More than ten miles in front of the camp on the right, a small river winds like a belt, the grass on the bank of the river rises slightly, naturally forming a gentle slope, and a small lake behind the hillside is crystal clear.

On the gentle slope is the cemetery chosen by the high priest, in front of which is an endless grassland, with a flowing river behind them, and the soldiers and tribes are bounded by a lake, and each buries the soldiers who died in battle.

The seasons changed and the weather became hotter, and the corpses could not be placed for a long time, so the carriages of the Second Army kept coming and going, and the collected corpses were loaded into the coffins hurriedly made by the craftsmen, and the corpses were buried deep in the cemetery divided according to the standard team.

Believing that the bones should be returned to the land where the adults were raised, the steppe people dug hundreds of deep pits, pushed the piles of corpses into the mountains, and covered them with thick soil and grass roots, the high priest waved his scepter, more than 100 priests sang ancient sacrificial songs, and the tribal elders led the troops to cry on the ground.

Baji soon received orders from Mei Ying and the Tribal Elders, and the two sides reached a peace treaty and declared the end of the war, ordering him to lead his troops to bring the buried bodies back to the cemetery as soon as possible. Balang brought back 3,000 soldiers and tens of thousands of horses, and the tribe also sent 5,000 troops and hundreds of carriages, and in order to prevent misunderstandings, Baji was authorized to take unified command.

"The grievances of the big war side are still there, Balang, you take your team to help the students carry the corpses, leave me five thousand horses, and both sides are busy with their own affairs, so as not to cause a war. ”

Balang came to take refuge alone, which indirectly showed Baji's attitude and made Mei Ying more confident, and tens of thousands of war horses brought 4,000 sets of armor and blades to let Baji rearm his own sons, and another 130 steel crossbows that the empire prohibited from being shipped abroad, indicating that they were assigned to his guards.

"Big brother, I have participated in the ceremony of recruiting soldiers and reorganizing the army, and the two corps commanders each have a patrol team, with a strength of one hundred and thirty people, and the county lord is hinting that the commander of the third corps is waiting for a vacant position. ”

At this point, Baji did not hesitate any longer, strongly restrained the generals on both sides, stepped up the transportation of the corpses of the dead soldiers, and rushed to the front three days later.

The steppe tribes held a worship ceremony, and under the urging of the five great elders, 5,000 able-bodied slaves were selected to build the alliance platform day and night, and the location was set on the gentle slope directly opposite the lake.

"The length and width of the Huimeng platform shall not be less than thirty zhang, and when the monument is built, all the tribal chiefs and elders must be accommodated on the platform, as well as hundreds of Qinghui generals, the more people participate, the more difficult it will be for the Qinghui county lord to regret it in the future. ”

The peace treaty, except for the redemption of slaves, which somewhat harmed the interests of the nobles, the rest of the terms were all beneficial to the tribe, and the interests were balanced several times, and the chiefs felt that the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. After learning soldiers to build the city, the three kingdoms will inevitably go to war, and when the tribe retreats to the direction of Jicui Pass, the king of Xiangyun County will not only not send troops to expel him, but also give the necessary protection.

"The alliance has won a long peace, and the dignity and humility of the grassland festival cannot be confused. The alliance is divided into three layers, the first layer is many small tribes, the second layer is sixteen middle tribes, and the third layer is the son of the wolf god and the elders of the five major tribes. ”

The five elders were excited, and you designed a magnificent platform for the alliance with every word, and the high priest closed his eyes and ignored it, sighing from the bottom of his heart. Wise man of the grassland, why don't you think about it, why did the county lord of Qinghui win the battle but repeatedly gave in, she is not a war horse slave, but to rebuild the grassland system, and when the slave realizes that resistance will be free, there is a strong force to protect the safety of life, how long can you stay high.

Five thousand slaves dug up the earth to build the platform, the five elders took turns to supervise the work, the leather whips and sticks were ruthlessly whipped on the slaves, the heavy iron rammers continued to smash on the pedestal, the first layer of the three-zhang Huimeng platform was built in just three days, and the corpses of hundreds of slaves who had exhausted their energy made the elders ram into the earthen platform, and the symbol of peace concealed the blood and tears of the innocent.

