Volume 9: Home Chapter 314 Home
The thick rubber-soled cotton shoes made a "crunching, crunching" sound when stepping on the snow.
Wood, who followed his tribesman Hal silently, pinched the corner of his clothes again.
Although Wood had not cooperated with the guards and had not worked seriously since he was captured for a year, he had participated in daily labor for the sake of work meals, and the Snow Wolf still paid him a salary. After Wood surrendered, the Welfare Department came to his house and, referring to the amount of money he had, forced him to "sell" a set of winter clothes...
This is what Wood was wearing now: high-top cotton shoes with thick rubber soles suitable for walking in winter, a set of warm white cotton underwear, a sweater and woolen trousers, a pair of canvas trousers, a thick quilted coat, and a sheepskin hat that could protect most of his head and ears.
Well...if people on Earth saw this outfit, it would look very familiar to them - the green military coat and Lei Feng hat are so special and eye-catching!
Although it looks rustic, this outfit is indeed very warm. Although it is just white cotton underwear instead of the warmer and more waterproof sun cloth, it is completely sufficient for the polar bears who are already quite cold-resistant.
"This is the cheapest outfit in Fire City. Even a goblin can buy it all by working for four months... If it were the polar regions, it would be good enough to be able to afford a hat and a coat. At least there are no shoes in the polar regions that won't be soaked by snow and water." Wood sighed in his heart.
Although it was really hard for him to understand, the fact was before him: the grassland people, who also lived in the bitter cold land, did live a much better life than the polar bear tribe!
After purchasing this outfit, Wood was penniless and had been eating the "minimum welfare meals for people without income" provided by the cat farm during this period, which were free meals that were one level lower than the meals enjoyed by cubs of all tribes under the age of fourteen.
What kind of meal is this? The side dish is vegetable stew, which is bean sprouts, sweet potato leaves, small greens, cabbage and radish slices cooked in bone broth. The staple food is lard and multi-grain porridge, which is made from soybeans, wheat and broken rice. Lard is added to the porridge. Sometimes, if there is too much lard and cannot be used up, the canteen chef will also pour it in. Vermicelli crumbs are also added.
There is also a plate of pickles...
If such food were in the polar regions, even if Wood was a general, he would not be able to eat it every day. But here in Huoyan City, it is provided as the minimum guarantee for the unemployed!
Moon Bear is a bit rich, but the young men of Moon Bear join the army as auxiliary soldiers and go on expeditions with the army. The food they eat is not even as good as the minimum guarantee of dishwashing water...
Wood couldn't help but imagine that the polar regions also provided similar welfare benefits to the tribesmen who were temporarily without a livelihood guarantee. However, he racked his brains and couldn't figure out where the money would come from...
"General, we're here."
Hal led Wood to a large house and turned around respectfully.
Wood nodded, took two steps forward, then stopped, hesitated, and said, "Don't call me General anymore. "
Hal immediately straightened his back and said seriously: "General, you will always be the general of the White Bear Clan, this will never change!"
Wood shook his head, gave up arguing with the stubborn young man, and waved his hand to signal him to go in first.
Hal knocked on the door. After hearing "Come in" from inside the house, he reached out and opened the heavy wooden door, then lifted the fur curtain inside the door, and warm air immediately hit his face.
Wood followed Hal into the house, looked around and found that this room was very different from the dormitory they lived in: there was no kang or stove, and the room was covered with patchwork carpets. Dozens of people sat cross-legged on the carpet in a semicircle, and opposite them was the snow leopard Arthur sitting behind a small coffee table.
"Take off your shoes and put them on the shoe rack by the door, and sit over here to warm your feet." Snow leopard Arthur greeted the two polar bears who had just entered the door with a smile.
It was obviously not the first time that Hal came here. He took off one of his shoes and put his foot on the carpet. He also arranged the shoes on the shoe rack to make space for the two of them to put their shoes.
When Wood stepped on the carpet made of animal skins and blankets, he finally understood what Snow Leopard Arthur meant by "warm your feet" - it was not that there was no kang in this house, but that the kang was hidden under the floor!
There were about twenty cats, one tiger, a dozen moon bears, and five black bears sitting in the room. Wood followed Hal and walked among them, and the dozen moon bears moved their butts in a friendly manner, making room for them to sit down.
After the two white bears were seated, Chief Arthur said with a smile, "Okay, now that everyone is here, let's discuss how to proceed with our No. 1 Farm after the spring." She first looked at the tiger tribe's Ted's account, "Ted, your tiger tribe is small now, so don't rush to reclaim the wasteland. For the time being, just take care of the vermicelli OEM business. Take the bear tribe with you and help them troubleshoot problems. Is there any problem?"
