On the morning of August 22, 1684.

After breakfast, Wang Dazhuang gave a stack of manuscripts to Wang Zhijie and asked him to correct it. Wang Zhijie did not shirk, and took advantage of the fact that there were still a few days before departure, and planned to read these manuscripts carefully. Among them, there are many valuable data, information and other adventure experiences, which are first-hand information, and also have strong reference significance for Wang Zhijie, who is writing a book about the Chaco Plains.

The air in the room was a little humid and hot, which made Wang Zhijie feel a little uncomfortable, so he had to ask his entourage to bring a pot of barley tea and read the information while drinking it. The Chaco Plains are a bit of a tropical shade in terms of climate, but there are also some differences, mainly reflected in the humidity. The western half of the Chaco Plains is drier in winter, with almost no rainfall; In the eastern half, especially in areas close to the big river, such as Hexi Township, there is a lot of precipitation, almost all year round, and the environment is relatively humid and hot.

Wang Zhijie looked through many of the climatic data recorded by Wang Dazhuang in the past two years, and learned that the Chaco Plain — at least the eastern half of the area near Paraguay — also has a typical tropical climate, with relatively hot temperatures and no obvious cold seasons. The average temperature of its coldest month will not be lower than 15 degrees Celsius (the absolute minimum temperature is above 5 degrees), just like the temperature measured by Wang Zhijie with a mercury thermometer in his room, 27 degrees, which makes people feel a little uncomfortable.

However, in the western half of the Chaco Plains, it is possible that the absolute minimum temperature will be below freezing in the middle of winter. This is because the area is very dry, which makes the frost nights very cold, sometimes reaching minus six or seven degrees. However, the average temperature is still high due to the rapid rise in temperatures during the day. Therefore, the climate here is characterized by a large diurnal temperature difference, which is directly related to the frequent dryness and high transparency of the atmosphere - the temperature difference between day and night in the eastern half of the Chaco plain is also not small, but of course it is much worse than that of the western half.

Such climatic conditions seem to be suitable for some agricultural planting activities. The climate here tends to be tropical, but not as harsh as the real tropics, which is a blessing for those who live here. The abundant water supply is also convenient for both power and agricultural irrigation, and the large temperature difference between day and night is also conducive to the cultivation of some fruit, which is comparable to the orchards in the oasis of the Patagonia River, but it is not a problem to sell it in the surrounding area.

In this regard, Wang Zhijie also observed many positive signs in Hexi Township yesterday. For example, he saw acres of farmland that had been leveled out nearby, planted with overwintering wheat. Some of the garrison soldiers are also planting branches in the newly opened orchards in preparation for the next year's flowering and fruiting. Of course, no one forgot to plant vegetables, and even the township cadres and officers of the garrison participated in this matter, and Wang Dazhuang himself received the task of half an acre of radish fields. There is no way, the new settlements are forced to work hard, no one can stay out of productive activities, and everyone must contribute every part of their energy and physical strength to maintain the settlement as much as possible.

Of course, the Central Committee will not fail to see their efforts. As a matter of fact, cadres who have served as grass-roots officials in hardship areas or areas where they have crossed the border are generally promoted relatively easily, but if they happen to have made some outstanding achievements there, then there is no doubt that they will be trained as backbone cadres, and the speed of promotion is not usually fast. Therefore, even if the conditions are very difficult and the situation is relatively dangerous, there are still waves of cadres who want to be transferred to these areas with their heads sharpened, which shows that this is indeed a broad road to promotion, provided that you can do your own job well during your tenure.

Although Wang Zhijie is only a nominal senior consultant in the Ministry of Geology, he is also a person in the system in the final analysis, and he is very familiar with this point. Not to mention the near, let's mention Liu Jianguo and Ma Wenqiang in the distance, one made his fortune in Chile, the other rose in Patagonia, and now they are both candidates for the next executive committee, and their reputation in the Founding Council is extremely high. With this kind of example in front of us, we can't help but work hard.

