Castle of Black Iron

The patch of land that Zhang Tie chose was in the southwest of Youzhou Province. The core region of the land was a part of Yangui Mountain Range. It was Miyun Prefecture of Youzhou province in the northeast of the land. Three cities in the north of Yangui Mountain Range were included into this land.

Zhang Tie remembered that he had met the head and elders of Li Clan from Miyun Prefecture in White Tiger Platform when he fought for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province for Zhang Taixuan 3 years ago. The overall strength of Li Clan only ranked lower-middle among the so many major clans in Youzhou Province. Zhang Tie remembered that the entire Li Clan only had 4 black iron knights, plus the head and elders. It could not even match Zhang Clan of Huaiyuan Palace who had caught up from behind after winning the competition for the provincial governor of Youzhou Province, not to mention deep-rooted Lu Clan and Gu Clan in Youzhou Province.

It was the south border of Yangui Mountain Range in the southernmost part of this private land which neighbored Tongzhou Province. Zhang Tie found that 4 cities being close to Yangui Mountain were included into his private land.

It was the north border of Yangui Mountain Range in the northernmost part of this private land which neighbored Yangzhou Province, the hub of the Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country. Four cities of Yangzhou Province were included into Zhang Tie’s private land.

Those cities in Zhang Tie’s private land were not advanced in development level given the map; additionally, most of the private land was mountain areas and mountain forests. Therefore, this green block was almost the largest one among all the green clocks on the map. Only after a glimpse at it, Zhang Tie had known that this private land was about 0.8 million square miles because it was 1/3 larger than the area of Yanghe Prefecture of Zhang Clan.

Coincidentally, this triangular region was only thousands of miles away from the Zanggu Plateau that he had bought at a high price in Youzhou Province in the north.

There were over 100 green blocks on the map of Taixia Country. If Zhang Tie adored prosperity, he could have chosen some provinces and prefectures which were much better than the Youzhou territory in the Northeast Military Region of Taixia Country. If Zhang Tie was ambitious, he could choose his private land near the south border of Taixia Country, where he could revitalize the Great Wilderness Sect over billions of square miles’ land and become the king in the south of Taixia Country as long as the conditions became mature.

When he caught sight of the block on the south border of Taixia Country, Zhang Tie’s heart indeed raced; however, the domineering thought was instantly ignored. As the Great Wilderness Sect had been exterminated, Zhang Tie was not interested in raising this banner once again. He didn’t even know the enemy of the Great Wilderness Sect yet. It was very risky for him to inherit the legacy of the Great Wilderness Sect on the south border of Taixia Country at this moment. Now that those people could annihilate the Great Wilderness Sect in its heyday, it was not difficult for them to crack down an earth knight. The Cloud Crane had made it clear in the will that it was very risky yet profitable to raise the banner of the Great Wilderness Sect. It was meaningless for Zhang Tie to establish his undertaking at this moment.

By contrast, if he selected the private land near Youzhou Province, he could protect his family members and occasionally meet them in another status. He could receive the message from his family members at any time. As for Zhang Tie, it was very hard for him to refuse this choice. With this choice, the arrest order for him almost became ineffective in Taixia Country; additionally, he could develop his own force in the status of Cui Li and continue to investigate the one who framed him secretly. One stone for two birds.

’I’m afraid that nobody could imagine that I would return to Youzhou Province in this way after being wanted for 2 years.’

When he thought that he might meet his family members soon, Zhang Tie became thrilled inside.

However, Zhang Tie also knew that it was not the right moment for him to return to Youzhou Province. It was not late at least after the battle in Tiewei Mountain. This battle was a rare opportunity for him to make military exploits.

”The land that you’ve chosen is in the southwest of Yangui Mountain Range. Neighboring three provinces of Northeast Military Region in Taixia Country, the private land contains 18.76 million people. Although its population is not large, the 10 cities have reached a scale in industrial and commercial industries. Additionally, the private land had over 70 resources such as iron ores, copper ores, coal mines, silver ores, lead-zinc ores, etc.. There were also a lot of rare resources in Yangui Mountain Range, most of which had not been explored yet. After you took over this land officially, Taixia party would only keep the taxation and judicial agencies in all the cities of your private land in order to maintain the orders inside your private land. You would have the right to manage all the other aspects in the 10 cities. You could appoint the administers of your private cities, issue private regulations in your private land on the premise of not being contradictory to Taixia Laws!”

The major general started to explain it to Zhang Tie with a solemn look after seeing the private land that Zhang Tie had selected, ”Of course, you could also entrust your administrative right over your private cities to relevant authorities in the Northeast Military Region. The administrative fees will be deducted from the taxes in cities. There’s one point that you should know that the ownership of private properties and resources will remain unchanged after you took them over as they are under the protection of ”Taixia Laws”. You have the ownership of the governmental real estates and assets and the corresponding jurisdiction and disposal right on them!”

”There are private properties in my private land?”

”Of course, as long as there were people, there would be private properties. The ownership of these private properties and resources are mainly fixed assets in the 10 cities, such as private real estates and shops of residents. The private properties and resources outside the 10 cities are mainly villages and arable lands as well as private mines. Generally, as the 10 cities were built by the country, the government still owns over 60% of land and real estates in each of the 10 cities. As for the land outside the cities, 99% of them belong to you; at least half of the ores belong to you. The relevant materials about ownership were carefully recorded in these cities and the Northeast Military Region, which will be transferred to you!”

”How?”

”After you deal with the formalities here, you can take your authorized documents and certificates to the authorities in the Northeast Military Region whenever you want.. After you tell them about your status, the Land Planning Department in Northeast Military Region would dispatch exclusive staff to deal with the corresponding formalities and documents for you! Later on, we will notice the relevant officials in the Northeast Military Region. From today on, until you came to deal with the formalities for your private land, the ownership of all the official lands and resources in your private land would be frozen.”

’I’ve not imagined that Taixia could be so considerate.’ Zhang Tie grinned after knowing the details, ”Haha, let’s do it then. This Cui Li will select this green block as my private land!”

”According to the rules about private land. Because your private land combines different administrative regions from three provinces, you should name your private land. From then on, it would be the official name of this private land in official documents!”

Zhang Tie burst out into laughter as he felt it was funny, ”Is there any learning about naming a private land?”

”Private land being rewarded due to military exploits would be named as XX bounty territory regardless of its area. In Taixia, bounty territory represents honor, which indicates that it is not bought, but is rewarded due to military exploits!”

Touching his bald head for a short while, Zhang Tie uttered, ”Just call it Fire Dragon Bounty Territory!”

”Are you sure?”

”Sure!” Zhang Tie determined his decision.

”Okay!”

...

Half an hour later, an official document and the corresponding certificates being marked with some red seals had been prepared for Zhang Tie.

The moment Zhang Tie took these documents, he had thrown them into Castle of Black Iron. Until he left the tower, his heart was still racing.

Only after a short while, when Zhang Tie reappeared in the lobby, all the knights over there watched him in a formidable way.

...

2 days later, a grim and vivid shadow demon specimen appeared in Black Armor Battlefortress.

On the same day, Zhang Tie left Black Armor Battlefortress and disappeared into the dense black mist of Tiewei Mountain...