◎Happy 113th Day: Western Suburbs Transfer Station◎
The construction progress of the West Suburb Transfer Station was faster than anyone expected.
Jiang Muyun originally thought that he would have to wait until the transfer station was fully built and the two major bases were officially moved in, but it turned out that it had to be after the new year.
Unexpectedly, when Jiang Muyun was staying at home studying how to eat the second rabbit, news came from Captain Yu.
On the last day of December, Jiang Muyun officially signed a contract with the South One Base and the North District Base regarding the Western Suburbs Transfer Station.
Without a credible third party to oversee the matter, a formal contract on paper is no different from a verbal agreement. Rather than signing a contract, it's more like a memorandum of understanding to avoid future disputes.
There are very few parts in the entire contract that Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen need to worry about. Anyway, they don't plan to get involved in the taxation or other management of the Western Suburbs Transfer Station. They only need to clearly define the autonomy of the five small hills assigned to them.
The western suburbs mountains are very large, and the main trading area is located in Nanshan. The trading model is similar to that used in the Nanyi Base.
The caravan must register before entering the base, and the goods they bring will be stored in the official warehouse of the transit station for a fee. Everyone will bring samples and a list of goods to the Nanshan Trading Center to trade. After the deal is done, they will go to the official registration to pick up the goods. There will be a fine if the goods are not the same as described.
Of course, the official warehouse at the transit station is not free.
Among the mountains in the western suburbs, except for Nanshan and a few small hills used as bases for garrisons, the other hills will be converted into warehouses of varying sizes and rented out to earn rent.
If Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen are willing, they can rent out their small hills and the rent collected will belong to them.
Jiang Muyun and Chu Buwen didn't have this idea.
After all, they are few in number and it is not convenient to set up sentries on the mountain. If the caravan stationed nearby has any bad intentions, it is not impossible for them to sneak up the mountain quietly.
It would be better not to rent out that area and keep it for them to use when they go to the western suburbs to trade. Anyway, they are not short of food at the moment.
After asking Jiang Muyun for his opinion, Captain Yu also helped them build a wall around the autonomous region to indicate that no outsiders were allowed to enter.
This way, even if Jiang Muyun and others set some unscrupulous traps inside the wall and cause trouble to those who break in without permission, they will still have something to say.
At the same time, Captain Yu also stated that the South First Base provided mercenary services. If Jiang Muyun and his team were away from the western suburbs for a long time, they could pay a small amount of supplies to hire a patrol team from the South First Base to help look after their home. Similarly, they could also hire personnel from the South First Base to look after their hometown.
Jiang Muyun nodded in agreement.
They have a lot of luxury goods in their hands. They didn't sell them in the past because there were not enough rich people and things that were too good would be hard to sell at a high price. Now they don't have this worry.
Not to mention anything else, if Jiang Muyun sold the medicinal liquor that she had salvaged from the comprehensive plaza at the market price in the apocalypse as she knew it, it would be enough for her to hire a team to guard her gate for several years.
With this wall, Jiang Muyun also plans to dig a few more reservoirs in the western suburbs.
Jiang Muyun was not sure about the specific situation in Nanshi, but based on what she had seen in her previous life, in the late apocalypse, most of the land had turned into desert, and the major rivers were mostly blocked. The survivors basically relied on reservoirs they dug themselves, as well as some small streams and lakes hidden in the mountains and forests for water.
Even though the rainy season brings floods everywhere, fresh water is becoming increasingly precious.
They are limited by the space on their own hilltop and the water storage capacity is not that large.
It is no exaggeration to say that, except for Jiang Muyun, everyone has some water anxiety.
They weren't that worried about food.
As long as there is enough water, the mushrooms can be grown to death.
But if the water is gone, then we can only wait for death.
After signing the contract, Jiang Muyun told the others about all this, including that she didn't want to rent out the place, but only wanted to use the western suburbs as her base and dig a few more reservoirs.
No one objected, and everyone felt that this arrangement was the most suitable for them.
They all knew that Captain Yu and the three Mengs were good people, and as an important trading point, the safety of the Western Suburbs Transit Station should be guaranteed, but no one thought of moving directly to the Western Suburbs.
Isn't it good to have your own land and live freely? Why do you want to build your home on someone else's territory?
Besides...if you say something hurtful, people will change.
They are cooperating well now, who knows what it will be like in the future.
Living in the Western Suburbs Transfer Station is equivalent to entrusting your life and property to the conscience of others, isn't it?
Once people turn against them, they have no way to escape.
As for whether the large caravans will attack them?
That depends on the South One Base.
They are too close to the Nanyi Base. No matter whether they have any friendship or not, the Nanyi Base will not allow a caravan with strong military power to be stationed near its base camp.
Unless the South 1 base itself has fallen.
If that time really came, they, with their small business, would have already run away. Would they still be waiting for others to occupy their base and then deal with them?
No matter how you look at it, it's the safest option for them to stay where they are.
So when Jiang Muyun and others were preparing to go to the Western Suburbs for the first transaction, they brought a lot of other things, but only a small amount of daily necessities, even though they planned to stay at the Western Suburbs transit station for a while.
