The much smaller team of eight people began their journey south along the main road in Yidi. With a local guide to guide them, they did not have to worry about making mistakes in the direction.
But Lulu will not always travel with them. In the final analysis, her goal is to return to her tribe, so she will leave the team alone after a while.
She still has some vigilance, even towards Henry, Mira and others. When the girl from Luo'an asked where the fleeing barbarians were hiding, she simply replied that they were in the mountains in the south. She didn't want to say where specifically, so Mira didn't ask.
The armed conflict incited by the missionaries started in December last year, and it only took half a month for the Moon Country troops to completely suppress them.
However, the arrest of ethnic minorities such as Yi people was delayed by half a month. This was not only because it took time to make decisions and mobilize troops, but also was inseparable from the weather effects caused by seasonal changes.
Different from the Moon Kingdom, which has a strong national power and can hoard enough resources, the loose Yi people and other ethnic minority villages basically rely on mountains and water. Although they also have the habit of hoarding supplies in autumn until they can be used in winter, they cannot have the strong support ability of the state to mobilize supplies from one place to another.
In this way, choosing to carry out arrests in the cold winter is obviously due to the lack of supplies in winter. There is a lack of wild vegetables and fruits that can be picked, and wild animals are basically missing. With this kind of food shortage, the Moon Kingdom's army can rely on logistical support to supply supplies, but the Yi people do not have such excellent conditions.
Just like the camp where the group stayed before, the villages that will be built as permanent camps basically have resources for overwintering nearby, but such places are not that easy to find.
Coupled with the various thick clothes needed to keep warm in winter and the obstacles to progress caused by snow, the Moon Kingdom chose to start at this point in time. It is obvious that it wants to effortlessly let the Yi people be trapped by the environment and choose to surrender. .
Although the Yi people will definitely have their own refuge places, in general their approach is indeed quite clever. They used weather factors to successfully weaken the power of the Yi people without causing severe armed conflicts.
The troops sent by the Moon Kingdom to Yi Land are all cavalry, or as Lulu calls them, "warriors".
The military system of this country is somewhat similar to the Rigal people, but the hierarchy is more strict. The common people in the Kingdom of the Moon are not allowed to own horses. Whether traveling or farming, they can only use carts pulled by donkeys and walk most of the time.
So when you see someone riding a horse, you can quickly tell that it is a warrior noble.
Like the mercenary class in the mainland of Rigar, the situation where you can ride a horse if you have money does not exist here. All aspects of this country are strict to the point of rigidity, so much so that even the slightest disobedience will cause a clang. jail.
This situation further put Henry and others in a very delicate situation. They were foreigners, armed and had a unicorn. Moreover, they did not land at the central port but went south by land from the north.
If we encounter an army from the Kingdom of the Moon along the way, no matter how experienced our Mr. Sage is, he may not be able to find a reasonable explanation for all this.
But those who are afraid of trouble cannot be regarded as adventurers. Although there are differences in severity, after discussion, the group decided to take one step at a time.
The Oriental Moon originally docked in the southwest corner of Yi Di. This difficult and harsh land did not have many plain areas for people to settle in. The plateau area further north was so barren that even the Yi people could not escape. Head there.
The vast flat land they are currently located in between two mountain ranges is not very suitable for planting because it is located in the north, so most of the people who settle there are hunters and fishermen.
The Yi people are better at hunting in the mountains, while the Kazu people are good at fishing and whale hunting. The two have different needs for environmental resources, so their settlement locations are also some distance apart. This is one of the reasons why they can live in peace so far.
The influence of the Kazu people close to the Yi land is not particularly strong. Intermarriages between the two ethnic groups have appeared in those scattered fishing villages over the years. Compared with the mainstream society in central and southern China, the culture is actually closer to the Yi people.
After discussion, Lulu decided to take the group in the direction of a nearby Japanese fishing village.
The most intense pursuit of the Yi people has passed. In addition, the heavy snow has blocked the roads for days. In theory, they will not encounter the Moon Kingdom's army in the short term. And because of the commonality of culture and the fact that missionaries carry a lot of money, it shouldn't be difficult to find people who will help them.
As long as they avoid the largest nearby port town and keep a low profile, they should still be able to reach their destination.
After Lulu led them to the fishing village for supplies, they traveled together for a while and left the team in the mountainous area further south.
This is their current schedule, but even to the nearest fishing village, they still need to walk for several days due to the isolation between the two communities and the fact that everyone in the group walks.
The experience of camping outside in winter is definitely not a good one, especially when the equipment they bring is not entirely correct.
Taking the average adult male in the Rigar continent as an example, the weight that most people can bear for a long time is around 30 kilograms, calculated in the Rigar continent's standard unit of kilogram.
And this is actually the combat load of most combat professionals. Hundreds of years ago, soldiers in the heyday of mail armor usually carried a large shield of about 4 kilograms, mail armor of about 20 kilograms that did not cover the whole body, a one-handed sword, a helmet, and various supplies; going further back, in the classical era, The carrying weight of the Lamanite heavy infantry is also the same, except that their shields are larger and heavier, while the armor is lighter in comparison.
