Autumn at Fort West Lake is pleasant.

The tall and straight Paraná pines, the crystal clear water, the dense irrigation canals, the fertile rice paddies and the smoke of the country farmhouses all made Shao Yuanyi, who had just arrived here from the Ming Dynasty feel unreal.

"I beg your pardon, my feelings are so rich." Captain Ventura wiped his slightly moist eyes, and said with a slightly exaggerated gesture to Shao Yuanyi, who was standing on the deck, "My home is in West Lake Fort, and every time I sail back here, I can't help but want to sing the praises of the great Executive Committee loudly. When I was in Lombardy, life was a mess for the Spaniards, and I was dragged to work as a sailor for several years, but they refused to pay me on the grounds that I had soiled one of the captain's clothes. They only know how to collect taxes, but they never care about our lives. ”

Shao Yuanyi listened with some difficulty to the chatter of the ageless man, who had only been on the East Coast for less than half a year and had come through South Africa on a Portuguese ship. The journey was so difficult and the turmoil was so treacherous, he didn't even want to remember it too much now. Because he is Langzhong, after a short period of training, he was assigned to the Xihu Fort area, which is said to be still in the wilderness, where some new settlements will continue to be built to house the new immigrants, and there is a great shortage of doctors, so he was transferred in this way.

The ship he was on was a 35-ton river paddle steamer on the verge of obsolescence, with a very slow speed and a mediocre cargo capacity. Therefore, it is becoming more and more difficult to see in China. Ventura is the captain of the ship. From Italy. It is said that in the early years when the family was wealthy, he learned some knowledge, but later the family was in the middle of the road, and he had no choice but to work as a sailor on a Spanish ship for several years. There were also two Malay sailors from New China and a repairman who was responsible for maintaining the steam engine.

"Everything is good on the East Coast, really, much better than the shitty Lombardy." Captain Ventura waved his hand to the passers-by on the shore and continued in his exaggerated tone, "But there is also a little bit of a bad thing. It's just that it's too difficult to marry a wife here. At this, Captain Ventura laughed twice to himself in a funny way.

Shao Yuanyi looked towards the shore and saw that it seemed to be a few peasants carrying hoes to finish work, and it was almost noon, and everyone was rushing back for lunch. The farmer was followed by a few bouncing children, carrying fat fish with gills on branches. These fish were huge, about five or six pounds, and even if they were carried in their hands, they were still struggling, causing a cry of exclamation from the children from time to time.

"Yes. It's so difficult to get a wife, it's very difficult. Captain Ventura, who was chattering, said to himself, "It cost me a full sixty dollars to marry back his daughter from that cunning old man Guarani. What shit! I would have liked to marry a passionate Lombard or Neapolitan girl, or a beautiful French girl, but it was too difficult. To be honest, I don't see many Italian girls in the country, and if they do, most of them are married. Or rather, the number of women in this country is too small, Rossetti, who came with me, didn't get married until two months ago, and he married a girl from the Ming Kingdom of the East, guess how much it cost? One hundred and twenty dollars! You must know that he is a naval non-commissioned officer, with a monthly salary of five yuan and a subsidy of two yuan for going to sea, and he saved up for two whole years to save such a sum of money. It's horrible! ”

Shao Yuanyi was also a little surprised when he heard Ventura say this, so he asked, "Captain Wen, is it so difficult to marry a woman in China now?" ”

"Well, I'm not used to the way you speak." Ventura complained slightly, then gloated, "Aha, of course it's difficult." The disparity between men and women in the country was too great, and although the state diplomatic posts abroad had been trying to buy Ottoman slaves, the numbers were still insufficient. Hehe, I heard that the government is a little unable to resist the pressure now, and has decided to send 500 Malay women from the New China area to the country to relieve the pressure. But I have to say, these people don't really have anything to do with you. The husbands of these women had even decided long ago, yes, the French coal miners from Ping'an County, who had recently expanded production. But seriously, Dr Shaw, I wouldn't advise you to marry those Malays or Ming people – if you're still a bit aggressive in your career. ”

"Oh, Shao would like to hear about it." Shao Yuanyi asked with interest.

