Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 747 Parade

The architecture of Santiago Castle is very Spanish. It is a genre that combines Arab and European classical architectural styles. It finds inspiration in the blue Mediterranean. It fits the passion, wild and outdoor national character of the Spaniards. It advocates simplicity and often With a towering minaret.

  This can be seen as the epitome of Spanish fortress-style architecture, wandering in it, as if you have come to a certain Spanish town on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

  Duan Qirui and his party were divided into three teams, each of which was picked up and led by the local people and walked around. They soon separated.

Duan Qirui took his younger brother Lieutenant Colonel Bian Chunsong and two captains, under the leadership of the owner of Anzhutian, leisurely strolling in the castle for a long time, and when he was tired, he sat down in the open pergola outside the cafe and called Coffee and a few small snacks are very cozy.

According to the common perception of European countries today, the division of Ocean Kingdoms into white countries is due to the lack of information, and their knowledge of Australia is still more than ten years ago. Many, strong national strength.

It is precisely because of the asylum of the rapidly rising Ocean Kingdom that Chinese immigrants living in various countries in Southeast Asia are generally mixed well. It cannot be said that they are treated preferentially. At least they have not been discriminated against and suppressed. Their status is slightly lower than that of true whites, but far higher. To the local indigenous people.

Don’t forget the Surabaya incident that just happened last year. His Majesty the King, who claimed to be the “protector of overseas Chinese immigrants,” was furious. He directly dispatched a fleet to the coast of Batavia for deterrence cruises, causing the Dutch governor to step down in disgrace. .

  Dutch East Indies Qingdao Governor’s Mansion had to pinch his nose to sign the sub-city alliance, dividing Surabaya and East Batavia into special interest areas of the Ocean Kingdom, which is actually a weakened version of the concession.

  In the Southeast Asia and the Far East, where the Ocean Kingdom is widely involved, there are many merchants who come and go, weaving closer and closer trade exchanges. Gradually, the locals have been able to distinguish the difference between the Ocean Kingdom, the Qing Dynasty and the Fusang Kingdom.

The Chinese in the Ocean Kingdom call it the Tang tribe. Men have short hair and wear top hats or round-brimmed summer hats. Women wear western skirts or cheongsams. They walk with their heads upright and confident. Most of them are rich in business and often bring their foreign wives to the city. Can't provoke.

  The most conspicuous feature of the people of the Qing Dynasty is to keep braids and wear melon hats, ranging from merchants to traffickers and pawns. Seeing foreigners nodding and bowing, seeing the local aboriginals arrogantly, the confidence is obviously insufficient.

  Fuso people have the most obvious characteristics. They like to wear kimonos, step on wooden clogs, five short statures and round legs, wandering samurai will stick one long and one short two knives in the waist, men are fierce, and 90% of women are Nanyang sisters.

  It is precisely because of this situation that many Chinese living in Nanyang have cut off their pigtails and pretends to be citizens of the Ocean Kingdom. In many cases, they can also get convenience and are looked at by foreigners, so the trend intensified.

  Under the pergola outside the cafe

  Duan Qirui and others are having a leisurely nap, chatting with each other, enjoying a rare peaceful time.

After a while, sitting not far away, two middle-aged Spanish men, one tall and one short, hesitated, and gathered the courage to come forward and talk; "Sir, take the liberty to excuse me, I'm Juan-Ka, who runs the local plantation. Ross, are you a businessman from the Ocean Kingdom?"

  This Juan Carlos speaks English instead of Spanish, and Duan Qirui and others can understand it. So Bian Chunsong, who is fluent in English, frowned slightly and replied, "What are you doing?"

   "It's like this, I have absolutely no intentions, but I occasionally heard that it is a tobacco merchant in your conversations, so I try to be able to cooperate?"

  "Please sit down and talk, which way?"

  "May I ask your..."

  "My English name is Carl, you can also call me Mr. Bian."

   "Okay, thank you very much, Mr. Carl."

  Bian Chunsong saw Boss Tian who was sitting on the opposite side preparing to stand up to stop him, and he used his eyes to indicate that it’s okay, it’s okay to explore the other side’s bottom.

  He doesn’t believe that the news of a group of people had just arrived in Manila and the news was leaked. As we know, if the Spaniards had this ability, they would not mess up the governance here.

Seeing that there seemed to be a door, the excitement on Juan Carlos’s face flashed away. After sitting down with his companion, he couldn’t wait to say; “We know that the Ocean Kingdom is rich in high-quality tobacco, and various brands of cigarettes are available in Manila. Hard currency is even more stable in value than the Philippine peso. Many business partners would rather accept cigarettes than silver pesos.

to be honest

  The Spanish economy is really terrible. The value of Philippine silver pesos has been unstable, and Spain, Puerto Rico, and Cuban silver pesos have different values. This is a disaster in commercial circulation..."

