Wild North America 1846

a

The grains of wheat from Wu Erbao's family have been returned to the warehouse. More than 50 large haystacks have been erected next to the stables. Black smoke is lingering in the wheat field. The smell of freshly burned straw is blowing towards the face, filling the air with haze.

The roots of the burned tangerine stalks must be deeply plowed and exposed in the sun. The burned plant ash is mixed into the soil and fermented by rainwater to provide rich nutrients in the next season.

After about 10 days, plow the land. It is best to sprinkle some silt from the river onto the land to increase fertility. After raking it level, you can plant the next season's winter wheat.

Paradise Island is a place with extremely rich fresh water resources.

Paradise Island (New Guinea) covers an area of ​​about 786,000 square kilometers, is about 2,400 kilometers long from east to west, and is 655 kilometers wide at its north-south point. Together with the coastal affiliated islands, it totals 818,000 square kilometers.

The terrain of the entire island is high in the middle and low on both sides. In the middle of Paradise Island, the central mountain range stretches for more than 2,200 kilometers. Most of the mountains and plateaus are above 4,000 meters above sea level. It is the highest island in the world.

These majestic mountains are covered with snow all year round and are also called "Snow Mountains". The highest peak is Jaya Peak (formerly known as Carstens Peak), with an altitude of 4884 meters (old measurement 5029 meters), making it the highest point in Oceania.

The climate on the island is basically tropical. The daytime temperature on the mountainous plateau is 22 degrees Celsius, and the night temperature is more than 10 degrees Celsius. The daytime temperature in the lowlands is as high as 30 degrees Celsius. There is abundant precipitation here throughout the year. In some areas on the southern slopes of the Central Mountains, the annual rainfall reaches 7,600 degrees Celsius.

mm.

Xindongang and Chang'an are not so exaggerated. They are both areas with low rainfall. The average annual rainfall is between 1016 and 1200 mm. Such rainfall levels are equivalent to those in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.

In addition, these two places are close to the coastline and have a maritime tropical climate. The average temperature is between 22 and 26 degrees throughout the year, with sufficient sunshine and abundant precipitation, which is suitable for the development of agriculture three seasons a year.

New Xi'an and the Yixing Town to Baxing Town that have been opened up this year are basically developed along the coastal area of ​​the Great Plains in the northern part of the Central Mountains. The forests here are relatively sparse, the climate conditions are good, and the development difficulty is low.

If you go deep into the southern forest zone, the annual rainfall suddenly increases to more than 2,560 millimeters, and in some areas it reaches the level of 4,000 millimeters. It rains almost every once in a while, for several days at a time, and you can't even burn the wasteland.

.

Precisely because Paradise Island has abundant rainfall, there are many streams here, and there are more than 10 that can be called world-class rivers. There are three large rivers near Xinxi'an, namely the Mamberamo River, the Sepik River, and the La Lamo River.

The Mu River and, further away, the Markham River.

The Mamberamo River is just east of Jiuxing Town. Chinese immigrants call it "Abo River". Wu Erbao has never been there. He heard that it is a mighty river and the other side cannot be seen at a glance.

When the railway was built, it made a bend, turning in an "L" shape to the south, and then opened up Shixing Town, Elevenxing Town, Twelvexing Town and Fifteenxing Town along the river. These six new towns are all in

On the edge of the "Aber River".

Wu Erbao heard from people above that a large river city should be built on the east side of the river as a key project in the second phase of the development of Paradise Island. A new city should also be built on the Donggang side to accommodate the excessive population.

That's what others said, and that's what Wu Erbao heard, and didn't take it to heart at all.

How could such a big thing be considered by a common man like him? He is now planning to spend his free time driving his beloved walking tractor to the village below to help people open up wasteland!

With the help of tractors, Wu Erbao's farm cleared land very quickly and planted wheat seedlings early. However, there are still many people in the village below who can only work hard on their own. So far, only more than 10 acres of land have been cleared.

Planting some grains and vegetables is almost enough to feed myself.

For example, Lei Ge, the 60 acres of land he was assigned had hundreds of big trees, dense bushes, and many large and small stones in the land. The difficulty of clearing land was more than 10 times higher.

After the collective burning of wasteland, more than 10 acres of land have been opened up so far.

these few months

Lei Ge worked hard day and night to fell all the big trees and cut off the branches. There was still a lot of work that needed help, so Wu Erbao drove the walking tractor.

When I got to the end of the field and saw it, my God!

