Chapter 231

That's not right either. Simplicity and kindness are not words that can coexist, and simplicity can also coexist with ignorance. Moreover, one thing that no human being can escape is the desire to 'protect their rights'.

Everyone will protect their own rights, and when their rights are violated, they will try to protect them.

This is an indisputable matter and something that should be encouraged.

But when the protection of rights is combined with ignorance, they often do many things that are hard to understand.

The original scenario of Rin sacrificing herself to pray for rain is the most direct example of this.

The villagers' initial intention was simply to protect their own interests, pray for rain, and ensure a successful harvest for their crops. However, their ignorance and lack of understanding led them to choose this useless and extremely cruel method.

So Rin's feeling was right; the villagers here were indeed very kind to her.

Because there's no need to sacrifice her now to pray for rain.

Saber's feeling was also correct.

Because at that time, she needed to be sacrificed to pray for rain.

Saber doesn't seem inclined to shatter Rin's naive understanding, because she doesn't know how to remedy it if she does. And as things unfold, that mind-blowing event is bound to happen sooner or later.

This is really a bit of a problem.

He was afraid of both wolves in front and tigers behind.

Saber continued shopping with Rin.

Yae Village is actually quite large; although it's called a 'village,' it's much larger than that. It's roughly equivalent to a 'town.'

A town that's neither too big nor too small.

The village is not entirely populated by ordinary farmers who primarily engage in farming.

There are also industrial and commercial enterprises here.

For example, there were pastry shops, clothing stores, blacksmith shops, and taverns. There were even red houses. Although they were not large in scale and there were not many of them.

But even though it's small, it has all the essential organs.

This place has almost all the intelligence that a city needs.

There are still many things to see and explore on the streets of Yae Village.

Saber took Rin for a stroll here, partly to try and strengthen their bond and partly to explore Yae Village in this era.

"Make way! Make way! Get out of the way! Don't block the way!"

Suddenly, Saber heard a commotion, a hurried, tense, and fearful sound, followed by a group of men running past Saber in a panic.

Run towards the Yae Shrine.

"This group of people..." Saber frowned as he looked at the group of people.

It seems the wheels of history have started turning after all.

It's either drought or Honkai Beast.

It was bound to happen.

It's finally coming!

Chapter 264 The Storm Is Brewing

'Oh no, this could be a tricky feeling.'

The Saber never expected that this matter would be even more outrageous than he had imagined.

She believes this matter might be more difficult than in history, but still much easier than she anticipated, because it has the foundation of games and established settings.

So even if it's difficult, it's just a choice between two options.

However, there are solutions for both of these.

Unfortunately, the situation they are facing now may have been beyond Saber's expectations.

"What happened?"

Mei and Theresa, who arrived late, looked at the tense-looking villagers with bewildered expressions. They had no idea what had happened to make the village so tense.

Of course, there's a reason why these two were completely confused.

Because the issues here do require solutions from other types of experts.

Even when Saber arrived, he was completely bewildered and had no idea what was going on. Although everything seemed calm and no one had died, everyone was terrified.

If I hadn't overheard someone discussing this...

Saber couldn't realize the seriousness of the situation.

"Look at those rice plants in the field." Saber frowned, his face serious and troubled. "They're afflicted by disease, although they seem fine for now."

"But the experienced farmers said that the rice would wither in a few days."

Crop diseases are one of the important reasons for crop failure.

This is absolutely a bombshell in Yae Village!

Although Yae Village has some commerce and handicrafts, it is essentially still a Yae Village. It's just a little larger than other villages.

It's not the kind of vastness found in the fingertips of the universe.

Agriculture remains the main and pillar industry of the village.

The vast majority of villagers are farmers who make a living by farming.

What are the characteristics of agriculture at this time? These are characteristics relative to the future. The characteristic is high input and low output.

Of course, this is in relation to the future.

In this era, there were no industrial fertilizers, no superior hybrid rice, no mechanized agricultural tools, and no scientific planting guidance.

With the help of farmyard manure, self-saved seeds, experience, and tools that have been used for who knows how long, they were able to achieve their goal.

The yield per acre of crops is very low.

At the same time, this era did not yet have the population explosion and disaster-resistant wonders of later generations, such as potatoes and sweet potatoes. If crops suffered from pests or diseases, resulting in total crop failure...

A great famine was inevitable!

Now, the Saber in distress is facing crop diseases!

If it were a historically rare drought, Saber could try to mobilize the masses for self-rescue. Yae Village doesn't lack water resources; what it lacks is the means to bring those resources to the fields for large-scale irrigation.

If it's Honkai Beast, then it's even simpler.

As the Saber, I don't believe I can't defeat a few infected beasts, especially with Theresa and Mei.

