Chapter 394 Land of Abundance

It’s not enough to ask for more people to go to work. Everyone discusses it and decides that Lu Qiang and Mai Guangtian will go to Honghe Valley City as representatives to invite Secretary Tang to Qingdao to guide the work. ask.

  As for whether Secretary Tang is free, that's another matter. At least he has to be upright.

  Mai Guangtian is the deputy leader of the road construction team. He also has the leader and the deputy commander He Jiashan on behalf of the Red River Valley Industrial Corporation. He can leave as long as he simply hand over the matters on his hands, regardless of the overall situation.

  Lu Qiang is not the case. He is the main person in charge of the reorganization of logistics. This errand lasts for as little as four or five days, or as long as one week. If the relevant matters are not explained clearly, it can be messed up.

   is therefore scheduled to depart on April 6, which is the day after tomorrow.

Now it was the busy time of the first sheep shearing season. After the business trip was decided, Lu Qiang took his assistants to the temporary grazing locations outside the town to determine the order of the most important sheep shearing first. But it's a big deal, maybe it's a big deal.

  Zongma left Qingdao town, and in front of him was a low hilly area. Along the way, there were luxuriant water plants and crisscross streams. You could see large tracts of sheep, just like white clouds in the sky.

  These are all the sheep from the surrounding private pastures, thousands of them as few as tens of thousands of them, separated by a certain distance and temporarily grazing in order to prevent the flocks from mixing together.

  Private ranchers outside the town are waiting for notice. They line up in order to enter the Qingdao Town Wool Purchasing Station to cut their wool, but cannot swarm them. This is a conventional process.

  The cowboys live in mobile caravans on weekdays. In their free time, they can go to the bars in the town to have fun and indulge.

In hundreds of private ranches around Qingdao Town, every sheep shearing season will drive sheep to Qingdao Town. This also includes nearby inland towns such as Linyi Town and Townsville Town. The surrounding area has more than one million sheep. So order is very important.

  Generally speaking

  According to the shearing capacity of the wool-purchasing stations in various regions, a group of more than ten private ranches will arrive in Qingdao within a certain week and shear the wool in turns according to the order.

  For example, in the first week of April, which private ranches can be used for shearing wool? Other private ranches cannot arrive early or delayed, and must arrive within the specified time.

  The whole shearing season lasts for more than 2 months. After a short break, the next shearing season will begin again.

  Sequencing each farm is an important logistical task.

  Lu Qiang is responsible for this sorting work, so he must arrange it before leaving.

   "Master Lu, our ranch is too far from the town. The sheep drove all the way and walked on the road for more than 20 days. Can you please arrange for us to go in first? I am afraid that the sheep will lose weight as time goes by!"

  "If your flock loses fat, will others not lose it?"

   "Master Lu, take care of you!"

  While talking, a heavy red envelope was stuffed into his pocket. Lu Qiang calmly touched it with his hand. He could immediately figure out no less than ten pounds, and his face immediately changed from seriousness to kindness;

"Hey, it’s not easy for everyone to discuss life outside. I will try my best to make arrangements for you as early as possible, so that the sheep of Ma Siye’s flock will be cut tonight. The group enters the arena at noon tomorrow. I will queue you to enter the arena at noon tomorrow. What do you think?"

   "Okay, I didn't say anything, thank you Lu Ye for your care."

  Riding a long circle outside the town, it was dark when Lu Qiang came back with a few heavy red envelopes in his arms. This kind of lucrative things must not be fake. He has always done it himself.

  He has an independent house in the town, not far from Ma Limin’s house.

  Lu Qiang took two assistants back to the mansion on horseback. When his helpers saw from a distance, they immediately opened the door, and a group of three riders went straight into the hospital without stopping, stopped at the door of the two-story mansion, rolled over and dismounted.

The concubines and servant women in the room greeted the horses a long time ago when they heard the sound of horses' hoofs, and saw Lu Qiang handing the reins of the horses to the grooms, and ordered; Put on the saddle and feed some concentrate, salt, and beat a few eggs to mix in it to enhance nutrition. Don't forget to put a blanket on the horse to prevent it from freezing at night."

   "Master, don't worry, these are all small things that are familiar to you."

