November 1658, sunny, on the banks of the Orange River.

The hot sun is fiercely scorching the earth. It is located in the Orange River Basin at about 28 degrees south latitude. Due to the drying and strong steaming period, the once extremely wide river channel is now only the center of the river. The shallow waters on both sides have long since dried up and turned into cracked land. This land has been tortured since the ancient Gondwana era, and the residents living on this arid grassland (whether the Koisans or various animals) have long accepted this fact.

"We don't know how large the distribution range of diamond mines is, but it is not difficult to infer from the locations that it has been discovered that it mainly exists in this arid grassland area in the lower reaches of the Orange River. Therefore, to be on the safe side, I decided to set the 250 kilometers north and south range from the Atlantic Ocean to the north and south of the Dongshan Mountains, and officially declared sovereignty. Xiao Wang, your task is to walk up the Orange River first, examine the terrain along the river and draw a map. If possible, it is best to circle out which places are located together.

It is suitable for building a settlement." Wang Zhijie, who was riding on the back of a donkey, was still ringing in his mind that the former Commissioner Jiao Tangjiao's instructions to him. Commissioner Jiao had a great appetite this time. He put tens of thousands of square kilometers into the national flag on the east coast. This was not for others to see, but for other people from South Africa. It means that our Great East Coast has a look at this place. Don't make trouble. There is nothing but sand here, and there is no benefit to you. Friends from England and United Provinces will be able to make things easier, otherwise we will see it on the battlefield.

"This ghost place." Looking at the endless sandy plain under your feet, Wang Zhijie couldn't help but sneeze. Hearing this, the donkey under his crotch sneezes, and seemed to be very unaware of the sparse fleshy shrub-shaped vegetation on the ground.

"If diamonds were not revealed, would this arid grassland be of any value to us?" Wang Zhijie got off the donkey's back, grabbed a handful of sand, looked at it carefully for a long time, sighed and said, "We can try to develop irrigation agriculture along the Orange River area. In other places, there is no other way except grazing. And even grazing must be done in detail, for fear that the vegetation will be destroyed. After all, it is not easy for these shrubs to grow so big (surviving by sparse precipitation and thick morning fog), and if you accidentally turn this semi-arid grass into a desert."

"Damn!" He angrily threw the fool in his hand to the ground. Wang Zhijie looked up at the big fireball hanging in the air, and said in a hoarse voice: "Stop! Be careful to send a warning whistle!"

The cadres and the cavalry of the 6th Army relaxed their faces when they heard this, and then quickly assigned the positions under the command of the officials. Those who went out to be alert, those who fetched water, those who fetched temporary tents, and those who set up temporary tents, were very busy.

"I heard from people that South Africa was called the 'Sun Kingdom', and the sunshine time of one day was 7.59.5 hours. I have been transferred to South Africa this month, and now there is no false statement." The attendants who sat on the ground gnawing on the cakes started chatting softly, and it was obvious that they were not local South African cadres.

"Whoever likes the sun will take it!" said a local South African cadre angrily, "You see, it's late spring and early summer, and the wind blows from the west, and it's deadly. It's cloudless. Anything that water on the ground is sunk, it's all so bad! Look at this desert, you can still watch the rain in summer and autumn, and the green on the grass is pretty good, but in winter and spring, it's all this dry brown and lifeless ground, which makes people drowsy."

In the archives in the Hezhong area, there is a complete collection of precipitation and temperature data from the lower reaches of the Orange River in the past decade. Wang Sen once had the honor to read it, and only one impression is that it is too drought! In the Bailang Township area of ​​the mouth of the lower reaches of the Orange River, the annual precipitation is only 50 mm; and in places slightly south (that is, the area along the valley of later Goodhouse), the precipitation is less than much, and it is often accidental to have 250 mm of precipitation. It may be all in one day, sometimes for a short period of time.

Large showers, accompanied by violent thunderstorms, and sometimes with heavy hail. This thunderstorm may be born at any time of the year, any month or day (but it is more common in autumn). It is very strange and has a precipitation of more than 20 millimeters, which is the same level as Patagonia, but the steaming volume of the western grasslands in South Africa is many times that of Patagonia. Therefore, this winding valley along the Orange River has been established as a "dry corridor" by the East Coast people, which is worthy of its name.

