In the second year after the storm arrived, the downward trend of Great Serpent remained unchanged.
After the end of the warm summer, the north of the mainland once again ushered in a sweeping cold wave. Countless towns were covered with hoarfrost overnight. The drop in temperature also brought about a reduction in food production. This made people who originally had hope become worried again, and the rising prices and hunger caused by food shortages have once again swept across the Alliance.
A shortage of 10% of food does not mean a price increase of 10%, but a price increase to the point where more than 30% of people starve to death.
Famine is not a rational phenomenon, it is more like a Plague called fear sweeping the earth.
Even if North Wind Defense Line operates normally and resists the southward movement of the storm, Great Serpent's sinking body will keep the sunlight away and the temperature will plummet, still changing the climate of the entire continent.
This is the ninth year of Gale Season, and the penultimate year since Season of Sinking Fog arrived. Countless scholars have predicted that this time Season of Sinking Fog will be longer, colder, and more desperate than usual.
Winter is coming.
"The Lady of Winter" lives high in Pale Place. The sage wrote a letter with blue-throated ink and asked the aimless three-clawed bird to deliver it. He asked this Hour how long the next Season of Sinking Fog will last. The reply he received was sixteen years.
Sixteen years of sinking white fog, thin sunlight, all things withered, Winter Beast rampant, this is a foreseeable and terrible disaster.
Soon, pessimism spread throughout the mainland. Perhaps those Transcendent people could easily spend these sixteen years, but for many ordinary people, these sixteen years will become an unpredictable test of life and death.
For a time, various places began to rush for food. Some countries and forces also began to implement food rationing systems and began to repair cellars and warehouses in various places to prepare for the long cold nights in the future.
In November, the snow first fell. When Sylutia was sitting in front of the window watching the snow, he received a notification from the Alliance Central.
Looking through the long letter with the official seal of the parliament, Sylutia nodded, then signed his name at the end of the letter and returned it to the courier.
"I understand."
"Since Lord Hedra already knows, I won't bother you any more." The official messenger from the Alliance nodded, put away his things, and then left for the next area.
After the other party left, Cheris came to Sylutia. Judging from her appearance, she must be a little curious about what the letter said.
"Alliance Council notified that all localities should prepare for food, try to store more food in the past three years, and make various preparations for the arrival of Season of Sinking Fog, such as warm clothes, houses, fuel, etc." Sylutia told Cheris.
"That's it." Cheris was not surprised after hearing this. Since the news spread about Season of Sinking Fog a few weeks ago that Season of Sinking Fog will last for sixteen years, the Alliance has started discussing this issue everywhere.
Sylutia came to the side of the office, where a local map was placed, depicting Mishir Main City, several sub-cities, and the location of the town.
"How is the grain production of Mishir District?"
"Usually, we can barely maintain self-sufficiency, and we often need to import some to make up for the gap." Cheris thought for a while and continued to add.
"There are many manors purchased by wealthy people here. They grow various fruits and use them to make wine. These manors also occupy the most fertile land."
"Can we switch them to growing food?" Sylutia asked back.
"I can suggest that given the current situation, I think they will probably not object, but these people will definitely keep the food they grow and will not hand it over easily." Cheris replied.
"How much will the average yield be if these fields are replanted with wheat?" Sylutia After coming to Mishir District, most of his energy was devoted to industrial production and he didn't know much about agriculture.
"An ordinary village field can produce about 120 kilograms of wheat per acre."
"120 pounds?" Sylutia feels that this number is a bit strange and far away.
In the remote mountain village of the Regas Kingdom, due to the barren land, the yield per acre is only about 60 kilograms. The central area occupied by the Mage Alliance is a vast plain with fertile water and soil, and there are many rivers. Coupled with the popularization of education in the Alliance, and farmers' rotational farming and fallow measures, the yield can be increased to 120 kilograms.
If it is such a comparison, many people may think that Mage Alliance is stronger in agriculture, but most of the various factions of the Woodland Alliance have a long history. These organizations have experienced more difficult times in their long time inheritance, understand the importance of food, and have accumulated more secrets related to gardening and agriculture.
Although the food output in ordinary mountain villages is not high, the fields carefully tended by gardeners can produce a large number of high-quality crops. These are also the raw materials for many elixirs, allowing Woodland Alliance to benefit from this aspect and maintain a certain number of gardeners for a long time.
But here at the Mage Alliance, the situation is completely different. Even if one acre of wheat is cultivated to perfect quality, the yield of 120 kilograms per acre will only earn 120 gold coins, and this is often achieved by third-level elite gardeners.
Switching to the same third-level Mage, he can easily get 300 gold coins per year by working in the Chamber of Commerce workshop, which is far better than the income from farming. If he has a skill or masters a rare skill, it is not a problem for the third-level Mage to get a salary of more than 800 gold coins per year, which makes farming even less attractive.
Some people may say, what if a third-level gardener grows rare crops, such as medicinal raw materials? This can indeed earn more, but the upper limit is still not high in the Mage Alliance.
Most Transcendent professionals of the Mage Alliance are Mage. Most of them need high-end gems and metal artifacts to advance, and a small amount of them need special ink, paper, etc. For spiritual purposes The demand for medicine is very small. Therefore, Alchemy magicians who are good at making gems and precision high-end metal creations are many in the Mage Alliance, but Pharmacist are relatively few.
When these factors are superimposed, it is not difficult to understand that even though Mage Alliance is strong overall, it is still weak in the agricultural sector.
Starving to death is a sad thing, but famine affects First Order Transcendent at most, and it is difficult to affect the second-level Mage apprentices above. With their social status and wealth, even if half of the ordinary people starve to death, they can still buy and obtain food.
Therefore, throughout the ages, Mage Alliance has not particularly cared about famine. However, this time Season of Sinking Fog is extremely long and may affect all aspects of the Alliance, so it is important to pay attention to it.
"The yield per mu is 120 kilograms----" Sylutia repeated this sentence and then asked.
"Is there any way to improve?" Of course she knows the method, but her current identity makes it difficult to tell her.
"I don't understand this." Cheris used to be a full-time combatant at the Inspection Department. After coming to Mishir District, he assisted Xilu Tia in handling government affairs and accumulated a lot of experience. However, she still didn't know much about the specific means of increasing agricultural production. After all, this was not a field she was familiar with.
Sylutia didn't blame her, she just sat quietly at her desk, thinking about how to solve it reasonably. If she really let go of all kinds of restrictions, she could easily increase the yield per mu to more than 1,000 kilograms with her methods, and ensure that the quality is close to perfect.
It's a pity, it's a pity, now she is Hedra" instead of Sylutia".