Chapter 894: The Opportunity to Obtain Military Merit

The people of the Western Development Group were now marching in a grand procession toward their chosen location; the savages, having changed into new clothes, could no longer be called savages, and were now, in their own way, members of Huaxia.

This was also the first time Ce was leading so many people, and his heart was likewise somewhat flustered, but this was also the only opportunity for him to display his grand ambitions; if he missed it, he might, for the rest of his life, find it difficult to sit in the position he wanted to occupy.

Once they left the city and entered the Wasteland, he felt that the conditions of the Wasteland were even worse than he had imagined; the worst places he had ever been to were merely those towns, but at least when he looked up, he could see the tall city walls in the distance and the smoke that rose incessantly.

What was here? By day, there were boundless mountains and Wasteland, traces of various wild beasts on the road, insects flying everywhere, and Grass, trees, and vines blocking the way; even though they had been cleared during the Winter, they had grown back now that it was spring, and those wild weeds that tangled everywhere also constantly wrapped themselves around these young people.

For the others born in the Wasteland, walking this road again only felt familiar; although they were more willing to stay in that tall and majestic city, just as their teacher said, they had not made any contributions to Huaxia, so why should they enjoy such a good life just like everyone else?

Huaxia gave them endless grain, food sufficient to withstand the wind, rain, and bitter cold, enough salt, and Weapons to protect themselves and hunt prey; this was already treating them extremely well, and if it were any other tribe, they would have long since become Slaves.

A good life is fought for with one's own hands; everyone in the Western Development Group had studied the history of Huaxia's construction, listening to their teacher tell of how Huaxia developed from a stone circled by a thread into the powerful entity it was today, and hearing this, everyone was filled with boiling blood, all wanting to create such a massive city themselves, and that phrase became something everyone read every day to strengthen their convictions.

The Soldiers and those tenant farmers, however, did not have much of a psychological change; they were only there to deliver supplies, and once they reached the destination, they would turn back, for their good life was in Huaxia City.

Along the way, they were also constantly hunting, gathering, and replenishing food, while at the same time, the Soldiers were looking for better routes; this was one of their tasks, as in the future, this western city would certainly have to be connected to Huaxia City, just like Xiao Town, so no matter what, a road that could at least accommodate a vehicle had to be built here.

Everyone knew this was an arduous task, but as long as it was for Huaxia, they would all give it their utmost effort.

The weather had completely warmed up, the Grass had grown lush, and one could only vaguely see the yellow color beneath the new grass; the flowers were also blooming brilliantly, and a tenant farmer even discovered a nest of wild honeybees on the road, and after discussing it with the leading Soldier, they decided that when they returned to the city, they would take the nest away as well.

Because this tenant farmer had also cared for bees in Huaxia, he had to go over during the busier seasons, so he was quite knowledgeable about matters concerning bees; now that he had happened to see them, how could he not seize the opportunity? After breeding, the number of bees in Huaxia was still quite large, but who would ever complain about having too few bees?

Because of the issue of nectar sources around Huaxia City, the beekeepers had specifically petitioned the Ministry of Agriculture, asking if they could take the bees to places further away where there were more nectar sources to keep the bees.

But the Ministry of Agriculture, considering that bees would certainly attract many wild beasts that liked honey, such as bears, which was too dangerous, rejected this proposal, but decided to plant some Huai Shu and jujube trees on the surrounding barren hills as a supplement to the nectar sources.

Especially the Huai Shu, which could form a forest in a few years, growing at an extremely fast speed; for the time being, they could only maintain the status quo of the bee farm, with the nectar sources relying entirely on orchards and surrounding wild flowers, and the conditions for beekeeping were still far from mature.

Those Soldiers, of course, would not stay idle; besides these tasks, they would also go looking for those strange and exotic plants and stones, which had almost become a habit of theirs; as long as they could find something useful, the credit would come faster than Military Merit.

In times of peace, if they wanted credit, they could only do it like this, performing tasks that were relatively bitter and tiring, or otherwise, rely on luck to see who was fortunate.

Likewise, these were also fully applicable to tenant farmers and Slaves; whoever found it, it belonged to them, and Huaxia would not hide the credit because it did not lack that little bit of reward, but as long as there were one or two successful cases, it could stimulate more people to act spontaneously in this way, and once they succeeded once, it would be enough for them to achieve a leap in social class.

It was just that these Soldiers did not know that Huaxia was about to go to war, and those Soldiers who wanted to rise through other forms of credit would soon have a real opportunity to obtain Military Merit.

This war would also inevitably filter out a great number of truly capable Soldiers and generals, which was also a good thing for Huaxia.

Baifeng settled everything, and the next day he hurriedly took people and those Slaves, traveling by Boat to the Xuanyuan Tribe; as for why he could get the news so quickly, Baifeng felt he still had to think of a better reason first.

In any case, those few people still on the road were easy to handle; they did not need to return to Huaxia, they could just turn the Boat around and head to the Xuanyuan Tribe, saying they met on the way; Baifeng now only needed a reason for why he himself had to go to the Xuanyuan Tribe, perhaps the reason that he needed more Laborers would work? Plus, he had never been to the Xuanyuan Tribe and needed to come and visit to deepen the friendship between the two sides?

Looking at his son Changle, who was already used to traveling by Boat and was very relaxed about his surroundings, Baifeng felt this was also a pretty good reason; if a few seemingly unimportant matters were put together, his coming over while on the way would seem reasonable.

Moreover, he also decided to give Xuanyuan a heads-up in advance regarding the matter of his son's marriage; if he had truly taken a fancy to a woman from the Xuanyuan Tribe, it would be better for both sides to know how to handle it.