Under the sun, the men were digging pits.

It was the first time they had dug a hole in a dull mood. In the past, every time a pit was dug, it was either for water diversion or for clay pottery, and it was all for life, and sweat was sweet.

Now, the body is to be buried, and the heart is bitter.

The burial place is on the north side of existence, and it was burned down in the past, but this time Hua hopes to get the help of the Chen Jian clan to bury his relatives in the soil, and in the future he will drip the blood of the enemy on it.

A deep straight earth pit was dug, and four people were carried into the pit, and Jian Chen didn't speak, just watched it all.

The four men were placed in the position of lying on their sides, their bodies bent into a bow, as if they were lying on their sides and falling asleep, a sleep that could never wake up, peaceful and undisturbed; It's like a newborn baby curled up in its mother's womb, and maybe there will be a new life.

Birch squatted on the ground and left the people he had nothing, but he still had hands.

So he picked up two rocks and smashed them hard to break the edges.

He found branches and grass, tied them into four simple stone axes, and placed them in the arms of the people lying on their sides. Let the four clansmen hold this simple stone axe in their hands.

He didn't know where his people would go when they died, only that the stone axe could ward off wild beasts, kill enemies, and smash hazelnut walnuts. Maybe it can be used in that world, but what if there is no stone axe and encounters the enemy?

One last glance at the clansmen, he grabbed a handful of plant ashes, sprinkled them lightly on the tribesmen's body, wept in a low voice, and covered the soil.

Looking around, there were only three relatives left around him, and nothing else. For a long time, he and the three clansmen squatted beside the mound, silent.

Jian Chen called the clansmen away and let Hua and the three stay here for a while.

Yu Qian'er held Jian Chen's arm tightly, not daring to leave a single step.

During the day, I listened to Hua talk about the misery of the clan, and the dead sister impressed Hua deeply, and although the words were simple, Yu Qian'er seemed to see that scene.

Chen Jian took Yu Qian'er's hand and said, "Don't be afraid, you still have a brother, with us, no one can hurt the family." ”

Yu Qian'er nodded, but she still didn't let go, she followed Jian Chen wherever she went, it seemed that only in this way did she feel at ease.

Not only her, but many clansmen also showed uneasy looks. Although the Meteorite tribe destroyed Song's tribe, because of the distance, and because Song was not good at words, he just waited with his head bored, and it was far from making their hearts palpitate like today.

Chen Jian saw that this was not good, so he had to say: "Don't burn the pottery today." ”

He led his people to the edge of the cliff behind the village. The slope of the front of this cliff is nearly seventy or eighty meters wide, and the cliff above it is a naturally formed cliff, and the original choice to settle here is to fear flooding, but to defend in the future.

Originally, he was not in a hurry, but the affairs of the Hua people made him worried, everything is too fragile now, as long as dozens of people die, he may have to start all over again.

He walked to the slope in front of the cliff and looked at it, and said to the clansmen: "Dig a deep ditch here, the most important thing in the past few days is this matter, as long as you have enough food, you can stop for a while." ”

The ditch was dug for defense, and he originally wanted to enclose the whole village, but it was impossible to complete such a huge project with the current labor force.

There is no need to straighten, it doesn't need to be too deep, and all the dirt is piled up to the side close to the cliff. In the afternoon, Hua and the others also came, and did not speak, but lowered their heads and carried the earthen baskets.

He probably understood the simple idea that if you don't work, you can't eat, and although you don't know what to do in the future, you can't eat their food in vain.

He has nothing now, and the four of them are too small compared to heaven and earth. Jian Chen didn't rush to talk to them, but just called Song in a whisper, asking him to take the four of them to work together, and tell them his story by the way.

All the rest of the work was stopped, and all men, women, and children came to dig the pit, the only thing that did not stop was the queue by the river in the evening and the fishing of a group of people.

Even so, it still took four days to finish digging.

The trench was more than a man deep, nearly four meters wide, and some angular gravel and pottery shards broken during the firing process were thrown underneath, and the earth was all piled up to the east side, which was also nearly half a man high.

A gap was left in the middle of the east bank without a mound of earth, and several people tried to climb through the trench to the east bank, but found it difficult to climb up.

Jumping from one side of the village to the east bank, you can't jump up at all, because the east side is too high. And jumping from the east side to the village, men can jump over.

