In a valley in the south

Rost Cowbon, a sheriff from Sydney's Northern End, lay on his side in the grass, the warm sun shining down on him, making him unable to lift his energy.

He cursed in his heart the old men of South Wales, and God testified that this endless wasteland was simply not a place for people.

It's been more than ten days since they set out to encircle and suppress the Billy Kid gang, and they haven't even caught a single hair from the other party.

In this era of inconvenient transportation and communication, it is necessary to rely on the eyes to find the enemy, to convey orders by shouting, and the boundless wasteland gives people a sense of powerlessness.

The distance is more than half a mile, and even if you cross over, you can't find the gang.

Roster Cowbonn led a team of more than 100 people, like a headless fly, looking around the wasteland, but saw no success.

"Sir, are you camping here tonight?" It was Coventry Town Sheriff Mitt Romney, an old oilman RCMP who was nearly 40 years old.

Roster Cowbone looked up at the sun hanging high in the sky, it was hot and blinding, it was about one o'clock in the afternoon, and it was too early to camp.

"I remember that there was a ranch about ten miles to the southeast, and I went there today to camp, and at least I could have a cup of hot coffee, and maybe I would be warmly received by the hostess."

"Then you may be disappointed, they drove the sheep to Pine Town." Romney shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly; "Running a ranch is a loss-making business right now, and the Billy Kids gang is the last straw for all, and white ranchers are scrambling to sell it, preferring to buy bonds issued by the Port of Brisbane or the Coastal Railway, with at least 5 per cent a year."

"Damn it, it's that damn Red River Valley that broke the peace of all this, and they produced wool piled up like a mountain, driving down the price of wool." Rost Cowbonn was a rancher himself, owning a large ranch, and he immediately became indignant at the mention of this;

"These Chinese should be stopped from coming to our ranch, they have taken away white jobs and the right to trade wool, we can only endure this, we really can't imagine what will turn out of this, someone should come out and stop it."

"You're absolutely right, I think I should ......" Romney gestured to the white militiamen who were leaning and lying down in the valley, meaning it was time for him to do something, but he didn't have time to listen to you whining here.

"Go, Romney, cheer up the boys." Roster Cowburn rolled over and got up, picked up the blanket on the ground, shook the dust, and slowly rolled it up to put it in the sack.

That's when it happened

Suddenly, there was a dense burst of gunfire, and more than a dozen cowboys who had just stood up burst into bright blood and fell to the ground.

"Oh my gosh, it's Billy the Kid......"

Suddenly encountering a sneak attack, the camp that had been resting for a short time was in chaos, and the loose war horses galloped wildly, stirring up chaos in the camp.

The dense gunfire continued, the running cowboy was knocked down by a shot, rolled and fell to the ground, some cowboys struggled to step on the horses, but they were hit by hot bullets head-on, and even men and horses fell hard in the grass.

Caught off guard by a sneak attack, and after a short period of confusion, the cowboys spontaneously began to pick up their guns to fight back.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

Bullets flew indiscriminately, hitting the grass with a "fluttering" sound, and from time to time someone let out a scream after being shot.

Hiding behind a boulder, Roster Cowbone soon discovered that the bandits were hiding high on the rocks, shooting the cowboys in the valley like a hare.

Judging by the sound of gunfire, the opponent will never exceed 40 people.

"Romney, Romney, rush out with your men, I'll arrange for gunmen to cover you, damn it, we're all going to be finished here." Roster Cowburn shouted hoarsely.

His shouts caught the attention of the bandits, and a dozen hot bullets slammed into the rocks, cracking sharp rubble through Rost Cowburn's cheek, leaving a long wound and red blood gushing out.

Roster Cowburn shrank his neck in fright, his heart was pounding wildly, and he couldn't help but curse in fear; "Damn bastard, Romney, if you don't want to die here, rush out with your people, we need to get out of the ambush circle and act for God's sake."

At this time, the fighting in the valley was quite fierce, the bullets were whistling in the air, and the cowboys who could afford to hold the guns were all fighting back, and the initial passive situation had been reversed.

After Romney fired back a few shots, he realized that something was wrong, took a closer look, and sure enough, he verified his guess, and hurriedly waved his hand and shouted; "Stop shooting, stop, everyone stop shooting, go around the rocks and check them out, damn we've been tricked, the Billy Kid gang has left here."

The gunfire stopped

The valley was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder, and the wailing wounded were everywhere, and there was a sense of tension.

A small group of cowboys was ordered to go around, climbed up the mountain and rock, and sure enough, they didn't find the bandits, and they saw from a distance that a group of dozens of bandits were disappearing into the distance, and they really hated it.

This time, it was attacked by the bandits and suffered heavy losses, and among the 128 people in the encirclement and suppression team, 27 were killed and more than 40 were injured.

