The refreshing wind blew through the vast wasteland, carrying dry sand and dust and dry fallen grass clippings. On the abandoned land, the ditches that were once used for irrigation have dried up due to interruptions upstream, and a collapsed wall has collapsed. In the soil, most of it is covered with yellow weeds.
An abandoned old mill stands alone on the roadside. The huge windmill blades that fell off the mill are placed miserably on a half-collapsed red brick wall like some kind of broken limb. Traces of burning and explosive attacks can be seen everywhere around the mill. A charred street sign stands crookedly at the intersection in front of the mill. The vague writing on the street sign is faintly visible:
" "Longtail Woodland - Cabre Town"
A rough and thick-boned hand brushed over the road sign, wiping off a layer of charred ash.
Norris looked at the black ashes on his hands, then rubbed his fingers and looked at the old abandoned mill not far away.
A gust of autumn wind blew, and the cold air carried in the wind poured into Norris's lungs, which were no longer healthy. He couldn't help but bend down and cough continuously.
Several young people accompanying him immediately stepped forward, and someone helped the Minister of Agriculture, who was slightly shaking: "Minister, are you okay?"
"It's okay, I'm older. , the wind in this season is not very friendly to me." Norris waved his hand and refused the support of his subordinate and apprentice, slowly looking away from the direction of the mill, "I have heard of this place... It is said that the most fertile land near the Long Tail Woodland The land is right here..."
"It's all abandoned," a young official sighed. "When the troops arrived here, the entire Long Tail Woodland had been occupied by the Crystal Cluster Army, and the survivors who gathered together There were less than a hundred people alive. In order to completely eliminate those monsters, the soldiers burned down all the towns after bombing, including the settlements around the towns. "
"Desolation... Desolation is not terrible, deserted land is still. It can be saved," Norris said slowly, looking at the weed-covered farmland not far away, "What I'm afraid of is that there is still some remaining pollution."
Enter. The young official turned his head and ordered several magic vehicles to park on the side of the road to stand by, and then took steps to keep up with Norris.
The once fertile fields experienced abandonment, and after weeds grew, they suffered a round of bombing and burning. After the burning, new weeds grew with several storms. Now, from a distance, they are almost The appearance of the farmland in the past was completely unrecognizable. Norris squatted down next to a barely distinguishable ditch, reached out and grabbed a handful of soil, and rubbed it slightly with his fingertips.
The black soil mixed with plant ash has a moist and sticky texture, falling to the ground as the fingers rub it.
"What a good soil..." Norris stretched out his hand and let the entourage look at the remaining soil in his hand, "How can there be such good land in the south?"
Sighing After that, he clapped his hands and began to order the sampling personnel to collect local soil samples. An accompanying clerk took out the folder he carried and foundA corresponding report was issued: "This and the surrounding fields are part of the 'Sedge Manor' and belong to the private property of Viscount Cabre. However, it is difficult to estimate the specific population of the entire town of Cabre. It can only be roughly estimated to be around three hundred households - —Excluding the more remote villages and a mine."
A young technician wearing field work clothes and an imperial vine-ring druid badge on his chest said while inspecting the soil quality. The soil still looks healthy and fertile, and is in much better condition than the two previously discovered contaminated areas..."
"Mark it green for now," Norris said, holding his knees up and speaking slowly Slowly stood up, "Before the next sowing season, we must collect as much information as possible on land that can be re-cultivated, and we must not forget to mark severely polluted areas..."
"Yes, Minister. Wait. Do we want to..."
An accompanying official from the Ministry of Agriculture responded, but just in the middle of his words, the guard standing on guard on the ridge next to him suddenly yelled at not far away. A voice said: "Who is it? Come out!!"
A few pairs of eyes immediately looked in the direction of the guard's scolding. Norris raised his eyelids and saw that there seemed to be someone in the abandoned mill not far away. Shaking, after the guard called out for the second time, the two figures hiding in the mill finally walked out of the abandoned building.
They were a man and a woman, they couldn’t tell how old they were, they were wearing gray clothes, their hair and faces were dirty, they were walking towards this side cautiously and bent over, leading He was showing humility and fear, as if he was afraid that if he made a wrong move, he would be arrested by the "big shots" in front of him.
The expression on Norris's face trembled subconsciously after seeing the man and woman. He recalled himself a few years ago...that humble and timid posture had been engraved in his bones for decades. , he is really too familiar with it.
"Survivors? There are actually survivors in this area?" A young scribe whispered in surprise.
Norris frowned and asked after the two people approached: "Why are you here? Have you been hiding here?"
"Master, we are ...He ran back from the town in the south... We hid out and fought, and then we came back after the fighting here."
The hunchbacked man said carefully. While constantly pulling the threads on his clothes with his hands, his words were a little confusing, but Norris quickly understood the meaning of these words - these two people have not been hiding in the mill, they should be in When the accident first happened, I escaped with everyone, and then I was lucky enough to escape from this hell alive. In the past six months, I mostly wandered around Pompeii or Scotland to escape, and now I probably heard the news that the north is safe. , and then ran back again.
Similar situations are not uncommon in this vast area - although there were few survivors in that disaster, there were always people who escaped.
