Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 320: The end of the migration, the grand scene of Daxia, the Star-Picking Palace

The second year of Daxia, September 30, the first half of the night

boom…………

Suddenly, there was a slight noise coming from the northern wall of Xiacheng.

"Amazing! This city wall is made of black soil, but it can withstand the impact of a mane. With such a large scale, even if I use all my strength, I can only make a few small holes. If I don't have enough time, it will be impossible to destroy a large area."

Below the city wall, Li Xuanling looked at how his punch had only created a small, slight dent on the wall, and he couldn't help but marvel at it.

Although she only used one ounce of strength, it was equivalent to a full-strength attack from most mid-level cold beasts. The city wall was five meters thick. Even if it was an iron wall of the same thickness, it would be deformed to some extent after being impacted by a mid-level cold beast. However, this city wall only had a slight dent.

"It shouldn't be ordinary black soil. Even if these three walls are hit by a large-scale beast tide, as long as there are not too many high-level cold beasts inside, they will probably be able to withstand it. Fortunately, you were wise in July. If you had led the Longyou Army to attack Xiacheng at that time, you would probably have been defeated even more miserably!"

Li Tiancheng subconsciously spoke out his true thoughts. Seeing that Li Xuanling's face had darkened, he realized that he had mentioned something he shouldn't have. He immediately pointed in the direction of the west wall and changed the subject, saying, "The migrating team should have entered the city. Let's hurry over there and see what the scene is like in Xiacheng."

Long before the war broke out in July, Li Tiancheng had come to Hongmuling to explore the situation in Xiacheng, but he did not enter the city at that time. During the previous two months in Longshan, he had listened to the cold-resistant soldiers of Daxia telling countless stories about Xiacheng, and his ears were almost callused. Now that he could finally get a glimpse of the real appearance, he was naturally very curious.

Li Xuanling nodded and walked towards the west gate with Li Tiancheng.

Since the tenth day of September, when the five straight roads were completed, 260,000 people from Longyou have been migrating towards Xiacheng.

The number of people migrating this time was too large, and most of them were ordinary people, not trained like the army. In order to reduce security risks, Xia Chuan migrated in batches, so the efficiency was naturally incredibly slow.

The more than 10,000 people migrating tonight are the last migrating group in the entire Longyou, and they happen to be the people from Longshan.

Uncle Li Xuanling and his nephew were somewhat reluctant to leave their homeland and did not want to leave so early, so they stayed until tonight and followed the last group here.

After walking west for a while, Li Xuanling saw from afar ten long lines at the city gate. After a rough estimate, he found that there were at least six or seven thousand people who had not entered the city. His brows immediately furrowed.

"We're only halfway in. Why is it so slow to get into the city?"

Li Tiancheng also shook his head in confusion. Seeing Li Xuanling rushing forward, he was worried that she would cause trouble, so he quickly followed her.

"Next!"

"I am Zhou An, from Longshan, 23 years old this year, in the Woodcutting Realm, and married. These three are my wife Wang Yu Niang, 21 years old this year, also in the Woodcutting Realm, my son Zhou Shun, 7 years old this year, and my daughter Zhou Rou, 4 years old this year."

"Yes, your residence is in the outer city's temporary wooden building No. 48, third floor, room No. 98. After entering the city, walk meters along the main road, turn right, and you will find it by following the sign on the wooden building."

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir!"

"Next!"

"I am Zhang Fan, from Yucheng, nineteen years old this year, in the Digging Realm, unmarried, and not registered, I am alone."

"Yes, your residence is the same as the previous one, also in Building 48, temporary wooden building, second floor, room 67. You will find it behind the family of four in front."

"Thank you for the directions, sir!"

"Next!"

"I am Zheng Qing, from Longshan, 31 years old this year, in the Digging Realm, married. This is my wife Liu Ying, 28 years old this year, in the Woodcutting Realm. This is my son Zheng Hong, 8 years old this year."

"Yes, your residence is in the outer city's 49th temporary wooden building, first floor, room 12. Follow the people in front and you'll find it."

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir!"

………………

When he was still more than a hundred meters away from the city gate, Li Xuanling clearly heard the sound coming from the city gate, and then he understood why the speed of entering the city was so slow.

It turned out that these guards were checking and comparing the information of people entering the city one by one, but the inspection was too thorough, from name, place of origin, household registration, age, to family members, almost every aspect was checked.

"Hasn't the population registered in Longshan a long time ago? We have to check again before entering the city. Isn't Daxia too strict?"

