From Chief to Ball

Once saltpeter is mined here, the generation of coastal plantations and large cotton and wheat planting areas will gradually squeeze the existence of self-cultivating farmers.The increase in yield caused by the release of fertilizers will reduce the price of food in the short term, which will gradually bankrupt the farmers.

Either sell the land and go to work in the city, or be forced to choose the owner farmers joint farm plan proposed by the Mexican Party. There is no second choice.

The saltpeter reserves here are sufficient, and Chen Jian feels that even if the Great Deserted City is developed, it will still be enough to maintain agricultural use for about 200 years.As long as the development of the synthetic ammonia industry is completed within 200 years, there will be no sudden famine that may be caused by sudden shortage of fertilizers and excessive population increase.

As for the use of explosives, this is second to none. The world cannot consume so much sodium nitrate for the time being. Furthermore, the research on passivating agents is probably only done by my husband in the academy, and it will not spread out for the time being.

Furthermore, there are also copper mines with amazing reserves, which should be the world's largest copper reserves.Spain just began to mint copper coins on a large scale more than ten years ago, and now the price of copper in the world market is rising steadily, which is also worth mining, and the profit is sufficient.

It's just that the conditions here are a bit harsh. As one of the driest deserts in the world, it's normal not to see a drop of rain for more than ten years.

The fleet found a good natural harbor suitable for berthing, but within [-] miles of this natural good harbor, they did not find any river into the sea.

Chen Jian did not give up, and continued northward, and finally found a small river.There are local villages at the mouth of the river, and there are translators who can speak Spanish. According to the transliteration of the locals, the name of the river is "Loa".

Chen Jian has heard of this word before. It is very common in mythology books, stories or games that are associated with voodoo dolls, sacrificed living people, feathered snakes or similar things. It is probably a kind of animal god.Chen Jian didn't know exactly what it was.

However, the aborigines here have basically chosen to be forced to integrate into the society at this time. The most prominent evidence is that when Chen Jian took out the silver coins, these residents readily accepted them.

In the name of investigating along the river, the fleet was moored near the mouth of the river for a while to start trading with the local aborigines. Chen Jian led an expedition team of more than 50 people along the Loa River.

This is a freshwater river running through the desert. The water flow is very small, but it brings oases along the river valley to this uninhabited desert.The Spaniards have established their rule here, but the foundation of their rule is extremely weak. Because of the willingness of the land to be barren, there are no large-scale settlements in the local area.

Led by a local Spanish-speaking guide, the expedition team of more than 50 people came to the depths of the Atacama Desert, asked about the distribution of the nearby salt lake, and prepared enough water, compass and food. Choosing to wait here, Chen Jian and the expedition team tried to head towards the Salt Lake.

Fortunately, although it is dry here, it is only dry, and there are not too many storms. As long as there is water, it is easier to survive than those quicksand and black sand storm areas.

Before setting foot in the desert, Chen Jian encouraged the expedition team: "The climate here is extremely arid, which is very suitable for the existence of some special minerals. If we are lucky, we can find minerals such as saltpeter, which will no longer cause hunger to the world." Suffering helps a lot.”

Everyone looked at the desert shrouded in yellow sand and death, but they didn't feel timid. They circled the earth and saw a lot from cannibals to all kinds of monsters.

Since it is something meaningful to human beings or ethnic groups, this investigation becomes much more meaningful, encouraging each other to move towards the interior of the desert.

Two days later, we arrived at the area densely populated with salt lakes. A large number of salt water lakes are dotted in the desert, enduring the torment of the sun. Layers of white mineral saline lay on the ground.

To the locals, it means nothing.But for a group that has entered the post-agricultural era, it is full of meaning.

This is the saltpeter mine. Chen Jian knew that this was the saltpeter mine, but he still did some simple experiments, and then shouted out with a disguised excitement of sudden discovery.

The members of the expedition team were happy with Chen Jian for a while, and then all of them expressed that they would strictly keep this secret.Whether to legally buy it from Spain in the future, or exchange it elsewhere, or wait until the future war in Europe to snatch it away, many people have already had ideas in their minds.

The people who came to investigate with Chen Jian are convinced that an area that can excite Chen Jian to such an area is completely worth fighting for development, because even if the vast grasslands and arable land around the Black Swan River are discovered, they will not let them go. Chen Jian was so excited.

Since I am excited, I have confirmed that there is the current mining value here - even from the perspective of capital profit, it is worth mining, but the rate of return is lower than that of maritime trade.

It is dry and rainless, there are not many storms, there is no quicksand, and there is a freshwater river that can be replenished not far away.

At least one thing is certain, this will be the easiest place in the world to build a railway with cast iron or wrought iron rails at this time. No steel rails are needed, because the drought here makes the rails less likely to rust.

After collecting ore samples here, they stayed for a few days and made enough notes. When they returned, they drew the general flow direction of the Loa River, and the expedition team returned to the seaside.

Chapter 8 Evolution

The fleet set sail again, and after sailing for several days, they saw a smuggling ship of the Nanyang Trading Company, who was smuggling something in the name of a whaling ship.

After seeing the flag of Chen Jian's fleet clearly, the smuggling ship belonging to the Nanyang Trading Company immediately sent out a signal, and entertained Chen Jian, a member of the board of directors who had not withdrawn his shares, with the most ardent courtesy.

