Chapter 4: Seeds of Hope

  Today Chen Shao stayed in Qinghe Village all day until it got dark when Chen Hong reminded him that the power plant had been completed and he bid farewell to the villagers before returning to the base.

  Looking at the rectangular building that had already been built next to the base, Chen Shao knew that was the power plant, with bare walls on all four sides, and only a small closed door on the side facing the base.

  Looking at the power plant, a string of data flashed through his mind: magnetic energy reactor, 70W kilowatts. Walking into the command center, he sat down in front of the control panel and looked at the building unit icons, discovering that many of them had changed to multicolored pictures. In addition to the existing red alert units, such as the Chinese barracks and Chinese mineral processing plant, many other units had also turned colorful, including civilian buildings like seed bases and fertilizer plants, which could now be constructed. Seeing these civilian building units, Chen was in a dilemma. If it were before he went to Qinghe Village, he wouldn't have hesitated to choose the mineral factory, but thinking about the villagers' three meals a day, Chen's heart felt extremely uncomfortable. After some thought, he decided to ask Chen Hong first.

  "Chen Hong, if we build the mineral refinery first, will there be mining carts? If so, how much money can the base earn per day? For civilian buildings, can they be used immediately after construction is completed? If it's a seed base, does it directly produce seeds once built?"

  "Report to the commander, the mineral processing plant has a mining cart, and since it is a Chinese base, the mining cart is amphibious. The mining cart can only mine within 100 kilometers of the mineral factory, and it will automatically mine without human operation. There are two ways to use minerals: one is to sell them directly to the base at a relatively low price, estimated to be around 500-1000 per car; the other is to refine and categorize the minerals for storage, with phosphate ore being used as fertilizer factory raw materials and iron ore being used as steel mill raw materials. Civilian units can build factories, but they need to hire employees to produce. Seed bases can cultivate primary rice seeds, primary potato seeds, primary pumpkin seeds, and other primary seeds."

  "Can two buildings be built at the same time? Are there any minerals around the base?"

  "Report to the commander, affirmative. After scanning the base in that area, mineral deposits were found. The mine is located in Fangchenggang City, Guangxi Province, at Lige Village, Xiangshui Township, with a mountain elevation of 200 meters. Geological exploration data from the mining area provided nearly 1,000 ore analysis data, with an ore reserve of 53.045 million tons, metal reserves of 27.629 million tons, and economic value of 379 million, with potential."

  "Can several be built at the same time? Can the money in the base be withdrawn and used? Can real money be used as base money?"

  "Report to the commander, temporarily at most two building units can be built, but the original Red Alert unit building cannot point two at the same time, only one Red Alert unit and one civilian unit can be pointed. The base currency and real currency are linked, can be used interchangeably, various valid banknotes and deposit slips can also be directly used in the base. One gold coin is equal to one dollar now."

  Looking at the control panel in front of him, Chen Shao thought for a moment and then directly clicked on the China Mineral Refinery, consuming 2000 gold to confirm construction. The construction site was located in the innermost part of the mountain valley where the base was located. The mineral refinery took 2 days to build, and the remaining one was directly clicked on the seed base. The seed base only needed 1 day, consuming 1000 gold to confirm construction, and the seed base was clicked on the side of Qinghe Village near the mountain.

  The building was good, Chen Shao walked into the rest room, lay on the bed, staring at the light above his head, and fell into deep thought.

  Today is May 8th. The Sarajevo event occurred on June 28, 1914, in Bosnia, Balkan Peninsula. On this day, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a young Serbian man, while they were returning home from a military parade. This event led Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia in July, which became the spark that ignited World War I.

  There is only one month and twenty days left before the First World War, and the First World War is an opportunity for me. I must get my team together. After this global war breaks out, my chance will really come. More than a month later, my combat laboratory can be set up, and at that time, scientists from all over the world will be robbed. Relying on my foresight of the direction of world history, when others are fighting, I will sell things, and people will buy whatever they want. Red Alert is my biggest capital. However, selling things to Europe requires ocean transportation, so it seems that the shipyard also needs to be built as soon as possible. Fortunately, within 100 kilometers south of the base, there are the future's Fangchenggang City and surrounding waters, which is a natural naval port with excellent geographical conditions. Moreover, I also need to build my own ocean-going fleet and create my own brand. Unfortunately, I don't have any merchants among my biochemical people, so it seems that I am shouldering a heavy burden and the road ahead is long.