The village where Lei Ge is located is a gathering place of shacks. In an open field on the side of the mountain, as far as you can see, there are piles of large logs. There are more and more piles of wood. I am afraid there are not more than 150 or 60 people.

To pile wood, each family probably cut down a lot of big trees.

It is quite difficult to develop such land, and it is not easy to cultivate it.

After the big tree was cut down, there are still roots. It is estimated that they can only be left in the ground for now. I will find a way to dig them out one by one in the future. There will be nothing for the time being.

Digging tree roots is a laborious job. Five or six people can work for a day, and they can only dig out one big tree root. This thing cannot be rushed and can be sorted out slowly in the next few years.

Fortunately, there is no need to delay planting crops, just avoid it.

In the village, you can vaguely see areas marked out with lime on the ground, and small wooden stakes are used to mark each family's homestead. The area for each family is quite large, but most of them are just a lot of wood and two pieces of wood.

The three shacks looked very simple.

A few houses in the village have started to be built, but most of them have gone to work in the fields.

Many people already raise cattle, sheep, piglets, and quite a few chickens, ducks, and poultry, but the numbers are not large.

It can be seen that the progress of pioneering here is much slower than that in the town.

Wu Erbao drove his walking tractor to the village. Someone immediately came up to ask, and soon there were more than a dozen people around him. They mainly wanted to rent his walking tractor to open up wasteland. There were more than a dozen cows in the village, and there were also several walking tractors.

But it’s not enough to grab, and you can’t even rent it if you want.

"I'm sorry, you guys, I'm here to help Brother Lei. We have been working in the same land reclamation team for more than a year, and we are all close friends. I will help you again next time I have a chance."

"Oh, look for Alei. He has gone to the fields. If you walk along this road, you will see a small river about two miles away. Just follow the road and turn around. You will be there not far away."

"Thank you, I'll go right away."

Wu Erbao thanked the enthusiastic villagers and drove a walking tractor to look for him. Sure enough, he found Lei Ge who was working in the fields, with a strong man helping him.

Wu Erbao knew this man. His name was Xie Dachuan. He was also a fellow in the land reclamation team. They had a good relationship with him on weekdays. I think it was Brother Lei who called him here to help.

The tractor beeped loudly, and Lei Ge and Xie Dachuan could see it approaching from a distance. Both of them looked dusty, but their faces were red and they were in high spirits.

"Brother Erbao, I've been looking forward to seeing you, come here and sit down and drink some water." Brother Lei enthusiastically pulled Wu Erbao to sit on the ridge of the field, scooped out a ladle of water from the bucket and handed it over, saying a little apologetically;

"I haven't finished it here yet. The conditions are simple and there is nothing to entertain. But this water is boiled cold water, so feel free to drink it."

"Brother Lei, why are you still seeing me outside? When have we brothers ever paid attention to our work?" Wu Erbao took the water ladle without politeness, raised his head and finished it in one breath.

The tractor drove a distance of seventeen or eight kilometers, and the road was uneven and full of potholes and muddy ponds, which was quite a bump for him.

"Er Bao, you are the most popular "excellent worker". I went to town a while ago, and I happened to take a detour to see your farm. It's really amazing. The wheat waves are rolling, and the cattle and sheep are full. But

I'm so envious. If I had known that we in the land reclamation team would work with all our strength." Xie Dachuan said enviously.

Wu Erbao smiled and replied: "It's not as good as the top, but it's more than the bottom. You didn't go to see "Master Zhu's" farm, good guy! There are 12 large granaries in three rows, all built by 6-meter-tall guys.

That kind of two-story wooden building with high ridges and overhanging eaves has been completed. It is grand and beautiful. The door is a whitewashed wooden fence, which must be more than 300 meters long. It has horse-drawn carriages, ox-carts, and tractors. It is called a manor."

"The "Master Zhu" you are talking about has carried a gun with the emperor, right?"

"Yeah, how about talking about other people's cows? There is a main wife and three white-skinned hags in the family. They have several sons and daughters. They live a comfortable and bubbling life!"

"It's really incomparable. The person who carried the gun with the emperor is our village chief. There is also a wife in the house, and there is also a white-skinned hag. I heard that she was brought back from Europe. She has blue eyes.

."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."

The three of them chatted for a while, and Wu Erbao turned his attention to Brother Lei's land. He couldn't help but frowned and said, "Brother Lei, it will be almost five months since the land reclamation began. Your land has not been sorted out yet, but there are

A lot of work?"

