Chapter 1889

Acid rain, gale-force winds, and hail are the three types of natural disasters that can have a significant impact on crops during the years of natural disasters.

After farming in their territories for two years, the lords have become increasingly experienced in resisting natural disasters, and they are making more and more preparations and preventive measures.

Rainproof tarps can block acid rain, and a combination of tarps, straw mats, and hail-proof nets can block hail, but when gale-force winds arrive, the straw mats and hail-proof nets will be blown away. Rainproof tarps firmly secured to the greenhouse frame with hardness-evolved vines or wire may also be torn and blown away by the gales.

After encountering gale-force winds in the tenth year of natural disasters, the people in the Northern First District territories thought of various ways to resist the impact of the gales on their crops and buildings.

At first, everyone thought of building sturdy, tall walls in the south of the Northern First District, like in the Safe Zone, to resist the gales.

But the workload and cost of building walls were too high, so everyone started thinking about building wooden plank walls to the north of the greenhouses and key buildings in their respective territories.

This method was rejected by Zhao Ze.

Because the wind pressure of a Level 17 gale is approximately 2.0-2.5 kN/m², if a wooden plank wall were erected to block the wind, a 1m x 3m wall would be subjected to a horizontal thrust of about 600-750 kg. Unless extremely thick solid wood planks anchored with dense steel columns were used, the wooden wall would be instantly snapped and blown away by the gale, causing secondary damage to the greenhouse tarps, making the disaster situation even worse than if there were no wooden wall.

In the end, everyone chose to put up windbreak nets to resist the gales.

A windbreak net is a net with elasticity and a large number of holes. After the gale passes through the holes in the windbreak net, it is split into countless small air currents moving in chaotic directions, which collide and cancel each other out behind the net, thereby forming a low-speed, stable, weak-wind zone.

The best building material for windbreak nets is perforated steel plate, but materials are scarce during the years of natural disasters, and the lords cannot afford or obtain so much steel plate. Therefore, everyone used local materials, and after repeated experiments, they selected two types of high-toughness vines growing in the territory and surrounding evolved forests, and two types of acid grass that remain very tough even after being dried.

Everyone used these four materials to weave more than a dozen types of nets with different mesh sizes and densities. After many tests, the weaving method for the windbreak nets was finalized.

According to Zhang Tao's calculations, a qualified windbreak net woven from vines and high-toughness grass can weaken wind force by about 50%. If a double-layered windbreak net is pulled up, the weakening effect can reach over 80%.

As for the actual results, it depends on the performance of the windbreak nets in this gale.

Xia Qing drove to the side of the conference room, jumped out of the car with Yang Laoda, and together with Hu Zi who had rushed over, pulled open the area covered by the tattered rainproof tarp, revealing bundles of windbreak nets. Xia Qing ordered, "Hu Zi, you three go hang the windbreak nets, and I'll move them with Lao Da."

"Got it." Hu Zi and Xiao Jiang carried a roll of windbreak net and rushed toward the wooden stakes over four meters high that had been buried in advance two meters south of the farmland, and began installing the windbreak net.

Not only on the south side, but also on the east, west, and south sides of the farmland area of Territory No. 3, as well as on the four sides of Xia Qing's house and laboratory, wooden stakes for hanging windbreak nets had been buried.

After confirming which direction the gale was blowing from, the windbreak net would be hung on that side to block the wind.

If it weren't for the limited materials, with the windbreak nets Xia Qing had woven only being enough to cover one side, she would have hung the nets up in advance.

Xia Qing and Yang Laoda, two high-level strength evolvers, carried rolls of windbreak nets and ran very fast. Hu Zi, Jing Kuan, and Xiao Jiang, who were speed-evolved and endurance-evolved respectively, also hung the nets very quickly.

In just 35 minutes, a 650-meter-long, 4-meter-high double-layered windbreak net was pulled up.

Then, Xia Qing and Yang Laoda took two rolls of windbreak nets, drove back to the desolate village, and hung them on the wooden stakes south of the laboratory and Xia Qing's courtyard.

The main purpose of hanging windbreak nets in these two places was not to block the gale.

The conference room, sheep shed, and chicken coop by the farmland were all built by Xia Qing herself; the walls were very thick and built with high-strength cement mortar, which could withstand the gale. The small building where Xia Qing lived and the shelf building next to it were reinforced concrete structures, which could also resist the wind.

The main purpose of hanging windbreak nets on the south side of the buildings was to block building debris or tree branches rolled over by the gale.

Of course, if the building debris or tree crowns blown over were too large, the windbreak net certainly wouldn't be able to block them, but having this layer of net to intercept them was better than nothing.

After the preparations were completed, Xia Qing took Yang Laoda and returned home. She left the farmland side to Hu Zi and the others; Xia Qing had to stay at home to protect Yang Laoda, the two monkeys, the pig, the weasel family, the strong cub family, the little yellow cow, and the chicken flock.

The red fox couple hid in the cave, unafraid of the gale; the freeloading big red squirrel and its cubs hid in the tree hole of the big pine tree. In principle, as long as stones or fireballs didn't fall from the sky, they would be fine.

Xia Qing had done everything that should be done and could be done. Next, she just had to stay in the sturdy shelter and wait for the natural disaster to arrive.

This kind of waiting is the most tormenting and helpless.

The sound of the wind grew louder, and every second became long, making it easy for people to recall the natural disasters they had experienced over the past eleven years. Xia Qing stroked her companions beside her, one by one, to relax her mood.

"Baa~"

The whistling sound of the growing wind passing through the holes in the windbreak net was a sound Yang Laoda had never heard before. It leaned tightly against its little brother and let out an uneasy cry.

Xia Qing, with Dai Gua hanging on her neck, the blue-faced little monkey squeezed on her left, and the Gua Pi little pig on her right, leaning against Yang Laoda, raised her arm to smooth Yang Laoda's fur and comforted it softly yet firmly, "This is the sound of the wind blowing through the windbreak net. We are very safe, Lao Da, don't be afraid."

"Baa~" Yang Laoda responded.

"Eee~" Dai Gua and the blue-faced little monkey followed with a sound.

"Eee~" Gua Pi, wearing a diaper, also followed with a sound.

Actually, this little guy didn't pee everywhere anymore, but there would be various emergencies during natural disasters, and Xia Qing was afraid the little guy would be frightened and get diarrhea, so she had the blue-faced little monkey put a diaper on it.

Xia Qing leaned on the sofa and continued to chatter, "Lao Da, it's going to get hot very soon. Your fur is so thick, you must be uncomfortable. After the acid rain, I'll shear your fur, and then use the sheared fur to make you a new pillow and a new mat."

"Baa~" Yang Laoda responded again.

"Eee..."

"Does Dai Gua want a haircut too? I'll ask Brother Song later to see if your fur can be sheared. If it can, what does Dai Gua want to make with your fur?"

Dai Gua immediately started gesturing, "Ah ya oh ah..."

"A sweater? That's a good idea. If you can't be sheared, we'll use Yang Laoda's or the Bear King's fur to knit a sweater for you to wear; it will definitely be warm. When I have time, I'll teach you how to knit a sweater."

"Eee..."

"Does the blue-faced one want to learn too? Sure, your claws are also very flexible."

Just as Xia Qing was chatting with her companions, the warning voice of the investigation team leader Tan Tan Junjie came over the lord's walkie-talkie, "Lords, the wind speed has now reached Level 11. Please take shelter, and confirm the acid element content in the bodies of yourselves and the personnel in your territories once again. If it exceeds 25%, take a soothing capsule immediately to avoid losing control and going feral in the upcoming natural disaster."