It's mid-September. It's late winter and early spring, and the temperature in Uruguay is still hovering around freezing. There have been a few heavy snowfalls this winter, but for the traversers, the bad weather can't stop their fiery determination.

Both sides of the Dayu River were busy all winter, with the construction of residential areas, factories, public facilities, office and storage facilities, and wharves. The traversers are like hard-working ants, building their homes bit by bit.

The agricultural areas on both sides of the Xiaoxi Reservoir have now reclaimed a large amount of farmland, almost several thousand acres. In winter, everything is withering, and there are only 70 acres of wheat fields and 30 acres of vegetable fields where crops grow, but the thin snow cannot hide the hope in people's hearts, and the large fields that have been leveled indicate that next year will be a year full of hope.

The Livestock Bureau is now getting bigger and bigger. Cows and mares brought by Captain Kuaite were pregnant, and Kinkora now takes great care of them, visiting them several times a day to make sure nothing slips along.

His apprentice Zheng Bin, a middle school student, is now doing these things decently, and he is mainly in charge of the sheepfold and the pig barn. The number of pigs and sheep introduced at the beginning has greatly increased to dozens today, and he took a few classmates to be busy all day long, silently making his own contribution to everyone's future life.

In August, two ships returning to Europe from Santiago passed by. The two Spanish merchant ships were so surprised to find out that there was a port in the area, and the captain of one of them even asked to dock.

The Executive Committee had always been extremely cautious about the Spaniards, and demanded that the Spanish merchant ships leave quickly as soon as they had been restocked. The Spaniards took the prestige of the Yunsheng No. 1 moored in the harbor, and after hastily trading a few sets of three-year-old full-body armor, they sailed away.

They're clearly not the only visitors, though.

At the beginning of September, a Swedish merchant ship from Gothenburg unexpectedly arrived in the port of Transit.

Upon inquiry, it was learned that rumours of Chinese porcelain were found in the "Tartar Port" and that they were now secretly spreading in the Netherlands and Germany. After the captain of this Swedish merchant ship found out the details of Captain Kuat's deal with the "Tatars", he immediately recruited more than 200 peasants from Livornia and Finland who had gone bankrupt due to war or natural disasters in a very short period of time, and then traveled long distances to the "Tatartan port" with various supplies, hoping to trade porcelain with the "Tatars".

The Executive Committee, taking into account the agreement with Captain Coot, tactfully told him that porcelain could not be sold. Then the executive committee recommended to the disappointed Swedish captain a new generation of export fist products created by the crossers - three-year-old full-body armor.

The three-year-old full-body armor uses high-carbon steel, which is repeatedly made of hydraulic forging hammers, and the total weight is about 40 pounds, which can resist the frontal fire of the arquebus at a long distance, and also has a certain protection ability at a medium distance, so it can be said that this armor is specially built for the European aristocracy during the 30-year war.

The Swedish captain did not hesitate to buy fifty sets on the spot after seeing the arquebus shooting experiments demonstrated by the crossers. The price of the three-year-old full-body armor is 400 riyals per set, and now the Swedish legion led by King Gustav II of Sweden is fighting in the German region, and it is believed that this batch of full-body armor will have a good market.

The Swedes were well prepared this time and brought a lot of things, in addition to seeds, cloth, canvas, rigging, copper, lead, arquebuses, Finnish horses and other materials, there were also some artillery, including: 2 24-pounder bronze naval guns, 2 18-pounder cast iron naval guns, 2 18-pounder bronze naval guns, 2 12-pounder cast iron naval guns, and some gunpowder with projectiles. The people of the Finance Department assessed the value of these supplies, which, together with the cost of the settlement, amounted to almost 50,000 riyals.

Tang Yuan, the financial commissioner who calculated the number, suddenly had a headache, and the cost was close to one-sixth of the cash in the hands of the traversers. Even if the payment of 20,000 riyals for the whole body armor is deducted, the traverser still needs to pay up to 30,000 riyals of silver, and if such a transaction comes a few more times, the traverser will immediately go bankrupt.

And this time the new arrivals are not worrying. The immigrants brought by the Swedes came mainly from Livornia and Finland, which were located in the Baltic region. Nearly half of the 227 immigrants were Finns, while the rest were a mixed ethnocradge, including Estonians, Latvians, Samogits, Swedes, Prussians, Poles, Lithuanians and even Russians.

The ethnic composition is so complex, and although it is easy to rule, how to communicate has become a big problem. I have no choice but to take my time, it seems that the language school is about to expand again.

