On January 30, 1688, in the border area between Bac Ninh and Hue, Ho Yuan was having a conversation with local farmers.

He had already spoken with the leadership of the Bac Ninh Regional Administration, and the two sides agreed to jointly finance the construction of the embankment and the irrigation canal system derived from it.

Unfortunately, because of factors such as too large water level drop and too many shoals, the Fu River is not navigable for slightly larger ships, except for a small part of the downstream river section, and some small wooden boats built by residents along the way can do closed-loop navigation in a limited area, and the shipping utilization rate is really low. In this way, the meaning of the river's existence is only agricultural irrigation and aquatic fishing, and it may be able to use its relatively rich hydropower resources when the power is developed in the future, but for the time being, it can only be used for agricultural irrigation.

"We're very different here from the eastern seaboard, where I'm from and know everything there." In a village in Fuhe Township, a slightly young village chief said to He Yuan. He was smoking the cosmic brand cigarette given by He Yuan in his mouth, which seemed very comfortable, and he didn't shy away from talking because of his rough personality, he really had something to say.

"Let's just talk about this way. In the county where I was born, the quality of the roads there is very good, just like the heavy freight wagon that carried food just past, where only six horses can be pulled safely, but here we need eight or even ten, and the life span of the six horses in Rocha must be stronger than the eight or ten horses we have here, which is a clear difference. The village chief continued: "I was reclaiming wasteland nearby when it was still a post station in Fuhe Township, when I was young and had just left my parents and hometown. Now, ten years later, and the road was started five years ago, and it's still so dead, and I wonder where all the money went. The people in Bac Ninh accuse us of not being able to send materials from Hue, and we also accuse Bac Ninh of not having the funds in place. But if I want to tell you, it's all bullshit, and the road is still so bad. ”

He Yuan nodded secretly when he heard this. In fact, he is also clear about this road. As a traffic artery connecting Bac Ninh district and Hue inland areas, to be honest, both Bac Ninh and Hue have put a lot of effort into it. Due to the lack of development and sparse population in the inland areas, the two sides agreed that Bac Ninh would contribute and part of the funds, Hue would provide road construction materials (such resources are abundant in the nearby area), and the Ministry of Communications would open a tender for an engineering company to mine and transport. In short, this can be regarded as a joint venture between the two regions to build a highway, the Ministry of Communications contributed half of the funds, tendered an engineering construction company, because of the proximity of the Bac Ninh area, used part of the manpower and funds, Hue area only provided some materials, which may make the Bac Ninh area a little dissatisfied, the two sides in this matter some unpleasant.

But no matter what, the road was still built, although the quality is really not good, but it did play a role, all kinds of industrial products, grain, wine and daily necessities produced in Bac Ninh County were imported into the inland part of Hue area through this road, laying a good foundation for the next stage of inland development in Hue area.

However, He Yuan felt that this road was indeed necessary to be rectified. Previously, he came all the way from Bac Ninh and Rongcheng (there is a branch line leading to the place), and found that the road surface was mostly damaged, and the materials used were different, which was relatively messy. For example, he found that the existing sections of the road were made of pebbles dug up from the bottom of the river and polished by the current, and in some places they used gravel from the mountains to blow up the mountain, and in some places they simply did not use anything, but the soil was compacted vigorously, making people unable to complain. On such a road, the carriage is very painful to drive, and it is not uncommon for the bumps to be unusual, and sometimes it is very common to easily get stuck in a mud puddle for half an hour. Merchants who had brought goods from Bac Ninh had long complained that the road had caused great wear and tear on their carriages, and that the life of the horses had been greatly affected, in short, a lot of losses.

He Yuan has heard more than one such complaint since taking office, a carriage company in each of Bac Ninh and Rongcheng counties has asked the Guandao company to reduce the toll on their vehicles, otherwise they will refuse to transport daily necessities here, although in the end they finally retracted their complaints, but this does not mean that the road is rotten is not a fact. He Yuan has been thinking of a way recently, planning to import some cinders and asphalt from the outside world to repair the road and reduce the loss on the road. Even, if that wasn't enough, then he ordered a granite mine to be mined to the east of Fuhe Township, and then paved the road with polished square stones, which seemed to be a high cost, but for the sake of a century-old plan, it could only be so.

"Let's not talk about the road, let's talk about life, how about it?" He Yuan handed another cigarette to the village chief and said.

