Wu Jing jumped off his horse, and the faces of the tribesmen surrounding him showed expressions of extreme disappointment.

The carriage following Wu Jing only contained three bags of grain.

This small amount of food is just a drop in the bucket for the nearly 2,000 people in Mangbe.

At the turn of spring and summer, Mangbu has been without food for several days.

A few days ago, Wu Jing went to Weining to borrow food from Dong Kui, their current leader. Everyone in the Mang tribe was eagerly looking forward to Wu Jing coming back with food, but the reality made everyone a little desperate.

Even if these bags of grain were boiled into porridge, the whole family would not be able to share a few mouthfuls.

A woman's cry sounded in the crowd, followed by a child's cry. Like an infectious disease, the cry became louder and louder, drowning Wu Jing.

Wu Jing, who was in his early twenties, ignored the howls of women and children. He calmly directed several young people to unload the food, then called some small-headed people and walked into his thatched hut.

Even though Wu Jing is now the leader of the Mang tribe, he only lives in a thatched house. The difference from ordinary tribesmen is that his thatched house is larger, covered with thatch, and the mud on the wall is thicker and stronger.

, it’s just more resistant to wind and rain.

Luo Piao, the co-leader of the Shimen Fan Tribe, was defeated by Guizhou Road General Wang Zhu and his army. After he died on the spot, the remaining tribes were gathered together by Dong Kui of the Yi Niang Tribe. They fought and retreated until Wei.

Ning, gained a firm foothold with the support of Dali Gao Yingxiang.

Dong Kui succeeded Luo Piao and became the leader of the Shimen Fan tribe.

However, the Mang tribe, which was once the most powerful and wealthy among the Shimen tribe, suffered a sudden decline because it bore the brunt of the war and its leader Wu Da Bang died in battle.

In the process of escaping, young Wu Jing became the new leader of the Mang tribe because of his bravery. When escaping, after all, force is more important.

Even after establishing a foothold in Weining, the lost Mangbu faced covetousness from other tribes several times. Although they had no property, women and children were all good things they wanted. And during that period, the clan could be killed at any time.

During the process of destruction, Wu Jing single-handedly withstood the pressure from all sides and saved Mangbu.

But Wu Jing did not expect that those were just the beginning.

It may not be too difficult to protect a tribe in danger, but it is much more difficult to prevent this tribe from disappearing in the long river of history for a long time.

"Don't you want to borrow food from Dongtou?" said an old man with a disheveled look on his face, and his words were a little weak.

At his age, he can no longer fight or do heavy work, so he naturally gives up food to the young and strong, and to children. Even if he is an elder of the tribe, he must put the tribe first at this moment.

.

Wu Jing shook his head: "It's easy to talk, so I just gave me three bags of grain, and you saw it."

"This is to send beggars away!" Another leader said angrily: "Is it possible that their women's trade department has also run out of food?"

"How is that possible?" The old man shook his head and said, "Dali's aid comes to him first, and then it is distributed. Whoever is hungry will not be starved by Yi Niangbu. Wu Jing, isn't it?"

Wu Jing nodded: "Everyone knows Dong Kui's thoughts now, but we know it too late. The strength of Yi Niang tribe will be stronger after the war, and now he has annexed Wumeng tribe, A Tou

, in the spring of this year, the Yixi tribe could not survive and was merged into the Yiniang tribe. Although the remaining tribes are still struggling to support themselves, how long can they last!"

"Wu Jing, we still have some livestock on hand. The price of livestock over there in Bijie is quite high, and food is very low over there. Why not..." the middle-aged man whispered.

"Dong Kui doesn't allow any of us to trade with Guizhou Road, don't you know? If he knew this, wouldn't it mean that he would come and take care of us? He is worried that he can't find an excuse!" shouted the old man.

"He won't lend us food, and he won't let us get food ourselves. Is it possible that we will starve to death or be annexed by him?" The middle-aged man said angrily: "If the old patriarch is here, what will happen to our Mang tribe?

Will you be so depressed?"

There was silence in the room.

After a long while, the old man whispered: "The old patriarch died in the hands of the other party. Now, in order to survive, should we bow to them?"

"Then you said that the old patriarch is underground, do you want us to be annexed by Dong Kui, or do you want us all to starve to death?" The middle-aged man said angrily: "I am not afraid of death, but there are still more than two hundred people under the age of ten in the clan.

Where’s the doll!”

"Even if we are willing to do business with Bijie and sell livestock to buy grain, how can we get past the Yi Niang tribe? They control the traffic arteries and passes at the border with Bijie!" said the old man.

Wu Jing was silent for a long time and said: "We can't go on like this. Dong Kui just wants to force us to the point of desperation so that he can swallow us up. We must not take the old road in Yixi and A'tou. I'll go to Wushabu."

, their situation is similar to ours, let’s see if we can join forces.”

"The more people there are, the less food there will be!" the old man lamented.

