On January 20, 1683, Xiang Zirui, a minor civil servant in southern Chile, was still working with a lamp in the company of a cup of strong coffee, processing the pile of papers that seemed to never be finished.

"Today, Boling County sent two hundred barrels of flour, which are still in tents. Tomorrow we need to organize people to clean up the warehouse, clean out some less important things, and then put the grain into storage. However, it is true that the grain depot will be built as soon as possible, and it is not appropriate to share the warehouse with other goods as it is now. ”

"The number of medicines is also seriously insufficient, and the hot weather and humid environment in summer are the peak period of the epidemic, and whether the number of drugs is sufficient is the most critical. Epidemic prevention and control and treatment have always been the most important thing in a pioneer settlement. ”

"The foundation leveling was a clue. Due to the serious shortage of manpower, the only few prisoners serving sentences were taken away by the army to build camps and dig trenches. ”

"The morale of the exiled prisoners is not very high, and although they have to work hard for the safety of their families, this is not enough, and they need to be motivated by policy, otherwise the results will always be unsatisfactory."

"Soil exploration and testing needs to be carried out as soon as possible, and hydrological surveys of rivers and streams need to be carried out gradually, which requires experts from the Ministry of Geology and the Ministry of Agriculture to arrive as soon as possible."

Xiang Zirui, 26 years old this year, is a deputy section-level researcher of the Southern Chile Regional Administration, his father is an ordinary middle-level cadre in the Ministry of Agriculture, and his grandfather is a relatively prominent person, one of the country's founders, once served as the vice minister of agriculture, and just died a few years ago.

As a member of the third generation of the Xiang family, Xiang Zirui's development is actually not very smooth, which can be seen from the fact that he has worked for eight years and is now only a deputy section-level researcher, and his family has not given him much help in his career. This probably had something to do with the fact that his father was only one of his grandfather's seven sons, and that there were so many uncles and brothers that no matter how big the family shadow was, his future could only depend on him, so he applied to come to this complicated area north of the Jiehe River.

This is the small town of Lanco in later Chile, located on the main transportation line from Valdivia to Villarrica in the south of Chile, there is a small village where Spaniards and Indians are mixed, providing some necessary supplies for passing convoys or caravans. Now, next to this small Spanish village, there are as if overnight countless military tents, and more than 1,000 East Bank GIs in blue uniforms, with bright bayonets, are wandering around the village, effectively cutting off the line of communication from Valdivia to Villarica.

Hundreds of exiles and their families were summoned from all over the country to this crucial location and began construction with simple tools. At the same time, the Southern Chile Regional Administration has also sent officials and supplies here, and I heard that there will be militia and immigrants coming in the future, and it seems that they are going to live here for a long time.

All of this was naturally seen by the Spaniards. Biarrica, who was most concerned, immediately sent personnel to negotiate, but was intimidated by the formation of more than 1,000 officers and men of the 12th Mixed Battalion, who were loaded with guns and ammunition, and almost retreated timidly without saying much. Later, another official from Valdivia arrived, with dozens of Spanish cavalry, but the negotiations also ended in failure - in the eyes of the Spaniards, the Spanish did not explain the purpose of their visit, nor did they intend to heed the Spaniards' warnings to leave, or even tell them how long they planned to stay here, to the exhaustion of the Spanish colonial officials in both places.

Compared with the weakness of these Spanish colonial officials, a local small Spanish nobleman who was forcibly requisitioned by the East Coast for military supplies was much more courageous than them. He and his family and nephews fought against the East Coasters, and killed and wounded two soldiers of the 12th Mixed Battalion, although they were quickly extinguished by the army officers and soldiers who rushed in, but this courage to resist was much stronger than that of the soft-boned colonial officials, and it is no wonder that many native-born whites looked down on these peninsulars, they really did not represent the interests of the majority of Peruvians, and it was normal for them to be overthrown in the future.

