Chapter 188: New Residence, Land, Arrow Bamboo Forest

First Year of Great Xia, April 21st.

The wooden building was finally finished!

The Craftsman Department's notification had been issued during the day, so as soon as night fell, a swarming crowd surged toward the wooden building.

"These four walls are mixed with a lot of iron materials; they look so sturdy!"

"I asked around. All the joints used to connect the wooden building are made of iron. A single wall consumes an average of 120,000 jin of iron."

"Hiss... 120,000 jin? When we were at Five Liu Liu Yuan Shan, the annual mining volume was only over 200,000. This one wall used so much!"

"Hehe, can your Zhu He compare to Great Xia? Do you know how much iron ore Great Xia mined in the previous month?"

"How much?"

"900,000 jin!"

"Hiss..."

Hearing this number, Zhu Meng's pupils shook violently. Turning his head, he realized his father, Zhu Xing, was also dumbfounded, his mouth unable to close for a long time.

It's no wonder. Although their Zhu He camp had twenty-one Earth-Digging Realm cultivators qualified to mine, they didn't have gnawing chisels. On average, each person only mined about a hundred jin a day, and it was impossible to go mining every day. So an annual mining volume of over 100,000 was already quite good.

One month, 900,000 jin of iron ore—what kind of concept is that!

"I heard that there will be even more this month. The rule set by Director Director Yu Wen before is that every Earth-Digging Realm cultivator must pay 5,000 jin of coal and 2,500 jin of iron every month. Do you know how many Earth-Digging Realm cultivators our camp has now?"

Everyone turned to look at the person speaking, their gazes filled with curiosity.

That person slowly stretched out his palm, opened five fingers, and smiled: "I heard it's almost five hundred. Calculating by five hundred, think about it—how much will the mining volume of iron and coal be in our camp for the next month?"

500 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators!

Everyone hadn't even started calculating before they were shocked by this number.

Especially Zhu Xing, Xiao Kangcheng, Chen Hua, and the others who had recently come from Five Liu Liu Yuan Shan—besides marveling, a complex look flashed across their faces.

They had all been leaders, so they knew very well what this number represented.

"2.5 million jin of coal, 1.25 million jin of iron, hiss..."

When someone calculated the mining volume of iron and coal, the crowd instantly became restless.

"No wonder this wooden building can use so much iron. The four walls combined are only 480,000 jin, which is about one-third of a month's mining volume."

"I heard that this wooden building can even withstand a cold beast tide. From now on, even during the day, it can be brightly lit. I wonder if I can get a room."

"Everyone should be able to get one. Let's go, let's go, hurry in and take a look!"

"Let's go, let's go in, we can look around as we please today."

"Look, the Deputy Administrator has already taken people in. They'll be distributed in a moment."

…………

The swarming crowd walked in along the main gate, and the 200-meter-long wooden building was instantly packed with people.

The overall structure of this wooden building was actually the same as the previous one.

The only biggest difference was the materials used.

This point was also exceptionally obvious inside the wooden building.

Therefore, whether it was the original thousand-plus people from Great Xia or the two thousand-plus people from Jingxian and Five Liu Liu Yuan Shan, everyone couldn't help but exclaim after entering the wooden building.

"Except for the first floor, the floors of the second and third floors are all paved with a mixture of iron sheets and wood."

"The circular suspension ladder in the middle is also forged from iron."

"The twelve load-bearing pillars are all forged from pure iron. Tsk, how heavy must this be!"

"The Blazing Sun Cauldron is hung directly in the center and can move up and down."

"Hiss, such thick iron chains. The iron chains we used to defend against the cold beast tide before weren't even half as thick as this."

"Didn't Administrator Mu say before that this wooden building has more than ten times the defensive capability of the previous one!"

"No wonder they say we won't be afraid even during the day from now on. Living inside this, even if cold beasts really come, we won't be afraid."

