Chapter 335: Hanqiong Seven Departments, Mo'ao Mountain, Hearing Beishuo Again

Great Xia Year 3, August 6th, just after nightfall.

Hanqiong Gourd Valley, the main building hall built against the east stone wall of the inner valley. Lu Yang, wearing a descending-red Ying Xuan Ling Viscount regular uniform, was sitting at the table, frowning.

On the left and right sides of the hall, three people sat on each side. On the left, in order, were Zhu Shun of the Camp Needs Department's Military Equipment, He Xing of the Craftsman Department's Good Creation, and He Ning of the Civil Affairs Department's Director; on the right, in order, were Zhao Hu of the Hunting Department's Mountain Official, Lin Fan of the Logging Department's Medicine Elder, and Wang Tao of the Prison Department's Penalty Master.

Zhu Shun, the head of the Camp Needs Department's Military Equipment on the left, was reading an account book:

"Total income in July: 32 jin of Jade Bone, 4,300 jin of beast blood, 1.21 million jin of beast meat, 2.8 million jin of iron ore, 5.82 million jin of coal stone. I won't mention the beast skins and bones. In addition, there is one Red Sun Fruit tree, 52 stalks of Cold Beard Grass, 27 Double-Colored Liquid Spirit Fruits, 212 pieces of Plate Fragrance Leaves, and then some low-to-mid-level medicinal materials, as well as Hanqiong's unique specialties, such as Blue Pulp Fruit, Emerald Fragrance Dew, Green Fluorescent Mulberry Silk..."

After Zhu Shun read out all the accounts, he put down the account book, smiled bitterly and continued: "These materials sound like a lot, but Hanqiong has a total population of 6,924. Maintaining the station operation every month consumes nearly 70% of the beast meat, and iron ore and coal stone also consume half. I won't mention the rest. Before the transport team sent materials yesterday, I had already counted them. What can be transported to Xia City is only a little over 40%. It is estimated that the surplus value created by Hanqiong this month is 520,000, which is an increase of less than 10,000 compared to last month, almost no change."

The five department heads in the hall frowned immediately after hearing Zhu Shun's words;

And Lu Yang, who was already frowning at the top, looked even more depressed.

Surplus value created was formulated by Minister Xia Chuan at the beginning of this year, meaning the value created by the surplus of each station—simply put, it is how much material each station can transport to Xia City, and this amount is measured in contribution points.

If you only count the total value of materials seized by Hanqiong, it is certainly more than 520,000, but Hanqiong, as an independent station, also needs materials to maintain operation. Excluding this part, the rest that can be transported to Xia City can be converted into surplus value created.

People who are willing to leave Xia City to come to external stations are clearly aiming for local resources, so they are basically Woodcutting Realm and Earth-Digging Realm experts. These people have higher cultivation, and the materials they consume, especially cultivation resources, are naturally more.

In this way, the amount of materials that the station can transport to Xia City is even less.

There are quite a few stations within Great Xia at present, but those with seven departments governing them, except for the four districts of the outer city, are only Longshan, Wuyuan, and their Hanqiong.

The headquarters and the four districts of the outer city don't need to be compared. More than 80% of the hunting teams, including advanced hunting teams, as well as a large number of Cold-Resistant Realm experts, are over there. They belong to Great Xia's basic board, and all 500,000-plus people in the camp mainly rely on them to support.

Longshan doesn't need to be compared either. Every time Lu Yang returns to Xia City, he will inquire. Under Watching Yue Feng's governance, the population of the Longshan station has exceeded 20,000, and the surplus value created in June was as high as 2.9 million, which is almost six times that of Hanqiong.

After all, the resource endowment is different, and Lu Yang didn't want to compare with Longshan. Relying on a big tree to enjoy the shade, such a large Longshan is standing there, and Watching Yue Feng doesn't even need to pull people. Many hunting teams are scrambling to go there, especially those who merged from Longyou. They are not only familiar with the Longshan environment but also understand the cold beast species there, and they are all willing to go.

But Wuyuan, it should always be comparable, right?

The Wuyuan governed by Xu Ning only has a small Five Ape Mountain in the north, which is about the same as Hanqiong having only one Longshan branch. It stands to reason that the surplus value created by the two families should be about the same.

When the seven departments were just set up at the beginning of the year, the situation was indeed like this. Both Wuyuan and Hanqiong stations were miserable, and the surplus value created was less than 100,000. Even precious cultivation resources like beast blood had to be transferred from the Xia City headquarters to meet the needs of the station.

