To avoid the Tatars, they moved along the edge of the grassland. Wolves followed them like shadows, and Yu Bu Tong and his companions grew increasingly frightened as they walked. Worse still, the wolves seemed to be growing in number. First, they followed in groups of two or three, then dozens, then dozens...
One day, the caravan was tired, so everyone dismounted and led the camels slowly forward. As the sun set, the wolf pack behind them had grown to over 200 individuals. Everyone was terrified, and the dozen or so camels began to panic again.
Finally, one camel could no longer bear the fear and broke free from the servant's reins and rushed forward. The servant shouted and chased after it, but after a few steps he stopped because he saw that the lone camel was quickly surrounded by wolves.
Then came the camel's screams and wails, and the wolves feasted on the camel. The wails gradually subsided, but the wolves rushed to bite and fight with each other.
It was clear that this was not just a single wolf pack, but a large army of several or even more than a dozen wolf packs, which was extremely rare on the Mongolian steppes.
"Brother Li, this is not a solution. How can we make the wolves retreat?" Yu Bu Tong said.
Li Baiwan glanced around and said, "Collect more firewood and garrison!"
"Look, there is a mud house ahead!" a servant pointed ahead.
This was truly a timely help. There was actually a mud house on the edge of the grassland. Without thinking too much, everyone rushed to the house.
"What about the camel caravan?" asked a servant.
"Put it in, put it in." Li Baiwan shouted.
"No," Yu Bu Tong stopped him, "Put the camels in the mud house first. We'll keep the wolves away from here. Everyone, collect more firewood!"
"Oh, it would be great if we had bows and arrows. Wolves are afraid of bows and arrows." The old servant sighed.
Li Baiwan looked at the dark mass of wolves behind him and said, "They are starving and mad. Bows and arrows will be of no use to them."
There were few trees on the grassland, but fortunately they were walking along the edge of the grassland. After a long time of scavenging, they finally collected a small pile. But it should be enough to last them through the night.
Wolves are probably the smartest animals besides humans, and they are good at using their wisdom. These hundreds of wolves surrounded the mud house and waited for the opportunity.
As the night deepened, the howling of wolves continued. The terrifying thing was that as the wolves howled, their numbers actually increased.
"What is going on? Why are there so many wolves?" Even Li Baiwan felt puzzled.
"If I'm not mistaken, they were driven here by the Tatar army," said the old servant.
His guess was correct. Steppe wolves had long been a mortal enemy of herders. They raided sheep and attacked herders, causing significant losses. During years of heavy snow or drought, when food was scarce, the wolves became even more aggressive. Consequently, the Tatar leader, Xingchen Jiu, organized several large-scale hunting operations, which only served to moderate the wolves. They now roamed the edges of the Tatar grasslands, daring not to venture further into the heartland.
At night, everyone lit a bonfire at the door of the mud house, so the wolves could not get close and they were safe for the time being.
The wolves were running around the periphery, anxious as ants on a hot pan. Sometimes, when they got angry, different wolf packs would bite each other, and the wolves that were bitten to death were instantly devoured by other wolves.
"Alas, beasts are beasts. They start fighting among themselves before they even work together." Yu Bu Tong sighed.
Li Baiwan's mind was moved: Is he hinting at something? So he smiled and said: "We Xixia and the Song Dynasty have joined forces, and we must not harm each other's harmony."
Yu Bu Tong nodded and said, "That's right. Our Song-Xia marriage is like a family. We can't let any rifts in our alliance exist."
"Rustle, rustle..." A strange sound suddenly came faintly from the silent night.
Everyone listened attentively. A servant was leaning over the window of the mud house, looking inside. He shouted, "Oh no! The wolves have dug a hole and entered the house."
The wolves were very clever, they would run back and forth in front of the crowd to attract their attention, then quietly dig a hole behind the mud house to sneak into the house and attack the camels.
Several servants were about to rush in with knives in hand, while another pointed at the roof and shouted, "House, be careful of the roof!"
I saw three or four wolves jumping onto the roof, baring their teeth at everyone.
Several servants held up torches to block the wolves on the roof, "Charge in and protect the camel caravan!" Yu Bu Tong picked up a torch on the ground and rushed into the house with knives in hand with everyone else.
Five or six hungry wolves had already entered the house and were tearing the camel apart.
Yu Bu Tong felt his hair stand on end. These wolves were so clever. The room was small, so they didn't attack the camels directly, as that might injure themselves. Instead, they ran back and forth around the herd, occasionally biting a camel and then leaping away, their goal being to scatter the herd.
Sure enough, the camels panicked, and three of them pushed open the wooden door and ran out of the house.
"Block the wooden door!" Yu Bu Tong shouted.
Everyone worked together to block the wooden door, and the five or six wolves in the house crawled out through the hole they had just entered.
"Don't let it run away, kill it!" Yu Bu Tong shouted.
One of the wolves was too slow to get in, and its rear end was still sticking out of the house. A servant grabbed the wolf by the tail and dragged it back into the house. He pulled hard but it wouldn't budge. It turned out that the other wolves outside were biting the wolf's ears and neck and trying to pull it out.
The old servant rushed forward and chopped at the wolf with his sword. After several consecutive chops, he finally cut the hungry wolf into two pieces. The servant's hand felt lighter, and he was holding half of the wolf's body.
The wolves outside bit the neck and ears of the wolf in the cave and pulled it out. When they looked again, only half of the wolf's head was left. The wolves were stunned for a moment, and then they began to bite and devour the dead wolf.
This is the wolf, they are so smart. A wolf pack fights together and helps each other, but once a wolf loses its usefulness, they will bite and devour it without hesitation, just like those golden men.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
