On the northern slopes of the Thorny Mountains, Anta led Surdak through the jumble of stone pillars to a mountain crevice surrounded by stone pillars.

The cracks in the mountains are less than 100 meters long, and more than three meters wide are built in many wooden houses, the outside of these wooden houses are covered with bark, hay and mud, each wooden house seems very small, and there is always an elderly man at the entrance of the wooden house, sitting against the wall on the ground and basking in the sun.

There is some smoky life here, but obviously they should have a special thatched house, and there is no smell of feces and urine in front of and behind the house.

Surdak didn't expect that such a secret dwelling place could be hidden here, and there was a cave in the innermost part, and at the entrance of the cave, some women with children were boiling simple food.

The vessel they used was an iron pot with a missing opening, standing on three stones, the middle of which was stuffed with firewood.

The flames that came out from below almost completely engulfed the iron pot, burning it black.

The iron pot was a mess of food boiling, and the only thing Surdak could make out was a worker leg.

Seeing Surdak walking in from outside with a group of heavily armed cavalry, the women and children of the indigenous tribe looked panicked, but also a little curious.

They crouched beside the big iron cauldron, wrapped in some hides, and their eyes were wide.

Only the old people who were lying on the plane of the wooden hut had a hint of indifference and a hint of hostility in their eyes.

A group of sturdy native warriors gathered around Anta from all directions, and they came together to 'woo-woo-wa-la' and spoke a large number of indigenous languages that Surdak didn't understand at all.

Each of these natives had a hardwood bow and an iron knife or axe at his waist, but the iron tools were so broken that Surdak thought that even the worst blacksmith shops in Highlandsa would sell such broken weapons.

In order to avoid causing panic among the indigenous tribes, Surdak took only Andrew and Samira with him, along with twenty heavily armed cavalrymen.

Gulitham, Aphrodite, Selena and hundreds of cavalrymen were waiting outside at the foot of the mountain, along with the two thunder rhinoceros and an enslaved ghost-patterned male ant.

A group of young natives followed the cavalry to the left and right, following them all the way as if they were embracing heroes, their eyes falling on the bright full-covered armor of the cavalrymen, their eyes full of novelty and envy.

Surrounded by hundreds of natives, a tribal chief dressed in a motley animal skin greeted him from the cave.

He had a sharp axe around his waist, and his body was very strong, and he wore a head ring set with various colored gems and feathers on his head. Wearing a magic crystal necklace on front. There are some black tattoos carved on the chest and arms.

Remember that Aung San once said that these black ornaments represent the achievements of the life of the indigenous warriors, and many indigenous warriors are proud of the black tattoos on their bodies.

The indigenous patriarch walked up to Surdak, his body was twice thicker than Surdak, his body was full of solid muscles, he stretched out a large hand like a fan, clenched it into a fist and bumped it into Surdak.

The indigenous patriarch said in a stiff imperial Chinese: "Friend, listen to Anta, you saved their lives, I want to thank you well, those spoils belong to you." ”

He pointed to the corpses of the ghost-patterned soldier ants that Anta had brought back.

Surdak found that it seemed that the leader of each indigenous tribe was proficient in some imperial Chinese, and the great elder of the indigenous tribe he met last time was also proficient in imperial Chinese, and this indigenous leader would also, and it seemed that they were not unaware of the imperial people.

"Hello, friend, do you know imperial Chinese?" Surdak asked quietly.

"Of course, when I was younger, I went to your city of Wilkes and lived there for two years." The indigenous patriarch smiled exaggeratedly, almost squeezing out some wrinkles on his face, then patted his strong chest and introduced himself: "My name is Yilmatem, and you are welcome to my tribe!" ”

"My name is Surdak and I am the commander of the garrison in the Dodan Gorge." Surdak said as he took off his helmet and dragged it on his right arm.

He glanced around and found that the natives around him were all at a loss, obviously not understanding the imperial Chinese.

"We are currently carrying out a mission to eradicate ghostly red ants in this hilly and mountainous area." Surdak said again.

Then the indigenous patriarch Yilmatem invited Surdak into the cave, which was very dry and clean, and even made some separate rooms out of wooden skins.

It's just that the light is a little dim, and the living room of the indigenous patriarch Yilmatem is here, and Yilmatem asks the women to prepare some food and water.

Picking up the water glass, Surdak glanced at the wooden bowl that was shy, and he really didn't have the courage to drink it.

It's not good to put it back directly, so he said to the indigenous patriarch in his hand: "Both my town of Dodan and your tribe are currently attacked by ghost-patterned red ants. ”

The indigenous patriarch sat opposite Surdak, behind him stood the indigenous warriors, and the young people of the tribe could only huddle at the entrance of the cave.

As the women passed through the cave with clay pots, young men boldly went to sneak their big ones. Leg.

The indigenous patriarch didn't pay attention to this at this time, he thought seriously for a while, and then nodded in agreement.

Surdak continued, "They are fierce and numerous, and they want to take over our homeland and build their empire of red ants, so I feel that we have a common enemy when it comes to fighting the ghostly red ants. ”

Hearing Surdak say this, the indigenous patriarch immediately came to his senses and said loudly: "That's right, these ghost-striped red ants have destroyed our homeland, they have eaten everything that can satisfy their stomachs, and they have eaten many people, and if we want to regain our homeland in the hills and mountains, we must drive them away." ”

He said it again in stiff imperial Chinese, again in indigenous language, and slammed his hand into a fist on the ground.