Lu Yang was pulling people and personally leading the team to hunt, desperately urging people at the Hanqiong station to mine, hunt, collect, explore... finally, in June, he increased the surplus value created to 500,000. He thought it would be higher than Wuyuan, but when he returned to Xia City and inquired, he found out that Wuyuan's surplus value created in June had already exceeded 1 million.

Hanqiong became the bottom one among the three external stations!

Lu Yang sighed slightly, faced the crowd and said: "Everyone, we have to find a way. Not only are we at the bottom, but the gap with Wuyuan is almost double. If we continue like this, let alone our year-end assessment at the headquarters, whether Hanqiong's seven departments will be abolished next year is hard to say. By then, we will all have to return to Xia City in disgrace."

Hearing Lu Yang's words, the expressions of the six people in the hall instantly became a few shades heavier.

The original intention of Great Xia setting up external stations was to seize resources for Xia City. The assessment of these officials responsible for external stations naturally had to be based on the surplus value created.

The better the year-end assessment results, the more rewards from the headquarters naturally, and it also relates to the maintenance and promotion of their own ranks, which is even more important.

Great Xia currently only has five ranks of positions. They, the main officials of the stations, rank second to last, which is the fourth rank. But even if it is the fourth rank, the monthly salary has 3,000 contribution points, 6 Yang Origin Pills, and 20 meters of silk, and apart from these real big benefits, after serving as the main official of the seven departments, everyone who sees them has to respectfully call them Lord, and their status has clearly improved a lot.

So it's not simple to maintain the rank!

Quite a few Cold-Resistant Realm experts are staring at these positions of theirs. Even if it is not as exaggerated as Lu Yang said, directly abolishing Hanqiong's seven departments and replacing them with others is still highly possible.

"I have already asked people to inquire in Xia City. The reason why Wuyuan's surplus value created surged in June is because Xu Shouzheng led people to open up a new resource point along the north bank of the Ying River to the east, it seems to be called Songyang Ridge!"

Lin Fan, the Medicine Elder of the Logging Department, was the first to speak, telling the situation of Wuyuan he inquired about.

Clearly, Lin Fan was not the only one inquiring about Wuyuan. He Xing of the Craftsman Department nodded immediately after hearing this and took over: "It is called Songyang Ridge. I heard that not only was a new cold beast breed called Snow Ridge Fox discovered, but more than a dozen strange plants were also explored, such as Golden Pine Fruit, White Jade Hazel, and Blue Mulberry Tree. Several of them can be used to refine medicine, which even alarmed the Minister."

Hearing the words of the two, Lu Yang frowned.

Wuyuan's situation was not a secret, and he was also aware of it. The meaning of Lin Fan and He Xing saying this was very obvious, nothing more than letting him learn from Xu Ning to open up new resource points.

Hanqiong currently only has one resource point, which is the Longshan branch in the north. That branch spans more than thirty kilometers from north to south. In the previous eight months, he and Zhao Hu led two advanced hunting teams and had long since explored it. Now the hunting teams entering the mountain have begun to search for prey along the west side of the mountain body.

Opening up new resource points can not only discover new materials and new species but also attract more hunting teams from Xia City, which is naturally the best way to improve Hanqiong's surplus value created.

But the principle is the principle, but if it could be done, would he have waited until now?

Zhao Hu couldn't help but speak with anger:

"That kid named Han Feng is also too inhumane. Running away with people last year is one thing, but he actually collapsed all the mountain tunnels, wasting so much of our time. If it weren't for this, we would have long since gone up to the top of Double Dragon Mountain along the tunnel, and wouldn't have been guarding a Longshan branch until now!"

The crowd nodded slightly upon hearing this, and their expressions were all somewhat depressed.

Lu Yang's expression was the most depressed, and he felt some anger in his heart when he thought of that Han Feng.

According to Hanqiong's resource endowment, it actually didn't need to be governed by seven departments. After all, there is only one Longshan branch here. Setting up a Guarding Envoy and stationing a dozen hunting teams here is basically enough.

Hanqiong setting up seven departments was decided by Xia Hong himself.

The reason was the secret passage discovered under the main building of Hanqiong last year.

"Since that Han Feng dared to lead more than a thousand people to escape from the secret passage, it proves that this secret passage must lead to some safe boundary. After you go to Hanqiong to take office, the focus is to explore this secret passage to see if you can find the whereabouts of the thousand-plus people of Han Feng. If you can discover other new camps, that would be even better!"

These were the words Xia Hong explained when he came to Hanqiong to take office at the beginning of the year.

Lu Yang took office in Hanqiong and organized people to explore the secret passage at the first opportunity.

The secret passage under the main building of Hanqiong leads straight to the interior of the mountain body of Double Dragon Mountain all the way to the east.