Some of these people were sent by the Southern BorderThe team that arrived was taken in and protected. Some of them may have found a permanent place to settle in the south, and some... they couldn't give up the land they had cultivated for generations, the only hometown they knew, or they really couldn't find a way to survive in the south. So they ran back again, wandering in this land that had become a war-torn wasteland.
If left alone, most of these people will sooner or later die of hunger, cold, disease, or the mouths of wild beasts, and the rest may become rogue bandits in the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plains. A deserted land will become a lawless zone of staggering scale.
But the empire will not leave it alone. Norris and the working group he led, as well as several other teams heading in different directions, are tasked with rebuilding this "granary of the empire."
"I'm not a gentleman. My name is Norris. I came to rebuild this place under His Majesty's orders." Shaking his head and shaking the complicated thoughts out of his mind, Norris said to the man and woman in front of him. , "This is not suitable for settling down yet. You can go to the resettlement area in the southeast first..."
The woman with dirty hair didn't seem to understand what Norris said next, but her eyes widened. : "Your Majesty? Which Majesty? Isn't His Majesty Francis no longer here?"
Norris was stunned for a moment.
Among the fleeing poor people in the central region, the news is so lagging behind. Not only do they not know the establishment of the empire, they may not even know whether the civil war is really over. When did you start to flee? How long have you been isolated from the civilized world?
After living in the advanced and prosperous Cecil City for several years, Norris once again saw the familiar poverty and backwardness, so much so that he forgot to speak for a while, but the German standing next to him Technician Rui couldn't help but said: "It's His Majesty Gawain Cecil, he is already the emperor."
The man and woman were stunned for a long time before finally exclaiming in surprise.
"You go to the resettlement area in the southeast first," Norris said to them again, "We have a car that can take you there, and some refugees who have escaped have temporarily settled there. It’s too dangerous for you to stay in this place. No one can live here now.”
The man and woman finally understood what Norris meant. They were hesitant and entangled, but when they saw the entourage and people around Norris. The guard then showed a nervous and fearful look, but Norris couldn't think of how to explain everything to these two people besides comforting him - he could only make some guarantees, ask the entourage to bring out some food, and emphasized that this was " His Majesty the Emperor's order" made them feel relieved.
But before leaving with the soldiers, the hunchbacked man suddenly opened his mouth again, and while grabbing the threads on his clothes, he said carefully: "Master, we still have something...can we take it together? ?"
Norris nodded: "Okay, but not too much, the car can't fit it."
The man was grateful and ran back to the wasteland quickly.After a while, he walked out pushing a shabby cart that looked like it might fall apart at any moment - the cart was filled with all kinds of sundries, old pots, pots and already seen Colorless rags were piled together, leaving a place for people to sit.
This is all the belongings of this man and woman - Norris can almost imagine how they pushed this car to escape from here, wandered between the villages and towns in the south, and then pushed this car again Back to this place.
"That's it, that's it," a humble smile appeared on the man's face, "not much."
The soldier who was about to escort the man and woman to the resettlement camp glanced at the man. The things in the car were originally meant to be thrown away. The resettlement camp would give the refugees a set of daily necessities, but in the end the soldier did not say that. Instead, he sighed: "Oh... you can bring things with you." Come on, this cart can’t be loaded into our car.”
“Old... Master,” the man suddenly panicked, “I can push the cart and follow you. ! I ran very fast!"
The soldier shook his head: "No, you don't know..."
Norris interrupted the soldier: "Tie this car to the car. Go ahead."
The soldier looked embarrassed: "...Sir, this..."
"Do as I say," Norris shook his head, "This It is their most precious thing now."
"Yes, sir."
"Master, you are such a good person!" The woman with dirty hair said quickly, "You are. At first glance, he looks like a kind-hearted noble master!"
"I am not a master, let alone a noble master. Just call me sir," Norris corrected him again, then waved his hand, "Let's go, follow this. Come with the soldiers, our car is waiting on the roadside. Don’t be scared by the car for a while.”
The man and woman hurriedly agreed, but after taking a few steps with the soldiers, the hunchbacked man couldn’t bear it. He turned around and said, "Sir... Sir, do you think this place can really change back to what it was before?"
"...It will be better than before," Norris looked at the place. With a pair of cloudy but expectant eyes, he said word by word, "This is exactly the mission His Majesty has given me."
"Then...can we come back by then?" The man observed while observing Looking at the expression of the soldier next to him, he said quickly, "Our home is in the town, and there is..."
Before he finished speaking, the woman next to him seemed to bump his arm secretly, Norris guessed what the unfinished sentence might be - a can of wheat? A box of flour? A sickle? Or maybe a few hard-earned silver coins?
He did not ask, but nodded vigorously: "I will come back - this is the order given to me by His Majesty."
The hunchbacked man laughed: "Ah, It seems that His Majesty Cecil is a really good man."
They left.
After a long time, Norris finally broke the silence: "We still have a long way to go."
"Yes, Minister."
"But everything will be fine," Norris Reese turned around, looked at the vast fertile land that had been burned by the war, and said as if talking to himself, "Just like your Majesty said... new shoots will eventually grow on this burned land. ."