The southeast Pacific Ocean in the middle of winter is violent. In this season, the southwest wind overwhelms the southeast wind and becomes the absolute dominant force over this rough sea. At this moment, any ship sailing near the sea will be extremely careful - especially those sailing ships - because if they are not careful, they will be brought to the rocky southern coast of Chile by surging currents or strong winds, which can be called the grave of sail-powered ships.

However, if you are familiar with the geological and hydrological conditions here and have additional power such as steam engines that do not rely on sails, you will find some quiet harbors buried deep in the mountains behind the shore with rugged rocky islands and winding narrow waterways.

The Free City of Araucan is a place. Deep in the port city, a series of broken islands along the coast of Chile. Behind the mountains, the surging sea water offset most of the power, so the coastline here seems very quiet - or it is almost dead silent. If it weren't for the occasional seabirds appearing over the bay, newcomers might even think that this semi-arid city, which is full of winds all year round, has completely lost in the long river of history.

But the fact is just the opposite. The Free City of Araucan is quite prosperous nowadays. At least on the land within one or two square kilometers controlled by the East Coast, various buildings have been established like mushrooms after a rain in less than a year. Shipyards, Taoist temples, warehouses, government courtyards, livestock, military camps, nursing homes and even shops have appeared, adding a touch of vitality to this young city in the desolate mountainous area of ​​southern Chile.

Last month (July), after obtaining the approval of the Executive Committee, the Navy Pacific Task Force once again purchased some adjacent plots from the Araucan people at the cost of one hundred cattle and four hundred sheep, which almost doubled the area of ​​the East Coast control area. On August 1, Second Lieutenant Fabian, who was responsible for local affairs, hired a large number of Araucan people and began to dig drainage canals and artificial reservoirs near a nearby river entering the sea. In this semi-arid area with little precipitation, freshwater resources are undoubtedly extremely precious. The East Coast people do not allow the precious freshwater to flow into the sea in vain. Therefore, they use a large amount of manpower and various building materials to strive to build an artificial reservoir within two years for residents' daily drinking and agricultural irrigation.

In addition to this artificial reservoir, the East Coast people also started construction and built a small shipyard near the dock. This shipyard will be jointly invested by the Ministry of Navy and the Ministry of Agriculture, and each party will hold half of the shares. The technicians required by the factory will be drawn from three domestic shipyards. The part will be trained one after another in the future by themselves. Of course, this first requires a vocational school to be established. The factory will start to practice from the manufacturing of 100-ton fishing boats, and then start construction and construction of larger ships after the technology gradually matures.

It is worth mentioning that the ships built by this factory named Pacific Shipyard will basically be steam-powered ships, which mainly involve the painful ocean currents and wind directions along the coast of Chile. In summer and autumn, the southeast wind is basically the protagonist (this is also the reason why Peruvian currents compensate for upwelling, because the strong southeast wind blows the sea water near the sea to the deep sea, which causes the water to surge in the bottom layer, and also brings rich nutrients, forming one of the three largest fishing grounds in the world); and in winter and spring, due to the northward movement of the direct sun point, the wind direction on the southern coast of Chile becomes erratic. But generally there are more west winds (southwest wind, northwest wind) while the northward direction of Chile is still the southeast wind.

Under such climate conditions, sailing ships are undoubtedly difficult to navigate. Perhaps they are very smooth when they head north, but if they want to go south, they have to wait for a few moments of wind direction change, which is completely unpredictable. Therefore, in order to facilitate ships for sailing, each ship produced by the Pacific Shipyard will be equipped with a steam-assisted power system to ensure that the ship can still navigate slowly in an environment against the wind and against the water.

As for the timber needed for shipbuilding, it can only be cut down from nearby mountains and even further south of Tierra del Fuego. Especially in the Tierra del Fuego area, large areas of thick and lush beech forests cover a large part of the land on the island. These trees are tall and stout, and they don’t know how many years have grown. They are suitable for both masts and hulls. In short, they are still a relatively ideal shipbuilding material.

