Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 389 Entering the City, Using an Alias, and Breaking the Rules
Clang... clang... clang...

When Han Peng's convoy of over a hundred people was still three or four hundred meters away from the city wall, they heard a series of dense, rain-like hammering sounds.

When everyone looked up, they discovered that, centered on the city gate, about a hundred meters away on both sides of the city wall, there were hundreds of people standing on top of the city wall, holding heavy hammers and frantically pounding the wall beneath them.

The massive city wall, nearly twenty meters high, slowly sank into the ground after being struck repeatedly by hundreds of people.

"They're replacing the city walls. Look at those walls in the distance; they're all made of wood. They're probably going to be replaced with these four-cornered iron stakes!"

Han Peng had the sharpest eyesight. He noticed the difference in the color of the city wall and saw a row of four-cornered iron stakes on the ground in the distance. He could tell at a glance what those people were busy with.

Upon hearing his prompting, everyone immediately realized what he meant, and a look of surprise appeared on their faces.

"These four iron stakes are ten meters long on each side and twenty meters high. How much iron ore would it take to melt down one of them?"

Yue Long couldn't help but speak up, and everyone who heard the question immediately lowered their heads and fell into deep thought.

Village-level camps generally have iron mines, so they are not unfamiliar with iron.

The density of the Ice Abyss iron ore is astonishing. A piece about the size of a fist weighs forty to fifty kilograms. If we assume that a fist is an eight-centimeter cube, then the weight of these four-cornered iron stakes would be at least 7.5 tons.

Glug...

The first person to calculate it couldn't help but swallow hard, looked at the length of the north wall of Hongmen City, and finally his pupils were filled with astonishment.

7.5 tons—that's almost the total output of a miniature iron ore mine!
The iron stakes used to build the walls of Hongmen City were each as valuable as a miniature mineral vein.

The key point is that one tube alone contains 7.5 tons.

The walls of Hongmen City are all over five kilometers long, which means that at least 2000 iron stakes at the four corners would be needed to replace all the wooden walls.

"Great Xia, can you produce so much iron ore?"

"They can definitely produce it. After all, it's a town-level camp. Which of the eight towns on the southern slope of Mount Mo'ao doesn't have hundreds of iron mines?"

Upon hearing Yue Long's question, everyone paused for a moment, but then nodded. Han Peng, who was in the lead, answered him directly.

But after Han Peng finished speaking, he kept shaking his head and continued, "But so much iron ore in the eight towns is basically used in the town itself. Hongmen is just a trading port of the Great Xia. Is it necessary to spend such a huge amount of money to build it? It's almost a third the size of the town."

Han Peng was old and had been to all nine towns of Mo'ao Mountain. The smallest of the nine towns was Longgu City, but even so, the city walls of Longgu City were 15 kilometers long.

That's why he said that Hongmen City was about one-third the size of Zhencheng.

"Don't just look at the city walls, look at those craftsmen!"

The convoy had reached a point not far from the city gate when one of the men suddenly noticed something and gestured for everyone to look closely at the craftsmen working on the city wall.

Everyone looked up and their bodies jolted.

Even with combined efforts, those craftsmen who could hammer such heavy iron piles must have been extraordinary.
Everyone was mentally prepared when they saw the iron stakes, but when they sensed that the craftsmen on the city wall were all at the Cold Resistance level, they still felt a slight tremor in their hearts for no reason.

The number of craftsmen on both the left and right city walls was roughly the same, both exceeding two hundred, totaling more than four hundred.

"More than four hundred... cold-resistant craftsmen?"

As soon as Yue Long finished speaking, the entire team fell silent.

Weaker village-level camps might have only three or five camps with the ability to withstand the cold; ten or more would be considered decent; if they had thirty or more, they would likely be the undisputed leaders in the surrounding villages; and if they had fifty or more, they would be among the top camps in the town.

In the Great Xia Dynasty, there are over four hundred craftsmen skilled in keeping warm.
The key point is that these are the craftsmen who came to build Hongmen City, and they are most likely just a group of craftsmen from Daxia Town.

Not to mention Han Peng and Yue Long, who were both from the village-level camp in Jinshan Town and were all dumbfounded, even Yang Ning and Li Hu, who were disguised, were somewhat shocked.

