Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 442 The Hu Brothers Enter the City and Meet Cai Yunzhou [Crazy Request for Votes, Guaranteed to Publish at the End of the Month]

call…………

In the far northern part of Evergreen Valley, it is daytime.

Snowflakes filled the sky, and the wind howled.

A road paved with green wood, eight meters wide, runs from south to north.

Although the airflow here is strong, its direction is unusually erratic.

It seemed to be venting its frustrations haphazardly because it couldn't find an outlet, swirling the snowflakes in the air into whistling vortexes; blowing the trees on both sides of the road to their sides; and occasionally breaking off icicles hanging from the rock walls on both sides of the valley. The longest of these icicles was more than ten meters long, and the shortest was three or four meters long. Naturally, the sound of them hitting the ground was quite loud.

The swirling snowflakes, swaying trees, and falling icicles contrasted beautifully with the deserted Qingmu Road, creating a unique and picturesque scene of a snow-covered ancient road.

"A silver dragon leaps, its cold light shines across the fields, carving countless ravines and tempering a thousand cliffs with frost..."

Suddenly, a soft, melodious song drifted from the end of the road.

You can tell from his voice that he's a middle-aged man.

The first four lines of the song clearly depicted the cruel and frigid snowscape of the icy abyss, hence the slightly somber tone. Then the person continued:

"Ice blades are sharp, frozen clouds are slanted, the wind carves through a thousand mountains, leaving their bones calloused..."

As the song continued to depict the harsh environment, a sense of resistance emerged, and the middle-aged man's fighting spirit gradually rose in his voice before he sang the final line in a high-pitched tone:
"Breaking through the fierce wind, I stand tall with sleeves fluttering, and the clouds and rosy hues appear over Mount Mo'ao!"

"Great, Uncle Hu, you sang so well..."

As the song ended, a clear, cheerful voice of praise from a young girl rang out.

At the end of the road, a convoy slowly appeared.

The convoy consisted of more than 30 people. The first thing that caught the eye were two wooden two-wheeled wagons, each with five people in front of it holding iron bars and ropes, which were obviously the source of their power. Then there was a ten-meter-long, five-meter-wide iron-wheeled wagon, fully loaded with goods. This iron-wheeled wagon was pulled by ten people in front and pushed by five people in the back, and its weight was obviously much greater than the two wagons in front.

Around the lead van, there were six other people walking alongside it.

All six were dressed in cotton-padded clothes. Slightly ahead of them were two middle-aged men in blue robes, wearing felt hats with animal fur on their heads and looking to be around 40 years old. The remaining three men and one woman, four young people around 20 years old, were a few steps behind the two. This was because they were holding onto the carriage with their hands, obviously to reduce the bumps during the carriage's movement.

Who else could the four young people be but the Su siblings?

"Cough cough..."

The middle-aged man at the front, carrying a long spear of fine iron, felt a little embarrassed when Su Xing'er praised his singing voice. He coughed lightly twice before smiling and saying, "Miss Xing'er, there are four names hidden in this Mo'ao song. You probably don't know that, do you?"

Su Xing'er was taken aback upon hearing this and immediately nodded in confusion.

However, her elder brother Su Jing took over and said, "I do know a little about it. When Uncle Hu mentioned the four names, he was referring to the governors of the four vassal states: Chencang Governor Chu Longteng, Hecang Governor Fu Wanhe, Caiqiu Governor Cai Qianshan, and Weibo Governor Li Gangfeng."

Upon hearing Su Jing mention four names, Hu Tiejiang immediately smiled and nodded: "That's right, those are the names of the four regional governors. The reason why so many people from our four major vassal states have been able to live peacefully in the Mo'ao Mountain region for over two hundred years is thanks to the protection of these four regional governors..."

At this point, Hu Tiejiang paused, then quickly added, "Of course, we are from Caiqiu, and the person we should thank the most is Cai Fangbo."

