It's a small village, strictly speaking, it's already a certain distance from Westlake Fort. Correspondingly, the environment is quite pristine, with large areas of primeval forest everywhere, and the villagers have spent a lot of money to clear a clearing along the lake.

An irrigation canal running from the West Lake Fort leads directly into the rice fields outside the village. The canals are made entirely of masonry and concrete, and are covered with wooden planks to prevent evaporation. According to incomplete statistics, as many as 21 miniature reservoirs, 37 water-lifting stations, more than 120 kilometers of irrigation trunk canals, and irrigation branch canals of even more terrifying length have been built in more than 20 townships and towns in the mainland.

With such a huge amount of manpower and material resources invested, the people of the east coast have carved out more than 10,000 acres of fertile land on a wild land that was originally covered with forests and reeds. The climate in the Duck Lake area is warm, and it is difficult to exceed 30 degrees in the hottest months, and it is difficult to fall below 0 degrees in the coldest months; In addition, the annual precipitation is more than 1,200 mm, which is extremely abundant, and there are some freshwater rivers and lakes nearby, which is an excellent agricultural base. Of course, no matter how good the congenital conditions are, they need to be developed the day after tomorrow. Therefore, the East Coast talents have invested a lot of manpower and material resources in the west bank of Yahu Lake for several consecutive years, in order to turn this place into a big granary for the East Coast people.

The village where Captain Ventura lived had 100 households, and the houses were all standard red brick and blue tile houses on the east coast, that is, three rooms on the left, middle and right, plus a pigsty, a firewood house, and a kitchen. A hawker at the entrance of the village was pulling a small ox cart full of various goods, and selling along the way, Shao Yuanyi took a look. The cart was full of rural best-selling commodities ranging from needles and threads to farm tools and tin stoves. From time to time a few housewives shouted to stop the hawkers. Then go up and pick up the goods.

Housewives are often followed by one or two children, who drool as they stare at the truck's picks of dried fruits, dried meat, and cocoa powder, and are screaming for them. Some housewives were so annoyed that they beat their little bare ass twice, and the child blinked and cried desperately. After crying for a long time and realizing that no one paid attention to him, the child slowly stopped crying, and then his attention was quickly drawn away by something else.

Over there, a group of older kids were playing a game of war. They were dressed in old military uniforms that had been changed from adults to small ones. Some wore big caps on their heads, others only felt hats, and two red-haired children were reluctantly forced to play the role of Dutchmen. Shao Yuanyi looked carefully, these two children should be a mixture of Ming and Taixi, their eyebrows and eyes vaguely resemble Ming people, but their hair is red, so they sadly played the role of Dutch red hair.

The children were playing the old game, and the people of the East Coast fought valiantly and finally won. The two kids, who played the Dutchman, also seemed to lack confidence, and they were quickly defeated. The little kid who just stopped crying was funny to watch. I wanted to join them in playing the game, but the older kids obviously didn't like him. Refusing mercilessly, the little kid cried again. At this time, there was a cursing voice from a housewife next to her, who seemed to think that the group of older children had bullied her children, and the group of older children immediately dispersed and ran away.

What a happy childhood! Shao Yuanyi was a little sentimental, the children of the Ming Dynasty were hovering between hunger and death, especially the children in the northern region, a considerable number of them were destined not to live to the day when they grew up. Either died between the battlefields and ravines, or died of hunger and disease, or even worse being caught for food, in short, the world of Daming is rotten. He has been practicing medicine with his master for six or seven years, and he has naturally seen a lot of these human tragedies, and he thought that he had long been numb, but at this time, he suddenly saw the happy childhood life of these children growing freely in the countryside on the east coast, and his heart suddenly soured, and he almost shed tears.

Captain Ventura walked in front of him, and said as he went, "This peddler is a Ming man from the East like you, who immigrated with his parents seven years ago, and seems to have been a peddler before he came. His father got up early every day and went to Zhenhai Port to buy some fresh fish, shrimp, and fruits from the south, and then worked tirelessly to sell them at Hekou Fort and West Lake Fort, so he made a lot of money. Now his father is retired and raises some goats and grows some grapes in the countryside of Three Forts; His brother married the sister of Admiral Louis and last year opened a vegetable shop in the town harbor to supply fresh vegetables to the navy, and the business was quite good. The young man now lives in Westlake Fort and has a peddler's license, and now sells small goods in the city and in the countryside, earning quite well. ”

"Just make some hard-earned money." Shao Yuanyi said with a sigh.