The water level of the small lake fell, and the commander who supervised the slaves moved the land to the soft shore in order to hurry up the work, and the second layer of earth platform was small and the progress was faster, but just when it was about to be completed, some of the slaves who were digging the earth screamed, and the people around him looked at his fingers, and the stones with the size of a human head were exposed in the soil, and some of the brave people ran over and shook them, and the stones did not move at all, and more people picked up tools to help.

"It's—the wolf's head!"

The tools in the hands of the slaves who dug for the earth fell to the ground, crawling beside the hideous wolf's head and kowtowing, dozens of people's frightened shouts attracted more people, and the soldiers who were hiding from the idle got the news and rushed over with leather whips, the soil beside the stones had been dug up, and in front of them was a huge white wolf's head, and the green wolf's eyes flashed in the sun.

"Wolf Statue!"

The tribe's worship of the wolf god was deep in the bone marrow, and the subconscious exclamation of the sergeant made the panicked slaves even more afraid, and hundreds of people by the lake threw away their tools and knelt down to chant, praying that the wolf god would not punish the unintentional offense.

The news of the excavation of the wolf god soon spread throughout the construction site, and thousands of slaves threw away their tools and bowed down to the small lake, despite the scolding and whipping of the soldiers, praying for forgiveness from the wolf god for their past sins and the relief of their unbearable suffering. Fear, faith, and hope were all mixed together, and the commander could hardly restrain his subordinates, and seeing more sergeants kneeling on the ground, the bullet pressure would only provoke more commotion, and he jumped on horseback to report to the elders.

The high priest and the elders hurried in, and the sergeant forcibly drove away the slaves, and cleared the passage by the small lake, and the six men approached the stone statue with different expressions, and no one spoke for a long time. How could there be a noble wolf god statue in an unknown small lake, which appeared strangely at the most sensitive time, and the wise men of the grassland needed time to consider whether someone was deliberately making trouble and sabotaging the major affairs of the alliance in the name of the wolf god, and what was the purpose behind it.

"Whether it is a god or not, it is difficult to make out at the moment, so you might as well ask the warriors to come out. The high priest broke the silence, his gaze swept over the elders and then stopped at the Fire Wolf Elder, and reminded in a low voice: "Nearly 10,000 people have seen it with their own eyes, and the news can't be blocked, please come out and let the tribal priests distinguish between truth and falsehood." ”

Most of the tribal priests have already become the accomplices of the chiefs, as the spiritual leader of the grassland, the high priest who has the most decisive power over the spirit of the wolf god, he took the initiative to give up his rights, and seemed unwilling to participate in the identification of the authenticity of the statue, the fire wolf elder has not yet made up his mind, the green wolf elder has already echoed it, and the other three elders nodded with it.

"Remove the earth around the stone statue and send people to the priests of the tribes. ”

With nearly 10,000 onlookers around, and without giving a definite answer, all kinds of speculation would only make the situation more difficult to control, and the Fire Wolf Elder made a decision, ordering the sergeant to drive the slaves away, and his own soldiers to protect the excavation of the stone statues, while the high priest and the elders watched.

Religious devout beliefs, unable to resist the harsh military orders, dozens of guards picked up tools, carefully cleaned the dirt, no one dared to damage the stone statue, if it was a statue of the wolf god, inadvertently offended in the prairie is also a crime that cannot be forgiven, not to mention that the high priest is on the side to supervise.

A stone statue six feet long and more than four feet high appeared in front of everyone, the high head seemed to be roaring in the sky, the guards wiped off the soil under the strict orders of the elders, the stone statue was lifelike, the color was white and blue, and the strange thing was that there was an emerald green relief on the back of the wolf, which was clearly in the shape of a saddle.

"There's more!"

Probably because the scene was not amazing enough, the captain of the guard shouted and pulled back the eyes of the elders, and the fire wolf elder calmed down at this time, just a stone statue, even if the priests thought it was a wolf god statue, as long as there were no words and could not speak, then there could be countless interpretations.