Li Tiancheng did not answer, but continued to listen for a while, then he sighed and whispered: "Listen carefully, this is to allocate residences according to their household registration and place of origin. People with the same household registration are basically disrupted and live together with people from other places."

Li Xuanling was also very smart. He calmed down and listened for a while. He found that it was just as his second uncle said, and he reacted immediately.

"They are afraid that people from the same place will gather together, so they deliberately separate them by their place of origin. Xia Hong is really too petty, humph!"

This naturally has nothing to do with being petty. Such a move can not only greatly reduce management costs, but also strengthen the camp's control over the newly integrated population. At the same time, it can also speed up the process of these people's integration into Daxia, and it is even of great significance to the safety of the camp...

This is clearly an important measure that achieves multiple goals at one stroke and is extremely effective.

Li Tiancheng was fully aware of how intelligent his niece was.

Li Xuanling said this obviously to deliberately anger Xia Hong.

Li Tiancheng thought for a moment, then whispered to comfort him:
"Xuan Ling, Chief Xia is also very good to you, 10 coins per month..."

"Excuse me, is this person, Senior Li Tiancheng?"

But before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by a sound coming from the city gate.

When the two looked up, they found two golden-armored soldiers at the city gate, leading more than a dozen beautiful young women, trotting towards them.

While these people were jogging over, the two of them hurriedly took a closer look at their clothes.

At the city gate, whether it was the soldiers on duty or the soldiers checking people entering the city, they were all wearing black forged iron armor, and their basic strength was mostly below 20,000 pounds.

The two men in front of him were wearing the same golden armor as the soldiers of the Yunjiao Army, and their basic strength was over 20,000 pounds.

Moreover, the dozen or so pretty young women behind the two men, although their cultivation had just broken through the Digging Realm, were dressed in unusual attire.
They were all wearing the same cotton-padded clothes as himself, and a blue velvet jacket on the outside. Judging from the fineness of the velvet, it was obviously the top layer of fur of the Frostwolf.

Frostwolf first layer of fleece is not a rare thing in Longshan, but because of its strong warmth retention and low output, this first layer of fleece is generally used to make hats, and not everyone can wear it.

It would be different if it could be used to make clothes and more than a dozen women who had just broken through the digging stage could wear them.

Not only that, there was also the silver mouse fur hanging around her neck, the aquamarine silk sewn on her cuffs, the bone jade accessories hanging from her hair, the snow-white velvet skirt she wore...

The clothes and accessories worn by these women alone were derived from more than ten different types of cold beasts, not to mention the exquisite workmanship.

Could it be possible that in Daxia, those at the Digging Realm could wear these clothes?

Even though Li Tiancheng was knowledgeable and experienced, he couldn't help but be stunned.

Not to mention Li Xuanling, she also has a lot of accessories and clothes, but compared with those women in Daxia, theirs can only be described as simple.

Although she has the ability to resist the cold, Li Xuanling is still a woman after all. It is her nature to love beauty. Seeing such beautiful clothes and accessories, she naturally can't hide her curiosity and keeps looking at those women.

As he had just arrived, Li Tiancheng did not dare to act arrogantly. He nodded and bowed to the two golden-armored soldiers, saying, "I am the old man. May I ask who you are?"

"Daxia City Gate Commander, Zhu Kang!"

"Daxia City Gate Order, Hongyu!"

The City Gate Commander was obviously an official position specifically responsible for guarding the city gates.

Li Tiancheng nodded and was about to speak when a leader among the dozen or so women behind him rushed to Li Xuanling first.

"Then this must be the Madam. My name is Hanyue, and I am the head maid of the Zhaixing Palace. I am here to welcome the Madam on the orders of the Lord."

The word "Madam" made Li Xuanling blush instantly. She subconsciously wanted to refute, but before she could open her mouth, the more than ten maids behind her bent down and bowed to her at the same time.

"Meet my lady."

Hong Yu and Zhu Kang looked at each other and bowed.

"Meet Madam!"

………………

Li Xuanling stood there in a daze for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"No wonder the Lord said that we should just wait at the city gate. We will definitely recognize the Madam once she arrives. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Daxia, and I have never seen anyone more beautiful than the Madam!"

"Yes, Madam, you look so beautiful even in a white dress without any accessories. If you wear summer clothes, you will look terrible."

"Only a beauty like yours can be worthy of the Lord."

………………

Li Xuanling was originally thin-skinned, and when the maids praised her so much in front of everyone, her face immediately turned red, and she no longer had the composure of the leader of Longshan in the past.

