Chapter 256: Shortage of Meat, Shortage of Manpower, Someone Sends It

Great Xia Year 2, April 28th

As soon as night fell, a large group of people rushed out of the gate of the Wu Shuang giant rock settlement. They were all carrying weapons, and a small number of people were wearing iron armor. When walking out of the gate, looking at the people of Great Xia, their eyes were more or less filled with a trace of gratitude and emotion.

In the crowd, I don't know who was the first to look back and bow to the iron gate. Seeing this, the people behind followed suit. Before leaving, they all bowed respectfully to the iron gate.

Inside the iron gate, seeing the behavior of the Earth-Digging Realm cultivators from the Longshan and Zhaoyang families, a trace of a smile appeared on Qiu Peng's face, and he said to Xia Chuan with a light smile:

"Human hearts are made of flesh after all. The leader was right. These people were saved by Great Xia twice, and now we have returned their weapons and equipment without missing a single piece, and let them all go. No matter what, they will remember a little bit of Great Xia's favor in their hearts."

"And not just a little..."

The smile on Xia Chuan's face grew thicker. He shook his head and continued: "Think about what happened before Gourd Valley, and you will know why these people bowed."

Qiu Peng lowered his head and thought for a moment, and soon reacted.

"That's right, the leader was besieged and killed by Li Ying Xuan Ling and his men in Gourd Valley last night. This batch of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators witnessed it with their own eyes. This group of people from Longshan was even a direct participant in the siege, and that group of people from Zhaoyang hid in the valley and watched from the sidelines from beginning to end. Even if they didn't take direct action, they were still accomplices."

After the siege and killing of Xia Hong failed, Li Ying Xuan Ling led people to continue attacking the inner valley, Hou Tong led people to defend against the enemy, and then Wu Xiong revealed his true form as a strange monster, launching a massive slaughter in the valley, and even beat away Li Ying Xuan Ling and the other Cold-Resisting level experts, watching as he was about to turn the entire Gourd Valley into a human purgatory.

Xia Hong appeared again at this time point to save them!

After Qiu Peng figured out the whole chain of events, he couldn't help but look back at the direction of the main building where Xia Hong was, reverence rising in his eyes.

"The siege and killing in Gourd Valley was clearly a conspiracy between the Longshan and Zhaoyang families. After the big brother escaped, not only did he not hold a grudge, but he went back to save them at a critical moment. This is not just a simple life-saving grace. As long as these 1600 plus people still have a little conscience, it is unlikely that they will take the initiative to attack our Great Xia people in the future."

"This is what the leader called 'repaying evil with kindness' before. I didn't quite understand it before, but today I finally saw it."

Although Qiu Peng fully understood the actions of those people just now, what he felt more in his heart was reverence and admiration for Xia Hong's breadth of mind.

"In the final analysis, it's vision and pattern. The things the big brother carries in his heart might be too grand. Not to mention you, even I don't understand!"

Xia Chuan sighed slightly, and a sense of urgency arose in his heart. Seeing Xia Hong again after four months, he clearly felt that the gap between himself and the big brother was getting bigger and bigger. This gap was not only reflected in the strength level, but also in breadth of mind, vision, and even pattern.

"The biggest reason why we can't take Longyou at present is that we people can't continue to hold the leader back like this. Great Xia's overall strength, as well as our personal strength, must be accelerated!"

Hearing this, Qiu Peng nodded heavily, and a look of shame appeared in his eyes.

Strictly speaking, there are three forces in Longyou at present: Great Xia, Zhaoyang, and Longshan.

In terms of top combat power, Great Xia is completely not inferior. They already knew what happened on the right side of Longshan on the 14th night; Li Tiancheng and Hou Hu were not the leader's opponents.

The biggest difficulty now is the Blood Guard Army and the Longyou Army, as well as the Longshan and Zhaoyang families, who have far more Earth-Digging Realm cultivators than Great Xia.

To put it bluntly, isn't it just the business of the people below them!

"Have Luo Yuan and Zhu Yuan counted the numbers?"

Hearing Xia Chuan's inquiry, Qiu Peng nodded immediately and said: "They were busy with this for four hours before dawn, and they have already reported it to me."

