Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 263 Light 2
In March of 17 AD, Luoyang was as cold and quiet as ever.

Inside the Divine Martial Palace, Beiji Wu looked at the victory report sent by Liu Jingshun and pondered with a solemn expression.

"Is it true or false?"

When it comes to the question of authenticity, Arctic Martial Arts must treat it with utmost care.

Subordinates often tell lies, including those that are difficult to verify.

Whether it's crops, farming, animal husbandry, or industry, many things...

After receiving the message, Beijiwu did not tell the others, as false information can easily undermine trust.

An occasional glimmer of hope cannot change much, and if faith is followed by disillusionment, it will cause trouble for the entire northern region.

Beijiwu stood up and looked at the green aurora visible from Luoyang City. He could indeed see one or two stars in the sky, but he would have to wait and see.

In recent years, Arctic Martial Arts Academy has stopped allowing others to see its intelligence reports, otherwise, the spread of such information would cause a lot of trouble.

All intelligence reports were opened and read by Beiji Wu himself, and all incoming and outgoing memorials had to be sealed.

It has been almost five years since the Spring Festival of 13.

Over the course of five years, countless people died or were injured throughout the Mountain Farming Kingdom.

Toxic air and deadly cold, as well as land corroded by acid rain, and damaged water sources and fishponds.

Seafood and aquatic products were no longer edible by the second year, and the stored grain was depleted by the following winter.

However, relying on indoor chicken farms, insect farms, vegetable bases, and cave farming methods has alleviated some of the demand.

Ten million people have migrated to Australia and America, and many have died along the way. The dark ocean and towering waves were the main causes of death, while disease and hunger were secondary factors.

The population of the Mountain Farming Kingdom has been declining year by year, and more than 60 million people have died in five years.

The real number is definitely much larger and more brutal than this.

The population of Luoyang has also decreased from its peak of three million to three hundred thousand, and it is no longer as bustling as it once was.

Food production in Australia and the Americas is also struggling, with the climate becoming increasingly volatile, and acid rain and severe cold having a significant impact on agriculture and animal husbandry.

"I really hope it's true, otherwise if things continue like this, in five years the human population will drop to less than 10,000, and we'll have to go back to the era of cannibalism until everyone is wiped out."

The number of life on the planet is decreasing at an alarming rate; all large creatures are dying.

The vegetation withers, fish and shrimp float on the sea in large numbers, dried birds fall and are buried in the dust, and the Lingnan region can also experience blizzards that last for more than a month.

Almost all crops in the Sichuan region were wiped out, and every time Arctic Martial's experiment failed, a portion of his expensive seed reserves would be lost.

Today, the food produced by Australia and the Americas is not even enough to sustain themselves. The entire agricultural nation can only survive by continuing to die until it can complete its internal cycle.

Too many people are useless and only a burden when fighting against such a cataclysmic natural disaster.

The technology of the Mountain Farming Kingdom cannot solve this problem. Arctic Warriors can only live on their own or with their families. They have no way to deal with the fate of hundreds of millions of people.

While Beiji Wu was dealing with affairs in various places, a palace maid ran in.

The others did not stop him. In order to rectify the theft incidents in the palace, Beiji Wu allowed people to come and report them during his work hours.

He thought this was another report, and Beijiwu wondered who else would be so reckless as to take food from the palace and sell it on the black market.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty! Your Majesty is overjoyed! A strong wind blew in just now, making it hard for me to open my eyes. When I finally opened them, it was already dawn! Thousands of golden lights shone upon the Daming Palace!!"

A young palace maid, her face beaming with joy, pressed her hands to the clean red carpet and excitedly announced, "Your Majesty! This is an auspicious omen!!"

Beijiwu looked at the unfamiliar palace maid with curiosity.

"What's your name? Where do you work?"

The sixteen-year-old palace maid raised her head, her rosy cheeks and delicate eyes exuding a charming springtime allure.

"Your Majesty, I am a palace maid sent to you by the Kingdom of Fusang. My surname is Fujiwara. I currently serve as a sweeping maid in the palace. Everyone calls me Miyako."

Beijiwu knew this was a scheming woman; she shouldn't be the one delivering good news, but she seized the opportunity as quickly as possible and appeared here.

"That's a good sign. Now go downstairs. From now on, you'll be cleaning my bathroom."

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

Fujiwara Miyako was about to bow and step back when suddenly Hokuhoku Takeshi thought of something.

