Building a small city in a desolate land is like painting on a blank sheet of paper.
Although free and easy, it is also full of difficulties.
Everything has to start from scratch, and planners must have a long-term vision.
Zhao Sixi was under great pressure.
Just arriving at the destination, some people looked at the endless plains here, rejoiced and full of longing for the future.
Some people see the desolation and desolation here, and feel depressed, and even feel that it is not as good as their hometown.
The old farmer picked up the soil on the ground with his calloused hands, observed it carefully, and even put it in front of his nose to smell it.
The children didn't care about this, they ran wildly on the grassland and laughed loudly.
Women are packing their things in a makeshift camp surrounded by carts.
"Fourth brother, you are the mayor, what should you do? Can you come up with a charter?" said an old man surnamed Zhou.
After getting along along the way, everyone has seen that Zhao Sixi is a fair person. Everyone believes in him.
With so many people together, there needs to be someone to talk to.
There were more than a dozen small groups of more than a thousand people traveling with the whole family who immigrated together. Zhao Sixi asked them to nominate a speaker.
Zhao Si also divided the remaining retail investors into groups according to region. Each group had a team leader.
This way Zhao Si doesn't have to call everyone together to discuss everything.
Just gather these dozens of talkers. At the same time, dozens of people can also help him manage these people.
"Mr. Zhou, our first priority now is to set up the camp. The food the government has given us is enough for a while. There is still some time before the farming season. We can't always live in a cart."
"Why don't we build a hundred dens for the ground first, and then build a wall to surround it. This place is too desolate. It would be safer to have a wall, and it would be better to have a defensive facility in case of horse bandits."
Diwozi is a semi-underground building, and the upper part can be used as a straw shed or a wooden shed. Now is the dry season, so you only need to find a slightly higher place to build it.
"OK……"
"Sure, let's do it."
"middle……"
Everyone replied in gibberish, with all kinds of dialects popping up. Fortunately, most of these people were from the north. Although they had different accents, they could basically understand each other.
"The thirty-man police force led by Captain Zheng will ride on horseback to explore the surroundings to see what other forces are around us."
Although those southerners assigned this place to Yangtze River Security, they are not so kind. This place is still an undeveloped area.
From time to time, Yin Di'an people would come here to nomadic herds.
There are even gangs that roam the Midwest visiting here.
So Li Kaicheng issued 500 rifles, 50,000 rounds of ammunition, and even an old-fashioned rotating machine gun to this immigration team.
It is impossible for Zhao Si to arrange for everyone to be on guard with guns.
There is still heavy labor waiting for them.
However, he still squeezed out thirty young men who had served as militiamen in the country to be led by the retired soldier named Zheng.
They will be specifically responsible for vigilance work.
"Okay, Mayor Zhao, I'll just take ten people out, while Lao Ding and twenty people will stay at the camp."
Captain Zheng retired from Yangtze Security. He knows the situation here very well.
He knew exactly how chaotic this place was, as this was a place outside the law.
In this place, weakness is an original sin.
You can't expose your weak side to the outside, otherwise the hungry wolves around you will come around and bite you.
"I'll leave the safety matters to Captain Zheng."
"Everyone, although each family has been allocated land, it has just begun and we cannot disperse yet. After all, the surrounding area is not safe."
"What I mean is that it is the same as the model of opening new farms in China. We work together and give everyone a place to live. Then we measure the surrounding land and divide the land."
Zhao Sixi's arrangement was very safe and everyone agreed.
The more than 200 horses and more than 100 carts brought this time, Zhao Sixi also distributed them to each family or group.
Let everyone take care of it and keep it.
The location of the city is very important. It should be close to water sources and the terrain should not be too low.
In addition, it needs to be close to the woods for easy access to building materials.
This is already considered the central Great Plains. Most of the area is grassland, and the woods are divided into patches.
Sixi assigned a hundred young men to cut trees.
He also specifically told the trees in the forest to be cut down at intervals, and to cut down the big trees and leave the small ones.
Everything around here belongs to Xinzheng City and cannot be harmed at will.
The rest were working on a selected piece of high ground along the river.
To make an underground nest, you first need to dig a one-meter pit in the ground. Each pit is about twenty square meters in size.
Then cut the chopped wood into one meter lengths and insert them around the pit as a wall.
A log is supported on the top to make the beam. Then the wooden planks are used to make the roof.
