Chapter 196: Army, Beast Tide, Small Snow Mane

"Population is indeed the cornerstone!"

Behind the main hall, after listening to the conversation between Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng, noticing that the two had left, Xia Hong, sitting cross-legged on the soft couch, slowly opened his eyes. After a glimmer of light flashed in his left eye, he couldn't help but sigh.

Nearly a thousand Earth-Digging Realm practitioners, who would dare to think of this in the earliest Great Xia?

But now, it is about to become a fact.

And it is next month.

If he remembered correctly, on the 20th of last month, when that large group of people from Five Apes Mountain merged in, the total number of Earth-Digging Realm practitioners was 431.

Only a month has passed, and it has almost doubled.

Xia Hong observed this part of the newly added Earth-Digging Realm practitioners. Only a small part were from the original thousand or so people in Great Xia, and the vast majority were people from Mirror Immortal and Five Apes Mountain.

It is not to say that the original thousand or so people in Great Xia had poor aptitude. Individuals naturally have differences in talent, but when it rises to a group, in fact, as long as the living environment is equivalent and the resource endowment is equivalent, the potential is actually about the same.

You know, more than 30% of the thousand or so people in Great Xia were in the Earth-Digging Realm. If you look at the proportion, it can be said that the talent of these thousand or so people far exceeds those two groups of people from Mirror Immortal and Five Apes Mountain.

But in reality, it is obviously not the case.

Great Xia's beast meat supply is far more abundant than the other two, which is the key to the proportion of Earth-Digging Realm practitioners among those thousand or so people far exceeding them.

The two groups of people from Mirror Immortal and Five Apes Mountain merged in, and like the Great Xia people, they enjoyed the abundant beast meat supply. Many people who were stuck and didn't break through before, as well as some talented people, logically broke through.

The key to the surge in the Earth-Digging Realm in the first month or so lies here.

That is why Xia Hong said that population is the cornerstone.

Cultivation is a water-grinding effort. Wanting to achieve it overnight is impossible.

The Woodcutting Realm and Earth-Digging Realm can only use so much beast meat every day. Even if the camp has a martial arts hall that can improve their cultivation efficiency, it is impossible to batch-produce Earth-Digging Realm practitioners. It still requires a lot of time and resources to have corresponding improvement and output.

"Population expansion is very important, but the corresponding supporting resource supply cannot be ignored. There are more than 23,000 people, and the camp's hunting ability is a bit unable to keep up. It seems that it is still necessary to settle for a period of time and not expand the population in large quantities, otherwise, I, the leader, will soon have to take people out to hunt."

Thinking of the monthly beast meat consumption reported by Qiu Peng just now, Xia Hong shook his head slightly.

1.5 million jin, it is fortunate that Great Xia has enough territory now, and there is a treasure land like Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge, otherwise, even if he, the leader, went out in person, he might not be able to get so much beast meat.

"The resource problem has not been solved, and the population cannot be expanded for the time being. As for the army, it is even more whimsical..."

Xia Hong shook his head and pondered. Qiu Peng's proposal just now, to set up a team that is completely out of production specifically to patrol the camp, was what he had mentioned to Xia Chuan before.

In fact, this is equivalent to the embryonic form of an army.

Great Xia has territory and borders now, but it does not have an armed force specifically used to defend its own territory.

The Hunting Department is of course counted, but they are not out of production, and they still have to hunt cold beasts as the main task. They can only stand out when something happens like before.

According to the terrifying beast meat consumption of the camp at present, if the Hunting Department relaxes a little, the beast meat supply will probably not be able to keep up.

In such a situation, Xia Hong naturally would not have the idea of building an army again.

"I heard from Luo Ming earlier that both Yang and Li are scouts for the Beishuo Town Garrison Army. In other words, once the population exceeds one hundred thousand and reaches the standard of a town-level camp, one should have the qualifications to build an army."

The Beishuo Town Garrison Army!

Xia Hong's brows raised slightly. Remembering the strength of Yang and Li, he couldn't help but feel a bit uninterested in this army.

"Being able to serve as scouts, the strength in the army should be considered quite good, that is to say, this army is probably composed of Earth-Digging Realm practitioners. I just don't know how many people there are specifically."

Being uninterested does not mean contempt.

Being able to support a fully non-productive army, the strength of Beishuo Town is beyond doubt.

The huge population of more than 100,000 is also something Great Xia cannot reach now.

But it must be said that compared to the time at the earthen slope, more than a year has passed, and when Xia Hong thinks of Yang and Li again, as well as the Beishuo Town behind them, his heart no longer feels any ripples.

After all, he has confidence that as long as Great Xia is given sufficient time, surpassing this so-called Beishuo Town, or even the entire Nine Towns of Mount Mangshan, will not be a problem.

"Why are so many people back? It shouldn't be the second half of the night yet!"

