The salty sea breeze blew from the east, wet and with an unfamiliar warmth.

The winter snow has long since melted in the sun, and the hard ploughshares easily plunge into the wet and soft soil, turning up thick black mud with a simple push and pull motion. The seeds fell from the hands of the woman with the basket on her back, looking for a suitable place for herself, enjoying the warmth of spring, drinking plenty of water and falling asleep. When I woke up again, it was already a sprout on the top of my head, a piece of green.

The northern barbarians apparently did not care about the taboos of men in the civilized era. Here, "wife" is just a conceptual title. Few men liked their wives, which meant an institutional marriage that was witnessed by the head of the village and the priests, and approved by all. In contrast, "mate" is much simpler. If you like two people, you sleep together, and if you don't like it, you separate. With physical and physical strength, men can sell their partners when they have no food in the winter, and redeem them when there is enough food, or simply change their face and fully experience their own fresh life.

Fusson's skull was treated and hung on the wall in the form of a complete yellowish skeleton. It was the meeting place of Panshi Village, and there were more than 20 human skulls hanging on the walls, all of which were the leaders of the previous villages.

The body can be buried, but the head must be left as a memorial to posterity. This is a custom peculiar to the barbarians of the north and has nothing to do with concepts like terror or evil.

When Tianhao gathered all the villagers and publicly announced the news that the share of grain handed over had been reduced to 30 percent, the slightly young boy became the new leader and successor amid cheers.

Someone must have questioned his superiority, but his voice was silenced in a very short time. It's a time when hunger must be prepared at any time, and no one feels like an extra bite in a bowl is a sin. The desire to follow in the footsteps of Fu Song to another world can be fully satisfied. Even if the allegiance group around Tianhao doesn't do it, there are more people in the village who will help you realize this wish.

Stinginess is a vice. In the eyes of the old people in the stockade, the new young leader obviously did not know what it meant to be "calculating". The eternal precept of "eating scarce when you are free and eating dry when you are busy" has not been confirmed in him in the slightest. Large pieces of venison were distributed, and the smell of big bone soup wafted from every house. When spring comes, the elated people plough the plough as they have done in previous years, pinning all their hopes in the depths of the black earth.

The old people are worried: there are a number of venison, what should I do when I finish eating?

Young people don't think so much. They were encouraged by Tianhao and were full of longing for the future.

Compared with previous years, the area of cultivated land has expanded considerably this year. In the winter, the population in exchange for food became a new labor force, and people took advantage of the melting season to dig the ground and sow seeds, and when the first rain fell, the young green seedlings reflected a smile in their eyes.

Kiln firing was nothing new to the barbarians, and every household had some stoneware objects. The tall walls of the Red Hoof and Pointe-Noire are testament to the widespread use of cement and brick. The reason why these are not used in Panshi Village is because burning bricks is too troublesome, and it is not as simple as cutting wood on the spot.

After the spring ploughing was over, Tianhao divided 200 people from the stockade to burn bricks, and he took the rest of the people to the sea and camped.

There are ready-made stones on the hillside, mixed with plaster, and it is easy to build a strong guard tower. Under normal circumstances, the tower can accommodate six people, and Tianhao has specially created enough space for the tower. Blacksmiths and carpenters are working in the village to make new ballistas, which will be shipped here for installation when they are ready. In normal times, when the villagers are boiling salt and fishing on the beach, the armed personnel who stay in the tower are responsible for guarding.

Beasts are the biggest source of threat. When spring arrives, they also leave their nests in search of prey to fill their bellies. In their opinion, human blood is fresh and warm, and human flesh is soft and sweet.

The people in Panshizhai are not lazy, but they don't have much vision. Whether it is the dead leader, the living old priest Wu Xing, or the hunting captain Yonggang, they have never thought of really getting out of this village in the long decades of life. Farming, hunting, then hunting, farming, life is always circulating in simple circles, and when there is danger, retract the hands and feet that have just been poked out, the tall and solid walls will protect everyone, and all problems can be solved in it.

The Black Howl Wolf is a terrifying beast. They stand on all fours at a height of more than 1.5 meters, and their thick cuticles form extremely hard claws on the tips of their feet. They grow in groups and eat large quantities each autumn and spend the winter in their burrows with a lot of body fat. It's not hibernation in the true sense of the word, but it minimizes all body functions, keeping you half-asleep and lazy for months, and fundamentally reducing your need for nutrients.

No one wants to stumble into a black howling wolf's den in the winter. That's no different from going to hell on your own. A pack of seemingly lazy beasts will swarm and tear the stupid prey to the ground.

