After yesterday's wild dash with people flying in front and souls chasing behind, Zhang Qi decided to take his time on the road today.
And after Ma San woke up this morning, he checked the condition of the horses, sighed and said to Zhang Qi: "Lang Jun, those grassland horses are no longer good, and they will basically not be able to run in the future."
Zhang Qi was a little stunned. He knew that long-distance running would cause damage to the horse, but he didn't expect it to be so serious.
After hearing what Ma San said, he also went to see the nine grassland horses that he had snatched from the Huns before.
Each one is like Ma San said. When standing, there is nothing serious, but when walking around, the muscles are a little trembling.
Helpless, Zhang Qi planned to take them into the world of riding and slashing, but he did not expect that taking in horses would require paying a toll just like taking in people.
There was no other way. It would be a pity to throw away these horses. Zhang Qi didn't want to waste the dinars and brought them alive into the world of riding and slashing. He simply drew his knife and slaughtered the nine prairie horses on the spot in front of everyone's distressed eyes.
Several hundred kilograms of good horse meat were left as meat, and the rest was taken into the world of riding and slashing to serve as military rations.
A living horse costs dinars, but a dead horse does not.
These pack horses died, and Zhang Qi lost some camel beasts. Now that his dinars were increasing every day under Ha Qin's operation, he simply replaced the horses in the entire team with Riding and cutting down horses.
Six prairie horses from the Riding and Cutting World were brought out and loaded with supplies before they set off.
The situation was not much different from what Zhang Qi had guessed. As it got closer and closer to the east, there were more and more Hun cavalry in formation.
Zhang Qi succeeded in hiding from several groups of Huns cavalry with the excuses he had given in response to Aguru before, and finally arrived at the vast Hulun Lake in the early morning of the fourth day after the grassland horses died from exhaustion.
Although the land is now covered with heavy snow, the scenery of the Hulunbuir Prairie has already begun to emerge.
After arriving at Hulun Lake, Zhang Qi stayed for a few days for observation.
The Zuotu Qi tribe can be regarded as a wealthy tribe among the Huns. There are hundreds of tribes of various sizes occupying here with various lush pastures.
Zhang Qi had visited several of these tribes, and they were basically direct descendants of Zuo Tuqi.
From small tribes with more than a hundred people to large tribes with thousands of people, they are scattered in every corner of the Hulunbuir grassland. Basically, where there is sufficient water, the size of the tribe is larger.
And through several pretended trading opportunities, Zhang Qi discovered that most of the Huns here operated in a semi-nomadic and semi-cultivating mode.
Through mutual trade, Zhang enabled oats, rye and other crops to be exchanged with the Huns for millet and millet.
Zhang Qi actually didn't know what millet was and what millet was. These were all told to him by Lu Mu.
Millet is yellow rice, one of the main foods of the Han people, but it is not the main crop grown by the Huns here. They mainly grow millet. Millet is not a kind of crop, but a general term for several types. There are various types of millet. And sorghum. p1
Zhang Qi thought the other two types were nothing, but when it was sorghum's turn, Zhang Qi's eyes lit up. This is a good thing. To put it bluntly, sorghum once saved a country, although later it was planted in a larger proportion. Attenuated in amplitude, but undeniably important in its day.
No wonder the herdsmen here mainly grow millet. Throwing sorghum into the ground can produce a harvest every year without having to worry about anything.
Belongs to the subsistence allowance players in the crop industry.
Zhang Qi generously exchanged a little salt for a bag of sorghum and some millet and yellow rice. Because he pretended to be a Gaoche tribe, he was quite popular among these Huns tribes.
The grassland people moved between pastures every year, so there was no need for commerce. The fur and bone tools accumulated by the tribe could only be exchanged in the northern and southern Shanyu Courts every year during the Sacred Mountain Sacrifice.
For the Gaoche tribe who trade in the grasslands, this is one of the few opportunities they have to exchange for the supplies they want.
Since he was pretending, Zhang Qi might as well pretend to be more serious.
After visiting four or five Huns tribes that relied on Hulun Lake to survive, Zhang Qi gradually discovered that there were more than just Huns living here.
There are also Han people.
Not slaves, but Han Chinese with personal status as true herdsmen.
When he was doing business with the tribe, he also asked Lu Mu to inquire about it and found that these people were indeed residents of the Han Dynasty.
But now, they are all accustomed to the living habits of the Huns. Although many of them are soldiers who were robbed or defeated, many of them came here on their own initiative.
In layman's terms, for these lower-class Han people, they have no concept of country in their hearts, and they live wherever they can.
The main reason why the tribes here are half-farming and half-grazing is because of the participation of these Han people.
For them, Zhang Qi really couldn't say the word traitor. The feudal dynasty had nothing to do with these people at the bottom, and the country only belonged to those in the upper class.
All they want is to live.
Two or three days of tribal transactions have broadened Zhang Qi's horizons a lot. Now that they have seen and understood, Zhang Qi and the others plan to continue moving towards the east.
But before moving forward...
"The surrounding situation has been investigated clearly. After Shan Yu issued the order, all the Huns in this tribe who could fight rushed over. Now there are only women and children in their tribe."
Eagle whispered in Zhang Qi's ear.
"Are you sure? Their entire tribe who can fight has left. Are they not afraid of being annexed?"
Zhang Qi asked in surprise. Yes, he did plan to do something before leaving. Anyway, he was here and it was the Chinese New Year. He couldn't leave empty-handed.
Eagle shook his head: "The women of this tribe are one of Zuo Tuqi's Yan clan, so no one dares to touch them." (yan1zhi1)
"And because that woman was so beloved by Zuo Tuqi, several large pastures nearby were given to their tribe, and no one would come."
Zhang Qi nodded: "How is the personnel situation?"
There was an unusual burgundy color on Ying's face, and Zhang Qi knew that this guy was getting excited.
"I used the dates you gave me to get close to a few more aristocratic guys. There are more than 300 women in the tribe, and there are only 30 or 40 men left in the tribe. And I also built the yurts where those men live. It’s clear, it’s in the third, sixth, and ninth rooms near Hulun Lake.”
"There are still a few scattered far apart. What do you think? Do you want to get rid of them?"
Ying looked at Zhang Qi expectantly. Zhang Qi thought for a while, then looked at a few NPC soldiers guarding him, and a bright smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Get 'em!"
"The moon is dark and the wind is high, it's a murderous night!"
"Have a night's rest in their tribe. You ask the harriers to take those warriors to stay near the yurts where there are the most men, and listen to my orders at night!"
"Got it! I'll inform Harrier!"
The eagle suppressed the excitement that was about to roar, and quickly walked out of Zhang Qi's yurt. This was the last tribe they visited, and it was also the easternmost tribe in Hulun Lake. Because they found that the number of men here was surprisingly small, Zhang Qi had Got some ideas.
