Qi'an Township was not far away, but it was only tens of kilometers away, so Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang and the baggage troops arrived the next day.

Yang Liang walked and observed all the way, not only including the terrain, but also interested in vegetation and soil, the area around the current Yiyang Bay has become a complete military area, and the civil affairs of thousands of pioneers in the four settlements and the military affairs of the first regiment of the army are all under the full management of him Yang Someone, so he now has to also understand the local agricultural conditions.

In summer and autumn, you can see the lush vegetable fields full of cucumbers, tomatoes, cowpeas, leeks and other common vegetables, but this will be winter, and there are only some large greens provided by the Northern Seed Company.

Yang Liang looked at the soil carefully, it was all slightly reddish soil, and an agricultural cadre who accompanied the army told him that this was "dry grassland shrub weakly dissolved soil", which was not very fertile, but it was not very bad. The reason for the appearance of this form of soil is probably due to the relatively high terrain here, relatively little vegetation (you must not choose good agricultural land when building the village, this is a violent thing), and the leaching is relatively strong.

In the lowlands, closer to the coast to the east, the red and yellow soils common to the subtropics are developed, both of which are very fertile and are home to a variety of subtropical plants, and are generally very lush due to the climate and precipitation. Taking Yiyang Town as an example, in addition to planting a large number of staple grains such as corn and wheat, the people of the east coast have also widely planted various crops including cotton, citrus, tobacco, and sugarcane (but the scale is relatively small), and the growth is undoubtedly very good, which shows that its soil texture is very high, which is difficult to compare with the higher terrain areas in the west.

Under such conditions, it is no wonder that the Xinhuaxia Island side once planned to move southward in a big way, occupy the lowlands on the east coast of South Africa, and vigorously develop grain cultivation. Their wishful thinking is obviously to grow their own cash crops, let the eastern lowlands of South Africa grow food, and call it "the country's strategic deployment". However, it is clear that the Yicheng area has its own ambitions, and they have actually secured the Yicheng Iron Works project, and with the increasing stability of the output of the Chenggao coal mine and the huge demand for the products in the east coast, the characteristics of the industrialization of the region have become very obvious, and it is impossible to return to the old path of agricultural society.

And since the Yicheng region is committed to industrialization, it is natural to regard the eastern coastal area of South Africa as its own agricultural base, how can it be given to others? What's more, their main population is now concentrated in the two counties of Yicheng and Chenggao in the north, where there are iron factories and coal mines, and they are overhauling railways, highways and docks, and urban construction is also in full swing, and they are even at war with the black tribes all year round because of the shortage of labor. In such a situation, how many people come from to farm? This can be seen from the fact that there have been only a few thousand poor immigrants in Yiyangwan and other places for several years, and there is really no surplus population to invest in it, so that they are still eating sorghum and wheat transferred from the Hezhong area, and they are completely unable to be self-sufficient in grain.

In desperation, in addition to continuing to strengthen grain imports from the Hezhong region, New Huaxia Island had to face the dilemma of expanding its own grain planting area and reducing imports. However, in the new Huaxia Island society, where the atmosphere of commercialization is extremely strong, it is indeed difficult for you to get the owners of the plantations or even ordinary farmers to abandon the areas where the profits are higher to grow cash crops and make food. In the end, this thankless task still has to be borne by the government, so many of the new state farms are now mainly rice cultivation, just to reduce the risk of food shortages on the island - of course, this does not mean that New China Island can be self-sufficient, in fact, it is difficult, and it is simply impossible, so they now have to import food from the Transoxiana region and the Portuguese-controlled Zambezi River valley almost every quarter, otherwise they will not be able to live this day.

Okay, the topic is far away, let's turn our attention back to Qi'an Township. In fact, as soon as Commander Yang arrived here, after greeting the cadres in the township, the first order he gave was to formulate an agricultural production plan. Before he came, he had received news that about 3,000 immigrants from Ningshao and Guangdong would arrive at Yiyang Port by boat in about the next month, and among these people, Qi'an Township, as the headquarters of the First Regiment of the Army, had been allocated a quota of about 1,000 people, which was the same as Yiyang Town, which was enviable.

