The western side of the newly reclaimed land province has the Bighorn River as its natural boundary.

Crossing the Bighorn River and walking more than 100 kilometers westward is the wintering pasture of the Teltown region.

In the past month, tens of thousands of Terdun people have continued to migrate towards this place, making the number of tents in the winter pastures unprecedented.

But no matter how many tents there are, there are still no sights of thousands of horses galloping. At most, there are only three or three riders galloping across the horizon.

The tents are far away from the tents, and the livestock are far away from the herds. They keep a cold distance from each other, like isolated islands in the yellow-green sea.

The reason why it looks like this is, on the one hand, the social form of the Hud people, and on the other hand, the necessity of survival.

The Hurds can be roughly divided into three classes:

Kota - a retired warrior and military aristocrat;

Halan - means the head of Guizhou, the subjects of the nobles;

Tihe'er - slave.

Because the living environment was harsh and dangerous, there was no difference in living standards and political status between Guizhou leaders and slaves.

Slaves of great nobles will definitely be better fed, clothed warmly, and have a higher status than ordinary Guizhou slaves.

At the same time, the flattening of society has led to very good class mobility.

After all, a Hed man may be a leader of Guizhou today, but tomorrow he may be kidnapped and used as a slave, successfully achieving a class leap.

And even for the Terdun Department, which is regarded as one of the "three major departments", its organizational model is still "a group of small military nobles loyal to one big military noble".

A small military noble, plus his companions, bodyguards, subjects and slaves, is a miniature tribe.

The fire-warmer is not only the object of allegiance of the small military nobles, but also the most powerful military nobles.

The amount of livestock that the pastures can carry is limited, so the Hurd family must move farther apart to graze; the expansion of distance will increase the cost of governance. This loose social form will naturally evolve.

For the Hurd society, this is a necessity for survival; but for the rulers, this is the dispersion of power.

The Fire-warmer wants to make changes. He has heard that the White Lion is "reorganizing households and reorganizing the people", and he also wants to reorganize the Teldun tribe like the White Lion.

But now his prestige is not as good as before, especially the loss of the golden man who worships the sky, which has attracted a lot of criticism. Whenever the fire-warmer sees the Kota whispering, he feels that the Kota are making fun of him and mocking him.

The essence of White Lion's system of household registration and uniforming the people is to compress the power space of the small military aristocrats - this is clearly seen by the roasters.

However, there is one characteristic of nomadic life: [Herdsmen’s property either has legs or can be carried on long legs, so they can run away at any time].

If the Kota are not happy with the Firekeepers, they can take all their wealth and leave at any time, change to another tribe and continue to be Kota, or simply stand on their own.

Of course, this kind of "moving", which is tantamount to defection, will definitely have procedural issues, and it will be troublesome to wipe the butt, and it may even trigger a melee among various tribes.

But when their interests are really damaged, the Kotas will never hesitate.

Therefore, the fire-warmer did not dare to act rashly. He had to stabilize the Teldu tribe first, and then squeeze power from the Kotas little by little.

If you want to rebuild your prestige, the fastest way is to win the war.

For the Hurds, there is no problem that cannot be solved with loot. If it cannot be solved, it must be because there is not enough loot.

And the fire-warmers have found a good target.

"Children of Terdun!" The fire-warmer walked into the tent majestically: "Are everyone here?"

The Kota in the big tent stopped making noises and saluted those who were warming up the fire.

The fire-warmers convened the Kotas for a meeting, nominally to "divide the wintering pastures."

The agreement with Plato is no longer binding, and the Teldu Ministry no longer needs to maintain a 100-kilometer buffer zone.

As a result, a large area of ​​rich wintering pasture was created in the Terdun tribe out of thin air, and the Kota people were eagerly waiting for the roasters to share the meat with everyone.

The man who was warming the fire looked around the big tent and talked about another thing first: "You and I were both present at the autumn battle. The woman didn't get much money, but she tired out a lot of geldings. It was my order that was wrong.

You can blame me."

Those who are warming up the fire expose their shortcomings on their own, and all the science towers do not dare to answer the question at will.

"The disciples still looted a lot of things." An experienced Kota said cautiously: "This is all thanks to you, the fire-warmer."

The roaster sneered: "I didn't eat the truly tender and plump leg of lamb. A few broken bones and trimmings, how can I share it with my disciples?"

The Kota knew the true purpose of the discussion in the Firewarmer's tent, but no one was willing to take a stand.

It was the fire-warmer's uncle who was the first to stand up and ask bluntly: "Fire-warmer, just say it straight. We are all willing to go to the grass field, but you have to explain the context clearly. Just like a herd of horses following the leader,

You tell us where to go so we can follow you."

"It's very simple. Although the two-legged people have suffered a defeat, they are still a tough nut to crack." The fire roaster said in a rough voice: "You and I may not be able to win in a knife-to-knife, arrow-to-arrow fight. Even if

Victory will also involve many casualties."

Kota from the Terdun Department nodded.

The decline of thirty years cannot be completely reversed by winning a battle. If we really open up the battle and fight another battle, the Platoans will definitely win.

