"The gods are angry."

"Thunder and fire fell from heaven."

"That's what even war elephants are afraid of. Damned... ”

The ignorance, ignorance and superstition that come from the wilderness naturally brewed and exerted a huge ripple effect at this moment. Just as most of the things in history that are incomprehensible are reduced to mysterious forces, they continue to spread and accelerate the collapse and chaos of the various tribes from the Western Plains.

And in the withered and dead silence of Phong Chau (now Nam Phong Chau, Bai Ho District, Vinh Phu Province, Vietnam) state city. Wei Jizong, the pale-faced Nanlin Cave Master, and Huang Er, the Jiangxia Cave Master with a sad expression, were facing each other, and with them were Luo Apu, the fifteenth village supervisor who looked a little depressed. Their moods and thoughts at this moment are also different.

For example, for Luo Apu, who was born as the son of a slave and maid and everything was maintained by the lord of the ministry, the news of the defeat of the Luo clan was like the sky had fallen, and he was at a loss and confused and lost his opinion. At the beginning, he spent several days of hard work and nearly 1,000 casualties among his men, but he was not able to defeat a single Donghe Garrison, so he naturally avoided missing the decisive battle of the Luo tribe;

Then just when he spared no effort to drive his men and horses, he had broken a few gaps and was about to seize this stronghold, but when he saw the rout soldiers fleeing back from the front, he was shocked to hear the news that the formation had been defeated, and then the fifteen villages under his command ran away most of them overnight without a fight, and finally only he was left with the hundred and tenth Luo Zhi Dongding, and retreated into Fengzhou City in a panic.

And Wei Jizong, the pale face of the Nanlin Cave, has a much more complicated mentality than him. As a peripheral surname with in-laws and the subsequent trend of immediate benefits, he certainly did not want to see most of the southern expedition of the Luo clan, which he had high hopes for, fail and stop here, and not be able to grab more people and goods;

But in the bottom of my heart, there is no trace of joy and faint relief. After this defeat, most of the Luo clan was only afraid that their vitality would be greatly damaged, and they fell from the position of the leader of the department who commanded the five caves and hundreds of villages; This is the natural shortcomings and drawbacks of the emerging majority of the new department that is still shallow, but it is not an opportunity for him to be in Namlimdong. At least he still retains the integrity of most of his strength, and he can also take the opportunity to rise in the power structure of the Luo clan; Or it is a situation of self-reliance as a small branch of Webster's distant sect.

As for Huang Er, the master of Jiangxia Cave with a sad expression, his thoughts are much more straightforward, and there is a sense of relief and relief. He was originally the most powerful Huang clan in the Western Plains, and he was launched to test the waters and spy on the existence of the Han land, and even most of the cave players under his command did not belong to this cave, even if it was lost, it was not distressing.

As the main force of rebellion and rebellion in the Western Plains in history, most of the major branches of the Huang clan were also the most severely attacked, suppressed, divided and provoked by the imperial court and government in previous dynasties; As a result, many branches, including the clan family, were weakened because of this, and continued to weaken in the midst of continuous strife and infighting.

Although most of the branches of the Huang clan occupy the coastal areas of the Zuojiang River and the mountains, they are relatively rich and densely populated suitable for farming; However, in addition to the basic production of some grain and cloth, there is a shortage of various daily necessities such as salt and iron tools needed for the people's livelihood. In order to obtain the opportunity to open transactions outside the mountains and by the river.

Therefore, it is easy to turn the sites by the river and outside the mountains into a certain sense of competition and internal contradictions. If it is those tribes who have been in history and have been blocked, they are even more miserable, and they can only get high-priced goods from other tribes that are friendly with the government; And this is also one of the important reasons and origins for the rise of a little-known surname like Luo.

They relied on the business of changing hands in Han land, sucking blood from most of the declining old brands and growing stronger; In the end, in the conflict of interests of the unbearable contradictory plan, after defeating several ten-hole and seventy-nine village coalition forces composed of the same sect of the Huang clan, he obtained the qualification and status of being called the majority of the Luo clan.

And as one of the costs and conditions of defeat, even one of the sects from which Huang Er, the master of Jiangxia Cave, was born, could not shelter him from the encroachment and annexation between clans, and in the end he could only be forced to submit to the vassal status of most of the Luo clan, cede his subordinates and pay reparations to keep his identity and authority as the cave master.