   "Go and feed it, the horse will not eat anything in the dark."

   "Yes, sir."

  Lu Qiang strode into the house with a horse whip in his hand. Two young and beautiful Malay concubines and three servant wives bowed to greet him; "Welcome the master back home."

"Um!"

  Lu Qiang responded and handed the horse whip to the servant, took off the wide-brimmed cowboy hat on his head and threw it on the table, and sat down a little tired.

At this time, the servant woman brought him a towel and clean water to wash his face, served a cup of hot tea, she felt warm and comfortable on her belly, she took off her hard cowboy boots and put on sandals, she could smell the rich smell of meat from the kitchen. .

   "Uncle Wu, what can I have for the evening?" Lu Qiang was sitting on a chair with hot tea in his hand. Two Malay concubines helped him beat his legs and the other helped him beat his back. They really enjoyed it.

  Wu Bo is an immigrant who moved to Qingdao Town not long ago. His family of 4 people work in Lu Qiang's mansion. He is a fellow in northern Zhejiang and he is deeply trusted.

  Uncle Wu works as a housekeeper at the house, his old wife helps in the kitchen, the eldest son Wu Zhuer herds cattle and sheep in the ranch, and the younger son Wu Gouer works alongside the master and runs errands.

  They belong to free people, and their status is higher than that of the Malay women who bought them in the mansion.

"If you go back to the master, today the mansion will eat carrot stewed lamb, potato roast chicken, vinegar Chinese cabbage and vegetable soup, some new Shaoxing Huadiao wine from the department store in town, I bought ten altars and placed it in the cellar. Would you like to put a pot on Wen."

"Oh... there is authentic Shaoxing Huadiao wine, it's rare..." Lu Qiang suddenly came to his spirits. The long-lost taste in his memory made him feel fluid under his tongue. He sat up with a slap on his thigh and said; "How can ten altars be enough? The guys in the place know that there is not enough Huadiao wine to sell. I don’t know when this good thing will come next time. I will hurry to buy another 50 altars tomorrow and drink it slowly in the cellar."

   "I see, sir."

   "Anyway, the food and wine are all ready-made. We will open an altar later, Uncle Wu, please accompany me to have a good meal."

   "Then dare to love, but the young man is disrespectful."

  Lamb is not valuable in Australia. Many vegetables are more expensive than mutton. Therefore, people's recipes are mainly meat and vegetables are supplemented.

  Australian Merino sheep have been rich in wool for 6 to 7 years. After this period, the output of wool will drop sharply. Therefore, the old sheep must be eliminated. The scale of elimination of this item alone reaches more than several million each year.

  According to an average adult sheep of 100~140 kg, the meat production can reach hundreds of thousands of tons.

  On the other hand, millions of sheep with poor wool quality are eliminated every year, and most of them enter the meat market.

  General wool is thicker than hair, has a hard texture and is not easy to spin, and has poor warmth retention. However, Australian Merino wool is only 1/10 of the hair, and the advantages are endless.

Australian Merino wool is the finest and softest, with uniform and stable wool quality and high oil content. The quality count is generally 60 to 80, and it has high strength, good elasticity, soft hand feeling, white color and soft luster. Features, with good milling properties, is an excellent raw material for worsted and high-grade woolen fabrics, so it is more expensive than ordinary wool.

  Australian Merino sheep are the best fine-wool sheep in the world, but there are good and bad points.

  For the sake of survival of the fittest, Red River Valley Ranch will eliminate an astonishing number of lambs every year, most of which are sheep with lower wool quality.

  According to fiber thickness

  Australian wool is also divided into four grades. The best merino wool can reach more than 80 counts, most of which are in the range of 26 to 70 counts. The finer the fiber, the higher the value.

  The wool can be spun with high counts and expensive, soft and flexible to the touch, suitable for making fine worsted fabrics, such as high-end woolen sweaters and wool quilts.

  Low-grade wool is more used in woollen products, such as woolen wool, woolen socks, woolen scarves, woolen gloves, etc., and the value is relatively low.