Originally everything was fine, but after Lu Yang led people to penetrate nearly ten kilometers inward, he found that there was no road ahead.

To be precise, it was artificially collapsed.

No need to think, it must be the good work of that Han Feng!

That Han Feng clearly also worried that Great Xia would find it along the secret passage. His Cold-Resistant Realm cultivation naturally made it easy for him to collapse the secret passage under the mountain body.

He was safe, but the trouble brought to Lu Yang and others was great.

It was a tunnel leading all the way up, and it led straight to the interior of the mountain body of Double Dragon Mountain. The difficulty of excavation was shockingly high.

Although it could basically be determined that the tunnel led to the top of Double Dragon Mountain, Xia Hong had previously issued a death order not to allow them to climb Double Dragon Mountain without authorization, so apart from clearing the secret passage again, they had no other way.

From February to now, it had been cleared for more than six months, and it still hadn't been cleared. Let alone Zhao Hu and others, even Lu Yang felt angry when he thought about it.

"He, how is the progress of the secret passage?"

The matter of tunnel excavation was naturally the responsibility of the Craftsman Department.

He Xing, the Good Creation of the Craftsman Department, smiled bitterly and answered: "I personally watched for a period of time before, but to..."

Fan Kui was He Xing's subordinate, and his position was the Deputy Good Creation of the Hanqiong Craftsman Department.

Lu Dong nodded. He was also aware of the progress at the end of June.

"Hurry up and call him to ask. If it doesn't work, add more manpower. It must be..."

"Lord, good news, good news!"

Lu Dong's words were interrupted by a joyful voice outside the door again.

He and the six people in the hall looked toward the door instantly.

"It's Xiao Yuan's voice. Back from Xia City so quickly?"

"It's just after nightfall, the transport team can't come back, he should be back early."

"What good news, laughing so happily!"

The person who came was Xiao Yuan, the Deputy Military Equipment of the Camp Needs Department. Everyone knew it as soon as they heard the voice.

All stations of Great Xia had to hand over materials to Xia City on the 5th of every month, and Hanqiong was responsible by Xiao Yuan.

The seven people were curious why Xiao Yuan was so happy.

After Xiao Yuan walked in, the smile on his face had not yet faded. He first bowed to the crowd, then smiled and said: "There is joyful news one after another in Xia City. The Lady successfully gave birth to a pair of twins, the eldest Highness Xia Yu Yao, the second Highness Xia Yu Sheng; Minister Xia Chuan's second wife Xiao Yu also gave birth to a daughter, named Xia Yu Ning; Chen Ying also found a silver mine on the north slope of the cliff. That silver mine only entrenched a Gnawing Rat group of more than two thousand. People in Xia City all say that it is a gift from heaven to see the two Highnesses born, deliberately sent to our Great Xia."

Lu Dong and the other seven stood up instantly, their faces full of surprise.

These four pieces of good news were really too rich in content.

But Xiao Yuan's good news clearly hadn't finished yet.

He took out a cyan porcelain bottle from his bosom and said excitedly: "The lord is overjoyed and directly rewarded all Cold-Resistant Realm experts in the camp with four Yang Origin Pills each. There are eighteen people in Hanqiong, and the Camp Needs Department directly gave me seventy-two, asking me to bring them to you."

After he finished speaking, he poured out four first, and then handed the porcelain bottle directly to Zhu Shun.

Zhu Shun was the Military Equipment of the Camp Needs Department, so it was reasonable for him to distribute the Yang Origin Pills.

Lu Dong and the other seven looked at the Yang Origin Pills, and the joy in their eyes became a few shades richer again.

Yang Origin Pills could also be considered extremely precious cultivation materials for them.

Moreover, four for each person...

"Long live the lord, long live the Highnesses!"

Lu Dong couldn't help but bow directly toward the Xia City in the south. The other six people also became a few shades more solemn and learned from him to worship toward the south.

"Long live the lord, long live the Highnesses!"

After everyone sat down again, Zhu Shun distributed the Yang Origin Pills at the first opportunity.

Lu Dong held the four Yang Origin Pills and finally suppressed the excitement in his heart.

"Xiao Yuan, when you went back this time, did you see

Xiao Yuan clearly knew what Lu Dong wanted to know; a look of shame first appeared on his face, and only then did he nod and say: "I saw them, and I even saw with my own eyes all the production credit values announced by Director Qiu. In July, Longshan was first with 3.62 million, Wuyuan second with 1.92 million, Zhaoyang third with 820,000, Xiling fourth with 690,000, and only then, in fifth place, is our Hanqiong... Beiyuan, in last place, has only 150,000."

