Simba felt a sudden, inexplicable panic. His current situation was due not only to the Kereit tribe lending him 10,000 warriors, but also to the fact that Huba had offended Rao Shifen in Daxia. After all, Huba had the most people, and if they didn't disappoint him, no one would dare to openly compete with him for the tribal chieftainship. Huba's 30,000 elite steppe cavalry were no joke.
Simba watched as the crowd grew increasingly noisy and knew he had to calm them down. He shouted, "Now that Huba has brought back goods from Great Xia, let's see how much salt and iron our young chieftain has earned for our tribe!"
Salt and iron are the hard currency of the grasslands. Merchants from the Great Xia Dynasty are always greedy. Three thousand fine horses might fetch a good amount of silver, but if you want them to bring salt and iron across the grasslands for you, their prices will skyrocket. And if you buy salt from the Great Xia and transport it yourself, well… the checkpoints along the way will devour you completely.
Huba waved for one of his followers to run out of the camp. The follower was incredibly bulky, wearing a large, hooded cloth robe that looked awkward on him. Simba's men followed him out, eager to see if Huba was real or not.
The heavy horse-drawn carriages were slowly pulled into the field, one after another, and soon filled the 'training ground' illuminated by the campfire. More carriages were being pulled in until the field was completely blocked and could not move at all.
Huba walked to the first carriage, reached out and tore open the felt cloth, revealing white salt. Then came the second, the third, and so on. Without Huba and Simba's prompting, the Tatar herders themselves tore open the felt cloths of all the carriages. Hundreds of thousands of kilograms of refined salt reflected off the flickering campfire, stirring the hearts of all the herders.
Simba was speechless. He pointed to the carriage, and his guards quickly grabbed a handful of fine salt for him. Simba tasted the salt in his hand. The saltiness was very pure, quite different from those pale yellow coarse salts. This... was fine salt, salt that only nobles could afford.
After planning for so long, first he secretly bribed his younger brother Huba's tribe, then he had someone instigate him to sell horses in Daxia, and then he borrowed troops from the Kereit tribe. He was about to take the position of chieftain. Is he going to fail at the last minute?
"No... absolutely not..." He said coldly to Huba, "Huba, no matter what, the Tatar tribe is now under the protection of the Wolf King. Only I can bring good fortune to our Tatar tribe. For the future of the tribe... you... can only die here today."
After that, Simba waved his hand, and his hundreds of guards drew their swords and surrounded Huba and his pitiful few dozen followers.
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