Chapter 1239: Don't Be in a Hurry to Leave

At the time when they were leaving the lakeshore of the Golden Autumn Gathering, they were still fantasizing about whether, just as they stepped out of there, they would run into a large group of tribes coming to attend the gathering; however, fantasy is fantasy after all, and even as they were about to reach the Western Development Group, they still hadn't encountered a single tribe.

The Engineering Team had already given the Western Development Group a brand-new look, and they were taking advantage of this final period to try and return to Huaxia City before winter completely arrived.

It was mainly the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe whose discussions and resistance were growing louder; every day when they woke up, they could see a thin layer of ice on the water, so how could they not be anxious? At a glance, they believed winter was coming, and if they didn't leave now, were they supposed to wait until spring to go back?

The people of the Engineering Team also said it was fine, they might as well just go back now; after all, the work here was basically finished, and the remaining finishing touches could be handled by the people of the Western Development Group themselves—there was no problem at all.

As for the Xuanyuan Tribe, once they returned to Huaxia, there should still be enough Large Ships; all three Large Ships should be in their idle period, and one could only hope they hadn't entered the port for maintenance yet.

If the Large Ships weren't enough, there were still small boats; if the Large Ships and small boats set out together, they could always bring all these people back, and if the Dahe could freeze over in advance, that would be even better—these people could walk back directly across the river surface, and while the speed would be a bit slower, it would be just as steady.

They only needed to build some Sleds to easily slide all the way from Huaxia to the Xuanyuan Tribe along the Dahe, and all the things they had brought could still be easily taken along.

Most importantly, walking meant no seasickness!

Don't look at the fact that the Xuanyuan Tribe had their own boats; in their tribe, the number of people who could ride boats, or who had ridden them, was small. Only those with specific jobs would ride boats, which was basically the same as in Huaxia—not many people in Huaxia had ridden boats either, though the requirement for Soldiers was that they had to be trained until they were not easily seasick.

There were people born not prone to seasickness, but most people would still get sick, especially those born and raised on land; plus, with so many of them squeezed into such small boats, it could be said to be extremely stifling, basically no different from the slave ships of the Middle Ages.

The only difference was that they could freely go up to the deck to breathe fresh air, and as for vomiting, if they vomited in the cabin, they had to vomit into a bucket and then carry it out to dump it; the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe had to do this themselves, as it was where they were living.

Even if the time wasn't very long, for the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe, it was a form of torture; once they had ridden it once, they would never want to ride it again, and it could even be said that the desire to go home could be overwhelmed by the fear of seasickness.

It was precisely because of this reason that no matter how anxious the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe were, they had to finish the work of the Western Development Group before they could slowly make their way back to Huaxia.

After returning to Huaxia, they could choose for themselves whether they wanted to go back by boat or walk back; if they went back by boat, Huaxia would send them off directly, as this was one of the contents of the contract for leasing Laborers.

If they didn't want to ride a boat, they could camp in Huaxia and wait until the Dahe froze over and became solid before they set off; during the time they waited, Huaxia would provide them with food at the lowest dietary standard.

The lowest dietary standard, while consisting of two meals a day, was much poorer in content—just two bowls of oil-residue porridge, and quite thin at that; it could ensure they wouldn't starve to death, but they certainly wouldn't gain weight from it, as they were no longer working for Huaxia, and Huaxia wouldn't give them any better treatment.

The cost of a single boat trip was still quite high, so it was better to let them walk back themselves and give those Navy Soldiers a good vacation; they were just waiting for winter, and once winter arrived, they wouldn't need to train at all, and wouldn't even need to participate in shift rotations.

Because after the Dahe thawed, they would spend most of the year on the boats, running back and forth between several places, far from home, so every trip could be considered a long-distance assignment, and every time they could receive a subsidy.

Therefore, in all of Huaxia, which profession had the highest average salary? It was certainly the Navy, mainly because of the many subsidies; with all sorts of subsidies added up, the salary itself became unimportant.

The selection for the Navy was naturally even stricter: one had to have good swimming skills, not be prone to seasickness, and be smart; other standards were basically aligned with the Army, with slightly lower requirements for things like close-quarters combat, but the physical requirements were equally high.

Furthermore, training was more difficult; it took three months to train someone who knew nothing into a basically qualified soldier, but for the Navy, three months was only the entry level, and it took a year to finish new recruit training.

After all, they had to learn to handle and operate the boats; they were not just Navy, but also Sailors, and their skills were all exquisite. If even one such person went to a tribe like the Xuanyuan Tribe, they could immediately bring a qualitative leap to their water power.

Therefore, from the very beginning, the management of the Navy was quite strict; upon arriving at the Xuanyuan Tribe, they could go ashore, but they could not wander about, their itinerary had to be reported, and they could not go out alone—in any case, all kinds of rules and regulations were strictly enforced.

This was done for fear that the Xuanyuan Tribe would seize the opportunity to use sugar-coated bullets to make people rebel; the treatment Huaxia gave was certainly good, but if the Xuanyuan Tribe was willing to bleed heavily, they could certainly offer conditions that would tempt the Navy, it was just that the Xuanyuan Tribe might not yet have discovered the importance of the Navy Soldiers.