The sunset gilded the meadows with gold, and the frozen lakes were silvery white. Several teenagers in flaming red hunting suits slashed across the ice like a few bonfires flashing with a serene and warm light. The sky was as blue as a wash, and a few lonely houses stood among the barren grass, and an elderly veteran sat silently in front of the door of the house, smoking a cigarette in his mouth, and his mind had drifted thousands of miles away.

According to the 24 solar terms of the southern hemisphere compiled by the people of the east coast, this meeting (August 4, 1679) is already the so-called "beginning of spring". But the cold weather tells us that spring is still lingering in distant Brazil, with the howling northwest wind sweeping across the flat, low land, and only a touch of red bricks and green tiles, standing proudly among the wind and grass, announcing to everyone who is new to the world the conquest of this inaccessible land.

Inigo quietly appeared in front of several red-brick houses. The old soldier Huo Ran woke up in shock, subconsciously picked up the rifle in his arms, and saw that it was the old acquaintance Inigo, so he snorted, sat down on the chair again, and asked in a weak tone: "Inigo, why are you here?" Lauskey is in the countryside, and he just picked up his family, what? Looking for him? ”

This is Franco Township, also known as Xinying Township, which was established in the first half of this year. This town was breached by the steppe bandit Inigo and Wu Yifei a year ago, and now it has been recuperating for more than a year, and it still has not fully recovered its previous firepower. More than three months ago, the East Bank Immigration Department decided to set up a new settlement here to control this town, which is geographically important and has to be routed by trains.

The newly established settlements, modeled after the old Mar del Plata, were built on the outskirts of the old Spanish towns and were called "new towns". However, the current situation of the new city, everyone has seen, just a few lonely houses, used to store some railway equipment, canned food, weapons and ammunition, it may be more like a military outpost, anyway, it does not look like a residential cantonment.

In fact, at present, there are only a few dozen settled farmers in Xinying Township, and most of them have only one person in the so-called "households", that is, bachelors who have come here alone. These people are generally the second and third generations born in the local area, and they can't inherit the family business, so they can only pack their bags and leave their relatively prosperous hometown and come to this deserted place to cultivate, just like their parents and grandfather's generation who overcame obstacles to build their homes.

"No, I'm here to fight the front station, or I'm sending someone here." Inigo rolled off his horse, lifted the brim of his hat with his horsewhip, and said wearily, "This place looks pretty good. Where are those children, why don't they work? ”

"The only children of the families who moved here were very wild. Besides, what is there to do in this winter? Dig canals, build reservoirs? No, look at such a big puddle over there, how can dozens of people repair it? Besides, we only have one cadre here, and he still has no hair on his mouth, and he spends his days mingling with the technician on the railroad, and I don't think he can count on him. The old soldier pursed his lips, tightened his coat, and continued to swallow the clouds.

"Really? That's too bad! The railway hasn't left Yancheng County yet, what is he busy with? The most important task now is neither to build railways nor to produce agriculture, but to do a good job of resettling the new arrivals. If you can't do this job well, I don't think this guy wants to do it, right? Inigo was accustomed to seeing big people, and his tone of voice grew louder day by day, but he pointed to the shack next door made of reeds by the lake, and said: "I remember that the last time I came, this shack was erected, saying that it was used as a kitchen and firewood house for the new immigrants, and they would also build some additional shacks as temporary shelters for the immigrants, why didn't I see it?" Where is it? Don't tell me that it hasn't been built yet, it's freezing in this season, but people will die, and no one can afford this responsibility. ”

"Inigo, you are the commander of the garrison, and your confidence is different." The old soldier sighed, stood up from his chair, frowned, and said, "It may be related to the recent appearance of a group of horse bandits on the grassland, which involves a large part of our energy. You see, Director Wang and the others set off more than a week ago, and Township Chief Chen was busy raising supplies and horses for them at that time, so I am afraid that some things will not be taken care of. ”

"Horse bandits?" Inigo was stunned when he heard this. If we talk about horse bandits, aren't they the biggest "horse bandits"? A year ago, he and Wu Yifei, under the planning of Sheng Dehong, an official of the General Intelligence Bureau, led the "horse bandits" to break through the town of Franco, shocking the whole of Buenos Aires. How long has it been, and how can a new wave of horse bandits pop up on the grassland? It can't be a Spanish pretend, right?

