Chapter 351: The improvement path of the Cold-Resisting peak, Mo'ao Tenth Town, North

"Lu Yang, Zhao Hu, what a good Dongling. A mere village-level outpost, actually daring to be so presumptuous. I will be in charge of Jingxi from now on, and I will stare at Dongling!"

Just after leaving Zhu Ridge, Zhu Yang, who was rushing back to North Shuo, had an iron-blue face. Thinking of the scene where Lu Yang threatened and refuted him just now, his right hand holding the sword couldn't stop trembling, which showed the anger in his heart.

But after lowering his head and thinking for a moment, a trace of fear rose in his eyes.

Dare not insult the Lord's reputation; Zhu Ridge is not worth him taking risks; dare not offend Gu Tianxiong and Huang Tianxing; worried that his position as Dean will not be guaranteed...

There are many reasons for why he didn't dare to attack in Zhu Ridge just now, but in the final analysis, it is because Dongling's strength is too strong, and he is not sure of directly suppressing Lu and Zhao.

"Zhu Tong, this idiot, didn't tell me the strength of these two people in advance. One is 17 bristles, one is 19 bristles, and I didn't bring anyone..."

After scolding Zhu Tong, Zhu Yang's expression suddenly became a bit lonely.

People, in the end, still have to admit they are old.

Although his basic strength is as high as twenty-seven bristles, far exceeding Lu and Zhao, he is old after all, and his blood energy has long entered the decay period. If the two of them joined forces, he really didn't have a 100% certainty of taking them down.

And at the age of ninety-three, he didn't have many years to live. He still wanted to keep this old bone to seek more benefits for the younger generation in the clan in the Inspectorate. If he can make fewer moves, he should make fewer moves.

It is clearly not worth it to play with his life for a cousin who is not in Beishuocheng, is so far away, and is separated by four or five generations.

Whoosh…………

"What is it?"

A scorching flow of Yang suddenly interrupted Zhu Yang's thoughts. He stopped immediately, noticed something, looked up at the sky, and his face was full of horror.

A man in black was floating above his head.

The man was middle-aged, plain-looking, with a long, thin, narrow knife that had not yet been unsheathed hanging from his waist, looking down at him with a smile.

Floating high in the sky; the temperature around him suddenly soared; such an amazing momentum...

After several thoughts flashed through Zhu Yang's mind, his body trembled violently. Without any hesitation, he bowed his head to the sky and worshipped:

"North Shuo Inspectorate Dean Zhu Yang, pays respects to the senior!"

Xia Hong deliberately released his aura to save other steps. Seeing Zhu Yang bowing and saluting, he slowed down, descended to a distance of only ten meters from him, and asked with a smile: "Don't be nervous, I am passing by this place, curious about your physique, and want to ask you a few questions."

Manifesting Yang Realm, this is definitely a strong person in the Manifesting Yang Realm!

Not from Jin Shan or Wu Chuan. It should be from the six towns in the south-central region. How could a strong person in the Manifesting Yang Realm from the six towns in the south-central region come to North Shuo without saying a word?

"As long as the things the senior asks about have nothing to do with North Shuo's secrets, this little person will definitely know everything!"

Although Zhu Yang's mind was full of thoughts, he was afraid that Xia Hong would be impatient, so his reply speed was still very fast.

This North Shuo person is quite loyal!

Seeing that Zhu Yang was already so afraid, but still gave such a soft-with-hard answer, Xia Hong was a bit surprised. He raised his eyebrows and smiled: "Don't worry, I won't inquire about your North Shuo secrets. I observe that you should only have the qualifications of a lower-class battle body, and your cultivation is at the peak of the Cold-Resisting Realm. Normally, your strength should not exceed 13 bristles. How did you get this strength of 27 bristles?"

In the skin-membrane remodeling stage, the basic strength limit is between 60,000 and 80,000 jin, which is a lower-class battle body. That is to say, when a lower-class battle body breaks through to the Cold-Resisting Realm, the basic strength will not exceed 1.6 bristles. Pushing further, the basic strength at the peak of the Cold-Resisting Realm will not exceed 12.8 bristles. Zhu Yang's strength is clearly not in line with common sense.

Zhu Yang is already old. If others pointed out his lower-class battle body qualifications like this, he would have been red-eyed long ago. But being pointed out by Xia Hong like this, there was no dissatisfaction on his face. Instead, he was stunned for a moment, looked to the north, and then explained:

"This little person once spent a huge amount of money to buy 13 Tiger Strength Pills from Jin Shan Town."

