Chapter 523 Calming the Violent Spirit (V)

[The Wasteland]

The crisp sound of cowbells floats rhythmically in the wind.

A caravan with no end in sight is moving along the equally boundless grassland.

A rough count shows that there are at least 500 carriages in the caravan.

Most of them are small carts with narrow bodies and large wheels, which are essentially two wooden boards fixed on an axle, pulled by a sturdy and hardworking Hede horse.

This simple single-wheeled cart is very common in the Great Wasteland. The Hede people call this kind of cart "Lele cart" or "Niu Niu cart", and use it to pull everything that does not have long legs.

They will also connect Lele carts with Lele carts with leather ropes, so that one driver can drive a long string.

Although not as heavy as the double-horse cart of the neighbor next door, the Lele cart is small and light, does not rely on roads, and can move freely in the wild.

Without it, nomadism is out of the question.

However, ordinary Hede herders cannot afford iron parts for their carts, which are made entirely of leather and wood. They are repaired quickly and break down quickly.

All the carts in this team have iron bearings and wheel hoops.

Moreover, the carts of ordinary herders are mostly pulled by cattle with better endurance. In order to ensure speed, this team uses horses as draft animals.

In addition to the majority of carts, this team also has more than 20 strange-looking black two-wheeled carriages.

The bodies of these black carriages are wider than those of carts, and the wheels are larger than those of carts, but the bottom of the carriage is closer to the ground, which makes its center of gravity lower and more stable.

The carriage of the black carriage is placed on a total of three curved steel strips, two vertical and one horizontal, which greatly reduces the bumps of the carriage.

Therefore, although the black carriage is obviously loaded with more goods than the cart, it can travel in the wilderness with the light cart, and the draft horse pulling the carriage is no more tired than the same kind pulling the cart. No wonder someone in the team has been praising this new type of carriage.

In addition to the things loaded on the car, this caravan also carried a lot of goods with four legs - livestock.

Thousands of cattle and horses were divided into small herds, each led by a special horse herder and cowherd.

According to the tradition of the Hede people during migration, the horses led the way in the front, and the cattle accompanied the caravan.

At first glance, it really looks like a prosperous grassland tribe rushing to the next pasture.

But it only looks like that at first glance. Careful people can immediately find something wrong as long as they observe:

The migrants are too simple, all adult men, and there are no old, weak, women and children in the tribe;

The clothes and weapons of the elite cavalrymen who rode on horses and patrolled back and forth on both wings of the team are not the style of the Hede people;

At the end of the team, there are no large groups of sheep and goats that are indispensable to the grassland tribe. There is only a lonely small car carrying a mechanic, his apprentice and their full set of tools, clanging and clanging.

The most wrong thing is actually the location of this caravan.

The rolling wheels rolled over the past uninhabited area, now the grassland of the "Wendor Tribe", which belongs to the notorious "Blood Wolf".

Even though this land is fertile and rich, no Hede tribe dares to stick their noses into it - at least not yet.

Therefore, this long line of carriages and horses is not a migrating tribe at all, but a caravan traveling between Tiefeng County and Chihe Tribe.

They set out from the Shovel Port in Tiefeng County, loaded with nails, iron pots, yarn, plain linen, tobacco, spirits and all kinds of things that the Hede people need;

They returned from the "Water Stockade" located in the sphere of influence of the Teldun Tribe but under the control of the Chihe Tribe, carrying livestock, washed and dried wool, untanned raw hides, large salt bricks for livestock to lick, and all the specialties that the wasteland can provide.

Of course, it's mainly livestock and wool.

This was the third transaction between the "lion" and the "wolf". Compared with the previous two attempts, both sides were serious this time and had invested heavily, and there was no room for error.

So at this moment, Pierre Michel was also in the convoy.

——

Eleven days had passed since Pierre and Bell had a heart-to-heart talk.

During these eleven days, Bell first formally introduced "Batu's arrows shot near and far" to all the Wendu people in the old camp as a "beast spirit speaker", and then accompanied "the new Nayan" to visit the sub-camps around the old camp one by one.

After several days of hard work and sleeping in the open, except for those sub-camps that were too far away or simply could not be found, Pierre visited all the camps he could go to, and he also had a basic understanding of the current situation of the Wendu tribe:

Relying on sheltering fugitives and accepting weak tribes to join, the Wendu tribe has developed rapidly. According to the standards of the Palatians, the population has exceeded 20,000.

A tribe with a population of 20,000 is already a well-known existence among all tribes.

However, if we follow the standards of the Hede tribes, the population of the Wenduer tribe should be at least half of the water, about 6,000 to 7,000.

It can only be considered to be somewhat powerful, but it is far from being able to compete with the three major tribes.

