Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 634 All Quiet on the Eastern Front ([-])

November 1647, 11, St. Mary's Island.

St. Mary's Island in this month is the season when the rain is gradually increasing, and it is also the season when diseases are frequent.The humid and hot weather, the hurricanes that blew past the coast from time to time, and the frequent downpours made this beautiful tropical island almost the most inhospitable area in the entire China East Coast Republic.

Pretty much the same in fact.In today's East Coast Republic of China, the annual death rate of residents in the four towns in New China (Xinhua Port, Xixiang Peninsula, Tacheng Port, and St. Mary's Island) has remained at around 10% all year round, making it a part of the East Coast Republic. A wound that bleeds slowly and continuously.The rampant malaria is the number one health killer of local residents, accounting for almost [-]% of the deaths. In addition, dysentery, cholera, and yellow fever are also the main causes of death.

Even in Xinhua Port, which was developed the earliest, has the best sanitary conditions, and can be called the best of all cooked lands, the government controlled the death rate of residents to 9% last year, which has been regarded as a great achievement and great luck. up.In the mainland of the East Coast Republic, Xinhua Island has always given people the impression of the dual attributes of death and abundance. "Pravda" published in an issue that among dozens of households in a certain village in Xinhua Port, one-third of them gave birth to four children but only one survived. One in three children survived.

With such a health record, it is no wonder that Xinhua Port has been developing for so many years, but the population has never been able to increase.You must know that the country exiles an average of 4500 Indian pioneers to settle here every year. In addition, the local government often intercepts immigrants from the Far East - not only those who are too weak to continue the long-distance voyage, but also those who are healthy and healthy. A lot of people who seem to be able to work have to be detained. In addition, the New China Pioneering Team has been asking Muscat businessmen to buy Persian and Baluchi female slaves for many years. The number of people will exceed 8000, and the total number of people in the four towns of the entire colony is only a little over [-].

With such a small population, it is very painful to do anything.For example, the port of Guihua (Port of Ambudifututla) in front of you - named after hundreds of local pirates and their families accepting the rule of the people on the east coast - the population plus the hundreds of people who have migrated in the past two years Famous people and Greek talents have just broken through a thousand, and they mainly make a living economically by growing corn and logging.There is even little fishing because they lack adequate fishing gear.

Although this is not a traditional fishing area of ​​Xinhuaxia Island - the area with the richest fishery resources in Xinhuaxia is obviously on the west side of the island, within the Mozambique Channel, where large lobsters and various economic fish are abundant, and even occasionally you can see them The presence of sperm whales is much richer than here—but there are many large rivers flowing into the sea on the mainland on the east side of the island, and the fishery resources are relatively rich.However, due to various reasons, the residents here have not been able to use it.

This is what Liqun saw when he disembarked on a regular flight from Xinhua Port-Guihua Port-Tacheng Port.The dilapidated low-rise wooden houses, the disorderly planned urban buildings, the soft gravel pavement streets soaked in water, the bare buttocks leaning against the door, and the domestic pigs grunting and scurrying on the streets from time to time, all of them are in the middle of nowhere. People tell what a remote and backward area this is.

When Li Qun first saw this scene, he was a little dazed, as if he had returned to the Daming where he once galloped back then.At that time, what I saw when I was wandering around Fengyang in Nanzhili was not the scene in front of me.Li Qun shook his head, dispelling the hallucinations in his mind, and then focused his attention on a man in cotton clothes in front of him.This person was a port clerk, and he was going through the formalities for them. Li Qun observed carefully, and saw that his skin was slightly dark, and the features on his face clearly showed that he was a mixed descendant of European pirates and local aborigines.He was also wearing a dyed Chinese tunic suit, which Liqun recognized. This is the uniform uniform issued by the government to low-level officials and clerks.

The officials from Xinhua Port, who came with Li Qun and others, braved the heavy rain and walked to a two-story wooden house as soon as they landed. After roaring twice, a middle-aged man walked down the stairs almost rolling and crawling. Come down and have a chat with the officer.After the conversation, the two of them came together towards the pier where Liqun and the others were standing under the awning.

"Let me introduce myself. My surname is Wei, and my name is Victor. My father is from Nantes. He was a great navigator." The mayor of the town, Captain Shi of Xinhua Port was just appointed last month."

After hearing the translator translate the local dialect, Li Qun nodded, and then said to the officials who accompanied them: "Then Section Chief Yu, shall we visit the plantation now? Time is precious, and we don't want to waste too much time."

The bearded man called Section Chief Yu looked up at the rainy sky above his head as if a hole had been broken, sighed and said, "Okay, let's go now. Before I came, I transferred from the Resource Bureau A map of the distribution of plantations near Guihua Port. The vacant ones are the 1st, 4th, 5th, 12th, 16th, and 20th plantations. Let's start with the first one. You are the first For a group of businessmen who are willing to come to New China to develop, Captain Shi said that we will give you some discounts, and we will try our best to help you solve any difficulties. Let’s not talk too much now, let’s go.”

