Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1713 Pampa Storm ([-])

"The Spaniards are becoming more and more arrogant, and the investment environment is a bit bad." In the quarry at the foot of Niulan Mountain, Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu, who came from the mainland to check the operating conditions, said very depressed.It has just spent a lot of money on the Pampa Plains—Master Zhu, who never liked to owe money to others, applied for a loan from the United Industrial Credit Bank, which shows how optimistic he is about this investment—the Spanish cavalry suddenly dispatched , and began to drive out the people from the east coast on the grassland. At the beginning, they only drove out cattle catchers and cattle dealers in the wild. There are many settlements on the east coast, and Niulanshan Township, which is now quite large, is one of them.

Niulanshan Township now has more than 2000 permanent residents who are mainly engaged in agriculture, construction and cattle catching.In terms of agriculture, it is mainly those young people who were born in the land without inheritance rights, who make a living by growing wheat, soybeans and vegetables, and their customers are mostly cattle catchers, cattle traders and workers in construction workshops.

The development of plantation agriculture here undoubtedly depends entirely on commerce, that is, the expansion of the market.Thanks to the government’s adjustment of grain export tariffs in the past few years, foreign grains are not popular here (except for smuggled ones). Especially after the scale of the state-run reform-through-labor farms in the suburbs of Niuzhuang has gradually expanded, the amount of grain imported has decreased. The planting industry is becoming more and more prosperous, and this undoubtedly attracts more people to come to engage in agriculture, which directly increases the local population. Perhaps this is the original intention of the executive committee members.

The difference from Niuzhuang Port, where everything seems to be very formal, is that Niulan Mountain is much more primitive, because the food growers are basically self-employed, and even small-scale mutual aid cooperatives have not appeared, and no one up.Their farmland is also hard-earned by themselves, without the assistance of any agricultural machinery, it is very hard work.Fortunately, the land here is fertile, and there is no need to pay any land tax, real estate tax, etc., let alone the annoying corvee, so you can save a lot of money throughout the year, and your living standard will not be much lower than that of the local people.

Practitioners in the construction industry are much more complicated. The owners and investors are basically from the local area (such as Zhu Heng), and the technical personnel and management personnel are basically hired from the local area with high salaries. It is difficult to say about labor. There are second-generation nationals hired locally, and there are also non-national laborers who are "sublet" from the government (this requires you to have a certain network, such as Mr. Zhu who rented a lot of Polish laborers), and even come from the grasslands to make a living. The bitter gaucho.

The most important building material currently produced in Niulanshan Township is stone, which is mainly used for residential buildings, because there is a lack of materials such as trees and reeds that can be used to build houses, and because of the groundwater level, Diwozi cannot be constructed. Therefore, stone has become the material of choice for people with a little money to build houses.

Of course, there are also some small earthen kilns in the local area, which produce red bricks, but the scale is small and the technology is very backward, but the sales volume is also very good.I believe that after local powerful investors come to build larger-scale rotary kilns, the output of red bricks here will explode geometrically.In addition, Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu originally planned to build a lime kiln here, but due to the shortage of funds and the extreme lack of fuel—to be precise, there is a shortage of wood and coal—he finally gave up this plan. Unless a railway can be built between Niulanshan and Yinhai Port, but just think about it.

It can be seen from this that although Niulanshan Township has a small population and backward productivity, its potential is indeed huge.According to the current development trend, it may only take ten years for this township to develop into a large market town that cannot be ignored, and become another base for people from the east coast to explore the Pampa Plain, so it is no wonder that the Spaniards sent The cavalry came to harass, it is really a serious problem.

Today is January 1676, 1, and it is the second time that the Spaniards have come to Niulanshan Township to declare their force.The first time they dispatched more than 20 riders, they just ran over and gave a hasty warning. The news came that the Spanish cavalry intercepted and caused casualties.

