Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

On the north bank of the Kuli River, there is a long and narrow plateau running from north to south. The edge of the plateau is not as sharp and steep as a knife, but has a smooth curve connecting the valleys on both sides. Looking from a distance, it looks like a head lying on the ground. The bear on the tree.

Therefore, this plateau and its surrounding valley areas are also known locally as Woxiong Ridge.

The plateau covers an area of ​​about six or seven hectares. Pine and cypress trees occupy nearly half of the space, and the rest is flat land with rich soil. The valleys on both sides are also lush with vegetation, and are irrigated by the Kuli River canal, making it an area with rich water and grass.

In late autumn, the river flow has dried up, exposing a large tidal flat and riverbed, and most of the reeds and aquatic plants have withered.

At this time, there was a group of ragged male and female slaves in the tidal flat, wading in the mud and pond on the tidal flat, using stone knives to cut the withered yellow reeds and water plants.

Although these reeds have withered, they are still very tough and can be used to weave sleeping utensils and repair houses. They are excellent materials with a wide range of uses. But it becomes very difficult to harvest with a rough and blunt stone knife.

There is still water remaining in the mud pond, which has not been completely frozen. The slaves are walking in it barefooted, with most of their legs sunk deep into the mud pond. They are still holding tools that are not suitable for use, and their faces are all cold. Blue and white, no blood color at all.

In such a situation, every breath is cruel torture, but they dare not slack off. Because there were Hu soldiers roaming around to supervise the work. Once they found that they were slow in their movements and did not harvest much, a sharp arrow would fly out and shoot the person to death in the mud.

"Dog slave, cum more accurately!"

A barbarian soldier accidentally killed a slave who was working fairly hard, which immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the leader, but he just pointed and yelled without any more scolding and punishment.

After scolding his subordinates, the leader looked at the slaves still moving in the mud pond and sighed: "It will be difficult for these Han slaves to survive this winter! You and others should be kinder and don't kill them at will. Han'er is getting better and better." You are getting more and more cunning, and the income from winter hunting is getting less and less. If there are no slaves in the coming spring, you will all get off your horses and plow the fields!"

"Didn't he say that there are big shots blowing trumpets and drums to lead us to attack Han'er City? If we attack it, we won't have slaves to use it!"

One Hu soldier said disapprovingly, with a rather expectant tone.

After hearing the words, the leader snorted coldly: "You think Han'er's big city is so easy to attack? Even if the tribes mobilize, they have to fill up the formation with lives, and they may not be able to capture it. Besides, the big man's clan is not strong, and how many of us can Qu Shuai may not be willing to support him in causing trouble."

While talking, there were dozens of Jihu men and women driving large groups of cattle and sheep back from grazing in Xiehou Valley. Most of these men and women were disheveled and walking around laughing.

Hu Zu, who was responsible for supervising the slaves' work, was very angry when he saw this. He pointed at the returning shepherds and cursed: "If you don't keep an eye on the herds carefully, you will just have fun together, lose the cattle and sheep, and skin the thieves and men." !”

Jihu is sexually promiscuous. Men and women can have wild sexual intercourse at will before they are married, but they will restrain themselves after they get married. Not out of any moral concept of chastity, but out of protection of property.

Jihu's living environment is already harsh. It is extremely difficult to support a population. Women are not very productive. They eat food from home and gain weight from outside the home. If her husband finds out, he will be killed at will. In serious cases, his father and brother will even be implicated. Punishment by spitting.

As the sun gradually set, the leader looked at the sky and then ordered: "Recall those slaves and patrol the area again. We will be moving out in ten days, but don't make any mistakes!" "

This area is suitable for farming and grazing, and Hu tribes will settle here every spring and summer. However, because the environment is too favorable, the risk of exposure will also increase. Therefore, in autumn and winter, the Hu tribe living here will search for surface resources and move to more hidden valleys to spend the winter.

