October 7, 1650, Port of Yancheng (Port Blanca).

In recent years, the East Coast government has also limited the number of fishing vessels from foreign countries (refusing to renew their licenses after expiration), so most of the ships have left the East Coast Coast and then either east to South Africa or north to New England, in short, there are very few foreign fishing vessels fishing in the East Coast Offshore Waters for cod and squid.

However, the departure of these foreign fishing vessels has not led to a significant decline in domestic fish production on the east coast, because the rapid expansion of the number of fishing vessels by the South China Sea Fishery Company has effectively filled this gap, so that the people on the east coast have not significantly increased their spending on fish consumption. The expansion of the South China Sea Fishing Company's production scale has also caused a surge in the number of domestic registered sailors on the east coast, which is obviously a good thing for both the navy and the merchant fleet.

The wharf of Yancheng Port is now small-scale, with three straight cement plank roads plunging into the sea, which can berth more than 20 ships at the same time. Along the pier trestle are steam booms, and many workers in denim clothes are busy going back and forth, most of the time loading and unloading fish and supplies, i.e., unloading fish (mostly hake, a small number of squid, red shrimp and squid) caught from nearby or distant fishing grounds onto the dock, and then bringing supplies such as food, fresh water, vegetables and fruits onto the ship to maintain the boat's ability to continue fishing.

All in all, it is a city that lives on fish (the largest fishing ground in the La Plata region is not far from its southeast coast). However, in the last year or two, with the discovery and exploitation of salt deserts in inland areas, Yancheng Port has begun to export a second commodity - coarse salt and table salt. Coarse salt is used to cure fish or produce chemicals. Salt is sold to the East Coast mainland. Even recently, they have been trying to sell refined table salt from Yancheng to Brazilians to get them to abandon the sea salt collected from the beach from Africa.

Outside the docks, the interior is a desolate place. There are many reasons for this desolation, one is that the territory of the people on the east coast is limited to 1,980 meters from the city at the end of the war, beyond which is the territory of the Kingdom of Spain, and the people of the east coast are naturally reluctant to develop for them; In addition, another reason is related to the soil quality and environment of this place.

Needless to say, this piece of land near the sea of Yancheng Port. The soil texture is very poor, basically peat soil (Hokkaido is more common in this kind of soil), this is obviously due to the long-term inflow of the river into the sea in the dry period of the soil environment formed by the sea water inflow, without great efforts to improve the impossible to grow cereals, support the development of some horticultural fruit forestry - in fact, a large number of fruit trees are planted around the Yancheng port area, pears, peaches, jujubes, apples, grapes, lemons, etc., the output is also so-so, enough for local residents and ships to consume.

Since the land is not suitable for growing cereals in the short term, most of the flour needed for the daily needs of the more than 4,000 local residents (including the salt mines in the inland areas) is imported. They exported salt and salted fish, and imported grain and daily necessities. The two are subtracted and there is a slight surplus, and the small life can go on.

The city of the people of the East Bank is located on the right bank of the Shosai River. The scale is not large, and it is surrounded by high hills (more than 100 meters above sea level). In this coastal basin, because of the peat and clay soils, it is relatively barren, and most of them are some impurities of poor quality, except for the trees transplanted by the inhabitants of the east bank, there are few native tree species, and even low shrubs are rare, and it is really a desolate place.

Of course, strictly speaking, the clay in the coastal basin and the quartz stone and marble that can be found everywhere on the high hills are not without value, at least these things are good for making bricks (including refractory bricks), lime, cement, etc., and the East Coast Building Materials Company does intend to build a branch here to make full use of the local resources. It's a pity that these clays are not kaolin, and it is enough to make pottery, but not necessarily for porcelain, which is quite regrettable.

The Shosai River is a small river, about 8-10 meters wide, but the current is deep and fast. It originates in the Andes Mountains, and although precipitation is scarce, a large amount of snowmelt still rushes down the river every summer, when the Chausse River floods every year. Following the example of the Southern Railway Company, local residents have dug several artificial reservoirs with gates nearby to trap more fresh water during the wet season. You must know that in the winter of the dry season, with the sharp rise of the Atlantic tide, a large amount of seawater will pour in at a specific time, and this is the time when the annual Shosai River changes from a freshwater river to a saltwater river, which will obviously greatly affect the normal production and life of the residents of Yancheng Port.

