Chapter 425: Chapter 201: Five Yuan Garrison, Cold Marrow Iron_2

Walking through the iron gate, there was a passageway in the middle, with wooden houses on both sides of the cave. Sparse people were coming and going, clearly indicating a living area.

At this point, Xiang Liang had a conceptual understanding of the overall structure of the Great Xia Station.

The large wooden house outside, over a hundred meters long, should be partly built against the southern rock face of Middle Ape Peak, also covering the cave entrance. This was considered as the working area of Great Xia, where prey, iron ore, coal stone, vegetation, fruits, and other resources were stored in the wooden house.

Inside the cave was their living area. The giant iron gate at the entrance was obviously used to deal with unexpected situations. If there was any danger, they could abandon the wooden house, with everyone entering the cave and closing the iron gate.

“It doesn’t make much sense; important resources like iron, coal, beast meat, tools, and weapons should definitely be stored inside the cave.”

“Moreover, their population seems to be small. Only about two hundred outside, judging from the living area buildings, at most a thousand people.”

“Such a small number of people wouldn’t need much space; the wooden house outside is completely unnecessary, and everyone could fit inside the cave.”

“The wooden house outside is lit with coal stone, and surprisingly, the inside of the cave is as well. The daily consumption of coal stone by Great Xia must be over a thousand pounds, which is quite extravagant, isn’t it?”

…

As the son of the leader of a medium-sized camp, Xiang Liang wasn’t inexperienced, and he detected many irrational aspects, causing confusion in his heart.

The most critical realization was when he suddenly noticed that he hadn’t seen a single child or elder since he entered.

No, there were also pitifully few women.

This Great Xia didn’t look like a normal camp at all!

Filled with confusion, Xiang Liang quickly followed Xu An through the entire passageway, arriving in front of the largest wooden house deep inside.

Since none of the wooden houses inside the cave had roofs, he could hear the conversation inside once he got close.

“It’s been days, and those people still haven’t come to attack. Are you sure your last idea will work?”

“It’ll definitely work. On the last trading day, I knew they would follow us, so I intentionally piled a bunch of weapons and beast meat at the entrance of the wooden house. Based on previous transactions, they can’t resist such temptation.”

“In the many previous transactions, I didn’t bring many people, and among them were some from the gathering department. They’re unaware of our strength. They obviously have ulterior motives for not willingly joining us for so long.”

“But it’s been nine days since the last trade, and they still haven’t attacked. I’m getting a little impatient.”

“Those four camps are so weak, with only about five to six thousand people combined. Merging into Great Xia is inevitable. Why is the defense so anxious?”

“The First Year of Great Xia is almost over. When I last returned to the camp, I heard about the New Year’s Eve…”

Hearing the content of the conversation inside the wooden house, Xiang Liang’s expression was in shock, with waves of alarm surging in his heart.

He didn’t even notice that the conversation inside had already stopped.

What did these people’s words mean?

“Xu An of the Golden Sword Team, requesting to see the Commander!”

As soon as the conversation stopped, Xu An immediately knocked and spoke to request an audience.

“Come in!”

Xiang Liang’s stupefied expression hadn’t yet recovered, numbly following behind Xu An and entering the wooden house.

Inside the wooden house was a hall over ten meters wide.

In the middle of the hall stood a three-legged round tripod, with a blazing furnace inside, and the four characters “Great Xia Wuyuan” were clearly visible on the tripod wall;

Each side had over twenty chairs, with a small table in front of each, where ten people were sitting;

Above the main position of the hall, there was a primary seat, with a larger table placed in front, and a person was seated behind the table.

Xiang Liang’s gaze was immediately drawn to the person in the main seat.

No wonder, because the clothes the person was wearing, he had never seen before.

The person’s attire was composed entirely of pale golden armor pieces, shining brilliantly under the flickering fire, not only dazzling but also giving an inexplicable sense of oppression.

On the table before him was a round helmet, similar in color to his armor, clearly meant to be worn on the head. Beside the table leaned a unique, long-handled giant sword over three meters long, with double-edged blades.

No, it’s not just him.

The person in the first seat on the left below was also wearing such golden armor.

“Greetings, Commander!”

As Xu An bowed to salute, he didn’t forget to nudge Xiang Liang beside him.

The Commander was what the Great Xia Camp called their leader?

Despite his curiosity, Xiang Liang followed suit, bowing his head in salute.

“Greetings, Commander!”

“Rise; who is this person?”

“This is Xiang Liang, whom I just rescued from the North Slope of Five Ape Mountain. He claims to have urgent news for us. He doesn’t seem to be lying, so I brought him over.”

As the person in the main seat began to speak, Xiang Liang also raised his head, clearly seeing his appearance, only to be stunned in realization.

The Great Xia Leader was actually blind in one eye.

“Greetings, sir. I am Xiang Liang, son of Xiang Ping, leader of Hefeng Camp. I have come to inform you all that Wang Lie of the Flying Tiger Camp has learned of the Great Xia Station’s location. He has colluded with Yang Ping and the Yueming family to attack Great Xia, hoping you will be aware and that the Great Xia can…”

Gulps…

The last four words, “prepare in advance,” were not spoken by Xiang Liang.