Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 317 Shuffle
In the early morning, when all is quiet, the day of nocturnal animals begins.

A wild rabbit quietly left its shallow burrow in the locust bushes and went out to forage along a hidden path it had walked many times before.

However, the hare was unaware that its trail had already been discovered.

After daybreak, two men in robes walked up the hillside one after the other to check the traps they had set the day before.

The hare feigns death; its tawny fur makes it look like a clump of withered grass, but it doesn't fool the hunter.

"[Heard] There! Brother!" the boy behind shouted in surprise.

The young man walking ahead also spotted the prey. He pursed his lips, took out his short bow, and gestured for his younger brother to be quiet.

It was too late; the hare was already frightened.

It struggled desperately, leaping and landing repeatedly, trying to break free from the restraints of its hind legs.

The thing binding the rabbit's right hind leg was a tough leather rope that wasn't easy to break.

The prey that stepped into the trap was also a strong, adult male rabbit. In its death throes, it actually managed to pull off the branch that was securing the leather rope.

As soon as it regained its limited freedom, the hare immediately dragged the rope and stick toward the bushes.

"[Herd] The rabbit is going to run away!" the boy shouted.

The young man took a deep breath, drew his short bow, and shot an arrow with lightning speed.

Although the bow in his hand was a cheap one made of tree branch, and the arrow he nocked had no fletching, the young man still managed to hit his prey.

The boy excitedly ran into the bushes and retrieved the wild rabbit.

The two brothers found a sheltered spot. The boy gathered dry branches and leaves to start a fire, while the young man skinned and gutted the prey and roasted the wild rabbit.

Without a doubt, the youths and boys were Hed people—of course, they wouldn't think so themselves.

In the minds of young people and teenagers, there is no concept of "Hed people"; they are merely subjects of the "Taichi" leader.

After the Battle of Pangtuo River, the Tiefeng County authorities did not directly imprison Taichi's troops, but merely exiled them to the south bank of the Pangtuo River, where they remained under Taichi's control.

At that time, Winters decided that the top priority was to annihilate the Teldun Khanate, and he could not spare any extra resources to deal with the Taichi tribe.

Thus, the surrendered Tai Chi troops were "placed" in Lower Tiefeng County. Winters gave the two companies stationed at Tu Shechang only one task: Do not let the Tai Chi troops enter Middle Tiefeng County again.

Taichi himself was quite cooperative and did not engage in any underhanded tactics during the battle between the Tiefeng County army and the Teldun Khan's camp—to be precise, Taichi may not have known the situation in the Central Tiefeng County at all.

In exchange, the food and drink of the surrendered Tai Chi troops were supplied by Tie Feng County during this period.

The people of Tiefeng County could only eat black bread, so naturally, only black bread could be provided to the Taichi tribe.

The daily diet of the Hed tribes consisted mainly of porridge, rice, and dairy products, with occasional meat dishes from hunting. Day after day, the Hed people's stomachs could not withstand the rations.

To keep the surrendered soldiers in check, Tiefeng County provided them with a certain amount of meat every day.

However, all that meat ended up in the bellies of the leaders, leaving the lower-class subjects and slaves to find their own ways to catch rabbits—for example, by setting traps.

Wild rabbits have almost no fat, so they shouldn't be roasted for too long.

Seeing that the meat was almost cooked, the young man used his knife to cut the rabbit meat into small pieces, and then took out a small leather bag containing lake salt for his younger brother to dip in.

The boy tore at a rabbit leg and grumbled, "[Herdos] Brother, have you heard?"

The young man slowly chewed the rabbit head, as if trying to crush every bone and suck out all the marrow: "[Herd] What have you heard?"

"[Hede] Bai Yu and Deji... those people would chatter like sparrows for a long time every night."

The young man snorted coldly and didn't reply.

"[Hede] We should join them too." Seeing his brother's noncommittal expression, the boy grew anxious: "[Hede] When will this end? Let's follow Bai Yu and try to escape!"

The young man remained silent.

The boy threw away the rabbit leg bone with a vengeance, saying resentfully, "[Hede] Don't you want to go home, brother? Nayan is no longer an eagle; his soul has been stolen by that wolf! Baiyu said that Taichi Nayan wants to offer you and me to that wolf..."

The young man spat out a bone fragment: "[Herdos] Shut up."

Seeing his older brother's displeasure, the boy obediently shut up.

"[Hede] If you could know what Bai Yu is thinking," the young man picked up the rabbit leg bone his younger brother had thrown away, wiped it with a blade of grass, and put it in his mouth, crunching loudly. "[Hede] Then Yan will soon find out too."

The boy stared wide-eyed and opened his mouth wide.