…………

The matter of Great Xia resisting the cold beast tide had spread long ago.

The three thousand-plus people from Jingxian were fine, but the nearly twenty thousand people from Five Liu Liu Yuan Shan—let alone a cold beast tide, most of them hadn't even seen a cold beast group of more than three. Knowing that the wooden building they would live in from now on could withstand a cold beast tide, the excitement in their hearts could be imagined.

Except for the top floor, the first and second floors could be visited at will. The twenty-plus thousand people who came in quickly dispersed to all parts, checking for themselves. Some busybodies even started studying which room was more comfortable to live in.

And while everyone was visiting the first and second floors, on the top floor, Xia Chuan also led the six department administrators and Xia Hong to visit the completed third floor.

The central hall on the top floor.

No, it shouldn't be called a hall.

This should be called a grand palace.

Vermilion main gate; wooden floor carved with beast patterns; looking up, there was a golden roof, clearly painted with powder ground from Gold-Lin wood; sixteen two-meter-high cold beast statues carved from animal bone were placed around the palace. Those statues were even ingeniously colored, with different shapes and lifelike appearances;

In the center of the palace was the Blazing Sun Cauldron. The surrounding suspension ladder entrances had been blocked, clearly not intending to let people enter or exit at will.

And except for the suspension ladder, there was only one entrance and exit to the palace, which was the vermilion main gate on the west side. Xia Hong and the others had just come from there.

Around the Blazing Sun Cauldron were four load-bearing pillars that ran through from the first floor. Unlike the eight pillars distributed in other parts of the wooden building, these four, like the top, were also painted with a layer of gold lacquer.

If these things only made the palace look a bit solemn;

Then, on the inner east side of the great hall, the five-meter-wide raised platform with its ten-step staircase added a few more shades of solemnity to it.

And the wide golden chair on the high platform added a bit of sacred meaning to the entire palace.

That chair was also golden, but unlike the gold on the palace roof and load-bearing pillars, it was a textured gold. Everyone could distinguish with the naked eye that it was polished and spliced from large pieces of animal bone, and then painted with thick gold lacquer on the outside, finally presenting such an effect.

The chair had a square back. The part 1.5 meters above the seat was actually carved with over a dozen types of miniature cold beast patterns; the armrests on both sides were each carved with a small, baring-teeth-and-claws Teng Jiao. The head of the Teng Jiao was just at the front end of the armrest, and its posture of roaring forward was lifelike and domineering.

And the wall behind this chair was not empty either.

A giant map of Great Xia's territory was carved on the wall, and anyone in the palace could see it clearly as long as they looked up.

"Mu Dong, your craftsmanship is getting better and better!"

Hearing Xia Hong's praise, Mu Dong's nervous mood instantly relaxed.

"Thank you for the leader's praise!"

After he spoke, he thought of something and continued: "Leader, the Deputy Administrator said that this palace is for the camp to discuss matters in the future, so we spent a lot of effort. Behind the palace is your room. Why don't you go see it now? If anything is missing, we can add it."

Looking at the expectation in Mu Dong's eyes, Xia Hong immediately guessed that his room was probably even more exaggerated than this palace. He smiled and shook his head: "I'll go in and see the room myself. Everyone is still waiting to distribute rooms. You should have a lot to do today, so go get busy!"

Hearing the noise coming from downstairs from time to time, Xia Chuan nodded. After taking his leave, he led everyone to open the suspension ladder entrance of the palace and walked down.

Xia Hong pushed open the main gate on the east wall and walked into his room.

………………

"Everyone, gather in the main hall! The Deputy Administrator has something to announce!"

"Everyone, gather in the main hall! The Deputy Administrator has something to announce!"

……

Repeated notification sounds echoed in the corridors of the first and second floors of the wooden building. Everyone visiting various places heard the sound and rushed toward the main hall.

The visit was over, and next should be the room distribution!

