After parting ways with Lu Jianye, Wen Le went straight to the courtyard. Xiao Wen, Han Ya, and Lin Yan were almost stuck in the conference room every day. Although the base seemed to be built well, there were still many aspects that needed to be discussed and implemented step by step.
Walking into the conference room, as expected, Xiao Wen and the others were discussing a map, along with Yan Wei Guo who was rarely pulled in. Li Yunsheng and Mo Gang, two old men, were sitting on the side sipping hot tea and watching the fun with a smile.
“Hey, why are you also looking at this map?” Wen Le walked up and was surprised when he saw the map they were studying.
The map on the conference table was the map of Xinjiang.
Seeing Wen Le coming over, Xiao Wen reached out and pulled over an idle chair and put it next to him for Wen Le to sit on.
“You have been studying this map for the past few days, I guess you want to take a trip before winter arrives,” Xiao Wen said with a smile.
Wen Le nodded, “Yes, that was the plan.” Then he looked down and carefully studied the markings on the map made by Han Ya.
Han Ya explained on the side, “The satellite can’t connect, so we don’t know a lot of information and situations. These marked resources were found in the database of the military factory. Part of the raw materials of the military factory are obtained from these resources.”
Wen Le looked at the map for a while before looking up, “Let’s put that aside for now. I just separated from Lu Jianye, so let me say two things first to avoid forgetting later.”
“What’s wrong?” Xiao Wen asked.
“It’s nothing, just two things. First, the construction of the Second Ring Road may not be completed before winter arrives. The time we estimated was based on last year’s calculation, but judging from this summer, the arrival of winter this year is a bit uncertain. So Lu Jianye and I tentatively agreed to continue construction until the first heavy snowfall arrives. Even if we build the soldier’s dormitories by then, it won’t be possible to live in them with such low temperatures, even with heating. All the construction and training personnel will have to be gathered in the inner city and live there throughout the winter.”
The others nodded, but Yan Wei Guo frowned, “What about the heavy equipment we bought? If they freeze in the open, they will become scrap iron by next spring.”
“After the city walls are built, we’ll focus on building these warehouses first. When we were planning, weren’t these warehouses supposed to be right next to the inner city walls? We can just pull out heating pipes from the inner city and provide heating directly to them. If we don’t have time before the heavy snowfall, we can just move them to the empty space inside the inner city.” On his way back, Wen Le thought of this issue.
“Move them to the empty space inside the inner city?” Yan Wei Guo was stunned. Wouldn’t they still be exposed to the cold in the empty space?
Xiao Wen, Han Ya, and Lin Yan all reacted at the same time.
“Wen Shao, do we need to add courtyard-style roofs to the inner city?” Han Ya asked directly.
Wen Le nodded, “That’s the second point I want to bring up. Since we may not be able to finish the Second Ring Road before winter, I’ll have Lu Jianye allocate some people to start building roofs like the ones in the courtyards on all the buildings inside the inner city as soon as possible. That way, the entire inner city can be used as a normal activity area.”
Everyone looked at each other, and Lin Yan hesitated a bit, voicing everyone’s concerns, “Is it necessary?”
Wen Le nodded solemnly, “Absolutely necessary. I just thought of this a few days ago. ” He took out a map of Xinjiang that he had been studying for the past few days from his space. Unlike the map that Xiao Wen and the others had been studying, this map had more notes and various markings that covered almost the entire map.
Not only was there a map, but all the blank spaces next to it were filled with notes, along with another piece of paper with just as many notes.
“While you guys have the distribution of mineral resources in various parts of Xinjiang, I also have the distribution of other material resources throughout Xinjiang. For example, the AKS region in Xinjiang is one of the major cotton-growing areas in our country. Finished clothing and bedding are limited resources, and in the future, except for individual short-term bases like ours that don’t need to fight zombies, most bases in the country will not be able to allocate manpower and resources for clothing production and processing for a period of time. Without finished products, whether it’s for our own use or for trade with other bases, we need to process the raw materials we collect into finished products. So along the way, I want to collect more machine production equipment. We wasted most of our time this summer except for a small amount of time spent on base construction. Besides, winter is not suitable for construction. I can’t bear the thought of wasting so much time and manpower.”