"Life is okay. I planted some of my own land and freaked some food every year, enough for my family. There is not much left, but it is enough to pay the field tax and exchange some sugar, wine, tea, spices, and cloth from Bac Ninh County. Life is not like home, there is no delicious canned food, no fresh seafood, no biscuits and snacks, restaurants are full of village restaurants, and there are no plays and concerts to watch, but there is nothing to complain about, because this is my life, my real life. I understood this ten years ago when I turned sixteen, that it didn't belong to me, that I would start over somewhere else, and that was it. ”

"Don't you miss Luo Qia? There are opera performances, concerts, circuses from Italy, all kinds of costumes and food, girls who can dress up, books and newspapers, everything that is civilized. You just came to the wilderness, with mosquitoes, snakes and ants, fighting with fierce beasts and savages, and you have little income all year round, and you may not even have a place to spend your money, is it worth it? He Yuan asked.

"There's nothing worth it or not, it's been my life, I've been here for ten years, I'm used to it." The village chief shook his head and said, "Life here is quite peaceful. Moreover, the price of food is not as low as in my hometown, and my wife and I have planted 60 acres of land, and our annual income is quite acceptable. Oh, by the way, we hired two poor Italians to help, and they ate and lived in the wood-house for a modest fee. I raised some bees during the off-season, and the honey produced is still very marketable, and even people from Bac Ninh County come to buy it, which adds a lot of income to me. Hehe, it's kind of funny to say, I used to raise cattle for a while, and I almost went bankrupt in the end. You know, in the south of the Pampa Plain, there are a lot of bison that don't want money, and the import tariffs have been very low in recent years, and these cattle have poured into the country, and the rural cattle farmers have lost a lot of money, and they have switched to raising dairy cows or other livestock. There are a few families in our township, and a group of them who came here with me are now raising dairy cows, and then making some cheese and butter by themselves, which makes more money than raising beef cattle. ”

"Some Russians have been in the village lately, right? How are they? He Yuan asked again.

"There are five families in our village, which is about one-eighth of them. As the village chief, I have been to their house a few times, and to be honest, they are all very honest people. I heard that under the rule of the Tsar in the past, he had endured all hardships and done all kinds of work, and after coming to our east bank, he worked in the road construction team for five years, which can be regarded as a poor person. Now that they've turned positive, I'm happy for them. These people, in general, are trying to integrate into our culture and life, and now they are no more than their own traditional festivals, or at least they have not made it public, and no one asks them to do it, but they do it. Ah, by the way, this may have something to do with the fact that Orthodoxy is not yet a legal religion in our country, right? In short, they are already celebrating our festivals now, like the Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Spring Festival or something, they also spend it together, we think it's a little strange, but it's nothing. Some of them brought their families from Russia and spent a lot of money, and as far as I can see, those little kids who play with our children are becoming less and less Russian, and I guess in another ten or eight years, it will be difficult to tell whether they were born on the East Coast or in Russia, which is amazing. Hearing He Yuan's culture, the village chief thought for a while before recalling: "But if they have a little more people, I'm not sure if they will be like this." You know, once there are more people, they will huddle, and that's a problem. ”

"A great conversation, Village Chief Lin, you have provided me with very valuable first-hand information, which has a strong reference significance for my future policy implementation. I think I have now learned a little bit about the lives and sufferings of the pioneers, and I will pay attention to this in my future work, and I will give some preference to the policy to help them solve some practical difficulties as much as possible. He Yuan stood up and shook Village Chief Lin's hand, and said, "At the same time, you also reminded me on the ethnic issue, I think I will be more cautious in arranging the destination of the immigrants." The theme culture of our country is Chinese culture, and this will never change, and if the foreign population wants to live a better life, they must first integrate into our culture, especially their children. Of course, the issue of religion is also a top priority, and many of the cultures of immigrants from Russia, Italy, and Ottomans are rooted in religion, and if they are unable to live a collective religious life, they can lose most of their cultural characteristics, which is indeed a weapon of assimilation. ”

"Goodbye, Village Chief Lin, I wish you good health and happiness for the whole family." He Yuan waved his hand and asked his subordinates to give him a box of canned honey fruits, a few boxes of malt cream, and two bags of shredded tobacco as gifts, and then turned over and rode on his horse, moving towards the next target.