Iron Powder and Spellcaster

Pierre, who was led into the palace tent by the little hunter, found that the interior of the palace tent was very spacious.

The dome supported by six pillars has an unusual span.

There are many skylights on the dome, so although it is surrounded on all sides, the inside of the tent is very bright.

However, compared to the reputation of the Blood Wolf, the palace tent of the Wen Duo'er tribe is not magnificent enough.

It should be noted that the Hud people like to put their property in the open, no matter whether they are rich or poor. The centurion's palace tent was as plainly furnished as ever.

Many Hud people were already in the tent, sitting in twos and threes on the carpet.

An older man and a young disciple knelt respectfully in front of the blood wolf.

The above is Pierre's first impression of the "Grand Palace Tent".

——

Just as Pierre was observing the situation in the tent, the Wenduur people who were originally facing Batu under the dome also turned their heads and turned their attention to the newcomers.

Some of them still recognized Pierre, "Batu shoots arrows near and far," while others had never seen the newly appointed governor of the Waixin Reclamation Territory.

In any case, when the Wenduoer people in the tent discovered that the new young man who came in was not a descendant of the various tribes, the interior of the palace tent suddenly became extremely quiet.

While the members of the Wenduoer tribe looked at the strange visitors, they also quietly paid attention to the expression on Batu's face.

Pierre, who realized that he seemed to have intruded into some kind of ritual scene, was a little at a loss for a moment.

Because he didn't understand the language or customs, he didn't know what he should say or do, let alone what he could say or what he could do.

Just when he was in a dilemma, Pierre saw the centurion sitting high in the center of the palace tent and waved to him calmly.

Pierre was a little hesitant. The little hunter pushed him gently from behind, but he still couldn't determine what the centurion meant.

Then he saw—the centurion waved to him again.

Pierre felt at ease all of a sudden. He walked to the center of the palace tent with his head held high despite the gazes of all the Hurds in the tent.

In the center of the palace tent, a platform about a foot high was built with wooden planks. There were six majestic guards in bright armor standing on both sides of the platform - Pierre was sure that this arrangement was only for ceremonial reasons.

A curtain was drawn behind the platform, dividing the palace tent into two rooms, the front and rear.

The front room, where Pierre was, was larger and covered with rugs. The back room is smaller and blocked by a curtain, so you can't see what's going on inside.

The platform in the center of the palace tent is naturally the exclusive area of ​​the Lord.

However, there were no other luxurious couches of tribal leaders on the platform. There was only a camp bed with a bear skin on the bed.

The blood wolf sat on the bearskin.

Pierre came to the platform, stood side by side with two half-kneeling Hurds, and raised his hand in salute to the centurion.

The blood wolf did not return the greeting, but nodded.

Pierre originally thought that the centurion would introduce himself to the Hurds in the palace tent next.

Unexpectedly, the leader of the Wenduoer tribe did not say a word. He just pointed to the empty space on the camp bed on the right side and motioned for Pierre to sit next to him.

Pierre was startled, more hesitant than the centurion had been when he waved to him.

Fortunately, Charles rescued Pierre in time. Ciel, who was guarding both sides of the platform as the "Chief of Guards", conjured a Mazar out of nowhere.

He took a big step forward and placed the maza on the right side of the blood wolf, half a body behind him. Then he held the saber and returned to his original position without losing dignity.

Pierre was relieved.

This time, he understood and followed the Hud way of stroking his chest, bending down and saluting, then climbed the steps, and at the same time nodded gently to Charles with gratitude.

Because Mazar would not appear out of thin air, Charles must have asked his men to get it as soon as he entered the palace tent.

Ciel also blinked secretly.

Pierre, who climbed onto the platform, took his seat behind the centurion with impeccable manners.

He immediately noticed that there was a clear change in the way the Hud people in the tent looked at him:

No one is looking up and down at him wantonly anymore, and the gazes directed at him become more cautious, more respectful, and at the same time more curious.

Xue Lang raised his hand slightly, indicating that the interrupted ceremony should continue.

Pierre saw only two Huds, one old and one young, half-kneeling in front of the centurion, sweating profusely and with trembling legs. It was as if they had been granted amnesty. The younger Hud muttered something He spoke a lot of words, then raised the arrow in his hand and broke it with force with a "snap" sound.

The centurion nodded and stood up - Pierre hastily followed suit.

Dabai and Xiaobai came to the platform from the curtain carrying a saber, a short-barreled matchlock gun, a pair of boots and a pair of stirrups.

Among them, the sabers, boots and stirrups are all in the style of the Platuan people, not to mention the matchlock gun.

Pierre watched the centurion walk off the platform, tie the saber on the Hurd who broke the arrow, put the matchlock gun on the opponent's back, put the boots and stirrups in the opponent's hand, and then patted the opponent's shoulder. , smiled and pulled the young Hud man up.

There was a burst of cheers and cheers in the palace tent.

The young Hud who became the center of attention blushed, turned to face the crowd, and accepted the congratulations somewhat shyly.

At this time, Pierre noticed that although the young Hed man was about the same height as the old Hed man, his face was still very immature. He looked only fourteen or fifteen years old. He was probably just old enough to draw a real bow. Instead of a toy cork bow for ages.

Pierre realized that the ceremony he witnessed should be a coming-of-age ceremony, and it is also possible that it is also a loyalty ceremony.

From this, Pierre speculated that the two Hede people, one old and one young, were probably not ordinary herders or escaped slaves, but from the headman's family of a small tribe that had surrendered to the Wendor tribe.

