On the map of the former Chinese and American Republic of Mancheng, located on the other side of the Song River in the southern district of Manchu, there is only a farm or livestock farm belonging to the state-owned agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry group, and a small dot: the former Indian Trading Post on the west bank of the Hudson River. ,!

As the first Indian trading post to settle on the west bank of the Song River, it brought a rich harvest of trade to the travelers of Manchester City during the most difficult period of development four years ago. Now, four years later, it has become an important agricultural base of the country.

The population of naturalized Drawa Indian villages on the west bank of the lower Song River began to form new settlements around this trading post. Before the establishment of Porter City, the largest farms and livestock farms under the State Agriculture, Forestry, Fishery and Animal Husbandry Group were nearby. But the strange thing is that such a settlement, which has an actual population of more than 3,000 people, has never had a formal status in the national local administrative area.

With the increasing number of Indian vassals migrating from the west bank of the lower Song River, it was no longer appropriate to call it the "West Bank Indian Trading Post", especially now that there are more than 500 European or Chinese residents living and working there, and even the only cavalry company of the army is stationed, so the need for a full-fledged town is on the agenda. From the administrative jurisdiction of the capital city, the town named "Jersey Town" is not part of the city, but will be the closest local town to the city, and it is only separated from the southern part of the city by less than two kilometers of the river.

Thursday, March 20, 1625, is the vernal equinox of the lunar calendar.

The early spring morning mist has just lifted. From the north inland came a small contingent of cavalry of the Chinese Army, which in terms of size was a maximum of two platoons.

The heavily armed cavalry marched in two columns at a slow pace towards the gate of the town's wall, a few hundred meters to the east. The strong Andalusian horses under the crotches of the officers and men were all wet on the surface of their bodies, and it seemed that the intensity of the field training that the troops had gone out early the morning before yesterday was not low.

On both sides of the road are vast farmlands and pastures, and this year's spring ploughing has officially kicked off, with heavy horses and tractors marching in rows on the fertile land after the snow melts; In the pastoral area, cattle, sheep and horses are sorted into groups, and each of them moves in groups on the green water and grassland under the supervision of herdsmen.

"Lieutenant, sir! It seems to be a lively day! ”

A European sergeant urged his horse to the side of Tang Wei, the commander of the cavalry company, and pointed to the town in the distance with a smile. At the end of the line of sight, the town wall was draped in red and green, and the faint sound of firecrackers could be faintly heard.

Army Lieutenant Tang Wei was only a sophomore majoring in veterinary medicine at an agricultural college in a northern province before the crossing, and now he is only 25 years old. This young man, who was not focused on his studies, was the only one who had ever ridden a horse, and it is said that he rode for a few hours when he traveled to Inner Mongolia, and he was still a docile pony...... As a result, earlier last year, Tang Wei made a fool of himself in front of his subordinates more than once.

The Ministry of Defense agreed to form such a unit. In fact, the original intention was to cultivate a group of cavalry troops from scratch to prepare for the long-term development of the North American interior. Pick and choose. In the end, only Tang Wei "stood out" and served as the commander of the cavalry company at a level that was not even as good as half a tone.

Most of the cavalry in the two platoons behind Tang Wei were European immigrants from Northern Europe, and there were also a few former Polish mercenaries who were good at riding. Due to the scarcity of qualified cavalry soldiers, such a valuable cavalry unit is actually essentially a mounted infantry with horses to achieve a highly mobile force deployment, and cannot really perform the cavalry combat function of charging into battle.

After nearly a year of training, under the organization and training of a small number of European non-commissioned officers with cavalry experience, more than 100 cavalrymen finally achieved superficial combat effectiveness. He also excelled in several expeditions into the northern interior on the west bank of the Song River to mediate disputes among several Indian tribes.

"Sergeant Matwiski, starting today, our garrison will be renamed, Jersey Town." Tang Wei, who had already had inside information, proudly raised his horsewhip and accelerated towards the town first.

More than 60 horsemen roared at the same time and followed their commander closely. Hundreds of horses' hooves rumbled through the dirt, and the residents of Jerseytown in the fields on either side of the road straightened up and waved at the young cavalry.

