From Chief to Ball

These old-fashioned words won the approval of everyone, and those people sighed helplessly. The situation is like this, and there is really nothing they can do.

"These Xiacheng people said these words because Qiongxi's army is about to return, and they want to attack other cities, and they will worry about us attacking from behind. But why do we exchange all the clansmen in the city for other cities? What about the safety of the town?"

Another person stood up and said: "But in this way, what is the difference from the flock taking out the weakest sheep to feed the wolves? One day the other sheep will be eaten up, and one day it will be our turn. At that time The wolf is already extremely strong, what can we use to resist?"

The leader spread his hands and said, "At least we are not the ones being eaten now. As for the future, who knows what will happen?"

There was a moment of silence, including the leader, everyone knew that this was feeding the wolves, but no one wanted to be the next bite of the wolf's food - if you don't want to feed others to the wolves, others may sacrifice you.

"The reason why Qiongxi sent troops was because Su Yue led the army to the north, but no one thought that a city that was rarely heard of before would break through Moucheng with one city and force Qiongxi to retreat. This is unimaginable, even back then. When the old leader was still around, he couldn't have predicted it with his intelligence, let alone us stupid people?"

"When Huasu was first allied many years ago, they also attacked us. Some small clan cities in the north formed an alliance with Hua when the sun rose, and worshiped the sky when the sun went down. Because of this, some big cities were destroyed or cut off the sacrifices, but those small cities have continued to prosper, isn't this kind of wisdom just what we want to learn?"

"In the past, those cities that were prosperous in the past and barbaric in the evening were only places where the armies of both sides could reach in more than ten days. There is no need to worry about ten days away. But is the current ten days or the past ten days?"

A group of people sighed with gloomy faces. This kind of change that was different from the past came quietly, which made them deeply disturbed and helpless. After discussing for a long time, they finally decided to agree to the request of these Xiacheng people.

Similar debates are also unfolding among the other five cities. The common characteristics of these cities are not the basic set of Qiongxi, so there is room for negotiation and deterrence.

Clan alliances are different from counties or feudal countries. The independence of clan cities will not allow them to be decapitated and dismembered because they are afraid of the enemy. There is still a not-so-long but hard-to-surmount way to go for a unified tool of powerful governance.

Four of the six cities near Xiacheng's foothold in Dongyi that might hinder the next move of Xiacheng's army expressed their commitment to abide by this agreement, and the other two did not expressly express that they sent Xiacheng's envoys away.

A few days later, a team of dozens of people escorted six or seven hundred slaves bound by ropes through the simple paths near those towns. The terrible peace, the palms of the people on both sides were soaked with sweat, and the bowstring was always tense, but in the end no feathered arrow was shot.

Chapter 49 Dongyi Vibration (End)

When Xiacheng's army was attacking the hinterland of Dongyi, Qiongxi was still making the first successful but failed retreat in his life so far.

This year's autumn weather is very good, and there is no continuous autumn rain yet, but the depression in Qiongxi's heart cannot be blown away by the autumn wind and golden sun.

There were several blisters at the corner of the mouth, and swallowing food was a huge pain.He just didn't notice it, and he still walked at the front of the team every day, never disobeying his orders to ride cattle that could rest, and worked hard to maintain the morale of the army.

But bad news came one after another. First, the news that 3000 people in Mou City were annihilated, and within ten days came the news that Mou City was captured.The two incidents were more than ten days apart, but Qiongxi's army kept moving eastward to shorten the time to get the news, which invisibly made the news even more shocking.

In the army, many warriors from Mou City burst into tears and wept endlessly at night. They broke their arrows and pierced their palms and swore revenge.

Qiongxi tried her best to calm the anger of the crowd, only saying that these people can be exchanged for their clansmen, which made the warriors in the army put down their butcher knives.

The person who sent the message, Qiong Xi, knew that the news was not false.After the meeting with Chen Jian, he expected that Chen Jian might go deep into the hinterland, and also what actions he might take, but he didn't expect it to be so fast, let alone go so far.

He didn't expect how much shock the people of Xiacheng brought to his heart this time. When he returned from the expedition and went deep into the cities of his ethnic group, every place was filled with joyful songs and laughter.

Those who exchange slaves, those who prepare banquets, those who sing praises, and those who sing epic poems...that is the attitude that a winner should have.

Now even though he returned from a great victory and plundered more than ten thousand slaves, when he passed through the cities of his own clan, there was no usual hilarity, and there were only clan leaders who were tremblingly asking him, which annoyed him so much.

"Where is Xiacheng?"

"Can Xiacheng really control lightning and thunderstorms?"

"How could Xiacheng capture Moucheng in ten days?"

"Did the people from Xiacheng fly here?"

"They captured 3000 people in Mou City, but only a few dozen died. How is this possible?"

Questions like these made Qiongxi very irritable.

Those who delivered the news didn't know how to hide their fear and sorrow, and spread these emotions to every city of their own ethnic group along the road, and incidentally, there were also terrible rumors about those Xiacheng people.

This is scarier than a failure.

Qiongxi really wanted to tell them that those Xiacheng people had nothing to fear, and that he also broke through the cities of the Dahe tribes in a month or so, but one leader only said one thing after hearing these words: " But what you broke through was not Xiacheng."

