No matter how beautiful the scenery on the road is, it will look a little boring after a long walk. After crossing Yishui, everyone's interest in traveling has obviously weakened a lot. Of course, it has nothing to do with the desolation in the northwest. The slowest recovery from the war was in the Northwest, which was originally a place of bitter cold. After the great chaos, the number of people in the Northwest has decreased by almost 80%.
Walking on this desolate land, sometimes tens of miles or even hundreds of miles, there is not a single person in sight.
The climate here has also warmed up a lot. Although it is not as good as Jiangnan in the Central Plains, it is a rare good time for the northwest roads in a year. After running along the dusty official road for a while, you can occasionally see small pieces of crops Tenaciously growing. Just like the human heart, as long as there is hope, it will continue to persevere.
Fang Jie walked all the way, thinking about how to improve the lives of the people in the Northwest.
Then Fang Jie suddenly thought of something.
This place is far more desolate and desolate than the Central Plains. Even if the weather is good, the crops may not grow well. He stopped the carriage, squatted on the ground and dug some soil with his hands and looked carefully, it was hard to see anything with the naked eye. But there was an idea in Fang Jie's mind that popped up very abruptly and naturally, something he had never considered before.
"What are you thinking?"
Xiang Qingniu squatted beside him and asked.
"I'm thinking about why the Northwest is so exhausted."
"War."
Xiang Qingniu gave a very casual answer.
But this extremely ordinary answer made Fang Jie's mind suddenly open. The idea that popped up just now seems to have been confirmed.
"I think I can probably guess something."
Xiang Qingniu said: "Don't be tricky, speak quickly."
Fang Jie and the others returned to the carriage. In the northwest where water resources are extremely scarce, they also began to calculate. Even if they are great practitioners, water is still an indispensable thing. After crossing the Yishui River, I walked according to the standard map of the Sui Dynasty, picking up the route with the most water sources, but even so, the number of times I peed every day basically decreased a lot.
"You know, Mr. Jiu in Yueyingtang used this thing to make waves."
Fang Jie took out the thing that can take people through the void and said: "This thing is a product left over from the death of the last civilization a long, long time ago. According to the normal development track, it is a very long time for people to reappear after the extinction. The process may take tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years or millions of years. This is a terrible number, terrible enough to turn everything left by the previous civilization into ashes."
Although Xiang Qingniu didn't understand Fang Jie's words very well, he still managed to understand: "I know, it's like an ancient tomb. After a long enough time, when you open it up, there's only a pile of bone powder left inside."
Fang Jie hummed: "However, this thing is not only well preserved, but also can be used. This shows that it is not very long after the last civilization perished until human beings ruled the world again, at least not 10,000 years ago." So long. In other words, maybe humans were not extinct at that time, but there were very few people who survived."
"These people are most likely those backward ethnic groups living in the most remote places."
Fang Jie said: "The war may not have spread to these places, and those terrible weapons that can destroy the world have not killed everyone. But they have destroyed the progress of civilization, and even those who survived have to face a barren world Therefore, they can only develop from scratch. And these backward nations themselves are not developed, and after a few generations, they have no choice but to return to the way of survival explored by humans.”
Xiang Qingniu thought for a while, and said seriously: "Can you speak plainly?"
Fang Jie smiled and continued: "Those who survived took thousands of years, perhaps three thousand or five thousand years, to gradually develop human beings from the most primitive living conditions to today's living conditions."
"What does this have to do with Northwest Fatigue?"
Xiang Qingniu asked.
Fang Jie said: "There is nothing directly related, but it has something to do with the general environment. If this place in the Northwest, such an environment, is in an era of extremely advanced civilization, the role of this place may only be... an experimental weapon. This place may There are many institutions hiding huge experimental weapons, which are used to develop those horrible things that can destroy the world. So... "
Xiang Qingniu suddenly understood: "So, once a war starts, this place will be the first place the enemy will attack."
Fang Jie nodded: "Because there are a large number of such institutions here, the enemy will definitely attack the place that can launch that kind of terrorist weapon first. Let's call it a weapon base. Generally, weapons of this power They must be developed in desolate places. Therefore, when the war began, the enemy's terrorist weapons began to pour toward this place."
Xiang Qingniu said: "Then the environment of this place has been changed to be even worse?"
Fang Jie nodded: "That's pretty much what it means. Any weapon with that kind of power does not rely on a simple explosion, but a way to destroy the ecological environment. This place is already very tired and desolate, and with the addition of a lot of those So many weapons exploded here that the Northwest could be barren for a long time."
