October 21, 1649, Hungnam River, heavy snowfall.

With an unexpected cold snap, the Xingnan River, which runs through the entire Gobi Desert, was once again shrouded in heavy snow. The river was white, and the snow fell on the thick ice, and in a short time it was piled up. The reeds in the distance were blown up and down in the cold wind, and none of the migratory birds that would stay here in the summer were gone, and they all seemed to have fled north.

This is Southern Patagonia, one of the few semi-arid deserts on earth in a cold region. In this harsh environment, only the annual winter snowfall can bring a precious source of life to the parched earth. Wild shrubs, wild grasses and sparse drought-tolerant trees depend on it.

A dozen short men with disheveled hair, wrapped in thick cotton clothes, were walking briskly on a road that winded into the distance in the wilderness. The wind was biting outside, and the snowflakes drilled into the collars of people's clothes with the wailing west wind, but none of the dozen or so people present dared to complain. This is not because they are highly conscious, but because they are all from Fort Reform, former prisoners who need to be "reformed".

The male inhabitants of Fort Confident numbered about 800 men, almost all of whom came from the Far East, and all of them were prisoners of various nations who had been captured in previous wars. Among them, the Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners account for about 40%, which is the largest number of people; In addition, the Han Eight Banners and the Green Camp had about 30% of the prisoners, the second largest number; The rest were the savage Jurchens, Koreans, and even two Siberian Cossacks who had strayed into Temple Street from the area around the Yayan Bay.

The men were sent to the Blackwater Coal Mine, a lumber yard and a brick kiln factory for several years of labor reform, and were released the year before before being shipped to Southern Patagonia. And in the area of Zixinbao, the village was settled. The Southern Railway Company, which was responsible for managing them, made a promise to them. As long as you are honest and don't make trouble. After a one-year inspection period, everyone can get five acres of land. The next thing is that as long as they have been cultivating their land for several years, they can apply for the citizenship of the East Coast Republic of China.

These people have been working in the cold Heishui Port for several years, and even in winter, they have to go out to work, and the heavy and arduous labor has long worn out all their careful thoughts. At this time, they crossed the ocean and came to the New World, and the above gave them a seemingly reliable way out and a stable future, and they were naturally willing to do so one by one. In addition, some Italian prostitutes who wanted to be good were brought to live in Newcastle a while ago. They saw that marrying a wife and having children was no longer a big problem, so their enthusiasm was fully mobilized.

This time, the Southern Railway Company is planning to spend a huge amount of money to build a railway across the South Cone to connect the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean, so that ships on the east bank no longer have to bypass the rough Cape Horn, nor do they have to venture through the Strait of Magellan, which has many waves, fog, reefs, and winds. So, in a sense, it's a strategic-level railway. It is the foundation of the Southern Railway Company, and for the East Coast Republic, it is a convenient route for immigrants, and it can be completed one day earlier.

But. Before building this railway, the Southern Railway Company still spent about 300,000 yuan. A simple sandy road was built next to the railway. The construction of the road was carried out at the same time in several sections to ensure that it could be completed within a year. In fact, thanks to the efforts of the road escort team, a large number of Cranti people in the La Plata area were captured and sent to the construction site to repair the road, and with their hands, this critical road was repaired by the end of the year.

At present, most of the simple sand road named Xingnan Highway has been completed, and the remaining sweeping work can be completed in about a month and a half, so the road will be completed half a month ahead of the original plan. This is due to the fact that the Southern Railway Company uses a large number of modern machines such as ox-drawn drum machines, steam plows, and gravel rollers, which greatly improves the construction efficiency. In addition, the Xingnan Highway is located on the edge of the Gobi Desert, the land is relatively flat, and the materials used for road construction are also easy to use, so this greatly reduces the time required for road construction.

After the road surface was completely compacted with a gravel roller, God also gave face, and it snowed several times, and the road was ready for use at once. No, these residents of Xinbao in cotton clothes are coming to the field road to check the road surface at this moment, this section of the road is under their control, whether it is the construction progress or quality acceptance, the Southern Railway Company will only find them responsible, so they are also very nervous, often go out to carefully check the construction of the road.

