On September 1, 1651, with a long whistle, the railway station of Port Araucan arrived.

A large group of soldiers of the road escort team wearing khaki uniforms walked out of the carriage with loaded guns and ammunition, and then firmly occupied the key positions in the railway station. After the two officers wearing riding boots alternately finished inspecting, Mo Ming, president of the Southern Railway Company, slowly walked out of a well-decorated carriage surrounded by a group of entourage. Behind him were the smiling heads of the various key departments of the Southern Railway Company, some in tunics, some in army uniforms, as they scanned the now sizable Araucan railway station and the shops, warehouses, factories and residences that lined the main street on the coast ahead.

Today's port of Araucan is getting more and more beautiful!

"President, please dine here." The stationmaster of the railway station, dressed in a white-washed military uniform, limped over and said with a little nervousness.

Mo Ming looked at the stationmaster's left leg with a prosthetic, stepped forward to help him straighten the big black cap on his head (the work cap of the railway system worker), and then patted him on the shoulder affectionately and said, "It's noon, let's eat together." ”

Lunch is neatly laid out in the train station cafeteria, decorated with stained broken glass. According to the requirements of the president's office of the Southern Railway Company, all the qiē are based on the working meal standards of the company's local branches, and this standard is based on the average living standard of local residents. The port of Araucan is a place with a dual impact from the smuggling trade and the opening of the Pacific migration route. The market is still thriving today - of course, and this so-called prosperity is limited to the northern half of the port of Araucan, which occupies the eastern coast, where the coastal strip has been bought by the eastern coasters. Then a modern port with a large scale (more than 3 million yuan invested in 10 years) was built. Adjacent to the port are rows of commercial facilities and residential areas, and its prosperity has even caught up, and has faintly surpassed the Xingnan Port, where the headquarters of the Southern Railway Company is located.

The Araucan district, which is just across the river from the east bank area, is a gray hue of gray thatch, gray reeds, and dilapidated houses made of gray branches. Occasionally, the buildings that look good are usually the houses of nobles (the partisans and their descendants who followed the old Vicente against the Spaniards). They exchanged their cattle and sheep for some building materials from the East Coast, and then hired some masons who emigrated from the Ming Kingdom. Slowly, a number of East Coast style houses with cornices were erected to show themselves apart from the ordinary Araukan people - class is really everywhere.

Of course, the East Coast people are not only leading in these aspects, in fact, their biggest lead is in the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities. They use their industrious hands. As well as a relatively abundant labor force (a large number of Ming people who came through the Pacific migration route), coupled with a little technical and material help provided by the Southern Railway Company, the rivers, streams and lakes have been used as much as possible in the wilderness, and a series of artificial lakes have been built as a source of water for life and production.

The reason why they put a lot of effort into doing so is mainly because of the relatively special geographical conditions of this place. Although it is known as "drought" in the port of Araucan and its vicinity, the average annual rainfall is not small, generally between 500 and 1000 mm. In many places, it even exceeds 1,000 mm, which is similar to that of the East Coast mainland. One of the reasons why so much rain is called drought is the lack of large surface runoff (which is somewhat similar to the eastern coast savannah). Second, the special soil structure of this place makes it impossible to retain water on the shallow surface, and a large amount of water seeps deep underground, thus causing the so-called "drought".

There is really not much to do about the water shortage caused by this surface factor, but to use the clumsy trick of finding areas with little water leakage (such as swamps, wetlands and natural rivers and lakes). It was enlarged and built into an artificial reservoir to find a way to store the water. And that's exactly what the people on the East Coast did. They have built more than a dozen reservoirs outside the port of Araucan, the farthest one is even tens of kilometers away from the city. In order to divert water from these reservoirs to the city and suburban villages, the people on the east bank had to build a large number of masonry and stone anti-seepage canals, which are currently in full swing.

Once the water conservancy facilities begin to take shape, agricultural production can flourish. Although the latitude is not low, because it is an oceanic climate, the temperature in winter is not very low, generally around minus 10 degrees, and the extreme is only minus 20 degrees. But what is painful is that the local summer temperature is also not high, it is generally difficult to exceed 25 degrees, and many times it is in the early 20s, which brings trouble to agricultural production, and wheat and rice crops are too risky to grow. Therefore, in the planning of the Southern Railway Company, the local area is mainly based on rye and potato planting, that is, after the harvest of rye in one season, immediately after the harvest of a crop of potatoes or radishes, in order to increase farmers' income.