The Saber refused to believe he couldn't defeat those wild beasts.

But now this kind of thing has happened.

The Saber was truly at a loss.

Saber was completely baffled, and Theresa and Mei were naturally clueless as well. While these two weren't exactly pampered young ladies who never lifted a finger, agriculture truly was a discipline that required expert guidance.

Neither Theresa nor Mei are agricultural workers.

They naturally couldn't understand anything.

It's hard to tell how this lush, green field of crops, which looks like it's growing very well, was diagnosed as being afflicted by disease.

Theresa crouched down and pulled over the nearest stalk of rice. She examined it carefully for a long time but still couldn't see anything wrong.

"This plant can get sick too?" Theresa asked, a little bewildered.

"Of course it will," Saber squatted down and patiently explained, "And you can also get infectious diseases."

"Look here, aren't there small black dots?"

"Saber pointed to a very tiny black dot on the lowest leaf of the rice stalk and said."

"Yes, I see it." Theresa nodded immediately and said, "Just this little bit? It looks perfectly fine. Why is it making me so nervous?"

"This little bit is enough," said the Saber. "Now is the crucial time for the rice to head."

"Although you can only see these small black spots, the inside is actually already diseased."

"The nutrients simply cannot be delivered."

"This rice stalk was planted in vain."

"If only one plant had this problem," said Saber, looking at the farmland, "Then it would be fine, just pull it out. But the problem is that it's not just this one plant that's having this problem."

"But the whole area of farmland is in trouble!"

"You actually know this?" Mei said, looking quite surprised.

The PhD who studies Honkai actually knows about agriculture? And he seems quite professional about it. That's really unexpected.

"It's not that I understand," said the Saber, standing up. "I heard these old farmers discussing it, and I've also read some related materials before. So I know a little bit."

Yes, I've actually seen the Saber before.

As for why I went to see it, it was certainly not voluntary.

You'll have to ask the amazing Farming and War Channel.

This CCTV agricultural and military channel is truly a magical place; it doesn't just broadcast agricultural and military-related programs. Amazingly, it even broadcasts cartoons!

Yes, the Gengzhan Channel broadcasts cartoons!

So when Saber was little, he would often sit in front of the TV waiting for cartoons to play.

Therefore, while watching anime on channels like Farming and War, you'll naturally see other programs as well, including military programs and agricultural programs as well.

Otherwise, why would it be called the Farming and War Channel?

As I grew up, I saw some documentaries that introduced knowledge and techniques about farming, and I also occasionally saw similar science videos when watching science videos.

The Saber accepts all comers.

I've gained a whole bunch of knowledge that I can't really use.

Although it looks quite professional now, it's still not very useful.

"Is there any way to remedy this?" Although Theresa didn't quite understand, she roughly guessed the seriousness of the problem and said, "Just let it develop like this?"

"There's nothing we can do," said the Saber. "This is very likely Rice Blast Disease."

"It was also a headache in our time."

"We need to spray pesticide."

"But do you think we can develop the necessary pesticides under the current conditions?" Saber shook his head.

"First, I don't have the equipment; second, I don't know which medicine to use; and third, there's no way to produce it on a large scale."

First of all, while Saber knows a little, it's only superficial. Popular science isn't scientific research. Popular science is just something very shallow and superficial; trying to understand popular science is like playing a game—it doesn't even qualify as an introduction.

Saber didn't know what medicine was needed, and even if he did, he wouldn't know how to make it.

Even if the medicine is made through certain methods, it's useless.

Such a large field cannot be treated with just a little bit of pesticide.

It requires large-scale, multiple sprayings, and the formulation needs to be tailored to local meteorological and biological conditions. In short, this is a problem that requires multi-party cooperation, on-site investigation, and the expertise of professionals to solve.

Sending the Saber is really putting people in a difficult position.

"Is there really no way to deal with this?" Mei also sensed the seriousness of the situation.

"Well, how should I put it?" Saber pressed his temples and said, "We do have some, but the problem is that we don't have any seeds. If we had seeds, we could suggest that the villagers cut down all the rice they have now and plant corn, sweet potatoes, or potatoes instead."

The Saber did remember some rather extreme, perhaps even extreme, remedial measures.

It means abandoning all of these crops, cutting them down, and replacing them with a crop that has a short growth cycle and high yield.

But even if we wanted to plant them now, we wouldn't have any seeds.

It was during the Wenzheng era, after 1466. Sweet potatoes wouldn't be brought back to Europe for cultivation by the Portuguese for another three years, let alone crops like potatoes and corn.

It will only be later, not earlier.

Even if a European trade ship were to arrive at this time, it wouldn't have these things.