July 25, 1648, light snow.

Lai Tat-yan, who has been promoted to senior editor of Pravda, stopped outside the Great Wilderness Farm on a donkey. A group of five of them, all newspaper reporters and entourage, came to the inland grassland known as the "Western Wilderness" to cover the news on the orders of their superiors.

There is a Great Wilderness Farm in the Western Great Wilderness (located near the later town of Sapikan), which has only been established for four months. Strictly speaking, the Great Wilderness Farm is not just a farm, but a collection of farms. It's just that because these farms are all connected, they are collectively marked as Great Wilderness Farms on the government's map.

To be precise, Dahuang Farm is jointly contracted by 23 veterans, with a total of about 100,000 acres of farmland. Of course, at present, these lands that are classified as large wilderness farms can hardly be called "farmland". As far as the eye could see, there were thick barren meadows everywhere, with no trees, no rocks, and even the horizon was obscured. The scenery is monotonous and boring, except for the withered yellow or withered yellow, and the occasional small stream that looks like a horse is enough to give people a feeling of surprise.

"What a desolate place." Li Dayan muttered softly, then grabbed a dirty Latina and asked how to get there.

The Latin-faced man didn't know where he came from, and he didn't seem to know Chinese. He had a look of unease on his face when he found himself being held by a uniformed East Coaster, and then he shouted loudly towards the shacks in the distance. Li listened carefully, and it seemed to be some kind of Italian dialect.

Soon a group of equally dirty men came out of the shack, and there were all kinds of faces. But it's mostly Latino. Two middle-aged men with bright faces were dressed in relatively neat old military uniforms. The people around them are also more respectful to them. It can be seen that it may be the leader.

They should all be pioneers of the Great Wilderness Farm! Li Dayan thought for a while, then strode over and introduced himself loudly: "Hello everyone, I am Li Dayan from Pravda, and I want to come to Dahuang Farm this time to interview about the development here. There may be some troubles for you, so I hope you will bear with me. ”

"Pravda? Lai Tat-yan? That is the Li journalist who called for an increase in the variety of field food for the brothers? One of the two leaders asked uncertainly.

"Uh...... I wrote an article about this because I felt that the logistics of the frontline brothers were inadequate, so I appealed for it in the newspapers. Li Dayan replied truthfully.

"Sure enough, it's Reporter Li! That's a friend! The two middle-aged men in the lead immediately dispelled their worries when they heard this. I saw them step forward one after the other to hold Li Dayan's hands and say: "Reporter Li spoke for the brothers, and everyone is very grateful for this favor. Although we are now retired, as long as Reporter Li needs help, we will not say a word, and we will definitely help if we can. ”

"Haha, the two of you are really happy. Actually, there is nothing special that needs help, help us take care of the livestock, and we may need to stay here for a few days during meals. Of course we will pay. Li Dayan said happily when he heard this. He himself usually said it in the newspaper, and he also said nonsense. I didn't expect to say a word for these Qiu Ba people occasionally, which made them full of kindness to themselves.

"Now it's getting dark, come, let's go inside, and warm up around the stove. This hellish weather, the wind is whistling, and it's cold to death. The two instructed some sloppy entourages behind them to lead the horses of Li Dayan and others, and then directly invited Li Dayan and his party to rest in the house.

"It's fine." Li Dayan nodded, and then beckoned his entourage to bring their luggage and follow.

There were also a few low shacks on the side of the road, small enough to fit only a few simple pieces of furniture, and a few men with unshaven Western European faces squatted in the doorway, staring into the distance in a daze, not knowing what they were thinking. Li Dayan's eyes were sharp, and he found that these people's bodies were very dirty, not only their clothes were full of dust, but also their faces and bodies, maybe they didn't take a shower at all? Li Dayan is a little uncertain, and the East Coast's own citizens generally bathe regularly, but outsiders are hard to say.

Li followed two leading veterans into a larger shack, surrounded by a dozen or so filthy pioneers. The top of the hut was planked, and the walls were a mixture of planks, dirt, and dead grass, and there was a small window in the wall, which was now covered with layers of paper. There was a fire lit inside the house, which was used to heat and boil water - it was unbearable not to drink some hot water on this cold winter day.

Lai noticed that there were no beds in the house, but there was a lot of hay on the ground, and he instantly understood that the pioneers slept on the ground at night. Well, perhaps not everyone slept on the ground, for there were also stakes on the floor, and between the stakes hung some hammocks made of canvas, which were undoubtedly much more comfortable than on the cold, hard mud.