"I remember Fusang sent me women before. Who else but you?"

Arctic Warrior felt that the girl sent by Fusang was probably not this one.

However, since Fusang no longer has a country, like Goryeo, it has been completely transformed into a small number of people in the mountain farming country, especially those who went out to sea to fish and migrate during the apocalypse caused by natural disasters.

Another thing is that in recent years, there has been a purge of heretics. Those who do not speak the local dialect are not given food, and a group of people have been voluntarily purged.

The main purpose was to save food. Faced with the challenge of survival, the entire Shan Nong Kingdom refused to accept free food from outsiders.

Fujiwara Miyako knelt on the ground and replied, "It's my older sister, Kyoko. She's working in the library."

Beijiwu nodded and said, "Alright, you sisters will be promoted to Imperial Maids from now on."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Fujiwara Miyako said happily. After seeing that Hokuhoku Takeshi was alright, she bowed with joy and retreated from the palace with a small step.

Fusang is probably gone. Beijiwu walked out of the palace and looked out into the golden light that seemed like a rain curtain.

In the golden light, dust rose like rosy clouds, and the sky resembled a golden lotus.

Daming Palace and most of the imperial palace enjoyed a long-awaited sunbath.

When the palace maids, eunuchs, and guards nearby saw Beijiwu come out, they immediately knelt down.

"Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"

Beijiwu smiled and said, "Let's sunbathe first."

The crowd kneeling in the sunlight cried out in unison, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Beijiwu stood at the doorway, watching the golden light pierce through the darkness. The recovery speed was two or three years faster than he had expected.

Since such a thing has happened, there must be a scientific reason behind it.

Arctic Martial pondered the reasons.

Volcanoes mainly erupt in the Northern Hemisphere, and the gravitational influence should also be concentrated in the Northern Hemisphere.

Luoyang is not located in the Northern Hemisphere; it belongs to the temperate zone.

The southern region of Southeast Asia was affected by a volcanic eruption, and Annam should be located near the disaster area, right?

Annan has recovered, but what about our side...?

Arctic Martial quickly found the reason.

It started in 13, and now it's 17.

13 was almost a whole year, then 14, 15, and 16.

The first three years saw volcanic ash, which is dry ejecta. After the dry ash mixes with rainwater, the wet ash will fall.

Volcanic ash and sulfur dioxide floating in the sky form sulfate aerosols, tiny liquids that are so light and small that they can float in the air for years.

The reason why it hasn't ended in Luoyang after four or five years is mainly because these things are in the stratosphere, where the weather is very stable and there is almost no precipitation.

After floating for four or five years due to air resistance, these things finally became thin.

Now that it falls into the troposphere, it will fall with rainwater and form a large amount of acid rain.

Even though they are both acid rain, their corrosiveness varies depending on their concentration.

Despite being worshipped by a group of illiterate people, Arctic Martial Arts did not feel arrogant.

With his feet firmly on the ground, Beijiwu is thinking about how to solve the soil problems caused by acid rain.

The solution is to take it slowly and continuously improve the soil.

"The mountain farmers have truly suffered many hardships..."

It's pretty much the same all over the world; the wind will blow the acid rain to other places soon.

Whoever's rain first is the one who's unlucky.

Where the rain falls is not up to Arctic Wu to decide, but as long as there is a good place where it doesn't rain, then that place belongs to Arctic Wu.

The advantage of the mountain farmers is that they have a large territory and enough space to find a good place to support less than 100 million people.

With the accelerated melting caused by the mixing of volcanic ash and glaciers, Arctic Martial feels that the trouble will only get worse next summer.

Tens of millions of people living along the Yangtze, Yellow, Mekong, Ganges, and Indus rivers downstream of the glacier will be affected.

It will either be flooded or dried up.

Beijiwu went back into the house and began issuing instructions to various locations.

The Tibetans need to evacuate quickly, as the region is inherently cold and the global cooling will mean extremely low temperatures in winter.

For the past few years, that area has been isolated due to heavy snow blocking the mountain passes.

Fortunately, the Tibetans were evacuated a few years earlier. They didn't care how the original Tibetans lived, but at least the officials, soldiers, and translators sent there were taken to the oasis region.

Those in the oasis also face various troubles.

Frostbite, pulmonary edema and other diseases are common, and inhaling volcanic ash particles can lead to serious respiratory diseases and eye infections.

