Chapter 4: Drunken Country (Part 2)

"Is it hot with the dung of a wild donkey?" A loud cry interrupted everyone's dreams. When the crowd heard the rumour, they saw Dur carrying a black-green dung mass the size of an egg with two wooden sticks, and running happily towards the group.

"Greedy ghost Duer, if you don't wash your hands three times tonight, you are not allowed to grab meat and eat it!" Tao Kuo scolded loudly. In the cold wind, the filthy mass of Dour's hands still smoked, and no one except this greedy man could not smell the stench of donkey dung.

"I'm going to see the hoof prints!" Aslan happily ran to the location where Durr was picking manure and carefully inspected the nearby river beach. The water of Crescent Lake is constant in all seasons, and the snow near the river beach has long since melted. Where Durr had come, a few puddles of snow and mud mixed with the feces of wild beasts, as filthy as they were. But Ah Silan didn't have any scruples, and lay down beside the donkey dung heap and carefully observed it for a long time before she straightened up and shouted to everyone: "It's a big group of wild donkeys, and they drank water by the lake about half an hour ago. We drove west around the lake and soon caught up with them! ”

The crowd cheered and immediately turned on their horses. Li Xu freed Ganluo from the coat on his horse's back and let it chase after his mount. Although Ganluo's body was small, he refused to follow behind the horse's buttocks, and his four small thin legs spread out and swooped out.

"We've got it this time!" Dur dropped the donkey dung ball in his hand and screamed as he untied his bow and arrows from behind the saddle. The wild donkey is a very large creature, and the body of an adult male donkey can grow to ten feet long, seven feet wide, and weigh more than 500 catties. From a distance, it looks bigger than a domestic mule. The animal lives on water and grass, and likes to eat wild onions and strange willows, so the meat is tender but has no smell. At this point, no domestic livestock, whether a bull that has never worked or a lamb that is less than three months old, can compare with a wild donkey.

"Be careful, don't touch their fronts!" Aslan didn't forget to remind everyone during the gallop. Although wild asses are inferior to herbivore, they are much more irritable than horses. If you are alarmed, you will rush towards you, and your strong body and bones will not be able to prevent the donkeys from colliding.

"Got it, everyone, work harder, shoot the strongest head to nourish Padella's body!" Calyx's excited reply was heard far away in the wind.

A quarter of an hour later, the donkeys appeared directly in front of the group. It is a small family of more than 50 wild donkeys, all of which have an earthy yellow back and a blue-black hair. Hearing the sound of the hunter's hooves, the male wild donkey in charge of the guard immediately neighed to warn. The donkeys, who were gnawing on the grass roots, heard the warning and immediately spread their milky white four long legs under the leadership of the head donkey.

"Speed up, follow the pursuit, and scatter the donkeys!" Aslan commanded loudly. The horse rushed towards the donkey herd first, and Dur was unwilling to be pulled out by his partner, so he clamped the horse's belly fiercely, and chased after Aslan with a loud howl.

"Ganluo, chase the one who reported the news!" Li Xu bent his bow and commanded. The little wolf Ganluo ignored his shouts, doubled his running speed in an instant, and swooped down diagonally towards the middle of the donkey.

Hunting is its innate instinct, much more savvy than any experienced hunter. When wild donkeys flee for their lives, the adult males are in the front, and the adult females are dead, and in the middle of the line are often young donkeys that are less than a year old and have not yet been fully weaned. They are not as experienced and brave as adult donkeys, and if they are attacked by an enemy, they will definitely break away from the group.

Despite their large size, wild asses have a natural fear of wolves. Seeing Ganro rushing in, he immediately fled the group with two young donkeys the size of a foal, from the base of the front leg to the tip of the tail with a brown dividing line. Ganro sprang from the crowd and leaped away from the herd before the she-donkey's hooves stepped on her. Then he turned around sideways for half an arc and forced the two little donkeys towards Li Xu's mount.

Li Xu, Xu Dayan, Tao Kuotuosi, and E Ru immediately gathered around, and the four of them formed a small circle to trap the two young donkeys in the center. After a few feathered arrows fell, the battered young wild ass screamed and fell into the mud by the lake. Ganro cast a disdainful glance at his prey and then chased after the donkeys again.