Nowadays, the full armor of plate knights that is popular throughout the Rigal continent is roughly around this weight. However, using all the personal burden to carry weapons and armor is a luxury that only noble knights with a large number of attendants and accompanying servants can have. For ordinary mercenaries, it is more reasonable for weapons and armor to account for one-third of the burden. , the remaining personal load is used to carry various miscellaneous daily necessities.
The reason why I mention this is precisely because the missionaries, who accounted for a huge share of the burden in the team, carried very strange things.
Books, prayer equipment, as well as gold and silver treasures and other activity funds accounted for a large part of their burden, and the rest were personal daily necessities and evenly distributed rations.
As a result, they only brought one tent, the one Henry and Mira bought on the east coast. Moreover, the only pots that can be used are two small pots and a flat frying pan. Although it is still barely enough to cook food for everyone, it is a huge waste of fuel heat compared to a large enough pot.
The light tent used by adventurers can only sleep up to 5 people. Fortunately, adaptability is an essential skill for mercenaries, so by pulling apart the cloth on one side and covering it with cut coniferous tree branches nearby to form an isolation cover, it is only temporary. An area has been expanded for sleeping.
Abandoning the noisy group of scholars and leaving only four missionaries as companions, the overall atmosphere of the team was much better.
Compared with pretentious scholars, these people are more hardworking and hardworking because of their religious beliefs. In addition to the previous examples, now no one is lazy anymore, everyone has found what they should do, and all kinds of labor have doubled in efficiency.
Apart from being relatively dull and taciturn, and being somewhat wary of Henry and others because of their money, these missionaries became good traveling companions.
The tent and other items removed from the little unicorn were quickly put in place before the short winter daylight hours ended, and they began to cook the food they had prepared.
As always, for the sake of keeping warm and making the best use of the few rations they had, they made soup.
No matter how delicious it is, eating it for many days will make people tired. However, fortunately, our wise man still discovered the existence of spruce in the Crescent Continent in the far east. He plucked the branches and put them in to cook together. , cook until the green leaves start to turn yellow. Although the sourness is a bit strange, it makes the smoked fish soup taste somewhat fresh.
The remaining bear meat was cut into small strips and smoked into jerky. The old bear's dry meat was very tough and tough to chew, and there was almost no taste except for a slight fishy smell, so it was distributed as an emergency ration. into everyone's hands.
According to the description of the aboriginal girl, the locals will use honey to remove the smell when tasting bear meat. After all, both are difficult to obtain, so it can be regarded as a feast to celebrate the festival. After leaving the longhouse, Lulu's chances of saying something during meal time became higher. Warm food and the right person to eat can always open up people's conversational boxes. If Luo Lan and others had chosen to do this, Maybe they wouldn't be left behind by Henry and others in the longhouse.
And when it comes to the scholars who were left behind, the group of eight did not just forget about them indifferently.
The young and somewhat thin missionary Aggie was worried and finally couldn't help but choose to speak. He was very worried about what kind of disaster would happen to those scholars who had high ambitions and low abilities. After all, their own survival ability was really low. If something happened I'm afraid it can't be saved.
However, his worries did not attract much attention from the four Henrys. This was not because they were so ruthless, but because they had enough food left for those people, and the heavy snow had stopped for several days, and on a sunny day Under the sunshine, the snow has almost melted.
In other words, as long as they don't do anything stupid, there's nothing wrong with heading south alone to a populated place.
Of course, without the experienced Henry and others to solve various problems, hardship is inevitable.
Such an explanation allowed Ai Ji and several other missionaries to come to an understanding. It is not difficult to see here the gap between these few people and the group of scholars.
Although the monks of the White Church may also have upper-class backgrounds, most of them are actually the second sons of various families or orphans adopted by the church.
They who come from the lower middle class or the bottom class are better at communicating than those scholars who put on airs, and this is one of the reasons why Henry is willing to take them with him - after all, if they think inertia, they will cause struggles and be targeted by the Moon Kingdom. Most foreigners are missionaries rather than scholars. As both Lamanites, with the precedent of Lorraine, how can we guarantee that these missionaries will not have the same intention, causing them to be involved in this whirlpool?
The answer to this question involves some class relations in Laman society: they are all a group of scholars from the upper class and have certain decision-making power. They can make their own subjective judgments on some issues and only need to report to higher-ups afterwards.
Ai Ji and his four missionaries are all low-level religious personnel. There is no powerful class among them. They are just people sent to reinforce and provide funds.
In other words, they will not actively try to continue to get involved in the current turbulent situation, but will just focus on completing the mission of running errands.
This type of mission is the favorite of the mercenary profession. It is simple and bright, with no extraneous elements. After all, this is a profession that is accompanied by danger. The most fearful thing is that the employer does not tell the whole situation, or even plans to take the initiative to cause trouble.
Although they are called "adventurers", the main job of mercenaries is to ensure safe clearance or avoid trouble, rather than to actively provoke trouble.
All in all, even if there is no verbal conflict, after realizing that Luo Lan has malicious intentions, it is best for them to find some reason to distance themselves.
The upper-class Laman people who are accustomed to treating others as victims and believe that the world revolves around them are destined to be mercilessly sacrificed as cannon fodder from the day they get involved.
Time passes without a trace.
The flames burned slowly, and after the vigil was arranged, smoke rose from the hot spruce tea in the wooden cups.
The sky grew dark.
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