For him, if Roche wins, it will be a matter of the future for Huang to get the corresponding benefits; And the benefits that these peripheral vassals can obtain are only some wealth and population; It's better than the barbarian tribes who were forced to come along the way.

However, the Luo clan was defeated and lost, and this was also an opportunity to get rid of the squeeze and persecution of the Luo clan, the majority of the emerging clan; Because if he didn't come to participate in this southward expedition, maybe under the deep penetration and co-optation from the Luo clan, his Jiang Xia Cave would no longer be surnamed Huang. Therefore, he was more thinking about how to ensure that all the people returned to the mountains of Dehua Prefecture (now Hekou Yao Autonomous County, Yunnan), and waited for an opportunity to get rid of Luo's clamp and influence.

It's just that they have not been able to make the decision to leave with this department for a long time, and they are worried and a little stuck for a while, but it is something from this Fengzhou state city.

Originally, it was planned that after handing over the city of Zhouzhou, everyone divided the territory, and each of them went to be the self-exclusive assassins and generals of Weifu, enslaving those Han family sons on this rich and prolific plain, and enjoying the comfortable and prosperous Han family things, but there was no need to be particularly nostalgic for life in the mountains.

Therefore, after the mountains of the Roche army were gathered in this state city, the children of the heavy goods and goods that were plundered from all over the country; It is also up to the Luo clan leader, the five adults, the six generals, down to the cave masters, generals, village heads, and all the elders, and the accumulation of private gains.

As Luo Apu, who is a Luo tribe, he needs these things as his own credentials, so as to strengthen and consolidate his position in the hearts of the ministers; And whether it is Webster's Nanlin Cave or Huang's Jiangxia Cave, being able to get these things also means that it has the opportunity to grow and rise.

In order to transport so many things back to the mountains to the north, it is necessary not only to have a large number of manpower and animal power, but also to be able to raise enough boats to transport water from the Xidao River and the Ming River (tributaries of the Red River); So things were delayed.

On the other hand, during the period when they received the news of the defeat in the south, both Huang Er and Wei Jizong were taking the opportunity to collect and annex these Dongding and Zhai soldiers who had fled back in order to strengthen their own strength; There have been several bloody clashes and murderous incidents. However, they finally maintained sufficient restraint and forbearance with each other, so that it did not turn into another internal strife in the rear without a fight.

In fact, as the two largest forces in the city, they are somewhat afraid of Luo Fengyi, the big leader who has not been known so far, and they have the idea of just in case; and was not very reassured and wary of each other, so he did not unite and take advantage of the opportunity to get back Luo Apu's men, but let him take the opportunity to gather a group of remnants of the army inclined to Luo and call himself the leader.

And although he is the weakest party, he is more broken and dares to open up than the other two; is not afraid of disrupting this Fengzhou City, and everyone can only be disappointed. Therefore, before the threat of those imperial court horses is really imminent, their inheritance-sharing game and bargaining will continue in this daily life.

It was only at the same time that another group of ruins were stopped outside the west gate of the city, and a small leader of Namrin Cave was responsible for interrogating and inspecting the current situation.

Because, these outbursts who escaped back are also too strong, all of them have muscles, knotted legs, thick legs and long arms, just like the members of those bustards; In fact, they were also wearing bucket armor and large open cloth shirts, and although they were injured and burned by smoke or dirt, they could not hide the fierce atmosphere.

In fact, although they were defeated soldiers who had fled, they still seemed to be very impatient and angry, and if they asked a few more words, they would be scolded by the slashers; This also made the little leader Grammar a little frightened, and became more and more sure of their identity as Bustards; Immediately, it was decided to introduce them into the city gate to rest for a while, first stabilize temporarily, and then take the opportunity to report to their cave master for instructions on the follow-up disposal.

Then these bustards began to ask for water and food, and those Nanlin Dongding who guarded the city gate would scold them if they were a little sluggish, and then they would go on a rampage rather rough and take it themselves. This also made those Shouding, who dared to be angry and dare not speak out under the prestige of the past, became more and more resentful and dissatisfied.

(End of chapter)