Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 32 "Let's have a Thanksgiving Day from now on!"

"Why do I feel that the political commissar's method is unreliable?" Wei Zhonglong felt very jealous when he saw the dozen or so Indians leave very contentedly after eating and drinking their fill.

"Shouldn't conquering the Indians mean forcing them to surrender with guns and knives? How can we make them submit to us and obey our orders by just giving them good food and drink?"

"Do you know the 'Mayflower'?" Li Liang asked softly.

"The Mayflower, it's probably a symbol of the American pioneers. It seems like the Mayflower Compact laid the foundation for their later political system. How could I not know that?"

"I'm not talking about its historical significance," Li Liang shook his head. "I'm talking about the Americans who first arrived in North America aboard the Mayflower. They had nothing, just like us. They were outnumbered and extremely poor. But they relied on the support and help of the local Indians to gain a foothold and lay the foundation for colonization."

"Oh, that seems to be the case." Wei Zhonglong nodded and said, "It seems that half of the one hundred people on the Mayflower died on the way to the American continent. Just like us, there were only about fifty people. And these people soon ran out of food and were on the verge of starvation."

"Later, a nearby Indian tribe rescued these people, gave them food, and taught them various survival skills, such as how to grow corn and how to make clothes from animal fur. The following year, under the guidance of the Indians, these people had a good harvest and then invited the Indians to celebrate together. ... Isn't this the origin of Thanksgiving?"

"That's right," Li Liang said. "Once these colonists had gained a foothold, they immediately turned hostile. With their advanced muskets, they slaughtered all the Indians and seized all the land. Don't you think this Thanksgiving is a bit ironic?"

"It's quite ironic. ...Hey, weren't we talking about the political commissar using food to recruit and abduct those Indians? Why did you bring up the Mayflower?"

"Aren't we in the same situation now as when the Mayflower first arrived in North America? We only have about fifty people, we're still short of supplies, and we haven't established a firm foothold yet."

"How can it be the same?" Wei Zhonglong looked at him in astonishment. "We are, after all, an advanced civilization from the 21st century. Our means of survival are much better than those of the Mayflower. Besides, the captain and his men will surely return with a full load from their plunder in Mexico, and we won't be in a desperate situation of lacking supplies. Furthermore, the Indians on this island are so primitive and backward that they won't pose a direct threat to us. It's only a matter of time before we gain a foothold."

"What we lack most is precisely time." Li Liang patted his shoulder and said, "Do you know that in another eighteen years, the Manchus would invade the Central Plains and the Ming Dynasty would fall, the last Han dynasty extinguished. Not long afterward, during the Shunzhi era, the policy of relocating the border and banning sea voyages was promulgated, forcing no ships to sail. This, to some extent, could significantly restrict our immigration from the mainland, preventing us from maximizing our population."

"Twenty-two years later, in 1648, the Thirty Years' War in Europe will end. Freed up, European nations will begin a new wave of overseas colonization. Time is running out for us to secretly develop. We still need to capture so many strategic locations around the world one by one. We can't let those Europeans take them all away."

"During this period, the British enclosure movement was in full swing, resulting in a large number of landless farmers and a continuous influx of British immigrants to the North American colonies. If we don't seize the time and quickly expand our strength, we may be forced to coexist with the Americans on this continent in the future."

"Do you want to see all this?"

"Ah?" Wei Zhonglong was stunned. "Since we're here, we naturally won't allow any other forces to interfere in the American continent. ...Oh, so, we're using gentle means to try to lure those Indians to our side in order to speed up our development?"

"As long as a person has hands and feet, he will always be useful."

"What if we have more people in the future?"

"We can also organize a Thanksgiving Day." Li Liang said with a smile, then turned and walked towards the camp.

"Shall we have a Thanksgiving too?" Wei Zhonglong's expression froze for a moment, then he suddenly realized, "...Hey, why do I feel like you're quite sinister?"
-
Major Meng Shengxin, the navigator of the "Breaking Waves", followed behind Political Commissar Li Xianqing and traversed the jungle with difficulty. His forehead was slightly sweaty and he was breathing heavily.

Then the two of them stopped in front of a dirt slope and looked back at the vast forest. "Political Commissar, with just over fifty of us, it would probably take us a year to cut down all the trees in this forest. Even if we recruited those Indians, we wouldn't be able to completely clear this forest in such a short time."

"Yes, we don't have enough manpower, so everything we do is extremely difficult." Li Xianqing sighed and said, "But spring will arrive in two months. We must clear and level the land for cultivation in advance and grow our own food. Otherwise, we can't always sail to the Spaniards to borrow food, right?"

"The only solution now is to set fire to the forest." Meng Shengxin brought up the topic again.

"So many high-quality trees, burned in a fire? What a pity!" Li Xianqing pointed to several towering trees in front of him and said with a pained look, "Look, these spruces are at least hundreds of years old. Cutting down any one of them can be used as the best keel material. Even if we don't use it to build ships, it's still excellent raw material for making furniture, processing boards, or building wooden houses."

"..." Meng Shengxin couldn't help but laugh. He looked around at the dense forest and said, "Political Commissar, this island is full of high-quality timber. Even if we cut it down for hundreds of years, we might not be able to completely harvest it. We don't even need to look at satellite images; we can roughly estimate that the island's forest coverage must be over 98%, or even %."

"Furthermore, the mainland across the river is virtually undeveloped, and its forest resources are incredibly rich. Even in the 21st century, the Vancouver area and Washington State are still the world's most important timber production areas, with timber reserves comparable to those in our Greater Khingan Mountains."

"I know all this, but I still feel a vague sense of guilt for burning down such a dense forest."

Planting trees and protecting the environment have been repeatedly promoted for decades and it can be said that they have long been deeply rooted in people's hearts. When seeing a forest of this size and such good wood, naturally people would not be willing to burn it.

That would be a sin!

However, at that time, Qiming Island had not been developed at all and was covered with jungles. It was almost impossible to find a piece of open space to grow crops.

The "Breaking Waves" crew of more than 50 people cut wood for three months, but they only cleared more than 120 acres of forest. Even so, there were still many tree roots that had not been dug out, and the land was not suitable for farming at all.

Furthermore, although the trees growing in the woodlands are very lush, if you really want to plant crops, they may not have the rich nutrients needed by crops. If there is no corresponding fertilizer, the output may not be able to make up for the investment in seeds.

However, if this forest is burned down, not only can a piece of farmland be quickly cleared, but the ash left after the burning can be an excellent fertilizer.

Because wood ash contains almost all the mineral elements contained in plants, these elements have a positive effect on the growth and development of crops.

Haven’t you seen that in order to obtain fertile farmland, farmers in the Amazon region of Brazil simply burn the forest. Under the thick cover of ash, the crops grow extremely well.

When local fertility declines and high crop yields can no longer be achieved, farmers abandon their farmland and then burn the jungle again. This cycle repeats itself, causing the world's largest tropical rainforest area to shrink rapidly at a rate visible to the naked eye.

In fact, when the United States later expanded its territory to the West, farmers who bought large amounts of land for agricultural development also obtained large tracts of fertile farmland by setting fire to the forests.

If we cut down the trees one by one, it will take a long time.

"Then... burn it!"

(End of this chapter)