"Tiger Strength Pill?"

Although Xia Hong had guesses in his heart, hearing the name of the pill, his eyes still lit up, and he continued to ask.

Not a strong person in the Manifesting Yang Realm from the six towns in the south-central region.

No, not even from Mo'ao Mountain!

Seeing Xia Hong's reaction, Zhu Yang's mind turned rapidly, and he soon reached this conclusion, and then continued to reply: "The senior should know that when the Cold-Resisting Realm breaks through to the peak period and completes three rounds of flesh and blood remodeling, the flesh and blood strength basically reaches the limit. If you want to continue to improve your strength, you can only use the medicinal power to quench the bones and break through to the Manifesting Yang Realm.

But the bone-quenching process is full of dangers, and the resources consumed are extremely terrifying. Many people find it difficult to break through in their entire lives, so they can only find ways to continue to spend more effort on flesh and blood.

Although the flesh and blood strength cannot be improved, some people have discovered that widening the meridians between flesh and blood can also achieve the effect of improving physical strength. But the meridian strength of the Cold-Resisting Realm is already far beyond ordinary people, and it is not so easy to widen it.

There are currently only four ways in the nine towns of Mo'ao to do this: Jin Shan Town's Tiger Strength Pill, Jiangxia Town's Long Hu Li Dan, Bada Town's Blue Cod Pill, and Muyin Town's secret Twelve Blood Classic."

Since it is a secret, the Muyin Town path is naturally not applicable to the other eight towns.

Tiger Strength Pill, Long Hu Li Dan, Blue Cod Pill...

Xia Hong recited the names of the three pills, and his expression brightened slightly.

The first Tiger Strength Pill is unclear, but the latter two, just by hearing the names, combined with the geographical characteristics of the two towns of Jiangxia and Bada on the east bank of the Xinghe, can basically be inferred that they are related to aquatic species.

It seems that the Xinghe also needs to find time to see!

"Are the three towns of Jin Shan, Jiangxia, and Bada willing to sell these pills to the rest of you?"

Being able to break the Cold-Resisting peak battle body limit and continue to improve strength, the value of such spiritual pills, one can imagine without thinking. Thinking of Zhu Yang saying that he once spent a huge amount of money to buy Tiger Strength Pills, Xia Hong immediately inquired about the price.

Zhu Yang showed a wry smile and bowed: "Jin Shan Town's Tiger Strength Pill is 100,000 taels of silver each; Long Hu Li Dan and Blue Cod Pill are more expensive, 150,000 taels."

Tsk tsk...

Although he guessed it was silver trading, hearing the price of the Tiger Strength Pill, Xia Hong couldn't help but click his tongue in his heart. 10 taels per jin, 100,000 taels is 10,000 jin. The key is that this is just the price of one.

Long Hu Li Dan and Blue Cod Pill are 50% more expensive.

Xia Hong lowered his head and pondered for a moment, his eyebrows condensed and asked: "Did you buy the Tiger Strength Pill privately from Jin Shan Town, or through the normal trading channels of the two towns?"

This question was clearly a bit sensitive. From the slightly changed face of Zhu Yang, Xia Hong could basically infer the general idea, but he didn't point it out, but continued to wait for his answer.

Zhu Yang was worried that Xia Hong would be angry, so he didn't dare to hesitate for too long. He gritted his teeth and replied: "Don't hide it from the senior, the Tiger Strength Pill bought by our outpost chamber of commerce through normal trading channels and then sold to us will have a premium of 20%. This little person's family assets are insufficient. In order to save money, 6 of them were bought from dark merchants."

Dark merchants?

Seeing Xia Hong's curious eyes at this moment, Zhu Yang was not surprised at all and immediately explained sensibly:

"The nine towns have open trading channels. From September to October each year, each town will open a trade channel to facilitate the exchange of goods. This is a bright merchant. And the so-called dark merchant refers to some lawless people with channels. They can get materials outside the annual trading amount of each town and take them out to resell. Some can even get some strictly controlled things. Of course, the price is ridiculously expensive.

These dark merchants were very loose in the early years and didn't become a climate. In fact, everyone knows very well that they are all middle-level personnel within each town. Therefore, although the nine towns are cracking down, the crackdown is not thorough, which slowly allowed these dark merchants to collude with each other, form an organization, and gradually become a force.

