Even the smallest coins are a fortune. That means a good meal with plenty of oil and water, a brand new piece of clothing, and a reserve of wealth that can be used to shelter individuals or families from the wind and rain when they need it.

The barbarians' understanding of "money" really began at this time. They no longer thought that simple food and cloth could be used in exchange. Although few people have access to gold coins of great value at this stage, many people, including ordinary soldiers, can see silver coins in their pockets.

The precious metals that Tianhao has accumulated for a long time from the Panshizhai era have finally come in handy.

The newly minted gold coins of the Ox clan are very beautiful, and thanks to the widely used stamping technique, the round metal coins have a regular round appearance. The obverse depicts a large bull's head, and to the north is a miniature silhouette of the city of Pointe-Noire. The emergence of lathes is the assembly line grinding has become a reality, whether it is gold coins, silver coins or auxiliary coins, the alloy composition determines that they have the necessary hardness, moderate feel, including the dense and equal portrayal stripes on the edge of the coin, everything shows the strong industrial power of the cattle family.

According to the Regent's latest decree, ordinary soldiers were given five coins per month.

When he first got this newly minted currency, Yun Kai had doubts about his previous philosophy of life. He couldn't believe that such a beautiful thing was made by a human being, and the beautiful patterns and patterns were mesmerizing, and the casting process alone made this small metal disc full of value.

Think of the rifles in use, the lessons you trained, and the guns you have seen in person...... Yun Kai felt that all problems had found an explanation. He was glad that he was not dizzy, refused the princess's woo, and chose to side with the regent.

Yes, only that young man can lead the Ox Clan to strength.

……

Deer territory, Stag City.

As the weather warmed up day by day, seeing that this winter was about to pass, Lu Qingxi's heart became colder and colder, and he fell deep into the valley.

The Deer Clan were on high alert throughout the winter. With Bucks City as the core, two lines of defense were built outside the city.

Almost everyone expressed incomprehension about going up the mountain to dig for stones in the cold winter. They decided that instead of spending effort building towers outside the city, they would better concentrate on increasing the height of the walls of Stag City to strengthen its defenses.

Lu Qingxi felt that it was difficult for him and the commanders to reach a consensus, and even the most basic communication could not be carried out.

He'd been to Rock City and seen firsthand how perverted and tightly guarded it was. It was from that time that Lu Qingxi became interested in ordinary buildings such as towers. He spent a lot of time on paper, using wooden towers and simulated armies to spread out the war on a sand table. This is not his experience, but from Tianhao's teaching and teaching. Lu Qingxi knew very well that Tianhao would not be so kind, his real purpose was to let himself become his help, using the natural danger of Red Moon City to help the Niu Clan block the Tiger Clan attacking from the south.

Reality proved Lu Qingxi's guess. The Tiger Clansmen smashed their heads and bled under Red Moon City, and Tianhao easily burned down the Tiger Clan's logistics base, obtaining a large number of prisoners and horses.

His vision and resourcefulness are nothing short of remarkable.

The problem is that Tianhao can never be his true friend.

Although he always put the word "friend" on his lips.

Bucks City is their last support. Lu Qingxi couldn't imagine what a terrible ending would be triggered or led to if he lost the capital. Further south, there is Red Moon City. There was almost no output there, it was simply a fortress built against a hill. Without material support from Buck City, Red Moon City's reserves would be difficult to maintain for even three months.

A commander proposed to take advantage of the carelessness of the Niu people to take the initiative to attack White Deer City.

Lu Qingxi was indeed a little tempted at the time, but after thinking about it, he dispelled this idea.

After suffering a series of failures, especially after cooperating with Tianhao and changing from the patriarch of the deer clan to the king of the deer clan, Lu Qingxi developed a deep fear of this powerful and cunning ally. He knew that Tianhao would not deliberately leave the empty gate of White Deer City for him to attack, not to mention that the scouts had already probed the military power there. In addition to the river fleet with more than 60 ships, the number of land forces in White Deer City is as high as 80,000, and it also continuously receives various supports from Broken Horn City.

Bucks City is also expanding, with more than 150,000 soldiers. With the exception of more than 73,000 regular troops, the rest were reserve conscripts.

The biggest problem plaguing Lu Qingxi is food.

