The convoy stayed on a higher mound to ensure the terrain advantage.

The horses smelled the smell of sulfur and salt in the air, and snorted uneasily.

The Tiefeng County mission has entered a battle-ready state. The soldiers quickly unloaded the entire box of armor and helped each other put it on.

"I...I caused trouble for everyone..." Anna held Winters' hand tightly, biting her lips, blaming herself fearfully and uneasily.

"Don't say stupid things, it's just a small scene." Winters comforted Anna and helped Anna put on the half-armor neatly: "You stay in the carriage for a while, and try not to get off."

Anna nodded vigorously.

"Okay." After confirming that all the straps were fastened, Winters patted the plate armor on Anna's back habitually, and laughed uncontrollably for no apparent reason.

"Why are you laughing?" Anna turned her head and asked suspiciously.

"I...I suddenly thought of a...dirty joke."

An educated lady shouldn't be curious, but Anna couldn't help but ask: "What?"

Winters leaned into Anna's ear and whispered.

"You...what do you know? The armor doesn't fit the body!" From her cheeks to her earlobes, Anna was so angry that she reached out to pull out the blunderbuss at Winters' waist.

"Be careful! There is ammunition in the gun!"

"Really? That couldn't be better!"

The blunderbuss still fell into Anna's hands because Winters originally planned to leave it to Anna.

After finally helping Anna put on the helmet, Winters squeezed the little she-wolf's hand, turned around and walked out of the carriage.

The interpreter, accountant, precious metal craftsman and chef are important members that cannot be missed, so they are all protected in the center of the formation.

Father Kaman was also left in the "safe zone".

When Winters got out of the car, Carman was praying. He was holding scriptures in both hands, holding a hammer under his arm, and muttering something in his mouth.

Seeing Winters approaching, Kaman just nodded coldly, while Winters nodded solemnly in return.

Stepping out of the temporary circle formed by carts, taking the reins from Charles, Winters jumped onto the horse.

In an instant, there seemed to be an invisible wave spreading out in all directions from him, sweeping across the entire hill.

Some kind of subtle changes happened to the riders. From the perspective of a bystander, it was difficult to tell what exactly had changed, but something was indeed different.

Unconscious salivation? Rapid breathing? Slightly sweaty palms? Or dilated pupils... It's unclear whether the physical state affects the mind, or whether changes in the mental state are reflected in the body.

If they were just sharp blades hidden in a box before, now they are ready to go.

"Your Excellency." Heinrich asked in a deep voice, "Do you want to show your flag?"

"No need." Winters looked at the smoke and dust raised by the horses' hooves in the distance: "Don't scare them away."

As early as the night before yesterday, the outgoing scouts discovered a group of Huds two hours away.

After receiving the reward, Winters ordered not to disturb the other party.

He did not intend to contact the other party, because "encountering him on the road" would only mean danger in the wilderness, especially when he was still an outsider.

The wilderness has hospitable hosts, but there is no lack of greedy, cruel, and hungry beasts. The law of the jungle is not a metaphor here, but a bloody way of life.

Whenever they lose a strong leader, the Hurd tribes will inevitably fall into this kind of costly internal friction until the next person appears who can re-forge order in chaos.

Although Winters took the initiative to avoid it, as the day went by, the distance between the two sides not only did not widen, but became smaller and smaller.

Until the Hud people also discovered the whereabouts of the convoy, they took the initiative and rushed towards them quickly.

The smoke and dust are getting closer and closer, the sound of hoofbeats is getting louder, and the silhouette of Hurd's rider is faintly visible on the ridges of the undulating hillside.

Just when Lai Jie's actions were completely exposed, the sound of horse hooves suddenly stopped. The figure of the Hud disappeared in a flash, as if it suddenly plunged into the earth.

"What's going on? Where are the people? Where are the barbarians?" Vashika looked around and muttered in a low voice.

Winters waved his whip and pointed to the hillside one kilometer away, and said with great interest: "Hiding on the reverse slope of that hillside, he probably doesn't want us to see clearly what is real...an interesting guy."

Old Sergei glared at his son, obviously dissatisfied with Vashikar's timid behavior.

The old man drove his horse forward and volunteered: "Sir, let me bring some sabers over to have a look! Hmph, no matter what tricks he has, let him try them first!"

"There's no rush, just wait." Winters said calmly: "However, if you really want to fight, don't rush too far forward, Mr. Morozov, I'm afraid others won't be able to catch up with you."

