Xiao Ti saw a circle of people outside his yurt from a distance, and his heart couldn't help sinking, he didn't know what was going on, he slapped his backhand on the horse stock, and accelerated over. Riding on a horse, I saw my wife standing helplessly at the door of the yurt and saying something, while my two children stood on both sides of the door, one left and one right, and my heart was relieved.

As a small clan in the Inner Fan Division, his life is not easy. In the entire tribe, there are no more than 300 warriors who can handle it, and there are less than 2,000 people in the entire tribe. As a large tribe that once had great glory, it is really embarrassing to fall to this point now.

This is the fifth year that he has led his troops to the Liao army.

Originally, he once had more than 1,000 cavalry and tens of thousands of people. When Zhang Zhongwu's main force entered the northeast to fight against the local powers, he was hired by the Liaodong clan to participate in the battle against Zhang Zhongwu, a decision that he now regrets immensely.

For 100,000 catties of food, he took thousands of sons and daughters to the battlefield.

After a whole year of fighting, they were the ones who lost in the end. In the end, he, along with those Liaodong heroes, had to surrender to Zhang Zhongwu.

And by this time, he had already lost half of his tribal warriors.

But that's not the end of bad luck. If you are on the wrong side, you will be punished continuously. Because in the initial battle, Xiao Ti's troops caused a lot of losses to the Liao army, so until now, he has been the object of hatred by some people, and he has to be tortured by wearing small shoes from time to time.

After withering for a while, those Liaodong clans stood up again and became Zhang Zhongwu's allies, and Zhang Zhongwu also needed these local tycoons to support his rule. Although the local Haoqiang can't beat Zhang Zhongwu, there is no problem if he wants to make a mess of the place.

This is not the ending that Zhang Zhongwu wants.

In the end, the two sides compromised and took what they wanted.

But a thug like Xiao Ti is miserable.

Although after submitting to Zhang Zhongwu, he and his clan also obtained the status of a free people, but they were a third-class people. Although he was given a piece of pasture, it was the most barren of the places, and the people had to pay heavy taxes and labor in addition to their hard work.

Their pastures were on the edge of the area ruled by the Liao king, and in these places, the royal law and order were no longer so important, and all kinds of bandits, horse thieves, and ghosts were driven away by the Liao army. And Xiao Ti's department is also responsible for the suppression of bandits in a large area. Over the years, the remaining 500 soldiers lost nearly 200 more.

Their lives are a bit miserable.

In the past few years, in addition to grazing, some of the clansmen have also learned to farm, and everyone has worked hard all year round, but they can barely fill their stomachs.

But now it is the time when the green and yellow are not harvested, and the food is already tight, but it is about to go on the expedition again. People like them have to bring their own weapons and food and grass when they go out on the expedition. If the tribe has to give up some of its food, it will inevitably starve.

I went out on this trip today, originally I wanted to borrow some grain and grass from the local clan Zheng to tide over the crisis, but unfortunately, now the Zheng family has not looked at him in his eyes, although the words are extremely beautiful, but when it is implemented, there is not a grain of grain.

If it had been placed earlier, when he still had thousands of cavalry, would the Zheng clan dare to be so rude to himself?

Xiao Ti could only sigh that the tiger is not as good as a dog when it goes down the mountain, and the phoenix with a falling hair is not as good as a chicken! Now, Zheng is a second-class person, and the last time he went to a county meeting, he heard that Zheng was about to be promoted to first-class because of his meritorious service in paying taxes and pacifying the local government in the past two years. No wonder the eyes are even longer on the forehead.

The food was not borrowed, but the expedition could not be changed, and the warriors in the tribe could not be allowed to go hungry, in any case, these last warriors were the future of the tribe, if there was no them, I am afraid that the tribe would really be wiped out.

Seeing Xiao Ti come back, a group of clansmen rushed up, and before they could speak, Xiao Ti waved his hand and said, "I already know the matter, and I am trying to find a way to solve it, don't panic, go back first, you won't let everyone go hungry." ”

Xiao Ti only felt tired, walked into the felt room, walked to the felt carpet on all directions, and stared at the roof with big eyes.

"Didn't you borrow food?" His wife, Ugul, sat cross-legged beside him and asked in a whisper.

Xiao Ti sighed, sat up, and shook his head. "Deng Shi is not a dime."

"What can I do?" Ugul looked sad, "It's really not good, just sell some of the cattle and sheep in the clan!" ”

"That's not going to work!" Xiao Ti shook his head again and again: "At present, the cattle and sheep have not yet attached, and the skinny ones cannot be sold at a price, and secondly, now is the time to breed, and the cattle and sheep are sold, what should I do next year?" ”

"If Deng refuses to borrow it, then let's buy it from them, right? Even if it is the coarse grain they feed the animals, as long as it can fill their stomachs, it will work. Ugul sighed.