After resting on the banks of the Orange River for an hour, a group of people put their bags on the donkey and camel's back and began to move eastward. On December 2, everyone arrived near the town of Sandd Rd. Wang Zhijie looked around and then drew a small circle on the map. He planned to suggest that the regional administration set up a settlement here, because it was the last possible supply point before entering the mountain along the river valley. It was necessary to arrange some farmers to come to cultivate Wang Zhijie marked the place name as "North Mountain Pass". He had the right to do so.

Wang Zhijie, the most outstanding geography and botanist among the younger generation of the east coast, stayed in Beishankou for two days. During this two days, he conducted a detailed investigation of the soil and vegetation along the river valley, and had a shallow impression of the agricultural conditions here, and randomly recorded them in the book.

The soil in the Beishankou area is a typical desert light brown calcium soil, which is very common in the western coastal plains and is widely distributed. The fertility conditions of this soil vary greatly in different regions, depending on the size of precipitation and the structure of the bedrock. The humus thickness in the light brown calcium soil in the Beishankou area is not large, but it often contains a large amount of calcium, alkali and phosphorus. It is suitable for agricultural planting under artificial irrigation and intensive cultivation, but drainage facilities must also be provided, because excessive irrigation may lead to soil salinization. Of course, this does not seem to be a big problem in the South African riverside area where water-saving sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation are promoted.

At present, in Bailang Township near the mouth of the Orange River, people on the east coast have successfully used this desert light brown calcium soil to cultivate a large number of crops, mainly fruits and vegetables, and a certain amount of wheat and alfalfa fields not only successfully feed the local 700 settlers, but also provide a certain amount of storage to supply hundreds of cavalry temporarily stationed, which is quite difficult.

On December 3, everyone continued to travel east. On the afternoon of this day, they encountered the great fortune because they were walking among the Dongshan Mountains, perhaps the only rainfall in the nearby area in a year. The strong thunderstorm brought the source of life to the barren sand. In the next few days, it was like magic, the originally lifeless ground suddenly turned yellow, and the red and white carpets were a kind of flower blooming of succulent shrubs. In addition to these flowers, the originally tenacious slut, tethered espresso, tree-like espresso, aloe, small tummy pig wool, and alpine dwarf trees grew even more vigorous and green, which made everyone's morale rise unconsciously.

On December 6, Wang Zhijie and others arrived on the other side of the Osenke town in Namibia. At this time, not only Wang Zhijie himself, but even any guard accompanying him could easily see that the river water was very clear in the later years. This was the place with the smallest sand content in the middle and lower reaches of the Orange River, but only 5mg/1. Therefore, the wear of the overflow components of hydraulic machinery is very small, and it is not easy to block the drip irrigation pipeline. It is very suitable for irrigation agriculture.

In fact, this place is also very suitable for agriculture, especially near the small town of Osenke in Namibia in the north bank, steppe calcium soil is widely distributed. These soils are grown on shale, so they are rich in nutrients and are suitable for agricultural planting. Therefore, after crossing the river to the north bank for inspection, Wang Zhijie and others immediately designated this place as a settlement, called "Litu Township", which means that the calcium soil is widely distributed here and the agricultural prospects are good.

After inspecting Litu Township, on December 8, the team set out east again. This time they simply walked along the north bank of the Orange River. After avoiding a small migrant Koisan tribe, they arrived at the boundary near the city of noordoeer in later generations on December 1. There were a large number of shrubs, reeds, wormwood, wild flowers, as well as small patches of willows and acacia groves. The soil was also relatively fertile steppe chestnut soil. In addition, the water of this section of the river was still clear, so Wang Zhijie immediately drew a small circle on the map he had drawn by himself without hesitation and named the upcoming settlement "Acacia Township" to commemorate the acacia grove that appeared here.

On December 15, after arriving near the town of Goodhouse, less than 100 kilometers east of Jinhehua Township, Wang Zhijie and others, who had already entered the six arid areas, had to terminate the operation because the food they carried may not be enough and could no longer support them to explore eastward, so the operation could only end here. But even so, their desert exploration, which lasted nearly 300 kilometers, was still an extremely impressive feat, and it has extremely important reference value for the future eastward expansion of the Hezhong Regional Administration, and its achievements will never be erased.

On December 17, after resting for more than a day, Wang Zhijie and others left the place, which he named "Shaotan Township", and then took a slightly tired pace and embraced the fierce summer sun in northwest South Africa, and embarked on a journey back. Their destination was Bailang Township, near the mouth of the Orange River. (To be continued.)

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Chapter completed!