In fact, Xiao Guang guessed correctly. After receiving the news from them, the Chairman of the Executive Committee Ma Qiang immediately instructed the State Development Administration to capture the telegram terminal of Jinglong County, the closest telegram terminal to Zhuolu County, and then sent a messenger to arrive at the place on a fast horse, giving the latest instructions to the Xiaoguang expedition team.

The messenger first affirmed the spirit of Xiao Guang's expedition team not afraid of danger and bravely sacrifice. At the same time, he authorized the ministry to recruit any government public officials in Zhuolu County, including but not limited to cadres, militia, police, hunters and even ordinary farmers and herdsmen. The posts are limited to 30 people, and the required money and grain will be unconditionally spent by the Zhuolu County Government. The Ministry of Finance will then deliver them with the Zhuolu County Government.

Along with the messenger, two geological officials who were looking for mining in Jinglong County, came to supplement the geological officials who died unfortunately during the previous expedition. In addition, they also took the telegram from the Central Government to withdraw 2,000 yuan from the Jinglong County Finance Bureau and carried them all the way to Zhuolu County with horses to pay part of the bonus and pension for the previous expedition. It was a waste of money that could boost people's morale.

Xiao Guang didn't expect that such a big battle would be created, and at the same time he was excited about the huge power given to them by the State Development Administration. People, money, and funds came in, allowing him to fight for a big fight. How could this not be happy? Xiao Guang is only in his early thirties and is in his rank of lieutenant. He is the time to pursue progress. If he has such an opportunity to fall in front of him, he will wake up in a dream and of course this was also something he fought for after his life, and others can't envy him.

While Xiao Guang and his team were ready to do something big in Zhuolu County, the other expedition teams also returned one after another. One of these expedition teams was completely missing and no news was sent back. I don’t know if it was still too late to return or something really happened. The two teams suffered severe reductions in personnel. It is said that they received attacks from the Tupinanba Indians, and another suffered a small loss. They also discovered a large-scale emerald gem mine, which was of great value.

This team did not receive the grand treatment of Xiao Guang and others. Perhaps it was because the head did not pay special attention to the value of emerald mines, and felt that the market of this thing was not particularly broad on the East Coast, so it had to find a way to sell it. At the same time, it did not help the monetary reform that the Ministry of Finance had been planning for many years, so it did not pay special attention to it.

Xiao Guang felt a little thankful for this, because it meant that there were fewer people fighting for funds. Zhuolu County is a newly established county and its economy is not very abundant. After the increase in the number of people, the Xiaoguang Expedition Team will have a monthly fund of about 1,500 yuan in money, grain and materials, and the consumption is not a small amount. It is not easy to maintain one expedition team like Zhuolu County. If two of them are definitely bankrupt, there is no other way.

At the end of December 1686, before Xiao Guang and others set off, an immigration team with a population of more than 1,000 came in a large number of ships from the Changcen County to the west. Their destination was not Zhuolu County, but continued to go east, setting up new settlements in the half-baked wilderness east of the county to prepare for the further development of the country.

Their arrival was not because of the discovery of gold or gem mines, but the discovery of these important minerals must have helped to increase their determination to set up settlements in the Zhuoshui and Tuanjie River Basin more resolutely. After all, if the Executive Committee decides to vigorously open up the road to the gold ore area in the future, it has to be said that with the current situation, this is actually a high probability event, so these settlements can play a very critical role.

Xiao Guang's expedition team benefited from it and rode a small steamer with these pioneer immigrants, going up the river to the destination. Because this has already entered the summer flood season, the river surface of the lower reaches of the Zhuoshui River is wide and conducive to navigation, so the 72-ton small steamer with shallow drafts sailed rapidly and took only a few days to reach the first destination, Shiyi Township (located to the later small town of Passus, Brazil) near the river bank.

Here, two groups of immigrants were divided into two groups. One wave (more than 800 people) brought a large amount of supplies to build settlements in Shiyi Township. The other wave was about 200 strong men, carrying weapons and ammunition, landing on the north bank of Zhuoshui River, intending to go to Fangshan (the place where the Tuanjie River originated) to establish a stable stronghold.

In addition, about 2,000 people will go east of Zhuolu County by land to establish three settlements, including Zhending Township (near the city of Riberon Preto in later generations), Jiumen Township (near the small town of Franca in later generations), and Guquan Township (near the town of Saint João da Boavista in later generations). This is almost the area of ​​a county.

