Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 261 The Cold Winter 2
Shanhaiguan

"You guys are here!"

Goalkeeper Kim Seo-won immediately complained after seeing Jang Duan-hang return.

“The rest of the troops that were outside have all returned. King Wu ordered us to retreat to Tiezhou. If it weren’t for you, I would have gone back long ago.”

Zhang Duanxing said with a smile, "Isn't he back now? He even brought people back from Siberia."

Kim Seo-won's expression was not good.

"No more checks, everyone go inside. The people from central Siberia have returned to Wuzhou."

"King Wu has discovered a large island in Oceania, further south in the South Seas, where crops can be grown. He has already sent people to scavenge it in the past few days. We will retreat to Tiezhou and abandon this place, since there is no one here anyway."

Zhang Duanxing breathed a sigh of relief and entered the pass with the others.

“We encountered refugees from Goryeo on the way, and they went in together.”

Kim Seo-won thought it was fine; Koreans had been coming here to work for years and spoke the local language.

According to the classification of mountain farmers, anyone who speaks a language and can work is considered one of their own.

"Alright, I'll go and report to the lord."

Shen Tuo, standing at the back, listened to the conversation of the people in front of him, and finally felt relieved.

Fortunately, they had always treated the mountain farmers with great respect and had paid tribute to King Wu every year, which gave them a place to stay.

The group rested for a night in Shanhaiguan. There wasn't much food stored there, but the Siberian refugees had taken the initiative to kill some emaciated horses and draw some water from the well in Shanhaiguan to cook.

Nearly 20,000 people were finally able to enjoy a hot meal.

There wasn't much grain, but the very thin soup and potato porridge were enough.

Since the Lunar New Year, many people have had a good meal after a long time.

Behind Shanhaiguan lies Tiezhou. Agriculture in Tiezhou has been largely abandoned, but industry is still increasing.

The area is rich in coal and iron ore resources, has smooth roads, and is close to the sea.

It continued to operate by relying on grain supplied from the mainland and its own aquatic resources.

We manufacture various electrical components and driving towing vehicles that can isolate the vehicle from the external environment.

A tractor with a metal and glass cab becomes a truck.

Pingyuan Province is divided into four regions: the northern part is mixed with Wuzhou, the central part is mixed with Tongzhou and Jinzhou, and the eastern Qingzhou was originally a separate entity, but now it has become even more independent thanks to the construction of Dongdao Port.

The south is further divided into three regions.

The southwest followed Luoyang, providing coal mines and manufacturing glass and ironware.

The central and southern areas are located in the flood discharge zone, and they are all doing their own thing, consisting of a few hereditary households with little presence.

Southeast is a place you can go up or down; you can play with whoever leads you, like Dongdao Port or Huaixi.

Although the mountainous province is also a long and narrow region, there is no significant difference between the Kyushu region behind the mountains and the southern Shanxi region; both are subject to unified command and resettlement.

The main difference is between Qin and Jin. Qin is poorer, while Jin is generally more prosperous. Northern Jin is the hometown of mountain farmers, while the Guanzhong Plain in southern Jin is a key agricultural area for development.

Inside the Shenwu Palace, the Arctic Martial Arts Institute, based on the thickness of volcanic ash measured in various locations, will determine where to focus its efforts next year.

"The Sichuan and Guanzhong regions were relatively less affected by the disaster. Pingyuan Province was affected by Changbai Mountain and Fusang volcano, followed by volcanic ash from West Asia."

"The volcanoes that have been raging for so long should probably take a break now; the volcanic ash suspended in the air will take quite some time to settle."

"The Himalayas and the western plateau blocked most of the dust, so if we're talking about recovery time, this area should be the first to recover."

"The southern region is recovering the fastest here."

Arctic Martial is considering the next key project.

The question is whether to fully commit to immigrating to Australia to cultivate and develop the land, or to use the limited crop seeds in the Sichuan region, relying on its relatively isolated environment to produce a batch of food for emergency use.

Theoretically speaking, going to Australia would be safer, since it's in the Southern Hemisphere and less affected by disasters.

However, irrigation and various water conservancy facilities need to be redeveloped, and the transportation of grain is also quite troublesome.

With a population of over 100 million, the grain reserves in various regions are only enough for two or three years at most, and there may be a shortage within a year.

Beijiwu frowned. "How much grain do people actually have... If they don't know to store more grain in normal times, I can't manage so many people."

If there are only one million people, then it can last for ten years without any problem.

Every day, cattle and sheep that have no fodder are slaughtered in Luoyang.

While eating beef, Arctic Wu quickly devised a migration plan.

We need to relocate some livestock there first; we can barely afford to raise them here in Luoyang.

With species around the world facing mass extinction, whether or not Australian animals go extinct is no longer important.

It is estimated that there will be at least several years of dark times, and the problem of food must be solved.

"The marine ecosystem will also collapse within ten years. Plankton will be unable to photosynthesize, and fish in the sea will definitely die in large numbers."

"People and animals on land also experienced a major collapse."

“The seeds for crops are becoming increasingly scarce, so we must develop greenhouse technology as soon as possible.”