In times of war, we must be at the forefront. Now that our hometown is safe, and it looks like another disaster is about to strike there, it's time to come back ahead of schedule.

Beijiwu then carefully considered which other places needed to have their people evacuated in advance.

The situation in West Asia Province is alright; there is enough food to feed itself, and the land is large enough to sustain it for several years through animal husbandry.

Now that the climate has recovered, agriculture can be developed vigorously there.

Annam province will also be responsible for supplying food for the next two years. Once the climate returns to normal for Guangdong and Guangxi, they can withdraw.

Beijiwu was handling various government affairs when, before he knew it, it was dinnertime again.

Sometimes busy, sometimes enjoying life.

The next day, as usual, I handled various matters, made plans, and approved matters.

***
[Shan Nong Daily! Shan Nong Daily! After hardship comes happiness! The disaster is about to end!]

From this day forward, it signifies that the dark ages that many people no longer wish to recall are finally coming to an end.

Although it feels like a nightmare in retrospect, this nightmare took away countless families, and in some places, the entire population was wiped out.

"Shan Nong Daily! Shan Nong Daily! Farming! Farming! Farming!!!"

After being unemployed for five years, Si Jiu Ba shouted happily, "People no longer need torches to go out on the streets!"

After the sun came out, people began to plant potatoes and buckwheat, and also began to grow wheat in the sunny areas of the south to obtain precious wheat seeds.

Many people have brought their potted plants out of their homes to perform photosynthesis, something they haven't done in a long time.

The midday sun was dim, like the sun at five or six o'clock on a cloudy afternoon, but the moment it came out, the long-dark world was illuminated.

The mountain farmers began planting vegetables and started improving the soil covered by volcanic ash.

The Mountain Farmers Daily has gradually become a popular science textbook, guiding people on how to quickly cultivate seedlings and improve seed survival rates in this initial stage.

As the first rays of light returned, malnourished people began to work with hope in order to cultivate crops and have enough to eat.

The dead were searched from house to house, but there were no graves, only cremation pits.

Too many people have died, there's no time to erect monuments or tombs. Everyone needs to quickly get back to production and recovery so that we can have food sooner.

Starting in late April of the lunar calendar, the Huanghuai Province and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River entered a recovery period. Huanghuai Province, with its vast manpower, land, and planting techniques, quickly sowed lettuce, spinach seeds, and potatoes that can be harvested in just over a month.

Although there is a risk of rain, we can't do nothing.

Some people were responsible for improving the soil, while others were responsible for maintaining the operation of the city, industry, and agriculture.

The entire Huanghuai Province has only a little over one million people left, and it needs at least 300 million jin of grain every year.

Having experienced such a cataclysmic natural disaster, Arctic Martial no longer considers controlling overseas affairs, nor does it think about immigrating around the world. Now it just wants to live a peaceful life.

These four years have directly depleted the population of the Mountain Farming Kingdom, and it will take at least several decades for the Mountain Farming Kingdom to recover to its size of a few years ago.

The population of the Mountain Farming Kingdom is less than six million, and its industry and agriculture are nearly paralyzed.

The situation is even worse for cattle, sheep, and horses, whose numbers have plummeted from hundreds of millions to single digits. In recent years, they have survived almost entirely by consuming the carcasses of cattle and sheep.

If it weren't for the Arctic military's death order to protect hundreds of animals, cattle and horses would now be extinct, and there would be no grass for them to eat.

There are no hunting resources in the wild, and cannibalism often occurs in places where mountain farmers cannot see.

Many maids and palace maids' families died, and people were dying every day in Luoyang.

In June, Beijiwu was able to eat fresh vegetables again after a long time.

Under the delighted gaze of hundreds of maids, Beijiwu ate the fresh lettuce grown in the royal gardens.

Beijiwu picked up a bowl of plain noodles and quietly enjoyed this long-awaited feast.

In addition to the precious noodles, there are even more precious sauces and lettuce.

After finishing his meal, Beijiwu put down his empty bowl and wiped his mouth with the handkerchief handed to him by the concubine.

"Expand production."

Beijiwu smiled and said, "Get everyone eating fresh vegetables, noodles, and soup as soon as possible!"

"Yes, Your Majesty!" The eunuch immediately accepted the decree solemnly.

Whether they were palace maids or eunuchs, concubines or servants, or even all the mountain farmers at home and abroad, they all knew that good days were coming back!

(End of this chapter)