The caravan sent by the Ning Chamber of Commerce to Dry Lake, Zhang Jianyang stayed on the cargo compartment, looking at the Lie Yue above his head.

From Shacheng to Dry Lake, it can be said that it is the most lively trade road in the whole Shacheng, and the caravans that come and go every day can be as few as a dozen, and sometimes even as many as twenty or thirty. Due to the sheer volume of the incoming and outgoing movements, caravans generally wait at transit stations for more caravans and then set off in groups.

This also caused caravans to be seen on the trade routes that stretched for several kilometers.

The road from Shacheng to Dry Lake is not very easy to walk, and countless caravans have set foot here for hundreds of years, which has long made this place fall into disrepair and become potholes.

Like this kind of road, the most suitable role is the wild bull, dragging the long cargo compartment, undulating forward.

The cheers of the caravans rang out from each other, and the animal trainers controlled the bulls, pulling the only small amount of goods, and headed in the direction of the dry lake. Sand City is a desolate place, not rich in anything, and of little value other than a large amount of ore and a small amount of crude oil. This also led to caravans, most of which were mainly ores and metals.

Fortunately, with the development of the Tamu Basin, a large amount of refined salt appeared on Shacheng, making Shacheng a transit city for refined salt.

A large amount of refined salt will be transported from the Tamu Basin to Shacheng, and then from Shacheng to Dry Lake City, after which part of it will be consumed by Dry Lake City, and the remaining part will be sold to other cities. It can be said that the dry lake is the last stop of refined salt, and then it will disperse to more cities.

The road leading to the dry lake in Shacheng is sandy except sand, and occasionally encounters an oasis or two, and the caravan generally takes a break before hitting the road.

By noon, weeds began to appear on the dunes, no longer a yellow color as far as the eye could see.

Zhang Jianyang knew that this should be about to enter the boundary of the dry lake.

The people on the caravan are not surprising, they have taken this road dozens or hundreds of times, and they have long been familiar with it.

After more than an hour, the shadow of the long yellow sand was finally gone, but replaced by patches of green. Zhang Jianyang looked up, the terrain here is flat, overgrown with green grass, and every few hundred meters, rows of thick poplar trees will grow. Most of these poplar trees, more than 100 years old, were planted before the nuclear war, and now they are defending the land from wind and sand.

Beyond these aspen trees for tens of kilometers in a row, there are undulating mountain ranges.

These mountains are not high, they can only be described as small hills, with dense woods, so that people who are accustomed to the scene of Sand City are always pleasing to the eye.

The small hill is not very large, and it seems to be a wall separating it from the desert.

Beyond the small hills, there is a plain with no end in sight, but now it is replaced by an endless golden yellow, not a desert, but a patch of crops that have entered the harvest period.

Here, there is an endless wheat field, which belongs to the city of dry lake.

The caravan marched through this infinite crop, a straight path with no end in sight, as if connected to the sky. In fact, when I arrived here, there was still a considerable distance from Dry Lake City. As a famous city rich in grain, Dry Lake City is located in the middle of this plain, and the grain it produces is supplied to more than 12 cities and nearly 10 million people, making it the most important city in the entire northwest region.

In reality, Zhang Jianyang went to the dry lake for the first time, and he went to the fantasy land several times.

In Zhang Jianyang's impression, Dry Lake City is the most peaceful city in the entire northwest, with a population of more than two million, and there is almost no history of being attacked by mutant beasts. Not only that, but it is also the economic and political center of the entire Northwest and is the capital city of the Northwest Province.

Unlike the concentrated population in Shacheng, there are many small towns and villages scattered here, and the population is extremely scattered.

The reason why Dry Lake City is so safe is mainly related to its geographical location, it is surrounded by urban protection, and it is located in the plain, and there are almost no animals before the nuclear war, and naturally there is no such thing as mutant beasts. Moreover, Dry Lake City is also the city least affected by the nuclear war, and the people who live here are all residents of Dry Lake City.

The caravans that appeared on the highway were accustomed to the people working in the fields.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, there were finally high-rise buildings in Dry Lake City, towering between heaven and earth. Standing up on the cargo compartment, Zhang Jianyang raised his eyes and saw that on the edge of the golden crop field, there were dozens of residential buildings, and the glass reflected a touch of light in the afternoon sun.

"Team Zhang, this is Dry Lake City." Zhou Hai, the team leader, said that he thought that Zhang Jianyang was going to Dry Lake City for the first time.