"After hundreds of thousands of years, the influence of this place has gradually weakened. However, it is obviously impossible to become a fertile field."
This is the summary of the solution.
"very scary!"
Xiang Qingniu sighed and said, "It's scary when you think about it... It's a completely different way of development. Nowadays, people want to be a practitioner admired by everyone. As long as they become practitioners, they can change themselves." life. But in that era, a group of ordinary people ruled the world. It’s just that those ordinary people held such weapons that were far more terrifying than any great practitioner’s full blow, and could even reach the Precise attacks from hundreds of thousands of miles or even tens of thousands of miles away."
"terrible."
Xiang Qingniu shuddered: "If we still develop in that way now, maybe the enemy will throw a terrifying weapon of that kind tens of thousands of miles away from us, and we will just die for no reason."
"People are really strange things."
Fang Jie said with emotion: "To develop in that way, human beings have developed weapons that can change nature to resist nature and even destroy freedom. But after the way of development is changed, people can actually rely on their own potential to develop Another flourishing development... spirituality."
Xiang Qingniu said: "If you put it this way, people are indeed the most powerful existence."
Fang Jie smiled: "Maybe, there are other potentials in the human body that have not been developed."
…
…
The official roads in the northwest were originally built according to the standards of the Sui Dynasty, but due to years of war and no human habitation, many official roads have become potholes. Without the maintenance of local government agencies, no matter how solid and compact the roads are, they will gradually be destroyed by the strong winds in the northwest.
The carriage started to move and became unstable.
Xiang Qingniu rubbed his buttocks and complained: "Actually, this kind of place can be completely abandoned. In order to keep this buffer zone in the Sui Dynasty, countless money and food were spent every year. But even so, the people of the Northwest all roads live absolutely peacefully." The words Zizai and Fushi have nothing to do with a single copper coin. Let me tell you, no one is obliged to be a victim of national interests here. After you become emperor in the future, do you consider completely abolishing this place?"
Fang Jie nodded: "It is true that there is no need to immigrate here and spend a lot of money to support the people. Instead of spending all the money and food here, it is better to spend it elsewhere. When I am free later, I will make Song Zi regret it." Organize the people from the northwest roads to withdraw to the east of Yishui. After the war, the number of people suffered a great loss. Even in Jiangnan, which was not affected too much by the war, the population decreased. Therefore, the remaining people in the northwest were integrated into Yishui Edom, no problem."
"But… "
Wu Yidao said: "This involves the issue of where the gate of the country is. At the beginning, Fan Gu was set up as a border city, and 800 frontier troops were sent to guard it. Fan Gu is the gate of the country... If everyone in the northwest is withdrawn, the gate of the country will become Yi. Where the water line is. For the territory of the empire, it has actually shrunk by a large part.”
"No one wants this place."
Fang Jie thought for a while and said: "This place in the northwest is just a symbol. Let the garrison take turns to garrison later, and the people don't have to stay. But this kind of garrison, the supply line is too long, and the huge amount of materials consumed is also a challenge. Numbers that people can't stand."
Wu Yidao was silent for a while and then said: "It's better to let the northern barbarians come over."
He pointed to the north and said: "Although most of the barbarians have already migrated to the grasslands and competed with the Mongols for territory. But there are many barbarians who are not used to life in the grasslands. After the establishment of the country in the future, these barbarians must subdue them. When the time comes They surrendered, and then let the barbarian team exist according to our team system. Promise them some benefits and give them the Northwest."
Fang Jie didn't speak, noncommittal.
Although this place in the northwest is tired, it is also a place to nourish the sick.
"Let's talk about these things later... let's talk about Fan Gucheng first."
Fang Jie said: "I now suspect that the underground palace under Fangu City is one of the weapon bases mentioned earlier. Because it is hidden deep underground, it is protected from damage. For some reason, this place is sealed. So much so that the contents inside can even be used. The more curious I am, the more good things are there.”
"I'm starting to wonder too."
Xiang Qingniu was eager to try: "Do you think it's possible to find a closed box, you open it, and I'll... It's a beautiful woman from thousands of years ago who is still alive."
Fang Jie nodded: "Then I'll let you be among several concubines... Iron guy, it must be very cool."
Xiang Qingniu thought for a while, then shuddered: "Forget it, and cut it off!"