After Section Chief Yu finished speaking, he turned his head and said something to the mayor Wei.After finishing speaking, Mayor Wei nodded, and then quickly ran to the two-story wooden building, kicked up a group of local natives who were sitting idle there, and stuffed a copper coin in each of them. The natives rushed over in a doggy manner and held up umbrellas for everyone.

Liqun thought they were short, so he grabbed the umbrella and started fighting. The native was not annoyed when he got the umbrella, and he was still smiling and talking, pointing to the basket on his waist, which contained some Tropical fruits that don't look very good-looking. It seems that they want to sell them to local tyrants like Liqun.

Li Qun ignored him and strode forward.After the rain, the gravel road softened very much, and there were puddles full of sewage everywhere on the road. Liqun took a closer look and found that these puddles were basically ruts pressed out by trucks, and they filled up after the rainy season. Once in the water, occasionally a toad would jump out of the puddle and make an ugly cry.

Weeds were overgrown on both sides of the road, and the green vitality seemed to be very vigorous. A small area on the edge of the road has been gradually eroded by these weeds. It seems that most of these weeds can grow into the middle of the road if they are not removed regularly.A drainage ditch was also built on both sides of the gravel road. At this time, the drainage ditch was also full of water, and it was rushing downstream.On the outside of the drainage ditch is a large cornfield, and the verdant corn seedlings are more tender under the water of rain.

Mayor Wei told everyone that these corns were planted by the newly arrived Ming and Greek immigrants. They can be ripened three seasons a year, and they can harvest a lot of food.Now some older European pirates or descendants of pirates here have also started to plant high-yield crops such as corn and sweet potatoes with the help of the agricultural technology station to increase food production.However, the few natives on the island are not very willing to grow these things. They still insist on planting traditional rice, regardless of the fact that planting rice may increase the reproduction of mosquitoes and lead to the large-scale transmission of malaria.

Through the impenetrable rain curtain, we came to a small hillside.Looking down from the hillside, there is a large plain extending far to the horizon.The plain was neatly divided into many small squares, the squares were large and small, separated by a circle of small bushes.

"This is the plantation." The road has been extended to the end here. Mayor Wei told everyone to be careful not to slip and fall down the hillside, and said cautiously: "There are 32 plantations in total, and now 6 are vacant. They have already been replaced, and these 6 companies are all located on the edge of the plantation area. If you want to expand the plantation in the future, you can just burn the wasteland to the edge and expand it. Of course, the premise is to get permission from the government." Having said that, Mayor Wei couldn't help puffing out his chest, because he is the "government" here - although the power to approve the expansion of the plantation area is not in the hands of the township level.

"All the plants here are sisal?" Li Qun stepped on the soft grass that was full of water, and looked intently at the endless plantation in the distance.The growth of sisal is very gratifying, and it will be harvested in less than three years. According to the current domestic and foreign market conditions, the profits here are extremely considerable and very stable.

Whether it is fishing nets, cables, textiles (special high-strength fabrics), or papermaking (high-grade paper), there is a great demand for sisal. According to previous data, if there is a medium-sized sisal plantation, one year An income of more than [-] yuan is appropriate.And this is only for pure sisal growers who have no distribution channels. If it is a businessman with a deep background like Mr. Zhu Heng Zhu, then this profit may have to be rolled over a few times-after all, a large amount of profit in the middle link has also fallen to their hands.

After Liqun looked at it for a while, he couldn't help but walked down the stone steps that had been built on the side.Below is the plantation area. Liqun carefully observed the 6 vacant plantations. The pouring rain almost wet his whole body due to the wind, but he didn't mind at all, and he continued to observe carefully. with.There are also some growers in the plantation area—all immigrants from Daming, and some children and dogs are watching curiously at Liqun, an outsider; in the plantation, many Malay laborers are draining water in the rain.

Two hours later, Li Qun returned to the steps, and it was obvious that he was quite satisfied.I only heard him bluntly say to Section Chief Yu and Mayor Wei: "You two, I have finished watching, and overall I am quite satisfied. As for the final decision, I have to go back to Xinhua Port to discuss with Mr. Zhu. Okay. By the way, are there usually pirate attacks here? Or will there be Spanish ships appearing here?"

pirate?Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay, isn't this island a gathering place for pirates who surrendered, they themselves are pirates or descendants of pirates.Therefore, Mayor Wei said embarrassingly: "Of course there are no pirate attacks. The Sino-Portuguese joint fleet will patrol regularly. As for the Spaniards you mentioned, there are absolutely no Spaniards. The Spaniards have not appeared here for hundreds of years. Here It's safe, and there won't be any war with the Spaniards, don't worry."

"Yeah, a place without Spaniards is a good place, we can live in peace." Li Qun smiled, turned his head and said to everyone.Well, since there is no risk of war here, it is equivalent to putting a safety lock on everyone's "risky" behavior of investing in plantations here.

The only uncertain factor now is probably the environment here and the source of labor.There is no way to solve the environment, the tropics are like this, and St. Mary's Island is a so-called backward area. It will take time to improve the sanitation situation.And the problem of labor force is indeed a headache, where to get it?

(End of this chapter)