Anyway, there are already quite a few caravans at the West Suburbs transit station, and several bases around South City also have fixed garrisons. If they really need something, they can go directly to the trading point to exchange it, or they can bring it along when they take turns on shift.
The first group they planned was for Wang Qingqing, Wu Xingyue, Qin Shiwen and Qin Shiwu to stay at home, while Jiang Muyun and the other six people would go to the Western Suburbs Transfer Station with supplies.
There were two main purposes: one was to set up their own defenses, and the other was to find out the trading prices of various materials. The actual material transactions were not urgent at this time.
Two people will be rotated every two weeks until their reservoir is completed, or the next disaster strikes and everyone has to take shelter at home.
After making plans for the next few months, everyone happily celebrated a rich New Year with a combination of meat and vegetables.
They sent away the female rabbit that had lived for more than a month longer, and they also dug out the potatoes and sweet potatoes they had previously stockpiled.
The newly planted chives have grown, just in time for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
There were also military canned foods and dehydrated vegetables that they used to be reluctant to eat, as well as all kinds of dried meat that Chu Buwen and Jiang Muyun brought back, all of which were placed on the dining table.
Jiang Muyun even specially opened a sealed jar of rice.
As the aroma of steamed rice wafted out, everyone immediately began to swallow their saliva frantically.
They haven't touched a grain of rice for at least half a year.
After the winter, the few remaining processed rice and flours in their hands were carefully sealed and preserved, wishing they could keep them as heirlooms. They usually didn't even dare to look at them for too long, for fear that they would lose control of themselves if they saw them.
After all, this is one of the few pre-apocalyptic flavors they can find.
Eat a little less.
If Jiang Muyun hadn't shown everyone the several large jars where she stored her rice, no one else would have taken advantage of this.
Chu Buwen followed suit and took out a can of flour.
He didn't have a few large cans of flour in stock that he could display on site, but Chu Buwen said that his can was about to go bad. Two days ago, he wanted to take all the stored food out to dry, and when he was sifting the flour, he found worms in it. If he didn't eat it, he would have to throw it away, so dumplings were added to everyone's New Year's Eve dinner table.
The fillings for dumplings are varied and bizarre, but the most common one is vermicelli with chives. The vermicelli is contributed by others, and the chives are dried chives that they had saved up.
They fried and ate all the fresh leeks, and no one was willing to use them as stuffing.
If dried chives aren’t enough, they also have dumplings filled with pure vermicelli.
Zhao Jiahao felt that it was strange to pair staple food with other staple foods, so he made dumplings with spicy rabbit flavor.
Qin Shiwen thought it was a waste. The main feature of spicy diced rabbit was its dry aroma. How could it be wrapped in dumplings and cooked? So Wang Qingqing also made a few sweet and sour diced rabbit.
Fortunately, they all knew how fishy the unprocessed mutant rabbit meat was, and no one dared to mince the rabbit meat directly to make dumplings. Otherwise, once the rabbit meat dumplings were put into the pot, the whole pot would probably be contaminated.
Zhou Ying had a few bags of corn grits that she had treasured for a long time. This year during the Chinese New Year, she contributed one bag, cooked grits porridge, and also made a few dumplings stuffed with corn grits.
Wu Xingyue has some instant drinks and semi-finished products that she brought back from the milk tea shop, and they don't seem to have gone bad at the moment.
Wu Xingyue contributed them, and in addition to adding a drink to everyone's table, she also used them to make a Japanese dish - dumplings stuffed with pearl milk tea.
Jiang Muyun was a serious person. She soaked a few mushrooms, chopped them up, and wrapped them in dumplings. The taste was a bit strange, but not inedible. Especially when compared to the previous strange flavors, the mushroom dumplings seemed refreshing and refined.
After all, everything that everyone uses is delicious and precious when taken individually, and no one is willing to waste food. Even dumplings stuffed with pearl milk tea have to be eaten with tears and smiles.
On the evening of the third day of the Lunar New Year, the Xiaobai sledding project reopened. Jiang Muyun and his team, armed with a batch of supplies that would attract robbery wherever they went, set out on the road to the western suburbs transfer station.
The western suburbs are now more lively than the South One Base. When Jiang Muyun and his group were a few kilometers away from the western suburbs, they discovered a lot of dim lights, which should be the lights of the caravan on the way.
The closer they got to the western suburbs, the more people they encountered along the way. Many of them were in groups of dozens, carrying large quantities of supplies. Their small group of a few people and a dog was no match for their size.
Anyone who appeared around the western suburbs, whether a caravan or a scattered group of survivors, was armed and fierce. Occasionally, there were those like Jiang Muyun who looked approachable, but the crowd would stay away from them.
Those who can survive to this day and have the capital to do business are not fools, and naturally they will not think that people like Jiang Muyun who look harmless are really harmless.
But no matter how you avoid it, everyone has to enter from the same entrance.
At this time, everyone became alert at the same time. Everyone held the gun hanging on their chest in their hands, even the guards at the transit stations on both sides of the road who were responsible for maintaining order.
The first thing everyone does when entering the transfer station is to unload their guns.
