After arriving at the Yugong Clan, Xu Chen called a meeting with all the generals and once again inquired about the situation of the salt mine in detail. After repairing overnight, hundreds of people marched straight to the Xiu Clan along a built road early the next morning.
The Xiu tribe has a population of only over one hundred. Seventy miles southeast of the Yu Gong tribe, there is a tribe called Sheng in the middle, with a population of over two hundred.
However, the road was only built as far as Shengzu, and going forward was a completely primitive forest with only one very difficult path.
After a whole day of rapid march, an army of more than 300 people arrived at the Xiu tribe.
Here, Xu Chen summoned the Xiu tribe hunters and all the officers for another meeting to inquire about the current general situation of the barbarians.
However, the Xiu hunter could not say much useful information. He only briefly introduced the environment of the general area leading to the salt mine and the situation of a small number of barbarians.
The journey from the Xiu Clan to the barbarian territory is about a hundred miles. The Xiu Clan's previous exploration process took a long time, and there was only one formal contact between the two sides. Moreover, due to poor communication, a violent conflict soon occurred. Although the Xiu Clan won,
But they also lost the opportunity and channel to continue communicating with the barbarians.
The second time the great witch of the Yu Gong clan arranged for a coalition of tribes to attack the barbarians, but in the face of these strange monkey-like races that lived in the primitive jungle all year round, they did not get much benefit. Not only did they not find the specific details of the salt mine,
He was attacked several times by barbarians, and more than ten people were killed and wounded, so he had to retreat.
The barbarians here are similar to the barbarians near the Mongols. They may have been the same race a long time ago.
He is still wearing dirty furs and using tattered sticks and spears as weapons, and his language is extremely obscure and simple, making it almost impossible to communicate normally.
After discovering the traces of the Xiu tribe hunters, they were like wild beasts and issued various warnings and even attacks to the Xiu tribe. However, under the temptation of the pottery brought by the Xiu tribe, this group of barbarians still relaxed some hostility and vigilance. After some
After a difficult exchange of gestures, the barbarians finally understood the Xiu tribe's purpose, and actually took out some salty rock salt.
In this era of vast land and sparsely populated areas, meeting a strange group of people in a strange jungle hundreds of miles away from the tribe is like a stroke of luck.
And to get the news about the salt mine, it was even more of a bad luck.
Even in the high-tech era before Xu Chen's time travel, with the satellites flying all over the sky and the cooperation of various high-tech instruments, it was still full of hardships to find a mineral deposit worth developing in the deep mountains and dense forests, let alone the wild and primitive land now.
era.
Therefore, Xu Chen was not dissatisfied with the two failures of the Xiu Clan and the Yu Gong Clan. Instead, he greatly praised the hunters and officers who participated in the exploration and discovery of the salt mine, saying that after finding the salt mine this time and returning home, he would definitely talk about it.
As a reward for their merits, the hunters and officers from several tribes belonging to the Xiu Clan and Yu Gong Clan shouted excitedly and rolled up their sleeves with howls like ghosts and wolves, indicating that they would take the lead this time and would definitely kill the barbarians and find the location of the salt mine.
Since the morale of the army was available, Xu Chen did not dampen the enthusiasm of the Yu Gong clan members to make meritorious deeds, and arranged a battle plan after some discussions.
The hunter teams are all led by Lei, and various tribes of the Yugong clan form a vanguard unit responsible for exploring and guiding the way forward.
….
After discovering the whereabouts of the barbarians, do not rush to attack, but try to arrange communication between the Mongols and the barbarians who come to assist.
Although it is a plundering war, and things are bound to happen, fighting in an unfamiliar and complex environment is not Pakistan's strength. Therefore, Xu Chen wants to adopt a gentle policy as much as possible before conquering people with virtue, focusing on negotiation and exchanges, and trying to win as much as possible.
Reduce casualties.
After all, people are too scarce in this era.
Especially in the primeval forests of the south, the Yu Gong clan is facing extremely difficult development conditions, and it is even more difficult to control such a long-distance area. The best outcome is to adopt the same plan as the Mongolian clan, so that both
Without increasing killing and hatred, a large number of free laborers who are familiar with jungle survival and work can be obtained.
These southern barbarian races still have strong beast habits and are still very far away from true civilization. Without the influence of foreign civilization, they would not have made much progress for thousands or even tens of thousands of years, or they would have suffered from diseases.
The plague and other causes, like the Five Ghosts, were eventually annihilated here
No one knows anything about it in the wild primeval forest.
But ideas are just ideas, but after having the experience of helping the Mongols conquer the barbarians and rob salt mines, Xu Chen also knew that these barbarians were not targets that could be easily communicated and tamed, so being polite first and then fighting was just a preliminary plan.
He brought these many people here not to watch the fun, but to completely eliminate these barbarians at once and take the salt mine as his own, so that no turmoil can occur in the future.
If they want to truly achieve the goal of successfully occupying the salt mines for long-term mining once and for all, then the barbarians here have only two ways, one is to completely surrender, the other is to disappear completely, there is no third way to take.
As long as the enemy's gathering place is discovered, Xu Chen will never allow them to escape in large numbers, leaving a huge disaster in the future.
Therefore, while arranging a group of hunters from the Yu Gong clan who had had conflicts with the barbarians not long ago to serve as the vanguard, Xu Chen handed over the main force of elite hunters to Lei, and followed closely to take precautions. If communication failed,
Then launch the offensive without hesitation and never give the barbarians any chance.
As for the fifty forbidden troops led by Long, they are mainly responsible for suppressing the formation and taking care of logistics.