Yang Liang felt that because Major Mao Jun had carried out several sweeps before, most of the black tribes had now withdrawn from the triangular force of the people on the east coast and lived in the hilly and mountainous areas with more complex terrain in the west. There is also abundant water and grass, and although there are not many flatlands suitable for farming, it is not an insurmountable difficulty for nomadic or nomadic blacks, and they may fight each other for pastures and cultivated land, but they are still more willing to fight with people who know each other better than facing the bayonets of the east coast and the artillery like thunderbolts.

The black tribes who lost the battle had no choice but to continue westward, but this could run into the remnants of the Kama Kingdom, whose civilization was low and they could not resist the armed groups that were much more organized than them; Otherwise, they can only return to the coastal lowlands, and live cautiously under the obscenity of the Easterners, although they are sometimes forced to enter the territory of the Easterners to plunder due to natural and man-made disasters or other factors, but on the whole it is relatively peaceful, except when the Easterners draw troops to sweep up.

Some might think they could flee to the coastal plains to the south or north. But don't forget, there are also tribes there, and their strength is naturally comparable to those tribes that have suffered a lot of losses at the hands of the people on the east coast, and I am afraid that they will not be able to please them, so their whereabouts are basically clear.

According to the data given by the Gendarmerie Command, they believe that most of the black tribes in the vicinity may have fled westward into the mountainous area, the area west of present-day Qi'an Township. Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang thinks that this data is credible, not to mention that the expedition team has also collected dog-headed gold and coal in the mountains to the west, and the texture is quite good, which adds a heavy stroke to the weight, so that Yang listed the westward sweep as the first choice, not only to catch black slaves, but also to occupy possible gold mines and coal mines.

And if you want to move westward from Qi'an Township, then a relatively stable base is indispensable. After all, the materials in South Africa and Xinhuaxia Island are not unlimited, and they also have too many places that need to spend money, and there are a number of money, food and materials that can be squeezed out and used here in Yiyang Bay, so you had better have a certain production capacity yourself, so that you can make the funds at hand a little more active, so that you will not be powerless to do anything else.

In addition, the eastern part of South Africa has not yet been effectively developed, and the terrain is very pristine, let alone the transportation facilities. Therefore, transporting a large amount of supplies from the port of Yiyang to the mountainous area to the west is already a very heavy task. Yang Liang also sees how many vehicles have been damaged by the baggage battalion these days, so the materials that can be raised locally (such as grain, fruits, vegetables, draft animals, etc.) should be raised locally as much as possible, which can effectively reduce the pressure on logistics.

"Commander Yang, we will definitely pay attention to agricultural production, but as you know, we are short of money here. Without money, you can't do anything, and you can't even buy the necessities of life. "The township cadres have been waiting for someone to come up for a long time, and as soon as they met Yang Liang, they immediately poured bitter water and complained about the pain of lack of money and materials.

"If you don't have money, you have to find a way." Yang Liang waved his hand to stop these people's complaints, and then said: "Give you a real account, the Yicheng area probably has no money for you, they have a lot of projects now, and they can't wait to break it in half to spend, don't count on it." New Huaxia Island, after all, they are 'outsiders', even if they have the care of the central government, but it is the limit to support some money and food on weekdays, how can they support you for a long time? The middle of the river? No, no, no, don't count on them! They are still digesting the debts of railway construction, not to mention the financial pressure on them from years of war, so don't count on it. All you – well, us – can rely on is yourself! Do you understand? ”

The township cadres were speechless when they heard this, and they lost their hope, so they are still hairy?

"I've heard that a lot of people have found coal, iron ore and doghead gold in the mountains to the west? Is this true? Don't talk to me uselessly, I just want to understand, is it true or not? Yang Liang threw the horsewhip to the adjutant, and then sat down on a bench in the countryside and asked with great momentum.

