The name of the river they walked along was the Antler River, which was originally the name of the local Mao people, but now it is still used, and the fort built at the mouth of the river is also named Antler Fort. There are a hundred garrisons in the entire fortress, which are responsible for patrolling the surrounding coast and maintaining the port in peacetime, and there are seven more forts like it on Ezo Island, that is to say, Li Su has a total of only 800 garrisons on Ezo Island, but now the grassland Hu people are under Li Su's control, so these 800 people are enough.

In front of the gate of Antler Castle, Sochel and Father Dur stood respectfully, and behind them were dozens of tribal leaders who had come to Ezo with them, and some time ago they had all rushed to Antler Fort to meet according to the order of King Qi passed down by Huli, as if there was something important to order them.

Originally, after receiving the order, Sochel and the others immediately wanted to rush over, but their tribes were all nomadic and each tribe did not have a fixed settlement, so it was indeed difficult for them to come in a short time, so Huli had been here for four or five days, and Sochel and they had to find all the leaders. It is precisely because of this that Huli was bored to go out hunting, and as a result, he just missed the time when Sochel and them arrived.

Sochel and the others heard that Huli had gone hunting, and it was estimated that the other party was coming back soon, so they took all the leaders to the gate of Antler Fort to greet them, but they had been waiting for nearly an hour, but they still didn't see Huli's shadow. But even so, none of these leaders showed any impatient expressions.

The reason why this is the case is that they don't dare, after all, they are still in Li Su's hands. If the tribe wants to survive, it needs Li Su's support. Second, they followed Su Dingfang to attack the Wa Kingdom. All have seen the divine power of Tiger Power on the battlefield, for this kind of fierce general. They grassland people admired it from the bottom of their hearts, and now they feel that it is a matter of course to wait for a while.

When the sun set, Sochel and the others finally saw Hu Li returning from hunting, but what attracted their attention even more was the tiger Qiang behind and the two brown bears on the guards, especially one of the brown bears behind the ear, there was obviously a huge fist mark, and the clothes on Hu Li's body were tattered, and his back was also injured. In other words, the bear was probably killed by Tiger Power.

Thinking of this, Sochel and all the leaders were all surprised, they had already known that this tiger general was extremely brave, but they didn't expect him to be able to fight a bear with his bare hands? This made them even more in awe of Huli, and they stepped forward to salute Huli.

Hu Li didn't care about these false courtesies, but he was also very happy to see Sochel and the others, and immediately waved his hand to make them stand up and said, "You guys are coincidental." I happened to beat two bears, so let's set up a fire in this open field at night and talk about things while roasting bear meat! ”

Sochel and these leaders are also prairie men, and Huli's words are right for their appetite. Therefore, it was loudly applauded for a while. And Hu Li said hello to the other leaders, then went back to freshen up, and asked people to re-treat the wounds. Only then did he take Hu Qiang to the outside of Antler Castle.

The open space outside the Fort of Antlers was originally a training ground for the defenders of the fort. So it's very flat, but now it's on the training ground. Ten large fires have been erected, and the two bears killed by Huli have been disemboweled, cleaned by the soldiers in the fort, and then cut and hung on the fire to roast, as for the most precious bear bile and bear paws, they have been disposed of, and Huli is ready to take them back and give them away.

Originally, bear paw is also a rare delicacy, and the reason why Hu Li does not eat here is not because of stinginess. It's because fresh bear paws aren't actually delicious, and they have to wait for the bear's paws to dry and then be cooked by a master chef before they can be delicious. Air-drying and a dedicated cook are the two necessary conditions for a good bear's paw, and you can't make a delicious bear's paw without one. Now he doesn't have a good cook around him, and he doesn't have a bear's paw to dry, so he doesn't have to waste things.

A large piece of bear meat is on the fire, the silver knife cuts a hole in the bear meat, a large amount of cumin and salt powder is sprinkled, the bear meat is roasted under the fire, and soon there is a 'zizi' sound, and the clear fat drips from the bear meat, and soon there is a smell of barbecue meat wafting out.

The soldiers in the fortress cut off the outer layer of roasted bear meat and sent it to Huli and the leaders, and in the middle of the square, several long low tables had been set up, and Huli and them sat cross-legged behind the tables, on which were the barbecue meat and wine that had just been served.

"Let's get together here, put other things aside for the time being, let's do three bowls first!" Hu Li also liked this atmosphere of drinking wine and eating meat in a big bowl, and stood up excitedly at the moment.

When it comes to drinking, Sochel and these leaders naturally don't flinch, and they all raise their wine bowls and drink them all. Speaking of which, they drank the strongest Wuwang drunk, so even with their alcohol consumption, they didn't dare to use the big bowl before, and now Huli they used a special wine bowl that was a little larger than an ordinary wine glass, otherwise no one would be able to stand it.

