Chapter 174

The importance of the Hunting Team is self-evident.

It can be said that among the six departments of Great Xia, it is the most important one.

Even the Camp Supply Department, which holds all the wealth, cannot compare to the status of the Hunting Team.

The reason is also very simple.

First, it represents the strongest armed force of the camp;

Second, beast meat and beast blood are essential supplies that everyone needs, and they are also the driving force for the camp's development. The Hunting Team, which can produce these two resources, naturally has a status that rises with the tide.

Finally, there is the importance placed on it by Xia Hong, the leader.

For these people in the camp, being able to go out and hunt cold beasts with Xia Hong is itself a highly honorable thing, not to mention that they can also share a massive amount of contribution points.

With many reasons superimposed, the fifteen members of the Hunting Team, including Xia Chuan, naturally became tense when they heard Xia Hong say that the first change would be the Hunting Team.

Not only the Hunting Team members, but the fifty-plus people in Great Xia who had recently broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm were the same.

They all turned their heads intentionally or unintentionally to look at the forty-plus people including Director Yu Wen Tao, and couldn't help but feel some pressure in their hearts.

"I have decided to disband the previous Hunting Team. From now on, all personnel in the camp who have broken through to the Earth-Digging Realm must be registered in the Hunting Department. Then, specific hunting matters will be organized and handled by the members under the Hunting Department themselves. I will no longer intervene in any cold beast hunting matters, except in special circumstances. Do you all understand?"

Hearing this passage from Xia Hong, most people were very confused; only a few, such as Director Yu Wen Tao, Hong Guang, Xia Chuan, and Luo Yuan, lowered their heads in thought, and soon their eyes lit up.

"Spontaneous hunting? Then, leader, are all Earth-Digging Realm members qualified to form hunting teams?"

"Leader, may I ask, are there levels for hunting squads?"

"Are there rigid regulations for the distribution of contribution points for hunting cold beasts?"

"Are changes in hunting squad members and the frequency of going out to hunt cold beasts decided by ourselves, or by the Hunting Department?"

…………

Xia Hong did not answer the questions one by one; he just nodded continuously. Only after everyone had finished asking did he look up and speak with a smile:

"The questions you raised are very good, but they are not my responsibility. I only proposed the idea of reforming the Hunting Department. The specific regulations and details are all to be formulated by the new Hunting Department Director... Director Yu Wen Tao!"

Hearing this, everyone's expressions froze suddenly.

The expressions of the original Great Xia Hunting Team members, such as Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, Yuan Cheng, and Yue Feng, changed instantly. They looked at Xia Hong, full of disbelief. Several of them had hesitant expressions, opening their mouths as if they wanted to speak but stopped, as if they all intended to speak.

Unlike the Great Xia crowd, the expressions on the faces of the forty-one Earth-Digging Realm members of the Jingxian camp were very excited.

They knew very well that in any camp, hunting is the top priority. If Director Yu Wen Tao could become the Director of the Hunting Department, it would certainly be beneficial for them in the future.

Unlike others whose expressions were either surprised or happy, Director Yu Wen Tao, the person involved, had a very calm expression. He just turned his head to scan the surrounding crowd and said in a deep voice: "Leader, I am a newcomer, and I am afraid I am not yet qualified for the position of Hunting Department Director. It would be better to choose someone else..."

"No need to decline. The Hunting Department specializes in cold beast hunting matters, so the person in charge must naturally prioritize martial strength. You have the ability to lead a team to hunt mid-level cold beasts; among the hundred-plus people here, no one is stronger than you. You must take this position of Director today!"

Xia Hong's eyes carried a questioning tone as he scanned everyone on the Great Xia side, specifically lingering on Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng for a while.

If he wasn't mistaken, these two should be the most interested in the position of Hunting Department Director.

Sure enough, while others' expressions were only slightly unconvinced, only these two lowered their heads slightly after seeing Xia Hong's gaze.

"However, Director Yu Wen Tao, I also have words to say in advance. I am only responsible for giving the general direction of the Hunting Department. The specific operational details must be discussed and formulated by you leading the people, and how to manage the hunting squads below is also your business.

Since the Hunting Department is in charge of hunting, I have only one requirement for you: from now on, there must be no problems with the supply of all resources related to cold beasts in the camp; otherwise, I will hold you accountable. Do you understand?"

The supply of all resources related to cold beasts.

From large items like beast meat; to medium items like rodent teeth, Rattan Dragon tendons, and Rattan Dragon poison sacs; to small items like beast hides and bones; and of course, the most difficult one, beast blood.

