High in the mountains, the clouds are so low that you can almost touch them.

Wang Dazhuang, who was in the Andes Mountains, felt that he was surrounded by a thick cloud mantle, which was very wonderful. As he walked along the mountain path, the sunlight filtered through the clouds made it look very dim, and the weeds and trees in the mountains were covered with a gray-green hue.

The ubiquitous wind blew gently, and Wang Dazhuang smelled the fragrance of blades of grass and wildflowers. The scent was so fresh that he decided to head towards the place where the flowers were scented. After a few bends in the mountain path, the aroma became more intense, turning into the fragrance of the fragrant air, an invitation to stop everyone.

"The Andes is destined to be one of the purest spaces on the planet. While pristine air is no longer remembered in the rest of the world, in the Andes it remains a daily reality. Sniffing the aroma of wild flowers on the side of the road, Wang Dazhuang looked intoxicated and muttered: "There seems to be a reason why the people of the Taoist Association have always wanted to establish a Taoist palace, a classic research institute and a religious school on the Andes. This land of countless spirituality is indeed the closest to the gods. Only, why didn't they build a mountain gate in the mountains on the other side of Patagonia? Is it because the snow is so thick in the winter? ”

Wang Dazhuang is a meteorologist, a botanist and botanist, and also a researcher in geography. Even as a political official in Hexi Township, last year he published a paper on the Chaco Plain and the adjacent Andes that was praised by many scholars. His paper cites a lot of data provided by the army department, such as the height of mountain ranges, the location of passes, the size of forests, etc., and he can be said to know these places well. But as the saying goes, hearing is better than seeing, and after seeing the majestic scenery of the Andes, he now wants to sing like a poet, not like a doctor.

The Andes do have a touching charm!

At the foot of the mountain there is a winding road, which is very long, but not in very good condition. This is the kilometre leading to the upper Peru area on the other side of the mountain, and for more than 100 years, although the Spaniards have invested in its maintenance intermittently, it has still decayed irrepressibly with the erosion of time.

This time, Wang Dazhuang and his entourage also proposed to the Spaniards to build a high-grade highway from Resistencia to Salta to facilitate commercial and trade exchanges between the two countries. Because of the relative sparsely populated Chaco Plain, the roads leading from Salta and Tucumán – more precisely from Upper Peru – to the Paraguay River are also in disrepair and unusable, and some sections of the road are not at all, or are spontaneously trodden by herders and merchants.

When Wang Dazhuang and others came, they had learned the power of this path. The continuous heavy rain filled every puddle of this road with stagnant water, and in the center of the road you could often see cow dung, rotten wood and even some dead bodies (both human and animal), and the width of the road was not large, so narrow that it was not decent, but fortunately Wang Dazhuang did not bring any big carts, otherwise they would have to suffer a lot.

Of course, the most annoying and even dangerous thing about this road is not that it is rotten, but that Indians or armed bandits appear on both sides of the road from time to time. You know, not all Quechua people fell under the Spanish colonial government, and the Catholic missionaries were not so powerful. In fact, even after centuries of colonization, there are still some Quechua (and perhaps a few Klandis) who are hostile to outsiders and covet the goods of the caravans that travel through the roads, resulting in frequent armed attacks.

In addition, some unidentified armed bandits will also brush up on their presence. Some of them are even scum from the East Coast, which is a huge headache. There are now six or seven million people on the East Coast, and it is normal for some idle and vicious scum to leave their homeland for various reasons, and then choose to become bandits, armed caravans, and even caravans from the East Coast have been robbed, for which the Statistical Survey of Syphilis Patients has been tracking down for a long time. But this kind of people are always killed, and one group is caught, and the security risks of the king's caravan can never be eradicated.

Wang Dazhuang believes that the only solution is to bring the Chaco Plain under the rule of the Republic of China on the east coast of China, and set up military posts, settlements and other institutions along the highway - well, of course, we must not forget about the great toll booths to return the funds as soon as possible - step by step to keep the road out of danger.

General Vicente of Salta was somewhat surprised by the whimsical construction of the road by the people of the East Bank. Strictly speaking, this kind of thing is quite taboo, and it should not be mentioned with an official of his level. Roads, especially high-grade highways of strategic importance, are even more intriguing because they not only prosper commerce and facilitate the exchange of goods, but also can be used to transport war supplies and soldiers. Not to mention, the East Coast's usual routine is to build a road that can pass heavy trucks, and then rely on this road to transport a large number of railway equipment, food supplies, and locust-like labor workers to build a railway that goes straight to the heart, which is the most worrying thing.

Therefore, General Vicente did not dare to make any statement, but blindly shirked the matter, saying that the matter should be reported to the Court of Attorney of Buenos Aires or even to the Governor of Peru, and he could not make the decision. Unexpectedly, Wang Dazhuang said lightly that of course they would handle this matter according to the process, in fact, the relevant envoys are already on their way to Buenos Aires and Lima. The main reason why they mentioned it to General Vicente was to say hello to him in advance, so that he could know that such a thing might happen at some time in the future, and be mentally prepared.

When Vicente heard Wang Dazhuang say this, he immediately understood, and at the same time was slightly annoyed: these people from the East Coast are really getting more and more excessive, and they are becoming less and less disrespectful of people. The construction of the highway has not yet been seen, and the messenger is still on the way, so he actually ran here to prepare himself in advance, which is simply insulting!

The more General Vicente thought about it, the more angry he became, but after coming into contact with the gaze of a cold-eyed officer behind Wang Dazhuang, he immediately relented, thinking that he should be arrogant, anyway, it was not the first time that people on the east coast had done this. The entire Buenos Aires Prosecutor's Court area has basically been regarded as a private garden, and you can toss it as much as you like. I am also an old man, and it is not easy to get my current position, so don't make more trouble, everything depends on what the governor of Lima says, I believe that he should not refuse the people of the east coast.

