The sun shone on the desolate land, and the heat made it impossible to lift people's spirits. The pebbles on the pavement are not much worse than the sand on the side, and they are all masters who can grill meat. Not to mention the railroad tracks on the side, the heat seems to want to melt away.

But even in such a hot time, there are still people here.

"This daily inspection has to check whether the road studs are reliable, this is not sloppy, otherwise something will happen."

An older road guard, this is talking to the younger person next to him.

The younger one, on the other hand, pulled the scarf that wrapped around his head and tried to untie it.

"Don't move, don't open it no matter how much it feels like it's simmering."

"But it was really hot, and I felt very uncomfortable, probably from heat stroke."

The young man was new at first glance and had no idea of the power of the North African deserts.

"Pawney, you hold on, there is a house where you can rest two kilometers away, there is water and a bed over there, it is very comfortable."

The man named Boni also knew that he could not lie down at this time, and replied stubbornly. "Okay Barondo, I think I'll be able to hold it up for a while."

The two of them braved the hot sun and walked towards the resting place that Barondo had spoken. To distract him, Barondo kept talking to Poni.

"Bonnie, where is your hometown?"

"The town of Solca, Sardinia."

"Where is that?"

"23 km east of Cagliari, we have a famous tomato there, and only the paella with sorga tomatoes is authentic Sardinian paella. When I think of the paella in my hometown, I want to drool. To tell you, the paella in my hometown is absolutely delicious, let's first pour some olive oil into the pot, stir-fry the squid, shrimp and clams, then sprinkle a little sea salt, then add tomatoes, onions, garlic and continue to stir-fry, then add rice, mix with a large bowl of water, cook for an hour, put some lemon water and green onions before coming out of the pot. I like to eat the clams inside, the clams that are full of juice are very delicious, one bite at a time. ”

Boni's eyebrows fluttered, and he kept licking his dry lips, it seemed that he really missed the food of his hometown.

"Alright, it's here!"

Barondo pushed open a door with Boni and led him in.

"This was originally a cavalry barracks, and for security reasons, a platoon of cavalry was stationed here. Later, when the law and order improved, the army left, and we took over the place, which could be used as a rest point for patrols. ”

Barondo said and pushed open the window made of thick planks. "You see, you can see more than ten kilometers of the surrounding area here, the scenery is not bad, no wonder the army chose here."

The cool and windy environment eased up Boni. After uncovering the scarf, which was no different from the Arabic turban, Poni looked at the heat outside and replied casually. "Not bad."

As he spoke, a whistle sounded, and a train came speeding with goods.

Barondo glanced at it and recognized it accurately. "This is a Nick-3 heavy-duty steam locomotive, with a combined 12,000 horsepower from the two locomotives, and basically carries 40 freight cars. On this hot day, driving this train is really sinful. ”

Barondo was right, and when the train approached, the long carriages behind the two locomotives were filled with iron ore. This train of iron ore is about 1,000 tons, and you can see at least ten or twenty times a day.

"Barondo, may I ask you how many years you've been here?"

"Let me think about it. I was transferred from Naples in August 1891, exactly five years after that. ”

Barondo gestured with five fingers and said when he arrived.

Boni looked at Balondo, who was full of vicissitudes, and continued to ask. "Do you regret it?"

"What's there to regret about this, although five years here makes me look ten years older, but the salary is high. I don't believe you're not here for a good salary. Besides, you're much better now than I was then, when the railroad wasn't fully connected, and the field patrol was still dangerous. At that time, we also had to carry rifles on our backs for self-defense, and we were more tired and did not eat well, and the bread was all black bread. However, I heard that at that time, on the side of Valk, it was besieged by the natives, and dozens of them died. ”

Barondo's words were filled with interest.

"But the natives were not comfortable, and the military was furious, and they pursued more than 200 thugs and killed more than 300."

"What happened to the thugs who were caught?"

"What else, those who have lives in their hands are hanged, those who have no lives are dragged to build railways and mines, and they will spend the rest of their lives to atone for their sins."

"So, it used to be dangerous here?"

"It's not too dangerous, I haven't heard anything about the attack in the last three years, maybe the natives who dared to be hostile to us have died in the desert."

Time passed slowly in the small talk between the two, and the desert at dusk, the long railway passed through it, which made people feel a sense of comfort.

As the night deepened, the tired two soon began to snore.

The two of them were able to sleep peacefully, but some of them couldn't.

As the general manager of the Libyan Railways, Berumeber did not feel sleepy at all when he looked at the information in front of him.

"The sinking of the Jufra section of the railway is serious and needs to be overhauled, the loss of the tracks in the Soda Gobi section is serious and needs to be renovated, the loss of the whole section of the railway is twice as high as expected, and it is expected that in another four to five years, the railway should be renovated, how can this be said to Rome."

What made Berumeber big was that the technicians of the railway company found that the Soviet-Serbian railway, which was used to carry iron ore in Libya, was very badly damaged, and its service life was greatly reduced.

Well, it seems that when the railway was designed, the Italian technicians underestimated the environmental difficulty, which led to such serious consequences.

And Berumeber, as a qualified general manager of a railway company, certainly knows the seriousness of this matter. But he can't be blamed for this, although the railway cost 118 million lire, it was also designed to carry 3.5 million to 4.5 million tons of iron ore a year.

However, due to the high quality of the Sebha iron ore ore and its low price (tariff factor), the demand for iron ore has increased significantly. And the Sebha mining area has also increased production.

As a side note, the Sebha mine is currently the most modern in Italy, and it has been largely electrified. This is also thanks to a small coal mine found 60 kilometres south of the mining area, which, although only a bit of lignite, is more than enough to generate electricity.

And the production of the Sabha mine has increased significantly, and the railway company must also increase the volume of transportation. Since last year, the railway company's iron ore shipments have increased month by month, and last month, according to the port of Sirte, 510,000 tons of iron ore were loaded at the port. This is the strength to produce 6 million tons per year.

Therefore, the serious loss of this railway is really not something he can decide.

But no matter what he does, it's not going to be easy. Because dumping the pot is not unique to China, Italy will not lag behind.

Berumeber's headache may have to follow him for a long time.