The warm south wind blows through the grasslands, causing last year's snow to slowly melt, revealing the withered yellow grass below, and after a while, the grass seeds that have been sleeping for a winter will begin to sprout and grow, and then the grassland will usher in a green spring. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

The ice of the Hunhe River also began to melt, and under the alluvial water of the river, the ice on the surface of the river finally began to break down, turning into piles of ice cubes, which were carried by the muddy river to the west. The Hunhe River is a tributary of the Yellow River, and it is also one of the few large rivers that flow from east to west, so it is also called the backflow river, and this river flows through the grassland, and both banks are rich in water and grass, attracting countless tribes to come to graze.

In a small valley on the north bank of the Hunhe River, a small tribe was stationed here, and the sun had already set on the top of the mountain, and it was about to set, and the earth was dark, and there were bursts of cooking smoke among the tribes in the valley.

Old Grad limped back to the sheepfold with his emaciated flock, and then, after closing the fence gate, looked up at the half sun on the top of the hill, and then sighed, and his wrinkled old face showed a sad look.

Lao Gele is a Turk, in fact, their entire tribe is Turkic, and it used to be a big tribe with scenery, but then Jieli used troops everywhere to recruit middle-aged men in the tribe to participate in the war, and most of them died in battle, Lao Gele was lucky, when he went to Datang to loot, he was shot in the knee with an arrow, and he was disabled, and no one wanted him to fight, but this also saved his life, and there were almost no men of his age in the tribe who were alive.

The Turkic tribe where Lao Gele belongs is called the Muddy Water Department, because they have lived on the banks of the Hunhe River for generations, and when the tribe was at its most prosperous, there were even tens of thousands of people, but after so many wars, now there are only a few hundred old and weak women left.

In fact, last year, there were still thousands of people in the Muddy Waters Department, and there were five or six hundred young and strong men, but they didn't expect the Tang Army to attack, they were too close to the Tang Dynasty, and they first encountered the slaughter of the Tang Army, and most of the tribe of thousands of people was slaughtered, and only a few people were left to hide in this valley, and they finally survived.

Thinking of the scene of the Tang army killed last year, Lao Gele couldn't help but shudder, those black-armored Tang troops seemed to him to be the devil in hell, rushed into the tribe and began to kill people and rob sheep without saying a word, no matter how they begged for mercy, it was useless, fortunately they finally survived, as long as the roots of the tribe are still there, there will always be a comeback in the future.

"Daddy, the head man invites you to go to the meeting!" Old Grad thought about things and came to his tent, and before he could get in, he saw a little guy of seven or eight years old dragging his nose and saying to him, this child is the youngest son of Old Grad, and his only son who is still alive, as for the other adult sons, they have long died under the butcher's knife of the Tang Army.

"Okay, here's a few voles that you dug up, you go clean up and cook some broth to drink!" Old Grad heard his son's words and agreed, and then took a cloth pocket from his back and threw it to his son, saying that when they escaped last year, they only brought a small number of livestock, and these livestock are the lifeblood of the tribe, and they have to rely on them to breed and expand the herd, but in this way, there are too few things to eat in the tribe, and the whole tribe is worried about food.

Hearing that there are voles to eat, the son of the old grad also screamed happily, snatched the pocket and went to the back of the tent to clean up, seeing the happy appearance of his son, the old grad couldn't help but feel a little sad, in the past, they were also a big tribe in the muddy waters, and even a few small tribes attached to them, the old grad had made a lot of contributions before, and he was also half a nobleman, and the family had never worried about eating, but he didn't expect that even a few voles could make his son so happy now.

Thinking of the above, Lao Gele couldn't help but sigh again, and then turned his head to the tent where the head man lived, and when he entered the tent, he saw the head man sitting cross-legged on it, and there were several important people in the tribe around, Old Grad said hello to them, and then sat down as well.

"Okay, Lao Gele is also here, then let's discuss the affairs of the tribe, now there is no food in the tribe, there are only so many cattle and sheep left, and if it goes on like this, people will really starve to death, what do you all think?" When the leader saw Old Grad coming in, he spoke in a deep voice, but there was a sense of weakness and exhaustion in his voice, for the affairs of the tribe, he had tried his best, and now he was about to be unable to hold on.

"Touren, if you don't have anything to eat, then let's go and grab it, didn't we all do it before?" As soon as the head man's words fell, he saw a young Turk sitting on the left side immediately jumped up and shouted, this young Turk's name is Yonggu, he is one of the surviving young men in the tribe, and he is also the son of the head man, not only tall, but also very brave, known as the first warrior in the tribe, and it was thanks to his desperate protection that they survived the pursuit of the Tang army.

