Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 311 Tacheng Coal Mine ([-])

After waking up in the morning and doing a round of Tai Chi, and then washing his face with well water, Zhang Xiao walked out of the guest room No. 1 door feeling refreshed.This is said to be a guest house, but in fact it is just a few small farmyards.

Seven or eight single-storey guest rooms with two entrances, a firewood room, a kitchen and a pigsty are all the possessions of the guest house.The guest room faces north, which is convenient for lighting and drying clothes; the firewood room, kitchen and pigsty are located on the west side of the guest room, looking east from the west.A low fence encloses these guest rooms, and the guest rooms also divide the area enclosed by the wall into two yards, the front and the back.

The area of ​​the front yard is about two to three hundred square meters, quite spacious, and the yard is relatively clean and tidy.A water well, a few small lychee saplings transported from the east, two rows of green vegetables and a few loofah shelves all reveal a breath of life.On the grass in the yard, some old hens are leading a large group of chicks to forage in the grass. Occasionally, a fat and tender caterpillar is grabbed by several chicks immediately after being pulled out; The grunting fat pigs, maybe it's time for the routine morning feeding, all of them howled very loudly.

A young Irish farmer carried a large bucket of pig food and walked over to feed it cursingly. When he suddenly saw Zhang Xiao walking out of the guest room, he immediately showed a flattering smile: "Good morning, sir!"

"Hello." Zhang Xiao also nodded with a smile.

"Sir, did you sleep well last night? Everything here is fine, but it's too hot and humid. People who come here for the first time usually have a hard time getting used to it. It took me a long time to get used to it." The young farmer continued Said that it might be an honor to be able to talk with such a big man, he kept chattering non-stop: "The dry season here is actually not bad, the highest temperature during the day is only 30-31 degrees, and it may be even worse at night. It is lower, and with the cool sea breeze blowing from time to time, it can make people sleep well. But the rainy season is annoying, the sound of the pattering rain can make people hear the collapse, and the foot of the wall is always long It's full of moss, puddles all over the ground, and those nasty mosquitoes..."

Maybe the Irishman really needed someone to talk to him, anyway he babbled on and on while feeding the pigs.Zhang Xiao listened patiently, without any unpleasant expression on his face, as if what the Irish farmer said was very interesting.In fact, he was also very interested in this Irish farmer, because in terms of his previous experience, most of the immigrants he met-whether Eastern or Western immigrants, they were either due to language barriers or stupid The tongue is clumsy, in short, few people can speak such a long paragraph of words so fluently and logically.

This kind of situation is more common among farmers, because they are shy and conservative by nature, but there are not many industrial workers, and there are very few such people among soldiers. Organizational and various learning activities carried out from time to time.And this is actually a significant difference between ordinary people in industrial society and ordinary people in agricultural society, that is, whether the people's wisdom has improved, whether the people are good at expressing their ideas, and so on.

"What did you do before? I mean before you came to Xinhua Castle, I was very interested. If you don't mind, you can tell me about it." Zhang Xiao picked up a wooden spoon and scooped a piece of water from the bucket. He spooned the viscous pig food, and poured it into the stone pig trough in front of him, which immediately caused several pigs to loot.They ate so happily that even their fat ears were covered with pig food.

"Sir, this is what I should be doing. What are you doing..." the Irish farmer looked at Zhang Xiao who was feeding the pigs with embarrassment, and said at a loss.

"Hehe, it's nothing." Zhang Xiao finished feeding the last spoonful of pig food, and then said with a smile: "About ten years ago, I also fed pigs for more than half a year, and now I really miss that time. .There is no distinction between high and low labor, my friend, remember this sentence. Now, won't you tell me your story?"

"Yes, sir," said the Irishman, blushing, "my name is Charles McKinley, from Kinsale, oh, you probably haven't heard of that place. But that's all right, I'm East Coast now Yes, No. 12 Jiazi Xinhua Castle is my home. My brother Harry and I—by the way, he is now an honorable naval sergeant—went from The damned Good Hope of the English fled to the East Bank. Harry and I were nearly killed by the English during our year at Good Hope..."