The young man continued, “[Herd’s words] To get home, we need horses first. Without horses, even if we work ourselves to death, we won’t be able to cross the vast grasslands. And the horses are all in the hands of the chieftains.”

On the day of the surrender, Winters ordered his men to take away the surrendered soldiers' warhorses and weapons, leaving them only with their personal swords.

Therefore, the bows and arrows used by the young hunters to hunt rabbits were made hastily from tree branches and were not very comfortable to use.

However, Winters also left some horses and weapons for Taychi himself—to suppress the Teldun people.

“[Hede] Then… what should we do?” The boy immediately deflated.

The young man glanced at his younger brother: "[Hede] Shut your mouth and open your eyes. I'll figure something out; don't interfere."

The boy came back to life and pestered his brother to ask him what had happened.

However, the young man knew his younger brother couldn't keep secrets, so he resolutely refused to reveal anything.

Having been worn down by his persistent nagging, he finally managed to add, "[Hede] isn't just about Taichinayan; there are other leaders to the south... and leaders of weapons and warhorses..."

Just as the two brothers were about to extinguish the campfire, a group of riders suddenly appeared from the hillside to the north.

Upon seeing the firelight, the riders galloped straight toward the two brothers.

The young man could tell from the sight of the newcomer's tall horse, tight-fitting clothes, and riding posture that the other person was not one of his own.

"[Hede] Run!" The young man grabbed his younger brother and ran away as fast as he could.

But two legs can't outrun four legs, and the two brothers were quickly caught up and surrounded by the rider.

The lead rider took off his triangular bandana and asked, somewhat puzzled, "What are you running for?"

The young man clearly felt his younger brother's weight suddenly press down on him, and his legs involuntarily went weak.

Because what he saw was a face that was almost etched into his very bones.

It was the owner of this face who stole Taichinayan's soul; and it was before this face that the young man surrendered his weapons and warhorse—the "wolf" his brother spoke of had arrived.

Winters glanced at the still-stunned translator.

The translator quickly spurred his horse forward and translated the tribunal's words to the two Harts.

The young Hedman didn't react much, but the Hedman who looked quite young suddenly knelt down with a thud and rattled off a lot of things.

"What's going on here?" Winters chuckled and looked at the translator.

The translator listened for a long time before replying rather awkwardly, "Your Excellency, he said he wanted to be your door slave, to open the door for you, lead your horse, carry your sword, serve you wine... I didn't quite catch the rest, but it was probably all similar chores." Upon hearing this, Winters really wanted to whip the little Hed.

This mentality of willingly becoming a slave to power disgusted him, but considering the state of Heder society, he couldn't ask for anything more.

Winters shook his head.

The translator immediately relayed the tribunal's attitude to the other party, and thoughtfully added the explanation: "[Herd] The tribe of the Blood Wolf chieftain does not want slaves, nor does it have any slaves."

Little Hed was initially confused, but quickly came to his senses and asked a few more questions eagerly.

"Your Excellency," the translator said, even more embarrassed, "he asked you, if you don't want slaves, then do you want guards? Stablemen?"

"What exactly did you say to him?" Winters lightly lashed the translator's back with his whip.

"I didn't say anything," the translator scratched his head. "I just translated what you said truthfully."

Most clerks unconsciously feel a sense of awe and fear when they first meet the Montagne tribunal.

However, the translator who accompanied Winters to Lower Iron Peak was a "veteran" clerk. As Winters spent more time beside him, the fear gradually subsided, replaced by a sense of ease and closeness.

Winters' smile faded, and he looked at the two Hed people, one big and one small, and said seriously, "Go home. If you can't survive, come find me again, but don't bring any swords... Where is Chief Taichi now? Please take me to see him."

After the translator repeated the passage in Hebrew, the young Hebrew man bowed with his hand on his chest and gestured in the direction.

“He said to just follow him,” the translator said. “He will take you to the camp.”

Two Heds walked in front, followed by Winters and his riders.

“Sir, I truly cannot understand what these barbarians are thinking.” As one of the accompanying personnel, Mr. Jacob Green witnessed the scene just now: “Weren’t they the ones who wanted to kill us all before? Now they’re willing to become your slaves? It’s incomprehensible!”

Winters thought for a moment. He had a lot to say, but in the end, he simply replied, "For survival."

Mr. Jacob Green wanted to continue the conversation, but seeing that the tribunal was not very interested, he did not continue the topic.

The group soon arrived at the camp of the Taichi tribe.

The scene before him was vastly different from the grim, dark barbarian lair that Green had imagined.

Since there was no longer any need for fighting, Taichi's people were trying to find ways to get food.

