Chapter 49 The gun is the foundation of a foothold
What is the first thing to build a city?
As a coastal port city, the first thing to be built must be a pier, which is actually a trestle. The so-called trestle is to use wooden piles to drive from the beach to the deep water area, and then set up wooden beams and planks to accommodate ships.
The berthing pier is now complete.
Of course, this is just a simple pier, and a real pier will certainly not be so simple.
But now in Nanhua, having such a terminal is enough to meet the needs of cargo loading and unloading.
After having a dock and a wooden pulley crane, the rest was easy to handle. The carriages, sawmills, and even steam engines were all moved off the ship.
It's easy to get things done when there are many people, but in just half a month, a town began to take shape on the Qingshui River in Nanhua Bay. Although these wooden houses seemed simple and crude, and ten people had to squeeze into one room, for the people who had just gained freedom,
So, what else do they want?
The problem of housing is easy to solve. Although there are not many big trees on the mountain, there are more than enough to build houses. However, Nanhua's economy absolutely cannot rely on real estate. To build a city and open a port in such a place with nothing, the most important thing is to reclaim wasteland.
.
The Chinese laborers were definitely experts at this. Although they were a little unfamiliar with European-style heavy-wheel and horse plowing at the beginning, they simply adapted to it and soon they were able to cultivate thousands of acres of land on both sides of the Qingshui River.
"Master, look, this land is very fertile, very fertile..."
Li Changchuan sighed as he grabbed a handful of soil turned up by the plow.
"A handful of pinches of this kind of soil can produce oil. If you put it in my hometown in Hubei, let alone the common people, even the landlords and wealthy people would fight over it to death. But here, it is so desolate.
It's such a pity."
"Don't talk about it, Brother Changchuan, even when we were at the mine, the land there was fertile, but it wasn't just for growing forests..."
Listening to them talking about these abandoned lands, Mr. Zhu smiled.
"This place doesn't have much, it just has a lot of land. Don't worry. Thousands of miles away from here, there is such land everywhere, such black soil that can produce oil with a handful and sprouts with a chopstick.
!”
The Pampas Plains are one of the four largest black lands in the world!
In terms of natural conditions, the natural conditions here are even far better than those of the Northeastern Plains and the Ukrainian Great Plains. That is, the Mississippi River Plain in North America can be compared with them. However, compared with the Mississippi Great Plains where hurricanes and snowstorms are constant, the climate here is
The conditions are even better, with no winter snowstorms, extreme cold, or summer hurricanes. This is definitely a rare blessed land on earth.
But will this blessed land belong to me?
Facing this fertile land, Zhu Xianhai couldn't help but have some doubts.
Whether it is the Mapuche people living here or the Argentinians, will they tolerate the emergence of a third party?
However, this doesn't matter.
Looking at the valley surrounding Nanhua Bay, Zhu Xianhai showed a satisfied smile.
This valley is thirty or forty kilometers wide from east to west and more than twenty kilometers wide from north to south. The valley seems to be surrounded by mountains, but in fact it is just undulating mountains. It is better to say that it is a mountain than an undulating grassland.
, woodland, and there are many rivers around the bay, ensuring that the water source here is not a problem.
Sufficient land and water resources, coupled with the surrounding terrain. This is definitely the best choice for "obscene development".
Moreover, this is a bay with its own outlet to the sea. If a factory is built here, transportation will not be a problem.
More importantly, although this place is hidden enough, it is actually not too far away from human civilization.
For example, the distance from Viedma is only 150 kilometers.
The distance is not too far or too close, just right. You can buy some horses from there to plow the fields. Of course, this distance will also discourage prying eyes from outsiders.
"Insignificant development" takes time.
As long as there is enough time, by the time the Argentines are aware of their existence, they may be ready.
Of course, the premise is that you are really well prepared!
what to prepare?
"One, two, one..."
In the distance, two teams of armed escorts were conducting military training following Brian's command. Although Brian was Elizabeth's coachman, he had served in the army before arriving in Argentina from his hometown in Europe, and even participated in
After the Crimean War, even though he was a sergeant, basic training was absolutely fine. Of course, Zhu Xianhai would also take time to train them personally and explain some simple tactics to them. This was to confirm his "master-disciple status."
In traditional Chinese culture, the status of "teacher" is second only to "father". Why not seize such an opportunity?
Almost on the day of "D-Day", Zhu Xianhai took 200 people from the Chinese workers to form a convoy and equipped them with weapons-both Henry rifles and Enfield P1853 rifles.
However, this is only the first step.
While the escort team is training, all Chinese workers also need to be trained. According to Zhu Xianhai's plan, all Chinese workers must undergo one hour of military training every day, and there will be one training day per week for all-day training.
This will definitely affect land reclamation and urban construction.
But Zhu Xianhai didn't think it was a big deal at all, and even felt that his foundation was still too weak.
The first batch of trained escorts only had 200 people. These 200 people seemed to be quite a lot. On the other side of Viedma, Lieutenant Philip commanded only 50 or 60 soldiers.
But the problem is that there are hundreds of thousands of Mapuche people living in the Pampas Plains and Patagonia Plateau. They ride their war horses and rush around like lightning. If they are not careful, they will end up like this.
Bian was trapped in the nest.
Of course, if there are a few Maxims, no matter how many Mapuche people there are, they will be nothing. If they are swept back and forth, they will probably be almost wiped out.
But the problem is, Zhu Xianhai didn't.
There are even few weapons.
In addition to the weapons he bought from Buenos Aires, more than a hundred long and short guns were seized from the mine. The short guns were of various models. In addition to a dozen Henry rifles, long guns were also seized.
There are dozens of Enfield P1853 rifles.
It is definitely enough to equip the escort team, but he has more than 1,800 Chinese workers!
This is his real team. Only with this team can he truly gain a foothold on this prairie.
So many simulations in the past made him fully aware that in such a dangerous living environment in this world, force is the key to self-protection.
Before that, he had money, but no one. As a result, he was just a fat sheep in the eyes of the dignitaries.
But now that we have this weapon at hand, everything is completely different. Even if someone wants to eat this fat sheep, they must weigh their teeth first.
However, some things cannot be rushed, so do it step by step!
Everything is difficult at the beginning!
It's like there aren't even enough weapons right now.
Staring at the guards who were conducting queue training, Zhu Xianhai frowned. There was a more important thing at the moment - how to make money!
Everything in Nanhua is just burning money right now!
Construction costs money, raising troops costs money. Money is spent everywhere, even if there is gold stolen from the gold mine, it will be burned out one day!