Chapter 510

The Frozen Abyss is cold day and night, but by comparison, the daytime is even colder.

The low temperature during the day is secondary; the key is the cold light emitted by that cold sun in the sky, which is extremely invasive to the skin-membrane. Before human skin-membranes are formed, being wantonly exposed under the cold sun will result in death in an instant.

During the current period of conflict, the five northern towns dare not say they are under a total lockdown, but key cities directly under the jurisdiction of the garrison towns, such as Bai Mu City, as well as important large-scale strongholds, are basically in a closed state. All normal activities such as gathering, hunting, and cargo transport have stopped.

Intelligence is the key to determining the outcome of a war. This principle is understood not only by Great Xia, but the five northern towns... no, it should be the four northern towns now, naturally understand it as well.

Unfortunately, the four northern towns do not have as much manpower as Great Xia, and coupled with being the side that is passively fighting, they naturally do not have much energy to interfere with the transmission of information in the wilderness.

Speaking of this, one must mention that the control of the territory by the four northern towns is not on the same level as Great Xia at all.

Taking Beishuo as an example, the garrison town's control over the seven jurisdictions in the entire territory is actually extremely loose. To summarize, there are only two measures: first, to establish large camps and garrisons in the central areas of the seven jurisdictions; second, to collect tribute from all village-level camps within the jurisdictions once every six months.

Such a model has long destined that the vast majority of camps have almost no centripetal force toward Beishuo.

Of course, there is a reason for grasping the big and letting go of the small.

In the seven major jurisdictions of Beishuo, the village-level camps add up to at most 80. The total population is certainly not small, definitely over a million.

The problem is that among these million people, those at the Cold-Resistant level might not even be 500. Even if you double it to 1,000, what significance does it have for the Beishuo garrison town?

Great Xia established rules very early on: the higher a person's cultivation, the more hunting and gathering tasks they must undertake. Except for minors under fifteen, not a single person in all of Great Xia can get something for nothing.

But not all camps are like Great Xia. People are inherently lazy. Once life gets better and status gets higher, it becomes very difficult to make them go to the wilderness to fight to the death with cold beasts like before.

It has been a full 136 years in the Mo'ao Calendar. That is to say, except for Great Xia, the various towns at the southern foot have basically existed for about a hundred years. Why is it that the population of the major garrison towns has not been able to break through the million level even now?

To put it bluntly, it is because the garrison towns are unwilling to support so many people.

It is unwillingness, not inability!

A large population means the need to consume a large amount of resources, and in a harsh environment like the Frozen Abyss, resources do not fall from the sky.

Cold beasts must be hunted, spiritual herbs must be gathered, mineral resources must be mined... all kinds of resources must be obtained by people working hard, or even risking their lives.

When people are in humble circumstances, their fighting spirit is naturally beyond question, but once they have completed their primitive accumulation and their status has risen, it is very difficult to make them work as hard as before.

Rather than taking in all the population in the jurisdiction into the garrison town and exhausting oneself, it is better to collect resources from them periodically through tribute. This way, one doesn't have to do anything and can still have income. One only needs to provide a certain amount of protection, and then take all the genius elites that pop up in these villages from time to time into the garrison town. This can maintain the transcendent status of the garrison town for a long time; it can effectively control the territory; and the garrison town specializes in the elite route, which can still continue to develop. It can be said to be killing three birds with one stone.

It is not just Beishuo that thinks this way. It can be said that the core reason why the situation of the nine towns coexisting at the southern foot could be maintained for a hundred years is that almost all nine towns have this mentality.

Of course, this idea was first proposed by Yang Zun. The specific measure was the so-called Beishuo supervision system, and the other eight towns followed up later.

As early as when Xia Hong first set foot in the Beishuo territory, he had analyzed the pros and cons of this system. When the garrison town's strength is insufficient, resources are relatively scarce, but the overall territory area is too large, it is absolutely applicable.

But if any of these three situations changes slightly, then changes must be made immediately, otherwise it will seriously affect the development of the garrison town. Once institutional inertia is formed, it will even cause the entire garrison town to fall into rigidity. It may seem that strength is still improving, but internally it has already become rigid, and there is no vitality left to speak of.

The great battle currently taking place in the north is probably the best interpretation of these words Xia Hong said back then.

One mile north of Bai Mu City, thirty giant black military tents were distributed in a circle on the snowfield, guarding a wooden watchtower in the very center.

