On the mountainside of the northern slope of the Thorny Mountains, Anta led Surdak through the jumbled stone pillars and walked to a gap in the mountain surrounded by stone pillars.
The gap between the mountains is only less than a hundred meters long, and many wooden houses have been built in the gap more than three meters wide. The outside of these wooden houses is covered with bark, hay and mud. Each wooden house looks very small, and there is always a gap at the door of the wooden house.
There was an elderly man sitting on the ground against the wall basking in the sun.
There is a somewhat smoky atmosphere of life here, but obviously they should have a special hut, and you can't smell the stinky smell of feces and urine in the front and back of the house.
Surdak did not expect that such a secret residence would be hidden here. There was a cave at the end, and at the entrance of the cave some women holding children were cooking simple food.
The vessel they used was a chipped iron pot, standing on three stones, with firewood stuffed between the stones.
Flames came out from below and almost completely engulfed the iron pot, burning it black.
There was a mess of food cooking in the iron pot, and the only thing Suldak could identify was a worker ant leg.
Seeing Suldak coming in with a group of heavily armed cavalry, the women and children of the indigenous tribe looked very panicked, but also a little curious.
They were squatting next to the big iron pot, wrapped in some animal skins, and their eyes were wide open.
Only the eyes of the old people lying in the cabin plane were full of indifference and a hint of hostility.
A group of strong indigenous warriors gathered from all directions and gathered around Anta. These indigenous people gathered together and spoke a lot of indigenous languages that Surdak could not understand at all.
Each of these natives has a hardwood bow on his body, and an iron knife or ax on his waist. However, the iron tools are very broken. Surdak even thinks that there is no worse blacksmith shop in Helensa.
Will sell this crappy weapon.
In order to avoid causing panic among the indigenous tribes, Suldak only took Andrew and Samira with him, along with twenty fully armed first-turn cavalry.
Gulitem, Aphrodite, Selena and hundreds of cavalry were waiting outside at the foot of the mountain, returning the two Thunder Rhinoceros and an enslaved Ghost-striped Male Ant.
A group of young natives followed the cavalrymen, as if they were surrounding heroes. Their eyes fell on the bright full-cover armors on the cavalrymen, their eyes full of novelty and envy.
Surrounded by hundreds of natives, a tribal leader wearing a messy animal skin came out of the cave to welcome him.
There is a sharp short ax hanging on his waist, his body is very strong, he wears a headband inlaid with various gems and feathers, and a magic crystal necklace on his chest and arms.
Engraved with some black tattoos.
I remember Aung San once said that these black ornaments represent the lifelong achievements of indigenous warriors. Many indigenous warriors are proud of having black tattoos all over their bodies.
The indigenous chief walked up to Surdak. He was two times thicker than Surdak, and his whole body was full of solid muscles. He stretched out a big hand like a cattail leaf fan, clenched it into a fist and bumped into it.
one time.
The indigenous patriarch said in a blunt imperial dialect: "Friends, listen to Anta, it was you who saved their lives. I want to thank you very much. Those trophies belong to you."
He pointed at the corpses of ghost-marked soldier ants that Anta brought back.
Surdak found that it seemed that every leader of the indigenous tribe was proficient in some Imperial language. The chief elder of the indigenous tribe he met last time was also proficient in Imperial language, and so was this indigenous leader. It seemed that they were not unfamiliar Imperial people.
"Hello, friend, do you know Imperial Language?" Surdak asked calmly.
"Of course, when I was young, I went to your city, Wilkes, and lived there for two years." The indigenous patriarch smiled a little exaggeratedly, with some wrinkles almost showing on his face, and then patted his strong chest,
Introduce yourself and say: "My name is Ilmatum, welcome to my tribe!"
"My name is Surdak, and I am the garrison commander of Dodan Canyon." Surdak took off his helmet and dragged it on his right arm.
He glanced around and found that the natives around him had blank faces, and they obviously couldn't understand the Imperial language.
"We are currently carrying out the task of eradicating ghost-marked red ants in the hilly and mountainous areas." Suldak added.
Next, the indigenous chief Ilmatum invited Surdak into the cave. The cave was very dry and very clean inside. Some individual rooms were even divided into wooden boards and animal skins.
It was just that the light was a little dim, but the living room of the indigenous patriarch Ilmatum was here. Ilmatu asked the women to prepare some food and water.
Picking up the water glass, Suldak glanced at Zhang Xixi's wooden bowl and really didn't have the courage to drink it.
It was not easy to just put it back, so I just held it in my hand and said to the indigenous leader: "Both my Duodan town and your tribe are currently invaded by ghost-striped red ants."
The indigenous chief sat opposite Surdak, with indigenous warriors standing behind him. The young people in the tribe could only squeeze at the entrance of the cave.
When women passed by the cave entrance carrying clay pots, some young men boldly touched their thighs secretly.
The indigenous chief did not pay attention to this at this time. He thought seriously for a while and then nodded in agreement.
Suldak continued: "They are fierce and numerous, and they want to capture our homeland and establish their red ant empire, so I think we have a common enemy in fighting the ghost-striped red ants."
Hearing what Surdak said, the indigenous chief immediately became energetic and said loudly: "Yes, these ghost-striped red ants have destroyed our homeland. They have eaten everything that can feed them, and they have also eaten many tribesmen. We
If you want to take back your home in the hills and mountains, you must drive them away."