"The Western Thieves were defeated by the Eastern Dynasty just last year. They are now in a difficult position to protect themselves. I'm afraid that the Eastern Dynasty King Gao will attack and invade, so they won't be willing to use this place! In my opinion, it doesn't matter if they don't move this year, even if a small bandit army comes. If you disturb me, just kill him. I don’t know who will occupy this fertile land next year!”

After hearing this, several young Hu soldiers couldn't help but complain. Although they lived in hiding in the wilderness, they had heard about the results of the war between the East and the West, so they did not think that the Western Dynasty would attack them massively under such circumstances.

"Where's all this nonsense! In previous years, there were braver warriors than you, but they were all dead."

The leader cursed impatiently, turned his horse and walked to the foot of a big tree beside the road. He grabbed a shepherd girl waiting here and rode up to the plateau.

There is a castle with rammed earth walls on the top of the plateau. Part of the castle is filled with dwellings covered with felt tents, and part is filled with warehouses of different sizes. Inside are piles of materials accumulated by the Hu tribe after they settled here for half a year. .

On one side of the castle are cattle, horses, sheep and other herds, and simple stables and sheds are built. On the other side, the slave population they captured from various places just lived in caves on the ground. The environment was dirtier and cruder than that of cattle and sheep stables, and it was up to them to decide how long they could live.

To the south of the castle is a large area of ​​roughly cultivated land, and the crops have already been harvested. Further south is a dense forest. At this time, there was also a group of slaves here cutting down trees and collecting firewood.

Suddenly a short shout came from the forest, but fortunately Hu Zu, who was supervising the work outside the forest, did not notice it.

A woodcutter fell into a deep ditch and saw several strong men holding bows and knives hiding at the bottom of the ditch. He was extremely frightened and said in a trembling voice: "You, you are..."

"We are officers and soldiers from the Northern Defense, here to suppress the bandits and rescue the slave laborers. Don't make any noise, old man. The army will arrive soon. You can tell carefully how many people there are in this bandit army and how well-prepared their residence is."

Lu Chuan, who had led the way and sneaked here for a long time, soothed the woodcutter in a low voice in his native accent and inquired about the details of this Jihu.

The woodcutter was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly told in detail what he knew about the Hu tribe, and said over and over again: "These thieves and Hu are not human beings, please generals, please kill them all!"

"The number of thieves is more than three thousand, which is not a small number. No wonder they can sleep in Xiong Ling based on this."

After receiving the news, Lu Chuan used the grass to cover up the forest ditch and climbed up to Zhu Meng's hiding place. He conveyed the information to Zhu Meng in a low voice and asked for instructions: "General Zhu, should we report to Master Lang, or..."

"With a small force of three thousand people, it's not worth the trouble of going back and forth. Just take action and use fireworks as a signal!"

After Zhu Meng heard this, he made a decision directly and conveyed his order to his comrades who were hiding in Zuoming. The group of people sneaked towards the edge of the woods with a look. It was inevitable that they would be noticed by the woodcutter in the forest. After announcing their intention, he signaled to them Escape to the forest and don't get affected.

"Come out, get out!"

At this time, Hu Zu, who was supervising the work outside, also noticed the strange movements of the slaves. He put his hand on the saber and shouted loudly. Just as he took two steps, an arrow flew out from the forest and penetrated directly into his chest.

This arrow was a signal, and dozens of brave soldiers were like tigers emerging from the forest, wielding swords and bows and pounced on the nearby barbarian supervisors.

The dozen or so barbarian soldiers here were also suddenly alerted. Some drew their swords and stepped forward to fight, while others turned around and mounted their horses to gallop to call the police.

The battle broke out suddenly and ended quickly. Within a few breaths, all the soldiers nearby were cut down and shot. However, there were also several people riding horses and blowing trumpets to convey the warning of enemy attack.

There were several horses left by Hu soldiers nearby. Zhu Meng and others got on their horses and ordered the remaining people to light fires and set off smoke outside the forest to convey the news. He himself rode horses straight towards Tucheng in the north of the plateau.

