"God, I missed again!" In the port of Nancun, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Inigo clumps up a piece of cardboard with a few numbers printed on it and throws it into a small ditch. The ditch was littered with sewage, bubbles, rotten leaves, fish scales, melon peels, and other household waste, showing Inigo's disappointment with the small pieces of paper at hand.

"It's so easy to win the traffic lottery, I don't do the tiring work now, it's not a good thing to go home and be a rich man, you are so easy to do as a newspaper." David David, vice president of Pravda newspaper and director of the Truth Office, said disdainfully while picking the shredded beef between his teeth with a toothpick: "This kind of thing, the probability of winning is too low, it's just a fool's tax." You should have supported the country's transportation construction, building roads, railways, wharves, digging canals, etc., it is really expensive, and you rich fools need to sponsor it. ”

Inigo smirked when he heard this, then leaned against a small tree by the river, pulled a stalk of grass at random, threw it into his mouth and chewed it. He and Davy can't fight each other, their identities, backgrounds, and status are very different, but things in the world are so wonderful many times, when David followed Meng Xiaohu's team to the Pampa Plains for field interviews, he met a team of scheming gauchos, and it was no surprise that there was a conflict. During this conflict, Inigo killed two gauchos in quick succession with his bayonet, and rescued David, a civilian man, from the tip of their sword. And since there is a life-saving grace, then there is nothing to say, David, a second-generation official, Sun Wuben's deputy, and the vice president of the "Pravda" newspaper, immediately put down his reserve and arrogance, and became close to Inigo, and the relationship is naturally changing.

This time, after returning to the capital to deal with some affairs, he took three or five young men with him and took a boat to Nancun Harbor, intending to follow Meng Xiaohu's survey team further - or the expedition team is more suitable, and now its escort has increased to nearly 100 people - deep into the Pampa steppe to make a special in-depth report on the Yanbu Railway, which is now becoming more and more hot.

In other words, although the survey team led by Meng Xiaohu has completely walked back and forth on the roughly planned railway line, the State Railway Administration has still not finalized the specific direction of the railway, because it involves too many things, and sometimes it has to take into account the overall policy formulation of the country, which is very troublesome.

It is reported that the land leveling work in this section has long been completed, and now the laying of railroad tracks and the construction of a telegraph relay station have already begun, and it is believed that it will not take too long to complete it. In contrast, the progress in Tongxu Township, Chenqiang Township, Guiling Township, and Wapeng Township is much slower, and it is still in the arduous work of land leveling in the early stage.

The reason for this is probably because Yancheng County has developed for many years, has a large population, developed economy, and a good foundation, which has enough to support the construction of the Yanbu Railway. On the other hand, although the towns and villages under the jurisdiction of the Niulanshan District Administration have received a large influx of population and capital in recent years, their foundations are still too thin to support the construction of such a railway line far from the coastline and deep into the inland areas. However, I believe that with the passage of time, the economic strength of Niuzhuang, Yinhai and other places will only become stronger and stronger, after all, the central government's money is not in vain, and it will be able to contribute to the construction of the Yanbu Railway at that time.

As an official propagandist who has been following the project for a long time, David is naturally very clear about its progress. Moreover, he knows better that the construction of this railway not only has difficulties such as manpower, material resources and funds, but also the change in the attitude of the Spaniards is also one of the uncertainties of this railway, and it can even be said that it is the biggest uncertainty factor.

Maybe some people don't believe it. However, when you find a map of the Pampa Plain from the library in the city of Buenos Aires, and then estimate the general direction of the Yanbu Railway, then you should have an idea of the size of such a large piece of land east of the Yanbu Railway, right? Yes, that's right, there are at least more than 100,000 square kilometers of fine land here, with a mild climate, moderate precipitation, fertile soil, and convenient transportation, only a little smaller than the eastern coast prairie, which is still the most core territory on the east coast, but the quality of the land is still superior. The Spaniards were worried that if this place was taken away by the people of the east coast, after decades of painstaking management, it would not be another steppe on the east coast with a developed industry and commerce and a large population, because it would have no problem raising tens of millions of people.

Of course, the interpretation of the Spaniards by the East Coasters was only to settle and do business east of the Salt Cloth Railway, and if they could, these settlers could also pay a certain land use fee to the Kingdom of Spain. But who can be fooled by such words? If these "locust-like" people on the East Coast can live and get married, have children, and multiply, who will drive them away. In the end, it was the East Coasters who threw away millions of dollars in cash and bought the land from the Kingdom of Spain.

Therefore, the Spaniards did not dare to retreat now, and could not retreat, and they were afraid that if they retreated now, and that if they gave in to the people on the east coast, they would have more and more appetites, and then the cycle would go on and on, and finally the whole of the Pampa Plain would be completely lost in five or six hundred thousand square kilometers.

This situation is naturally what the people on the east coast do not want to see, especially after Liao Xiaoyao, chairman of the executive committee of the East Coast Republic of China in Yancheng Port, has mentioned this matter to the Spanish ambassador, Count Sebastian, after a whole month, there is no news at all, which makes some impatient people a little unbearable - it stands to reason that this month is just enough time for the Buenos Aires side to tell the news to Lima, and it is far from being heard back so quickly, but who let General Owando of Buenos Aires City close the door, Don't communicate with the East Coast people at all? I can't say it, I can only use some means!

"On the means" naturally can't be the East Coast people themselves shirtless, that's too ugly and unnecessary. Therefore, under the watchful eye of some high-ranking officials of the General Directorate of National Intelligence, the chief of the company, who had never appeared in front of the Spaniards, secretly came to Buenos Aires and planned a series of events under the cover of the foreman who built the "trade station" (which was actually the railway station).