"Commander, since you say so, I'll tell you the truth." A township cadre thought for a moment and plucked up the courage to say: "There have indeed been three expeditions to the west before, and except for one group that was completely wiped out and died under siege by the black tribe, the other two teams have successfully returned to Yiyang Port. They did bring back a large number of mineral specimens from the west, but there were differences. ”

Seeing Yang Liang listening intently, the cadre did not dare to slack off, and immediately continued: "The coal specimen was found by them more than a hundred kilometers away from here, and according to them, there is a very large coal storage belt there. Coal has good quality, rich types and shallow burial, which is very valuable for mining. The location of the iron ore specimen is a little farther away, in the southwest of the large coal storage belt, about 200 kilometers away from our Qi'an Township, and the reserves are quite a lot, the grade is quite high, and the mining value is very high. And, more importantly, there is also a super-large coal storage zone near this iron mine, and the quality of the coal is just as good. The technicians of the expedition team all said that if a coal and iron complex is built in the local area, it will definitely develop very well, unlike the Yicheng port, where iron ore still needs to be transported from the Kanghua port on Xinhuaxia Island, which is more limited. ”

"And what about the dog's head gold? Also in the west? Yang Liang asked what he was most concerned about.

"There's no guarantee for that." The township cadres also told the truth, only to hear him say: "The leader of the expedition once told us at dinner that the dog-headed gold was traded from the hands of the blacks. As for where the negroes came from, they did a lot of investigations, and all the clues pointed further west, about three hundred kilometers from us, maybe four hundred kilometers, that maybe. In that place, the people of the expedition thought that there should be a large gold belt, and they had now suggested that the higher authorities organize a larger, more equipped expedition to investigate the area, and perhaps there would be a surprise. ”

In fact, the gold mine guessed by the expedition team is located in the large gold belt at the junction of the Free State of South Africa and the Transvaal Province in the future, including most of the gold resources in South Africa, and the reserves are very amazing, and it is about 300 kilometers away from Qi'an Township, where the people on the east coast are now.

This distance is actually very far normally. Because there's nothing here, the traffic is very primitive, and everything has to be walked. And you have to climb over mountains along the way, which is not a smooth road, which is very fatal. But, then again, this is "normal", what if the situation is "not normal"? That is, what if there really is a very large gold belt over there?

Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang believes that the distance of three or four hundred kilometers is not an insurmountable difficulty under the temptation of a super-large gold mine, if it exists. Especially now that the international silver price has ushered in a rapid depreciation channel, the East Coast government has also been preparing for the gold standard system for many years, but unfortunately it has been unable to change the current gold and silver double standard system to the gold standard because of the lack of gold reserves, coupled with the current high government debt, they also have a strong impulse to obtain a certain amount of precious metals to repay the principal and interest of various debts that are about to mature, so as to reduce the financial burden.

Therefore, after comprehensively considering these factors, Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liang believes that if it can be confirmed that there is indeed a large-scale gold mine more than 300 kilometers to the west, the central government will definitely be impressed in a panic situation, and then this distance is a fart! The East Coast is now a primary industrialized country, and once the war machine is launched, it will be simply terrifying! Long way? Just build the road! Understaffed? Just catch the blacks! Need to fight? Just allocate money and people! They don't care about anything else, they only care if this gold mine can bring them enough profits!

It may be that the excessive collection of precious metals is not good for the country's industrial development and the cultivation of national morals, but it is not as crazy as the Spaniards, but only a small reduction in the debt burden, and most of the rest is not put into the market, and will be stored in heavily guarded coffers as reserves for future monetary reform.

"It seems that someone will have to be sent to the west to confirm it again, and at the same time, the report to the local area cannot be delayed. It doesn't matter if he's really fake, report it first, and then talk about it, you won't suffer. Damn, I can't delay it, I'll go write a report in a while, let the nearest ship take it to the mainland, and blow up the stupid old men of the executive committee. Yang Liang rubbed his chin, and a decision had already been made in his mind.