Captain Ventura shrugged, noncommittal. They soon came to a compound at the west end of the village, and at the entrance of the compound stood a tall middle-aged man wearing a black police uniform, who appeared to be a patrol officer stationed in the village.

"Petrov, this is a new doctor, sent from the south, arrange him well, someone in our village is sick but they are counting on him." Ventura shouted from afar, "Alright, my mission is complete, I need to go back to rest, see you again, Dr. Shao." ”

"Again... See you again. Shao Yuanyi hugged Ventura awkwardly, and then whispered.

"My name is Petrov, and this is the village office, so I finally have a proper doctor here. We don't know how many times we reported to the boss, but our superiors always ignored our voices. Don't we remove the fort and set up a township for a day, and we will be dispensable outcasts in the eyes of the old man? The middle-aged man with a sad face babbled a lot, and then led Shao Yuanyi into the office.

The communal office was small in size, about six or seven rooms, and a supply warehouse was built in the backyard to store food, tools, weapons and ammunition. The door to the depot was locked most of the time, and the keys were in the hands of the militia chief and the village chief, respectively, and the door could only be opened when both of them were present at the same time.

At this time, there was a burst of fragrance in the kitchen of the office, and a tall girl brought the food with a tray.

"You are a person with an organization, and the daily lunch can be settled in the village office, and my daughter Natasia is responsible for coming to make lunch at noon every day. Of course, you'll have to take care of breakfast and dinner yourself. Shao Yuanyi sat at the table at Petrov's invitation, and took the chopsticks handed by the girl with a blushing face.

Lunch didn't look bad, with mutton, fish, tofu, and vegetable soup, and the staple food was sorghum rice. It can be seen that even in the main wheat and rice producing areas, the local people may not be able to eat what they grow. Of course, they may have kept some of it for themselves to taste, but most of it must have been sold in the towns for money, and they mainly ate cheap sorghum from South Africa. This looks the same in both the South and the North.

The lunch was over quickly. The young girl finished cleaning up the dishes and chopsticks, and then looked at Shao Yuanyi with resentful eyes, as if she blamed him for being silent about his tentative words.

Petrov wiped his mouth with his sleeve, then took off the holster hanging on the wall, examined it carefully, looked up and said: "In the afternoon, come with me to the 8th Production Team at the foot of the western hill, where a militiaman broke his leg in pursuit of the Guarani attackers, and we have already splinted him. But since you're here, let's go over and check it out, maybe there are some places where we haven't done it well enough. ”

Shao Yuanyi nodded and agreed, but couldn't help asking, "Isn't this the hinterland of the country?" How can there still be a war? ”

"Hinterland?" Petrov smiled, "There is no hinterland in our country!" There are only two bases and more than 20 production teams on the western shore of Duck Lake, which are distributed in a narrow plain, and further west are the hilly areas. With such a small area, to be honest, I can shoot from east to west with one shot, what hinterland do you say it can be? The Guaraní people, who live in the mountains to the west, have always believed that we have usurped their land, and have been harassing and even attacking us in the hope of driving us away. Maybe they have a little truth in what they say, they lived here before we do, but a lot of times, the way to judge what is right or wrong is not to see who has a point, but - this! After speaking, Petrov flashed the Type 1633 flintlock pistol in his hand.

"As long as they are killed, then no one will accuse us of usurping their land, and the dead Guaraní are good Guaraní." Petrov added.

Listening to such murderous words, Shao Yuanyi was speechless. As a traditional Chinese, especially a Chinese who still works to treat diseases and save people, Petrov's concept has had a great impact on him. But he didn't say anything more, but packed up his things and went out with Petrov.

The early autumn sun shines on the body very comfortably, and the whole body is warm. There wasn't even a horse in the village, so the two had to walk. Thankfully, the government has built a small gravel road here, so that during this rainy season, people don't have to walk the puddle-filled meadows. As he walked, Petrov complained that the government had only built asphalt roads in large cities such as Dongfang and Ping'an counties, and was indifferent to the poor traffic conditions in Westlake Fort.

Natasia stood in the kitchen, looking through the window lattice at the two figures in the distance, the golden sunlight shining on their backs, and for a moment she was stunned. (To be continued......)