"Hehe." Old Sergey took great advantage of these words, grinned, and returned to his original position proudly.

As Winters said, the silence is only temporary.

Not long after, where the smoke disappeared, there were three riders climbing over the hillside and galloping towards Winters' position.

The distance of one kilometer was reached in a blink of an eye. As soon as the three riders reached the bottom of the slope, they heard the leader of the riders shouting at the top of his lungs: "Not the enemy! Not the enemy..."

The little lion panted and climbed up the hillside. Seeing the prepared posture of Winters and his party, he was startled at first, and then laughed: "Don't be so nervous! They are not hostile."

The subordinates all looked at Winters, but Winters did not give the order to lift the alert.

"No hostility?" Winters asked.

"No." The little lion replied with a smile.

"Who are they?"

"Hunters, the hunters of the Badlands." The little lion said meaningfully: "Actually, they are more afraid of you."

A quarter of an hour later, Winters met the leader of the Badlands.

"Batu, you don't know me." As soon as they met, the burly, dark-skinned leader of the Badlands tried hard to introduce himself in a unique way in blunt common language: "But I have seen you, I am Kuo.

Shihaqi, your men are defeated."

…

…

[The tenth day after leaving Feiyubu wintering ranch]

[Wasteland, an unknown small valley]

Although their identities were confirmed, and although they were "on the way", the Tiefeng County envoy and the Badlands hunters still tacitly maintained a certain distance from each other.

The leader of the Badlands Tribe [Koshhaqi] is quite unique and takes the initiative to visit the Tiefeng County envoy every day.

Koshhaqi has a strong curiosity about the world outside the wasteland.

What makes Winters interesting is that Koshhachi does not hide his curiosity about the outside world.

He was always asking questions: astronomy and geography, customs, religion, science, institutions and technology... he asked whatever came to mind. Some questions were so childish that they were ridiculous, while others were too profound to answer.

Winters saw no shame in Koshhachi's eyes when asking questions; Koshhachi never showed any discouragement or resentment when he didn't get answers.

When Koshhaqi was not asking questions, he would observe every move of the Palatuan people with great interest, from dressing to eating, from setting up camp to traveling... Even when members of the mission dug toilets, he carefully

Read it again.

Winters' men looked at the "savage" with surprise, disgust, or vigilance, but the "savage" seemed to feel nothing and continued to go his own way.

"...Leave the inland sea and sail southward until you leave the Golden Summit Mountains behind, and you will arrive at the [Broken Land]." Winters warmed himself by the fire while talking about the geography of the continent: "There are only barren hills there.

There are more than a dozen principalities, big and small, and everyone from the nobles to the common people is impoverished..."

The campfire was crowded with members of the mission, some of whom liked to join in the fun, and some who were fascinated by what they heard. Naturally, Koshhachi was also present. He sat among the Platoans as if no one else was around, listening with his knees propped up.

While talking, Winters found that the glass was empty, so he got up and went to fill it with water.

When Winters remained silent, the area around the campfire immediately became noisy.

"Hurd!" someone asked Koshhachi mockingly: "Can you understand?"

"I don't understand!" Koshhaqi grinned and replied in a half-baked Common Tongue: "I understand a little more. The more I listen, the more I understand."

Within a few words, Winters had returned with an iron kettle.

"Batu." Koshhaqi said bluntly: "In the tribes, even the masters of tribes as small as horseshoes don't do things like getting wine and milk! You do women's work, and the disciples only do it.

I will look down upon you."

"[Excited and vulgar words] Fart!" Charles felt as if he had been bitten hard by a dog. He immediately snatched the kettle from his brother's hand and pushed it back tit for tat: "The blood wolf is of use to you, do you look down on it, do you look down on it?"

Koshhaqi nodded thoughtfully: "It makes sense! Even if a warrior like Batu plays with needles and threads every day, a large number of his disciples will rush to follow him."

Winters: "Just to be clear, I don't like the needle or the thread."

A faint laugh came from the carriage five steps away.

Koshhaqi seemed not to care about the personal hobbies of the Palatine champion. He asked impatiently: "Batu, where is the further south from the 'very broken land'? Where is the further south?"

"Sea of ​​sand." Winters recalled the content of "Geography": "an endless desert like the sea."

Koshhaqi scratched the top of his head: "What kind of desert is it?"

"Have you seen the sand on the river beach?"

"I've seen it."

"A desert is a place with nothing but sand. The book says so, but I have never seen a sea of ​​sand with my own eyes."

"Only sand, no grass? And no water?"
To be continued...