After drinking, everyone picked up the knife to cut the meat, forked a piece of roasted bear meat, dipped it in the sauce in front of them, and then put it in their mouths and chewed it. In fact, bear meat is not very delicious, and even because the meat is coarse, it is not as good as the taste of pork, but this is how everyone eats, and no one cares about this.

After the wine and meat were drunk, Hu Li told the reason why he called Sochel and them this time. In fact, it is very simple, at the beginning, Li Su provided Sochel with such a pasture, and at the same time asked Sochel to obey his orders at any time, when they need an army, these steppe people can take up arms at any time to fight for themselves, and now Huli is here to recruit soldiers.

Although Li Su has been vigorously recruiting troops in the past two years, the Han army in his hands is still only three or five thousand people, and these troops still have to be stationed in Taiwan, Sanhan, Wa and other places, even with the help of garrisons in other places, but it is impossible to draw them all. It is precisely because of this that Li Su thought of recruiting a group of grassland people.

Hearing that His Royal Highness the King of Qi summoned them, Sochel naturally didn't dare to slack off, but after discussing it with the other leaders, he suddenly spoke: "General, since His Highness needs us, naturally there is no problem, but the people we come out of are all young and strong in the tribe, if there are no people, grazing will be affected, and the property of the tribe will also be reduced, so can Your Highness promise us a condition?" ”

"Phew!" After hearing this, Hu Li slapped the table, but all the dishes on it jumped up, only to see him with tiger eyes and said angrily, "You dare to talk to Your Highness about conditions?" ”

Seeing Hu Li's anger, Sochel and the others were all startled, in fact, Dur's father, who knew the Han people best, immediately came out and said: "The general is angry, Lord Assassin Shi said the wrong thing, we are not trying to make conditions to His Highness, it is just a small request, and this request is just a matter of one sentence for His Highness and the general." ”

"Huh, what request?" Hu Li saw that this Dur was quite interesting, so he snorted coldly.

Seeing that Hu Li's attitude improved, Du Er said cautiously: "General Qiyu, when we were on the grassland before, when the soldiers were fighting, most of the property they grabbed belonged to us except for a part of the property, but when our soldiers fought with His Royal Highness, they had to abide by the military discipline of the Tang Dynasty and strictly forbade us to rob, which made us not get any benefits at all when we were fighting, plus we were not like the army directly under the Qi Palace, we could get military salaries, so we ......"

When Daddy Durr said this, his face also showed an aggrieved look, last time they helped Li Su send troops to attack the Japanese country, and paid heavy casualties, but they didn't get any substantial property, as for the place of Ezo Island, it was originally a borderless land, and Li Su transported them from the mainland at most. Moreover, after they landed on the island, they also had a war with the local Mao people, and Li Su did not provide much help for this.

In addition, the most important point is that they have just gained a foothold on Ezo Island now, and they need manpower to develop the strength of their tribe, and now if they are transferred by Li Su again, and like last time, they will not even benefit at all if they fight for a long time, which will naturally make them have some ideas.

Hu Li listened to Dur's father's explanation, which calmed his anger, in fact, he also knew that when fighting, it was difficult to avoid the looting of soldiers, not to mention anything else, in the last attack on the Wa Kingdom, several improvised patchwork armies did not do this kind of thing, and the grassland army also did a lot, but these were all done behind the scenes, if someone grabbed the handle, it would not be good to kill the head, so the grassland people were very restrained, and in the end they did not loot much things.

After understanding the request of these grassland people, Hu Li also seriously considered it, don't look at him as a rough man, but after leading the soldiers for so many years, he naturally understands a truth, that is, if you want the horses to run fast, you naturally have to let the horses eat grass, not to mention these grassland people, even if it is the more than 30,000 Han soldiers under the name of the Qi Palace, if you don't pay the army, then let alone fighting, I'm afraid it's already good if you don't mutiny.

"Okay, I will send someone to report this matter to His Highness, even if His Highness does not agree to your looting in the end, he will definitely compensate you in other aspects, but you should not delay the time because of this matter, immediately go back and gather the warriors of your respective tribes, this time there are not many people needed, as long as there are 20,000 people, as for this distribution, it is your internal matter." Hu Li finally nodded and said, and Sochel and the others were also overjoyed when they heard this, and they all patted their chests and promised that they would definitely provide the best warriors for His Highness to drive.

And when the news of Huli reached Keelung, Jin Shengman, who helped Li Su deal with government affairs, put forward a big shortcoming in his rule to Li Su through this incident, in fact, Li Su had long been aware of this shortcoming, but he had been unwilling to change it. (To be continued.) )