In the early morning, Zhang Heng was woken up by a strange sound, as if someone was sighing in his ear, hoarse and hurried, he got up and pushed open the window, the white water vapor floating from the Turner River filled the manor, and under the grape trellis next to the house, two Australian emus (ostriches) stood cross-necked, and the battle was fierce.

In an instant, Mr. Zhao's classic commentary echoed in Zhang Heng's ears: "Spring has arrived, everything is recovering, and the mating season has come to ......"

Ten minutes later, he got dressed and walked down the stairs, and old Fleming was already sitting at the table, holding a coffee cup in one hand and a newspaper in the other, when he looked up at the sound of footsteps.

"Summer is the season of enthusiasm, and you are also woken up by the enthusiastic little ones, right?"

Zhang Heng's face froze, and he nodded with a wry smile.

"Sit down, drink a cup of hot goat's milk freshly squeezed from my pasture in the morning, and you'll be energized for the rest of the day. ”

"Sugar, eggs, or lemons?" said the native cook in a white apron poked her head out of the kitchen.

"Sugar, thank you. "The ancestors of white Australian immigrants generally experienced a long life at sea, and liked to add vitamin C-rich fruit juices such as lemon to various drinks, and some more powerful people liked to beat raw eggs into hot milk.

After taking a sip of the hot goat's milk, he felt a lot more comfortable in his stomach.

Old Fleming put down the newspaper, picked up a piece of boiled lamb chops on the plate with his hand, sprinkled a little fine sea salt on it, tore off a piece with his mouth, and asked while chewing: "Poirot said, you have taken a fancy to my ranch and are going to develop iron ore here?"

"Yes, we judged that there were also huge reserves of iron ore under this land. Zhang Heng admitted very sincerely.

The Pilbara region is home to huge reserves of iron ore, as evidenced by the discovery of the Hamsley Gorge iron ore in Hancock, which was stained red in the vast wilderness.

It's just that at this juncture, in addition to Rio Tinto's all-out investment in the region, other major companies are not yet focused on the area, BHP Billiton is still concentrating on developing South Africa's gold mines, and Vale is still stuck in Brazil, and it is impossible to talk about going abroad.

In the future, Japanese and Chinese manufacturers will be waving money all over the world to buy various ore resources, the former is still shrinking at home at this time, and the latter's outsourcing channels are concentrated in a few brother countries in Eastern Europe.

Old Fleming's ranch is located 50 kilometers east of Bruce Mountain, and more than 10 kilometers southeast is the Newman area, by the mid-80s, BHP Billiton will win the iron ore mining rights here with a radius of nearly 100 square kilometers, and actively attract the main raw material demand manufacturers to set up joint ventures, the iron ore varieties produced are the well-known Newman powder and Newman block in China's domestic steel manufacturers.

The main shareholders of the joint venture are the restructured BHP Billiton (BHP), Itochu Corporation, Mitsui & Co., Wuhan Iron and Steel, Masteel, Shagang and Tangsteel.

In his previous life, Zhang Heng had a friend who specialized in handling steel slag for shagang, and was invited to travel to Western Australia, from that person's circle of friends, Zhang Heng inadvertently learned a lot about the field situation, but he didn't expect that this life would play an unexpected and important role.

Old Fleming put down the gnawed lamb chops, picked up a napkin and wiped the corners of his mouth, and looked at him with a flat gaze, "What if I don't agree?"

"You can stop me from mining on your ranch, but you can't stop me from moving around the area. Zhang Heng said with a serious expression, and then changed his smiling face, "This is also Poirot's long-standing wish, I hope you can support us, this is very important to us." ”

Old Fleming looked at him deeply, threw away his napkin, got up and opened the drawing-room door, and before slamming it shut, he threw down a stiff sentence, "Remember, all I did was for Poirot." ”

"Did my stubborn old man say yes?" Poirot flashed up the stairs and hurried to the table, looking at him curiously.

