Chapter 342: Mo'ao Jiuzhen, the surveillance system and town edicts, Li Hu and Hong

The entire Mo'ao Mountain range runs northwest-southeast. Saying it is located on the northeast side of North Ning Mountain is because from North Ning Mountain, the highest point of the entire mountain range is in the direction of north by east.

Compared with the entire Mo'ao Mountain range, North Ning Mountain is too small, so small that even if a person stands at the highest point of North Ning Mountain, they cannot see the full horizontal view of Mo'ao Mountain, and can only judge that they are located on its southern border through the trend of the mountains.

It is rumored that the highest point of Mo'ao Mountain is more than 70,000 meters, and the average height of the mountain body is more than 30,000 meters. How deep is the mountain longitudinally? Where does it start in the northwest and where does it end in the southeast? No one knows at all, even the masters of the Jiuzhen have never figured out these problems.

"The so-called Mo'ao Mountain Jiuzhen actually only control this 500-kilometer territory along the southern foot of the mountain. Most of the areas extending northwest and southeast, they haven't explored much at all."

Mo'ao Calendar Year 128, dawn of the ninth of August.

Mo'ao Mountain southern foot snow plain, top-floor guest room of Hongshan Village, Lu Yang stood by the window and looked at Mo'ao Mountain in the distance, sighing slightly.

It has been a full year since coming to North Ning. As the East Ridge outpost gradually got on the right track, not only the Mo'ao Mountain range, but also the situation of the Jiuzhen below, he had learned a lot.

Especially this trip to Beishuocheng, which allowed him to grasp a great deal of precious information regarding the Jiuzhen in one fell swoop; it could be called a huge harvest.

Of course, it wasn't just him. Staying in East Ridge for a year, the three people who traveled together this time, Zhu Shun, Wang Tao, and Zhao Hu, were the same.

Hearing his sigh, the three people at the table nodded and spoke one after another:

"The northwest direction is fine; it is said there is no obstruction, and the three towns of Beishuo, Jin Shan, and Wu Chuan have been actively expanding northward. The southeast is not good; the Xinghe flows down from Mount Mo'ao, cutting off the path. The two towns of Jiangxia and Bashang along the river have no room for expansion at all. No wonder their populations basically haven't changed much."

"Not just the two towns along the river, the four towns of Long Valley, Muyin, Yangqu, and Chuishan are sandwiched between the north and south five towns. The situation is similar. The camp history is more than a hundred years, and the population is only more than 500,000."

"The location determines the upper limit. The south is cut off by the Xinghe; there are many dangerous areas along the Twin Longshan on the west side, and even North Ning Mountain cannot be crossed, not to mention the Pingxi Plain territory under the cliff; the north has the three strongest towns firmly stuck. They want to expand but have nowhere to go, and can only desperately seize the resources of Mo'ao Mountain and continuously improve their strength, so that they can avoid being annexed."

"But in this way, the death rate of the camp is higher, and the population growth rate naturally cannot rise. In the end, it is still a vicious cycle."

"The strength of the three northern towns is too strong. Although the town population is only more than 800,000, if the population in the entire jurisdiction is counted, it is at least two million. If the six towns in the central and southern parts were smarter, they should form an alliance to prevent annexation by the three towns."

"I don't think an alliance is needed. Six pieces of meat that are so big, which of the three northern towns is not greedy? Not to mention annexing all six, even annexing one or two of them is enough to break the existing balance of strength of the three towns. Under such circumstances, the six central and southern towns don't need an alliance at all, just watch the three northern towns fight."

"That's right! It makes sense. These three towns in the north are unwilling to see the strength of the other party increase greatly. Whoever dares to take action against the six central and southern towns will definitely attract the jealousy of the other two, and even because of worrying that the six towns will defect to the other party at any time, the three northern towns may have to pay a not-small price to appease and win them over."

"No wonder these Jiuzhen, although there have been small frictions for many years, have never broken out in a major war. It turns out there is such a subtle balance relationship."

"Lord Wang sees the micro and knows the essence, not worthy of being from Longshan, Zhao Hu admires!"

"Lord Zhao is over-praised."

………………

Wang Tao is from Longshan after all, and once witnessed how the twelve camps in Longyou fought openly and secretly in his early years, so he analyzed the situation of Mo'ao Jiuzhen today.

