Natural disaster at the beginning: I will lead the system to build a safe zone

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

If Shi Anan and the others hadn't reported their safety in the team channel every day, I'm afraid Liu and the others would have rushed out to look for them.

Shi Anan and the others were not completely without gain after being out for half a month. They found a limestone mine in less than a week. It was not too far from Guangming Village, at least not as far from Changle Village.

After marking the route, they continued to search for iron ore, but the search was not so smooth.

They searched the approximate location marked on the map for three days, but didn't see any trace of the iron ore.

"Miss, why don't we go to Changle Village first to see if the villagers there have seen stones similar to iron ore?" Wu Yang suggested.

"This is the only way." They were not familiar with the area, so it would be a better choice to find a local to lead the way.

Following the path that Li told them and referring to the map, Shi Anan and the other two quickly found the location of Changle Village.

The population of Changle Village is much larger than that of Guangming Village, with about 300 people. Almost all the villagers are from the Li clan. Occasionally, there are some people from other families whose ancestors came here by chance, decided to settle down here, and then multiply to this day.

If An An had come here first, it would have directly met the population requirement for a primary village, but if he really ended up here, it would not be good either.

After all, the clan concept in Changle Village is stronger and more xenophobic. She, an outsider, wants to gain command here. Even if she has the halo of a god, it may be difficult for her to control it.

Thinking this way, Guangming Village is better. Besides, a village that has developed little by little by itself is more cohesive, isn't it?

Shi Anan's outstanding appearance and temperament were noticed by local villagers almost the moment she stepped into Changle Village. Although Changle Village is relatively close to the town, there are not many outsiders coming here. Most of them are daughters who have married into the town and come back to visit relatives.

"Who are you?" An old lady who had just finished washing clothes came up and asked when she saw the three people.

"Auntie, do you know how to get to Li Cuihua's house?" Li Cuihua is Li's real name.

"Cuihua? Do you know Cuihua?" The old lady looked at them suspiciously.

"Yes, Auntie, we are from Guangming Village." Shi Anan explained.

Hearing about Guangming Village, the old lady's expression relaxed a little. Cuihua from her family was indeed married to Guangming Village: "I am Li Cuihua's sister-in-law. What did Cuihua ask you to do here?"

Shi Anan was a little surprised. She didn't expect to run into Li's family as soon as she entered the village.

Before Shi Anan could speak, Li's sister-in-law continued, "Forget it, come with me first. It's not convenient to talk here."

Shi Anan and others nodded in agreement.

The three of them followed Li's sister-in-law to the village. On the way, she introduced herself, saying that her surname was Zhang and that she had grown up in Changle Village. However, she was not a member of the Li clan, so she could marry Li's brother.

Li's parents had passed away due to old age, and the current head of the Li family is Li's elder brother. After Zhang married him, she gave birth to three sons. The eldest and second sons are older than Hao Niubi, and now they have married and had children. The third son will soon be old enough to get married. Their family is also a large family with a large population in Changle Village.

Li had a good relationship with her brother since childhood. Later, her brother married his sister-in-law, and the two had a good relationship. However, because it was not convenient to walk on the mountain road, Li would only come when she returned to her parents' home on the second day of the Chinese New Year.

When An An mentioned Li this time, Zhang thought something had happened to her, so she hurriedly brought them back.

When they arrived at Li's house, Shi An'an and the other two sat in the yard. Zhang went to the kitchen to pour them some water, and then asked, "Miss, what happened to my little sister Li?"

Shi Anan waved her hands and said, "Don't worry, Auntie Li is fine. I came to the nearby mountains to look for something, so I stopped by to see you."

"Oh, then I'm relieved. My sister always reports good news but not bad news. I didn't know that there were so many fewer people in Guangming Village and the Hao family's life was not as good as before. They could hardly afford to eat. But every New Year, she would say that she was fine."

"We wanted to help her a little, but she was not happy about it and felt that we were in trouble."

Aunt Zhang talked on and on.

Shi Anan could see that Li's sister-in-law still cared about her, so she said, "Auntie, life in Guangming Village is getting better now. The gods have blessed the village and rewarded it with a new type of crop that can produce up to 1,000 kilograms per mu. Now the people in Guangming Village will no longer go hungry."