"Okay, let's stop blocking the way here and let Madam enter the city first!"

Han Yue interrupted the maids and led Li Xuanling and Li Tiancheng towards the city gate.

The soldiers on duty at the city gate obviously knew these maids. When they saw Li Xuanling, who was treated like a star, they immediately realized something and put down what they were doing in an instant, obviously intending to stand up and salute.

Seeing everyone's actions, Li Xuanling frowned slightly and said softly: "It's just entering the city, there's no need to mobilize so many troops..."

She paused for a moment, obviously worried that her words would not work, and continued to say to Hong Yu and the others, "I think it's freezing outside, so we should let the last group of people go into the city quickly to avoid any more accidents."

"I will follow Madam's orders!"

To her surprise, Hong Yu and Zhu Kang did not hesitate at all. After understanding her meaning, they bowed and obeyed her orders, and immediately ran to the city gate.

"No need to stop, do your job! Keep letting people into the city."

"Just keep doing your work and don't look around."

………………

Seeing that Hong Yu and Zhu Kang obeyed his orders so readily, Li Xuanling's eyes suddenly showed something strange.

However, Han Yue, the maid who was leading the way beside her, obviously guessed what she was thinking and whispered to her, "Madam, there is no need to be so reserved. When the lord came back five days ago, he said that in Xiacheng, you are equivalent to him, so all of us will follow your orders."

Li Xuanling was somewhat happy when he heard this.

But when I thought about it carefully, I couldn't help but curl my lips.

What Xia Hong meant by this was that her rights as a lady were locked in Xia City, and would be useless once she left the city and went to other territories of Da Xia.

Of course, Li Xuanling knew in her heart that it was already very good for Xia Hong to achieve this, so even though she curled her lips, she did not say much, but continued to follow Han Yue and others into the city.

"Senior Li, your residence is also in the outer city. I will take you there personally."

Before everyone entered the city, Hong Yu caught up with them from behind.

Li Tiancheng was stunned. He obviously didn't expect that the temporary residence arranged by Daxia for him would be in the outer city. "Don't worry, Senior Li. You won't live with those people. The Artisan Department has built a separate residence for each cold-resistant level from Longshan. Qiu Sizheng said that this is an advance payment. When you have enough contribution points, you can go to the Quartermaster Department to pay it back."

The Six Divisions of Longshan have been established for more than two months. Li Tiancheng is naturally familiar with many of Daxia's rules. In fact, he has already established his own hunting team in Longshan, and he has a lot of contribution points.

However, Daxia's move of not giving any special treatment to the Cold-Resistant Class still made him feel a little strange, and also made him more curious about the scene in the city.

"In that case, please lead the way, little friend Hongyu!"

After Li Tiancheng spoke, everyone started again and walked towards the city.

As they stepped into the city gate, the faces of Li Xuanling and Li Tiancheng were immediately illuminated by the firelight. They looked up at everything in front of them, and their expressions became dull for a moment.

What comes into view is an open main road ten meters wide. There are palm-sized snowflakes floating in the sky, but there is no snow on the main road. To be precise, the snowflakes melt as soon as they fall to the ground, and then turn into water and flow into the drainage ditches on both sides of the road.

On both sides of the main road, there is a seven-meter-high iron pole every five meters, with a coal stove hung on it. Through the furnace wall, you can see the red coal stones inside, which are constantly emitting heat.

Of course, heat is secondary, and light source is more important.

The light released by such densely laid coal stoves almost illuminated the entire main road. In addition, the crowded buildings on both sides also had fires on. There was not a single dark spot in sight in the outer city.

Not only coal stoves, but also every twenty meters on both sides of the street, there is a large ice tree with a diameter of more than five meters. These ice trees were obviously transplanted into Xiacheng a long time ago. Even the icicles covering the outer layer are gone. Under the illumination of the fire, they are faintly green.

"Madam, you came at an untimely time. When the ice tree is about to bear fruit, the fruit and branches will be covered with a thick layer of frost. That's when it looks its best. We just harvested one crop in August, so we'll have to wait another two months for the next crop to mature."

Hanyue noticed the looks in Li Xuanling and the other person's eyes and immediately introduced them to each other.

"There are four main roads in the inner and outer cities of Daxia. This Bingshuo tree is not a precious plant, so it is placed closest to the city gate. Going further in, you can see dozens of tree species such as Chenxiang, Lushui, Lanyu, Qingyan, Xianghan, Baizhi, Yugu, Hantong, etc. Madam, please come in!"