"Ahh Xu jumped off the horse with big eyes and laughter. Each young donkey was hit by three or four arrows, so it was impossible to tell who the prey belonged to. It's just that some people are opportunistic, and every arrow is inserted through the donkey's belly partially.

"Brother Mao Gong collects prey, I'll help Ah Silan and them!" Li Xu had a weak heart, secretly stuck out his tongue, pulled out the horse and left. He could already see clearly that without his two arrows, after cutting off the neck part, the four of them could harvest two intact donkey skins. With the two more arrows of his own, there will be two more big holes in the donkey's skin, and it will no longer be worth anything.

Before he could catch up with the donkeys again, Ah Silan and the others had already ridden their horses back. Beside them, Dur and Bachiami, who walked side by side, struggled to carry a wild donkey, which looked about the size of a calf. On the other hand, Ah Si Lan and Cao Falltai rode together, and the other horse completely gave up to the prey. The wild donkey on the horseback looked the size of the blue and white mule that Li Xu rode when he was studying, and the war horse kept snorting in protest.

"Whew--" The little wolf Gan Luo let out a long howl in the wind. A few drops of donkey blood dripped from its mouth and landed on the snow, blooming two dazzling reds.

"A holy wolf is a holy wolf, and I and Certai forced this beast out of the ranks, and before we could shoot it with an arrow. The holy wolf has already pounced on it and bitten it by the throat! Aslan praised Ganro's bravery. It is said in the prairie that where the silver wolf appears, it brings harvest and good luck, and today he has seen it with his own eyes. If it weren't for Ganro, the wild asses wouldn't have been scattered so quickly. Although the life of the prey was eventually ended by its own arrow, the newly grown wolf cub has dared to attack a wild donkey ten times its size, which is a courage that no shepherd dog can have.

"Isn't it relying on the Aslan brothers' hunting skills, isn't it ......?" Li Xu glanced at Gan Luo with a smile, and wanted to evaluate it with a dog fighting human power. Suddenly, he remembered that the little thing was a holy object in the eyes of the tribe, and he swallowed the second half of the sentence back into his stomach.

The smart Gan Luo seemed to have guessed what he wanted to say from Li Xu's eyes, whimpered a few times, and rubbed Li Xu's mount with his nose reluctantly. When the mount saw the little wolf's bloody mouth, he was so frightened that he jumped and jumped, and almost threw Li Xu off the horse.

"Alright, alright, Ganluo, let's stop making trouble." Li Xu was afraid that the mount would be frightened and kick the wolf cub, so he hurriedly begged for mercy. Gan Luo glanced at it triumphantly, shook his head, and turned to find Tao Kuo to eat.

Li Xu shook his head, a wry smile appeared on his face. Since coming to the Susi Ministry, he and Ganluo's master-slave positions have been completely reversed. In the eyes of the people, the silver wolf was a holy relic sent by the Immortal Heaven, and he was just a guard secretly arranged by the Immortal Heaven to the Silver Wolf, and his status was much lower than that of Ganluo. As for in the eyes of the barbarian girl Tao Kuodesi, his status and Ganluo's status cannot be mentioned together.

Eight people beat four wild donkeys, and today's harvest has been unexpected, so everyone is not greedy, first found a few large stones by the lake that can shelter from the wind and temporarily stationed, and then cut a piece of meat from the young donkey to satisfy Ganluo's hunger. And people can't eat raw meat, and they can't find dry firewood, so they have to deceive their stomachs by nibbling on a few bites of cold and hard milk tofu on the snow.

After everyone had eased up a bit, Aslan and Dur immediately began to divide their prey. It's so far from the tribe that the idea of pulling the whole wild ass back to show off won't work. While the prey has not been frozen by the cold wind, cutting off the donkey skin and donkey meat and putting it on the back of the horse is the only choice for everyone. And the endless heads, bones, and internal organs can only be cheapened by those nearby beasts.

"Come and drink in my felt bag tonight, no one is allowed to refuse!" Durr wiped a handful of sweat from his forehead with his bloody hand and announced loudly.

"Dirty Dur, have you washed your hands before you go and cut the meat?" Tao Kuo asked with a frown.

"Surely—I didn't wash it, the first piece of meat I grabbed with my hand today made a mark, and let my wife cook it and put it directly in your bowl!" Durr stretched out his red fingers, deliberately making Tao Kuo angry.