The old soldier also seemed to understand Inigo's confusion, only to see him shake his head, and said: "I don't know their identity for the time being, but maybe as you suspect, it is the Mestizos, and there are a few herders who have met with them to support this statement." But this is all for later, they only have a few dozen people, and they dare not stay in one place for too long. ”

Inigo nodded, and then saw him stroke his sword in his left hand and hold a horsewhip in his right hand, and walked quickly to the reed hut next door, opened the coarse wool stall hanging at the door, looked inside, and was immediately disappointed: "Let's not talk about the horse bandits for the time being." But what does that mean? Not only is there a shortage of food and kitchen utensils, but even fuel is also very scarce. In five days, after only five days, 300 people will be escorted here to settle down and become residents of Xinying Township, but this place is not ready to welcome it at all. What is this, this is dereliction of duty! Malfeasance! ”

The old soldier scratched his ears and cheeks a little when he heard this, only to see him lean against the wall, then gestured with his hands, and said with a little excitement: "Alas, you don't have to worry about the problem of food and cooking utensils, most of them are transported to the warehouse on the side of the planned railway line." However, fuel is indeed a big problem, alas, there is a serious shortage of firewood, people can only use reeds and thatch, and use whatever they catch, but it is still seriously insufficient. But no one sent honeycomb coal, which is a real headache. You see, I now have to collect dry thatch here and there to boil water to make yerba mate, but they are gone after a while without boiling. ”

"What happened to the Spaniards in the neighborhood?" Inigo asked.

"They grow wheat and corn, and they have wheat stalks and corn stalks to burn, and those who usually pay attention to collecting some thatch and reeds must be fine. And, do you see the woods? The Spaniards have been growing it for some years, and that in itself is a good source of fuelwood, and they don't need coal, not at all. The old soldier said.

"That's good, that's good." Inigo shook the bayonet sword in his hand and said, "If you don't have one, ask them to borrow food, borrow firewood, anyway." Isn't there a task force working in Franco, let them think of a way, anyway, those guys are good at lip service. ”

Inigo's tone was a little sarcastic, and the old army could hear it. Personally, however, he had little problem with those task forces and even understood their hard work. The task force, which was basically composed of junior civil servants from the diplomatic, intelligence, and propaganda departments, as well as some cadets from the Corps Fort, was called the "Pro-East Working Group", which operated exclusively on the Pampa plain, east of the Yanbu Railway, and carried out propaganda campaigns against some of the small Spanish towns, villages, estates, or military posts, preaching statements such as "East and West go hand in hand to build La Plata", highlighting how positive the East coasters had on the lives of the local Spaniards after settling in the Pampa Plain, such as flourThe production of food such as salted fish, fruits, vegetables, and wine has increased significantly, and the prices of daily necessities and labor tools have also become cheaper.

In fact, these things are all facts, but the working group is more skillful, artistic, and exaggerated, especially when they use words such as "goodwill," "hand in hand," and "cooperation" to frame it, the persuasive power will obviously be stronger, and it is no wonder that some people in China say that their working groups are not engaged in "propaganda" work, but "propaganda" work, and this is indeed the case.

Of course, the Spaniards are not stupid and cannot stand by the fact that you are going about your life. In particular, the priests who can be seen everywhere are the best of the best, and they have long spread negative news about the people of the East Coast in Spain and among the Indians who have been naturalized, such as that they are "evil" and "deceitful", and those who dare to cooperate with them are "traitors", and their souls will not rest in peace after death, etc., in short, they have caused a lot of obstacles to the propaganda work of the people on the East Coast, and they have even suffered a lot of hostile eyes from the Spaniards wherever they went.

