The autumn of West Lake Fort is pleasant.

The tall and straight Parana pine trees, the clear river water, dense irrigation canals, the fertile rice fields horizontally and vertically, and the country farmhouses with curling smoke from cooking stoves, all these scenes made Shao Yuanyi, who had just arrived here from Daming, who had just arrived thousands of miles away from the land of the land, feel unreal.

"Please forgive me, my feelings are so rich." Captain Ventura wiped his wet eyes 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 drive the boat back here, I can't help but want to sing loudly the great executive committee. When I was in Lombardy, my life made a mess of the Spanish guys. I was taken to be a sailor and worked for several years, but they refused to pay my salary on the grounds that I had dirty a piece of the captain's clothes. They only know how to collect taxes, but never care about our lives."

Shao Yuanyi listened to the man who could not tell his age chattering in Chinese with Italian accents. He had just arrived on the east coast for less than half a year and had been traveling through South Africa on a Portuguese ship. The journey was so difficult and the storm were so dangerous that he didn't even want to recall too much. Because he was a doctor, after a short-term training a while ago, he was assigned to the West Lake Fort area, which is said to be still in a wild place. Some new settlements will continue to be built here to accommodate new immigrants. There is extremely lack of doctors, so he was dispatched here.

The boat he was riding was a 35-ton inland paddle steamer on the verge of elimination. Its speed was very slow and the cargo capacity was average, so it was becoming increasingly difficult to see in China. Ventura was the captain of this boat, from Italy. It is said that when his family was rich in his early years, he learned some knowledge, but later his family fell into trouble and had to work as a sailor on the Spanish ship for several years. After arriving on the east coast, he drove the inland flat-bottom transport ship. There were also two Malay sailors from New China and a repairman responsible for maintaining the steam engine.

"Everything is good on the east coast, really, much better than the shit-like Lombardy." Captain Ventura waved his hand to those passing by on the shore, while continuing to say in his exaggerated tone: "But there is one thing that is, it's too difficult to marry a wife here." Speaking of this, Captain Ventura laughed twice in a funny way.

Shao Yuanyi looked up the shore and saw several farmers carrying hoes to finish work. It was almost noon, and everyone was rushing back to have lunch. Behind the farmers, there were a few jumping children following them, carrying fat fish with branches and fish gills. These fish were huge, about five or six kilograms, and even if they were held in their hands, they were still struggling. From time to time, they caused the group of children to scream.

"Yes, it's too difficult to marry a wife, very difficult." Captain Ventura, who was like a chattering chatter, still said to himself: "It was a shit to spend a full sixty yuan to marry his daughter from the cunning old Guarani! I wanted to marry a passionate Lombardy or Naples girl, or a beautiful French girl, but it's too difficult. To be honest, I haven't seen much Italy in China.

Girls, even if they are there, most of them are married. Or, there are too few women in this country. Rossetti, who came with me, got married until two months ago. He married a girl from the Ming Kingdom of the East. How much did he spend? One hundred and twenty yuan! You know, he is a naval officer with a monthly salary of five yuan and a subsidy of two yuan to go to sea. He saved up for two years to save such a sum of money. This is terrible!"

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

"Uh, I'm not used to the way you speak." Ventura complained a little, and then gloatedly said: "Ah, that's of course difficult. The ratio of men and women in China is too disparity. Although the national foreign business station has been working hard to buy Ottoman female slaves, the number is still not enough. Hehe, I heard that the government can't withstand the pressure now and decided to send 500 Malay women from the New China region to relieve the pressure. But I have to say that these people are actually nothing to do with you. The husbands of these women have even decided long ago, yes, the newly expanded coal miners from France in Ping'an County. But to be honest, Dr. Shaw, I don't recommend you marry those Malays or wise men as wives - if you are still a little enterprising in your career."

"Oh, Shao is willing to hear the details." Shao Yuanyi asked with interest.

