Chapter 568: Disappointment, Ecstasy, and Moved Hearts |
"To change the city construction site to Guangningshan, not Valley Village? This... this... how did this sudden change of mind happen?"
At the outskirts of Valley Village, Fan Kong, who was directing villagers to transport coal for the Xia troops, heard the latest news brought by his son, Fan Hong. He was completely stunned, his face immediately filling with anxious urgency as he asked his son what was going on.
Fan Hong's face was full of bitterness as he whispered, "Father, I heard from the Xia soldiers that during the first half of the night, they had a large army launch a surprise attack on Guangningshan. They routed Cai Yunzhou's seventy-thousand-strong Caiqiu army, and now Guangningshan has also become Great Xia territory..."
At this point, Fan Kong basically understood. His face instantly filled with bitterness and unwillingness. He didn't even listen carefully to the rest of what his son said.
Compared to Valley Village, a place like Guangningshan, which was easy to defend and hard to attack, was clearly more suitable for building a city. Since Great Xia had captured Guangningshan, it was naturally impossible for them to build the city in Valley Village.
Whether the city was built in Valley Village or not naturally didn't have much impact on the people of Great Xia. But for the over twenty thousand commoners of Valley Village, it was a key opportunity that would determine their future fate.
To be honest, Fan Kong's understanding of Great Xia wasn't that deep, but he was a sensible man. He clearly understood that a feudal town-level camp like Great Xia wouldn't differ too much from the Caiqiu system. Its major cities within its territory would certainly not casually accept new populations.
The over one hundred thousand people of the entire Qingyu Gully were all so weak. Great Xia would definitely not expend great effort to relocate them. So, in the end, the most likely approach would be to establish a garrison for governance.
If it was just a garrison, it would actually be beneficial for their Qingyu Gully too. After all, no matter which camp it was, the army was always treated as the top priority. Soldiers were famously well-off. Qingyu Gully, being close by, could engage in some military-related businesses and live a decent life.
First, no matter what camp it was, choosing to build a city in a place meant the higher-ups valued that area. Just like Evergreen Valley, for over a hundred years, aside from Qinghua City at the northern valley mouth, there hadn't been a single other city within the valley.
Second, banding together for warmth was human nature in the Ice Abyss. Once a city was built in Valley Village, the surrounding population would inevitably gather there.
Lastly, there was the attention from Great Xia's higher-ups. The primary task of building a city was definitely defense against enemies. So, the number of Xia troops stationed wouldn't be too few. Moreover, Great Xia would try every possible way to ensure their daily cultivation and living resources. Just a little trickle of these things would allow the people around Qingyu Gully to live a decent life.
Once the population exploded and resource supply kept up, the region would welcome prosperity. This was an eternal truth. And once the population and strength of the Qingyu Gully region rose, everything would change.
It was precisely because of these factors that after learning Great Xia wanted to build a city, Fan Kong's heart was so excited. Especially knowing it was to be built in their Valley Village, he was overjoyed beyond measure.
But now, his son suddenly told him Great Xia was changing the city construction site to Guangningshan.
Although Guangningshan was only fifteen kilometers from Valley Village, according to the principle of the locality benefiting the most, in his heart, it naturally wasn't as good as building the city in Valley Village.
"Father, is there any way to make those esteemed adults change..."
Fan Hong was almost fifty this year and also understood these principles. He instinctively asked his father if there was any way to make Great Xia change its mind.
But before he could finish speaking, he stopped himself. Then he exchanged a look with his father. Both father and son shook their heads with bitter expressions.
Up to now, the highest-ranking person from Great Xia they had met was that Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Dragon Garrison, Yuan Bai. Just from hearing the title, one knew it was only a military position, and most likely not a very high one at that.
With low status and little influence, what could they possibly do to change the higher-ups' minds?
Furthermore, where to build the city was a huge matter for their Valley Village, but what did it count as for those Great Xia higher-ups?
"Fortunately, Guangningshan isn't too far from us. After the city is built, we should be among the first to move in. Then, taking advantage of our proximity, we can still gain some benefits. At the very least, we won't be worse off than the other villages in Qingyu Gully."
Hearing his son's words, Fan Kong shook his head and said, "The ones who will benefit the most should be Qingtan Village..."
Fan Hong was stunned upon hearing this. Only after listening to his father's explanation did he understand.
The four important figures from the Frost Ash Society who were responsible for organizing this uprising actually all came from Qingtan Village. No wonder Su Lie was so enthusiastic about the uprising. Ever since Caiqiu began conscripting laborers, he had been running around everywhere, connecting with people like them.
Thinking of this, Fan Hong seemed to have a sudden realization and said, "I remember now. I heard that when attacking Guangningshan, those important figures from the Frost Ash Society also contributed greatly. There's a rumor that they seemed to have planned this major battle with that general named Hou Bing specifically to meet Great Xia's Lord Leader."
Hearing this, Fan Kong's expression grew even more bitter. He had a good relationship with Su Lie and naturally had more information than his son. He knew that the Headquarters Chief of the Frost Ash Society who planned this uprising not only came from Qingtan Village but also had some relationship with Great Xia's Lord Leader. According to Su Lie, it seemed to be a master-disciple relationship.