While speaking, he took out an account book from his arms and continued:

"There were 17421 people who came from Han Qiong last night, including 2931 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators. Excluding the 1672 people from Zhaoyang and Longshan who just left, the remaining 1259 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators are all from the Han Qiong camp and are considered Great Xia's people. This is the number counted by Luo Yuan.

Then there is Zhu Yuan. During the process of distributing Fire-Condensing Oil last night, the 421 people who died from the dew plague were basically ordinary people without cultivation. Of the remaining 14069 people, there were 4282 Woodcutting Realm cultivators, and the rest were ordinary people."

Yu Wentao is still recovering from injuries in Beehive, so the matter of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators is naturally handled by Luo Yuan, the Deputy Si Zheng of the Hunting Department; Zhu Yuan is the Si Zheng of the Civil Affairs Department, and he is basically responsible for population issues.

Xia Chuan didn't react to the sound, just continued to look at Qiu Peng.

Qiu Peng understood his gaze as soon as he saw it, flipped through the account book and continued:

"In Wu Shuang, excluding the 821 people who fought with us and were finally captured, the total population is 28814. There are no Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, there are 3821 Woodcutting Realm cultivators, and the remaining ordinary people are 24993.

Beehive has 129 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, 3639 Woodcutting Realm cultivators, and 29273 ordinary people."

"What about Beehive's migration situation?"

"Beehive started long ago. Meng Yi and Yue Feng, who is stationed in Jinggu, started docking three days ago. According to the plan they agreed upon, it should take a total of six days to move all the ordinary people back to Xia City."

Xia Chuan nodded. He led the people to formulate the migration plan, so he knew all the details. It was agreed three days ago that after all the captives were sent back, ordinary people would be given priority to move back to Xia City, while Woodcutting Realm and Earth-Digging Realm cultivators would remain.

"Beehive 129, last night's Han Qiong 1259. The new Earth-Digging Realm cultivators add up to 1388 people. We have 1000 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators left in Beehive, and there are currently 1472 people in Wu Shuang. Adding them up, the total is..."

Xia Chuan pondered softly, his expression gradually becoming a bit ugly.

"3860 people!"

This is the number of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators Great Xia can use in Longyou at present. Qiu Peng was clearly very clear about this number. Without calculation, he reported it directly.

However, after reporting it, his expression also gradually became ugly.

Clearly, he, like Xia Chuan, realized something.

"No wonder the leader said our strength is not enough. Not to mention comparing with the Blood Guard Army and the Longyou Army, just in terms of available Earth-Digging Realm manpower, we are not as good as those two families!"

"It's not that we are not as good, it's that we are far inferior. Not to mention Longshan's own number of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, they took the three camps of Yucheng, Changning, and Songyuan by beheading. As long as they are handled properly, the Earth-Digging Realm cultivators of these three families can soon take up weapons and fight for Longshan;

Not to mention Zhaoyang. The three camps of Xiling, Dongkang, and Bai Yuan have not participated in the battle so far. Adding the 3500 plus people from Zhaoyang itself, the number of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators is far beyond ours!"

Hearing this, Qiu Peng's expression became increasingly solemn, saying: "Before coming to Longyou, Great Xia's total number of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators was 2941. We have already transferred 2600 people out. Excluding the 100 stationed in Wuyuan and Jinggu, there are only 200 plus Earth-Digging Realm cultivators left in Xia City. Even if a portion has broken through again, it is impossible to exceed 300. We can't spare any more manpower!"

Today is April 28th. It has actually only been eight days since Great Xia started transferring people to Longyou. In eight days, even if Great Xia has people breaking through to the Earth-Digging Realm every day now, it is impossible to add too many.

There are only 200 plus Earth-Digging Realm cultivators left in Xia City.

Xia Chuan, whose attention had been entirely on Longyou for the past few days, suddenly heard this situation from Qiu Peng, and his face instantly became much more solemn.

Earth-Digging Realm cultivators are not only the guarantee of camp safety, but also the guarantee of beast meat supply. Without these people hunting, where would the people in Xia City get beast meat to practice?

The key is that people from Beehive are already moving to Xia City, and Great Xia's population has been growing steadily over the past four months. In this way, is the camp's beast meat still enough?

"The inventory of beast meat in the camp supply department has already started to be used, right?"

