Seeing the anger on Shuhe's face, Elder Hui shut his mouth and turned to look at Ming meaningfully.
It seemed as if he was saying, look, if we don't fight, if we don't hurry up and negotiate these conditions, then with Yu's prestige in the tribe, sooner or later we will have no place to stand.
Ming's expression was somewhat helpless.
He turned to Mandao and asked, "I wonder when Yu will come?"
"That's right. If you guessed wrong and Yu didn't come, do we have to wait here for days?" Elder Heiye said, "This is in the wilderness, and we don't know if there will be wild animals at night. Just in case, we should make the deal and go back to your tribe as soon as possible. Shu, didn't you say that since the leader is away, Man has the most power? He must be able to make the decision on this matter, right?"
"No, I can't make the decision." Man said coldly, "Your request is beyond my scope of responsibility. Wait until Yu comes back."
Liu Shui, who had already walked over and wanted Qiao Yu to come closer, notified the others after confirming it was her. Upon hearing this, he pointed at Qiao Yu who was approaching and said, "Yu is here."
Man Heshu was delighted and turned around, only to see Qiao Yu walking towards them while talking to Liang.
They hurriedly greeted him: "Yu."
Qiao Yu raised his head and waved at them.
After a while, the two groups met up, and Qiao Yu asked, "What conditions did Ming and the others put forward?"
She had already heard Liang's explanation of the situation.
Man Bahui repeated what Elder Hui had said.
Qiao Yu sneered, walked up to Elder Ming and Hui, and stood in front of them. "Since it's so difficult for you to join the tribe and accept me as your leader, let's forget about it. I helped you escape Lei's pursuit, so consider it a good deed. Let's separate now, and you can build your tribe wherever you want."
Then she called out, "Dragon Tribe, get on board and set off."
The men of the Dragon Tribe had already been sitting safely on the raft, waiting. Knowing Yu was coming, everyone stood up and looked over. Hearing her command, everyone responded with a resounding "Yes."
Then everyone started moving planks and untying ropes. Someone held up the wooden pole, ready to set off.
The bundle of saplings Qiao Yu was holding had already been passed on to Liang and the others. Without stopping, she continued walking toward the river, and soon she was on the raft, with Man and Shu following closely behind.
In just a few moments, all the members of the Dragon Tribe were on the raft, ready to go. Only the Shanyin Tribe stood there stupidly, looking as if they hadn't reacted yet.
Qiao Yu usually trained the men of the Dragon Tribe according to military discipline. Discipline, by contrast, meant following procedures in everything.
At this time, the captain of the main ship, Hei, who had the loudest voice, shouted, "Is everyone ready?"
The captains of each raft responded one after another: "We are ready."
"I'm ready."
"I'm ready."
This raft, docked at the pier where people can get on and off, is located in the middle of the fleet. There are only twenty rafts going up and down the river. The people on the main ship can hear the response of each captain.
Hei followed the procedure and after listening to the nineteen responses, he reported to Qiao Yu in a muffled voice: "Reporting to Yu, all the ships are ready. Shall we set off?"
Seeing that Qiao Yu wasn't just pretending, but actually planning to leave them behind, and seeing that none of the people from the Valley Tribe or the Stone Tribe were like Elder Hui and Elder Heiye, who kept nagging and admonishing him no matter what he wanted to do, and who all obeyed Yu's orders without a word, Ming finally panicked.
"Yu, wait, we'll follow you." Ming shouted.
Elder Hui was unable to stop him in time. When he heard Ming's shout, he couldn't help but stamp his feet, his face full of disappointment.
Couldn't Ming see that Yu was threatening them? As long as they held out, Yu would be the one who had to compromise in the end. Even if Ming wanted to keep them, he should have said, "Let's talk again," not "We'll go with you." This kid is a hopeless case.
Upon hearing this shout, Yu didn't respond to Hei's question, but said to Ming, "Think carefully. I won't agree to any of your conditions. If you merge into the Dragon Tribe, you must obey the command of me, the leader, and not form small groups. If you can't do that, I won't agree to merge with you. I'm afraid you'll mess up my tribe."
"I promise." Ming said quickly.
He had brought this group of people from the tribe out, and was responsible for their food, clothing, shelter, transportation, and safety. The Dragon Tribe had been taking care of all this for the past few days, so he hadn't been under such intense pressure. But now, Qiao Yu was abandoning them all, leaving them on a raft. There was no way to catch up, and there was no chance for a proper conversation. Ming simply couldn't take the risk.
They were so few, and they didn't dare stay in the abandoned settlements of the Valley and Stone Tribes, fearing Lei would come looking for them. Where would they settle in a land so unfamiliar? Would they encounter danger while hunting? Would Lei send another force to look for them? What would they do after they finished their little salt?
As long as he thought about these issues, Ming no longer had any desire to negotiate.
He had never had any ambitions; it had always been Elder Hui and the others who pushed him forward. Now Qiao Yu wanted to take over all the troublesome matters, asking only that he not get involved, and he was extremely happy to do so.
"Do you agree? Do the people around you agree?" Qiao Yu asked.
After just a few brief contacts and listening to the descriptions of Liang and others, Qiao Yu knew where the problem of the Shanyin tribe lay.
Ming himself lacked ambition and ability. However, the people around him were ambitious and pushed Ming to fight for power and wealth. This is probably why Lei couldn't keep Ming even after he told him he wasn't interested in power.
Elder Hui became angry when he heard Qiao Yu's question. Just as he was about to say a few words, he was stopped by Ming.
"Hui, we can't be left here alone." Ming said to Elder Hui, looking him straight in the eyes.
Elder Hui looked at Ming's pleading eyes and couldn't say anything.
He sighed and said to Qiao Yu, "We agreed too." Let's take a long-term view and talk about it after we settle down in the tribe over there.
Mingda breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Qiao Yu eagerly.
"Okay, let your people obey orders and get on board." Qiao Yu said, and then ordered Man, "You go and take command."
Man came out of the raft and went ashore to direct the people of the Shanyin tribe to board the boat in batches.
After making sure that everyone was on board, Hei gave an order, and the rope of the raft at the bottom of the river was untied. With a push of the wooden pole, the raft left the shore and slowly moved downstream.
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