Thus, once Guangning City was built, the village that would receive the most attention among the sixteen villages of Qingyu Gully would inevitably be Qingtan Village.
"Old Fan!"
As if to confirm his thoughts, just as Fan Hong arrived at the village entrance with the coal transport team, Su Lie's slightly excited greeting immediately reached him.
He looked up toward the village entrance, and his expression instantly froze.
It was currently nighttime, yet the people in the village were noisily crowded at the entrance. They were clustered around something in dense layers. Because it was too far, he couldn't see clearly at first glance.
Su Lie, along with a few people from Qingtan Village, was guarding the outside. It was only upon seeing him return that he waved in greeting.
Fan Kong immediately left the team and walked forward. He keenly noticed the villagers' faces were flushed with excitement, their pupils full of exhilaration, as if they had encountered some joyous event. He was instantly puzzled.
The outer ring consisted of Valley Village villagers. Seeing their village chief approach, they immediately made way, creating a passage.
"Brother Su, how did you..."
As he walked in along the path, Fan Kong began to ask Su Lie about his purpose. But before he could finish speaking, as he clearly saw what the crowd was clustered around, he froze completely, his face full of astonishment.
It turned out what everyone was gathered around were ten giant iron-wheeled carts.
They were called giant because these iron-wheeled carts were twenty meters long and five meters wide. One look told you that everything, from the wheels to the cart body, was made of pure iron, and it seemed to be ten-fold forged iron at that, with an extremely high load capacity.
Such large pure iron cargo vehicles were enough to shock him, but what truly made his expression astonished at this moment were the materials fully loaded on those iron-wheeled carts.
The first eight carts were all packed with bundles of deep blue meat strips. That was clearly Frost Beast meat. One had to know these iron-wheeled carts were already huge in area. Those meat strips not only covered the cart bodies but were also stacked up five or six meters high. From his visual estimate, each cart carried at least two hundred thousand jin of beast meat.
Eight carts meant over one million six hundred thousand jin!
The ninth cart carried twenty wooden barrels. One barrel had already been placed on the ground, its lid in an open state. Fan Kong could clearly smell the scent of beast blood from inside.
That meant all twenty wooden barrels were filled with beast blood!
The tenth cart mostly carried some aesthetically pleasing vessels. Although he didn't know what was inside, he could roughly guess from the items on the first nine carts.
Crucially, one box's edge wasn't closed tightly. Through the gap, Fan Kong saw it was filled with exquisite small porcelain bottles of various colors.
Such exquisite small porcelain bottles were clearly used for storing those precious cultivation pills.
"Hmm............"
If the massive amounts of beast meat and beast blood on the first nine carts had already made Fan Kong hold his breath, then the precious materials on the tenth cart, which he couldn't identify, were enough to drive him wild with excitement.
Only now did he realize why all the villagers were gathered here and why each of their expressions was so excited.
Sometimes, ignorance was bliss!
The villagers' gazes were all focused on the beast meat and beast blood because they simply didn't know that what was loaded on the tenth cart was the most precious material, most likely better than the first nine carts combined.
"Brother Su, these things are............"
Although Fan Kong was excited to the extreme, he still forcibly pulled his mind back. Many Xia soldiers were also stationed beside the ten large carts. This batch of materials was clearly transported over by the Xia army.
Great Xia wouldn't give them so many things for no reason. So he directly asked Su Lie.
"Brother Fan, I'm only responsible for escorting. The specific details will be explained to you clearly once Lord Bai comes out from the Main Building."
"Lord Bai?"
Su Lie hurriedly nodded, just about to introduce to Fan Kong when, at that moment, a middle-aged man wearing brown Xia attire walked over from within the village, accompanied by over a dozen soldiers.
"Lord Bai Wuting is one of the five chief directors of the Camp Supply Department among Great Xia's Eight Departments. I heard that this Guangning city construction project is under his responsibility. This batch of materials was escorted over by him with three thousand troops."
Su Lie led Fan Kong forward to meet him while quietly introducing the visitor's identity.
Hearing this, Fan Kong's expression immediately became several degrees more solemn. Over the past two days, he had exhausted his efforts to gather quite a lot of useful information. The highest status in Great Xia was, of course, Lord Leader Xia Hong. Below the Lord Leader, the Department Chancellors handled administration. The Eight Departments each performed their duties. The Eight Department Heads and Deputy Department Heads were considered the highest-ranking people below the Department Chancellors. Bai Wuting was one of the five chief directors of the Camp Supply Department, so his status was second only to the Deputy Department Head.
In his view, this was already an impressive and important figure.
"This humble one pays respects to the Chief Director!"
Before Bai Wuting even got close, Su Lie led Fan Kong, and the two of them knelt down respectfully, directly performing a kowtow to him.
"Get up, get up. Great Xia doesn't practice kneeling etiquette. Aside from the Lord Leader and one's birth parents, there's no need to perform kneeling rites to anyone. This person might not know, but Su Lie, didn't I explain this to you?"