Hearing Xia Chuan's question, Qiu Peng immediately showed a bitter smile: "Not only is the inventory of beast meat being used, but the night before last, when the Deputy Si Zheng returned to Xia City and wanted to transfer 1600 people, I noticed that the beast meat supply would soon have problems, so I notified the department to raise the price of beast meat to 5 contribution points per 1 jin. We have a lot of beast meat in stock. If the population situation remains unchanged, at this price, I estimate it can last for another two months. But now..."

Xia Chuan's brow instantly furrowed.

Qiu Peng's later words were clearly referring to the recent population explosion in Xia City.

That's right. Xia City's population was only over thirty thousand before. If this number remained unchanged, the beast meat in the camp supply department's inventory would definitely last for a long time. But now, it clearly won't work.

"The population rose by seventy thousand all at once. By the time all these people return to Xia City, I estimate that at the current inventory of beast meat, even if the price doubles, I'm afraid it will only last for one month."

"The price has already risen tenfold. Doubling it again would be twenty times the original price. It can't be done like this. This round of 77604 new people is already more than twice our original population. If the price is set too high, it is not conducive to their rapid integration into Great Xia. We must find a way."

Only at this moment did Xia Chuan truly realize how correct the words Xia Hong said at dawn were.

"Digest this batch of new population well; do our best to narrow the strength gap between us and the Longshan and Zhaoyang families. What the leader said before is really not a problem at all. We have all been immersed in the joy of taking down three camps recently, and we even forgot to pay attention to the situation in Xia City."

Clearly, Qiu Peng also realized this point just like him.

"We occupy Wu Shuang, Han Qiong, and Beehive at present. We have gained a large enough territory in Longyou this time, but we can't spare people to guard it. 3860 people. Based on the combat power of the thousand Longyou troops we saw in Gourd Valley last night, I estimate that excluding the Cold-Resisting level experts, even if we gather this batch of people together, we might not be able to hold it."

Xia Chuan's tone was somewhat powerless, but he quickly adjusted his mentality and said in a deep voice: "The dew plague matter hasn't passed yet. Longshan and Zhaoyang are likely to come to us to ask for Fire-Condensing Oil. Just this point alone is enough to make them afraid to go to war with Great Xia. We must make good use of this window period."

"I'll take the time to go back to Xia City. Temporarily tighten cultivation resources such as beast meat and pills, as well as the quota for the Martial Arts Hall. Give priority to those who are about to break through, and use the fastest time to cultivate a batch of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators first to see if Xia City can solve the beast meat shortage with existing people."

"Good!"

Xia Chuan nodded in agreement immediately and continued:

"When you go back, notify Meng Yi and Yue Feng that the migration plan remains unchanged. Beehive only needs to leave a batch of Woodcutting Realm cultivators to guard the camp. Be sure to send everyone back to Xia City at the fastest speed. In addition, let Meng Yi release eight hundred people to go back with the migration team. The camp's beast meat shortage cannot be too large!"

"Release 800 back? Then there will only be 3000 people left in Longyou?"

Seeing Qiu Peng's full face of confusion, Xia Chuan shook his head slightly: "Enough. Longshan and Zhaoyang won't attack in the short term. If they really go all out to attack, it doesn't really matter if these 800 people are there or not."

Xia Chuan took out a Longyou map from his body, looked at it for a moment, and continued: "Beehive is located in the southeast corner of Longyou, with Han Qiong to the north and Wu Shuang to the northwest. Yanglu to the west is currently a dead zone. With the previous dew plague, I estimate no one dares to go there, which just happens to be a natural barrier.

We don't need to leave any garrison in Beehive at all. We can concentrate all 3000 people in Wu Shuang and Han Qiong to garrison. Both Wu Shuang and Han Qiong have Longshan's branches passing through. When there is no war, these people can be organized to go into the mountains to hunt on their own. The prey caught can be transported back through Beehive and Jinggu, which can also solve the beast meat problem for Xia City..."

Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng focused on Great Xia's current predicament and kept actively thinking about and discussing improvement methods. The two talked as they walked, and before they knew it, they walked to the top-floor hall of the main building.

At the final decision-making moment, Qiu Peng was just about to say goodbye and rush back to Xia City, but when he looked up, he found Xia Hong sitting at the head of the hall.