  "Ahem...Mr. Juan Carlos, let's not go so far." Bian Chunsong coughed twice, interrupting the other party's rhetoric.

   "Well, I hope to cooperate with you. Whether it is tobacco seedlings or branded cigarettes, I can offer a price that is sincere enough. What do you think?"

"Oh…"

Bian Chunsong replied, looking at the eager gaze of the other party, he knew that this was a speculative businessman with two shots, so he turned his head and asked Officer Duan Qirui with his eyes. Tasting coffee, you will know.

"Mr. Juan Carlos, you know that Ocean Kingdom strictly prohibits the outflow of high-quality tobacco. We are law-abiding citizens, so unfortunately, I am afraid we can't reach cooperation in this regard." Bian Chunsong directly cut off the unrealistic fantasy of the other party, see When the other party showed disappointed eyes, he said unhurriedly; "We did bring some sample cigarettes on this trip. If you are interested, you can trade some of them."

"how many?"

  "20 boxes of low-grade cigarettes, 5 boxes of mid-range cigarettes."

"Oh, nice."

  Cigarettes do not worry about the supply of goods, and do not worry about selling them. They are especially popular in the military, especially in Spain based in Manila. The officers and men of the navy fleet are smokers from top to bottom.

  Every time I sail on the boring sea on a mission, it’s unimaginable to pass the time without cigarettes.

  The Philippines is located in a subtropical area close to the red belt. The climate is humid and sunny, which is actually very suitable for the growth of tobacco leaves.

But all the tobacco produced here is inferior quality. The local indigenous people are lazy and stupid. The planting of tobacco seedlings is not managed at all. It depends entirely on natural harvests. The Spaniards only know how to exploit but not produce, and they will not organize funds and manpower to conduct agricultural science and technology research and development. Seed selection.

The combination of the two results in the poor quality of local tobacco leaves, which are bitter and astringent to smoke. After being roasted, they can only be placed in cloth bags for retail sale. They are called loose tobacco leaves, sold to dealers and pawns smoking pouches, or handmade paper cigarettes. The value is very low, and it does not meet the minimum requirements for making cigarettes.

  The so-called hand-made paper cigarette is to put some shredded tobacco leaves on top of the palm-sized paper. After rolling it up, lick it and stick it with your tongue. After lighting it, you can enjoy it beautifully.

  This is the most common among rickshaw drivers in the streets and alleys of Manila. After working hard for a long time, sitting down and resting, lighting up a cigarette, and waiting for guests by the way, is the biggest pastime of rickshaw drivers.

  Cigarettes are very expensive. Even low-end cigarettes cost from three to five cents. Mid-range cigarettes cost a few dollars. Many people at the bottom of society cannot afford to smoke. They can only use this bitter and astringent shredded tobacco.

  There is a high threshold for large-scale planting of high-quality tobacco. First of all, the cultivation of tobacco seedlings is very technical. There is no large-scale scientific selection of seedlings and the ability to cultivate tobacco seedlings. What about tobacco planting?

  The place for cultivating tobacco seedlings is required to be centralized and connected together. The plot requires shelter from the wind and the sun, clean water, convenient transportation, and flat terrain. No tobacco, solanaceae, cucurbitaceae, or cruciferous crops have been planted within three years.

  In addition, there are extremely high requirements for soil moisture.

  Matrix soil is taken from clean loess, and the ratio of matrix to loess is unified. Generally, the finely sieved yellow mud is prepared in a ratio of 7:3 with the matrix soil containing multiple nutrients.

  After meeting the above requirements, the temperature and water content requirements are also very high. After sowing, the temperature should be controlled at 22°C.

  After the seedlings emerge, the temperature during the day should be controlled below 28℃, and the temperature at night should be around 13-15℃.

  After sowing, until seedlings are formed, water is generally not irrigated.

  From the emergence of the seedling to the fifth true leaf, the moisture content of the root nutrient soil is controlled at about 80% of the maximum water holding capacity in the field.

  The fifth true leaf grows to before forging seedlings, the moisture content of the root nutrient soil is controlled at about 60-70% of the maximum water holding capacity in the field.

  Forging seedlings is carried out from after seedlings to 5-7 days before transplanting, and the moisture content of the root nutrient soil should be controlled at about 50-60% of the maximum water holding capacity in the field.

  In the Jinshui River Basin of Ocean Kingdom

  Tobacco seedlings are uniformly selected and bred by large companies, and then concentratedly purchased by plantations or villages and towns. After the tobacco leaves are grown, they are graded and selected. They are uniformly purchased and sold to tobacco factories after they are packaged into tobacco leaves, forming a complete industry composition.

