The late autumn night is very quiet, and the smell of pine is soothing. Regardless of whether the militiamen in the village were sleeping or not, and regardless of how the tribal archers in the camp were sleeping, the military aristocrat Ai Pei slept well on the comfortable straw bed of the village chief, anyway!
"Praise the Lord God! This comfortable sleep makes me feel relaxed all over...ah, not bad, really good!"
The next morning, the woodpecker Aipai smiled and ate pancakes from the village while making a "promise" to Tagu, the leader of the farm next to him.
"God bless me! When I come back from the war next year, if I still pass by here, I will definitely come here to sleep again!..."
"ah?!…"
After hearing what the woodpecker said, Taguru, the leader of the field, was struck by lightning. He shook his hand and shook the hot pancake directly to the ground. He widened his eyes and looked at the sincere face of Ai Pei. He wanted to pick up his spear and stab him in the face hard.
Well, Tagu, the leader of the field, does have a two-and-a-half-meter legion spear. He is actually a retired samurai of Kawaguchi Prefecture's First Pike Regiment. He was not injured and was not old. The reason why he quit the legion was to comply with the order of the legion commander and county governor Kuruka.
At the beginning, the kingdom established civilian villages in Hekou County. Each village had to have several village leaders and warriors to manage it. Monkey Kuruca was born as a commoner, and he had no Mexica nobles or hereditary family warriors under his command. So the way he came up with it was to mobilize a group of reliable veterans from his own legion and send them to manage the villages. Especially in the villages close to Hekou County and close to the Dog Origin Flag Team, trustworthy candidates have been arranged.
After Tagu, a veteran spearman, became the leader of the field, he briefly trained some young men in the village according to the training methods in the legion. This was the grand "welcome" seen yesterday by the woodpecker Ape.
"Ahem! Witness the Lord God! Respected military aristocrats... I followed the legion commander, plundered... Oh, and conquered the Chapala Lake area in the northwest. The Feather King in Chapala is very cunning, I'm afraid it won't be that easy to deal with!..."
】
Tagu, the leader of the field, picked up the pancake and patted the ashes. He lowered his head and could not see his expression, but his voice was trembling.
"This expedition is to completely occupy the northwest lake area. That lake area is huge! There are many city-states by the lake, many barbarians in the north, and many chaotic tribes in the mountains... You may not be able to finish that area next year. Come back!…”
"Haha! The Lord God's thunder protects us! No village or city-state can withstand the kingdom's attack!"
Hearing this, Woodpecker Aipai laughed loudly, with pride from the royal capital on his face, but also the pride that he couldn't help but show when facing these country bumpkin warriors who had little information.
"Witness the Lord God! This expedition is not just all the way to Hekou County, but also the Long Snake Legion of 8,000 people, going directly from the southwest to the north, inserting into the hinterland of the Chapala Lake area! What's more, there is an invincible attack force behind our battalion. The leader of Ke’s battalion is the newly formed Lei…cough!”
"What? What's the thunder? Is it the artillery camp during the Northern Expedition?"
"Haha! It's different, it's different. They will also walk along the county road, but very slowly. I can't say, but if you pay attention to the inn, you will see it!"
The woodpecker Epei shut up in time, stopped what he was saying, and only said half of it. Then, he looked at Tagu, the leader of the field who was full of curiosity and wanted to stab him to death, and stood up triumphantly.
"Blessed by the Lord God! Everything is eaten! It's time to set off!...Tagu, see you next year!..."
"Uh... God bless us! Let's talk about it next year..."
Tagu, the leader of the field, lowered his voice and muttered to himself. He stared at the Tlaxcalan camp, stepping on the harvested fields and onto the newly built dirt road, and cursed angrily in his heart.
"The nobles of the royal capital who have eyes higher than the top! You only speak half the words... I hope you fall into the pit... and you can't even climb out!..."
"Tagu, I will sleep on your straw bed next year! ... By the way, I will also bring you some trophies! ..."
"Well!…"
"Ha ha!"
Woodpecker Aipei held his head high, carried the battalion's battle flag again, and led his archers towards the northeastern Hekou County. As everyone walked forward, the terrain gradually increased, and hills and hills began to appear on both sides. The road under Aipai's feet has also changed from a second-grade county road in Sanhetu to a simple and smoothed first-grade dirt road. This section of the road is obviously difficult to repair and the amount of work is huge. However, this section of the county's second-level county road has not yet been repaired.
"Huh? There are woods on both sides, and there are birds flying... That's right! After crossing these hills and hills, you should be able to overlook Lake Quetzeo at the mouth of the river... I remember that there should be many canine tribes going south. The Young Flag Team is all located here..."
Woodpecker Ape thought as he looked towards the hills on both sides. Around the dirt road, he saw a large number of low shacks and huts in the distance, clustered in small valleys in the lower areas around the river flowing down from the mountains. And beside the river in the valley, there are still patches of roughly reclaimed farmland, but they are obviously messy.
