Chapter 1123 - Standard Village Trees

The listeners stirred with excitement—everyone would get free houses at no cost! And they would all eat their fill! Jeju Island had never lacked people willing to work, but there had never been many who ate their fill. For as long as most could remember, they had rarely known a day without hunger. Chronic starvation was a normal state of life for them—not counted among life's sufferings.

"Shan-pang, did you hear that? It's only natural for the master to have servants build houses, but now they'll let us live in them? No debts or anything?" Kim Dae-ok whispered to his nephew.

"They just said we'd work every day—planting grain, vegetables, herding horses and sheep, that sort of thing."

"Obviously. How can you eat without working? But did they really say we'd eat our fill just by working?" Kim Dae-ok remained anxious. These past years, he had worked plenty—sometimes to exhaustion—yet had never eaten his fill. Just over a month ago, during the spring famine, he had eaten plenty of wild vegetables.

"That's right. That's exactly what the Official lord said."

"Quick, clap!" Kim Tae-da was sharp-eyed. Seeing a Labor Service worker had started applauding, he quickly nudged his father and cousin.

Although Pak Deokmeng could not translate every word of "Chairman Wen's" speech with perfect accuracy, he precisely matched his own expressions and vocal delivery to Wen Desi's tone changes and content—sometimes low and forceful, sometimes passionate and stirring. Though somewhat exaggerated, the effect was remarkable, like a natural-born broadcaster.

The crowd gradually became absorbed by the speech's content and stirred by Pak Deokmeng's delivery. One by one, they grew excited. With Labor Service workers leading the way, "thunderous applause" had already burst out several times. The atmosphere grew increasingly heated. Just as Wen Desi reached his climax, raising his "heaven-reaching giant hand" high—quick as a flash, a sharp-witted Labor Service worker led the crowd by raising both hands high and shouting "Manse!"

Then the entire hillside erupted in cries of "Manse"—for a moment, truly like a roaring ocean. Wen Desi's Korean comprehension extended only to "Manse." He beamed and repeatedly raised his hand in acknowledgment. The crowd below grew even more excited. Following the Labor Service workers, everyone raised both hands, and the "Manse" chant echoed across the entire pasture.

Wen Desi smiled and waved. As Executive Committee Chairman, he frequently attended major occasions and received the crowd's cheers and greetings—such things no longer excited him. But compared to this ovation, the naturalized citizens back on Hainan were clearly lacking in expression, gesture, and voice. Perhaps the Propaganda Department should come here to study and recruit some talent.

After the speech came the announcement of the next item—tree-planting.

Wen Desi had always been an outdoor enthusiast with a natural love for mountains and forests. In Lingao, weighed down by miscellaneous duties, he had seized the opportunity of this Jeju tour to inspect the security enforcement work along the way. Standard Villages were also a security enforcement project. He had visited many "pacified zones" and Standard Village construction sites. After surveying them, he noticed a problem—many sites had no nearby forests. Though Jeju's mountains were densely wooded, Standard Villages were generally built on pastureland and developed land, with few substantial forests nearby.

"This won't do!" Wen Desi slapped the table at the meeting. "How can villagers live without forests? What about firewood? Farm tools? Repairing houses and fences? If everyone goes cutting forest timber, precious forest resources will be wasted! We must plant trees."

The Forward Committee immediately appealed to the Agricultural Committee in Lingao. South Sea Plantation's Agricultural Committee-run plantations had various plants imported from the old timeline—especially economically valuable crops cultivated there. Under careful attention, these economic crops were growing well. Based on Jeju's climate and specific needs, Fa Shilu selected a fast-growing tree called "American Bamboo Willow."

"American Bamboo Willow" was a trade name—some places called it "American GMO Bamboo Willow"—though it had nothing whatsoever to do with "GMO" or "America." This species was a hybrid fast-growing willow developed by Anhui forestry personnel in the old timeline. It was called "American" only because red willow from North America was used as a parent; then the fictitious "GMO" concept was added—pure marketing gimmick.

