Chapter 1541 - Farming
Chapter 1541: Farming
The T-3 power armor was quite an outdated model in the NAC, but because of its balanced performance, it was still in service. The modified N-100 based on the X-1 model that NAC acquired from Shangjing’s Line Zero became the latest generation of NAC power armor. Compared to the performance of T-3 and T-4, N-100’s performance improved by leaps and bounds.
But for the natives in Africa, the T-3 power armor was sufficient. Power armor was the strength of Pan-Asia Cooperation, and those different models that flowed into Africa from Europe, America, and Russian were at best comparable to the T-3 model.
Based on NAC’s army reform plan, all the power armors in service would be updated to the T-100 model within five years. As for those T-3 models no longer in service, Jiang Chen had already found them a new home.
The rich but simple-minded natives were undoubtedly good customers.
After the banquet, Feng Yuan accepted the invitation of War Chief Duaman, and stayed with his assistant at the city hall, or rather, War Chief Duaman’s palace for the night. In order to welcome his guests, the hospitable chief also arranged two female slaves to accompany the guests.
There was no need to say what happened that night. In the early morning the next day, Feng Yuan and his assistant bid farewell to War Chief Duaman, and followed the wizard named Lusambo to the Victoria Lake Development Zone, located more than 500 kilometers away, with the convoy.
While the name was a development zone, in fact, it was an area casually circled by the War Chief on the map, and his staff estimated that the region was roughly 20 million mus. As for how the land was going to be cultivated, who was going to be cultivating, even Duaman himself did not have a clue.
The Steel Teeth tribe did not have a minister of agriculture, and there were only a few farmers in the country willing to earn an honest living through farming. The status of a soldier was much higher compared to a farmer. Since the establishment of this development zone, not a single household has moved there from Mombasa.
Fortunately, NAC was finally here, and they sent a company called Future Development to help them farm. War Chief Duaman was certainly elated by the agreement since he didn’t need to work in order to receive a large amount of food every year. The food he received could be further exchanged into valuable power armors. No one would refuse such a good deal.
After the convoy arrived at the development zone, Feng Yuan first asked Lusambo to guide them around the region on an off-road vehicle. After they determined the boundaries for Future Development, he chose a hillside as the base of the development zone.
There were two reasons behind his decision; the first was for ease of digging of the canal, and the second was for defense.
Yes, defense.
Although this region was within the territory of the Steel Teeth, Feng Yuan did not forget that his convoy was attacked by militants shortly after they left the port. The law of the jungle was universal on this continent. He did not think that War Chief Duaman would send troops to protect them, so it was critical to rely on themselves.
On the hillside, Feng Yuan took the binoculars and examined the surrounding environment, then after he tossed the binoculars into the vehicle, he walked to the wizard.
“In the first phase of the project, we will reclaim one million mus, and we will need about two thousand slaves. For each slave, we will pay a box of ammunition or five rifles. These arms will arrive in Africa at the beginning of next month on our cargo ship. How soon can the slaves we want be delivered here?”
“It will be delivered in three days,” Lusambo nodded and smiled, “We also hope that you can start as soon as possible.”
“The infrastructure here is too backward. There is not even a decent canal. We have to start from scratch. Is there any larger building material company in Mombasa? We need to order a batch of steel and cement.” Feng Yuan watched the dry-yellow grassland and frowned.
At first, he heard that this was a deserted farmland, but after he toured the place, he started to doubt whether farmland actually existed here. The deer herd not far away still chewed on the grass in leisure while green bushes were scattered on the grassland. From any perspective, this place looked like an untouched African savannah.
“About how much do you need?” Lusambo’s expression turned slightly stiff
“50,000 bags of cement, and 5,000 bundles of steel bars…”
“Ahem!” Lusambo interrupted Feng Yuan, smiled awkwardly, then added, “If it is a small amount of building materials, I can help you, but with the amount you’re requesting… I suggest you guys, think of a solution elsewhere.”
…
Well, they could not depend on the natives anymore.
Feng Yuan gave up the idea of seeking help from the SteelTeeth tribe. After they established a radio base station, he got in touch with NAC headquarters. Within a few days, a cargo ship was docked at a port outside Mombasa, and batches of cement and steel bars were delivered to the development zone.
On the other side, more than 2,000 slaves ordered by NAC were also sent to the development zone. Most of these people were from South Asia, and a small number of them were from East Asia. They were refugees who came to this continent during or after the war. The natives obviously could not distinguish between Asians, just as Feng Yuan could not distinguish the difference between black tribes. Only a small number of the slaves here were from East Asia, and some of them were South American with a yellowish complexion.
In any case, the slaves were already here, and it was impossible to return them.
Feng Yuan arranged a place for the slaves, and then found the compatriots from the Pan-Asia East Region, applied NAC registration for them, and promised all the slaves that one hundred of the most diligent people would be freed from slavery next year, and reemployed as employees.
Just like that, Future Development’s business in the apocalyptic Africa was finally put on the agenda.
The excavators dug an isolation belt around the land in the first phase and diverted water from Lake Victoria. Then the workers set fires on the grassland and burned the grass in the isolation zone.
The fire burned for three days. Three days later, a heavy rain mixed in the ash on the ground deep into the soil. The mixture was an excellent fertilizer with all the mineral elements required by crops.
When it was sunny, machineries drove onto the bare land, tilled the land, planed seeds. On the other hand, Feng Yuan’s assistant Yuan Liwei organized an engineering team and began to dig a small irrigation canal inward from the isolation belt.
They planned to plant rice on 500,000 mus of the land that harvested for three times a year. Another 500,000 mus of land would be planted with cash crops such as sugar cane, coffee, cocoa, as well as fruit trees that Africans have never thought of planting in the past.
In the modern world, Future Building. Xiaorou reported to Jiang Chen on the progress of Future Development’s first contract. Although in the modern world, Future Development was no different than a shell company, Jiang Chen still created an office for her after he couldn’t stand her constant nagging.
“Our employees have established a base on the east bank of Lake Victoria and transported about 100,000 bags of cement and 7,000 bundles of steel bars there. The fences and housing facilities have been completed.”
“We also found a medium-sized iron mine there. Although there were signs of mining activities there, it was not deep. We bought the 20-year mining rights for that iron mine with 20 power armors. Now we can not only import food but also iron from there.”
As Xiaorou, who was in a purple dress, spoke with the same dignified smile, Jiang Chen could still feel the excitement gleaming in her eyes.
She really did like this job.
Although Jiang Chen didn’t know how long this euthuasim would last, he was still very happy that she found a career she enjoyed.
In time, maybe she could really become a qualified entrepreneur, like Xia Shiyu, and become his strong support.