Chapter 1562: Order on the Prairie
Even Jiang Chen himself did not expect that his nonchalant statement would jinx it. After he finished lunch in a hurry, Xiaorou took about five minutes to put on warm clothes, then they went back to the apocalypse through the door.
As for what happened.
Lets turn the time back to one day ago.
The apocalypse, Africa, near Lake Victoria.
On the highway across the prairie, trucks sped forward as they blew up the dust behind them. Soldiers with live ammunition sat on the truck, and tons of materials were transported from the port to the NAC African Development Zone. This scene almost became the most unique scenery on the prairie in this area.
Not long ago, Future Development harvested the first batch of crops they planted since they arrived in Africa.
The harvest of nearly 400,000 tons of rice, and tens of thousands of tons of sugar cane, cocoa, cotton, and other cash crops made Feng Yuan, Future Development Africa’s manager, so excited that he kneeled down to kiss the soil under his feet.
It was normal behavior for someone who has been starved for a long time.
He hadn’t seen this kind of golden field for a very long time.
Based on their agreement, Future Development planted one million mu of land and therefore had to pay tax on the one million mu of land to the War Chief every year. In order to make sure NAC did not play tricks on the area they farmed, the War Chief even sent his trusted wizard, Lusangbo, to be stationed in the Lake Victoria Development Zone to supervise the NAC to count the area of the land.
One mu of land required a payment of 800 catties of rice or corn a year, not to mention the boxes of orange-yellow bullets that were used to bribe the wizard. Future Development was not foolish enough to pay with the “cheap” food.
Five hundred boxes of military arms were sent to the War Chief’s palace, plus a few power armors and a few boxes of North American specialties. The gesture immediately pleased the War Chief, he patted Feng Yuan on the shoulder and stated that the Asian people are the friends of African people.
Feng Yuan was so embarrassed that he started to blush.
In half a year, the development zone that was originally made up of a dozen tents had grown to the scale of today with vast fertile fields.
A ten-meter-high concrete wall surrounded the settlement, and aesthetically pleasing concrete apartments rose up from the ground. From the distance, the settlement looked like a fortress standing on top of the hill. A series of artificial canals extended southward from the shore of Lake Victoria and delineated the farms into squares.
Every two hundred meters, there was a sentry tower. Heavy machine guns or other fixed weapons were placed on the sentry tower with a sentry on guard.
More than 500 employees lived within the wall, in addition to more than 4,000 slaves of different skin colors.
But even as slaves, the lives of these people were definitely better than other slaves in Africa. As long as they were not lazy and completed their daily tasks on time, Future Development did not let them starve.
In addition, there were people who taught them how to use machinery, how to farm, and how to fertilize. Compared with working under Africans, at least they did not need to use hoes and buckets to farm. They not only saved on a lot of manual labor; the efficiency also greatly increased.
The clever and diligent people had the opportunity to escape from slavery to become slave overseers. These people made the leap from the proletariat into an accomplice of the exploitation of the proletariat in one fell swoop. Everyone was full of energy, and in comparison, Feng Yuan felt that he slacked more than before when he got here.
The days here started to feel comfortable.
All he did every day was drive around the field twice in his all-terrain vehicle, then he went out with Wizard Lusangbo with his shotgun to shoot some game. Occasionally, the War Chief held banquets, which was considered to be one of the few occasions he had to attend. He didn’t have to worry about his needs at all. The War Chief not only gave him some “return gifts”, but there were also some top-quality goods in the slave market.
Asians were pickier than Africans in terms of aesthetics. Thick lips, big boobs, and large butts were considered the standards of beauty; facial features, on the other hand, were less important, with no standard perception at all. As a result, slaves with poor stature but exquisite facial features were always left behind. It was not only Feng Yuan that enjoyed hunting in the slave market in Mombasa, but many employees in the development zone also shared the same hobby.
Of course, it was not to say that Feng Yuan didn’t do any work, he still contributed greatly.
For example, the road from the Lake Victoria Development Zone to the port, and even the latest berths and cranes in the port, were built by Future Development.
The Zhao Group made a fortune from the cement business, and some of the construction teams who went to Africa with Future Development also made a lot of money. On the other hand, those African businessmen were furious because the “unruly” Future Group didn’t let them make any money at all.
Only a fool would let them make money!
NAC people were not foolish.
One bag of cement could be sold for the price of two. Even if the Zhao Group had to transport the cement from Wanghai, it was still substantially cheaper compared to the local cement. Moreover, the amount of cement they produced made people wonder how long their factories had been running for, and how long since their local construction teams worked on projects.
But there was one thing Feng Yuan didn’t expect.
Those African businessmen…or those tribes who do business, mostly operated poorly not entirely because of laziness, but because their businesses were mostly side-hustles, and banditry was their main line of work.
The bloody survival of the fittest was the normal state on the prairie.
On the first Sunday, after the last mu was harvested in the development zone, Feng Yuan gained a deep realization of this.
As usual, Feng Yuan threw the shotgun into the trunk of his vehicle, picked up Lusangbo and two guards, and prepared to head to the African savannah to catch some game. However, before they left, they were forced back by the sound of sirens from the settlement.
“What happened?”
After Feng Yuan jumped out of the car, he caught an officer who was running towards the wall and hurriedly asked.
“Report! Our food delivery team was hijacked by unknown armed forces. Ten trucks and twenty employees in the vehicles were taken hostage. Eight of the ten bodyguards were unfortunately killed…”
Feng Yuan’s heart immediately stuttered for a second. His top priority was no longer the dozens of tons of food on the vehicles, but the lives of the twenty employees. If any of the lives were lost, as the manager, he was definitely going to have to take responsibility.
“Where are those mercenaries?!”
“They said that the tribe was a close relative of the War Chief, and they didn’t dare to fight against them. We resisted until the end but were overwhelmed by the number of enemies.” The officer gritted his teeth angrily.
Feng Yuan was so angry that he cussed out.
These bastards are not taking any less money, but when they are asked to fight, they are more scared than anyone. If it were in Wanghai, even the mercenary group with the worst reputation would fight, instead of running away without firing a single shot.
“Report! Two kilometers ahead, unknown armed forces are approaching!”
There was a shout from the wall.
The officer looked at Feng Yuan anxiously.
Feng Yuan understood immediately and said quickly.
“Hurry and go now.”
“Roger!” The officer gave a military salute and ran towards the stairs.
Feng Yuan grinded his teeth, glared at Lusangbo, who looked calm and collected, then called the wizard to go up the wall. He took the binoculars from the soldier next to him and looked in the direction of the highway.
After Feng Yuan saw the scene, his expression changed drastically.
They certainly encountered militants who came to seek for trouble before, but at most, there were only two to three trucks and less than twenty rifles. The sentry tower just had to fire the machine gun before those militants fled.
But now, when Feng Yuan watched the billowing dust in the distance, he started to panic
Thirty trucks were approaching the development zone. He didn’t know whether they were armed with heavy weapons, but based on his understanding of Africa, the tribes with more trucks were more powerful. Moreover, these people chose the sensitive time when the first batch of crops had just been harvested in the development zone.
There was no doubt that the enemy came prepared.