However, as the grain market in the Southern Railway is about to be fully opened to the Spaniards, the income of local farmers will inevitably be affected to a certain extent. But this effect is also limited, because the local farmers mainly produce rye, which is not cultivated by the Spaniards, but there are still many people who like it on the east coast and in southern Patagonia. In particular, some local "forced" people often consume rye, oats, and barley, and have led a large group of followers, which has greatly increased the price of rye. In addition, it can also be used to make wine, especially in southern Patagonia, where residents are very positive about the taste of rye-based spirits - they don't like the South African imported river koji, but prefer the local rye shochu, which further protects the interests of farmers.

Today's main meal is President Mok's favorite mutton stewed noodles, made with goat meat carefully grazed in the abundant water and grass on the banks of the Xingnan River, and rye noodles milled at the Wind Mill of the South Iron Flour Mill in Araukan Port, which has a very unique taste and is also loved by President Mo. In addition, there are pickles made from rye flour zuò, mushroom fish soup, high-quality trout from the Maolin River, grilled steak, and a bottle of snow mountain beer made from beech burger barley.

"It's a bit overspec, but it's still within acceptable limits." Mo Ming looked at the food on the table, and thought in his heart that there must be no Chilean trout and snow mountain beer in his usual working lunch, which was obviously collected by the people below, but the entertainment expenses should not be strictly exceeded, just take it as an example, it is not a big deal.

In other words, in a vast and sparsely populated place like Southern Patagonia, the standard of living of ordinary residents (especially those who have settled down for several years, have jobs, families, farms, livestock, and ID cards of the Republic of East China) is really not bad. Just as the gauchos in Argentina at the beginning of the 19th century were often able to eat meat (they were even very picky about different parts of the cattle), the inhabitants of the east coast of southern Patagonia were not as exaggerated as the gauchos, but eating meat was really not a problem for them, saving a little money on cheap whale meat, a little money on beef, and the richest on lamb, venison, and ostrich. They eat rye as a staple food, often consume seafood such as Chilean horse mackerel or Falklands squid, and sometimes buy some meat to eat.

The frequent intake of high-energy grains and animal protein has greatly alleviated the health problems caused by chronic malnutrition (chronic hunger) after a few years of settlement, and their work efficiency has also been greatly increased. The adults who had been devastated in the Old World were like this, and the "New East Coasters" born in the New World were naturally strong and strong, and according to incomplete rule, children born on the East Coast generally grew up taller than their parents. You must know that there was no significant difference in height between the Ming and Europeans at this time, and the children of the East Coast were able to grow so tall and strong, mainly because of adequate nutrition, such as an adequate supply of meat, dairy products and grains.

This statistical result once made some people on the east coast greatly embarrassed, reminiscent of the historical "I Qing Dynasty" period of China, due to the population explosion of China can only eat sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn to survive, and Europeans because of the discovery of resource-rich New World and overseas colonies caused the standard of living to spiral upward, the height and size of the two races gradually widened the gap. Now that the people of the East Coast have enjoyed the dividends of few people and abundant resources, and the living standards of the people in the country have also risen year by year, over time, this size and height will inevitably far exceed that of the Europeans and the Ming people - perhaps only the Indians in southern Argentina are taller than the East Coast people, and the people are purely genetically good.

Lunch ended in silence. After eating, Mo Ming picked up the hot towel handed over by the attendant and wiped his mouth, then looked at the officials of the Southern Railway who were sitting on both sides of the long table, smiled, and said, "The meal that everyone ate today is not bad." If you count, there are dozens of beer bottles alone, right? There are only a few people in Beech Castle, we don't produce much barley in a year, and the beer we brew is even more limited. ”

Several subordinates who thought they were close to President Mo laughed playfully, while others were still sitting in their seats seriously, their brains spinning rapidly, judging which play President Mo was singing today. Thinking of the recent news that Peruvian grain will be opened to the jurisdiction of the Southern Railway, and then look at the lunch with rye as the staple food on the table today, some people have a number in their hearts, this is to make a fuss about food! (To be continued)