Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 344 The Nine Garrisons of Mo'ao, the Supervisory System and Garrison Edicts, Li Hu and Hong Yuru
The entire Mo'ao Mountain Range runs from northwest to southeast. It is said to be located on the northeast side of Beining Mountain because, from the Beining Mountain side, the highest point of the entire mountain range is in the direction of due north-northeast.

Compared to the entire Mo'ao Mountain Range, Beining Mountain is too small. Even if a person stands at the highest point of Beining Mountain, they cannot see the entire horizontal view of Mo'ao Mountain. They can only judge that they are located on its southern edge by the direction of the mountain.

Rumor has it that the highest point of Mount Mo'ao is over 70,000 meters, and the average height of the mountain is over 30,000 meters. How deep is the mountain in the longitudinal direction? Where does it begin in the northwest and where does it end in the southeast? Nobody knows, not even the lord of the Nine Towns has ever figured out these questions.

"The so-called nine towns of Mo'ao Mountain actually only control a 500-kilometer area along the southern foot of the mountain. They haven't really surveyed most of the areas extending to the northwest and southeast."

On the ninth day of the eighth month of the 128th year of the Mo'ao calendar, at dawn.

On the snow-covered plains of the southern foothills of Mount Mo'ao, in a top-floor room of Hongshan Village, Lu Yang stood by the window, gazing at Mount Mo'ao in the distance, and sighed softly.

Having been in Beining for a full year, and with the Dongling outpost gradually getting on track, he has learned a great deal about the situation not only in the Mo'ao Mountains, but also in the nine towns below.

In particular, this trip to Beishuo City allowed him to grasp a great deal of valuable information about the Nine Towns, which can be described as a huge gain.

Of course, he wasn't the only one. Zhao Hu, Zhu Shun, and Wang Tao, who had also spent a year in Dongling, were in the same situation.

Hearing his exclamation, the three people at the table nodded and spoke up:
"The northwest is alright, there is supposedly no obstruction. The three towns of Beishuo, Jinshan, and Wuchuan have been actively expanding northward. The southeast is not so good. The Xinghe River flows down from Mo'ao Mountain and cuts off the way. The two towns of Jiangxia and Bashang along the river have no room to expand at all. No wonder the population has not changed much."

"Not only the two towns along the river, but also the four towns of Longgu, Muyin, Yangqu, and Chuishan, which are sandwiched between the five towns to the north and south, are in a similar situation. The camps have a history of over a hundred years, but the population is only over 500,000."

“Location determines the upper limit. To the south, it is cut off by the Xinghe River; there are many dangerous areas along the Shuanglong Mountain to the west, which even Beining Mountain cannot cross. Below the cliff, our Pingxi Plain is even more out of the question; to the north, the three strongest towns are blocking the way. They have nowhere to expand, so they can only desperately seize the resources of Mo'ao Mountain and constantly improve their strength in order to avoid being swallowed up.”

"But this leads to a higher mortality rate in the camp, which naturally slows down the population growth rate, creating a vicious cycle."

“The three northern towns are too powerful. Although each town has a population of only over 800,000, if you include the population of the entire jurisdiction, it is at least two million. If the six towns in the central and southern regions are smart, they should form an alliance to prevent the three towns from annexing them.”

"I don't think an alliance is necessary. With six such large pieces of meat, which of the three northern towns wouldn't be envious? Even if they were to annex just one or two of them, let alone all six, it would be enough to disrupt the current balance of power in the three towns. Under such circumstances, the six towns in the central and southern regions don't need to form an alliance at all. They can just watch the three northern towns fight each other."

"That's right! That makes sense. None of the three northern towns want to see the other side's strength increase significantly. If any of them dares to make a move against the six towns in the central and southern regions, it will definitely arouse the suspicion of the other two. In fact, because they are worried that the six towns might side with the other side at any time, the three northern towns may have to pay a considerable price to appease and win them over."

"No wonder that although there have been constant minor conflicts in these nine towns over the years, there has never been a major war. It turns out that there is such a delicate balance between them."

"Lord Wang has keen insight into subtle matters; he truly lives up to his reputation as someone from Longshan. Zhao Hu is impressed!"

"Master Zhao, thank you for your praise."

