Ge Releng stretched his legs and sat on the grass, his eyes a little hollow. The late summer sun warms the ground, which is very pleasant, but it also makes people feel lazy and unwilling to move.

Reach out and tear a blade of grass from the ground and chew it in your mouth. With a characteristic bitter grassy aroma, it fills the taste buds.

"Ahh

He let out a long sigh, shook his head and spat out the chewed grass clippings, and the melancholy in his eyes increased by three points.

The smell of grass told him that summer was coming to an end and autumn was coming. Perhaps in the consciousness of the Han people in the Central Plains, autumn represents harvest. However, in the life of the steppe people, autumn is a sign of approaching winter, and their time to prepare for death is running out.

Every winter, many people die on the grasslands. Food shortages and a cold climate will kill people on the grasslands. The extreme scarcity of materials and backward productivity have made it difficult for the grassland people to survive this juncture, no matter how hard they try.

In previous years, most of the tribes began to assemble and go south to loot the Han people for winter. But that requires fighting with one's life, and it is like an overdraft. Most of the time, though, this looting serves its purpose. But after all, it was a war, and if you were unlucky, you didn't grab something, but you lost your life in advance.

So Ge Rilen doesn't agree with this way, not because he is not brave, nor how merciful he is. To survive on the grassland, kindness is the most important thing. The totem of the grassland is the wolf, the wolf nature is the weak and the strong, and cruelty and violence are the way to survive.

He just felt that the gains outweighed the losses, and that the robbery might succeed eight or even nine times out of ten, but if one failed, it would be all for naught. Perhaps it was nothing to the Khan kings of those large tribes, who had a large population, and of course could afford such losses.

But for a small tribe like him, every adult male is extremely precious, and the loss of one is unbearable. Therefore, he always tried to shirk as much as he could, and would rather put more effort into collecting as many supplies as possible in advance than participate in the grass valley every time.

This also made him very unpopular in the eyes of the nobles above. Often if there is something good, he is always the last to know, or even not know. Just like this time when the southerners collected wool, if it weren't for his daughter, who was married to a noble servant, who secretly ran to tell him, he would still be kept in the dark.

When Ge Rilen first heard this, he couldn't believe his ears.

What is wool? That's complete rubbish. It's not worth even using it to make a fire, because when the wool burns, the smell is so bad that even as a steppe person, you can't stand it.

And it's this kind of useless garbage, and the southerners are now going to buy it, which makes Gerileng almost think that his daughter was deceived at first. But her daughter's repeated arguments that this was true, and Ge Rilen finally accepted it with half a doubt.

Perhaps, the Nanren really have the means to turn waste into treasure, after all, the Nanren have always been good at some clever things. Some of the objects they made, each one of them was so beautiful. The silk and brocade they make are flocked to even the nobles of the steppe. One horse of silk can often be exchanged for a full ten sheep.

Or perhaps, the Nanren just went crazy and fainted in the head, which is why they have this ridiculous behavior. But in any case, it was a good thing for Grileen. As for whether the southerners are sick or not, who cares?

However, this kind of good thing now seems to be a scam. He had traveled all the way to this frontier land, only to find that there was no sign of any trade at all. On the contrary, it is the army of Huo Si Khan, which is now stationed under the border pass of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not at all surprising that the fire sieve department was here. Presumably, this is another time to hit the grass valley as in previous years. The only strange thing is that for some reason, this year's grass valley started so early. According to common sense, after waiting for a few more months, the autumn grass is abundant, the horses are fuller, and the best time is when the physical strength reaches its peak.

However, Gerileng was only surprised for a moment and didn't think much about it. After all, what the nobles think is not something that a little person like him can guess. To his chagrin, he was finally deceived. What southerners collect wool, there is no shadow at all. Presumably, it was just to trick them into coming along, and to provide food for the army as they had done in the past.

"Whew—" He let out another long breath and shook his head irritably, putting the depression aside. It's too late to say anything now, and since he's here, it's impossible to leave again. Otherwise, once it is known by the fire sieve Khan, it will definitely bring the disaster of extermination to the tribe.

On the grassland, it is not too common for an entire clan to be slaughtered because of this kind of thing, and he can't take this risk. Well, let's hope it's the same victory this time. Only if he is victorious, he will be able to share the spoils.

I have to say that this unwritten rule on the grassland is still very strict. As long as you provide supplies to the soldiers and contribute to the army, then as long as you win, you will definitely get the spoils of war. Of course, how much is not necessarily, it all depends on your efforts.