Han Ya was the first to get the maps marked by Wen Le, which also indicated various mineral resources. However, there were even more other resources marked, such as cotton, silk, tobacco, and timber.
It had to be said that they were much more useful and abundant than simply dividing up mineral resources.
Yan Wei Guo nodded first, “Let’s do it as Wen Le suggested! Not to mention, Bai Yang and the others have been complaining to me recently about the rapid consumption of clothing during new recruit training. Even the old soldier’s combat uniforms are all patched up.”
Xiao Wen also nodded in agreement, “Once we have the raw materials and machinery, we can completely produce and process various goods on the open spaces in the inner city during the winter. Since the zombies have not invaded the Tibetan area, we should try to speed up production in all aspects during this time. It has been almost a year since the apocalypse began, and the bases in various parts of the Central Plains that have survived the zombie siege should be stable by now. B City cannot give up on satellite connections, and it’s only a matter of time before Sky Net is rebuilt. Once the satellite is restored, our base will probably not be able to develop as recklessly as it does now.”
Since everyone agreed, Wen Le directly took out the maps of various towns in Xinjiang.
“Han Ya, find someone to mark the resources, useful goods, and possible locations of machinery and equipment in each town. It might take me forever to do it alone until winter is over.”
Han Ya took the stack of maps handed to him by Wen Le, “It’ll take a few days at least, but I’ll give them to you as soon as they’re done. Also, we can’t have too many vehicles on this trip. We don’t have much fuel left in our base, even if we give it all to you.”
Wen Le glanced at Xiao Wen.
After receiving the message conveyed by Wen Le, Xiao Wen thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
“This time, let’s just have the two of us, Wen Le and me, go. We don’t necessarily need enough fuel for a round trip, we will try to replenish along the way.”
Upon hearing this, Yan Wei Guo immediately rebuked, “Nonsense! Just the two of you? Do you think you’re Superman? What if there’s danger and there’s no one to support you? Are you going to collect supplies or send yourselves to die?!”
Li Yunsheng, who had been silent all along, also sighed and said, “This is wishful thinking.”
Looking at Mo Gang, although he didn’t say anything, the expression in his eyes as he frowned at the two of them was full of naked reproach.
Wen Le and Xiao Wen looked at each other and couldn’t help but smile bitterly.
“We’re really not being reckless. The two of us are the most convenient and safe to move around. Even one more person would be a burden,” Wen Le had to reassure the three elderly people present.
Wen Le’s words didn’t really count as an explanation. Yan Wei Guo was about to say something, but when he noticed that Han Ya and Lin Yan were squinting at Xiao Wen and Wen Le with a suspicious look, he suddenly stopped what he was going to say.
It seemed that these two must have had a secret that no one else knew. Perhaps Han Ya and Lin Yan had already suspected something, so when they heard Xiao Wen’s decision, they did not oppose it.
However, they also knew that these two would never do anything that would harm the base, so this secret could just be kept as a secret. There was no need to dig deeper. After all, they would benefit from it regardless of what the secret was.
With this in mind, Yan WeiGuo still had some concerns and asked seriously, “Are you sure it’s just the two of you going? Can you ensure safety? This is not a short journey, and with the supplies you need to collect, you may have to travel across half of Xinjiang. Anything unexpected can happen at any time.”
Xiao Wen and Wen Le nodded solemnly.
Since they had made their decision, there was no need to force them to bring more people. Xiao Wen and Wen Le were not the type to make empty boasts, and everyone present had great faith in their decision. Thinking back to what Wen Le had said, if they brought too many people, they might end up as a burden instead of help. It would be too late for regrets then.
After confirming everything, the three elderly men got up and prepared to leave the conference room. Suddenly, Mo Gang remembered something and stopped, saying to Yan Wei Guo and Li Yunsheng, “You two go play mahjong first. When you call Lin Qing, have his wife stand in for me for a while. I just need to talk to my child for a few minutes.”
“Then hurry up. Lin Qing’s wife is not very good at mahjong, and it’s awkward for her to win all the time,” Yan Wei Guo waved his hand and reminded him.
“Okay, I’ll be quick,” Mo Gang responded.
Xiao Wen and the others listened with frustration. What was going on here? It was really unfair. They had to count their rest time, but the others seemed to have plenty of free time. No wonder Yan Wei Guo always looked reluctant to come to meetings!
