The thrill of war, which had kept Qin Mu calm for over two years, caused his restless heart to flare up again, especially after the monkey tribe ambushed him with poisoned arrows, injuring some of his men. He then charged into the camp with his sword.
It was indeed a large tribe, with nearly ten thousand people, but in the face of an army, these tribes were destined to die. The monkey tribe had almost no armor, and their weapons were mostly wooden sticks, made of a hard and resilient wood, even better than ash wood. Ash wood was simply not suitable for them, as it was too light.
Faced with the Tang Dynasty's massacre, the monkey tribe truly resembled a frightened troop of monkeys, running around in panic. Unfortunately, they were already surrounded, and even if they were truly monkeys, they had no way to escape.
Qin Mu exuded a fierce aura, his eyes slightly bloodshot. He killed a monkey with a single sword strike, then turned his gaze to the center of the tribe. In front of the largest house in the tribe, a man with a feather in his hair and a face covered in tattoos, carrying a stick, was fighting fiercely with the Bu brothers.
It was a very tall monkey, over two meters tall, whose stick whistled through the air as it struck the Bu brothers, causing them to stumble backward repeatedly.
"Luckily I wasn't wearing a tiger-skin skirt." Qin Mu muttered to himself, waving his hand to empower the Bu brothers with righteous energy, and then swung his sword, sending a sword aura slashing out.
After exchanging blows, Qin Mu realized that this monkey clan was indeed powerful. His staff was wrapped in a cloud of blood and wolf smoke, which he used to shatter sword energy with a single swing. He also blocked the blood and murderous aura of the Bu brothers.
Fortunately, Qin Mu and his group had many members. Cheng Huailiang, Yuchi Baoqing, Xi Junmai, and Fang Yi'ai arrived one after another and joined forces to attack.
The monkeys roared incessantly, slamming their clubs down wildly. Unfortunately for Qin Mu and his group, they were least afraid of opponents with such strength. Fang Yi'ai and Xi Junmai met the blows head-on, even though they were repeatedly forced back by the impact.
"Bang bang bang!" The sounds of spiritual energy colliding rang out continuously, making the open space feel like it was being swept by wind.
"Roar!" The monkey roared, then raised its club high, its eyes wide open, staring intently ahead.
The monkeys suddenly roared. Qin Mu and the others thought he was about to unleash his power and were preparing to deal with him with all their might. But to their surprise, he raised his stick high and fell to the ground.
Upon seeing Han Chen behind the monkey clan, Qin Mu understood the reason; it turned out that Han Chen had successfully launched a sneak attack. A smile immediately appeared on his face.
"Amazing! Brother Han, your skill in striking with that needle is incredible. So many of us couldn't break through his defenses," Cheng Huailiang exclaimed.
“I can’t break through his protective spiritual energy either.” Han Chen shook his head slightly and stepped forward to pick up a few golden needles from the ground.
Only then did everyone realize that Han Chen had not only launched a sneak attack once.
"Brother Han, have you perhaps found the monkey clan's weakness?" Yuchi Baoqing's eyes lit up as he asked excitedly.
"No, where is there a weakness? You've heard too many stories. Aren't all the flaws the same? Eyes, nose, ears," Han Chen said firmly, shaking his head.
“That’s not right, there’s no injury on his face! Brother Han, where did you hurt him? Tell me, so we can deal with him next time we meet,” Yuchi Baolin asked after looking down carefully.
Seeing everyone looking at him with great interest, Han Chen's lips twitched repeatedly, and he said irritably, "The monkeys wear leather around their waists. When they jump, the area around their digestive system will leak out. A golden needle can pierce through the intestines and stomach, it's that simple. You can use it next time."
“The place where the five grains cycle…” Yuchi Baolin muttered to himself, then looked back and suddenly realized, “Oh, so that’s where it is!”
Qin Mu also saw it, but he quickly looked away. He understood why Han Chen was unwilling to talk about it. Suppressing a smile, Qin Mu waved his hand and said, "Everyone disperse, the battle is not over yet."
Han Chen let out a long sigh, rolled his eyes at Qin Mu who was all smiles, and said seriously, "Commander, there's something going on behind us."
Qin Mu was slightly taken aback and asked, "What is it?"
"I can't explain it clearly, you'll have to see for yourself."
Following Han Chen, the two of them, along with several guards, walked towards the back of the tribe and arrived at the foot of the mountain behind the tribe.
What's going on?