The proceeds from capturing and cleaning up the battlefield from the Tiger Clan will be enough to last until next summer. But no matter what, after all, it's a mountain of empty food. There can't always be enough food in the warehouse, and the deer people can't stay in the city forever without going out.

Although the people below did not understand, and despite the fact that the people sent out to dig stones in the cold weather were cursing Lu Qingxi behind their backs, he was still unmoved, insisted on a tough and ruthless attitude, and built more than thirty towers of various types in the north of Buck City, forming a dense and solid defensive belt.

Tianhao's behavior is always unexpected. For a whole winter, he did not send a single soldier.

The people of the Lu tribe, who enjoyed peace and tranquility, became more and more dissatisfied with Lu Qingxi. They believe that their king is tricky and frightened, and that he is slipping further and further down the dangerous path of tyrants.

Lu Qingxi disdained to explain, and did not want to explain.

The fear of Tianhao in his heart deepened further, and he gradually figured out the truth.

There is civil strife in Pointe-Noire, and he must first pacify the rear and successfully become regent, and then he can talk about anything else.

Lu Qingxi doesn't think that the upcoming winter is a waste of time. The defense system had to be built, not to mention the fact that the number of towers at this stage was insufficient, and only two-thirds of the planned ones were completed. But even if the whole plan is completed, Lu Qingxi is not absolutely sure that he will be able to block the Niu Clan army and keep Buck City.

You can only take one step at a time.

The snow outside the city melted, and while on guard, I prepared for spring ploughing.

……

The capital of the Tiger Clan, Bloodclaw City, and the residence of the National Teacher.

Wu Lin sat on the chair, his head bowed, his face was pale, and his eyes released a cold and fierce gaze, staring at the five corpses placed on the floor in front of him.

The four bodies were piled up on the left side, and the deceased had obvious wounds on the chest and neck, all of which were slashed.

The other one is on the right, only half a meter away from the witch forest. The deceased was stripped of his clothes and covered in scars. The head was almost smashed beyond recognition, the kind of practice of being repeatedly beaten with a blunt object, and being abused little by little until death.

His stomach had been cut open, and the intestines and liver that had flowed to the outside showed obvious signs of burning. A striking wound half a meter long crossed the chest, the lungs were forcibly pulled out, and the heart was missing. More than a dozen ribs that were broken and pulled out of the body were stuck upside down in the neck, densely packed, as if there had suddenly mutated and was covered with thorns.

Looking at the tragic situation of the corpse in front of him, Wu Lin couldn't hold back any longer, he fell from the chair with both knees bent, fell to his knees, hugged the corpse tightly in his arms with both hands, and cried loudly.

This is his own brother, and the best relationship of all siblings.

Half an hour ago, when Wu Lin got the news and hurried back from the palace, his younger brother was already dead———— he was blocked by a group of thugs in the south of Bloodclaw City, and was stoned to death in public, those people did not even let go of the corpses, tortured and insulted them in heinous means, and when the national guards and city guards heard the news, the crowd dispersed, only catching four guys who had no time to escape at the scene, and were killed by the order of the angry captain of the guard, and brought the bodies back.

Wu Lin cried very sadly, his eyes were red and swollen, and his voice was hoarse.

Just last week, his most respected sister was killed in her home.

She married a warlord and had two children. My sister has a gentle temperament, and all kinds of relationships inside and out are very good, and the people around her are unanimously praised, and she is a rare good woman.

Her husband cut off her head, along with her two children, and threw her body on the street, leaving it to be ravaged by the mob outside.

His father died many years ago, and Wu Lin has always been very filial to his elderly mother. But the day before yesterday, a group of thugs stormed the house and took the old man away. Wu Lin got the news and immediately sent guards to look for it. In the evening, the guards found the head of Wu Lin's mother in the slum, the left side of her face had been cut off, and her body was so scattered that it was impossible to know its exact whereabouts.

It's all because of horses.

So much has happened in the year that is coming to pass.

For a long time, horses have been the biggest secret of the Tiger people, and they are also an important strategic material that is never traded with the outside world.

In the first battle of Red Moon City, hundreds of thousands of elites were lost, and the logistics base Gangwei City was burned by fire, and countless materials were lost, including the fact that it is impossible to count accurate numbers so far, and can only guess 5,000 to 10,000 war horses.