Ted said succinctly: "No problem."
Chief Arthur smiled and looked at the black bear representatives and the two white bears. "The vermicelli factory has high and stable income, but there are more than 2,000 people in your tribe who cannot use magic. It is difficult to guarantee the income of the tribe with only one factory. My personal suggestion is that you two tribes should try to open one or two farms each to test the waters. If you join the Farmers' Association under the Agriculture Department of Huoyan City, technical support, seeds, and agricultural machinery will not be a problem. You can get them through agricultural loans. The Agriculture Department also takes charge of the unified purchase and collection of agricultural products. What do you think?"
Based on the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other tribes, the surrendered bears still have a certain degree of autonomy (the right to interpret to what extent is in the hands of Fire City, cough cough!). Because the highest leader of the Black Bear tribe, Aubrey, is a diehard and is now squatting in the guard post counting leg hairs, Chief Arthur suggested that the Black Bear tribe elect a tribe representative from the labor activists. This labor activist... of course follows Fire City!
The highest-ranking of the five Black Bear representatives was only an elite soldier, and had never even been a non-commissioned officer. They were particularly positive about Huoyan City's principle of fair and just distribution according to work, and immediately nodded in agreement.
Hal was about to speak, but suddenly he thought of something, closed his mouth and looked at Wood.
Wood sighed inwardly. It was just one of the three cat farms, not even the Fire City. They were so thorough and considerate of the majority of people. He, who had been a general all his life, couldn't help but think that it would be good to live under the command of Snow Leopard Arthur after hearing their introduction. What about others?
Naturally, Wood would not refuse. The White Bear Clan had more than 400 people to make a living, and he had already bowed his head and would not make everyone unhappy in such a place.
Chief Arthur smiled and nodded, and finally looked at the Moon Bear representatives: "Except for those who are engaged in engineering, those who are loaned to various departments, and those who are going to work in the vermicelli OEM factory, there are still about 4,000 people who have not been arranged. The suggestion from the Fire City is that the Moon Bear tribe should set up the Moon Bear Farm in imitation of our cat tribe, and the construction plan and scale should be aligned with our No. 1 Farm, and it will be under the jurisdiction of our No. 1 Farm. We, No. 1 Farm, will help you solve the construction material loans and seed and agricultural machinery loans, and we, No. 1 Farm, will also be responsible for helping you apply for agricultural technicians. You Moon Bears will decide the internal affairs of the Moon Bear Farm by yourselves, and you can apply for guidance from our No. 1 Farm for problems that you cannot solve. If the farm's performance is improved, I will take advantage of it and accept the praise from Fire City. What do you think, are you willing to let me take advantage of yours?"
Moon bear Admiral Andrew, General Bazel and others were all squatting in the guard post waiting to be exchanged back to the Far East. The representatives were all selected from the soldiers. Hearing Chief Arthur's teasing, the group of moon bears laughed and expressed their obedience to Chief Arthur's arrangements.
Wood, who was sitting quietly on the side, glanced at Chief Arthur again and again... After listening to the snow leopard's words for a few paragraphs, he found that compared with this snow leopard, those elders in Moon Bear City who looked down on others had to be thrown away!
Chief Arthur finally looked at the cats and joked, "There is nothing much for us cats to plan. The new land we opened last year has not yet been planted. During the autumn harvest, everyone complained bitterly and privately scolded me as a slave owner without a whip. Well, then we will have no choice but not to open up wasteland or generate income this year!"
The twenty or so cat representatives couldn't help laughing. The bear-headed ones were too embarrassed to laugh at the cats, and they all had a hard time holding back - the cats are very petty! It doesn't matter if they laugh at their own people, but if outsiders join in the fun, they are afraid that these big cats will make things difficult for you!
After easily finishing the work arrangements after the spring, Chief Arthur picked up the documents on the small coffee table and said with a smile: "No matter whether it is the panda tribe or the cat tribe, we are now bound to the community of destiny of Farm No. 1. If Farm No. 1 is doing well, everyone will be happy. If Farm No. 1 is not doing well, none of us will have face when we go out. Since everyone is the owner of the farm, we must also explain to everyone where the public funds of our farm will be used next year."
"As everyone knows, Fire City collects 30% tax on the output of our farms and foundries. Fire City does not take all of the tax money, but leaves half to our No. 1 Farm as operating funds."
