The Central Valley has been a bit rough lately. This kind of peace did not come from the Indians, but from the local Spanish or Mestizos, mainly because of the change in the policy of the Eastern Coast Republic, which caused a lot of trouble to Lin Qingbo's team of more than 20 people, who were leading an expedition in the southern part of the Central Valley.

Lin Qingbo, who is in his twenties and whose ancestral home is Luojiang, Quanzhou, Fujian Province, was abducted and trafficked to an agency on the East Coast to collect immigrants when he was a child. After the expiration of the ten-year study period, he was favored by Wang Zhijie, a famous botanist and naturalist on the east coast, and accepted as a disciple. Since then, he has become a rising star in the field of botany and naturalism on the East Coast (and in recent years, he has studied archaeology), and he has a reputation for giving lectures at various schools.

Of course, in exchange, he had to follow in the footsteps of his teacher, and since then he has joined the field of field exploration and surveying, often with officials from the Military Police Command, the General Administration of National Intelligence, the Bureau of Statistical Survey of Syphilis Patients, the Ministry of Geology and other institutions, to travel to all corners of the country and even overseas colonies, to investigate resources for the country, draw maps, investigate the situation of the people (generally the situation of the indigenous people in the territory), survey routes, the hard work is absolute, the degree of danger is not low, it is indeed not a good job - but there is no way, There are only a few talents in the domestic exploration field, and it is impossible not to do it.

This time, Lin Qingbo led a team to the central valley of Chile, and the main task was to carefully survey the plains, forests, and mountains of more than 10,000 square kilometers south of the Jiehe River (Bueno River), and at the same time draw a map, and also roughly count what resources there are, such as what trees and animals are in the forest, the size and nature of the rivers and lakes, the area of land that can be reclaimed as arable land on the plain, and the number of minerals in the mountains that are valuable for mining, including sulfur and limestone.

It can be said that their work determines the intensity of investment by the relevant departments at higher levels in a certain area, and also determines the speed of local economic development, and its importance is self-evident. In fact, for the chiefs of remote areas such as southern Chile, regardless of whether there is wealth such as minerals on the land, it is not easy to invite these expeditions and exploration teams to come from their home jurisdictions, even if there is no investment from their superiors, they themselves can build in a targeted manner based on the maps and information compiled by the expedition team, and the effect is not comparable to that of the previous two eyes.

Lin Qingbo and his family came to the area under their jurisdiction to carry out an expedition at the invitation of the Southern Chile Regional Administration (of course, it had been approved by the higher authorities in advance), and the central valley south of the Jiehe River was the first stop on their trip. However, it was this first stop that caused them some trouble, and of course it seemed that it was only a small problem.

"After the expiration of the concession of the Southern Railway Company at the end of last year (1678), the Government Council spent more than half a year sorting out the civil and military affairs including the former Southern Railway annex and the southern Chilean region, and at the same time began to vigorously implement various local laws or regulations in the counties and townships, which immediately caused a backlash from some Spanish remnants in the jurisdiction, of course, mainly in the central valley south of the boundary river, well, it is the land under our feet today." An official from the Southern Chile Regional Administration who accompanied Lin Qingbo and his party on the expedition explained: "I have already sent a small horse back to the village to bring rescue troops, and it is easy to gather fifty or sixty reserve cavalry there, with enough ammunition and water, to deal with some fried Spaniards, Mestizos, or Indians, and it is not a big problem." But no matter what, we should still pay more attention to our own safety, especially for professionals like you, Captain Lin, we can't afford to lose. ”

It is said that for more than 100,000 people in six counties in southern Chile, the Southern Railway Company, whose monopoly trade concession expired on December 31, 1678, is really an existence that cannot be ignored. Before the end of 1678, this company almost controlled the economic lifeline of the six counties in southern Chile, including Qingfeng, Qinghe, Guanhai, Liucheng, Maolin, and Boling, and all kinds of goods produced in these counties were eaten by the enterprises under this large Kang Caien enterprise, such as the Nantie Flour Mill, the Nantie Tannery, the Nantie Seafood Processing Factory, the Nantie Shipyard and other enterprises, and then exchanged for all kinds of manufactured goods, either for local sales and profits, or for export to Peru or Peru for profit, in short, they made a lot of money. Most of the profits were basically taken away by the Southern Railway.

