Iron Powder and Spellcaster

[wilderness]

The crisp sound of the cowbells floats rhythmically in the wind.

A motorcade with no end in sight is meandering forward on the same endless grassland.

At a rough count, there were at least five hundred carriages in the convoy.

Most of them were small cars with a narrow body and large wheels, essentially two wooden boards fixed to an axle, and were pulled by a strong and hardy Herd horse.

This kind of simple single-set cart is very common in the wilderness. The Hud people call this kind of cart "Lele cart" or "ox cart". They use it to pull anything that doesn't have long legs.

They would also connect Lele carts and Lele carts end to end with leather ropes, so that one driver could drive a long queue.

Although it is not as heavy as the double carriage next door, the Lele is small and light, does not rely on roads, and can move freely in the wild.

Without it, nomadism would be impossible.

However, the Lele carts of ordinary Hurd herdsmen cannot afford iron parts and are made entirely of leather and wood. They can be repaired quickly and break down quickly.

All the Lele cars in this fleet have iron bearings and wheels.

Moreover, ordinary herdsmen usually use cattle with better endurance to pull their carts. In order to ensure speed, this team uses horses to draw animals.

In addition to the vast majority of Lele vehicles, there were more than twenty odd-looking black two-wheeled carriages in this convoy.

The body of these black carriages is wider than that of a Lele, and the wheels are larger than that of a Lele. The bottom of the car is closer to the ground, which makes it have a lower center of gravity and a more stable ride.

The carriage of the black carriage is placed on a total of three curved steel slats, two vertical and one horizontal, which greatly reduces the bumps of the carriage.

Therefore, although the black carriage obviously carries more cargo than the Lele cart, it can travel in the wilderness together with the light Lele cart, and the draft horses pulling the cart are not more tired than the similar Lele carts. No wonder someone in the team People have always been full of praise for this new type of carriage.

In addition to the things loaded on the car, this convoy also carried a lot of cargo with four legs - livestock.

Thousands of cattle and horses were divided into small herds, each led by a dedicated horse herder and cattle herder.

According to the tradition of the Hed people when they migrate, horses lead the way at the front, and cattle accompany the convoy.

At first glance, it really looks like a prosperous grassland tribe rushing to the next pasture.

But it only looks like it at first glance. Careful people can immediately find something wrong as long as they observe:

The migrating people were too single, all adult men, and there were no old, weak, women and children that should be seen in the tribe;

The attire and weapons of those capable cavalrymen who patrolled up and down the flanks of the column astride their steeds were not in the style of the Hurds;

At the back of the team, there were no large herds of sheep or goats that were indispensable to the grassland tribes. There was only a solitary small car, carrying a wheelwright, his apprentice and their full set of tools, making a clanging sound.

The most wrong thing is actually the location of this team.

What the rolling wheels rolled over was the once no-man's land, but now the grassland of the "Wen Duo'er Tribe" belongs to the notorious "Blood Wolf".

Even though this land is fertile and fertile, no Hed tribe dares to stick their noses in it - at least not yet.

Therefore, this long line of carriages and horses is not a migrating tribe at all, but a caravan traveling between Tiefeng County and Chihe Tribe.

They set out from Shovel Harbor in Iron Peak County, laden with nails, iron pots, yarn, linen, tobacco, spirits, and all kinds of things needed by the Hurds;

They returned from the "water village" located in the territory of Terdun tribe but under the control of Chihe tribe, carrying livestock, washed and dried wool, untanned rawhide, large salt bricks for licking the livestock, and Everything the wilderness has to offer.

Of course, the main ones are livestock and wool.

This is the third transaction between the "Lion" and the "Wolf". Compared with the first two attempts, which were just a slap in the face, this time both parties are serious about it, spending a lot of money, and there is no room for loss.

So at this moment, Pierre Michel is also in the team.

——

Eleven days have passed since the heart-to-heart conversation between Pierre and Bell.

During these eleven days, Bell first formally introduced "Batu shoots arrows near and far" to all the Wendol people in the old camp as the "Beast Spirit Whisperer", and then accompanied "the new ones" Yan" and visited the sub-camps around Laoying one by one.

After several days of running around and sleeping in the open air, Pierre visited all the camps he could go to, except for those sub-camps that were too far away or simply could not be found, and he also had a basic understanding of the current situation of the Wenduoer tribe. learn:

By sheltering fugitive slaves and accepting weak tribes, the Wenduoer tribe has developed extremely rapidly. According to the standards of the Plato people, the population has exceeded 20,000.

The tribe with a population of 20,000 can already be regarded as a well-known presence among the various tribes.

However, according to the standards of the Hed tribes, the population of the Wenduoer tribe must squeeze out at least half of the water, about six thousand to seven thousand.

It can only be regarded as having some strength, but it is far from being able to compete with the three major groups.

The reason for this difference is that according to the custom of the Platuan people, children are not considered "people" - they may die one day, so the Plattuan people only count adult men and women when calculating their population.

