In addition to the salt mines, there is actually another barbarian tribe about ten miles away along the valley to the east.
The first barbarian tribe the Xiu tribe encountered in the southeast was actually from another tribe. Because the other tribe would often come here to exchange for some rock salt, the exchanges between the two barbarian tribes were relatively close.
Another tribe got some pottery from the Xiu tribe and wanted to raise the price. The Xiu tribe became angry and threatened to attack. There was a conflict between the two sides. The barbarians were defeated and fled leaving a few corpses. Then because they couldn't swallow this breath, they attacked the people here.
The rich tribe asked for help. Initially, the barbarians did not want to help, but the other party sent several pieces of pottery that they had never seen before, so an aid agreement was finally reached.
But I didn’t expect that this assistance would be a big pitfall.
What came the second time was not a small team of more than ten hunters from the Xiu tribe, but a coalition of more than 200 people from the Yu Gong tribe. Fortunately, these barbarians were not stupid. They took advantage of the other's dispersion and their familiarity with the nearby environment.
With the advantage of physical speed, they fought with the Yu Gong Clan coalition forces in the dense forest for more than ten days. Both sides suffered casualties. In the end, due to the hot weather and the arrival of the rainy season, the Yu Gong Clan coalition forces failed to find the barbarian nests and salt mines after several attacks.
According to Xu Chen's order, the great wizard of the Yugong clan had to order the troops to retreat.
This large-scale battle caused heavy losses to both barbarian tribes.
In fact, after seeing the equipment and strength of the Yugong hunters for the first time, this barbarian tribe did not want to continue fighting. If it were not for the harsh environment during the rainy season and the difficulty of migrating, the barbarians would have long ago abandoned the salt mines and nearby territories.
One wanted to get the salt mine, but the other couldn't give up in a short time due to survival problems, so the war could only continue to be delayed until Xu Chen was given an order to withdraw his troops by the witch of the Yu Gong clan.
Seeing the Yugong tribe's army retreating, the barbarian leader quickly issued an order to shrink his territory and almost completely gave up the huge territory that was more than ten miles southeast.
Throughout the rainy season, they often arranged for hunters to explore the northwest direction in fear, but there was no movement from the Xiu people. After autumn, food was plentiful, and the barbarians did not need to expand their gathering and hunting territories for food, so they thought that the enemy would never come again.
But they didn't expect that just when they were most relaxed, Xu Chen led a stronger team to attack the situation.
A total of more than 300 heavily armed elite hunters faced a barbarian tribe with only over 100 women, children, old and young. They were completely overwhelmed by the overwhelming force. No matter how agile, fast and powerful the barbarian leader and a group of core hunters were, in the end they were just
The egg has fallen from the nest, leaving no room for resistance.
This war cannot be won without force.
But for the sake of salt, Xu Chen had to do it.
When a lion fights a rabbit, he also uses all his strength.
This is the simplest and most primitive fighting strategy.
Although the consumption and cost are not small, it is affordable for Pakistan today, and it can be regarded as an opportunity to train its troops.
It was also an extremely powerful frontal shock to the barbarians.
In the sunset and evening breeze, more than three hundred armored hunters sat around a dozen bonfires, talking, laughing and eating. In the slightly sparse and empty forest, there was still a strong smell of blood floating in it.
A group of barbarian women, children, old men, weak men, and almost all of them injured were driven to sit in the open space on the edge of the woods and lakes, with faces full of fear and despair.
Such a powerful enemy was something they had never imagined or come into contact with before.
Especially a group of wounded hunters moaning in pain.
In their hearts, they thought that the original Yu Gong clan alliance was the most powerful and invincible enemy, but they did not expect that the enemy that came this time was even more fierce, and more domineering and cruel.
Their most courageous leader challenged and killed and expelled several powerful adult men of the tribe in order to ascend to power. He was also feared by the entire tribe and had the greatest mating rights. However, in the face of these sudden enemies, he had almost no power.
Those who resisted decently were beheaded.
Such a powerful enemy is completely impossible to defeat.
Although they are barbaric and fight with poisonous snakes and beasts for territory and food in order to survive in this harsh and complex primeval forest, their wisdom tells them that this time, they have no room for resistance. Life or death depends on these people.
in a moment.
However, what gave them some hope was that among the enemies there were ethnic groups that they were familiar with. They had repeatedly warned them that as long as they surrendered and stopped resisting, there would be no danger.
But what will these people do to their tribe? All men, women, old and young are confused and frightened, and can only gather together and tremble.
"Okay, let them go back and convey my words to their tribesmen. As long as they obey and don't resist, everyone will be fine. But if they resist or run away, they will die!"
After Xu Chen finished asking, he waved his hand and ordered the Mongolians to send several older barbarian men and women back.
After hearing this, several barbarians breathed a sigh of relief and left tremblingly.
"Your Majesty the Witch King, what are your plans for tomorrow?" Long asked, sitting next to him and chewing on a roasted animal leg bone.
