In June, the East Coast has entered the early winter season.

A group of road construction workers from Sicily take a break at Advance Farm (later near the village of Palermo, Florida, Uruguay). On the opposite side of the road, next to the construction site of the railway station, a red hearth was burning in a brick earthen stove, on which there was a large iron pot with mutton soup stewed.

There is no doubt that this is a food stall. The slightly gray-haired Mingren stall owner was now intently stirring something in the iron pot with a large wooden spoon, and next to him were two children under the age of seven or eight, one squatting on the grass picking cabbage, and the other was pulling the small wooden bellows with the strength of milk, so that the fire in the hearth burned more vigorously.

The Italians who were taking a nap smelled the aroma of mutton soup, and they all swallowed a little. They got up at five o'clock in the morning and went to the construction site, when it was still dark, and they were a little overwhelmed after two hours of physical work, some of them sat on the ground and pretended to sleep to ward off hunger, and some of them watched the food stalls wait for the time to eat.

The quality of breakfast was generally acceptable, at least much better than in their hometown in Italy: two huge beef buns (beef was the cheapest meat on the east coast), a bowl of steaming lamb broth, and a piece of dead dough - of course only for the foreman of the road construction team and a few veteran workers, after all, the food stalls could not serve too many people at the same time - and this nutritional supply gave the Italian road builders plenty of body to level the foundations and lay the railroad tracks. Give full play to the construction of the Southwest Railway.

Yes. This is the site of the construction of the South-West Railway, a railway invested and built by a number of Genoese comptoirs. The total length of the railway is more than 400 km. The preliminary estimate of the cost is more than 35 million bank lira (in fact, most of it is much more). It is another arterial-level railway in the Republic of China on the east bank of China, and this railway passes through Xiayihe County to the south, and then obliquely inserts into the Western Great Wilderness area, crosses and then reaches Jingjiang Port on the bank of the Wujiang River, which is of great significance.

At present, the railway was built by the newly established "Steppe Railway Company" (the General Directorate of National Railways on the east coast and the Genoese consortium each had half shares, and the operation of the company was managed by the General Administration of Railways, and the Genoese were only entitled to dividends), and the construction of the railway was financed by the Genoese. And they were also responsible for recruiting laborers from the Old World. In other words, the people on the east bank of the railway only provided some technical support, and at most rented some construction machinery to help them improve their work efficiency, while the Genoese people were responsible for the rest of the work, that is, they recruited laborers in the old continent on their own, transported them to the east coast on their own, ordered railway equipment from the Tieling Special Steel Mill and the Western Forging Mill on their own, and made their own construction plans.

Of course, the East Coast doesn't do nothing. They will build a railway bridge (currently under construction) connecting the two banks of the Yi River. After the completion of this railway bridge, the entire Southwest Railway will be connected to the Northwest Railway. The value has increased considerably; In addition, the Xianning Line (40 km) of the Southwest Railway (40 km) bought back by the East Coast Government and part of the wharf that has been built at Jingjiang Port will be packaged and placed with the railway bridge into the Grassland Railway Company as the company's assets. In general, the two sides took what they needed, the Genoese solved the problem of excess funds, and the people on the east coast picked up half of the railway for nothing, which can be described as a great joy for all.

Since the construction of the Southwest Railway for more than a year, it has been built from Ningjin Township to the glorious farm this section of more than 50 kilometers, so the section of the railway has reached more than 90 kilometers, the large number of soybeans and wheat produced by the Great Wilderness Farm, the shrub farm, and the glorious farm, and a large number of beef cattle can be transported to the port of Xiayi River for loading through the Guò railway line, and then transported to the eastern coastal areas, the cost is greatly reduced, and the yield has been improved, which will naturally make everyone develop the enthusiasm of the inland wasteland to build a large farm.

Coupled with the export boom that ushered in the outbreak of the Anglo-Dutch War, the government of the East Bank Republic simply continued to settle along the planned South-West Railway, while encouraging private capital to lease farms along the railway line and further develop the surrounding area to make the most of this gradually extended railway line. Such a policy will inevitably lead to the gradual prosperity of the Southwest Railway, and eventually the actual control of the people on the east coast.

For example, this is the case in Taoyuan County, which was officially established a while ago. As the first county-level administrative unit along the Southwest Railway, the county has jurisdiction over Taoyuan Township (formerly Taoyuan Township), Dahuang Township, Shrub Township, and Guangrong Township, three townships developed on the basis of pioneer farms, as well as a newly established fort - Libao (located near the small village of Pilaraha in later generations, named after the large number of pear trees cultivated in the Northern Botanical Garden). The total population of the five township-level administrative units of Taoyuan County, one town, three townships, and one fort is less than 9,000, which is now the least populous county-level administrative unit in the country.

