After the victory of the Raven River, the winter of the steppe came as promised, and the snow of more than one meter thick and the low temperature of nearly minus 30 degrees put an end to all wars.

In order to avoid the decline in the morale of the Apocalypse Guard, Xu Rui ordered the army to return south, abandon the Khan Court, and return directly to Tianqi Pass with a large number of materials and people captured from the Khan Court for repairs.

In Tianqi Pass, An Ge had already organized a large number of merchants to come with a large amount of money and materials, and immediately bought the cattle and sheep that had just been rewarded for meritorious deeds from the soldiers, and then provided them with sufficient wine, meat, gold and silver, and even women.

In this way, not only did the merchants make a lot of money, hoping that they could continue to make a fortune with the Galaxy Group in the coming year, but the soldiers also exchanged all the gains from the grassland war for the gold and silver they wanted.

Merchants and soldiers to achieve a win-win situation, gradually establish a stable relationship between production and marketing, both sides are like the New Year, its happiness, Tianqi Pass every day to drink wine and eat meat, singing and dancing, people are boiling, a jubilant appearance.

Although it has been nearly two years since he was away from home, and although he was still in the border in the cold winter, the morale of the soldiers was not slackened at all, but became more and more vigorous.

Everyone is looking forward to waiting for the beginning of spring after the champion Hou can take everyone to fight a few more battles, have more military exploits and captures, and when he goes home, he will be more beautiful in Sili and Eight Towns.

As the saying goes, a few families are happy and a few are sad, compared to Xu Rui's life, the days on Wuliji's side are not so festive.

After losing a large amount of supplies and people in the Khan's court, as well as a large area of pasture, including the Kermu steppe, Uliji could only flee north with the only remnants of the defeated army.

After two major defeats in succession, the powerful Zhana tribe was almost devoid of young and strong men, more than 20,000 remnants of the defeated army, and the only remaining 70,000 or 80,000 women and children outside the Khan's court became the only hope for the tribe.

But hopefully sometimes it's not so rosy.

Since most of the property of the Zhana tribe was seized by Xu Rui during the Battle of Khanting, after the loss of pasture and cattle and sheep, the materials in the tribe were extremely scarce, and women and children became a burden again.

In order to avoid threats such as Xu Rui and Sukhbaru, and to find an ideal place for each to spend the winter, the entire tribe was forced to starve in the vast snowfield, and continued to migrate north despite the wind and snow.

Every day, people freeze or starve to death, and sometimes they wake up and all the people in the tents die one after another, but the tribe cannot stop, and if they can't find a place to spend the winter before they run out of food, the whole tribe can be overwhelmed by a blizzard.

At the moment, Uligi still has the last meadow enough to live in, but it is a distant place, and no one knows if he will be able to hold it out, let alone if he does, he may not be enough to feed so many people.

Everyone in the tribe was filled with despair, not knowing if they would ever see the sun tomorrow.

Since the rise of Uliji, Zhanabu has risen from a small tribe to the most powerful tribe in the steppe in just a few years, and people have not experienced such despair for too long.

As the saying goes, it is easy to go from thrift to luxury, and it is difficult to go from luxury to thrift, even the most simple grassland people, when they have become accustomed to warm tents and herds of cattle and sheep, it will become especially difficult to face cold and hunger.

What's worse is that the migrating tribes also encountered a blizzard, and the snowflakes rolled up by the wind were like a veil, blocking the herdsmen's view.

One of the tribe's men and horses got separated from the group and disappeared into the vast snowfield, and this team happened to be the one responsible for escorting food.

A full third of the food disappeared with them, and the already scarce Zanabu was even more struggling.

On the night of the accident, Uliji finally couldn't suppress his anger under the torture of piles of bad news, and he was furious in the king's tent, venting all the grievances, anger and unwillingness that had accumulated in his heart during this day.

Gone are the scenes of the fierce gatherings, only Hu Helu and Mr. Zou silently watched him chop up the only wooden table in the sweat tent, and then uncork the mare's milk wine and drank it, bag after bag, without the slightest sign of stopping.

"This is the last bag of mare's milk."

In the messy sweat tent, Hu Helu looked at the drunken-eyed Wu Liji and said in a daze.

Uligi paused, but ignored him and continued to drink.

Hu Helu looked at Uliji, sighed, and then silently got up and walked out of the sweat tent.

Uliji didn't seem to notice his departure at all, or that Huhelu's every move didn't escape his eyes, but he didn't want to care, at least not tonight.

As a leader, everyone can be pessimistic and willful, but he can't.

He had to carry the whole tribe forward, to appease those who were lost, to give the whole tribe hope and confidence.

But tonight he didn't want to do it because he was tired, really tired.

At some point, Mr. Zou opened the curtain of the handsome tent, and the biting cold wind immediately blew his cheeks painfully.

He wrapped his padded jacket tightly, covered his face, and walked quickly towards another tent, which was Huhelu's royal tent.