This is not an easy task. According to the cold beast meat price currently set by the camp, there is basically no difficulty in exchanging for those above the Woodcutting Realm, let alone the Earth-Digging Realm.

Even more outrageous is that those who haven't broken through to the Woodcutting Realm also have a free fixed quota every month; even children under six have five jin a month.

You must know that the total population of the camp is already over four hundred.

Calculating this way, it is not so easy to fulfill the requirement Xia Hong just proposed.

Director Yu Wen Tao is a smart man and could naturally hear the solemnity in Xia Hong's tone. After lowering his head and pondering for a moment, he still looked up at Xia Hong, cupped his hands, bowed, and said in a deep voice:

"Since I have the leader's trust, I will certainly do my best. If I really cannot meet the leader's requirements, you can just remove me from this position of Director."

"Good!"

Xia Hong made the final decision and then said: "From today on, I will no longer intervene in the affairs of the Hunting Department. If there are special circumstances that require me to go out hunting personally, I will only choose one hunting squad to accompany me. At that time, it will depend on your strength."

Hearing this, everyone's eyes suddenly lit up.

They had all seen the strength Xia Hong displayed in the Jingxian camp.

"The leader probably doesn't need us to hunt mid-level cold beasts now. If he goes out personally, it's highly likely to be a high-level cold beast..."

"A mid-level cold beast is worth at least four thousand contribution points; how much would a high-level one be? If I could go out with the leader..."

"The leader doesn't participate in the distribution of contribution points himself; as long as you can go out with him, you will definitely get a lot of contribution points."

"We must form a hunting squad!"

"And we must perform well enough to get the leader's approval!"

………………

The minds of the Great Xia crowd had already begun to become active, especially Luo Yuan and Yuan Cheng, who even began to search for suitable team members in the crowd.

Hong Guang, Hong Tian, and the other Jingxian Earth-Digging Realm members didn't react as strongly. After all, they were newcomers and didn't yet know how much benefit there was in going out hunting with Xia Hong.

"The affairs of the Hunting Department are finished. Next are the Camp Supply Department and the Artisan Department. Mu Dong will continue to serve as the Director of the Artisan Department for the time being. Xia Chuan will choose a suitable person to serve as the Director of the Camp Supply Department.

Cheng Feng and Bai Dongying are both very experienced; you two will continue to serve as the Directors of the Gathering and Woodcutting Departments.

Finally, there is the Land Reclamation Department..."

Speaking of the Land Reclamation Department, Xia Hong pondered for a moment and signaled to Xia Chuan with his eyes.

Xia Chuan nodded gently, took out a beast hide scroll from behind him, slowly unfolded it, and hung it directly above the stove, just facing the crowd.

The hundred-plus people gathered around the stove saw the content on the scroll, and a glimmer of light rose in their eyes, and their spirits were much more excited.

On the scroll was a map.

A map centered on the valley, radiating from east to west.

Although the map had clear terrain and distance markings everywhere, to avoid people not seeing clearly, Xia Hong stood up and pointed at the map to explain to the crowd.

"Centered on the valley, five kilometers west to the Red Wood Ridge, six kilometers south bounded by the Xinghe, and north including the entire Arrow Bamboo Forest, all the way to the basin, a distance of about twenty kilometers. This large area, totaling about 300 square kilometers, is currently considered the territory of our Great Xia!"

On the map, Xia Hong had already framed a narrow and long region that generally ran north-south, but at the very top, it extended a large piece to the east.

When the crowd saw the two characters "Great Xia" marked in the middle of that territory, inexplicable brilliance flashed in their eyes, and their spirits gradually became excited.

Not to mention the Great Xia group; you must know that just a year ago, they could only cower on the side of the dirt slope, living a difficult life of precariousness.

This past year has been like a dream.

Great Xia has unknowingly come to possess such a large territory;

Luo Yuan, Huang Yong, Hong Gang, and others who joined later are the same.

Let alone the Earth-Digging Realm cultivation they now possess, weapons, cold beast meat, clothing, animal hide products, wooden products, coal, iron ore... everything the Great Xia camp possesses today, half a year ago, they wouldn't even dare to imagine.

Three hundred square kilometers, a territory belonging exclusively to Great Xia, has far exceeded their scope of understanding. Let alone small camps like Huang Zhao, Da Chuan, and Da Shi, even the Luo Ge camp, the strongest in the Red Wood Ridge before, did not possess even one-tenth of the territory Great Xia has today;

Director Yu Wen Tao and the other forty-two people also had trance-like expressions.