………………

Wang Tao, being from Longshan, had witnessed firsthand how the twelve camps of Longyou were scheming against each other in his early years, so he quickly analyzed the current situation of the nine towns of Mo'ao.

Lu Yang nodded repeatedly, turned around and walked to the table to sit down. He took out a slightly messy animal skin drawing from his pocket and spread it in front of the three of them.

The sketch was simply drawn with a coal pen, and the entire map only marked the names of the nine towns and the general outline of their territories. It was obviously pieced together by Lu Yang based on the information he had gathered.

The Mo'ao Mountains occupy most of the upper right part of the map. The nine towns below are Beishuo, Wuchuan, and Jinshan; the middle section consists of Longgu, Muyin, Yangqu, and Chuishan; and at the bottom are two more towns located on the east bank of the Xing River.

The Xinghe River runs east-west, so it shouldn't have an east bank. However, from Lu Yang's sketch, it can be seen that the source of the Xinghe River was originally on the southeast side of Mo'ao Mountain. It originally flowed southwest downstream, but then suddenly changed course to the northwest for a while. After passing through the Shuanglong Mountain area, it returned to its original direction due to the terrain.

Jiangxia and Bashang, two of the nine towns, happen to be located in this area where the river was diverted to the northwest, which is why they are said to be located on the east bank of the Xing River.

Although the sketch didn't even mark the distances for most areas, Lu Yang's face was still full of joy. After all, it was already quite an achievement to determine the approximate area of ​​the entire Nine Towns in one fell swoop. Sending it back to Xia City to show the lord would definitely be a great accomplishment.

However, he hadn't forgotten Wang Tao's words. Glancing at the six towns in central and southern China on the map, his expression hardened slightly, and he slowly began to speak:

"What Lord Wang said is correct, but not entirely. All nine towns adopt the supervisory system first created by Yang Zun. While the three northern towns are indeed powerful, the strength of the six central and southern towns should not be underestimated. Among the six towns, Longgu, the smallest in area, has a territory of more than 7000 square kilometers, which is more than half of Longyou. Although Longgu Town itself has only more than 500,000 people, if you include the more than 30 village-level camps under its jurisdiction, the total population is at least more than one million."

If we calculate it this way, although the three northern towns are strong, they do not have an overwhelming advantage over any of the central and southern towns. Over the past hundred years, the nine towns have traded, intermarried, formed alliances, and made treaties with each other. Their internal relationships are extremely complex. They are intertwined with each other. Anyone who dares to destroy a town will surely be attacked by the other eight.

For example, what we learned last night outside Beishuo City—that Wuchuan has recently been eyeing Muyin and is being pressured by the other seven towns, right?

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately nodded.

Wang Tao nodded repeatedly, his face showing agreement, and said, "That's right. The reason why the six families don't stick together is partly due to the power struggle among the three northern towns, but the biggest reason is that they are strong enough on their own. Currently, none of them can break the balance of the nine towns, and that's the key!"

Lu Yang nodded, looking at the map on the table. His face first showed excitement, then he sighed slightly and said, "The most regrettable thing about this trip is that we couldn't enter Beishuo City. If we could have gone in and taken a look, we would know the strength of Beishuo Town!"

Upon hearing this, the other three nodded regretfully.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the turmoil Lu Yang caused in Dongling over the past year. Just as he said to Xia Hong, suddenly bringing so many people to establish a new camp in Beining Mountain was not a simple matter.

Last year, as soon as he arrived at Dongling, he followed Yue Feng's advice and had Da Xia send five people with the cold-weather protection level to play bad guys and approach a giant camp called Baisong.

The camp's total population had just exceeded ten thousand. The strongest member was a three-mane, cold-resistant level expert, who was their leader, Bai Pingshan. The five cold-resistant level experts from the Great Xia side took advantage of Bai Pingshan leading a hunting expedition to capture him alive. They then staged a scene where they used their leader's life to threaten the entire camp into obeying them, a classic case of usurping power.

Finally, Lu Yang and his men, who appeared out of nowhere, intervened, drove the five away, and successfully rescued the White Pine Camp.

Lu Yang fabricated a story, saying that he and more than 500 others had their original camp attacked by a monster, resulting in countless deaths and injuries. In the end, only they escaped and traveled south to reach Beining Mountain.

