Chapter 26: The Temptation of Treasure

Perhaps because of Jiang Lang's secret care, the handover procedures of Sang Nan and the others went smoothly, and the errand in charge of resettling the exiles also sent them to the same place to reclaim the wasteland. After that, Li Yuanru and Li Ying were arranged to rest in the fort, and Gao Ran took the others to escort Sang Nan's group of "exiles" to the departure place.

Because Kasha practiced the system of "one person breaking the law, and nine tribes were connected", hundreds of people were often exiled together, resulting in a huge number of exiles, so the forms of dispatch were also various, which were roughly divided into three forms: errands, slavery, and reclamation. Generally speaking, officials or people with meritorious names commit crimes, and there are more people who are sent to work as errands, while ordinary people who commit crimes are mostly slaves, and whether they are errand or slaves, they are all serving the local garrison. There are several places to go for labor: logging, mining, medicine gathering, and hunting. Reclamation is to reclaim wasteland, cultivate and cultivate by yourself, and the distribution office will send people to collect it regularly and quantitatively.

The place where they departed, twenty miles north of Fort Sabbation, in Spindle Valley, seemed to be in a good location. The dispatcher in charge of leading the way was called Bert Ivan, who looked to be in his thirties, with blond hair and blue eyes, fair skin, and a tall and stocky build. He is a ****** of the Orton Empire, and he has been in the Northern Demon Plains for five years.

Ivan was more easy-going, perhaps from the treatment of Sannan, he was always smiling and very polite, he chose a closer route, avoiding the nearby villages and towns, but the road was sparsely populated and somewhat desolate. Along the way, Ivan introduced a lot of information about the Northern Demon Plain, and if it weren't for the snow and biting cold wind around him, everyone would have mistaken him for a qualified tour guide.

From Ivan's mouth, I learned that in the Northern Demon Plain, in fact, there are some special forms of dispatch for foreign exiles, such as some young women, who either become concubines and slaves of large families, or are sold into the Goolan Tavern and fall into the dust. Among the foreign women, the female dependents of the prisoners are the most sought-after. Some ministers used to be in high positions and had a large number of relatives in their families, and these women were better than ordinary people in terms of appearance, temperament, and knowledge, so they sold for a high price.

In addition, there are some people with special status, who have become exiles for some reason, but they have a relatively strong background of power, and they will also be cared for to a certain extent, just like Sangnan and others.

"And the brothel here?" Hearing Ivan's introduction, Gao Ran felt a little surprised, in this desolate place ravaged by wind and snow, it is difficult to think of the extravagant scene of drunken gold fans, red and green.

"Of course there is! There is no shortage of taverns, tea shops, shops, workshops, peddlers, and pawns! Ivan wasn't surprised by Gao Ran's reaction, which was the same when he first arrived.

Sang Nan silently listened to the small talk of Ivan and the others, and learned more about the situation in the Northern Demon Plain.

Some say that the Northern Demon Plain is an island, while others say that it is a piece of land. The reason for this disagreement in the statement is largely due to the fog that persists all year round on the Northern Demon Plain. Originally, except for the coastal area on the south coast, the central and northern parts of the North Demon Plains were shrouded in a thick fog, so it was also called Kirishima.

How do these dense fogs form? How much range? No one has been able to explain it so far.

I heard that these areas shrouded in dense fog are full of dangers all day long, such as heavy snowfalls, wild beasts, and barbarians, and human beings cannot survive at all, so the exiles call this place a no-man's land.

However, no man's land, despite its treacherous environment, is also full of opportunities. In the year 235 of the Xia Yuan calendar, an exile named Feng Jiang inadvertently broke into a no-man's land, and found a rare 2000-year-old plateau ice lotus. Later, the garrison of the island dedicated this ice lotus to Emperor Xia Gang, who was seriously ill at the time, but he did not expect that Emperor Xia's health would be greatly improved. As a result, Feng Jiang was not only pardoned, but also given a rich fortune and became a famous legend.

In the following ten years, Emperor Xia sent hundreds of exploration teams composed of troops and various scholars into the no-man's land and began to explore the place frantically, but none of the teams could get out alive. But despite this, people still can't resist the temptation of treasure. For hundreds of years, various forces, including Kasha, have never stopped exploring this place.

After paying a terrible price, some of the exploration teams finally managed to build strong fortifications on the outskirts of the no-man's land and successfully stationed there. Some rare plants, minerals and animal materials are also transported to the Moya continent in an endless stream. After the research and identification of scholars, these rare products from the Northern Demon Plain have extremely high application value in many aspects such as medicinal use, smelting, construction and ornamentation, and the mystery of the treasure of the Northern Demon Plain has finally been revealed.

Despite the allure of the treasure, no team has dared to venture into the depths of no man's land so far. Everyone suspected that the reason why the exploration team sent by Emperor Xia was wiped out was probably because it went too deep. Kasha no longer had the luxury of conquering the area, but sent an army of 5,000 men to garrison the fort of rest, responsible for guarding the coastal area on the south coast, as well as supervising the exiles on a daily basis.