Su Jing and his companions didn't respond, but the cart pullers and travelers all showed strong agreement on their faces.

call…………

As the convoy entered a section of road with turbulent air currents, the pressure on both those pulling the vehicles and those pushing them increased significantly, and the driving speed naturally slowed down.

"Tiechuan, come with me to help push the cart!"

Hu Tiejiang, being quite experienced, called out to his younger brother Hu Tiechuan, who was standing next to him, and quickly went to the back of the second van to help push it.

Following suit, Su Jing and his four siblings also went to the back of the carriage to help push it.
Seeing that the wind was still picking up, Su Xing'er couldn't help but turn to ask, "Uncle Hu, why is the wind so strong and chaotic here?"

Hu Tiejiang, clearly very experienced, immediately laughed and said, "Because there is a constant outward airflow in Changqing Valley, and due to the terrain and temperature, the airflow outside the valley also flows in. The two airflows converge here, which is why the wind here becomes so strong and chaotic."

Su Xing'er wasn't stupid. After hearing this answer, she lowered her head and thought for a moment before looking up in surprise and exclaiming, "Are we almost at Qinghua City?"

"Star Girl is so clever!"

Hu Tiejiang first praised Su Xing'er, then looked up at the north and breathed a sigh of relief, a look of joy in his eyes, and said, "Not bad, we are only five kilometers away from Qinghua."

"It's finally here!"

Upon hearing this, the four siblings of Su Jing immediately relaxed.

They set off on the night of January 12th, and have been traveling on and off for five days now. Apart from regular rest, they only stopped once along the way, which was last night in Aikou Village.

The van and the porter who pulled it were rented in Aikou Village.

As for the brothers Hu Tiejiang and Hu Tiechuan, they met by chance at the Aikou Village post station last night. The two brothers came from another village, and the full cart of goods was obviously what they were going to take to Qinghua City to sell.

"My lord, the coal is almost gone!"

Suddenly, a woman's voice came from the second carriage.

Upon hearing the sound, Hu Tiejiang immediately took out several pieces of coal from the leather bag hanging at the back of the carriage. He then slowly lifted the curtain, using his body to block the cold light from outside. Once the curtain was open enough, he carefully crawled inside and quickly closed it behind him.

Seeing the curiosity on her older brother Su Jing's face, Su Xing'er immediately leaned over and whispered, "I saw it yesterday. In that car were the wives and children of Uncle Hu and his brother. The oldest of the five children was only seven years old, and the youngest was still being held in someone's arms."

No wonder!

Such a young child certainly lacks spiritual cultivation and cannot be exposed to the light.

Su Jing's confusion was resolved, and he immediately nodded. But then he looked up at the bright sky, his expression hardened, and his face darkened considerably.

Not only him, but Su Xu and Su Zhi also heard their younger sister's words. Neither of them were stupid. Seeing the change in their older brother's expression, they lowered their heads and thought for a moment before instantly realizing what was going on. Their expressions also darkened.

Meanwhile, inside the second van.

Hu Tiejiang first put the coal into the furnace and burned it, then turned to look at his wife Fang Jing and sister-in-law Wang Qing. Seeing that they both looked very uneasy, he immediately leaned forward and whispered, "Jing'er, sister-in-law, don't be afraid. We'll be in Qinghua City soon. As soon as we enter the city, we'll go to the local government office to get rid of our slave and lowly status, and then register them as citizens again. Fei'er and the other four are going to the local government office for the first time. Once we register them as citizens, they will automatically become citizens as well."

The two women, each holding a baby, were in their early thirties and had beautiful faces; it was clear at a glance that they were not people who had spent a long time hunting.

Upon hearing her husband's words, Fang Jing and Wang Qing's anxiety immediately subsided.

Hu Tiejiang took out two paper documents from his pocket, looked at the words "slave status" at the top of the documents, clenched his fist and said in a deep voice: "Chief Zhang has gone too far. It was agreed before that Tiechuan and I would help him hunt for two years without pay, and he would hand over your slave status to me. Now that the two years are up, he actually disagrees."