"Lord God! What are you growing here? Sweet potatoes? These weeds are growing as tall as the crops, and no one is taking care of them?!..."
The woodpecker looked at it for a moment, his brows twitching. He didn't feel it when he first joined the army, but now that he has his own manor and has carefully taken care of the farmland, he can't bear to see such an eye-catching tribal "field" again.
"No! No! Damn it, it's already November! Why aren't these sweet potatoes planted indiscriminately harvested? Ah?!"
Thinking of this, the woodpecker gnashed his teeth. He looked hard at the tribal camp in the valley, and exchanged glances with the tribal leader who was also looking at the camp. Then, dozens of tribal warriors and hunters with tattooed faces and blue hair immediately swarmed out with the guys on their shoulders and pounced on the battalion marching on the mountain road.
"Ah! Take out your weapons! Prepare to fight!...Didi!..."
The shrill sound of the conch horn sounded, and both the marching tribal archers and the charging camp soldiers were all startled. Both sides shouldered their spears and raised their bamboo bows in the same conditioned reflex. Even the weapons were exactly the same.
After a few breaths, it was the tattooed tribal flag captain who reacted first. He skillfully took out a banner of the Lord God from behind and waved it vigorously. Then, he took out another flag with a crooked stone scale drawn on it, which was the symbol of the Kingdom Market.
"Praise the Lord God! Praise the feeding of radishes! It's so strange! ... People from the mountains! Tribes! Oh no! Warriors! ... Come! Take a look! Change things! Good things! ..."
Babe, the captain of the tribal flag, let go of his voice and shouted a greeting to the archer camp on the dirt road in a stuttering, low and melodious Nahua language. This strange accent reminds people of the vast and desolate north. He was a hunting tribe who came south from the northeastern part of the wasteland during the early spring famine of the previous year. He was a Bossaros from the far northeast.
In the past few years, the Red Crow tribe has conquered east and west, annexing everywhere, driving the tribes in the northeast to run around. Cold waves from the north often move south. Although they are all minor cold waves and there is no terrible cold wave, they still make the tribes very miserable. He thought about it and heard that Chief Balamo of Qingqiu County had been recruiting people, so he took his tribe and defected there.
Who would have known that the black-hearted Chief Paramo just recited a few lines of poetry that he couldn't understand and gave him the surname "Ba". Then, Chief Paramo picked and picked out a few sharpshooters from his tribe, then packed up his tribe and sent them to the south, where they sold...oh, and gave them to the more powerful "Monkey" chief. , Kuluka.
"Hey! Why do the two great chiefs like the red-haired tribe who are good at shooting?... We blue-haired ones are also very powerful! We can chase the giant beasts in the north and hunt the spear-throwers!..."
Thinking of the treatment he received for defecting twice, flag captain Babei was a little aggrieved. Fortunately, although the "Monkey God" Chief did not pay attention to them, he did not treat them badly. Not only did they form a flag team for them, but they also designated a mountain forest and valley, and sent priests of the main god to teach them farming. And he only had more than 400 people under his command, so he just organized a small flag team.
As a Kuhaha tribal flag force, they do not have as strict a grain tax as the Mintun villages. In fact, they are too poor to pay much. Every year, each flag team only needs to give symbolic prey and tribute from the mountains and forests to the chief. But corresponding to this is a severe recruitment order! As long as the great chief issues a recruitment order, each small flag team will send out forty men, prepare their own weapons and equipment, and go out with the kingdom's army!
"As the army goes on an expedition, you will be responsible for food and shelter along the way. Fight on the battlefield, and if you win, you can plunder and capture prisoners. After plundering, sell things and people, and you will be rewarded for your military exploits... You can even join the legion and become a warchief. The warrior...oh no, that warrior!..."
Thinking of the beautiful things that happened during the expedition, flag captain Babei drooled. When he was in the wilderness before, he had never seen a stone house, a village with so many people, or even a "city" with dozens of tribal populations! As for grabbing a little of the things in the villages and cities, it would be better than farming for a year! …
As for death in battle, it is very common in the wasteland. Don’t people only live twenty or thirty years? Only blessed priests and shamans can live to be forty or fifty...
"Hey! Why didn't Chief 'Monkey' summon us for this Western Expedition? Did he think we were not brave enough in the last battle? When we wait for this year's tribute, we have to ask the chief's warriors, oh no ,warrior!…"
The flag captain, Babei, was thinking wildly while looking at the battalion on the road with envy. Until a chief wearing a feathered helmet and carrying a flag, who looked rich...oh, very powerful, came over with a few armored warriors. Afterwards, the other party looked curiously for a while and then asked in Mexica.
"Good stuff? Exchange?..."
"Yes! Exchange!..."
"Well, the Lord God is witness!...What do you have?..."
