Chapter 1130 They must be here to rob
In the winter of the second year of Da Ming, in mid-December, after a month of preparation, Ye Ying finally led the fleet to set off.
From the waterways near the capital, there is no place that can connect to the Liuyang River, so the fleet must set out from Tuohai County, go north along the Liuyang River, and when they reach a three-way estuary that connects with the grassland Honghu, they will turn to enter the Honghu water system. Finally, they will follow the shore of the east bank of Honghu, sailing south while searching for signs of human activities on the shore.
If you find a tribe of the Qiao family, then trade with them for a wave of people first. If you encounter other strange small tribes, if you can take all the people away directly, then take them all away directly.
Even if you can't take everyone away immediately, you have to buy a batch of things first, and remember the specific location to provide a reference for subsequent actions.
The goods carried by the caravan this time are enough and the variety is rich enough. Even if those uncivilized primitive people are picky, there is always one that they like.
When they saw the caravans riding huge sailboats, with sharp weapons in their hands and goods floating on the water, they could not attack at all, and they could not defeat them at all. Faced with such a situation, they wanted the things of the Han tribe but could not rob them, so they could only exchange them with people. Luo Chong did not believe that it was impossible not to exchange for people.
Thinking that the Han tribe was so poor at the beginning, Luo Chong could exchange so many people with white salt and pottery, which made the Han tribe grow rapidly. Now that there are so many goods, are you afraid that you can't exchange for people?
Everything is ready, and the fleet will set off immediately.
After so many years of exploration by the Han tribe, the Liuyang River has already been thoroughly familiar with the various hydrological conditions. The fleet took advantage of the crosswind blowing from the east and quickly went upstream.
Because the trade fleet was not doing very urgent things, and in order to load more goods and more people on the return trip, the fleet was not equipped with flying fish speedboats. The three-masted ships that used to look tall and majestic in the Han tribe now sail slowly.
After a long 10-day voyage, the fleet finally entered the Sancha River estuary leading to the grassland Honghu Lake.
This Sancha River estuary has become a very important transportation hub for the Han tribe. In order to prevent the ships from going in the wrong direction, the Han tribe has long used wooden pillars to make channel signs here, and there are landmark towers built with stones. Although simple, they are very practical.
Ten sailboats lined up in a column and immediately turned and changed course, sailing into the river leading to Honghu Lake.
After three days of sailing along the shore, the fleet finally arrived at the range of Honghu Lake. Ye Ying immediately ordered the fleet to change its formation.
The four three-masted sailboats were a little further away from the shore and kept sailing in the deep water area to prevent the large ships from running aground. The four two-masted sailboats were closer to the shore. The Jinwu Guard soldiers on the ship took turns holding telescopes every day to observe the shore on the second-floor terrace to see if there were any signs of human activities.
Two small single-masted boats cruised back and forth along the shore. This kind of boat is small in size, so it is no problem to rush directly to the shore. As long as it does not hit the rocks and smash the boat directly, it can be pulled back into the water by a large boat. If there are more than a dozen people, even on the shore, they can push the boat back into the water again,
and there is no fear of running aground. After the fleet reorganized its formation, it continued to sail eastward along the lakeshore. What was unexpected was that the fleet found traces of humans on the shore before it had walked a day after the formation.
It was noon, the warmest time of the day in this early winter season. Those tribes that did not have enough food for the winter and did not have enough animal skins to keep warm would of course take advantage of such sunny days to continue to look for food, such as hunting prey that came to drink water by the river.
In the sparse woods on the lakeshore, a group of primitive people in ragged clothes and tattered animal skins were looking for food.
A dozen adult men were holding bamboo spears in their hands, observing the surrounding situation vigilantly. Some were looking at the woods, some at the bushes, and some at the water. A teenager who looked like he had just reached adulthood was holding a bamboo spear in his hand, constantly searching the water by the lake, as if he wanted to stab a fish out of it.
Among these men, there was a group of a dozen women who were coaxing a few children to climb up the tree, asking those light-bodied children to go to the tree to see if there were any tree holes or something, maybe they could touch the food stored by the squirrels from inside. Sure enough
, God will not let down those who work hard, and those hungry children finally touched food from the tree hole, which turned out to be a tree hole full of big almonds!!!
At the mouth of the river upstream of Honghu Lake, the climate is not as warm as the coastal area, nor as cold as the north. Naturally, there are no nuts that grow in the coniferous forest here, but the south also has its own specialties. In this area that the Han tribe has never explored, there are actually wild apricot trees.
However, in this season, the apricots have long been eaten by the humans and birds and beasts in the tribe, leaving only the almonds that no one wants, which are stored by the hardworking squirrels. Unexpectedly, the poor squirrels suffered this unprovoked disaster. The fruits of their hard work for several months were suddenly robbed by a little kid.
A little guy with long hair found the almonds and immediately yelled at the women below. The women quickly gathered under the tree, and the two of them worked together to hold up a piece of animal skin. When the children on the tree saw that the people below were ready, they began to dig almonds down one by one.
This scene is just like the Han tribe more than ten years ago, when Luo Chong had just come to this world. At that time, the women of the Han tribe went out to collect food, and they also used animal skins to pack it directly. The entire tribe did not even have a rattan basket or a backpack.
However, this was good news for the Han tribe, because the poorer the other side was, the more scarce their supplies were, the more likely they were to reach a deal with the Han tribe.
The lookout on the boat had already seen those people with a telescope, and the crew on the single-masted boat closest to the shore also discovered the situation there, so without saying a word, a small boat turned around and headed towards the shore where the group of people were.
As for the men guarding nearby with bamboo spears, none of them had paid attention to the lake. After all, in their subconscious, even if there were dangers, wild beasts, or even enemies, they must have come from the land by the lake. How could there be enemies in the lake?
Instead, the boy who had been staring at the water and wanted to catch fish was the first to discover the sailboat on the lake.
It was a single-masted boat, but in the eyes of the boy, it was like a divine object. It only needed a pair of wings to fly on the water.
There were also several people standing there dressed in strange clothes. They were wearing thick cotton clothes, some had their hair tied up on top, and some wore cotton hats and leather boots, wrapping their bodies tightly and looking warmer than the animal skins on their bodies.
But who were they?
Why did they suddenly come towards them?
Only then did the young man suddenly react and shouted a warning to the tribesmen around him who were facing away from the lake.
"Chief, chief, someone is coming from the water, chief, there are strange people coming from the water!!!"
Everyone turned around and looked towards the water. Sure enough, they saw a fleet of several large and small ships, one of the smallest of which was rushing towards them.
The young chief in the crowd shouted immediately when he saw this.
"Get down from the tree quickly, leave the things behind, women take the children and return to the tribe, men follow me and retreat, everyone be careful not to be caught by them!"
The young man who first discovered the boat asked, "Chief, are they bad guys?"
The young chief said without hesitation, "Who knows? In this season, food is already scarce. A tribe that can still run around at this time, will they take the initiative to send you food? I think they are most likely to rob food."
Everyone immediately became nervous after hearing this.
Food in winter is the most precious thing, it can save lives.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