In addition, after the old Vicente adjusted his psychology, he immediately entered the mode of a mature businessman, and began to think about how he should take advantage of this shareholder wind after the completion and opening of the road and even the railway. Salta, Tucumán and other places are on the road to Upper Peru, and the caravans are not on the way, but they have been attracted further south to La Rioja and Córdoba, and too few have reached the Paraguay River from Salta to the east. After all, it's no surprise that far more people trade with the vibrant East Coast than do business with the Paraguayan region.

If the people of the east coast do build roads and even railways connecting Resistencia and Salta in the future, it will definitely change the transportation pattern of the entire Chaco Plain. From here, the caravan that would reach Resistencia would increase exponentially along the road and railroad eastward, and in that case, General Vicente, as the commander of the homeland, felt that he could not afford to miss such an opportunity, and that he must find a way to take advantage of it. Well, reasonable interests!

At this thought, old Vicente's heart felt better again. As a colonial official of modest birth, his family ancestors had emigrated from A Coruña to the Panamanian Inquisition District for generations, and it was only after his struggle that he had earned a decent position as a general. He can't let go of such an opportunity, the family needs a huge amount of money to continue to climb up, and he must seize every opportunity to make money.

Wang Dazhuang didn't care what old Vicente thought, in fact, he just had to bring the words to him, and the diplomatic department would take care of the rest, and he didn't bother with it. Of course, as the chief governor of the Hexi region, Wang Dazhuang himself was still happy to see the construction of this road (and future railway) come to fruition, because it would obviously greatly improve the economic situation of the Hexi colony and attract more local immigrants to settle here. This has been well demonstrated by the great efficacy of the Yanbu Railway, and the Niulanshan area is now populous and economically prosperous, and is a well-known producer of wheat, soybeans, pastures, beef and leather throughout the country. While the grain output in the grassland and Yahu basins on the east coast is decreasing, the grain output in the Niulanshan area has increased year after year, effectively filling the gap and still being redundant.

Among them, the Yanbu Railway played an extremely important transportation role, and a large number of agricultural products were transported by rumbling steam trains to the port of Nancun, and from there crossed the La Plata River to the major consumer cities such as Mall, Qingdao, Dongfang, and Zhenhai. The economy of East Pampa (referring to the Pampa Plain east of the Yanbu Railway) has developed so rapidly with the help of the acceleration of the Yanbu Railway, which has fascinated many people.

It is fair to say that the Chaco Plains, due to topography, climate, and other factors, are not as suitable for large-scale agriculture as the Pampa Plains. The terrain here is low, there is a lot of water accumulation, and the drainage is not good, and much of the land tends to salinize. If you want to improve, you will have to invest a lot of money and manpower, and it will also take decades or even more than 100 years. In addition, the soil layer here is relatively thin, not as fertile as the Pampa Plains, and if you don't take care of the soil, it is easy to use up the nutrients in the soil, resulting in low food production.

What really deserves to be developed in the Chaco Plain is the wetter part of the eastern part of the plain, which is now heavily cultivated by the people of the eastern coast. There is a vast area formed by the flooding of rivers, with abundant water and grass, and fertile soil, which can effectively develop agriculture, provided that the river is dredged and a series of water conservancy facilities such as levees, reservoirs, and ditches are built.

Of course, the Chaco Plain also has its own advantages, that is, the forest area here is not small, the climate is warm, and the animal resources are quite abundant, which can be planned according to local conditions. In the eastern part of the country, grain is grown, timber processing industry is developed in the forest area, and the rest is grazing, anyway, it is relatively dry, and sheep are not easy to get the annoying hoof rot, and can produce a lot of wool. What's more, the geographical location here is also more crucial, with access to Paraguay and Upper Peru to the north, fertile Pampa Plain to the south, Pacific coast west of the Andes to the west, and adjoining the riverside area on the east coast to the east.

Therefore, it can be seen from here that the Chaco Plain still has its merits. In the future, once the East Bank government decides to move the capital to La Plata, the importance of this place will even increase and attract more people. Especially if all the places such as Upper Peru, Paraguay, and Chile are taken down on the east coast, it will become a hub for various railways and highways, and it is not surprising that there will be a commercial center and a large cargo distribution center.

Therefore, Wang Dazhuang really understands the reason why the upper echelons are obsessed with the Chaco Plain, and he also supports the occupation and conquest of the Chaco Plain on the east coast. It would be even more perfect if some of the humanitarian disasters could be mitigated in the process and as many Native Americans as possible could be preserved.

"Once the road is built, the railway is not far away. In the future, these roads will certainly end more than Salta, which is also crucial to the north, along the ancient mountain passes over the Andes and into the coastal region of Upper Peru. In addition, the construction of a road from Buenos Aires to Córdoba, La Rioja and other places is expected to be slowly put on the agenda in the future. In this way, we have two main roads that run through the whole of La Plata, which is very important for the development and the government of La Plata. At present, the technology of steam locomotives is not very good, and we cannot build powerful locomotives with enough power to climb over the Andes Mountains thousands of meters high. Of course, how to build a railway over the mountains in the towering Andes is more technically difficult than a steam locomotive. Thinking about it, Wang Dazhuang's thoughts involuntarily drifted into the distance: "Alas, what are you doing so much, maybe when I get old, I may not be able to see this kind of railway and train appear." For now, let's think more about how to develop the Chaco Plains. The Plains of Pampa is a ready-made teacher and has a lot to learn from, which is pretty good. ”