A sudden gust of wind swept through the wilderness, lifting large pieces of sand, gravel and fallen leaves, and also lifted a corner of the thick tarpaulin covering the heavy truck. An escort stepped forward to pull the loose rope and forcefully lifted the lifted truck. Tarpaulin tied back to the side of the truck and raised his head to look at the clear and vast sky.
The sky is as clear as water, and nothing can be seen except some sparse clouds.
"Strange wind..." the escort muttered, confused by his inexplicable heart palpitations at that moment.
The loud voice of the transport captain came from the distance: "Car No. 3!"
The escort shook his head and put some stories about winter spirits and plain monsters out of his mind. He threw it out and responded in the same loud voice: "Car No. 3 is ready! Boss!"
"Car No. 4!" "Car No. 4 is ready!" "Car No. 5..."
p>
The mechanics responsible for driving the vehicle got into the high driving position at the front of the vehicle. The drivers and co-pilots also boarded the vehicle one by one. The hum of the power spine charging brought a reassuring feeling to the team. The commander's voice came from outside: "Check the status of your vehicles. This journey is not short. It is freezing cold in the Holy Spirit Plain!"
"The shipping on the Gorgon River has stopped. We are the only transportation line this winter——
"Let's go! Our compatriots on the plains are still waiting for these grains and medicines!"
The magic engine made a low roar The gears and levers rotated and rubbed under the power of the machine. The heavy and large magic vehicles gradually accelerated. In the vast winter wilderness, the man-made steel behemoths roared, loaded with urgently needed supplies for the Holy Spirit Plains reconstruction area. A black track is painted on the vast land, and the track points far away to the north...
In the plain area, the Gorgon River, the dry season has arrived as scheduled. The drop in the river water level has made the navigation of large ships difficult and difficult. Danger, as the managers of various sections of the river issued warnings, the busy shipping on the Gorgon River for more than half a year finally gradually stopped.
In the past, this meant that all people who made a living on the river would go into "hibernation" like farmers on the plains. Except for a few daring people, everyone would obediently return to the river. In the shack, snuggle up with your family, light a warm fire, rely on the stored food, and quietly wait for the end of winter. This is the case for ordinary sailors, and the same is true for ship bosses who own ships.
But this year’s situation is slightly different from previous years.
A team called the "Joint Reconstruction Team" came to the plain area from the Rock Fortress. This team built large and small camps in the scorched earth of the Eastern Holy Spirit Plain and began to They are shouting the slogan "take back the land from the hands of jackals and winter", and with some incomprehensible enthusiasm, they are trying to rejuvenate this land.
The winter, when there was nothing to do, suddenly became lively.
Boatman Dulin jumped off with his two sonsThe workers waiting on the shore immediately stepped forward and used hooks and ropes to drag the raft to the shore. More people came up, untied the ropes that tied the raft, and formed the raft. The logs were dragged to the shore and prepared to be sent to the camp not far away.
The Baishui River has been closed to navigation, but the river is not completely frozen. Although large ships can no longer sail, small rafts and ships can still sail on the shallower water. Dulin, as a man in Gorgon The locals who were making a living on the river were hired by the Joint Reconstruction Group. His task was to help transport the wood cut down from the upper reaches to the camp area downstream - using the ancestral rafting craft and the perennial foraging between the rocks. Courage and experience tempered by eating by mouth.
This man who has been floating on the Gorgon River for half his life craned his neck and watched the people in gray-blue winter clothes busy between the shallows and the highlands on the shore. In this freezing winter , busy in these days that are not suitable for work.
He couldn't understand the scene in front of him, because this kind of thing had never happened before.
He does not intend to get too involved in these people's affairs, because he is an honest and dutiful "river man", and those who came out of the Rock Fortress carried the royal flag and were escorted by the army. .
But he would still crane his neck and take a long time to look at the southerners who seemed not to be afraid of the cold, as well as the locals mixed in among the southerners who were said to have originally lived in the eastern part of the Holy Spirit Plains. .
