Chapter 961 Gaoye

"Savages are coming!"

"Savages are coming, run!"

Accompanied by the screams of the Chu farmers, a band of savage cavalry charged out from the northeast. They weren't large in number, only about twenty riders. Except for the leader who wore a crude leather armor, the rest were clad only in simple animal hides.

Despite the lack of armor, their sabers were standardized. The bows and arrows on their backs were also of the old Yan army style.

In the early years, the Great Yan army, aside from all bearing the Black Dragon Flag and favoring black, had a diverse assortment of weapon and armor styles.

The Zhenbei Army (Northern Garrison Army) had its own system, the Jingnan Army (Southern Pacification Army) had its own style, and the local armies also had their own characteristics.

Even now, it was still the same.

After all, maintaining a large army was already extremely difficult, and equipping it... the cost would be even higher. Therefore, armor and some specialized weapons, such as horse spears, could be treated as heirlooms, passed down from father to son to grandson.

However, there was one local administrator who had always had a near-obsessive pursuit of military equipment and enjoyed the unified appearance when inspecting his troops from a high platform.

The re-equipping of Jindo (Eastern Jin) had actually begun six or seven years ago.

The casting workshops outside Fengxin City had long developed to a terrifying scale, possessing extremely mature forging techniques. Coupled with the continuous discovery of various minerals from the Tian Duan Mountains (Mountains that Cut off the Sky) and even the snow plains, this was enough to support the overall re-equipping of the Jindo Royal Court's regular army.

In fact, the savages had always lived above a "treasure trove." It seemed that the more desolate the place, the more treasures it held underground.

Unfortunately, the savages lacked the ability to explore and mine, and they also lacked forging and smelting skills.

But for the Demon Kings, these were not problems.

In recent years, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, and even the Ministry of Works of the Yan court had sent official letters more than once, pleading to obtain some military equipment from Jindo.

But in the end, apart from the Regent sending three hundred sets to the Emperor's Imperial Guards as a show, they couldn't get a single additional set.

Even the Emperor could do nothing about it. Although trade was developed in Jindo, the manufacture of military equipment was strictly prohibited and could not be sold. Furthermore, the Jindo army didn't have enough for their own use, so how could they export it?

Moreover, Jindo nominally belonged to Great Yan, but in reality, the relationship between them and the court was similar to that of tribute. During festivals, the two sides would send people to exchange gifts.

The court's military pay and provisions did not enter Jindo, and Jindo had never been too interested in flattering their nominal Emperor.

If it weren't for their Prince constantly suppressing them, coupled with the threat from the neighboring Chu state, and the near-tacit goal of unifying the Xia Dynasty, the military heads and middle-level generals in Jindo might have most wanted to cross the Wang River and gallop under the walls of Yanjing City.

The large-scale re-equipping naturally eliminated a large number of old-style military equipment, most of which was cascaded down through the ranks.

For example, when the Tan brothers joined the auxiliary soldiers, what Tan's father asked the local fortress commandant for was this batch of accumulated military equipment.

As for the savages, Gou Moli, who was directly in charge of the savage army in Fancheng, would naturally allocate them in full. There was no reason to leave them in such a dangerous place while still being stingy with equipment.

But for these savages who were temporarily drafted into the pass as auxiliary troops, it was definitely impossible to give them good equipment. They were defined as cannon fodder. Even the most basic auxiliary soldier equipment had to be earned with military merits.

The Royal Court's attitude was:

To make a dog work hard,

you have to keep it hungry.

If they served the Royal Court well, they could not only get military equipment but also rewards. And the biggest reward was the status of a standard household (biao hu).

In the past decade, the Royal Court had spared no effort to enrich and improve the spiritual civilization of the snow plains.

It had achieved remarkable results. Many savages' understanding of their own identity had begun to change:

The stars are lowly,

the cold wind is lowly,

and I... am also lowly.

In its early years, Great Yan adhered to a Great Xia chauvinistic policy, emphasizing that those who were not of their race were sure to have different intentions.

