"Greetings, Mr. General." Kong Qian respectfully saluted. "On behalf of the Hang Merchant Alliance, I would like to offer you the highest respect."
As early as more than a year ago, the Hang Merchant Alliance was incorporated into the NAC as an economic zone, but Jiang Chen had always given these merchants a high degree of autonomy. In addition to maintaining a garrison to maintain law and order, they only symbolically established offices and executives in Hang. The president of the Chamber of Commerce like Kong Qian was still elected by the merchants themselves.
Jiang Chen was curious why he came to the Fishbone base at this time.
"Let's skip the pleasantries. Why did you come to see me?" Jiang Chen examined Kong Qian and asked straightforwardly.
Kong Qian didn't answer. He just nodded and took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Jiang Chen.
"This is?" Jiang Chen frowned slightly, opened the envelope, and read the line of words. His eyebrows furrowed even more. Han Junhua seemed to have guessed the content of the letter. She only glanced at the first line of the letter and withdrew her gaze.
Although the wording was polite, it still couldn't hide the arrogance between the lines.
In short, it was a letter of surrender.
"It's not something that bandits and bandits can resist … right? Haha, it seems that we are really underestimated. "Jiang Chen shook his head with a smile.
Although the industrial capacity of the Sixth Street was not comparable to any industrial park before the war, if the wasteland was used as a comparison standard, it would be impossible to find an industrial base with such high production capacity on the entire planet. Although the Northern Alliance Area controlled the pre-war equipment, the war was never simply a comparison of technology, but also a test of logistics capabilities.
Even if a Wanderer could be exchanged for ten Tiger IIs, so what? One Wanderer destroyed meant one less, but there were still many Tiger IIs lying on the assembly line of the Sixth Street military factory.
He folded the letter and looked at Kong Qian, only to see him looking at him with a half-smile.
"Looks like you made a wise choice." Jiang Chen smiled.
Kong Qian bowed slightly.
"In my opinion, the change of regime is like the rotation of the sun and moon, there is no such thing as orthodoxy. To us merchants, whoever can bring us stability will be the indisputable owner of this land. "
In the eyes of these businessmen, compared to the NAC that pursued free trade, the talents of the Northern Alliance Area were more like bandits.
"I will remember your words and your loyalty." Jiang Chen put the letter aside and looked at Kong Qian. "So, did you come this time to deliver this letter? Or is there anything else you want to discuss with me? "
"There is indeed one more thing." Kong Qian nodded and said, "I'm not sure if the Marshal has noticed, but this year's winter came a month earlier than usual."
Thinking about it, that was indeed the case.
Jiang Chen vaguely remembered that when it was still October, Wanghai welcomed the first light snow. Because a lot of things happened after that, he didn't pay attention to this detail. Now that he thought about it, it was indeed abnormal.
"Some time ago, a businessman in our Chamber of Commerce operating in the pharmaceutical and mutant cattle fur business returned from Shangjing and brought news from further north. The entire area north of Heilong Province belonging to the CCCP has almost become an uninhabited area because of the extreme cold. According to the climate data observed by the Shangjing Meteorological Station, in the next five to ten years, the earth is likely to usher in a Little Ice Age caused by nuclear winter. "
"Little Ice Age?" Jiang Chen frowned.
He vaguely remembered that in history, the Little Ice Age began in the 13th century and reached its peak in the 17th century. At its peak, starvation was widespread in Northern Europe, and even half of the population in Norway and Sweden died in famine. On the other side of the earth, part of the reason for the decline of the Ming Dynasty could even be attributed to this Little Ice Age.
"Does the General remember the first few years after the nuclear war?" Kong Qian asked.
"I don't remember, I was in the fallout shelter." Jiang Chen shook his head and replied with his usual words.
"No wonder." Kong Qian let out a sigh and explained to Jiang Chen, "After the nuclear war, in the first five to six years, even in the hottest south, the concept of summer didn't exist. The earth was covered with ice and snow all year round, shrouded in the haze of the nuclear winter. It wasn't until the beginning of the seventh year after the end of the nuclear war that the situation improved. "
"We originally thought that the nuclear winter had passed, but now it seems to be just our wishful thinking."
Kong Qian paused for a moment and then continued.
"From the survivor settlements north of Wanghai, they are desperately purchasing and storing food. It's still fine in Wanghai, but in areas outside Wanghai, the price of nutrient supply has doubled. Other than that, all commodities are depreciating … except for the hard currency crystal itself. "
"Someone is hoarding nutrient supply and crystals? Is there any special use for these things? "Jiang Chen asked.
"All survivors are hoarding these two things," Kong Qian said seriously. "As for the reason, it's obvious. They are preparing for the winter."
No one knew how long this winter would last. Ten years? Twenty years? Or even a century? As long as the radiation dust did not dissipate, the climate on the surface would only become more and more severe. Under the selection and elimination of nature, mutants would evolve in the direction of cold resistance, strength, and savagery, but weak humans without the help of tools could only be eliminated by nature in this Little Ice Age.
If this winter would last forever …
Jiang Chen looked out the window, and a strong sense of uneasiness rose in his heart.
This inexplicable uneasiness was even stronger than when he heard about the invasion of the Northern Alliance Area.
If the winter would last forever, NAC's plantations would be the first to suffer. Without the input of raw materials such as mutated fruits and Carm tree sap, the industry of the Sixth Street would undoubtedly suffer losses … Greenhouse planting? It could be done, but the most critical energy source could not be solved.
Most of the crystals in the Sixth Street came from mutant ranches, and the feed of the mutant ranches came from the mutated fruits produced by the plantations. The energy source of these crystals was ultimately solar energy. If the two energy sources of solar energy and crystals were lost, the power supply in the entire NAC area would be a problem …
Wait, if the migration of the Northern Alliance Area was due to climate problems, why didn't they migrate further south, but chose Wanghai on the east coast? Not to places like Fuzhou or Yizhou Island?
At this time, Jiang Chen suddenly recalled the "declaration of war" misinterpreted by the Crimson Chamber of Commerce in the last civil war.
If the Northern Alliance Area was not obsessed with the wreckage of the God's Cane, then what was the "treasure" they were talking about?
Just as Jiang Chen was lost in thought, Kong Qian spoke again.
"We have a proposal here. I hope the General can consider it carefully."
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