After Shen Feng expressed his thoughts, Yu Zhijing said, "City Lord, dealing with this matter is too troublesome. The City Lord's Mansion only issues tasks and cannot manage problems that arise during recruitment. Furthermore, how do we define illegal intermediaries? Are those who make money illegal intermediaries? Then, if someone works hard to find people and complete tasks together, and also contacts the City Lord's Mansion staff, and has worked hard, are they considered illegal intermediaries? If there are no foremen, who will find work for people?"
After hearing these difficulties, Shen Feng couldn't help but say, "We can't just watch these people suffer losses, can we? Many refugees are coming to Yuzhou for the first time, and they don't know the ways of this place. They are easily deceived. They work hard, but in the end, others earn the money. Is that fair to them?"
"City Lord, I know your current state. The reason you are so distraught is that you feel there are unfair phenomena in this world, and you are powerless to change them. Therefore, your spirit is tormented. However, it is unrealistic and impossible to abolish the intermediary industry," Ban Xian also said.
Shen Feng explained, "I don't want to abolish the intermediary industry, I just want to get rid of illegal intermediaries."
"That's also impossible, because every industry has good people and bad people. At most, you can reduce the proportion of illegal intermediaries, but you cannot completely eliminate them," Ban Xian continued.
"Then Ban Xian, do you have any way to help me?" Shen Feng looked at Dan Zhengming with a pleading gaze.
Dan Zhengming pondered for a moment and said, "Let's create a booklet. In the booklet, write down the precautions needed for living in Yuzhou. As long as it is well-publicized, it will always allow many people to avoid being cheated."
After thinking about it, Shen Feng felt that this was the only way. Perhaps after seeing this booklet and understanding the precautions, many people would not be easily deceived by illegal intermediaries in the future.
"I will immediately have someone create the booklet. Also, some people disturbed my mood while I was fishing, and they will not survive tonight," Shen Feng said coldly. The group of people eating barbecue today were bullies who preyed on the weak and sucked the blood of others. Such people should not exist in this world.
The refugees who arrived in Yuzhou were already miserable enough. Many suffered from long-term malnutrition. Yet, even in their miserable state, some people wanted to profit from them. They only wanted to survive, but they were being exploited. This world is truly ugly.
The booklet was quickly produced. Shen Feng personally reviewed it. The booklet was filled with precautions for food, clothing, housing, and transportation, without any superfluous words. Much of the content focused on preventing fraud. Many people cried after seeing the booklet because many of them had been victims of fraud.
In addition, Yuzhou began to implement a real-name rental system, which immediately caught the illegal intermediaries off guard. However, for every stratagem, there was a counter-stratagem. The illegal intermediaries immediately began to find people to pool their ID cards. The newly promulgated measures stated that each person could rent one apartment. Therefore, as long as there were many ID cards, many apartments could be rented. As long as there were housing resources, there would be no shortage of tenants.
However, Shen Feng subsequently issued other orders. Yuzhou began to check identities door-to-door. If the identity information did not match the rental information, the individuals would be directly apprehended and sent for labor. Those who lent their ID cards were also severely punished. In this way, the idea of renting apartments with borrowed ID cards also failed.
The illegal intermediaries then realized that their ability to manipulate the rental market was gone. They began to look for other directions to exploit. Besides renting out apartments, intermediaries could also make money by helping people find jobs, and they had many methods for doing so!
Shen Feng spent several months engaged in a battle of wits and strategy with the illegal intermediaries. However, as summer approached, he had to face an even more important matter: the mutated birds!
If the number of mutated birds could not be effectively reduced, then in the autumn of this year, the mutated birds would continue to attack Yuzhou.
During these months, refugees continued to pour into Yuzhou. Seeing the endless stream of refugees, Shen Feng knew that this was the consequence of the mutated birds' atrocities. Millions of people had been displaced by the mutated birds. Some lacked food, while others had to leave due to frequent attacks. If the problem of mutated birds could not be solved, refugees would continue to flood in.
"The yellow earth in the north is my hometown. When I was young, pear blossoms were fragrant everywhere. Just three years ago, my parents died. In the winter of two years ago, wild beasts knocked down my fence. Last year, the sky was full of wild birds, and my wife jumped into the pond. This year, I came to escape disaster. My pair of children, seven or eight years old, died on the asphalt road. Now, I have long given up hope..." A song from the north began to circulate in Yuzhou City at some point.
No one knew who sang this song or who composed it. The moment this song appeared, countless people began to sing it spontaneously. Whether they were from the north or locals, they were all deeply moved by this desolate and tragic song. This song depicted the shattering of a family.
In the apocalypse, families like this were everywhere. Shen Feng had also heard it many times. Lu Xian even sang this song on his music radio station. Although he was from the south, many people who heard it on the radio were moved to tears.
After witnessing many tragic events, Shen Feng finally made up his mind: "I am going out to fight! I am going to kill the mutated birds!"
When Shen Feng said this, it was during mealtime. Chang Jianyi said without looking up, "First, finish your self-criticism, then talk about other things! Besides, why aren't other forces going out to kill the mutated birds? You just have so many things to do."
