Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 719 Patagonia ([-])

There was heavy snow in the sky, and a team of about thirty people was walking hard against the bitter westerly wind.In addition to these personnel, there are more livestock in the team: 40 horses, 20 mules, and more than 60 llamas. Seven or eight hounds galloped happily, watching vigilantly. Movement on the covered wasteland.

It has been a long time since they landed near the mouth of the Gallegos River. This small expedition team traveled west along the frozen river (the river water has almost stopped flowing, and the water volume is not enough in dry season).After seven days of traveling, an unexpected heavy snow covered the endless wasteland.

Meng Hu, the leader of the team, looked up at the leaden sky and couldn't help sighing: God knows when this heavy snow will end, I hope it won't affect everyone's investigation activities.This time, the Ministry of the Army, the Ministry of the Navy, the Ministry of Communications, and the National Railway Administration reached a rare consensus to jointly fund and organize this national-level expedition in the southern part of Patagonia. The geology and property of the Rio Turbio coal mine in the west and the port of Araucan in the west (Andes).

The Ministry of the Navy hopes to build the Port of Araucan as an active base on the east coast in the southeast Pacific Ocean in order to build momentum for the future preparation of the Third Fleet; For the railway, at least a simple road needs to be built in the early stage so that the population transported through the South Pacific immigration route can be transported to the mouth of the Gallegos River via this railway, and then transported back to the country by boat along the coastal sea; as for the Ministry of Communications and State Administration of Railways, it is very clear that the railway is invested by the State Administration of Railways, and the infrastructure team of the Bureau will jointly undertake the construction of the railway with the First Bureau of Communications and Construction of the Ministry of Communications. In addition, the second phase of the expansion of the Port of Araucan will also be funded by the Ministry of Transport. This is an excellent opportunity to expand the influence of these two departments, and of course they will not miss it.Therefore, there is now an expedition team jointly formed by the four departments.

The expedition team, led by Meng Hu and Wang Dali, senior domestic exploration experts, focused on investigating the geology, climate, and natural conditions along the Gallegos River, in order to initially determine whether the railway can be repaired, how to repair it, and how to build it. What technology is needed, how much is the total investment, whether there are hostile aboriginal tribes along the route, what are the soil conditions along the route, whether there are minerals that can be mined in the near future, etc.

Since they landed near the estuary of the Gallegos River, which is still floating with ice floes, in early October, they have advanced all the way to the inland area along the south bank of the river (where Argentina later built the railway), constantly inspecting the geological conditions of the nearby areas along the way, and at the same time Draw a map.In just one week, they only walked less than fifty kilometers, and the pace can be described as extremely slow.

The desolate scenery on both sides of the Gallegos River left a deep impression on everyone.There is a strong wind blowing here all the year round, and the wind speed is very high, which can be seen from the occasional big trees that are crooked.There are few trees here, and the surface is full of gravel and grass, indicating that this place seems to be a barren land.Everyone along the way, even wild animals are rarely seen. Except for a large number of South American sea lions, seals, and Mackerel's ring penguins when they first landed, they only saw a few in a hurry along the way. Jackals, vultures, foxes and other predators, this place seems to be a land at the end of the world that has been forgotten by the world.

"This is no longer the scope of the Central Terrace, but as far as the observations along the way are concerned, most of the land is barren. The rainfall is scarce, the vegetation is not lush enough, and there are small shrubs and weeds everywhere. There are a lot of sand, gravel and pebbles on the surface. The conditions for developing agriculture are very poor, and it may take many years to clean up the sand and gravel. The land is also very dry, and it seems that there is only a small area of ​​land along the banks of the Gallegos River that can be cleared for agriculture After farming, other places are only suitable for the development of animal husbandry, and do not have the basic elements for the development of planting." Wang Dali, the deputy captain of the expedition, wiped the snowflakes from his eyebrows and said in a low voice.He had a cold since yesterday, and it is now the worst time.

"That's true." Meng Hu nodded, and then continued: "However, the Gallegos River is a seasonal river, and the flow in winter and spring is very small, and some places may even experience a dry flow. This requires us to Be vigilant. The best way is to rely on the existing environment and organize manpower to build artificial reservoirs to ensure the safety of water for residents in winter.”

"The scale of the oases opened in the desert is always very limited. But it doesn't matter. We only need these oasis towns to provide maintenance and supply functions for the passing trains. In addition, we need to build some residential houses for the sick on the immigrant transportation line. Immigrants live temporarily. The Gallegos River is not a good place after all, but now it can only make do with it. After all, the cost of building the Liangyang Railway from here is the lowest and the easiest to build. "Wang Dali lowered his head slightly, dodging the increasingly violent snowflakes, and said slowly.

