The wind is slow, the horses are swaying, and the green trees are swaying and drifting back. Although the dryness of early autumn has not yet turned the leaves on both sides of the road yellow. But the blue sky is cloudless, and the cool breeze is already quite autumnal.

It had been a long time since Ulrique, and the party had made their way north after leaving the Twin Valleys, and according to the direction, it seemed to be heading to Brandenburg, the northern fortress of the kingdom. The Mercenary Guild seemed to be well aware of what was happening in the city, so the caravan organized at Barrett's request chose the northwest route. It seems that he deliberately avoided the eastern region, which was closer to the kingdom of Lucia, in order to prevent any accidents on the line that he had managed to take with great difficulty.

"Mr. Bossy! I'd like to make sure how much more you have to travel north after passing through Brandenburg this time? Barrett, who was riding a horse in the center of the convoy, was chatting with the leader next to him without saying a word.

And out of due respect for Barrett, a master of the Red Iron Rank, the thick-eyed steward in front of him was completely enthusiastic: "According to the plan, we will continue our journey north, and we should pass through 4-5 tribes during this time. After completing the deal with the local nomads, they will choose to turn back south. ”

"In other words, I'm not sure! I still know a little bit about this trade route, and if the tribe has already passed through the caravan before the bad luck, our journey will go further into the grasslands. That's not a small risk! Barrett, who heard this, touched his chin and muttered to himself.

The steppe trade played a significant part of the Norhan kingdom's overall trading system. Because the nomadic herders on the steppe have a lot of necessities for life - such as table salt. There are also some daily necessities, such as spices, that cannot be produced in-house. Their horses, furs, and medicinal herbs were also needed by the Norhan kingdom and other kingdoms further south.

Usually only as long as you get to the grassland, even if it is the closest tribe. After deducting all the costs involved in transportation, there will be at least 50% or more profit. If you change back to the specialties of the grassland. Then the original cost of a round trip may be tripled.

Of course, the return on trade will be so high, and it is also closely related to the risks on this trade route. If there were no restrictions, such a trade would never have been so lucrative in the face of the influx of capital and caravans, and the horse thieves who came and went without a trace on the steppes were the greatest risk to choose this path.

It is important to know that the living environment of the grassland is different from that of the farming people. Nomads are natural riders, and children learn to ride horses at the age of three or four. At the same time, in order to fight against the wolves and other tribes that threaten the best army, the nomadic children of three or four years old began to participate in special military training. They were rigorously trained in horseback riding and archery.

These are cavalry units made up of children who have been trained from childhood. The quality and skill of the fight are quite amazing. On horseback, they can accurately shoot the enemy, whether in a charge or in a quick retreat. In other words, all ordinary fighters are proficient marksmen.

If there are such excellent archers, and then pair them with war horses with excellent combat power and good durability. In the field, it is enough to give the vast majority of the army a headache. The only thing to be thankful for is. Such tribal warriors are rare among most horse thieves - after all, most of them exist among the larger tribes of the steppe. However, even a few fugitives who have failed the struggle can cause a lot of trouble for the average caravan.

The expression on the face of the team leader in front of him became more kind, after all, only those with weaknesses seemed real: "I didn't expect a strong man like you to worry about these barbarians!" ”

"Our ancestors served in Brandenburg, and there are still some records of the strength of those nomads." Barrett began to talk nonsense with his eyes open again.

However, the team leader immediately even had a smile in his eyes: "Your ancestor's record is indeed correct. However, today's grassland barbarians are no longer the border troubles that dared to go south every year. ”

"I've heard rumors about that. However, it was mixed with talk of a massive reduction in the budget of the Brandenburg Fortress. I'm not too sure what the truth is. Can you walk in the grassland a lot, sir, please tell us about it? Barrett had a strange look on his face. Any rumor that is involved in political struggle will always be greatly diminished.

"You come from a good background, and you do think about things that are much more complicated than ours." The steward in front of him showed a look of understanding. Barrett's surname and the strength that the other party possessed at a young age made the steward dare not slack off: "In fact, there is nothing wrong with such rumors, and those barbarians from the North have rarely formed groups to go south. After years of failure, they no longer have the strength to organize raids. ”

"Is that really the case?" Barrett touched his chin, "I knew that those nomads would eventually surrender, but I didn't expect this day to come so quickly. ”

The tribes of the steppe lived by herding. Foreign raids, on the other hand, were used as a means of improving their lives, depleting the population, and plundering slaves. In the war between barbarism and civilization, the one who loses is the one who is backward. Some people may compare it with the 'whip of God' back then.

But in fact, the environment in which the two live is very different. Maybe in personal riding and archery skills. The barbarians of this world will not lose to the Mongol cavalry because of their physical strength, and even surpass it. But there is a gap in obedience, patience and teamwork. Because of the suppression of powerful creatures and the civilized world. The tribes of the steppes were never united. This makes it difficult for a centralized formed army to come out

So the difference between the two is like the difference between bandits and bandits and the regular army. There may be elites such as marksmen among the bandits, but the overall strength is low, and there is a lack of medium equipment. And the latter is like a regular army, not only the quality of individual soldiers is comparable to it. Even if it is slightly weaker than it, the strict hierarchy brings a very high degree of order execution, coupled with a perfect military system. The combat effectiveness between the two is simply not the same.

The biggest thing that the two have in common is that they are both good at using mounted archery units as their main force. The Mongols were extremely adept at what the ancient Romans called the "Sabbath archery method", in which the archers fled on horseback. While shooting arrows at enemies in the rear. The essence of this tactic is to attack the enemy from a distance, to attack the enemy continuously, and not to give the enemy a chance to fight back.