Bai Pingshan was sensible and grateful. He was also excited when he was rescued, so he didn't ask too many questions. After learning about Lu Yang's intention to annex the area and seeing his 500 elite troops, he readily agreed. A few days later, all 10,000 people in the Baisong camp were successfully relocated to a depth of 15 kilometers on the north side of Beining Mountain, which is the steep slope where the Dongling outpost is located.

Lu Yang's most important task in establishing a post in Dongling was to guard the secret passage leading to Hanqiong's post, so the post naturally had to be built at the location of the secret passage.

I originally thought that after annexing Baisong, I could naturally contact the seven families of Beining Mountain under the name of Dongling Camp, and take the opportunity to find out the strength of Beishuo. Everything should have fallen into place.

Little did they expect that the merger would be the beginning of trouble!
The trouble stems from the surveillance system currently in effect in the nine towns of Mo'ao.

The Nine Garrisons did not control their territory like the Great Xia Dynasty, which set up outposts within its borders and stationed people there. Instead, they established inspectors to manage all village-level camps within their territory, and then used these village-level camps to control all the large and giant camps below them.

Under the constraints of the supervisory system, all camps within the territory of Beishuo are not allowed to merge with each other unless a decree is issued by the supervisor. Unauthorized merging violates the laws of Beishuo, and the lightest punishment is the death of the leader. In serious cases, not only will the leader die, but all the cold-resistant level digging cultivators in the entire camp will be sent to become mining slaves.

It was only then that Lu Yang realized he had been tricked by Bai Pingshan!

Bai Pingshan definitely knew this rule; it was clearly a deliberate attempt to frame him.

It wasn't until three months ago, when the other seven families in Beining Mountain found out and the inspector from Beishuo Town, who had long lived in the Zhuling camp, came to his door, that Lu Yang realized he had gotten into trouble.

It's probably because Beining Mountain is located on the western edge of Beishuo Town's territory, and the surrounding resources are not abundant, so the camp's strength is average. Therefore, the inspector named He Wuyang from Beishuo Town is not very strong, with only twelve manes.

The strength of the Twelve Manes is actually enough to cover the entire North Ning Mountain.

However, the five hundred men that Lu Yang brought this time were by no means weak.

His Dongyang squad, including himself, has 5 members at the Cold Resistance level; Zhao Hu's Steel Mane squad has 6; the remaining five division chiefs, plus the captains of eight intermediate hunting teams, make a total of 24 Cold Resistance level members.

Even disregarding the quantity, although he himself only had the mid-stage Cold Resistance cultivation and the strength of eight manes, Zhao Hu had already reached the late-stage Cold Resistance cultivation and had the strength of fourteen manes.

Despite recognizing the strength of Dongling, He Wuyang's arrogant demeanor remained unchanged. He even took advantage of the power of the seven families of Zhuling to arrogantly demand that Lu Yang bind himself and be executed in Beishuo Town.

Lu Yang had considered killing He Wuyang directly, but considering Xia Hong's instructions to him and the crucial importance of the Dongling outpost, he suppressed his anger and adopted a very humble posture, acting as a foreigner who had just arrived in this place and was completely unfamiliar with the rules of Beishuo.

Of course, this alone is not enough to deal with He Wuyang.

Bribery is the last resort!
With their formidable strength as a foundation, and their extremely humble demeanor, when Lu Yang gritted his teeth and took out ten thousand taels of silver, he saw the immediate change in He Wuyang's eyes and immediately understood that he had done the right thing.

Village-level camps are required to be equipped with silver items weighing thousands of kilograms. This regulation alone from Beishuo Town shows that silver must be very important to them.

The standard for ice abyss silver is 10 taels to 1 catty. Ten thousand taels of silver would be equivalent to a thousand catties.

Lu Yang was incredibly grateful at that moment. If he hadn't exchanged five thousand catties of silver with the supply department beforehand, he probably would have had to hand over the Frostwing Sword that the lord had bestowed upon him.

After accepting the silver, He Wuyang immediately became more agreeable. He not only understood that they were newcomers and didn't know the rules, but even offered to go back to Beishuo to intercede for them at the Dongling camp.

