Endless Winter: My Camp Upgrades Infinitely

Chapter 896: Chapter 339: The Changes of Li Hu and Yang Zhong, the Hou Family’s Opportunity, Advice (Part 5)

The Lingbei, Longshan, and Beehive factions in Xia City have long been an open secret, and I don’t believe Father didn’t have the idea of uniting with the Longbei faction to rise to the top echelons of Great Xia.

Something must have happened to cause such a drastic change in Father.

Hou Jing clearly understood the thoughts in his son’s eyes and shook his head slightly:

”Don’t think about contending with Li Tiancheng anymore. With Li Xuanling as the Lord Lady, whether or not we align with the Longshan faction, Yu Bin, Dong Zhong and others won’t follow us anymore. Not to mention Zhang Qingyuan, Lu Yin, Lin Ye, even Hou Ming, Hou Quan, Hou Ying, Hou Tong, and Hou Ming are likely to gradually turn to Li Tiancheng. In the future, don’t mention the word ’Longbei faction’ again. Just calmly be a Great Xia person and cultivate to become strong. As long as you have strength, your time to shine will eventually come!”

Upon hearing this, Hou Bing fell silent.

Hou Jing knew his son was still unwilling and sighed slightly.

If the Longbei faction really could become established, how could he ignore it? Unfortunately, the foundation of the Longbei faction was simply too weak. Not to mention comparing it to the Longshan faction, it was far behind even the Beehive faction.

The Longbei faction seemed to have more people than the Beehive faction, but since he defected from Zhaoyang to join Great Xia, he naturally wasn’t as favored by Xia Hong as Chen Yingyuan and Peng Bo. That’s secondary, but what’s key is that even his own nephews Hou Ming, Hou Quan, and the other three have issues with his defection. If his own family is like this, how much more so Zhang Qingyuan and Lin Ye, the four other Xuanling level outsiders.

The Longbei faction inherently lacked cohesion, and disintegration was inevitable.

Fortunately, now that he’s aged, he’s not deeply invested in power. Coming to Great Xia, he’s encountered so many new things over the past year, which is enough for him to be content in his later years.

His son has some ambition, Hou Jing knew, but he understood his son’s abilities even better. With the strength of an ordinary Cold Resistance level, now at a mid-stage cultivation with only the basic strength of five tusks, not even considering intelligence and means, even if pushed forcefully, there’s unlikely to be a good outcome.

Yuwen Dao, Yuan Cheng, Qiu Peng, Luo Yuan, Lin Kai, Yue Feng, the Zhao brothers... there are simply too many outstanding people in Xia City!

Of course, since his son aspires to rise, he certainly wouldn’t let him fend for himself.

”I’ve arranged for you a position at East Ridge, so prepare well. If you truly want to climb up, you should seize this opportunity well. You may not have such a good chance again in the future!”

East Ridge position?

Hou Bing was slightly stunned and asked in confusion: ”Isn’t it just a new station? How can it be a good opportunity?”

Hou Jing shook his head and explained: ”Didn’t I give you the list this time? Haven’t you noticed that out of the five hundred people Lu Yang is taking, ninety percent are old Great Xia hands?”

”I noticed, but what does this signify?”

”It signifies that he wants trustworthy people. He doesn’t trust those who came over from Longyou last year. This means that the East Ridge post is extremely important. I shamelessly went to see the Minister when I heard Li Tiancheng put his grandson and the Zhaoyuan low-level team in, and I arranged for fifty slots for your Jin Han team as well.

The Minister only allowed the Zhaoyuan and your Jin Han teams in, which equates to trust in you two teams, trusting that you can be like the remaining old Great Xia hands. So, when you go to East Ridge this time, you must perform well. As long as you make merit, you will catch the Minister’s eye, and wouldn’t your future be secure?”

After listening to his father’s explanation, Hou Bing suddenly realized, his eyes gradually brightening.

He hadn’t considered so much before; now, after listening to Hou Jing, he realized that this was an opportunity for their Hou family, a chance to gain trust from the Minister and even the Lord.

If they could gain trust from the Minister and the Lord, then the Longbei faction or whatever would truly be irrelevant.

”Father, I understand. I will perform well on this trip to East Ridge!”

Hearing his son’s words, Hou Jing nodded in satisfaction.

......

On the second floor of the Inner City Main Building, Lu Yang was being noisily drawn to his seat by Yuan Cheng, Qiu Peng, Yue Feng, and others.

”The Lord even rewarded you with the Cold Wing Sword?”

”This Cold Wing Sword was specifically crafted by Mu Dong for the Lord in May, made from Ten Thousand Forged Fine Iron, wrapped in two thousand pounds of silver. Tsk, there aren’t many like it in all of Great Xia!”

”You’re more impressive than Xu Ning!”

”It’s inevitable; that’s East Ridge, with more than 400,000 people in Beining Mountain, plus the discovery of Moao Mountain and Beishuo Town. It’s likely the other Eight Towns will soon be found too, and that’s a massive achievement indeed.”

”Hahaha...”

Seeing the envious looks in everyone’s eyes, Lu Yang was naturally filled with pride, as everyone present were old Great Xia hands from the Mud Slope era, having unbreakable ties, so he could laugh heartily.

Everyone knew he was leaving tomorrow; Yuan Cheng had specially returned from the Beipo Silver Mine, and Yue Feng happened to return from Long Mountain to report. As for Qiu Peng and the others, they had simply stayed at the base.

Everyone had already learned about East Ridge from Xia Chuan, so they understood how great Lu Yang’s contribution was this time, continuously congratulating him at the table.

However, after three rounds of drinks, Lu Yang still showed a hint of trouble on his face.

Qiu Peng, sitting next to him, noticed this and immediately joked: ”What? Already worried about advancing to a higher noble rank?”

”Hahaha...”

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this.

Lu Yang also laughed but still shook his head and said: ”I’m just thinking about how to annex other large camps once I reach East Ridge with five hundred men. Direct confrontation might not be good, and negotiating seems abrupt, and they probably won’t agree...”

”Oh, just for this?”

Upon hearing this, Yue Feng kept shaking his head, and when he saw Lu Yang looking at him, he smiled and advised: ”We have so many Cold Resistance level people in Xia City, just find a few to play the bad guy. Wouldn’t annexing a few large camps be easy?”

Lu Yang’s eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his wine glass to Yue Feng in gratitude: ”Thanks for the advice, Brother Feng. I greatly appreciate it, it’s all in the drink! Come, come, come, let’s drink! Tonight’s aged wine is on me!”

”Generous!”

”Yang Zi is quite something.”

”Then I must get him to drink two more pounds.”

”Hahaha, Yang Zi has struck it rich, we must have a good drink on him.”

......