"The wooden hut structure has completely collapsed, and many iron components are totally damaged and useless. Rebuilding it in a short time is impossible, so we can only set up a temporary wooden hut to make do."
The crowd swarmed in, entering the valley smoothly before dawn.
Seeing the temporary wooden hut, the people from the Mirror Immortal Camp couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed.
Xia Hong, however, didn’t mind. Hearing Xia Chuan’s explanation, he nodded and led everyone directly into the wooden hut.
Great Xia already had over a thousand people. With the influx of more than three thousand people, the wooden hut became extremely crowded. Fortunately, Luo Yuan, Yuwen Dao, and others managed the flow, otherwise, many would have no place to sit and would have to stand.
This Cold Beast tide, though it didn’t cause much human casualty, devastated the wooden hut entirely, including significant losses in camp property.
"Initially, we didn’t know that the Mirror Immortal people would join us, so we only built the wooden hut fifty meters wide. Today, we’ll have to squeeze in a bit, and at night, I’ll lead some people to expand it."
By the fire, Xia Hong sat on the ground with others.
Hearing Xia Chuan’s words, Xia Hong waved his hand slightly and said, "No rush for now. The population has suddenly multiplied several times, and it’s time to carefully plan the settlement. Whether to rebuild it in the old style or come up with a new plan, since everyone is here, let’s discuss it..."
[Camp: Great Xia (Level 0)]
[Cultivation: Cold Resistance Level]
[Territory Population: 4621]
[Resources: Wood 120k, Coal 145k, Iron 210k, Silver 0, Gold 0]
[Opened buildings 6: Iron Refining Furnace (Level 2), Martial Arts Training Ground (Level 2), Medicine Decoction Pot (Level 1), Polishing Stone (Level 1), Green Bamboo Fence (Level 1), Marking Stone (Level 1)]
[Unopened buildings 3: Yellow Earth, small wooden table, Rough Iron Chain]
Taking advantage of the moment of contemplation among everyone, Xia Hong opened the camp panel and, seeing the numbers in the resource bar, gradually felt a surge of excitement, experiencing for the first time the feeling of becoming affluent.
2.7 million jin of coal, 1.9 million jin of iron, all had been converted by him.
If he hadn’t consumed a lot during his previous seclusion, these numbers should have been several tens of thousands more.
"Wood is easy to obtain, and with so much coal and iron, it’s enough for me to upgrade all existing six buildings once. This time, it’s really a fortune!"
And this is just the one-time gain. Not to mention the countless indirect resources to be obtained from the two iron mines and one coal mine mentioned by Yuwen Dao.
Of course, aside from the resource harvest, the explosive increase in population also delighted Xia Hong.
Last time, after the deaths of Li Yun and Li Pingkai, the total population of Great Xia was 1086. Nine died in last night’s Cold Beast tide, leaving 1077 people.
The Mirror Immortal Camp brought in 3544 people this time.
The total population of Great Xia Camp surged to 4621 people.
This leaves a shortfall of only 379 people from the giant camp standard of five thousand people.
With the population suddenly skyrocketing this much, the urgent need for re-planning isn’t limited to just the settlement.
Whether the camp’s subordinate institutions need additional setups and the specific personnel allocation for each department, including changes that might be needed for future hunting teams, logging teams, and collection teams.
Everyone seemed to have a premonition of the upcoming changes in the camp.
It wasn’t just the forty-one Earth-digging Realm people brought by Yuwen Dao; all Earth-digging Realm people from Great Xia, including Xia Chuan, Luo Yuan, and Yuan Cheng, gathered around the fire.
However, matters must be discussed one by one.
Regarding whether the first wooden hut should be rebuilt, everyone deliberated for a while and soon reached a conclusion.
"Leader, I think the previous large hut still needs to be rebuilt. The few casualties during this Cold Beast tide demonstrate the critical role the large hut played. In the face of similar large-scale invasions in the future, whether from Cold Beasts, Deceitful Monsters, or even humans, we indeed need somewhere to quickly gather everyone and offer some defense."
Xia Chuan spoke first, and Yuan Cheng and others nodded in agreement.
Mu Dong from the crowd also spoke up: "During this Cold Beast assault, I discovered many problems with the previous wooden hut. With some improvements, its defensive capability will be much stronger than before.
Moreover, as Lord Xia Chuan mentioned, the iron ore from the camp might overflow in the future. If enough iron can be provided, I am confident to lead people in building a main structure with ten times the previous defensive capacity."
Upon hearing this, Xia Hong’s eyes lit up.
This figure of ten times stronger was clearly a result of Mu Dong’s careful consideration. He took out a wooden board, already sketching the outline of a gigantic building using coal stone, with many thickened key parts presumably to be made of iron.
"According to my plan, the new wooden hut will be the same size as the original, with the internal facilities remaining the same. It would require about 800,000 jin of iron ore. If the entire camp cooperates, the construction period... can be controlled within two months."
Mu Dong glanced at Yuwen Dao and others after saying this.
Hearing the construction period being within two months, Xia Hong raised his eyebrows and glanced around at the people inside the wooden hut, nodding slightly.
The previous wooden hut construction took a total of seven months.
The new building design is evidently more complex than before, with tens of times more iron used, but that’s because there are more people now!
That last glance from Mu Dong obviously included them in the calculation, and Yuwen Dao wasn’t foolish. He immediately cupped his fist towards Xia Hong and said:
"Leader, we have a total of 3544 people here, with 6 Earth-digging Realm maxed at Reshaping Skin level, 36 Earth-digging Realm, 982 Logging Realm, and among the remaining 2520 people, 1480 are under fifteen years old."