Lu Yang readily cooperated, stating that as long as they were given a way out, Dongling would henceforth submit to Beishuo as their master, and would be under He Wuyang's supervision in Beining Mountain, just like the other seven families, paying tribute to Beishuo every six months...

He Wuyang naturally took the opportunity to make his own demands. He knew that silver was hard to find, and after failing to obtain silver through repeated requests, he knew that the Dongling camp probably had none left, so he changed his demands to jade bones and beast blood.

In order to successfully establish himself in Beining Mountain, Lu Yang did everything he could.

Ultimately, this matter ended in this dramatic way.

Lu Yang recalled what had happened in the previous two months, shook his head and chuckled. Then he took out a document made of golden animal hide from his bosom, opened it and placed it on the table, and said with a smile, "Although He Wuyang is the inspector, his status in Beishuo Town should not be high. Otherwise, he wouldn't be urging us so urgently to take advantage of the tribute to get this town edict."

Zhu Shun nodded, a smile appearing on his face, and said, "Zhu Tong, the leader of the Zhuling camp, should have some connections in Beishuo City. He Wuyang was afraid that he would report us to the higher-ups, so he let us get the town edict first. Even if they really investigate later, it will be hard to explain. Although he is greedy, he is not stupid."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang chuckled softly twice.

When Dongling was first established, the first tribute was originally supposed to be sent at the end of the year, together with the seven families from Zhuling. The reason they came now was because of Zhu Tong.

Dongling is rooted in Beining Mountain, and the most unhappy one is Zhuling Camp.

There was no way around it. Not to mention that Dongling's outpost was located right in Zhuling's sphere of influence, creating a natural conflict with it; the strength Dongling had demonstrated at this stage was enough to make them worry.

Before Dongling arrived, Zhuling was the leader of the seven villages in Beining Mountain. Although Lu Yang indicated that he would still follow Zhuling as the leader in the future, Dongling's strength was undeniable. Not to mention the Baisong Camp that was later annexed, just the 24 Cold Resistance level and more than 400 Earth Digging Realm limit level personnel were enough to keep Zhu Tong up at night.

He Wuyang came to cause trouble for Dongling because Zhu Tong delivered the message.

But the final result was completely different from what he had expected. Zhu Tong was naturally unwilling to give up. Although he was nominally under the supervision of He Wuyang, he clearly had other connections in Beishuo City. He Wuyang knew this and was worried that his bribery would be exposed. So he sent Lu Yang to Beishuo City in advance to take advantage of the tribute to obtain the annexation order of Baisong Camp. It was like making the deed a fait accompli.

That's how their trip to Beishuo came about.

However, this trip was clearly not entirely satisfactory.

Zhao Hu, who has a rather short temper, said with a slightly angry tone: "Last night we handed over a full 30 catties of jade bones, 500 catties of beast blood, 800 million catties of iron ore, and 1000 million catties of coal, and we couldn't even get through the gates of Beishuo City. It's such a loss."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang and the other two's expressions darkened slightly; they were indeed a little displeased.

Although the Dongling camp, which had merged with Baisong, only had a population of just over ten thousand, its strength was still measured at the village level. Therefore, the tribute system was also based on the village level. The batch of supplies that Zhao Hu mentioned was what they handed over last night.

Such a large batch of supplies could be exchanged for countless contribution points in the Great Xia Dynasty, but now they've been given away for nothing. The key issue is that, according to the rules of Beishuo, they haven't even been able to enter Beishuo City yet; the entire tribute process has been conducted outside the city.

"We've been in Dongling for almost a year, and all we've found is a coal mine. We spent a whopping 16 jin of animal meat to buy 800 million jin of iron ore from Hongyuan's camp. The 16 jin of animal meat is really painful to think about!"

Hearing Zhao Hu's words, Wang Tao sighed, "There's nothing we can do. Beining Mountain is only so big. The territory that Dongling was allocated is still the original Zhuling camp. If there were any iron mines, they would have already dug them all out. How could it be our turn? If we want to find iron mines again, we can only go deeper into Beining Mountain."

