Cave Refuge

As previously mentioned, Pengcheng, situated at the confluence of three provinces, has always been a strategic location for military competitions. Now that the Great Xia has been unified, Pengcheng has once again become a major thoroughfare and transit hub.

Although the officials have moved the overland transit station to the county town below, with the completion of the Pengville Port, Pengcheng has once again become the water route transit center.

However, the disappearance of goods from a few large warehouses in Pengcheng, although not a crippling blow to the city, is nonetheless quite serious.

Fortunately, the stockpiles that had gone missing were in districts that, although plentiful in supplies, could only be considered as material transit centers rather than professional storage facilities.

In Pengcheng, the places specifically for storing supplies had not been visited by others. Even in the face of natural disasters, these places remained under the control of the officials.

For example, the granary specifically for storing food,

the medical warehouse specifically for storing drugs,

the refining center specifically for storing coal,

and so on...

Places like these were promptly controlled by the officials when the Cold Catastrophe arrived.

It was akin to how during an earthquake, officials are not just involved in rescue operations, but also send teams to the various branches of banks to swiftly recover the stashed gold and silver.

So when they learned that these transit warehouses had been preemptively emptied, the high-ranking officials were initially furious but quickly regained their composure and weren't greatly affected.

When they heard from the Ministry of Personnel that the supplies had probably been relocated by others during the coldest period, the high-ranking officials immediately had their suspects.

Unlike most city dwellers who took refuge in the government-controlled refuge centers, there were not many civil defense areas built in the county towns under Pengcheng, so the places that could be converted into refuge centers were limited.

Another point worth noting was that although we have entered into modern society, clan influence within county towns hasn't changed, or rather it has integrated into local governance.

Although Great Xia implemented a system of transfer for the decision-makers, meaning they couldn't hold office in their registered domicile, and there was a rotation every few years, it wasn't the higher-ups who were affected by the clans, but the grass-root officials.

As society advanced, it had become difficult for families in large cities to grow. But these families began to move to the county towns around the city,

And they began to infiltrate the government with their relationships. Without guidance from influential figures, they essentially gave up on getting promotions and occupied current positions instead.

Their roles were reminiscent of clan scribes. To put it in a more fashionable way, they embodied the saying "the clerks stay while the officials rotate".

Thus, when the orders to convert buildings into refuge centers were issued by the government, many foresighted families began to establish their own refuge centers, and some powerful families even took control of the refuge centers established by the government.

To the high-ranking officials, those able to leave their homes during the Cold Catastrophe and transport large amounts of supplies were none other than the clans that held control in these county towns.

Regarding their actions, even if there was evidence against them and given the current circumstances, the high-ranking officials couldn't easily confront them, and thus consciously chose to ignore the matter.

With the return of warm temperatures, it seemed as though all the hardship had passed as everyone started to resume their normal lives.

At this point, Mr. Thompson gathered his family again and proposed Dong Tianyu's idea from the New Year gathering - to occupy the office building.

After leaving the refuge center and returning to their own homes, everyone had their own ideas. Thus, when Mr. Thompson made the proposal, Dong Tianyu's brother-in-law quickly voiced opposition.

Soon after, the families of Dong Tianyu's three uncles, as if they had previously coordinated, also began opposing.

Mr. Thompson had anticipated the reactions from others because, while in the underground refuge center, these three families had already voiced dissatisfaction about their exclusion from the decision-making process.

After all, Mrs. Thompson's brother-in-law, an outsider, was included in the Thompson family's decision-making core, but the blood brothers of Mr. Thompson were left out, causing discontent among them.

However, because Mr. Thompson and his two brothers not only entered the management level of the refuge center but also treated all Thompson family members equitably without showing any favoritism, and considering the fact that everyone lived together for warmth, they had to suppress their dissatisfaction.

Now with the return of warm weather and everyone returning to their respective families, there was a natural resistance to Mr. Thompson's proposal.

Although they knew in their hearts that Mr. Thompson's proposal was a good one, they were also aware that the temperature had just started to rise and the recent weather had been clear; there didn't seem to be any signs of a forthcoming calamity. As a result, they held onto their optimism and were unwilling to comply with Mr. Thompson's arrangements.

As for the thoughts of those three families, Griffin Benjamin didn't offer an opinion. On Mrs. Thompson's side, apart from Griffin Benjamin and his family, there were only two others - the second sister and her husband - that needed to be dealt with.

Griffin Benjamin had absolute authority over his family's decisions, so their attitude was equivalent to the Clarke family's stance.

Griffin's father, having participated in that New Year's conversation, strongly agreed with Dong Tianyu's predictive proposal. Otherwise, he would not have abandoned other relationships to live with the Thompsons in the subway station refuge center that nobody had had faith in at the time.

A decision that was initially underestimated was proven to be more than correct in retrospect.

Even setting aside the important matters of securing accommodations and food storage in advance, just the fact that during the winter all supplies had to be distributed via the subway station refuge center reveals the precision of Dong Tianyu's proposal.

The saying, "Cooks are never hungry in times of famine," might sound ironic now, but it's the reality.

His son, Haiyang, was enlisted in the escort team and delivered supplies to various community shelters with the team. At first, everything was okay, but as time went on, Haiyang dared not mention the events taking place within the shelters even before his siblings, as they made his countenance turn pale with every recollection.

Even in the community shelter where they'd formerly lived in a high-end residential area, there were some unspeakable incidents occurring. Although the situation hadn't escalated to horrific levels, from how his daughter-in-law stopped nagging about leaving, it was clear how situations in those places were.

So now, Griffin's father firmly agrees with Dong Tianyu's proposal. In this era, it indeed held true that by listening to advice, one could keep their bellies full.

Initially, there were indeed some issues in the family of Mr. Thompson's second brother. After all, the parents of Thompson's sister-in-law were still alive. Although they also moved into the refuge center with Thompson's family, her parents had several siblings themselves. After being separated for so long, they also missed their own siblings dearly.

Therefore, after leaving the underground refuge center, they didn't want to live with the Thompsons anymore. Although no one said anything when they lived together, they always had the feeling of being dependent on others.