"Some of the various livestock must be taken to Australia to preserve the fire."

“If agriculture can be cultivated in central Sichuan, even if it can only provide a portion of the food, then there is no need to relocate to the north.”

"The Loess Plateau allows for indoor farming and animal husbandry through cave dwellings, which is much faster than building houses directly." "In the era of low temperatures, coal mining is more convenient, and the northern regions with more advanced industrial technology should not be easily abandoned."

"The only problem is food."

Arctic Martial Arts is unable to make a decision yet and will need to check the daily accumulation of dust from various locations over the next month to determine the appropriate course of action.

The intensity of light varies from region to region and is difficult to describe directly. Currently, there is a lack of instruments to measure illuminance.

Every day, the food reserves decrease.

Arctic warfare only hopes to end quickly; if it continues for decades, thousands of humans will surely die.

Every decision concerns the future of hundreds of millions of people, but Arctic Martial is more unsure of what to do than feeling immense pressure.

Ultimately, a portion of the personnel were sent to Australia.

Even if we fail, we can save a large portion of the food.

Faced with such a world-ending crisis of starvation, unity would only lead to a quicker demise; it would be better to live alone.

Arctic Martial has decided that if things are still dark in five or six years, there's nothing he can do.

When the time comes, we should consider leading a small group of people to relocate the capital to Australia.

When necessary, Arctic Martial Arts can only abandon most of its people and lead a small number of its own to carry on the future of humanity.

Fortunately, Beijiwu's subordinates were very capable.

Whether they were newly arrived immigrants or refugees from the south, north, east, or west, they all worked very hard.

People in the north work overtime without pay, obeying assigned labor to support their families.

The refugees from the east were assigned to fishing, and they all worked hard without complaint, risking the death of their boats and facing the storms and terrors in the darkness, just so they could get a good night's sleep after returning safely, be accepted by the mountain farmers, and have their wives and children continue to work on the mountain farmers' land.

Merchants from the south braved the winds and waves to search various islands, collect the islanders' food, and transport it back to the mainland. Warriors also raised their swords to protect maritime transport.

People in the west are building roads and bridges to transport urgently needed oil.

People everywhere are trying to save themselves, but in many places people are starving to death.

***
People in the capital were also working diligently, and they often saw reports of horrific scenes in other places in the newspapers, some of which were even in places not far from the Yellow River and Huai River provinces.

In a town in Jiangnan Province, a carpenter and his entire family hanged themselves, and a pot was found cooking "meat" that they had somehow gotten their hands on.

A disaster victim in the southwestern province died in agony, clutching his stomach, which was filled with sawdust.

The entire working-class village in Eastern Europe committed mass poisoning simply because they refused to exchange their children for food.

A South Asian woman starved to death in her bed after feeding her child one last time.

……

Within just one year, all sorts of scandalous news emerged from various hereditary territories.

At first, I felt angry and wanted to seek justice, but later I found that such things happened countless times, and what was even more terrifying was that the food in my bowl was getting less and less.

This year's autumn harvest log was not published, and it was unusual for it to be suspended for a period of time.

Despair, helplessness, numbness.

Human life is incredibly cheap.

Humanity seems to have returned to that tragic era, where some people have started secretly selling children, willing to do anything as long as they are fed.

More and more people are unable to support so many children.

Everyone started to feel lost and less optimistic about the future.

With two weeks to go before the Lunar New Year, good news finally came from the Shanxi Agricultural Daily.

Sijiuba, who hadn't spoken loudly for almost a year, jumped and wiggled on his way home.

"Shan Nong Daily! Shan Nong Daily! We're giving away meat for the New Year! We're giving away kangaroo meat from Dayang Province and frozen beef from Daming Province!"

"For public households, 50 jin per household!"

"They'll start distributing them tomorrow! Go to the train station to pick them up!"

"Start distributing meat from the city, beginning with the southern brigade. Collect your meat according to your assigned number!"

The windows on the street seemed to have been blown open by the wind, with people opening their doors and revealing surprised faces.

"really?"

"Really!" 498 shouted loudly, "King Wu sent people overseas to get food, and they'll kill them and bring them back as soon as winter comes!"

The next day, after the first few teams returned with their meat, the rest of the team felt reassured.

Steamships brought back large quantities of frozen meat from the Americas and Australia, two or three hundred ships carrying meat, along with some small potatoes, allowing the people of Luoyang to enjoy a long-awaited good New Year.

The Americas are already in a doomsday scenario, but fortunately, South America is also in the Southern Hemisphere, so some animals and fishing grounds have been preserved to some extent.

After steamships were launched in large numbers, the round trip only took three or four months, which was enough to solve part of the food problem.

Thirteen dark years passed, and the year 14 AD was still dark, but at least it was not so hopeless.

Although many people in both the south and the north did not receive meat, the fact that the mountain farmers were able to eat meat meant that it would definitely be their turn in the future.

Flowers, birds, fish, and insects were all dying out. Outside, it was dark and the ground was frozen. At this time, there was no other way to survive except to believe in the mountain farmers and King Wu.

(End of this chapter)