Chapter 485 Chapter 485 Grassland Journey (Two-in-one chapter, please vote and subscribe)

You Ye led a team of cavalry out of the pass from the north. This team of scouts will scout in several directions, but the main route is the route taken by the two tribal alliances when they went south, because if the enemy really followed them, it is very likely that they followed their footsteps.

Luo Chong was not idle at the headquarters of Hanyang City. He immediately asked people to use a caravan to transport a large number of wooden boards and various weapons to Fuma Pass. Among them, wooden shields, spears, and military shovels were the most common weapons.

Goose feather knives are too slow to make, even if there is a wind-powered automatic forging hammer, because there are not so many experienced blacksmiths. Therefore, the military shovel, a simple and easy-to-make multifunctional equipment, has become the most suitable short weapon for rapid deployment, especially since this thing can also be used to chop people like an axe. For those newcomers who are used to using stone axes, it is easier to use than the goose feather knives of the Han tribe, and almost no training is required.

In addition, he sent more people to Fuma Pass. Luo Chong had almost divided all the previous people, so he directly drew people from the two tribal alliances that had just arrived, and reorganized all the young and strong men in the alliance into two teams. One team went directly to Fuma Pass as support, and the other team stayed in Hanyang City as a mobile force. In case the enemy was not led to Fuma Pass, but attacked other directions, he could also use this force for emergency support.

The instructors used to temporarily train the two teams were the soldiers of the two teams that were sent before. They had lived in the alliance for half a year, and language communication was no longer a problem. They could understand Luo Chong's orders and communicate with their subordinates without obstacles, avoiding the embarrassing situation of the general not knowing the soldiers. The high-level officials of the

two alliances also cooperated with Luo Chong's arrangements, without any doubt, because Luo Chong's position in their hearts was originally different. Many of the tribes in the north believed in the stone tablet prophecy, and they also believed that Luo Chong was the son of heaven who could lead them to defeat the enemy in the prophecy.

The Han tribe was busy mobilizing personnel and building a new city. The "rear base" like Ruyang County also began to actively cultivate the fields and produce food. Starting this year, more than 7,000 people in their county will be self-sufficient and cannot always rely on relief from Hanyang County.

However, unlike the Han tribe, which is about to go to war, there is peace near the coast at the southern end of the grassland.

Niu Wei, the new Shang elder of the Xin tribe, who had just crossed the strait and arrived near the grassland, was robbed here.

The robbers were not others, but the Snow Wolf Tribe, who was instigated by the former Shang elder last year and ran to rob the Han tribe caravan, but ended up losing both the wife and the soldiers, and was robbed by the Han tribe.

Their idea is very simple. Since I can't beat the Han tribe now, the pot should be borne by the Xin tribe.

What they didn't expect was that the new merchant elder Niu Wei was very cooperative, honestly raised his hands to surrender, and offered a large amount of sea salt and cattle and horses carried by the team as compensation. Not only that, Niu Wei did not have the airs of a great elder of a tribe of tens of thousands of people, and apologized to the Snow Wolf in a very humble manner.

Of course, he didn't take the blame for this. Niu Wei was very shameless and pushed the fault of instigating them to rob the Han tribe caravan, which led to their tragic robbery, to his predecessor who had been dismembered, and said that the great commander of his tribe had punished him, dismembered his predecessor, and sent himself to apologize to the Snow Wolf.

Seeing Niu Wei's sincere apology, the Snow Wolf did not kill them directly. After all, you can't hit a smiling person. However, extortion is still necessary. The Snow Wolf threatened that the Xin tribe would have to hand over a large amount of white salt as tribute every time they came to the grassland in the future, otherwise they would not let their caravan pass.

In response, Niu Wei immediately agreed.

However, Niu Wei was willing to do so, but his subordinates did not agree, especially those young people who followed him because of poverty. They all felt that this new boss was too spineless, but Niu Wei also had his own reasons.

"This matter is indeed because the previous elders cheated them first. It's okay for us to make some compensation. What's more, don't forget what our purpose is this time. We are not here to make enemies with the grassland tribe. This is not our Bamboo Island. The land here is more vast. This is their territory. We have no ability to fight against them, just like they can't attack Bamboo Island because it is our territory."

After Niu Wei finished speaking, many people expressed their understanding, but there were still some young people who were dissatisfied and cursed him in a low voice, but Niu Wei spoke again at this time.

"All they want is some sea salt, but our tribe can have as much sea salt as they want. Why should we create a powerful enemy for this inexhaustible sea salt?"

After saying this, the passionate teenagers shut up. Yes, they couldn't beat them. The other party just wanted some salt that they couldn't use up. There was no need to make enemies with them. After all, Zhudao would definitely take this road to move to the grassland. There were still many days to come. Compared with that little bit of white salt, the foreign trade of the Xin tribe was more important.

In this way, after paying a tribute, Niuwei did not rush into the grassland, but led people back to the station on the seaside again, and then loaded the second batch of supplies and walked towards the grassland again. He had thought of the possible reaction of the snow wolf, so as early as when he just landed, he divided the team into two teams, one team stationed at the base of the reef bridge to guard the supplies, and the other team was led by himself to give gifts and apologize to the snow wolf.

Now, after replenishing the goods again, Niu Wei led a caravan of only 40 people, and after nearly a month of trekking along the coast, they finally arrived at the grassland inland.

The young men who came to the grassland for the first time were all shocked and shocked.

"Wow, this place is really so big, you can't see the edge at a glance."

"Yes, elder, such a large grassland, you can't even see a mountain, and you can't see a tribe. Where can we trade with people, and where can we find that Han tribe?"