If the static streets, houses, trees and everything else only made Li Xuanling and his nephew stare with their eyes wide open, then the occasional natives of Daxia who walked in and out of the streets, including the residents who walked out of the houses on both sides from time to time, were enough to make them dumbfounded and completely speechless.

On the street, there were many people who had come in through the city gate like them, but with just a glance, one could tell them apart from the indigenous people of Daxia just by their clothes, not to mention their spirit.

The vast majority of people coming from Longyou were still wearing animal skin clothes. Even those in the Digging Realm could wear cotton clothes, which were mixed with some animal skins. Those who could really wear pure cotton clothes were basically those who had reached the extreme level of the Digging Realm, or the children and relatives of some high-ranking officials in the camp.

But it’s different in Daxia. Almost all adults in the outer city wear a layer of cotton clothes inside and standard animal skin clothes outside to keep out the cold.

Some six or seven-year-old children playing and fighting on the street were wearing sets of small fur clothes. One could tell from the workmanship and materials that they were better than the cotton-padded clothes worn by adults.

"Xuan Ling, look at that boy, am I seeing things?"

Li Tiancheng suddenly looked as if he had seen a ghost. He pointed at a boy not far away on the street and motioned Li Xuanling to go and see.

Li Xuanling looked over when he heard the voice, his face filled with shock.

"He's only thirteen or fourteen years old at most, and he's already broken through to the Digging Realm?"

Hong Yu was right beside, so he naturally heard Li Tiancheng's exclamation.

He followed the gazes of the two people and saw the young boy. His expression suddenly became a little strange. He said, "Come to think of it, that boy has the same surname as you and your wife. His name is Li Yuanqing and he is a little over fourteen years old this year."

Upon hearing this name, Li Tiancheng and Li Xuanling's expressions froze at the same time.

It's not just the same surname.

Li Xuantian had a son named Li Yuanqing, who was the captain of the second regiment of the Longyou New Army. Li Yuanqing was captured by Daxia in the Battle of Changbaigou. Xia Hong personally ordered his execution at the end of July.

Although Hong Yu, the city gate commander, had not been in office for long, he happened to know a lot of things through his father Hong Guang. Seeing the frozen expressions of Li Xuanling and the others, he lowered his head and thought for a moment, and instantly remembered that the man who was executed by the Li family at the end of July was also named Li Yuanqing. Only then did he realize that he should not have mentioned it.

"Madam, senior, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to offend you!"

He quickly apologized to the two of them, looking a little nervous.

"It's okay, just continue to lead the way!"

Li Tiancheng and Li Xuanling would not blame him. After motioning him to continue leading the way, they sighed slightly and continued to follow him.

Soon, Li Tiancheng was about to part ways with Li Xuanling. His residence was on the south side of the outer city, so he had to turn right, while Li Xuanling wanted to enter the inner city and had to continue walking forward.

"Second Uncle, take care of yourself. I will come to the outer city to see you when I am free."

Li Tiancheng nodded and whispered, "The wedding date between you and Chief Xia has not been decided yet. I will go to discuss it with him in two days. Take care of yourself."

After saying that, Li Tiancheng followed Hong Yu.

Li Xuanling continued to follow Han Yue and other maids towards the inner city.

Seeing from afar that the inner city checkpoint was still several hundred meters away, Li Xuanling's mind was slightly moved and he asked Han Yue beside him: "You have always called him the lord?"

Han Yue shook her head and replied, "Last month, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice ordered us to change our name. The Minister of the Ministry of Justice said that Daxia now has a population of 400,000 and a territory of tens of thousands of miles, which has long exceeded the standard of a town-level camp, so we must change our name to lord."

A camp with a population of over 100,000 is considered a town-level camp. The current scale of Daxia is indeed far beyond this standard, so it is indeed correct to call it a lord.

"The Star-Picking Palace you just mentioned is the lord's residence?"

"That's right. The Star-Picking Palace was built by Mu Siming with great ingenuity for the chieftain's residence. It is truly a masterpiece of nature and the tallest building in Xia City. When it was completed five days ago, it was truly stunning. Madam, you will definitely like it when you see it later."

It's just a building, what's the big deal...

Although she was greatly shocked in the outer city, Li Xuanling decided to remain calm for the sake of her reputation, no matter how stunning the palace was.

The checkpoint leading to the inner city was soon reached.

The first time he stepped into the inner city, Li Xuanling was hit hard.

Standing in front of her were two women in blue summer dresses.

