Stone itself is not an easy building material to handle, and it is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

As a result, stone construction is rare in the western United States, where wood is often the solution to most of the problems.

But the building in front of them was a real stone bunker.

It's quite a European medieval retro style.

"Where did you get the stones?" Chen Jianqiu glanced at this bunker, although the craftsmanship was average, but it was decent, and if there was no decent cannon, it might not be easy to attack.

"I guess it's the mountain." Holmes pointed to the bare hills on the side of the guide.

"Well, actually, we've requisitioned some of the local Nahuas." Vaughn touched his nose, "This is different from the Indians I've seen before, some of them have good masonry skills. ”

They followed Vaughn through the gate under the tower.

Only then did Chen Jianqiu see the whole picture inside.

The interior of the building is much more rudimentary than it looks from the outside, and in the strict sense of the word, it is a stockade surrounded by stone walls on all sides.

The four shooting towers are located on the four corners of the watchtowers, on top of the stone walls that connect them, accessible to people.

A wooden ladder is erected on the stone wall, leading to the open space enclosed by the four walls below.

Vaughn and his soldiers, on the other hand, usually lived in adobe houses in the middle of the clearing.

Chen Jianqiu felt a little strange: "Why don't you live in a house made of stones?" ”

"Because the requisitioned Nahuas ran out." Vaughn scratched his head embarrassedly, "The terrain here is too flat, and we have no danger to rely on, so these four stone walls still play a lot of roles." ”

The people climbed up the ladder up the wall, and they circled around the top of the wall.

On the edge of the stone wall on the west side.

"This is where we came from." Holmes pointed to the wasteland, "Chihuahuan Desert." It wasn't until hundreds of kilometers away that it was inhabited. ”

They followed the stone wall and walked to the stone wall to the south.

To the south was a road into the mountains, and Roswell was located at the eastern foot of Rocky Mountain, and Chen Jianqiu understood why Holmes had said that if he went further south, he had to pass through this place.

Finally they came to the east.

Not far away, a dilapidated town appeared in their field of vision.

"This is Roswell."

Chen Jianqiu looked in the direction Holmes pointed.

It's broken, it's really broken, it's so broken that it almost makes people feel like it's been deserted.

The buildings in the town are mainly adobe houses, with a small number of wooden buildings.

Many of the buildings looked uninhabited from a distance, some of the walls were half down, some of the roofs were missing, and some of them had only a broken sign hanging outside.

A gust of wind blew up, and the dust on the ground flew up, covering the town with a layer of yellow, and the broken wooden signs swayed in the wind, making the town even more barren.

The only thing that is a little popular is the location in the center of the town, where there are two rooms and there seem to be a few horses and a carriage parked in front of the door.

"That's the town's post office." "It's the only public facility in town that's still functioning." ”

"I remember the last time I came, it wasn't so wild, was it?" Holmes shook his head, "No wonder you don't have much interest in paying salaries, and there's nowhere to spend it." ”

"There's no water!" Vaughn sighed, "The nearest source of water is far to the east, and it's often not found. The paycheck would come with the wagon at the post office every month. ”

"Why is this town called Roseville?" Chen Jianqiu asked suddenly.

"The old postmaster's father's name." Vaughn's answer surprised Chen Jianqiu a bit.

"Isn't that up to you?"

Vaughn shook his head:

"The old guy came before us, he came ten years ago, when there were Nahuas all around here."

"He built two adobe houses here as a caravanserais, and then he was driven away by the Nahuas." Vaughn pointed to the post office in the center of town.

"Then we drove the Nahuas away, and he came back, and then he actually filed a claim against the federal government on the grounds that he came first, and the evidence was that the two houses actually won and named the town after his father."

"And then?" Chen Jianqiu broke the casserole and asked to the end.

"And then? I don't know exactly what the above is, but I think he bought out the ownership of all the land in the vicinity. ”

After touring the entire place under Vaughn's leadership, the group returned to the ground in the middle.

Vaughn opened the doors of several empty houses and said to Chen Jianqiu, "You guys can live here, they are all vacant by the dead brothers anyway." ”

So, in the end, Geronimo's Apache people, occupied two; Two women, one room; The rest of the people lived in one room.

"Sir, when are we going to start looking for crude oil?"

At dinner, Vaughn held a bowl and pulled a pile of mushy things, and asked the geologist expectantly.

"Ah, this, or we'll talk about it tomorrow." Holmes said hesitantly.

After dinner, the group went back to the house.

Chen Jianqiu found a kerosene lamp, lay on the table, and began to study the dense map that was standard by Holmes for the first time.

"Say, is there really oil here?" Chen Jianqiu suddenly asked Holmes on the side.

Sean and Asuka, who were chatting quietly on the side, were dumbfounded, and the room suddenly fell silent.

"Boss, you're not really going to look for any crude oil, are you?" Sean asked, puzzled.

But Chen Jianqiu didn't pay attention to him and continued to look at the geologist.

"The probability is still quite high, I have found traces of ancient underground rivers from the exposed stone cuts here before, but no matter how much exploration I have, I am not allowed to do it." Holmes said

"I suppose there are people who have been here and come to a similar conclusion, and the Freemasons are always well informed, though they like to play tricks. It's just a matter of chance. ”

"What about the water? Do you believe that there is no water in this place? Chen Jianqiu asked eagerly.

"How is that possible! These guys know a piece of. This time, Holmes replied very simply, "I was going around and around, and there should be an aquifer underneath here." But this thing is the same as crude oil, and no one can guarantee it if it is not hit. ”

"Besides, do you believe that the Navis would settle in a place where there is no water source? I'll take you to see the land southeast of Roseville, which is perfect for cultivation if the problem of surface irrigation is solved. ”

Holmes continued.

"But now there are only a few pastures there, and it's really a terrible thing to eat up the grass there and run away."

Chen Jianqiu has been listening very carefully, and his mind is constantly thinking.

The mountain is high and the emperor is far away, and there is oil and fields.

This place, nice, he made a note of.

"Sleep early, Holmes, and tomorrow you tell Vaughn that we'll go a little further afield in search of crude oil, and then we'll find an opportunity to continue south." Chen Jianqiu made a decision.

In the three or four days in the desert, Chen Jianqiu hardly could sleep peacefully at night.

He had thought he would have a good rest today.

But the gunshots in the middle of the night still woke him up from his sleep.

He sat up from his bed.

Above the barracks, Vaughn's shouts echoed:

"The Nahuas are coming! Here comes the Nahuas! Get your weapons on the wall! Fast! ”

Thank you for the commuter pass.

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Thank you very much.

Two more

(End of chapter)