Chapter 497: Ice Abyss Rations, Beishuo Deployment, Xia Army Movements

The vast majority of camps in the Ice Abyss have a glaring weakness.

That is, their food reserves are insufficient.

The harsh environment ensures that most camps can never stockpile much food—it has nothing to do with strength or weakness; strong camps have more people and thus consume more, while weak camps have fewer people and consume less, yet their ability to acquire food is even worse, making it impossible for them to stockpile much.

Take Great Xia as an example; Xia people’s rations currently consist of roughly two types:

One is natural fruits such as Crystal Fruit, Chen Fruit, and Cold-Fragrant Fruit.

In early Great Xia, when they had no hunting capability, Crystal Fruit was the sole staple—it provides no blood qi enhancement, is not a cultivation resource, and was merely a desperate choice during the camp’s weak phase.

As Great Xia’s strength gradually grew, they quickly realized that these natural fruits, including Crystal Fruit, lacking any blood qi enhancement effect, could not sustain even Cold-Resistant or Earth-Digging cultivators; if used as staple food, blood qi would inevitably wither, and prolonged use could even cause flesh and muscle decay, rapidly weakening foundational strength.

This single fact alone ensures that such natural fruits can only be used as rations for children under six, or for brewing alcohol and making medicine—barely useful for emergencies, and utterly unsuitable as a camp’s staple food.

Speaking of this, we must mention Great Xia and the entire Southern Slope’s second type of ration—or rather, their only staple: meat.

It is no surprise that meat became the staple.

First, the number of cold beasts in the Ice Abyss is immense, seemingly inexhaustible and endless to hunt;

second, its function: meat is not only humanity’s most basic cultivation resource but also maintains blood qi—whether for Earth-Digging, Cold-Resistant, or even Sun-Revealing cultivators, none can do without it.

Yet as the sole staple, meat’s flaw is equally obvious: its reserve quantity can never be large.

In the Ice Abyss’s environment, storage is not an issue; the reason reserves cannot be large is twofold: first, all camps have limited hunting capacity and cannot stockpile heavily; second, even the strongest single camp cannot outpace its own consumption.

Take Great Xia as an example: though its hunting squads are astonishing in number, and with the military-hunting integration system, the army frequently clears beast waves to obtain meat, its meat acquisition capability is unmatched across the Southern Slope.

Yet even so, Great Xia’s population keeps growing, consumption rising daily; the Camp Supply Department has repeatedly raised meat prices to maintain normal supply—a clear proof.

Originally, Great Xia’s meat price was 2 jin per 1 contribution point; at the start of the war with Longyou in Great Xia Year Two, it surged to 1 jin per 5 contribution points; during the war’s midpoint, it dropped to 1 jin per 1 contribution point; after the Longyou War ended, it returned to 2 jin per 1 contribution point…

Since then, it has changed countless times; until last year in July, Great Xia, under the alliance’s name, issued a hunting decree, enabling all Southern Slope towns to preliminarily share resource zones; thereafter, Great Xia’s meat intake increased steadily, prices continuously fell, and finally returned to 2 jin per 1 contribution point.

The frequent fluctuations in meat prices are a direct manifestation of low reserves; camps have weak risk resilience, so any slight disturbance forces immediate tightening of this critical resource.

………………

On the 28th day of the 12th month, Year 136 of Mo’ao, as dusk fell:

“Great Xia has governed Dongchuan for only two years—how much meat could they possibly have stored? Spies in the city confirmed early this month: Dongchuan’s total meat reserve does not exceed 11 million jin. Xia Chuan has 30,000 allied troops, yet still hastily conscripted another 30,000 Cold-Resistant and 60,000 soldiers—he’d use every last 11 million jin as rations, and it would barely last two months. Two months to crush Beishuozhen? Arrogant! Great Xia is truly outrageously arrogant!”

In the Lord’s Hall of Beishuozhen, Yang Zun sat at the head.

The speaker stood to his left—his third brother, Yang Jian, who bore the closest resemblance to him and had governed Beishuozhen in his stead for years.

When Yang Jian finished speaking, his face was filled with disbelief, clearly both furious and astonished by Great Xia’s military move.

The hall was not empty; to Yang Zun’s right sat an elderly man in white brocade, his face utterly pale, breath erratic, both arms conspicuously missing—he was Chen Cang Chu Xuan Kong, who two days prior nearly captured Xia Yu.