When Mr. Zou walked into the royal tent, Hu Helu had just thrown a piece of horse meat that was frozen harder than a stone into the pot, and then stared at the boiling water in a daze, and at this moment his sadness, pain and despair were written on his face.

"King Yangshan, is this hiding and eating alone?"

Mr. Zou asked with a smile.

Hu Helu came back to his senses, turned his head to see that it was Mr. Zou, and reluctantly squeezed out a smile and said, "Mr. Zou hasn't eaten yet, right?" If you don't dislike it, how about enjoying it together? ”

Mr. Zou was not polite, walked to the side of the pot and sat down, took a deep sniff, and sighed: "What a fragrant beef." ”

Hu Helu's face froze for a moment when he heard this, and he shook his head heavily: "It's not beef, it's horse meat, and the beef has long been gone." ”

Mr. Zou smiled: "No matter what kind of meat, it is good meat that can fill your stomach." ”

Hu Helu's expression was gloomy, and he sighed: "The grassland people will never kill horses and eat meat until they are forced to do so, but even horse meat is not much at the moment, and they will probably have to gnaw on dried meat tomorrow." ”

Mr. Zou was stunned, and sighed: "I'm afraid that even the jerky won't be able to gnaw for a few days, right?" We have more than ten days' worth of dry food at most, and if we don't reach Ptolemy's pastures, I'm afraid many more will starve to death. ”

Hu Helu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Even if you get to Ptolemy's pasture, what can you do?" It's just a small pasture, it's barren, and there's not much food in stock, so it's just just in case, but I didn't expect it to come so quickly. ”

Mr. Zou picked up a wooden stick and gently stabbed the fire, as if he was careless, and said, "Has the King of Yangshan ever thought about the future of the tribe?" ”

"Future?"

Hu Helu smiled bitterly: "Without ten years of life, the tribe will definitely not be able to slow down, what future is there?" ”

Mr. Zou said with a smile: "King Yangshan is still young, ten years is not a long time. ”

Hu Helu shook his head: "It's not the time, it's the process, now that the Great Khan is defeated, wolves like Sukhbaru will definitely besiege it, how can it give us ten years?" ”

"If you continue to migrate north, will you be able to escape?"

Mr. Zou asked.

Hu Helu was stunned for a moment and shook his head: "Of course we can escape, although the north is even worse, it is not a problem to allow us to recuperate."

But the Great Khan will not agree, I know him, no matter what difficulties he encounters, he never gives up, he always wants to open the situation as soon as possible, so he will not go further north, and he will not wait ten years. ”

"It's the Great Khan's temperament that makes the powerful Zanabu."

Mr. Zou sighed.

Hu Helu nodded, shook his head again, and said: "Yes, but at this time and that time, the pursuit of the Great Khan has created a powerful Zhanabu, but for the current Zhana Ministry, it can't withstand the ambition of the Great Khan." ”

"If the Great Khan no longer accepts the reality and gives up everything he already has, he will push the entire Zhana Department to a dead end, which is the old man's feeling last night."

Mr. Zou muttered.

Hu Helu looked at Mr. Zou and said: "I heard Mr. Zou say this last night, and I lost my temper with you, but if you think about it carefully, this is indeed the truth, the Great Khan is still immersed in the glory of the past, but what Zhana needs most now is survival."

After the beginning of spring, the tribe must not continue to fight against a strong enemy like the Han or Sukhbaru, we must live first, until the Zana tribe is strong again, otherwise there is no hope at all. ”

"Now that you've thought about it, haven't you thought about changing it?"

Mr. Zou asked seductively.

Hu Helu shook his head and said bitterly: "Of course I want to change, but unfortunately I can't change it alone, the Great Khan won't allow it, and I can only watch the people in the tribe die one by one, but there is nothing I can do."

The military advisor may not know that this tribe is my everything, and it was I who brought him from a small tribe of the ninth rank to the first tribe of the steppe today with the Great Khan.

Watching the tribe decay and even perish, I didn't have anything to do, my heart felt like someone was being twisted with a knife!

I! Alas......"

Hu Helu's face was painful, and his expression was sad.

Mr. Zou dropped the stick in his hand, looked at Hu Helu and said, "What if you change to a big sweat?" ”

"What did you say?"

Hu Helu opened his mouth wide and looked at Mr. Zou in surprise.

Mr. Zou said in a deep voice: "It is undeniable that the Great Khan does have the talent to go through the heavens and the earth, and the former Zhana Department needs such a Great Khan, but what the tribe needs now is a Great Khan who is willing to put down his noble head!" ”

"You! How dare you say such a thing?! ”

A trace of hideousness flashed on King Yangshan's face, and his right hand subconsciously held the hilt of the knife, but he listened to Mr. Zou continue to speak.

"King Yangshan, are you finally the Great Khan, or are you finally a tribe? Or, if you choose between the Great Khan or the Horde, which one will you choose? ”

Hu Helu was shocked when he heard this, his mouth was wide open, and he was speechless for a long time.