Time flew by, and autumn arrived, the season of harvest. However, the residents in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjian River found themselves without grain. A flood in the summer had caused immense damage, submerging all the crops. The plants sown in spring yielded nothing. After the floodwaters finally receded, they could only plant fast-maturing crops like sweet potatoes. But famine did not wait; it arrived swiftly.
Fortunately, after the Battle of Yanjing, most of the zombies in the northern half of the country had been eliminated. The black soil of the Northeast burst forth with immense production capacity. Not only did the steel industry regain its vitality, but agriculture also saw a bountiful harvest. The headquarters quickly mobilized autumn grain to the south for disaster relief, swiftly alleviating the famine.
Seeing that the famine had not caused widespread devastation, the headquarters breathed a sigh of relief. Although the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River could not produce grain in the second year of the apocalypse, the plains of the Northeast and North China yielded countless crops. Furthermore, with the zombies in Shu cleared early and under the policy of屯田 (túntián - farming by soldiers), a good harvest was also achieved. In an instant, the food crisis was resolved by humanity's powerful productivity.
However, while humans had food to eat, the animals in the mountains had gone mad with hunger. After more than a year of recuperation, the animals in the mountains had reproduced at an astonishing rate. The food in the mountains was already scarce. After consuming it all, they resorted to devouring each other. As autumn arrived, the mountains were covered in yellow leaves. Herbivores had no more food, and if they didn't descend the mountain, they would inevitably be eaten by carnivores.
Under these circumstances, from north to south, the mutated beasts in the mountains descended, targeting the unharvested crops and wreaking havoc. Some ate humans, and when humans were not available, they ate crops. In an instant, the damage caused by mutated beasts was everywhere.
Countless people could only hide in cities to avoid attacks from mutated beasts.
In Yuzhou, however, the damage caused by mutated beasts was greatly reduced. The reason was simple: Yuzhou allowed the profession of mercenaries to emerge. As a result, a large number of people began hunting mutated beasts. After consuming the flesh of mutated beasts, these people became evolvers and then sold the carcasses of mutated beasts for ration coupons, making their lives much more comfortable.
Yu Muhe and his twenty-odd subordinates were feasting in a stew shop. Their mercenary team was the most dazzling among all the mercenary groups. Although their numbers were small, only twenty-odd people, they had previously ambushed thirty mutated wild boars. These mutated wild boars belonged to a small family. They fell into a trap while descending the mountain, and the entire group was wiped out.
"Brothers, eat well and drink well. Today's stew is on me. We finally killed so many mutated wild boars and exchanged them for several thousand catties of ration coupons. If we don't have a good meal, wouldn't that be a huge loss?" Yu Muhe stood up and said to his brothers in the shop.
The others quickly expressed their thanks. It was a great joy to be able to eat stew for free.
However, at this moment, someone spoke up, "Boss, why don't you treat us to some real meat? I'm tired of eating these offal."
Yu Muhe thought for a moment and nodded, "Alright, let's be extravagant today and have thirty catties of pork. That would be enjoying ourselves."
Currently, the most expensive item in Yuzhou was meat. Ten catties of ration coupons could only be exchanged for one catty of meat. The City Lord's Mansion was also selling luncheon meat, with two catties of ration coupons exchanged for one catty of luncheon meat. As for animal offal, one catty of grain could be exchanged for two catties.
Therefore, the barbecue restaurants in Yuzhou had become shrewd, selling whatever was cheap. Since real meat was too expensive, they sold offal. Whether it was intestines or internal organs, as long as they were cleaned, they could be sold.
The owner of the stew shop was a woman. She quickly brought the lamb over. As she served it, she said, "You gentlemen are truly generous. Not everyone is fortunate enough to eat this lamb. The meat in Yuzhou is divided into three grades. Those in the City Lord's Mansion eat real meat, especially in the Fengshen Palace, where they have everything they want. Other workers in the city basically eat luncheon meat, which actually contains at most forty percent meat, just enough to taste the meat. As for us ordinary people, we can only eat internal organs and offal."
"Madam, you're joking. If your shop has so much meat, can you still be short of meat to eat?" a mercenary said with a smile.
The proprietress smiled and said, "How could a weak woman like me have the ability to open a stew shop outside the city? This is a collaboration with others. I can only afford offal and vegetables. The meat is provided by others. If I sell it, I get a commission, but I can't afford to eat it myself."
Yu Muhe suddenly had an idea and quickly beckoned the proprietress, saying, "Madam, why don't I provide you with meat in the future? How about we cooperate?"
The proprietress showed a distressed expression and quickly shook her head, saying, "No, no, my family lives in the city, and the person I cooperate with is from the City Lord's Mansion. I cannot offend him, or I won't be able to live in the city. Let's forget about this matter."
After speaking, the proprietress could not continue chatting. After serving the dishes, she quickly left.
A brother beside Yu Muhe asked in confusion, "Boss, why cooperate if it's not necessary? If we want to eat meat, we can hunt prey in the wild at any time."
Yu Muhe appeared rough, but he was meticulous. He explained seriously, "Haven't you noticed? The Mercenary Guild always undervalues our mutated beasts. Since that's the case, we might as well find a way to open our own shop, so our brothers don't have to risk their lives outside the city only to earn insufficient money."
"I think we can try it. If it sells, that's great. If it doesn't sell, we can sell it to the guild. Isn't that enough?" someone else chimed in.