In recent years, the dark merchant organization has become more and more rampant. They have publicly held the banner of the Tenth Town of Mo'ao and can send Yang City invitation letters to the main cities of the nine towns. This little person received a Yang City invitation letter fifteen years ago, which gave him the opportunity to contact dark merchants!"

Dark merchant organization, Tenth Town of Mo'ao, Yang City invitation letter...

Xia Hong pinched his chin and pondered for a moment, his expression gradually becoming playful.

Dark merchants and bright merchants are, to put it bluntly, smuggling and official trading.

These two have a natural conflict. Smuggling infringes on the interests of the town city, and the nine towns must crack down on it severely.

In the early years, only the middle-level of each town participated. The nine towns did not crack down thoroughly, so they became powerful. Now the dark merchant organization has begun to hold the banner of the Tenth Town of Mo'ao and publicly infiltrated the main cities of the nine towns. The nine towns still haven't been able to destroy it.

"High-level people participated. It is highly probable that a certain town is standing behind it, or even more than one. These nine towns of Mo'ao are interesting!"

The nine towns have normal trading channels and have continued for many years. Combined with the comprehensive view of this dark merchant organization, the news sent back by Lu Yang three years ago, except for the time span, basically had no problems.

Over the past few decades, the nine towns have traded, married, allied, and signed treaties with each other, forming a complex relationship of you in me and me in you. Who dares to talk about destroying a town lightly will inevitably lead to the whole situation.

At present, the nine towns maintain an extremely delicate balance. Without the strength to absolutely crush the other eight towns, no one dares to act rashly.

This is clearly much more complicated than the situation in Longshan!

Will the arrival of Great Xia directly break this balance?

Xia Hong suppressed the ambition that grew in the depths of his eyes, then looked down at Zhu Yang, a flash of murderous intent flashed on his face, but the murderous intent calmed down quickly, and he said slowly:

"You are a smart man, right?"

"Senior, don't worry. This little person is ninety-three this year and doesn't have many years to live. It is better to have one less thing than one more thing. I will not look for trouble. Today, this little person didn't meet anything and didn't say anything to anyone!"

Zhu Yang knelt on the ground, his forehead sweating coldly. The murderous intent Xia Hong just revealed, although fleeting, was keenly sensed by him.

He naturally knew what Xia Hong was worried about.

Xia Hong's questions had already exposed his identity from outside the territory.

After repeated guarantees, he was still worried that Xia Hong would kill him, so he knelt on the ground and kowtowed and begged: "Senior, spare my life..."

People are really more afraid of death as they get older!

Seeing Zhu Yang's embarrassed posture of begging for mercy, Xia Hong shook his head.

"Alright, I didn't want to kill you. I advise you not to tell anyone about today's events. Believe me, we will have opportunities to deal with each other in the future!"

Xia Hong's last sentence was clearly threatening.

He didn't care whether Zhu Yang understood or not. After speaking, he turned into a fire light and flew into the sky, galloping toward the east.

Zhu Yang clearly sensed that Xia Hong had left, but he continued to kneel on the ground for more than a hundred breaths. Only when he felt that Xia Hong had really gone far did he slowly stand up from the ground.

"A strong person in the Manifesting Yang Realm from outside the territory, am I having bad luck for eight lifetimes?"

His face still carried thick fear. Then he realized something, looked at the direction Xia Hong left, and his pupils carried a trace of horror.

"Flying to the east, where is he planning to go, shouldn't it be..."

He gritted his teeth and quickly followed to the east.

Xia Hong's trip was naturally to Beishuocheng!

From the map sent back by Lu Yang, Beishuocheng should be in the northeast direction of North Ning Mountain, and the straight-line distance from Dongling is about two hundred kilometers.

Xia Hong flew toward North Shuo while observing the route and outpost situation along the way. Seeing that there were bluestone roads connecting larger outposts, and the roads were not covered too much by snow, his eyes lit up slightly.

"This bluestone road should be maintained by zones. Each outpost is responsible for a small section of its own. Although the cost of construction and maintenance is higher than Great Xia, if it is apportioned to so many outposts to do separately, it is cost-effective!"

In fact, this calculation is also wrong.

Now it is different from before. Great Xia is now building direct roads, although mainly using wood, but piles and key points will still use iron materials.

Moreover, the Craft Department of Mu Dong issued new regulations the year before last. When building direct roads, they will be divided into two specifications of five meters and eight meters according to the importance of the outpost.

Five meters and eight meters refer to the width of the direct road.

The wider the direct road, the more people it can accommodate, the larger the vehicles, and the more materials and troops it can transport at one time. This is not difficult to understand.