When the Hed people calculated their population, they simply did not include women, nor did they look at age, only whether they could pull a bow.

After visiting the site, Pierre intuitively felt that there were an unusually large number of old, weak, women and children in the Wenduoer tribe, with very few able-bodied people. Each of them was the backbone of each camp and family, and there was no way to recruit them without affecting normal production. manpower.

No wonder Bell didn't mobilize any of his men, and only took Dabai and Xiaobai to look for wolves in the wilderness.

At the moment, Wen Duo'er is like a thin child wearing an adult's robe.

Given time, he might have a chance to actually hold up his robe.

But the prerequisite is that he can have enough "time".

But what worries Pierre the most is not Wen Duoer's state of being strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

In fact, Pierre immediately understood and accepted the current situation of the Wenduoer tribe - if they were not precarious and desperate, why would those small tribes seek the protection of the blood wolves?

What really concerned Pierre was the loyalty of the small tribes who were forced to surrender to Batu due to circumstances.

Even a child, as long as he can use all his strength in one place, can make any adult who looks down on him look good.

But if a person's hands, feet and head have their own thoughts, then even if he has the strength, once he starts to act seriously, he will only become the laughing stock of others.

The Hurds in Wenduoer's tribe can be roughly divided into two categories: one is the runaway slaves, who could not bear the driving of their old masters, so they seized their horses and fled to new lands to join the enemies of their old masters;

The other type is the small nobles and white people. Because they are faced with being bullied or even annexed by other tribes, they are not allowed to move to new lands and join Batu.

The former are helpless and mostly stay in the old camp. The caravans that communicate with the Chihe tribe are mainly composed of these "new white-skinned people" in the literal sense.

Although the latter became a member of the Wenduo'er tribe, they still separated from the old camp and dispersed to various parts of the newly cultivated land to graze their cattle, namely, "sub-camps" based on the past tribes and families.

It's not that these "old white-bodied people" deliberately keep a distance from the old camp. In fact, if they had a choice, they would prefer to live in the old camp - for no other reason than safety.

However, the "old white-skinned people" came with their livestock and felt tents. If everyone's cattle and sheep were gathered together, all the pasture around the old camp would be eaten up in a few days.

The characteristics of the nomadic life dictated that the old white people had to "act alone", but even so, each sub-camp did their best to stay as close to the old camp as possible - for safety.

Through on-site visits, Pierre, who had grasped the basic situation of the Wenduoer Department, immediately decided that "we must rendezvous with the caravan as soon as possible."

Pierre had an idea and took action immediately.

He said goodbye to the little hunter that day, and accompanied only by two guides, he rushed to "Shui Zhaizi" day and night. Finally, four days away from the old camp, he met a caravan returning with a full load - and that was three days ago. matter.

Since most of the caravan's guards were Dussac and Tiefeng County cavalry, Pierre successfully took over the command of the caravan and successfully established initial authority among the "New White People".

In the following time, Pierre, on the one hand, continued to strengthen his prestige among the new white people, and on the other hand, he began to try to understand what the new white people thought and wanted. At the same time, he silently observed what reliable and available information there was among them. people.

Three days were enough for him to find a few good pieces of material.

Next, he plans to bring the "good materials" to his side and continue to cultivate and observe them.

In the next step, he would rectify the Wenduo'er tribe, manage the Waixin Reclamation Land, subdue the Teldu Tribe, block the infiltration of the Chihe Tribe, and make the Waixin Reclamation Army a force that cannot be ignored in the new army.

He had found the starting point to take the first step.

He made up his mind.

——

[Time returns to the present]

A golden eagle swooped down from a high altitude, and then suddenly pulled up not far from the ground, waking Pierre on horseback from his meditation.

Pierre stared at the golden eagle returning to the sky and disappearing from his sight. He looked back with a sense of loss and set his eyes on the earth.

From his side to the hills in the distance, there was an endless stream of Lele cars, like a meandering river.

Everyone in the convoy is both a part of the river and is carried forward by the river until they disappear on the horizon.

Pierre was in a daze for a moment.

He remembered that the last time he escorted a convoy, he and the centurion went to deliver "supplies" to the expeditionary force besieging Bianli.

That was the first time he was involved in war.

He then remembered that the last time he escorted a convoy, he and the centurion were ambushed by the Horseshoe gang at the Tushu Field in Blackwater Town.

That was the first time he was involved in combat.

Now, he was escorting the convoy again, but there was no centurion to lead him, guide him, or protect him.

Where will I be swept away by this river?

Pierre felt desolate in his heart.

Suddenly, a very energetic voice interrupted Pierre's rare sensibility.

"Look! Mr. Mitchell, what do you think of my horse? Give me the cart in exchange! Give me a cart, and this horse will be yours! I'll give you a pair of the best saddles as well!"

The little lion, astride a divine black horse, came galloping with great shouts.

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