Some freshwater fish are kept in the artificial reservoir, and the surface of the water is rented to local residents for ducks and geese. However, most of the time, the reservoir is flooded with uninvited guests, such as the South American three-toed ostrich, which has no natural predators and is almost overflowing.

These animals eat everything, grass, plant roots, tree buds, fruits, and even small fish on the beach after low tide. They can swim, they are very alert, and they run very fast, so in this vast land, they really don't have any special predators other than the cougar, so the number is so large that it has almost become a pest.

What Shao Yuanyi saw in the suburbs of Yancheng Port at this time was such a scene: a flock of ostriches that came out of nowhere, after eating the vegetables planted on the shore, entered the reservoir and swam to some aquatic vegetables planted on the central sandbar - this kind of food is a delicacy for them.

Shao Yuanyi's sister-in-law, Anna, carried the boat straight to the center of the reservoir, and she made a sound to frighten the ostriches as she propped the boat, hoping to scare them away and stop spoiling the vegetables she had worked so hard to grow. The ostriches were timid, and although they were delicious, they were still not as important as their lives, so they quickly swam to the other side of the shore.

Unexpectedly, they did not have a good year today, and as soon as they came ashore, a group of militiamen returning from training from outside happened to pass through here. After seeing that the ostriches were not domesticated, the militiamen, who were still jogging on horses, took out the shooting star lasso from their pockets and put it on the ostriches. In particular, one of the gaucho cavalrymen threw the lasso very accurately, and I saw a huge adult male ostrich who had just spread his wings and ran out, and was caught in the shooting star lasso he threw and rolled to the ground. After another struggle, the lasso was fully locked, and the male ostriches with a terrible hissing sound.

The rest of the riders laughed, and they scattered the formation, forming a loose encirclement in the distance, leaving the ostriches dazed and confused as to where to run. After a short period of time, most of these ostriches, large and small, were captured and became the prey of these militia brothers who had returned from shooting.

After Anna negotiated with the soldiers, they gave her three of the young ostriches as compensation for the destruction of the vegetable patch. Everyone is from the village, and the relationship is good, so Anna soon came back with a smile on her face. Shao Yuanyi looked at the few little ostriches that were still calling to themselves, and consciously stepped forward to help.

Anna keeps some three-toed ostriches in captivity in the back of her yard next to the reservoir, and these small ostriches can be put in captivity together. Females have a clutch of eggs about every two or three months, each of which can lay about 20 ostrich eggs at a time, and then the male ostriches hatch. However, Anna will definitely not choose to hatch ostrich eggs here, in fact, most of her ostrich eggs are taken to the dock and sold to local merchants, who then sterilize them and then transport them back to China for sale.

These eggs are large and nutritious, and have a large domestic market on the East Coast, which is currently competing fiercely with ostrich eggs imported from South Africa. But since the market is far from saturated, the profits on both sides are quite significant at the moment. There are not a few ostriches among the residents of Yancheng Port, who go out every day to collect food for the ostriches, and by the way, pick up the wild ostrich eggs scattered everywhere in the wild - in some grasses, lucky people can pick up dozens of ostrich eggs in a day, these are eggs that the male ostrich gives up hatching, because they are not born in the nest at all.

After helping to lock up the frightened young ostriches, Shao Yuanyi said hello to Anna, and then set off towards the dock. In the afternoon, a large warehouse near the dock will organize a large-scale auction of all kinds of materials: wines from the Old World, silk, gold and silver jewelry, livestock, high-end furs, daily necessities, and even some rare items such as precious stones and spices.

As for where these goods come from, most people don't know. However, according to some private gossip, it was a privateer cargo from the Caribbean Sea by the Navy. Look at the sailing boats of different sizes and shapes moored on the dock, half-new and not old, and the design style is obviously not from my east coast, it must have been stolen from someone else!

Shao Yuanyi, as a well-known businessman in China, knows these things well. Therefore, after learning that the navy wanted to hold a low-key auction for the sale of stolen goods in the remote port of Yancheng, he and some businessmen who had also received the news, carrying bank drafts, checks, promissory notes, etc., hurriedly took a boat here, ready to see if there were any goods that he was interested in.

In the afternoon, it was time for the auction to officially begin, and after being asked by his father-in-law to visit his sister-in-law who had settled here, Shao Yuanyi came to the auction site and waited quietly while greeting acquaintances. (To be continued......)