Great Xia's outposts are now divided into two levels, large and small. Large outposts like Longshan and Wuyuan, which have established eight departments, transport more materials to Xia City every month, and personnel come and go more frequently, so they need to build eight-meter-wide direct roads;

While small outposts like Beehive, Xiling, and Songyuan do not transport so many materials to Xia City, they only need normal five-meter-wide direct roads.

"The construction cost of an eight-meter-wide direct road is not necessarily lower than this bluestone road, and the subsequent maintenance of the direct road requires Great Xia to send people out, while North Shuo basically doesn't have to care about this bluestone road. It can be said that each has its own advantages and disadvantages?"

And...

Xia Hong looked at the environmental situation below, and a trace of clarity flashed in his eyes.

North Shuo is mostly bluestone mountains. Laying bluestone roads clearly also has the reason of taking materials nearby.

"From the bluestone road, it can also be roughly seen that this inspector system is actually to let go of a part of the resource authority, allowing these village-level outposts to be self-reliant, while also providing a steady stream of resources and nutrients for the town city.

With the dimensionality reduction productivity of the town city, most of the resources let go will eventually flow back to the town city in the form of trading. The 100,000 population limit regulation can prevent these village-level outposts from becoming big.

In this way, there is no safety concern, and a lot of management costs are saved, not to mention reducing the resource pressure faced by the town city, and it can also prevent the problem that the town city's strength cannot be concentrated due to the too large territory, thereby focusing more energy on improving the town city's strength.

The system is indeed good, no wonder the other eight towns followed suit..."

It's just that Great Xia is not applicable, or rather, it is not applicable at present.

The inspector system was pioneered by Yang Zun. After North Shuo took the lead in applying it, the other eight towns saw that the effect was good and followed suit.

Not to mention strength, just looking at the area of the jurisdiction, Great Xia is much larger than any of the nine towns, and it should be more suitable for adopting the inspector system.

And the reason why Xia Hong said it is not applicable is for three reasons:

First, with the existence of the system, Great Xia's utilization efficiency of resources far exceeds that of the nine towns. Giving resources to other outposts is far less beneficial than Great Xia holding them directly;

Second, unlike the nine towns that are next to each other and need to guard against each other, Great Xia's current territory has no safety concerns, so there is no need to prevent the territory from being too large to make Xia City's strength too scattered. Xia Chuan's deliberate slowing down of the army building speed is proof;

Third, the biggest reason for the nine towns to adopt the inspector system is to reduce the resource pressure borne by the town city. Great Xia, which sits on the three major resource lands of Longshan, Arrow Bamboo Forest, and Red Wood Ridge, to be honest, the resource pressure faced at the current stage is not too great. This is still under the condition that Great Xia sets the prices of cultivation resources such as beast meat and beast blood extremely low. But if it is tightened a little, supplying more than 800,000 people will definitely be more than enough.

Not applicable at the current stage does not mean it will never be applicable in the future.

"According to the plan of Xia City's last round of expansion, the population carrying capacity limit is about 7 million. Even if the Yangxu Cauldron continues to upgrade in the future and the range of heating radiation can expand, Xia City cannot expand indefinitely. There will always be an end in the future. When Xia City cannot continue to expand, this inspector system will probably come in handy!"

Like when he first contacted the Beehive outpost, Xia Hong immediately considered the pros and cons of the elite system. For the first time stepping into the territory of the nine towns of Mo'ao, Xia Hong thought while observing, and soon reached his own conclusion.

Although he has the experience of his previous life, Xia Hong will not blindly underestimate these people who can survive in the cruel Ice Abyss.

Especially like these nine towns, not only survived and continued, but also developed so powerfully, there must be something worth learning for Great Xia.

Xia Hong alone is smart, but his wisdom is limited. Only by constantly broadening his horizons, learning from others, and then combining with the specific situation of the camp at the current stage, can he find the system most conducive to Great Xia's development.

The other eight towns, as soon as they saw that North Shuo's inspector system was good, didn't they all immediately follow suit?

They can, and Great Xia can naturally.

While Xia Hong was pondering, his flight speed did not decrease. Noticing that he had flown nearly two hundred kilometers to the east, he immediately landed on the ground, restrained his aura, and continued to approach the destination on foot.

Lu Yang had long sent the full map of North Shuo's territory, including the general map of the other nine towns, back to Xia City, so Xia Hong knew the specific location of Beishuocheng very well. ===== CHAPTER 352 =====