Giving up is sometimes more difficult than persevering, and that's the case for Leigh at this time.

Li is not from Tunan, her hometown is in the distant northern country of Guoyan, which is not the core area of Qingyan, but just a remote tribe on the periphery.

Gyeongyeon is a country founded on horseback, a vast union of tens of thousands of tribes.

For the originally loose northern tribes, the impact of the time on pastures and livestock was greater than anything else. The vast majority of the tribes are homeless and nomadic for their livelihood. A small number of populous and powerful tribes still have the opportunity to raid small nations for additional supplies. However, after all, the complex terrain in the south is not conducive to the play of cavalry, and this kind of combat is limited to small fights, and it is difficult to achieve real results.

What makes the northerners even more desperate is that the extreme north of the Dongzhou continent is a vast ice field, and the northwest is separated by a rift ridge mountain range that stretches for thousands of miles. They had no choice but to go south to carve out new land.

Watching the many countries in the south enjoying the fertile land, the tribes of the north could no longer sit still.

Since the power of a single tribe cannot really penetrate deep into the south, the power of the whole north is gathered.

Uniting, and then going south, is their only way out. It is also the only way for people on horseback to get out of poverty.

However, the alliance will inevitably face the problem of the distribution of benefits. Which tribe will lead the new united nation? How will power be distributed, how will territory be distributed, and how will the spoils of war from the south be distributed?

For those powerful and prestigious big tribes, the establishment of a country naturally has many benefits. Power is more centralized, and resources are allocated more efficiently. But for some small and medium-sized tribes, union is actually annexation in disguise. If you can't formulate detailed laws to protect your own interests at the beginning, you will inevitably be absorbed and assimilated by the big tribes after the union. They are clearly unacceptable.

Although the strength of the small and medium-sized tribes is inferior, after all, there are many of them, and it is difficult for several large tribes to ignore their existence, after all, no one wants to have a fire in their own backyard when they go south to fight.

All kinds of complicated problems lay before them, and the nomads, who were not good at governance, could not find a solution that would satisfy all the tribes for a while, and the union was repeatedly delayed.

Eventually, it was suggested that since everyone was unwilling to give up their own interests, it was up to the gods to decide. And this view was also endorsed by all tribal leaders.

So the tribes who participated in the meeting walked together to the sacred mountain in the hearts of the northerners, the Great Snow Mountain, and implored the Lord of the Great Snow Mountain to be the witness of the union and formulate the final plan for the union for them.

The Great Snow Mountains are inhabited by descendants of the god of the ice fields, which is something that every northerner knows. This deity is also the only faith in the hearts of northerners. Let the servants who serve the god of the ice field guide everyone through the oracle, and naturally no one will have any complaints.

The priests in the Great Snow Mountain thought about it for a long time, and finally agreed to the request of the tribes, and were willing to take the lead and establish a unified country. But three demands were made to the tribes.

First of all, the mountain lord of Daxue Mountain is the monarch of Qingyan Kingdom, and he is also the supreme existence of the entire Qingyan. The monarch does not arbitrarily interfere in the internal affairs of the tribes, but each tribe must do everything in their power to serve them.

Secondly, after the establishment of the Qingyan Kingdom, except for a few tribes with large populations, the rest of the tribes were divided into provinces according to regional reintegration, built cities and settled in the central area, and were given new titles by Daxueshan.

Finally, each province must pay a certain number of girls to the Great Snow Mountains every year. The exact number is adjusted according to the size of the population of each province.

The first point is naturally no problem for the northern tribes, who originally believed in the god of the ice field. Originally, the servants of the gods did not interfere in the affairs of the world in order to assert their transcendent status, but now that the northerners want the gods to lead them out of their troubles, they must be absolutely loyal.

Although the second point was a little puzzled at first, and some small and medium-sized tribes also raised objections, Daxueshan also gave its own explanation.

Once united into a new state, the first step is to eliminate the original tribal mentality. Everyone is a native of Gyeongyan, and is no longer a subject of a certain tribe. The new State must be a cohesive whole, and there must be no room for any dissent to grow. The re-division of provincial capitals into regions and the settlement here is also to provide a space for the tribes that originally had little contact with each other to run in and communicate with each other. It is easy to manage, and if there are any difficulties, you can also stay warm.