"Clean up carefully! Be careful, don't do any damage. ”

Elder Fire Wolf's order, tone, and words undoubtedly indicated that he was reserving a way out, and there was an imperceptible mockery in the High Priest's eyes. Gao Yuan asked Xingxia to spread the word, please choose the cemetery here, there is nothing unusual for a few days, the high priest does not know what the plan is, the unearthing of the wolf god statue, he faintly feels that there is a key thing buried next to him, and the wise men of the grassland are stepping into the well-designed trap step by step.

The black figure was buried next to the statue of the wolf god, waiting for the guards to clean up the dirt, the elders looked at each other, Qinghui learned the soldier's armor, the portrait's clothes were clearly carved, and the iron helmet and cavalry armor were all the usual clothes of the soldiers, when the captain of the guard picked up the scarlet iron cloak and tied it to the fair-skinned and towering figure, not only the elders, but even the surrounding sergeants and slaves felt that the portrait was familiar.

"Look at her legs, why are you standing so weird?" An elder noticed that the figure's legs were unnatural, too inconsistent with the size of the upper body, and he stepped left and right as if he was half-squatting on the ground, and couldn't help but ask out loud, and the high priest answered at the right time: "It seems to be a riding posture, before the priest identifies it, you might as well try, Xiaoxing, you go and sit the figure on the back of the stone statue." ”

Several elders felt that it was not appropriate, but the high priest made it clear that the stone statue could not be said to be a wolf god statue, and the priests could only give the answer after identification, so why not try, let the star hero and the guards toss, and no one stopped him.

Elder Fire Wolf stared at the face of the portrait, the more he looked at it, the more he looked like a person, Yan Ning, there was no less verbal confrontation during the negotiation, no wonder he felt familiar at a glance, and then looked at the portrait's right hand, the white jade flute was raised lightly, and there was no doubt in his heart, the portrait was carved according to Yan Ning. Suddenly remembered the information he had received before, the imperial county lord had promised to give the prairie to Yan Ning, the little daughter of Yan Hou, and allow her to be autonomous and not subordinate to the center of the empire. At that time, he also suggested to the chief that if the war was really to be defeated, the grassland would become a fief of Yanning, and the Qinghui Empire and the King of Xiangyun County would accept it, and the Yan family had never bullied the grassland tribes, which was far better than the Qinghui County Lord sending someone who didn't know the details to come to guard the town.

With the help of dozens of guards, Xingxia easily helped the figure to sit on the wolf's back, and the two stone statues fit together seamlessly, as if they were carved out of a boulder at the same time. The blue-white blue wolf stepped on the ground with four hooves, on the emerald green saddle, a girl in a black suit smiled, raised the jade flute and pointed obliquely ahead, and the scarlet cloak hung behind her back.

Yan Ning rode the wolf god to roam in the grassland, the high priest finally understood Gao Yuan's intentions, the bold and practical idea, in the past, would make everyone crazy, and when the tribe was defeated and forced to sue for peace, and the lord of Qinghui gave many preferential treatment, no one was more suitable than Yan Ning to be a bridge between the two sides, and another powerful figure closely related to the prairie - Xiangyun County King was also happy to see this situation.

When there is a conflict between religion and political power, there may be countless ways to resolve it, but when the fundamental interests of the two are highly aligned, and there is only one choice, the five high elders look at each other a few times, and without waiting for the priests to come to verify the authenticity, they kneel down in front of the stone statue and show their attitude with their actions, and all the soldiers and slaves around them kneel silently, and only the chanting of the high priest echoes beside the stone statue.

"The wolf god has always favored the heirs, and has deliberately chosen kind and brave companions to bring lasting peace to the troubled steppe, and the tribe will surely prosper. ”

Perhaps it was the devotion of the herdsmen that moved the gods, or perhaps the high priest's prayer was answered by the wolf god, and the stone statue glowed with a faint vapor, and the fragrance drifted into the distance with the wind, and the mist became thicker and thicker, gradually disappearing into the mist under the gaze of everyone, and finally turned into a cloud of multicolored mist and dissipated with the wind, and not even the iron cloak was left. (To be continued.) )