The people in the fleet knew that they were not far from their homeland, but seeing the smuggling ships of the Republic in the port outside the Spanish city still felt a sense of pleasure of meeting old friends in a foreign land.

The people on the smuggling boat entertained Chen Jian and others with a delicacy—the tortoise from Galapagos.The island had long been discovered by these whaling ships or smuggling ships, and it became a special supply station marked on the nautical chart.

The tortoises on the island can survive in the cabin for a year without eating or drinking, and they don't move or smell. It is the most suitable seafood supplement for voyages, and the taste is really good.

Originally, I wanted to find a Spanish sailor or a reclusive pirate to be the navigator at the port, but there is no need to worry about it. I borrowed a navigator from the smuggling ship of the Nanyang Trading Company, and let those homesick people wait until the smuggling ship is completed. The eager people went back with the boat, and Chen Jian took two boats to the Galapagos Islands, which were called "Fresh Meat Island" at that time.

This strange island, which can be called the birthplace of the theory of evolution, is located near the equator.But because of the cold current, this sea area near the equator is extremely cool, and there are even penguins.

The terrifying landforms created by volcanoes and the rich nutrients from the confluence of ocean currents make this island present a strange beauty intertwined with death and life.

Nowhere can match the shock of life here - the adjacent island volcano is still erupting slightly, hot magma is still flowing on the newly formed island, and terrifying steam rises, a few miles away It can still be seen clearly ten miles away; and on another island, the most lively blue-footed boobies are continuing the greatness of life with funny courtship methods.

When they set foot on a big island, the scene like hell in the myth was unfolded in front of everyone.

The mottled streaks left by the magma are still there, and the lava that has not been weathered tells that the life span here is only a few hundred thousand years at most.On the black rocks lay sea lizards that looked like monsters or imaginary demons from hell, lazily looking at these people who had no influence on them.In general, this is what hell looks like in many myths in Europe, and Chen Jianlai at this time described it as seeing Godzilla everywhere in the last days.

During the three-month investigation, Chen Jian left a lot of simple black and white photos of people getting along with animals.

The tortoise weighing more than 300 kilograms lay there motionless. Lin Xi rode on the back of the tortoise, smiling as if riding a horse, and the slow tortoise also allowed enough exposure time; I don’t know how scary people are Sea lions, lying next to several members of the expedition team basking in the sun, lightly pressed their tails against the stomachs of the members of the expedition team to signal for him to leave some space to the side; the tall cactus growing near the beach, Wanting to touch the sky at an unimaginable height, most members of the expedition took a group photo sitting under the cactus.

During the three-month investigation, several newly named species appeared in the language.

The blue-footed booby, which behaves funny and always does various high-leg movements like a clown when courting, is named "academic drama blue-footed bird" because there are no funny clowns in the culture of the expedition team, only from Any action that comes out of the drama school is a drama performer who is rigid but deliberately exaggerated and large-scale.

The strange flying birds were named "Xixi Birds" because they were named by Lin Xi, and this bird made her believe in the reason for the differentiation of species, and named this bird and the tortoise on the island. As evidence of the natural selection and survival of all things.

Chen Jian used the last indoctrination method, and he can safely and boldly use those indoctrination methods that could not be used easily.

The special environment here is too suitable for "shoot first and then draw the target".

The islands separated by dozens of miles are obviously a kind of giant tortoise, but due to the different sources of food and the different drought conditions on the island, they have evolved long necks, short necks, thick necks, shells with eaves, and smooth shells. Various forms.

Every form can find their reasons, and the reasons are so obvious that they are almost invulnerable.

On the islands separated by tens of miles, there are obviously similar Xixi birds, and because of the difference in food, they have evolved a variety of completely different beaks and different ways of life.

On islands separated by dozens of miles, two lizards look so similar, but one can swim in the sea and live on seaweed; the other can't swim and can only live on food on land.

During the three-month investigation, the ultimate question of "where did it come from" was still unresolved, but Lin Xi understood the most important problem in theory - isolation.

From geographic isolation to reproductive isolation, and eventually new species emerge.

The explanation of this problem is easier, because the agronomy of this ethnic group has been planting peas for hundreds of years, and Chen Jian has already explained the problem of recessive and dominant genes with the penetrating theory of yin and yang. An unalterable "word of the sage".

A new variation must develop under conditions of geographical isolation, otherwise the variation may be diluted by the race; geographical isolation leads to different close relatives no longer mating, thus losing the opportunity for traits to communicate with each other, and eventually This led to reproductive isolation, and a new species was born.

The Xixi sparrow on the island has verified this point with irrefutable facts and has become unbreakable evidence; the tortoise on the island even uses long or short necks to vividly interpret what survival of the fittest is.

The erupting volcanoes in the distance and the unweathered volcanic rocks on the island further prove that all these species did not exist from the beginning of the world.

Plant seeds may be indigestible fruit in the droppings of birds, animals may have drifted here from land due to a flood or a disaster...

It is precisely because of this that all things did not exist from the beginning of the world. For example, these sparrows on the island, even if they existed a long time ago, they must not be what they are now; for example, the tortoises on the island, even if they existed a long time ago Not the current neck.

The evolution of the Dao of Heaven and Earth can spontaneously produce new mutations, and rely on geography or reproductive isolation to create new species for the world.

The world is not static, but is always changing, even living creatures are constantly changing.

Dao remains unchanged, while heaven and earth are constantly changing. This dialectical and unified worldview of change and invariance has finally come to a perfect end here.