Such a large tribe was in a mess, and everywhere was empty. Abandoned tents, clothing and food residues could be seen everywhere. The air was filled with waves of disgusting odors.
Angel Station.
Kang Ansheng walked around in the Chinese army tent irritably.
Although the temperature in late autumn became cooler, it seemed that it could not calm him down at this time.
boom!
Kang Ansheng punched the shelf in front of him hard.
"It's unreasonable! Everyone has left, but no tribe is willing to listen to our orders. It's really unreasonable!"
Elder Dong raised his head and glanced at him, then silently lowered his eyelids.
Originally there were many small and medium-sized tribes in the Eastern Expedition army who were willing to obey their orders.
However, in the Battle of Dingxi, almost all such tribes were wiped out. Only some stragglers escaped.
The rest naturally regard them as nothing.
"Duoji," Kang Ansheng looked at the person he was most convinced of now, "What should we do now? Should we go back or stay?"
Elder Dong pondered for a while, "We can't leave now!"
"Aren't you worried..."
As Kang Ansheng spoke, he couldn't help but look up at the map hanging in the tent.
This map is even cruder than the one drawn by Ren Ning. It only hastily marked the general locations of a few tribes and corresponding water sources, and the rest is almost blank.
On the map at this time, the territory of the Blood Moon Tribe had been outlined in red by Elder Dong, just like an unreachable mountain peak, blocking their way back.
Duoji shook his head, "Vice clan, what I'm worried about is not the Blood Moon, but this place."
After saying that, he stretched out his hand and placed it heavily deep in the grassland.
Well.
Kang Ansheng hesitated for a moment, "Are you talking about the royal court?"
"Yes." Elder Dong nodded, "In the eyes of the king, those small and medium-sized tribes are arrogant people who can be abandoned at any time. They are different from large tribes like us."
Kang Ansheng reacted and nodded silently.
If small and medium-sized tribes are disobedient, even if the grassland king in the royal court knows about it, he probably won't even bat an eyelid.
And if these large tribes disobey, they will definitely be marked silently in the heart of the Prairie King.
"So other tribes can go and leave, but we must not leave Benlu without permission before receiving the king's order."
Why.
Kang Ansheng let out a long sigh, "That's what I said. But if we don't leave here, our brothers will run out of food."
In the past, horse chews for the prairie armies were mostly borne and transported by small and medium-sized tribes.
Nowadays, most of the small and medium-sized tribes have been destroyed and some have left.
Their fifty thousand horses were about to run out of food.
"This is indeed a problem." Elder Dong couldn't help but frowned.
The soldiers must not have an empty stomach.
But they couldn't leave, and no one came to send them food.
Even if Angel's hometown sends people to deliver food, the journey is long and they have to pass through the Blood Moon tribe. Who knows what will happen then.
"Deputy tribe, how many cattle and sheep are there in Benlu?" Elder Dong asked.
"Running deer?" Kang Ansheng smiled bitterly, "There should be only a few of them."
The grassland army has been stationed in Benlu for more than four years. At the beginning, Benlu kept a lot of livestock as before.
However, as more and more people and horses were stationed nearby, some tribes did not bring enough food, so they requisitioned the running deer.
At first, the other party said that they would pay it back, but the charges became more and more frequent, and gradually there was no follow-up.
As time went by, Benlu's livestock were almost conquered. They could no longer hold on, so they had no choice but to seek help from the Blood Moon Clan Chief who was stationed in the tribe at the time.
Xueyue Zhiyong is a man who does big things, why would he care about such trivial things?
He just pushed it to his subordinates, and his subordinates pushed it to his subordinates...
In the end it was nothing.
"The less you have, the less you have, the more you squeeze, the better." Elder Dong muttered, "Let them hand it over first. At worst, we will pay him back double the amount later."
"However," he added, "the more serious business is to have the clan leader report it to the royal court as soon as possible."
Kang Ansheng nodded in agreement, "Indeed."
After all, they have nearly 50,000 mouths, and their daily consumption alone is a bottomless pit.
Only the royal court issued an order to either withdraw them as soon as possible or have people send food over.
At that time, unless Blood Moon Zhiyong wants to rebel, the Blood Moon tribe will have to get out of the way no matter how angry they are, and they will even have to arrange food and accommodation for them.
News of Angel's food conscription soon reached the ears of the leader of the Benlu clan.
The little patriarch almost vomited blood, "Are you going to squeeze again?"
After sending Angel's envoy away, he couldn't help but cursed, "What do you want us to use to squeeze in?"
Almost all of the livestock that the running deer can retain to this day are calves with little meat or pregnant cows and sheep.
If they are all killed and eaten, then the running deer will just eat grass in the future.
The house leaks only on rainy nights.
Not long after, someone hurried in.
"Clan leader, last night Huolang and Qingyou, a total of ten families, each left with a dozen cattle and sheep."
"Oh?" The little patriarch was distracted and didn't react at all, "Where are they going?"
"Clan leader," this man saw that the clan leader didn't care, so he had to tell him frankly: "They have left the clan and have no intention of coming back!"
In fact, ever since the war in the Eastern Expedition began, some people quietly left the Benlu tribe for a long time, never to be seen again.
The leader of the Benlu clan finally reacted and suddenly felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
He sat in silence for a while, then asked: "How many people do we have now?"
"Hui Clan Chief, when the news of the defeat on the front line came back half a month ago, there are already less than 20,000 people in the clan."
The leader of the Benlu clan has a more bitter mouth.
When Lao Kailun was dispersed, their number increased from more than 20,000 to over 40,000, with countless cattle, sheep and other livestock.
Later, when the war started, Benlu could be said to have some help.
As a result, not only are the number of people in the tribe reduced by more than half than before, but the livestock they depend on for survival have been almost eaten up.
Even the few remaining cattle and sheep seeds have to be recruited...
Why.
He let out a long sigh, "If this continues, we will soon be exterminated."
————
Bloodmoon Settlement.
Tap tap tap.
Several skinny horses galloped in from the north.
"Who are they?" The sentry spotted their traces from a distance and quickly shouted and came out to stop them.
The two sides entered the bow and arrow range, and Xue Yue Ying Xiang, who looked exhausted, raised his head and said, "It's me."
"Young patriarch?" the sentries exclaimed, quickly put down their bows and arrows and came to lead the way.
"Young Patriarch, the situation in the tribe has been severe recently. And our city wall has not been built yet, so the Patriarch ordered us to set up some traps around the perimeter. Please follow us to avoid triggering the traps."
After saying that, they looked hesitantly at the few people behind Blood Moon Yingxiang.
Although my heart was full of doubts, I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
Blood Moon Yingxiang nodded to express his understanding and ignored the sentry.
He turned around and looked at the guards escorting him back with emotion.
"We're home. Let's all go back and have a good rest. Let's talk about the rest later."
"Yes!" Several people reluctantly opened their blood-red eyes and drove their horses to follow.