The Southeast Pacific is violent in the middle of winter. During this season, the southwesterly wind overpowers the southeasterly wind and becomes the absolute dominant force over this rough sea. At this juncture, any ship sailing offshore should be extremely careful – especially those sailing – as they can be carried by raging currents or strong winds to the rocky southern coast of Chile, a graveyard for sail-powered vessels.

But if you're familiar with the geology and hydrology of the area, and have the extra power of a steam engine that doesn't rely on sails, you'll find some tranquil havens buried deep in the mountains behind the rocky broken islands and narrow waterways that twist and grate.

The Free City of Araucan is one of them. Deep in the Chilean coast, behind a series of broken islands and mountains, the rugged waters have been neutralized by the mountains, so the coastline is very tranquil – or almost dead. If it weren't for the occasional seabird sighting over the bay, a newcomer might even think that this semi-arid city, with its perennially windy winds, has been lost to history.

But the opposite is true. The Free City of Araucan is now quite prosperous, and at least in the one or two square kilometres of land on the east coast, various buildings have sprung up in less than a year. Ship repair yards, Taoist temples, warehouses, government compounds, livestock pens, military barracks, sanatoriums and even shops have all spawned to add a touch of life to this young city in the inhospitable mountains of southern Chile.

Last month (July), with the approval of the Executive Committee, the Navy's Pacific Task Force again purchased some adjacent plots from the Araukans for a hundred cattle and four hundred sheep. As a result, the area of the East Coast Control District has almost more than doubled. On August 1st. Second Lieutenant Fabian, who was in charge of local affairs, hired a large number of Araucans. Excavation of aqueducts and artificial reservoirs began near a nearby river that entered the sea. In this semi-arid zone with little precipitation, fresh water resources are undoubtedly extremely precious, and the people of the east coast do not allow those precious fresh water to flow into the sea in vain, so they use a lot of manpower and various building materials to strive to build an artificial reservoir within two years for daily drinking and agricultural irrigation of residents.

In addition to this artificial reservoir, the East Coasters also started construction of a small shipyard near the wharf. The shipyard will be jointly invested by the Admiralty and the Ministry of Agriculture, with both parties owning half of the shares. Some of the technicians required by the factory are transferred from three domestic shipyards. Part of it will be on its own, of course, to start with a vocational school, where the factory will start with the construction of 100-ton fishing boats, and then start building larger boats when the technology matures.

It is worth mentioning that the ships built at the plant, named Pacific Shipyard, will almost always be steam-powered, which is mainly related to the painful currents and wind direction off the coast of Chile. In summer and autumn, the southeast wind is basically the protagonist (this is why the Peruvian current compensates for the upwelling, because the strong southeast wind blows the water from the near sea to the deep sea, which leads to the upwelling of the bottom water, and also brings rich nutrients, forming one of the three largest fishing grounds in the world); And when it's time for the winter and spring seasons. Due to the northward shift of the direct sun, the wind direction on the southern coast of Chile becomes erratic. However, in general, westerly winds (southwest and northwesterly) are more prevalent, while northeasterly winds are still dominant in north-central Chile.

In such climatic conditions, sail-powered vessels are undoubtedly difficult to navigate. Maybe they're going very well when they go north, but if they do, they'll have to wait for a few moments when the wind changes, and that's a no-brainer. Therefore, for the convenience of the ships on the voyage, each ship produced by Pacific Shipyard will be equipped with a steam-assisted power system to ensure that the vessel can sail slowly in the face of headwinds and waters.

As for the timber needed for shipbuilding, it had to be cut from the nearby mountains and even further south to Tierra del Fuego. In the Tierra del Fuego region in particular, large areas of thick and lush beech forests cover a large part of the island. These trees are tall and stout, and I don't know how many years they have grown, so they are suitable for both masts and hulls, and in short, they are an ideal material for shipbuilding.

In the Admiralty's vision, these are the sources of timber for the Pacific Shipyard. When the time comes, they will urge the government to relocate as many people as possible to settle here, or they can also hire indigenous people from Tierra del Fuego and southern Chile, who are unfortunately extremely scarce, to cut down trees. The cut trees are simply processed and shipped to the Free City of Araucan, where they are dried in a timber drying plant to be set up in the area, where they are then cut and processed into ship timber or other wood products.