“I was wondering why I never see my parents. They are busier than me every day. Now I know why!” Lin Yan muttered to himself, feeling a bit low.
Mo Gang said that the Lin Qing couple they were talking about are Lin Yan’s parents.
Mo Gang turned around and saw four children looking at him with sorrow, and he awkwardly coughed.
“Well, when you get old, you need to have some hobbies, right?”
The four of them pursed their lips and accepted Mo Gang’s words. What if they didn’t accept? Were they going to have another table for the four of them?
“What does Uncle Mo want to talk about?” Han Ya spoke up, not wanting to embarrass the old man.
Mo Gang thought about the main topic and said to Xiao Wen and Wen Le, “When you go out this time, see if you can bring some food processing machines and bottles and cans. I see that the children at our base can only eat fruits besides their regular meals. Although their nutrition is sufficient, children need some snacks and candy. There are quite a few idle elderly and disabled people at the base, and it’s not too tiring to make some small things for the children. Moreover, I see that you have plenty of fruits and grains, you can make some wine in bottles and cans, or make some soybean paste and chili sauce, or fruit preserves or something as a pastime for the elderly.”
Xiao Wen and Wen Le nodded in agreement.
Mo Gang walked away with a smile, leaving the four of them in silence.
Although they had always been considering the life and development of the base, they still couldn’t do everything.
“Since Uncle Mo mentioned the children, I suggest you also bring some books and notebooks this time. Our base policy is that children over the age of sixteen can participate in labor, and the work assigned to children who are still growing is not very tiring. Anyway, if they have spare time, it’s good for them to continue learning. I remember that the survivors wanted to do education, and Li lao said that there are also many old professors at our base. If necessary, we can even assign a few college students to teach.” Han Ya said.
Xiao Wen and Wen Le nodded. Children are the future after all.
“In my opinion, since it will take a few more days to organize the map, why don’t we have each temporary department head make a list of what they are responsible for, collect what we can on the way, and forget about what we can’t collect. It’s better than trying to think of everything.” Lin Yan proposed after thinking for a moment.
“Okay, Xiao Shao.” Han Ya called over a soldier who was organizing the materials.
These materials were collected by the factory, and at first, they were only roughly organized, with only the most urgent ones carefully studied. Even after the production line started to use them, these almost ten people were still sorting out the remaining information.
Once they were all familiar with it, they would be able to handle future production easily.
Moreover, these materials were the safest in the entire base when placed in the conference room. Even though even Li Yunsheng and Mo Gang came to listen in, in fact, if we carefully calculated, the personnel who could freely enter and exit the small courtyard were extremely rare in the entire base.
“Brother Han, what’s up?” Soldier Xiao Shao, who was called over, hurried over.
Strictly speaking, he was not a specialist responsible for the factory’s information.
Before the apocalypse, he was one of Yan Wei Guo’s bodyguards. Later, he followed Yan Wei Guo all the way to the base. Except for occasional major events, Yan Wei Guo would discuss with him. For the rest of the time, he had already lived a retired life. Therefore, he was assigned to run errands for Han Ya, who stationed in the conference room every day and also helped with information sorting when there was nothing else to do.
“Xiao Shao, you go find the responsible persons from all aspects of our base and tell them that we will send people out for a trip, asking them to make a list of the missing materials, whether we can collect them or not, we will try our best.” Han Ya directly ordered.
“Okay!” Xiao Shao nodded and ran out.
Wen Le twitched his mouth. “I said, when they finish listing, I have to bring all of Xinjiang back!”
Han Ya shrugged. “Anyway, you don’t have an accurate destination this time, so work hard. Come back when your giant space is full.”
Xiao Wen and Wen Le were suddenly speechless at the thought of the boundless space. They didn’t feel like going out anymore.
“Cough cough!” Lin Yan chuckled and cleared his throat. “The main purpose this time is gasoline and the raw materials produced by the factory. Let someone make a list of these materials for you later. As for the others, we will have someone list them according to their necessity when the time comes. Just collect what you can.”
Wen Le nodded, there was no other way.
Motherhaul incoming 🤤
Thanks for the update!! 🤗🤗
Thanks for the chapter!