Chapter 954: Under Construction

Landscape of the Western Development Group region.

The Western Development Group did not know about the major events happening in Huaxia; they simply continued their construction work. Because they had the support of a large amount of grain from Huaxia, as well as the anticipation of a better life in the future, everyone was working with their greatest effort. No one was willing, nor did anyone dare, to slack off or be lazy.

Even if there were no leaders to manage them, their own companions would scold, show disdain for, or ostracize those who were lazy, because everything here was being built for themselves.

Under the command of Ce, everyone was divided into tasks reasonably, and he also carefully analyzed the surrounding situation to decide their future way of survival.

Because now, communication between every city could be ensured, and grain could be transported and supplemented between them in the future, it did not necessarily mean that all the grain in this city had to rely on themselves.

Just like Huaxia City, it was more likely to develop into an industrial city in the future, because the land in and around Huaxia City could not really be considered very fertile; it had taken over a decade of transforming the saline-alkali land to present the effect it had today.

Ce believed that the territory around his chosen site was more suitable for grazing, because the water and grass were lush, the terrain was flat, and there were many winding little water networks.

During this period, he also discovered that the precipitation here was acceptable, but the problem they had to face was that as long as there was precipitation, the already moist grassland would become even wetter, to the point where water would seep out underfoot with every step taken.

He was not a professional in planting, and La Lang, who was in charge of agriculture, also believed that although the land here looked flat, if one were to plant, one could only consider planting Rice; Wheat and soybeans were completely impossible to plant, and it was very likely that there would be no harvest at all in the end.

However, this place was an extremely high-quality natural Pasture, where livestock could grow plump and strong without needing feed. Therefore, Ce was considering whether the Western Development Group here could become a city focused on animal husbandry in the future?

This was not impossible to achieve in the current Huaxia. Huaxia needed a large amount of livestock, and the geographical location and climatic conditions here were the most suitable for it; it could save Huaxia a large amount of feed.

The meat produced could be sent to the various cities being built in the future and then exchanged for their grain. However, such a thing was appearing for the first time, and Ce himself had no certainty, nor did he have any experience to draw upon.

Therefore, after many discussions, everyone still had not reached a consensus. They only thought that this idea of Ce's could be considered, but they could not rely entirely on this idea to build; they would first report to Huaxia City and wait for news.

The work of reclaiming arable land could not stop for a moment either. Since the wetland grassland in front could not be reclaimed, Ce could only set his sights on the area behind them; although it was also covered in grass, it had a slope.

With a slope, drainage could be ensured. As long as water did not accumulate in the fields, then farming was entirely possible.

Although the energy required to reclaim terraced fields was much greater than that of reclaiming flat land, everyone still chose to listen to Ce in this regard.

The people cutting trees were still cutting, and the people building houses were still building. Just like the construction method at the beginning of Huaxia City, they first made mud bricks, waited for them to dry, then built the walls, and finally used wood to make the beams.

The Brick and Tile Factory had also been established by this time, but they could only burn tiles first for now. Only when enough tiles were burned could they continue to consider the matter of burning bricks.

However, the matter of burning Cement could not be put on the agenda, because the land here did not look like it could produce minerals at all; even stones were hard to find, let alone limestone mines. Therefore, the Cement needed for the Western Development Group to build better houses in the future could only be transported from other places.

Although it was troublesome, if one thought about it carefully, they could not find ore around this city and would have to look further away. Once found, from mining to transporting the ore over, it would also require a large amount of manpower and material resources; it would be better to just transport it directly from a city that had already built a cement factory.

Now that they were here, they could only first build some houses that were barely habitable, just enough so that everyone would not freeze in Winter; good houses could be built slowly in the future.

There were not many children here, but their education could not be ignored. Yuzhu, who was in charge of medical care, was relatively idle on a daily basis because there were not many illnesses here that needed treatment.

Therefore, his daily work, besides exploring the types of medicinal herbs nearby and searching for new ones, was to teach the children here how to read and do arithmetic.

Without paper and pens, they would write on a board scorched black by fire, using clods of dirt as pens. The children below did the same, relying on such crude things to learn to read and practice writing.

Yuzhu would not force them, because the current situation in Huaxia was a shortage of people and a shortage of teachers, but not a shortage of students. In Huaxia City, learning was definitely mandatory, but here, it was not like that.

Whether it was Yuzhu, Ce, or old Tribal Chiefs like Ma, they had all repeatedly told everyone about the importance of learning. If you want your future to be more successful, then you must learn every day. If you do not care about your own future or your own life, then that is up to you.

Such a way of learning that relied on self-discipline could also better pick out true talent—those who were smart and motivated. This first year, Yuzhu was conducting the screening; he knew which children were smart, had talent, and were worth cultivating.

By next year or the year after, when the infrastructure here was better and teachers could be sent over, they could quickly take over his work. Moreover, after having already screened out a large number of children unsuitable for learning, the teachers' tasks would also be much easier.

During this period, some adults were also attracted to learn. There was no requirement that they must learn, but they came to learn on their own initiative.

Yuzhu naturally would not drive them away, because if such people studied seriously and were cultivated, they would become important assets to the Western Development Group in the future. All talent was slowly screened out through various methods.

Wuzhong was also cultivating students, but his training work was not so easy. The things he taught were too professional; unless one truly had talent, it was difficult to learn real skills in a short time.

This could also provide a talent foundation for the comprehensive construction of the Western Project cities in the future. No one would think about whether more people would be sent here, because Ce and the others knew that even if Huaxia wanted to send people, Huaxia had no one left to send. For many years to come, they could only be these people here.