"No, no, I think you misunderstood." Zhang Xiao said with a smile on his face, "I'm more interested in what you did before you came to Fort Good Hope? You seem to have been to many places and seen many things? "

"Yes, wise sir." McKinley was taken aback for a moment, and then he said, "Harry and I used to be sailors on a Dutch merchant ship for a long time. We have been to many places, the Caribbean, Brazil, Guinea, Luanda Waiting for many places. Later, our merchant ship was unfortunately captured by English pirates. My brother and I were sold to the British East India Company, and then came to Fort Good Hope. Before becoming a sailor, that is, when I was young, for I used to work in a coal mine for several years."

"Well, what a tortuous experience." Zhang Xiao commented, "These will become your precious wealth in the future. How is your brother Harry now?"

"Harry is my pride." Having said this, McKinley's chest suddenly stood up. "Harry was a sergeant on the battleship 'Free Trade'. He worked very hard and was very good. His comrades treated him very well." Friendly, especially his captain caring for him, it is said that he will be promoted as an apprentice navigator, he taught Harry a lot, and Harry respects him very much."

"Well, an outstanding young man." Zhang Xiao praised, "I believe Harry will grow into an outstanding naval officer. Does he have any troubles?"

"He's all right, except that he can't always listen to God's will, which makes him very painful." McKinley said sadly, "Harry is more religious than me. He is a kind boy. He has complained to me more than once. There wasn’t even a priest on the warship who could confess. Instead, there were those oriental monks. Harry was very sad and angry, but even his beloved Captain Guo paid respect to those monks, and he had to calm down again. Re-examine those priests from the East."

"You are so straightforward, so straightforward." Zhang Xiao laughed, and then asked: "Then do you also think that Xinhua Castle should build a church? But I think those Berber, Maghreb or Tatan people should have different opinions. Well, this issue is a sensitive one, so we won't discuss it for now. Then, to reward you for expressing your feelings, how about I treat you to breakfast?" After finishing speaking, Zhang Xiao walked from his pocket Flicking out two meal coupons, he smiled at McKinley.

"Sir, I am honored." McKinley nervously wiped his hands on the dirty apron.

Breakfast is also prepared in the canteen of the guest house.Because the status of the hosts is generally not low, the dishes seem to be quite rich: sweet potato porridge, boiled corn on the cob, pickles, fried poached eggs, beef in sauce, grilled barracuda, and sea cucumbers in cold salad.McKinley had been in Xinhua Castle for more than half a year, but he had never eaten such a sumptuous breakfast. Now he was devouring the meal, and Zhang Xiao laughed out loud at the scene.

Zhang Xiao ate three bowls of sweet potato porridge in one go with the delicious pickles, and then said with a smile, "I'm full, the rest is yours."

With his mouth full of food, McKinley stared at Zhang Xiao with eyes as big as a cow and nodded repeatedly.

Zhang Xiao laughed again, and said, "Eat slowly, don't rush! Do you still have work to do?"

At this moment, McKinley swallowed the food in his mouth, nodded sharply, and said, "Yes, I will go to the backyard to crush those coals later."

"Huh? Coal?" Zhang Xiao's expression changed when he heard this, and he asked, "You mean the kind of coal used for fire?"

"Yes, sir." McKinley replied with a nod while eating, "It's the kind of coal used for fire. We found it in the south, and those Bezimisaraka people know how to use this thing as fuel for fire. A while ago, Commander Xu led his troops to march south several times, and the farthest one even reached the cape in the south. They captured many aborigines there, and of course they also seized a lot of this kind of coal. According to the interrogation, the aborigines This coal was picked up near the headland, where I think there may be a natural open-pit coal mine."

"How's the coal quality?" Zhang Xiao stood up excitedly and asked.

"According to my many years of working experience in coal mines, the quality of these coals is quite good, at least much better than those dug out in our country." McKinley said without hesitation, "Use these coals to burn fire, The fires tend to be stronger, and burn longer, than the coals we bring from home. There is no doubt that it is a fine coal, not inferior to the coals I have dug in the mines of England."

"It's really great!" Zhang Xiao started walking around the room excitedly.

McKinley looked at him inexplicably, then continued to eat the breakfast on the table with his head down.

"I need to see those coals!" Zhang Xiao suddenly walked up to McKinley, and said eagerly, "McKinley, take me to see them, quick!"

"As you wish, my sir." McKinley finally stuffed a handful of beef stew into his mouth, wiped his mouth vigorously with his dirty cuff, then stood up and said, "Sir, please follow me, Those coals are piled up there in the backyard."

(End of this chapter)