Aunt Zhang chuckled and said, "Girl, you look so fair and you don't look like you've ever worked in the fields. How can you produce crops that produce a thousand kilograms per mu? If you have that, why would we worry about not having enough food?"

"Gods? How can there be any gods? How can disasters happen even if gods are blessing us? The earthquake a while ago was so scary. Fortunately, we didn't get a big earthquake here. When I went to the town, I heard from the outsiders who had fled there that the capital had collapsed due to the earthquake."

Aunt Zhang obviously thought Shi Anan was too naive.

"What I said is true. You will know if you have time to go to Guangming Village." Shi Anan did not want to explain too much. If these people had not seen it with their own eyes, no one would believe that there were crops that could produce 1,000 kilograms per mu.

However, when Aunt Zhang mentioned the town, Shi Anan became interested: "Aunt, do you go to the town often? Are there many outsiders coming here recently?"

"I don't go there very often, but I just went there once last time, and there were indeed a lot more outsiders."

"Our Lingnan has been a place of exile since ancient times, and there were rarely any outsiders. But during that period, almost a swarm of people poured in. It was because of their arrival that we learned that there was a great disaster outside, and even the emperor seemed to be gone."

Perhaps because there were too few entertainment activities in ancient times, such shocking news obviously aroused great interest among ordinary people. Aunt Zhang also went to listen to a lot of it at that time.

"Then, ma'am, haven't the officials in Lingnan taken any measures to accept as many refugees as they come?" If that's the case, the town might be in chaos.

"But what else can we do? What can those officials come up with? In the past, the emperor was far away and no one cared about them. Now that the emperor is gone, they can do whatever they want."

"You can't go to the town now. There are waves of refugees coming every day. There is not enough food when there are too many refugees. It is common for people to fight over a bite of food."

"The officials don't care, and they can't even maintain order, but the people in the town don't dare to leave. If they stay here, they will be robbed of their food, and at least they can survive. I heard that a war has started outside."

Aunt Zhang told Shi Anan all the information she knew, and Shi Anan then realized that the outside world was in chaos.

But it is conceivable that without the emperor, no one stood up to stabilize the situation. Everyone suffered a great disaster, lacking food and clothing, and the survivors would definitely develop the idea of ​​killing, burning, looting, and competing for supplies.

But, after Shi Zhengde and Earl Zhongyuan left, could it be that the Emperor Yongchang, to whom they were loyal, also did not escape the tsunami?

But this is none of her business. Whether Shi Zhengde is dead or alive has nothing to do with her.

"Hey, Miss Shi, how did you get to Guangming Village?" After explaining the situation, Aunt Zhang became curious about Shi Anan and the others' origins. Guangming Village is such a remote place and it must be difficult to find.

"Oh, we got there by chance. We were lost in the mountains and forests and happened to meet the Hao family. They took us to Guangming Village to stay temporarily." Shi Anan briefly described her situation.

"My sister's family are all good people. So what are you looking for this time?" Aunt Zhang continued to ask.

"It's not that we think Guangming Village is not bad, but now that the outside world is so chaotic, we plan to live in Guangming Village permanently."

"But Guangming Village still has a few resources, which is not conducive to development. I came out this time mainly to find some minerals."

Shi Anan did not directly tell Aunt Zhang that she was out looking for iron ore. After all, iron ore is a thing that is often fought over by military strategists. Now that there is chaos outside, the desire for this resource is even higher. Although Aunt Zhang is just a woman, she is afraid that she will let it slip one day and attract the covetousness of outsiders.

"We don't have any minerals here. If there were any, those officials would have dug them up long ago." Aunt Zhang didn't take it seriously, but she couldn't say anything to Shi Anan and the others, so she just changed the subject and continued:

"Since you are my sister's friends, why don't you have lunch at my house today? My boss will be back from the fields soon."

Shi Anan did not refuse, but instead offered a piece of pork to Aunt Zhang as a thank you gift: "Thank you for bothering me."

Aunt Zhang, who received the pork, smiled so hard that her teeth could not be seen: "Look, you come here, why are you being so polite!"