With these people working together and doing assembly line operations, the camp was quickly established.
The camp was surrounded by a thick fence made of logs.
With the fence, it really looks like a small town from a distance.
Just to save time, this small town is not big.
The largest building inside is the granary.
There is also a building where seeds are stored.
There is also an infirmary, which is relatively spacious.
As for the schools where children can study, we will have to wait a while longer.
Si Xi feels that he may be the most miserable mayor. He doesn't even have his own city hall.
I can only work in my own room.
But he was full of energy.
Seven days later, the camp was completed and the immigrants in Xinzheng finally began to divide their land.
They were the first residents and could be divided first among the land along the river.
There is no need to build aqueducts on these lands. Just building a waterwheel by the river can ensure irrigation of your own land.
It is still February and spring has just begun. After discussing the matter with several farmers in the team, Sixi decided not to plant rice this season.
First plant three food crops: corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes.
As for vegetables, each family grows their own.
After the summer harvest in August, each family will begin to be self-sufficient.
The food rations provided by the Canadian government can only last until that time.
On the other side, Captain Deng also completed his inspection of the surrounding area.
"There are three families of white immigrants fifty kilometers away to the east. They have been there for a while. We told them that this is the boundary of Xinzheng."
"There is a Yintian tribe sixty kilometers away to the north, with more than a hundred people. They make a living by herding and hunting. When we bumped into them, they were migrating north.
Those people seem to be migrating south in winter and north in summer. These Yintian people are very wary of us. Almost every man among them has a bow and arrow. Some of them also have muskets, and all of them are on horseback."
"No one has been found in the south yet. But we found a burned wooden house, as well as the bodies of women and children. There are indeed gang activities here." Captain Zheng, who came back after a long journey, reported to Zhao Sixi.
Fortunately, the surrounding forces are not big. As long as you are careful, they should not be able to threaten Xinzheng.
"Captain Zheng, I understand. Please send someone to the Canyon Fortress to report the situation here."
"I made an agreement with the commander there, Battalion Commander Liu, to keep in regular contact. They will also send people to inspect our place regularly."
Canada built permanent fortifications in the major valleys entering the Great Plains.
Separate Canada from the Great Plains areas where whites have penetrated.
At the same time, it is also to maintain the safety of the canyon area.
In the mountainous areas of the west, the most valuable areas for development are the Grand Canyons, which are not just transportation thoroughfares.
It is also an important area for the development of agriculture and mining industries.
At present, the Chinese military in Canada is not only the mercenaries of Yangtze River Security, but also the state volunteer army established in the name of the California government.
They are now responsible for guarding various places in California, and there are approximately more than 20,000 people.
There are no big military forces around Canada, and even the standing army of America only has 10,000 men, so there is no need for Canada to retain such a large standing army.
"Okay, Mayor Zhao, don't worry, we are relatively safe now. There are still 20,000 Yangtze River security team members in the east!" Captain Zheng said. He retired from the east.
After Captain Zheng left, Sixi also put down what he was doing.
He already has a son, who is now two and a half years old. His wife, Mrs. Jiang, has recently become pregnant with another child, who must have been born at sea.
It has been more than five months now. Sixi had someone make a bed for his wife and put it in a nest in the ground.
Fortunately, it was still early spring, so a fireplace was dug out next to the entrance of the diwo, and firewood was lit inside.
The little Fuso girl was squatting beside the fireplace, breaking off branches one by one and throwing them into the fireplace.
With the warmth of the fireplace, the den was very dry.
Most of the other dungeons are like this, but most of them have floor bunks. Many dungeons sleep twenty or thirty people.
Almost the entire nest is filled.
There are only two dens for the twenty-odd slaves of Sixi's family, and the men can only sleep in one and the women in the other.
If anyone wants to have sex with his wife, he can only go outside and find a place with deep grass to settle the matter.
"Madam, I have caused you to suffer. If you had stayed in your hometown, you wouldn't have suffered like this." Sixi walked to the bed, smoothed Mrs. Jiang's hair, and said with concern.
"It's okay. I don't have to do anything every day, so I won't have to suffer any hardship. Let's build a new home together, and our Xing'er and the others can enjoy happiness in the future."
Jiang stroked her swollen belly and comforted Si Xi.
When Jiang said this, Sixi felt that she was being a little pretentious.