A group of natives behind him also followed his movements, tapping the ground hard.

The women of the tribe took out some blackened ant legs and laid the food on a stone slab.

"That's right, we're going to drive them back to the Dark Worm Valley." Surdak said.

The indigenous patriarch looked down at Surdak and did not speak.

Surdak continued: "My cavalry battalion has killed a lot of ghostly red ants in this hilly and mountainous area, but I don't think it's enough, and we have to continue to expand our gains and drive them all back north of Invercargill Forest, so we will pay a casual visit when we pass by, after all, we are not far neighbors. ”

Hearing Surdak say this, the smile on the face of the indigenous patriarch suddenly disappeared.

Surdak's expression was indifferent, and his gaze fell on the tattooed face of the indigenous patriarch.

"For a long time, the relationship between the Imperials and the natives of the White Forest Plane has been very tense, and we Imperials have crossed the portal and come here to occupy a large area of fertile land, and there are many people who say that we are invaders......"

The indigenous patriarch raised an eyebrow, and there was already some anger in his eyes.

The surrounding indigenous warriors also felt the anger of the indigenous patriarch, and a group of people stared at Surdak with unkind faces, quite a posture of attacking people if they disagreed.

Surdak waved his hand and said to the indigenous chief:

"What I want to say is...... The White Forest is vast, the land is vast, there are many places in such a large land that we have not explored, and the expedition of our imperial cavalry is also those unexplored places, to the north you can occupy the Invercargill Forest, to the east you can cross the Eruy River, but it will not be hilly and mountainous. ”

When the indigenous patriarch heard this, his face recovered, and he whispered a word of indigenous language to the indigenous warriors on both sides.

The native warriors withdrew their fierce gaze.

Surdak said: "You have lived here for generations, and you have long been accustomed to the mountains and rivers here, and you have long been accustomed to the grass and trees. ”

The indigenous patriarch nodded slightly in agreement.

Surdak said: "I came here with no intention of driving you away, you want to live here then continue to live, and you can fence off as much land as you want." ”

Yilmatm was visibly stunned and glared at Surdak, as if he wanted to see through him at a glance.

With a bit of aristocratic pride on his face, Surdak said:

"The boundary monument of the hills and mountains is not my end, I am destined to expand northward in the future, destined to occupy all of Invercargill."

Speaking of this, his gaze fell on the indigenous patriarch and he said word by word:

"What I need is 'peace' on this side of the hills."

He pronounced the last word very strongly.

"I didn't think that we would have to let the indigenous people of your tribe integrate into our lives, and you have your own way of life, which we need to respect."

"Of course, I don't mind learning from each other, slowly adapting and accepting some good things."

"In the future, the young people of the tribe are destined to go out and see the new world outside, and they are destined to bring back exquisite copper and iron ware, pottery, textiles, and life here will become better and better......"

Surdak continued......

"We should get rid of the old notions, you have a lot of property here, maybe you don't think it's a big deal, but it's very precious to us."

"So why not exchange it for some other items that are also precious to you, and we can try to make some trades."

"Everyone is mutually beneficial, and we think it's okay, then we just continue to trade, and if we don't think it's cost-effective, then we stop, and then sit down and talk, until we are satisfied with each other."

"Not everything needs to be solved by force, the spears of our cavalry are only aimed at those ant tribes."

Surdak said a lot.

The indigenous patriarch was also lost in deep thought, and of course Surdak didn't think he could decide anything.

Although he is the patriarch of an indigenous tribe, in this indigenous tribe, it is his father, the chief elder of the tribe, who really has the right to speak.

"I can understand a lot of what you said, and some I don't understand well, so I have to think about it." He scratched his head, which was about to explode, and said solemnly.

Surdak also clapped his hands and said:

"I'll leave you plenty of time to think, I'm only here for the first time, after all, we're going to be neighbors for a long time in the future......"

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand, pulled out a small box from his magic waist bag, opened the lid of the box, it was filled with steel arrow clusters, and said very casually: "By the way, in order to deal with these red ants, I brought some gifts, and these weapons are left, I believe they will help you." ”

In addition to a box of arrows, there were more than a dozen weapons.

Of course, the weapons sent out by Surdak this time are all scrapped items.

But even some dilapidated and defective products are many times better than those in the hands of indigenous warriors.

Surdak felt that the matter of 'giving away weapons' had to be made clear, otherwise it would become a habit, and the next time he might take the initiative to reach out and ask for it,

"Next time, if we need these, we can exchange them for supplies." Surdak pointed to the magic crystal necklace on the chest of the indigenous patriarch and said, "Whether it is these crystals or the leather of the ghost red ants, they can be taken out and traded. ”

He looked at the indigenous young men at the entrance of the cave and said:

"The young people of the tribe can also join my army, and I don't guarantee anything else, but I can guarantee one thing...... As long as you are willing to serve in my army for four years, this set of full-covered black iron armor and this knight's sword, light shield, including flail and alloy bow, can be taken with you when you leave the barracks, because at that time...... Those things are already yours. ”

After saying this, Surdak didn't sit for long before leaving.

In addition to the indigenous patriarch in the cave, the three elders were also thinking seriously in a leather-enclosed hut next to it......