That watchtower was a full fifty meters high. At the top of the tower, a large golden square banner with a Kui pattern was fluttering in the wind. It was daytime, and the large black-bodied "Xia" character in the center of the flag was shimmering with light, which was extraordinarily eye-catching.

Like the army of Mu Longhe's department in the Zhongyang camp, the watchtower was also built above the wooden main tent, except that this main tent was a full thirty meters long, twice as large as Mu Longhe's.

On the south side of the main tent, nineteen-year-old Hong Yang was walking toward the main tent with his father, Hong Fan, following behind an armored soldier.

Unlike his father, whose face was slightly uneasy and constrained, Hong Yang's eyes were full of curiosity at this moment. During the process of moving forward, he kept looking around. When he saw the main tent clearly, especially the hundreds of young soldiers standing outside the main tent wearing black and silver battle armor, a trace of envy suddenly appeared in his eyes.

"The main tent of the Dongchuan Alliance Army; the soldiers who can guard the main tent must be the elite of the elite, but looking at their age, they seem to be about the same as me..."

As the son of Hong Yuan Village leader Hong Fan, Hong Yang's knowledge was certainly not shallow. He broke through to the Cold-Resistant level the year before last. Thanks to the precious pills sent back by his sister, he now also had 13 mane strength. Looking at the entire Jingxi, except for that group of freaks in Dongling Village, he almost did not lose to anyone.

But now, among these hundreds of soldiers outside the main tent who were of similar age to him, he actually could not see through a single one.

The Frozen Abyss Law: people you cannot see through, their strength is in all likelihood above yours.

That is to say, the strength of these hundreds of soldiers guarding the main tent was all above 13 mane, but their age was clearly about the same as his?

"You wait here, I will go report to the Lord Commander first."

"Many thanks, military officer. This humble one will wait here quietly."

Hong Yang followed his father to continue moving forward, full of confusion. When they were about twenty meters away from the main tent, the soldier who brought them left a sentence, ignored Hong Yuan's polite remarks, turned his head, and walked toward the main tent.

Seeing his father put his posture so low, Hong Yang suddenly frowned and couldn't help but lean forward and whisper: "Father, we came to report to the Xia Army, which might help them win, why be so humble?"

His father, Hong Fan, was after all the leader of Hong Yuan Village and a confidant of Lord Lu Yang, the Sword Head of Beishuo. He now also had 36 mane strength. Although it was not much in front of Great Xia, considering that this trip was to report to the Xia Army, being so humble was really a bit inappropriate.

"Shut up!"

Hong Fan's heart was extremely uneasy at this moment. To be precise, from the moment he entered the Dongchuan Alliance Army camp, his heart had never been calm.

Seeing his son still looking unconvinced after being reprimanded, his expression paused slightly, and he thought of many things in his mind in an instant.

The true identity of his master Lu Yang, the true controller behind the scenes of Dongling, the ten thousand reinforcements in Jingxi, and the fact that Gu Tianxiong had already been turned...

Hong Fan, with a thousand thoughts, finally remembered his eldest daughter, Hong Yuru, who had married Li Hu two years ago.

Following Lu Yang for these years, he actually already had many guesses about the situation in Dongling. Although he wanted to seek verification from Lu Yang countless times, every time the words reached his lips, he held them back. Firstly, he knew very well that he did not possess this qualification, and secondly, the weaker one's strength, the more one knows, which is not a good thing.

But ever since his eldest daughter, Hong Yuru, married Li Hu two years ago and entrusted people to send some precious cultivation resources to their home from time to time, he understood as soon as he saw them.

He, Hong Fan, was not some young person without knowledge. The pills, refined salt, spiritual wine, and some clothing and daily necessities that his daughter sent back were clearly things that could only be produced by Great Xia.

After his daughter married out, she said on the surface that she was living in Dongling Village with her husband Li Hu, but in the past two years, he almost couldn't see anyone every time he went to Dongling. The servants found good excuses, saying that the son-in-law and daughter were both out and not at home, but how could they not be at home every time?

If the items produced by Great Xia that his daughter sent back only made him have some guesses, then in the middle of last year, he happened to go to Dongchuan City on business and accidentally saw his son-in-law Li Hu outside the barracks, which made him completely certain of the guesses in his heart.

His son-in-law Li Hu, and the core personnel of Dongling, including his master Lu Yang, were actually all people of Great Xia.