At this, not only he, but also the seven people with Lu Dong, suddenly felt a look of shame rise on their faces.

Longshan goes without saying, and Wuyuan is already nearly four times that of Hanqiong.

The key is that Zhaoyang and Xiling, which haven't even had the Seven Departments established to govern them, are also higher than them!

This is simply too outrageous.

Seeming to feel that the mood of the seven people with Lu Dong wasn't low enough, Xiao Yuan continued with a bitter smile: "I heard from Xu An, the Deputy Military Preparations Officer of the Wuyuan Camp Needs Department, that Garrison Commander Xu discovered seven giant camps north of Songyang Ridge at the beginning of this month and has already begun negotiating a merger with them. Wuyuan's production credit values for the next few months will certainly reach new highs; they might even be able to rival Longshan!"

Slap...

Lu Dong finally couldn't sit still; he stood up directly and spoke in a deep voice:

"No, this won't do. We can't keep wasting time like this. If we drag it out any longer, let alone comparing ourselves to Wuyuan, all those outposts below will surpass Hanqiong. By the time we return to Xia City, what face will I have left to see the Lord and the Chief Administrator!"

After he finished speaking, he turned his head to look at He Xing and said: "He Xing, mobilize the manpower. Gather all the Earth-Digging Realm cultivators in Hanqiong first. We must prioritize clearing that..."

"My lord, the tunnel is through, the tunnel is through!"

Lu Dong's words were once again interrupted by a joyful shout from outside the door.

A person covered in mud and looking somewhat disheveled ran in from outside the door. He first bowed to everyone, then looked at Lu Dong and said: "Lord Fan asked me to inform you, my lords, that the tunnel has been broken through, and the end has been reached."

This... this... is too much of a coincidence.

I had just said I wanted to mobilize manpower to focus on digging, and the tunnel actually broke through!

Lu Dong's expression was somewhat stunned, but it was quickly replaced by pleasant surprise.

With the tunnel broken through, the area above Twin Dragon Mountain can be explored.

A new resource point can be opened up immediately!

Lu Yang was overjoyed; he stood up directly and gave an order to those below: "Zhao Hu, Zhu Shun, Wang Tao, you three take the elite team members and come with me."

"Understood!"

The three of them were also full of joy; after answering, they went straight out of the hall to organize their teams.

Lu Yang then looked up and said to the door: "Qingshan, notify the people of the first team that they don't need to go out hunting tonight. Have them gather at the main building."

"Your subordinate obeys!"

A response came immediately from outside the door, followed by the sound of someone quickly going downstairs.

"Two high-level teams, two intermediate teams about to be promoted—that's enough. It's just to scout the path; there shouldn't be any danger!"

The resource endowment of the Hanqiong outpost is poor, so there aren't many hunting teams willing to come here, and their strength isn't high. The entire outpost has only two high-level hunting teams: one is his own Dongyang team, and the other is Zhao Hu's Steel Mane team.

Zhu Shun's Zhao Long team and Wang Tao's Zhuhan team, although both are intermediate, each have three Cold-Resisting Realm members, and they aren't actually far from being promoted to high-level.

"If Han Feng could lead over a thousand people out through the secret passage last year, there's no reason we can't. That's it, first go scout the situation, then return to Xia City to report to the leader!"

Lu Dong pondered for a moment, and after making up his mind, he also walked quickly out of the hall.

The entrance to the secret passage is in the basement of the main building.

It was just nightfall, and the people in the outpost hadn't had time to go out yet.

When Lu Dong arrived downstairs, the elites of the four hunting teams had already gathered.

"My lord, the thirty people of the first team have all arrived."

Deputy Captain Hong Qingshan came up directly to signal that everyone had arrived.

The Dongyang team is already a high-level hunting team with a full complement of 100 people. Lu Dong, imitating other high-level hunting teams in the camp, divided the members into three teams.

The first team is the most elite thirty people, all with cultivation above the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm, responsible for hunting high-level cold beasts; the second team of thirty has lower cultivation, with basic strength all above 20,000 jin, responsible for hunting low-to-medium-level cold beasts; the third team is the weakest, specifically responsible for completing the team's mining quotas.

Zhao Hu's Steel Mane team also brought thirty elites; Zhu Shun's and Wang Tao's two teams each brought twenty people, all wearing Hundred-Forged grade Lei Kui golden armor, and like his own team members, their cultivation is all above the limit of the Earth-Digging Realm.

Lu Dong looked at the thirty people of the Steel Mane team and suddenly noticed that there were actually seven people of the Cold-Resisting Realm in the team; a look of surprise suddenly rose on his face.