As the largest Red River Valley ranch in the world, while pursuing the expansion of the number of sheep, it also constantly eliminates some lower-quality sheep cubs. The lower the fiber count, the lower the value, and it is often included in the list of elimination. Most of the inflows into the market fall into this category.

  In addition to being purchased by private ranches to expand the flock, most of the eliminated lambs go to the meat market. These lambs are used for roasting whole lamb and steaming lamb.

   After 30 or 40 catties of lamb cubs are peeled off and their internal organs are removed, there is only half of the meat left. Five or six men roast the whole lamb just fine. The meat is charred and crispy, fat but not greasy.

  The night is over the earth

  After a day of hustle and bustle, Qingdao Town quieted down, and occasionally the neighing of horses could be heard. In Lu Qiang’s mansion, it was time for dinner. A dozen people were divided into two tables. The cook, the servant woman and the groom’s helper ate in the kitchen.

  In the hall, there are large bowls of dishes on the table. There are not many varieties and the quantity is large enough. The large bowls of carrot stewed lamb are piled high, and the staple food is bread. Lu Qiang is at the top. On the left is the old housekeeper Uncle Wu, and on the right are two beautiful concubines, chatting while eating and drinking.

Malay concubines do not understand Chinese, so they usually just lower their heads to eat at the table. They only say "Yes, Master", "Respectfully Welcome Master" and "Respectfully Send Master", and the rest can only stare at them. NS.

  Uncle Wu put down his chopsticks and said; “Master, there is a message from the ranch to prepare to cut the wool in the last week of April. You must take this to heart.”

"Small things, you make Wu Zhu'er more snacks on the ranch, and the cowboys work hard to learn. I think this young man is still very practical. When he can be alone, I can rest assured to leave the matter to him." Lu Qiang was in charge. Holding a large piece of lamb spine and gnawing rightly, the juice dripped on the table and he didn't care, his mouth was stuffed with lamb and said vaguely.

   "Thank you for your grace, Lord."

   "Uncle Wu, there is no foreign language in this. We are all folks from the village. In Australia, which is thousands of miles away from home, we don’t hug each other. Do we show jokes to outsiders?"

  Lu Qiang said as he picked up the wine bowl and touched Uncle Wu, he raised his head and drank a big sip, yelled happily; "Cool!"

  In this place in Australia

  People who are in their early days usually write letters back to their hometowns to call in their fellow villagers to help take care of the business and pastures. Nostalgia slang is the best emotional bond, which is almost irreplaceable.

  People from northern Guangdong look for people from northern Guangdong, Chaoshan people look for people from Chaoshan, Fujian people look for people from Min

  Ordinary people do not have the financial resources of Lord Earl. At most, they can recruit dozens of fellow villagers. This situation is very common in private ranches near Qingdao Town. Unfortunately, it is not a climate, and there are people everywhere.

   "The master said, that this place in Australia is so good, but the people are so mixed, and sometimes they can't understand what they say." Uncle Wu sighed and took a sip of boring wine.

  Lu Qiang threw the fleshy bones on the ground, the shepherd dog immediately came up and took a bite away, leaning to the side and gnawing with relish.

He took the towel from his concubine and wiped his hands, and said with a smile; "The Red Fort has already had a policy on this matter, and the education of "Chinese Zhengyin" will be fully promoted in schools. I heard that it is the accent of Peking Imperial City. For that matter, children have to learn Peking dialect when they go to school, and nothing else is counted."

   "Oh, what about the local words passed down from our ancestors?"

"I still say it at home, but in the future, when I work with the government, the school will teach "Chinese Zhengyin". If you don't understand it, you can't do things! After all, our place in Australia is different from the Manchu Tazi. It’s too troublesome to get up. It’s better to "Chinese Zhengyin". If you want to speak local dialect, you can speak at home. No one will stop you."

"Ugh…"

  Uncle Wu sighed. He couldn't talk about this kind of big event, even the master and the big people in the town.

  It’s been half a year since the family came to Australia, knowing that on this one-third of acre, Lord Earl’s words are so eloquent that no one dares to violate it.

  While drinking and chatting, a jar of Huadiao wine quickly went down for the most part.