The reason for this difference is that according to the custom of the Palatians, children are not considered "people" - they may die one day, so the Palatians only count adult men and women when calculating the population.

When the Hede people calculate the population, they simply do not count women, and do not look at age, but only look at whether they can pull the bow.

After visiting the tribe, Pierre felt that there were too many old, weak, women and children in the Wendu tribe, but few strong men. Each of them was the backbone of each camp and family, so it was impossible to recruit people without affecting normal production.

No wonder Bell did not mobilize any tribes, but only took Dabai and Xiaobai to find wolves in the wilderness.

The current Wendu tribe is like a skinny child wearing an adult robe.

In time, he may have a chance to really hold up the robe.

But the prerequisite is that he can have enough "time".

However, what worries Pierre most is not the Wendu tribe's strong appearance and weak inside.

In fact, Pierre immediately understood and accepted the current situation of the Wendu tribe - if they were not in danger and desperate, why would those small tribes come to seek the protection of the blood wolf?

What really concerns Pierre is whether those small tribes who were forced to submit to Batu are loyal.

Even a child, as long as he can put all his strength in one place, can make any adult who underestimates him look bad.

But if a person's hands, feet and head have their own thoughts, then even if he has a lot of strength, once he really starts to fight, he will only become a laughing stock.

The Hede people in the Wenduoer tribe can be roughly divided into two categories: one is the escaped slaves, who can't stand the driving of the old master, take the horse and escape to the new land outside, and join the enemy of the old master;

The other is the small nobles and white people, who are bullied or even annexed by other tribes, so they have to migrate to the new land outside and submit to Batu.

The former are helpless and mostly stay in the old camp. The caravans that travel with the Chihe tribe are mainly composed of these "new white people" in the literal sense.

Although the latter have become a member of the Wenduoer tribe, they still leave the old camp and disperse to various places in the new land outside to graze, that is, various "sub-camps" based on the previous tribes and families.

It's not that these "old white people" deliberately keep a distance from the old camp. In fact, if they have a choice, they prefer to live in the old camp-not for anything else, because it's safe.

However, the "old white-skinned people" came with livestock and felt tents. If everyone's cattle and sheep were gathered together, the grass around the old camp would be eaten up in a few days.

The characteristics of nomadic life determined that the old white-skinned people had to "act alone", but even so, each sub-camp did its best to stay close to the old camp - for safety.

Pierre, who had mastered the basic situation of the Wenduoer tribe through field visits, immediately decided that "he must meet with the caravan as soon as possible."

Pierre, who had an idea, took action immediately.

He said goodbye to the little hunter that day, accompanied by only two guides, and rushed to the "water village" day and night. Finally, he met the caravan returning with a full load at a location four days away from the old camp - and that was three days ago.

Since most of the guards of the caravan were Dusak and Tiefeng County cavalry, Pierre took over the command of the caravan smoothly and successfully established his initial authority among the "new white-skinned people".

In the following time, Pierre continued to strengthen his prestige among the new white-skinned people, and on the other hand, he began to try to understand what the new white-skinned people wanted and what they wanted, while quietly observing which reliable and available people among them were.

Three days were enough for him to find a few good materials.

The next step was to promote the "good materials" to his side, continue to train and observe.

The next step was to rectify the Wenduoer tribe, govern the Waixing Land, subdue the Terdun tribe, block the infiltration of the Chihe tribe, and make the Waixing Land army an indispensable force in the new army.

He had found a handle to take the first step.

He made up his mind.

——

[Time returns to the present]

A golden eagle swooped down from the sky, and then suddenly pulled up not far from the ground, awakening Pierre on horseback from his meditation.

Pierre stared at the golden eagle returning to the sky and disappearing from his sight. He withdrew his gaze with a sense of loss and focused his eyes on the ground.

From his side to the hills in the distance, the horse-drawn carts were endless, like a winding river.

Everyone in the caravan was part of the river and was carried forward by the river until it disappeared on the horizon.

Pierre was a little dazed for a while.

He remembered that the last time he escorted a caravan, he and the centurion went to deliver "supplies" to the expeditionary force besieging Bian Li.

That was the first time he was involved in a war.

He also remembered that the last time he escorted a caravan, he and the centurion were ambushed by the "Horseshoe" gang at the fording field in Blackwater Town.

That was the first time he was involved in a battle.

Now, he is escorting a caravan again, but there is no centurion to lead, guide, and protect him.

Where will he be carried by this river?

Pierre felt desolate in his heart.

Suddenly, a very energetic voice interrupted Pierre's rare sensibility.

"Look! Mr. Mitchell, how about my horse? Exchange it with a cart! Give me a cart, and this horse is yours! I'll also give you a pair of the best saddles!"

The little lion riding a majestic black horse came galloping over with a loud cry.

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