Xia Hong's brows condensed, and he suddenly looked outside the main hall.

There are a large number of people outside who are rushing back to the valley. It is clearly only the first half of the night, and those who went out should not be back at this point.

What is the situation?

…………

"Why are so many people back?"

"Beast tide, there is a beast tide, it is the news from the Border Valley side."

"Beast tide? There is no movement outside the Seeing Seeing Hong Mu Ridge."

"The west periphery is fine, it should be the Arrow Bamboo Forest side. I heard it was the news reported by Lord Watching Yue Feng, and many people have come back."

"Arrow Bamboo Forest direction, north?"

"That's right."

…………

Hearing that there was a beast tide, the Great Xia valley was suddenly in a commotion.

"Don't panic, it is the beast tide in the Arrow Bamboo Forest, very far from us."

"That place has a beast tide every four months, don't worry, those cold beasts are all running toward the inside of the Arrow Bamboo Forest and will not come to our side."

"Don't get close to the north."

Soon, people from the former Mirror Immortal camp came out to appease the others who didn't know why. Knowing that the cold beasts would not come to the valley side, everyone's emotions immediately stabilized, and the commotion of the crowd slowly stopped.

"Don't panic, there is no anomaly in the surrounding area. Everyone, don't go to the north for these few days."

Xia Hong's huge voice resounded through the valley. Everyone looked at each other and then looked at the third floor of the wooden building. Their expressions suddenly calmed down.

"Is this the leader's voice?"

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

"The leader is like a god."

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

"Do what you should do, just don't go to the north. For these few days, just move around the west periphery."

…………

Xia Hong sat quietly in the main seat of the third-floor main hall. After appeasing the commotion in the valley, his brows condensed slightly.

From this commotion, it can be seen that the current system of Great Xia is still very imperfect.

It is said that when something happens, someone should come out to appease immediately, and then determine whether the situation is dangerous and whether to make preparations. This is nothing happened yet, the camp is already panicked, and he, the leader, has to open his mouth to appease in person, which is a bit of a grass-roots feeling.

But there is no way. Currently, even Xia Chuan, the Commandant, has to lead a team to hunt outside, not to mention the six department Deputy Commandants below, as well as the captains of each hunting squad. They basically go out at night, even the Craftsman Department Deputy Commandant Mu Dong is no exception.

"It is still necessary to arrange for someone to take care of the camp, at least when there is a sudden situation, it will not be like a group of headless flies. I will talk to Xia Chuan next time."

Xia Hong pondered for a moment, and only when the camp had completely calmed down did he rise, leave the main hall through the front door, and dash toward the north.

………………

Unlike the short-term commotion in the Great Xia valley, the Border Valley side is a scene of heaven and earth collapsing.

The Border Valley, which is five or six miles square, trembles endlessly.

More than thirty wooden houses are all trembling with the ground. The accumulated snow and ice edges are constantly sliding down from the roof to both sides, making a crackling sound.

In a wooden house in the middle, hundreds of people are hiding.

The bonfire in the house has been extinguished. Everyone has a horrified face, looking at the south side from time to time through the windows and wooden doors, their faces covered with shock.

The Arrow Bamboo Forest one kilometer away to the south constantly makes a rumbling tremor, like an earthquake. The sky full of snowflakes has already covered the whole bamboo forest, and the black and heavy snow mist is filled, and the visibility is extremely low.

But even so, the crowd in the wooden house can still see the huge beast shadows running wildly inside through the snow mist.

"Thanks to Lord Watching Yue Feng's timely notification, if it were a little later, these people would not be eaten, but would also be trampled to death alive!"

"Look over there, at least seven or eight, and they can be seen clearly from such a distance. The body length is at least seven or eight meters. Are they all intermediate cold beasts?"

"Gulp, this is just the edge seen through the snow mist. I don't know how many there are in the snow mist. In the bamboo forest, I am afraid it is full of cold beasts now. How can there be so many?"

"Listen to the movement, in such a while, at least hundreds have passed!"

No one is wrong, read the content inside!

"People from the Mirror Immortal camp said that this beast tide will last for four or five days, so there are thousands of them in total."

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

"There must be some treasure in the Arrow Bamboo Forest?"

"Hehe, you are smart. Why, want to go pick up treasure?"

"I have to have this life. Such a big beast tide, I estimate that except for the leader, no one in the whole camp dares to get close."

"The leader is not necessarily, so many cold beasts, I estimate there may be high-grade ones."

……………………

On the second floor of the wooden house, hearing the discussion of the crowd, Watching Yue Feng turned his head, looked at Director Yu Wen Tao, revealed a trace of gratitude, and arched his hands: "Thanks to Deputy Commandant tonight, if it weren't for your advance notification, I estimate that many people would die tonight."