As for the last point, Daisetsuzan said that most of the divine servants of the Ice Plains were people with cold constitutions. The greater the number of servants, the more complete and clear the oracles they can receive. Therefore, it is necessary for the tribe to provide a large number of girls for the Great Snow Mountain to be screened and cultivated, so as to strengthen the influence of the ice field god in the human world.

All the tribes did not think about it for too long, and the arguments of the Great Snow Mountain were reasonable, and the conditions proposed were not unacceptable. For the big tribes, after the Great Snow Mountain promised to establish a state, it would still be dominated by several major tribes as the royal family, and the land and resources obtained by going south would also be distributed first, and they had nothing to find fault with. For the small tribes, the new system proposed by the Great Snow Mountain also guarantees their survival. Despite living in a brand new city, the small clans are mostly able to keep their formations intact. In this way, while being guaranteed the unification of the Gyeongyeon Kingdom, it was saved from the fate of being annexed. Small tribes don't have that much ambition, and for them, as long as they can survive the inheritance, it's enough.

The interests of the two sides were finally agreed, and Kyeon-kook was born. This system has been passed down for thousands of years.

Until the Great Snow Mountain gave birth to an ambitious and talented Lord of the Snow Mountain.

Xu Beihan used the strength of the whole country to attack Wenjing, the first power in Dongzhou, but was defeated by Taibai Sword Immortal with one person and one sword outside the capital. Such a fiasco naturally greatly reduced the prestige of Daxueshan in the hearts of the northerners, and the Bai family, who was of Central Plains blood among the major tribes, suddenly rose up at that time, secretly united several major tribes, and took advantage of Xu Beihan's serious injury to usurp the throne in one fell swoop, driving the Daxueshan lineage out of Qingyan's imperial court and ascending the throne as emperor.

Although the seizure of power was successful, the Great Snow Mountain is located in the vast ice field, and there are many masters in the Great Snow Mountain, and it is inevitable that some fools will dream if they want to come to the door to kill them all, and rashly attacking the Great Snow Mountain will also leave a bad impression on the northerners. In the end, the new Gyeongyeon royal family did not completely break with Daisetsuzan Mountain, but reached a new cooperation to a certain extent.

The Bai family rules Gyeonyeon as a partner of the Great Snow Mountain. Every year, the tribute is still paid to the Great Snow Mountain on schedule, whether it is money and food or girls, it remains the same. And Daxueshan nominally supported the Bai family as the new ruler of Qingyan, making the Bai family's emperor seat more justifiable.

The Bai family became the master of Qingyan, and Daxueshan could be regarded as winning precious time to recuperate while keeping their interests.

After the distribution of benefits, some people are happy and some are worried. When the new king was first established, there were those who flattered, those who watched, and those who despised. But everyone knows in their hearts that with the recognition of the Great Snow Mountain, the status of the Bai family should be unmatched.

The tribes that had interests with the Bai family naturally ascended to heaven at this time, while the tribes that had not looked at the Bai family before were worried about the possible revenge and purge.

Among those who suffered misfortune because of this incident was Li.

Rei grew up in Al-Aqsa, a remote province in Gyeongyeon, which means "Far West" in tribal language, and is geographically close to the edge of the Rift Ridge Mountains. Poverty and desolation are synonymous with it. In the eyes of the Imperial City of Gyeon, this area is almost dispensable. If it weren't for the appearance at the annual festival of the New Year, I am afraid that many tribes would not know that there is such a province in Qingyan.

Its annual supply is the least, and it still needs a lot of supplies from the imperial court to barely survive the cold winter. The presence of a complete drag bottle.

When Daisetsuzan was in power, the attitude towards such provinces, which only existed in the form of supplies and requests for help, was indifferent. If you want it, I'll give it, but you can't care too much about it other than that. The reason why I didn't kick you out of Qingyan was just out of humanity.

But after the Bai family came to power, the situation changed a lot.

The Bai family is not a snowy mountain, so there is no need to care about whether it has a transcendent status in the hearts of the common people, and there is no need to worry about whether its actions are in line with the will of the ice god. All their actions are based on safeguarding their own interests.