Most of these young hunters are only fifteen or sixteen years old. They have just become hunters in each tribe and are not yet the main force. Although the selected ones are all strong and brave people, they have not yet participated in the competition.
In large-scale wars, the most they can do is to participate in hunting activities in their respective tribes.
Xu Chen's purpose of bringing them out this time was first to increase their knowledge, but also to learn how to survive and fight in a complex and unfamiliar environment.
Whether it is veteran hunter warriors such as Lei and Long, or the hunters selected by each tribe and the accompanying officers, they are all personnel who have undergone years of training and participated in at least one foreign war.
The difference between war and hunting is that the intelligence of the target is completely different. If you fail in hunting, at most you will see the beast escape, but if you fail in war, it may be a disaster.
Although these barbarians still have strong beast habits, it is difficult for Xu Chen to equate them with the major ethnic groups in Ba. However, it is undeniable that these barbarians have evolved into a civilized tribe. While being unruly and barbaric, they also have independence.
language, learned to build shelter and make tools, and also knew how to use his own advantages to defeat his enemies.
….
This wild primitive jungle is their home field. For all the tribes in Pakistan who have separated from the life in the mountains and forests, this environment has become increasingly unsuitable.
Nowadays, hunters from various tribes like to hunt with horseback and archery. They chase wild beasts in open areas and hunt them. However, in these places, they can only use their legs and feet to fight wild beasts and enemies. Bows and horses may still be a great threat, but
But it can't give full play to its real advantages.
After another night of repairs, early the next morning, after the Xiu tribe had a hearty breakfast, everyone packed up their equipment, carried water and dry food, and then divided into three groups to set off according to the deployment.
Because the coalition forces of the Xiu and Yugong tribes, who were familiar with the local terrain and environment, were the first to explore the road, the army moved very quickly.
This was different from the original Xiu tribe’s exploration, but it had a general goal and a roughly familiar route. Therefore, although the mountains were crisscrossed by rivers and ravines, the dense forest was full of thorns and giant trees, and wild beasts, insects, and snakes appeared in endless streams, we still walked at least one day in a day.
Thirty miles.
During the march, the front, middle and rear units also constantly communicated with each other through personnel and the sounds of various familiar birds and animals, which accelerated their familiarity with each other and quickly adapted to this dense forest marching combat method.
Xu Chen was not forced to come to seize the salt mine this time, but in view of the importance of the salt mine to Pakistan and the future development of the salt mine, Xu Chen decided to personally come to the site to investigate and arrange the subsequent development work.
He basically won't interfere too much in combat.
Both Lei and Long have the experience of independently leading troops to conquer large tribes, and the hunter teams they lead also have strong adaptability to this unfamiliar environment.
Therefore, Xu Chen will only make some unified arrangements for conquering the barbarians this time, and he will not dictate specific battles.
Unless something extremely dangerous happens.
But during the rest of the march, in addition to encountering some large beasts and occasionally some unknown situations,
Besides, the whole process is very safe.
Traveling at sunrise and resting at sunset, the hunters of the Yugong clan were responsible for exploring the road. Lei led the elite hunters to provide support. Xu Chen followed behind under the escort of fifty forbidden troops led by Long. Along the way, he arranged for the forbidden troops to hunt, make fires, camp and study for a long time.
During the field march training, he was also constantly observing the environmental conditions along the way and making some notes on some iconic environments on the map.
During the march, Xu Chen also discovered many resources such as wild fruits, medicinal materials, spices and edible plants.
The most exciting thing for Xu Chen was the discovery of a plant similar to peppers.
This plant is more than one meter tall, resembles a thorn, and bears red fruits that are as long as a finger and have a unique sour and spicy taste.
After experimenting and tasting, he felt that although this wild fruit is not spicy, it can definitely replace peppers, but the yield is a bit disappointing. There are only three or five fruits on a thorn vine, but the good news is that it is
There are a lot of them in the virgin forest. If you look carefully, you can sometimes find them in large patches.
In addition, he also discovered a shrub that is more than ten feet tall. It looks very much like a citrus and bears similar fruits. The only difference is that the fruit is only the size of a quail egg and has an orange-yellow skin. When peeled, there is a distinctly familiar citrus smell, but the pulp is very small.
Not to mention, the taste is also very sour.
….
After many of the Imperial Guards and Hunters who followed tasted it, they all grinned and expressed that it was too unpalatable.
But Xu Chen did not give up.
He was sure that these must be ancient wild citrus. If he took them back and cultivated them carefully, he might be able to improve them over time to produce tangerines with a more authentic taste.
Oranges grown in Huainan are called tangerines, and oranges grown in Huaibei are called tangerines.
Citrus is a general term for a large category of Rutaceae plants. The soil climate and living environment have a great impact on the taste and size.
Maybe it wouldn’t taste good in this humid and shady primeval dense forest, but it would be delicious if planted in a sunny place in the Gonghuo Basin.
In addition to these two Xu Chen's most surprising discoveries, there are many mushrooms in the virgin forest. The ones I know include Hericium and Fragrance, and various wild fruits, yams and other edible plants are everywhere.
.
Therefore, a primitive group of hundreds of people living in such a large forest can ensure sufficient food. Just like the primitive indigenous people in the African tropical rainforest, because food is abundant, the motivation for evolution is very small.
However, this is the characteristic of the current warm and humid climate when all things are prosperous. If the earth begins to experience large-scale climate changes and the Ice Age comes, causing the destruction of a large number of animals and plants, humans will have to leave the forests and begin to migrate to plains and river areas, through farming
Work to get enough food.
Therefore, the development of human civilization is not only due to the expansion of group size and greater demand for food, but also because the earth's environment has begun to undergo severe changes, forcing humans to evolve.