Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"The White Ash Plain is just ahead. I suggest you don't go there. Not even a blade of grass grows there, let alone wheat."

"White Ash Plains? Take us to see it!"

"That place is really eerie..."

"Hmm?" Faced with the Sarkaz bodyguard's sharp blade, the guide yielded.

Baihuiyuan was a plain at the foot of a wind-eroded mountain, filled with grayish-white stones. "Ah, kaolin! What a treasure!"

Old Xia touched the stones and clods of mud on the ground, checked them with his personal testing equipment, and confirmed his judgment.

"Not only is there kaolin, but also bauxite and a small amount of rare earth elements. These people really know how to waste things. Remember to build a railway here and a smelting station later."

With bauxite and rare earth elements, Lao Xia no longer needs to use the expensive and heartbreakingly expensive local iron alloy materials. Once the electrolysis plant, refinery, and smelting station are established, he can produce standard civilian alloy steel for the Covenant, and that pile of "agricultural wonders" will be unlocked.

The problem now is that these factory equipment are outside his area of ​​expertise, which is a bit of a challenge for him.

But what a coincidence! There happens to be a technical school graduate on the moon. Hopefully, that guy studied these things—though Old Xia doesn't hold out much hope.

However, let's record these resources here for now, just in case we need them later.

After a complete survey, the PNIS holographic map shows that, apart from the resource areas circled in red and the wasteland marked in blue that needs to be dealt with, all usable land within Chief Sati's controlled area has been preliminarily explored. Further adjustments will be made based on the specific circumstances.

Currently, the total arable land is 12 hectares. However, the oasis water source can only support a maximum of 3 hectares of land. We must either find other underground water sources or find other ways to replenish the water supply.

Old Xia once again missed the Star Alliance Shopping Network, where even ice comets could be bought. It wasn't that he didn't know how to conserve water and obtain water sources on desert planets.

However, two-thirds of the methods need to be cut, such as bringing an iceberg from Antarctica, sending an ice meteorite or comet over, drilling into deep water layers, or laying a desalination pipeline from the Iberian coast, etc.

The most feasible option is indeed to lay a transnational seawater desalination pipeline, as they have a complete set of seawater desalination technologies and knowledge reserves.

Since farming cannot be done without water, and even seawater desalination cannot solve the problem, farming on another planet is basically bullshit.

However, compared to the scale of the Covenant's industrial drone swarm, the project involved manually digging a trench 10 meters deep, 7 meters wide, and over 3000 kilometers long from the Iberian Inland Sea to Kazdel, then laying a 5-meter diameter water pipe inside, building booster pumps and sterilization stations along the way, and finally constructing an offshore desalination platform at the end...

Basically, it's highly unlikely unless he unifies Terra, becomes known as the King of Terra, and mobilizes the entire Terra workforce.

And if they have the engineering capability, why not simply choose the simpler option and dig a canal from Ursus? It would also save the desalination process, wouldn't it?

"So, let's think about the snowmelt water or the transnational canal problem." Xia Lin was scratching his head in frustration. Without an engineering drone swarm production line, things were incredibly complicated; without the resource support of the Star Alliance shopping network, it was even more troublesome—

People from any era will find it very difficult to function without the support of the entire civilization – there are plenty of ways to solve the problem, but none of them are usable.

Chapter Sixty-Four: Water Diversion and Irrigation Project

Chapter 64

Snowmelt is currently the optimal solution for the planting area because there is a snow-capped mountain near the south. The entire central region of Kazdel is a continuous mountain range, trending from southwest to northeast. The south side is flatter and gentler, and rainwater flows down the mountain slopes, meandering into rivers that flow southwest into the Iberian Gulf Gorge, irrigating the entire southern Kazdel grassland.

To the north are rugged mountains, with a peculiar topography that slopes from north to south, as if the entire Iberian Plate collided and compressed to form this unique landscape.

The wind erosion, which takes tens of thousands of years, eventually formed a series of unique mountain ranges resembling waves. This is the place where the Sarkaz people originated, and it is a paradise for guerrilla warfare.

The ancient tectonic plate collisions triggered lava flows, forming a large number of porous rocks. After being eroded by water and wind, the area is characterized by valleys, caves, rugged terrain, and scarce surface water.

Throughout history, the Sarkaz Demon King has led his people to retreat here countless times, leaving his enemies helpless.

Land-based ships couldn't get in, and without inside help, large numbers of infantry couldn't obtain a map of water sources. Ultimately, they were either defeated one by one, got lost, or died of thirst in this natural maze.

However, conversely, it also means that the snow on the summit is very thick, but most of it flows down the south slope.

After all, the warm current comes from the south, and once it crosses the peak, it becomes difficult for the snowmelt to form runoff.

Therefore, Lao Xia did not actually explore southward for long before finding a corner of the central mountain range in the northeast of the Kazdel Desert. This place was right on the edge of the controlled area, and all he needed to do was find a way to divert the snowmelt water down.

"Break ice to get water?" The Sarkaz people looked at each other in disbelief. What kind of idiotic plan was this? The ice and snow on those mountains were thick enough.