News of the valley encounter spread and immediately caused great panic among ranchers in nearby Victoria, driving sheep into the towns of Coventry and Lexington, and some ranchers driving their sheep into Sydney, causing widespread chaos in the city.

There was a lot of disturbance

With plenty of manpower and resources, the coastal railroad project went very well, with 27 miles in October, 40 miles in November, and a staggering 58 miles in December.

Due to the delay in the construction of some reinforced concrete bridges along the way, it is expected that the entire section of the coastal railway in the Red River Valley will be completed in April 1880 to the southernmost town of Pine, and to arrive in Sydney no later than July.

Sydney

December 29, 1879

It has been three days since Li Fushou and his entourage arrived here, and they have come to do some persuasion and promotion work for the coastal railway's ancillary terminal facilities in Port Jackson and to continue southwest to Victoria.

Here, they are met with real difficulties and obstacles.

Some white gold mine owners, ranchers and politicians, as well as hard-line white conservatives, who feared the expansion of Chinese influence, have expressed their opposition and tried to block the extension of the coastal rail into Jackson Harbour in Sydney Bay.

Today, Sydney occupies the Cumberland Gorge region, a gently hilly area around Sydney Bay, located west of Port Jackson and extending to the south, and is the education center and commercial core city of the whole of Australia.

White conservatives opposed the coastal railway's entry into the Cumberland Gorge area, and even more so to the extension of Port Jackson, fearing that the Red River Valley Chinese would invade Sydney and become the dominant force like Brisbane.

This concern was real, so the South Wales Parliament rejected the bill proposed by the Zhi Gong MPs, but passed another compromise bill allowing the Earl of Queensland to build railways on his own land, including South Wales land.

In a luxury estate on the shores of Sydney Bay

"Well, are the Brothers Grimm willing to sell that piece of land on the North Shore?" Li Fushou strode in from the outside, his body full of the power of the sun.

Charlie Vincent's respectful bending to give a salute; "Your Excellency Lord Earl of Queensland, as you ordered, I offered a high price for the Brothers Grimm Ranch and a Medal of the Order of the British Empire, and they were tempted."

"Very well, cut through the chaos and tell them that my promise is real money."

"As you wish, Lord Count."

Charlie Vincent greeted everyone present, then left the parlor and boarded the carriage to the Brothers Grimm Ranch to negotiate this important deal as soon as possible.

"Okay, let's focus on what's most important at the moment." Li Fushou clapped his hands, attracted everyone's attention, and walked to the large map in the living room, which was a coastal railway planning and design map.

"Zhong Zhai introduces, what are the roadblocks that we have to gnaw on the coastal railway?"

"Yes, sir."

Fan Zhongzhai picked up a baton and walked to the front of the map, and introduced it to everyone present;

"The planned construction period of the coastal railway is one year and three months, and the construction of the main railway project is 12 months and 20 days.

That means that at the beginning of July 1880, we had a little more than seven months to get the railway line to Sydney.

If we want to complete it ahead of schedule, there are four major hurdles to overcome.

First, there are as many as 127 controlled bridges and culverts along the way, especially the Songjiang Bridge and the culverts of Taihu Lake tributaries, which are obstacles to the construction of the project.

Thanks to the world's latest reinforced concrete structure construction methods, the bridge and culvert tunnel is progressing smoothly and is expected to be completed by the end of June.

Second, a large-scale cement plant project in Songjiang.

The project is all advanced equipment in France, and at the same time, French engineers are hired to command the installation and commissioning of the equipment, hoping to be able to smoothly put into production in March, otherwise it will affect the reinforced concrete construction of the bridge and culvert tunnel.

Thirdly, there are still four ranches on the coastal railway line from the Red River Valley to Sydney, in addition to the Brothers Grimm Ranch on the North Shore that has just been resolved, one ranch in Coventry Town and two ranches in Lexington Town, which are still roadblocks.

The planned coastal railroad will not be able to bypass these three ranches, which are particularly tough and will not allow the coastal rail to pass through and are reluctant to sell, and we have to solve this dilemma.

Fourth, there is the port issue.

Even if we build the coastal railway to Sydney, the railway line cannot enter Port Jackson, and the combined transport linkage between the railway and the seaport cannot be realized, which will greatly increase the cost of loading and unloading transportation and reduce the efficiency of cargo turnover.

From this point of view, it is very detrimental to the operation of the coastal railway, because we export large quantities of goods, especially wool and grain, and the cost of loading and unloading goods will be extremely high.

The above is that the coastal railway is an urgent problem to be solved, and any one of them may affect the scheduled passage of the coastal railway, and then seriously affect the next development strategy of the Red River Valley. ”