Chapter 1225 Mountain Flag Team, Honest and Hospitable

The cardinal flew over the treetops and landed on the fruit tree branches in the village. Kestrels circled in the sky, looking for prey. The gray-yellow three-piece dirt road, under the watchful eyes of the birds, stretches from the densely populated Apa plain to the mountains in the southwest.

Although the Sanhe dirt road between the mountains is also a second-class county road, it obviously has some potholes and there are very few ordinary villagers walking on it. Those responsible for maintaining these mountain roads are mainly the local Tecos tribe who formed a flag team, the Tlaxcala flag team that migrated from the Eastern Expedition a few years ago, and a few miscellaneous flag teams that were made up.

The large flag force set up by the kingdom usually numbered around 4,000 people, which increased or decreased with the war. A large flag team has about ten small flag teams. There are about 400 people in a small flag team, similar to the early "Niu Lu" of the Jurchens. In each "Niulu", there is a large tent for the leader with a hundred people, and four to six smaller tents with dozens of people. The leader of the "Niulu" must be a senior warrior from the enfeoffed kingdom, while the leader of the small tent must be a promoted tribesman or a disabled warrior.

The so-called "Miscellaneous tribe", as the name suggests, is a flag force put together by savages of unknown origins and some tribes with random origins, led by a warrior from the kingdom. The reason why such miscellaneous tribes appear is naturally due to the long-standing and increasingly prosperous capture activities of the Nahua tribes. With the improvement of agricultural technology and the popularization of various agricultural tools, whether it is the feudal warriors of the kingdom or the tribal flag troops cultivating the mountain fields, there is a strong demand for young men who represent the labor force!

In the past, "capture" was usually for sacrifice, but now, "capture" is more like the "capture" of various Jurchen tribes. To put it bluntly, each ministry has surplus food to feed more people, and also has the tools and technology to cultivate new fields. It would be slow to wait for the tribe to produce its own talents, so it is better to grab ready-made ones, both boys and girls...

"O God! Why is there not even a living creature walking?... It would be great if I could meet a deer!... It would be even better if I could meet a salesman!!..."

Luo Bing squatted in the grass on the side of the mountain, shirtless, holding a flint spear in his hand and a hunting bow behind his back. His face was painted with Tecos tattoos, and he was squinting his eyes, looking at the empty mountain road, imagining the "door-to-door delivery man", and couldn't help but drool.

It's a pity that the mountain flag corps has always been famous for its simple folk customs. Since being robbed several times, no one dares to sell goods alone in the mountains anymore. As for the larger prey, such as deer, wolves, and jaguars, they slowly disappeared from this area after the various flag teams settled down, and the living ones could not keep up with the hunting ones. On the contrary, small vegetarian animals such as rabbits, woodland birds, and woodchucks can be seen frequently and cannot be hunted at all.

"O Lord God who is bigger than the sky! The sun is so bright, please give me something delicious to eat!...Huh? Praise the Lord God! There are delicious little sweet worms!"

There are a lot of bugs in spring. Luo Bian crushed a few eyeless biting bugs to death. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he saw a round palm weevil. He walked over as fast as flying, ran over lightly and quickly, reached out and grabbed two "little sweet bugs", happily tore off the skin, stuffed them into his mouth and "squeaked".

This kind of beetle sap is rich and plump. Although it has an earthy smell, it also has a strange sweet smell of tree sap. It tastes like "moldy QQ candy". After eating two "little sweet bugs", Luo Bing spit out the residue and dug around the surrounding trees. Sure enough, he found the weevil's nest. He happily took out a straw bag and threw in all the fat white meat worms inside. This was a rare delicacy and an important source of protein for the tribesmen. It tasted like chicken and was crunchy.

"Luo Bing, what were you picking up just now? Ant eggs?..."

"Uh! Boss, it's that...little sweet bug larvae, little sweet bug..."

"Give me a look!"

Hearing this, Luo Bing reluctantly stretched out his hand and handed the straw bag in his hand to the leader of the enfeoffed flag team, the senior Tekos warrior Luo Tongaxe.

Luo Tongaxe has two bronze axes tied to his waist, which is where his name comes from. The only dozen or so bronze weapons in the small flag team were brought by him and a few disabled warriors from the enfeoffment. As for his "Luo" surname, it is an increasingly common surname among the tribes of Tekos. It originally originated from the Tekos guards who fought for Shulot. Most of the surnames below were acquired by Tekos warriors themselves. It's a pity that he doesn't have a background in the Guards Corps, otherwise he wouldn't be assigned to the mountain flag corps in the valley of Hand Snake City, where "birds poop every day".

For mountainous areas and woodlands where transportation is inconvenient and difficult to govern, the kingdom has gathered various tribes and placed many tribal flags. Although these tribal flag corps also have villages, they are completely incomparable with the wealthy village communities. Most of them are poor and have very "simple folk customs".