He paused slightly at this point, then continued, "However, this isn't a difficult problem to solve. At worst, we can have Han Qiong deliver it to us, but we can't do it in large quantities. It would be bad if people noticed something was wrong." Lu Yang let out a soft breath, nodded, and said in a deep voice, "The iron ore isn't a big problem. It's just that Hong Yuan's camp will make some money off us from the beast meat. Our mission is to continue to be based in Beining Mountain and spy on the true situation of Beishuo."

Although we couldn't enter Beishuo City this time, we could get a general idea from their conversation and the hunting teams that went out of the city at night. It is estimated that there are several hundred high-level hunting teams in Beishuo. By extension, the number of Cold-resistant level hunting teams is at least two thousand. There are also their Garrison Army. I saw three teams, but there are definitely more than that..."

After describing what he had roughly observed, Lu Yang's brows furrowed slightly.

Each figure was vague, making it difficult to report to Xia City.

But looking down at the edict on the table, he quickly swept away the gloom in his heart and said softly to the three of them, "This is just the beginning. In the past few days, we have not only figured out how to get from Beining Mountain to Beishuo, but we have also seen Beishuo City with our own eyes. That is enough."

With this edict, we are now officially established in Beining Mountain. Will we still have any worries about not having the opportunity to contact Beishuo in the future?
"Dongling suddenly intervened in Beining Mountain, and Zhu Tong sees us as a thorn in his side. He Wuyang was already at odds with him, and now that he's accepted our bribes, he'll have no choice but to help us from now on. We should reciprocate by helping him deal with Zhu Tong, and ideally, help him increase his influence in Beishuo City. This would make it easier for us to gather intelligence on Beishuo's strength."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hu and the other two nodded immediately.

Wang Tao thought of something and said with a smile, "It seems that Zhu Tong regards Beining Mountain as his private property. Not only does he take advantage of the annual martial arts competition to force the other six families to share the tribute materials, but he also likes to interfere in the internal affairs of other families. He has even placed his own people in all the large camps in the territory. It is normal for He Wuyang to be unable to stand it. I just don't know what kind of relationship Zhu Tong has in Beishuo Town that makes him so bold."

"That's easy, just ask around in the next room!"

As soon as Zhu Shun spoke, Lu Yang and the other two burst into laughter.

“Indeed, Hong Fan would be happy to tell us.”

"Of the seven families in Beining, four—Yanggu, Baiyuan, Wanxing, and Longhe—are led by Zhu Ling and are clearly in cahoots with Zhu Tong. Ziqiang remains neutral and shows no signs of backing down. Currently, Hong Yuan is the most dissatisfied with Zhu Ling's camp and has the greatest hostility. When they learned that we needed to collect tribute, the other five families were unwilling to sell us iron ore, and only Hong Fan's family was willing."

Lu Yang's eyes flickered slightly, and he said with a smile, "I found out a little bit about the situation outside the city last night. Hong Fan seems to have some acquaintances in Beishuo City, but they shouldn't be as powerful as Zhu Tong's. I heard that he came here specifically for his daughter's marriage. He looked very unwell when he left the city last night, and he didn't speak to us on the way back. I estimate that the marriage is most likely to fall through!"

The reason the four of them mentioned Hong Fan at this moment was because Hong Fan was their guide on this trip to Beishuo.

None of them had ever been to Beishuo before, so it was impossible for He Wuyang to personally lead the way. Coincidentally, Hong Fan learned about this and also wanted to make a trip to Beishuo, so he readily agreed to lead the way and traveled with Lu Yang's escort team.

Of course, Hong Fan was willing to lead the way mainly because he knew that Lu Yang was here to obtain the town's edict. Hong Yuan was already struggling alone in Beining Mountain, and now that he had finally found a camp that was at odds with Zhu Ling and was quite strong, he was naturally willing to do more.

When the wedding was called off, Lu Yang and Zhao Hu immediately exchanged glances. It was on the sixth day of the eighth lunar month last year that they first stepped out of the secret passage and into Beining Mountain, and they heard about this from the young master of Zhuling Camp.

Based on what we know now, even the marriage of a younger generation is being ruined, indicating that the conflict between the Hongyuan and Zhuling families has clearly reached an irreconcilable point.

