Chapter 283 The Road Ahead
Chapter 283 The Road Ahead
”What is the Spring Festival?”
”I don’t know… This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”
”Maybe it’s to celebrate the victory over the waves.”
”Possibly.”
The village of the Frostspear clan.
In the clan leader’s house.
The men sat cross-legged in front of the clan leader, discussing the upcoming celebration, and whether to follow the example of the blue coats and put red stickers and notes in the village.
It is said that doing so can bring prosperity and good luck.
Although I don’t know the principle, since it is the experience of the blue coats, there must be some basis.
After all, they are all so smart.
Clan leader Frostspear did not speak, but he was seriously considering the suggestions of the clan members in his heart.
Celebrations are the top priority in the tribe. A lively celebration is often the beginning of a prosperous population. His eldest son Frostfurnace found his good match at the New Year’s Day celebration. His second son Froststone just came of age this year and is also at the age to start a family.
Half a year ago, they migrated here to avoid the war in the north, and they lost too many young and strong people. Now is the time to recuperate.
However…
It costs a lot of money to hold a celebration.
Unlike the Iron Axe tribe that operated a textile factory, his neighbors came early and happened to catch up with the good time when the trade route was restored. They made a lot of money from the textile business, and every household in the village built a brick house.
On the other hand, most of the houses here are brick and wood.
Frostspear also wants to make his people rich, but it is useless to just think about it, and we have to take action.
After pondering for a moment, he spoke.
”We will discuss the celebration later. Now there is a more important matter waiting for us to decide.”
The people surrounding the chief fell silent, waiting for him to speak.
Frostspear paused and continued.
”A few days ago, the manager summoned me to discuss that he planned to give us the approximately 1,000 acres of wasteland north of the brick factory.”
”I plan to open a ranch.”
This is also what the manager meant.
Hunting is no longer enough to fully meet the residents’ demand for meat, especially eggs and milk, which are difficult to obtain by hunting.
The residents of the shelter are amazingly obsessed with food.
Perhaps it was because of this persistence that they were able to take over the large piece of wasteland on the north bank of Linghu Lake in such a short time before the spring ploughing.
Hearing the words of the clan leader, many people showed surprised expressions on their faces.
One thousand acres of land!
It is equivalent to a kilometer long and six or seven hundred meters wide!
Although it is an uncultivated wasteland, this piece of land is close to Linghu Lake and has sufficient water sources. Moreover, it is also protected by the Long-term Farm and the Shelter, so there is no need to worry about the invasion of large alien species and predators.
This good thing that fell from the sky sounded like a dream to them.
”Praise the administrator!”
”Is he really going to give us that piece of land?”
”Are there any other conditions? If it is about selling out my family, I will not agree!”
This surprise was so sudden that no one could believe it.
Frostspear understood their surprise.
Because he was the same at the beginning.
”There are no conditions. The land is rented to us, and we are exempt from rent for two years. After two years, as long as we can ensure that the ranch can produce 100 cows per month, we can be exempted from the land rent for that year. If the monthly output can reach 200, he also promised to allocate us a larger ranch.” In
the words of the manager, this is called “agricultural subsidy.”
However, in exchange, the agricultural products they produce cannot be sold to outside merchants. At most, 20% of the products can be kept for collective consumption in the village or retailed to nearby local markets. The remaining 80% will be purchased uniformly by Changjiu Farm after being approved by the purchase price set by the warehouse.
As for what kind of cattle to raise, there is no restriction. After all, no one can say what can be bought.
However, Shuangmao heard from his daughter Shuanghe that there are many cattle farmers in Jinchuan Province in the south. Not only two-headed cattle for pulling goods, but also beef cattle that can be sold quickly and dairy cows with high milk production.
It just so happens that the outpost base seems to be planning to establish a merchant union recently, and he plans to hire a caravan to try his luck there.
In addition to cattle, other livestock such as pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese also have similar subsidy policies.
The elder said after a moment of silence.
”But we can’t afford to buy cattle…”
”The generous administrator is willing to lend us 500,000 silver coins to buy livestock and feed.”
”500,000?!”
The elder was shocked and looked at the chief in disbelief. “The administrator… is he really willing to lend us so much?!”
Even if they were sold, they couldn’t raise 500,000!
Everyone was whispering, with the same expression of disbelief on their faces.
Frostspear nodded seriously and said,
”I believe the administrator is not making fun of me. He is a very serious person. I have heard from my daughter who works at the trading post that you can buy a cow from the merchants for about 4,000 silver coins. If you bring some local specialties and go directly to the south to buy goods, it is said that it can be cheaper. Five rifles can be exchanged for one from the farmers there.”
Five rifles, even if bought at retail price, are only 1,000 silver coins. It is said that there is a 10% discount for purchasing in large quantities from the factory.
Looking around at everyone, Frostspear seriously stated his plan.