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“…… The rivers of the Chaco region originate mainly in the mountains of the western fringes, where they form a dense network of rivers that bring together an abundance of water. When these rivers enter the heart of the Chaco plain, they become transit rivers and their flow gradually decreases, eventually disappearing into vast marshes and wetlands in the western border (although it can still flow all the way to the Paraguay River in the summer). There are three main of these rivers, which the local Spaniards call the Picomayo, Bermejo and Salado. ”

When Wang Zhijie and his group set off again a few days later and finally reached the confluence of the Bermejo and Paraguay rivers, he couldn't help but think of this description of the three main rivers of the Chaco Plain. However, as far as he could see, the problem of the Bermejo River was not serious, and the downstream section was not very abundant, but at least it was not cut off. Moreover, he sent his subordinates to select some places to measure the water level, and found that it was generally about 2-3 meters, which could be navigated with a shallower draft of the classic style of inland river steamer, which greatly solved the transportation problem.

Wang Zhijie speculated that although the Bermejo River flowed out of the western mountains into the Great Plains, there were no tributaries all the way in, the evaporation was large, and the soil even seeped water in some places, but after all, it still did not exhaust all the water in the vast Chaco Plain. In addition, after entering the relatively humid eastern half, the river has recovered due to frequent precipitation, which is why the current situation has been formed.

But the current situation does not allow for overly optimistic conditions. Wang Zhijie feels that in order to truly tame the Bermejo River and use it for my own purposes, then large-scale water conservancy investment and construction are indispensable, and the dredging of the river is one of the key points. It's just that the embarrassment lies in the fact that the Chaco Plain is still nominally the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, and the people on the east coast secretly cross the border to reclaim it. But even so, Wang Zhijie must record and report these things to make preliminary preparations for possible water conservancy projects in the future.

On August 31, 1684, Wang Zhijie's team walked up the Bermejo River for about 100 kilometers. Over the course of more than 100 kilometers, they took in the lush forests on both sides of the river, the endless grasslands, and the flooding areas that can be seen everywhere.

The soil in the floodplain is very fertile and is supposed to be carried down from the river upstream. If we can invest in water conservancy, we can develop large areas of fertile land, and we can also avoid the formation of saltwater swamps after a long period of water accumulation. There are also many forests in the floodplain, among which the main one is probably the broken axe tree, and there are also many high-quality pastures suitable for animals to eat, and the resources seem to be quite abundant.

However, if these resources are really controlled, it should not be too easy. After all, there are still a large number of Quechua Indians living in this vast plain. Although they have not met them, how can they really let go of this land if they are mainly fishing, hunting, nomadic herding, and nomadic farming? I can't say it, this kind of abundant water and grass is a good place for people to recuperate their livestock in the summer. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to take the military first, and after taking care of the surrounding indigenous tribes, we can carry out follow-up development work.

After August 31, Wang Zhijie and his party continued to walk along the bank of the river. Happily, the Bermejo River is still relatively wide and the water depth is acceptable, which means that the navigable mileage of boats has been greatly increased. The only thing that worries people is probably that there are often some large and small sandbars in the river. The presence of these sandbars may have been very good for the Indians to facilitate their crossing, but in the eyes of the people on the east coast they were a great obstacle to the navigation of ships, and they had to be removed.

Wang Zhijie had the location, shape and size of each sandbar recorded one by one and marked it on a map. These things are important reference for the government to formulate policies in the future, and we must not be cautious. It was here that they encountered a tribe of Quechua who were on the move, and skirmishes broke out. The tribe probably numbered a few hundred adult warriors, but the expedition on the east coast also had sixty or seventy combatants armed with rifles, and they were not to be messed with. Therefore, after a little temptation and found that it was difficult to take advantage, the tribe, fearing that it would lose a large number of males and thus not be able to survive in the grassland, wisely took the initiative to retreat and finally disappeared into the vast grassland.

This unexpected meeting made Wang Zhijie's expedition team, which had been smooth sailing before, suddenly refreshed, and at the same time clearly realized that this grassland is still someone else's territory after all, and the natives on it are also in a semi-civilized state, and the security situation is not as good as imagined, so what to do in the future still needs to be carefully considered.

However, after discussing with the deputy captain in charge of security work, Wang Zhijie believed that he had more than 60 armed fighters on his side, and the men of the expedition team could also take up arms to fight. Therefore, he decided to move on, along the Bermejo River, and survey further upstream.