Pierre carefully searched the two Hede people and soon found more evidence - the workmanship of the old Hede's boots and robes were more exquisite than those of the new white people in the caravan, and he also wore jewelry and jewels on his ears and fingers that escaped slaves generally did not have.

Pierre secretly guessed: "Could the centurion want to guarantee the loyalty of these small tribes by taking hostages? It is a good idea."

However, his guess was soon questioned by himself.

Because just after the young Hede accepted the congratulations of everyone and found a place to sit in the felt tent with the old Hede, another new family came in.

This family is a middle-aged Hede with two half-grown boys of similar age.

The process was the same as before. The three of them knelt on one knee, and the two little guys broke their arrows and swore, accepted gifts and congratulations, and then found a place to sit in the felt tent.

The difference was that the new family was a very poor ordinary herdsman no matter how you looked at it.

It was even possible that they were runaway slaves, because the back of the hands and neck of the middle-aged Hud exposed outside his robe were covered with shocking earthworm-like scars, which were clearly traces of whipping.

And the middle-aged Hud walked with a limp - when Pierre was a child, his father told him that the Hud barbarians on the grassland would cut the heels of the runaway slaves and sprinkle shredded horsehair into the wounds, so that even after the wounds healed, the runaway slaves would feel heartache every step they took.

The two little Huds were also thin and small. They looked more mature than the previous little Huds, but they were much shorter.

"Uncle and two nephews," Pierre heard the centurion introduce them in a concise and soft voice, "the one in front is the grandfather and the little grandson."

Pierre felt warm and ashamed.

Warm, because in such an occasion, the centurion was afraid that he would not understand, so he explained it to him.

Ashamed, because he was the governor of the new land of the outer reclamation area who would have to deal with the Hud people in the future, but he could not understand the Hud language at all, and he had never even thought about learning it.

The ceremony continued, and groups of Hud people entered the palace tent, and one after another young Hud people took the oath.

Among them were rich, poor, large, and small;

Some Hud people took the initiative to present gifts to Batu before receiving the gifts, and some Hud people were so poor that they even wore a piece of rags on their feet.

Pierre was completely unable to summarize any rules from it. If he had to say, there were only two common points:

First, the people who took the oath were all Hud people;

Second, they were not very old.

In addition, Pierre also noticed that among the families who "handed over hostages", Hud families with certain property were obviously more than poor people with nothing.

Until the huge tent was almost full, no more Hede family members entered the tent gate.

Pierre was serious, sitting upright, and motionless throughout the whole process. By the end, his waist was already sore.

He estimated the time and felt that it was at least three hours, but looking at the position of the sun through the skylight, it was probably less than an hour.

After the last young Hede accepted the cheers and sat down, Bell showed his head at the door of the tent to confirm that everyone's ceremony was over.

Pots of barbecue and bags of fine wine were immediately brought in one table after another.

The atmosphere in the tent became extremely relaxed in an instant.

The Wendor people who had been watching the ceremony quietly and cheered only when necessary gradually began to talk to each other, and the tent was soon filled with "buzzing" sounds.

Pierre gently moved his shoulders and lower back, and suddenly heard the voice of the centurion, "How long did it take you to ride back?"

Pierre raised his head and found that the centurion, who had maintained a majestic demeanor before, turned his head and smiled at him.

"Not long." Pierre whispered.

Pierre saw the centurion smiled and asked again, "Are you hungry?"

This time, Pierre answered truthfully, "A little."

The first small table with wine, meat, salt, cheese and sauce made from wild flowers on the grassland was undoubtedly served to Blood Wolf.

The second one was placed in front of Pierre,

and then the other people in the palace tent.

"Eat when you are hungry." Blood Wolf took out a small knife with a handle wrapped with leather rope from his arms, picked up the bone-in meat, and ate it openly, saying as he ate, "There is still work to do after eating."

Pierre was so hungry that his stomach was numb and he had no appetite, so he didn't touch the food on the table.

But he suddenly found that the dark crowd of Hede people in the palace tent were staring at him.

He was stunned for a moment, but he reacted immediately. He imitated the centurion and tentatively picked up a piece of bone-in meat from the small table.

The other people in the palace tent seemed to have received permission and started eating.

"I originally wanted you to come and 'manage the banquet.'" Blood Wolf held half a sheep's head in his hand and savagely tore the tender flesh of the sheep's cheeks: "This is an important job - in the minds of the Hede tribes, if you do well, you can show your face in front of everyone." "I failed you..." Pierre felt like a stone was pressing on his chest.

"What's the disappointment? I'm very happy that you can take the initiative to come and find out the inside story of Waixinken in advance. I know that I didn't choose the wrong person." Hearing this, Pierre felt even more ashamed. He was just glad that the centurion was sitting in front of him and couldn't see his red face. "You said 'After eating, there is still work to do'." Pierre tried to find words: "What kind of work is it?"

Blood Wolf turned his head and raised a meaningful smile: "You will know soon."

[Update forecast]

[The previous goal of "stable update until Sunday (April 28)" has been completed, so the current goal is "stable update until this Sunday (May 5)"

[But the author has to go on a business trip on May 7, and can't go home until May 10 (2024) or May 11 (2024), so there is no environment to write novels from 5.7 to 5.11]

[The author will try to accumulate some manuscripts during the May Day holiday, and strive to update normally during the business trip, but if the plan to accumulate manuscripts does not go smoothly, I can only ask for the understanding of the book friends, thank you very much, I am very sorry Orz]

[Thanks to the book friends for collection, reading, subscription, recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, rewards and comments, thank you everyone]