A winter-long hunger is a testament to the tenacity and patience of the black howling wolf. The blooming of spring indicates that they are in the season of activity, and flocks of black figures can often be seen in the mountains and forests. The anti-canine teeth of the juvenile black howling wolf will fall out at this time, and the reverse misalignment that grows from the medial root will be replaced, eventually growing into sharp fangs that are exposed to the outside of the mouth.

When Tianhao ordered the construction of that guard tower on the slope of the seaside mountain, many villagers could not understand this. Some people even approached the old priest, hoping that he could come forward to persuade Tianhao to dispel this idea and put his precious manpower into other aspects, even if it was good to reclaim more wasteland and get more prey while the weather was warm.

When the wolves attacked, the watchmen on the tower immediately raised the alarm. People who were boiling salt by the sea quickly gathered under the tower. They threw away their tools, picked up their battle axes and spears, and formed an irregular circle with the small stone building as the core.

In a one-on-one situation, the Black Howling Wolf is no match for the Northern Barbarians. These beasts have the genes of their ancestors in civilized times, and they will divide and cooperate to attack their prey from different directions. The reason why the villagers of Panshizhai are afraid of wolves is that they have long learned the tactics of flanking the front and back. Although the barbarians are strong, they cannot be dual-minded. Concentrating on dealing with the fangs that blocked his throat in front of him, he couldn't defend himself from attacking from behind, tore through his leather robe, and reached directly into his anus, dragging out the intestines in his body.

Everyone faces the same attack direction, making it difficult for the Black Howl Pack to bite the prey in front of them. The archers standing on the tower aimed at their targets and fired at them, and the arrows made of steel drilled into the beast's body with precision, splashing blood in a terrifying black wave.

The battle lasted from early morning until noon, and the black howling wolf, unable to bargain, was forced to retreat amid a terrible howl. They left behind hundreds of corpses, and even the strongest wolf king was sturdy with an axe on his leg, cutting off most of his feet. When the she-wolf comes into heat this year, the crippled and powerless will definitely be replaced by young and strong competitors and become the food that the wolves are forcibly divided among the wolves during the hungry season.

People sang songs, pulled four-wheeled trucks, ran over the rugged and rocky roads, slowly entered the wide open walled gate, and piled up thick wolf corpses like black mountains in the center of the square.

The old priest, who had just received the news, stumbled out of his cabin and ran into the hunting captain Yonggang who was rushing this way.

"So many wolves...... Oh, my God! How many people have died in our stockade? The nervous old priest was holding a pack of black wound medicine in his hand, and the eldest son, Wu You, was carrying a large animal skin bag and followed beside him. Humans can't defeat wild beasts", this is the memory imprint deeply engraved in the old priest's mind. In this place of Panshi Village, the battle between man and beast occurs every year, and it is always the own side that suffers heavy casualties.

Yonggang took off his leather robe stained with a lot of blood, wiped a handful of wolf blood splashed on his forehead that had coagulated, and his deep breathing pushed his chest muscles up and down, and his face was intertwined with excitement and emotion: "Not dead, not dead alone." Only two people were injured and all were fine. ”

The old priest was stunned for a moment, and then became furious: "How is this possible? Yonggang, you can't talk nonsense with your eyes open. ”

"I really didn't lie to you!" Yonggang took the old priest's hand and sat down on the spot, picked up a few small stones from the side, and explained them as models.

Yonggang was the captain of the reserve soldiers in the clan, and he was a person with a lot of tactical vision in the stockade. He could understand Tianhao's practice of building a fortress by the sea. In this way, the spittle stars flew sideways, and the old priest was stunned when he heard it, and the two of them attracted the attention of others in this way, and many people gathered around, nodding their heads while listening, and constantly expressing their opinions.

"If Ah Hao hadn't built that tower by the sea in advance, we wouldn't have been able to defeat this group of wolves today."

"Hao is a smart man. You don't want to think about it, if it weren't for Ah Hao, we would still be able to survive until now? I'm afraid I'm going to starve to death a long time ago ”

"This is a black howling wolf! After so many years, when has our village killed so many wolves? And not a single one died. ”

"Ah Hao is a good leader, he is stronger than Fu Song."

"Yes."

The surrounding voices were chaotic, but the old priest could hear them clearly. He didn't get dizzy and saw the woman who followed the man's footsteps and gradually surrounded him. Their faces were full of curiosity, and their eyes projected a strange brilliance. With men here, heavy physical work is not the turn of women. The tall and solid walls protected the women, but it did not prevent them from knowing the ferocity of the beast from the men. A pair of eyes of the opposite sex invariably focused on Tianhao who was standing in the distance, some were more shy, some did not hide their love, and some women were more direct, the old priest saw them simply walked over, reached out and grabbed Tianhao's arm, and almost drilled into his arms in front of everyone.