Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 384 Lake West ([-])

Autumn in West Lake Fort is pleasant.

The tall and straight Paraná pine trees, the crystal-clear river, the dense irrigation canals, the horizontal and vertical fertile rice fields, and the rural farmhouses emitting smoke, all these scenes make Daming, who has just traveled thousands of miles from the red land, come here. Shao Yuanyi felt unreal for a while.

"Please forgive me, my feelings are too rich." Captain Ventura wiped his moist eye sockets, and said to Shao Yuanyi who was standing on the deck with a slightly exaggerated gesture, "My home is in West Lake Fort. Every time I sail back here, I can't help but want to sing loudly about the great executive committee. When I was in Lombardy, life was messed up by those Spaniards. Years, but they refused to pay me because I soiled one of the captain's clothes. They only knew about collecting taxes, but they never cared about our lives."

With some difficulty, Shao Yuanyi listened to this man of indeterminate age chattering in Chinese with an Italian accent. He had just come to the east coast for less than half a year, and he had just come to the east coast via South Africa on a Portuguese ship.He didn't even want to recall the difficulty of the journey and the danger of the storm.Because I am a doctor, I was assigned to the West Lake Fort area, which is said to be in a barren land, after undergoing a short-term training a while ago. Some new settlements will continue to be built here to accommodate new immigrants. There is an extreme shortage of doctors, so That's how he was dispatched.

The ship he was on was a 35-ton inland river paddle steamer that was on the verge of being eliminated. Its speed was very slow and its cargo capacity was average, so it is becoming more and more difficult to see in China.Ventura is the captain of this ship. He is from Italy. It is said that he learned some knowledge when his family was rich in his early years. After some training, he drove an inland flat-bottomed transport boat.There were also two Malay sailors from New China on board, as well as a repairman responsible for maintaining the steam engine.

"Everything on the east coast is good, really, it's much better than the shitty Lombardy." Captain Ventura waved to the people passing by on the shore, while continuing to say in his exaggerated tone: "But there is also a little No, it’s just too difficult to marry a wife here.” Speaking of this, Captain Ventura laughed twice thinking it was funny.

Shao Yuanyi looked towards the shore, and saw a few farmers carrying hoes to finish their work. It was almost noon, and everyone was rushing back to have lunch.Behind the farmer there are several children bouncing around, carrying fat fish whose gills are pierced with twigs.These fish were huge, weighing about five or six catties, and even though they were held in their hands, they were still struggling, causing the group of children to exclaim from time to time.

"Yes, it is very difficult to marry a wife, very difficult." Captain Ventura, who was like a chatterbox, still said to himself: "I spent a whole 60 yuan to get married from that cunning Guarani old man." Marrying his daughter back on hand, shit! I would have liked to marry a hot Lombard or Neapolitan girl, or a beautiful French girl, but it's too difficult. To be honest, I'm in the country I haven’t seen many Italian girls, and even if there are, most of them are married. In other words, the number of women in this country is too small. Rossetti, who came with me, didn’t get married until two months ago. Married a girl from the Ming Dynasty in the East, how much do you think it cost? 120 yuan! You know, he is a naval sergeant, with a monthly salary of five yuan and a subsidy of two yuan for going to sea. He has saved for two full years To save such a sum of money. It's horrible!"

Shao Yuanyi was a little surprised when he heard what Ventura said, so he asked, "Captain Wen, is it so difficult to marry a woman in China now?"

"Uh, I'm not used to the way you speak." Ventura complained a little at first, and then said gloatingly: "Aha, of course it's very difficult. The ratio of men and women in China is too disparate. The foreign business station has been working hard to buy Ottoman female slaves, but the number is still not enough. Hehe, I heard that the government is a bit unable to withstand the pressure now, and decided to send [-] Malay women from the New China region to the country to relieve the pressure. But I I have to say, these people have nothing to do with you. The husbands of these women have even made up their minds long ago. Yes, they are the coal miners from France who recently expanded production in Ping’an County. But seriously, Dr. Shao, I It is not recommended that you marry those Malays or Ming people—if you are still a bit aggressive in your career.”

"Oh, Shao would like to hear more about it." Shao Yuanyi asked with interest.