But the resistance was limited to this one. After all, the Spaniards were foreign colonizers, and although they had been operating South America for more than 100 years, their population was not large, and their ability to digest was limited, especially in Chile, which was far from their core ruling area, and there were even fewer whites and mixed-race whites as the basis of their rule. And without these people, relying on the Indians alone, what do you think they can make waves? You know, the Araucan Indians in Chile are notoriously small and fierce, and they have been fighting with the Spaniards for more than half a century, and the population loss is very heavy, so it is difficult to cause any trouble to the cross-border colonization of the East Coast.

If this had changed many parts of the Old World, perhaps the contradictions between the occupying forces and the rebels would have become much more acute. The large population, relatively high level of technology and culture, and the intricate relationship of interests formed over thousands of years in the Old World will have many adverse effects on the rule of foreign colonizers. Imagine that the policy of 30 acres of land per capita pursued by the people of the East Coast will inevitably lead to constant turmoil, fierce resistance, and finally colonial failure. You see, the people of the East Coast have not implemented the policy of 30 mu of land per capita in Ningbo, also because of factors that will cause local unrest.

But the Spaniards' New World colonies were not too worried. As long as it does not advance to the relatively densely populated Paraguay, Peru, Central America, Mexico and other places, the civil resistance is not destined to be fierce. The only thing the people on the East Coast have to worry about are the voices coming from Lima and Madrid.

Xiang Zirui, as one of the grassroots cadres trained by the state, is naturally well aware of the current situation between the east and the west, so he has been working here for a period of time, and he has no worries about being driven back by the Spaniards, and has devoted all his attention to local construction.

In the vicinity of this original Spanish village, the people of the East Coast will build a fortress-like building, the legendary Four Forts of the Corps, an educational institution for the training of all kinds of talents for the Republic of the East Coast of China, and this township built on the four forts of the Corps is also named the Four Towns of the Corps. Xiang Zirui, as the director of the preparatory office for the construction of the four forts of the Corps, once the construction is successfully completed in the future, according to the practice of the east coast, he will also take over as the head of the township and take a solid step in his career. So, you can see that even though it will be eleven o'clock in the evening, Director Xiang is still constantly recording something in his notebook so that he can propose rectification in tomorrow's work, and the spirit is indeed commendable.

After he had been busy for more than an hour, seeing that it was almost one o'clock in the morning, and the sentry of the 12th Mixed Battalion outside had already changed their guards, he reluctantly put down the information in his hand, picked up the cold coffee on the table and drank it all, and then he got into the simple bed next to him and fell asleep.

The next day was a sunny day, and Xiang Zirui, who had just returned from coordinating affairs at the headquarters of the 12th Mixed Battalion, received a report from his subordinates that the España's envoy had come again. The Spaniard, again from Valdivia, was of a higher rank, the speaker of the local municipal council, with four or five attachés.

The Speaker, who looked very old, did not have a title of nobility, but his family had a lot of money, and in addition to operating a few shops in the commercial port of Valdivia, he also controlled a commercial route to Villarrica and made huge profits by supplying food, drink, daily necessities and even luxury goods to the inland mining areas. Therefore, he was anxious and angry about the fact that the East Bank army had cut off the communication routes, and after the first two unsuccessful negotiations, this time he took the initiative to ask for help, and asked the mayor and the priest for permission to act as an envoy to negotiate with the East Bank people for the third time.

Xiang Zirui didn't have much interest in this old Spanish man. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, he waved him back after ten minutes of cursory conversation with the messenger. The Spanish envoy wanted to say a few more words, but seeing that Xiang Zirui's face was not good, and the people of the 12th Mixed Battalion of the Army ignored them, he could only go home in a huff and report to the big men in Valdivia.

