Gao Jinzhong stuffed a land reclamation permit in his hand into his underwear pocket, then closed his eyes tightly and knelt down lightly on this land overgrown with wild grass. He was so excited that at last he simply lay down on the still damp ground, and with his right hand he grabbed a handful of dirt with two weeds and put it to the tip of his nose, and gently sniffed the intoxicating smell of earth.

This is the land of Lao Tzu! Gao Jinzhong lay on the ground, grinning at the corners of his mouth, Lao Tzu fought desperately to fight, isn't it just for such a day? Now I also have 30 acres of land, and I am about to marry a daughter-in-law and give birth to a bunch of dolls, and I should have no regrets in this life.

"Corporal Gao, the Soldiers' Committee has entrusted me to ask you: Has the local government of Hekou Township ever made things difficult for you in the matter of allocating land? If so, please register with me, and the Soldiers' Committee will report to the Veterans Affairs Office of the Joint Staff Headquarters, and the Office will send a military representative to administer justice for you. A young staff officer in a dark blue military uniform stood aside with a small notebook and said solemnly.

"Of course not." Gao Jinzhong wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, stood up, and said with some embarrassment: "They charged me 125 yuan in cash, and then issued me this land reclamation permit, saying that the land here is mine." Then they also reminded me that I had to pay taxes after I bought the land, and even if the land did not produce it, I had to pay a basic tax of five cents per acre, which I understood. ”

"Well, it's good that you understand." The staff officer nodded, and then reminded: "The land purchased must be planted with grain within two years, otherwise the county agricultural bureau will reclaim it for free, and this should also be noted." In short, the army returned to the place. From now on, it will be the people of the place. But don't forget that you were once a glorious East Coast soldier. If you have any difficulties, just go to the county and ask the soldiers' committee for help, or you can go to your old unit, the 101st Company of the Army, for help, and that's fine. There are many problems with local officials and masters, and many things are not as simple as in the army, in short, pay more attention to yourself, there is no problem to ask for help from the old army if you are in trouble, and the army will ensure that you are not exploited and troubled by those officials and masters. As long as you have been in the army, the soldiers' council and the joint staff headquarters will take care of you for the rest of your life. Rest assured. Finally, if you are asked to make a report by a nearby elementary school, please try not to refuse, and it is the duty of every veteran soldier to expand the influence of the military in the civilian population. ”

"I understand." Gao Jinzhong nodded heavily and said. The military staff officer patted him on the shoulder, then mounted his horse and left.

After the staff officer left, Gao Jinzhong stood in place for a while. This is a newly planned wasteland in Hekou Township, which was originally full of low bushes and reeds, and after being cleaned up with great efforts, it has now become another basic farmland in Hekou Township, Zhenhai County. The location of this farmland is excellent. It is located on the south side of Highway 2 (Hekou Township - Zhongshan Fort), and there are some small streams flowing through this place nearby. Irrigation and drinking water are very convenient, so it attracts some landless residents who have spare money to settle down and reclaim.

Some of these landless residents were Britons who had entered the country illegally (including English, Scottish and Irish, who had entered from Brazil), and the other part were Italian black laborers who had been cleared out in the past two years.

For example, the village where Gao Jinzhong lived at this time was newly built, and its name was called "Gongnan New Village No. 1 Production Team", commonly known as "Rabbit Hole Village" - because of this, some Guarani people lived in this area, and their residence was usually a simple hole dug in the ground and covered with some reed roofs.

The production team has almost planned from the residence to the farmland, and the houses are standard east bank houses (three brick houses on the left, middle and right, with a span of 12 meters, a firewood house, a kitchen, a pigsty, a well in the front yard, and a livestock pen and thatched latrine in the back yard), a total of 100 sets, which means that the capacity of this village is 100 households.

Today's new immigrants no longer have the good thing of sharing land, houses and even wives for free, and they now only have five acres of guaranteed agricultural land that are distributed for free -- in fact, it cannot be said that it is completely free, because the taxes on these five acres of land in the first three years are very heavy -- in addition, houses and daughters-in-law need mortgages to buy. For farmers, the most important helper in farming is undoubtedly livestock, which obviously also needs to be purchased with money. In general, the conditions of new immigrants today are getting worse than they were in the first few years, because they are in debt from the beginning.

For example, the 100 households in Rabbit Hole Village are more or less in debt according to their own economic conditions, but except for Gao Jinzhong, no one else has no debt. Gao Jinzhong paid 125 yuan for the purchase of land (25 acres of land) and 50 yuan for the cost of the purchase of the house in one go, in addition, he also had three Andalusian black cattle on hand, which he could buy as long as he paid 24 yuan, which was a reward for him to join the army and fight and be wounded by the country. can come out with nearly two hundred yuan in cash in one go, and at this time, only Gao Jinzhong, a wounded soldier who has just returned from the front line of La Plata, has it.