Lu Yang nodded repeatedly after listening, turned and walked to the table, took out a slightly messy animal skin sketch from his arms, and spread it in front of the three.

The sketch was simply outlined with a coal pen, and the whole map was marked with the names of the Jiuzhen and the approximate outline of the Jiuzhen' territory. Clearly, it was temporarily pieced together by Lu Yang based on the situation he inquired about.

The Mo'ao Mountain Range occupies the upper right half of the entire map. The Jiuzhen, from top to bottom, are Beishuo, Wu Chuan, and Jin Shan; the middle section consists of the four towns of Longgu, Muyin, Yangqu, and Chuishan; at the very bottom are two more towns, located on the east bank of the Xinghe.

The Xinghe runs east-west. Theoretically, there is no east bank, but from Lu Yang's sketch, it can be seen that the source of the Xinghe is on the southeast side of Mo'ao Mountain. It originally flowed down to the southwest, but suddenly changed its course to the northwest in the middle, and then passed through the Twin Longshan area, and then restored its original flow due to the terrain.

And the two towns of Jiangxia and Basha among the Jiuzhen are just in this area where the course changed to the northwest, so it is said that they are located on the east bank of the Xinghe.

Although most of the areas on the sketch are not even marked with distances, Lu Yang's face is still full of joy. Being able to determine the approximate range of the entire Jiuzhen in one fell swoop is already not simple. Sending it back to Xia City for the Lord to see is definitely a great contribution.

However, he did not forget Wang Tao's words just now. He looked at the six central and southern towns on the map, his expression frowned slightly, and he spoke slowly:

"Lord Wang's words are not bad, but not entirely. The Jiuzhen all use the surveillance system pioneered by Yang Zun. Although the three northern towns are powerful, the strength of the six central and southern towns should not be underestimated. The smallest area among the six towns, Long Valley, has a territory of more than 7,000 square kilometers, exceeding half of Longyou. Long Valley Town itself has only more than 500,000 people, but counting the more than 30 village-level camps under its jurisdiction, the total population is at least more than one million."

"If it is calculated this way, although the strength of the three northern towns is strong, it has not formed a crushing situation against any town in the central and southern parts; for more than a hundred years, the Jiuzhen have traded, married, allied, and signed treaties with each other, and the internal relations are complex to the extreme. You have me and I have you. Whoever dares to talk about destroying a town will inevitably attract the other eight families to attack together."

"For example, what we found out outside Beishuocheng last night—isn't Wu Chuan currently plotting against Muyin and being pressured by the other seven towns?"

Everyone heard this and nodded immediately.

Wang Tao nodded repeatedly, his face showing agreement: "It is indeed so. The six families not holding together is certainly a factor in the fighting of the three northern towns, but the biggest reason is that their own strength is strong enough. Currently, there is no family that can break the balance of the Jiuzhen. This is the key!"

Lu Yang nodded, looking at the map on the table. A trace of excitement first appeared on his face, then he sighed slightly and said: "The biggest pity of this trip is not being able to enter Beishuocheng. If we could have gone in to take a look, we would know exactly what the strength of Beishuo Town is!"

The other three heard this and nodded regretfully.

Speaking of this, I have to mention the disturbances Lu Yang made in East Ridge in the past year. Just as he said to Xia Hong back then, suddenly bringing so many people to establish a new camp in North Ning Mountain, the process was not so simple.

As soon as he arrived in East Ridge last year, he followed Yue Feng's advice and let Great Xia send five Cold-Resisting Realm experts to act as bad guys, and found a giant camp named White Pine.

That camp had a total population of just over 10,000, and the strongest was a three-*zong* Cold-Resisting Realm expert, that is, their leader Bai Pingshan. The five Cold-Resisting Realm experts on Great Xia's side took advantage of Bai Pingshan leading the team out hunting and captured him alive, and then staged a drama of using the leader's life to threaten everyone in the camp to obey, and occupying the magpie's nest.

In the end, it was naturally Lu Yang and others who descended from the sky like gods and drove the five people away, successfully rescuing the White Pine camp.

Lu Yang made up a set of origins, saying that their group of more than 500 people originally had their camp destroyed by ghosts, with heavy casualties, and only they escaped. They walked south all the way to North Ning Mountain.