”Each family should contribute some manpower to build this ranch first. I will try to contact the farm in the south to see if I can exchange weapons for one or two hundred cows from them. If conditions permit, we can also raise some sheep and pigs.”
”With cattle and sheep, our lives will be much better next year!”
Hearing the words of the patriarch, everyone’s faces showed excitement and yearning.
They have already obtained a stable residence and can exchange food from the local lords with their labor. But if possible, they certainly want to become rich like the village next door and live in a house built entirely of bricks.
However, when everyone is optimistic, some people also expressed concerns.
”Five hundred thousand silver coins is too much… If we can’t pay it back, I’m worried that the administrator will vent his anger on us.”
”Yes… Even if the administrator doesn’t punish us, I’m afraid he will expel us from here.”
A young man working hard for a month can only earn 300 to 400 silver coins, and working for a year without eating or drinking can only earn about 5,000.
Tens of thousands of silver coins.
For them, it is already an astronomical figure.
I guess for the administrator, hundreds of thousands of silver coins must be a considerable sum.
Seeing the worry on the faces of the tribesmen, Frostspear smiled and said.
”I was also worried about what you were worried about. The administrator specifically told me not to put too much psychological burden on ourselves, just let go and do our best. If we really can’t pay it back, Changjiu Farm will take over the ranch and debts, and he won’t blame us.”
Of course.
No one wants to really get to that point.
Frostspear knows very well that if he really gets to the point of filing for bankruptcy, even if the kind administrator won’t blame him, he will surely be completely disappointed in the incompetence of him and his tribesmen.
This money is not a small amount.
If there is a similar opportunity again, they will definitely not get it.
Frostspear has made up his mind in his heart to get this thing done.
After hearing the promise from the manager that they would not be held responsible, the old man finally relaxed his brows.
He said nothing more, but sighed from the bottom of his heart.
”…Thank you for the kindness of that adult.”
For an old man who is about to die, money is no longer important. Seeing his children grow up safely is the greatest blessing.
Looking at those energetic and hopeful faces, the old man really couldn’t bear to let them live a wandering life again.
That kind of life is too hard.
Young people are not interested in what their elders discuss, and most of the village affairs are rarely discussed with them.
In contrast, they are curious and are most interested in celebrations, work, new things, and topics between men and women.
In the wooden house next door.
Shuangye and Shuangxue are pulling their sister who came back from Changjiu Farm, and listening to her talk about what happened at work with great interest.
The work at the trading station is very busy, six days a week, from 7 am to 7 pm, with only an hour of lunch break in between.
It costs 2 silver coins to take the bus back to the outpost. In order to save money, she usually lives in the staff dormitory of the trading station and only takes the bus back on Saturday night.
Every time she comes back, she and her two sisters have endless things to talk about. Especially when she is looked at by those two pairs of shining eyes, she instantly feels that all the fatigue in her body has been cured.
Listening to her sister talking about the interesting things and interesting people she met at the trading station, Shuang Ye, who was holding her lower chin with both hands, suddenly spoke.
”When are you going to bring your brother-in-law home?”
Shuang He smiled and touched her little head.
”You have to have one.”
Shuang Xue, who was sitting next to her, asked curiously.
”Won’t you meet a lot of people there?”
Shuang He made a helpless expression.
”Those are all traveling merchants and mercenaries… It’s impossible to find them.”
Shuang Xue nodded as if she understood.
”Oh, forget it.”
Traveling merchants.
They are not good people.
Although they have not met many traveling merchants, they still have some impression of this profession, although it is not a good impression.
Walking in the uninhabited wasteland, few people are kind and kind. Merchants usually do not trade with refugees who are afraid of being robbed by the poor refugees. Refugees are also afraid of merchants and their guards and rarely approach them.
These people may have some money in their pockets, but few people envy them. These people are not only rude, rarely take a bath, but also never stay in one place for too long.
As for mercenaries, let alone.
Maybe there are good people.
But there are not many good people.
In Shuanghe’s opinion, the man who can be her husband must at least have a stable job nearby.
Of course, it would be better if he is a handsome resident of the shelter.
Unfortunately, it is too difficult to understand what those people say.
Shuangye sighed softly and muttered softly.
”It’s great… I want to go to work too.”
The eldest brother Shuanglu and the second brother Shuangshi work in the Hunter’s Guild. They can earn more than 300 silver coins a month, and occasionally they can bring some prey distributed by the guild back to the village.
Their brave sister Shuanghe went to work at the trading station. Although the basic salary is not high, it provides two meals a day, and I heard that there is a commission for the things sold.
Frost Night also wanted to go out to work, but she was not old enough.
Although according to the custom of the tribe, 14 years old is considered an adult, the shelter forced them to raise the adult standard by two years, and required all men and women under the age of 16 to receive at least 6 hours of language and arithmetic literacy education every day.
