1076 South America's Special Zone

"Out of security considerations for the Ithaca area, the Ministry of Defense has decided to set up a new military base in the Ithaca area."

"The new 33rd Brigade will be stationed here."

"In addition, on the North Island of the Kalapago Islands, a new naval ship base will be established. The navy will have warships stationed..."

As soon as Antonio took office, a new official came in and took office three times.

A new military base was established directly northeast of Ithaca near the Peruvian border.

And gave a new 33 brigade number.

And for this force, it is natural that the Ithaca region must pay for it.

In name, it belongs to the National Defense Force of the Bronze Kingdom, but in fact it is!

Hey, it's a local armed force under the command of the Ithaca City Council.

The full number of knitters is 3,000, and it can be seen that the benefits given by Antonio are not small.

As for the military expenditure, the country pays 30% and the rest has to be raised by the Ithaca Autonomous Region.

This is not a trivial matter, but the key is that the country can increase its military power without spending a lot of money.

Therefore, few people in Congress and the Ministry of Defense jumped out to oppose it. In fact, there must be some people who are dissatisfied.

But at this time, the new minister is in the limelight, and everyone must be willing to jump out and make trouble.

Therefore, the draft passed smoothly.

As for another plan, it is actually to set up a military port in the north of the Kalapago Islands.

This plan was also beyond everyone's expectations.

Moreover, several new warships will be sent to the past. This plan is very intriguing.

You must know that there was basically no place worth protecting in the area before.

Apart from fishery resources, there is really nothing else worth fighting for.

However, over the years, Copper Country and Peru have never had any conflicts over fishery resources.

After all, both countries have large fish farms, and the populations and markets of the two countries are so large that they can't run out of fish in the fish farms.

They even have to issue licenses to foreign fishing companies to allow them to fish.

So there is nothing to earn.

But now the new minister said that to protect the fishery resources of the Copper Country, a naval base should be set up in the north of the Kalapago Islands.

It is intriguing to send warships there.

There are only a few decent warships in the Tong Kingdom Navy, and they are all 30-year-old ships.

Who do you want to send over?

Are you going to buy a new boat? But given the current state of the country's economy, who will pay for the new ship?

Anyway, the minister didn't say anything about this in his speech.

But everyone understood that the minister was clearly promising benefits to Ithaca.

But everyone also understands that it is really impossible not to give benefits!

Let's just talk about the current economy of the Copper Country, which is really not doing well.

In the past, the economic structure of the Copper Country was very simple, mainly relying on the export of mineral resources and agricultural resources.

And don't look at the rich mineral resources in the country of copper, but in fact, neither the government nor the people of the country of copper can enjoy the dividends brought by mineral resources.

Because the copper mines and saltpeter mines in the Copper Country are actually resource oligarchs in Europe and America.

Most of the profits have been made by them, and Tongguo also relies on absenteeism to earn some hard-earned money.

Why was Allende able to get the support of the common people back then.

It is because before he came to power, he told the common people that as long as he is elected, he will take back all the mining companies controlled by Europeans and Americans.

And he really did that, and of course it ended badly.

After being smeared by the media controlled by Europe and the United States for more than two years, Pi was promoted to power, and finally this idealistic president.

In the fight with Pi's rebels, he paid the price of his life.

Later, after Mr. Pi came to power, he first invited those big European and American companies back.

But this time he went too far and bought those mining resources even harder.

So now almost 90% of the domestic mining resources in the Copper Country are controlled by European and American mining companies.

And in the hands of those native whites of Hispanic descent.

As for the common people, it would be nice to have some soup.

Later, with the rise of Huaguo, Tongguo followed suit to Huaguo to sell some cherries, fish and the like to make a little money.

But after all, the distance is too long, the freight cost is too high, and agriculture has a strong seasonality.

Therefore, this emerging trade with China cannot completely pull the Copper Country out of the quagmire.

Before receiving the economic crisis that broke out in Brazil and Argentina, the copper country was also in turmoil for a while.

Fortunately, the international oil price soon dropped again because of the war between the local tyrants in the Middle East and Russia.

This also eased the internal contradictions of the Copper Country to a certain extent, but it did not completely resolve them.

However, the recent sudden emergence of economic development in the Ithaca region has immediately become the latest economic growth point in the Copper Country.

Large-scale urban construction in the Ithaca area, large-scale development of the Kalapago Islands, and development and construction of maritime urban agglomerations.

As well as the island aquaculture industry launched in the Kalapago Islands area, as well as the large-scale development of nearby fisheries.

These have greatly stimulated the economic development of the Copper Country.

Even if these companies hire workers, the first choice is to choose from the Ithaca area.