"You've got to change the way you speak, and according to some, it's too sour." Captain Ventura frowned and said, "It's not a secret, you'll find out sooner or later." Because you are a Ming man, and you don't look like a Frenchman, a Italian, a German, a Livonian, or even a Berber, and I don't mean anything else by that, because it's true. It seems that those aristocratic lords in the south do not want to see such a big difference in the appearance of their subjects, so they have introduced a lot of policies, I will not talk about them here, if you are interested, you can find out, this is all summarized when I chatted with my fellow villagers. There is a lot of complaint about this, because our beautiful Italian girl has been married by you Mingren. But don't think about it, everyone is just complaining, after all, life still has to go on. ”

Shao Yuanyi nodded silently. To be honest, he also looked down on those high-nosed, deep-eyed, blonde Tessie women, who in his opinion were too ugly. However, this Captain Wen also said that it is very difficult to marry a woman in China now, especially a Ming woman. I have been living here for a short time, and I don't have a few silver dollars in my pocket, how can I afford to marry a woman from my homeland. If you marry a Tessie woman, then the pressure is much less, because of the proximity to Tessie, the number of Tessie women is also larger, according to the market in previous years, he only needs to spend forty or fifty yuan to successfully marry a wife. And because it is an interracial marriage, I can also go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to receive a reward of 20 yuan with the marriage certificate, which is still very cost-effective to save half of the cost.

The paddle steamer loaded with timber slowly docked at the timber processing factory dock on the banks of the Xiaoxi River, and Captain Ventura jumped lightly onto the riverbank, chatted casually with Zenoni, who had come to receive the timber, and then handed over the work to the two Malay sailors, and picked up Shao Yuanyi, walked through the side door of the lumber mill, and walked north.

The dirt roads in the countryside are flanked by large wooded trees, including Paraná pines that require five or six people to hug and are 60 meters high, as well as some low shrubs, and under the pine trees grow some giant reeds more than 20 meters high, which the local Guarani people call "Taqueros". These reeds can be used to make both houses and rafts, and are very practical. There are also a large number of giant reeds growing in the shallow water of the lake shore on the right side of the road, and a flock of panicked mallards flies out of the reeds from time to time, and then you will see a few more screaming children coming out of the reeds behind the ducks' butts.

"These kids weren't so bold before." Ventura turned her head to look at it and said with a smile, "There were still a lot of crocodiles growing on the shore of the lake at that time, but they were all expelled or killed later. Now, it's a children's paradise, and after school, a group of children go out into the reeds to dig duck eggs, catch fish, and some daring older kids go to the woods on the left side of the road to catch a poisonous snake, which is delicious but also dangerous. ”

"There's a school here too?" Shao Yuanyi asked in some surprise. He knew very little about West Lake Fort, and before he set out, he only vaguely heard that this was a wild land, and the population was not very clear. This East Coast people really attach great importance to education, not only do adults have to attend night classes on a regular basis, but this child goes to school every day, and he doesn't charge money, which is really strange. These children, whether they are children of peasant families, children of craftsmen, or children of military families, can go to school for free, which can be called educational, and it is even better than the Ming Dynasty, which is known as a state of culture.

"Of course there are schools." "As long as the population is of a certain size, and there is a formal fort, there will be schools, and then the government will send a teacher from the south to teach." At present, there are more than 80 students in the first to fifth grades of the school in Westlake Fort, but unfortunately there are only two teachers, including the principal, and the number is not enough, and the level is not good. My eldest son, Mario, went to school in Ping'an County before the third grade, where there were a large number of teachers and a high level of teaching, but after arriving here, he was completely unable to do so. Even worse was their out-of-school counselor from Finland, a veteran who spent his days teaching dangerous ideas in school. Oh no, we Italians are peace-loving people, and I don't want my dear Mario to grow up to be a rude ruffian, like those obnoxious Spaniards. ”

"Huh." Shao Yuanyi smiled and said, "You are Italian, but your son Mario doesn't think so." ”

"Yes." Ventura shrugged his shoulders and said, "Mario considers himself an East Coaster, his classmates, his teachers, and his entire childhood here, and he loves the land, everything here, and he hates everything in the Old World. Hell, he hasn't lived in the Old World for even half a day, and he doesn't know where the hatred comes from! But who cares, well, don't talk about this, I'm not Italian, and you're not a Wise person, we're all from the East Coast, so let's talk less about this sensitive topic in the future. ”

The two chatted and walked at the same time, and soon arrived at their destination. (To be continued......)