It was the end of June in 1647, and even in the warmer Duck Lake basin, the inhabitants of the Eastern Republic had wrapped themselves in thick warm clothing. Most of them wore cotton clothes, but a significant number wore leather coats—old-fashioned-looking sheepskin jackets.

Thanks to the rapid rise of the tannery industry on the east coast, the popularity of leather jackets is quite high, especially in Ping'an County, where industrial workers are the majority, rich skilled workers do not care about the cost of buying leather jackets, and even some people who pursue fashion will buy some expensive dyed leather clothes.

As the second county in the country, Ping'an County has a total population of more than 18,000 people, with a total population of more than 18,000 in four townships under its jurisdiction, with many factories and roaring machines, and is currently the only steel, chemical, coal, and pharmaceutical production area in the country, as well as an important machinery manufacturing, textile, and military production area, contributing more than 6o% of the national financial income. It can be said that it would be harmless if Dongfang County, the capital of the Republic of China on the east coast of China, was lost, but if Ping'an County was gone, then the whole country would immediately degenerate into an agricultural society and be slaughtered by others.

Although the county has now reached the town of Dawn (Alvorada), the essence of the county is still in Ping'an Township, located on the banks of the Yazi River (Yakuyi River), where an entire elite company of the 6th Army is stationed. With the deepening of the war with the Spaniards in La Plata, after the long-trained and well-trained Ping'an County Militia Brigade was transferred, the 6th Army Headquarters did not dare to slack off, and immediately transferred the newly formed Meilin County Militia Brigade (1,000 people) to the vicinity to garrison, and at the same time carried out strict training.

In the middle of last month. The militia brigade of Merlin County, under the orders of the 6th Army Headquarters, marched north to the area of New Hamburg. And build a military post here to ensure the safety of the industrial base of Ping'an County. The main reason for this is that a report submitted by the General Intelligence Service pointed out that with the rapid rise of the East Coast economy, the needs of more than 100,000 people in various aspects are not a small number. As a result, the Gérard region, which had been neglected by the Portuguese, suddenly became a hot land, with a large number of Portuguese, Mameluco people, and English, Scottish and Irish immigrants from the old Big 6 cultivating and grazing in and around the Gérard Mountains. At the same time, many craftsmen settled here, and while serving these pioneers, they also exported a large number of handicrafts to the east coast, and the business was very prosperous.

For example, sewing needles, fish hooks, locks, small leather goods, metal products and other gadgets needed in the East Coast are closely related to everyone's production and life, and they are indispensable, but it is impossible for them to be produced by themselves on the East Coast. Why? First, there is no corresponding technical personnel (handicraftsmen), and second, the demand is not large. Lack of industrial mass production, coupled with the relative lack of labour on the East Coast and the lack of manpower for jobs in all walks of life, have led to imports of goods from less important industries – partly from Brazil and partly from the Netherlands.

A boom in trade will inevitably bring about many negative effects. For example, the flow of people is mixed, and some people with ulterior motives mingle in the crowd of people who are doing normal business, taking the opportunity to spy on intelligence on the east coast. Last month. A Portuguese somehow walked near the Northern Gunpowder Factory in Orange Township, and lingered for a long time near the nitrate fields of the people on the east coast before being captured by the current security guards of the factory. According to the interrogation, a number of Portuguese "merchants" had already been observed here before the interrogation. And I took a look at the design of the nitrate field of the East Coast people.

The Executive Committee, which learned of the incident, was furious and immediately instructed Bai Siwen, president of the North Duck Lake District Circuit Court, to personally hear the case. They also sent someone to inform the Portuguese officials on the other side of the hill and handed them a letter of protest from the government of the Republic of East China. Bai Siwen, who had recently risen from the cold bench to serve as president of the North Yazihu District Circuit Court and president of the Ping'an County People's Court, did not dare to slack off; he personally reviewed the interrogation files of the Ministry of the Interior and the State Intelligence Administration, and then organized a trial team to try the captured prisoners.

Today is the day of execution, and the place of execution is set at the security military post (i.e., New Hamburg). When Zheng Bin, vice minister of agriculture, arrived here with his entourage, he saw such a scene. Under the numb gaze of four or five hundred local immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, Pinto, a Portuguese merchant of about forty years old, was hoisted up in the air, and after a violent struggle, he returned to peace. After unloading the body and examining it carefully, the captain of the bailiff who supervised Xing nodded at Bai Siwen. Seeing that there was no problem, Bai Siwen instructed his entourage to sort out the files, and then strode down the execution platform.