"It's not all for you!" Zhang Heng got up and patted him on the shoulder, "In the words of us Chinese, pity the hearts of parents all over the world." ”

Half an hour later, the group from Xiangjiang had breakfast and left the ranch in three Ford F150s from the old Fleming Ranch.

These three F150s are the first generation of Raptor launched by Ford in the sixties, with a single row of seats and a V8 engine, and according to Poirot, this is the car that drives the most on Western Australian soil, and Japanese cars such as Nissan and Toyota are not visible for the time being.

Let the two old men sit in the passenger seat, the young people sit in the carriage covered with cotton pads, Zhang Heng stood in the carriage of the first car, holding the roof of the car and looking ahead, Chen Zhenning beside him carefully paid attention to the surrounding situation.

The convoy drove on the endless laterite plains, raising a cloud of red dust behind them, and occasionally saw scattered green pastures on both sides of the road, most of the time it saw reddish-brown wilderness, sparsely dotted with shrubs and weeds, and occasionally a small group of kangaroos haunted it, and when they saw the three monsters roaring towards them, they immediately fled far away.

No other vehicles were encountered on the way, and it took them only twenty minutes to reach the small village named Newman on the map, an Aboriginal settlement with dozens of houses roofed with red clay walls and weeds, and which, according to Poirot, would not have a population of more than 200 or so.

The convoy stopped far away, Zhang Heng jumped out of the car, spit out a big mouthful of red saliva, Chen Zhenning turned on the faucet of the large jug welded on the carriage frame, wet the towel he was carrying and handed it over, he took it and scrubbed his face.

Pang Wen and Tang Jihua spat out the muddy water in their mouths, touched their buttocks, and then complained bitterly, Lin Liang's team and Tang Quan's seven or eight subordinates of Pang Dingyuan didn't say a word, but their pale faces showed that they were actually very uncomfortable.

The road is arid, and the hard red soil mixed with hard stones on the road is really bumpy.

Zhang Heng approached Tang Quan and Pang Dingyuan, "Both, are you alright?"

"We've got seats to sit in, it's good, but you've worked hard. The two old men held each other and waved their hands weakly.

"Then, take some men into the vicinity for a preliminary survey, and be careful not to trample on their fields, and Poirot and I will visit their chief. Zhang Heng cautiously explained, and under the leadership of Poirot, he walked to the village.

Chen Zhenning followed behind with two large bags of gifts, and Lin Liang told the other lawyers to rest in place, and also followed.

Compared with the indigenous people of North America, the indigenous people of Australia are undoubtedly much luckier, although the white colonists also adopted a policy of assimilation at some time, but after all, it was cultural assimilation, and did not adopt such a cruel method as "scalping".

Since the mid-60s, with the vigorous improvement of the human rights situation around the world, the Australian government's policy towards indigenous peoples has changed dramatically, not only giving them full civil rights, but also enacting special laws, giving them large reserves, as well as certain tax incentives and other economic privileges.

Newman, an Aboriginal village in the heart of the Aboriginal Conservation Area, owns 20 square kilometres of land in the surrounding area, according to Poirot, with fewer than 200 young and old people.

If you want to develop this super iron ore mine in the Newman area, the aborigines of Newman Village will definitely not be able to get around, which is why Zhang Heng specially came to visit the head people today, he wants to try to persuade them to hand over the exploration rights to himself.

There was no movement in the village, and a few people walked along the main road in the village, and occasionally they could see an old native sitting on the inside of the doorway, casting curious glances at them.

"The men in the village went to work in the ports and iron mines, and they only came back once a week, as did the women, and a few went to work as servants or helpers in the ranchers' homes like mine. Poirot whispered.

When the head of the tribe or the village chief recognized by the government arrived, the house was no different from that of ordinary villagers, with round red clay houses, weed-woven roofs, and doors cut out of thin iron sheets open.

"Helguru Head, are you home?" Poirot knocked lightly on the tin door.

"It's little Poirot, come in with your buddies. An old voice replied.