“Hongyuan Camp is the breakthrough point for us to open up the situation in Beining Mountain. Doesn’t Zhu Tong want to be the leader and suppress He Wuyang? Let’s join forces with Hong Fan to stand on He Wuyang’s side and do the opposite of Zhu Ling. Let’s see if Zhu Tong defeats He Wuyang in the end, or if we join forces with He Wuyang to defeat Zhu Tong first!”

Upon hearing Lu Yang's words, Zhao Hu, Zhu Shun, and Wang Tao immediately revealed a proud expression, clearly having already made up their minds.

Let alone the fact that Zhu Ling camp only has a handful of small fry, even if it were ten times stronger, it still wouldn't be able to win.

Because behind them stands the Great Xia Dynasty!

"Upon returning to Dongling, our priority is to relay the general situation of the nine towns of Mo'ao back to Xia City and explain it to the lord and the Minister. We need more time. Not only Beishuo, but we also need to understand the situation of the other eight towns. The Minister once said, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' If we can report the situation of all nine towns back to Xia City, then our Great Xia's eastward expansion will be more than half successful..."

Lu Yang pondered to himself, looking down at the map on the table. He realized how important what he was doing was to Great Xia, and his eyes were filled with excitement and exhilaration.

"I have a question I'd like to ask you all!"

Suddenly, Wang Tao, who had been looking at the sketch map of the nine towns for a long time, seemed to have made a new discovery. He suddenly pointed to the section of the map where the Xinghe River changed its course to the north.

"After the Xinghe River changes course and flows westward, it should be the southernmost watershed of our Great Xia. According to this map, the north and south sides of the eastern entrance on the north bank of the Xinghe River are the towns of Chuishan and Jiangxia, respectively. In other words, the eastern entrance is most likely controlled by these two towns, right?"

The sketch was drawn by Lu Yang based on the information he had gathered. Although most of the distances were unclear, the basic positions should be fine.

Upon hearing Wang Tao's question, Lu Yang and the other two immediately looked towards the eastern entrance on the north bank of the Xinghe River and fell into deep thought.

"That's right, why are you asking this?"

Zhao Hu pondered for a long time before finally asking a question out of confusion.

Before Wang Tao could answer, Lu Yang's expression immediately changed.

"That's right! If the eastern entrance belongs to the Chuishan and Jiangxia families, then why were Yang Ning and Li Hu the ones who came to Hongmuling to draw up a map five years ago?"

Lu Yang's words hit the nail on the head, and Zhao Hu and Zhu Shun immediately realized what he meant.

Yang Ning and Li Hu are both from Beishuo Town.

Beishuo is located at the northernmost part of the entire map, and it has absolutely no connection with Chuishan or Jiangxia.

Seeing that the three of them understood what he meant, Wang Tao nodded and continued, "Either Bei Shuo had been eyeing one of them for five years, or..."

"One of these two families has actually been under the command of Bei Shuo for a long time!"

Lu Yang took over Wang Tao's words, and after speaking, a look of horror rose in his eyes, and his heart was even more shaken.

His and Wang Tao's guesses were not without reason.

Five years ago, Yang and Li were both only at the Earth Digging Realm. Without someone familiar with the area to guide them, it would have been almost impossible for them to travel westward from the east entrance along the north bank to Redwood Ridge on their own.

Furthermore, Chuishan and Jiangxia control the eastern entrance from the left and right respectively. Don't they know that going west along the north bank is the only way to expand?

Now that they know the answer, they're even less likely to let other people in to draw.

Therefore, the intrusion of Yang and Li five years ago was by no means accidental.

"No, no, no, no matter how much we talk here, it's all just speculation. The important thing is to send the sketch back to Xia City for the lord and the chief minister to review!"

Lu Yang put aside his thoughts and looked up at the three men seriously, saying, "Dongling's mission is to spy on the strength of the Nine Towns and do our best to understand the entire territory of the Nine Towns. We will not concern ourselves with anything else."

"Understood, sir!"

Hearing Lu Yang's serious tone, Zhao Hu and the other two immediately nodded.

"After we set off at night, I'll go find Hong Fan immediately. He's eager for us to fight Zhu Ling, and he'll definitely provide a lot of useful information."

The four of them discussed it for a while before returning to their rooms to rest.

