Chapter 535 - 339: Extreme Cold, Global Freeze, Everyone Hunkers Down Together
Chapter 535: Chapter 339: Extreme Cold, Global Freeze, Everyone Hunkers Down Together
The Outer Northeast Plain, located in Amur Oblast across the Heilongjiang River, spans over 200,000 square kilometers. Its latitude is slightly higher and its accumulated temperature slightly lower, but like China’s own Northeast Plain, its soil is exceptionally fertile.
However, due to its sparse population, lack of sufficient labor, and low market demand, its cultivated area and degree of development are not on par with the Northeast Plain within China. A large amount of land in this region remains undeveloped.
Seeing such fertile land lying idle, Li Xiang didn’t hesitate, transferring all of it to the underground farms.
The caverns carved out of the mountain near Li Family Village were mostly rock. While there was some soil, this subterranean dirt lacked organic matter, making it relatively barren and unsuitable for growing crops.
’If I’m going to use soil, I’ll use the best.’
Other areas with fertile black soil include the Ukrainian Plain in Ukraine, the Mississippi Plain in the United States, and the Pampas Grassland in South America, which stretches from Argentina to Uruguay. The soil of the Pampas is a subtropical reddish-black variant.
The term "black soil" doesn’t refer to just any black-colored dirt, but to soil with a high humus content, which gives it its dark color.
Some people even specialize in selling this kind of soil online for just a few bucks for over ten pounds, shipping included. But in reality, black soil is a finite resource that takes an incredibly long time to form.
Once the soil was in place and the underground farm began to take shape, Zhao Xueqing led a group of villagers to start working there. For now, it wasn’t for large-scale cultivation; instead, they established a few test plots to experiment with some special plant species.
Plants need a light source to photosynthesize, a problem for which modern agriculture has long had effective solutions. Li Xiang purchased a batch of plant growth chambers for breeding purposes. Once they determined the optimal conditions, they would install large-scale lighting, irrigation, heating, and humidification systems throughout the underground farms.
With Jiang Cai’Er on the job, everything was, of course, fully automated.
They also needed to raise insects like butterflies and bees to pollinate the crops. If that proved unfeasible, they were also exploring methods for artificial pollination.
Of course, even though it could all be fully automated, manual labor could still be used if necessary—for instance, when jobs needed to be created for the residents.
With heavy snows blanketing the mountains and making the roads impassable, Li Xiang took matters into his own hands for safety’s sake. Starting from the Li Family Village Underground City, he constructed five tunnels, large enough for vehicles, leading to Shenjiawan (his maternal grandparents’ home), Yaojialing (Yao Yao’s home), Zhaojiaping (Zhao Xueqing’s home), Lei Family Gully (home to the Lei Brothers and Sisters and some of the security staff), and the county seat.
Li Xiang worked quickly and skillfully, and now it was incredibly convenient for everyone, whether they were commuting to work or heading to the county seat for supplies.
The construction sites also used the underground tunnel to the county seat to transport goods and materials.
Many villagers, and even residents from the county seat, found their homes too cold and running air conditioners or radiant floor heating too expensive. They began to take shelter in the tunnels Li Xiang had dug, building fires by the roadside to stay warm and brewing tea around small stoves.
After all, the underground tunnels were warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
There was just one problem: they were obstructing traffic.
When Li Xiang found out, he modified the tunnels again. In the areas where people tended to gather, he carved out additional spaces on both sides of the road, designing them like "air-raid shelters." Inside, he used his Crystal Gold Armor to form numerous stone tables, stone chairs, and even iron stoves.
Stoves made of stone would crack easily, so forging them from iron was a more practical solution. He had collected plenty of open-pit iron ore from Australia, so using some of it to make a few stoves was a drop in the bucket.
He then dispatched security guards to maintain order in these gathering spots. This new arrangement unexpectedly attracted a crowd of people who set up stalls to do business, and an underground commercial plaza was soon bustling with activity, opening far ahead of schedule.
It couldn’t be helped; not even a blizzard could stop the entrepreneurial spirit of the hardworking people of China.
As for Phase Four of the Shelter, it was still under construction but nearing completion. The plans for Phase Five had already been finalized, and construction was set to begin soon.
Li Xiang lent a hand, excavating the underground spaces himself, which saved the construction company a great deal of work. In the future, once all the phases of the Shelter were connected, they would form a massive Underground City.
The areas connecting the different Shelter phases would eventually be developed into commercial centers, supply depots, underground farms, and more.
As for the Underground City’s power system, that had already been taken care of.
Deep underground, Li Xiang had carved out a massive chamber and placed two advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carriers from the Beautiful Country inside. Jiang Cai’Er had hacked into all of their electronic components, seized control of their systems, and now the Underground City drew its power directly from them.
At the same time, Jiang Cai’Er was studying their nuclear reactor designs to refine her own. Once her new model was successfully developed, it would serve as an upgraded replacement.
Some destroyers, frigates, and other warships had also been "acquired" in the same haul. Jiang Cai’Er had likewise hacked and taken control of these vessels, embedding them within several other mountaintops. Their radar, naval guns, and vertical launch systems could now be used to defend the base.
No human operators were needed; Jiang Cai’Er could manage everything by herself.