What he saw was that there were more than a dozen charred trees lying scattered in the ground. The cut branches were piled up in piles on top of each other. Most of the ground was still charred, which was left by burning wasteland.

Mark of.

On the other side, about a dozen acres of land have been planted with crops. Some radishes, Chinese cabbage and beans are planted on a small patch of land on the edge, which is only a few acres of land. They are probably reserved for my own family.

Frankly speaking, the wheat is not growing well, which means that the land is not plowed deep enough and the harrowing is not good enough. There may be a lot of large and small rocks and shrub roots left in the ground, and of course the growth is not good.

Judging from the appearance of this land, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Hearing what Wu Erbao said, Brother Lei also smiled bitterly. After looking at Xie Dachuan beside him, he sighed and said;

"Brother Erbao, stop talking. Who told us to allocate this piece of land? At least it is not far from the river and is easy to irrigate. We just need to put more effort into sorting it out. It will be good farmland in the future.

You and I can't compare. The energy that was originally saved by the land reclamation team will now be thrown into this land twice as much.

The rest of this land is fine, except that there are so many large and small rocks that it makes people's scalp numb, and there are also bush roots that make Dachuan and I puke. But the land on the side of the mountain is like this. If you take care of it, it's no better than you.

That difference.

Let’s not talk about anything else, we brothers. I don’t have the money to pay you for the rent of agricultural machinery for the time being, so please give me some time, Brother Lei will owe you this time.”

"Brother Lei, what are you talking about? I, Wu Erbao, are not here for this. Don't worry. I have brought the plow and the harrow. I will transport all the branches in your field back later.

After all the trees were cut and dragged back, we started plowing the land." Wu Erbao waved his hand cheerfully. He has been very experienced in doing this for so long, and pointed at the land and said;

"Your land is about 50 acres, and I can plow it all in about two days. As long as the soil is turned up deeply, it will be much easier to work underneath.

Change to the rake head, and you can rake out as many stones and tree roots as you want. If it doesn't work, rake it twice more. When the time comes, you can find some silt from the river and dig it in. It will be useful for planting crops.

This walking tractor of mine can support ten strong laborers, and it will take less than a week to finish all of your land, so you don't have to worry, I will take care of the work."

The newly cultivated fields are all raw land, and the initial yield is not high. It needs to be slowly cultivated into high-yielding mature land.

It goes without saying that the three people present are all masters of farming.

But Wu Erbao's righteousness really touched Brother Lei. With tears shining in his eyes, he held Wu Erbao's hand tightly and said, "Okay, just do what brother Erbao said and don't say anything else."

, Brother Lei will keep it in mind."

"Don't go outside, let's get to work."

"good."

With the addition of Wu Erbao's walking tractor, the work efficiency suddenly accelerated. The tractor made more than 10 trips back and forth in one afternoon, clearing all the branches and big trees in the field, and the work continued until nightfall.

In the evening, Brother Lei killed a chicken and stewed it with radishes grown in his own land. He stewed a large pot full of it, and then stir-fried another dish with eggs and chili. The three of them sat by the shack and cooked the chicken in a big bowl.

Drink bulk liquor while chatting.

Talking about the hard days in the past and imagining the bright future, the more we talked, the more excited we became, and we couldn't help but burst into tears. The three of them cried and laughed happily before resting.

Early in the morning of the second day, when the rooster crowed, it was still dark, and everyone in the village got up one after another.

Chinese immigrants have a deep love for the land in their bones. They are hardworking and willing to work, and any difficulties are easy for them.

This promising field will soon turn into large tracts of fertile farmland with crisscrossing ditches, smoke rising from cooking stoves, beautiful villages dotted here and there, and people having plenty of food and clothing.

The development of Wuxing Town is the epitome of the second round of development boom in the entire Paradise Island. As more and more Chinese immigrants arrive, this round of in-depth development will continue for many years.

The Tang Kingdom learned a lot of valuable experience from a series of activities to develop Paradise Island, which can be used in the development of other areas in the mainland and overseas provinces.

In particular, the Overseas Province of Panama in Central America is now another hot land for the Kingdom's pioneering development, attracting more and more Chinese immigrants to settle here and thrive.

Panama is the terminus of the newly opened immigration route in the central Pacific. Chinese immigrants who transited through Paradise Island (New Guinea) arrived here, and some continued northward to the mainland of the Tang Kingdom after a short rest.

The other part stayed here, integrated into the local society, and burned wasteland along the Parama Railway to build dozens of new towns.