The Jingxian camp certainly had a sphere of influence, but they had never so intuitively viewed the territory controlled by their own camp through a map.

And three hundred square kilometers had the same impact on them.

The previous sphere of influence of the Jingxian camp, even counting the entire Arrow Bamboo Forest, hadn't reached half of Great Xia's current size. Let alone the crowd's reaction, even Xia Hong, looking at the Great Xia boundary he had drawn himself on the map, couldn't help but feel his heart stir.

For others, the concept of a boundary was at most limited to feeling.

But he had truly and solidly been to these places.

Every inch of land he drew, he had personally been to that location.

The Xinghe in the south, the basin in the north, the Twin Longshan wall on the east side, and the four-kilometer depth of the Red Wood Ridge on the west side—the territory of Great Xia today was measured by himself.

In terms of the feeling of territory, who could be deeper than him?

"Before talking about the Land Reclamation Department, mentioning the territory...

First, it is to let you have a concept of the current territory of Great Xia.

Second, it is to set tasks for the Land Reclamation Department..."

Xia Hong paused here, pointed to the north and west of Great Xia's territory on the map, and said:

!.

"The west of the existing territory is the depths of the Red Wood Ridge. If the territory wants to expand in this direction, it can only rely on me and the people of the Hunting Department to explore inward;

The northwest of the northern basin is the Pingxi Plains. Although the nearest Honeycomb camp is similar in strength to us, they have the Longyou Alliance behind them, so before having any dealings, it is not appropriate to expand to the north for the time being;

The east is blocked by the Twin Longshan, so I won't mention it. The situation on the mountain is more complicated, and the terrain is not suitable for our expansion.

Therefore..."

Xia Hong's voice paused, pointing to the south of the map, and continued:

"The south is currently the best direction for our expansion."

On the map, the two landmarks of the Xinghe and the Ying Valley Pass had been clearly marked. As the crowd's eyes gathered on these two positions, Xia Hong also began to continue speaking.

"The Xinghe is about five li wide. The north bank, which is our side, is a slope that rises continuously from west to east. The slope is covered with tall trees and dense forests, and it is connected to the mountain wall. I have been to this area before. If nothing goes wrong, there should be quite a few human camps in this large area."

Xia Hong held a piece of coal and framed the entire slope along the north bank of the Xinghe all the way east and up along the mountain wall.

"If I am not mistaken, going all the way east from here should be able to connect to the outside world on the east side of the Twin Longshan. If He Yuanhun did not lie to us, then this long distance is at least two hundred kilometers."

The north bank of the Xinghe, more than two hundred kilometers, connecting to the outside world...

For a time, the crowd gathered around the stove all had their eyes stunned.

Curiosity about the unknown and exploration of the outside world are human nature.

Although the Frozen Abyss world is dangerous, it still cannot extinguish this nature.

Whether it was the Great Xia crowd or Director Yu Wen Tao and the others, hearing these contents from Xia Hong for the first time, intense interest could not help but emerge in their eyes.

"The Land Reclamation Department established some time ago has its current key reclamation area as this large piece on the north bank of the Xinghe. Of course, it's not asking you to explore all two hundred-plus kilometers at once. According to your own strength, you can slowly explore and expand to the east."

Two hundred-plus kilometers, such a large scope, let alone handing it over to others in the camp, even if Xia Hong went out personally now, the risk would be very high, and it would certainly be impossible to finish exploring quickly.

"The Land Reclamation Department was established half a month ago, but it was delayed for a long time because of He Yuanhun's affairs. I remember picking thirty people before..."

Xia Hong paused here and cast his gaze toward the Great Xia crowd.

Among the sixty or seventy people, a large wave of people soon walked out one after another.

Xu An, Shi Ping, Liu Yuan, Li Yuankun, Hong Mu...

Xia Hong immediately recognized the several familiar faces at the head.

Counting the total number of people who stood out, he found it was exactly thirty. Xia Hong nodded slightly, and a flash of realization crossed his heart.

When he said he wanted to establish the Land Reclamation Department half a month ago, the number of Earth-Digging Realm members was not large, so he could only choose from the Woodcutting Realm. The selection method was the same as the first batch of Hunting Team members: fighting against wooden dummies.

Those who could be selected were already the best in the Woodcutting Realm, and it is normal for them to break through one step ahead of others in the subsequent Earth-Digging Realm blowout.

It also just happened to save a lot of trouble!

