Chapter 140: Chapter 129, Issuing a Proclamation to Settle Things_2
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Adequate, inexpensive energy brought about tremendous changes.
Thermagstone wasn’t eliminated, but could now be fully used as vehicle fuel. The mass-produced Iron Bull trucks could now run freely without competing with power plants for fuel; the extra energy could be used for some seemingly extravagant things in the wasteland, such as air conditioning.
Revival City’s air conditioning factory expanded its production capacity. Osenia planned to get a batch of air conditioners on the Alliance store shelves before the weather turned to summer.
Those living in the outer city might not be able to enjoy this luxury, but there was hope. After all, without worries for food and clothing, those who really wanted to buy could save up their work points to purchase one; while those in the inner city who were more proactive in integrating into the existing system, if they were capable and had reached higher ranks, and had also earned bonuses for meritorious service—such as the clerks who had joined the food trade bureau and worked hard. Their bonuses were enough for them to afford an air conditioner and enjoy a comfortable and cool summer.
Even if there were quotas for electricity use, it didn’t matter, as the part exceeding the rank quota, also due to the cheapness of electricity, could easily be afforded with work points.
In fact, it was the same for everyone in the city. Those who couldn’t afford an air conditioner could always afford an electric light or some other appliance and were able to use them freely.
All of these were visible improvements to the quality of life.
After the nuclear reactor generator sets were integrated into the grid and electricity prices plummeted, Gu Hang’s two cities both took on the character of cities that never sleep.
And subsequently, as a variety of industrial goods that used electricity were mass produced and entered thousands of households, this scene of development based on advanced energy would become more and more common.
As electricity consumption increased, what would happen if it became insufficient?
Just build another nuclear reactor generator set.
Abundant electricity could, of course, be sold as a commodity.
Osenia thought it was a good idea to sell electricity to the Western Desert, and the technology for building a power transmission network was available.
However, constructing a long-distance high-voltage transmission network over distances of thousands of kilometers was difficult, but maintenance was even more challenging.
There were many dangers along the way. Monsters might be a lesser concern, for while they have a strong desire to attack humans, they usually don’t interfere with human constructions.
But the plunderers along the way were another story.
Cutting off or destroying the power grid wouldn’t bring them any particular benefit, but they could use such means to extort and blackmail.
Osenia once mentioned this idea to Gu Hang during a report.
Gu Hang smiled and told her to write it down in the long-term plan.
“Wait until I clear out everything along the way, and then we can build our high-voltage transmission stations all the way through,” he said.
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Clearing out several thousand kilometers from Revival City to the west seemed far off, but it wasn’t as distant as imagined.
In just a few days, Major Perbov’s battalion had made a fierce advance two hundred kilometers centered around Weixing City.
Before the award ceremony, Major Perbov had received orders from the governor to take on this task after completing preparations.
His unit was the first in the Wind-Extinguishing Brigade to be fully staffed and equipped. In half a month’s time, not only were the troops in place, but all the heavy equipment and vehicles were almost entirely filled in as well.
But even before all the equipment had arrived, he had already started moving, unable to wait.
Some especially small settlements, with only dozens or hundreds of people, that were well hidden and hard to find, were let be; but those with a population over a thousand, especially those registered with the Alliance as ‘members of the Alliance’, were easy to deal with.
At that size, most were cases of ‘the monk can run away, but the temple can’t’.
Actually, most settlements didn’t require fighting to be reclaimed.
They already considered themselves members of the Alliance. Previously, it was because the Alliance had no interest, no capability, or some other reason that they did not exercise direct administrative control over them.
However, these places faced a different attitude when the now governor of Revival City demanded that they unify and accept direct governance.
Some gladly accepted, and generally those who did, like the Abandoned Cave Society, were struggling to survive in an impoverished place.
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Some, though reluctant, had no alternative. The towed artillery pulled by the trucks lined up neatly, the imposing armored vehicles and tanks were displayed prominently, and the fully armed soldiers, uniform in their attire, were clearly an elite force.
How could one resist?
Major Perbov’s Composite Camp alone had more than eight hundred men, and some camps possibly had a total population that barely exceeded this number, with not enough guns to arm even a handful.
They could only send out representatives with sweaty palms to negotiate with Perbov.
There was not much to talk about, only one sentence, “Surrender all weapons unconditionally and accept governance.”
Following that, the civil affairs officials accompanying Perbov’s troops would enter the captured survivor camps along with the military.
Their people would do two things in batches.
Firstly, inside the camps, they would promote the policies of Revival City. The political commissars from the First Camp’s various companies would mobilize some ideologically progressive soldiers to join the civil affairs department in undertaking this task.
The general idea was, by coming to Revival City, one could earn their keep. Depending on work ability and nature of the job, ranks could be assigned and with these ranks came assurances of basic living needs, from food to medical care to housing improvements.
With this approach, many camps with poor living conditions could generally be stabilized.
Even though most people wouldn’t so easily believe that all of this was true… since there was no way to resist, they could only choose to enjoy the benefits.
The second thing they had to do was to analyze the camp situation and industry, assessing whether the survivor camp needed to be preserved.
Those camps without any special local resource-derived outputs did not need to be preserved. Their populations would be collectively relocated to Weixing City to fill the gaps in various industrial outputs.
Within half a month, four abandoned camps were closed down, totalling nearly seven thousand inhabitants.
However, some places with local resource output—mainly agricultural output—would be preserved.
There were three such camps, one of which was a cave dwelling camp, where a special type of fungus could be cultivated in the underground environment. Relying on this fungus, they not only sustained a population of over three thousand people but also had a surplus for export.
However, this cave dwelling camp would not be entirely preserved. Maintaining and expanding the fungus cultivation industry did not require so many people, two-thirds of the population would be relocated, and the remaining would be reemployed as mushroom cultivation workers and managers, with ranks assigned. The relevant resource allocation would be transported from the city to this place, but at the same time, the entire mushroom cultivation industry would become government-operated and publicly owned.
The other two cultivation gardens, each with a population of around a thousand, underwent similar arrangements.
Apart from the remaining agricultural workers and mushroom cultivation workers and managers, a batch of weapons would also be sent to the camp. Arms would be distributed among the remaining population to form militia organizations, thus enabling them to protect themselves.
In the half-month of Perbov’s operation, he added more than ten thousand people to Weixing City’s population and secured three village-level strongholds with food production.
Even though it was a military operation, there had barely been any resistance encountered throughout the process.
Of course, this was a good thing.
With no battles to fight, Perbov felt a bit downhearted. He recalled the words he heard on the plane while accompanying the governor to Revival City. In this campaign, he was favored by the governor to be the future leader of the Wind-Extinguishing Brigade and had come especially to build his merits.
Although his actions were highly successful, at the end of the day, it was due to the prestige of the governor and the legitimate name of the Alliance; to claim it was all his own doing was somewhat like having the audacity to boast without shame.
Without firing a shot and securing victory by decree, what did it have to do with him, Perbov?
Yet he couldn’t engage in the reprehensible acts of killing the innocent and claiming their merits. The political commissar of the brigade and those of the companies were all watching him. It was said that Revival City was still building a military court, and he had no desire to be its first guest.
His own conscience wouldn’t allow him to commit such deeds, either.
But it couldn’t always be smooth sailing.
A work team from the Civil Affairs Department and the Bureau of Immigration had sent a distress signal and then lost contact.
Before the loss of contact, they were in ‘Sanchi Town’, working on population relocation matters.
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There will be an extra update tomorrow! I’ll also try my best the day after!