The cardinals flew over the forest and landed on the fruit trees in the village. The kestrels circled in the sky, looking for the emerging prey animals. And under the gaze of the birds, the gray-yellow three-piece dirt road led from the densely populated Apa
The plains extend to the mountains to the southwest.
Although the Sanhe dirt road between the mountains is also a second-level county road, it obviously has some potholes and there are few ordinary villagers and pedestrians. The people responsible for maintaining these mountain roads are mainly the local Tekos tribe organized into flag teams.
The Tlaxcala flag troops migrated from the Eastern Expedition years ago, and there are also a few miscellaneous flag troops made up.
The large flag force set up by the kingdom usually has about 4,000 people, which increases and decreases with the war. There are about ten small flag teams in a big flag team. A small flag team has about 400 people, similar to women.
The early "Niu Lu" of Zhenren. In each "Niu Lu", a large tent with a leader of a hundred people and four to six smaller tents with dozens of people were set up. The leader of the "Niu Lu" must be a senior warrior of the enfeoffed kingdom.
The leader of the tent is a promoted tribesman or a disabled warrior.
The so-called "Miscellaneous tribe", as the name suggests, is a banner team put together by savages who do not know their origins and some tribes with random origins, with the kingdom's warriors as leaders. The reason why such a Zabu appears is naturally due to
The Nahua tribes have a long history and are increasingly developing their capture activities. 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 teams reclaiming the mountain fields, they all face the representative labor force.
Ding Zhuang has a strong demand!
In the past, "capturing prisoners" was usually for sacrifice, but today's "capturing prisoners" is more like the "capturing soldiers" of various Jurchen tribes. To put it bluntly, each tribe has surplus food to feed more people, and also has the tools and skills.
Go and cultivate new fields. It will be slow to wait for the tribe to produce its own talents. It is better to grab ready-made fields. Both boys and girls need to...
"Lord 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. He had Tekos tattoos on his face, and he was squinting and looking at
On the empty mountain road, imagining the "salesman delivering goods to your door" makes your mouth water.
It's a pity that the mountain flag team 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 larger prey, such as deer, wolves, and jaguars
, after each flag team settled down, they gradually disappeared from this area, and the live ones could not keep up with the hunting ones. Instead, small vegetarian animals such as rabbits, mountain birds, and woodchucks could be seen frequently.
I can't finish hunting 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 were a lot of bugs in spring. Luo Bing crushed a few eyeless biting bugs to death. Suddenly his eyes lit up and he saw a round palm weevil. He ran over quickly and lightly, stretched out his hand and grabbed it.
Pinch two "little sweet bugs", happily tear off the skin, stuff them into your mouth and "squeak".
The juice of this beetle is 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
The cake spit out the residue and dug around the surrounding bushes, and sure enough he found the weevil's nest. He happily took out a straw bag and threw in all the fat white flesh insects inside. This was a rare occurrence.
Delicious, it is also an important source of protein for the tribal people. It tastes like chicken and is 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 him
The "Luo" surname is an increasingly common surname among the Tekos tribes. It originally originated from the Tekos guards who fought for Shulot.
Most of the latter surnames were obtained by Tekos warriors themselves. Unfortunately, he did not have a background in the Guards Corps, otherwise he would not have been assigned to the mountain flag corps in the Valley of Hand Snake City, where "birds poop every day".
For the mountainous and forest areas where transportation is inconvenient and difficult to govern, the kingdom has gathered various tribes and installed many tribal flag corps. Although these tribal flag corps also have villages, they are completely incomparable with the wealthy villages. Most of them are poor.
In comparison, the people are very "simple and honest".
The flag team villages cultivated mountain fields and mostly grew miscellaneous grains such as sweet potatoes, pumpkins and potatoes. They did not have to pay grain to the chief in the county, and they could not hand over any serious grain at all. The tribute they had to pay was mainly from the mountains.
Hunting furs, bright bird feathers, some rare wood, and newly requested rubber are all symbolic exchanges. The real obligation of the flag team is to send troops in wartime to serve the chief.
Fighting or transporting food. A flag team of 400 people needs at least 40 tribal soldiers to fight.
Of course, the kingdom has a strong military force and has almost never suffered a defeat. In the eyes of each flag team, war is a good opportunity to make money through robbery and eat the chief's military rations! Whether it is the enemy's weapons, leather armor, or the cloth and pottery of the hostile village, they are all mountains.
The tribes are in urgent need of it. If they attack a wealthy city-state, it will be even worse. Many tribal flag troops will rush to send troops, or even all of them! So much so that the kingdom has to limit the upper limit of flag troops to send troops, so as to avoid these tribal soldiers.
Eating too much military rations...
"Huh? Yes, they are really delicious sweet worms...how much is this? Luo Bing, you go look for it again, dig out more, at least fill this straw bag!..."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Ah? Boss, do you want to eat so much? If you eat too many sweetworms, 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 have to use rare oil? Boss, are you crazy about greed? Our flag team only has a little oil..."
"What do you know! Tomorrow I will invite the old priest of the flag team to come, and I must treat him well! Not to mention sweet insects, 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 transported from the big city... But there are about a dozen flag teams in total! Who gets one more piece, and who gets one less piece? Isn't it just a word from the old priest?
…”
"Ah! The 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 was very poor and could not afford too many priests. A large flag team of four thousand people usually only had
A large banner priest brings ten priest apprentices, who are divided into various small banner teams. The large banner priests directly connect with the priest groups in each county, and can often obtain a lot of good things in the county! This is also in addition to
Apart from fighting, looting, and "doing business" with salesmen, this is the only way to obtain "good things".
As for going to the mountains to "catch men", those savages didn't even have a piece of cloth. If it weren't for the fact that they were hungry for pumpkins and there were so many sweet potatoes in the fields, the flag team would be too lazy to catch them. Under the guidance of the priests, the output of the open fields gradually increased.
With the increase, is it gradually becoming 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 picked up two chestnuts. His speed was so fast that he was worthy of being a senior warrior. Luo Bing covered his head and hurriedly squatted in the bushes and began to dig at the beetle's nest. Luo Tongaxe crossed his arms.
I stood up, basking in the sun, and looked around the mountain forest where the flag team was, especially at 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 various places. Flag teams
If you collect and turn in more rubber, you can not only offset the tribute, but also get additional material rewards, namely "iron, copper, pottery", "salty, spicy, intoxicating", "home use"
, for war." This method of using the advantageous handicraft industry, government-run salt, iron and copper, to indirectly tax the mountain flag corps is the main benefit of the kingdom's control of the tribal flag corps in addition to military service...
"Dingle bell! Dingle bell!..."
The clear ringing of the bell suddenly came from a distance, making everyone in the flag team startled. Soon, a large group of simple and hospitable tribesmen with spears and bows poured out of the messy village. Everyone was waiting eagerly.
, with a smile full of anticipation!
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 came with the team of warriors who were going to the Colima tribe to transport white ash!"
"Hey! I can't steal it... I'd better take out all the flag team's feathers, fur, honey, and herbs and trade them with these old foxes!..."
"Damn it! The price will definitely be lowered..."
"Put it down a little bit! If they dare to put it down too low, then when they come back, they will be behind the Ash Transport Warrior...I will shoot you to death!..."
"Ha! You are 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 main god who was bigger than the sky. And the warrior team carrying the ashes finally arrived.
This chapter has been completed!