On November 23, 1652, Meng Hu sat in a carriage full of supplies and staggered forward.

After the beginning of spring, the land is unusually muddy, and the remnants of melting snow and thawing mud are all torturing the patience of travelers. From time to time, some light rain fell in the sky, which made everyone who was hurrying to feel a trace of biting cold-no, a pot of river song turned around in the hands of everyone, and soon bottomed out.

This is the shore of Lake Boundary (Lake Fagnano, which means the boundary between the northern plains and the southern mountains of Tierra del Fuego), and Meng Hu and the others are traveling through the mountain paths by the lake, with a total of six wagons, fourteen pack horses, and several times the number of alpaca caravans. Loaded with a large amount of supplies, the party set out from Beech Fort, landed on the coast in the southeast corner by small boat, and then crossed the mountain path to the mountain fort (later Ushuaia), intending to deliver a batch of supplies there, as well as some local goods.

As the core city of the entire Tierra del Fuego, Beech Fort not only has a large population, relatively developed industry and agriculture, but also serves as a distribution center for materials in the entire region. The ships of the Southern Railway Company to Shanhou Fort were very long and indefinite, so the daily supply of the area was often carried out by this primitive pack horse transport. Menghu, as an expedition expert who received a double salary from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Southern Railway Company, followed the camel team to Shanhou Fort this time, but he shouldered the heavy responsibility of investigating the customs, resources and minerals along the way.

The hills on both sides of the road have a high vegetation cover, some of which are low bushes and others of tall trees. It is different from the forests of southern Chile, which are dominated by coniferous forests. There is also a considerable amount of broad-leaved forest. There are also many wild grasses under the trees and lichens on the branches. This provided abundant food for Sakhalin reindeer, moose, bison, and Norwegian musk oxen introduced by the people of the East Coast, and at the same time allowed their populations to multiply rapidly.

Of course, in addition to these forbidden hunting animals, the large number of vicuñas, foxes, and jackals on Tierra del Fuego are not included in the scope of protected animals. They all immigrated here from the Blackwater region, and according to the orders of the people on the east coast, they either lived together or scattered near the lines of communication, and served as the "Cossacks" of the people on the east coast who controlled Tierra del Fuego.

They have a strong ability to survive in the wild, are very hard-working, and are very skilled in hunting. The indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego, such as the Ona people, were no match for them, and their lives began to retreat into the mountains and forests. Of course, there are also some aborigines who were "influenced" by the Taoist priests on the east coast, and then took the initiative to move out to set up villages and settlements, and accepted the rule of the people on the east coast - but Meng Hu and others have always suspected that the reason why these people are willing to move out of the mountains is actually because they can eat enough with the people on the east coast, right?

At noon, the crowd stopped on the side of the road and set up a few improvised tents to shelter from the rain, while most began to fetch water, cook and tend to the livestock. Some of the accompanying hunters had already departed - they had exchanged the fur of their game for some merchandise from the convoy before leaving, and some had lunch with the convoy.

The color of lunch was not bad, with fresh roasted vicuña meat, salted ham from Xihu County, dried cheese, salted fish, canned vegetables, canned whale meat, and some canned fruit. Some hunters plucked some woodflowers (fungal matter that grows after the bark is destroyed by woodpeckers) from nearby beech trees. It's more delicious), and then I brought the beef jerky with me. The group boiled a large pot of soup lively.

"What is the situation of the people living in the mountains now?" Meng Hu took a piece of vicuña meat and put it in his mouth, chewed it vigorously, and then asked. The taste of vicuña meat is not very tasty, even if it is prepared with a lot of spices, it still makes Menghu frown - he is used to living a good life, and now he is indeed a little unable to eat these "coarse" foods.

"Life is still passable." The Oroqen hunter quickly stuffed vicuña meat into his mouth, and said indistinctly: "We live in three or five households, and the Ona people don't dare to do anything to us. Hmph, how can those natives who don't even have clothes to wear (historically, some aborigines on Tierra del Fuego didn't have clothes to wear even in winter, and their ability to resist the cold is extremely perverted), how can they compete with my Great East Coast Country? Now when they go to their village to collect skins, no one dares not to pay them, and they are as docile as little sheep. ”

In fact, in the beginning, some Ona people still did not buy the accounts of the East Coasters, and there were even two Daur hunters who were killed. Of course, the fate of this tribe was also miserable, and it was exterminated by the road escort team dispatched by the Southern Railway Company and hundreds of Shandan hunters who rushed from near and far regions to hear the news. After that, the life of the people on the east coast on the island was much better, and even the natives who were unwilling to accept the rule of the east coast would only hide in the deep mountains and old forests, and did not dare to confront it head-on.