These soldiers were paid very well in the war at the front, and when they invaded the Spanish towns, they took some of their belongings and kept them privately, and the gendarmes would turn a blind eye even if they saw them, provided that you did not go too far, and that they could also share a lot of cash income when they divided the spoils, which all added up to a lot.

As a soldier of the 101st Company of the Army, Gao Jinzhong fought in Buenos Aires, entered Santa Fe, killed Corrientes, and finally went to Asunción for a walk. On his return to his hometown, he received 25 brand-new 10-yuan one-year acceptance bills from the Northwest Reclamation Bank from the Logistics Staff Office, in addition to seven or eight tinkling silver dollars in his pocket, and then limped back to his hometown with a worn-out satchel on his back.

Gao Jinzhong himself has no relatives in China, to be precise, he does not have a family on the east coast. He only came to the east bank at the beginning of last year, and he was destitute, and he had been helping in the Dayuhe brick kiln factory, and his income was like that, and he only saved eight yuan after working for a whole year. At the beginning of this year, the 101st Company of the Army was reduced due to the epidemic attack in La Plata, so it recruited additional troops in the country, and Gao Jinzhong, who had excelled in militia training, took the initiative to enlist and did his old job - killing people. The night before boarding the ship for La Plata, the staff officers sent by the military department announced to a whole shipload of 100 reinforcements that each of them would receive the slave girl finger that had arrived at the beginning of '48. In other words, they obtained the right of first refusal to buy female slaves, and if they didn't have the money to buy, the military department even helped solve the loan problem, which can be described as a service to the family, which undoubtedly boosted the morale of everyone.

Gao Jinzhong is a native of Henan, he is the king of Chuang in Henan to revive the army that will follow, followed King Chuang to the south and north, fought Kaifeng, entered Xi'an, and then fought with the Qing army in Henan, and was defeated by the Qing army and came to the east bank by mistake, becoming a "glorious" construction worker. However, it was obvious that a man accustomed to being a soldier could not adapt to the boring life of a worker, so he seized the opportunity to go to the battlefield of La Plata, which was under heavy artillery fire, fought several battles with the Spaniards, killed a Spanish soldier, cut off the heads of three Guarani people, and then came to an abrupt end because of a battle wound.

It doesn't matter if the military career is over, in the future, I will stay at home honestly, marry a daughter-in-law, take care of dozens of acres of land, and then give birth to a bunch of children. Well, he also wants to let his male baby stay up from a young age, and then go to the army when he grows up, the land and houses in his hands and even the women are given by the army, just like King Chuang gave himself food so that he would not starve to death, he can't be a man with a conscience, and he can't pay back this kindness, so let his son pay it back.

After being stunned in the field for a while, Gao Jinzhong carefully dusted off the sludge from his old military uniform, then straightened the military hat on his head, and limped towards the village. This village is now full of men, from all over the world, but there is no trace of women, which makes people a little tired.

Fortunately, the small cadre of the regimental fort who placed everyone here said that in a few months, a group of female slaves from the Ottoman Empire will arrive, the number of which is fifty, and the first fifty people with the highest score will be selected in turn. Of course, in view of the fact that there are also many Europeans from Italy and Britain in the village, some Ming immigrants with daughters will also be arranged to settle in the "Gongbei New Village No. 1 Production Team" on the north side of Highway 2 to solve the problem of starting a family.

"A group of Yi people called Hanako!" Gao Jinzhong glanced at those Italian immigrants with unshaven beards and tattered clothes, and the disdain in his heart was fully revealed, "Lao Tzu chased the ass of the Yiren in La Plata and beat them to the ground, but I didn't expect to return to China in a blink of an eye, and actually saw so many foreign devils who opportunistically came in and mixed into the people, it was really unlucky!" ”

After complaining for a while, Gao Jinzhong didn't say anything more. Now the country is also in difficulty, so many men go to the front to fight, the labor gap in the country is getting bigger and bigger, if there is no one, the farmland will definitely not be able to be managed by women alone, and the decline in grain production in the coming year is inevitable. Besides, I heard that the four townships in Zhenhai County will take turns to send a group of people to Zhongshanbao to build Highway 2, which is even more worrying.

From this point of view, it is no wonder that so many Brazilian foreign devils have entered the country, and this cheap labor should not be in vain. I just don't know when the battle will end, and I really hope that the brothers will come back with all their feet and feet, and everyone will go to the soldiers' committee to chat and drink in the future, how pleasant it will be! But if there is no battle, my boss Gao will not be able to make this fortune, and the money that the daughter-in-law wants to buy a house and land does not know that the year of the monkey can only be earned, so thinking about it, then this battle should really be fought, and it must be fought fiercely! Fight until you snatch the last pair of Spanish pants! (To be continued......)