The strength of the Great Xia Dynasty truly far exceeded their expectations.

"Alright, what's so interesting about building city walls? Now that you're here, hurry up and get into the city. Who's leading this? Come over and register."

A voice suddenly rang out from ahead, drawing everyone's attention to the city gate area.

While they were still marveling at the scene, the convoy had already reached the foot of the city gate.

At the city gate, hundreds of soldiers clad in fine gold armor and wielding swords were patrolling back and forth, while dozens of people in civilian clothes were responsible for registering the information of those entering and leaving the city.

The man who shouted at them, although also wearing a thousand-fold gold armor, was different from the other hundred or so soldiers who were all equipped with horizontal sabers. He had a long sword at his waist, and his posture clearly indicated that he was of higher status than the others.

Han Peng glanced around and found that all of the hundred or so soldiers were at the Cold Resistance level. Thinking of the hundreds of craftsmen he had just seen, he was not moved at all. He quickly lowered his posture, put on an extremely humble smile, and stepped forward to bow and say, "I am Han Peng, greetings, sir. We are a caravan from Jinshan Town."

As luck would have it, since the beginning of September, the trade season in the nine towns of Mo'ao Mountain has officially started. Xia Chuan knew that a large number of people from other towns would be entering and leaving Hongmen City in the next two months. To ensure smooth trade and for the sake of the city's security, he raised the security level of the city gates. He not only had Deputy Commander Liu Yuan personally oversee the city, but also had ten battalions of the Yunjiao Army take turns guarding it.

Liu Yuan was taken aback by Han Peng's words and asked suspiciously, "The people from the Jinshan Chamber of Commerce just arrived last night, and you sent two groups of people?"

"You've misunderstood, sir..."

Han Peng immediately spoke up to explain when his group was mistaken for the Jinshan Chamber of Commerce.

It's no wonder Liu Yuan misunderstood. His team had over a hundred people, seventeen of whom were at the Cold Protection level, and they were pulling such a large vehicle. Their size was indeed comparable to that of the town's Chamber of Commerce team.

"We are from Yinhe Valley in Jinshan Town. Don't laugh at us, but our caravan is a hasty formation of nine village-level camps in Yinhe Valley. We came together after learning that Daxia Town was willing to open up trade to everyone. We did this for safety reasons, and also to gather more supplies and silver at once, hoping to exchange them for some good things from Hongmen and take them back with us."

"So that's how Yinhe Valley is!"

Upon hearing Han Peng's answer, Liu Yuan immediately nodded.

Since Hongmen opened as a port in July, there have been quite a few caravans like Yinhe Valley, formed by multiple village-level camps joining together, so he wasn't surprised.

"Jinshan Town has a total of nine districts, and your Yinhe Valley is the westernmost one, right?"

Upon hearing Liu Yuan's words, Han Peng's face immediately showed a hint of surprise, and he cupped his hands and said, "I didn't expect that you, sir, would know so much about Jinshan Town."

Liu Yuan immediately realized he had been a bit too talkative, so he coughed lightly and said, "Great Xia is now a member of the Nine Towns, so it naturally knows about the other eight towns. The mountains are high and the roads are long, so you must be tired. Go and register first! Write down the number of people in the caravan, each person's name, age and place of origin. We need to check it again when we leave the city."

Is Hongmen City really that strictly controlled?

Han Peng was slightly startled, but he didn't dare to say it out loud. Instead, he turned around and called the others over to register one by one, while he himself went forward first to register.

"Name, age, place of origin?"

"Han Peng, 81 years old, from Jinyang Village, Yinhe Valley, Jinshan Town."

"Let me give you a piece of advice first: it's best not to make things up unless you're confident you'll never be caught. If we find out that any of you filled in the wrong information, then Great Xia will record that person, and you'll never be able to enter Hongmen City again."

Han Peng had just finished answering the first question when he heard Liu Yuan's words. His expression froze slightly before he began to answer the second question.

Many people in the rear ranks looked slightly serious upon hearing Liu Yuan's warning, while some showed resentment.

Yang Ning and Li Hu frowned slightly, but after exchanging a glance with Han Peng, who had already finished registering, their expressions immediately relaxed.

"Name, age, place of origin?"

