Chapter 310 312 Qinghe Iron Mine
"Commander He, Qinghe Iron Mine is national property, not local property, and the daily mining volume is limited. You are now mining it blindly without regard for the consequences, which seriously damages the interests of the country. On behalf of the Central Military Department, I hope you will immediately stop mining the Qinghe Iron Mine." Wen Qing of the Xitang Military Region Command said righteously to He Zengyuan, the highest commander of the Xitang Military Region who was sitting in the seat.
"Staff Officer Wen, if the Central Military Headquarters can send me enough food, I will immediately stop mining the iron ore. But the Central Military Headquarters' answer was no, and asked us to find a solution ourselves. Our Xitang Province has the least granary in the country, and the population is dense. There are either mines or oil fields around us, and there is no arable land. Look at how hungry our survivors are. If we didn't have iron ore to mine, they would have no way to survive." He Zengyuan said angrily.
"Commander He, do you think I don't understand the situation? No matter how small the granary in Xitang is, it is enough to feed the entire province's population for half a year to a year. Excluding the population lost in the early stages of this turmoil, you should be able to hold on until next year's autumn harvest. By then, the Central Military Department can coordinate food support from other provinces and cities for Xitang. How could there be such a predicament as you said?" Wen Qingming's tone was full of doubt.
"There was population loss in the early days of the turmoil, but were there no losses in the granaries? The largest granary in our Xitang was burned to ashes by a large monster that could spit fire. Tens of thousands of people witnessed it with their own eyes. Hundreds of soldiers died in that battle..." As He Zengyuan spoke, his voice became hoarse and his eyes became red. He could not continue.
"Aren't granaries equipped with fire prevention, insect prevention, and rat prevention measures?" Wen Qingming asked lacking confidence.
"Are those prepared to withstand the monster's foot stepping down?" He Zengyuan said with a sneer, "Many people saw the situation at that time. If you don't believe it, just go and ask!"
"Please forgive me, Commander He. The burning of the granary is no trivial matter. I will investigate the situation truthfully." Wen Qingming said neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"General He, even if Xitang is in trouble, aren't you selling the weapons too low? Iron ore is a non-renewable resource. Even if the current output is abundant, this mining method can't be mined for many years. We have to consider the future." Wen Qingming felt sorry for the country. At this price, if someone brought dozens of tons of grain, wouldn't they have to take away several trucks of weapons? This is the country's mine! Selling it at such a low price will only hurt the country's interests.
He Zengyuan scoffed at Wen Qingming's statement. What time has it come? It's not certain whether we can get through this hurdle, so why think about the future? If there were no supplies exchanged for these cheap cold weapons, the government would not be able to provide relief food, and the desperate survivors would rebel, wouldn't they? No matter what the result is, it will be their incompetence.
"He knows what Chief of Staff Wen is worried about. Chief of Staff, don't worry. The transaction price in the safe zone is indeed low, but this price is subject to quantity restrictions. Bulk purchases will definitely not be at this price. The price we traded with Taijing before was also much higher than this price. This price is mainly to take care of the survivors who are struggling to make a living. If the price is high, the survivors cannot afford it. Besides, these weapons are produced on an assembly line after all, and their service life is limited. The recycling price after they are damaged is also extremely low. The recycled materials can be melted down and remade into new weapons, and the loss is not very large." They are all experienced people. He Zengyuan knows what Wen Qingming is worried about.
"And it is said that good steel should be used on the blade. Our country has strict control over weapons. Without weapons in their hands, how can the people fight against monsters? Now we are mining iron ore to make weapons. On a small scale, it is to alleviate the food crisis in our Xitang Security Zone. On a large scale, it is also to deal with the racial crisis. The number of military ammunition and firearms is limited and they are only used by the military. Ordinary people are not skilled in using them. We can't let them kill monsters with their bare hands, right?" He Zengyuan said in a gentle tone.
Wen Qingming sighed secretly in his heart. Although he was inspecting the local area on behalf of the central government, he could only give opinions when encountering such things. Even if he passed this news to the central government now, he would not be able to criticize the stopgap measure of Xitang Safety Zone. Who made the Central Military Department let them figure out a solution themselves when Xitang asked for help?
After a night's rest in the Xitang Safety Zone, Rong Xianxian announced early the next morning that the day was free for everyone to do as they pleased, whether resting, eating, or shopping. Except for Rong Xianxian and Mingtianlei, everyone else had plenty of work points and wanted to go out for a walk.
Rong Xianxian has already exchanged all the work points exchanged yesterday for weapons. Looking at the weapons shining coldly in the foggy space, Rong Xianxian is still not satisfied. The regulations in the safe zone stipulate that a single person cannot purchase more than 30 weapons at a time. Yesterday, after Rong Xianxian used up her own quota, she also used up Cui Lie and Ming Tianlei's quotas before she used up all the work points.
Although Rong Xianxian had spent all the work points she exchanged yesterday, she still had countless supplies in her hands, including daily necessities, clothes, soap, hand sanitizer, laundry detergent, toilet paper and other daily necessities purchased in large quantities at low prices in the Taijing Safety Zone. There were so many things that Rong Xianxian did not sort them out carefully. These things could also be exchanged for work points at the Xitang Official Exchange. In addition to these, the various smoked jerky she had accumulated could also be sold at a good price.
Wang Qirui asked Xia Kai to go shopping together. Seeing that Jiang Jie and Wang Lin were also going out, Rong Xianxian stopped them and asked them to pay attention to the stalls selling books and atlases to see if there were any old maps. Jiang Jie and Wang Lin agreed and went out.
Whenever Rong Xianxian and his companions arrived at a safe zone, they would collect old and new maps of the nearby areas. The old maps were maps from before the end of the world, mainly used to view special terrains such as rivers and mountains, or major trunk and branch routes. The new maps were revised and issued by local officials after the end of the world, mainly marking some dangerous monsters and official garrisons in nearby areas.
Along the way, Rong Xianxian has drawn a very detailed route map based on the old and new topographic maps of the areas she passed by, as well as the official original maps. The underground cracks, the area where the bird found the purple snow elixir, the mutant beast territory, the Pingyuan Mountain mining area, and the place where the small secret realm appeared outside the Baihua Town were all marked on this map with special marks.
"Arui, we're almost at your hometown, are you nervous?" Xia Kai turned around and asked.
(End of this chapter)
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