Everyone was mentally prepared. When walking toward the main hall, they were filled with expectation, and their faces naturally carried deep joy.

Soon, over twenty-three thousand people swarmed and gathered in the main halls of the first and second floors. The main halls were fifty meters wide. Even with two floors, over twenty-three thousand people coming at the same time was naturally crowded.

Soon, not only the main hall but also the corridors around the main hall, along with the suspension ladder in the middle, were crowded with people.

Everyone who came saw Xia Chuan standing above the suspension ladder on the second floor, holding a booklet in his hand.

Guessing that the booklet was the list for room distribution, everyone couldn't help but show expectation.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Xia Chuan turned his head and looked at Yuan Cheng.

Yuan Cheng understood and immediately stepped forward, shouting with *Qi*:

"Quiet! Everyone, quiet!"

"Quiet! Everyone, quiet!"

"Quiet! Everyone, quiet!"

Yuan Cheng's basic strength was also close to the 30,000-jin limit. Shouting with *Qi*, his voice had full penetrating power. These three consecutive shouts could be heard clearly not only by the two or three thousand people in the main hall but also by the entire corridor on the first floor.

Over twenty thousand people quieted down, and the entire wooden building instantly became silent.

Xia Chuan walked to the center of the suspension ladder and said loudly: "The wooden building is finished. You must all be impatient, so I won't talk nonsense. Let's distribute directly.

The entire wooden building is divided into three floors: 100 rooms on the top floor, 280 rooms on the second floor, and 360 rooms on the first floor. Excluding the leader's room, there are a total of 739 rooms.

Except for the leader, there are 23,230 people in the entire camp, totaling 5,821 family households, with a population of 19,212. The remaining 4,018 are individual households who are not yet married.

There are only 739 rooms in total, so priority is given to family households, with an average of nine to ten households per room, totaling about 610 rooms;

Then the remaining individual households are distributed by gender, with an average of 31 people per room, totaling 129 rooms.

This distribution is generally like this. Later, the Administrator of the Camp Needs Department, Qiu Peng, will post the distribution list at the entrance of the wooden building. You can find the room assigned to you according to the list. Do you all understand?"

"Understood!"

"Hahaha, as long as we can live in it."

"Understood, my lord!"

………………

As Xia Chuan's voice fell, the responses from below came one after another. Most people had smiles on their faces, clearly very satisfied.

But a small number of people frowned, their faces full of confusion.

"Ten households per room—ten households are at least nearly thirty people. Deputy Administrator, living like this, won't it be too crowded?"

"That's right, the rooms on the first and second floors are only ten meters wide. Squeezing 30 people into a hundred-square-meter space is indeed too crowded."

"Although it's better than the two temporary wooden houses before, it's still very crowded."

…………

Those who asked were basically Earth-Digging Realm cultivators from the Hunting Department.

And hearing these people ask, the others also reacted. Recalling the rooms they had just seen, they immediately realized that distributing like this would indeed be crowded, which was only a little better than the temporary wooden houses they were living in now.

Hearing everyone's inquiry, Xia Chuan was not surprised and repeated what he had said during the discussion last night to everyone.

"I said before that this wooden building is only to deal with emergencies like the cold beast tide before, not to improve your living conditions. Therefore, the distribution method will not change!"

Hearing Xia Chuan's words, everyone instantly quieted down.

However, at this moment, Xia Chuan's tone suddenly changed, and he continued: "But if you want to live comfortably, there are other ways."

As his voice fell, Xia Chuan signaled Qiu Peng.

Qiu Peng brought a few people to lift a wooden board and placed it in the middle of the main hall.

The wooden board was about 1.5 meters long and about 30 centimeters wide. There were three thick lines running across it, dividing it into five blocks. Around these three thick lines, many small square frames were drawn, and those small frames were also marked with numerical numbers starting from 1.

There was a giant frame in the middle of the wooden board.

In the middle of the giant frame, two characters were marked: "Main Building."