At this moment, guns, bullets and ammunition are precious, and the transit station is not the permanent base for the survivors. No one is willing to hand these things over to them for safekeeping, so the transit station has taken a step back in this regard. The unloaded guns, bullets and ammunition will all be packaged into their special boxes and handed over to the caravan members for safekeeping.
The box is made of wood and is easy to open, but there is a special mechanism inside. If you open it with the wrong method, it will emit a sharp whistle to warn you.
The producer of the box was the old man who was forced by them to set traps in the woods when the Western Suburbs Base was still there.
Once the whistle is blown, the nearby guards will naturally go to seal off the mountain and arrest people. Anyone who opens the box in the transfer station without permission will be directly expelled. If anyone is accidentally injured during the expulsion process, the transfer station can only say sorry.
As for the supplies they brought?
Captain Yu and Meng San weren't doing charity work, so how could they possibly pass up such a legitimate opportunity to rob someone? Of course, the offending personnel's supplies would be used as labor fees for the base's patrol, and there was also compensation for the boxes.
However, when it comes to expulsion, Jiang Muyun doesn't believe that Captain Yu would do such a thing as letting the tiger go back into the mountains. The caravan whose supplies were confiscated would not surrender. In the end, there is an 80% chance that all members of the caravan would be "accidentally injured."
These regulations are clearly written in black and white, and are posted all the way from the entrance of the transfer station to the place where weapons are confiscated. The surrounding area is also illuminated by electric lights, so anyone with normal vision can see them. If you cannot accept them, leave as soon as possible.
The major caravans have not yet figured out the details of the transit station, and seeing that the weapons are still in their hands, if they really have to fight, they can just smash the boxes and take out the weapons, so they are all quite cooperative.
Jiang Muyun looked at the various caravans, all displaying a strong martial spirit, and began to wonder whether he should find an opportunity to go to the Nanshan military arsenal again to put back some of the weapons that had been stuffed into the space.
She had previously emptied the arsenal because she felt that the outflow of weapons was uncontrolled, and it would be safest to simply empty the warehouse and not let anyone take possession of it.
But now this area in the western suburbs has been controlled by the South One Base and the North District Base, and has been transformed into a trade center.
If the transit station fails to exert absolute military suppression on these caravans, it will be more likely to cause unrest.
Jiang Muyun believed that neither Captain Yu nor Meng San would give up the things in the Nanshan Army's arsenal, and they would find a way to break into the arsenal sooner or later.
Jiang Muyun can keep the most lethal heavy weapons for himself to save his life, and put the rest back to give the transit station guards more confidence when maintaining order.
Although Jiang Muyun and the others weren't directly involved in the management of the Western Suburbs Transfer Station, they were still considered shareholders. With just their ID and a facial recognition scan, they were able to enter with guns. Properly displaying privileges in special circumstances was a deterrent to outsiders.
When it comes to making money, the managers of transfer stations are all talented.
Make money from rental fees and make money from taxes.
The mountains in the western suburbs are so large that there are guides at the entrance. Many guides also work as warehouse rental agents, which allows them to make some money.
Now, due to the special external environment, many people, like Jiang Muyun and others, carry supplies on tools similar to sleds and drag them directly from the sand.
However, the sand inside the transfer station has been almost cleared, and these tool vehicles naturally cannot continue to tow, so the transfer station also thoughtfully provides a car rental service, which is also paid.
They rent out not only cars and houses, but also furniture and appliances, and even offer meal pre-orders. As long as you have enough supplies, they'll definitely let you relive life before the apocalypse.
Jiang Muyun and others, who considered themselves to be hardworking and simple, saw the prices at the transit station and suddenly felt that if these things could have a market, then the prices of the supplies they brought could definitely be raised.
Getting rid of poverty and becoming rich is just around the corner!
Not to mention Zhao Jiahao and others, even Jiang Muyun couldn't help but want to quickly settle the supplies and then go to Nanshan Exchange to take a look.
Jiang Muyun and others rented a transport truck and stored all the supplies on the hill where Chu Buwen's shelter was located, which was in the center of the five hills.
Then, according to the order they had agreed upon in advance, Zhao Jiahao and Zhou Ying stayed behind to look after the house, while Jiang Muyun and others went outside to gather information.
The transit station had limited resources, with only a few illuminated roads. The other survivors, having just arrived, didn't dare wander into unlit areas on their own, so most people were congregating on those few roads. The flow of people even had a hint of pre-apocalyptic bustle.
As Jiang Muyun listened to the others chatting with the guide about warehouse rent and other expenses within the base, he couldn't help but whisper, "I feel like I own a mansion in the third ring of the capital, but my account balance is only three thousand."
This metaphor can be said to be quite vivid and Chu Buwen immediately felt the bitterness of being both poor and rich.
Chu Buwen also whispered: "Don't worry, once we sell this batch of goods, you will have a deposit that matches the mansion."
Li Anxuan was silent for a moment. "How about we change the wording? This atmosphere makes me feel like we're engaging in some kind of illegal transaction."
Jiang Muyun spread his hands and said, "You'll just have to make do with this. We can't just talk about how we're going to get rich on the street. It's easy to disappear as soon as we leave the transfer station."
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