Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

Gu Lang looked at the map and roughly surveyed the terrain of Guangdong Province, searching for potential refuge locations.

A place that can survive long-term in the apocalypse must meet several conditions simultaneously: easy to defend and difficult to attack, with abundant water sources, far from densely populated areas, and with arable flat land.

Therefore, the ruins of historical "bandit dens" are natural candidates for post-apocalyptic refuges.

In modern history, banditry was rampant in Quang Tung province, especially from the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China to after liberation, when bandit activities spread throughout the province.

In order to resist the government's encirclement and suppression, these bandits all followed the same logic when choosing a location to build their strongholds.

Find strategically important terrain that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and find a secluded location far from main roads and towns.

These sites are mainly concentrated in three areas: the mountainous area of ​​northern Guangdong, the Leizhou Peninsula, and the Zhujiang River Delta water network area.

The Lei Zhou Peninsula was once covered by a primeval tropical rainforest, with bandit dens hidden deep in the dense forest. However, it has long since been developed and transformed into a large-scale economic crop planting area.

The bandits in the Zhujiang Delta region back then gave rise to many watchtowers in Kaiping, which are now all within the urban built-up area and can hardly be called hidden.

Therefore, these two locations can be disregarded, leaving only the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong.

Open a topographic map, and northern Guangdong looks like a natural fortress surrounded by mountains.

Historically, there were nearly a hundred ancient mountain fortresses in the Danxia Mountain area alone, built on the cliffs of the Danxia landform, with terrain so treacherous that government troops simply could not get up there.

The downside is that most of these ancient mountain villages have been developed into tourist attractions.

The surrounding area also features reservoirs, hydroelectric power stations, and a road network, which will attract a large number of survivors to seek refuge there.

In the apocalypse, having many people is not a good thing; secrecy is the key to survival.

Gu Lang then considered the route from the coast to northern Guangdong.

To reach the mountainous region of northern Guangdong from his current location, he would have to traverse a large, densely populated area.

He had no idea what the situation was like in those places, but he could guess that it wasn't going to be too optimistic.

After thinking for a long time, he used his pen to mark an X on the location of the mountainous area in northern Guangdong.

Continuing to check my phone, the nuclear strike data for Hainan Province shows 3 missiles in Haikou and 8 in Sanya, totaling 11.

In Quang Hee province, there were 14 Nan Ninh, 5 Liu Zhou, 3 Gui Lin, 2 Wu Zhou, 2 Fang Cheng Gang, 2 Gui Ping, and 2 He Zhou, totaling 30.

Gu Lang looked at the data and began to analyze it line by line.

Hainan Island is basically linked to the Nanhai Fleet and the space base.

Based on the previous encounter with the Winter Sea Fleet, it can be inferred that the South Sea Fleet should also have a considerable number of ships remaining after the outbreak of nuclear war.

The remaining fleet forces will most likely choose to establish a safe zone on Hainan Island or the Sansha Islands.

These areas have concentrated military forces, making them unsuitable locations for him.

It's impossible to explain how a civilian with a large amount of weapons and ammunition, and even a military speedboat, could appear right under the noses of a regular army.

Therefore, that area was also ruled out.

Therefore, he turned his attention to Quang Hee province.

On Guangxi's topographic map, mountains are found all over the province.

There are three main mountain ranges close to the coastline: Yunkai Mountain, Liuwan Mountain, and Shiwan Mountain.

Yunkaishan is rich in resources, with numerous rivers and small hydropower stations scattered throughout.

However, the mountain range consists of multiple parallel ridges and valleys, lacking natural barriers.

The area covered has a relatively high population density, with several large towns having populations exceeding 100,000.

Historically, there are few records of it being used as a "bandit's den". In records of bandit suppression, it is mainly mentioned as an area where bandits were suppressed, rather than as the bandits' lair.

It lacks natural defenses, has no history of banditry, and has a high population density; it fails to meet all three conditions.

Gu Lang crossed out Yun Kaishan on the mind map he had just drawn.

In the early days of liberation, Liuwanshan was a key area for suppressing bandits, where more than 10,000 bandits once entrenched themselves.

Judging from the records of banditry, this was a place with excellent seclusion.

However, Liuwanshan has now become a national 4A-level tourist attraction, and a secondary highway has been built in the core area.

Various guesthouses and resorts are scattered along the way, and the canyons and waterfalls in the mountains are all connected by sightseeing trails.

Tourist areas mean a flow of people, and even if people disperse in the early stages of the apocalypse, those roads will become ready-made passageways for survivors to enter.

In addition, Liuwanshan is adjacent to Yulin City, a prefecture-level city with a population of over seven million.

If a large-scale outflow of refugees occurs in the direction of Yulin after the disaster fully erupts, Liuwanshan will be the first to be affected.

It was deemed too difficult to conceal and too risky, and was therefore ruled out by Gulang.

In the end, only the Ten Thousand Mountains remained.

It is located at the southernmost tip of Guangxi, right next to Beibu Bay.

It's about 250 nautical miles from his current location; at a speed of 14 knots, it would take two days to reach him.

The mountain range runs northeast to southwest, with the terrain sloping from south to north, and the main peak exceeding 1,400 meters.

The terrain inside the mountainous area is extremely fragmented, with mountain slopes generally ranging from 45 to 70 degrees.

Some ridges appear as densely jagged contour lines on topographic maps, indicating that they are almost vertical rock walls.

Gu Lang pulled out more geographical information about the Shiwan Mountains from his phone.

Historically, Shiwanshan was one of the areas most severely affected by bandits in Guangxi.

During the army's anti-bandit campaign in 1950, the number of bandits entrenched here exceeded 30,000.

The famous movie "Heroic Gallantry" was adapted from the story of the suppression of bandits in the Ten Thousand Mountains.

The reason why the bandits were able to resist the encirclement and suppression by the regular army for a long time was because the terrain was "easy to defend and difficult to attack".

There are only a few roads leading into the mountains, and the area is surrounded by cliffs and primeval forests, making it impossible for large troops to deploy. Lightly armed search teams are easily ambushed.

The core area of ​​the Shiwan Mountains is an uninhabited area, the heart of the entire mountain range, with no permanent settlements within a range of tens of kilometers.

There are only two roads running through the mountainous area, both of which are county roads running north to south.

What Gu Lang was even more concerned about was that there were numerous intermontane basins, low hills, and level hills distributed in the Shiwan Mountains.

Defense offers "risk," while settling down offers "stability," combining both offense and defense.

In terms of water resources, there are 65 rivers distributed throughout the mountainous area, making it rich in water resources.

Many remote areas have historically had numerous small hydroelectric power facilities built.

The vegetation is also the best-preserved tropical monsoon rainforest in Guangxi, with extremely rich plant and animal resources.

Karst caves are widely distributed in the mountains, with depths often reaching hundreds or even thousands of meters, serving as natural shelters for survival.

The total population of the several counties covered by the Shiwan Mountains accounts for only about 2.3 percent of Guangxi's total population.

Compared to Yunkaishan and Liuwanshan, the average population density here is an order of magnitude lower.

Being far from political and economic centers means it won't become a major destination for refugee flows.

Natural barriers, uninhabited areas, water sources, karst caves, a history of banditry, and low population density—all conditions are met.

After clarifying his thoughts, Gu Lang drew a circle around the location of Fangcheng Port.