia does not produce this kind of wood, so I had to ask someone to buy it from Brazil. Alas, it cost me a lot of money , but it is an essential part of the neck..."

It seems that because of the rain, a strong wind blew outside the house. Inigo had already finished eating a large piece of mutton. At this time, he poured a full cup of yerba mate in front of him, lit a pipe, and Swallowing, squinting at the chattering young man, he asked with a sneer, "Wang Erxiao, do you want to change your career to become a luthier instead of inheriting your small shop?"

"Of course, my dream is to be a musical instrument maker. I really love this job. Although I can only play this part-time at present, many of the musical instruments in the caravan wandering on the grassland are entrusted to me by them. The first sounds of these violins are often made in the huge solitude in the woodshed of my house. How about it, am I good?" The young man Wang Erxiao looked at Inigo with a smile and said.

"A little bit, just a little bit." Inigo commented: "But I don't think your father is willing to let you go out. I have been stationed in the Caribbean Sea with him for two years, and I know him very well. , your life will probably be on this pampa plain in the future. Well, maybe with luck, you open a hotel in every town, and then pass the business on to your son, so you can have time to do other things thing."

The young man Wang Erxiao also sighed softly, as if he felt that what Inigo said was not wrong.

"Forget it, don't talk about these boring things. Is Director Zhang of the bank still in the village? We want to save a sum of cash. You know how troublesome and dangerous it is to always carry a huge cash box in the wild. "Inigo asked aloud in the lingering smoke.

"He's here, right at the branch office." Wang Erxiao nodded and said.

The branch office he was talking about was the Northwest Reclamation Bank branch in Yedianzi Township. There were three extremely luxurious and sturdy brick and stone houses in the village, and seven or eight bank employees lived in them.Considering that it is in a land like the Pampa Plain, where there is no law and no rules, these so-called bank employees are all tall and thick, and they have poor professional ability in accounting and lending, but they are very good at fighting and killing. , and this is obviously very suitable for the current situation in the Pampa Plain.

"Okay, I'll go find them later." Inigo got what he wanted, so he didn't say anything, and continued humming comfortably amidst the mutton, yerba mate and tobacco.Having found the cattle, he is now in a particularly good mood, and the funds that were at risk are now fully replenished. The wages and bonuses of his subordinates can be paid, and the bills for ammunition, horse feed, clothing, food, and tools in arrears can also be paid. After repaying, the rest of the money can be remitted to the home as a bonus, and you can also go to the Niuzhuang to see if you can recruit a few more horsemen, especially those gauchos who are suffering. It costs a few dollars, but it has a great effect, so you must check it out later.

Of course, the coolest thing here is that you don't have to pay any taxes, because the Pampa Plain is not the territory of the East Coast Republic of China, but the territory of the Kingdom of Spain.Except for some officials stationed in Niuzhuang Port to maintain order, the east bank government basically let things go their own way at present, so naturally there is no need to pay this tax.Otherwise, just relying on your bitterness and holding a huge sum of more than 5000 yuan to deposit in the bank, the officials of the government taxation department will be able to keep an eye on you to see if you have committed tax evasion. How can Inigo be so comfortable now.

"By the way, Inigo, I heard that a third-class national road leading here is being built in Yancheng County in the south. You may be able to go to Yancheng County for supplies in the future. The supplies there are more comprehensive and the price is more cost-effective." Wang Erxiao, the young man's musical instrument maker and heir to the hotel, suddenly said to him: "I heard that this route will not turn to our established settlements, but turn to the northeast and extend towards the unknown inland hinterland. I I don't know why, I don't even know if it's true, because it's just one of the more interesting things I've heard recently, and I'm telling you, I hope you like it, in case it's true ? That really means too many things!"

"Very good, thank you, this news is very important, I will find a way to find out." Inigo finally ate the last piece of mutton, and then drank a few mouthfuls of yerba mate tea before getting up and throwing down a silver dollar , Don't change the money, just walked out of the tavern gate in a smart way, his partner Lao Siji and others are waiting for him somewhere outside the town at this time.

Inigo wandered around the town to make sure that no one was paying attention to him, then quietly turned into another small restaurant, bought four bottles of wine, and dozens of hot beef pies in one go, and stuffed them all in In the saddle bag under his horse's belly, he got on the horse and galloped outside.

Half an hour later, he saw the ragged and disheveled Lao Siji and his party in the shade behind a small dirt slope outside.But don't look at them being extremely sloppy at this time, but all of them have bright eyes, swords and muskets are also placed where they can be reached, and they look like they are ready to fight at any time.

Inigo had long since turned a blind eye to this.After so many days of cattle hunting on the Pampa Plain, he clearly knew how much competition and even fighting had been experienced between the various cattle hunting teams behind the scenes.Under such circumstances, if you don't have a lot of attention and are not strong in combat, you have already been exposed to the corpse for a long time and let the falcons peck it clean. How can it be his turn to drive a large herd of bison to various purchase points?Go dreaming!

After sharing the spirits and food, five or six backbones including Lao Siji and Inigo got together and chatted.The main content is that after the money was distributed this time, a few people seemed to no longer want to do this kind of cattle hunting life of eating ice, lying on snow, and licking blood with knives. Instead, they wanted to go to the Niuzhuang area to buy land and settle down. Live on the land and live a relatively stable life.

It is not difficult for Lao and Yi to understand the choice of these people, so after failing to persuade them to stay, they basically agreed, so after they finished saving money in Yedianzi Township this time, they had to turn around and go to Niuzhuang Township , See if you can recruit some people over here.I heard that business has been sluggish recently, many workshops no longer need so many workers, job opportunities have decreased, and more and more people come to try their luck in the Pampa area.When they go there, they may be able to recruit some new people to fill the vacancy after the departure of a few people. After all, this cattle hunting business has to continue.

That afternoon, Lao Siji and Inigo, under the escort of six men, successfully deposited 5000 yuan in cash at the Northwest Reclamation Bank's Yedianzi Township branch, and then led their cattle hunting team, Shi Shiran Head towards Niuzhuang Port, the core town of the people on the east coast.In that city that has already begun to take shape, they still have a lot of things to do, so they must hurry up.

(End of this chapter)