Bai Pingshan was sensible and knew how to repay kindness. Plus, he was excited when he was rescued, so he didn't ask much. After learning about Lu Yang's intention to annex and seeing his 500 elites, he agreed very readily. A few days later, the more than 10,000 people in the entire White Pine camp all successfully migrated to the steep slope position fifteen kilometers deep on the north side of North Ning Mountain, which is where the East Ridge outpost is located.

Lu Yang went to East Ridge to build an outpost, the most important task is to guard the secret passage leading to the Hanqiong outpost, so the outpost naturally has to be built at the location of the secret passage.

Originally, he thought that after annexing Bai Song and using the name of the Dongling camp to naturally make contact with the seven families of Mount Beining to scout out the reality of Beishuo, everything should have fallen into place.

But I never expected that annexation was the beginning of trouble!

The trouble stems from the Mo'ao Jiuzhen, which are now implementing the surveillance system.

The Jiuzhen' control of the territory is not like Great Xia, setting up outposts in the territory and then sending people to guard, but setting up surveillance envoys to control all village-level camps in the territory, and then controlling all large and giant camps below through village-level camps.

Under the constraints of the inspection system, all camps within Beishuo territory are forbidden from annexing each other. Unless a town decree is issued by an inspector, private annexation violates Beishuo law. The light punishment is the execution of the leader; in serious cases, not only does the leader die, but all Frigid-Resistant and Earth-Digging Realm members of the entire camp must go to serve as mine slaves.

Lu Yang only knew at this time that he had been played by Bai Pingshan!

Bai Pingshan definitely knew this regulation, clearly deliberately pitting him.

It wasn't until three months ago, when the other seven families of Mount Beining all found out, that the inspector from Beishuo Town who lived long-term in the Zhu Ling camp came knocking. Only then did Lu Yang realize he had caused trouble.

Perhaps because Mount Beining is located on the western edge of Beishuo Town's territory, and the surrounding resources are not rich, the camp's strength is average. Therefore, the inspector from Beishuo Town, named He Wuyang, was not very strong, possessing only twelve manes of power.

The strength of twelve *zong* is actually enough to cover the entire North Ning Mountain.

But the 500 people Lu Yang brought this time were not weak at all.

His Dongyang team, counting himself, was 5 Cold-Resisting Realm experts; Zhao Hu's Steel Mane team had 6; the remaining five department heads, plus the captains of the eight medium-level hunting teams, totaled 24 Cold-Resisting Realm experts.

Not to mention the quantity, he himself only had middle-stage Cold-Resisting Realm cultivation, eight *zong* strength, but Zhao Hu was already late-stage Cold-Resisting Realm cultivation, with a full fourteen *zong* strength.

Although He Wuyang saw that Dongling's strength was great, his arrogant posture did not change at all. He even used the influence of the seven families of Zhu Ling to shout arrogant words, demanding that Lu Yang bind himself and go to Beishuo Town to be executed.

Lu Yang had considered killing that He Wuyang directly at the time, but thinking of Xia Hong's instructions to him and the critical nature of the Dongling outpost, he suppressed his anger and lowered his posture to the extreme, acting out the flustered and awkward appearance of an outsider who had just arrived and knew nothing of Beishuo's rules.

Of course, this alone was not enough to handle that He Wuyang.

Bribery is the back move!

With strong strength as a cushion, and their posture was very low, finally when Lu Yang gritted his teeth and took out 10,000 *liang* of silver, seeing He Wuyang's eyes change immediately, he immediately understood that he had done the right thing.

Village-level camps are required to be equipped with silver implements weighing a thousand jin. From this single regulation of Beishuo Town, one can see that silver must also be very important to them.

Frozen Abyss regulation 10 *liang* 1 *jin*, 10,000 *liang* of silver, that is 1,000 *jin*.

Lu Yang was incomparably fortunate in his heart at that time. If he hadn't exchanged 5,000 *jin* of silver from the Camp Needs Department in advance, he would probably have to hand over the Cold Wing Sword given to him by the Lord.

After He Wuyang accepted the silver, he immediately became easy to talk to. Not only did he understand that they were newcomers who didn't know the rules, but he even expressed a willingness to return to Beishuo to plead on behalf of their Dongling camp.