If he can do the first thing, he can't blame us for doing the fifth. These two slave statuses are rightfully ours. I'm not afraid if he really pursues the matter..."

After saying that, he turned to look at the children in the arms of the two women, and the three six- or seven-year-old children behind them, and continued with a firm expression: "If they are not freed from their status as slaves and lowly people, Fei'er and the other four will only be like us in the future. Only by being registered as citizens can they truly be considered human beings..."

………………

"A mere 5-mane strength, yet still of lowly status—this Cai Qiu is truly powerful!"

Inside the first carriage, after hearing Hu Tiejiang's words, Xia Hong's eyes first flashed with disbelief, and then he marveled at Cai Qiu's strength.

That's the only explanation!

Caiqiu really doesn't lack people with the cold-resistant level, at least not those with the strength of 5 manes.

"It's not surprising. The soldiers of the county guards I saw four months ago all had strength of 6 or more. They were the weakest type of soldiers. There are more than 30 troops in the whole of Caiqiu. Thinking about it this way, a strength of 5 is really nothing here."

Furthermore, the minimum cultivation level required for civilian registration is 5 manes. In other words, only those with a cultivation level of 5 manes or higher are qualified to be ordinary citizens.

Of course, they're only qualified at that point!

Citizenship costs money, and quite a lot of it.

Judging from Hu Tiejiang's words, it can be inferred that changing one's household registration is obviously a very troublesome matter, not only requiring money but also needing the consent of the master.

"So these Hu brothers are of low social status, and their wives are of slave status. They must be the servants in the household of that Zhang chief they mentioned. The two brothers were cheated out of their jobs and worked for free for two years. They were so angry that they stole their wives' slave certificates, intending to rush to Qinghua City to get rid of their slave status first..."

Xia Hong quickly pieced together the whole story in his mind. Looking down at his black summer clothes, he immediately understood why the two brothers had set off with him last night.

Hu Tiejiang was clearly worried that Zhang, the leader, would catch up with them or that something might happen to him on the way. Last night at the Aikou Village post station, he noticed something amiss from his own attire. For safety's sake, he pretended to befriend Su Jing and the other three, and then they traveled with him.

After Xia Hong thought it through, he smiled faintly. Hu Tiejiang's behavior was at most a little bit of survival wisdom of a small person, and it was not a particularly bad thing.

The issue is……

"No one has chased us along the way. Either they haven't discovered that their slave status has been stolen yet, or they already have a plan and are too lazy to chase us."

The former is fine, but if it's the latter, the Hu brothers' dream of escaping their registered residence will probably only last until they enter the city.

Unlike traveling alone, a convoy is much larger, and the harsh environment at the valley entrance meant that it took them almost half an hour to walk five kilometers, until it got dark.

"arrive!"

"The Qinghua City Gate is just ahead."

"This is Qinghua City, what a huge city wall!" "This is the south gate of Qinghua City, facing the direction of Changqing Valley."

"There is only one exit in the entire Evergreen Valley."

…………

Soon, amidst gasps of surprise from the convoy, a black iron wall stretching fifteen kilometers from east to west slowly came into view.

Hearing the exclamations from the group, Xia Hong couldn't help but lift the curtain.

Upon seeing the city wall, his eyes lit up slightly.

This black iron wall connects directly to the mountain walls on both the east and west ends. Rather than a city wall, it is more like a pass and gateway to the entire Evergreen Valley.

"Built directly at the pass for both defense and control, Qinghua City, in terms of map layout, is equivalent to the southern strategic point of the entire Caiqiu region. Apart from here, Changqing Valley only has one exit to the south, the Bone-Eating Path, and there are no external threats. The population cannot flow outwards either. Therefore, controlling this place is equivalent to controlling the entire Changqing Valley..."

This is from Cai Qiu's perspective. Conversely, if another force could take over Qinghua City through the Bone-Eating Path...