"The road surface is very porcelain, and it sticks when it snows. Wait for another month, and when the weather warms up and the snow melts, this road can be tossed as much as you want, and it can be used for a long time. A man with a scar on his head walked around the road twice, and when he came back, he said to everyone: "This section of the road can be accepted, and you can get an early completion award if you report it early, and you can get a few dollars per person, and everyone can go to two bottles of Daqu in the river to warm up your body." ”

The middle-aged man in the lead nodded slightly when he heard this, and said, "Check it carefully, don't go wrong." Everyone struggled to get to this new ...... from that Kuyi Island Well, the New World is not easy to come by, since this yellow coat ...... The masters of the East Coast are so magnanimous to us, and give everyone a chance to reform themselves, then we have to do it carefully and authentically! Only when the errands are done to the satisfaction of the masters, can we live comfortably in the future! ”

"That's right!" The crowd immediately responded, and with that, they began to split up, braving the heavy snow, and began to carefully inspect the road. Their inspection standards for the quality of highways are undoubtedly harsh, and some of the pavements with small flaws may not be taken seriously when the Southern Railway Company accepts them, but they just don't let them go, and go back to the group of Clandi road construction workers who are hiding in temporary wooden houses and tents to rest, and let them rectify them on the spot.

Poor Crandi road builders had just finished the road with exhaustion, and after less than a day's rest, they were pulled out of the rest place and said that they would go to the construction site to rework. Isn't this a toss-up, some of the Crandi workers were at once unhappy, and they defended themselves in their own native language, and looked excited, dancing and rattling the shackles on their feet.

The former Eight Banner soldiers glanced at each other, and then invariably pulled out the saber at their waists, grabbed the hair of one of the most violent Krandi workers, and dragged him to a field more than ten meters away.

As soon as such a cruel method came out, the remaining Krandi workers had no more nonsense, and followed behind the Eight Banners like frightened quails one by one, heading towards the construction site. Even if the west wind is roaring outside, the snow is flying, even if the ground is already frozen and hard to be constructed, even if they are really tired, but this qiē is nothing in the face of the threat of death, it is better to quickly do what these killers say, and get the road that needs to be rectified in good condition.

These overseers will draw their swords and kill people if they don't agree with each other, and after they finish killing, they will report their death to the top, and they only care about the progress and quality of the road, and nothing else, so death is equivalent to a vain death. In this case, it is better not to disobey their good, and it is impossible to do it. Didn't the boss say it, as long as we build roads well and earn points well, we will be sent to Xinhuaxia Island to settle down as soon as the points are enough. I heard that the land was also divided, which can be regarded as a way out, and it is not worth it to die in vain before dawn because of disobedience to these god-killing overseers!

Such a story was played out at the same time on almost all ten sections of the entire line (about 300 kilometers in length). With the efforts of the Eight Banners of Zixinbao who served as overseers and some of the Gaoqiao people hired by the East Coast, the Xingnan Highway can almost be called the first of the same level of highways in the East Coast Republic of China in terms of construction speed and quality, which made President Mo Ming Mo smile from ear to ear.

To this end, he also specially asked the News Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Southern Railway Company to send several professional reporters to the highway to interview some construction participants, and then published an article in the "Southern Railway Weekly". The article exaggerated and boasted as much as possible, and hyped up the so-called "speed of the Southern Railway", which even many people in the local area had heard of, and it was a good publicity for the Southern Railway Company.

Of course, this news report also selectively ignores the 1,679 Krandi road construction workers who gave their lives for the so-called "speed of the Southern Railway". In the eyes of these cadet journalists, who were born in the Corps Fort and received an education in "East Coastism" from an early age, the barbarians have no human rights, they are just pure consumables, nothing more. And the East Coast is kind to them, at least they didn't peel off their scalps to make trophies, did they? Moreover, if these Klandians had survived before the railroad opened, and had not been killed by heavy labor and raging disease, they would have had the privilege of taking a sum of money and boarding a ship on the east coast to cross the sea to New China Island to start a new life of their own, just like many of their compatriots who had already gone there.

Just as the Hungnam Highway was almost completed, a large sail carrier from the port of Orient carefully avoided the small ice floes inside and outside the harbor, and then slowly docked at the improvised wooden pier under the tow of a steam tugboat. The ship was loaded with heavy freight wagons produced by the Southern Depot and a large number of construction machinery, all in preparation for the next phase of the construction of the two-ocean railway.

After the construction of the highway is completed, the construction of the railway is about to officially begin. (To be continued......)