"You have to change the way you speak. According to some people, it's too sour." Captain Ventura frowned and said, "It's not a secret, and you will know it sooner or later. Because you are Ming people, looks different from French, Italians, Germans, Livonians and even those Berbers, I don't mean anything else by saying that, because it is true. It seems that those noble gentlemen in the south I don’t want to see such a big difference in the appearance of their subjects, so many policies have been introduced. I won’t talk about it here. If you are interested, you can go to find out. This is when I chat with my fellow countrymen It was summed up. Everyone complained deeply about this, because our beautiful Italian girl was married by your bright people. But don’t think too much, everyone is just complaining, after all, life must go on.”

Shao Yuanyi nodded silently.To be honest, he also looked down on those blond and blue-eyed Thai women with high noses and deep eyes. In his opinion, these people were really ugly.However, Captain Wen also said that it is very difficult to marry a woman in China nowadays, especially women from the Ming Dynasty are rare.It's not long since I moved here, and I don't have a few silver dollars in my pocket. How can I afford to marry a woman from my hometown.If you marry a Thai-Western woman, the pressure will be much less. Due to the proximity of the place, the number of Thai-Western women is also relatively large. According to the market in previous years, I only need to spend 50 yuan to successfully marry a wife.And because it is a mixed marriage, I can go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to receive a 20 yuan reward with my marriage certificate, which saves half of the cost, which is still very cost-effective.

The paddle steamer full of timber slowly docked at the dock of the timber processing factory by the Xiaoxi River. Captain Ventura lightly jumped onto the river bank, and Zenoni who came to receive the timber - also his fellow villager - casually After chatting for a few words, he handed over the work to the two Malay sailors. He pulled Shao Yuanyi up and walked north through the side door of the timber factory.

There are large forests on both sides of the dirt road in the countryside. There are Parana pine trees as high as 60 meters that need to be embraced by five or six people. There are also some low shrubs. Under the pine trees are some giant reeds more than 20 meters high. The Nigerians call it "Tacross".These reeds can be used to build houses or rafts, which are very practical.There are also a large number of giant reeds growing in the shallow water area of ​​the lake shore on the right side of the road. From time to time, a group of panicked wild ducks fly out of the reeds, and then you will see a few more yelling out of the reeds behind the wild ducks' buttocks. child.

"These children were not so bold before." Ventura turned his head and glanced, and said with a smile: "At that time, there were still many crocodiles growing on the shore of the lake, but they were all driven or killed by people. Now, here is Children's paradise, every time after school, a group of children will go to the reeds to dig wild duck eggs and catch fish. Some brave children will go to the woods on the left side of the road to catch a poisonous snake. Delicious, but also dangerous."

"There is also a school here?" Shao Yuanyi asked in surprise.He knew very little about West Lake Fort, and before he set off, he had only vaguely heard that it was a wild land, and the population was not very clear. At this time, he heard that there was a school, but he was a little surprised at first hearing it.People from the east coast really value education. Not only do adults have to attend some night school regularly, but this kid goes to school every day, and they don't charge any money. It's really strange.Whether these children are from farmers, craftsmen, or military households, they can all go to school for free.

"Of course there is a school." Ventura said as a matter of course, "As long as the population reaches a certain size and the fort is officially established, there will be a school, and then the government will send a teacher from the south to teach. At present, the schools in West Lake Fort are in grades one to five. There are more than 80 students in total. Unfortunately, there are only two teachers including the principal. The number is not enough and the level is not good. My eldest son Mario went to school in Ping'an County before the third grade. There are many teachers and the teaching level is also high. , when we get here, it's not good at all. What's worse is their outside school counselor from Finland, this guy is a veteran who teaches dangerous ideas in school all day long. Oh no, we Italians are peace loving I don't want my darling Mario to grow up to be a rough bitch like those annoying Spaniards."

"Hehe." Shao Yuanyi smiled and said, "You are Italian, but your son Mario doesn't think so."

"Yes." Ventura shrugged and said, "Mario thinks he is from the east coast, his classmates, teachers, and his whole childhood are here, he loves this land, loves everything here, and at the same time hates Everything in the Old Continent. Hell, he didn't live in the Old Continent even half a day, don't know where the hate came from! But who cares, well, let's not talk about it, I'm not Italian, and you're not Ming, we They are all from the east coast, so we will talk less about this sensitive topic in the future."

The two walked while chatting, and soon arrived at their destination.

(End of this chapter)