  There is a lot of meticulous knowledge in the selection of tobacco. If it is not done, it will cause rotten seedlings, yellow leaves, weak seedlings, etc., transplanting into the field will affect the quality of tobacco leaves, affect the yield, and directly affect the income of tobacco farmers.

  Without strong government organization and capital investment, it is basically impossible to develop large-scale tobacco planting.

  A few tobacco farmers use their experience to grow high-quality tobacco, and the harvest can only be enough for themselves and their relatives and friends to smoke, which is of no practical significance.

   Therefore, the Ocean Kingdom strictly prohibits the outflow of high-quality tobacco seedlings. What it implements is to monopolize the resources of high-quality seedlings. The money can only be made by me. You can't do it.

  This Juan Carlos wanted to get the tobacco seedlings from Bian Chunsong, which was too weird.

  The cigarettes Duan Qirui and his party brought this time were all purchased by them at their own expense. One was to conceal their identity, and the other was to make some extra money by the way.

  Since someone buys a pole at a high price, is there any reason not to sell it?

  This transaction is completed, the price has doubled and turned around. A box of 50 cigarettes, 25 boxes of 1250 cigarettes, all add up to at least more than 1,000 gold, which is not too small.

  A few days later, this trip is coming to an end.

  In the hotel

   "Assholes, how dare they be so presumptuous?" Colonel Zheng Tieniu uttered an angry roar, and immediately attracted the people in the nearby room.

"what happened?"

   "Look for yourself, these Spaniards dance frantically on the edge of a dangerous cliff and must be severely punished."

The newspaper in the hands of Colonel Tie Niu furiously slapped on the table. This is a piece of this morning's "Manila Clarion" with a large-scale article on the front page; who is the culprit of the chaos in the Western Pacific?

This is a very prejudiced article. Although there is no direct naming, it alludes to the Ocean Kingdom. It is extremely difficult to spread rumors and slander, and even slander the leader. This is an unbearable humiliation to any citizen of the Ocean Kingdom, and it is enough to stir up anger. .

  The officers felt their emotions exploded as soon as they saw it. The so-called humiliating minister died. This report almost stabbed a hornet's nest, and the consequences were extremely serious.

   "War, we need a war to kill all the *** people."

   "You must use blood to teach these idiots, war, only war, I can't wait to kill."

  "How dare you speak to slander the leader, this person will die, and who will go with me?"

   "Go together, go together... I will kill the editor-in-chief of this newspaper on the street today so that I can vent my hatred."

   "Go together, I can't wait too."

The officers rushed into the corridor violently, and were stopped by the serious-looking Brigadier General Duan Qirui. He stood in the middle of the corridor with his hand holding his hand, and looked at everyone with majestic expression. It was like a basin of cold water poured on his head, emotionally angry. All of the officers suddenly went silent.

   "What's the matter, what do you want to do?"

   "Sir, the local Spanish newspapers here are so arrogant that they dare to slander the leader. I am sure to rectify the law on the spot, in order to follow suit."

   "Hmph, just give me back. It's not your turn to mix things up."

   "Sir..."

"Um…"

  Duan Qirui stretched his tone and snorted heavily. The officers could only suppress the anger in their hearts and returned to the room reluctantly.

  Duan Qirui did not explain, but walked to the hotel window without a hassle and looked down...

  On the street in the distance, there was a faint sound of a mountain whirring and a tsunami, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

  The Falcon Project has begun.

  In this morning, Manila has been engulfed in an angry mood. The threshold of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce here is almost squeezed. They are all quite well-identified businessmen, scholars and shipowners. They have a common identity as citizens of the Ocean Kingdom.

  Under the guidance of intentional or unintentional, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce immediately decided to go on strike, and mobilized shop employees and crew to march on the streets, and went directly to the Governor's Mansion in the Castle of Santiago to speak.

  Another parade was sent to block the door of The Manila Clarion. The Chamber of Commerce also sent a telegram to the country to report this bad incident, requesting domestic solidarity with the Chamber of Commerce for its just actions.

  Under the burning of raging anger, the procession was assembled very quickly, and soon thousands of people took to the streets and chanted slogans.

  "The wanton rumors must be severely punished, and the dignity of the empire must not be trampled on."

   "Strongly oppose the ruling authorities to shield newspapers, and reactionary newspapers must be banned, and the government has come forward to apologize publicly."

   "Request for a public trial of the rumors and hang him."

  "The governor must personally come forward to clarify and make a solemn promise, otherwise the people will never agree."

  (End of this chapter)