Seeing the characters "Main Building," everyone was stunned.

And Director Yu Wen Tao and a group of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, including many people from the Jingxian camp, seemed to realize something, and their eyes instantly lit up.

Many of the smarter ones, seeing the word "wooden building" and then seeing those numbered small square frames, also had guesses in their hearts.

Xia Chuan felt it was about time, so he pointed to the wooden board and continued:

"Starting today, in the camp, anyone who breaks through to the Earth-Digging Realm is qualified to find the Camp Needs Department to buy a piece of land. The small square frames marked with numbers on this are the land plots planned for you. All land plots are 100 square meters. After buying the land plot, you can spend contribution points to find the Craftsman Department to help you build a house that belongs to you..."

Xia Chuan paused here, noticing that everyone's eyes were already shining, and he added fire to it, continuing:

"This house, along with the land plot below, will be registered by the Camp Needs Department and permanently retained. As long as it is not a natural or man-made disaster, it will be inhabited by you and your descendants for generations."

*Boom... *

At this moment, everyone boiled over.

"For generations—if I die, can I leave it to my son and grandson?"

*Looking one by one... *

"As long as I buy it, it's mine."

"The house doesn't count for much; the land plot is valuable. Must build it."

"Earth-Digging Realm—only those who reach the Earth-Digging Realm are qualified."

"Must hurry up and cultivate. The highest number on it is 4200. If you want to live in the valley, you must break through quickly, otherwise, it will be gone soon."

………………

The Woodcutting Realm cultivators and some ordinary people were just excited and fell into heated discussion, while the nearly five hundred Earth-Digging Realm cultivators in the camp, knowing they had the qualification to build a house, had their eyes instantly turn fiery, and their gazes almost all gathered on the wooden board behind Xia Chuan.

This is no longer just a matter of improving their own living conditions.

It is an opportunity to leave a fortune for their descendants.

With Great Xia's development today, they can almost foresee the future value of these land plots.

"My lord, how is the price of this land plot? Tell us about it!"

Yuan Cheng was the first to ask impatiently, which could be considered asking the question everyone cared about. Everyone's gaze instantly focused on Xia Chuan.

Xia Chuan smiled upon hearing this. Seeing everyone's fiery gazes, he didn't sell it short and pointed directly to the 11th land plot on the wooden board, saying:

"Land plots in different locations have different price tiers. You can find the Camp Needs Department to understand them yourself later. I will take the 11th land plot as an example: the price of this land plot is 5,000 contribution points!"

*Hiss... *

Let alone ordinary people and Woodcutting Realm cultivators, even Yuan Cheng, who followed Xia Hong out hunting early on, couldn't help but gasp at this moment.

5,000 points—what kind of concept is that?

He currently has a total of over 6,000 points.

And as far as he knows, Xia Chuan has over 10,000.

5,000 points—Yuan Cheng looked at Luo Yuan, the Zhao Long brothers, and others beside him, his heart moving slightly.

As soon as the discussion ends, he will immediately go find Qiu Peng!

Xia Chuan saw Yuan Cheng's look and secretly laughed in his heart.

The price set by Qiu Peng was discussed with him. He had a rough idea of who could afford it at the current stage.

This price is definitely expensive at the current stage.

But it's not outrageously expensive. It's not difficult for Earth-Digging Realm cultivators to buy.

Calculating by the lowest guaranteed income: 2,500 jin of iron, 5,000 jin of coal—the monthly income of an Earth-Digging Realm cultivator from mining is 500; a low-level hunting squad has a minimum quota of fifteen low-level cold beasts. Divided by a ten-person team, each person can get about 450 points.

Calculating this way, it can be bought in about five months.

This is still the lowest income. If you want to buy it faster, mine more and hunt more, it won't take five months, and you can basically get it.

Compared with the ten-stone iron-fetal bow that requires 2,000 contribution points to exchange for one, the price of this land plot can even be considered extremely low and unreasonable.