Xu Chen took a nice sip of the fragrant beast broth with spicy fruits and salt, and said with a satisfied smile on his face: "What, are you stimulated?"
Long Gan smiled and wiped his mouth and said: "Isn't there another barbarian tribe in the east? I will lead the imperial army to capture them. These little guys haven't fought yet and are making trouble all the time. Going out to bully the small tribe is nothing.
It’s just a trip for free, but you can also practice a little by the way!”
Xu Chen thought for a while and nodded and said: "That's okay. After all, I have been training for several months. I really don't make much progress just by watching. Let the barbarians in the east go to the forbidden army. In addition, let Lei give you some hunters. Although the other side has few people,
But you still have to be vigilant and don't be too careless. These barbarians are very fierce. You saw Lei was injured. If he hadn't taken action quickly, we might have suffered a lot of casualties. I'll leave these forbidden troops to you to take them out properly.
, I hope you can take them back well!"
Long excitedly put down the roasted leg bones and clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Your Majesty the Witch King, I will be careful and there will be no accidental casualties!"
"I believe you can do it. The opponent is a small tribe with only a few dozen people. There are only a dozen men left at the moment. It shouldn't be difficult. I urge everyone to remember the order and try not to kill anyone if possible. In the future, Salt
We have to rely on them to dig the mine!"
"I know, I know, as long as they don't resist too much, we won't kill anyone!" Long quickly patted his chest and assured.
Xu Chen smiled and picked up the hot and fragrant broth and signaled to Long: "It tastes very good. You really don't want to have a bowl?"
Long Yi's face instantly twisted when he heard this. He stood up in horror and said, "Your Majesty, the Witch King, please drink slowly. I will arrange for the Imperial Army to rest early today and set off early tomorrow morning!"
Seeing the dragon running away like a dog, Xu Chen's face was filled with regret. He took another sip of the hot and sour broth, closed his eyes slightly, shook his head and sighed.
A group of dogs and a handful of savages can't understand the wonderful taste of sour and spicy food.
After traveling through eight years, he finally discovered a plant that could truly replace peppers.
This plant, which he named spicy fruit, is full of spiciness and has a unique sour taste of wild fruits. It is so sour and spicy after one bite that it will make you sweat instantly.
However, except for Xu Chen, all the savages did not have much resistance to this spicy taste.
Although pepper also has a spicy taste, the spiciness of pepper is relatively mild. Especially after boiling and roasting, it mainly has a special volatile aroma that can stimulate gastrointestinal motility and increase appetite.
But this spicy fruit is like soaked chili peppers, crunchy, sour and spicy, with a taste that can make people feel out of their bodies.
After discovering this spicy fruit, Xu Chen just licked it a few times, and then his mouth was drooling from the spicy taste. As for other people who tasted it, almost all of them were in an out-of-body state, and they were so dizzy that they didn't recover for a long time.
Come here, and when everyone sees this spicy fruit, they all avoid it, as if they saw poison.
However, Xu Chen enjoyed the taste very much. It was sour and spicy, which made him feel a little bit like eating farm food when he was inspecting Guizhou before traveling.
Guizhou cuisine has three characteristics: sour, spicy and salty.
Guizhou people like to make all kinds of pickled and sour foods, so they use a lot of salt. In addition, they also like spicy food. They enjoy sour and spicy food all year round. Many dishes are even sour and spicy, which makes them particularly appetizing.
handy.
For many local ethnic groups, as long as they have a bowl of spicy and sour pickles, they can also eat several large bowls of white rice.
Now these primitive people have been transformed by Xu Chen for several years, and they have also learned to make various pickles, but they are not spicy. Even if you add some peppercorns for seasoning, they are just used as spices to add a special fragrance. The spiciness is very limited.
You can barely even feel it.
Faced with this pure spiciness, all savages cannot accept it.
So from the moment he discovered this spicy fruit, Xu Chen was the only one who enjoyed it, while others talked about it and stayed away from it.
Every time they set up camp to cook, Pu and Jia prepared a special portion for Xu Chen. They put some spicy jam on the barbecue and some spicy fruits on the boiled meat. Xu Chen always ate very happily.
This time I went out to find not only salt mines, but also this special wild fruit that can replace peppers. It was a huge harvest for Xu Chen. In his eyes, this spicy fruit was even more exciting for him than salt.
After all, salt is already available, and the essential cooking ingredients such as chili and peppercorns have always been what he has been looking for.
Pepper was just a substitute because I couldn't find the other two things.
Xu Chen drank the hot broth and soon his forehead was covered with sweat.
There was a burst of warm cheers around a bonfire where a group of Imperial Guards were sitting not far next door.
The news that Long brought back made this group of young forbidden soldiers extremely excited, because tomorrow they finally no longer have to be spectators, but can actually pick up bows, arrows, swords and guns to kill those barbarians.