There was also a dog lying on his stomach in the house, and the dog was also so dirty that Li could even feel that there were a lot of fleas in it. Of course, there must have been a lot of fleas on these people in the house, and Li Dayan can be estimated from their hygiene conditions, what a group of sloppy pioneers!

"Together, we hired a hundred pioneers, all of whom were introduced by Valentino, who had a great reputation in this business, and the workers we introduced were honest people who could endure hardships and work." The middle-aged man in the old military uniform lit a pipe for himself, and Li Dayan is also an old smoking gun, and when he looks at the color of the tobacco leaves, he knows that it is not a valuable item, and it seems that the economic pressure of these people is not small.

Sure enough, after taking two puffs of cigarettes, the middle-aged man continued to introduce: "Each person's monthly salary for April has to be responsible for room and board, and the monthly expenditure is not five or six hundred yuan. There are also the costs of renting steam plows, asking the botanical garden to buy seeds, apportioning the construction of artificial reservoirs and irrigation canals, and the cost of planting trees, which will not be enough to carry before the wheat harvest in February next year. And even if the grain harvest next year is made, because it is the first year's raw land, most of them will not make money, and they may even lose money, and they will not make a little profit until the third year. In short, it is not easy to pioneer, and the risk, especially in the early stage, is very large! ”

"Fortunately, the Ministry of Agriculture, after seeing everyone's difficulties, decided that the payment of farmland rent and afforestation fees can be postponed. In addition, the soldiers' committee also promised that when we had difficulty in turning over funds, we could help contact the Northwest Reclamation Bank to get a loan, and the interest would be calculated preferentially, otherwise, the ghost would come here to open up the frontier for those white shirts. "The middle-aged man may not have met someone to talk to for a long time, so he babbled a lot.

Li nodded as he quickly recorded it in pencil in his small notebook. At this time, seven or eight other pioneers in the house sat around and began to gamble their money. The form of gambling was dice, which was first popular among Ming immigrants and later became popular among various ethnic groups.

"As you can see, it's desolate, it's boring at the same time, and you have to find something to do." Another middle-aged man explained awkwardly while drinking hot water: "In fact, you will know after living for a long time, the last cry of the Great Wilderness Farm every night and the earliest cry every morning are from gamblers. Here they gambled, drank, and sometimes went to the Sicilian prostitutes who lived in the nests in the western side to vent their excess energy. Sometimes there will be some stupid drunks who will provoke the patrolmen, of course, their fate is very sad, and the mosquito-infested plantations on Xinhuaxia Island are their final destination. ”

A few people chatted for a while, and at about six o'clock in the evening, a child of seven or eight years old ran to the door and called for everyone to eat. When the middle-aged man heard this, he immediately stood up, dusted off the dust and grass clippings on his buttocks, and said to Li Dayan: "Okay, it's time for dinner, I think you must be hungry." If you don't mind, go to a few of our places to eat together. Ha, don't worry, it's not the kind of brown bread they nibble on, there's beef, there's salted fish, and beer, I promise. ”

"Then we'll be disrespectful." Li Dayan also stood up and said with a smile, thinking that the interview funds approved by the above this time are very sufficient, and seeing that they are so enthusiastic, it would be good to leave them some more food expenses when the time comes.

"And ......" At this point, the middle-aged man paused slightly, then turned his gaze to someone in Li Dayan's group, and said in a warning tone: "Here I have to remind you, this lady. In the Great Wilderness Farm, women are creatures that are in extreme danger at all times, just like bulls, so please don't go it alone, it will be very dangerous. Although the patrol officers at the police station patrol very diligently, and the cavalry battalion regularly sends troops to patrol it, the place is too big to take care of, so please be careful. There have been some sad events here, and of course the victim of that incident was a poor lad. ”

Li Dayan was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then looked at the little girl reporter who graduated from the Corps Fort behind him, nodded heavily, and said, "We will pay attention, thank you for the reminder, this is very important." ”

Seeing that they had understood the importance of the matter, the middle-aged man led everyone out of the door and walked towards the north. The wind outside was very strong, and there were some snow heads, which hit people in the face and hurt. There are occasionally some nests or straw huts on the left and right, and most of the sounds coming from them are gambling and shouting, and occasionally there are some red-faced sounds coming from some grass huts, perhaps those Sicilian prostitutes and women are providing door-to-door services.

This is really a lawless place! Although Li Dayan has only been here for less than two hours, he already has this kind of feeling, which is really very different from the towns under the government. (To be continued......)