After appeasing his wife, Sixi told Yimei to take good care of the mistress and the young master.
He walked out of his den and walked around the camp.
After a while, I walked to my father's house, where he lived with some men from relatives.
My sister was helping them cook dinner. There was a large mouthful of corn mush cooked on the fireplace, with steamed buns on top.
"Xizi is here!" Father Zhao put down the old pipe in his hand and knocked it on the ground.
"Dad, eldest sister, uncles, are you ready to eat?" Sixi said with a smile.
Food is still rationed, so everyone eats about the same.
Except when some people go to the river to catch some fish in their free time, or catch prey on the grassland, they will improve their food.
Zhao Sixi magically took out a skinned hare from behind.
"Dad, I'll give you a toothpaste as a gift."
Captain Zheng brought three rabbits to Sixi when he came back today. Sixi kept two rabbits at home to replenish her daughter-in-law's health.
I brought one to my dad.
"Hey, brother, where did the rabbit come from?" The eldest sister happily took it.
"Xizi, I was chatting with some uncles just now. The land here is good and we should be able to grow food. But how can we get rich just by farming in the future? In China, among those wealthy places, which one
It’s not about building your own industry.” Zhao’s father said.
After all, older people think longer term.
"Dad, let's grow the food first. The mines in the west and the armies fighting in the east need food to support them. We don't have to worry about selling the food at a good price."
"Now all the land here belongs to us. If there is any leftover capacity at that time, I will make the decision and rent the government land to them at a very low price. As long as the land is within our Xinzheng area, I will make the decision."
."
"Exception: Manager Li said that we don't need to pay a penny in taxes to the state for three years."
"At that time, we just need to support our own police force."
Sixi had already planned that Xinzheng City would be positioned as a grain producing area in its early stages.
The Grand Canyon area to the west is not suitable for farming, but there are many mines and steel plants there. For so many people, food must be imported from outside.
In Kansas, there are so many people in the Yangtze River Security Bureau in the east. Even eating horse chews consumes a lot of grain and grass.
At that time, they will not only be able to grow food, but also grow forage on the wasteland and specialize in military business.
In addition, this place is an important passage into the Grand Canyon.
Some hotels can be opened to build Xinzheng into a transportation hub connecting the central and western regions.
In San Francisco, he also heard some rumors that the East-West Railway would pass through the Grand Canyon and reach here.
"That's good, we also know how to grow food. If we plant food this year, we can take time to build each house. Do you want to build a brick kiln?" Father Zhao felt relieved after hearing this.
few.
"Okay, Dad, we'll start working on it as soon as the land is planted. I recently took Master Sun to the west to see if we can find a place to mine coal."
Lao Sun had worked in the mines before and had some prospecting skills. As he got older, he was greedy for the land here, so he immigrated to Jiahua with his family.
Zhao Sixi planned to take Lao Sun to see the boundaries of Xinzheng, and maybe he could find coal.
Even a shallow layer of peat will do, as long as it can be used to burn the kiln.
The Chinese still like to build houses with bricks, unlike white people who just build a wooden house wherever they go.
Of course, it would be better if there were other mines, so that Xinzheng could have a new source of income in the future.
Zhao Sixi did not eat at his father's place. He also wanted to visit his long-term workers.
Recently they have been working alongside immigrants.
Zhao Sixi could tell that these people were hardworking and dedicated people.
It seems that I still have good taste.
"Master of the house."
"Master!"
Seeing Zhao Sixi entering the shack, these Fusang people knelt down one after another.
They are all at the bottom of Fusang and have already formed a class concept.
In their understanding, Zhao Sixi is the lord of this new city.
In Fuso, it is equivalent to being a daimyo.
And they were hired by the daimyo, which was a very honorable thing for them.
Although Sixi is not very accustomed to this way of worshiping.
But I have to say that this feels really good.
"Everyone, get up." Sixi said with a majestic expression.
Everyone stood up and consciously stood in two rows, listening to the master's instructions.
"You have all done a good job recently, no one is lazy." Sixi affirmed them first.
"Chibian, you will go to the carpenters team from tomorrow and saw wood with them."
"Hi, Master."
"Beside the well, you go to the maintenance team and take charge of the blacksmith matters."
"Ichigo, you will start activities with the herding team tomorrow."
…
Since the camp had been built, Sixi came over to reassign jobs to his long-term workers.