Seeing the two directly kneel and bow to him, Bai Wuting's face instantly flashed with helplessness. He sidestepped to avoid it and immediately helped them up.
The helplessness was because he had encountered almost the exact same scene in all fifteen villages he passed through in the southern part of Qingyu Gully. At first, he might have felt some smugness, like a civilized person meeting uncultured barbarians. But after so many times, it became routine. Plus, he had just been reminded by Department Head Qiu in the Main Building. His mindset had long since leveled out, no longer viewing the people of Qingyu Gully as some kind of uncultured barbarians.
After getting up, Su Lie felt somewhat awkward. Qingtan Village was at the southernmost end of Qingyu Gully, so he was the first to receive Bai Wuting's convoy. Naturally, during their first meeting, he also performed the kneeling rite according to Caiqiu's customs. At that time, Bai Wuting had indeed reminded him.
"Alright, I won't waste words. These ten carts of materials are only the first batch. My Great Xia intends to station troops and build a city here. There will be a continuous stream of materials transported over afterward. These materials are mainly used to supply the army, but we will also allocate a portion to recruit laborers for city construction. You all now count as Xia people and must perform labor service according to Great Xia's rules............"
When Bai Wuting said he would use part of the cultivation materials to recruit laborers, Fan Kong's expression became somewhat excited. But when he heard that everyone had to perform labor service according to Great Xia's rules, his face immediately changed. However, as Bai Wuting slowly finished explaining all of Great Xia's rules, his face kept flushing red, and his emotions grew increasingly agitated.
Great Xia's labor service was divided into three types: mining, logging, and hunting. That is, mining, logging, and hunting. There were monthly quotas, but they only applied to those aged fifteen and above with cultivation at the Lumberjack Realm or higher.
The quotas for the three types of labor service weren't too large. Moreover, considering the scarcity of Frost Beast resources in Evergreen Valley and its extremely high vegetation coverage, Department Head Qiu decided to greatly reduce their hunting service and add it to the mining and logging services instead.
As long as an individual completed their labor service according to the standard, they could freely engage in other work. Any additionally collected resources could be taken directly to the Eight Departments that would be established in Guangning City in the future to exchange for Contribution Points. Contribution Points were linked to silver and could be exchanged for any cultivation resources like beast meat, beast blood, or even pills.
Everyone with cultivation at the Lumberjack Realm or above had to register and be recorded in Guangning City. Then, each individual would have a Contribution Points record under their name...
Children under six years old had a fixed monthly quota of 5 jin of beast meat. For those between six and fifteen who hadn't broken through to the Lumberjack Realm, there was one jin daily...
Bai Wuting explained everything very meticulously, almost completely introducing the system Great Xia would implement in Guangning City in the future.
Fan Kong went from initial excitement to, later on, even beginning to feel somewhat apprehensive, simply because what Bai Wuting said was too incredible.
He turned his head and looked, discovering that not only Su Lie but also the village chiefs of the other dozen or so villages in Qingyu Gully were all present. His heart instantly relaxed considerably. Looking back at Bai Wuting and confirming there wasn't the slightest hint of joking on his face, his mind exploded with a roar. He felt Qingyu Gully must have received heaven's favor. His body, agitated, even began to tremble.
"Having the fortune to become Great Xia territory is a great blessing for our Qingyu Gully, a blessing not encountered in a hundred years, a great blessing. This old man, this old man kneels to Lord Bai, kneels down, wuwuwu............"
Fan Kong, who had suffered his whole life, after Bai Wuting finished speaking and completely confirmed everything he said was true, couldn't help but burst into loud sobs. Overwhelmed by intense emotion, he even couldn't help but prostrate himself on the ground, kneeling to him once more.
The remaining village chiefs of over a dozen villages, including the villagers of Valley Village, were also hearing Great Xia's many policies and measures for Qingyu Gully from Bai Wuting's mouth for the first time. They were also moved to tears, following behind Fan Kong, kneeling to Bai Wuting.
Bai Wuting was so frightened by this scene his face changed on the spot. He hurriedly dodged aside, urgently saying, "These rules were all personally established by my Great Xia's Lord Leader. The one you should feel gratitude toward isn't me, but my Great Xia's Lord Leader, Xia Hong..."
He paused here, then continued, "Of course, starting today, all of you have become Great Xia subjects. So he is not just my Lord Leader, but our Lord Leader, shared by all of us..."
"Long live the Lord Leader! Long live Great Xia!"
A loud, high-pitched shout suddenly rang out from the front of the crowd. The others instantly reacted, quickly following behind this person, shouting in unison, their voices filled with fanaticism and excitement.
"Long live the Lord Leader! Long live Great Xia!"
............
The one who shouted this slogan was Su Lie.
When the Xia army defeated Caiqiu at the northern mouth of the Bone-Erosion Path, the soldiers had shouted this exact slogan in unison. He was now putting it to good use.
Bai Wuting had already noticed Su Lie. Seeing everyone follow him in shouting these eight words, a satisfied expression appeared on his face. In his heart, he couldn't help but feel a bit of goodwill toward this old man over seventy who was quite sharp-witted.