Qin Mu looked ahead with some surprise. It turned out that behind this tribe was a mining area, and a large group of monkeys were staring blankly at them. The key point was that these monkeys were very tall, each over 1.8 meters tall, and their hands and feet were all chained.
"Are these monkey prisoners?"
“They look different. These monkeys have black eyes, so they must be from another tribe. What should we do?” Han Chen guessed, then turned his gaze to Qin Mu.
Qin Mu understood what he meant; he was asking whether they should all be killed. Before he could speak, a tall figure from the monkey tribe stepped forward and said, "We are not monkeys."
"You are not monkeys?"
"We are the chimpanzee tribe, and we are not the same race as those ferocious monkey tribes," the burly man said with certainty.
They really do look like gorillas. Even the shortest of these guys are much taller than monkeys, with thick lips, dark eyes, and longer arms.
"Where do you live? And how were you arrested?" Qin Mu asked curiously.
"We live on the island. Those monkey tribes came to the island by boat and destroyed our tribe. They killed all the old people and children," the burly man said, pointing behind Qin Mu with hatred in his eyes.
"We've killed all the tribes here. You can live here from now on," Qin Mu said after a moment of silence. He made this decision because he saw that although these chimpanzee tribesmen had hatred in their eyes, they were generally peaceful, unlike the monkey tribesmen who always seemed to have a fierce glint in their eyes. Since they were enemies of the monkey tribesmen, it wouldn't matter if they were released.
The chimpanzee stared blankly at Qin Mu, somewhat unable to believe what he was saying, but the guards had already stepped forward to help them unlock their handcuffs and shackles.
"Are you from the Central Plains? Are you planning to attack other monkey tribes?" the leader of the black ape tribe asked cautiously.
"Not bad," Qin Mu nodded.
"Could you take us with you? Please," the burly chimpanzee pleaded.
"Why?" Qin Mu asked, frowning.
“Many of our people have been captured by other tribes. We want to go with you to rescue them. Besides, if we stay here, we are no match for the monkey tribe. We will be captured sooner or later anyway,” the burly chimpanzee explained with his head down.
Qin Mu was somewhat surprised to find that this tall fellow was quite intelligent.
Seeing that Qin Mu was still hesitating, he pleaded again, "Please, we can help you fight."
What's your name?
"Black Fierce!"
"Hmm, Blackie, you can follow us, but you must obey orders, otherwise everyone will die! Think it over carefully." Qin Mu narrowed his eyes slightly and said sternly.
"Don't worry, we promise to obey!" Hei Meng patted his chest and assured him.
The monkey tribe couldn't just eat fruit; they mainly hunted, so the tribe still had some meat. What Qin Mu and his group couldn't accept was that those monkeys seemed to eat everything—poisonous snakes, scorpions, frogs, and insects—they kept plenty of them at home.
Qin Mu and his group were disgusted, but the chimpanzee tribe wouldn't. After receiving permission, they conducted a second raid on the monkey tribe.
"Good heavens, this really is a locust swarm that has swept through, leaving not a single blade of grass behind," Cheng Huailiang exclaimed.
"Hmm, it's not bad to bring them along. These guys are easy to feed, depending on the individual. They're quite strong and can be good at helping carry things," said Yuchi Baoqing. He was referring to the chimpanzee tribe eating what they didn't want, and if that wasn't enough, they'd pick fruit, even half-ripe fruit.
"Give them some of the fish soup," Qin Mu instructed. He had brought quite a bit of dried fish and salt with him when he set off. Ever since he acquired the Heavenly Mystery Tower, he had developed the habit of carrying large amounts of food, mainly because the food he ate during the first two months after his transmigration was so terrible that he still vividly remembered it.
As the group continued onward, Qin Mu finally understood why the giant chimpanzee tribe, despite their size, couldn't defeat the monkey tribe. Putting aside their blood and qi, their courage was on a completely different level, making them hesitant and timid even when they had the upper hand.
"Huailiang! You and Baoqing are in charge of training these guys. You have to train them properly. It's such a waste of their size." Qin Mu kicked Hei Meng angrily.
"Here you go!" Cheng Huailiang sneered. He also disliked such people, those who were timid and hesitant on the battlefield, and he wished he could chop them up with a single blow.
Hei Meng knew his men had performed poorly and were too timid to speak. Fortunately, the guy was obedient and followed Cheng Huailiang with his head down.
With over two hundred chimpanzee soldiers, the menial tasks were entirely left to them. Fifty-odd women, along with the burly men who had grown up carrying heavy loads, wandered around the camp, forced by Qin Mu to wear animal skins. This greatly disappointed the Tang soldiers.