"Opening up territory is no less dangerous than hunting. Previously, the number of Earth-Digging Realm members in the camp was insufficient, so we had to choose from the Woodcutting Realm. Now that there are enough hands, let's just set a rule: from now on, if you want to enter the Land Reclamation Department, like the Hunting Department, you must have at least Earth-Digging Realm cultivation."

Naturally, no one had any objections to this. However, noticing that after Xia Hong finished speaking, his gaze began to search in the crowd, the expressions of the crowd suddenly became tense.

Like the other departments, the general planning of the Land Reclamation Department was finished, so next, it was time to appoint a Director.

Clearly, Xia Hong was looking for a candidate to serve as Director.

After Xia Hong searched for a while, his gaze finally settled behind Director Yu Wen Tao.

Hong Guang, Hong Tian, Meng Yi, Zhu Ling, and Zhu Yuan felt Xia Hong's gaze and couldn't help but puff out their chests unconsciously.

As Xia Hong just said, the danger of land reclamation is no less than hunting.

Strength is certainly an important consideration for the candidate for Director.

In terms of strength, these five are clearly the most suitable candidates.

But to be honest, choosing from these five, it feels like Xia Chuan and the others on the left might have opinions.

As it stands, Great Xia nominally has six departments, but in terms of strength, the Hunting Department and the Land Reclamation Department are clearly superior to the other four.

Director Yu Wen Tao already holds a Hunting Department; if this Land Reclamation Department were also let to be held by someone who just merged from the Jingxian camp, Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and others would certainly have opinions.

Xia Hong turned his head to see the hesitant look of Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and others, pondered for a moment, and swallowed the appointment that was almost on his lips.

"How about this, I don't have a suitable candidate for a direct appointment. The most important purpose of the Land Reclamation Department at the moment is to increase the population for the camp. Let's take one month as the period. For this month, Xia Chuan will temporarily act as the agent. One month later, whoever brings more population to the camp will get the position of Director of the Land Reclamation Department. What do you think?"

"I agree. The leader's opinion is good. Opening up territory is originally to increase the population for the camp. Although strength is important, one must also have the ability to win people's hearts. Let's compete for a month to see who is more suitable, and whoever is more suitable will be the Director."

As Xia Hong's voice fell, the first to speak in favor was actually Director Yu Wen Tao.

No one expected this, and the crowd of Earth-Digging Realm members suddenly looked sideways one after another.

Hong Guang and the other five, upon hearing the competition proposed by Xia Hong, originally had a trace of displeasure in their pupils. Once Director Yu Wen Tao spoke, they showed even more incomprehensible expressions.

The Great Xia crowd also didn't expect it. After all, anyone with eyes could see that Xia Hong was forced by these people not to make a direct appointment; no matter how you think about it, Director Yu Wen Tao shouldn't have agreed.

"I also agree. Only by competing will we know who is more suitable!"

Only Xia Chuan also agreed with Xia Hong's proposal, then looked at Director Yu Wen Tao, and a flash of appreciation crossed his eyes.

"Understanding the big picture, not bad!"

Xia Hong didn't have much of a reaction, just praised Director Yu Wen Tao in his heart, and then spoke slowly again:

"The affairs of the six departments are all finished. Today, I also want to announce another personnel appointment for the camp..."

The eyes of the Great Xia crowd immediately gathered on Xia Chuan.

Xia Chuan's position in the Camp Supply Department had already been removed, and the Land Reclamation Department was only acting for one month. At the moment, he was the only one without a position.

Noticing their line of sight, Director Yu Wen Tao and the others realized that it was time to appoint a position for Xia Chuan, and their eyes suddenly became curious.

They already knew the relationship between Xia Chuan and Xia Hong, so they were naturally curious about what position the leader Xia Hong would arrange for his younger brother.

"From now on, the camp will establish the position of Chief Administrator to act on my behalf in managing all affairs inside and outside the six departments. When I am not here, the Chief Administrator is me, and everyone must obey his orders..."

Xia Hong paused, then spoke directly:

"The position of Chief Administrator will be held by Xia Chuan!"

Once this final appointment was made, the Great Xia crowd on the left all had rich joy on their faces, looking at Xia Chuan with full respect and congratulations.

Clearly, they were extremely satisfied and approved of this appointment.

And different from them were Director Yu Wen Tao and the others on the right.

Especially Hong Guang, Hong Tian, Meng Yi, Zhu Ling, and Zhu Yuan, the five who had just missed the position of Director of the Land Reclamation Department, all had a trace of obvious resentment on their faces.

(End of chapter)