Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1680 Pampa ([-])

Constantin de Obando came to Puerto Mar del Plata in a low-key manner, the only remaining colonial town of the Kingdom of Spain in the south of the Pampa Plain. It was shared with uninvited people from the East Coast, which made the Spanish officials in the entire Buenos Aires General District more or less dissatisfied.

General Obando came to Puerto Mar del Plata this time to find out for himself the actual situation of this legendary town composed of old and new cities (the old city is a Spaniard-inhabited area, and the new city is an East Coaster-inhabited area). Regarding the situation, after all, what the people below reported to him was second-hand or even third-hand information, so it is more reliable to observe it for yourself.

However, Governor Ovando, who was dressed as an ordinary government clerk, got drunk as soon as he entered the city, because he found that even in the Spanish-inhabited area of ​​the old street in the old city, most of the vendors hawking along the street were from the east coast, such as "from Chubu Fruits of the Te River", such as "hot chestnuts", such as "water from Padres Lake", etc., these made him shocked and absurd, but also faintly felt that everything It's all taken for granted, just as the native Spanish merchants are all residents from Italy and the southern Netherlands (the authentic Castilians and Catalans seem to look down on merchants and handicraftsmen) Occupation), it seems normal that the business of Mar del Plata is taken care of by people from the east coast.

Well, normal enough to take for granted, but General Ovando always felt that something was wrong.

There is also an aquatic products market in the city, and there are a lot of fish for sale. After all, there is a large-scale fishing ground nearby. The Spaniards are too lazy to go fishing, but it doesn’t mean that the people on the east coast are also lazy. Therefore, in this Most of the people who sell all kinds of marinated sea fish in the market are fishermen on the east coast.They speak poor Spanish, and the Spaniards can also speak some simple Chinese. The two sides even guessed and gestured, and conducted various transactions. General Ovando, who had worked hard to learn Chinese for a while, heard from their cries. There are more than 20 kinds of salted fish trading in the market.

Governor Owando didn't intend to stay in this smelly market for too long. He winked a little, then mixed with the crowd and quickly left the area. After turning around in the narrow and dirty streets, he quietly entered He entered an imposing Catholic church and met with Father Ramos, who had known he was coming for a long time.

The priest was teaching when Ovando came in. The main content was to instruct some teenagers on the most basic religious etiquette and knowledge. The language used in the class was not only Spanish, but also Latin, which few people understood.It is worth mentioning that apart from Spanish and Latin, the Spanish churches rarely teach other languages, especially Hebrew and Jewish, which they despise and hate, are basically excluded from universities. or outside of theology courses.

Obando waited quietly by the side, listening to Father Ramos repeatedly "brainwashing" the teenagers——

"What is the symbol of a Christian?" Answer: "Cross", and then give a detailed description of it, and also mention seven additional sacraments, namely baptism, confirmation, confession, communion, dying oil, Priesthood and weddings.

When referring to giving relief to strangers, the priest mentioned the seven deadly sins. The teenagers seemed to be quite familiar with the classics, and quickly answered "pride, luxury, greed, rage, indulgence, jealousy, and laziness", and then At the request of Father Ramos, he additionally answered what the virtues are, namely humility, chastity, fraternity, stoicism, abstinence, kindness and industry.

At this time, Father Ramos did not miss the opportunity of the black east coast people. He criticized the east coast people living in the new city of Mar del Plata in a slightly more passionate tone than before for committing almost all of the seven deadly sins. , all day long for economic interests, not paying attention to their own inner peace, the whole society is in an extremely impetuous state, far less "calm" than the Spaniards in Mar del Plata and even the Iberian Peninsula.

General Owando felt a little embarrassed when he heard this. As a well-known East Bank expert, Owando thought that although he didn’t like the East Bank very much, he still had a positive attitude towards some of their things and ideas, especially their attitude towards the East Bank. A quest for technology, land and glory.Don't you see, because of blind pride and arrogance and participating in too many wars, the Kingdom of Spain is declining day by day.Otherwise, where do you think the East Coast people are now?It can be said that every inch of land under their feet was snatched from the Kingdom of Spain!

From this point of view, God is indeed omniscient and omnipotent, because the Spaniards committed crimes such as pride, luxury, greed, rage, indulgence, and laziness. Very difficult——Although General Constantin de Obando is a famous "Eastern Bank" in the Viceroyalty of Peru, and his family is also acting as a commercial "comprador" for the East Coasters, this does not mean that he There is no patriotic enthusiasm, but it has not been revealed on the surface, so that some old-school nobles are very uncomfortable.

There are also some religious books written in Spanish in the church.General Ovando took a random look and found that there were two types of books: one was a book with a very rough binding, the paper was of poor quality, bound with leather cords on loose cardboard; the other was a book of very good quality , the handwriting is clear and the binding is exquisite, and Owando can tell at a glance that the books are probably produced, printed, and bound in Jingjiang County on the east bank (there is also the papermaking and printing center on the east bank), and then sold to the Spaniards.

Constantin de Ovando waited patiently until Father Ramos's course was over, and then he went up and had a conversation with this highly respected religious figure in Mar del Plata, mainly about the old and new cities The living conditions of the residents, the attitude of the East Coast government, the scale of the East Coast settlers and their next goals, etc.