Back then, the commander of the Northern Garrison Army would often go and exterminate entire tribes. Li Fusheng's habit of destroying tribes for fun was the best example.

Even the Prince of Jingnan implemented a policy of slaughter when he led his troops into the snow plains.

But the Royal Court of Jindo didn't like this policy of physical destruction.

To be precise, there were two ways to destroy a nation. The first was the simplest but also the least profitable, called physical cleansing. The second was the most cost-effective and efficient, called spiritual annihilation.

First, destroy your faith, then help you rebuild your "faith." Clearly, you are being ravaged and exploited, but you are happy to do so and kneel down sincerely from the bottom of your heart, calling out "My Old Father."

The Blind Man was a master at this. In recent years, his attempts to rebel had repeatedly failed. The reason why the Blind Man hadn't gone crazy or become depressed was that he had devoted much of his energy to the snow plains.

Many savages in the snow plains now recognized that their hairstyle, their language, and even their skin color were dirty. Only by entering Snow Sea Pass, becoming a standard household, and becoming a subject of the Prince could they obtain true salvation.

This strategy was especially effective when there was a large difference in the basic material living standards between the people of the two regions.

The "stuffed buns" designed by the Prince and promoted by the Royal Court were extremely attractive to the people of the Xia Dynasty, let alone the people of the snow plains.

The year before last, Chen Daole had personally written a secret memorial, praising the Prince's far-sighted layout. He even directly pointed out that these buns were not only stuffed but also bloody. In the memorial, he clearly referred to the Royal Court's policy towards the snow plains as the..."man-blood bun" policy.

When the Prince himself saw this memorial, he didn't know what to say for a moment.

The Blind Man smoothed things over, saying that Chen Daole had been his disciple and had finally understood and graduated.

"Kill!"

Mandon led his men and began to slaughter these Chu people. After killing all the Chu people within sight, they dismounted and cut off their ears, putting them into their bags. These were proof of military merit, which they needed to exchange for rewards from the Royal Court.

Because of the current position of the battle, the Royal Court was not worried that these savage auxiliary soldiers would falsely claim military merits by killing good people because they were originally killing good people to gain merits.

"Return!"

Mandon had noticed that a Chu army was already appearing in the distance. Although he was very greedy for the military merits of the Chu soldiers, Mandon knew that it was unwise to confront the Chu soldiers head-on with the remaining men he had.

A month ago, he had more than fifty men. Now, there were less than half left. He didn't feel much pity because a portion of the military merits earned by these men would be calculated as a commission for him. Now, he was getting closer and closer to becoming a "standard household."

As the savages left, the Chu army, which arrived a step late, saw the bodies of the people lying on the ground with their ears missing. The leading general angrily stabbed his saber into the ground to vent the anger in his heart.

For nearly a month, a large number of savages had been flooding the three counties of Moya, Wenqiu, and Shangyang, specifically targeting the people who were harvesting crops during the autumn harvest.

Although the Chu army was implementing a policy of shrinking defense against the main force of the Jindo army, it had never stopped its internal suppression and interception of these savage cavalry. But they were like weeds, cutting down one batch and quickly growing a new batch.

What was most infuriating was that, apart from initially naively thinking that they could wrestle with the Chu army and having many direct conflicts with the Chu army, the savages who had suffered began to run away as soon as they saw the Chu regular army. After the Chu army left, they would sneak back around and immediately draw their bows and arrows when they saw people preparing to harvest crops.

The Chu army had organized several hunts led by cavalry, but these savages knew how to "invite the enemy into an ambush" after fleeing, causing the Chu cavalry to encounter the Jindo regular army cavalry waiting in ambush several times. Naturally, this result was not ideal.

...

Mandon led his men and roamed in the wilderness for a few more days. After collecting enough ears for this batch, they finally withdrew from the "hunting" circle and returned to the rear.

And the so-called rear was actually also within Moya County, to be precise, a quarter of Moya County was now completely controlled by the Yan army.

