"Oh, then you know what they brought, as something for the trade".

"My lord, this is really not clear, but along the way, their carriage appeared very heavy, and the tracks were sunk deeply."

"Oh~".

The bear-man lord already had a rough guess in his mind, this cargo was either grain or iron.

"Now that they're here, let's get our people in touch with them."

"Yes".

The brown bearman stepped back, but the bearman lord didn't know what to think.

……

"Lord Omo, are we going to meet their lord first?"

Omo is now the chief steward of the caravan canonized by Chen Zhiran, and the establishment of diplomatic relations is very important, except for close and capable people to complete it, of course, the main reason is that Chen Zhiran does not have so many talents.

Omo said: "Let's bring a small box of gold coins, and then take some souvenirs and bring them over."

The rest of the caravan said, "Yes."

Soon everyone is in the heart of the bearman territory, which is also the lord's mansion.

However, nothing is as they imagined, and it is not related to luxury.

In the center is a huge tent, which then extends outward, built, and looks like a house in the land of the South Seas when the blue star is located.

It's not hard to imagine how cool it must be when winter arrives.

Then the two men in the caravan followed Omo into the tent.

I met the lord of this place - Han Xiu

Omo and the others hurriedly hammered their chests with their right hands, bent down slightly, and said, "Lord Bear, I send sincere blessings on behalf of my lord."

Han Xiu couldn't help but feel a little emotional when he saw the human race, in the past few months, he has turned from the inaction of the Blue Star to the lord of the bear people, and it can be said that he is a prince at present, but it is more of a deceit, it is no longer a confidant intersection, at this time, I can see Omo and their human beings unite for the sake of the race, and they can't help but ...... for a while

In this world, apart from blood relations, there is no real friendship.

The bear lord is lucky, while he has the dominant race, he is also the brother of the earth giant bear lord who has the top military class, the two met in this plain, plus the blood relationship, naturally they are extremely trusted, and in the troubled times, there are relatives who are truly worthy of trust, which is already rare and valuable.

This is also why he only has a special type of troops, but he dares to give orders to Chen Zhiran's alliance, and is not targeted by other alliances.

I don't know how to talk about it for a while, so I can only say: "Sit, sit."

Omo sat down in a chair and asked the two to present the gifts they had prepared.

Omo explained, "Lord Bearman, this is a gift from my lord, and I hope that we can watch over each other and help each other in the future."

Many of these words are still polite, but what they say is true, Chen Zhiran and Han Xiu have no direct conflict of interest, and they are far apart, fundamentally avoiding the possibility of becoming enemies, and politically beneficial to both sides, and at the same time showing others a goodwill signal that can attract more lords to give priority to them.

One yard to one yard, no matter how Han Xiu feels, now he has to pay attention to his position.

Han Xiu said: "This is exactly what I thought, our two families help each other, and other Xiaoxiao will inevitably be shocked."

Omo knew what was hidden in these words.

If there is anyone who has the lion's share in this alliance, it must be Chen Zhiran, who borrowed the power of the bear lord to save himself from the covetousness of more lords, and showed a strong appearance to the outside world, so as to gain the respect of the bear lord and have this alliance.

And what the bearman lord values is not Chen Zhiran's strength, but the geographical relationship he is in, which happens to be the back road position of other alliances, and it is also a back road he has prepared in case of trouble, and what he said to Omo is both a warning and a threat.

If there is no equality in status, you must be prepared to be a vassal to the strong, don't think that you can kick your nose in the face if you give a kindness, and if you cross the line, the relationship can also change from an ally to an enemy.

Omo still smiled and said: "Lord Bear, the alliance between our two families will not only connect the north and the south to deter Xiaoxiao, but our human race is not a timid and afraid person, if there is a real threat, it can also reduce the pressure on your side."

The witty answer, without the slightest fabrication, told Han Xiu that the alliance between the two families could better deal with other forces, and also told other people that the Terran was not something that anyone could bully, and if they were forced to hurry, it could also pose a threat to the bear people he was in.

showed the enemy to be weak, but dared to argue with reason, so that Han Xiu saw that they were not a big threat to him, and at the same time explained the facts, forcing them to be in a hurry It is not good for Han Xiu.

This is also the reason why Chen Zhiran asked him to be the leader of this caravan, after being by Chen Zhiran's side for so long, his political ability has long been no longer a novice.

However, Chen Zhiran didn't expect that they would catch up with the bear envoy so quickly.

"Hahaha, that's nature".

Han Xiu tried it for the first time, and knew that Omo's adaptability was very strong, and if he tried it again, it would only destroy the relationship between the two sides, and took the initiative to divert the topic.

After asking about some inconsequential things, they no longer pretend to tie up relationships.

……

"After talking for so long, I don't know what the envoy wants to trade from us, so I can have my men prepare it for you."

"In this way, I will let the adjutant talk to you, and I can talk to him if there is any need."

Omo said, "Thank you, Lord Bearman."

Soon a bear man took them away and introduced them to some of their specialties.

However, there are only three types that Omo can look up to, and that are useful to his own forces: meat, fur, and ironwood unique to this place.

Why is it unique, because these ironwoods are particularly hard, and there is only one tree within ten meters, even in the territory of the bears, there are not many of them.

