Although it would take 23 hours for Ren Xiaosu’s steam locomotive to travel from the Zhou Consortium to the Northwest, he had to make many rest stops along the way. Therefore, the actual journey would take about a day and a half.
After all, no one could get any rest as there were no sleeper cars attached to the steam locomotive. Everyone just stood and squeezed together in the carriages. They could not even make their way to the toilets to relieve themselves. As such, he had to set up camp and let everyone take a break for a few hours.
However, no one complained about the cramped space within the carriages or the fatigue they experienced during the journey. They were all harboring hopes of leading a stable life once they got to the Northwest.
At that time, they would have food to eat and work to do. They also would not have to worry about getting dragged into the war for the time being.
Everyone knew there would be a war between the Wang Consortium and the Zhou Consortium in the near term, so it was definitely a blessing to be able to leave that place quickly.
Besides, the Northwest and the Southwest were relatively stable for the time being. The refugees also heard that the headquarters of the Hope Media had been moved to the Northwest.
Before leaving, Ren Xiaosu promised them they would be given food when they arrived in the Northwest. No one was worried he would go back on his word either. Perhaps Ren Xiaosu himself did not expect he would have such a good reputation in the Central Plains.
Actually, Ren Xiaosu had also thought about piling on more refugees on the outside of the train so he could transport more of them at once. But he was really worried those people would get blown away by the strong winds as the steam locomotive traveled at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour.
After a day and a half, the steam locomotive arrived outside of Stronghold 144 in the Northwest. Wang Yuexi had already organized the stronghold’s staff to process the household registration for the new residents, with many banners flying in the open area.
“Welcome to the Northwest, fellow Northwesterners!”
“Tender for farmland: What you reap is yours to keep.”
“Welcome to our big family in the Northwest!”
The stronghold employees waited outside of the steam locomotive and greeted every refugee who disembarked with a smile, “Welcome to the Northwest. We’ll be family from now on.”
The aroma of roasted and fried sweet potatoes was lingering in town. All of the refugees could not help swallowing their saliva.
Although every one of the steam locomotive’s carriages had doors, Ren Xiaosu did not open all of them. Instead, he had the refugees line up and disembark from the first carriage. Then he just waited outside that door and shook hands with everyone in a friendly manner.
Ren Xiaosu smiled amiably as he shook hands with everyone. “All y’all’re safe now. Hurry up and get registered. Once you’re done, we’ll be one family, and all y’all will have potatoes to eat!”
The refugees were deeply moved and thought the future commander of the Northwest was just as upright, kind, benevolent, excellent, and affable as the rumors had said.
“Thank you, Future Commander!”
“Thank you so much, Future Commander!”
“Future Commander, I love you!”
Serious, Ren Xiaosu corrected, “Don’t love me, just thank me.”
The refugees lined up one by one to disembark from the train. Just the process of disembarking the train lasted for several hours, but Ren Xiaosu still shook hands with everyone nonstop. The sight was simply too touching.
Off to the side, Wang Yuexi sighed emotionally and said, “Sure enough, Future Commander is kind. These refugees must be a little terrified after arriving in the Northwest. Future Commander is helping alleviate their fears, and he can only achieve that by greeting them with the utmost enthusiasm! Future Commander has to shake hands with more than 6,000 people. If it were y’all, would you have this patience? Only Future Commander can do that!”
Wang Yuexi said to the stronghold employees in a solemn tone, “Everyone, you must learn from Future Commander’s selflessness. What do you think Future Commander gets out of comforting these refugees? Money? No! He’s doing this for the sake of the Northwest. He’s truly concerned for the refugees! Although we’re stronghold officials, we must keep in mind our mission to serve the Northwest. We have to understand that we’re service providers, not some privileged class! Let’s all learn from Future Commander!”
These words left the stronghold staff in tears as they expressed their desire to learn from their future commander. The Great Hoodwinker was standing next to Ren Xiaosu and heard him muttering, “5,891…5,892…”
The Great Hoodwinker wondered, “Future Commander, what are you mumbling about?”
“Oh,” Ren Xiaosu casually explained, “I’m doing a headcount.”
To be precise, he was taking note of the number of gratitude tokens received.
Why did Ren Xiaosu insist on shaking hands with everyone? For the gratitude tokens.
This time, they had brought a total of 6,012 refugees back from the Zhou Consortium. Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu gained a total of 7,131 gratitude tokens from them. In fact, each person had contributed more than one gratitude token to him on average.
Many people thought the greatest benefit of this refugee migration was the development of the population in the Northwest. But to Ren Xiaosu, he had gained a number of gratitude tokens he did not even dare to think about in the past!
The palace’s third weapon could finally be unlocked!
Ren Xiaosu went to look for Wang Yuexi, who was busy, and said, “Have you done a detailed calculation of the number of people required for the Northwest’s reclamation efforts?”
Wang Yuexi answered without hesitation, “70,000. Although over 6,000 people have arrived this time, it’s still quite a shortfall with regard to our plan. Of course, I also know the number is a little high. If you think that’s too many, 20,000 people will do….”
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. “Only 70,000? That little? What if I abducted more refugees than that?”
Wang Yuexi was also stunned by Ren Xiaosu’s words. In his opinion, it was already hard for the future commander to abduct 6,000 people. To ask the future commander to abduct tens of thousands of people more might prove a little difficult.
But he realized his thoughts were completely misaligned with the future commander’s. The future commander was hoping for an answer of like hundreds of thousands of people.
Ren Xiaosu asked, “What’ll happen if more than 70,000 people join the Prosperous Northwest plan?”
Wang Yuexi seriously pondered it and then said, “Future Commander, it’s not necessarily always better to have a larger population. If there’s too many immigrants, it could lead to a lot of potential problems. Here’s a comprehensive assessment I’ve made. First off, the basic infrastructure can’t keep up with the increased population. If we don’t manage to handle the large amount of sewage and garbage produced, it’ll lead to the contamination of our local groundwater. A secondary problem will be security. We’ll need to allocate a lot of manpower to ensure order, and that’ll also place a burden on the stronghold. Besides, there’s some other problems like the education curriculum and so on, all of which are very complicated to handle. The current Northwest is not ready to take in so many people.”
Ren Xiaosu nodded. “Alright then…”
When Wang Yuexi realized that Ren Xiaosu still felt a little unsatisfied, he suddenly said, “But I’m only talking about what Stronghold 144 can bear. If Future Commander can persuade Commander Zhang to implement our policies in the other strongholds, the shortfall of people will still be very significant!”
Ren Xiaosu’s eyes lit up. “You’re always so dependable!”
Ren Xiaosu waved to the Great Hoodwinker. “Come on, let’s head to the Central Plains again. We’re gonna make at least 10 trips before anything else!”
Next to him, Wang Yuexi said, “Future Commander, do you want to take a break first? There’s no hurry….”
“No.” Ren Xiaosu said righteously, “You don’t know how miserable the refugees in the Central Plains are. If we go a day later, a lot of people might have already died from starvation. How can I watch them starve to death!?”
Nearby, the refugees and the stronghold staff teared up again. Everyone munched on their potatoes and shouted, “Future Commander is kind and benevolent!”
