"The orchard at the foot of Helan Mountain is formed, and the north and south of the Yangtze River are famous." In an orchard on the western outskirts of Dingnan Town, Cai Huaze, the soon-to-be retired commissioner of the Northern Patagonia Regional Administration, gently stroked the couplets carved on both sides of the gate, as if caressing his lover's face.

In the orchard, there was a large group of Italian-origin non-national laborers who were trying to pick fruits, and they looked at Cai Huaze with fearful eyes, not knowing what the gray-haired old man was thinking. Isn't it just a gate carved with some Chinese characters, so beautiful? Isn't this historic state-owned orchard built by Cai Huaze himself?

The team leaders of the orchard took sticks and stepped forward to disperse the Italians who were close to the onlookers, and then welcomed Cai Huaze and others inside. The area of the orchard is very large, planting more than 10,000 fruit trees including grapes, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, apples, pears, etc., and the fruits harvested every year are exported to the east coast prairie, duck lake, Brazilian plateau, South Africa and other places, obtaining a lot of profits, making Dingnan County a well-known rich county.

Of course, Dingyan County and Luyang County are not without competitors in the east bank of the country when such an oasis of the Ludang River becomes an oasis! Its main rivals are undoubtedly farmers in Hai'an County, who also operate orchards, vegetable bases and nurseries in the oasis of the Chubut River. This place was developed earlier than the Ludang River Basin, with the same abundant sunlight, the same large temperature difference between day and night, and the soil texture is almost the same, and the fruits and vegetables grown are naturally not much different.

Therefore, in the fruit market on the east coast, the competition among fruit farmers and businessmen in Dingnan, Hai'an, and Luyang counties is very fierce. In order to defeat their competitors, they do everything they can, advertising, pulling relationships, finding agents, etc., so that they can do everything to increase their advantages and seize more market share. Now, with the increasing population on the east bank and the affluence of the country, the consumer market for fruits and their derivatives (including fresh fruits, dried fruits, jams, canned food, fruit wine, etc.) is getting bigger and bigger, so commercial capital and industrial capital have also begun to enter this industry rapidly, and gradually formed a three-legged situation in the Hecheng oasis of the Chubut River and the Ludang River: Ma's Fruit Industry, Xu Ji Food and many state-owned orchards (belonging to the National Reserve Grain Depot).

These three are not only industrial capital, but also commercial capital. They enclose large tracts of land and run their own orchards – a shortage of labour, in which the state-run orchards are in great advantage, while the other two are far less large – and they also buy large quantities of fruit from local growers and transport it elsewhere for sale.

In addition, various fruit processing factories have also sprung up here, processing all kinds of locally produced fruits, making various finished products and exporting them to other regions for profit. The scale of this business is so large that when there was a dispute over which of the two lines of the wool transportation line should be built first, because of the development of the local fruit industry, the northern line (Dingnan County-Yancheng County) finally prevailed and was determined to be the priority line.

"Your good days are coming, and the construction of the wool transport railway is basically a foregone conclusion. It was initially decided to start construction from Jiuyuan Township (located near the later small town of Zapara, belonging to Dingnan County, with a population of about 1,500) and Yancheng Port, and hoped to complete the construction of the railway as soon as the funds were in place. Cai Huaze slowly paced into the orchard and said, "As soon as this railway is repaired, your chance to take off will come, and the opportunity for Northern Patagonia to take off will also come." ”

Cai Huaze is already very old, although his health is not bad, but after all, it is not suitable to continue to serve as a senior member of the district administration commissioner. What's more, when Yang Mingyang retired a few years ago, he had already served as the commissioner of the Southern and Northern Patagonia regions for several years, and the prestige that should be played was almost in place, and the official addiction that should have been passed has also passed, and now it is time to let go of everything and process the courage to hand over to the next generation.

Cai Huaze has decided that after the final inspection of the counties of Northern Patagonia, he will leave this place where he has struggled for many years and return to Cai's hometown to live a good life. He will step down from all positions, including the status of a member of the Founding Parliament (which will be inherited by his eldest son, Cai Hao), and will never be in the world until the day he leaves this world.

And before leaving, he is of course willing to do more things for the Patagonian terrace, such as the establishment of a special railway for wool transportation. On this railway, he and Yang Mingyang sold their old faces, grinding in the office of a cadre of the Young Zhuang faction, and finally succeeded in winning the approval of the project, which was not easy. You must know that today's East Coast Republic of China has been vigorously increasing military spending for several years in a row, and all aspects of funding are shrinking, and it is a miracle that Tiegongji, which is the largest spender of money, can still invest in new projects.