After all, looking at it in the long run, in the future, with the increase in population, the price of these land plots will definitely rise, and it's not impossible for them to rise to an outrageous degree.

"Setting it at 5,000 can be considered a benefit for you in advance!"

Xia Chuan secretly said to himself. Seeing that everyone had discussed enough, he had people remove the wooden board and continued:

"Alright, you can find the Camp Needs Department to understand the house-building matter later. Let's stop here for today. Next, I have two more things to announce..."

The first thing is to reward Mu Dong and Cheng Feng.

Table salt, silk, white paper, cloth, wine, Beast Essence Pill, Blood Sore Pill, Heat Wind Pill, Violent Blood Pill—nine things, each rewarded with 10,000 contribution points.

As soon as Xia Chuan read Xia Hong's reward order, the entire camp of over twenty thousand people instantly boiled over, and even the group of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators was no exception.

10,000 contribution points, and it's a one-time thing.

Even after hearing Xia Chuan say that it was to be divided equally among all participants, everyone's faces were still extremely excited.

This amount is truly too tempting!

Earth-Digging Realm cultivators currently have a guaranteed minimum of over 1,000 points per month. If they want to earn more, the energy they spend is not low. Inventing something and being rewarded with 10,000?

Everyone in the camp had fiery gazes.

Seeing everyone's eyes, Xia Chuan knew that his elder brother's goal had been achieved.

If nothing goes wrong, in the days to come, these people in the camp will definitely rack their brains to research, especially those who haven't achieved much in cultivation. From now on, they have a new way to obtain contribution points.

After finishing the first thing, Xia Chuan directly dismissed everyone, leaving only the captains of the twenty-two hunting squads.

"Deputy Administrator, do you have any instructions for our Hunting Department?"

Seeing that Xia Chuan only left the Hunting Department people, Director Yu Wen Tao asked.

Xia Chuan nodded and didn't beat around the bush. He took out a marked Great Xia Map and, while showing it to everyone, asked:

"The area currently controlled by our Great Xia is roughly divided into five blocks: the northern foothills of Five Liu Liu Yuan Shan, the western cliff of Twin Longshan, the eastern outer periphery of Red Wood Ridge, the western part of Arrow Bamboo Forest, and a small piece in the southeast of Pingxi Plain. Have you discovered anything?"

Hearing this, a strange look appeared in everyone's eyes.

This doesn't count as a question. Xia Chuan's marking traces on the map are already very clear.

"Is the Deputy Administrator trying to say that we only control a corner of these five blocks, not the whole territory, right?"

Finally, Director Yu Wen Tao spoke it out.

Xia Chuan nodded. Knowing that everyone had seen it, he didn't sell it short and said in a deep voice: "420 square kilometers is not the limit of our Great Xia. The matter of expanding the territory must never stop.

These five blocks, from easy to difficult, should be Five Liu Liu Yuan Shan, Arrow Bamboo Forest, Pingxi Plain, Red Wood Ridge, and Twin Longshan.

Five Liu Liu Yuan Shan is too far from the valley, and there is a cold tide recently, so let's put it aside for now. Our next stage task is Arrow Bamboo Forest."

Xia Chuan pointed to the location of Arrow Bamboo Forest, pondered for a moment, and continued:

"Arrow Bamboo Forest runs east-west, with a total length of only over seventy kilometers and a north-south width of about twenty kilometers. Although this entire area has been included in Great Xia's territory, in reality, our exploration of it is only one-third."

Moreover, this one-third was explored by the Jingxian camp before.

Xia Chuan didn't say this, but everyone understood it in their hearts.

"Mu Dong, didn't you say recently that the Craftsman Department lacks bamboo silk? If we can take down the entire Arrow Bamboo Forest, it will be more convenient for the Gathering Department to go there in the future, and the output of bamboo silk will naturally be higher."

Mu Dong and Cheng Feng beside him nodded upon hearing this.