No matter how strong the enemy's spirit and armor may be under such an attack, it is only a matter of time before it completely collapses. At that time, most European knights were equipped with heavy armor, and although they were very powerful in close combat, their mobility was not comparable to that of the Mongol cavalry. If you run into a Mongolian horse archer, not only will you not be able to catch up. I can't even escape, I can only be a target. Moreover, the Mongol cavalry did not rely entirely on strong attacks like the European knights, and they only engaged the enemy in close quarters when they had first killed most of the enemy with their bows and arrows.

Although in this world, nomadic herders use similar routines. At the time of the siege. They are also able to speed up their bows and arrows by running on their horses, increasing the power of the arrows they fire. But there is a very important problem, and that is that the enemies they face are fundamentally different. Through constant breeding, there are also excellent war horses cultivated through the use of magic and divine arts. Even after loading this heavy armor, they can catch up with those lightly armed archers of the barbarians. So they tragedy.

"I would like to thank the heroic border guards for their contribution to civilization." Barrett, who was beating his chest with his hands, gently lowered his head.

Seeing his style, the team leader naturally praised: "That's right! Thanks to the Warriors for their contributions. That's right, Mr. Barrett. I have heard many times when Brandenburg was crumbling. It was all those powerful knights who came forward to turn the tide. Since your ancestor served there, can you tell me some of the stories he knows? ”

"Since you have this interest, Mr. Steward! Naturally, I had no reason to refuse. To say ......" Barrett pinched the horse's belly slightly, and began his own narration.

Another problem that the nomads had to face in each journey south was the huge disparity in individual strength. When faced with a thousand strong men, these nomads are not low-level necromancers or constructed creatures without thoughts and emotions. Under the large number of losses, there will also be cowering, emotional outburst, and desertion. Therefore, I want to use the number of people to pile up the strong opponent of the other party. Theoretically possible, but in practice it is very difficult.

Of course, there are no strong people among the nomads who can compete with them. under the same population base. The proportion of the strongest among the barbarians is much lower than in civilized societies. This is because there is still a gap in knowledge and culture, just like in history, when the level of science and technology reached a level that could not be caught up in a short period of time, the nomads began to lose to the agricultural people. The way to increase the strength of this world is equivalent to the technology of that world.

It is also extremely important that most of the strong people need to be trained on a full-time or part-time basis from an early age. And the growth cycle cannot be said to be short. The barbarian way of life was, in most cases, not the case--even the marksmen of the large tribes often had to do a considerable part of the herding work. Although they are able to incorporate many skills into their work, they can still have some impact.

The steward in front of him listened to Barrett's unflattering story and said, "The knight is really powerful!" ”

Unlike previous heroic poems, this kind of story, which is purely unaltered by art, is more realistic to the well-informed caravan steward.

"Of course, the role of the knights naturally needs no further explanation. However, the fact that our Duchy of Norhan has been able to win one victory after another in the war against the nomads is also not unrelated to the legendary powerhouse of the town country......" Barrett sighed as he spoke. Because legend is not only a monument of iron and blood, but also the flower of civilization and the fruit of human nature. And the ignorant nomads themselves have never been legends in the true sense of the word.

Due to the fault line of civilization, the nomads have never won more than 10 years in the struggle against civilized society. Even the churches, although they originated in obscurantism, could not flourish in obscurantism. The faith that a true God needs is the cremation of spirituality and the sublimation of wisdom. In addition, the totem worship of the barbarian ancestral spirits is the great enemy of the gods. There is an unending relationship between the two, which makes the opportunity to use the true God come to naught.

As for the act of turning abandoning the ancestral spirit and converting the faith, if it is a single tribe, it will become a public enemy of the steppe after this battle. The first thing to face is the extermination and annexation between the same clans. The other tribes will not let go of this great opportunity to quickly increase their strength.

The two professional systems of shamans and witch doctors passed down among the same nomads are not as powerful as the druids of many schools. As for the general barbarians, there are also brute fighters, and they are basically all big road goods. Only some characteristic mounted archers can only play the greatest effect when they are about to become an army. And this is the weakness of the nomads. As for the shamans on the orcs' side, they are completely different from the barbarians. They are a profession that is more akin to the Paladins of the Church.

Therefore, it is not inappropriate for the steward in front of him to call those nomads barbarians. In the eyes of mainland residents, the image of nomads is indeed like that.

As he spoke, Barrett suddenly became serious, "Of course, those nomads are not useless, otherwise, I don't know how many times they have been destroyed by others over the years." If they are in the plains or grasslands that are suitable for their play, they can still pose a considerable threat. Mr. Team Leader, are you really sure that no tribe will take a fancy to our goods? ”

"Don't worry! The necessities of the caravan were related to the survival of the tribe, and the daily necessities affected the quality of their lives. Without caravans, they would have been able to replenish such materials by plundering south. But now the road has been blocked. In most cases, they don't do anything that would kill themselves when they come and go. So all we have to deal with is the horse thieves who have broken away from the tribe. Mr. Leader's words were very confident.

However, Barrett was still a little uneasy: "But I heard that many horse thieves are actually supported by those large tribes. ”

"There are rumors of this. But as long as they are not many, aren't you still there? As for sending a large number of men, it's not worth it at all for a small caravan like us! The big-eyed leader seemed to think Barrett was too distracted. (To be continued......)

PS: Modify the wording. Thanks to the "Judicial Statement" greatly voted for the monthly ticket.