The girl made a disgusted expression and turned away. Dur finally defeated the little devil once, and his heart was happy. While cutting the flesh with his hands and feet, he hummed a song.

"I struck a wild donkey, a wild donkey, and used his entrails to honor the wolf. I beat a leopard, a leopard, and used its fur to sew a suit. I didn't have the fawn next to the felt bag, which cooked for me when I was out hunting. I didn't shoot the eagle in the sky, it directed the direction of my prey......."

After a while, Ah Silan, Li Xu and others also joined the chorus. Xu is a smart person, and he has been communicating with the elders every day for the past half a month, and the Turkic language has improved rapidly, and he soon hummed along with the tune.

"I beat a wild donkey, a wild donkey, and use his internal organs to salute the blue wolf......." Everyone was singing happily, and suddenly, the little wolf Ganluo, who was curled up on Li Xu's lap for warmth, pricked up his ears and jumped lightly onto the snow.

"Someone!" Ah Silan put away the short knife as quickly as he could, and grabbed the bow and arrow beside him. Everyone followed Ganluo's gaze and looked into the distance, and saw two black shadows appear more than four hundred steps away. They were two sturdy shepherds, without mounts, walking towards the lake with their hands held high.

"Kind brother, is this the Crescent Lake?" The black shadow walking in front saw that everyone was very vigilant, stopped and shouted loudly.

The other man behind him also stopped, his body slightly staggered from his companion, and his palms were spread wide forward, indicating that he was not carrying a weapon, let alone being hostile.

"It's Crescent Lake, who are you, and why did you come to our Hazard Clan's grassland?" Seeing that the person was speaking Turkic, Aslan took a few steps forward to block Ganluo and replied in Turkic.

"We are Xi people who live by the Suotou River, your good friends. We went out hunting after losing our homeland, but we didn't expect to get lost! The dark shadow replied with a smile, his words full of bitterness. The sunlight was very dark behind the clouds, so Li Xu couldn't tell what he looked like. It was only observed that he and another companion were wearing black leather jackets and black boots, which pierced the eyes like two pieces of charcoal in the snow.

"This is Crescent Lake, and a quarter of an hour north on horseback is our camp. If you get lost, you can go to my felt bag and drink a bowl of milk tea! Ah Silan drooped the tip of the arrow downward, no longer pointing at the other party, but the words of the answer were full of vigilance.

In fact, running north from this place for two hours may not be able to reach the tribe, and he said this just to prevent the ridicule from doing anything wrong. And the other party listened to his words, but he seemed to be very moved, and said with a long sigh: "Xi people who have lost their homes can still drink their friends' milk tea, little brother, I thank you." But I have to hurry back to the tribe, or the old people in the family will worry about their son! ”

After saying that, he slowly turned around, stepped on the snow, and walked in the direction he came.

"Walk steady, the road is slippery in snow!" Xu Dayan shouted enthusiastically at Xi Ren's back in Turkic. Without waiting for the other party's figure to disappear, he hurriedly turned around and whispered an order to everyone: "Throw away the rest of the donkey meat, let's hurry up and go home!" ”

"Throw it away, why? There were just two of them, and they hadn't ridden yet! Durr raised a surprised face and asked in a low voice.

"They never came within range of our bows and arrows. Walking here from the Xibu camp on such a cold day, I haven't ridden a horse yet, and the wild donkey doesn't have the stamina. Aslan explained eagerly as she checked the warhorse's belly belt.

"Both of them were dressed in black, and they didn't even look bad. Could this be a coincidence? Li Xu added a sentence next to him, picked up Ganluo, and jumped on the mount with the most swift movements.

When the other shepherds heard Ah Silan say this, they didn't dare to slack off, threw down the donkey meat that had not yet been cut off along with the donkey skin, tightened the horse's belly belt, and jumped on the horse's back.

Dur and Ba Ximi were in front, and after Ah Silan and Cao fell Tai were broken, they sandwiched Li Xu, Xu Dayan and the two girls in the middle, and slowly began to accelerate. The group had just run five or six miles when there was a sudden sound of horses' hooves behind them.

"Little brother, wait, I'll go to your tent to ask for a bowl of tea!" The voice asking for directions shouted loudly in the distance.

