Chapter 2168: Chapter 1567: Sing, Dance, Then Go Die! (2)
"Longevity Heaven above! According to our previous agreement, two hundred horses are yours, and you can choose prisoners as you please. Our River-side Tribe will provide enough food, but you don’t need sheep, cattle, and pastures?..."
Having witnessed the combat power of this "Great Tribe Armored Cavalry," and fought side by side, Ao Hala’s attitude was noticeably more sincere and respectful. He looked at Maha Agudah’s face, then glanced at the Forest Tribe Chief Tai Gu’en, who had been disarmed but not bound or slain, and spoke more cautiously.
"Cough... Brother Aguda, who is he?..."
"He’s now my war slave, just like Wu Xiong, leading my horse. Don’t worry, I’ll take him away, back to my tribe, along with my warriors!..."
Maha Agudah looked cold and solemnly at Ao Hala’s eyes, like a Northeast tiger staring at a Mongolian wolf. He surveyed the camp after the skirmish, observed the numerous cavalry caring for the horses, then looked at the sixty to seventy horses his team had already snatched, before continuing solemnly.
"Brother Ao Hala! I want two hundred horses, but excluding the spoils already taken by my men! Their spoils are theirs, my spoils are mine, understand?"
"Ah? You mean, taking away two hundred horses from the captured herds in the camp? Wouldn’t that mean all the warhorses belong to you?"
"What, isn’t that okay? Considering the amount of effort, our exerted force was much greater than yours, right?"
"... Fine! Okay! In this battle, your Armored People indeed exerted the most effort..."
Ao Hala paused for a moment, his expression changing several times, but he still made concessions on the division of warhorses. Of the Forest Tribe’s more than three hundred horses, Aguda wanted to take two hundred and sixty. That means except for the foals, all the adult warhorses capable of being ridden in battle would belong to the other side. Such a concession was indeed significant.
"Chief Divine as witness! Some of these warhorses are too weak. On the way back, they will surely lose condition if not robust... Brother Ao Hala, I need to exchange these weak horses with your tribe’s strong horses!"
"What! Exchange horses as well?! Brother Aguda, isn’t your demand too excessive? My River-side Tribe isn’t a rabbit on the prairie that anyone can grab!..."
"Two sets of Iron Armor borrowed by you, are yours!"
"Ah?!..."
Ao Hala, who a moment ago showed anger, now had his pupils widen in disbelief. He stayed stunned for quite a while before asking.
"Tenggeri Heaven! What did you say? Give me two sets of precious Iron Armor?! You’re not regretting, not joking?"
"Yes! The two sets borrowed by you and Bule are yours! Are they snug enough? If not, you can exchange them... You see, I, Maha Agudah, do things like the flat Big Mahayu in the water, always very ’fair,’ the most stable!"
Maha Agudah grinned, looking at the shocked and delighted Ao Hala, forcefully patting his shoulder. This technique of striking first and then offering a sweet reward is always effective; Priest Kui Huo from the tribe taught it.
"Hahaha! Good! Good! Brother Aguda, my good brother! I agree with you! All horses are yours, and the exchange too is according to you!... Haha! What a fine set of Iron Armor! Wearing this makes charging into battle much assuring!... You really are a generous Great Tribe!..."
One moment they were nearly drawing swords and bows over the division of spoils, the next they were as intimate as brothers. This is the relationship between tribes on the prairie, everything exceedingly pragmatic, bound only by the most sacred oath, without the moral and legal constraints of the southern Han Land.
Once the division of the most important warhorses was agreed upon, the allocation of the remaining 250-plus prisoners became much simpler. Ao Hala generously allowed Agudah to first pick one hundred and fifty, leaving a hundred for the River-side Tribe as supplementary Pastoral Slaves and warriors.
"These war prisoners, choose freely! Pick one hundred and fifty to take! I’ll immediately have someone slaughter cattle and sheep for meat, plus dairy products from both tribes, to make six months’ worth of rations ready for you on the road!"
"Good! I’ll also leave a few bags of salt, leave a couple of cauldrons... Yes! Use our salt to cure the meat for longer preservation on the road. As for the excess salt, it’s a gift for you!..."