The people in Tucheng heard the alarm and reacted in panic. First, dozens of Hu soldiers rushed out of Tucheng on horseback, and soon met Zhu Meng and others. The two sides exchanged fire without engaging.

Hu Gong's soft disadvantage was determined at this moment. Several people were shot and killed first, but Zhu Meng and others passed by without any damage, followed the Hu soldiers' team and shot several more people, and then went straight to that place. The gate of Tucheng rushed away.

"Stop them, stop them!"

The Hu soldiers who led the army were shocked when they saw this. They rushed to fight, and the soldiers in the city were not organized yet. Although the opponent only has a few people, once they are rushed into the city, they will inevitably cause greater chaos.

When these barbarian soldiers returned to stop the attack, the remaining people in the forest had already collected firewood and set off fireworks on the ground. A few people left behind were guarding the fire to add firewood, and the remaining forty people lined up to march towards the earth city. And go.

More than 20 Hu soldiers came to interfere, and the infantry team formed a circular formation and defended on the spot. They had armor shields outside, long spears inside, and strong bows and arrows to fight back.

Although the barbarians were coming quickly and fiercely, more than a dozen spears were surrounding the formation, so they did not dare to hit them directly, so they could only go around and shoot.

The flowing arrows were dense and fast, but because they did not dare to get too close, the actual damage caused was limited. On the contrary, although the long bow arrows in the enemy's formation were slow in pace, every arrow fired was bound to cause damage.

"Drive your horse into the formation, if the formation is broken you will die!"

The enemy's situation was not fully known yet, so the soldiers did not dare to fight, so they gathered a few lost horses and drove them straight towards the battle formation from behind.

"Right and left geese!"

Following the commander's order, the armored soldiers came out from left to right, and the originally circular formation was immediately divided into two rows. The fast-moving Hu soldiers had no time to change direction, and their sides were already exposed to the enemy's front, and they waved sideways. The sword struck the shield, but the enemy's sword had already cut through his ribs.

After a confrontation, the soldiers wounded several more people, and several more people got into a fight. Although the enemy formation was driven away, the remaining soldiers were no longer strong enough to win.

The obvious gap in equipment made their mobility advantage insignificant. When they saw that several enemy troops had already seized the horse, the remaining dozen or so soldiers did not dare to fight anymore. They turned their horses and retreated, summoning more companions.

At this time, the barbarians in Tucheng also recovered from the initial panic. All the men and women in the city gathered together, each holding weapons and staffs to form a defense. Another two hundred horsemen galloped out and continued to chase the enemy on the plains.

Zhu Meng and others originally circled the city to cause nuisance. Although they did not gain entry, they clearly observed the details of the city's defenses. They also captured several idle horses and galloped back around the plain, increasing their cavalry to a small number of twenty. Swords, shields and spears gathered in the wild.

When the enemy's cavalry approaches, they first use their cavalry to block their fire. They have lost their sharp energy before entering and are unable to break the formation. They can only retreat and regroup. But when he left and came back, a similar situation happened again. This is the case with three, which makes people helpless.

At this time, police were sent from all directions in the plain, and the people who were behind finally arrived in the valley under the plain. Most of Jihu's scattered scouts were driven back, and the unconfirmed enemy situation was also reported back.

The sound of drums and horns for gathering troops for internal defense sounded in the Tucheng. As the Hu soldiers on the plateau withdrew, Zhu Meng and others finally breathed a sigh of relief. When the two places came together, the troops and horses took stock and found that they had also suffered more than a dozen casualties.

"But if we can completely leave this thief behind, the dead can rest in peace!"

Zhu Meng glanced at the crowded Tucheng and thought silently in his heart. The terrain of this plateau was so high that they looked around, and their nature was cunning and alert. If they were not disturbed, it would be difficult to completely trap them in this situation and wait for death.