"As I said, the price they offered was outrageous. And our small savings are to be used to buy armor, bows and arrows, swords and guns for the warriors. We don't have enough money just to buy these. This time I went out, not to fight those bandits, but to fight with the Tang Army. That was the main force of the King of Liao all the way from Lulong, I have read the Tang newspaper, the equipment of the Tang army is too terrifying. I have to prepare the best armor and weapons for the warriors, so that I can come back alive by then. ”

"Can you not go?" Ugul's eyes flickered.

"Where can I not go?" Xiao Ti said helplessly: "The last time I went to the county meeting, the nobles above said that if we make a contribution this time, maybe our clan will be promoted to the next level, you know, now we are the third class, if we are promoted to the second class, we will be able to pay a lot less taxes, and many miscellaneous servants will not have to bear, this is a big matter related to the future of the tribe." ”

"But this is at the cost of the lives of the tribal warriors."

"What can be done? If we don't get drafted, our whole tribe will flee and become those horse thieves. Xiao Ti said: "In the past few years, the rule of King Liao has become more and more stable, that is, when he is a horse thief, I am afraid that life will be more difficult, now, I can always eat!" ”

After all, it is a dilemma.

The two of them were relatively speechless, and it took a long time for Ugul to stand up, "I'm going to milk." ”

Watching Uguli walk out, Xiao Ti sighed silently again, Uguli was once a noble girl on the top, but now, she has learned to do any job.

It's really useless to see your own women doing the most despicable work, watching the tribe slide into the abyss step by step, but you can't do anything.

Is there really no way to change the current predicament? Xiao Ti searched his intestines and scraped his stomach, but he didn't think of any way.

It was at this time that Fan Tong found Xiao Ti.

"Brother Fan, right now, I don't have anything to sell you!" Putting a bowl of mare's milk wine in front of Fan Tong, Xiao Ti spread his hands and said.

The guy in front of him is from Weiwu Mountain and is an out-and-out mountain bandit, but the problem is that when the power of a mountain bandit is so big that even the King of Liao is helpless, then it can't be called a bandit. Xiao Ti was also recruited to fight with them, and later smuggled things into the mighty mountains, and the two sides could not be regarded as a deal.

"I'm not here to collect things this time." Fan Tong smiled and said, "I heard that Patriarch Xiao has encountered difficulties? ”

"You know everything." Xiao Ti sighed and took a sip of mare's milk wine, "This time I really hit a road, and I don't know if I can get by." Fighting with the Tang army, to be honest, I really don't know if I can come back alive. ”

"Then don't go!" Fan Tongdao.

"Where you can't go, you can't go. If you serve someone else's bowl, you will be controlled by someone else. I'm really not going, I'm going to go up the mountain with you! Xiao Ti said.

Fan Tong laughed: "Actually, this is also a good choice." To tell you the truth, look at the people in your tribe, life is much worse than ours. ”

Xiao Ti rolled his eyes and didn't speak. Because he knew that what Fan Tong said was not wrong. He once went to Weihu Mountain for a batch of private salt.

Fan Tong smiled and took out a stack of things from his arms and pushed them in front of Xiao Ti: "This time, the army of the King of Liao went out to fight, for fear that our Weihu Mountain would come out to make trouble, so an army was left to keep an eye on us. There are 3,000 people in this army who are the headquarters of the Liao army, and the rest are all tribal soldiers like you. ”

What Fan Tong pushed over was a stack of thick silver labels, which was opened by the King of Liao's own money bank, and in Liaodi, the reputation was naturally hard.

"Brother Fan, what do you mean by this?"

"When friends are in trouble, they should help each other!" Fan Tong said with a smile: "Although you have already decided where another clan soldier will go to us, but there is money to make the ghost grind, and it is not difficult to take this money to go for an activity." For the rest, you can also buy some food to deal with the crisis. ”

"Why do you want to help me?" Xiao Ti didn't take the money, but looked at Fan Tong and asked vigilantly.

"We naturally hope that the people who are watching us down the hill are our friends." Fan Tong smiled and said authentically. "Lest there be some unpleasantness at the time."

"More than that, right?"

Fan Tong smiled: "Patriarch Xiao is really smart. I've got a letter here, so you can take a look at it first. ”

He took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Xiao Ti.

Xiao Ti glanced at Fan Tong a little inexplicably, tore open the envelope, pulled out the letter paper inside, and first glanced at the payment, and his face changed.

"Is it General Yeluyuan? You are also connected to him? Xiao Ti was inexplicably surprised. Yelu Yuan is not comparable to him, he is a serious general, and his tribe is also a first-class person.