Paper, cloth, silk, bowstrings... the uses of bamboo silk are not small. If the Gathering Department can enter and exit the entire Arrow Bamboo Forest at will, the output of bamboo silk in the future will definitely increase.

"Therefore, the next stage task is to finish exploring the remaining two-thirds of the area, turn the entire Arrow Bamboo Forest into Great Xia's actual territory, and by the way, see if there are any other human camps on the eastern edge of Arrow Bamboo Forest."

Everyone's eyes lit up, and they all nodded.

Drawing detailed maps and bringing new populations to the camp are also tasks of the Land Reclamation Department. After completion, there are also considerable contribution point rewards.

"Additionally..."

Xia Chuan's gaze turned to Director Yu Wen Tao. He pointed to a place called Mirror Valley marked on the map and said: "The coal mine in Arrow Bamboo Forest can be ignored for now, but the two iron mines near Mirror Valley must have people rotating to guard them. We cannot let others steal them. Therefore, I have decided to set up a temporary station at Mirror Valley."

A complex look rose in Director Yu Wen Tao's eyes, but he still nodded.

Mirror Valley was naturally the former station of the Mirror Immortal camp. Although it had now become history, when all was said and done, it still belonged to the territory of Great Xia, so it naturally had to be managed.

The buildings at the Mirror Immortal station were all still standing, and there were many things inside that could be used directly; it couldn't be more suitable as a temporary outpost.

"This temporary outpost can serve as a supply point for exploring the Arrow Bamboo Forest. If you all go too deep and can't make it back to the valley in time, you can come here to rest and regroup. More importantly, you can keep an eye on the Pingxi Plain side from here to prevent the Hive or other camps from setting their sights on the Arrow Bamboo Forest!"

Once these two points were mentioned, everyone immediately realized the importance of Mirror Valley and raised their heads to look at Xia Chuan one after another.

"Is there anyone among you willing to take charge of this outpost?"

The captains of the twenty-two hunting squads all felt their hearts stir at once.

"I am willing."

"Me."

"I am willing as well."

………………

Except for Director Yu Wen Tao, the other twenty-one captains all spoke up eagerly, expressing their desire to be responsible for this temporary outpost.

He hadn't even mentioned what kind of support would be given for this temporary outpost yet, and these people were already so eager to take it on.

It seemed these people had all finally caught on.

"Since you are all interested, then let's do it like before: compete for it!"

After Xia Chuan finished speaking, he paused for a moment and continued: "There are nine days left in this month. We will use these last nine days as the standard; whoever explores the most area in the Arrow Bamboo Forest will be the one to serve as the person in charge of this Mirror Valley outpost!"

Hearing this, the twenty-one people nodded heavily, indicating their agreement.

"My lord..."

At this moment, Director Yu Wen Tao spoke with a hint of hesitation: "The Ice-Shuo trees are about to bear fruit at the end of this month. Exploring the Arrow Bamboo Forest at this time..."

Zhu Yuan, Zhu Ling, Hong Tian, and Meng Yi, the four people from the Mirror Immortal camp, reacted immediately upon hearing this, their expressions changing.

During the crystal fruit ripening period, there would be beast tides in the Arrow Bamboo Forest.

They had almost forgotten about this; it was fortunate that Director Yu Wen Tao remembered.

"Do not worry. The leader is also aware of the beast tide. He will be over there during this period as well. If there are any problems, he will notify you at any time!"

Hearing Xia Chuan say that Xia Hong would go personally, everyone's expressions immediately became spirited.

However, Director Yu Wen Tao and the other four still had their brows furrowed.

They had a concrete understanding of the beast tides in the Arrow Bamboo Forest.

With the leader's current strength, I'm afraid that...

The five of them exchanged a glance. Although they were worried in their hearts, seeing the expressions on the faces of Xia Chuan and the others, they held back and did not speak.

(End of chapter)