"Ah, gifting salt and pots? Good brothers! Brother Aguda, you’re truly my good brother, my long-lost elder!..."
Ao Hala’s face was full of closeness, nearly wanting to also give his widowed sister in marriage to Agudah. He had never encountered such a generous Great Tribe Armored Cavalry; even those wealthy Haixi Jurchens were also generous enough to bring tears to his eyes!
Seizing six thousand sheep, annexing the Forest Tribe’s pastures, the potential of the River-side Tribe immediately doubled, sufficient to sustain three hundred more people, becoming a Great Tribe of seven to eight hundred people! As the Chieftain of the River-side Tribe, he could elevate a batch of strong men to become semi-independent Wulusi Warriors, then raise a batch of Pastoral Slaves to new strong men, finally swallowing up one or two small surrounding tribes to supplement the population. The River-side Tribe itself only numbered over four hundred people, leaving too many Forest Tribe tribespeople might become a hidden threat, only a hundred were enough.
Without the equivalent rival Forest Tribe, within several dozen miles, there would no longer be any powerful Great Tribe. It’s likely in a few years, the River-side Tribe would become a thousand-member Great Tribe, thoroughly controlling Huli Ping Village’s surroundings, these tens of thousands of acres of pasture where the two rivers meet!
The absorption among tribes in the prairie is that swift! With herds, with pasture, they can sustain people, they can absorb more small tribes, rapidly boosting strength like a snowball. They possess fast-moving horses, capable of running one to two hundred miles a day, absorbing faster than the Jurchen Tribes!"
Therefore, unless external forces intervene, in less than two generations, a nomadic Great Tribe would truly rise, reaching the grassland’s individual region’s capacity limit— the "Ten Thousand Households Tribe" with a leader of "Khan"! Of course, on today’s "Mongolia" prairie, without the bloodline of the Golden Family, it’s almost impossible to become a rightful "Khan," even with the Southern Great Ming’s conferment...
"Haha! Slaughter cattle and sheep, eat and drink to the fullest! Come, sing and dance together! The victorious Hu Teng Step!"
As night falls, autumn winds sweep across the yellowed pastures, and bonfires are ignited without sparing fuel. The River-side Tribe and the Kingdom Jurchen Tribe’s Allied Forces for the first time genuinely step into dance and passionately sing. Right on the frozen blood and corpses of the Forest Tribe, amidst the captive Pastoral Slaves and herds of sheep, they use the most vigorous dance to celebrate a victory before winter, to rejoice in a prosperous winter where people won’t starve!
This intense dance accompanied by war songs is the dance inherited through the millennia on the grassland. From Northern Wei’s "Hu Teng Step," to Tang Dynasty’s "Hu Teng Dance," then Liao Jin’s "Horse Step Dance," until Yuan Dynasty Mongolia’s "Hu Teng Step!"
"Longevity Heaven protect! Longevity Heaven protect! Тэнгэривээ!Тэнгэривээ!"
Prairie warhorses gallop like the furious wind! Талынхүлэг,хуйсалхимэт!
Warriors stepping on blood! Цусааргишгэсэнбаатар!
Warriors stepping on fierce fire! Галаартуугдсанбаатар!
Hu Teng! Hu Teng! Hu Teng! Тунглаг!Тунглаг!Тунглаг!"
"Long heaven protect, long heaven bless!
Bulls and sheep gather in herds, spoils pile into mountains! Үхэрхоньбэлчинэ,Олзомогуулшигхурайна!
Warrior herding sheep! Хониодагасанбаатар!
Warrior herding cattle! Үхрээдагасанбаатар!
Hu Teng! Hu Teng! Hu Teng!"
The eternal song and dance drift across the grassland, ancient transformations unchanged. Packs of nomadic tribes rise and fall like beasts, emitting the most primal screams and roars. During this unprecedented cold phase, in this coming brutal skirmish of the Little Ice Age, who, and how many tribes, will survive to sing and dance at the end? The night wind does not know, the prairie listens quietly, only the Heilongjiang flows with a swish, carrying the blood of the deceased~~
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