Chang Kaisheng stood on the outskirts of New Königsberg, looking out at the mountains shrouded in mist in the distance. The mountains are verdant, dense primeval forests everywhere, and thick trees are everywhere. There are a large number of mountain goods and wild animals in the forest, and the fallen leaves cover this virgin land that has not been developed for thousands of years with a thick humus layer, indicating the wealth of this place.

This is a scene that is difficult to see in China in later generations, Chang Kaisheng sighed. It's a pity that these trees are not very suitable for the military's appetite, and after the Admiralty people came to carefully inspect these trees, they could only declare with dejected eyes: There are very few woods suitable for warships, and most of them are ordinary trees with sparse wood and not very strong toughness. In the vast area between Estuary (Pelotas) and New Königsberg, there are only about 3,000 trees suitable for the keel of large ships – all of which are not of the Navy's sight.

However, the Navy does not look down on it, but it does not mean that other units that use wood do not look down on it. For example, the two domestic timber processing factories, the General Administration of Railways, the civil shipbuilding industry, the furniture workshop, the coop workshop, the Southern Vehicle Factory and other units, their requirements for wood quality are not so high, and ordinary wood can also be used - the Paraná pine wood products that now fill all corners of the country are proof. Therefore, as soon as the Forest Law was introduced, these units tried to obtain logging permits, and then set up logging camps in the northern hilly areas to cut down large trees.

When the number of workers and their families in the logging camp reached a certain level, a new town was formed. The next step was to send people from the higher authorities to build castles, roads, canals, and various civic facilities, and then to relocate new settlers from the eastern seaboard. The northern Duck Lake basin is lush with vegetation. The forest coverage rate is extremely high, and in order to obtain urban land and agricultural and livestock land, it is necessary to cut into those forests.

In the sparsely wooded southern grasslands, it's a different story. The reforestation campaign, led by the Admiralty, has been carried out in an orderly manner over the years, and the planting of oak trees in large numbers has filled almost all the unused vacant land around the city, and the reforestation campaign seems to be paying off.

A few crisp hooves broke Chang Kaisheng's musings, and the guards behind him removed their rifles from their backs and watched silently into the fog ahead.

The sound of hooves stopped at the sentry post a hundred and ten meters away, and then several soldiers dressed in field gray spring and autumn uniforms that were very different from army uniforms walked briskly. Their footsteps were hurried, and thick cowhide boots trampled on the stone-paved pavement. There was a rhythmic tapping sound.

Report. Gendarmerie Sergeant Heinrich reported to the Commander-in-Chief of the Huxi Region and the Standing Director of the Public Security and Correction Committee: Our department has confirmed from various sources that the Guarani rebels operating near New Königsberg have recently received a large number of new recruits, and it is believed that a considerable number of them have infiltrated from the Spanish Paraná Mission in the northwest, and even our intelligence agents have found some Spanish-speaking fighters in some areas. To avoid unnecessary losses. Second Lieutenant Frey advised our troops to shrink their manpower. Stationed on the front line of New Königsberg. Concentrate forces to deal with all kinds of emergencies. The sergeant of the gendarmerie, after giving a standard military salute, reported to Chang Kaisheng in a subdued German accent.

"Good work, Sergeant." Chang Kaisheng returned a military salute. Then he smiled and said to the non-commissioned officer of the gendarmerie in front of him: "Please tell Second Lieutenant Frey that there are only more than 50 people under his command, all of whom are party-state—uh, no—all of them are elite intelligence agents of the state, and it is a pity that too many people have died in the vast forests of the Duck Lake basin in the past year." The secret entry of the Spaniards into the hills of the west of the lake is now a foregone conclusion, and we have confirmed this through a special channel in La Plata. The Jesuits, St. Franciscans and other missionary groups have formed a large number of volunteer combatants in the diocese of Paraná to enter the hills of Lake West to interfere in our war with the local Guarani, just as they have armed thousands of Guarani in Paraná against the slave catchers of São Paulo, Brazil. I therefore advise Second Lieutenant Frey to retreat at once to New Königsberg with his fellow gendarmes and some of the Guarani who have joined us, and to stop making unnecessary sacrifices outside, for the situation over there should deteriorate very quickly for some time to come. ”

"Xie Lu, Chairman Xie Chang's concern." The young gendarmerie sergeant replied solemnly, "The Zhenhai County Military Police Command Branch yesterday received an order from Commander Pu Tingpu in the capital, ordering them to withdraw all intelligence agents from the vast area between New Königsberg and Hekou Township within three days, and more than 950 people from the four Guarani tribes attached to our country should be evacuated to the outside of New Königsberg for temporary resettlement at the same time, waiting for Zhenhai County to send someone to pick them up. ”

"Good." Chang Kaisheng gently patted the sergeant of the gendarmerie on the shoulder with his right hand wearing white gloves, and then turned his head to the herald and ordered: "Mobilize the local militia, strengthen live-fire training and physical training; At the same time, spears were distributed to the construction team workers, as well as South African laborers; Mobilize women and children outside the city to collect firewood and hay for emergencies. ”

After the order was issued, Chang Kaisheng took people back to New Königsberg, which was in a state of construction not far away, and had some consultation with Liao Xiaoyao, the instructor of the 35th Regiment of the Cadet Corps, and preliminarily divided the tasks.