Cheng Huailiang first armed the chimpanzee tribe, wrapping their bodies in animal skins, and then gave them the monkey tribe's clubs. Starting with executing prisoners and cleaning up the battlefield, they were accustomed to the smell of blood and the sight of bloodshed, which immediately boosted their courage. Of course, the chimpanzee tribe wasn't entirely useless; they were more familiar with surviving in the dense forest, and having them lead the way made the march much easier. They could also help find many fruits in the wild.
However, Qin Mu felt that the chimpanzee tribe mainly wanted some rice to eat. Especially dried fish soup; for some reason, these island-dwelling creatures didn't seem to tire of the fishy smell.
As small tribes were destroyed one by one, news inevitably spread, and many of the tribes encountered later were already deserted. The escape speed was especially accelerated after three tribes of ten thousand men were wiped out.
Qin Mu and his group were naturally happy to see this happen, since they weren't there to exterminate the monkey race. Driving them towards the mainland was the most suitable course of action.
Another unexpected bonus was the rescue of over 1,200 chimpanzees. The more they fought, the more chimpanzees there were – that's a good thing.
“We’re trapped!” Feng Zhiyu said with a strange smile.
"Blocked?" Everyone was puzzled. They had already discussed that if things went wrong, they would retreat by sea, as the warships were only a day's journey away.
"The monkey tribe has built a huge camp ahead, with an estimated population of over 100,000. Considering they are almost out of the peninsula, they must be preparing a large number of reinforcements. Their purpose is probably to prevent us from causing even greater trouble once we leave the peninsula and have more territory," Feng Zhiyu said.
“That’s not surprising. They probably don’t know that we came by big ship, or they’re used to small ships and don’t know how big our ship is or how many people it can carry,” Cheng Huailiang said, squinting.
"Since they want to play, we'll play along! Order a retreat and return to the canyon we met yesterday," Qin Mu commanded.
"That canyon isn't really suitable for blocking, is it? If they flank us, won't they be trapped?" Cheng Huailiang asked, puzzled, on the way back.
"Of course it's not very suitable, but if we don't give them hope, how can they attack?" Qin Mu countered.
“As long as we hold both flanks, even if they try to flank us from behind, they can still retreat. But we have to be careful with the timing. If we get surrounded by a bunch of monkeys, we won’t have the face to go back to Chang’an.” Cheng Huailiang thought for a moment and understood Qin Mu’s intention.
"Yes! There are mountains on the right side of the canyon, and the left side is close to the sea, but it's difficult to travel due to the river. The water is very deep this season, so they will definitely surround us from the right. After all, for them, the jungle is not much different from their home."
"They'll definitely attack desperately to prevent our retreat, so we need to set up more traps on the right flank to delay their encirclement. When the time is right, we'll follow the river directly into the sea and leave by boat! While the main army is away, we'll head straight for the city behind the peninsula!" Qin Mu explained.
"Great idea! Let's make a raft first, cross the river, and even if they surround us, they won't be able to catch us," Cheng Huailiang happily agreed.
"We'll part ways this afternoon. You take five hundred black apes to set traps. Set as many as possible, and make sure they're on edge at every turn!" Qin Mu instructed.
"Understood!" Cheng Huailiang replied happily. Setting a trap was something that piqued his interest immediately; it was much more interesting than ambushing people in Chang'an. He had made a lot of money and caused a lot of trouble in Chang'an over the past few years, which was probably one of the reasons why Cheng Zhijie had let them out.
Cheng Huailiang led three hundred soldiers and five hundred black apes to set a trap, while Qin Mu was not idle either, speeding up the march and arriving at a canyon. It was called a canyon only because there were high mountains on both sides; in fact, it was not narrow in the middle, more than a hundred meters wide, and two or three meters wide in some places. Moreover, it was in a dense forest, with lush trees, so there was no worry about rolling logs or stones from the mountains on both sides.
This passage is usually considered a remote place, not that there is only one way, but it is the easiest way to travel. The other ways, according to the monkeys' calculations, are located several mountain peaks away, and are also mountain paths.
In the dense forest, there is no shortage of trees, and the people of the Central Plains almost all know a little about carpentry. After all, it is not cost-effective to hire a carpenter for home repairs, unless it is for weddings, funerals, or house repairs.
Large numbers of trees were felled and dragged to the mouth of the canyon, where a fence was erected; vine-supported chevaux-de-frise were densely arranged, forming three lines of defense. The hillsides on both sides were bare due to the logging, and figures moved about on the hills, indicating that someone was stationed there.
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