Poirot nodded at Zhang Heng and the others, and walked in first, followed by Zhang Heng and the others.

Surprisingly, it wasn't dark inside the house, with a light bulb of at least 100 watts hanging under the grass roof for everyone to see.

An old man with long hair and a red gauze robe sat on a large straw mat on the ground, looking at the visitors.

Poirot took off his leather shoes, walked on the straw mat, and bent down in front of the old man, the old man stretched his neck and touched his forehead with his forehead, he took a few steps back, sat down cross-legged, and nodded back to Zhang Heng and the others.

After the three of them did so, they also sat cross-legged opposite the old man.

The village chief named Helguru asked Poirot, "You have come back from the United States, and your friends are Chinese, right?"

"Yes, Dear Helguru Head, I just came back, they are indeed Chinese, this one is Zhang Heng, whom I met when I was in the United States, and he is now my boss. ”

Helguru glanced at Zhang Heng curiously and didn't say anything.

Poirot then talked about the intention of his group, Helguru squinted and listened quietly, and did not speak for a long time, just when Poirot wanted to speak again, he slowly spoke: "Poirot, you and your partners are not the first to come to me to talk about this, in recent years, people from Rio Tinto have also come to me several times, but I have refused, I can only say sorry, you are no exception." ”

Poirot wanted to speak, but Zhang Heng grabbed him and said to the old man sincerely: "Dear Helguru head, if you are willing to hand over the exploration rights of this land to me, I am willing to build a modern town for your villagers, who can find well-paid jobs at their doorstep from now on, and no longer have to leave their families and run hundreds of kilometers away to work." ”

"It sounds great, but that's what the people at Rio Tinto promised. "We have a proverb that a running kangaroo won't be your meal, and you may understand that, my esteemed guest." ”

Zhang Heng thought for a while and said, "I understand what you mean, please give us a little time to make a budget, and then give you an answer." ”

Poirot led the three of them up again, touched his forehead, put down his gifts, put on his shoes, and walked out of the house.

"It's rare for a Chinese to come to an inland area like ours, so I'll take you on a tour of my pitiful tribe. Surprisingly, Helguru put on his straw sandals and chased after him.

Zhang Heng thanked: "Then thank you for your hospitality." ”

The village was very small, and the main road was a few dozen meters away, and Helguru led them out of the village, around a large red boulder, and suddenly a large spacious house with a cross erected on the roof suddenly appeared.

Poirot was surprised: "There is also a church in your village?"

Helguru smiled: "The year after you left home and went to the United States, the Catholic Church of Western Australia sent people to repair it for us, and after it was completed, they also sent several groups of volunteers to serve as teachers, and now all the children are in it." ”

"I see, I just wanted to ask why I didn't see the child. Poirot suddenly realized.

The sound of Lang Lang reading was heard in the distance, in English, Zhang Heng listened attentively, it was a passage from "The Little Prince", he turned the book over when he was sick in bed.

Helguru led the four of them through several functional areas of the church, the worship room, the teacher's office, the living quarters, and finally stopped outside the classroom and looked through the glass-enclosed windows.

Thirty or so swarthy children sat behind simple wooden tables and chairs, holding books and reading aloud, and on the small podium in front of them, a plump and beautiful white female teacher read aloud.

"The stars shine so that everyone can find their own star. ”

Zhang Heng was like being struck by lightning, and his whole body trembled.

"Alright, don't disturb their lessons, let's go back. Helguru said softly, leading the way back.

Poirot walked a few steps, turned back suddenly, and saw Zhang Heng and Chen Zhenning still standing in place looking at the classroom, and asked strangely, "Guys, it's time to go." ”

Chen Zhenning turned his head and said with a shocked expression: "She, she is Mrs. Norton, and she is the principal of Lam Tin Estate Primary School!"

"Not anymore, she's Catherine now!" Zhang Heng's voice trembled a little, and he walked towards the classroom door without looking back, stretched out his hand and hesitated on the door for a few seconds, and then slowly pushed it away firmly.

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