Yu Muhe nodded and frowned, "I'll ask my son tonight when I get back and see what he says."
Just then, another group of people walked in from outside. The stew shop looked small, but it could accommodate over a hundred people. Besides the proprietress, there were over a dozen waiters. Since it was a restaurant located outside the city, it was naturally popular with many people.
"Proprietress, bring fifty catties of offal and ten bottles of white wine. Also, bring more vegetables. We have a lot of people here." The man in the lead looked to be in his thirties, in his prime, but he looked very haggard.
"Wei Tong, who are those people over there? I know all the major mercenary groups in Yuzhou, but I don't seem to have seen these people," Yu Muhe quietly asked the brother beside him.
Wei Tong took a skewer of lamb in front of him, ate it, and replied in a low voice, "This mercenary group is a bunch of opportunists. They went to the south to transport zombie corpses from the battlefield, then pickled them with lime and transported them to Yuzhou to sell to the guild. Although they don't fight on the battlefield, they earn just as much money."
"Damn it, this can also make money? It's truly unfair. We work hard to kill mutated beasts, risking our lives every day, and these people make money by stealing corpses from the south. The world today is truly incomprehensible." Someone cursed in a low voice at this moment. Honest hard work was always the inferior strategy. If hard work and diligence led to wealth, then donkeys would have been the richest in the world long ago.
"Don't cause trouble. Eat your skewers. How others make money has nothing to do with us," Yu Muhe said displeasedly.
Wei Tong ate meat and said in a low voice, "Actually, these people have been annoying others with their opportunism for a long time. I heard that some mercenary groups were unhappy with them and wanted to rob them on the way. These people are so dejected now, they must have been robbed. This is their own fault. Who told them to only know how to be opportunistic and have such poor strength? If not them, who else would be robbed?"
As a mercenary, Wei Tong naturally believed that mercenaries should play a role on the battlefield. Although mercenaries' combat effectiveness was inferior to professional soldiers, and their treatment could not be compared, mercenaries should always rely on their own strength. If their strength was insufficient, they should not be mercenaries. These people in front of him were a disgrace among mercenaries.
The group that had just entered sat down and began to curse, their emotions extremely agitated.
"Damn it, these people in the south are utterly shameless for driving us back."
"Exactly. We've been working for three months, and now they tell us we can't take the zombie corpses. It's truly shameless."
"Now it's over. Our financial path is cut off. We can't make money by transporting corpses anymore."
A group of people couldn't help but slam the table to vent their frustration. Watching their financial path being cut off was unbearable. As the saying goes, cutting off someone's financial path is like killing their parents. With their financial path now severed, they could no longer profit from transporting zombie corpses, which was as unbearable as losing their parents.
It turned out that when this group heard the news that zombie corpses could be exchanged for ration coupons, they immediately took action. They organized a group of people and went to two southern provinces to take away all the corpses from the battlefield. After pickling them with lime, they transported them to Yuzhou and indeed obtained a lot of ration coupons, eating meat every meal and going out for fun at the Mountain Outside Building every night.
However, after three months, the situation changed immediately. It turned out that local gangs in the two southern provinces were obstructing them. They had also heard about the news of profiting from zombie corpses, so they immediately divided the interests locally, preserved all the zombie corpses from the battlefield, and did business exclusively with Yuzhou. Sometimes they could even exchange them for evolution factor, which was a great thing.
As a result, when people from Yuzhou went to the southern provinces looking for zombie corpses, they were threatened by the local gangs and driven away. This way, their fifty to sixty people made a wasted trip to the south.
The man in the lead picked up a bottle of wine and drank it before saying, "Don't blame heaven or earth. Follow me from now on, and I won't let you starve. I always said such business wouldn't last. Anyone could do it, and we just seized the first opportunity. Now that others have taken our business, isn't that normal?"
The man was named Qin Xiaogao, the leader of the mercenary group. Now that he had spoken, his subordinates could only slightly restrain their resentment.
Qin Xiaogao said to his brothers, "The local gangs are too impolite, actually driving us away so rudely. But it's okay, there are always ways. If we can't sell zombies, let's sell fruits. There are many fruits in Dian Province, but very few can be sold. Therefore, only the rich in Yuzhou can eat fruits. It's autumn now, whether it's apples, oranges, or even mangoes, they can all be sold."
When his brothers heard their boss say this, they understood. Indeed, fruits were very expensive items in the apocalypse, and selling fruits was also a very profitable business.
Instantly, the gloom in everyone's hearts was swept away, and they began to discuss selling fruits. They were all people who were unwilling to go to the battlefield. Having become mercenaries, they were now thinking about how to make money easily. For them, doing business was a very good choice.
However, at this moment, someone sneered, "A bunch of cowards who dare not go to the battlefield, only know how to be opportunistic. Be careful of being robbed on the way, and then it will be all for nothing!"
Qin Xiaogao's face turned very ugly. He took his men and walked over, questioning, "Say that again!"
This was a man sitting in a corner. He was alone, and besides a long saber, he carried nothing else. The clothes on this man were also tattered, making him look like a beggar who had come from who knows where.
Qin Xiaogao was very angry at this moment. Even if someone wanted to accuse him of being greedy and cowardly, it wouldn't be this person. Don't think he was easy to deal with! He had dozens of brothers under his command, and with so many people, he didn't believe they would be afraid of a lone wolf.
"Even if I say it again, the result will be the same. What, you think I've hit your sore spot and want to make a move on me?" the lone man asked.