The army on the east bank of New Königsberg currently consists of 240 men of the 1st Company of the Army, 320 cadets of the 35th Regiment of the Cadet Corps, and 55 cavalrymen. Among the remaining more than 700 immigrants from Liwonia and Shandong, there are also many strong men, although the time for receiving military training is still short, but they can also participate in the defense of the city at critical moments. Moreover, they had already participated in several previous operations against the harassment and attacks of the nearby Guarani, and it could not be said that they had no combat experience at all.

As for the South African construction laborers who are building Highway 2 from the outskirts of New Königsberg to Hekou Township in Zhenhai County, and the Central and Southern European employees with temporary identity certificates, they will also be issued with cold weapons such as spears and sabers as a supplement to the local defense in case of accidents.

The only thing to worry about is the more than 40-kilometer-long Highway No. 2 between New Königsberg and Hekou Township, which has a major mission to connect Zhenhai County, which has a large population and materials, with New Königsberg, a newly opened place deep in the front line. It can be said that it is the lifeline of the local colonists of New Königsberg, who do not yet have their own hematopoietic ability, and a large number of materials and personnel are transported by boat to the Lianghu Canal Wharf in Hekou Township, and then transported to the inland hilly areas by heavy freight wagons.

The road was built at the same time from New Königsberg and Hekou Township, and only about 10 kilometers have been built, and the remaining nearly 30 kilometers of road surface are still dirt roads full of mud and tree stumps. And due to the continuous rolling of heavy freight wagons, the pavement of these dirt roads is seriously damaged, especially when it rains, the pavement is even softer, which greatly hinders the walking of vehicles and greatly reduces the efficiency of material transportation.

In order to solve this problem, Bo Sen, the magistrate of Zhenhai County, imitated the story of the construction of the railway in the capital's Miannong Township, that is, mobilized the county's government personnel and enterprise cadres to take turns to work on the road construction site; At the same time, he also squeezed out some funds from the county treasury to recruit farmers in the county who had just finished their farming work to do odd jobs on the construction site to speed up the construction of Highway 2. In short, all actions are now being made to ensure that the country is expanding into the inland and hilly areas.

The hilly area west of Duck Lake is blurred in the sense of the boundary, and both the East Coast and the Spaniards have reason to claim sovereignty over it, and this is one of the grounds for the Catholic missionaries to promote and discredit the East Coasters between the Old and New Worlds. They saw the people of the East as being the same as the evil São Paulo slave trappers in Brazil, when in fact they were doing much the same thing, the São Paulo was to capture the Guarani as slaves, and the East was to conquer and exile them.

These processes must have been accompanied by a great deal of bloodshed, and the Guarani had largely become Catholic, so they were repeatedly organized and armed by missionaries against foreign invaders. Historically, the Guaraní people of the Paraná diocese drove away countless swarms of São Paulo flags with arquebuses and spears, and there have even been instances of tens of thousands of flags (only about 200 Europeans, mostly Guaraní native soldiers) who have been defeated repeatedly.

The news came from all sides, as the army had been strengthened in the region of La Plata, and that the various missions in the Paraná Valley had recruited a large number of Guarani volunteers and mercenaries from Europe, who were rumored to be engaged in the battle between the people on the east coast and the Guarani tribes in the hills of the west of the lake.

After hearing this news, the Executive Committee and the Military Department even had the urge to mobilize a large number of militia reserves in Zhenhai and Ping'an counties. Finally, Peng Zhicheng, a veteran of the army, stepped forward to stop the blind movement of the officers of the Executive Committee and the Young Zhuang faction of the military department, and asked a group of militia to be mobilized on a small scale. At the same time, the 6th and 106th companies of the army were newly formed in the Yihe River valley in the south, and then the Longxu division of the 103rd company of the army was transferred to Zhenhai County. The situation in the south is far less serious than in the north, and only the cavalry battalion is needed to stabilize the situation, so the main force is still transferred to the north to strengthen the strength here.

From the beginning of December 1645, with the contraction strategy of the East Coasters, a small number of well-armed Guarani began to appear around New Königsberg. By mid-to-late mid-to-late June, their numbers were at their peak, and the vast hills and mountains were filled with an air of restlessness. (To be continued......)