Although the Hai Tribe suffered heavy losses from the combined forces of the five tribes, with over thirty dead and over fifty injured, they still won a resounding victory, and the Hai Tribe rejoiced and strengthened their cohesion.
Ma Yue even felt that the power of faith had increased a bit. Prestige! If you can lead the tribe to victory and survival, you will have prestige, and people will believe in you more, right?
Facing the coalition forces of five tribes with several times more able-bodied soldiers, Ma Yue was still able to lead the Hai tribe to victory, and a great victory at that. How could the people of the tribe not believe in you and respect you?
With a loud shout from the high priest, two priests and three leaders took the lead and prostrated themselves at Ma Yue's feet. All the tribesmen within the wall knelt on the ground, and their awe of Ma Yue reached a new level.
After a grand celebration, they still had to clean up the mess. The injured had Panax notoginseng decoction to treat them, which could save many lives. They also harvested a lot of cattails from the wild, which were also good for healing.
Ma Yue had collected a good amount of healing medicine he knew, and this time he was finally able to use it on a large scale. (Fortunately, the last time the long-distance caravan went to Sun City, they mainly traded onions, Panax notoginseng, and other potions, so there wasn't much trade.)
There were so many wounded soldiers captured from the five allied forces, and their injuries were so severe that there was no point in treating them. The leader Hai directly took them out and beheaded more than a dozen of them. There were actually more than a hundred wounded soldiers from the other five allied forces, and their injuries were not serious. After treatment, most of them could still work.
In the corner of the wall, there were seventy or eighty prisoners from the five allied forces who had surrendered directly from the wild, and they were still squatting there, frightened. They didn't even need to be tied up with ropes, and they were very obedient.
Frightened by the Hai tribe and fooled by Ma Yue's "miracle" at the large-scale sacrificial ceremony, it would be strange if he was not honest.
"You charlatan, let's go and defeat that damn Niupi tribe." Indeed, now that the tribe is strong, why should we be afraid of the Niupi tribe?
"What's the point of taking it down?" Ma Yue rolled his eyes.
"This..." Leader Hai was stunned by Ma Yue's question for a moment. They hit us, shouldn't we fight back?
"First of all, you must understand the true meaning of war." Ma Yue said. The two priests and three leaders seemed to not quite understand.
"What's the purpose of fighting?" Ma Yue continued, "You need to fight for your own benefit, right?"
It seems... that's the truth. The Sea Tribe fought two major wars, and in the end... at least, their population grew, and their fighting power grew stronger. They also salvaged many sharp weapons and tools, which promoted the further development of the Sea Tribe.
Where did the Sea Tribe get all those wooden flying spears? How could they sharpen the wood without sharp stone or bone tools?
"What does the Niupi tribe have now? It is said that the wildebeests and people were all bought on credit." Ma Yue said this, and the second priest and Chief Hai nodded.
The Cowhide Tribe is roughly equivalent to the Sun Tribe's transit merchant in this area. Apart from the pottery making that is of no use to the Sea Tribe, the Cowhide Tribe actually... doesn't have anything else.
There are still many people left, young and old.
"Of course, if we're defeated, we must be prepared for defeat. The war was started by the Niupi tribe, so we can't just let it go. We have to pay compensation for the losses we suffered in the war. Over thirty of us died in this battle, and fifty or sixty were injured. The Niupi tribe can't refuse to compensate us."
Is Ma Yue a reasonable person? Back then, in the late Qing Dynasty, when the foreign powers attacked, you still had to pay compensation to the foreign powers even if you lost, right?
We don't want silver, can you just compensate us with people or livestock?
Do you dare not give it to me? Hehe!
"I understand!" The second priest had the strongest comprehension ability, "I'll go!"
"Okay! I trust you to do the job. Take whatever you want, people, livestock, even tools. If you can't get it back yourself, why not take fifty or sixty wildebeests with you? Haha!"
This is how the tone was set at the high-level meeting.
The second priest and the chief, Hai, set out with fifty horned horsemen.
The Sea Tribe won the battle and brought back a lot of food and weapons, including sharp bone and stone tools. Whether it was a knife or an axe, they were all good things. They could also strip a lot of animal skins from the dead.
Calculating the time, they could still boil salt for another half a month. Time was precious and could not be wasted. So, hundreds of people from the Sea Tribe with a relatively high level of faith went to the seaside to boil salt again.
The seventy or eighty uninjured captives couldn't be idle either. They were repairing the damaged timber walls, building new timber houses and beds—what didn't require labor? While working together, they were also integrating their languages. There couldn't be a cacophony of different dialects, could there?
In short, there is always work to do in primitive tribes.
The five-member coalition army fought against the Sea Tribe, shocking many large and small tribes in the area for a time. The great power of the new wildebeest cavalry was extremely deterrent.
What will be the final fate of the Niupi tribe?
The Niupi tribe was in a state of gloom. The chief had been killed by a wildebeest in battle, and the third chief had been stabbed by a flying spear during the charge, his whereabouts unknown to this day. Only the second chief and the high priest remained.
This time, the Niupi Tribe, as the leader, sent the largest number of troops to attack the Hai Tribe. Was it to set an example? After all, you were the initiator of the coalition? Only about twenty able-bodied men remained, and only eleven escaped. How could this still be considered a large tribe?
There are only about thirty able-bodied men left, and the Niupi tribe still has hundreds of elderly, weak, women and children to feed. What should they do?
"High Priest, let's... migrate!" said the second leader helplessly.
Migration is normal for primitive tribes, especially small ones. Of course, it is unimaginable for the once powerful Niupi tribe.
What if they don't migrate? There are only a few able-bodied men left in the tribe. What if the Sea Tribe attacks? The Niupi Tribe is not as well-trained as the Sea Tribe. How can they let the elderly, weak, women and children participate in the war?
The Niupi tribe also has a wooden wall, but unfortunately, it lacks the most important retaining ditch and defense platform, and has little defensive capability. How can it use chicken feathers for defense?
"Migrate? How? Migrate? Thirty or so able-bodied men, migrating with four or five hundred elderly and weak?" the high priest said angrily. After all, the strength of a tribe depends on its able-bodied men. In this era, fishing and hunting were still the main livelihoods. How could thirty or so able-bodied men support four or five hundred elderly and weak?
The population structure is seriously irrational.
"We can only... take some people away." It was normal for the second chief to say that. In primitive tribes, if there were losses, the old and weak would be the first to suffer. In the order of food distribution, the old and weak were also ranked last, so it was reasonable for them to starve to death.
"If we gather some more people among ourselves, we can barely gather a few dozen who can fight." The high priest understood what the second leader meant. Children are also growing up. If the requirements are not too high, thin men and women, younger men and women, and shorter men and women can barely be considered able to fight.
It seems that the Sea Tribe did the same thing. There were even lame people using crutches in the Sea Tribe's hunting team.
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