After that, Qiong Xi never said that again, regretting it endlessly in her heart, if she had fought the Xia army in Mo back then, even if they won miserably, at least the ethnic group would not have panicked to this point.

It's just that the so-called regret is just because the sensibility at a certain moment defeated one's own heart.If that battle is fought, he will no longer be the leader of Dongyi, Dongyi won and Qiongxi lost, this is not what he wants, he hopes that Qiongxi is Dongyi, and Dongyi is Qiong On the eve of the day, winning and losing are one.

The regrets and gains and losses at this time are actually that he has already made a decision, and he is not a person who has lived and died in the Gouli tribe.

There were still 20 days before returning to Mou City. Qiongxi didn't know what news he would hear on the way, so he had to send scouts to tell those messengers to stop spreading the news everywhere.

This is a situation that he has never encountered before, and it also taught him a good lesson. This time he learned a lot.

Both come from his own insights, and others have taught him.

The person who brought the news of the fall of Mou City also told Chen Jian's advice to Qiongxi. Qiongxi couldn't laugh or cry, but she had to admit that these words made sense, and forced herself to do it.

This place is too far away from where the Xiacheng people might appear, so there is no need to worry about it for the time being.But the closer you get to your own hinterland, the more you have to follow these advices.

Especially in some places near the river where troops can be transported by boat, and in some valleys where thousands of soldiers can be ambushed, scouts are scattered and the regular team advances slowly.

The team didn't move fast at first, but the closer they got to the heartland, the slower they went.It used to be as easy as coming home when you were close to your own homeland, but now it is like being in enemy land.

After an autumn rain in late August, bad news came one after another.

The Xiacheng people quickly headed east after breaking through Mou City, and used newly attached slaves to dig the city wall and plundered a city.Then, taking advantage of the autumn wind when the grass and trees were drying up, they burned down the city with fire and smoke, and attacked a small city with new slaves and ants.

These two cities are not big, but they are both clan cities that Qiongxi can control, and they are not far from Qiongxi's home city.

Qiongxi felt that Chen Jian should not dare to attack his own city, because it had penetrated too far and a little carelessness would result in the destruction of the entire army under the city.But it was his own city, it was too important, and he had to worry about it.

Under the balance, Qiong Xi had to make the worst plan, even though he knew that the possibility of the worst plan was very small, he didn't dare to take the risk.

Nowadays, there are few villages and there are wastelands everywhere. They don't even know where the people of Xiacheng are, but if they want to ambush him, they only need to ambush him near his own city. That's the place he wants to return to after all.

The more he wanted to go back, the more he had to worry about the ambushes of the Xiacheng people, and the speed had to be even slower.When they got near the city, Xiacheng's army had dispersed and disappeared, only traces of them burying their food could be seen.

Apparently they were just bluffing a shot. In fact, the army had already retreated along the bank of the big river. Taking advantage of Qiongxi's worries about the city, they avoided possible battles and had the opportunity to transport a large amount of slave supplies away.

The people of Xiacheng are very sober, and they dare not fight Qiongxi in a decisive battle on their own land, let alone facing more than ten thousand Dongyi warriors who are extremely angry on Dongyi's land.

The ambush may win in one fell swoop, completely turning the tribes of Dahe into an offensive to hide the contradictions of the tribes of Dahe, and completely attack Dongyi within three years.But if they fail, they will be wiped out by the entire army stuck in the hinterland of Dongyi.Xiacheng people also did not dare to gamble, and did not dare to complete their merits in one battle.

When approaching the city and looking at the familiar mountains, rivers and forests, Qiong Xi was both happy and worried.The joy is that he finally brought the army back and forced the opponent to retreat; the worry is that after this battle, Xia Cheng's strength has grown a bit, and the enemy he has to face in the future will be even more terrifying.As long as Xiacheng is still there, it is impossible for him to attack the tribes of Dahe on a large scale. Unless there is civil strife on the other side, he will always worry about the recurrence of this autumn nightmare.

Qiongxi also understands that even if he has captured more than ten thousand slaves, his prestige is still there, and even when the cities are worried about Xiacheng, his prestige will be even higher.

But in the next three years, the initiative to attack completely changed hands, and he could only defend with all his strength, and there was no possibility of taking the initiative to conquer the west.

At a certain moment, Qiongxi even pinned his hopes on the possibility of civil strife in the Dahe tribes after he sued for peace, but then he suppressed this thought. He didn't want to put his fate in the hands of others, let alone put his victory in the hands of others. Focus on the expectation of the opponent's civil strife, that is the weak he hates.

Along the way, he was listening to the stories of the captured people who were familiar with Xiacheng. It was no longer about the magical ox plowshares and iron tools, but the details of how Xiacheng came out of the mountains and stood on both sides of the river.

From the beginning of Xiacheng’s thirteen clans’ collegial political affairs, the private land taxation system made the clan leaders lose their authority, rewarded the clan leaders and clan relatives so much that they were divided from the bottom class of the clan, so that the clan lost its cohesion, and finally Yuxia turned his face. He listened to the split with relish, not letting go of every detail.

The speaker was just telling the story he knew, he didn't stand that high, and he didn't think so far, but Qiongxi understood many things that the storyteller himself didn't understand.