Because the Chu people did not dare to take the initiative to attack, Jindo mobilized a large number of civilians to build military camps and castles. Some of the cities that had been abandoned by the Chu people were now being picked up and repaired by the Yan people.

One was for the needs of the war, and the second was that these facilities were not one-time use after they were built and could continue to play a role in the future.

Third, and most importantly... since there was no war now, everyone would be eating for free while idle, so it was better to move around and do things.

When there was still a distance from the military camp, Mandon signaled his men to dismount and start leading their horses. Soon, another Jindo cavalry unit came from the military camp to scout and verify their identities. After confirming that everything was correct, Mandon and the others were allowed to enter the camp.

There was a place in the camp dedicated to counting the spoils of the savages, and the corresponding rewards would be distributed directly at this time.

The most popular rewards for the savages were mainly two: one was military merit in exchange for "standard household" points. After reaching a certain number of points, they could become a standard household and be allowed to bring their wives and children to settle in Jindo;

The other was military merit in exchange for "commercial coupons," which could be used to buy goods sold by the Royal Court to the snow plains at a 50% discount. There were now nine trade fairs set up by the Royal Court on the snow plains, with many goods, many of which were necessities for life on the snow plains.

Some savages with aspirations or those who came in individual groups often pursued the first type of reward, while some savages who gathered from tribes wanted the second type of reward more.

Mandon piled the ears he and his men had collected on an empty table next to him. Three scribes were responsible for counting them.

There were also two other counting locations nearby, and there were also savage teams counting at this time.

Among them, a man without ears holding a teacup was inspecting the area. When he walked to Mandon's side, Mandon immediately bowed.

"Not bad this time, almost there, right?" Guo Dong took a sip of hot tea and casually talked to Mandon.

"Reporting to the Lord, almost there. One more trip out and it will be enough," Mandon said humbly.

"Congratulations." Guo Dong said politely and then walked to another table to continue inspecting.

Logically speaking, it would feel strange for a person without ears to check the counting of ears here, but no one dared to be careless about him because his status in logistics was really not low. At the same time, many people knew that he had a good brother who was now a high-ranking official in the army, in charge of military discipline.

Guo Dong didn't feel uncomfortable at all because his ears and nose were dug out by Nian Yao's men. At that time, he was hung on a flagpole, his life hanging by a thread. In the end, it was the Prince who led his troops to arrive and saved his life.

Some people with disabilities would always be depressed by other people's gazes, and their hearts would become inferior and sensitive. Guo Dong was different. Instead, he became more mature and magnanimous because of this.

Originally, he was responsible for the management of the granary north of Zhennan Pass. Now that the war had started, he was transferred to the army to manage one of the logistics departments.

Looking at these Chu people's ears, he didn't have much gloating and perverse pleasure, but he didn't have much sympathy either.

At this time, a subordinate stepped forward: "Lord, General Xu is here."

"Oh."

Guo Dong put down his teacup and walked over.

When Xu An saw Guo Dong, he asked, "Are you tired?"

"It's easier to have fewer parts on my body, so how can I be tired."

"Hehe, I just came to deal with two savage disputes."

Among the savage teams, several had actually started to rob each other for ears. This trend must be stopped harshly in advance.

"Is it dealt with?"

"Yes, I chopped off a few heads and then came to see you by the way."

"Good."

At this time, a subordinate of Guo Dong brought a bag as Guo Dong instructed.

"This is fried noodles made by your sister-in-law, with enough ingredients added. Take it and eat it." Guo Dong handed the bag to Xu An.

Xu An didn't refuse and accepted it directly. This wasn't considered bribery.

Although once you became a regular soldier, the Royal Court would take care of everything during the expedition, your family could still ask someone to send things. Every once in a while, the scribes in the army would help write a batch of letters and send them home with a special person.

"How long will this have to wait?" Guo Dong asked.

"What's wrong?" Xu An smiled.

"Heh, what's wrong."

"This is a matter decided by the higher-ups, to be precise, it's a matter decided by the Prince. Besides, now that the Chu people are shrinking back and not coming out, we can only continue to wait."

