Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 196: Army Beast Tide Little Snow Mane

“Population is indeed the cornerstone!”

At the back of the hall, after listening to the conversation between Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng, Xia Hong, who was sitting cross-legged on the couch, realized that the two had left. He slowly opened his eyes, and after a ray of light passed through his left eye, he could not help but sigh.

Who would have dared to imagine that there would be thousands of digging masters in the earliest Daxia?

But now, it is about to become a reality.

And it's next month.

If I remember correctly, on the 431th of last month, when all the people from Five Ape Mountain came together, the total number of Digging Realm people was .

It's only been a month and it's almost doubled.

Xia Hong has observed that among these newly added people in the Digging Realm, only a small number are from the more than a thousand people in Daxiayuan, and the vast majority of the rest are people from Jingxian and Wuyuan Mountain.

It’s not that the original thousand or so people of Da Xia were not talented. Of course, individuals have different levels of talent, but when it comes to ethnic groups, as long as the living environment and resource endowments are similar, their potential is actually similar.

You know, among the more than one thousand people in Daxia, more than 30% are at the Digging Realm. Judging from the proportion, it can be said that the talent of these one thousand people far exceeds that of the two groups of people from Jingxian and Wuyuan Mountain.

But in reality, this is obviously not the case.

Daxia's supply of animal meat is far more abundant than that of the other two countries. This is the key reason why the proportion of the more than 1,000 people in the Digging Realm far exceeds theirs.

When the two groups of people from Jingxian and Wuyuan Mountain joined in, they enjoyed an ample supply of beast meat, just like the people from Daxia. Many people who were previously stuck and had not been able to break through, as well as some people with excellent talents, broke through naturally.

This is the key to the surge in the number of Digging Realm over the past month.

That’s why Xia Hongcai said that population is the cornerstone.

Cultivation is a long and arduous process. It is impossible to achieve success overnight.

There is only so much beast meat that can be used every day for the Logging Realm and the Digging Realm. Even if there is a martial arts hall in the camp that can improve their training efficiency, it is impossible to mass-produce the Digging Realm. It still requires a lot of time and resources to achieve corresponding improvements and outputs.

"Population expansion is important, but the corresponding supply of supporting resources cannot be ignored. With only over 23,000 people, the camp's hunting capacity can no longer keep up. It seems that we still need to settle down for a while and not increase the population in large numbers. Otherwise, as the leader, I will soon have to take people out hunting again."

Thinking of what Qiu Peng had just said about the monthly meat consumption, Xia Hong shook his head slightly.

150 million kilograms. Fortunately, Daxia now has enough territory, and there is a precious land like Hongmu Ridge. Otherwise, even if he, the leader, goes out in person, he may not be able to get so much meat.

"The resource problem has not been solved yet, and the population cannot be expanded for the time being. As for the military, that is even more unrealistic..."

Xia Hong shook his head and pondered. Qiu Peng's suggestion just now, to set up a full-time team specifically for patrolling the camp, was what he had mentioned to Xia Chuan before.

In fact, this is equivalent to the prototype of the army.

Although Daxia currently has territorial boundaries, it does not have an armed force specifically used to defend its own territory.

Of course the people from the hunting department are counted, but they are not free from their jobs and still have to focus on hunting cold beasts. They can only step in when something happens, just like they did before.

Judging from the horrific meat consumption in the camp right now, if the hunting department relaxes even a little, there is a high probability that meat will be out of supply.

Under such circumstances, Xia Hong would naturally not think about building an army anymore.

"I heard from Luo Ming earlier that Yang and Li were both scouts of the Beishuo Town Imperial Army. In other words, if the population exceeds 100,000 and reaches the standard of a town-level camp, it should be eligible to build an army."

Beishuo Town Guards!
Xia Hong raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking of the strength of Yang and Li, and couldn't help but lose interest in this army.

"To be able to serve as a scout, one should generally be quite strong in the army. In other words, this army is most likely composed of Digging Realm warriors, but I don't know exactly how many people there are."

Being uninterested does not mean being contemptuous.

The strength of Beishuo Town is unquestionable as it can support a fully operational army.

A huge population of over 100,000 is something that the present-day Daxia cannot achieve.

But it must be said that compared to the time in Tupo, more than a year has passed, and when Xia Hong thinks of Yang and Li, and the Beishuo Town behind them, his heart no longer feels any fluctuations.

After all, he was confident that as long as Daxia was given enough time, surpassing the so-called Beishuo Town, or even the entire nine towns of Moao Mountain, would not be a problem.

"Why are so many people back? It's not even midnight yet!"

Xia Hong frowned and suddenly looked up outside the hall.