  Thinking of this, Chen Shao immediately got up from the bed and sat down at his desk, taking out a notebook and pen to start writing. First, he wrote down a long list of names, including Chinese and foreign names, among which were: Albert Einstein (1879-1955), founder of modern physics theory, Marie Curie (1867-1934), discoverer of radium, Qian Xuesen.

  Chen Shao looked at the long list of names on his notebook and nodded in satisfaction. He turned to another page and started writing again. The first three words were: Penicillin. As for this **gold**, Chen Shao only remembered a few key steps to extract penicillin, it seemed that he still needed to study slowly in the future.

  After finishing writing all these, Chen Shao directly fell asleep on the bed.

  May 9, 1913

  The next day, more than a dozen children came to the base, the youngest was 9 years old and the oldest was 15 years old, this was what Chen Shao agreed with Kong Hong yesterday. The next day, Chen Shao called the children to come to the base to find him, and he was responsible for teaching these children to read and write.

  "Hello, Teacher Chen!"

  "Hello everyone,"

  Looking at the children who were happy despite their poor appearance, Chen Shao suddenly felt like he had returned to modern times. He led them into a conference room inside the base, which was very large and had enough tables and chairs. On the first day, he didn't teach the children to read or write, but instead showed them a world map, introducing each country one by one. At noon, they ate some grain sent from the village, and in the afternoon, he asked the children to sing songs and count numbers. When the sun set, Chen Shao withdrew 500 yuan from the base and returned to Qinghe Village with the children.

  Watching the children skipping and jumping back to their respective homes, Chen Shao walked directly towards the village chief's house. Kong Hong, who was sitting at the door of his home, smoking a dry pipe, saw Chen Shao approaching him, shook the pipe stem, stood up and welcomed Chen Shao: "Teacher Chen, those little kids didn't cause you any trouble, did they?"

  "Old Master Kong, I think these kids are quite lovely."

  "Then I'll have to trouble Teacher Chen to go to a lot of trouble." Kong Hong said with a kind face.

  "Mr. Kong is too polite, but Mr. Kong, I'd like to ask for a favor from Brother Kong Wen Hong, help me buy something with this 500 yuan." Chen Shao said and handed the 500 yuan he had taken out from the base earlier directly to Kong Hong.

  Looking at the money handed over by Chen Shao, Kong Hong did not directly take it but instead opened his mouth: "I don't know what Teacher Chen wants to buy, why so much money."

  "It's just buying some school supplies and buying some grain and meat."

  "How can we let Teacher Chen pay for it then?"

  Two people pushed each other for a while, and later Kong Hong saw Chen Shao's persistent face, so he reluctantly accepted the money and went back to his room to inform his son Kong Wenhong, instructing him to gather several strong young men from the village tomorrow to go into town together.

  After Kong Hong finished his handover, Chen Shao said: "Old Master Kong, please inform the surrounding villages tomorrow that no matter which village's children can come here to read books for free. I will also provide lunch, and there will be meat in every meal. Also, ask someone from the village to help me with cooking and cleaning, 2 yuan per month temporarily, including three meals a day. And tomorrow, behind the village, I will have people build a seed base. If you hear any noise, just ignore them. It's estimated that it can be completed by tomorrow night."

  "I understand, I will notify them. Teacher Chen is really a good person, it's our village's fortune to have met such a great philanthropist like Teacher Chen, thank you on behalf of my fellow villagers." Kong Hong thanked Chen Shao excitedly with a look of gratitude.

  "Also, I have another thing to say: soon I will be building a factory on the mountain and at that time I will recruit workers from around here, 2 yuan per month for women and also 2 yuan for men. Hope you can help spread the word."

  "No problem, being able to work under Teacher Chen is a blessing for the entire village."

  After handing over the matter, Chen Shao walked directly to the seed base next door. The seed base also occupied a considerable area of land, although it was still in its infancy at present, but it looked similar to the vegetable greenhouses of later generations.

  The seeds of hope have been sown, and now it's just a matter of time for them to sprout and grow slowly.