It can be heard that although Father Ramos is a religious person who devotes himself to theological research, he has a good understanding and thinking about the secular society.He told General Obando bluntly that if nothing was done by the Viceroyalty of Peru and General Buenos Aires, in three years—maybe five—the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Spain in Mar del Plata would be The absolute minority will no longer be able to dominate local affairs. Nearby commerce, agriculture, and even security issues will all be controlled by the people on the east coast. Although their government seems to have never come forward, Father Ramos can guarantee that they will definitely There is no doubt that there is something behind all this.

Ovando was also a little worried about this before he came, because he found that in the past two years, some residents of Mar del Plata had returned to Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Rosario and other places to settle, instead of Continuing to stay and thrive in the local area made him a little worried, because it might lead to their population disadvantage in Mar del Plata, although this has now become a fact-according to what Father Ramos mentioned in his previous correspondence, In the entire old city of Mar del Plata, there are currently only about 2200 Catholics from Spain, Italy, and the Southern Netherlands. In addition, there are some white farmers and ranchers outside the city, but the number will not be too many. There are only about 500 people. Compared with the pagans on the east coast with more than 4000 people, this disadvantage is indeed not small, not to mention that the number of people on the east coast seems to be still increasing.

However, we can see where the problem lies, but to solve this problem, we will immediately face many difficulties, the most important of which is probably from the east coast government.Needless to say, between the Kingdom of Spain and the East Coast Republic, Spain is probably on the very weak side, not to mention the Governor General of Peru under the West Indian Affairs Council under the Privy Council of the Kingdom of Spain. Tooth?

Therefore, General Ovando is now facing such a problem, that is, he can go to the government of the people on the east coast to protest and negotiate, but he really dare not use some rough methods to deter the speculators on the east coast who have flocked to the Pampa Plain. , settlers, and merchants were expelled, because those people were not good people, they had weapons and would resist, and once the resistance caused the conflict to escalate and some people died, then things would develop in an uncontrollable direction. For General Owando, it was something that needed to be avoided as much as possible.

But if you don't use strong tactics, how can you drive these damn east coast heretics away?You know, although they are now only entrenched on the coast of Mar del Plata and the area south of it, how do you know that they will not develop inland in the future?Even, after they have opened up inland areas for some years, do you think they will not develop into the Spanish core colonial areas along the La Plata River?General Owando still knew how Mesopotamia was lost back then, and he worried that the Pampa Plain would repeat the same mistakes.

And once the reclamation range of the people on the east coast develops to the coast of the Rio de la Plata, it is conceivable that the increasingly mature silver transportation route—in view of the dangers of the Caribbean Sea, the Kingdom of Spain has continuously increased the sea transportation from Santa Fe over the years. The amount of gold and silver carried by the silver ship, the route of the Rio de la Plata has never been so important at this moment-it will also be at risk of being cut off by the people on the east coast, although at present they seem to be able to cut it off easily at sea.

For General Ovando's confusion, Father Ramos expressed his understanding. He also agreed that rough measures should not be taken against these east coast people who illegally crossed the border for reclamation, because that would probably lead to some dire consequences, such as the old city of Mar del Plata being destroyed. The sudden occupation of the eastern bank by the army, the conversion of his beloved marble churches by the pagans for their Taoist temples, would drive a devout follower of his Lord mad.

His suggestion to General Obando is to adopt "soft means", that is, to find a way to establish some brand-new colonial points at key positions on the Pampa Plain, and then rely on these colonial points to send cavalry to patrol, and to stop every one who tries to cross the border. The farmers on the east bank who cultivated were all driven back, so that they could not hurt the lives of the other party, but also kept their own land.

At the same time, Father Ramos admitted frankly that it would definitely cost a certain amount of money to do so, and it should be quite a lot. At the same time, some Catholic immigrants from the Old World were needed (the Kingdom of Spain only allowed its own Catholics to immigrate to the Americas, neither Non-Catholics immigrate here, and foreign Catholics are not allowed to immigrate here, unless the king gives special approval) - At present, the Kingdom of Spain has an average of about 6000 people immigrating to the New World every year, and I want to "pick" an additional 2000 people from it. It should be quite difficult for people to colonize and settle in a place like General Buenos Aires, which has always been regarded as a remote place. Father Ramos cannot influence such a decision, and he is not sure about Constantine. General de Obando didn't have the knack for it, but he decided to suggest it anyway because it worked.

Owando thought about it, and felt that this matter was a bit difficult, but it was not impossible.After all, in the era of the late King Philip, a group of Catholics from the Old Continent was dispatched here in order to resist the aggressive Chinese East Coast Republic at that time, so as to keep the Kingdom of Spain. Of course, the value of the land itself is not small for the important backup shipping route. After all, it is the biggest piece on the map, so how could it just be thrown away!

Before that, it seems that he can also send some mestizo cavalry to Mar del Plata, let them rely on this colonial town, and keep going to the wild to drive away the east coast settlers running around, restricting Their encroachment on the land of the Kingdom of Spain should more or less achieve some results.

Of course, negotiating with the East Bank government through official channels is also necessary. Although the effect should not be very good, as long as the East Bank government still has some basic face and abides by the current default rules of the game, then more or less must be done. Some restraint, don't expect them to get rid of the immigrants who have already been sent, but it seems that it is not impossible to let them stop for a while, and this is enough.

General Owando exchanged his thoughts with Father Ramos, and got a positive answer from the old magic stick. He felt that although this could not solve the problem fundamentally, it could at least curb the East Coast people’s aggression for a period of time. Colonial pace.Owando has no other reliable and effective means for a while, so he can only wait for a change. Otherwise, wouldn't he take any measures?

(End of this chapter)