It is said that the locals escaped by chance during the previous war and have been hiding in the cities and towns in the south. Now they have returned with the southerners and plan to rebuild their homes.
Dulin did not see the faces he knew among the "locals" - most of those people were already dead.
Dulin looked at the people on the shoal and the river bank, because he was a little envious of those people's thick winter clothes and the aroma that wafted over when they made a fire and cooked on the river bank - there were no patches on those winter clothes, obviously They all had new clothes, and when they cooked, the smell of meat would occasionally come out - they had meat to eat every week.
During this winter, Dulin's life was actually much better than in previous years - he originally planned to spend a difficult winter because of the terrible war and those terrible monsters. The fertile fields on the bank were destroyed, as were the villages and towns. The nobles died and ran away, and the merchants fled in all directions. The "river people" who relied on transporting goods for the nobles and merchants to make a living lost half of their lives. Source of livelihood, everyone thought that the following days would be extremely difficult, but what they didn't expect was that those southerners returned to the land they burned with their rumbling machines.
The Joint Reconstruction Mission brought unexpected job opportunities, or in other words, a chance to survive, to the river workers, sailors and captains on the Gorgon River who were preparing to survive the winter.
Dulin was very grateful for the generosity of these outsiders, and was quite happy to exchange his skills and experience for winter rations for the whole family, but...heI'm still a little envious of those new and neat winter clothes, and the meat stewed in those big pots by the river bank.
A tall and thin man wearing a gray-blue cotton robe walked by and stopped in front of Dulin: "Citizen - today's share is completed, you can go to the camp to collect wages at any time. ."
This is a "Government Affairs Department official" from the southern border. The special armband and the emblem on the chest of his clothes show his identity.
Du Lin woke up from his distraction and quickly lowered his head in front of this "big man": "Okay, sir, I'll be there soon..."
The man wearing an armband The Government Affairs Department official laughed: "To be honest, you really don't want to sign up? We are even more short of people in the north, where they are recruiting experienced river workers. If you join the reconstruction team, you can go to the camp in the north to help."
Du Lin immediately showed a humble smile: "I... forget it, I have a wife and children at home... my youngest daughter is only over three years old..."
"Actually, you can bring your family with you In the past...but it doesn't matter. It's all voluntary. If you want to sign up, just come to me at any time."
Du Lin nodded hurriedly: "Yes, sir, thank you very much."
p>When meeting officials from the Government Affairs Department, you should address them as Mr./Ms. instead of Sir or Master. This is something Du Lin has dealt with many times with these people who call themselves "junior officials of the Joint Reconstruction Corps." The rules he learned later, although he didn't know why someone wouldn't like a more noble title, but since the other party asked for it, he obeyed with all his heart.
"You're welcome," the young Government Affairs Department official waved his hand, "It's getting late, just go back after receiving your wages - be careful on the road, citizen."
"Yes. , Sir."
Du Lin and his two sons turned around and walked away quickly. The tall and thin Government Affairs Department official looked at the three people leaving and shook his head with a smile.
A young man wearing a black winter coat walked by nearby, stopped behind the Government Affairs Department official, and said casually: "Actually, you don't need to call them citizens - they don't understand them at all. Secondly, the list of residents in this area has not yet been compiled, and the word 'citizen' is still far away from them."
"I like the word 'citizen', I like to say it and I like to hear it," Government Affairs said. The department official said, and glanced at the young man wearing a black winter coat, "Is Minister Norris still outside?"
"Yes, he is checking the soil quality in the north."
"...We failed to cultivate enough farmland before the freeze, and everything can only be made up for next spring. Everyone has a sense of urgency, but Minister Norris's body is no longer healthy after all," a young Government Affairs Department official Sighing, "It would be nice if the snow this winter could be postponed for a week..."