Animal pelts lay haphazardly on the branches, and bird feathers were scattered everywhere by the wind. Some Hud people were sharpening bone arrowheads, while others were carrying fishing rods as they walked out.

A short distance from the camp, Heinrich raised the Blood Wolf's personal banner.

The atmosphere at the Taichi tribe camp suddenly changed. The Hede people who had gone out ran back desperately, while the Hede people inside the camp wanted to watch the excitement but dared not get close.

Winters, with a small group of riders, waited politely at the camp entrance.

As more and more Hurds gathered around him, Jacob Green realized that the surrendered soldiers were still half an enemy, and he instinctively reached for his sword hilt.

"Sir, shall we just go in?" Green asked in a low voice.

“Don’t worry,” Winters reassured the accompanying clerk. “We can’t go in directly—we need to maintain Taichi’s authority as much as possible.”

Soon, horns sounded throughout the camp, and Taichi led a group of Kota and Nayan out of the camp.

Winters also dismounted, and in the eyes of his followers, Taichi welcomed Champion Palatul into the camp in an equal manner.

This might seem unfair to the victor; if Andrei were also present, he might have thrown a tantrum.

Fortunately, Winters never cared about such things. He had already won and there was no need to continue humiliating Taychi.

Moreover, what Winters least wants to see right now is the complete collapse of Teltown.

Upon entering the inner tent, the host and guest completely removed their masks.

The two sides were enemies to begin with, and still are. Rather than maintaining a false sense of courtesy, let's get straight to the point.

Taichi waved his hand to shoo away his subordinates' leaders, and Winters nodded to reassure his men. Only Winters, Taichi, and their interpreters remained in the tent.

"[Hede] You can swagger in here." Taichi sat down laboriously on the soft couch: "[Hede] This means the Terdun tribe is finished."

Winters sat across the table from Teach and calmly stated, "The man who tended the fire is indeed dead."

Tai Chi sighed heavily.

Winters observed the other party—although Taichi was partly responsible for the demise of the fire-breasteners, the other party's current grief did not seem fake.

Tai Chi's demeanor, physique, and loud voice easily make people overlook his real age, but now he seems to have suddenly grown white hair and wrinkles, turning into a frail old man.

The old Hed asked, "[Hed] the fire-warmer is dead. What are your plans with my people? To kill them all?"

“That plan did exist,” Winters answered honestly.

The interpreter's expression froze, unsure whether he should translate the sentence, but Taichi's interpreter had already whispered something to Taichi.

"[Hede] Your ambush is already outside?" Taichi sneered. "[Hede] Why haven't you made a move?"

“After careful consideration, I believe that allowing you and the Teldon tribe to continue to exist is more in my interest.” Winters paused for a moment before slowly speaking, “Therefore, I will not only let you go, but I will also return your warhorses and weapons, and give you a hundred carts of grain. In addition, I will provide you with the remains of the fire-breastener.”

Although the customs of the various tribes of Hard differed, the act of returning the remains of the fallen to their families was rewarded handsomely in every clan.

In some clans, the person who returns the body can even inherit the deceased's property and family.

Receiving the remains of the person who was warming themselves by the fire signifies the right to arrange their funeral, which to some extent equates to having the right to distribute their estate.

Winters looked directly at Taichi: "I have only one request for you and your men—return to the Great Wilderness immediately, or I will kill you all."

……

While Winters and Techi sincerely exchanged opinions, [Blue Horse] and [Stone Arrow] returned to the winter pastures of the Teldun tribe.

The fire caused incalculable damage to the Telden people, who had no ability to extinguish it and could only flee.

People can escape on horseback, but what about the livestock? What about the tents?

The livestock that couldn't be driven away suffocated, and the valuables that couldn't be taken were burned. The Teldun people, with their remaining possessions, had no choice but to migrate again.

Compared to natural disasters—most Teldun people still believe that fires are the wrath of the gods, and that other tribes are more dangerous.

At this moment, the Teldun tribe desperately needs a large army; only in this way can they deter the covetous eyes of other tribes.

However, the main force had already been taken away by the fire-keepers, and it was unknown when they would return. The leaders left behind to guard the hearths had no choice but to convene a "general meeting" to discuss matters.

Some leaders guarding the hearths insisted on waiting for the fire-warmers to return, while others subtly suggested that they might temporarily seek refuge with the Eastern Sea Tribe or the Suz Tribe... or simply go their separate ways.

While the big leaders were arguing endlessly at the meeting, Qingma and Shijian did their best to find all the minor leaders and chiefs they could.

Qingma and Shijian brought good news: a large tribe was willing to provide pastures and shelter for the smaller tribes of Teldun—that tribe was called "Chihe".

Oops... I'm late.

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(End of this chapter)