Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 937: Chapter 349: Attempting to Cheat, East Ridge’s Strength, Lu Yang’s Tactics

The village-level camp pays tribute to Beishuo every six months.

Each tribute consists of 60 pounds of jade bone, 1000 pounds of beast blood, 5000 tons of iron ore, and 7500 tons of coal stone. Therefore, over the next five years, the total tribute from the three families of East Ridge will be 1800 pounds of jade bone, 30,000 pounds of beast blood, 150,000 tons of iron ore, and 225,000 tons of coal stone.

Such a massive amount of tribute, even if evenly distributed among five families, imposes an incredibly heavy burden.

They are just village-level camps after all.

pounds of jade bone, considering the yield of 3 pounds per advanced cold beast, equates to 600 advanced cold beasts, which means each of the five families will need to hunt an additional 120 advanced cold beasts over the next five years.

This... this is impossible?

Giving 60 pounds of jade bone every six months is already a rate set by Beishuo City based on the hunting ability of the village-level camp. Each month, a village-level camp can hunt only 3 to 5 advanced cold beasts. Zhu Ling might be slightly stronger, but even they can’t exceed 10.

The crucial point is that hunting advanced cold beasts involves risks.

If you’re lucky, a Cold Resistance Level might get injured; if not, it could result in deaths.

There are also costs involved: hunting requires Dan Medicine, traps, weapons, and bows and arrows, which all need to be bought from Beishuo Town. Without silver, they can only trade large amounts of iron ore, coal stone, beast meat, and beast blood. Of course, those like Zhu Ling with overflow hunting ability can also use precious jade bones to trade.

Even leaving these aside, suppose the five families sell everything they have to gather the resources. What about their own cultivation?

Buying Cold Resistance Level cultivation Dan Medicine in Beishuo Town costs money too.

Don’t forget, the future five-year tribute of the three families from East Ridge is added to what they already owe. They still have their regular bi-annual tribute.

It’s not that they can’t deliver resources; the five families have been established on Beining Mountain for decades, amassing significant wealth over the years.

But the problem is, after handing over all the resources for tribute, how can they continue to develop?

Cold Resistance Level cultivation is already slow, and without Dan Medicine, improvements in strength are impossible. Consequently, hunting advanced cold beasts becomes even riskier;

Will the Earth-digging Realm Limit not be broken through? Without new Cold Resistance Levels, the camp’s hunting ability will only decline;

Without new Earth-digging Realm cultivators, even mining abilities will deteriorate, leading to a vicious cycle where the camp’s strength continually weakens until demise.

Zhu Tong naturally understands this truth. Today’s competition was initially his calculation against East Ridge. If East Ridge loses, they would hardly make any waves on Beining Mountain in the future.

But unexpectedly, it was he who lost.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one. When confronted by Lu Yang’s inquiry, the other four leaders also turned pale and couldn’t utter a word.

Any objections?

Of course, but Zhu Yang had already left.

What else could they do?

Band together and play dirty!

Zhu Tong exchanged silent, determined glances with Nie Ying, Bai Bo, Wan Tianhe, and Yang Quan, about to speak.

"Leader Zhu, and the four other leaders, you should all understand why Dean Zhu Yang didn’t dare to use force to suppress just now?"

Unexpectedly, Lu Yang spoke first, throwing a question at the five.

The five leaders, including Zhu Tong, froze, and the words stuck in their throats instantly.

Wang Tao, standing slightly in front of Lu Yang, chuckled lightly, "Our great lord Yang Zhun of Beishuo, known for keeping his word, is renowned throughout the Nine Towns of Moao for a saying: ’A promise from Yang Zhun outweighs ten thousand pounds of silver.’ With such a lord, everyone in Beishuo has naturally cultivated a tradition of keeping promises. As the Dean of the Beishuo Inspection Office, how could Zhu Yang lead by tarnishing the lord’s reputation?"

Yang Zhun’s reputation for keeping promises is well-known across the Nine Towns of Moao.

Rumor has it that over a hundred years ago, when Yang Zhun was just at the Cold Resistance Level, he suffered severe injuries during a hunt and was saved by a massive camp. He promised that camp that no matter the trouble they encountered in the future, they could come to him once, and he would help resolve it.

Back then, Beishuo itself was just a massive camp, and with Yang Zhun only at the Cold Resistance Level, the other party considered it mere politeness and didn’t take it seriously.

Who would have thought that over the next fifty years, Yang Zhun’s cultivation soared, and Beishuo rose rapidly on the southern slope of Moao Mountain, the camp’s strength growing stronger and eventually joining the ranks of the Nine Towns,

while the massive camp that had saved him earlier was destroyed by Jinshan Town, one of the Northern Three Towns, ten years before.

This matter should have ended there, especially since that camp never sought Yang Zhun’s help when it was destroyed.

Unexpectedly, a descendant of that camp ended up in Beishuo City by chance and even met Yang Zhun in person, boldly bringing up the past and asking if Yang Zhun remembered.

An incident more than fifty years old involving a massive camp— no one would have blamed Yang Zhun if he didn’t remember.

Yet he did, and he agreed to the request, helping their camp seek revenge against Jinshan Town!

One must understand, Jinshan was historically the most established among the Northern Three Towns, recognized as the leader of the Nine Towns. No one expected Yang Zhun to trouble Jinshan Town over a fifty-year-old promise.

A major confrontation ensued between Jinshan and Beishuo Towns, resulting in the culprit responsible for destroying that massive camp being personally slain by Yang Zhun. Jinshan suffered significant losses, losing its title as leader of the Nine Towns, and suffered great humiliation.