"Yeah..." The young man in black winter clothes frowned and looked at the camp with slightly worried eyes. North.
The flag of the Cecil Empire fluttered in the cold wind, and the temporary wooden walls of the camp were decorated with eye-catchingHuge letters are painted on the paint - "Take back the land from the hands of jackals and winter". Craftsmen and farmers are busy in an nervous and orderly manner. They are reinforcing the windbreak wall and wooden huts of the camp, and preparing a building for the upcoming new supplies. In the warehouse, soldiers patrolled vigilantly around the camp, guarding against hungry beasts in this wilderness and possible crystal cluster monsters that had narrowly escaped the purification sweep. Agriculture Minister Norris and his assistants stood near the northern gate. On the high ground, staring at the frozen land.
In winter, it snows and freezes.
Human beings use their flesh and blood to trek, rebuild, and reclaim this scorched land. However, the power of nature will not be merciful in the slightest because of human bravery and diligence. It operates more ruthlessly than machines. , it rains and snows according to rules, and the land freezes according to rules, without delay or leniency.
"The cultivated land in this area is less than 30% of the plan...The winter in the Holy Spirit Plain is half a month longer than in the south, and more than half of the prepared fields will definitely miss the spring plowing next spring," Norris said in a low voice "We are wasting the food that we finally raised in the west..."
"But at least several camps have stood up, and temporary roads have been repaired, minister," an aide couldn't help but say , "As long as these camps stand firm in the winter, we can open up land as soon as the freeze thaws next spring, and we will only miss one season of food at most..."
Norris sighed: "Everything can only be done in the best direction. I want to... cough..."
He coughed violently.
The air flowed through his trachea, tearing at the lungs that had been damaged by typhoid fever in his early years. He felt as if the cold air was pouring into his internal organs, melting away little by little what was left in his body. He had a lot of strength, but before a violent cough caused an imbalance, two pairs of young hands reached out from the side in time to support the shaky Minister of Agriculture.
"Minister," a young official called nervously, "are you okay?"
"I'm okay," Norris finally came to his senses, and he reached in In his arms, he took out a small metal medicine bottle, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip of the slightly bitter medicine inside. The warm feeling spread in his body, giving him a little more strength in his words, "Oh, After all, I am getting older, and the cold wind in the Holy Spirit Plain is not very friendly to me."
Pitman's special rejuvenation potion replenished Norris's physical strength, but he could still feel that his internal organs were steadily improving. Towards Decline - Alchemical potions and druid spells may make an old man feel better, but the deep damage caused by aging cannot be reversed by human power.
He put away about half of the bottle of potion left, looked at the young faces around him that showed worried, nervous, and concerned expressions, and couldn't help but smile.
"Go back."
Norris shook off the two hands that were supporting him, turned towards the direction of the camp, stepped forward, and walked forward slowly.
He walked into the camp and walked towards himselfbarracks.
Those working to rebuild their homes are busy on both sides of the road.
Magic technicians from the southern region are debugging a magic obelisk, and the crystal device filled with magic power is slowly rotating in the cold wind.
Craftsmen are measuring the foundation of an open space in preparation for building a warehouse.
Several men were working together to saw off a huge piece of wood. The man holding the saw looked vaguely familiar... He was a refugee who had received help from the investigation team. His most precious possession was a car. A pile of broken carts.
His wife was not far away, stirring the food in a large pot with a long-handled ladle, and with a loud voice, she called the men to finish work and prepare for dinner.
The "precious" trolley was also there. It was not abandoned, but parked in the open space next to it, filled with potatoes and radishes pulled from the warehouse.
When Norris thought back, he remembered that he had such a similar-looking cart back then - he pushed it all the way from Old Cecil to the Dark Mountains.
The cart was burned for firewood that first winter, and the land next to the Dark Mountains has now become a wonderful place.
Norris's somewhat stooped back straightened up slightly.
His work is not done yet.