The northern line of the wool transport railway is more than 800 kilometers long, which is longer than even many railways in the densely populated areas of the north in terms of mileage. However, fortunately, it is an important agricultural production area nearby, rich in food, and there is also the Ludang River to transport all kinds of equipment and personnel, plus the nearby weather is dry, people and animals are not easy to get sick, so the cost of building it is not too high. If it is spread over a period of 5-7 years, it is still affordable.

Once this railway is completed, the grain, fruits, wool, leather, cured meat, and animal fat in the Ludang River basin can be continuously transported to Yancheng Port, and daily necessities, industrial products, medicines and other commodities from the outside world can also be transported to Dingnan County and other places through the railway, which will greatly promote the local economy, and it is no wonder that the local people have been looking forward to building this railway for many years.

Of course, all of the above is considered from an economic point of view, and from a political point of view, the wool transport line is also of great significance. It is well known that the north-south Andes Mountains in the Patagonia Plateau divide the South American continent into two parts, the humid Chilean region on the left and the arid and desolate semi-arid grasslands on the right. Needless to say, there are silver mines, tin mines, mercury mines, sulfur mines, struvite mines, and extremely rich fishery resources and sea animal resources in the offshore area, and the central valley is the first choice for farming. In addition, in recent years, the secret expeditions sent by the Eastern Coast Republic have also brought back high-grade copper ore from many local areas, which has caused a great sensation, not to mention the "rumors" that there are huge reserves of saltpeter mines in the desert of northern Chile in the Ministry of Geology, so this place in Chile cannot be abandoned in any way! Even if it is now in the hands of the Spaniards, it will definitely find a way to recapture it in the future, by whatever means, so as to serve as the foundation of the east coast in the Pacific direction.

Therefore, when the wool railway is extended to the foot of the Andes, it will inevitably have a strong deterrent effect on the Chilean region, so that some ambitious elements with separatist ideas will not dare to act rashly. From this point of view, these railways still have the significance of safeguarding the territorial integrity of the country, so it is no wonder that the authorities agreed to build them under such difficult circumstances.

"Of course, the state agrees to build a railway with us, and there are also conditions." Cai Huaze changed his words at this time, and got to the point, only to hear him say: "This time I went to Beijing and had a good chat with Director Chen, he said that of course the railway will help us build it, but our area has been too quiet in recent years, there is no big move, and the leaders are a little dissatisfied." Therefore, he suggested that we cross the Baoxing River and expand northward, setting up outposts there to lay the groundwork for future cross-border reclamation of northward migration. After all, now that the wool business is booming, our herders also need a larger range of pastures. The area north of the Baoxing River is actually much better than the place we have here far from the riverbank, and it is very suitable for raising sheep. So, you know what to do. Don't worry about the Spaniards, they are now taking care of themselves! There is no need to worry about justice for the Kingdom of Spain, there is no such country in this world, so you can do it without thinking about the consequences, the only thing you need to worry about is whether you can get all kinds of supplies there stably. ”

In fact, Cai Huaze just mentioned that he didn't have to worry about the Spaniards, not because he was talking nonsense, but because of the mainstream understanding of the upper class on the East Coast today. The immediate cause was that the Kingdom of Spain had just sent a mission to the capital on the east coast, whose mission was to persuade the East Coast Republic of China to join the Spanish side and form an alliance against the "shameless aggressor" of the Kingdom of France, for which they were even willing to pay some price.

The East Bankers have not yet given an official answer as to whether they would accept the Spaniards' invitation. Since in their view, Louis XIV was actually quite interesting enough to allow a large number of East Coast goods to be sold in the French market, so was it necessary for the East Coasters to target such a country that at least ostensibly exuded goodwill?

Of course, all this ultimately depends on the level of effort of the Spaniards, for example, if they make some concessions on the territorial issue, then it is easy to gain the friendship of the East Coasters, and then help them "arrange" some enemies. After all, in the eyes of the people of the East Coast, only land is eternal, and commercial interests should certainly be valued in the short term, but if compared with land, it is indeed inferior.

And no matter how the mission of the Kingdom of Spain talks with the East Coast, at least at this sensitive moment, they don't want to make trouble in their hearts, so this is what Cai Huaze said just now: The Spaniards are just when they have a request for me, you are afraid of Mao, continue to the north, cross the border to cultivate!

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