"It's a pity for the food that's being consumed every day," Guo Dong said with emotion.

"Human lives are more important than food," Xu An said.

Guo Dong shook his head, "I'm quite surprised that you can say this."

Because Xu An's parents were captured as two-legged sheep back then, he had experienced a time when human lives were worthless.

Xu An reached out and patted his wrist guard, saying:

"Before, our lives were worthless. Now, the Prince says that our lives are worth money."

"Oh?"

"Anyway, there's no shortage of food," Xu An said.

"Of course, there won't be a shortage, it's just that I'm afraid of wasting it," Guo Dong twisted his neck. "I've been in charge of the granary for many years, and I have feelings for it."

Xu An reached out and patted Guo Dong on the shoulder:

"Stockpiling is for using at this time. You have to think about it. The Chu people on the other side should be shorter on food than us. We have almost destroyed their autumn harvest in three counties."

Xu An bent down, leaned to Guo Dong's ear, and reminded: "In the future, don't ask people about this kind of thing casually."

"What am I afraid of."

Guo Dong really didn't need to be afraid. He had a good background. His father died in the hands of the Chu people, he was tortured by the Chu people, and he was even given the title of "Tomb Raider Captain" by the Prince. His waist tag was still hanging on his waist.

"What about the people around you?" Xu An asked.

"You mean..."

"Some nails were hidden very well before, but now they can't be hidden anymore. We have to sort them out again."

"Okay, I understand."

"Well, I'll go first. Take care."

"You take care too."

Mandon saw Guo Dong walking back and quickly smiled.

Guo Dong nodded to him and picked up his teacup again. The tea was cold, but he didn't care and continued to drink it.

After the counting and verification were completed and the military merits were calculated, Mandon contentedly led his men to collect food.

There were many people in the cookhouse. Everyone needed to use their waist tag to collect their daily food. Because this was a logistics camp, the meal times were not fixed.

When Mandon and the others entered, they happened to see a few savages who had just finished eating, sitting on the wooden piers over there. One of them, with a scar on his face, was picking his teeth.

These savages were wearing brocade clothes!

Mandon immediately led his men and knelt down to salute those brocade-clothed savages.

"Heh."

The brocade-clothed savages showed disdainful expressions on their faces.

There were savages in the Prince's brocade-clad guards, but there were not many.

During this period, with the large-scale use of savage auxiliary soldiers, the brocade-clad guards would often send people to inspect these logistics camps, especially the brocade-clad guards from savage backgrounds, who were most likely to be sent here.

In fact, they also liked to come here.

This brocade clothing was not only a symbol of honor in the Jindo army, but it could often reap ten times or a hundred times the joy in the eyes of their former tribesmen.

Seeing these savages still desperately earning those meager military merits in the Chu people's territory with the most rudimentary weapons and equipment, risking being intercepted and killed by the Chu army,

the brocade-clothed savages felt even more proud,

and were extremely fortunate that they had taken the initiative to abandon the so-called stars and hairstyles and sworn allegiance to Jindo and the Prince. Now, the snow plains, the people of the snow plains, and even the sunshine of the snow plains could bring them some physical discomfort;

They only felt that everything there was full of backwardness and ignorance. Only in Jindo, even the wind seemed to carry a sweet fragrance.

They disdained Mandon and the others' salutes.

Where did these lowly savage pariahs have the qualifications to talk to them?

But Mandon and the others did not dare to act rashly and still cautiously stood up slowly, bending over, and walking past these brocade-clothed savages. Each of their eyes was full of envious gazes;

Becoming someone like them was their greatest pursuit in this life, and it was... a pursuit that was visible to the naked eye.

The year before last, Gou Moli had returned to Fengxin City for a brief report. The Blind Man invited Gou Moli to drink.

The Blind Man said at the dinner table: "Now the savages of Jindo are becoming more and more like our own people."

The former Savage King, under the influence of alcohol,

asked back:

"Are the savages of Jindo and the savages of the snow plains still the same kind of people?"