There are a large number of people outside, rushing back to the valley. It is only the first half of the night, and people who go out should not come back at this time.

what's the situation?
…………

"Why are so many people coming back?"

"Beast tide, there is a beast tide, this is the news from Jinggu."

"Beast tide? There's nothing going on outside Redwood Ridge."

"The western outskirts are fine. It should be the bamboo forest. I heard that Lord Yue Feng sent people back to report the news. Many people have returned."

"Towards the bamboo forest, north?"

"Yes."

…………

Upon hearing the news of the beast tide, the Daxia Valley was immediately in turmoil.

"Don't panic, it's a tide of beasts from the Arrow Bamboo Forest, they're far away from us."

"There is a beast tide every four months in that place. Don't worry. Those cold beasts all run into the arrow bamboo forest and will not come to us."

"Just don't go near the north."

Soon, someone from the former Jingxian camp spoke up to comfort the rest of the confused people. When they learned that the cold beast would not come to the valley, everyone's emotions immediately stabilized and the commotion in the crowd slowly stopped.

"Don't panic, there's nothing unusual around here. Everyone, just don't go to the north for the next few days."

Xia Hong's loud voice echoed throughout the valley. Everyone looked at each other, then raised their heads to look toward the third floor of the wooden house. Their expressions suddenly calmed down.

"Is this the leader's voice?"

"Why does it feel like it came from the sky?"

"The leader is like a god."

"The leader is a god. If he says it's okay, then it must be okay."

"Do whatever you need to do. Just don't go to the north. These few days, stay outside the west side."

…………

Xia Hongjing sat in the main seat in the hall on the third floor. After calming down the commotion in the valley, his brows slightly furrowed.

It can be seen from this commotion that Daxia’s current system still has many imperfections.

Normally, if something happens, someone should come out immediately to appease them, and then determine whether the situation is dangerous or not, and whether preparations should be made. But nothing has happened yet, and people in the camp are already in panic, and as the leader, they have to personally speak up to appease them, which inevitably feels like a makeshift team.

But there is no way around it. Currently, even Xia Chuan, the Chief Secretary, has to lead a team out hunting, not to mention the six chiefs of the department and the captains of each hunting team. They basically go out at nightfall, even Mu Dong, the chief of the Craftsmen Department, is no exception.

"We still need to arrange for someone to look after the camp. At least when there is an emergency, they won't be like a group of headless flies. I have to talk to Xia Chuan about it next time."

Xia Hong pondered for a moment, and waited until the camp was completely calm before he stood up, left the hall through the main gate, and headed north.

………………

Unlike the short-term commotion in Daxia Valley, the scene in Jing Valley was completely earth-shattering.

The valley within a radius of five or six miles was shaking continuously.

More than thirty wooden houses were all shaking due to the ground. The accumulated snow and icicles kept sliding down from the roofs to both sides, making crackling sounds.

Hundreds of people were hiding in a wooden house in the center.

The bonfire in the house had gone out, and everyone looked horrified. From time to time, they looked south through the windows and wooden doors, with shock on their faces.

The arrow bamboo forest one kilometer away in the south was constantly rumbling, as if there was an earthquake. The sky was full of snow and had already covered the entire bamboo forest. The air was filled with dark snow fog and visibility was extremely low.

But even so, the people in the wooden house could still see through the snow and fog the shadow of a huge beast running wildly inside.

"Thank God that Master Yue Feng notified us in time. If it had been a little later, we would have been eaten or trampled to death!"

"Look over there, there are at least seven or eight of them. I can see them clearly from such a distance. Their length is at least seven or eight meters. Are they all intermediate-level cold beasts?"

"Gudong, this is just what we see through the edge of the snow and fog. We don't know how many are inside the snow and fog. The bamboo forest is probably full of cold beasts now. How can there be so many?"

"From the noise, at least hundreds of them must have passed by in just a short while!"

"Didn't the people at Jingxian Camp say that this beast tide will last for four or five days? That means there really are tens of thousands of them."

"So many cold beasts, where are they going?"

"Maybe there are some treasures in the arrow bamboo forest?"

"Hey, you're quite smart. Why, do you want to pick up treasures?"

"I have to live like this too. With such a huge beast tide, I guess no one in the camp except the leader dares to get close."

"I'm afraid it's not certain even for the leader. With so many cold beasts, I think there may be some high-level ones."

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

On the second floor of the wooden house, hearing everyone's discussion, Yue Feng turned around and looked at Yuwen Tao, a look of gratitude appeared on his face, and he said with a cupped hand: "Thanks to Sir Si Zheng tonight, if you hadn't informed us in advance, many people would have died tonight."