Frost Night didn’t quite understand why there were such strange regulations. In short, according to her father’s words, she was still an adult last year, and this year she became a child again.
”Speaking of which, it seems that a new merchant guild has been established at the outpost recently, and it is recruiting people now.” Seeing the envious expressions on his sisters’ faces, Frost River’s heart moved slightly, and he suddenly remembered this matter.
Frost Snow immediately asked curiously.
”Any requirements?”
Frost River pursed his lips and thought seriously.
”Field staff have to work for 6 months every year, and they are required to have rich wilderness survival experience. People who have already started a family will be given priority. Internal staff are mainly clerks and tellers, and about 20 people are needed. The basic requirements are reading, writing and arithmetic skills. Bonus points are young, regular features, good image, patience, gentleness and generosity…”
”Young and regular features, good image and patience… and gentleness and generosity,” the youngest Shuang Ye muttered in a low voice, and suddenly her eyes lit up, and she looked at the second sister sitting beside her, looking up and down.
Shuang Xue’s cheeks blushed slightly when her sister looked at her.
”Why are you looking at me?”
”I also think Xue is the most suitable!”
Frost River immediately understood what the little sister meant, and hugged Shuang Xue’s shoulders, smiling and encouraging.
”Give it a try, how do you know if it works if you don’t try? And I heard that the Merchants’ Guild is an organization directly under the management of the manager, and it is at the same level as the Hunters’ Guild!”
”You will definitely be reused if you perform well!”
If she hadn’t worked in the trading station for a while and didn’t want to change jobs frequently, she would have wanted to give it a try!
Shuangxue’s cheeks felt a little hot,
and she thought of the embarrassing incident at the last New Year’s Eve party.
At that time, under the instigation of others, she was also excited for a moment, and she mustered up the courage to step forward and invite the manager to dance with her.
The respected manager is really a very kind person, and he is very approachable. Even his words of rejection are so gentle.
Although even so, she was still depressed for a long time…
”Oh! The manager will take responsibility!” Shuang Ye, who only listened to half of the words, looked at her second sister Shuang Xue in her sister’s arms with shining eyes, and said encouragingly, “Sister, go quickly, come on!”
Shuang Xue didn’t care about her image, and rushed over with a red face to pinch her sister’s armpit.
”You little devil… what stupid things are you talking about!”
Shuang Ye was made to laugh.
It was noisy until the evening, when the eldest brother and the second brother came back carrying a wild boar, and the three of them went with the eldest sister-in-law to help deal with the prey.
In the evening, Shuang Xue thought for a long time, and finally mustered up the courage to go to the recruitment point on North Street before eight o’clock to fill out the registration form.
Perhaps because of her good handwriting and her temperament that was not as barbaric as other nomads and refugees, her name appeared on the recruitment list the next day. The
first public list had ten people, all of whom were office staff, and she was assigned to the front desk.
The daily salary was 13 silver coins, slightly higher than the Hunters’ Guild, and the working hours were the same as the bank, from 8 am to 6 pm.
The address of the Merchants’ Guild was located at the outpost, near the north gate, in a three-story building that had been repaired before, but the sign had not been hung up yet.
With excitement and trepidation, Shuangxue came to the Merchants’ Guild to receive induction training under the instructions of the staff at the recruitment point.
However…
when she arrived here, she did not see the manager.
In addition to the other nine colleagues from Beth Street, Changjiu Farm or the next village, there was only an old man who looked like he couldn’t walk very well.
Looking around at the faces full of energy and excitement, old Charlie, with his hands behind his back, pondered for a while and coughed lightly.
When everyone quieted down, he spoke in a calm voice.
”From today on, you are employees of the Merchants’ Union.”
”What you have to do is very simple, that is to open up sales channels for our factory and open up invisible territories within our sight.”
”I know you may not understand what I said, but don’t worry, I will soon tell you the specific things to do.”
”Now I need you to remember to always keep a smile at work, always stay optimistic in the face of difficulties, complete every task seriously, and make sure that every stamp you put down is worthy of your conscience.”
”Your performance will be recorded in the file through the VM on your arm. People who are conscientious, excellent and reliable will be promoted soon. But if they accept bribes, commit favoritism or play tricks, we will soon see him in the labor camp.”
”This is a task assigned by the manager himself. I hope you can understand the weight of this sentence.”
…
The Merchants’ Union plays a very important role in Chu Guang’s layout of the B round of testing, even more important than the Hunters’ Union.
Otherwise, he would not have given it to Old Charlie.
The new mayor of Beth Street is voted by the people of the town themselves and selected from the candidates nominated by the street office. Those who can be nominated are all people with management experience. A mature model has been formed there, and it is not a big problem to choose anyone.
Old Charlie cultivated a lot of management talents during his tenure.