Of course, there are very good reasons for people to do this. If it had not been for the huge amount of money invested by the Southern Railway, if it had not been for them to spend money to maintain the South Pacific route to receive immigrants, if it had not been for the Southern Railway's repeated negotiations with the Spaniards in exchange for a safe environment, and if it had not been for them to send troops and ships to deter the Spanish governor in Lima with the Third Fleet, the southern Chile region would not have developed at all, or would not have existed at all.

This can be seen from the fact that more than 60% of the cadres in many settlements in the six counties of southern Chile came from the Southern Railway Company, and how much effort the company spent to build these sites from scratch. Later, the local government council negotiated with the Southern Railway Company to transfer the governance of all 11 counties, including the southern Chile region, to the state in exchange for other benefits. But even after that, the influence of the Southern Railway in these areas has been declining year by year, but it has remained at a very high level, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is under double control with the government. Perhaps for this reason, the Government Council has not yet succeeded in implementing various systems including tax policies in the local area, and many of the taxes in the eleven prefectures were even transferred through the Southern Railway Company until about 1675.

However, it was now 1679, and all the privileges of the Southern Railway Company had expired, and in this case, the Government Council finally began a drastic rectification and reform, the first of which was the full implementation of the East Coast laws, which naturally included the famous "Homestead Law". According to this law, the citizens of the East Coast Republic of China can only own 30 mu of land (of course, there are no absolutes, and some places will break the upper limit of 30 mu and reach 50 mu), while many of the Spaniards, Mestizos, and Indians in the three counties of Maolin, Liucheng, and Boling in southern Chile who have reached 5,000 or 6,000 people are undoubtedly not eligible, and they must report to the government office at the township level on the east bank within the specified time, and then wait for the government to send personnel to measure the land and draw up a redemption plan.

There can be no doubt that these former Spanish nationals, many of whom still retained their status as nationals of the Kingdom of Spain because of the leased land south of the Boundary River, did not want their land to be ransomed by the infidels on the east coast at a "ridiculously low price", so they resorted to fierce countermeasures, such as armed confrontation, after the protest was unsuccessful.

Of course, the Spaniards chose a rather wrong way of expressing their protest. Since the founding of the country, the people of the East Coast have gone through all kinds of ups and downs, but they have really never been afraid of armed confrontation! As a result, the officials of the three prefectures sternly rejected the demands of the Spaniards in their respective jurisdictions, and then began to suppress them by force. As an important treaty port, Maolin County was the first to take action, and the Southern Chile Regional Administration, which had already moved its administrative office to Maolin Port, mobilized a large number of militia and garrison soldiers, easily defeated the resistance of the Spaniards, stabilized the situation, and then cooperated with the various working groups sent to the local area, and began a vigorous land survey and redemption operation, which the Spanish were powerless to stop.

As the home port of the Navy's Third Fleet, Liucheng County's action and efficiency are worse than Maolin County, but it is okay. They did not have a lot of troops, but they borrowed some soldiers or sailors from the navy to guard the base, and sent out to the countryside to sweep, and only killed and injured more than 10 people, and stabilized the situation in the county, and then with the help of the higher government, began the work of land measurement and redemption.

Compared to these two counties, Boling County, which is more remote, close to Spanish-controlled territory and poorer, is less in the best hands. They had only a handful of militia reserves, not a single garrison soldier, and in that respect they were not even as good as the Slatted House Prison, the institution that managed the exiled prisoners who had crossed the border.