"So we have to go back to the path of our grandfathers and ancestors. We must be like wolves hunting yellow sheep, bite the small and weak ones first, and avoid the big and strong ones." The fire-warmer bared his teeth: "Wait for the smaller ones.

, the weak ones will be eaten up, and the big and strong ones can be slaughtered..."

The Kotas all felt that this was reasonable, but they also felt that the roaster could not say this. One Kota secretly thought: it must be the "Echige" of the roaster who prepared the words for him.

Echige is his father, and the man who roasts the fire has passed away. The only person who can be called Echige by the man who roasts the fire is the "interpreter" who fled to the wilderness thirty years ago.

"Just tell me what to do!" The fire-warmer's uncle interrupted his nephew rudely: "Stop being reasonable!"

"Okay!" The man who was warming the fire did not hesitate and said in a serious voice: "This winter will be warm, the grass has not dried up, the horses have not lost much fat, and there is still room for another fight. The two-legged people have never thought that you and I will come again.

send troops.

Zhu Keta will go back and gather the men and horses. This year, the wintering pastures will be divided according to their efforts. If the effort is greater, the fatter ones will be taken. If the effort is less, the poorer ones will be taken farther away. If there is nothing else to say, let’s throw a bean and decide!"

After saying that, the fire-warmer slammed the table, and two slaves brought in a gold vase and two bowls, with red beans and black beans in the two bowls.

The person warming the fire took the lead in taking a bean from each of the two bowls and walked to the golden vase. With a "clang", a bean fell from his hand into the vase.

Other Kotas also pick up beans and throw pins one by one based on their status and strength.

Kotas who are not strong enough are not eligible to throw beans, and Kota who are qualified to throw beans are not allowed to abandon their votes. Each Kota must choose a side. This is the bean-tossing rule, simple and crude but efficient for the Herds.

Voting method.

The person who was warming the fire had his back to the gold vase and waited until the bean throwing was over before turning around.

He shook the golden vase up and down three times and poured the beans in the vase into the earthenware plate in one breath.

Red beans and black beans have distinct colors. Except for two black beans on the plate, everything else is red.

"Witness the gods!" the fire-warmer roared, smashing the pottery plate, announcing the completion of the ceremony.

…

When the Terdun Department began to gather troops, Tiefeng County, a hundred kilometers away, was also mobilizing troops.

The assembly order was sent to all military villages immediately. Carriages loaded with ordnance rumbled out of the arsenal, followed closely behind the messengers.

The weapons and armor of the Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment were originally kept centrally, but now they have been delegated to individuals.

In order to minimize the logistical pressure, Winters asked the soldiers to prepare their own dry food for two weeks.

Suddenly, smoke was everywhere in Juntun Village, and every household was busy grinding, kneading, and baking dough.

It was at this time that the second company commander Bart Xialing discovered a serious problem - there were too many bachelors under his command.

The Tiefeng County Infantry Regiment was reorganized from the surrendered Tiefeng County garrison. As early as when Major Ronald was recruiting soldiers, he deliberately selected homeless people without small families to join the army.

Because refugees without family members are more dangerous, and refugees without family members need less food rations.

The new infantry regiment naturally inherits this structure, so most of the soldiers have enough food for one person and the whole family is not hungry.

On weekdays, everyone can make do with one bite. When it comes to preparing dry food for two weeks, everyone is in a hurry - including Bart Schalling himself.

After Bart Schalling walked around the village, he immediately stopped the household-by-household method of making military rations.

He gathered all the men, women, and children in the village. The second company commander had seen how the old saint Red organized the soldiers to bake dry food. He decided to imitate the practice at that time and prepare dry food for all the soldiers in the company.

Manual tasks such as mixing and grinding noodles are done by men, while delicate tasks such as baking and mixing water are left to the few women in the second village.

A temporary oven was set up in the village square, and everyone worked together, sweating profusely, and the atmosphere was like a celebration. Seeing this lively scene, Bart Shilling suddenly felt a sense of desolation.

When the second company commander was extremely busy, Winters was equally busy.

Winters left full power to the blacksmiths Boltan and Shaucha's son-in-law to deal with the affairs of the blacksmiths' guild.

As the person who founded the blacksmith's guild, the old blacksmith Boltan knew the guild thoroughly. Since he chose to "come slowly", there was no one more suitable than the old blacksmith Boltan.

After communicating with the old blacksmith, Winters's vision was no longer limited to the blacksmith's guild. He arranged for Charles and Shaosha to cooperate to make secret statistics on all the guilds in Tiefeng County.

However, all these things had to make way for the war. Winters arranged the assembly route for each company of the infantry regiment, fell on the bed and slept for less than two hours, when he was woken up by Charles again.

The elders of nearby villages and farmers who are recognized as good at farming have been summoned to Gevaudan and are waiting for the tribune to discuss the matter.

It's helpless to say that the bread has to be eaten one bite at a time, and the things have to be done in the same way.

Although the war is close at hand, the first thing Winters has to solve is the agricultural disaster caused by the warm winter.

In a certain sense, this matter is even more important than guarding against the Hurd Barbarians.
To be continued...