Chapter 480: Chapter 219: Xia City, Brothers’ Tacit Understanding
The great tree was only ten li away from Mirror Valley, and the lightly equipped group soon arrived at the northern entrance of Mirror Valley.
A square stone monument stood at the northern entrance.
Engraved on the monument were the words “Great Xia Mirror Valley.”
“We’ve arrived!”
Seeing the stone monument, Yue Feng immediately turned his head and ordered, “Yuankun, you and the others take these three back first, treat them before sending them to the mining area. I need to take this kid back to the city to meet with the Minister.”
Li Yuankun glanced at Luo Cheng, nodded, and left with the others.
Although Yue Feng was the captain of the Mountain River Team, since being appointed as the Mirror Valley Defense Commander by Xia Chuan, he hadn’t had much time to manage the team, so he promoted Li Yuankun to vice-captain. On most days, Yuankun handled many team matters.
“Come with me, we’re bypassing Mirror Valley and heading directly back to the city!”
Back to the city?
When Yue Feng was speaking to Li Yuankun just now, Luo Cheng had already noted the last two words he said. Now hearing them again, he felt even more puzzled.
Wasn’t Great Xia’s station right in that valley?
Luo Cheng was already eight years old when he left the valley two years ago and had a profound impression of his station’s environment. So hearing Yue Feng talk about going back to the city left him really confused.
However, since he was new here, he didn’t ask much and just followed Yue Feng, bypassing Mirror Valley from one side and heading in the direction of the southern Arrow Bamboo Forest.
Following Yue Feng and bypassing Mirror Valley, a tunnel made of green bamboo, three meters high and five meters wide, came into view, leaving Luo Cheng completely bewildered.
The tunnel was covered by accumulated snow and was level with the surrounding snowy ground. It was obvious that people first cleared a path through the snow, then drove stakes into the ground on both sides, inserted the green bamboo, sealed the top, and then covered everything with snow, forming a fully enclosed green bamboo tunnel.
“Stop daydreaming, let’s go.”
Hearing the voice, Luo Cheng quickly followed Yue Feng into the tunnel.
Seeing the scene inside the tunnel, Luo Cheng’s face was even more filled with amazement.
Inside the green bamboo tunnel, torches were lit every ten meters, and every hundred meters there was an iron stove, making the visibility high and not cold at all.
On both sides of the tunnel’s ground, there were two deep grooves, clearly dedicated tracks for wooden wheels; added iron materials on the green bamboo walls on both sides were clearly to increase load-bearing capacity worried about the tunnel collapsing under snow pressure.
The tunnel extended endlessly; when Luo Cheng looked ahead, all he saw were torches and iron stoves, quickly realizing that the tunnel’s length was far beyond his imagination.
“Kid, never seen a road like this, right?”
Hearing this, Luo Cheng shook his head directly and praised, “Such a tunnel, whether built or maintained, requires a tremendous amount of manpower and resources but must admit that its effect on the large-scale flow of people and goods is immeasurable. When I was in the Beehive, I’ve seen them transporting goods, and the efficiency was painfully low. With such a tunnel, the speed would increase by tenfold or even a hundredfold, if not more…”
Upon hearing this, Yue Feng’s face immediately showed a smile.
“Sir, may I ask how long this tunnel is in total?”
“It’s a total of sixteen kilometers, crossing Arrow Bamboo Forest from Jing Valley’s southern entrance all the way to one kilometer outside Xia City.”
With a total length of sixteen kilometers, building this tunnel required placing piles over sixteen kilometers. Not to mention, torches every ten meters and an iron stove every hundred meters, the amount of wood and coal stone burnt every day was quite astonishing.
Also, this tunnel crossed Arrow Bamboo Forest; wouldn’t there be fewer Cold Beasts?
If any accidents occurred, it would need to be repaired, and the Cold Beasts around the tunnel would have to be regularly cleared as well…
To what extent had Great Xia’s power grown?
Luo Cheng observed from the tunnel and began envisioning the strength of Great Xia, realizing it had changed significantly and growing more curious by the moment.
But Yue Feng did not know this and seeing Luo Cheng’s face filled with amazement and emotion, he thought Luo Cheng was just stunned by the tunnel. Yue Feng’s smile became more proud.
The reason was simple.
This tunnel was built after he suggested it to Xia Chuan!
Mirror Valley had two iron mines, and there was a coal mine within the Arrow Bamboo Forest. Including bamboo silk, Cold Beast prey, and other supplies that needed to be transported to Xia City periodically, each time it took a lot of manpower and resources and was not always smooth.
Transporting resources was only one aspect. The last Beast Tide and the subsequent incursion of Hive Camp reminded Yue Feng of the importance of fast travel between the two places. They could not always hope for the leader to save them in emergencies, which was unrealistic.
After careful consideration, Yue Feng finally suggested building an underground tunnel through the snow to Xia Chuan.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he proposed it, Xia Chuan quickly adopted the idea.
Of course, there were many challenges in the construction process like piling, sourcing materials, ventilation, torches, and stoves, but fortunately, Great Xia was now rich in resources and strong in population. It took more than a month to actually build the tunnel.
As Luo Cheng just said, since it crosses Arrow Bamboo Forest, the maintenance cost of this tunnel is not low. Usually, there are dedicated Hunting Teams responsible for driving away and hunting down Cold Beasts around the tunnel, and the Craftsmen Workshop also periodically sends people to sweep the snow from above the tunnel and check each joint of the tunnel. Any risk of collapse must be immediately reinforced and repaired.
“The only trouble with this tunnel might be the Beast Tide that comes once every four months. At that time, the section of the tunnel through the Arrow Bamboo Forest is sure to be trampled and damaged, but it only happens three times a year. At most, more effort is needed for repair and construction. Compared to the benefits this tunnel brings, it’s completely acceptable!”