Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 1729: Chapter 549: Rotting Beast Meat, Stirring Public Outrage

The resources of Evergreen Valley are quite poor.

How poor are they?

Even beast meat is considered a luxury.

Logically, if those in the Earth-digging Realm work together to hunt some low-level Cold Beasts, it shouldn’t be difficult. Those at the Cold Resistance Level can easily hunt Intermediate Cold Beasts, and with enough people and strength, even Advanced Cold Beasts can be killed.

But the premise for hunting is to have Cold Beasts.

Evergreen Valley is named because it is surrounded by mountains on all sides, making the terrain low. The cold air struggles to sink here, resulting in temperatures being higher than the outside world. Most vegetation within the valley is green.

Cold Beasts prefer the cold, which can be observed from their increased activity during the daytime.

Overall, Evergreen Valley’s temperature is higher than the outside world, so Cold Beast Resources are naturally extremely scarce. As a result, beast meat, beast blood, and even beast bone and beast skin become scarce resources.

Sparse items are valuable, especially when beast meat and beast blood are essential cultivation resources. Due to the lack of Cold Beast Resources, villages in Evergreen Valley can only purchase from the merchants of Qinghua City to meet their needs.

Merchants seek profit, especially with such essentials. Knowing that people in Evergreen Valley have no other channels, they set the prices very high. In Qinghua City, you can buy 2 pounds of Low-level Beast Meat with just 1 tael of silver, but in Evergreen Valley, the price directly doubles, and during tight supplies, it can even rise to 3 taels.

Let’s not even mention beast blood.

Evergreen Valley is already impoverished, with very few channels to earn silver, yet beast meat prices are so high. Because of poverty, they cannot afford beast meat, and without beast meat, it’s hard to improve strength. Without improving strength, there’s no way to hunt Cold Beasts. This forms a vicious cycle, and it might be the core reason for Evergreen Valley’s weak overall strength.

Those in the Logging Realm and Earth Digging Level, well, they’ve basically tasted beast meat before, but certainly not often; as for those over a hundred at the Cold Resistance Level, even eating once to their heart’s content is difficult.

So, hearing Zhang Hai mention he’s prepared beast meat soup and seeing those ten steaming large pots, the reaction from the entire crowd became as it did.

“Sure enough, they are just savage low-lives, dismissed with ten pots of beast meat…”

Seeing the expressions on the laborers’ faces, Zhang Hai’s eyes were full of disdain, yet thinking of those ten pots of beast meat, his heart couldn’t help but ache.

A pot with 600 pounds, ten pots totaling 6000 pounds; if this batch of beast meat was sold in Qinghua City, it would fetch 3000 taels of silver. Now, it’s used to appease these despicable low-lives, which makes him uncomfortable.

But considering this road construction relates to whether his father can return to Qinghua City, he forcibly suppressed his displeasure, smiled, and said slowly to the laborers: “The officials of Qinghua City have given a ten-day deadline for this road project. My father mentioned that today’s meal is to reward everyone for clearing the snowy path last night. Over the next ten days, as long as you finish the progress on time, every evening there will be a serving of beast meat soup!”

Gulpgulpgulp…

As the aroma of beast meat soup slowly wafts into the air, many laborers in the scene start to swallow their saliva, and once Zhang Hai finishes speaking, everyone’s expressions become increasingly excited.

As long as progress is finished on time, there will be a serving each evening!

Actually, when these laborers were conscripted, they all brought their own food, since past conscriptions from the city never provided meals; it was customary.

But beast meat is not just food.

It is also a cultivation resource, eating beast meat can boost strength!

“Is what Young Master Zhang says really true?”

“As long as we complete the progress on time, there is one serving each evening?”

“This is beast meat soup; such a large pot, each pot must have several hundred pounds, right? A serving each evening must cost a lot!”

“If we really get one serving of beast meat each evening, then this work is doable!”

……

To ordinary people living in Evergreen Valley, being able to eat beast meat steadily each day is something they don’t even dare to dream about.

Right now, Zhang Hai has offered such a promise. How could everyone’s hearts not be excited?

“Of course, what kind of person is my father? Would he deceive you? Since he said it, he will definitely accomplish it. The premise is, you must finish the progress; ensure the official road is completely built within ten days!”

The deadline given by Qinghua City’s Finance Department is actually half a month, and his father Zhang Yiqing directly shortened it by a third to ten days, naturally aiming to gain merit with the Finance Department.

From Red Tiger Ridge to Bone-Eroding Path spans about eighty kilometers. Completing it in ten days means finishing eight kilometers daily. Relying on the 30,000-plus laborers from Tiger Tail Village alone is certainly impossible; even adding the other four villages’ 40,000 laborers at Red Tiger Ridge, it’s still not very feasible.

The beast meat incentive is just the first move. Grandfather Zhang Kuang has already dispatched his County Guard Army to conscript more laborers in southern villages. As long as the participating numbers are ample, half a month’s work will surely be achievable.

“Okay, as long as Young Master Zhang keeps his words, we’ll definitely put in more effort!”

“Is it just road construction? It’s merely physical work; as long as there’s beast meat, we have plenty of strength!”

“Brothers, why complain when there’s beast meat? Eat the meat and get to work!”

……

Seeing the laborers’ emotions settle and begin eagerly gazing at the ten large pots, Zhang Hai’s disdain grew more intense but he managed to conceal it well, then smiled and waved to those behind him.