Finally, it was Yang Ning's turn. He glanced at Han Peng from a distance and then answered, "Liu Ning, 32 years old, from Jinyang Village, Yinhe Valley, Jinshan."

"Liu Hu, 32 years old, from Yinhe Valley, Jinshan Town, Jinyang Village."

Li Hu was right behind him. The person registering at the city gate wrote down the information, roughly recorded the two men's appearances, and waved them into the city.

More than a hundred people quickly finished registering, and everyone followed behind Han Peng, walking together into the city.

As soon as they entered the city gate, Yang Ning immediately approached Han Peng, took out a fist-sized silver ingot from his bundle, and handed it over discreetly, saying in a low voice with gratitude, "Thank you for your help, Elder Han. This is just a small token of my appreciation."

Han Peng silently accepted the silver ingot without any reaction on his face. He simply smiled and said in a low voice, "It was nothing, nothing to mention. I suppose you two have your own reasons for not being able to talk about it."

Liu Ning and Liu Hu are certainly not from Yinhe Valley.

These two men joined the caravan halfway through their journey to the border region. Han Peng had already discerned that they were likely from the Northern Shuo Town before entering the city, so he naturally wouldn't want to offend them carelessly, especially since Liu Ning was so cooperative; the silver ingot he had just received was worth at least five hundred taels.

"stop!"

"Stop!"

Having received the money, Han Peng was in a good mood and was about to continue speaking when he was interrupted by a sudden shout.

The area near the city gate was relatively quiet because there weren't many people there, so when the shout rang out, everyone immediately looked up towards the source of the sound.

Three figures, in a panic and disheveled state, were rushing from the city center toward the city gate. They were all holding weapons and looked extremely flustered. They knocked over many vendors and pedestrians along the way, which immediately drew shouts of anger from the surrounding crowd, and the scene showed signs of getting out of control.

Behind the three, hundreds of soldiers clad in golden armor were chasing them. Although the soldiers had taken out their longbows, they dared not shoot arrows due to the large number of pedestrians on the street, and could only continue to follow behind the three.

"What is this for?"

"Stealing? Doesn't seem like it, those three were empty-handed."

"They're all soldiers at the Cold-Resistant level. That must be the Great Xia Cloud Dragon Army, right?"

"The thousand-forged Thunder Kui Golden Armor, just like the hundred men at the city gate, it must be."

…………

Those near the city gate saw the three fleeing towards them, their eyes flickered, but no one made a move to stop them; they mostly chose to back down.

"Get out of my way!"

Even Han Peng's expression darkened slightly, and he quickly signaled the caravan members to move aside.

Han Peng possessed peak Cold Resistance cultivation and thirteen manes of basic strength. He could immediately tell that the three people who were fleeing in panic were all stronger than him, so he made the same choice as the others.

"Xia troops are at the city gate! Split up and run!"

The leader of the three who were fleeing suddenly realized that there were still Xia soldiers ahead when he was several hundred meters away from the city gate. His face turned ugly, and he shouted angrily before turning around and running to the west.

The other two reacted upon hearing the noise and immediately split up to continue running.

"call………"

However, before the leader had run more than ten meters westward, a loud and powerful shout suddenly rang out in front of him.

A silver double-edged giant axe, more than two meters long, suddenly slammed down on his head from mid-air.

The man reacted quickly, his feet moving without stopping. He swiftly raised his sword and swung it diagonally, clearly intending to deflect the giant axe and continue his escape.

Click...

However, he underestimated the power of that giant axe.

Let alone using it to deflect the giant axe, he couldn't even make a flicking motion with his longsword after it came into contact with the axe. His hand instantly split open, and if he hadn't reacted quickly and twisted his wrist to deflect the force, the longsword would have definitely slipped from his grasp.

Although the longsword was not ultimately released, his escape speed was greatly slowed down. The owner of the double-edged giant axe would naturally not let such a good opportunity pass by.

A burly figure suddenly appeared behind the man. Taking advantage of the fact that the man had just dodged the giant axe and was still recovering, the figure suddenly gathered power in his right fist and punched him directly in the chest.

boom………

In his panic, the man tried to raise his sword to defend himself, but before he could even lift his sword, he was struck by a fist. A loud bang was heard, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood. His body flew backward for more than ten meters, and when he landed, he lay motionless, and it was unknown whether he was dead or alive.