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There were 8 more naval guns at once, Wang Qinian was overjoyed, ignored Peng Zhicheng's resentful eyes on the side, and rushed to Ma Qianzu's office in a hurry, grinding and soaking for a long time, and finally got Ma Qianzu to agree to support the construction of the port fort.

At the moment the defense facilities of the "Tatartan port" are limited, and it is really not like that. Therefore, at the meeting of the Executive Committee, the other members of the Executive Committee did not embarrass Wang Qinian, and in this way, the matter of building the fort was decided.

Wang Qinian took Shao Shude, who studied civil engineering, to survey the vicinity of the port for a full week, and finally determined the construction plan of the fort.

At present, there is a limestone hill more than 20 meters high on the south side of the wharf, the terrain is quite dangerous, and the view is extremely wide. In the planning of Wang Qinian and Shao Shude, the future No. 1 fort (main fort) will be built here. About 500 meters in front of the left side of the main fort, there is a seaside protrusion on the north side of the wharf, where the two planned to build the No. 2 fort; There is an alluvial island in front of the right side of the No. 1 fort and on the south side of the mouth of the Dayu River, with a moderate area, and the two of them plan to build the No. 3 fort here. Batteries No. 2 and No. 3 were under the fire cover of the main batteries, and the three batteries were distributed in an inverted triangle, forming crossfire with each other.

It is no exaggeration to say that as long as the three batteries are carefully constructed, and a large number of artillery pieces and a sufficient number of skilled gunners are added, supplemented by a certain size of battery garrison, the maritime defense of the port will be impregnable.

Before that, the people who crossed the sea could not be said to be inattentive to the coastal defense facilities, and several gun emplacements had been built on the hill in the dock area. The gun emplacements are made of masonry and masonry, which is a semi-enclosed structure, and currently has a total of 6 gun emplacements, equipped with 2 24-pounder copper cannons, 2 18-pounder steel cannons, and 2 12-pounder steel cannons. The two 24-pounder bronze cannons were naval guns purchased from the Dutch, and the remaining four guns were steel cannons forged by European gunsmiths in the arsenal during this time.

This kind of steel cannon is cast from molten steel made of graphite crucibles of different proportions experimented with vests, and its weight is much lighter than that of copper cannons, and its body barrel is also longer, and its range and power are very good. It's a pity that these gunsmiths are mediocre, and they really don't have much experience, and the finished rate of the cannons cast is surprisingly low, less than half, and the cost is so high that Wang Qinian gasps.

After casting the four cannons, the armor said that he would not let the gunsmiths continue to practice. Although the cannon that failed to be cast can be re-smelted, it also consumes coal, and what the Executive Committee lacks now is coal.

After deciding on the plan, the construction team moved into the pier as quickly as possible. Part of the new arrivals were assigned to various units, and the remaining part was also sent to the dock to build batteries. The construction team sent by the Executive Committee this time reached 250 people, of which except for a few dozen crossers, the rest of the staff were old and new European immigrants.

With sufficient supplies, the construction team overcame the adverse effects of the cold weather and fought for a month, and by the beginning of October, when the first anniversary of the crossing was commemorated, the infrastructure construction of the fort had been basically completed, and all types of artillery were installed in place.

Two 24-pounder bronze naval guns were also mounted on the main battery mount. In this way, there were a total of 4 24-pounder copper cannons, 2 18-pounder steel cannons, 2 18-pounder copper cannons and 2 12-pounder steel cannons on the main battery, basically covering the entire outer sea area of the port. Two 18-pounder iron cannons were installed at Battery No. 2, facing the anchorage and channel in the harbor; Two 12-pounder iron cannons were installed at Fort No. 3, facing the open sea.

The gun emplacements in which these guns were installed were made of a mixture of masonry and cement, which were extremely sturdy, and a large amount of earth and sandbags were piled up outside the bunkers. The gun emplacements have a wide field of view, and the gun carriages are also fixed in the bunker with a large number of sandbags, which can be quickly reset, which can greatly increase the rate of fire of the gun. A large number of gun emplacements were also reserved for each battery, which could be installed and purchased when the number of guns increased in the future.

After a total of 14 guns were installed, the battery finally had some appearance. At this time, Wang Qinian seemed to be rejuvenated, and led a group of newly recruited gunners to practice the firing process and familiarize themselves with the performance of the artillery all day long. From time to time, some live-fire exercises will be carried out, that is, shooting cannons into the sea, which makes the hearts of the executive committee's hearts ache, and every cannon is money. However, Wang Qinian is justifiable: without a skilled gunner, no matter how strong the fort is, no matter how sophisticated the cannon is, it will be in vain. For the safety of the port, a large number of live firing is necessary.