"Those with household registration, use the main gate; those without, use the side gate. Line up in line!"

While they were pondering, the caravan had already reached the foot of the city gate.

It was nighttime, and quite a few people were entering the city. As the soldiers at the city gate announced loudly, the people who arrived one after another lined up in two queues: one queue was inspected through the main gate, and the other queue went through the side gate.

The difference in treatment based on whether or not one has a registered residence begins to manifest itself here.

The main gate of Qinghua City is about 30 meters high and 12 meters wide. Not to mention people, even two iron-wheeled carts carrying goods can be carried in side by side.
The small door was quite interesting. It was located on the side of the main gate, less than two meters high and only half a meter wide, just enough for one person to pass through. Considering that the city wall was about thirty meters thick, any normal adult, unless they were children, would have to bend over the whole way to get through.

It's not so much an insult as it is a deliberate act by Cai Qiu to highlight the importance of household registration, and it may even contain a hint of suppressing people from Changqing Valley.

However, those who have moved to the city seem to have gotten used to it.

Seeing this, the rest of the convoy naturally started to line up as well.

Hu Tiejiang and his group, all registered residents, headed straight for the gate;

Meanwhile, Xia Hong and his four siblings, Su Jing and his sister, looked somewhat troubled when they saw five laborers pulling the van directly to the gate to line up.

Laborers were a profession reserved for people of low social status, and these five laborers were hired by them from Aikou Village.

These laborers had seen Xia Hong's attire the night before and were clearly convinced that the five of them were registered residents, so they didn't ask any questions and simply dragged them to the gate to line up.

The problem is, all four of them, including Xia Hong, are unregistered!

"Brother, this..."

The three siblings, Su Xu and Su Jing, also looked troubled. Seeing that there were only fifty-odd people ahead of them and it would soon be their turn, they immediately asked Su Jing for advice, clearly wanting him to make a decision quickly.

Su Jing turned to look at the carriage, about to ask a question, when Xia Hong's voice came first from inside the carriage.

"No need to queue anymore, just walk straight ahead and enter the city!"

Upon hearing this, Su Jing and his three siblings were immediately taken aback.

The five laborers were even more interesting. They paused for a moment, and then actually pulled the cart away from the group, rushing straight towards the city gate from the side.

When Su Jing and his three siblings saw that many county guards had already stepped forward with unfriendly expressions, clearly intending to stop the carriage, they first showed a hint of fear, but gritted their teeth and quickly followed.

"Are you deaf? You bastard, get in line!"

A middle-aged man dressed as a general blocked the front of the carriage. He first sized up Su Jing and his three siblings, then his expression immediately turned irritable. He then pointed directly at the carriage and roared angrily.

The five laborers were startled and quickly cupped their hands in greeting, ready to speak.

Pfft...

However, before they could utter a sound, a cold light suddenly flew out of the carriage and pierced straight through the general's forehead.

The middle-aged general's body stiffened abruptly, his face showing no reaction. Before he knew what had happened, his slightly confused pupils quickly dilated, and in less than three breaths, he collapsed to the ground, his life extinguished.

boom……

Everyone around the city gate, from those queuing to enter the city to the county guards responsible for screening household registrations, was completely stunned.

"The captain was killed?"

"He killed someone?"

…………

"Enemy attack! City guards on alert!"

When someone made a sound, the county guards finally reacted.

boom!
Hundreds of county guards moved at the sound. A burly general wearing blue armor and wielding a giant axe jumped down from above the city gate, looking at the carriage where Xia Hong was with a cruel smile on his face.

"Daring to come to Qinghua City to kill people, well done..."

"roll!"

A tremendous roar erupted from inside the carriage, sending an invisible shockwave through the area around the city gate.

The shockwave was clearly intentional. The others simply covered their ears and took a few steps back, but the blue-armored general was blasted away and crashed into the city wall behind him, where it caved in two or three meters.

puff!
"Senior, spare my life! Senior, spare my life..."