A stream was brought in and the ditch was filled with three logs in the middle to form a simple bridge.

The tribesmen walked to the other side of the bridge and stood on the dirt slope, feeling much more at ease, and the worries that had been pressing down in their hearts these days seemed to have dissipated with this ditch.

People need to feel safe, and Hua thinks it would be nice if there was a ditch like this next to the cave of his people. But he also knew that his people did not have the energy or time to dig such a ditch.

In Chen Jian's conception, this trench alone was not enough, so he led his people to carry mud on their backs and built a few huts on the slopes of the mountain.

On the top of the cliff, I found a few natural boulders, and tied them to the tribesmen with long rattan ropes, and made a few simple hanging baskets. He carried wood and stones up the mountain for two more days and piled them up in a flat place, and then the work was finished.

In the event of an attack by the enemy in the absence of the Sturdy people, they had to retreat to the cliffs and rely on stones and logs to gain time. There are several birchbark boats hidden in the distance by the river, and everyone knows where they are.

The drum was taken out and placed in the village, and the people who kept vigil at night were told to beat the drum vigorously if they found the situation.

He gathered the old and the weak and the women together, and told them that if they heard the sound of drums, they would immediately run to the cliff, and as for what to do after running over, Chen Jian also divided the people.

Whoever should tear off the logs, who should pull the hanging basket, and who should push the stones down the hill are all subdivided into people.

Men are different, all they have to do is how to quickly run to the other side of the trench. If it is a night attack, run to the opposite side of the trench first, and then organize the team, even if someone runs away, it is better than being slaughtered as pigs and sheep in a mess.

Chaos is the most terrifying, as long as a buffer time of ten minutes is enough to launch a counterattack.

The strongest walls are always people, and the ditches and cliffs behind them are just to buy time, to buy time for these flesh and blood to be cast into the city wall.

As soon as the first drum sounded, the tribesmen ran towards the other side of the river in a hurry, and there was no discipline at all, which was also inevitable.

So these women also have one more thing in their free time, practice running to the cliff, once a day. It is important to remember who is on the side of the bridge and who is on the top of the hill after running over.

With the story of Birch and Song, the women's insecure heart makes them take this matter very seriously, but it does not work for a short time.

Hua didn't say anything else to Jian Chen these days, he believed that Jian Chen was a person who did what he said, and he swore at the top of the mountain that as long as he was a descendant of the same ancestor, he could be approached if he had something. Since the tribes who killed their relatives were covered with loose hair, he believed that Jian Chen would take care of it.

Because of trust, there was no need to ask, he and the three clansmen followed behind Jian Chen to the river.

The queue is not much different from before, the speed is faster and the quiet time is longer. The squad of five was no longer empty-handed, but had more spears, short spears, and rattan shields and stone axes.

Three people in front, one long and two short spears. The two were behind, and the stone axes were rattan shields to prevent the enemy from going around to the side. Each five-person squad is three paces away from each other, and the short spear of the person next to it can just help. The four squads were divided into groups, and a gap was left between the two groups as a place for the archers to shoot their arrows, because he did not allow his people to shoot, so he had to shoot close to the level. There are also two squads behind the gap, which can be plugged in the event of an enemy rushing through.

The plan is perfect, but how big is the gap between the plan and reality? With just a drum beat, the clansmen showed the great gap between reality and plan with facts.

Jian Chen originally thought that twenty steps and a whole team was enough, but when he really moved, the distance of seven or eight steps, the team appeared rugged and scattered.

Expecting the enemy to be wide, his ability to fight is too low, so he can only rely on the formation of his clansmen.

Every six or seven paces, the drum would be beaten in a hurry, signaling a halt to the whole group. Wait until the team is re-leveled, then move forward, and regroup as soon as the team is scattered.

A distance of 100 paces is such a long walk. The imaginary footsteps that were as neat as a sky-shaking body had never appeared, and the situation where the spear was like a forest and the body was like a wall could only appear in the charcoal paintings he painted on the bark of trees.

After the sacrifice, the drum began to be used as a military order, and the rhythm was beaten according to the drum beat of Children's Day, from the beginning of the uneven line, to five or six steps and a stop of the whole team, and then to the current seven or eight steps and a stop, always improved.

In Jian Chen's opinion, he was not satisfied with these improvements, but Hua, who was standing in front of him, still felt excited. In front of me was a neat line, advancing to the beat of drums, like a log tumbling down from the top of a mountain.

