Don’t raise unruly people in extreme cold weather

Chapter 403 Settlements and Caravans
Shay stamped his numb feet, blew on his hands, and rubbed them vigorously to warm them up. Then he climbed up the watchtower and looked down at the settlement he had been running for nearly a year.

After a year of hard work and construction, the settlement now has a good look.

The outer wall is built with logs that are as thick as a man can hug. The wall is more than three meters high and can not only protect against various wild beasts in the north, but also against wind and snow to a certain extent.

At least, the newly built houses in the settlement are all built against the wall. In addition to saving the building materials of a wall, another important reason is that the wall can effectively withstand wind and snow.

Of course, if the snow and wind are really too strong, everyone will still live in the shelters that have been built underground, which is where they will truly spend the winter.

At first, Shay didn't quite understand why such a huge underground space was built under the settlement, but with the arrival of the first snowfall of the year, everyone soon understood the purpose of this huge underground space.

It is really warm to live underground! The temperature underground is even much higher than that on the ground.

Apart from anything else, the temperature on the ground has now dropped to minus twenty degrees Celsius, and it can even be above zero in the underground space.

Such a huge temperature difference is very exaggerated for the northern border where it is so cold that water freezes into ice, so the residents of the settlements are now trying their best to hide in the underground space.

Shay had already moved underground before, and he even thought that the residents of the North might develop the habit of living underground in the winter and above ground in other seasons.

However, as the manager of this settlement, Shay still has many things to be responsible for and cannot stay underground for a long time.

For example, as the manager, he needs to be personally responsible for receiving and storing the supplies every once in a while. After all, this settlement cannot produce coal and other key industrial products on its own and can only rely on external inputs.

Generally speaking, caravans would come every two weeks, bringing coal, industrial products, food and the like, and the settlements would need to exchange their products such as animal furs and herbs.

This trading system is also a prerequisite for the healthy development of each settlement. Otherwise, just going into the woods to cut wood would not allow everyone in the settlement to safely survive the winter.

Although firewood can be burned, it is still far inferior to the coal brought by the caravan.

At least a piece of coal can burn for most of the day, and a piece of firewood can be almost burned out in half an hour.

Shay didn't quite understand why the thing called honeycomb coal brought by the caravan was so durable. Perhaps it was some kind of alchemical product, but he knew one thing clearly, that is, burning it was much more cost-effective than burning firewood.

In particular, Perfect had once issued a decree that the random felling of wood was not allowed in the North, which further restricted the use of firewood.

Moreover, even the leftover coal slag is recycled by the caravan. When the coal slag accumulates to a certain amount, it can be exchanged for new coal from the caravan.

This winter no one in the settlement froze to death or suffered frostbite, and no one fell ill from the cold weather, thanks in large part to the new coal.

This made Shay particularly grateful for the lord's kindness, because he knew clearly that the settlement's ability to continue to obtain the new coal in a stable manner depended on the policies promulgated by Perfectcot. Otherwise, which caravan would be willing to transport goods to the settlement in such a snowy and windy weather?
Not to mention that the new coal is sold at such a low price, and the burned coal slag can be exchanged for new coal, all of which are policy subsidies. Ordinary people may not know much about this, but as the manager of the settlement, Shay must understand these new policies in the North.

After all, each of these new policies is closely related to the lives of all of them, and is also related to the future development of the settlement. Therefore, every time a new policy is promulgated in the North, Shay will be the first to learn and understand it to ensure that he can understand the content of the new policy and will not deviate in its implementation.

He still remembered what Perfectocte had said, that as long as he did well, he would be able to obtain the status of a pioneer knight.

“I don’t know if I’ll have the chance to meet the lord this year…” As Shay looked into the distance, wondering if he had been forgotten by the lord, some black spots appeared on the snow-covered road in the distance.

Seeing these familiar black spots appear, Shay breathed a sigh of relief. This time, the caravan showed up on time again.

Although he knew that the caravan had been equipped with large robots and would not be delayed by the snow, Shay was still worried. After all, after a year of persuasion through letters, his brother was finally willing to bring his family to the North.

Originally, Shay hoped that his brother could come to help build the settlement, but his brother was reluctant to give up his job in Langton.

Shay had no choice. After all, he was only an honorary knight, and the construction of the settlement had just begun. Everything was in ruins, and he had no reason to convince his brother to come to the North to fight together.

However, as the settlement gradually took shape, Shay became more confident in persuading his brother to come to the North.

After more than half a year of correspondence, Shay's brother finally agreed to come to the North a few months ago. The reason why he came now was that on the one hand he needed to understand everything in Langton, and on the other hand it was because of the traffic conditions in the North in winter.

Thinking of this, Shay felt that he should perhaps submit a report and apply to build a railway for his settlement.

He had heard that several larger settlements nearby had already been connected by railways. Although they were only narrow-gauge lines, the promotion and development that a railway could bring to the settlements was immeasurable.

So Shay quickly made up his mind and decided to submit a report to apply for the construction of the railway after the spring.

While Shay was thinking about the railway, the black spots gradually grew larger and turned into a long steel dragon composed of several large robots, approaching the settlement where Shay was.

Seeing the caravan approaching, he climbed down the watchtower, came to the gate of the settlement, and ordered the militia on guard to open the gate.

When the caravan stopped outside the settlement, Shay immediately ran over in waist-deep snow, hugged a middle-aged man who got off one of the robots converted into passenger transporters, and patted his back enthusiastically: "Brother, you're finally here!"

The middle-aged man was obviously not as physically fit as Shay. He kept coughing when he was slapped by Shay, but he also said happily, "Long time no see, Shay!"

(End of this chapter)