"Dean Bai, I was really 'flattered' to see such a scene as soon as I came." Zheng Bin is here today to inspect the dredging project of the Sinos River in the vicinity of the security military outpost, which leads directly to the Duck Lake and is an ideal transportation route. This time, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Communications are jointly preparing to take advantage of the dry winter season to dredge some of the shallows in the river channel from the mouth of the Sinos River to the security military outpost, and of course some of the too narrow places will also be widened to prevent silting and making it impossible for boats to operate.

In addition, after the return of the naval convoy, hundreds of Livonians and a few Ottoman slave girls will be arranged to come here to continue to join the dredging and widening project, and strive to completely complete this section of the river after the end of September. If they have time, they will also dig some irrigation canals to open up farmland. Of course, in order to speed up their work, the superiors will also arrange for the newly launched "Qingtang Jun No. 5" dredger to drive here to assist them in digging the river.

"Hehe, Minister Zheng, how did you get here? Oh yes, I'm definitely here to inspect the river. Bai Siwen, who sat on the cold bench for many years and finally came out of the mountain again, faced Zheng Bin, who was just a middle school student and is now the vice minister of agriculture, but he was not embarrassed at all, and still stepped forward to greet him very warmly.

"The higher-ups are preparing to set up a military post north of Ping'an County, and at the same time they will also have to immigrate here to build a new settlement like Baoan Township, and I think the work here may be a little inconsiderate, so I wanted to come and have a look." Zheng Bin generously stepped forward and shook Bai Siwen's hand, and then said, "But now it seems that the little guys in the Corps Fort have arranged and organized well. I saw that they had already dug a considerable part of the diversion canal in advance, and then built a dam next to it to drain the stagnant water and widen the channel, which was quite well done in an orderly manner, and I think I was worrying about it in vain. I'll go to Dawn Town tomorrow to see how the orchard is doing, and I'll go back if there's no problem. ”

"Baoan Township is the only barrier in the northern part of Ping'an County, and the garrison arranged by the Executive Committee here is also to protect the safety of the heavy industry base." Bai Siwen wrapped himself in a bearskin coat, he was already in his fifties and couldn't stand the cold weather, "And the government council also forcibly limited the place of trade with the Portuguese to Baoan Township, stipulating that all Portuguese must trade here, and pay taxes according to the regulations, and are not allowed to run around and look around, otherwise they will be severely punished by the law." ”

"This is long overdue, otherwise we don't know how many secrets will be taken away by the Portuguese." Zheng Bin echoed, "It's just that I didn't expect these Portuguese to be so flexible and good at seizing business opportunities, it's only been ten years, and they have created such a big situation in the Gérard Mountains." It is really worthy of being a merchant nation and an economic animal, and one puts economic interests first. ”

It is said that since the São Paulo Flag Brigade, which crossed the Gérard Mountains to capture slaves, and the first trade with the East Coast many years ago, the Brazilian towns located between the Gérard Mountains have been established one after another. For example, the slave town (Casia do Sul) was established in 1641 and the town of Captain Ricardo (San Francisco. Di Paola) these two official strongholds; In addition, there are five or six small folk settlements, the two largest of which are New Dundee (Igrezhnia) and Blacksmith's Town (Felitz) - all of which are self-formed.

These settlements were outside the de jure territory of the East Bank Republic and were theoretically part of the Kingdom of Spain - on the basis of the Treaty of Tordesiras (i.e., the Papal Meridian) signed between Spain and Portugal and later supplemented by the Treaty of Zaragoza. But now the Portuguese did not hesitate to take it for themselves, and set up settlements in a grand manner, and even brought in a large number of Portuguese and British Isles immigrants.

These settlements are now quite numerous. For example, the first slave towns - as the name suggests, to provide logistics for the capture of slaves - now have more than 400 whites and more than 1,000 mixed-race Mameluko; The town of Captain Ricardo also had about four hundred Portuguese and more than two hundred English. As for the numerous civilian settlements, the total number of white inhabitants has exceeded 2,000, not to mention the large number of mixed-race Mameluko.

After Bai Siwen and Zheng Bin chatted a few more words, they boarded a carriage surrounded by his entourage, and then turned around and left the execution ground and drove south. After Bai Siwen left, Zheng Bin did not linger long, he took a group of followers to the east towards the river digging construction site, and before that, the hundreds of Ming immigrants who had completed the collective observation had left here under the organization of the cadres who had graduated from the Corps Fort and were the first to return to the river construction site -- after the "ideological education" was over, they still had to work.

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