Zhang Jianyang nodded with a smile and said, "There is too much difference between here and our Shacheng. ”

Zhou Hai said: "Yes, why don't people always say that this is heaven and describe Shacheng as hell? ”

The caravan finally entered the city of Dry Lake and stopped on the outskirts. Here, all the caravan stations in Shacheng are here, and the station of the Ning Chamber of Commerce is in the middle of this station.

Zhang Jianyang jumped down from the cargo compartment with his bag and looked around, the residence of the Chamber of Commerce was no different from some factories, and I heard that it was transformed from a factory before. The current industry has long entered a period of stagnation, and the factory has been transformed into a warehouse, where the grain purchased from the city of dry lake is stored. Once the caravan arrives, it will first unload its goods, then load its grain, and return to Shacheng early the next morning.

This time the captain of the caravan was Zhou Hai, an experienced veteran, and I don't know how many times he had walked this road.

After handing over the caravan's affairs briefly, Zhou Hai ran over and said, "Team Zhang, do you want me to call a car for you?" ”

Zhang Jianyang smiled and handed him a cigarette and said, "Captain Zhou, you guys are busy, why are you embarrassed to trouble you." "Zhang Jianyang has resigned from the Ning Chamber of Commerce, and this trip is just a hitchhike to the dry lake. However, Zhang Jianyang's legend, in the Ning Chamber of Commerce, who doesn't know? Even if he resigned, others still called him Team Zhang.

Zhou Hai was not reluctant, the caravan had just arrived, and he had a lot of things to do, and said, "Okay, Team Zhang, take care." ”

With a cigarette in his mouth, he walked out of the Ning's Chamber of Commerce's residence, and outside was a wide main road, with two rows of trees that were a hundred years old, and each one was thick and tall.

Compared with the scarcity of vehicles in Shacheng, there are many more vehicles in Dry Lake, Zhang Jianyang stood on the edge of this main road, and in just a minute or two, there were more than a dozen cars whizzing by. However, most of these cars, mainly trucks, are transporting grain into the stations of the major chambers of commerce, which is the harvest period and the busiest period of the chambers of commerce.

Zhang Jianyang stopped like this, and soon a yellow van appeared in front of Zhang Jianyang, and a young man poked his head out: "Big brother, do you want to enter the city?" ”

Zhang Jianyang's dress is very ordinary, carrying a duffel bag and smoking a cigarette, and at first glance he knows that he is a migrant worker who came to the dry lake to dig gold.

Due to the lack of crude oil, many agricultural machinery has long been discontinued, and manual harvesting has been adopted. Every year, when the crops are ripe, a large number of workers are required to harvest them. At this time, the labor tide in the dry lake is coming, and many unemployed people in the surrounding cities will flock here to find a job for half a month.

Obviously, in the eyes of this young man, Zhang Jianyang is very in line with the image of a temporary worker.

This is outside the suburbs, walking into the urban area of Dry Lake City, there is indeed a distance, Zhang Jianyang looked around, there are a lot of small noodles here, many chambers of commerce will not stay in the station, but will take this opportunity to go to the city to relax, the next morning will return here.

Zhang Jianyang nodded, and then sat in the small van.

The young man grinned, turned his head, and the minivan quickly headed towards the city.

"Big brother's first time in dry lake?" The young man's words seemed to be a bit much, and he kept looking at Zhang Jianyang from the rearview mirror.

Zhang Jianyang said with a smile: "It's the first time I've come from Shacheng, and it's the first time I've seen so many crops and so many high-rise buildings. ”

"That is, Shacheng can't be compared to our Dry Lake City." The young man seemed a little proud, and the minivan drove fast, turning down the streets, making people dazzled.

Soon, the minivan came to a stop in the city center.

Compared with Shacheng, the city center of Dry Lake is prosperous, and it is completely the same as a first-tier metropolis, standing here, it is impossible to imagine that the city has experienced a nuclear war and can be preserved so intact. In the center of Shacheng, there are no people on the pedestrian streets, but here there are crowds.

got out of the car and paid the fare, and the young man handed Zhang Jianyang a business card: "Big brother, call me for a car in the future." ”

Zhang Jianyang took it, looked at it a few times, and then received it in his pocket and said, "No problem, if I want a car in the future, I will call you." ”

The young man slipped away again, and soon disappeared.

It's time to get off work, and the streets are starting to be lively, with a large number of motorcycles, electric cars, and bicycles crowding the streets. For a while, the hustle and bustle of the whole city, swept away the silence before, and this made people feel normal.

There are not many hotels in the city center, only a few.

Zhang Jianyang was not picky, he chose a store that looked good, opened the room, and put down the luggage.

In fact, Dry Lake is just a transit station for Zhang Jianyang, who will stay for one night temporarily and leave early tomorrow morning.

(To be continued)