"It's ridiculous to threaten to cut off trade with us. Just with places like Valdivia and Villarrica, how big is the trade volume? Xiang Zirui looked at the figure of the Spaniard in the distance, and said with a sneer: "If this is said to be your Peruvian governor, it is almost the same, what kind of thing are you, who can use this to influence our national policy?" ”

But having said that, the severance of trade mentioned by the old Spanish man just now also attracted a trace of attention from Xiang Zirui, because this was probably the only bargaining chip in the hands of the Spaniards. According to the agreement reached between the government and the Kingdom of Spain, the people on the East Coast offered concessional, low-interest loans and allowed the Spanish court to issue bonds on the East Coast in exchange for the Kingdom of Spain's opening of the ten ports of the American colonies (five each in the Pacific and five in the Atlantic, taken over by the Southern Rail Company and Air Canada, respectively) until they repaid their loans.

Now that the Spaniards had already paid off their loans (secured by the customs revenues of the ten major ports), and it was reasonable that this policy of opening up trade would have ended long ago, the Spaniards had not dared to do so for various reasons (including the benefits of the East Coast government) and continued to flood Peru and New Spain with huge profits from the goods made on the East Coast.

But now, after the tentacles of the East coast have penetrated far from Valdivia to Villarrica, the Spaniards have finally straightened their backs and threatened to cut off the trade that should have been cut off many years ago. Xiang Zirui didn't believe that the time and space for cutting off trade mentioned by the old Spanish man just now came from the grounds, and the trade in Valdivia could be broken, so the trade in Lima, Guayaquil, Panama, Acapulco and other places could naturally be broken, which was not difficult to assume.

Although Xiang Zirui didn't believe that the Spaniards would really make up their minds to do this, they had this kind of thought, which in itself showed an attitude, that is: the people on the east coast of the east coast were afraid of the Pampa grassland, and we also endured small actions north of the boundary river, but now they have actually pushed the border line to the silver mining area of Valdivia and Villarica, how can this be endured? Although this is only a small mining area of small scale, if you back down this time, do you know if you will have to take an inch next time and directly hit the idea of Charcas? In that case, even if the Madrid court is no longer willing, I am afraid that it will have to make a fundamental adjustment to the national policy and start an all-out war with the east coast.

"It seems that this information should be summarized and reported as soon as possible." Xiang Zirui rubbed his hands and said to himself: "But the work that should be done must be continued, and we can't stop because of some opinions from the Spaniards." And, as it stands, the temptation of the Spaniards is far from over, at least not yet a clear attitude from their Peruvian governor, and this is the point, rather than the so-called local town councils, which are more representative of the interests of the local colonial powers. ”

The report written by Xiang Zirui was quickly sent to Zhao Ke in Maolin County. He's at a higher level, and he's more sensitive to something. After seeing the Spaniards threatening to trade, they felt that this time they had really stabbed the Spaniards in the vital point, and this provoked a strong reaction. But seriously, if the Spaniards really gave an order and cut off the trade between the two viceroyalties of Peru and New Spain and the people on the east coast, it would really be very painful for the people on the east coast.

At that time, not only local trading companies such as the Southern Rail Trading Company will be greatly affected, but also the business of Air Canada in the Caribbean will also plummet, and in addition, such as the Southern Cone Interoceanic Railway, some of the commercial ports involved, and many local manufacturing enterprises, will be affected to varying degrees, and too many people's livelihoods will be affected here. With this level of turmoil, I am afraid that the East Bank government will also think about it, is it worth losing so much money because of a small amount of land in the border area? That's probably what the Spaniards wanted!

Thinking about it from this point of view, Zhao Ke was a little unsure of what the boss would think of this, and this realization gave him a little headache. For many years, the local officials in charge of the border areas on the east coast have been like those envoys in ancient history who "provoked border provocations" on their own initiative, stirred up border disputes, and then asked the higher-level government to help them wipe their butts and take care of their problems. As an old bird of the East Coast bureaucracy, Zhao Ke naturally knows this well, so he has been expanding northward for many years, and has also achieved certain results. It's just that this time it hit the iron plate? Zhao Ke was a little uncertain, but he still planned to see how the Spanish side reacted at a higher level.