Lu Yang was naturally extremely cooperative, indicating that as long as they were given a way to survive, Dongling would be willing to serve Beishuo as its master from now on, be supervised by He Wuyang in Mount Beining just like the other seven families, and pay tribute to Beishuo once every six months...

He Wuyang naturally took the opportunity to put forward his own requirements. He also knew that silver was hard to find. After continuing to ask for silver to no avail, knowing that East Ridge camp should have no more, he changed the requirements to bone and beast blood.

In order to successfully take root in North Ning Mountain, Lu Yang naturally obeyed everything.

In the end, this matter ended in this dramatic way.

Lu Yang recalled the events of the previous two months and shook his head with a light laugh. He then took out a document made of golden beast hide from his bosom, opened it, placed it on the table, and smiled: "Although that He Wuyang is an inspector, his status in Beishuo Town shouldn't be high; otherwise, he wouldn't be in such a hurry to urge us to take advantage of the tribute opportunity to quickly get this town decree."

Zhu Shun nodded, a smile appearing on his face as well: "The leader of the Zhu Ling camp, Zhu Tong, must have some connections in Beishuocheng. He Wuyang is afraid that he will file a complaint and have it poked up to the top, so he let us get the town decree first. Even if it is truly investigated later, it won't be clear. This person is greedy, but not stupid."

Hearing this, Lu Yang chuckled twice.

East Ridge was newly established. The first tribute should have been at the end of the year, together with the seven families of Zhu Ridge. The reason why they came now is because of Zhu Tong.

East Ridge took root in North Ning Mountain. The most unhappy one is Zhu Ridge camp.

No way, not to mention the location of the East Ridge outpost, it is just located in Zhu Ridge's sphere of influence, and has a natural conflict with it; just the strength that East Ridge has shown at the current stage is enough to make them worry. Not to mention the White Pine camp annexed later, just 24 Cold-Resisting Realm experts and more than 400 Earth-Digging Realm limits are enough to make Zhu Tong unable to sleep.

The reason why He Wuyang came to find trouble with East Ridge was that Zhu Tong went to report the letter.

The reason He Wuyang came to cause trouble for Dongling was that Zhu Tong had gone to report the news.

But the final result was completely different from what he had expected. Zhu Tong naturally refused to let the matter rest. Although he was nominally under He Wuyang's supervision, he clearly had other connections in Beishuocheng privately. He Wuyang understood this in his heart and was worried that his bribery would be exposed, so he let Lu Yang go to Beishuocheng in advance to take advantage of the tribute opportunity to be the first to obtain the town decree for annexing the Bai Song camp, which was equivalent to making the raw rice into cooked porridge.

It's just that this trip was clearly not all satisfactory.

It's just that this trip was clearly not entirely satisfactory.

Hearing this, the expressions of the three Lu Yang sank slightly, and they were indeed a bit unhappy in their hearts.

The East Ridge camp that annexed White Pine, although the population was only more than 10,000, the strength was still calculated according to the village level, so the tribute regulation was also calculated according to the village level. The batch of materials Zhao Hu said was what they handed over last night.

The Dongling camp, which annexed Bai Song, although having a population of only just over ten thousand, still had its strength calculated at the village level, so the tribute regulations were also based on the village level. The batch of supplies Zhao Hu mentioned was what they had handed over last night.

"Coming to East Ridge for almost a year, we only found a coal mine, and spent a full 160,000 *jin* of beast meat to buy those 8 million *jin* of iron ore from Hong Yuan camp. 160,000 *jin* of beast meat, thinking about it makes my heart ache!"

Hearing Zhao Hu's words, Wang Tao sighed: "No way, North Ning Mountain is only so big. The territory East Ridge divided is the original Zhu Ridge camp, but if there was iron ore, they would have dug it out long ago. Where would it be our turn? If we want to find iron ore, we can only go deep into North Ning Mountain."

Speaking of this, he paused slightly, and continued: "However, this is not a difficult problem to solve. At worst, let Hanqiong send it to us, but it can't be too large-scale. If someone sees the problem, it won't be good." ===== CHAPTER 343 =====

Speaking of this, he paused slightly and continued: "However, this is not an unsolvable problem. At worst, we can have Han Qiong send it to us, just not in too large a batch. It wouldn't be good if someone saw a problem."