But you should know why such a thick layer of snow and ice didn't turn into a river that seasonally stops flowing.

This mountain range is equally important to the Great Yan, because its terrain acts as a diversion channel, diverting the moisture brought by the monsoon along the southern mountain range into the Great Yan territory located in the northeast of Kazdel, thus creating the vast fertile land in the southeast of the Great Yan.

However, the North Kazdel and Longnan Desert, surrounded by mountains, are truly deserts. Moisture is either blocked to the southwest near the Iberian Gulf or carried into the territory of the Great Yan by following the mountain range.

Not to mention Kazdel, Lungmen's water source relies on rivers and snowfields that spread from Ursus. This is why Old Wei spared no expense in building canals in Lungmen, not only for the scenery but also as an important water storage reservoir.

"Is there a problem with this?" Making water by cutting ice from snow is a basic skill and introductory course in interstellar agriculture. For example, the guys on the moon are looking for lunar ice and preparing to cut ice to extract water.

"My plan is this: first, blow up North Peak."

"Wait a minute, do you still have that bomb?" W spoke up, still vividly remembering the consequences of her last attempt to blow up the mountain to mine.

"No, the blasting I'm talking about is different from last time. It's not about blasting everything away, but about blasting away those overly protruding cliff faces to make the terrain of the North Peak relatively flat. The workload isn't large, because we only need to clear away those overly rugged rocks."

"and then?"

"Then we'll dig vertical shafts and collect irrigation water through underground and open channels..." Old Xia spread out a simple blueprint on the table. It showed a standard "underground flow karez well" that was a little different from other models.

For example, there are open channels near the hillside to guide snowmelt water into underground channels.

"The underground canal leads here, and I will build a large sealed water storage station here. It is domed, with a 380Gpa high-pressure structure, 40 meters high and 200 meters in diameter, with a total water storage capacity of nearly 200 million cubic meters. According to irrigation standards, the outlet and inlet are set from the top, and the water is guided through the supply pipe to the second pressurized diversion station 40 kilometers away, and then supplied to all the surrounding farmland for irrigation."

"Kazdel is not actually short of water, but the water is hidden deep underground and on the mountaintops, and it is getting thicker almost every year, but it rarely melts on a large scale."

Because the warm and cold currents meet on the southern slope, and this area is only covered by the low-temperature cold current, the moisture brought by the warm current all turns into layers of overlapping ice sheets.

"So, you mean to blast a breach and let the rainwater in?"

"That's a huge undertaking..." Old Xia scratched his head. If he had a second nuclear bomb, he might consider it; or if he had a gravitational bomb, it would be even simpler—just blast the entire Kanan Mountains into a gate shape.

As for the subsequent northward shift of the precipitation line and the rapid desolation of the southern grasslands, that's none of his business.

"So, all we need to do is blast out a relatively flat passage, then dig a series of vertical shafts below the snow line, and then place one shaft at intervals. This will effectively absorb seepage water, and then absorb surface meltwater through open ditches."

"As for the problem of low snowmelt rate - W, do you remember how Ursus solved its water problem?"

"Let me think... Ah, I think it's that stove?"

"That's right. The tower furnace and ground pipes quickly melt snow in winter, then introduce it into the underground channel and connect it to the reservoir to replenish water, ensuring that the irrigation equipment along the river can still be used during the dry season and the freezing season. Of course, it is no longer needed now."

Because that artificial volcano really... produced a lot of meltwater, and now the reservoir even needs to release water during the summer—making things a bit tough for the downstream Ursus villages.

Every spring and summer during the planting season, the hybrids upstream start releasing water, turning the once fertile river valley into a muddy wasteland.

"Furthermore, I made some minor modifications to the tower furnace. After all, we don't need it to provide high heat as power, but rather continuous, low-cost low heat, just enough to ensure that the temperature near the heat pipes on the snow line is above 0 degrees Celsius."

Old Xia presented his design for the No. 3 tower furnace. The No. 1 is a stationary power generation furnace, the No. 2 is a power furnace, and the No. 3 is a modification based on the No. 1 design.

"Dual-pipe circulation, this part connects to the thermal liquid manufacturing machine..." In fact, it was a blood manufacturing machine, but in order to prevent everyone from panicking, Lao Xia drastically beautified the equipment.

As for the warm, viscous, gurgling, and conspicuous red liquid, it was explained as "thermal energy liquid" and used together with the "cooling leaf" that had been dyed a harmless colorant and turned dark purple.

"Then connect a pipeline to pass the wastewater containing Originium into the reactor, and then use the Originium wastewater itself as the heat medium for circulation. Set up a filter at the end of the circulation return. Everyone only needs to clean the crystal particles in the filter and replenish the Originium wastewater periodically."

The source of Originium wastewater can be obtained by improving the soil and drilling wells to extract brine, highlighting a free-to-use method that is adapted to local conditions and starts from scratch.

"I calculated the heat output, and it's less than 10 watts per square meter. It can only melt the bottom layer of snow in a small area around the snow, turning it into liquid that seeps down, without forming a new heat source that would affect snowfall formation."

