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The snow is getting heavier and heavier, and the cold winter has gradually enveloped this large island at the end of the world.

The sky was gray, and the goose-feathered snowflakes, aided by the roaring westerly wind, slammed down on the fur-coated pedestrians with a slight crunch. The trees beside him swayed slightly in the west wind, and a herd of reindeer with bells around their necks pulled a sleigh and struggled through the snow. A few half-sized hounds were running back and forth around the sleigh, looking extremely cheerful.

Today is the beginning of July, and Tierra del Fuego has ushered in the coldest season of the year. On the west side of Tierra del Fuego, it has a cooler temperate oceanic climate because it is partly influenced by the westerly wind belt. And because the westerly wind blows from the sea, it carries a lot of moisture, and because of the mountain barrier, the precipitation is not small. Especially in winter, the precipitation is expressed in the form of heavy snow, making the wilderness full of snow.

During this cold season, it seems that even the island's small number of animals (mainly seals, sea otters, penguins, vicuñas, foxes, mallards, and some birds) have gone into hiding and disappeared, and only occasionally Antarctic wolves have been seen in the wild when some people from the East Coast have migrated from the Falklands.

Since this dog-like carnivore was introduced to Tierra del Fuego by the East Coast, the population has multiplied rapidly due to the similar climate and abundant food sources, and the first dozen or so Antarctic wolves that were first released have now bred into several groups. Most of them live on the seaward side of Tierra del Fuego. According to the estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture, there are about 50 or 60 birds. The introduction of these terrestrial carnivores fills a gap in Tierra del Fuego's lack of large canine predators (with the exception of foxes). As a result, people on the east coast were able to safely and boldly herd animals from other continents on the island. For example, the hares, goats and other animals introduced by the Argentines for Tierra del Fuego in later generations have not been introduced on a large scale, and the beavers that have proved to be extremely damaging to the island's forests have not been introduced on a large scale.

Bison from the North American continent and musk oxen from Norway are also new guests from Tierra del Fuego. These large animals currently live in the plains of the northern part of Tierra del Fuego – there are also four on Wickham Island on the west side of Tierra del Fuego, where the East Coast people first released their animals - of which there are about 20 bison (the number of East Coast people may be slightly higher, because calves are born); There are fewer musk oxen, but there are also 10 of them. These animals gallop across the vast grasslands of northern Tierra del Fuego. Because of the suitable living environment, its number should grow rapidly.

In addition to these "guests" from the Americas, moose, reindeer and sled dogs also settled on Tierra del Fuego with the first Shandan immigrants. The animals from Northeast Asia have also quickly adapted to the climate, especially the eight moose that have been pinned on high hopes, and are now giving birth to their calves and starting to breed. It is believed that the population of these animals will expand rapidly over time, after all, the climate here is similar to the climate of their "home", but slightly better, which is very suitable for their survival. Moose are currently free-range. Reindeer and sled dogs are abundant and are bred in captivity by the Shandan settlers of the beech bunker.

Of course. As for the question of whether the introduction of a large number of animals from other continents will cause "species invasion", the professionals of the Ministry of Agriculture have not been without questioning. But at the same time, they also lack direct and strong evidence against them, so it is normal for them to be ignored by the already domineering Southern Railway Company. However, in terms of the experience of introducing animals from other continents in recent years, it seems that the impact on the local ecology of Tierra del Fuego is limited, which is rich in fat and juicy pastures, but the species of herbivores are quite single (in fact, there are few species in southern South America, such as Argentina, which may be related to the history of the formation of the earth's continents), so the east coast people introduced herbivores such as goats, hares, bison, musk oxen, moose, and reindeer from the outside world, and also introduced the carnivore of the Antarctic wolf from the neighboring Falklands. We hope to improve the ecosystem here.

At this moment, the reindeer pulling the sleigh were originally brought by the people of the East Coast from the Blackwater region of the Far East, and it can be said that after a lot of hardships, all of them are currently kept in captivity in beech forts, and have already given birth to cubs, and the development of their population is already expected. This time, Meng Hu, a special commissioner of the local Ministry of Agriculture, went to the vicinity of the beech fort to investigate, and took the reindeer sleigh driven by Shandan immigrants, which was still very convenient to walk. Especially in the vast snowfields east of the beech castle, the roads with a snow thickness of more than 30 centimeters make it difficult to walk, so the main means of transportation in winter is sleds.