"The year before last, we suffered a disaster and had no public funds. Last year, we received a total of 3,890 gold coins in public funds. The expenses for the cubs in the whole village were 420 gold coins. The budget for building four new townhouses and supporting facilities on the west side of the square was 68 gold coins. The budget for the cubs' education and the new school was 85 gold coins..."
After talking about a lot of miscellaneous budget expenditures, Chief Arthur said with great pride: "After deducting all the expenditures in the budget meeting room of the farm management office, we still have more than 2,300 gold coins to spend freely. As for this money, our management budget team thinks that it should be used to build roads. We should level the road surface of more than 80 kilometers from here to Huoyan City from beginning to end, cover it with gravel and loess, and then use a stone mill to grind it well. We will start construction during the slack season. Once the road is repaired, it will be convenient for us to travel to Huoyan City and transport materials..."
Next, Chief Arthur explained in detail the benefits that this road would bring to everyone, and encouraged everyone to mobilize manpower and effort during the slack season to build the road.
Wood, who was attending this kind of meeting for the first time as a representative of the white bear clan, was completely confused.
Huoyan City is rich. He knew this when he was imprisoned in the Huoyan City resettlement center last year.
Farm No. 1 is also rich . Although it is called a farm, in Wood's opinion, the architecture, living conditions, material supplies, etc. are not much worse than those of White Bear City in his hometown in the polar region. In fact, it is much better than White Bear City - everyone walking out of the street, the square, any path, and any house is dressed neatly and has a rosy face. This kind of situation cannot be seen in White Bear City, or in all orc cities.
Wood thought that the only thing that the grassland people were not good at was that neither Huoyan City nor Farm No. 1 had any decent mansions...nor did they see any dignitaries wearing gold and silver and surrounded by people.
What Wood never expected was that Farm No. 1 would spend money in this way!
As one of the twelve generals of the White Bear Clan, Wood couldn't help but apply Snow Leopard Arthur's approach to his hometown, White Bear City.
Then he felt very sad, deeply sad - compared with White Bear City, Farm No. 1, which could only manage less than 4,000 gold coins in tax revenue per year, must be defeated. But if the two sides were compared in terms of how they managed the tax revenue, White Bear City was not even as good as Farm No. 1.
"This little money is not enough for the elders and generals to share." Wood couldn't help but smile bitterly, the sorrow in his heart was like a river with no end...
In White Bear City, Wood is also eligible to share in the tax revenue. He can get between two and three hundred gold coins from the Elders' Council every year.
For so many years, Wood treated this gray income as normal and used it generously to buy wine, spices and luxury goods brought by traveling merchants. He never thought that this money could be used to build his hometown and help those distressed tribesmen.
Chief Arthur explained the benefits of building the road, and the new bear-headed representatives nodded frequently, expressing that they had no objections. Among the Moon Bear representatives, a young man who was a former auxiliary soldier even swore excitedly that he would lead his people to work hard, increase the farm's share of tax revenue, and let Chief Arthur stand out among the top leaders of Fire City.
"I'm embarrassed to say that, haha." Chief Arthur couldn't resist the enthusiasm of this bear-headed guy and blushed, "But it's a good thing to have this spirit. No matter what the purpose or idea is, if you are willing to take the first step of serious work, you will definitely get better results, and better results for yourself, the collective, and all of us."
"Our production labor has yielded results. No matter what job we do or what position we hold, every drop of sweat we shed is ultimately poured into the general direction of building our home. If we grow one more acre of soybeans, the canteen and the welfare department will have more soybean products to sell. If we produce one more pound of vermicelli, people will have one more pound of vermicelli to choose from when they want to eat it. The better our home is, the better our life will be. Don't you agree?"
These words made the bear-headed people present feel excited. Hal, who had been sitting obediently next to Wood the whole time, couldn't help but shout "Yes!".
Wood felt a little sour in his heart and bitter at the corners of his mouth when he saw this scene. All his emotions finally turned into a soft sigh.
Yes, home. The people of the grassland value their home. In order to build their home, they are willing to absorb gray dwarves, centaurs, the snake tribe and goblins with a bad reputation, and even humans, as well as the bear tribe that was originally opposed to them.
Their enthusiasm for building their homes overcame the greed inherent in the nature of intelligent creatures, and those of them who had the power to control wealth took out the gold coins that they could have put in their pockets without any regrets to build their homes.
How could such persistence and enthusiasm not attract and move people who choose to walk the same path and board the same ship with them?