But these workers, after all, have relatives in other provinces. When they are on vacation, they also return to the capital or return to their hometowns for consumption.

These have greatly stimulated the economic recovery and development of the Copper Country.

And with the great development of the Ithaca area, not only Chen Yonglu and others are quietly immigrating from the country to the local area.

There are also a large number of people from other parts of the copper country, pouring into the Ithaca area to find work and make a living.

This allowed the Ithaca area to be deeply developed.

In fact, the environment in the Ithaca area has been good before, although there are many desert areas nearby. ,

But in fact, the area facing the Pacific Ocean and backed by the Andes Mountains does not lack rainfall and fresh water.

It was only because the water conservancy was in disrepair in the past that agriculture did not develop.

Now, with the influx of a large number of people, there is a demand for agriculture.

In addition, Xiao Feng is vigorously developing the local agriculture and animal husbandry, and the products produced are sent back to the country in large quantities.

This forms a virtuous circle.

Recently, Jesse's Southern Cross Bank acquired a large amount of wasteland near the Ithaca area and began to build water conservancy.

Prepare to engage in large-scale agricultural production, and these investments have greatly stimulated local population growth and consumption.

According to the latest statistics, the current permanent population of the Ithaca area has exceeded 1.5 million.

You must know that more than a year ago, there were only one million people here.

And it was the large-scale development of the Ithaca area that brought prosperity and a larger population to the city.

Although the Copper Country government only collects 5% tax from this autonomous region every year.

But the upper echelons of the Copper Country are not short-sighted. Everyone knows that if the Ithaca region develops, it will bring benefits to the Copper Country.

Now many wealthy people in San Diego have come to Ithaca to investigate and plan to invest in projects here.

Because this is an autonomous region, there are many unique local policies here.

In terms of taxation, it has preferential treatment compared to the Copper Country, so many wealthy people in the Copper Country want to invest here.

And with the same plan, there are many European and American companies that have discovered the development potential of Ithaca.

Even in neighboring Peru and Bolivia, there are many local tyrants who bring their families to Ithaca to settle down.

Not for anything else, because the security situation in Ithaca is 10,000 times better than their hometown.

The law and order in the Ithaca area is notoriously good.

In the past year, the police here have performed very strongly and solved many major cases.

Let the local law and order environment be greatly improved, coupled with a healthy business and ecological environment.

Now there is a taste of the most suitable city in South America for living.

So as long as Ithaca can develop, the benefits it will bring to the Copper Kingdom will naturally be immeasurable.

The Copper Country government hadn't paid much attention to Ithaca before, but now it sees the benefits of Ithaca's development.

They paid attention immediately.

Naturally, they did not object to the Ministry of National Defense's arrangement of garrisoning troops in the city.

Although many people also know that there must be tricks in it.

But as long as this place belongs to the Tong Kingdom and the army obeys the orders of the Tong Kingdom's Ministry of Defense, then it's OK!

Some people with bad intentions also wanted to object, but after thinking about it, they decided not to dare to speak out.

Jurado, who used to have a strong hostile attitude towards Ithaca, suddenly changed his emphasis.

From singing the anti-tune everywhere before to now singing praises everywhere, this can explain the problem very well.

Anyone who doesn't understand is a fool.

And now, among the high-level officials of the Copper Country, an unknown number of people have been infiltrated by the Ithaca area.

If you are jumping out to do something at this time, it is easy to be used as a target.

That would be too unwise, so even if many people feel that it is wrong to do so in their hearts, they dare not stand up and sing the opposite at this time.

************

Xiao Feng was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the revolving restaurant at the Pennyville Peninsula Hotel in the center of Ithaca.

Looking at the city below that is gradually taking shape, I am filled with emotion.

At the beginning, he drew a circle in this inconspicuous corner of the Copper Country, but now a qualitative change has finally taken place.

The scale of the city is already in its infancy, but this is far from the end.

The management rights of the city are already in place, and the guns are already in place.

And the next step is naturally his ideal 'free trade zone'.

In his mind, the future status of Ithaca must be a "special zone" of the Copper Kingdom!

And on a bigger scale, this is not only the "special zone" of the copper country, it should even be regarded as the "special zone" of the entire South America!

In the future, here will be the South American continent, the gateway and bridge connecting East Asia.

But this 'free port' is not so easy to do.

First of all, we must vigorously cultivate cronies in the copper country government, such as Jurado and his like.

Secondly, in the military, there must be people of their own, such as Antonio, and Franco who has also been controlled by them.

The next step is to deal with external threats, such as the eagle sauce in the north, and the upper rentier class in the copper country.

These talents are the biggest stumbling block in the future development of Ithaca.