In the future, the State Administration of Development will continue to set up settlements eastward, namely Lunu Township (near the town of Alvenas in later generations), Lingshou Township (near the town of Posuaregori in later generations), Feile Township (near the town of Tresco Lasson Ice in later generations), and Xiyang Township (near the town of Carrancas in later generations), and there are a total of four settlements, striving to connect the settlements in the Zhuoshui River Basin to the east and connect with Yanle County in the coastal Hue area, although it seems that there is a Brazilian shield there.

But that's all for the future. Maybe it will take several years. Wild development is not that easy. Information, technology, money, materials, and population are indispensable. It depends on whether the State Administration for Development has the determination. However, with the current craze for gold and gems, these places closer to the hinterland of Minas Gerais, Brazil, may be able to gain something, take a shortcut, and develop in advance. This is all possible.

Well, let's get back to the point. The people of Xiaoguang Expedition Team were boats on the north bank with the two hundred young and middle-aged men. Then, for safety reasons, they walked together for a while until they arrived at the Fangshan Mountains of Tuanjie River. The two hundred people planned to find a place suitable for settlement nearby and prepare for the future construction of settlements. The Xiaoguang Expedition Team, fifty or sixty, led a large group of pack horses and supplies, meandered north along the Tuanjie River, and continued to look for gold mines along the old road.

When they were making a small raft before departure, they found a skeleton in the nearby forest. If nothing unexpected happens, it should be from the East Coast, because the previous level sent an expedition team to the nearby area, but it was not many times. Next to the skeleton, there was a package with rain cloth and rubber carefully sealed. Xiao Guang asked someone to open it and found some mineral specimens, hand-painted maps and other pieces. There is no doubt that this was a missing East Coast expedition member who got lost during the wild adventure or died of a sudden illness, becoming one of countless unknown heroes who died in the wild forest.

There was also a half-written letter in the package. Xiao Guang opened it and saw the words "My father, Junjian, I have been away from home for a long time, and I am in good health..." at the beginning. He sighed and asked someone to pack up all the relics of this person and hand them over to the young and strong people who planned to open a stronghold in the Fangshan area, so that they could have time to send them to the Ministry of Geology. This person may have been an employee of the Ministry of Geology during his lifetime. If he was a formal worker, his identity would be better determined. However, if an official from the Ministry of Geology took money to recruit temporarily in the countryside, it would be more troublesome to confirm, and it might even be impossible to confirm, because there are too many expedition teams missing in the wild in recent years.

"No one knows your name, your achievements will last forever..." Xiao Guang personally restrained the bones of this person and handed them over to others, and then said to his subordinates with a solemn look: "We have been in the East Coast for more than 50 years. Over the past 50 years, life has been getting better and better, and the country has become stronger and stronger, and even to the point where the countries in the continent and the Far East cannot catch up with it. Our children have rice, noodles, beef, milk, and fruits since childhood. This kind of life is the home of the people of the old continent.

I can't imagine. And did all this come in vain? No, it was all founded by heroes like this brother who unfortunately died in the jungle. We will also be dangerous when we go on a mission this time, and we will also go through the test of life and death, but so what? Our country is different from the old continent. It is not a private kingdom with one surname, but a republic shared by all the people. The sacrifices of everyone are meaningless, and they are all for the better future of this country."

Strictly speaking, Xiao Guang's words are actually not in line with the "rules". Because on the East Coast today, the actual power (more than 500 members of the Founder's Parliament) did not instill such republican ideas on many occasions, because the seats of the Founder's Parliament were obtained by blood, not others. This system, which is exactly the same as the British House of Parliament, is undoubtedly "corrupt". Of course, it is relatively common. The founder's Parliament, composed of bureaucrats, business owners, and scholars from all walks of life, is still advanced enough in this era. Therefore, the descendants of the 500 time travelers generally try to avoid mentioning these, so as not to have "bad associations" for the citizens and create political pressure on themselves in vain.

Therefore, Xiao Guang said this, in fact, a bit of a taboo, which would make many people think of him. However, who made him not a member of the Founding Party? He was not a parent, and he was too lazy to see the faces of the pretentious people in the parliament. He even wanted to make those people look ugly and feel a little more dangerous. Of course, he hid this kind of small thought very well, and generally speaking, he did not reveal it easily.

After dealing with the bones and relics, the expedition team continued to set out. They walked the old road, which seemed to be simpler, but it was still a arduous and dangerous job. The primeval forest has never been friendly to people! In particular, there are many Indians who peeking at them with malicious intentions.

Xiao Guang and the others finally spent more than two months, sometimes taking a boat and sometimes taking a land route. While fighting with poisonous insects and beasts in the mountains, they finally arrived at the gold mine dense area that was discovered. Here, they spent a lot of time searching, but unfortunately there were no other major discoveries besides discovering a small gold mine, so they could only leave more than a dozen smart and capable people to set up camps here and then continue to move forward with the rest.