"Rob? What are we going to rob? Now there are less than a hundred young and strong men surviving in the tribe, can they rob others, and last year the Tang Army burned and looted on the grassland, and the surviving tribes are probably very poor, even if we rob, I'm afraid we won't be able to grab anything. As soon as Yonggu's words fell, he saw an elder open his mouth and reprimand.

"Then what do you say, do you just stay here and wait for death?" Yong Gu shouted angrily when he heard the old man's words, he was tall and strong, so he naturally ate a lot, but this situation in the tribe made him not eat a full meal for a long time, and now the whole person is very thin, and if he continues to be so hungry, he is worried that he will not even have the strength to hold a knife.

"Or ...... Let's kill some more sheep, shall we? Just then, another man whispered.

"Shut up, there are only so many sheep left in the tribe, if we kill them again, what will we eat in the future?" As soon as the other party's proposal came out, he was immediately reprimanded by the leader angrily.

"But if we don't eat the sheep, I'm afraid we will all starve to death now, and then those cattle and sheep will not be cheaper than others?" At this time, someone retorted that the prestige of the head man in the tribe is very high, and usually when he speaks, no one dares to object, but now that the tribe is facing such a big crisis, the prestige of the head man can no longer suppress the opposition in the tribe.

Hearing the above words, the tent immediately fell into silence, and even the head man didn't know how to refute the other party's words, indeed, their tribe has faced the moment of life and death, if they eat the remaining cattle and sheep, the roots of the tribe will be broken, if they don't eat, I'm afraid they will all starve to death, these two roads seem to be a dead end no matter which one is chosen.

Old Gele had been sitting there silently, and was not in a hurry to express his opinion, and now seeing that everyone was silent, he finally slowly spoke: "If it really doesn't work, we have only one way to go." ”

"Old Grad, what can you do to say it quickly!" The head man's eyes lit up when he heard Lao Geler's words, and he spoke eagerly, and the others were also shocked at this time, and then looked eagerly to Lao Geler, although Lao Geler's legs and feet were not good, but his brain was very good, he was a famous wise man in the tribe, maybe he had a way to let the tribe get through this difficulty.

"It's not a good way, now we want no people, no food, the only way to survive is to find a larger tribe to rely on, I heard that the Shifeng Department in the east has not been hit by the Tang army, the tribe has enough food, there are many women and children in our tribe, if you ask them to be attached to, and offer a group of women, maybe they will agree." Old Grad spoke slowly at this time.

"What? Let's cling to that traitor, it can't be! As soon as Lao Gele's words fell, he saw Yonggu jumping up and objecting, Shi Feng was not a Turkic, and he could only rely on the Turks to survive, but when the Tang army attacked the Turks last year, Shi Feng was a tribe that surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and also helped the Tang army attack the Turks.

"For our tribe, the most important thing is to survive, if you can attach to the Shifeng Ministry, even if you are their herdsman, at least you can survive, except for this method, I can't think of any other way to survive." Old Gele glared at Yonggu at this time and said, he is old, and he has long seen it, as long as the tribe can survive, he is willing to trade even with the devil, let alone the Shifeng Department.

"It's also a way to cling to the Shifeng Ministry, but the Shifeng Ministry has already surrendered to Datang, I'm worried that even if we want to cling to each other, I'm afraid people won't want to accept us?" Just then, another old Turk spoke.

"That's not necessarily, the ambitions of the Shifeng Department are very big, our Turks have fallen, it is a good time for the Shifeng Department to expand, I heard that there are already tribes attached to their names, we can also try." Old Grad insisted on his opinion at this time.

In the face of Lao Geler's proposal, the head man above showed a contemplative expression, and the following was also arguing because of this matter, and he couldn't discuss a result for a long time, and in the end the head didn't make a decision, so he simply asked everyone to step back and think about it, and discuss it again tomorrow.

Old Grad returned home, the women in the family had already cooked vole soup, there were many people in his family, in addition to him and his son, there were many women, after all, most of the men in the tribe were killed in battle, and the remaining women could only be distributed to the remaining men, but so many people had to be fed, and Lao Grad was also powerless, and a few voles could not fill their stomachs at all, and Lao Grad drank a bowl of broth and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, Lao Gele came to the sheepfold as usual, ready to drive the dozen or so thin sheep outside to gnaw those withered yellow blades of grass, so that at least the sheep would not starve to death, but before he left the valley, he saw a heroic cavalry suddenly rushing outside the valley, and when he saw the other party, Lao Geler was even more frightened and paralyzed to the ground, and muttered in his mouth: "Tang ...... The Tang Army is coming! ”