Is it just that this time can we win? Thinking of this, a touch of gloom flashed in his eyes.

I heard that there will be drums and horns in unison every day, and it seems to be very loud. But since he came here, it has been more than half a month, but there is still no news of any victory, and every time he asks, he says that he is still holding each other.

Fire Sift Khan, that is the bravest warrior of the steppe. In the minds of the people on the grassland, he is like a legendary existence. But it's such a hero, and now he can only stalemate with the other party, doesn't that mean that the opposite side is prepared early tomorrow morning, and he can already fight with an existence like Huo Sieve Khan?

Although he was reluctant to participate in this kind of raiding, as a leader of the tribe, he was also a qualified warrior. Of course, he understood that in the war between the grassland and the Ming Dynasty, the grassland was conducive to the decisive battle, while the southerners were conducive to holding on.

As the weather gets cooler day by day, if the grassland side is unable to advance for a long time, the final outcome is a gloomy end and defeat. Otherwise, without the other party's fighting, just the harsh climate alone can easily kill the entire army.

And if you encounter a clever enemy general again, once you find your own loophole and take advantage of the situation to pursue, the outcome will be even more ......

No, probably not. He thought of the danger, his eyes shrank sharply, and he quickly drove the thought away.

That's a fire sifting through sweat!" he whispered to himself again. The wisdom of sifting through sweat with fire will never make such a low-level mistake.

It's just that, even then, what will happen to him? There is no spoils of war without victory, and after wasting so much time, he must not have enough time to gather and hoard the supplies needed for the winter. So, what awaits him?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but shiver, a kind of coldness that seeped into the bone marrow, tightly grabbed his heart, and made him feel that it was difficult to breathe.

I took the trouble to get a lot of garbage, and I climbed the plow for two whole years......

He wandered his gaze, and finally landed behind the tent, looking at the pile of half a tent, with a look of regret and disappointment in his eyes.

For this legendary transaction, he worked for a long time, cutting all the sheep that belonged to him, one by one, and filling them with two ploughs. Thinking about the excitement and satisfaction in my heart at that time, how ridiculous it is to think about it now.

It can be said that how much I was looking forward to it at the time, and how disappointed I am now. No, it's not just disappointment, it's despair! Or, anger......

He had a lot to prepare for this transaction. Not only wool, but also fur, feathers, bones and tendons that he had accumulated for a long time. Even horse manure was loaded.

It is said that the people of the south burn firewood, and many of their people make a living by selling firewood. Well, horse manure can also be burned. Perhaps, maybe, what if they could accept horse manure as well? That would bring them some extra income.

And every extra cent of income means that he can exchange more for some materials. For example, salt, for tea, or, if you have more money, can you also exchange it for a piece of porcelain?

The porcelain of the Ming Dynasty is completely incomparable to the pottery on the grassland. The exquisite pattern and beautiful color are simply ingenious, and people can't help but indulge in it just by looking at it......

But now, all of this has come to naught. When he woke up from his dream, the only thing left for him was endless sorrow. How is he going to survive this winter?

"Aoug, Aoug!"

Suddenly, an anxious call came, waking him up suddenly. He turned his head to look at the sound, but saw a horse galloping in the distance, it was a young man named Wendu from his tribe.

Wen was the son of his Anta, and his Anda died in battle for the Great Khan, leaving only orphans and widows. That's why he always resisted war.

Awug means uncle in Mongolian. He regarded Wendu as his own, and Wendu called him Awug.

"My little foal, why are you so anxious? A true eagle needs to be calm at all times. Grilen stood up from the ground, smiled and stretched out his arms in greeting.

Wen Du's face was anxious, and he did not respond to him mischievously as usual, but when he saw him, his eyes lit up when he was far away, and then he said loudly: "Aug, there are cavalry coming to us! A cavalry of nearly 100 people! They are carrying knives and guns!"

Ge Releng was stunned for a moment, and then his expression changed suddenly, and a fierce momentum burst out from his body in an instant, like a blue wolf that wanted to be preyed.

"Blow the trumpet, get ready for battle!" he strode out, and after a deep command, he dodged into the yurt next to him. When he came out again, he was already carrying a bow and a knife, and there was a fierce murderous aura all over his body.

Raising his hand to his lips and making a whistle, with the whistle, a horse neighed, and a black healthy horse galloped in.