However, the Spaniards resisted the erosion of the East Coast from the ideological field, and the East Coasters would of course return the favor in the other way. For example, just last month, the local religious affairs office selected more than a dozen Catholic priests from all over the country who are capable of speaking and can speak and take a boat to the Pampa plain, intending to join the so-called "pro-East working group" distributed in Mar del Plata, Franco, Buenos Aires, and the port of Nancun to carry out propaganda and pacification work.

It is worth mentioning that these priests are carefully selected, familiar with the scriptures, good looks, good tempered, and have a kind image on weekdays, which has a natural plus for the influence of believers. Moreover, after many years of education on the East Coast, they inexplicably felt that they were on a "civilized mission" to liberate the backward people of the Spanish territories, and they had great enthusiasm for their work, and they were even more interested in snatching the lamb from the hostile church organization. I believe that after these people join the working group and play a formal role, there should be a certain improvement in the propaganda and pacification work that has been somewhat stagnant.

Although Inigo was of Hispanic descent, he had also fought the Spaniards on the side of the East Coast for many years, and knew how much distrust they had of aliens and infidels, so he was not confident in the effectiveness of the pacification work, as this has been proven in history. He always believed that the best way to deal with the Spaniards was to constantly and massively emigrate here, dilute and drown them with an overwhelming number of people, and finally assimilate them.

For example, in recent months, the East Bank Immigration Department has closely implemented the spirit of the Central Executive Committee and has set up several new settlements on the Pampa Plain in recent months, namely Wanji Township near the town of Cachari, Niutun Township near the town of Lautch, Liugu Township near the village of Caplins, Sanyi Township near the town of Maipu in the later Dynasty, Beita Township near the town of Castelli in the later Dynasty, and Xita Township near the town of Pilla. Gaoyuan Township, located near the later General Belgrano Township, has a total of eight settlements if you count Xinying Township-the initial plan is to arrange more than 10,000 immigrants, which is the right way for Inigo to do, rather than doing propaganda work when you are full, which is completely putting the cart before the horse.

Oh, by the way, there's something I forgot to explain. Since the successful completion of several operations planned by the General Directorate of National Intelligence and the gendarmerie, Inigo has been appointed as one of the three full-time deputy commanders of the Yanbu Railway Garrison District, focusing on the security of the plain area near the south bank of the Río de la Plata, and the main task is to ensure the safety and defense of the towns and railway annexes along the Yanbu Railway in the naturalization.

Therefore, as one of the few middle and high-ranking officials sent by the government on the east bank of the Pampa Plain, Inigo would suddenly feel bad after hearing that the conditions for receiving immigrants were lacking and that there were horse bandits nearby, so he didn't have a good temper with the old army in front of him who had fought together on Huaiyuan Island (he was Inigo's boss, and after being discharged from the army due to injury, he simply took the resettlement money to the Pampa Plain to start life again), and he only breathed a sigh of relief after he checked the material reserves in the warehouse again, said: "It's okay, there is still some food." Otherwise, you may really have to borrow it from the Spaniards, which may cause some disputes and be troublesome to deal with. But if it really comes to that point, there is no way, anyway, Lao Tzu also robbed them once last year, so what if you grab it again this year! ”

Looking at this Inigo, who was still a gangster after becoming an official, the old army shook his head with a smile. Of course, he didn't have the slightest doubt that Inigo would do such a thing, in his opinion, the Pampa Plain had been "ceded" to the east coast by the Kingdom of Spain in exchange for Gou'an, and the Spanish "remnants" on it could afford to make any big waves? He vaguely heard that the garrison of the people on the east coast of Chile had already "gifted" the Spaniards in the territory several times, and they were already more polite than there.