Among these intrigues that are in the making, Inigo, a former mercenary officer, is one of the key figures. Director Sheng De Hongsheng had already met with him once, promised him 5,000 yuan for his activities, and asked him to go to the grassland as soon as possible to recruit more gauchos, distribute weapons and pay to them, and be ready to follow Director Sheng's instructions at any time.

Inigo had already prepared for this, and he had been hanging out everywhere for many years, and he had long smelled something unusual from it. The black skins of the General Intelligence Directorate are afraid that they will do something in the Pampa Plain and even in the area of Buenos Aires, so as to force the Spaniards to make a decision as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Inigo, who has always had a strong "operational ability," was unanimously favored by intelligence officials.

When David came to see Inigo today, the guy was counting the money in hand, and planned to sell some money orders in his hand in exchange for some silver dollars. In the steppe, the bitter gauchos have a natural distrust of paper-like bills of exchange, checks, promissory notes, etc., and they only trust real money and things that can be eaten and clothed. Therefore, in order to buy these people and make them work for themselves, the necessary gold and silver are indispensable.

David had some idea of what Inigo was going to do, but he had no intention of digging into it. To be honest, he wasn't very interested in these things planned by spies and intelligence chiefs, and he subconsciously felt that staying away was the right way. It's just that Inigo saved his life before, and he has the obligation to mention it slightly, in addition, he also prevents some intelligence chiefs from going crazy and throwing away Inigo's rag when they run out, which is not unhappening.

So, after a somewhat cryptic conversation with Inigo about something, David wisely changed the subject and talked to Inigo about what crops were best grown on the Pampa Plains at this stage.

"There was frost in the winter, the summer was persistently hot, the rainfall was moderate throughout the year, and the seasonal distribution of rainfall was also timely. In particular, the rains at the beginning of winter are good for clearing the fields and planting wheat, while the rains in spring and summer are good for the later growth of wheat. And while David and Inigo were chatting about the agricultural conditions of the Pampa Plain at the port of Nancun, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, General Constantine de Owando was talking about the same topic with his entourage, only to hear him continue: "These rains benefit half of the Pampa in the east. In the undulating pampa region, where the summer rains fall in late summer, it is ideal for the growth of maize harvested in May. Precipitation patterns in the south and southwest are suitable for wheat growth. As for flax, sunflower and fodder crops, the surplus in most areas is sufficient for both its overall aggregate and its seasonal distribution......"

"Gentlemen, don't look at me like that, for in fact what I have just said is not written by me, nor by any of our country's agricultural experts, but by articles published in some agricultural journals published on the East Coast. See, the people on the east coast know even more about the Pampa Plain than we do, and perhaps a few years or even a dozen or twenty years ago, they have been sending people deep into the plains to study and collect all kinds of information. What a great irony, gentlemen, that we do not value this vast plain, without forests, without gold or silver, while the people of the East Coast regard it as a treasure. General Ovando smiled bitterly and shook his head, there is no way, the atmosphere of the Kingdom of Spain has long been corrupted, and such a distinctive land is destined to not attract the attention of the West Indian House and the Madrid court, not to mention the fact that a bunch of things are waiting for them now.

What the? You say this land produces wheat, corn, soybeans, alfalfa, sunflowers, flax, honey, bison and other things? Please, the Spaniards are no longer the people of the Lord who just expelled the Moors! At that time, Columbus had not yet discovered the New World, and the Spaniards were still very poor, whether they were nobles and commoners who were still hard-working, or willing to farm and herd sheep and develop handicrafts to support their families.

But everything changed when the massive amount of gold and silver from the Americas poured into the Spaniards! The violent inflation wiped out the industries of Spain, and the life of overnight wealth destroyed the spirit of the Castilian people, who became lazy, vain, conceited, and could no longer return to the hard-working state of the past, and this is the main reason why many people point out that the whole country of Spain is now corrupt.

Therefore, the Spaniards generally looked down on the lands of the Pampa Plain, because it did not bring them enough benefits. A little grain, fodder, fruit and bison can also make the Spanish grandfathers tempted? Stop dreaming! They now only have silver in their eyes, and this kind of land that cannot grow tropical commodities without gold and silver mines is worthless in their eyes, and it is quite different from the concept of the people on the east coast in this regard.

Of course, the fact that the Spaniards did not value the land did not mean that they were willing to cede it. In fact, they were more inclined to keep the land in their own hands, especially now that the Caribbean was so chaotic and less secure that the Spaniards had to divert some of their silver ships from the Río de la Plata to avoid being caught by pirates.

Because of this factor, they are more resistant to throwing away this large piece of land on the south bank of the La Plata River to others, so for the repeated temptations of the people on the east bank before, although they did not directly reject it head-on, what they did was no different from refusal, and it was clear that they did not want to sell this land, and I believe that the people on the east bank should slowly understand it now.

The only thing General Ovando was a little worried about whether the people on the east coast would fight the Spaniards in order to get this land, because he had heard that the government leaders of this pagan country who had just come to power were military (although they had retired) and had a tougher style, which was quite different from the more or less tepid government leaders of the previous two terms, and he did not know what means they would use to achieve their goals.

It is also important to note that the Kingdom of Spain is now at war with the French in Europe, and the Italian merchants who provided financing services to the court of Madrid are close to the people on the east coast, and it is not known whether they will take this approach and force the Madrid side to submit. Will the country even choose to mobilize force to achieve its goals? You know, their country has not been at war for many years, and there have always been calls for disarmament in the country, so both the navy and the army have the urge to start a war, right? On this point, to be honest, General Owando is still quite worried.