"Kill the livestock, kill the livestock of the tribe, and eat your stomach first!" Wu Jing said decisively.

The old man said in shock: "No, now there are only breeding animals and female animals left in the clan, and then there are the ungrown young animals. We can't kill them anymore. If we kill them again, the Mang tribe will be really finished."

"There is no unstoppable path for man." Wu Jing's face was gloomy: "Dong Kui wants our Mang tribe to perish, so don't blame me for being unkind."

"Headman, what are you going to do?"

"Uncle, let's wait until I come back from Usa tribe!" Wu Jing looked at the middle-aged man and said, "Wu Zhuang, kill the livestock."

"Okay!" said the middle-aged man Wu Qiang.

Standing at the door of the thatched hut, I could hear the cries of livestock before they died. However, no one in the tribe cheered because they were about to have a full meal. Instead, the cry became louder.

For them, killing breeding stock females is killing their future.

If you are full today, what should you do tomorrow?

What should we do tomorrow?

Wu Jing has already thought about it, and Wu Zhuang, another leader of the powerful faction in the clan, has also reached an agreement with him.

Of course we have to find another way out.

How can we just keep our hands tied?

No one would have thought that Wu Jing, who said he was going to borrow food, deserted halfway, turned a corner, and sneaked onto Guizhou Road. He first met Luo Gang, the prefect of Bijie, and then went straight to Guiyang Prefecture and saw Guizhou.

The owner is Xiao Cheng.

Wu Jing was ready to defect to Guizhou Road.

Although the Mang tribe's current fate was the result of Xiao Cheng's actions, after seeing the nurturing life that the Mahu tribe and the Nanguang tribe were living now, Wu Jing felt that he could let go of his past hatred.

The dead are gone, but the living will continue.

He could not sit back and watch Mang tribe being annexed by others, nor could he watch helplessly as the elders in the clan went on hunger strike and died one by one due to lack of food.

He met Xiao Cheng, and Wu Jing no longer had any hesitation with his offer.

Not only have good arrangements been made for Wu Jing and Wu Zhuang, but even the entire Mang tribe can return to their hometown. After returning, the government will redivide land and pasture for them, build houses for them, and allocate them to livestock.

Xiao Cheng even promised them that with the support of the government, in one year at most, Mangbu's life would be comparable to that of Mahu and Nanguang.

Wu Jing agreed.

He would never forget that night when a Song Dynasty official named Wu Ke took him to the place called Huajianlou to witness with his own eyes the exaggerated fight between Ma Xie and Sheng Lu.

Tens of thousands of dollars, just to sleep with a woman for one night!

Is that thing studded with diamonds?

Wu Jing had never even heard of many of the dazzling array of delicious and fragrant foods in Huajianlou. There, Wu Jing just felt like a country boy.

What's even more annoying is that Ma Xie and Sheng Lu were not much better than me a few years ago.

But now, they no longer even see their own shadows in the corners of their eyes.

When we met him at the Yamen of the Soothing Envoy the next day, it was obvious that they recognized him completely.

It has only been three years. Are the situations between the two parties already as different as heaven and earth?

Walking around the cattle and horse market, he saw a lot of barbarians from the former Xuzhou. They all had red faces, fat heads and big ears, and were wearing gold and silver. It was obvious that they lived an extremely comfortable life.

Why can't I live such a life? The people of the Mang tribe should also live such a life.

Instead of like now, old people go on hunger strike to save a bite of food, women don't have enough milk to feed their children because they don't have enough to eat, and men who should be strong are all lean, with only one pair of eyes getting really big.

.

Mangbu's ability to raise livestock is no worse than that of Ma Hunanguang, and the knife in his hand is infinitely better than that of Ma Xie and Sheng Lu.

In the future, I will definitely be stronger than them.

In the future, Mangbu will definitely be stronger than Ma Hunanguang.

Yue Teng leaned on his horse and stared at the thousands of cavalrymen who were resting below.

This is the newly formed mobile cavalry on Guizhou Road.

In the entire army of the Song Dynasty, there was not a fully organized pure cavalry unit. Basically, the cavalry existed as a supporting force for large infantry teams. This was in line with the most basic situation of the Song Dynasty.

The Liao Kingdom only had fully equipped independent cavalry units.

Now, Xiao Ding, who is entrenched in the northwest, also has an independent cavalry unit, the Iron Kites.

The cavalry units are very popular in the north because they can maneuver quickly, fight fiercely, come and go like the wind, and it is difficult to catch their traces. However, in the south, not to mention a separate cavalry unit, even the cavalry itself is not

common.

Because there are many mountains and water in the south, these mountains and water have cut the geography into extremely fragmented parts. It is not suitable for large-scale cavalry operations at all. And the money required to raise a cavalry can be enough to raise ten infantry, because of the cost-effectiveness

The reason is that there are few large-scale cavalry in the south.

Among the many forces in the south, cavalry basically serve as scouts.

Only Xiao Cheng established a cavalry battalion among the six armies under his command.
To be continued...