Yuwen Tao waved his hand slightly and said, "Brother Yue, you don't have to be polite. I roughly calculated that a beast tide would come soon. I stayed here for this period of time just for now."

Yue Feng nodded upon hearing this, but the gratitude on his face remained unchanged.

He also knew that the beast tide in the Arrow Bamboo Forest occurred every four months, following the maturity of the Ice Trees.

But knowing is one thing, and being able to judge it accurately is another.

Eighteen days have passed in May, and the beast tide has yet to come. He has been careless recently and thought that there would be no beast tide.

Who knew it would come tonight!
Jinggu has become Daxia's fixed base north of the Arrow Bamboo Forest.

Not only did he and the people from the Shanhe Team station here, but many hunting teams and gathering teams would also come here to rest and station. Sometimes, for the convenience of mining, they would stay here for several days.

The same goes for the members of the gathering team. The bamboo silk in the arrow bamboo forest is one of the important materials that the camp must collect on a regular basis. Now there are hundreds or even thousands of loggers active in the arrow bamboo forest every night.

If Yuwen Tao had not accurately judged that a beast tide was coming and informed him in advance, and if he had not quickly sent people to notify everyone and asked everyone to evacuate in time, many people would have died tonight.

As the person in charge of Jinggu, he will naturally be held responsible.

To be fair, Yue Feng didn't have a very good impression of Yuwen Tao. The reason was simple: both Li Yun and Li Pingkai had a good relationship with him.

Because of the previous pursuit, he had a bad overall impression of the people who joined the Jingxian Camp this time.

But what happened today made Yue Feng change his opinion of Yuwen Tao.

Yuwen Tao obviously didn't know that Yue Feng had so many thoughts, and was thinking with his head down.

"I used to remember the date very accurately, once every four months, with a deviation of no more than five days. This time, it was delayed by more than ten days..."

Yuwen Tao whispered, his brows furrowed.

Jingxian Camp has experienced many beast tides over the years.

The ice tree matured at the beginning of the month, and today is already the 18th.

Why are you so late?

In fact, in the past few days, he, like Yue Feng, suspected that there would be no beast tide this time. Fortunately, he was cautious enough and stayed for a few more days, otherwise, he would definitely suffer a great loss tonight.

Yuwen Tao lowered his head and thought, but couldn't figure out the reason for a long time.

Yue Feng, who was standing next to him, was even more confused. He just kept observing the movements in the bamboo forest to the south to prevent any unusual movements.

In addition to the two people, Meng Yi and Hong Guang were also on the second floor.

The last time Xia Hong scared away the three people from the Beehive, he only ordered Yue Feng to lead the Shanhe Squad to stay here to garrison, allowing the other five teams to move freely.

Yuwen Tao was worried, so he took his Longwu team and Meng Yi's Shenwu team and continued to stay here.

"Hey, why is there a little snow-mane?"

"It's only a little over one meter long. Is it a cub?"

"Did they come with the beast tide?"

"Hehe, I haven't seen a cold beast cub yet. The meat should be very tender."

………………

The private part was silent, but suddenly I heard several voices coming from the first floor.

Yue Feng, Hong Guang and Meng Yi were all stunned, but Yuwen Tao was the only one who was shocked when he heard these discussions. He quickly ran to the stairs and looked down.

In order to coordinate the dispatch and also to prevent the dispersion of personnel from disturbing the beast tide, Yue Feng gathered all the more than 400 people who stayed in Jinggu into this central wooden house, so at this moment, a lot of people gathered on the first floor.

Although there was no fire in the house, the four people who walked to the stairs noticed the shadow of the beast at the door of the wooden house at a glance.

Just as everyone had just discussed, the beast shadow was only 60 centimeters tall at the shoulder and about one meter long. Even compared to low-level cold beasts, its size was very small.

The beast shadow has a circle of barbs on its back. Although the details of the front face cannot be seen clearly, the pair of white curved fangs are very conspicuous. Looking at the black mane covering its body, it can be basically judged that it is a miniature snow mane.

Are there really snowmane cubs?
The only difference between this small snowmane in front of them and the snowmanes they had seen before was probably its eyes.

Snowmane's eyes were bloodshot red.

And the snow-maned creature in front of him actually had blue eyes.

Not only is it green, but it also has a crystal-like texture like jade.

"Huh...huh..."

It uttered two humming sounds, looking so adorable that everyone on the first floor couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Run, run, everyone, run!"

Yuwen Tao's horrified roar instantly stopped everyone's laughter.

Yue Feng and the other two standing next to him were all shocked;
The expressions of the more than 400 people on the first floor were all frozen.

"That's a high-level cold beast, a high-level cold beast, run, run, everyone, scatter and run..."

(End of this chapter)