"Pays respects to the leader!"

Xia Chuan didn't expect that Xia Hong, who was going to retreat and practice, would come out so soon, and immediately bowed to him.

"Now you find that there is not enough manpower?"

Xia Hong looked down at the two, a smile on his face.

He had basically heard the content of the two's discussion. He was naturally very gratified that the two could realize Great Xia's biggest predicament at present so quickly.

Hearing Xia Hong's teasing, the two lowered their heads slightly, showing a trace of embarrassment.

"It's not a very big problem. Xia Chuan is right. Longshan and Zhaoyang won't attack in the short term. There is plenty of time for you to solve the beast meat shortage and the problem of insufficient Earth-Digging Realm manpower!"

Realizing that what he had just said was heard by Xia Hong, Xia Chuan immediately said: "Does the leader think my idea is no problem?"

"Of course there is no problem. I even think 800 people are a bit few. After this round of population growth, Great Xia's total population will exceed one hundred thousand. The beast meat needed by one hundred thousand people every day is massive. It is impossible to satisfy it by hunting with 1000 plus Earth-Digging Realm cultivators. Let's do this: send another 1000 people back. 2000 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators are enough to stay in Longyou!"

Seeing Xia Hong give the order directly, Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng, although showing hesitation, still nodded and did not raise any objections.

"Let Hong Guang, Hong Tian, Zhao Hu, and Zhao Bao lead 1000 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators to garrison Gourd Valley, and the rest and another 1000 Earth-Digging Realm cultivators will stay in Wu Shuang. In addition, send people to count all iron mines, coal mines, and various other special resources within the three families of Han Qiong, Wu Shuang, and Beehive, including all materials in their camp inventory. Except for the parts that need to be used, the rest can all be gradually pulled back to Xia City.

Improving the camp's strength is not just about cultivation. Other aspects can also be done!"

Improving the camp's strength is not just about cultivation.

Other aspects can also be done.

Repeating Xia Hong's words in his mind, Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng's bodies shook violently. As if enlightened, their eyes instantly lit up.

That's right!

The number of Earth-Digging Realm cultivators is indeed the basis for determining the camp's strength, but other aspects are also very important: weapons, armor, construction, and even human hearts...

"Leader, I understand!"

"Leader, Deputy Si Zheng, I will go back to Xia City now."

Qiu Peng's comprehension was clearly very strong, and he couldn't wait to say goodbye to the two. After Xia Hong nodded, he turned and left the hall, rushing to Xia City.

"What was your strength after you broke through to the Cold-Resisting level?"

As soon as Qiu Peng left, Xia Hong immediately asked Xia Chuan.

As soon as Qiu Peng left, Xia Hong immediately opened his mouth to question Xia Chuan.

"It hasn't risen much, has it?"

Xia Chuan's expression froze, then he nodded and said: "Intermediate beast meat has had little effect on me, and the increase from basking in the sun during the day is also very small. There is indeed no change."

After answering, seeing Xia Hong smiling and taking out a wooden box from his body, Xia Chuan had some guesses in his heart, and his expression was suddenly a bit excited.

Xia Hong opened the wooden box, and thirty drops of Cold Apple Jade Dew were lying quietly inside. It was exactly what he got after killing Wu Xiong, who was controlled by the strange monster.

"I already have the formula for boiling jade bones, and the medicinal materials collected from the Wu Shuang and Han Qiong families are completely enough. You arrange for people to prepare coal stones and other medicinal materials, and try boiling jade bones in Wu Shuang. It just so happens that you can also experience how the Cold-Resisting level cultivates."

"Good, big brother, but..."

Xia Chuan said excitedly, but soon he realized something, his brow furrowed and he continued: "Big brother, but we don't have jade bones!"

Jade bones, which are the bones of high-level cold beasts.

Xia Hong had been dealing with major camps in Longyou during this period, so he definitely didn't have time to hunt high-level cold beasts, not to mention them.

"You just prepare, someone will send them to us soon!"

Hearing this, Xia Chuan thought of something. The brow that was originally furrowed immediately relaxed, a smile slowly appeared on his face, and he turned and walked out to arrange for people to prepare.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 257 =====

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