  Lu Qiang's face was slightly red, and his belly became hot after a few bowls of wine, he unbuttoned his shirt collar to refresh himself, and said;

"I guess it will take a week for me to go to the Red River Valley this time. By the way, I will buy some lambs back. You will have to spend more snacks on the pastures. You need to produce a batch of chickens that can’t lay eggs, and get the potatoes that have just been harvested in the field as soon as possible. When I sell it in town, I won’t be able to keep this stuff for a long time. It’s all in vain when it sprouts."

"I know, my lord, the ranch wrote that two bulls were fighting, and one cow’s horns were discounted. It seems that it’s not a big deal. These days, I’m always in a daze. I have to hurry to the town and kill the meat sellers. Otherwise, you will lose a lot if you die in the ranch."

  "You can take care of this. When I leave, I will tell the person in charge of the logistics team that a cow is worth a lot of money."

   "I will go back tomorrow."

  The two chatted for a while about the pasture. After they were full of food and drink, Lu Qiang patted his stomach, slapped a drink, and went upstairs to rest with a beautiful concubine in his arm.

  Uncle Wu looked enviously at the back of the master going upstairs, sitting at the table and pouring himself, watching the table full of flesh and bones full of happiness in his heart.

  Australia is a great place!

  Lamb sells cheaper than vegetables. When I first came, my family had eaten meat every day and my stomach was broken. Compared to my hometown, there were few people and almost starved to death. The boundless land here is really luxurious.

  I can’t even dream of such a good place. The seasons are like spring without hot or cold, flocks of cattle and sheep, and worry-free food and clothing.

  Immigration to Australia does not divide the land. There is only a vast pasture and there is little arable land, so there is not so much arable land to divide. Only immigrants to Shangri-La, Sulawesi and Borneo will divide land.

  But Uncle Wu feels that he is not at a loss. A family of four works on Lu Qiang’s private farm and earns almost £40 a year, without spending money on food and accommodation.

  Working for a year, you can pay off the immigration loan. The remaining savings can be used to buy land to buy a house for his son to marry a wife. Uncle Wu also wants to buy a few Malay wives for his son, and will leave the old Wu's family in the future.

  Houses in Qingdao town are not expensive. A wooden house with two floors in a separate yard is about 70 or 80 pounds, and a larger yard does not exceed 100 pounds, and you can buy a house with a loan to buy a property.

  So Uncle Wu is going to buy a wooden house next year and marry his eldest son the next year. The young days are prosperous, and he has taken root in Australia.

to be honest

  Chinese wives can’t afford to marry, and they cost more than one or two hundred pounds. If it weren’t for the influx of indigenous Malay women into the Australian marriage market, many low-income men would have to bachelor for a few more years.

   Isn’t Malay woman fragrant with a dozen pounds apiece?

  For Uncle Wu's family, who was still struggling with poverty half a year ago, it is not important whether they can understand the dialect of their hometown. What is important is that they can work and have children. Where are the farmers so particular?

  In Queensland

  Chinese workers and whites are paid the same for equal work. The bottom workers earn about 7-10 pounds a year, while female workers earn less, about 4-6 pounds.

  This income level has doubled compared to six or seven years ago. On the one hand, it is because of the increase in income brought about by the rapid economic development. On the other hand, it is because all walks of life require a lot of manpower. Australia’s lack of labor is a long-standing problem.

  But as an Australian dominion with a total population of only more than 6 million, the labor force that can be digested each year is limited. One million immigrants are already at the limit (including Shangri-La and Borneo immigrants), and more numbers will only cause chaos.

  In recent years

  The Queensland immigration department has begun to deliberately control the number of immigrants, focusing on absorbing skilled immigrants, focusing on free immigration, and improving quality. It is becoming increasingly difficult for ordinary people to obtain ferry tickets to Australia.

The immigration department controls the overall situation and is determined by the market. Nowadays, free immigration with a scale of up to one million per year has become a profitable industry. Many industries have been fattened, the Australian internal market has been expanded, and a positive virtuous circle has been formed.

  Because of the bamboo weaving craftsmanship, Uncle Wu’s family can obtain the approval of the immigration department and smoothly get the immigration loan to this fertile land flowing with milk and honey.

  I want to come now...I am so lucky!

  (End of this chapter)