Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1844 The Emperor's Blessing

On the Russian border, they basically need to rest during the hottest part of the day.

Seeing that it was almost time, the team leader decided to take a break and then started testing the new recruits in front of him.

"Everyone come here. During this break, I'll test you. What is the key to preventing and controlling desertification?"

"It changes the soil and the environment."

Clearly, he had done some basic research before coming to work here.

The captain nodded upon hearing this, and then went on to explain further...

"That's right! It rains in the desert too, so why is it so dry here? The key lies in the soil!"

As the captain spoke, he grabbed a handful of scalding hot sand, opened his palm, and the sand immediately flowed through his fingers.

In recent years, the desertification control department has conducted increasingly in-depth research on deserts, which has enabled them to gradually master some coping methods.

"The clump of sand I'm holding is the one that got wet after the water bottle spilled. It's already almost completely dry in just a short while."

"The sand in this desert can't hold water. After it rains, as soon as the rain stops and the sun comes out, the water in the sand will evaporate immediately as the temperature rises."

“Ordinary plants cannot survive in this kind of sandy soil, but the work of preventing and controlling desertification cannot be separated from greening, so our first step is to change the soil.”

"..."

Mentoring newcomers has always been a tiring job, from ancient times to the present.

Fortunately, in this era, the newcomers are generally quite diligent and hardworking. After the hottest period has passed, everyone who has rested enough starts working again.

Recently, in addition to maintaining the greenery in the area, their sand control department has been busy erecting net fences.

After all, the net walls can collect fresh water, so the more net walls are erected, the more fresh water will be collected. If they could, they would fill the entire area with net walls.

During this period, the aim was also to alleviate transportation pressure and to ensure that they could obtain relatively stable resources.

The desertification control department also took the time to clear a few plots of land on the innermost side and plant some drought-resistant crops such as potatoes.

To a certain extent, they achieved self-sufficiency.

Unfortunately, desert transportation is inherently costly, and their transportation capacity is limited. If they want to do their job well, they have to use their limited transportation capacity on more important resources.

Under this premise, thanks to the great success of last year's football league and the increase in financial funding, Zhou Xu also allocated a sum of money to the sand control department on the Russian border.

After all, he hadn't forgotten how the great battle with the Undying King had completely destroyed the work of the local sand control department, so this kind of assistance was still necessary.

The next two years were undoubtedly smooth for Zhou Xu.

On the one hand, the football league boosted consumption within their Great Zhou, and on the other hand, it brought them more financial resources.

On the other hand, it's because in the past two years, more and more young people in their Great Zhou have reached the age where they can work.

The previous Zhou dynasty was deeply affected by one problem.

That is, although their Great Zhou has a large population, a large portion of them are underage children. They are counted as population, but not as labor force. In fact, to some extent, they are a burden at this stage.

And this problem was finally perfectly resolved over time!
However, some members of the population are also entering old age.

On a new day, a day off, two friends were having morning tea at a teahouse. One of them had gray hair and a face full of wrinkles, and was probably over eighty years old, but he was still in good spirits, able to eat and drink well, and seemed like he could live another five or ten years without any problem.

The other person was younger, with a full head of black hair and a ruddy complexion, looking like a middle-aged man in his fifties. Logically speaking, these two people sitting there could be more than one generation apart in terms of generation, but they chatted like old friends.

"No. You old codger are only two years younger than me, and my hair is all white. How come you still look like you're in your fifties?"

The old man who asked the question felt something was amiss.

To this, the middle-aged man sitting opposite simply smiled slightly, then revealed a look of deep reverence...

"This is naturally due to the Emperor's blessing; praise the Emperor."

After saying that, without waiting for his old friend sitting opposite him to speak, the middle-aged man drank the tea in front of him in one gulp and then stood up.

"Alright, I have to attend a national religious activity later. Let's get together again next time."

Meanwhile, elsewhere, a funeral is taking place...

The deceased was 73 years old. Considering the historical context, this age would be considered very old in any country.

But beside the coffin, the deceased's father, with his full head of black hair, was sobbing uncontrollably.

"My son, how could you have passed away before your father?!"

The deceased's father was just ninety years old this year.

Similar incidents continued to occur throughout the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Some people are already in their eighties or nineties, but still have a full head of black hair and are full of energy, while others are in their sixties or seventies, but are already old and frail, and their health is deteriorating day by day.

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, people who lived to a ripe old age were actually very common, and it was precisely because they were so common that people hadn't paid much attention to them before.

However, in the last two years, it seems that we have reached a certain critical point.

More and more people in their seventies and eighties are dying, but there are still many older people, already in their eighties and nineties, who live like middle-aged people in their fifties and sixties.

This topic quickly sparked exploration and heated discussion among everyone.

When these people were asked, their answers were surprisingly consistent: "Thank you for the Emperor's blessing!"

In the Great Zhou Dynasty, the emperor's blessings were never an illusion; the people of the Great Zhou received them to varying degrees.

But some people receive so few blessings that they don't feel them as much.

At first, people might have cared a little, but later they realized that it didn't seem to have much of an impact, so they completely forgot about it.

However, no one expected that the powerful aftereffect would appear at this moment.

The saying "three men can make a tiger" applies here, not to mention that what they said wasn't entirely a lie.

As the public continued to investigate the matter, they soon discovered that what these people said was true.

These people, who are in their eighties or nineties but look as young as those in their fifties or sixties, are all, without exception, loyal followers of the emperor.

They attend the National Church's activities almost every week and often volunteer, helping with missionary work, maintaining order, and donating supplies to the National Church's orphanages.

In this process, for those who died relatively young, in their sixties or seventies, the four-word conclusion, though its origin is unknown, was incisive...

"You are not loyal!"

(End of this chapter)