This meant that the Tigers had lost control of the special trade in horses.

The current Tiger King Yaoxian is smart and discerning, and he knows very well that this war horse is very important to the Niu people, and in two years at most, the number of horses of the Niu people will far exceed the estimate. When the time comes, the Tiger Clan will be at a disadvantage in both military and trade terms.

Taking advantage of the fact that the size of the cattle tribe's horse herd has not yet expanded, they seized the last golden period of trade and sold a large number of war horses to other tribes at a high price, and made a lot of money.

This is a very good plan, and if executed well, the Tigers can access a lot of resources through trade. Not only can it make up for the losses in the first battle of Red Moon City, but it can also lay the foundation for the future development of the race. After all, what is most lacking at present is food and cloth, and whether it is a lion or a deer clan, they are willing to accept the price offered by the tiger clan.

Wu Lin was a man of great strategic vision, and he agreed with the plan.

The Tiger King handed over the execution of the trade plan to Wulin...... To be honest, Wu Lin was reluctant to accept this task. He knows very well that after thousands of years of ethnic rule, the concept of "horses are the most precious treasure of the Tiger Clan" has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The vast majority of people, whether nobles or commoners, have formed a deep and stubborn logic about this.

This logic has formed a strict defense in the foreign trading market. Whether it is a commercial official who is responsible for checking the sex of the horses, or a commoner who is watching from the sidelines, they will spontaneously regard the interracial trade party as a counterparty. Accepting bribes has never happened, and it is difficult for even the most thoughtful person to reach out in such a situation. Of course, this does not mean that all the Tiger people think the same way, and there must be a very small number of bastards among them who do not care about their own interests and only think about their own wealth. Overall, this group of people is not much, and it is estimated that it may account for two, three, or even less of the total population of the Tiger Clan.

In a group of people with a strong sense of honor and arrogance, a sudden opposition in public can have terrible and drastic consequences.

Wu Lin admits that he didn't think much about it when he accepted the assignment from Hu Yaoxian at that time. Although he had expected that the sale of war horses to foreign countries would cause strong opposition among the people, he never dreamed that he would be scolded as a "thief" by those angry people.

Two months ago, the first deal with the Leonin was completed. The total number was five hundred war horses. The Leonites offered a fair price, with large quantities of cooked potatoes and corn flour shipped from the border exchanges, filling several of Bloodpaw's communal granaries.

News of the civil strife of the cattle clan came at about the same time. In Wu Lin's opinion, this is a good thing. He immediately sent a secret envoy to other branches of the Niu clan to contact the patriarchs, wanting to see if they could get some benefits from it, and even rebelled against some small tribes with small populations.

Unfortunately, the young Thunder Bull Clan Leader calmed the situation with lightning speed, and took control of Blackhorn City with the backing of a powerful army. In just a few days, he put everything in order, successfully promoted to the position of regent, and killed most of the nobles of the Black Bull tribe with the overwhelming strength and decisiveness of Mount Tai, and completely consolidated the chaotic inner group.

All of this is as classic as a textbook, which makes Wu Lin admire. While regretting that the gods did not give the Tiger Clan a chance to profit from it, he also had a subtle admiration for the young regent he had never met in Blackhorn.

It was in the last month that things completely changed.

The cronies who failed to return had no choice but to return, but he was intercepted by a patrol on the Tiger Clan's border. He has a secret mission, and his identity cannot be revealed. According to normal circumstances, a spy with a high status and level like him can only be controlled by the national master Wu Lin or a big man with equal status and power in the case of a mission.

The cronies showed a token to prove their identity, but the Border Patrol Captain ignored it. This reaction cannot be said to be wrong, and the low-ranking officers and soldiers are not aware of the plans of the Tiger Clan's top brass. They believe that the cronies who were caught were cattle spies...... In desperation, his cronies had no choice but to say the name of the great master Wu Lin, and bluntly said that he was appointed by him, and asked the border post officer to go to Bloodclaw City with the token for verification.

The officer at the border post was patient, and he sent messengers at the request of his cronies. A few days later, Wu Lin met the Courier in Bloodclaw City, and when he learned of this, he was stunned.