Li Keyi also tried to persuade Shen Feng, "Ah Feng, if you feel tired, take the children out to play tomorrow. Go out and relax, and your mood will improve a lot. You must have absorbed a lot of negative emotions, which is why you are so agitated."
Shen Feng quickly explained, "Why don't you understand? I'm not joking, I'm serious. I want to save more people! If we continue to let the mutated birds run rampant, then peaceful times will never come. Relying solely on the new breadworms to be effective, how long will that take? 10 years or 20 years?"
Since spring, new breadworms had been spread in bird habitats across various regions, including Yuzhou. Although the birds had mutated, their intelligence was not high. After eating the breadworms without dying, the birds would identify the breadworms as edible food. However, these birds did not realize that their reproductive capacity was continuously decreasing.
Satellite observations confirmed this. Spring and summer were usually the best breeding seasons for birds, but the growth of mutated birds this year was very slow. This indicated that the new breadworms were effective. Jinling did not hoard this technology but provided the new breadworms to other countries. At least the major countries in the Northern Hemisphere had received the new breadworms.
However, in the final analysis, it was unrealistic to expect a significant reduction in the number of mutated birds in a short period. Only through combat could the number of mutated birds be effectively reduced. A dual approach would yield the best results.
Chu Zhaoyan couldn't help but ask, "What does this have to do with us? We are mainly responsible for the Yuzhou region. As long as there are no problems, that's enough. If you go out to fight, it's not worth it at all. You exert effort alone, and everyone benefits, while others reap the rewards. Instead, Yuzhou's strength is weakened. For what reason?"
Shen Feng was silent for a moment and said, "For world peace! Before, I kept deceiving the people under me with these words, telling them that as long as they followed me, they could create a peaceful world. But just watching is useless. Now I want to do this for real, and I hope you will support me."
"Support, of course, we support you. But Yuzhou is our foundation. Is it worth weakening Yuzhou's strength for an answer in your heart? Do you need to lead troops to deal with the mutated birds? Does leading troops require huge expenses? What if Yuzhou is attacked then?" Chang Jianyi did not intend to stop Shen Feng, but at this moment, she began to analyze the pros and cons for Shen Feng, seemingly wanting to bring Shen Feng back to his senses.
Shen Feng had already thought it through carefully and then said, "I have already made plans. I will not take too many people with me. I will take a thousand people with me, and they will all carry portable gliders. I can control the wind and take these people through the sky to fight the mutated birds. This will not affect Yuzhou's safety. Moreover, I will return to defend Yuzhou every year in autumn. Now, can you agree to my request?"
"Then do you hate us?" Chu Zhaoyan suddenly asked.
"No, how could I? I have three beautiful wives like you, so how could I hate you?" Shen Feng did not expect Chu Zhaoyan to ask this.
"Then if you love me, don't go!" Chu Zhaoyan revealed her true intentions and said directly to Shen Feng.
Shen Feng couldn't help but scratch his ears and cheeks, trying to find a way to persuade Chu Zhaoyan. "I'm not going and never coming back. I'm going to save people and do a great deed! I want to save the common people. This is also the last three words of the nine-character mantra your grandfather gave me. If I follow his instructions, you should support me."
"I don't care. If you are away for a long time, it means you don't love me, and I will hate you. Shishi, right?" Chu Zhaoyan was unreasonable and incited Shen Yishi next to her.
Shen Yishi was learning to speak, so she would say whatever her mother said. She vaguely said, "Yes, yes."
Shen Feng smiled wryly and wanted to continue persuading Chu Zhaoyan. He thought he would need to persuade his senior sister, but now it seemed that the most difficult person to persuade was Chu Zhaoyan.
"Alright, stop being childish. If Shen Feng has decided, let him do it. Men always have their dreams, don't stop him from pursuing them." At the critical moment, Chang Jianyi spoke up. She directly stopped Chu Zhaoyan's unreasonable behavior.
Chu Zhaoyan couldn't help but feel a little wronged and said, "But sister, do you know that Shen Feng is away for more than half of the year? Li Keyi, what do you think?"
Chu Zhaoyan originally disliked Li Keyi, but now, Chu Zhaoyan did not hesitate to win over Li Keyi to oppose Shen Feng.
Li Keyi was silent for a moment and suddenly said, "A man's ambition is in all directions."
Chu Zhaoyan finally had no choice but to agree to this matter. To compensate Chu Zhaoyan, Shen Feng stayed in Chu Zhaoyan's room during the time before his departure. During the period before leaving, he accompanied Chu Zhaoyan well.
In one month, Shen Feng assembled a special army. Everyone traveled light, carrying gliders on their backs. After a month of training flights, they could glide smoothly in the wind and follow Shen Feng to fight anywhere. Shen Feng named this army the "Feathered Army."
In midsummer, Shen Feng led the newly formed Feathered Army out of the mountains. They immediately attracted everyone's attention. Some people praised him, some thought Shen Feng was seeking fame, and some simply didn't care.