wilderness

The world is vast. Winters rode along the hillside for a while and felt relaxed and happy.

Far down the mountain, a large group of antelopes were foraging.

"There, Batu." Koshhaqi pointed to the antelope herd in the distance: "Prey."

…

For this hunt, the Badlands Ministry spent all their wealth. Every family had at least one young man, and the total number was more than a hundred.

In addition to bringing out people, hunters participating in the hunt must also provide their own horses, weapons and food.

It is no exaggeration to say that if any misfortune happened to Koshhachi's hunters on the road, the Badlands would collapse.

Although it seems that the Badland Tribe attaches great importance to the hunting held by the Red River Tribe, it is difficult to connect their actual performance with the words "hunting" and "valuing".

Because Badlands hunters neither "surround" nor "hunt."

Their daily actions are just to follow a herd of antelopes at a short distance, moving slowly in one direction. They patiently drive, guide, and protect the prey, just like herding a herd of sheep.

Rather than saying that the Badlands are hunting, it is better to say that they are escorting the migrating herds of antelopes.

However, if someone were to look down from a high altitude at this moment, he would see: On the vast land, hundreds of hunting teams are doing the same thing as the hunters of the Badlands [driving away wild beasts without hesitation]

Heading towards the ultimate hunting ground].

In the Hed tribes, hunting is a major event second only to war.

Every time there is a big hunt, the leader who organizes the hunt will predetermine the hunting area, order his troops to prepare manpower, supplies and equipment, and send elite cavalry to find out the location and quantity of the prey.

Once everything is ready, the hunter will set off.

Hunters use hunting teams as action units, and they are not subordinate to each other but are coordinated.

They spread out in a vast hunting ground, like a giant net with no leakage, driving prey from all directions to the predetermined destination.

According to the description of the little lion, the process of driving away prey can even take up to three months.

During this period, the hunter only eats and drinks what he carries, and cannot harm the prey at all even if he is starving.

Living in the open air is not the most painful part. What tortures the hunter the most is the fear of the unknown.

Hunting is a huge activity that requires precise coordination, and the failure of any hunting team may lead to serious consequences.

The hunters have no way of knowing whether other hunting teams can encircle them on time. All they can do is stare at the prey in front of them and walk resolutely and alone.

…

"Leading a lone army to the battlefield where victory or defeat is unknown." Winters imagined the spectacular scene of tens of thousands of hunters hunting together in his mind, and exclaimed: "For a military exercise of this scale, even the Alliance and the Empire would probably

Never."

"What is a 'military exercise'?" Koshhaqi asked in confusion.

Winters smiled and replied softly: "It's just to practice war."

While they were talking, four Badlands hunters galloped from the direction of the antelope herd. After bowing to Winters and Koshhatch, they ran tiredly towards the camp.

In the process of driving away prey, hunters cannot let the prey die from exhaustion, nor allow the prey to deviate from its direction, nor allow the prey to be preyed upon by ferocious beasts.

Therefore, the hunting team of the Badlands was divided into six groups, taking turns guarding the prey day and night.

"It's not an 'unknown victory or defeat', Batu." Koshhaqi tried his best to gesture: "The Chihe tribe used many, many, many hunters for the siege. Even if someone escapes the prey, there will still be a lot left."

Winters understood what Koshhachi meant: "In my opinion, hunting is a rehearsal for war, but you are actually more concerned about how much prey you can harvest."

Koshhaqi grinned. He thought for a while and said: "It has been a long time since I have hunted with so many hunters. This is the first time since I was able to draw the bow."

"Hai Dongfang, Terdun Department...the three major groups don't have as many hunters as this time?"

Koshhaqi shook his head: "I've never been a hunter in the three major divisions. But I guess it's not as good as that."

"Why?" Winters raised his eyebrows: "The Red River tribe has only been growing for a few years. Are there not as many hunters in the three major tribes as there are in the Red River tribe?"

Koshhaqi struggled to organize his words: "The white lions use many hunters from other tribes; the three major tribes only have their own hunters."

"Aren't the more hunters the better in hunting?"

"The more, the better." Koshhaqi said seriously: "But, hunt and obey."

According to Koshhaqi, he only started to learn the language of the Two-legged people after suffering a defeat in the [Battle of Styx Camp].

It is not easy to learn a language to his current level in such a short period of time, but it is still not enough to cope with more complex conversational content.

Therefore, when Koshhaqi spoke, he always spoke one word after another, and Winters often had to guess what Koshhaqi wanted to express based on his body language.

Winters pondered and asked: "Are you trying to say that participating in the Red River Tribe's hunt means surrendering to the Red River Tribe?"

Koshhaqi nodded solemnly.

Winters was not surprised by this: "I'm afraid it's more than just surrender. The big fish will eat the small fish, sooner or later. I'm just curious, knowing that the Red River Tribe plans to annex the Badlands Tribe, why are you still participating in the Red River Tribe?

Hunting by the Ministry?”

Kuoshihaqi said matter-of-factly: "The Bad Earth tribe is weak and the Red River tribe is strong, so we have to participate."

"The Chihe tribe forces you to become ministers?"

"No, big fish eat small fish. It's better to be eaten sooner than later."

"I'm not asking you, 'Why did you surrender to the White Lion?'" Winters stared at Koshhaqi's eyes with scrutiny: "What I'm asking is, are you really willing to surrender to the White Lion?"

Winters' question was dangerous, but Koshhachi answered it anyway, and answered truthfully:

"I don't want to."

…

Koshhaqi wanted to know what the world outside the grassland was like, and Winters also wanted to know what was happening in the wasteland.

Previously, Winters mainly relied on Little Lion to understand the inside information of Hurd's tribes.

The little lion provided Winters with a lot of valuable information, even including the crucial warning that the Tertons were coming.

However, relying on the little lion to provide information means that Winters can only know what the white lion wants him to know.

Therefore, Winters urgently needed to open up new sources of intelligence.

But if you think everything is easy, it will be difficult to do it.

Not to mention the physical isolation and the strong hostility between the Hittites and the Platuan people, just trying to find a Hittite who can speak the common language is like panning for gold in the sand.

So Winters allowed Koshhatch to observe his subordinates like a spy, answering Koshhatch's questions as much as possible.

In exchange, Koshhachi also had to answer Winters' questions. This was a tacit agreement between the two that did not need to be stated.

…

"What about the leaders of other tribes?" Winters continued to ask: "They are willing to surrender?"

"No one is willing." Koshhaqi answered truthfully: "But the white lion's division of spoils is fair and prestigious."

Winters listened quietly.

Koshhaqi stretched out his left hand and said, "Been eaten by three people."

Kuoshihaqi stretched out his right hand again: "Been eaten by the Chihe tribe."

Finally, he held the right hand that symbolized the Red River Department: "This is better."

Winters nodded, noncommittal.

"Or." Koshhaqi rolled off his saddle and dismounted, pulled out an iron arrow from his quiver, and offered it to the Palatine champion with both hands: "Obey Batu."

Winters raised his eyebrows slightly: "Badlands Ministry? Or you?"

Koshhaqi bowed his head respectfully: "Me."
Chapter completed!