The sun shines on the desolate land, making it so hot that people can't lift their spirits. The cobblestones on the road are not much worse than the sand on the side, and they are all suitable for barbecue. Not to mention the railway track on the side, the heat seems to want to melt it.
Lose.
But even at such a hot moment, there are still people here.
"Every day we patrol to check whether the road studs are secure. We must not be careless, otherwise something big will happen."
An older road guard was talking to the younger one next to him.
The younger one tugged on the scarf that wrapped his entire head, trying to untie it.
"Don't move, don't open it no matter how simmering it feels."
"But it's really hot and stuffy. I feel uncomfortable. Maybe I'm suffering from heatstroke."
The young man looked like he was new here, and he didn't understand the power of the North African desert at all.
"Boni, hold on. There is a house where you can rest two kilometers away. There is water and beds there. It's very comfortable."
The man named Boni also knew that he couldn't lie down at this time, so he answered bravely. "Okay Barondo, I think I can still hold on for a while."
The two of them braved the hot sun and walked towards the resting place that Barondo said. In order to distract him, Barondo kept talking to Bonny.
"Boni, where is your hometown?"
“The town of Solca, Sardinia.”
"Where is that?"
"We are 23 kilometers east of Cagliari, where tomatoes are very famous. Only the paella with Solca tomatoes is the authentic Sardinian paella. Thinking of the paella in my hometown, I want to drool. Tell
You, the paella in my hometown is absolutely delicious. Let’s first pour some olive oil into the pot and put the squid into it.
, stir-fry the shrimps and clams, then sprinkle a little sea salt, then add the tomatoes, onions, and garlic and continue to stir-fry, then add the rice, add a large bowl of water, and cook for an hour. Add some lemon juice and green onions before taking it out of the pot.
.I like to eat the clams inside the most. The clams are full of juice, one bite at a time, very delicious."
Bonny was beaming as he spoke and kept licking his dry lips. It seemed that he really missed the delicacies of his hometown.
"Okay, here we are!"
Barondo opened a door with Boney and led him in.
"This was originally a cavalry barracks. Due to security reasons, a platoon of cavalry was stationed here before. Later, after the security improved, the army left. We took over this place and it can be used as a resting point for patrols."
Barondo said and opened the window made of thick wooden boards. "Look, you can see more than ten kilometers around here. The scenery is pretty good. No wonder the army chose this place."
The cool and windy environment made Boni relax. After taking off the scarf, which was no different from an Arab headscarf, Boni looked at the hot scenery outside and casually replied, "Not bad."
Just as he was talking, a whistle sounded, and a train pulled goods and sped over.
Barondo took a quick look and recognized it accurately. "This is the Nick III heavy-duty steam locomotive. The two locomotives have a combined power of 12,000 horsepower, and they basically carry forty freight cars. In this hot day, it is difficult to drive this train.
It’s really painful.”
Barrondo was right. When the train approached, the long carriages behind the two locomotives were filled with iron ore. The iron ore in this train was about a thousand tons, and at least ten or twenty people could be seen in a day.
trip.
"Barondo, can I ask how many years have you been here?"
"Let me see. I was transferred from Naples in August 1891, so it has been exactly five years."
Barondo gestured with five fingers and said the time of his arrival.
Bonny looked at Barondo, whose face was full of vicissitudes of life, and continued to ask, "Then have you ever regretted it?"
"What's there to regret? Although staying here for five years makes me look ten years older, the salary is high. I don't believe that you didn't come here for the high salary. Besides, you are much better now than I was then.
At that time, the railway had not yet been fully connected, and patrolling in the wild was still dangerous. At that time, we still had to carry rifles for self-defense. We were even more tired and the food was not good. The bread was only black bread. But I heard that we were in Valcke at that time.
I was besieged by the natives and dozens of them died."
Barondo's words made Boni very interested.
"However, the natives were not happy either. The military was furious at that time. During the pursuit, more than 200 thugs were arrested and more than 300 were killed."
"What happened to the thugs who were caught?"
"What else can they do? Those who have lives in their hands will be hanged, and those who have no lives in their hands will be dragged to build railways and mines. They will spend the rest of their lives to atone for their sins."
"So, it was still very dangerous here before?"
"It's not too dangerous. I haven't heard any news related to attacks in the past three years. Maybe those natives who dared to be hostile to us died in the desert."
Time passed slowly as the two chatted. The desert at dusk and the long railway passing through it made people feel comfortable.
As the night deepened, the tired two people soon began to snore.
The two of them could sleep peacefully, but some people couldn't.
Belumeber, the general manager of the Libyan Railway Company, did not feel sleepy at all while looking at the information in front of him.
"The Jufra section of the railway has sunk seriously and needs major repairs. The Sodagobi section of the railway has suffered serious damage and needs to be renovated. The loss of the entire section of the railway is twice as high as expected. It is expected that the railway will be renovated in four to five years. This
How should I tell Rome?"
What troubled Mr. Belume was that technicians from the railway company discovered that the Sousse Railway in Libya, which specializes in carrying iron ore, was in serious wear and tear and its service life would be greatly reduced.
Well, it seems that when designing the railway, Italian technicians underestimated the environmental difficulties, which led to such serious consequences.
As a qualified general manager of the railway company, Belumeber certainly knows the seriousness of this matter. But he cannot be blamed for this matter. Although the cost of this railway is as high as 118 million lire, it was also designed to transport 350 million lire a year.
-Transportation capacity of 4.5 million tons of iron ore.
However, due to the high quality of Sabha iron ore and its low price (tariff factors), the demand for its iron ore has increased significantly. And the Sabha mining area has also increased production.
One more thing to say here is that the Sebha mining area is currently the most modern mining area in Italy, and it has basically achieved all-electric production. This is also due to the discovery of a small coal mine 60 kilometers south of the mining area, although it is only a small coal mine.
Lignite is used to generate electricity, but it is useless.
As the output of the Sabha mining area increases significantly, the railway company must also increase transportation volume. Since last year, the railway company's iron ore transportation volume has increased month by month. According to statistics from the Sirte Port last month, the port shipped 510,000 tons.
Iron ore. This is the effort to produce 6 million tons per year.
Therefore, the railway was seriously damaged and it was really not something he could decide.
But no matter what he does, this will not be easy to handle, because the blame-shifting problem is not unique to China, and Italy will not lag behind.
Belumebo's headache may follow him for a long time.