But this time it looks different!Early this morning, more than [-] cavalry suddenly appeared on the outskirts of Niulan Mountain, and then they split up, and more than [-] cavalry rode all the way to the suburbs to clean up the local farmhouses, drive away the farmers on the east bank, and plunder their grain and livestock ;The main force along the way was nearly two hundred riders, led by two officers who looked like aristocrats. The army leader led them straight towards the mountain. After all, there are quarries, brick kilns, livestock pens and other facilities gathered here. It seems to be a very important place, so it has attracted the attention of the Spaniards.

It was rare for Zhu Heng to live in the quarry for a few days this time, to see how his son Zhu Dianzhong was doing, but he was so unlucky that he encountered Spanish cavalry to make trouble, which made the old man very angry.But it seems that his son Zhu Dianzhong is relatively calm. He stood on the stone platform and looked outside, saying: "Father, the Spaniards dare not force it. Killing some cattle catchers and cattle dealers in the wild is already the limit." No, because those people were fighting each other all day long, and they were dying every day. It is not a problem at all if a few of them die in the hands of the Spaniards. But once the Spaniards openly attack the colonial towns of the East Coasters Spontaneously formed settlements, but everyone knows what is going on behind these settlements), then the nature of the matter becomes complicated. Fool it, but once large-scale casualties are caused, this matter will definitely escalate, and I believe that General Constantin de Obando in Buenos Aires would not like to see such a scene."

"So you conclude that the Spaniards won't be violent?" Zhu Heng also stood on the stone platform, squinted his eyes and looked at the town that was faintly visible in the distance, and then said, "Then what do you think is going on?"

Zhu Dianzhong was a little surprised to hear what his father said, and hurriedly looked in the direction of his finger, only to see dozens of cavalry fighting there.There were about a dozen people running in front, and their clothes and equipment could not be seen clearly, but Zhu Dianzhong intuitively felt that those should be cattle catchers.And there were about 30 cavalry chasing them behind. Zhu Dianzhong guessed that they might be mestizo cavalry from Spain, but they didn't know why they were chasing these cattle catchers, because these guys were obviously He just ran out of Niulanshan town.

"This—it should be a gap with the Spanish cavalry. Otherwise, why don't you chase others and chase them alone? No, they rushed over here." Zhu Dianzhong's breathing suddenly became a little short, because before and after Dozens of riders who were chasing fiercely turned their horses around and rushed towards the quarry.

Zhu Dianzhong deliberately asked people to close the gate of the quarry, so as not to catch fire - there is a wooden fence around the quarry, which Zhu Heng entrusted people to purchase from Zhenhai Port, and the cost is not small - but after thinking about it, he still did not dare to do so Instead, ask someone to open the door wider, and at the same time ask the dozen or so security guards in the quarry to load their guns with ammunition, just in case.

His father, Master Zhu Heng, watched from the sidelines without speaking, as if acquiescing to his actions.In fact, it’s not surprising to think about it. On the vast and dangerous Pampa Plain, it’s not easy for people on the east coast to make a living. If you don’t unite at this time, then you really can only let the Spaniards and Indians bully you. up.Just now, if Zhu Dianzhong really ordered to close the gate of the quarry and ignore what happened to the outside world, his reputation will be ruined immediately, and he will be unable to move an inch on the grassland in the future, and his business will also be unable to continue due to various factors. .

Such a price is too heavy for him, he really can't bear it!So he opened the door.

The neighing sound of "Xi Lulu" horses sounded for the second time, and more than a dozen riders rushed into the wide quarry at lightning speed, then slowed down slowly under the superb control skills of the riders, and finally stopped.Behind them, the security guards of the quarry who had already been ready to go rushed forward, pushed the wooden door as fast as possible, and then lowered the bolt, blocking more than 30 Spanish cavalry outside. Those people were so anxious that they cursed .

The fifty or so Spanish cavalry who were confiscating bison near the livestock pen in the distance also got the news at this time, and approached slowly, chatting with another group of people, seeming to figure out what happened.In the quarry, Zhu Heng, Zhu Dianzhong and his son also looked at the dozen or so panting cattle catchers, trying to figure out what happened.

"Inigo, Lao Siji, why are you two?" But after Zhu Dianzhong saw clearly who had just rushed in, he immediately called out in surprise: "Why did you also mess with the Spaniard? What's going on?" ?”