These young men are all native Zhudao people. They have never left their hometown since they were young. At most, they just wandered around a few nearby villages. When they just left the island a few days ago, they saw the magnificent sea and the reef bridge hidden in the sea. This opened their eyes, but now this endless land, and it is all flat grassland, blue sky, white clouds, and green grass, which makes these young men even more excited.

They all secretly thought that it would be worth it even if they really died outside this time. After all, they were now considered the most knowledgeable people in the entire tribe and were very proud of it.

Niu Wei was very calm. He clearly remembered that this was his 27th visit to the grassland. If we counted the years, he had been a merchant on the grassland for 11 years.

From a small team member at the beginning, to the captain later, and now a merchant elder, he could confidently say that, apart from the local grassland natives, he was the person who was most familiar with this grassland.

"We can rely on the sun and stars to determine the direction, and then go to those places with abundant water and grass in the spring. No matter how the forces on the grassland change, there will be tribes in those better pastures. Although they will attack each other, they are still relatively friendly to us merchants because they need the salt we bring."

"And I have already traveled to the locations of those pastures one by one. In the past ten years, the Xin tribe caravan has almost covered the entire grassland, so there is no need to worry about the trade."

"What I am worried about now is the Han tribe. I don't know if their caravan has arrived and whether there is a chance to contact them. I will have to ask those nomadic tribes at that time. Alas, the most troublesome thing is that the Han tribe's caravan has only appeared on the grassland in the past two years, and the natives here don't even know where the Han tribe is. It seems that we have to be prepared to live on the grassland for a long time. Sooner or later, we will find the Han tribe." Niu Wei said firmly.

This trip to the Han Tribe was not to seek the development of the Xin Tribe or to learn the technology from the Han Tribe. In fact, that was just an excuse that Niu Wei made in front of the commander-in-chief. What he really wanted to do was to go to the Han Tribe

for a pilgrimage. He really wanted to see the legendary powerful tribe, just like the young people around him who had just opened their eyes. Even if he wanted to see it, it would be worth it even if he died outside.

After hearing Niu Wei's words, the young people in the team admired the new Shang Elder even more, and each of them regarded him as an idol.

In the following days, this idol led his little fans to move eastward, because there was a huge lake there, which was even called the "Sunrise Sea" by the grassland people. In fact, it was the sea where the sun was born. After all, the sun came out from the direction of the big lake every day. This was undoubtedly the most convincing explanation for the nomadic primitive people who didn't know what geography was.

On the west bank of the lake, that is, on the grassland side, there are some large and small rivers and small lakes, and the surrounding water and grass are very lush. Niuwei also found the nomadic people living here as he wished. There

is a winding river, and there are young men riding horses to hunt wolves. Women are also riding horses to drive sheep and cattle. Men are on guard and sentry outside, and women are leisurely grazing livestock on both sides of the river.

This river is not very deep, and the deepest part in the middle is not up to the belly of the horse. You can ride a horse directly across. After seeing the patrolling soldiers on the periphery, Niuwei immediately stated his identity as a caravan and gave a bamboo tube of white salt as a gift.

The warrior was also very happy to take them to the tribe on the other side of the river. After wading across the river, what came into view was a large white felt tent. Niuwei immediately popularized science with the young people around him.

"The grassland people have their own habits. When their men reach adulthood, they have to build a new tent separately, then marry and have children. So on the grassland, if you want to know how many adult men there are in this tribe, just count how many tents they have, no need to ask."

The teenagers around him also shouted that the elder was really amazing and learned another trick.

However, as they got closer and closer, Niuwei soon discovered something unusual, such as the big tent in the middle of the tribe where the leader lived, which was simply a crane standing out from the crowd.

This is not to say how big the leader's tent is, it is definitely big, after all, it is the tent where the leader lives. However, Niuwei is not concerned about this, but the layer outside the tent, which is not felt, but wool cloth produced by the Han tribe.

However, he vaguely remembered that the grassland people said that the woolen cloth produced by the Han tribe was not cheap. Other tribes bought it to make clothes. This leader actually used such precious textiles to paste tents. This feeling was very similar to that of Bole who saw the thousand-mile horse struggling to pull the cart. Such good cloth was really wasted. The rich were so unsophisticated.

Thinking of this, Niu Wei couldn't help but laugh dryly, "Your tribe is really rich. You actually use the woolen cloth produced by the Han tribe to make tents."

Who knew that the young man who led the way was also simple and didn't hear the irony in Niu Wei's words. He was not ashamed, but proud of it, as if we are rich and we should be proud.

"Guests from afar, that woolen tent is nothing, it's just something we bought from the Han tribe caravan. We have something better, which we bought with more than a dozen cattle and horses. Look, it's right there."

Following the guidance of the young man who led the way, Niuwei and his men immediately focused their attention on the two two-wheeled single-horse carriages. Everyone's pupils shrank, even Niuwei was no exception. This was the first time he saw the Han tribe's carriages with his own eyes. He had heard about them from others before.

Next, Niuwei was led into the big tent and met the leader of the tribe. Few tribes on the grassland had names. Most of them named their tribes after their leaders. When talking about a tribe, they were all about that tribe.

This tribe is no exception. Their leader is called Maodun (mo4, du2). The name is very unusual and the leader is very young. It is said that their tribe has traded with the caravans of the Xin tribe more than once, but Maodun was still young at that time and the leader was still his father's generation. He just became the leader in the spring of this year, and the first thing he did after becoming the leader was to build a woolen tent. It seems that he likes to enjoy himself.

(End of this chapter)