Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 857: Chapter 332: Chen Ying’s New Discovery, Xia Yuning, and a String of Good News (Part 2)

However, today is already July 25th. In the past half year, only three people in the entire camp have been granted the ninth-rank marquis title, which shows the high difficulty of receiving such a title.

The newly titled three, if Chen Shang remembers correctly, are Li Tiancheng, Hou Jing, and Zhou Yuan. The first two are basically considered the top powerhouses in Great Xia, excluding the Lord and the Lady. The last one, Zhou Yuan, is also definitely among the top ranks.

This clearly shows the difficulty of receiving a noble title.

Li Tiancheng previously provided the locations of two silver mines in Long Mountain, for which he was originally credited with 200 military merit points. However, later he even discovered another one in Long Mountain, so he was credited with another 300 military merit points, which led to him being granted the ninth-rank title.

Hou Jing found two Cold Apple Trees, earning him 200 points, and then discovered a silver mine in Beimang Mountain, earning another 300 points, leading to a smooth title grant.

Zhou Yuan was purely lucky. The Longyuan Hunting Team he led was stationed in Long Mountain. At the beginning of last month, he accidentally discovered a massive camp with a population of over 80,000 in the far north of Long Mountain, named Beiyuan.

Curiously, the leader of the Beiyuan Camp, Zhou Kai, being quite temperamental, even attempted to negotiate with Great Xia regarding the division of hunting areas in Long Mountain.

The outcome was the newly established Dragon Slayer Army, barely a month old, was dispatched, and the Beiyuan Camp was annexed by Great Xia without a ripple.

Zhou Yuan, who discovered the Beiyuan Camp, was credited with the primary achievement, and he participated in the subsequent battle throughout, easily surpassing 500 military points, and finally was granted the title of Ninth-rank Marquis Xuanling at the beginning of this month.

Zhou Yuan’s title ceremony last month was personally presided over by Minister Xia Chuan, and Chen Shang was also present at the time, so he clearly understood that there were indeed many people like his father who were obsessed with receiving a noble title.

The improvement in status after being granted the title is almost visible to the naked eye. Especially at the beginning of this year’s Cold Element Festival, the Lord only invited the nobles into the Political Hall, which has elevated the allure of being granted a noble title to the extreme.

Of course, it is not just the status improvement; the qualification to be equipped with maids and attendants, the right to exempt family members from corvée labor, the annual noble salary, and many other favorable treatments make people eager to obtain a noble title.

Now that Great Xia is at peace, the only way to quickly gain military merit is to find silver mines and Cold Apple Trees. Considering how often Chen Ying has been heading to the North Slope of the mountain wall recently, it’s not hard to understand.

The issue is that the matters regarding the North Slope are not only known by Chen Ying. Not to mention the early participants like Xia Chuan and Yuan Chuan, anyone in Xia City who has flipped through the yearly chronicles knows about this, and they have long turned this place inside out.

If other teams lack the skills, so be it, but six Advanced Hunting Teams have come here in the first half of the year, and all of them left empty-handed.

How could my father achieve anything by bringing them over tonight?

Countless thoughts swirl in his mind, but in fact, it’s all just a moment.

After Chen Shang just raised the question, everyone clearly reacted as well, all nodding, then looking at Chen Ying, faces full of confusion.

Faced with the doubts from his son and a group of team members, Chen Ying appeared quite composed. He nodded slightly, faced the crowd, and said: “I am also aware that Yun Jiao and the other six advanced teams came to explore and found nothing, but I think they all overlooked one place. Last month, I came to explore alone and finally made some new discoveries, which is why I brought you here tonight.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Shang and the others were taken aback, immediately lifting their heads to look at Chen Ying.

“What place did they overlook?”

With a mysterious smile, Chen Ying stomped on the ground with his foot and said:

“The area where we previously stationed, they certainly didn’t search it carefully!”

Our previous station, was that Chen Ye Camp’s station?

Hearing these words, Chen Shang and the He brothers’ expressions slightly stiffened, then immediately reacted, their expressions suddenly animated.

“Yes! Back then, those rodents only gathered on the North Slope top during the day; at night, they roamed above the mountain area of our previous station. Others definitely searched the North Slope top, unaware of the cave at our old station!”

After Chen Shang finished speaking, He Yuanfeng immediately nodded and continued: “I remember, behind the cave in our station, there was a very deep dark passage. At that time, we were too weak and directly sealed it with wood. Exploring further from that position might indeed lead to some new discovery!”

He Yuanluan also excitedly chimed in: “The rodent tide back then caused the mountain structure to collapse, and the entrance to our station cave was sealed by rocks, which others wouldn’t even think of.”

“Now you understand why I brought you here, don’t you?”

Seeing that everyone recalled the situation of the cave, Chen Ying became even more invigorated, continuing: “During the recent period, I’ve already explored that dark passage to its end. The passage extends three or four kilometers to the east, delving into the Twin Dragon Mountain’s interior. Further exploration could only be achieved by manually excavating, and moreover…”

At this point, Chen Ying paused, his expression excited as he continued: “During my exploration of the dark passage, I not only encountered four low-level rodents but also discovered many traces of rodent activity. Most crucially, last night, I found two Zhu Yinhua at the end of the passage!”

Whoosh…

Upon hearing the words “Zhu Yinhua,” Chen Shang and the more than twenty other team members instantly stood up, their expressions overwhelmingly invigorated.