Jersey Town, which officially has the status of an independent town. It is the only town in the country to be made up almost entirely of an agricultural population, and it is also the town with the highest percentage of Native American residents. Excluding the population of the affiliated Indian tribal villages near the town, the town has a registered formal settlement population of more than 2,200 people, and nearly 80% of the Indian residents, of which the majority are Delaware naturalized people, in addition to a small number of other Indian tribal naturalized people such as the Baohatan who speak Algonquin. Among non-Indian residents, the proportion of Chinese immigrants is the highest, with only about 100 Europeans.

Although there are many Native American residents, the Chinese and Europeans of Jersey Town are the backbone of the local economy, whether it is basic industries such as farming and animal husbandry, agriculture, fishery, animal husbandry and food processing, or more specialized industries such as leather processing and wool processing. The agricultural and animal husbandry products sent to the Changdao New Area of the capital on the other side of the river bend every day account for 30% of the domestic product supply of the state-owned agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry group.

As the largest state-owned enterprise in the country, the entire town of Jersey has almost become the "stronghold" of the state-owned agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry group, so much so that the first business spin-off of the state-owned enterprise occurred in the state-owned agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry group. The establishment of Jersey Town has also become a "disaster" for the state-owned agricultural, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry group, in addition to the farms and livestock farms outside the town, the relevant agricultural production workshops in the town will be sold on the basis of mortgages to the townspeople who have lived here for at least two years and have the right to settle in the town.

Unlike other towns with their sleek modern vibe, Jersey Town looks more like a 17th-century town. Apart from the docklands, there are few asphalt gravel or concrete roads that are common in other towns. The streets lined with a large number of trees and the residential areas are mostly simple double-storey mixed wood buildings, and most of them are oriental-style. Modern-style neighborhood buildings and gardens have minimal greenery.

At the beginning of the new year's spring planting, a large number of laborers are busy on suburban farms or pastoral areas, and even though today is the first day of the official opening of the local government of Jersey Town, there are not many residents who participate in the celebration except for the beautiful town street decoration. However, the temporary officials of Jersey Town, headed by the mayor of Wang De, a Chinese man, still made use of the means of setting off the atmosphere as much as possible.

Wang De, who was 50 years old, was a Chinese immigrant of the Ming Dynasty who moved to North America in the spring of 1623, and had only been an old tanner-maker in a dilapidated military station along the coast of Fujian Province. He has an easy-going personality, so he has a very good reputation in the local area after settling in Jersey Town, and his leather craftsmanship is first-class. Even the local European artisans are quite impressed. Because of his literacy, the establishment of Jersey Town needed such a well-known Chinese old man as a lubricating figure for the initial transition, and Wang De, who was not good at management, was selected by the government.

As far as the government is concerned, it only needs Wang De to do things according to the rules, and in fact, he does not need to make any policies for the development of the town. From this point of view, Jersey Town is still a town under the remote control of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Immigration, and not a local town that can operate independently like West Point, Silver Valley or Porter.

Wang De, who has been an inferior person all his life, was completely frightened at first and didn't agree. In his eyes, this is simply an earth-shattering change in identity. It belongs to the blessing of life that cannot be afforded. It wasn't until Chang Kun, director of the Chinese Affairs Department of the Ministry of Immigration, also stood up to persuade Wang De to nod his head and said that as soon as there was a more suitable person, he would immediately let Xian go.

Wang De, the new official, is now wearing a brand-new gorgeous Han-style official robe, standing outside the gate of the town government with a smile, looking at the hundreds of residents laughing around him, constantly waving around, while still touching his gray beard and nodding.

A group of cavalry came slowly from afar. Wang De saw the "lieutenant military master" who had been familiar for a long time at a glance, and hurriedly greeted him with a temporary official who had also been promoted.

"Mayor Wang, it's very lively today!" Tang Wei jumped off the horse and threw the horsewhip to the soldiers behind him, while learning from the Chinese residents and arching his hands, "It seems that it won't be long after, according to the rules." The garrison barracks of the cavalry company were about to be moved out of the residential area. ”

"Oops, how dare you do this?! Wang Shi is strict in governing the army, and the army and the people live together happily, how can they say that they will move? Lieutenant Don said so. I'm ashamed of my old bones! Wang De hurriedly waved his hand, turned around and raised his arm, and made a gesture of invitation to Tang Wei, "This town has just been established, and a thin banquet has been prepared, Lieutenant Tang should have a few more drinks." ”

Looking at the almost all the Chinese residents around, Tang Wei nodded slightly, and after assigning the non-commissioned officer to lead the troops back to the barracks, he followed Wang De towards the town government.

