"Boom, boom, boom."
With generals Jian Yunchuan, Yumeng, and Yushan present, the road construction progressed smoothly. After some days, they reached the front of the canyon with a resounding rumble.
The people of Dongju Village rushed out to see, witnessing the distant land turning like a soil dragon, roaring and breaking large stones into pieces, even leveling the mountains.
The villagers of Dongju were astounded; they had never seen such a spectacle. Initially terrified, they almost abandoned the village until explained by Yu Su's emissaries, which reassured them not to abandon their homes.
However, they still came out to worship the massive soil dragon, offering a pile of sacrifices.
Yu Su and the others, "..."
It seems Jian Yunchuan's previous concerns were entirely unnecessary.
They were already starting to offer sacrifices; what more proof of allegiance to Yucheng did they need?
...
On the other side, the Fengcheng bird shaman, who had been sent to monitor Dongju Village, hadn't returned for a long time. Without much thought, he assumed someone had shot down his bird and instructed the Crimson Firebird to send another for investigation.
Unexpectedly, even several attempts with the Crimson Firebird yielded no response.
The Fengcheng bird shaman finally sensed something was amiss. His first suspicion fell on the Crimson Firebird.
"Why aren't those birds listening to your control?" The Fengcheng bird shaman asked the Crimson Firebird.
Feeling unjustly accused, the Crimson Firebird, which had sent out the birds, was loyal and couldn't have suddenly defied its control.
However, due to the Crimson Firebird's strange behavior earlier, the Fengcheng bird shaman harbored suspicions.
He thought the Crimson Firebird might be sick or aging, becoming useless.
Angrily, the Crimson Firebird personally led its subordinates south to inspect.
Upon reaching Dongju Village, the Crimson Firebird discovered that, except for one missing, its subordinates were all perched on the trees in Dongju Village. A chubby, cream-colored bird flew to the treetop, chirping orders to the others. They promptly flew out, bringing back chubby worms, handkerchiefs for wiping mouths, and more, as if serving the chubby bird like a master.
"Squeak—"
Terrified, the Crimson Firebird didn't care to investigate its subordinates' betrayal. Upon seeing the chubby bird, it seemed to recognize a terrifying existence, screeching in panic, quickly turning its head, and flying away.
Terrifying! Why was this chubby bird here?
The just-fed little blackbird looked up at the sky with its eyes the size of mung beans, revealing a hint of interest: it seemed to have spotted a large red chubby bird!
It looked like the one that intruded into Yucheng's airspace earlier.
The little blackbird flew up, but the large red chubby bird had already fled in fear, leaving only a small red dot.
The little blackbird felt a bit regretful, thinking it could have caught it for some fun.
Having narrowly escaped danger, the Crimson Firebird flew back desperately.
When it returned to the bird shaman, it screeched sharply and trembled.
The bird shaman, with a throbbing headache from its screeches, asked, "Why did you come back so soon? Did you discover something?"
The Crimson Firebird calmed down and informed him that something terrifying appeared in Dongju Village. It vaguely saw people from Yucheng appearing there.
The bird shaman's face changed. Could it be that Dongju Village didn't follow his plan?
They dared to betray Fengcheng.
"Bird shaman, it seems Yucheng has some means to sway Dongju Village."
"Hmph, just a group of short-sighted fools."
"So what do we..."
"What's the rush? Wait until they reach the ice field; there's a good show awaiting them."
Those people from Yucheng will definitely not make it out of the ice field alive!
...
On the plateau above Dongju Village.
Jian Yunchuan and his team have built a staircase leading to the top of the canyon, making it accessible without the use of flying swords.
"It's a good vantage point. We can spot any movements in the surroundings," Jian Yunchuan said.
Originally, Yu Su just thought this place shouldn't be overlooked and decided to build a road for everyone to come up and see. However, after hearing Jian Yunchuan's words, he had a different idea. "Father, what do you think about building a camp here?"
Jian Yunchuan thought about it and found it quite feasible.
Building a camp here would provide a broad view, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack. Additionally, it would cover all directions. Other villages could also see this place at a glance, giving confidence to those villages that had joined Yucheng.
"This is a good idea. Building a camp here makes it easy to defend, hard to attack, and can cover all directions. Other villages that have joined Yucheng will also feel more confident seeing this. Let's proceed with it."
Since everyone agreed, the construction of the camp began.
Yu Su planned to build a camp for about three hundred people initially. A training ground and sleeping quarters would be sufficient, with additional functional areas to be built later.
These three hundred people would be transferred from Yucheng.
After Yucheng established the city, many people from neighboring villages joined Yucheng. After Yu Feng tested these people, those who passed were absorbed as official residents of Yucheng.