Every time the log bends, the drum beats change, and the team on the side stops, and the team next to it either moves or doesn't move, and stands flat again. It's like the waves he saw that night when he floated on the river of grass, which seemed to be able to wash away everything; and like the boulder on the shore, which is washed away by the current.

He had never seen such a method of fighting, but the slightly scattered formation had dashed the last of his worries, and he believed that soon the heads of those men would be piled up on the edge of the grave.

So he wanted to join in, but Jian Chen refused.

This kind of hateful person needs too long to grind off his impatience in the ranks, even if he is placed in the ranks of the stone axe charge. Once someone charges ahead of time, it will cause the entire team to involuntarily rush forward, and if the time is not right, the charge will backfire.

He doesn't want warriors, and he doesn't want anything wrong, as long as he can understand the sound of the drums, as long as he knows when to stop and when to rush forward.

And hatred, precisely the greatest enemy of discipline, is far more lasting than fanaticism, more memorable than honor.

Jian Chen looked at Hua and asked, "I know you want revenge, but where is the enemy?" How many of them are there? Where do they live? Do you know any of these? ”

Hua shook his head dejectedly, wanting to say something, but was interrupted by Jian Chen.

"When a wolf hunts, it needs to be chased and intercepted, let alone people. Well, you go and find out where those people live. ”

Hua lowered his head, clenched his fists and said with some remorse, "But I don't know where they are." ”

Jian Chen patted him on the shoulder and motioned for everyone to continue practicing. Every two days, the clansmen practiced something else besides lining up, such as those with wicker shields and stone axes, charging thirty paces away with stones on their backs, striking their shoulders and shields against the haystacks.

Not far, only thirty steps, but far more exhausting than other training, even if three days of practice, the initial is still unbearable, leg soreness and pain in the fatigue period even to go to the toilet and squat is very painful, fortunately these days have been a lot better, gradually get used to it.

Amid the screams, the haystacks were slammed against their shields and shoulders by the men. Chen Jian called out to the tanuki of the Shi tribe and a young man from his own clan.

Counting Hua and his younger brother, there were four people in total, and the other two members of Hua's clan were filled to the third row.

"You four, go find where that tribe is, and see how many of them there are. Tanuki, you can count to a hundred, only men and not women, and after a hundred, break a stick and count again. ”

"Well, but where to find it?"

"Go up the river. Once you reach the cave of the Birch tribe, walk up the river for three days. If not, go up the river for three days. ”

Most of the tribes still live along the river, which is northerly, doesn't rainfall much, and the river doesn't flood often, so there's no need to go to high places to figure out how to dig wells. Three days is the limit of a tribe's activities, and the combination of the two is roughly the scope of that tribe.

He took them back to the village, and took out what the women had prepared for the past few days—four nets of bark that had been braided.

I found a tree and climbed up and tied the ends of the net to the branches to form an improvised hammock.

"Do not make a fire at night, but sleep in a net, and the wild beast will not bite it. The food is also prepared for you, and there is no need to make a fire, and you are alone in the front, and the three people in the back pull the birch bark boat, and the food is placed in the boat. Once they saw it, they rowed down the river and came back downstream, and they couldn't catch up. ”

Jian Chen took out food for them, looked at the sky after loading it, and said, "You can leave tomorrow morning and come back early." Birch, you remember, you can't kill the enemy alone. ”

Hua nodded, and Chen Jian grabbed the stone civet cat on the side and said, "If Hua has to fight with them, don't pull him." You row straight back. ”

The civet cat nodded, and he had a boar-toothed dagger around his neck, which the two patriarchs had hung around his neck after the last sacrifice. He believes that no one can catch him as long as he wants to run.

Early the next morning, when the four earliest scouts set out, Chen Jian sent them to the river, and after examining the salt lard and tubers in the jars, he wished them an early return.

Looking at their backs, Jian Chen secretly made a decision.

"Even if the enemy is not numerous, he will not fight it anytime soon."

He was ready to drag out the battle that had to be fought until the fall.

One can make the clansmen do fifteen steps and a whole team; the second is to grab things if you want to fight, whether the tribe is primitive nomadic or slash-and-burn, only in autumn can you grab things; Third, even if they run away, burn everything that should be harvested with fire, and let them feel the charm of the goddess of winter.