Behind Chu Xuan Kong stood five or six middle-aged men, dressed in attire clearly from Chen Cang.

Dozens stood on either side of the hall; in the center stood Yang Ying, Yang Zun’s son, who had just returned from Dongchuan Camp with news.

Why did Yang Jian utter such an exclamation? Because Yang Ying brought word that Mu Longhe, Governor of Dongchuan, had seized Dongchuan Camp with 10,000 troops.

After Great Xia declared war, its first move was inevitably to seize Dongchuan—this was no surprise to Beishuozhen; Yang Jian’s shock and fury stemmed from Great Xia launching war so directly and brutally!

Without any preparation, they simply attacked.

On what grounds? What right did Great Xia have?

“Arrogant? They simply have the strength…”

Yang Zun, seated above, suddenly spoke, then sneered: “Four armies moved simultaneously: Yuan Cheng leads the rear army to monitor Yangqu; Luo Yuan leads the central army to monitor Longgu; Yuwen Tao’s 50,000-strong rear army seized Yinhe Valley yesterday and now splits into two: one force of 40,000 advances east toward Xi Yuan, clearly aiming straight for Jinshan Town; the other moves west out of Yinhe Valley, nearing Wuchuan’s East Valley—heading this way…”

As Yang Zun spoke, five soldiers carried in a massive map depicting the entire Northern Three Towns.

The Northern Three Towns, if crudely arranged north to south, would be Beishuo, Wuchuan, Jinshan—but their actual territories are not so simple.

Jinshan holds the largest territory, with nine districts, its landmass heavily skewed eastward, with a large portion embedded inside Mo’ao Mountain;

Wuchuan, in the middle, has the smallest territory, only six districts; its easternmost East Valley District borders Muyin Fushan to the south and faces Jinshan’s Yinhe Valley to the east;

Beishuo, in between, has medium-sized territory; its southern regions, Kuling and Jingxi, border Wuchuan’s East Valley and Huayang Districts respectively.

As soon as the map was displayed, combined with Yang Zun’s words, many in the hall grasped the situation, their expressions tightening.

“Chu Qinghe just said: Luo Yuan’s central army from Muyin has stationed 30,000 troops at Fushan, clearly aiming to coordinate with Yuwen Tao’s 10,000-strong right flank to first capture Wuchuan’s East Valley; once united, they can advance north straight toward Kuling…”

Yang Jian, having governed Beishuo for years, possessed strong strategic vision; after speaking, he walked to the map and pointed to the northern Dongchuan Camp position: “Mu Longhe’s 10,000 troops have taken this position. He is holding still, waiting for reinforcements. Xia Chuan’s next move will likely continue south to attack Baimu, coordinating with Luo Yuan and Yuwen Tao’s forces to jointly pressure Kuling.

Directly assaulting the town fortress is unlikely—but once they secure East Valley, Kuling, Baimu, and Dongchuan, Muyin’s military supplies can flow continuously through East Valley, either north to support Xia Chuan’s forces or east to reinforce Yuwen Tao’s…”

After Yang Jian finished, even those who did not understand now grasped the full picture.

Why did Great Xia’s sudden war provoke such shock and fury in Yang Jian?

The greatest reason: Yang Jian knew clearly that although Great Xia’s 60,000 elite troops were formidable, they had a fatal weakness—their military reserves could not compare to the Three Towns.

War is not merely charging forward blindly; weapons, armor, pills, and above all, food—all are indispensable.

No matter how strong or resource-rich Great Xia is, it cannot change the fact that Dongchuan and Jinyang have only been established for two years; no matter how much they invest, they cannot rival the Three Towns.

Food in the Ice Abyss is inherently scarce; once large-scale war breaks out, all gathering and hunting must cease—then it becomes a battle of reserves.

The Ice Abyss’s rules guarantee that food reserves will never be large, especially vital staples like meat; take Beishuo as an example: after decades of governance, if hunting ceased entirely, the town’s meat reserves would last at most six months.

As Yang Jian just said, Dongchuan’s meat reserve, under extreme conditions, lasts at most two months—given two years of development, Great Xia’s ability to fill Dongchuan’s granaries so fully is already terrifying.