The melodious sound of the bells was drowned out by the howling west wind, but the sleigh still walked unhurriedly in the wind and snow. The seal-oil-coated rider squinted his eyes, trying to find his way in the snow with poor visibility. But fortunately it was close to the beech fort – as evidenced by the wooden signs in the wilderness – so the rider's expression was very relaxed, and as he got closer to the warm town, a warm flame rose in his heart - in the warm hut with the fireplace lit, drinking steaming milk tea while roasting the fireplace, such a life was pleasant.

The sleigh stopped in front of a small three-story building. This small building is a mixed brick and wood structure, with a fireplace and a warm ondol, which is the tallest building in the beech fort area, and is also the most magnificent and luxurious building, serving as a common residence for the township government, police station, court and other institutions.

After seeing Meng Hu get off the sleigh, the two patrol officers at the gate immediately went up to help him and take his luggage. Meng Hu was also happy to do so, and after instructing them to be careful with the plant specimens collected in autumn in their bags, he strode into the small building. The fireplace in the hall on the first floor of the small building was blazing, and a group of men in various uniforms gathered around, eating dinner while the fire was burning. Their dinner is based on whale, seal and vicuña, accompanied by some vegetables from the autumn cellar and some local beers.

It is said that due to the cold climate and short plant growth cycle, Tierra del Fuego can only grow some grains such as barley, rye, and oats, which provides convenience for brewing beer. At this stage, the inhabitants of the beech fort, after clearing the remaining wooden stakes and low shrubs on the original woodland (the forest has been cleared), they have planted a large area of barley as a cereal, and harvested it in the fall. The yield is so-so, but it's definitely not enough to eat. Fortunately, Tierra del Fuego is relatively rich in resources, especially the large number of wild vicuñas, which brought a lot of meat to these pioneers. Coupled with some seals and fur seal hunting licenses issued by the government, as well as subsidies given by the Southern Railway Company to the pioneers (mostly in the form of grain, only for the pioneers in the first three years), the local residents are not hungry, and they are much better than the Spanish pioneers who colonized Punta Arenas more than 100 years ago. It was a pity that the Spanish colonizers, lacking the necessary supplies and the lack of support from the higher authorities, were unable to take root in Punta Arenas – and of course the luck of the people of the East Coast.

A group of officials who were eating in the hall saw Meng Hu walk in and immediately stood up to greet him. Although Meng Hu is only a commissioner of the Ministry of Agriculture, everyone here knows that he is a "noble parliamentarian", or a "senator", and the patriarch has the dignity of a senator, which has nothing to do with his position or official rank, so a group of people pushed away the chair and stood up.

Seeing this, Meng Hu hurriedly waved his hand, laughed, and said, "Sit down, sit down, orderly, bring me lunch too, I'm starving." Another bottle of beer, yes, don't want West Lake beer, just our own Snow Mountain beer. After saying that, he pulled up a chair and sat down in the crowd, beckoning everyone to eat together.

These people are the main managers of this settlement, and there are about a dozen people in total. Among them were veterans, young cadet soldiers, graduates of the local youth cadre school, and of course some chiefs of the Shandan and Ona peoples, who were all kinds of cadres with mixed backgrounds, and managed more than 800 settlers (not including the naturalized Ona and other natives) in the two places of the beech fort and the lumberyard in the mountains to the east.

And it was they who endured a lot of hardships and overcame all kinds of difficulties and dangers to open up a small settlement in such a bitter cold place as the sea on the west side of Tierra del Fuego. Since then, the Republic of the East Coast of China has also had its own existence on the islands at the end of the world. Moreover, with their efforts to open up, immigrants from the Eastern Ming Kingdom will also begin to be sent here in waves to settle and pioneer, and from then on, they will take root here, and firmly control this large island farthest from China in later generations.

The Spaniards had not succeeded in establishing themselves on both sides of the Strait of Magellan for a variety of reasons – poor logistical supplies, indifferent bureaucrats, and a lack of skilled personnel, but that did not mean that the people on the East Coast could not do so. In fact, they will not only establish a stronghold on Tierra del Fuego, but will also cross the Strait to establish a settlement in Punta Arenas, which was abandoned by the Spaniards. Since then, the key Strait of Magellan has been given the surname to the east coast, and no other country can take it away.

It didn't take long for the orderly to bring Meng Hu lunch: roasted vicuña meat, whale meat stewed with cabbage, mushroom and anchovy soup, and home-brewed Snow Mountain beer. And under his greeting, everyone continued to eat lunch. The snow is getting heavier and heavier outside, but inside the house is warm and pleasant. (The novel "Crossing 1630: The Rise of South America" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lottery gift for everyone!) Open WeChat now, click on the "+" sign in the upper right corner "Add Friends", search for the official account "ddxiaoshuo" and follow, hurry up! (To be continued......)