The two women were of superior appearance. The summer clothes they were wearing were obviously not ordinary items, and were not necessarily cheaper than the gauze skirts they were wearing. The various ornaments on the two women could be seen with the naked eye to be much higher quality than those worn by Hanyue and the other dozen maids.

Of course, if it was just appearance alone, it would not be enough to make Li Xuanling feel such a severe psychological blow.

It’s mainly about cultivation!
She discovered that the woman in front of her also had the ability to resist the cold.

Although she is not as strong as me, she is also younger than me!
She could roughly tell that this woman was at most twenty years old, and most likely even younger than twenty, at least two years younger than her.

She was also pregnant with a big belly, looking like she was about to give birth.

Li Xuanling suddenly realized something and his face turned pale.

"Han Yue greets the two Si Cheng ladies!"

"Greetings, Madam Si Cheng."

But when he heard Han Yue and other maids bowing and greeting the two girls, Li Xuanling's pale face instantly recovered.

Xia Chuan is the Secretary of the Xia Dynasty, and Mrs. Secretary is naturally his wife.

"I've heard that my eldest brother married a fairy-like wife. We didn't believe it before, but now we know it's true after seeing her. My eldest sister-in-law is so beautiful. Xiao Yu has never seen a woman as beautiful as her."

"Xiao Ning has met the sister-in-law!"

Compared to Xiao Ning, Xiao Yu was both eloquent and capable. He started by praising Li Xuanling. After getting closer, he immediately took over Han Yue's position, took Li Xuanling's hand, and led her towards the depths of the inner city with a smile.

"Sister-in-law is new here. If you feel bored in the inner city, you can come and chat with us sisters at any time to relieve your boredom..."

Xiao Ning was very friendly and Li Xuanling quickly accepted her. The two seemed to hit it off and soon started chatting.

However, in between the conversation, Li Xuanling did not forget to take a look at the scenery in the inner city.

The streets, coal stoves, houses, stoves hanging all over the mountain walls...the layout and facilities were even more luxurious than those in the outer city, making her feel overwhelmed;

When she shifted her gaze from the object to the person, her pupils continued to shrink. She could hardly suppress the horror in her heart and was about to scream out loud.

"They are all in the Digging Realm. Such young children are all in the Digging Realm!"

"Well, at most thirteen, right?"

"This, even Eleven may not have it."

"Um, is he ten years old? How is that possible?"

………………

At this moment, Li Xuanling just wanted to quickly pull his second uncle Li Tiancheng over and let him see the children on the streets of the inner city. If Li Yuanqing from the outer city was brought here, he would probably be considered old.

How come there are so many geniuses in Daxia?
"Sister-in-law, we're here!"

"Ah...are we at the Star-Picking Palace?"

In a trance, Li Xuanling was awakened by Xiao Ning. He hurriedly looked up and found that he had unknowingly walked to a giant three-story wooden building with a length of about 200 meters and a height of about 15 meters.

Judging from the specifications and location of this wooden building, including the meticulous arrangement of each floor from bottom to top, it is obvious that this is the main building of Daxia.

Li Xuanling admitted that the dragon and phoenix patterns on the eaves, the carefully arranged animal-shaped coal stoves, the flags on the top of the house, and the overall appearance of the building with light gold and black...

This main building is really nice.

But it is a bit too much to exaggerate the craftsmanship and ingenuity of the work.

Shockingly beautiful, that's even more...

"Madam, this is the main building. The Star-Picking Palace is above. Please step back and take a look."

Isn't it the Star-Picking Palace?
Hearing Han Yue's words, Li Xuanling was stunned at first, then took two steps back and looked up at the main building again.

When she saw this, she was stunned for a moment.

There is a floating palace in the sky above the back of the main building.

The temple was obviously made of pure iron. Except for some decorative bone carvings, the bonfire and coal stove inside the temple, the whole temple was black.

It is only over thirty meters long, which is only one-seventh of the main building. It is as high as the main building, also fifteen meters. But because it is suspended more than thirty meters above the main building, it is indeed difficult to see clearly if you are not careful when standing in front of the main building.

How could the hall be suspended?
After this confusion arose in Li Xuanling's mind, he stared at the hall carefully. In front of the hall's main entrance was an iron bridge, and the other end of the iron bridge was connected to the top floor of the main building.

Suddenly, noticing something, Li Xuanling turned his head to look at the two sides of the mountain wall above, and suddenly he showed an expression of sudden enlightenment.

"It's not suspended. There are a lot of iron materials under this Star-Picking Palace, which are connected to the stone walls on both sides of the valley. I see..."

(End of this chapter)