The others are not bragging, and he really doesn't like it, but the surface work still has to be done in place.

The bear man didn't have so many twists and turns, and said very directly: "Your Excellency Omo, I wonder what you will take out as an item for trading?"

Omo replied with some pride: "Your Excellency, rest assured, what we have prepared must be good, but now is not the time to show it."

"Oh, I'm quite curious to hear you say that, and I hope that when the time comes, Your Excellency Omo will give me a detailed introduction."

The two talked happily and headed side by side towards the convoy.

……

Southern steppe

According to Chen Zhiran's request, the army training would be seen outside the city every day.

There are not many, only 3,000 armed troops, all of whom have already seen blood, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are veterans.

As the second crop is approaching, the army will inspect the fertile fields outside the city from time to time to prevent accidents.

"Your Majesty, there are many envoys from the north, do you want to see them?"

"Let them wait first, if they see it easily, it will make them contemptible, wait a little longer, just meet together," Chen Zhiran said.

"Good lordship".

Chen Zhiran has not been idle for the past few days, and a large amount of information has been poured out of the mouths of those messengers by his subordinates.

And after sorting out this information, we have a general map of the great plains of the river valley and the general information of the northern lords.

It can be said that no one has such a detailed map at this time.

Chen Zhiran thought in his heart: The next thing is to accumulate strength, no matter how the situation changes later, as long as the bear man does not fall, then he will not move.

Now everyone can maintain this confrontation but no large-scale war will break out, the main thing is that the resources are completely sufficient, and after the death of a group of lords, there will be fewer people to share the cake, and the cake will naturally block everyone's appetite.

But this situation will certainly not last long, the great annexation will come sooner or later, and it does not want to be annexed, only during this time to improve its strength.

After the lords dispersed, it was impossible not to build their own territories, and when it came to the great annexation, instead of laying down the territories that had nothing, it was better to lay down the ones that had developed somewhat, and the current peace was not real, the undercurrents had already begun to surge, and raising Gu was what the powerful lords thought.

Because of this, Chen Zhiran, a place with a good geographical location and being built out of the city, will definitely be a place where soldiers will fight for in the future, not only him, but also the three real forces of the grassland will fall into a situation where one is worth more.

Thinking about it gives Chen Zhiran a headache, it's good to form an alliance with the bear people in advance, otherwise it won't be the messenger who comes to the door now, but the army will go into battle.

It would be good for him to fix the battlefield in the north, not in the steppe.

In this way, the north needs to be defended with heavy troops to prevent being surrounded.

Soon, the general strategic plan was written down by Chen Zhiran and asked his subordinates to do it.

To sum it up, it can be summed up in just a few words: accumulate grain and train more troops.

As for why we didn't build more walls, it was because it was impossible to achieve it with manpower and material resources, and it was impossible in the short term anyway.

What's more, the first battlefield is not the grassland where they are located, and when the time comes, it must be to use troops to the north, rather than consuming labor and building cities, it is more cost-effective to build a Great Wall directly on the north side of the grassland.

Directly improve the combat ability of the soldiers for strategic deterrence, so that the northern plain can be stabilized.

What Chen Zhiran needs now is time, and this time is brought to him by God.

The lake is starting to condense and winter is coming.

……

"Hahaha, Your Excellency Omo, this batch of your goods is really a good thing, for us, this is a winter warming agent."

"Lord Deluca, these things are not difficult to make, and these are just one of them, we have better ones there."

"Oh, that's great, if it's not winter soon, I'll definitely invite you to stay."

"It's getting late, let your Excellency DeLuca send it here, and we'll go the rest of the way ourselves."

The two are reluctant to separate, if it weren't for the difference in race and gender, I'm afraid they would have to suspect that the two are brothers.

In fact, these are made for outsiders to see, and the real purpose is only known to them.

For example, Omo, this time he exchanged wine and food for a lot of supplies, but he didn't expect wine to be so popular with them.

It also made him decide to bring more wine next time.

……

Han Xiu said to De Luka, who came to report: "Let's go."

De Luca said, "Yes, my lord."

"We exchanged with them, there was such a thing as wine, which was useful to improve the strength of our warriors, and it could also help the fever of childbirth, and they brought some grain as a trade item, and a metal, which they called "gold coins", one by one, I thought it should be useful, so I accepted it."

"Oh, they actually found a gold mine, but it's not much value right now."

The gold coin was actually not attractive to the bear man, but it was the first time the two sides communicated, so he pretended to like it very much.

"It seems that at present, they have only advanced to the era of using iron tools, and they have not yet reached the level of thermal weapons, so they can't threaten us, okay, you go down, and you will have access to these people in the future."

"Yes, Lord"

It is not difficult to guess Omo's purpose, if he wants to establish a unified trading system, but not let both sides feel that they are at a loss, then the gold coins must be circulated.

For people like Han Xiu who have been at the bottom, he hates this evil monetary system, but he can't oppose this progressive technology.

Bartering will eventually be eliminated, but the use of currency cannot be completely controlled by others, and the days of sanctions are not easy.

Glancing outside, the snowflakes that had already fallen, he could also let go of many things and relieve his exhaustion.

The power of nature is not something that they can stop, and many species cannot exert their combat effectiveness in winter.