The wind and snow were as sharp as knives, cutting people's faces painfully.
"Stop the horse."
Xu Mu frowned, turned around and shouted. In an instant, the thirty riders behind him stopped their reins one after another.
In the snowy scene at dusk, the small village in front of me seemed to be buried in the white snow. If it weren't for the shadows of people walking around, I would have thought it was a dead village.
"My boss, they are all frozen corpses."
Xu Mu nodded silently, a small village whose fate was cut off was really miserable.
"None of the houses nearby are empty."
Xu Mu raised his eyes and followed the two or three figures in front of him, leading the horse as he walked into the snow, leaving shoehorn marks one after another.
The two or three figures seemed to be looking for something, but after searching for a long time, they found nothing. They had to walk a little further, peeled off half of the bark, held it tremblingly in their arms, and ran forward, and soon they ran away.
Entered a large stone house.
"Master, this is the village's big temple, right?"
Outside the big house, there were incense sticks extinguished by the wind and snow, and a bowl of freeze-dried flesh and blood.
Wei Feng took two steps forward, grabbed the freeze-dried flesh and smelled it, and his entire complexion suddenly turned pale.
"Master, this is not animal meat, or the people inside are cutting the meat to worship their ancestors."
The sky is full of wind and snow, and hunting in the mountains is not allowed. The crops in the fields have probably been paid for taxes. A good village is forced into a desperate situation.
"Which one!" At this moment, they seemed to hear a noise, and several young men covered in animal skins hurriedly took out wooden sticks and ran out in a hurry.
There is also an exquisite old wooden bow slung on each of their backs, and a stone arrow kettle is pinned to their waist.
Needless to say, this is the mountain hunting Liu Wu talks about.
Before Xu Mu could speak, Wei Feng and others who were nearby drew out their long knives and hurried over to protect Xu Mu closely.
"Wei Feng, put down the knife."
Xu Mu said something calmly, and when he turned his head, he looked at one of the older mountain hunters.
"It's not bandits. A month ago, there was a horse dealer from Shu, but how many old horses were given away?"
"Indeed. The horse...has already eaten it. If you want to beg for it, I will find a way to pay you back next year."
"The horse dealer has gone to my village. Speaking of what happened to you, I actually feel a little sorry for you. What's the matter? Don't stay in the village. Go to my village and be a hired worker for the time being."
Several mountain hunters listened, their expressions first became happy, then became slightly complicated, and in the end, they could only go into the ancestral hall and call for help.
Xu Mu didn't need to think about it to know that someone like the village chief should come out at this moment.
"Weifeng, send some dry food."
Wei Feng, who was standing by, listened and hurriedly led four or five people, each carrying a few bags of dry food, and came over in the blink of an eye.
Several mountain hunters hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly stretched out their hands and took the dry food.
"Visitors from afar, please come into the temple." Not long after, the Shan Xie who informed him came out, looked at Xu Mu complicatedly, and made a "please" gesture.
Wei Feng ordered a few people and followed Xu Mu closely. The rest went to find a thatched cottage nearby to feed the horses and rest for the time being.
"Master, there are so many people here."
As soon as he entered the ancestral hall, Wei Feng screamed slightly.
Xu Mu raised his head, his expression a little moved. This winter is like the death of this village.
There were at least two hundred people sitting in the entire large ancestral hall. They had nothing on them except a torn mattress or burnt animal skins, which could not cover their whole bodies. Even though the fire was still burning, they were all shivering.
appearance.
Several large earthen jars were placed on the fire, where rotten bark and grass roots were boiled. The thick smoke rushed into the nose, and the smell was extremely strange.
The dozen or so bags of dry food that were delivered were hurriedly poured into earthen jars without caring whether they were beans or wheat flour. A woman hurriedly fetched snow lumps and added them to the earthen jars. Then she picked up dead branches and poured them into the earthen jars.
The ground stirred.
Fortunately, I don’t eat raw food without any care, at least I still have some humanity.
Xu Mu continued to look around. Among the crowd of more than 200 people, he was fortunate to see many young and strong mountain hunters.
"Visitor from afar, my old villager's legs and feet are frozen. Could you please walk a few more steps?"
"That's easy to say."
Xu Mu nodded and followed the middle-aged mountain hunter who was delivering the message. Soon he came to a corner. The clan elder whose legs were frozen had already stood up with his hands on the branches, and his face was full of blue.
He seemed to be dizzy, but the middle-aged mountain hunter helped him steady his body and recognized the direction, and then he hurriedly raised his hands and bowed several times in vain.
"Senior, don't be too polite." Xu Mu hurriedly walked over and helped stabilize his body.
"I heard... you want me to join your village and work as a hired hand?"
"It's just that the horse dealer from Shu told something about the village some time ago. I kept thinking about it and waited for the snow to subside, so I rushed over immediately."
"My little boss is serious... If that's the case, you, please pick more young men. I remember that there are now 107 young men in the village. Don't worry about their monthly salary. Just don't let them starve to death."
.”
One hundred and seven young men hunted in the mountains. This number made Xu Mu very satisfied in his heart.
However, he doesn't just want to be young and strong. Killing the goose to lay eggs is a bad idea. Like those villagers in Mati Lake, they eat and work together with their families, and they work much more vigorously than ordinary hired workers.
To put it bluntly, what he wants is loyalty. The loyalty of these more than a hundred mountain hunters and shooters. Being separated from their families, it is estimated that something will happen in the future.
Furthermore, with the income from the wine shop, he could fully afford it. The women in the village were not a burden and could also help with many things.
"Little boss, you want to hire more than 200 people like me!" the clan elder said excitedly.
"A boy whose hair has not yet been tied has a small egg, so of course he cannot be hired." Xu Mu said with a smile, and the atmosphere around him became slightly lively.
The clan elder moved forward to grab him excitedly, and Xu Mu hurriedly stretched out his hand and shook it with him.
"This is the savior of my village. I can smell the smell of grain from before."
"Senior, why don't you eat first and we'll talk later."
"My little boss treated me well, and so did those horse dealers before. They even gave me two old war horses. It's a pity that I didn't live up to expectations and used them to satisfy my hunger."
"Old War Horse?" Xu Mu was startled.
"It is indeed a war horse. When I was young, I was recruited to the battlefield and touched a war horse. Although my eyes are dim with old age, I can smell the blood on the horse's belly."
After hesitating for a moment, Xu Mu did not think about it further. He supported the clan elder and slowly walked to the cooking pot.
At this time, the scene in the large ancestral hall was already a rare bustle. The half-grown children stared closely at several large steaming pots with bulging eyes.
Many women were wiping their tears and pushing their way to the front.
The heroic mountain hunter with the bow on his back did not fight for it. He stood straight and his eyes were obviously red.
"Let Uncle Wang eat first! Let Uncle Wang eat first!"
Four or five red-eyed mountain hunters came over carrying an old man. When they opened two or three tattered mattresses, Xu Mu couldn't help but feel a twitch in his heart.
The man called Uncle Wang had a piece of meat cut off his thigh, and his whole face was black and blue. I think the bowl of meat cut to worship ancestors outside the ancestral hall came from here.
In this filthy world, some people have exhausted all methods just to survive.