Therefore, the first thing the Bai family did after taking power was to completely change the distribution of girls who had paid tribute to the Great Snow Mountain in the past thousand years.

Previously, the number of girls to be paid each year in the Great Snow Mountains had been determined according to the population size and fertility status of each province, but the Bai family completely abolished the tribute of girls in the core provinces of the Imperial City and several large tribes, and instead passed on the gap to remote provinces such as Al-Aqsa.

About 200 girls in Gyeongyan pay tribute a year, and on average, they go to provinces like Al-Aqsa, and maybe only one person is needed for three or four years. And now that number has become twenty per year.

You know, the number of new children in Al-Aqsa in a year is probably only a few dozen, not to mention a large number of boys.

This change is like a thousand pounds of burden, falling on the body of every newlywed family in Aqsa.

Giving birth to a daughter means separating soon after birth. To make matters worse, it also means a further increase in fertility pressure for adult women in Al-Aqsa.

The meaning of the Bai family is very clear, since you can't contribute to the national war, then it's better to be loyal to the country in another way, before the Great Snow Mountain raised you out of morality, and now I have no such obligation.

Nightmares befell every family in Al-Aqsa, and Leigh was one of the children born during this nightmare with a tragic childhood.

By the time Rei was born, Al-Aqsa had not had any new girls for several years. The owe indicator dragged on a hundred years later. Most families who can afford it will choose to leave their hometowns before the birth of their children, go to the core provinces, or even go south to the Central Plains. Even if you are displaced and have no fixed home, it is better than being separated from your parents and children, and it is difficult to see each other at the end of the world.

Originally, Al-Aqsa was a small, small and poor city, but it was a vibrant city. Several small tribes lived and worked here, living without desire or ambition. But now, it has become a dead city.

Young people have fled, and everyone knows that this is a city without hope. Leaving only the lonely old people, waiting in silence for the coming of the last day.

Of course, there are some who can't escape, such as Leigh's parents.

Leigh's parents didn't want to leave Al-Aqsa, and they certainly didn't want to be separated from their daughter, but they were both poor people with disabilities, and they couldn't even take care of themselves when they left the old people at home, so they had no choice but to stay here.

The husband and wife had already thought that after Li was born, they would disguise themselves as boys, deceive the neighbors and the collectors who routinely collect confessions every year, and when Li grew up to be seven or eight years old and had the ability to take care of herself, they would let her flee from here and never come back.

Things are in full swing, and the neighborhood thinks that the husband and wife have a boy. Li's cry on the day of her birth was very loud and full of energy, and the couple spent money to buy off the midwife's secrecy, and deliberately gave Li's name as a boy, and occasionally when she went out, she was dressed as a boy, and once deceived everyone.

However, misfortune did not spare the poor child in the end. When Li was five years old, the midwife who had delivered the baby got drunk one day in a nearby city and revealed the secrets she had kept when she chatted with people. Originally, the matter of concealing the gender of the child in order to avoid paying tribute is not new in Qingyeon's country. But the bad thing is that the collector happened to sit at the next table, listened to it at once, caught the midwife and tortured him, and soon confessed the information of Li's parents.

The collector and the sergeant quickly came to the door, and despite the news from the city's neighbors, they were unable to send Leigh away before the collector arrived.

Rei was knocked unconscious and taken away, and Rei's parents and the elderly in the family also lost their lives in desperate resistance. The family, which was originally poor but happy, was completely wiped out overnight.

It's a long way from Al-Aqsa to the Imperial City of Gyeon. Li's thin body is even more difficult to withstand high-intensity walking because she can't eat enough all year round. Several times he was so hungry that he fell unconscious, and several times he woke up in a prison car pulled by a horse. Sleeping in the open and devastated.

But she never gave up hope of life. She wanted to live, and she wanted to go to the beautiful grassland that her parents had described, her earliest hometown.

She will never forget what her father said most often - I hope you can live freely.

Rei seized the opportunity to break the hemp rope that bound her hands and feet with a sharp stone hidden in the tattered clothes while the caretaker slept and rested, thanking the heavens that the winter rain had already soaked it so much that even a child with little strength could break it.

Leigh stood up, her high nervousness making her tremble a little, but she knew that this was just the beginning for her.