Chapter 214: New Situation_1

Jiang Yu truly hadn't expected this, "How could the PDC be willing to let us expand our influence to Earth?"

Burton smiled and said, "They couldn't wait for us to take in more Earth residents."

It turned out that while the PDC enacted the Anti-Immigration Act, they were also willing to let ordinary residents join Guanghan City.

The intentions of the PDC were very clear. High-end talents couldn't go to Guanghan City, but ordinary people without Genetic Modification and Brain Implant Technology could go.

Ever since the PDC began to popularize these two technologies, in order to save educational resources and to emphasize the sense of superiority of the privileged classes, global educational resources were concentrated on the class that had undergone Genetic Modification and Brain Implants.

At best, ordinary people received elementary education before they had to start working.

The PDC had a good strategy. Even if they handed over these culturally less-educated people to Guanghan City, it was no loss to the PDC.

Once these people became residents of Guanghan City, the PDC could completely ignore them. Even if they starved to death, it wouldn't be the PDC's concern.

At first, with the lure of Genetic Modification Technology and Brain Implant Technology, no one wanted to join Guanghan City.

Guanghan City experienced for the first time the situation of having a newly built district with no residents.

The "Reinforcements for the Future" plan also started around this time, when the PDC had an overwhelming advantage over Guanghan City.

About 40 years into the crisis, more and more hungry people on Earth were willing to join Guanghan City for a bite to eat.

However, the situation in Guanghan City did not improve. The PDC's set of combinations put Burton in a reactive position. New residents who had just arrived in Guanghan City generally had to undergo one to two years of training and study before they could integrate into Guanghan City.

And most of them could only do simple jobs. They simply couldn't learn jobs that were too specialized.

Whether it was Guanghan City or Mars City, both were cities with very high automation. They could only work at construction sites and mining factories.

The early immigrants to Guanghan City gradually felt a sense of superiority in front of these people.

In order to prevent obvious class divisions between Guanghan and Mars Cities, Burton ordered the construction of the God of Stove and Grain God Cities.

Located in the main asteroid belt, there were too many metal-rich asteroids, making it a natural mining field.

A large portion of the construction materials for the Jupiter military base, which the PDC ambitiously built, came from these two space industrial cities.

And because to this day, trips to Mars still primarily use liquid rockets, these two space cities also took on logistical tasks such as refueling liquid fuels and spacecraft maintenance.

They essentially became the "service area" between the vast chasm of Mars and Jupiter.

During that time, as the internal conflicts within the PDC countries intensified, they had to divert people's attention by creating conflicts with Guanghan City.

Burton called that the first phase of the conflict; the two sides brought their differences into the open, and during the most severe period, Burton was prepared for war.

At that time, Beck proved his worth, becoming the lifeline of Guanghan City.

Burton greatly admired Jiang Yu's far-sightedness. If it hadn't been for Beck importing some materials from Earth that the Moon did not have, those days for Guanghan City would have been even more difficult!

Beck's relationship with Guanghan City was eventually exposed, and he was targeted by the PDC, ultimately arrested on Earth by the PDC.

Although Burton tried his best to rescue him, at that time Guanghan City didn't have as much leverage as it does now.

Beck didn't survive that difficult period; five years after his incarceration, he died in prison in the 56th year of the crisis.

However, Burton helped fulfill Jiang Yu's promise. The current Minister of Commerce in Guanghan City is Beck's son, and Beck's family's wealth and status have also been passed down.

As technology in Guanghan City gradually grew stronger, its relationship with PDC began to thaw substantially.

However, PDC's strategy to contain Guanghan City never ceased.

Although Grain God and God of Stove had temporarily solved the problem of labor surplus, more and more people who struggled to feed themselves were willing to join Guanghan City, and the Hermit Federation simply couldn't absorb such a large population.

It was only at Burton's request that PDC agreed that residents who had never been to Guanghan City or any other Federation Cities could live on Earth.

In doing so, PDC could also get rid of a bigger burden.

The limit for the Hermit Federation was to feed three million people while exporting food to PDC.

Thereupon Burton had Han Li organize them to do whatever work they could manage, and he strictly ordered federation merchants investing on Earth to give priority to hiring residents of the Federation Cities.

At the same time, he focused on the education of their children. It was only after this generation grew up and received a good education that Guanghan City and Mars City had a fresh guarantee in terms of manpower.

At this time, the conflict between Guanghan City and PDC had reached a stalemate, once again reverting to Jiang Yu's policy of "mutual infiltration."

Meanwhile, the three million inhabitants of the Federation Cities living on Earth gradually became a sore point for PDC.

PDC had tried to disperse their settlements, but wherever the federation citizens went, their abundant food and relatively high quality of life essentially served as worldwide advertising for Guanghan City.

In Guanghan City, one could have a good job without Genetic Modification, have enough to eat and wear, and one's children could receive higher education.

Burton chuckled, "In the end, PDC has put itself in quite a predicament!"

Jiang Yu joined in the laughter, "That's beautifully done!"

Burton said earnestly, "All this is thanks to your foresight, which has led to the current prosperity of the federation.

"In the years immediately following your hibernation, even the residents of Guanghan were unhappy about not being able to use Brain Implant Technology.

"It was only when they became aware of the dangers and limitations of these technologies that they fully supported the Wallfacers and the Wallfacer Project.

"Especially on Earth, everyone knows that you have repeatedly prevented the leak of the 'Poison Apple Project' and called for not using the enemy's technology.

"Your foresight has brought the support rate of the Wallfacer Project to an unprecedented height! Now, every federation citizen wholeheartedly supports you."

He paused, then added, "Some of the rebel leaders we once sheltered have now become influential figures in various nations and have a substantial fondness for the Hermit Federation.

"Moreover, in the half-century-long game of strategy, PDC's decline has become increasingly apparent, and the situation has now reversed—the Hermit Federation now has a tremendous advantage.

"Thanks to the warning you gave us 71 years ago, we seized the opportunity during PDC's weakening period. I never thought I'd see Guanghan City become the holy land of technology and culture for humanity within my lifetime!"

Jiang Yu sighed, "But it was your struggle that mattered. Although I knew... predicted the future situation, I didn't expect the struggle to be so fraught."

"That was our duty," Burton laughed. "Now, the Hermit Federation has reached a crossroads.

"The extraterrestrial colonies elsewhere want to use us to gain more autonomy, while PDC hopes we can rein in this tide of autonomy.

"The more absolute our advantage, the more cautiously we must proceed.

"The path ahead is unpredictable, and we hope to receive your new guidance."

Jiang Yu nodded unceremoniously, "I need to understand more information before I can make correct judgments about the future."

In fact, he knew the trend of the future's development. He wanted more information to see what cards he held in his hands, so he could contemplate how to face the coming changes.