"Hehe, it's really not a big deal." Inigo, who was sitting on the ground, glanced at Zhu Dianzhong and his son, and said with a grin: "It's just that I killed a Spanish noble officer in the wild before, but just now It happened to be recognized by someone, so I ran away. There is no way, that team of Spaniards attacked us first, and killed our two brothers. We had to fight back and did their stupid thing. Chief. That was all a month ago. I didn’t expect to meet him again here in Niulan Mountain. It’s really bad luck. Ah, by the way, thank you for taking me in. I, Inigo, will keep this favor in mind. In the future, if If you need help, just call me."

After finishing speaking, Inigo patted the rapier on his waist, then got up and walked in front of Lao Siji and the others, pulling them up one by one.At this time, the enemy is still outside, and it is not yet time for them to rest on the ground.And these people also seem to be ruthless people. Now they will silently take out muskets, ammunition bags, etc. from their saddlebags, and carefully load the ammunition. It seems that they plan to fight the Spaniards desperately.

The supervisors of the quarry also rushed over from behind at this time. There were a total of eleven or twelve of them, with almost the same number of Polish non-national laborers who were more obedient on weekdays, holding cold weapons such as knives and spears Come to help out.Zhu Dianzhong signaled them to stand on both sides of the gate, ready to stab the Spaniards who dared to hit the gate with their spears.

As for Zhu Dianzhong himself, he did not flinch—in fact, few who dared to make a living on the Pampa Plain were timid—but gritted their teeth and climbed up to a small tower on the right side of the gate, holding Holding a well-loaded flintlock gun, he communicated with the outside in his not very proficient Spanish.

At first, the Spanish military officer who led the team patiently asked Zhu Dianzhong to open the gate and let them go in to "catch fugitives". Unexpectedly, after being flatly refused by Zhu Dianzhong, he immediately turned his face and ordered a group of cavalry to dismount and charged over with muskets , it seems that it is going to be hard.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" There were repeated sounds, that was someone from the tower on the other side shooting out.Zhu Dianzhong yelled, "You son of a bitch, I'm just causing trouble for me", but he kept aiming at the Spaniard's direction and fired a shot. He didn't observe the result of the battle, so he ducked behind and hid behind , Instead, commanded the security guards in the quarry to condescend and shoot with guns.Inigo and others laughed when they saw this, and the group of desperadoes also rushed behind the wooden door at this time, shooting at the Spaniards outside through the crack of the door, making ghosts and wolves on the other side howl for a while.

At this time, things seem to have become a big deal!

The attacking Spaniards were caught off guard, and six or seven people fell down at once. Seeing this, the rest of them did not dare to fight against the more than 30 rifles in the quarry, so they withdrew back and waited for the next step. Order.

The commanders led by Spain were actually scratching their heads at this time. They only had more than 80 people, and they were still cavalry. There were many sabers and spears, but there were only thirty or forty muskets (half of them were of limited power and range. pistols), not to mention artillery, which can knock out turtle shells in the quarry, so it is embarrassing to say that they really have nothing to do with this quarry.But it would be too ugly to leave here and retreat regardless, and Shangguan couldn't explain it, so he could only bite the bullet and freeze here to see if there was a chance to make a breakthrough after nightfall.

What kind of person Inigo was, he was old enough to understand the plan of the Spaniards, so he immediately told Zhu Heng, Zhu Dianzhong and his son, and asked them to deal with it.Everyone discussed and felt that as long as the gate was guarded, the Spaniards who lacked artillery and climbing equipment could not cause any trouble to the quarry at all.

Of course, it is also necessary to wait until nightfall to take the opportunity to send people out secretly to fetch reinforcements from other places.For example, the nearby village is fine. They have always had a good relationship with the quarry, and they help each other. It is not a problem to gather dozens of people in a short period of time, which is enough to scare away the Spaniards. Dare to come to our territory on the east coast Looking for trouble on the Internet, think we are made of mud!You have done such a drastic thing this time, are you not afraid of our government's diplomatic protests and even countermeasures?

(End of this chapter)