Elf 4th Century

[Note: The Zheer Elf population was only around 3 million when they first appeared alongside the Zheer Continent. If you have carefully read the elf lore I provided earlier, you will know that after nearly 300 years, the elf population has just surpassed 10 million. The market scale is small, so you cannot apply the cases of other countries here.]

As the final day of the 299th year of Levant passed and the clock hands finally turned to 00:00, the sounds of fireworks and firecrackers rang out across the Elf Kingdom.

Under the rule of Rus Wang, it took the elves a mere 300 years to progress from the late Neolithic era of large tribal systems, where copper was just beginning to emerge, to the current era where steam locomotives roar across the nation and Soul Guidance Devices bring convenience to daily life.

Although the double-track railway has only been laid in the Central Plateau region south of the Nanshan Rainforest in the north of the Zheer Continent, and has not even been fully completed, the elves, having experienced two years of adapting to a planned economy, have no doubt that the nation will welcome a brighter future under the roar of steam locomotives.

It was also in this year that the elders of the tribal era officially entered history, with only a few members who chose to break through to become Title Douluo remaining, hiding within the Grey Feather Division. The elf population officially entered an era where everyone was born under the rule of King Rus Wang.

It was also in this year that Rus Wang approved a new fifteen-year term for the Prime Minister, renewable for two terms. Due to his remarkable achievements in reform, Prime Minister Ulysses Taylor was granted special permission by the King to be included in this election quota and was granted the right to run for a second term following the reform of the Prime Minister's term limits.

At the same time, the cabinet set the tone, confirming the New Centennial Plan to incorporate the entire northern region of the Zheer Continent into the railway network.

"Hey, Henderson, your family's firework quota for this year has been delivered. Finally finished delivering them; I should head back now."

"Thanks for your hard work, Hank. Just put this cart back in the storage area."

"Of course. This is the camp's treasure; if it gets scratched by a stray spark from a firework, it would be a miracle if we didn't get burned."

This is a Construction Corps camp, which will also serve as the residential area for state-run farms after the Construction Corps personnel withdraw. Every Construction Corps stronghold in the Elf Kingdom is organized as a military combined arms battalion. Excluding the battalion headquarters, it oversees three construction companies, a logistics company, a technical platoon, a medical platoon (staffed by priests), and an additional combat platoon sent by the military.

The Construction Corps station is enclosed by a 4-meter-high wall, covering a rectangular area of about 360 mu. The reinforced concrete walls are a full 1 meter thick, designed to prevent the intrusion of top-tier and mid-tier predators like the Allosaurus and the Smilodon.

The construction companies are responsible for the reclamation of unused land outside the camp and agricultural production.

The logistics company is responsible for the maintenance and repair of various facilities and machines within the camp. They are vocational and junior college graduates specifically transferred from the cities. As long as these intellectuals serve here for ten years, they are eligible to take a re-examination. The top 15% of those who pass the re-examination will be admitted to high schools or universities with their high tuition fees waived. Those who fail will not be allowed to take a third re-examination and can only attempt to enter a junior college, return to the construction ice fields, or apply to leave the Construction Corps and enter society.

The combat platoon consists of elf spirit master soldiers with cultivation levels at the Spirit King and Spirit Sect ranks. They carry heavy weapons such as tachi, broadswords, and battle axes, and ride Heron Eagle Dragons or military Soul Guidance jeeps. They patrol the fields in the morning to drive away predators when elf civilians encounter an Allosaurus. At night, after everyone returns to the camp, they dispatch personnel to patrol the walls to prevent mid-tier predators with extremely powerful jumping abilities, like the Smilodon, from jumping in and sneaking into the small chicken farm outside the canteen to steal chickens.

Inside the walls, the functional areas of the Construction Corps camp are divided into the main corps factory building, construction tool storage, corps couple housing, the corps elementary school and preschool, and the corps canteen, which includes a small chicken farm that meets the camp's demand for eggs and chicken.

The factory building is constructed using metal plates and metal pillars in a modular, building-block style. The interior is divided into a washroom, a study area, an entertainment area, and four private bedrooms, separated by gender, though the soundproofing is not very good. Some factory buildings do not have metal walls installed inside, leaving only the outer shell to serve as a grain warehouse.

Married elves live in a special type of concrete house. To reduce construction costs and timelines, unlike the city houses that use two hollowed-out rectangular concrete blocks to build two-story detached homes, these houses use only one larger hollowed-out rectangular concrete block, which is significantly wider and longer than city houses. However, they are fully functional. If necessary, Construction Corps couples can use the food stamps issued by the corps every month to exchange for ingredients at the canteen to cook their own meals.

After the Construction Corps departs, these houses will be occupied by the state-run farm personnel who move into the camp to take up their posts.

When the elves of the construction companies have served for thirty years and intend to apply to leave the Construction Corps, the Construction Corps Personnel Department will arrange for the departing elves to move into towns formed at railway hub intersections, provide them with a standard house offered free of charge by the government to the public (see the comments section of Chapter 37 for details), and arrange for them to enter factories as workers.

The locations for the Construction Corps camps are surrounded by large areas of arable flat land or large open-pit mines. The sites are not isolated; on the contrary, they are served by double-track railways. There are inevitably multiple Construction Corps camps in the vicinity of each camp, and these camps are often connected by concrete roads that converge at stations for loading and unloading train carriages used for the annual grain output or monthly mineral output.

"On the first day of the New Year, I won't say any polite nonsense. I wish our Construction Corps camp's logistics company high-achievers success in this year's re-examination for further studies!"

The tipsy adult male elf, serving as the head chef of a Construction Corps camp canteen, said this to the elves gathered in the canteen for the New Centennial celebration.

This made the elves cheer in unison.

Afterward, they began to sing the most popular song of the Construction Corps, Drifting Rootless Grass.

We are like rootless grass, drifting across the land.

When we meet water, we take root; when there is no water, we depart.

Leaving seeds on the earth, waiting for the water to return, to sprout anew.

"Everyone is very lively on the first day of the New Year, aren't they?"

Rus Wang, along with his nine wives, the Barus family, and his second daughter, Iyuda, sat in the palace banquet hall on Temple Mountain, watching the grand spectacle of fireworks illuminating the night sky in the firecracker-permitted zone of Ravenna.

"Indeed. With clear standards for salary increases, everyone sees a clear path for progress, and with more disposable income, they naturally start making expenditures they wouldn't have dared to before."

Thalassa said to Rus Wang with a smile.

"Are you not going to give a speech on the radio, my King?"

"Since you say so, Thalassa."

Rus Wang smiled.

In every household of the Elf Kingdom, in the habitats of the Nanshan Rainforest, in the canteens of the state-run farms, and on the radios at the military garrisons in the Dragon Valley Forest, Rus Wang, as King, delivered his New Year's address.

"The bells for the arrival of the 4th century of Levant are about to ring across the vast expanse of the planet beneath our feet. The development of the Zheer Continent's civilization is about to enter a new century, opening a new hundred years. Tonight, in the north and south, east and west of this continent, regardless of race or faith, let us rejoice for the arrival of this historic moment."