This person is so strong, Li Xu thought in surprise. Knowing that the person who came was definitely not an ordinary herdsman, he didn't look back, flapping his mount and galloping.

The mounts of the eight men were not good horses, and they were tired from hunting, and even if they threw away all the donkey meat, their speed slowed down quickly. The "guests" behind him were chasing closer and closer, and in the course of running, not only could they hear the hooves and shouts of the horses, but occasionally the wind was so strong that even their shouting and scolding could be heard clearly.

After the man broke off, the woman carried Ganluo back to the camp to report the news. Inform the patriarch that a large group of men is coming! Xu Da saw that the pursuers were getting closer and closer, and ordered with a calm face.

His words were prestigious among the people, and when the six men heard this, they took the heads of the horses together. Grab the bow in your hand, turn it sideways, and point the tip of the arrow behind you.

In the distance, a black cloud pressed over it, the color of the pursuer's leather coat in the light of the snow. There were only about two dozen people who came, but they brought nearly seventy horses. With mounts changing at any time along the way, it's no wonder they're chasing them closer and closer.

"Everyone, it's all my fault for proposing to come to Crescent Lake!" Dürr's teeth chattered and he regretted it. Several of them are not only friends of Li Xu and Xu Dayan, but also take on the mission of protecting the two teenagers. Elder Etoh had secretly advised him many times not to put his guests in danger no matter what. Everyone was careful, very careful, but they didn't expect to meet the taunts of the brigade when hunting.

"If we don't come to Crescent Lake, they'll be stepping on our camp tonight!" Li Xu plucked up all his courage and tried his best to make his voice sound like he was shaking. "More than 20 people, more than 100 horses, this is clearly a scout sent by a large group of people!"

"Ahh Two exclamations rang out at the same time from the direction of the horse's head. Li Xu turned his head and saw Eru and Tao Kuo Tuosi holding bows and arrows in their hands, and they didn't listen to Xu Dayan's arrangement to take the lead in escaping.

"Why aren't you leaving?" Xu Dayan saw the two girls turn the direction of the horse's head, and fire immediately erupted in their eyes.

"The Shadow Man will not leave his friends behind and run for his life alone!" Eru and Tao Kuo replied loudly. The bowed hand was trembling all the time, but the tone of his voice was extremely firm.

"Get out of here, don't get in our way here. Go back to the tribe, or all the men who fall will die because of the two of you!" Li Xu, who has always been mild-tempered, suddenly pricked up his eyes and shouted. Suddenly realizing that Gan Luo was still on his horse, he picked up the blanket and viciously whipped the little wolf and the blanket to Tao Kuodesi's chest, "Go back and inform the patriarch of Xi'er, there is a large group of men and horses coming to attack!" ”

Tao Kuotuosi and Gan Luo had never seen Li Xu look so fierce, and they were so shocked that they couldn't make a sound when they were defenseless. E Ru's mind turned quickly, looking at the black clouds flying quickly in the distance, and immediately understood that Xu Dayan and Li Xu's words were not alarmist. Turning the horse's head, he took the reins of his sister's horse and fled as fast as he could.

"Six people, in three waves! Detachment and Durr shoot the first round. Pull the fine Mi, the calyx fell to the second round, and I and Ah Si shot the third round. After three shots, we quickly left, shooting back arrows as we ran! Xu Maogong had a straight face and calmly ordered like a general.

"Han family, you dare to tell me to get out, I won't finish with you when this battle is over!" Tao Kuo's crying and scolding went against the wind and came from afar.

"I wish I could live!" Li Xu smiled bitterly, slowly stretched out his bow, and aligned the tip of the arrow with the closest enemy to him.

Note 1: Star iron, i.e., iron meteorites scattered on the grassland. Before the industrial age, swords on the steppe were famous. Not because of the smelting technology of the steppe peoples, but because the ore itself is of good quality. At the same time, due to the problem of quantity, it is impossible to ensure the scale of production of weapons.

Note 2: Mongolian wild ass, commonly known as wild mule. At present, it only exists on the border of Inner and Outer Mongolia. The body is two meters long, about one and a half meters high, and weighs around 260 kilograms. The fur is dark brown, and the inner and upper parts of the limbs are grayish-white. It was saved from extinction because of its fast running speed and strong endurance.