Fang Tianhua, the blue-armored general inside the city wall, collapsed to the ground and spat out a mouthful of blood after coming out of the city wall. He then realized something, his pupils filled with fear and horror, and he immediately knelt down and begged for mercy in front of the carriage.

"Your Excellency, a Venerable Manifestation Yang, attacking a mere junior at the Cold Control level is nothing short of bullying the weak. Isn't that a rather lowly act?"

As soon as a voice came from above, Fang Tianhua immediately shut his mouth, his face full of joy. He then quickly stood up and led the hundreds of county guards around him to kneel down and bow to the sky.
"Meet the City Lord!"

City Lord?

The people who were queuing to enter the city immediately knelt down in unison, joining the county guards and soldiers in bowing and saying, "Greetings, City Lord!"

The four siblings, Su Jing and his sister, were clearly a little frightened. They subconsciously wanted to kneel down and worship, but then they realized something. They gritted their teeth and not only did not kneel down, but they also looked up at the sky.

A white figure was hovering fifty meters above the city gate.

He was a tall, slightly thin, middle-aged man in white.

The white brocade robe he wore, at first glance, was not monotonous in its whiteness. It was not the kind of dazzling pure white, but rather like a handful of fresh snow reflecting the morning light, with a warm and gentle luster, and an elegant and noble charm.

His full head of black hair was tied up with a silver crown with a dragon pattern; the collar and cuffs of his clothes were trimmed with a silver thread outlining a lotus scroll pattern, adding a touch of refinement to the overall simplicity; a mutton fat jade ring hung around his neck; a palm-width moon white brocade belt was tied around his waist, with two round jade pendants, one white and one blue, hanging from it. The jade was warm and lustrous, blending seamlessly with the white of his brocade clothes, making him appear even more noble.

He also had a moon-white longsword hanging at his waist. He stood still in mid-air, his robes flowing like a waterfall, his posture upright, like a pine tree in the snow, aloof and detached from the world. It was hard to imagine that such noble and otherworldly qualities could be perfectly combined in one person.

This is Cai Yunzhou, the second son of Cai Qiuhong, the prefect of Baishui County, the third-generation direct descendant of Cai Qiufangbo, and the city lord of Qinghua City, who is also known as the Sword Saint of Cai Qiu.

"Humph!"

Just as Su Jing and his siblings were feeling ashamed of their self-harm, Cai Yunzhou in the sky suddenly let out a cold snort.

Perhaps because Xia Hong inside the carriage didn't respond, or perhaps because the looks from Su Jing and the other three made him feel offended, Cai Yunzhou's cold snort stirred the surrounding air currents, transforming them into two invisible sword blades that suddenly flew down towards the carriage below.

call…………

A gust of air suddenly shot out from the carriage, dissolving Cai Yunzhou's two invisible sword blades. While protecting Su Jing and the other three, it also blasted the entire carriage into pieces.

With the carriage shattered, Xia Hong naturally appeared before everyone's eyes.

"I, the young master, have come from afar. Is this Cai Qiu's way of treating guests?"

Xia Hong wore a black summer suit with silver thread trim, and the dragon pattern on the collar and cuffs added to the overall sophisticated look. Although he didn't wear any jewelry or wear a crown like Cai Yunzhou, and his long black hair was simply held up with a silver hairpin, his young and handsome face, along with the casual smile on his lips, gave him an overall aura that was in no way inferior to Cai Yunzhou's.

No, the confidence emanating from Xia Hong's brows even subtly surpassed that of Cai Yunzhou.

"Prince?"

"Is this also a descendant of Fang Bo?"

"Definitely, you can tell just by looking at his age, he's even younger than Lord Cai!"

…………

Cai Yunzhou's expression changed the moment Xia Hong appeared.

　Double the votes! I'm begging for votes! The last three days are guaranteed to be a flood of votes!!!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)