The flag team villages reclaimed mountain fields, mostly growing cereals such as sweet potatoes, pumpkins and potatoes. They don't need to hand over food to the chief in the county, and they can't hand over any serious food at all. The tribute they had to pay was mainly the furs from hunting in the mountains, bright bird feathers, some rare wood, and the newly requested rubber. They were all paid in a symbolic way. The real obligation of the flag team is to send troops during wartime to fight for the chief or transport food. A flag team of 400 people would need at least 40 tribal soldiers to fight.

Of course, the kingdom has a strong military force and has almost never been defeated. In the eyes of each flag team, war is a good opportunity to plunder, make a fortune, and eat the war chief's rations! Whether it is the enemy's weapons and leather armor, or the cloth and pottery from the hostile villages, they are all in urgent need of the mountain tribes. It would be even more serious if we were to attack a wealthy city-state. Many tribal flags would rush to send troops, or even all of them! So much so that the kingdom had to limit the number of troops it could send out to its flag troops to prevent these tribal soldiers from eating too much rations...

"Huh? Yes, they are really delicious sweet worms... How much is this? Luo Bing, go look for it again, dig out more, at least fill this straw bag!..."

"Ah? Boss, do you want to eat so much? If you eat too many sweet bugs, you will get a stomachache..."

"Of course you will get a stomachache if you eat it raw! It won't go away if you fry it."

"What! Just to eat a bug, you need to use rare oil? Boss, are you crazy about greed? Our flag team only has a little oil..."

"What do you know! I will invite the old priest of the flag team to come tomorrow, and I must treat him well! Not to mention sweet bugs, there are ant eggs, wild honey, and smoked venison. They are all in the hands of the old priest. There are dozens of iron farm tools, and I heard they were just brought from the big city... But there are about ten flag teams in total! Who gets one more piece, and who gets one less piece, isn't it just a matter of the old priest's words? …”

"Ah! The great chief in the city actually gave us iron farm tools?... Those are good hard-made tools! It's a pity that they are not bronze axes..."

Hearing this, Luo Bing was startled, his eyes widened in surprise, and his face showed joy. The mountain flag team is very poor and cannot afford to support too many priests. A large banner team of 4,000 people usually only has one large banner priest, and ten priest apprentices, who are divided into various small banner teams. The priests of the banner team directly connect with the priest groups of each county, and can often get a lot of good things from the county! This is also the only way to obtain "good things" besides fighting, looting, and "doing business" with salesmen.

As for going to the mountains to "catch men", those savages don't even have a piece of cloth. If it weren't for the hungry pumpkins and the abundance of sweet potatoes, the flag team wouldn't bother to catch them. Who allowed that under the guidance of the priests, the output of the open fields gradually increased and gradually became profitable? Oh, there is also a new labor-intensive job arranged by the flag team, cutting rubber...

"Ha! Luo Bing, you know nothing! These good things are not given by the Great Chief, but are rewarded by His Majesty, the Great Chief!..."

"Ah! Boss... you are talking about... the great chief is the greatest!..."

As he said that, Luo Tongaxe raised his hand and made two chestnuts. He was so fast that he was worthy of being a senior warrior. Luo Bing covered his head, hurriedly squatted in the bushes, and began to dig at the beetle's nest. Luo Tongaxe, with his arms akimbo, basking in the sun, looked around the forest of the flag team, especially the newly planted rubber trees, and nodded with satisfaction.

"God bless you! What a wonderful tree! Grow up soon and give me glue soon!..."

There are many wild rubber trees in the Tekos Mountains in the southwest. The kingdom has prepared special supplies for purchasing rubber in the temple in Apa City, and has also arranged missions for priests from all over the world. If the flag team collects and turns in more rubber, it can not only offset the tribute, but also receive additional material rewards, namely "iron, copper, pottery", "salty, spicy, intoxicating", "home" Used for war." This method of using the advantageous handicraft industry and government-run salt, iron and copper to indirectly tax the mountain flag corps is the main income from the kingdom's control of the tribal flag corps in addition to military service...

"Dingle bell! Dingle bell!..."

The clear ringtone suddenly came from a distance, making everyone in the flag team startled. Soon, a large group of simple and hospitable tribesmen armed with spears and bows emerged from the chaotic village. Everyone is looking forward to it, with expectant smiles on their faces!

As the bell got closer and closer, more than a hundred warriors from the kingdom, civilians with hundreds of carts, and dozens of armed vendors following behind carrying poles and straw baskets gradually appeared from the corner of the mountain road. ...All the simple flag squad soldiers sighed in unison and cursed with regret.

"O God! What a cunning salesman! He actually followed the team of warriors who were going to the Colima tribe to transport white ash!"

"Hey! We can't rob it... Let's take out all the feathers, furs, honey, and herbs from the flag team and trade them with these old foxes!..."

"Damn it! The price will definitely be lowered..."

"Press down a little! If they dare to push down too low, then when they come back, they will fall behind the Ash Transport Warrior...I will shoot you to death!..."

"Ha! You're the only one who can blow!"

"Hush! Keep your voice down! The warrior team is coming!... Praise the great Lord God!..."

After a while, the chaotic noise turned into a chorus of prayers, praising the Lord God who is bigger than the sky. The samurai team transporting the ashes finally arrived.