The Bamboo Willow's characteristics were incredible growth speed and extremely high resistance—it could survive and grow under almost any conditions, growing extremely fast, with cellulose content reaching 76 percent, approaching bamboo. In the old timeline, it was mainly used to satisfy the export-oriented economy's demand for cardboard boxes, newsprint, and office paper, and also for plywood and cheap solid wood furniture.

Domestically, chopstick-sized cuttings were densely planted; with chemical fertilizer, they could be harvested in two or three years. Like many economic crops and animals from the old timeline, Bamboo Willow was often used in commercial scams: many people invested time and effort planting it, only to find demand was nothing like promised and prices collapsed.

The Agricultural Committee had originally brought it to this timeline for papermaking and furniture, but in Hainan, Bamboo Willow did not grow as fast as eucalyptus, and the lumber factory could not yet make composite boards. Seeing little promotional value, the Agricultural Committee only planted small quantities to preserve the strain. Later, Agricultural Corps companies dispatched to Taiwan discovered it could be used for fence hedges—killing two birds with one stone.

Jeju Island's climate resembled that of the Huainan region, so Bamboo Willow was naturally an excellent firewood tree. Even without fertilizer or irrigation, it would reach usable timber standards within three to five years. It could serve as hedges for pastures and villages while also functioning as fuel forests.

"Those who plant trees have their shade enjoyed by later generations"—such implications of benefiting posterity made tree-planting a suitable activity for leadership participation since ancient times. Chairman Wen naturally would not miss such an opportunity. Feng Zongze had already prepared a special site outside the Standard Village. Several small hillocks stood there—perfect for afforestation.

Two holes had been dug in advance: one for Bamboo Willow, another for white-bark pine.

Pine was also planted because Bamboo Willow did not live long—even without harvesting, it would hollow out and collapse after thirty or forty years. This was unseemly for a tree with commemorative significance. After much consideration, Feng Zongze had decided to also plant a white-bark pine.

The Bamboo Willow cuttings sent over varied in length—some already rooted, others like chopsticks. The Labor Service selected robust, relatively tall ones for the Standard Village site. As for white-bark pine, there were plenty locally—several small trees were carefully dug up from the mountains overnight and brought over.

Accompanied by Feng Zongze, Wen Desi arrived at the planting site. Labor Service workers and naturalized citizens clustered around. The two waved to the crowd, then placed the saplings in the holes and began filling in soil and watering. Applause and "Manse" cheers rang out as usual.

Wen Desi gazed at the saplings he had planted swaying in the breeze. Green grass surrounded them on all sides; the masses encircled him; his guards stood at attention. The feeling of leadership was complete. His mood was excellent. He intoned:

"I came to plant this seed; I leave before the flower blooms; there is no lack of beauty here; I leave it for those who come after."

Feng Zongze's heart clenched. He silently cursed Chairman Wen for his shamelessness—actually stealing Master Hongyi's poem. But he simply smiled and kept applauding, saying "Excellent" repeatedly. He then summoned a chungin exiled official who had once been a minor bureaucrat, telling him to quickly transcribe the poem in brush and ink, saying he planned to have it carved on a tree-planting monument.

"That won't be necessary—it goes against our principles, you see. Little Feng, this smacks of a personality cult. We must emphasize collective leadership," Chairman Wen said modestly.

"You're absolutely right." Feng Zongze nodded repeatedly. "But having this poem framed as a memento would fully demonstrate the Committee's care and affection for our Jeju."

Wen Desi then delivered remarks about how tree-planting benefited the country and people. In fact, hardly any locals at the scene understood this speech. But the forest soon grew vigorously. The sapling the Official planted was thereafter carefully tended by villagers as a holy relic—marked with a sign and honored annually. Whenever the Bamboo Willow was about to collapse, new trees would be replanted—thus Jeju Island's first Bamboo Willow remained forever vibrant, sheltering the Committee's people.

Later, this forest was designated a park. A certain Committee member, walking through the willow grove, wrote a short poem in English that was later set to music and widely sung, becoming globally popular—Down by the Sally Gardens.

And this remarkably fast-growing, resilient transplanted tree came to be called "Wen Desi Willow" by Jeju's naturalized citizens—a name that spread far and wide, eventually becoming its worldwide scientific nomenclature.

(End of Chapter)