At the Jersey Town Wharf, a massive dock steam crane is transporting a full box of potatoes to a large inland transport vessel. On one side of the river vessel, the Gluttony Flying Shear merchant ship lowered its cargo cover on the side of the ship, and a heavy ship board truck approached.

A dark-haired horse slowly walked ashore under the tutelage of the European crew, with very beautiful slender white hair on its legs, and a graceful gait, like four fur boots. What's even more impressive is that the tall and strong body of the dark horse in front of him is so big that the European horse breeders at the Jersey Town Horse Farm who are present are amazed.

The French Alden Heavy Pull Horse, or the Spanish Bel Suron Heavy Pull Horse, which was once bred in large numbers in Jersey Town, looks like a fully developed young horse compared to the big man in front of him, who is almost two meters tall and weighs more than a ton. There is no doubt that this is the Sharma, a heavy horse from England, which is now appearing for the first time on the soil of the American Republic of China.

The British royal trade agent, who was anxious to obtain a large amount of American-style arms, transported more than 60 Shire horses to the Azores Heroísmo at once, and the sturdy and handsome black horse in front of him was one of the several male stallions. Touching Sharma's swarthy and shiny neck, a European horse breeder's face beamed with joy.

More Sharmas stepped over the board of the ship with heavy steps, and set off a wave of exclamations in the dock area, and many Indian hired men were so frightened that they cowered behind the dock containers, only peeking with their heads out. The news even alarmed the local cavalry company, and several non-commissioned officers of Polish origin rushed over, looking at Sharma, who had only heard but had not seen it, and opened their mouths wide. Unfortunately, this heavy horse, which is like a cross with an elephant, is not good at running and fighting, and can only be used as a horse.

At least until the city of Porter was founded, the horse farm on the outskirts of Jerseytown was the only horse breeding base in the country. In addition to importing large quantities of horses each year, over the past few years, the Jersey Town Horse Farm has also bred hundreds of fine breeds of European horses for the country. The kind of Andalusian war horses ridden by the cavalry company today have also bred hundreds of young horses of the first generation in the horse farm, and in two or three years, the first generation of locally bred war horses will enter the army cavalry units on a large scale.

In order to collect all kinds of excellent horse breeds in Europe and develop the horse breeding industry in their own countries, the Ministry of Agriculture and the state-owned agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry groups have made great efforts, and European immigrants with experience in horse breeding are the most preferred visas, and a good European stallion can even pay twice the price of European locals, but even so, European countries in the war phase still restrict the export of horses.

The signing of the Azores Peace Treaty between the United States, Britain and France has provided the Chinese and American Republic with better import channels, at least in this regard. Whether it is Jersey Town or Porter City, the North American continent's natural fertile pastures and climate are simply a paradise for horse breeding, and it is believed that in a few years, the locally-bred pull horses or war horses will get rid of the bottleneck of imports.

Sharma's arrival is just a small episode in Jersey Town, where the second phase of Merlin's canned food processing plant is well under construction in the small industrial area to the south of the town, which will be operational in two months' time. At that time, Merlin Canned Food Company's monthly canned food production will directly double to 200,000 cans per year.

This output, in addition to the extremely bad reputation in the army and navy that is about to collapse or has collapsed, is currently unable to meet the domestic market supply. Since it was put on the market last year, citizens in cities and towns around the country have welcomed this kind of novelty food that is easy to preserve and has a "quite good" taste, which is the only commodity with a high degree of domestic demand in all walks of life in China.

According to the grand blueprint of Guanyun, the founder of Merlin Canned Food Company, once the output of domestic seafood, livestock meat and vegetables and fruits is greatly increased, and the cost of raw material procurement is lower than the European average market by 50%, the production base of Merlin Canned Food Company in Jersey Town will be doubled, and all kinds of canned food will be exported to the European market on a large scale.

However, there is still a small episode here, that is, the Department of Defense has added Merlin Canned Foods Company's canned fruits and vegetables to the prohibited list of "potentially high-risk military uses" under the Military Defense Export Restriction Act. The reason is that the naval command does not want European navies to use this artifact that can replenish vitamins and prevent scurvy.

After slandering the Ministry of Defense's ban, Guanyun plans to adjust a certain production line to meet the "demanding quality requirements" of the Ministry of Defense. For example, the high-temperature processing process of canned fruits and vegetables is used to make a little touch, and then the canned food is marked with a special "KD" export mark, which means "pit daddy".

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