"But then, wouldn't the meltwater runoff be insufficient?"

"It's enough for emergency use now. If it really doesn't work in the future, we'll build a larger thermal fusion generator, blow it up once every summer, and then drain and store the water."

At most, it's like inserting a straw; it's not enough to cause the snow line to rise and result in insufficient snowfall to replenish it.

"There's another question: how do you pressurize the water dome? And with such high water pressure, won't it explode?" Skadi is the real expert on water here; when it comes to water pressure, no one knows more about it than Old Xia.

"So, I plan to use my engine here. It will create a microgravity field, which will reduce the amount of engineering work within Aretosha."

A microgravity field makes the original massive earthwork relatively simpler, and can effectively avoid the problem of collapse due to inadequate technology. Moreover, after reducing the influence of gravity, the water pressure is not as great.

"Most importantly, this water storage station is designed to the limit. In fact, we don't need to fill it completely, and the water storage station is not a tank on the ground. In fact, inside, it will be dug down to a depth of nearly 20 meters. Including the dome itself, the total water storage height limit is 60 meters."

"Even if the bottom layer of rock cracks, allowing water to seep down or be squeezed into underground rivers, it doesn't matter, since we still need to drill deep wells to extract this water for use."

Old Xia used the same skill he had when drilling oil wells on Earth, even squeezing out the water from the pores in the underground rocks.

No one had any objections to the water conservancy projects proposed by Lao Xia, because only a few experts from Longmen had objections. The rest of the Sarkaz people were illiterate, and the biggest objection was actually to the amount of work involved.

There's a severe shortage of manpower right now. Even though Yelena is trying her best to recruit unemployed workers from Lungmen and send them over, the number of workers is still insufficient, and that's a minor issue—

Water conservancy projects are never instantaneous. The big issue is that this means the Aretosha needs to move to the construction site, along with a significant portion of the escort force protecting the construction team.

So what about the oasis? The land has only just been cultivated, and the watermelons have only just sprouted green vines and started bearing fruit, without even swollen fruit yet. On the other hand, the sweet potatoes planted earlier are ready to be pruned and topped.

The corn is growing well and is expected to be harvested at the same time as the sweet potatoes. Soon, the locals will be able to quench their thirst with watermelon soda and eat cheap fried chicken—you call that slave treatment? [The corn won't be sold at all; it'll be used to make syrup for soda...]

The common people of all Kazdel might flock to sell themselves into slavery. Even on a larger scale, across all of Terra, the line of people willing to sell themselves could stretch from the Oasis all the way to Lungmen.

"Don't worry about defense. I've already deployed my most professional troops. If those chieftains dare to cause trouble at this time..."

Old Xia didn't mention the consequences, but the Sarkaz mercenaries familiar with his group all wore mysterious smiles, while only the newly joined prisoners and survivors who made up the tribesmen looked completely bewildered.

"Hey, what are you doing? Yelena said she's planning to move over there. You've just abandoned such a big company here? Are you trying to abscond with the money?!"

Swire's biggest flaw is that she has an extremely loud voice, so loud that Lao Xia wonders if her ancestor was named Zhang Fei, or if he ever did the feat of scaring away a million soldiers with a single roar.

“We are severely understaffed here, and all our combat forces need to be transferred here. I even transferred people from Ursus.”

The main problem is that the manpower there isn't very useful. An official said that although Kosiché is still maintaining the blockade line, which is now only symbolic, the surrounding nobles are doing business with the farms with a mix of reluctance and obligation.

It's not that Patriots and Talulah didn't want to wipe out the enemy outright, but while taking control of the cities and towns they conquered would be easy, managing them would be a problem—when they were guerrillas, they didn't have to worry about the government.

Therefore, the two sides maintained this tacit understanding: if you don't run south, I won't go north and risk my life.

The happiest place is the middle section, a no-man's-land, where no farm workers come to recruit people or take over land, and the Ursus inspectors dare not venture into the middle to court disaster.

"Is it that serious? Or have you heard something?"

"The sound of the wind?"

"Hmm, is this communication secure?" Swire looked around. "Regarding Lao Wei and Da Yan, the atmosphere in Longmen has been a bit off these days. I got a little bit of information from Lao Chen, and according to what I've learned, there seems to be some voice in Da Yan that wants to take back Longmen and transfer Lao Wei away."

"What will Commander Wei do?"

“There’s nothing he can do, nothing he dares to do, unless he wants to see his brother-in-law’s whole family and niece die suddenly overnight.”

The little tiger isn't ignorant of these things; it's precisely because she understands them too well that she dislikes Old Chen's approach.

Old Chen still doesn't understand that he's one of the rule-makers, not the rule-followers—maybe he's gone mad from studying at the Victoria Guard Academy… Swire thinks so.

"So, if Lungmen changes its leadership, will the policies change?"

"Hmm, probably not, but it's hard to say. You know how the bureaucrats of the Great Yan Dynasty are..."

She didn't understand it at first, but she understood it these past few days because of the seeds, all thanks to Yelena.

Faced with the other party's increasingly demanding requests, the rabbit immediately turned on them, saying, "Come on, let's fight!"