Perhaps he guessed that he would be transferred one day, so he even arranged for a teacher to replace him in the literacy class.
At present, with the continuous efforts of players and indigenous people, the industrial zone of the outpost has evolved from a single industrial chain model of “taking the No. 81 steel plant as the center and driving the development of many small weapon workshops” to a new model of “multiple pillar industries driving the comprehensive development of small and medium-sized factories”. The
industrial zone continues to expand northward.
With the continuous input of external resources and the high enthusiasm of players for production, the small population in the northern suburbs alone is not enough to digest all the products of the industrial zone.
Although foreign merchants can take away some of them, they can’t always wait for them to come to the door. The caravans in the shelter also have to pull a flag and go out for a walk.
There are many survivor settlements in the wasteland.
Many small settlements like Beth Street can’t even produce bullets, and they still use bows and arrows, steel forks, iron rifles – even muzzle-loading muskets.
Some larger survivor settlements may be ridiculously strong in some areas due to insufficient inheritance of pre-war heritage, but in some areas they have regressed to the pre-industrial revolution, or even primitive society.
Using bionic people to plow the fields, cloning people as slaves, catapults to launch micro-nuclear warheads, and worshipping black boxes as miracles… There are too many similar things.
The products produced by Shelter No. 404 may not be the most advanced, but they are definitely the most cost-effective. When you bring goods outside, you can also export a little bit of conscience from the northern suburbs and take advantage of the common yearning of mankind for a better life.
In the evening.
Chu Guang, who returned to the base from Changjiu Farm and took a tour, happened to meet Old Charlie who had just finished the induction training for employees when he passed by the door of the Merchants’ Union.
”How is it going?”
”I have selected all the people between the ages of 16 and 25 who have received literacy education. I estimate that I can recruit 30 to 40 people.” As he said this, Old Charlie sighed softly and complained softly, “We were established too late, and all the talents have been picked up from other places.”
Chu Guang: “Thank you for your hard work!”
Old Charlie shook his head.
”It’s not hard work. It’s an unexpected surprise for a fallen wastelander like me to be able to do something meaningful in the last bit of my life. Although I don’t have much hope, but… maybe you are different from us and other people.”
After a pause, the old man continued in a joking tone.
”Everyone is disappointed that they didn’t see you. I feel that many people came here just for you. Are you really not going to show your face?”
Chu Guang said helplessly.
”Don’t think I seem to be idle. I’ve been busy since morning until now, and I only have a little time when it gets dark.”
Most people just worry about the work in their hands.
But as the manager of Shelter 404, he had to take care of things in two worlds at the same time, and constantly switch between the identities of planner and NPC, trying to take into account the different demands of two completely different groups. It was
like being a father and a mother at the same time.
Thanks to the 20 points of intelligence, the players he personally selected were relatively worry-free for him, otherwise Chu Guang doubted that he might not be able to do this job.
He was so busy that he didn’t even have time to collect materials.
”Understand.”
Old Charlie nodded slightly, and then said, “But if I may be frank, you may need to consider the future path more than the details of how to take each step.”
This sentence was so obscure that Chu Guang was not sure whether what he understood was the same as what he wanted to express.
”For example?”
”You led your people to defeat barbarism, and then defeated the waves that were considered invincible. In your opinion, this may be just a trivial matter, or a matter of course, but I can see the storm in people’s hearts. You led them to create miracles.”
Old Charlie said softly.
”From the market of Changjiu Farm to the alleys of Beit Street, people are talking about your achievements, talking about the manager and so on, and feel extremely lucky, proud and proud to live under your protection.”
This flattery was so unexpected that even someone with a face thicker than the door of the shelter couldn’t help but cough lightly.
”Thank you for the compliment.”
”You may think I’m flattering, but I’m talking about this matter very seriously.”
Old Charlie paused and continued with a serious look.
”Your residents are proud, but also distressed. They don’t know what to call themselves… The people of Boulder City ridicule them as country bumpkins from the northern suburbs, rats running around in the ruins. They know they are not, but they can’t figure out what they are.”
”Some people live on Bate Street, some live in the outpost, and some live in the industrial zone, or the village at the west gate of Changjiu Farm… They have never been to the shelter, so they certainly can’t be considered residents of Shelter No. 404.”
”When facing a common crisis, people will naturally unite together, but they always have to have a reason to continue to unite.”
Chu Guang said thoughtfully.
”I think I understand what you mean.”
In fact, he has been thinking about this matter for a long time.
The new version is not only a new version for the players, but also a new page for the survivors in the northern suburbs.
Old Charlie nodded.
”Whether you plan to be the emperor of the empire or the leader of the alliance, you’d better come up with a name or title for yourself.”
”People need a name that can unite together and a legitimate identity. No matter what it is, it’s better to have it than not.”
”This celebration is a good opportunity!”
(End of this chapter)