Now, the number of official residents in Yucheng had grown from five to six thousand to over ten thousand.
The number of ordinary soldiers in the barracks had also increased from two thousand to around four thousand.
Therefore, it was not an issue to transfer three hundred people.
...
"Why are those people from Yucheng still in Dongju Village? Why haven't they left?"
The Fengcheng bird shaman sent the Crimson Firebird to Dongju Village to investigate. The Crimson Firebird, scared of the chubby yellow bird, could only observe from a distance.
At present, the bird shaman only knew that the people from Yucheng seemed to be building something above the canyon in Dongju Village, but he didn't know what it was.
It had been almost a month; why haven't they left?
"Could those people from Yucheng be planning to settle here?"
"Bird shaman, if they don't head north, our plans won't have a place to unfold."
"Yes, should we send someone to urge them?"
Everyone found Yucheng's actions perplexing and didn't know what they intended to do.
The attendants suggested to the bird shaman to send someone to urge them.
After thinking for a while, the bird shaman said, "Let's wait a bit more. If they are still in Dongju Village after a few days, we'll send someone to urge them."
...
Yu Su and his group stayed in Dongju Village for over a month.
In addition to road construction, they also built a camp and dispatched soldiers to garrison there.
This matter caused quite a stir, and almost all the villages in the north were aware of it.
The people of Aya Village had mixed feelings after hearing about it. On one hand, they thought Yucheng was indeed cunning, sending people to guard here meant any action they took would be discovered. On the other hand, they felt relieved; with the camp here, if Fengcheng from the north came to trouble them, it would be immediately discovered, and they wouldn't have to worry about revenge from Fengcheng all the time.
"Indeed, Yucheng is more challenging to deal with than Fengcheng. Wise words from the witch doctor; joining Yucheng is more sensible than joining Fengcheng," said the new village chief of Aya Village.
Just at this moment, the people in the village heard a tinkling sound from outside.
Curious, the new village chief saw the guards running in and shouting, "Village chief, Great Witch Doctor, a Yucheng trade caravan has arrived outside!"
A trade caravan?
The new village chief and the witch doctor hurriedly led the people out to see.
Then they saw a caravan with more than fifty oxen slowly approaching them. The leader had a bell hanging on the neck of a barbaric bull, and the tinkling sound came from that bell.
Leading the caravan was Yu Ye.
This time, he deliberately brought the trade caravan north to establish trade with Aya Village and Dongju Village, the two large villages.
So, in addition to food and exquisite fine salt, the trade caravan also brought many novel and useful items that were sure to cause a sensation in Aya Village and Dongju Village.
Although Aya Village had items from Yucheng before, they were obtained through exchanges with villages like Zutie Village. Not only did they not get the best items, but the prices were also several times more expensive.
They had
long coveted the trade caravans from Yucheng, but such caravans never came to them. They didn't have much connection with Yucheng; who would have thought that one day a Yucheng trade caravan would be sent to them.
Seeing the Yucheng trade caravan stopping, the village chief and the witch doctor hurriedly went over.
"Respected sir, what is this..."
"I am called Yu Ye, the captain of the trade caravan. Our High Priest has said that since you have already joined Yucheng, we cannot mistreat you. From now on, a trade caravan will go north every month, and you can directly trade with the caravan."
The people of Aya Village were excited and quickly surrounded the caravan, eager to see the goods. When they saw the food and exquisite fine salt, they were overjoyed. Upon inquiry, they found out that the prices were much cheaper than exchanging with the villages to the south. This made them extremely happy, expressing gratitude and praising the High Priest of Yucheng.
"Captain Yu Ye, can we use goods and pearls for trade?" asked the witch doctor of Aya Village.
They had heard that Yucheng did not accept shell money, so if they wanted to trade with Yucheng, they could only use items like pearls and coral.
Yu Ye nodded, "Certainly. If you have rare herbs, minerals, and the like, that would be even better."
Herbs were understandable; Aya Village, being a large settlement, had accumulated quite a few rare herbs over time, mostly in the hands of the witch doctor.
Hearing this, the witch doctor of Aya Village became very excited.
Yu Ye also gave them some advice, "If you want silver, you can take herbs, local specialties, and the like to Yucheng to sell. Set up stalls in the home trading market or sell directly to Yucheng's shops; you can get some silver in exchange."
The people of Aya Village were thrilled. They had heard that Yucheng's trading market was very large, offering a variety of goods. Moreover, they could encounter the barbarians from the south and the witch tribe from the eastern plains.
"If you find walking too slow, you can also go to Yucheng to buy horses, carriages, and other items," Yu Ye subtly promoted his goods, making the people of Aya Village even more eager.