Some people may ask here, why not build the ship from a few shipyards on the east coast and then sail to the coast of Chile? Those shipyards have advanced equipment, enough workers and rich experience in shipbuilding, so why bother to build a shipyard on the Pacific coast? You must know that this is not in the traditional sphere of influence of the East Coasters, and there are still some concerns about security.

This is a very easy question to answer, because the passage from the Atlantic Ocean into the Pacific Ocean, whether through the Strait of Magellan or around Cape Horn (the latter accounts for the majority), is very stormy. Large ships are fine, but small fishing boats of one or two hundred tons are hard to say, and if you are unlucky, you will be in those cold and violent waters.

Don't you see that the Drake Passage has swallowed hundreds of ships and more than 20,000 lives in history, and it is really a very test of character for small ships to pass through here. Therefore, if you want to reduce the rate of shipwrecking of ships, it is better to open a new shipyard on the Pacific coast, and there is no other way to do it - if you have the strength of Nevelskoy and others to carry ships over the Stanov Mountains (the Great Khingan Mountains).

The shipyard's 100-ton fishing boats roam the Chilean coast, where they work as a patrol and don't have to risk their lives to cross dangerous waters. As for the catch of fish, it can be handed over to the large ships passing by to bring back to the mainland; Even after the opening of the planned transoceanic railway, it will be possible to transport goods from the Pacific coast to the ports of the Rio Gallegos River very quickly and easily by land transport, and then find an opportunity to transport them back to the country.

Of course, in the long-term planning and strategic sense, the existence of the Free City of Araucan and the Pacific Shipyard has a deeper meaning. That is, once the Ministry of Transportation and the Navy jointly open up the South Pacific circulation route, then the free city of Araucan will become one of the indispensable key nodes: migrant transport ships from Australia and New Zealand will be able to obtain critical supplies in this port city after a long voyage of more than 20 days. The crew will be able to rest, the ship will be maintained, and the ship's supplies will be renewed, all of which are essential for the ship to continue its ocean voyage.

In the Admiralty's plan, after the opening of the future shipping routes, the first groups of Oriental immigrants will not go anywhere, and all of them will be settled in the area of the free city of Araucan. Here, they will use precious freshwater resources to grow small quantities of cereals such as oats and rye, in addition to growing poor, high-yielding food crops such as potatoes and sorghum to provide essential supplies for passing ships and migrants while remaining self-sufficient.

Of course, they will also take advantage of the natural conditions here for grazing, and goats and sheep will become the main livestock of the residents. And the Ministry of Agriculture has also put forward a proposal this time, and it has already been put into practice. They spent a lot of money to buy a kind of animal that was abundant in the North American prairies, that is, the famous bison.

This animal is huge, adaptable, and produces a lot of meat, making it a very good source of meat and leather. In the past two years, the Ministry of Agriculture has successively purchased dozens of these "grumpy guys" from the Dutch and the English, and all of them are now scattered and resettled in the area of Baleen Whale Harbor on the Falklands.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture intend to ship some of this to a number of enclosed islands outside the port of Araucan. Many of these islands are small and uninhabited, and except for some seals and seabirds, they are full of wild grass, which is very suitable for the growth of these North American bison. When their populations reach a certain number, the local government can also organize residents to go to the island to hunt for a large amount of fresh meat, animal fat and leather, and the economic benefits are still very huge. Anyway, those islands are also desolate and uninhabited, and it would be a pity not to make good use of them.

Bison, goats, fish, and small amounts of grain, potatoes, and vegetables are more or less enough to feed many of the Ming immigrants who may flock to the country in the future. When these Ming immigrants arrived, they would multiply and then gradually expand into the surrounding areas, and with the establishment of new towns and the completion of new transportation arteries, Tierra del Fuego, the Patagonian Plateau, and the central region of Chile would gradually be occupied by people from the east. They will move from the south to the north, and together with the expansion of the mainland from the north to the south, they will completely control the southern part of the eastern bank of China. (To be continued......)