"The attitude towards the indigenous people is still too harsh." "There are now less than 20,000 aborigines on the island, and there are not even two or three thousand people who have been killed by disease because of contact with us, starved to death by us because of our grabbing pastures and pastures, and driven and killed. Among the remaining people, there are still two or three thousand people living under our rule, and the aborigines of Tierra del Fuego look like they will die out sooner or later......"

The Oroqen hunter automatically filtered Menghu's words, and only concentrated on eating vegetables with his head down. He didn't care what this old man Meng said, anyway, the old man Xu (Xu Gang, the captain of the road protection team of the Southern Railway Company) who came to inspect them last time clearly said that although the natives who do not obey the discipline will fight to the death, don't be afraid, the Southern Railway Company is everyone's strong backing. Almost every male of these Shandan people is a militiaman, and they are usually under the control of the road protection team, so they only listen to the orders of the road protection team.

When Meng Hu saw the disapproving attitude of the Oroqen hunters, he knew what they were thinking, and immediately sighed and stopped talking. The population of the Southern Railway has now exploded, and as of last month, with the arrival of a new group of people on the South Pacific route, the total population has exceeded 42,000, and the carrying capacity of the original developed land is seriously insufficient, so it can only expand its territory to the outside world, partly to southern Chile, and partly to the natives of Tierra del Fuego.

According to Menghu's private understanding, although the mountain back fort has not been established for a long time and the population is only more than 1,000, the Southern Railway Company has made up its mind to set up three new settlements in its vicinity, namely the mountain back fort located in the later Lapatasia area (located at the southern end of the Roca Glacier Lake), the mountain back fort near the later Chilean port of Navarino, and the mountain back right fort near the southernmost city on the earth, Williams Port. The initial population of each new settlement was 1,000, and the three points were divided into 3,000 people, which solved considerable problems for the Southern Railway Company.

At present, the construction of these three settlements has been officially included in the work plan of the Southern Railway Company in 1653, and the materials required for the preliminary construction have been loaded into the ports of Araukan and Xingnan respectively, and it is believed that in the near future, they will be sailed to the various settlements located in the narrow Beagle Strait, and then the construction operation will be carried out. If nothing else, from 1653 onwards, thousands of Far Eastern immigrants will come to settle here in batches, waking this previously unknown land from its slumber and bringing it into the ruling sequence of the Republic of China.

By the way, Mo Dashuai, president of the Southern Railway Company, mentioned that the company also plans to spend money to set up a large ranch west of Shanhou Fort. The pattern of the ranch is modeled after the Haberton Ranch, which was later established here, that is, a variety of livestock (mainly cattle and sheep) are raised on large uninhabited islands on either side of the western section of the Beagle Strait. These almost completely natural pastures do not need to be managed at all in summer and autumn, and cattle and sheep grow and reproduce freely, and at most in winter, they need to be sent to them by someone to bring them hay stored in autumn, which can be said to be very low-cost.

Now the ranching plan has entered the concrete implementation stage, except for the small islands that have introduced bison, moose, reindeer and musk cattle, some sheep, goats and beef cattle have been raised on other islands, and local forest rangers have been entrusted to take care of them. I believe that in a few years, these uninhabited islands, which were originally overgrown with wild grass, will be able to produce a steady stream of profits for the Southern Railway Company - who said that these harsh climate, barren and desolate islands will be useless? That's just you can't run it!

The simple roadside lunch was soon over, and everyone took a short break for more than half an hour, and then, under the beckoning of Meng Hu, packed up their utensils and went on the road again. They had to rush to the castle as soon as possible, because the parcels that accompanied them contained many seeds of various vegetables and crops from the Northern Seed Company ordered by the locals, which had to be delivered to the local settlers within a month. If the deadline is missed because of the delay on the road, in terms of the short local plant growth period, the year will be almost ruined, and everyone can only continue to eat the relief flour of the Southern Railway Company, which is obviously not conducive to the company's continuous development of the local area.

On December 10, 1652, after more than half a month of struggle against the wet and muddy roads, Menghu and his party finally arrived at Shanhou Fort, which was now beginning to take shape, with a large amount of supplies and fatigue. And the more than 1,000 settlers of Shanhoubao, who had long been looking forward to them, immediately cheered and welcomed them into the compound of the township government--damn it, the days of isolation are too sad, and everyone needs news from the outside world. (To be continued......)