This time they spent almost the same time to reach the intersection of the Velias River and the Tuanjie River in later generations. Although the riverbed was a little watery, they still found that Sand Gold could be found in the Tuanjie River and each of its larger tributaries. The difference was more or less. And this time the number was large, which seemed to indicate that there was a gold mine with a large reserve nearby. So they began to advance along the Velias River, carefully searched and explored one after another, and finally found a gold mine with a huge reserve in a valley.

Of course, the large reserves of this gold mine were also estimated by Xiao Guang and others. They mainly judged from the scope of the gold mine area and the quality of the gold mine. The conclusion is that the reserves of this gold mine are so huge that it seems to be far more than the only Tieling gold mine currently mined on the east coast. The reserves and exploitable amount are more than ten times that of that, provided that they invest huge investment first to open up the road to this place.

The Velias River Basin is the most densely populated area of ​​gold mines in Minas Gerais, Brazil in later generations. It was called the "main mining area" by the Portuguese Governor at that time. Countless gold diggers landed in El Salvador, and then waited for the summer flood season to follow the river and went through hardships to reach the banks of the Villias River to mine gold. Although the Brazilian Governor repeatedly prohibited private gold mining there, with their low administrative efficiency, how could such a thing be withstood? Therefore, in the end, they could only let it go.

These fanatical gold diggers, who dream of making money, used the summer monsoon to cross over the river to more than a hundred shallows and finally arrived at the outer or core area of ​​the total mining area. This journey was arduous. When the water surged in summer, the water flowed rapidly. Small wooden boats loaded with people or supplies were often overturned. The Indians on the river bank were even more cruel. They often hunted down single or group Portuguese and robbed their goods, causing huge losses to the gold diggers. It is said that they were just a Guaikuru Indian who was finally wiped out by the Brazilian army in 1795 and had killed more than 4,000 Portuguese from El Salvador to the gold mining area.

But God's thing is that no matter how difficult the journey is, it cannot dispel the enthusiasm of these gold diggers. They began to form a larger group and head to the gold mining area together. For example, in 1726, a total of about 3,000 Portuguese took 305 canoes to go upstream along the Duangling River to the main mining area, which even included the Portuguese local magistrate who went to Sao Paulo here.

It can be seen from this that the massive amount of gold reserves here tempted the Portuguese, so that they had to go there to mine at any cost. The landslides in Portugal, the poor people who had difficulty living in Madeira and the Azores, farmers offshore Brazil, adventurers from the Old World (mainly from England, Ireland, France and United Provinces), soldiers of the garrison and even male monks from the monastery all suffered from a "disease" called the gold rush, and went to the banks of the Velias River to look for gold.

These people were hungry because at first only a small number of people were willing to grow food, so that local cats and dogs were caught by hungry gold diggers and even fought each other, just to gain the exclusive right of the cute gold. Unfortunately, most people were not lucky. They either died in mine disasters, diseases, or struggles. In short, most gold diggers went through a lot of hardships and paid a huge price, and all they gained was pain, poverty, and some nameless tombs in the wilderness. Those who survived the gold rush and made a fortune were always only a few capable people with both intelligence and luck!

Of course, the gold rush brought about not all the harm. At least, after the period, many people turned to plant grain near mining areas or engaged in handicrafts. Merchants, prostitutes and mercenaries also came from coastal areas to chase the smell of copper, causing the gold mining areas to slowly develop, and villages and towns rose up, making great contributions to the development of Brazil's inland in later generations.

Of course, the way for the people of the East Coast to develop gold mines is not as chaotic and disorderly as the Portuguese. Portuguese Brazil has a low organizational level, lacks funds, and does not have sufficient materials, so everything is difficult. But the East Coast is different. First of all, this is a country with a high degree of organization. It has been established for more than 50 years, with relatively stable foundations and strong centripetal force among the people. Therefore, under the leadership of the government, gold mines can be concentratedly mined (of course, the government can only focus on the big and let the small, and it is impossible to monitor all gold mines), orderly production, smelting and transportation, and maximize efficiency.

Don't underestimate this. Under the government's planning, the road can be built soon (it took the Portuguese nearly 30 years to build a simple highway of about 400 gigabytes), and there are settlements, pioneering immigrants and a sufficient number of reserve soldiers responsible for safety. All kinds of production and living materials can also be transported through the highway and river to the nearest distribution center, and then distributed to various places to ensure the production of the gold mining area as much as possible.
Chapter completed!