According to Ivan, there were relatively few exiles at first, and they spent the rest of their lives doing ordinary labor in mines, lumberyards, and fishing and hunting grounds. Later, there were more and more exiles, and even some big families came over thousands of people at a time. The camp was unable to resettle them, so they let the exiles choose their own land for development, and the camp checked the population every year and checked the harvest. Therefore, the management of exiles in the Northern Demon Plain was very loose.

The bad weather here has claimed many lives, and the exiles have to gather together in order to survive, and they risk their lives to build houses and cultivate fields in uninhabited areas around the shelters, and gradually develop into simple settlements.

After so many years of multiplication, the official population of the Northern Demon Plains has reached nearly 2 million, which is comparable to the size of a medium-sized city in Moya. You must know that among the major principalities in the entire Moya continent, the Rus Empire has the smallest population, close to 50 million. Its capital, Wanhuacheng, has a population of less than 4 million.

There was another thing that also surprised Sannan a little.

The Northern Demon Yuan was not allowed to build a city. Once it is discovered that someone has built a city without permission, the garrison will come and kill it. Back then, a family thought that they were strong, and despite the warnings of the garrison, they built a city privately, but as soon as the construction started, they were killed by the Kasha sent troops! So in the Northern Demon Plain, apart from the Rest Fort, you can only see scattered villages, but there is no city!

"Seeing that you are not like ordinary people, you may be able to gain a foothold here soon!" Ivan smiled at Sannan, "Maybe one day in the future, I will have to rely on you to take care of me?" He had a good impression of the quiet and well-behaved boy next to him, and he could see that the people around him valued the boy very much.

"Pinning your hopes on someone else is not a rational choice!" Sang Nan said lightly, seeing that Ivan's expression was a little stunned, he said a little jokingly: "But when I settle down, you can come to me at any time!" ”

White seems to be the basic color of the Northern Demon Plains. Although the southern coast of the North Devil Plains is not frozen due to the warm ocean currents, the land temperature is still very low, and towering icicles scattered along the way can be seen everywhere, reflecting a beautiful halo under the thin light. Nearby is a low mountain tundra, which is in the alternating season of spring and summer, and you can see green vegetation growing along the way, surrounded by a snowy wasteland, exuding vitality. Pheasants, rabbits, mice, reindeer are everywhere, as well as wild foxes, wolves, and even white bears, but fortunately they are a group of people who are strong and naturally do not feel any threat.

As we traveled north, the wind seemed to be getting stronger. Wrapped in thick cotton robes and hoods on their faces, they walked across the ice in the face of the wind and snow. Occasionally, the wind blows up snowflakes on the ground and flutters in the air, like clouds and veils of clouds, unpredictable. The branches are draped with icicle frost flowers, which are so pure that they penetrate the heart and spleen.

"Crunch...... "The snow on the woodland is very thick, and every foot is knee-deep, although these Sang teenagers have a good physique, but after all, they are still young, and after a long time, they will be a little unbearable."...... Seeing this, Sang Nan had no choice but to let the guards carry or hug them, and take turns to carry these teenagers on.

Because of the previous seasickness, Xiao Confused has long been physically exhausted. So Ivan led the horse on foot, and on his horse sat Little Misty and two other girls.

"Hey!" Sannan and Ivan walked side by side when they suddenly heard the sound of someone exhaling hard behind them. He looked back and saw a tall figure in a fat cotton robe, walking with his head down.

Seeing that the man was a little unable to support him, Sang Nan planned to stop and stretch out his hand to help him, but who thought that the man was hungry and tired now, and he didn't notice his actions at all, and actually hit him headlong.

"Oops!" The man let out a coquettish snort, and Sang Nan only felt that he had touched a soft bulging and elastic part, and there was a bit of orchid breath coming from the tip of his nose.

The man fell to the ground, a pair of scornful eyes under his hood.

"Miss Mei!" Sang Nan felt a little embarrassed in his heart, and quickly helped Mei Dongen up, "Are you okay?" ”

"I'm fine! Hurry up, I'll keep up! Mei Dongen patted the snow on her body, lowered her head and urged, her face flushed under the hood.

When Sang Nan saw Mei Dongen's appearance, he was obviously a little out of strength. And the temperature here is too low, she forced herself to go on, and she is likely to get seriously ill afterwards.

"Come on, I'll take you away!" After speaking, without waiting for her to answer, he took her arm and continued to walk forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

Feeling the strength coming from his arms, although Mei Don was very tired, there was a trace of sweetness and shyness in his heart. She didn't care what Sang Nan would do to her, but now that he was supporting herself, walking in this strange and colorful ice and snow world, wouldn't it be a kind of happiness? She wanted to go on like this.

An hour later, everyone finally passed through this ice field with a radius of tens of kilometers. Ivan's voice full of joy suddenly came from the front: "Look! Spindle Valley ahead! ”

There was a cheer from the crowd.