In the concept of the Admiralty, these are the sources of timber in the Pacific shipyard. At that time, they will urge the government to move a group of residents here as soon as possible to settle here, or they can hire the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego and southern Chile on the spot - unfortunately their number is extremely rare - to cut down trees. After simple processing, the cut trees are shipped to the Free City of Araucan, and then dried in the soon-to-be-established timber drying factory, and finally cut and processed to make ships or some other wood products.

Some people may ask here, why not build the ships from several local shipyards on the east coast and then drive to the coast of Chile? Those shipyards have advanced equipment, sufficient workers and rich shipbuilding experience. So why do you have to build a shipyard along the Pacific coast in one fell swoop? You should know that this is not within the traditional sphere of influence of people on the east coast, and there are still some concerns in terms of safety.

This question is actually very easy to answer, because from the Atlantic Ocean to enter the Pacific Ocean, whether it is crossing the Strait of Magellan or bypassing Cape Horn (the latter accounts for the majority), the wind and waves are very large. It is easy to say that large ships are small fishing boats of one or two hundred tons, and if you are not lucky, you will explain them in those cold and violent waters.

Haven't you seen that the Drake Strait has swallowed hundreds of ships and more than 20,000 lives in history? It is really a very test of character when passing through small ships. Therefore, if you want to reduce the crash rate of ships, it is best to open a new shipyard along the Pacific coast. There is no other way. Of course, if you have the enthusiasm of Neverskoy and others to carry a ship to climb over the Stanov Mountains (Greater Khingan Mountains) and say it in vain.

The 100-ton fishing boat built by this shipyard wanders around the coast of Chile. It usually catches fish and works as a patrolman, without having to bet on life through dangerous seas. As for the fishing products captured, they can be handed over to large ships passing by to bring back to the local area; even after the planned two-ocean railway is opened, goods along the Pacific coast can be transported very quickly to the port on the Riogajegos River through land transportation, and then search for an opportunity to transport them back to the country.

Of course, in the long-term planning and strategic sense, the existence of Araucan Free City and the Pacific Shipyard has a deeper significance. That is, once the Ministry of Transport and the Navy jointly open up the South Pacific circulation route, Araucan Free City will surely become an indispensable key node: after more than 20 days of long-distance voyage, immigrant transport ships traveling from Australia and New Zealand can obtain key supplies in this port city. The crew can get rest, the ship can be maintained, and the supplies on the ship will be updated. These are undoubtedly necessary conditions for ships to continue to conduct ocean-going voyages.

In the planning of the Admiralty, after the future route is opened, the first batch of Eastern immigrants will not go anywhere, and will all be placed on site in the free city of Araucan. They will use their precious freshwater resources to grow some oats, rye and other grains in small quantities. In addition, they will also plant barren-tolerant and high-yield grain crops such as potatoes and sorghum, so as to achieve self-sufficiency while also providing essential supplies to passing ships and immigrants.

Of course, they will also use the natural conditions here to grazle, and goats and sheep will become the mainstream livestock for residents. The Ministry of Agriculture also made a suggestion this time and has been put into practice. They spent a lot of money to go to the Netherlands, which came to the east coast port for trading, and the captains of England sought to buy a large number of animals on the North American prairie, that is, the famous North American bison.

This animal has a huge body, strong adaptability, and produces a lot of meat. It is a very good source of meat and leather. In the past two years, the Ministry of Agriculture has successively purchased dozens of such "bad-tempered guys" from the Dutch and English, and is now all placed in the area of ​​the Baleen Whale Port on the Island of Horses.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture plan to transport some of them by ship to some closed islands outside the Port of Araucan. Many of these islands are not large in size and are uninhabited on the islands. Apart from some seals and seabirds, there are weeds everywhere, which is very suitable for the growth of these North American bisons. After their populations have grown to a certain number, the local government can also organize residents to hunt the island to obtain a large amount of fresh meat, animal fat and leather, and the economic benefits are still very huge. Anyway, those islands are also desolate uninhabited islands, so it would be a pity not to make good use of them.
Chapter completed!