Director Yu Wen Tao waved his hand slightly and said: "Brother Yue, don't be polite. I originally roughly calculated that the beast tide would come recently. Staying here during this period is for now."

Watching Yue Feng nodded when he heard this, but the gratitude on his face did not decrease at all.

He also knew that the beast tide every four months in the Arrow Bamboo Forest followed the ripening period of the Ice-Resisting Tree.

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

May has passed eighteen days, and the beast tide has been late. He was just letting his guard down during this period, thinking that there would be no beast tide.

Who knows, it came tonight!

The Border Valley has become a fixed station for Great Xia north of the Arrow Bamboo Forest.

Not only did he lead the Mountain River squad to station here, but many hunting squads and collection teams would also come here to rest and station on weekdays. Sometimes for the convenience of mining, they would live here for several days.

The collection team is the same. The bamboo silk in the Arrow Bamboo Forest is one of the important materials that the camp must collect fixedly. Now there are hundreds or even thousands of Woodcutting Realm practitioners active in the Arrow Bamboo Forest every night.

If it weren't for Director Yu Wen Tao's accurate judgment that the beast tide was coming, and he also notified him in advance, and he quickly sent people to notify them in all directions, letting everyone withdraw in time, many people would definitely die tonight.

At that time, he, the person in charge of the Border Valley, would naturally be hard to blame.

In all fairness, Watching Yue Feng's impression of Director Yu Wen Tao was not very good. The reason was simple. His relationship with Li Yun and Li Pingkai was quite good.

Because of the pursuit at the beginning, his overall impression of the people who merged from the Mirror Immortal camp this time was not good. 【196-10

But today's incident has made Watching Yue Feng change his view of Director Yu Wen Tao.

Director Yu Wen Tao clearly does not know that Watching Yue Feng has so many thoughts and is currently lowering his head in contemplation.

"I remember the dates were always very accurate in the past, once every four months, with a margin of error of no more than five days. This time, it actually arrived more than ten days late..."

Director Yu Wen Tao whispered, his brows knitting together.

In the many years before the Jingxian camp, they have experienced quite a few beast tides.

The Ice-Shuo trees ripened at the beginning of the month, and today is already the eighteenth.

How could it arrive so late?

In fact, for the past few days, he, like Watching Yue Feng, suspected that there might not be a beast tide this time. It was fortunate that he was cautious enough to stay a few extra days; otherwise, they would definitely have suffered a heavy loss tonight.

Director Yu Wen Tao lowered his head to think, but for a long time, he could not come up with a reason.

Watching Yue Feng, on the side, understood even less; he just kept observing the movement in the bamboo forest to the south to prevent any unusual activity.

Besides the two of them on the second floor, Meng Yi and Seeing Hong Guang were also there.

Last time, after Xia Hong scared away the three people from the hive, he only ordered Watching Yue Feng to keep the Shanhe squad stationed here and let the other five squads move freely.

Director Yu Wen Tao was uneasy, so he brought his own Long Wu squad, as well as Meng Yi's Shenwu squad, to continue staying here.

"Eh, why is there a little Snow Mane?"

"This body length is only a little over a meter, it's a cub, right?"

"Did it come with the beast tide?"

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

………………

In the silent private room, several voices were suddenly heard coming from the first floor.

Watching Yue Feng, Seeing Hong Guang, and Meng Yi were all stunned, but only Director Yu Wen Tao, upon hearing these discussions, felt his body jolt violently. He quickly ran to the edge of the stairs and looked down.

For the sake of unified dispatch and out of fear that scattered personnel would disturb the beast tide, Watching Yue Feng had gathered all four hundred or so people remaining here in the Jing Valley into this central wooden house, so the first floor was currently crowded with many people.

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

Just as everyone was discussing, the beast shadow's shoulder height was only sixty centimeters, and its body length was about a meter; even compared to low-level cold beasts, its size was considered very small.

The beast shadow had a circle of barbs on its back. Although the details of its face could not be seen clearly, a pair of forest-white, curved fangs were very conspicuous. Looking at the pitch-black mane covering its body, one could basically judge that it was a miniature Snow Mane.

Is there really a Snow Mane cub?

If one were to say that this small Snow Mane in front of them had any difference from the Snow Manes they had seen before, it might be those eyes.

The eyes of Snow Manes are all blood-red.

But the Snow Mane in front of them actually had cyan eyes.

Not only cyan, but they also possessed a texture as clear as jade.

"Hmph... hmph..."

It let out two snorts, appearing naive and cute, which made everyone on the first floor burst into laughter.

"Run, run, everyone, run!"

Director Yu Wen Tao's terrified roar instantly stopped everyone's laughter.

Watching Yue Feng and the other two standing beside him were all shocked.

The four hundred or so people on the first floor also had their expressions frozen.

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

(End of chapter)