He said it once in blunt imperial language, and again in aboriginal language, and clenched his hand into a fist and hit the ground hard.
A group of natives behind him also followed his movements and beat the ground hard.
The women in the tribe took out some ant legs that were roasted black and placed the food on a stone slab.
"That's right, we need to drive them back to the Dark Worm Valley." Suldak said.
The indigenous chief lowered his head and raised his eyes to glance at Suldak, but said nothing.
Suldak continued: "My cavalry battalion killed a lot of ghost-striped red ants in the hilly and mountainous areas, but I feel that this is not enough. We must continue to expand the results and drive them all back to Invercargill.
To the north of the forest, that’s why we pay a casual visit when we pass by here. After all, we are neighbors not far away.”
Hearing what Surdak said, the smile on the indigenous chief's face suddenly disappeared.
Surdak's expression was indifferent, and his eyes fell on the tattooed face of the indigenous patriarch.
"The relationship between the Empire and the natives of the Bailin plane has always been very tense. We Imperial people crossed the portal and came here to occupy a large area of fertile land. Many people said that we were invaders..."
The indigenous chief raised his eyebrows, and there was already some anger in his eyes.
The surrounding indigenous warriors also felt the anger of the indigenous tribe leader. A group of people stared at Suldak with unkind expressions and were ready to beat him if they disagreed.
Surdak waved his hand and said to the indigenous chief:
"What I want to say is... the Bailin plane is vast, with vast territory and abundant resources. There are many places that we have not explored in such a large land. Our imperial cavalry's journey is also in those unexplored places. To the north, we can occupy Inverka
Gir Forest can cross the Eruyi River to the east, but it will not be hilly and mountainous."
When the indigenous chief heard this, his expression recovered and he whispered an indigenous language to the indigenous warriors on both sides.
Only then did the indigenous warriors retract their stern gazes.
Surdak said: "You have lived here for generations and have long been accustomed to the mountains, rivers, plants and trees here."
The indigenous chief nodded slightly in agreement.
Surdak said: "When I came here, I never thought of driving you away. If you want to live here, then you can continue to live here. You can completely enclose as much land as you want."
Ilmatum was obviously startled and stared at Surdak, as if he wanted to see through him.
With a bit of aristocratic pride on his face, Surdak said:
"The boundary markers in the hills and mountains are not my end point. I am destined to expand northward in the future and occupy the entire Invercargill."
Speaking of this, his eyes fell on the indigenous patriarch and said word by word:
"What I need is 'peace' here in the hills and mountains."
He pronounced the last word very strongly.
"I have never thought about letting the aboriginal people in your tribe integrate into our lives. You also have your own way of life, which we need to respect."
"Of course, I don't mind learning from each other, slowly adapting and accepting some good things."
"In the future, the young people in the tribe are destined to go out and see the new world outside. They are destined to bring back exquisitely crafted copper and iron wares, pottery, and textiles. Life here will become better and better..."
Surdak continued…
"We should get rid of the old ideas in the past. You have many products here. Maybe you don't think they are anything, but they are very precious to us."
"Then why don't you use it in exchange for some other materials that are also precious to you, and we can try to make some trades."
"Everyone is mutually beneficial to each other and if we think it's okay, then we can continue the transaction like this. If we think it's not worthwhile, then we'll stop and sit down and talk until we're both satisfied."
"Not everything needs to be solved by force. The only people our cavalry's spears want to aim at are the ants."
Suldak talked a lot.
The indigenous chief also fell into deep thinking. Of course, Surdak didn't think he could decide anything.
Although he is the leader of an indigenous tribe, it is his father, the chief elder of the tribe, who really has the right to speak in this indigenous tribe.
"I can understand a lot of what you said, but there are also some that I can't understand. I have to think about these carefully." He scratched his head that was about to explode and said solemnly.
Surdak also clapped his hands and said:
"I will leave you enough time to think. I am here just for the first visit. After all, we will be neighbors for a long time in the future..."
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand, pulled out a small box from the magic waist bag, opened the lid of the box, and found it filled with fine steel arrow clusters. He said very casually: "By the way, in order to deal with these red ants, I brought
I gave you some gifts, and these weapons are here to stay. I believe they will be helpful to you."
In addition to a box of arrow clusters, there are also more than a dozen weapons.
Of course, the weapons Surdak sent out this time were all defective and scrapped products.
But even some dilapidated and defective products are many times better than those in the hands of indigenous warriors.
Surdak felt that the matter of 'gifting weapons' needed to be explained clearly, otherwise it would form a habit and he might reach out and ask for it next time.
"If we still need these next time, we can exchange them with supplies." Surdak pointed to the magic crystal necklace on the chest of the indigenous tribe leader and said, "Whether it's these crystals or the leather of ghost-marked red ants, they can be used."
Take it out and trade it.”
He looked at the young indigenous people at the entrance of the cave and said:
"Young people in the tribe can also join my army. I don't guarantee anything else. There is only one thing I can guarantee... As long as you are willing to serve in my army for four years, this set of full-covered black iron armor and
You can take this knight's sword, light shield, flail and alloy bow with you when you leave the military camp, because at that time...those things already belong to you."
After Suldak said this, he left without sitting for too long.
In addition to the indigenous tribe leader who was thinking seriously in the cave, in a small cabin surrounded by leather next to it, three elders were also thinking seriously...
Please remember the first domain name of this book: ._