The total distance from Beining Mountain to Beishuo City is more than 200 kilometers. Although Beishuo did not build a straight road like Daxia, it still spent a lot of effort to pave a road with stones. Moreover, this road connects dozens of important village camps along the way. The village camps usually send people to maintain it, which can greatly improve the efficiency of travel.

Even so, it takes the escort team more than ten days to travel more than 200 kilometers, so they have to stay in some village camps along the way. Hongshan Village, where they are staying now, is the first stop after they set off from Beishuo on their return journey.

It's not free lodging; you can pay with coal, iron ore, animal meat, animal blood, or even elixirs and jade bones.

Of course, people would be even happier if they had silver.

The escort team was the Zhaoyuan Squad, the only low-level hunting team in Dongling, along with more than twenty Baisong Digging Realm members.

There was no other way; the other intermediate hunting teams were all busy hunting and exploration, and since Zhaoyuan's team was a bit weaker, these tasks naturally fell to them.

………………

The guest rooms in Hongshan Village have seven floors. Since it was daytime, the porches were blocked off with hanging wooden boards. Coal stoves were lit every few meters along the corridor, making it both warm and bright.

In a room on the second floor near the porch, Li Hu was resting with his eyes closed.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

A soft sobbing sound suddenly came from outside the door. Li Hu immediately opened his eyes, a flash of anger crossing his face. He got up, put on his clothes, pushed open the door, and went out.

After stepping out of the porch and walking a few steps to the corner, he discovered a young girl of about sixteen or seventeen years old, squatting in the corner wiping away tears.

Li Hu's brows furrowed, then he took out a silver token from his pocket, walked behind the little girl, and only breathed a slight sigh of relief when he found that the token did not react. He then angrily rebuked her:
"Are you trying to scare people by staying up so late at night?"

The girl was crying so intensely that she clearly didn't expect anyone behind her. Startled by the angry rebuke, she quickly stood up and turned around.

The little girl's face was still wet with tears, and her delicate and pretty features, combined with her tearful appearance, made Li Hu pause for a moment.

"I'll cry, what's it to you? How dare you yell at me?"

"You are... Chief Hong's daughter, right? Don't you live on the top floor? Why are you crying on the second floor?"

Li Hu's momentary daze was partly due to Hong Yuru's appearance, but more so because he recognized her as the little girl that Chief Hong had been keeping by his side during their trip to Beishuo Town.

Having traveled together for more than ten days, Li Hu naturally knew her identity and had even heard her name before; it should be... Hong Yuru.

The rooms at Hongshan Camp are priced according to the floor, with the top floor being the most expensive. Hong Yuru is Hong Fan's daughter, so she can naturally afford to stay on the top floor.

She probably hid on the second floor because she was afraid her father would hear her crying.

"I'm crying, what's it to you?"

Hong Yuru was clearly feeling very wronged. Although she was embarrassed to be recognized, she still stood up and continued to argue with Li Hu. However, when she got closer and saw Li Hu's appearance, she was slightly taken aback.

"You're Li Hu, the captain of the Zhaoyuan squad at the Dongling camp, right?"

Hong Yuru recognized Li Hu because her father, Hong Fan, had mentioned him on the road a few days ago. She remembered clearly that her father said Li Hu looked to be only in his early twenties, but he had already begun to rebuild his skin membrane and was striving to reach the cold resistance level. It had been a long time since such an outstanding young man had appeared in the area around Beining Mountain.

“That’s right, I am Li Hu. Miss Hong, it’s daytime now, a time for sleeping. We still need to travel after nightfall. You should go back to your room and rest. This isn’t Beining Mountain. It would be bad if we ran into some bad people!”

Li Hu frowned, and after saying these words, he ignored Hong Yuru and turned to walk back to his room.

Hong Yuru was clearly rarely treated this way. Seeing Li Hu turn and go back to his room after speaking, showing no concern for the reason for her crying, she was immediately filled with anger, her chest heaving. She shouted angrily:
"You're like a dog chasing a mouse, I'm not leaving, I'll just cry here and keep making noise until you're exhausted!"

boom…………

In response, she heard the soft sound of a door closing.

Hong Yuru became even angrier. She stared at Li Hu's door for a long time, and then, as if she had thought of something, she pouted again and continued to sob softly.

(End of this chapter)