However, the Spanish forces under their jurisdiction were the most powerful and stubborn, and they faced the greatest resistance, so this pot of rice was boiled into raw rice at once, and at present they could only control the situation in Boling Township, where the county seat is located, and Wangdu Township, a major transportation route, and began to measure and inventory the land. As for Lucheng Township, Xinchu Township and the vast rural areas, this work has not been carried out at all, and the situation is quite delicate, the hostility of the Spaniards is very strong, which Lin Qingbo and others have learned these days, and at the same time, they have also greeted the cadres and families of Boling County many times in their hearts - this craft is really too trendy, and if the troops are insufficient, they must be prepared in advance, and now the limited number of people and horses are exhausted in various places, which seriously affects the production and life of the people, and you are afraid that the county magistrate is not far from the end of class!

"I understand, I understand." After hearing this, Lin Qingbo immediately waved his hand and said, "The country's policy is correct. Although the three counties south of the river were leased from the Spaniards, there can be no doubt that in the final analysis we can fully comply with the laws of our country. Therefore, there is no problem with the principle of implementing the Homestead Law here to acquire the land of the Spaniards. The trouble now, that is, some small flaws in the implementation process, understand, understandable. Ah, by the way, didn't the Kingdom of Spain make representations on this matter? With so many Spanish merchants, peasants, and naturalized Indians in the three counties of Boling, I don't believe that no one went to Lima to complain, and the Spanish governor didn't react at all? You know, these people haven't renounced their Spanish citizenship yet, and they don't care about the situation of their own nationals, right? ”

"Of course, someone went to the north to complain, but to put it mildly, who cares about them now!" The accompanying cadres looked disdainful when they talked about this, and only listened to him continue: "They can only send us some questions or protests verbally, and I don't think anyone in the regional administration or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the capital takes the noise of the Spaniards seriously, or at least not yet, and we still act according to the established plan, continue to measure the land, check the pastures and forest farms, and then redeem the land in accordance with the relevant state regulations, everything is in accordance with the rules." ”

Lin Qingbo nodded when he heard this, and didn't say anything more. Of course, he knew that the Kingdom of Spain was now at war in the Old Continent, and the situation was critical, and he had no will, let alone a chance, to come to the East Coast to fight the people on this matter. The Spanish remnants in the three counties of Boling have suffered a loss, and no one can ask for an explanation for them, bear it yourself, who made your motherland poor and weak now, and decayed to the extreme?

Of course, it would be inaccurate to say that the East Coasters did not have any negative impact at all. Not to mention anything else, the people on the east coast have vigorously implemented a law in their jurisdictions, and the Spaniards in Chile, Chalcas, Lima, Quito and other courts of trial have seen it, and the answer is self-evident.

In other words, if the eastern republic of China wants to move north and occupy vast lands including Chile, Chalcas, La Plata, and Peru in the future, the resistance it will face is likely to rise exponentially, unless you can repeal the Homestead Law and recognize the legitimacy of the frightening amount of land controlled by the Spanish aristocracy, big merchants, and the Church, then nothing can be done, and it will inevitably be strongly resisted by the middle and upper classes of local society, and the cost will undoubtedly be much greater. In fact, there are some signs of this on the Pampa Plain, but it is not very obvious.

The current practice of the East bankers in southern Chile seems to be basically not intended to compromise with the Spaniards, that is, not to recognize their right to occupy huge amounts of land, to engage in forced redemption, and to suppress them by force - of course, in recent months, under the protest of officials sent by the Spanish governor of Lima, the East coasters have relented and acted much more lightly, and the main means of suppression is to "send the rebellious Spaniards out of the country", that is, to the north of the boundary river, and leave them to fend for themselves.

And these people were naturally unwilling to lose all their possessions and returned to the north of the Boundary River alone. Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that the people on the east coast did not have enough control over the wild countryside, they caused sabotage everywhere, which once caused a sharp deterioration of the public security situation in Boling County, and many production was affected. However, it now seems that there should be no possibility of compromise between the Southern Chile Regional Administration and the Boling County Authority. They seem to want to be a model, a model for how to deal with similar events when entering the densely populated north in the future, and it is also very valuable for reference and experiment.