"With this little strength, you dare to spy on the government building? You're asking for death!"

The burly young man was none other than Yuan Cheng. Dressed in a crimson robe, he pulled out the giant axe from the ground and let out a cold snort.

"Who is that?"

"Lord Yuan Cheng, the Chief Administrator of the Garrison Department, one of the Eight Tribes of the Great Xia Dynasty!"

"I heard that Lord Yuan also has a Dragon-Slaying Army under his command, whose strength is at the same level as the Garrison Army."

"That guy was strong enough to be called 'Eighteen Manes,' and he couldn't even withstand a single move. Is this Yuan Sizheng that strong?"

"I've heard people say that Yuan Sizheng's strength is at least at the level of thirty-something."

"hiss………"

...............

Just as many people recognized Yuan Cheng, loud noises came from two other directions, interrupting the discussion.

In less than ten breaths, two people walked out from the area where the sound came from, each carrying a person in their hands. They were the two who had just fled in different directions.

Both of them looked terrible. The one on the left had a hole pierced through his forehead and was already dead; the one on the right had his left shoulder mangled and bloody, and judging from his barely breathing appearance, even if he wasn't dead, he was probably half-dead.

"The one on the left with the knife, isn't that the commander from the city gate?"

"What commander? That's Liu Yuan, the deputy commander of the Yunjiao Army."

"The Cloud Dragon Army? Is that the Cloud Dragon Army that slaughtered two thousand garrison troops in Chuishan and captured more than two hundred Chuishan garrison troops?"

"Nonsense, besides the Great Xia, who else would dare to use this designation?"

"I knew it! Those golden-armored soldiers at the city gate just now, they were all at the Cold Resistance level, they were all soldiers of the Cloud Dragon Army."

"What about the one on the right?"

"I don't know about that, but judging from his clothes, this person's status in Daxia should be similar to that of Yuan Sizheng."

…………

Liu Yuan's identity was revealed, and everyone immediately looked at the person on the right with curiosity.

With the opening of Hongmen in July, many things about the Great Xia have gradually spread. However, the Xia people are not active in the Eight Towns, so apart from Lord Xia Hong, everyone only knows some famous people, such as Xia Chuan, the Director of the Ministry of War, Yuwen Tao, and the other directors of the Eight Departments who have appeared in Hongmen City.

The person on the right had not appeared in Hongmen City before, but judging from his clothes, he was clearly an important figure in the Great Xia Dynasty.

"Ningzi, why are you back from Bashang?"

Yuan Cheng saw the person coming from the right and his face immediately lit up with surprise.

The person who arrived was actually Xu Ning.

Since being appointed as the deputy director of the jurisdiction, Xu Ning has been stationed in Ba Shang City with Yuwen Tao and hasn't returned for several months. I didn't expect him to come to Hongmen tonight.

"Greetings, Deputy Director Xu!"

Xu Ning first tossed the half-dead fugitive in his hand to the Yunjiao Army soldier who was saluting him, then looked at Yuan Cheng and said with a smile, "I'm bringing three people back to see the Chief Minister tonight."

Yuan Cheng was taken aback and immediately turned to look in the direction of the city gate.

Sure enough, three middle-aged men slowly walked in through the city gate. Upon seeing their appearance, Yuan Cheng immediately understood. Seeing that there were many people around, he didn't continue to ask Xu Ning. He first signaled the Yunjiao soldiers to pull the three men back, and then turned to look at everyone. A domineering look appeared between his brows, and he said in a deep voice, "When you entered the city, the city gate order should have already told you what rules to follow when entering Hongmen City."

"Let me add one more thing: once you enter the city, you must abide by the rules. As long as you come to trade sincerely, regardless of your background or strength, the Great Xia Dynasty warmly welcomes you. However, if you have ulterior motives, you'd better have some strength, otherwise, your fate will be the same as those three!"

Everyone shuddered slightly. The tragic state of the three men was still vivid in their minds, so Yuan Cheng's words were naturally very intimidating.

After Yuan Cheng finished speaking, he gave a domineering look around at everyone.

As he looked around, he clearly noticed something. His pupils suddenly narrowed, and then he turned around without making a sound, a playful smile appearing on his lips. He then pulled Xu Ning along and walked towards the Siya Building.

(End of this chapter)