Unlike the warm cities of Turin and the Dominica Kingdom to the south, the midsummer of the whole land of Hantu came much earlier than that of the fertile lands of the west - almost after the end of the summer, the cold winds of winter had already descended on the land - the lush woods were dyed a bright fiery red, and all the Hantu people were rushing to harvest all the wheat and potatoes at the end of this harvest season, so that the livestock could grow fatter and survive the harsh winter.

And under this early snow-capped mountain and windswept wasteland, a dense settlement sits in the middle of a forested highland, surrounded by earthen slopes and wooden fences—a useful way for the barbarian tribes of the Hamland to build settlements, believing that only where there are forests, rivers, and mountains can they thrive. In a sense, this is indeed very sensible.

Winter was approaching, and the whole settlement looked a little deserted, most of the women and children were hiding in the longhouse, ready to survive the coming winter, and the faint smoke rising from the rooftops of every house, the occasional hyena, and the barbarian warriors patrolling the settlement's watchtowers, made the blue dome look a little more alive.

But there was not much joy in the eyes of these fierce warriors, but they all showed nervous expressions - the bows and arrows in their hands did not dare to let go at all, and the pair of eagle eyes under the hood did not dare to leave the desolate field in the distance from beginning to end, and the whole settlement was filled with a solemn atmosphere.

Beside the campfire in the hall of the settlement, Gracchus, dressed in wolf skin, was roasting on fire, holding a huge horn cup in his hand and drinking mead, but there was not even the slightest look of joy on his face, and a pair of fierce eyes stared at the old fellow sitting on him, as if he wanted to tear him alive.

But he can't do that now - at least for now. Gragu was also tasked with recruiting the Grand Chieftains of the Akama Clan, and if he hadn't even been able to finalize the first tribe, he wouldn't have ended well.

"The opinion of the Great Chief has been made very clear, if you can take the castle of the Turin people in one go, you can take the lead in which town you want to plunder!" Although he was about to run out of patience, Gracchus slowly spoke: "This is quite an honor - even the sons of the Great Chief. It's rare to have an opportunity like that!"

"We're grateful to have received such an honor, but ......" the old leader's face was very embarrassed, "The whole tribe is preparing for the winter, and there aren't many samurai to follow the big chief - and we've already sold our lives for the Red Horse clan once, and more than three hundred young people all died in front of that damn fortress!"

"Because of this, aren't you going to take revenge?!" Gracchus clenched the horn cup in his hand and shouted, "This is the perfect opportunity to unite the entire Akama clan in the presence of the heavens, to banish all the damned Turinese from the Green River Valley and reclaim the land that belongs to us!"

But these slogans might be able to motivate the young samurai who were in high spirits. The lack of attraction to the elderly tribal leaders and elders discouraged Gracchus, and no matter what he said, the tribal leader refused to agree to send troops to attack the fortress of the Green Valley once again, no matter how many conditions he offered.

The two war tribes that had gathered last time had mobilized all the tribal warriors and freedmen, and had already kowtowed their heads in front of the fortress, and with the help of trolls in the battle—the tragic casualties made them unwilling to go through that again. I don't want to shed any more blood for the sake of the Red Horse Clan.

Especially as winter approaches, both tribes have lost a large number of young and strong laborers due to the casualties on the battlefield, and the hard years of the winter season will inevitably be very difficult. If we put aside the time of the harvest season to go to war, will we starve to death in the cold wind?!

In the face of the old chief's resolute attitude, the angry Gracchus sneered at him, roaring angrily at him, and hinted that if the other party was unwilling to follow the wishes of the great chief, the Red Horse clan would withdraw the protection of their tribe. If the people of Turin were to exterminate them, none of the entire clan would come to their aid!

This attitude made the old chief's face turn pale - this tribe's settlement was the closest to the fortress of the Green Valley, which was why he was able to gather warriors so quickly to attack the fortress with other tribes, and also relied on his geographical advantage to raid the caravans of the Turines in the wasteland all year round. Let the tribe slowly start to grow.

But all of this comes with a precondition - without the protection of the Red Horse Clan, the Turines will no longer care about that powerful threat, and will do whatever it takes to destroy them even for revenge. The pale-faced barbarian leader had to emphasize over and over again how many things they had offered to the Red Horse clan in the past, and how many samurai had sacrificed for the clan, but in exchange for it was only Graguna's merciless taunts.

Just when the two were still at a stalemate, the felt tent in the tribal hall was suddenly opened, and a young warrior with a frightened face rushed in almost panicked, shouting directly at the two people: "The army of the people of Turin is here, it's the Battle Banner Legion!"

"Impossible!"

The two sides who were still sitting on both sides of the confrontation just now immediately screamed in unison, and Gracchus, whose faces were distorted, even rushed directly and grabbed the samurai's neck: "Are you mistaken-how can those cowards who only know how to shrink behind the city walls have the courage to leave their turtle shells and run to the wasteland to seek death?!"

"No way, even if I die, I can't misread that flag!" The young warrior, who was stuck in the neck, blushed and cried out loudly in his throat: "My father died that day, I saw it with my own eyes! The blood cross banner of the Turin devil, I will never forget that thing in my life!"

Hearing this, Gragu's hideous face was only slightly soothed, but he was still tense, and rushed straight out of the tribal hall, climbed to the top of the highest watchtower in the entire tribe, and looked towards the wasteland, the only remaining eyeball suddenly shrank, looking at the scene in front of him in disbelief!

Under the blue sky, on the horizon of the wasteland, you can see how many flags there are, and in the sound of trumpets and drums, marching in neat steps, the three squares in unison, like three giant walls, are slowly moving in the direction of the settlement, little by little......

It was impossible, Gracchus couldn't even believe his eyes - was this still the Banner Legion, what was it that gave them the courage to leave the fortress and even dare to come here to provoke?!

This is definitely not an advance army or a forward force, this is the entire Battle Flag Legion pouring out!

When the elders of the tribe saw this, they were immediately frightened, and shouted loudly for the leader to send an envoy to talk to Turine, but before anyone could leave, they were stopped by Gracchus - the bright Dominic scimitar was directly on the other party's neck!

"You fools, you think you can solve the problem by sending messengers, what do you think these damned Turinetes are here for?" Gracchus spittled almost in everyone's faces: "They're here to go to war - the enemy has already put their feet in your face, are you still ready to give in?!"

"That'...... What do you say to do?" the leader was so panicked that he couldn't even utter a complete sentence: "Is there really going to be a war?"

"Light the beacon and send out cavalry to call for help from the surrounding tribes!" Gracchus swore that "there will be no one who will not come, and if they abandon you, they will also be wiped out one by one by the Turines - rest assured, the Red Horse Clan is still your suzerain, and will not be left alone!" )