"Let's take a rest first." Meng Hu reined in the horse, then dismounted and ordered his team members to set up camp.The people who followed the expedition this time include both the army and the intelligence system personnel. Camping is a common practice for them, so a rough camp was built soon.They even had two lines of barbed wire wrapped around the stakes around the camp, to keep out any wild animals (cougars, jackals) or natives that might show up at night.

Several expedition members rode out to investigate the surrounding situation, and others began to dig ice on the Gallegos River for water.At this time, the Gayegos River is in the dry season, and the river here is even completely dry. Therefore, the expedition team who took the water even ran to the center of the frozen river, only to find several large ponds. Bring some water back.

There are some tall reeds by the river, which are completely withered and yellow at this time.Occasionally, some cold-resistant birds flapped their wings and flew out of the reeds, but they did not fly far away, but stood by and watched these "outsiders". The virgin land for development—unfortunately, a dry desert virgin land.

"The wasteland in southern Patagonia, according to the more than one week of investigation, it is really difficult to develop." Sitting in the warm tent, the expedition leader Meng Hu poured a mouthful of spicy river water into his mouth. Daqu wiped the corners of his mouth with his sleeves, and belched and said, "A small number of oases can be opened along the banks of some rivers to grow grains, vegetables and fruits. Other places are completely dry wastelands. Except for the sparse shrubs and weeds, there are only large areas of weathered gravel, and the environment is really bad enough."

"It's not easy to open up those oases. The initial investment is huge!" Wang Dali grabbed the wine bottle in Menghu's hand, and after drinking two mouthfuls with his neck up, he said with a heavy breath: "The land on both sides of the river Many need to clear gravel, weeds and shrubs, some are simply saline-alkali land, only a small part is suitable for farming, and the soil quality needs to be improved, Nima is really a barren land."

"Improving soil quality requires persevering all year round to produce results. We have time and patience. What are we afraid of? Is there still someone in this wasteland of Patagonia to compete with us?" Meng Hu pouted disdainfully, and took back the wine Bottle, said: "The terrain of Patagonia gradually decreases from west to east, and the closer to the Andes in the west, the richer the precipitation. The essence of Patagonia is still in the inland area of ​​the west, and most of the east coast It’s all rotten land! There are also a large number of glacial lakes, icy lakes, and icy lakes in the west. Many rivers originating from the Andes Mountains are rich in water, and they can maintain a continuous flow even in dry seasons. The significance of these is still for agricultural production. Very big. And to be honest, there are not many freshwater lakes in the South American continent, but there are hundreds of them in Patagonia. The overall water resources are not as scarce as we imagined. It depends on how we use them. Later generations The Argentines developed here very late, resulting in a population density of less than two people per square kilometer. Most of the area is undeveloped and natural. We have a large number of hardworking and capable immigrants from the Ming Dynasty. I am afraid that we will not be able to transform this place. Is it the natural environment of a wilderness?"

"I'm just afraid that they are too capable. If they are capable enough to toss this wasteland in a bad way, the desert area will continue to expand. That would be ridiculous." Wang Dali lay comfortably on a hammock, holding a notebook , the pencil in his hand was still writing and drawing on it: "I will talk about the use of freshwater lakes later, let's not go too far. The most urgent thing now is to walk the whole journey, and then explore a reasonable railway line." Come out. Although we generally know the location of this railway built by Argentina in later generations, many things still need to be actually visited to be clear. Several cavalry companies were sent over, and some gauchos, Poles, and Tatars were recruited, and began to clean up the aboriginal tribes along the line. If these aborigines are not dealt with, the railway cannot be repaired with peace of mind."

"That's the reason." Meng Hu nodded and said, "However, this time, we can't rush to finish the task. What are the intelligence personnel and army officers in the team doing? Of course, they are investigating the inside information of the indigenous people and marching. It came from the supply line. In addition, the people from the Ministry of Agriculture also want to find a few agricultural oases. After all, in the future, all the supplies here cannot be imported from the outside, and the cost would be too high. So, I guess there are two more It took us many months to walk roughly along the line.”

PS: My brother is getting married today, and I don’t have any time code words recently, so I rely on the manuscript.Next, I will try my best to spare the time code words and keep updating.but. . .If something unbearable (broken update) happens, I hope everyone will forgive me.

(End of this chapter)