The county is located in the fruit growing area of southern Uruguay, and its soil conditions are particularly suitable for the growth of peach, pear and other fruit trees, and the people of the east coast have also discovered this situation, so they vigorously promote the cultivation of peaches, pears, plums, grapes, apples, oranges and other fruits in the county. The Ministry of Agriculture also plans to set up a botanical garden in Taoyuan Township to cultivate and improve fruit tree varieties and guide local farmers in planting them, striving to develop fruit cultivation into the economic backbone of the region - especially now that the railway connection makes it possible for these fruits to be transported quickly to the eastern coastal and northwest industrial areas, where there are large consumer populations.

Unlike Taoyuan County, the newly established Qianjin Farm is mainly agricultural, and more precisely, this newly established state-owned farm is mainly soybean and pasture cultivation. Soybean is a crop that can not only fertilize the field, but also the income is also very considerable - plantation owners in Brazil, Peru and other places are very fond of this kind of thing that can fertilize the field, and the east coast of China also lists it as the three major soil fertilizers along with guano and whalebone meal, and the price is not low, so the general farmland cannot afford to use it, and most of them are exported to foreign sugarcane and tobacco plantations; Although pasture is not as economical as soybeans, the farm itself has a livestock pen and raises a lot of sheep, and the feed for these sheep mainly comes from the grass grown in the field.

Therefore, to be precise, Qianjin Farm is mainly a mixture of agriculture and animal husbandry, producing a variety of products such as soybeans, mutton, and wool, and it can still be profitable and sustained if it is managed well. At present, there are more than 300 people on the farm, almost all of whom are obtained from Scotland and Ireland by Mendes, a labor broker, who will work on the farm for five years, and after five years will have the right to apply for citizenship of the East Coast Republic of China, and then buy the land and start a family.

In addition to the more than 300 migrant workers, the new farm is also home to hundreds of Italian road construction workers from Sicily, who are sitting on the grass waiting for a meal. They were dressed in shabby, dirty, cheap linen clothes, with unshaven beards, and looked tired, as if the two hours of labor after waking up in the morning had drained their spirits. Many people stared at the food stalls intently and did not speak, while others smoked cheap cigarettes that they didn't know where they came from; There was still some dew on the grass, but they didn't mind lying on it, seizing a moment to soothe the fatigue of labor.

These were all road builders from Europe who were recruited by the Genoese consortium, and at this time in Italy, overpopulation had become a relatively serious social problem. Poor agricultural facilities, years of unfavorable weather and unfavorable weather, and the extortions of the aristocracy have forced farmers in many parts of the central and southern regions to rely on the cultivation of a high-yielding crop such as maize, which would otherwise be insufficient for everyone. In this case, it is a very simple matter to recruit workers from Naples and Sicily, where the overpopulation is the most severe - of course, you have to use some deceptive tricks to blow the east coast into the sky, so that it will be more efficient when recruiting people.

These people were recruited by the Genoese people, and their wages were paid by the Genoese consortium, and the tools of labor and food for daily consumption were purchased nearby. For example, this food stall next to the train station of Qianqian Farm is specially designed to provide food for these people, of course, the farm also provides food, but it is particularly unpalatable, and very crude, except for the relative cheapness, there is almost no merit, so the foremen of this Italian road construction team will arrange the people to eat "pig food" on the farm, and they will go to this snack stall to buy food, after all, this snack stall in addition to making delicious things, but also sell some additional alcohol, which won their favor.

The owner of the food stall was a veteran who had retired from the Stand Up squad because he was too old, and he crossed the ocean to the East Coast, where he was finally placed near Advance Farm. Because of his background as a veteran and his young age, the General Directorate of National Development, which is in charge of immigration, allowed him to set up a food stall next to the train station to cook for the road construction workers to earn some hard-earned money.

Of course, this food stall is actually very profitable, with a net profit of around one yuan per day, and an annual income of more than 300 yuan, which is also an absolute high income on the east coast. At present, this Ming immigrant specializes in cooking here, and the two children do not go to school, so they are around to help; As for his big-shouldered and round-waisted Slavic mother-in-law, in addition to taking care of the family's farmland, she was also responsible for collecting and killing sheep, and she was definitely a good hand at her work.

Time passed quickly in the hustle and bustle of the family of three, and as the morning sun appeared on the eastern horizon, several foremen stood up and began to beckon everyone to get up and go to breakfast in the Sicilian dialect. After the men were driven away, the foremen sat down with more than a dozen other veteran workers at the food stall, drinking mutton soup and talking in the Sicilian dialect.

The golden sun shone on the roadbed, and some of the rails smoothed by the wheels of the horse-drawn railcar glittered in the sun, and a new day began...... (To be continued......)