"You have to change the way you speak. According to some people, it is too sour." Captain Ventura frowned and said, "This is not a secret. You will know sooner or later. Because you are a Ming person, and your appearance is different from French, Italian, German, Livornian and even Berber people. I have no other meaning to say this, because it is a fact. It seems that the nobles in the south do not want to see such a big gap in their subjects' appearance, so many policies have been introduced. I won't talk more about it here. If you are interested, you can learn about it. This is all summarized when I chat with my fellow villagers. Everyone complains deeply about this, because our beautiful Italian girl was married to you Ming people. But don't think too much, everyone is just complaining, after all, life still needs to continue."

Shao Yuanyi nodded silently. To be honest, he looked down on the women of Taixi with high noses, deep eyes, blonde hair and blue 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 now, especially the Ming Dynasty women. He moved here for a short time and had few silver dollars in his pocket. How can he afford to marry a woman from his hometown? If he married a Taixi woman, the pressure would be much smaller. Because of the closeness to Taixi, the number of Taixi women is also larger than that of Ming Dynasty. According to the market conditions in previous years, he only had to spend 40 or 50 yuan to successfully get married. Moreover, because it was intermarried, he could also go to the Ministry of Civil Affairs with a marriage certificate to receive a reward of 20 yuan, which would save half of the cost, which was still very cost-effective.

The paddle steamer filled with wood slowly docked on the timber processing plant dock on the banks of the Xiaoxi River. Captain Ventura jumped lightly onto the river bank and chatted with Zenoni, who came to receive the wood - also his fellow villager - for a few casual conversation. Then he handed over the work to the two Malays, pulled Shao Yuanyi up, walked through the side door of the timber factory, and walked to the north.

There are large woods on both sides of the dirt road in the countryside, and there are five or six people who need to hug each other. There are also some low shrubs with giant reeds more than 20 meters high. Under the pine trees, there are also giant reeds more than 20 meters high. The local Guarani people call it "Takros". These reeds can be built both houses and 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 flew out of the reeds, and then you will see several children shouting and shouting in the reeds behind the butts of the wild ducks.

"These children were not so bold in the past." Ventura turned her head and looked at it, and said with a smile: "At that time, there were still many crocodiles growing on the shore of the lake, but they were expelled or killed later. Now, this is a paradise for children. Every time after school, a group of children would go to the reeds to pick up wild duck eggs and catch fish. Some of the brave old children would also go to the woods on the left side of the road to catch a poisonous snake. That snake is delicious, but also dangerous."

"There are schools here?" Shao Yuanyi asked in surprise. He knew only a limited knowledge of West Lake Fort, and before he set out, he only vaguely heard that this was a wild land and the population was not very clear. At this time, he heard that there was a school, and he was a little surprised when he heard it. The people on the east coast really attach great importance to education. Not only do adults have to attend night schools regularly, but this child also goes to school every day and does not charge money. These children can go to school for free, whether they are peasants, craftsmen, or military families. They can go to school for free, which is beyond the same level of education. They are even better than the Ming Dynasty, which is known as a country of culture.

"Of course there are schools." Ventura said naturally, "As long as the population is large and the fort is officially established, there will be schools, and the government will send teachers from the south to teach. At present, there are more than 80 students in the first to fifth grades of West Lake Fort. Unfortunately, there are only two teachers, including the principal. The number of teachers is not enough, and the level is not good. My eldest son Mario attended Ping'an County before the third grade. There are many teachers there and the teaching level is also high. After getting here, it is completely impossible. What's even more annoying is that their off-campus counselor from Finland is a veteran who teaches some dangerous ideas in the school all day long. Oh, no, we Italians are peace-loving people. I don't want my dear Mario to become a rude soldier when she grows up, just like those annoying Spanish."

"Haha." 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 hates everything in the Old Continent. Hell, he has never lived in the Old Continent for even a long time, and I don't know where the hatred comes from! But who cares, okay, let's not talk about this anymore. I'm not Italian, you're not a wise man. We are from the East Coast. Don't talk about this sensitive topic in the future."
Chapter completed!