Chapter 1307: Carrying on the Past and Opening up the Future (One Hundred and Ninety-Seven) A Tribe in Trouble

Standing outside the old camp of Huyan tribe, Niu Ben, Helan Jie and others were stunned. Before, they had imagined the plight of Huyan tribe, but obviously the facts still exceeded their imagination. The shabby old camp, the ragged tribesmen, and the numb eyes all showed that Huyan tribe was now at the moment of life and death.

Huyan tribe was the only force on this land that did not succumb to Wang Jian, but they also paid a huge price for it. They came to this land several years earlier than Wang Jian, but unfortunately, their leader did not have the strategic awareness and talent of Wang Jian. After coming to this land, they still retained their usual style, mainly grazing. The mobile grazing made them constantly conflict with local forces, and when there was a shortage of food, frequent looting made them the public enemy of this land. In the conflicts again and again, their living force was constantly weakened, and finally they could only barely occupy a foothold on this land.

But Wang Jian came at random.

The Qin army led by Wang Jian began to sweep away the rulers of this land with a tough attitude. Compared with the Huyan tribe, their strategy was more ambitious and their tactics were more flexible. It took only three years to sweep away or recover all the forces on this land. The Huyan tribe was an exception.

The Xiongnu died at the hands of the Qin people. The Huyan tribe could not forget this. They attributed their current predicament to the Qin people's pursuit of them. In the eyes of the Huyan tribe, the arrival of Wang Jian's troops was a pursuit of the last remaining forces of the Xiongnu. They were in a state of isolation on this land and had no idea about the current changes in the Central Plains. If they knew that Wang Jian was also a refugee being hunted, I wonder what they would think.

The more than 100 Huyan tribe soldiers they met before were the most neatly dressed among them. Helan Jie sighed silently, the current situation of the Huyan tribe in front of him. He couldn't help but think of the days more than ten years ago when Helan Xiong took them to flee on the grassland.

A woman was carrying a bundle of dry grass with ice chips on it, standing blankly at the gate of the old camp, looking at this group of well-dressed outsiders. In such snowy weather, God knows how far she had walked to dig out the grass from the snow. Her clothes were tattered, and some of them could not even cover her body. A little boy with a runny nose was holding the corner of the woman's clothes tightly. The little boy was wrapped in a black felt. He tied a straw rope around his waist and barely wrapped the felt around his body. What made Helan Jie sad was that the little boy was carrying a handful of grass on his back.

Such a big child, in Dahan, should be sitting in a warm classroom now, listening to the teachers' lectures, holding textbooks. Reading aloud, or rolling in the arms of his parents after school, or wearing thick cotton clothes. Wearing a tight hat, waving a small shovel and happily making a snowman outside the house.

He took a deep breath, strode over, and took off his cloak. He squatted down, stretched out his hand to tear off the grass on the child, and wrapped the child tightly with the thick cloak.

The child was a little nervous. He kept twisting his body, staring wide-eyed, looking up at his mother.

The woman saw Helan Xiong coming over, and she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. When she saw Helan Xiong's movements, her eyes suddenly reddened, and she threw away the grass on her back, and knelt down in the snow with a sound, "Thank you, my noble man, thank you, my noble man."

Helan Jie pulled the woman up, "Where is the child's father?"

"He died. He died in the war in the spring." The woman cried softly.

Helan Xiong knew that in the Xiongnu tribe, the death of a man in the family was like the collapse of the sky. He stood up and patted the little boy's head behind him, "Hold on for a few more days, everything will be fine."

There was a commotion in the old camp, and a strong man wrapped in fur strode out with a group of warriors. He was Hu Yanzhuo, the current patriarch of the Huyan tribe.

"Helan tribe?" Hu Yanzhuo looked at Helan Jie with a piercing gaze. When the Qin defeated the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu royal court was also hunted down on the grassland. The previous old patriarch of the Huyan tribe felt that the situation was over and that if they stayed in the grassland, they would definitely be killed by the Qin people. So he led the Huyan tribe across the desert and arrived in this place. However, they only had a few days of comfort before they became the public enemy of the people of this land. With the arrival of Wang Jian, they became worse day by day. Now they are standing on the edge of a cliff and on the verge of extinction.

After crossing the desert, they originally had more than a thousand warriors and thousands of tribesmen, but in the past ten years, not only did they not get a rest, but now they have shrunk to only more than 300 warriors and less than 2,000 tribesmen. If Wang Jian had not suddenly encountered the big problem of the Black-robed Arabs this year and had no intention of entangled with them, I am afraid they would not have been able to hold on until this time.

But even so, they couldn't survive this winter. These more than 100 cavalrymen were originally sent by Hu Yanzhuo to see if they could rob something. But now with Wang Jian's solidification on this land, farms and cities have formed a linkage defense, and even robbery is difficult to succeed.

In order to survive, Hu Yanzhuo can hardly sleep at night. Even as the patriarch, his family assets are almost exhausted. Today, he received a report from the cavalry that more than a dozen Huns came and claimed to be from the Helan tribe. This surprised him very much. When did the Huns become free to move on the Qin territory? They were even accompanied by Wang Jian's men. What was the reason?

He knew about the Helan tribe. When he left the prairie, the Helan tribe was just a small tribe that was not worth mentioning. There were not many people at all.

"Helan Jie of the Helan tribe, meet the tribe leader!" He Banjie touched his heart with his right hand and half bent down.

Hu Yanzhuo returned the greeting with the same courtesy. He stood up and asked, "Brother Helan, why are you here? How did you get here?"

Helan Jie turned half of his body to let Niu Ben behind him come over, "Chief Hu Yan, let me introduce you, this is General Niu Benniu, the special envoy of the Great Han Kingdom. This time we are here to escort General Niu to negotiate with General Wang Jianwang. We heard that the Huyan tribe was here, so we came to visit."

"The Great Han Kingdom?" Hu Yanzhuo showed a puzzled look in his eyes. When they came out, Gao Yuan was just a small Fufeng County Lieutenant. There was no Great Han Kingdom.

"Yes, the Great Han Kingdom, the most powerful country in the Central Plains now. Chief Hu Yan, this matter is a long story, let's talk inside!" Niu Ben said with a smile.

"Isn't Qin the most powerful country in the Central Plains?" Hu Yanzhuo was a little unconvinced.

"The Qin people have been beaten to death by us, and they are about to perish!" Niu Ben laughed and raised his head proudly.

Whether it was true or not, this was a piece of news that made Hu Yanzhuo very happy, and his face suddenly showed some brilliance, "Please, please, go to my big tent to talk."

Inside Hu Yanzhuo's big tent, or in this old camp, there was only a tent with charcoal supply. The tattered tents along the way were mostly burned with animal feces. Helan Jie was already unfamiliar with that smell, and had long been forgotten in the deepest part of his memory, but today, the scars in these memories were once again evoked. Seeing the numb and hungry faces in those tents, not only Helan Jie, but also Niu Ben was a little trembling.

In this tribe, there are mostly old, weak, women and children, and there are very few young and strong men. Most of them fell down forever in battles again and again.

Niu Ben was choked by the thick coal smoke when he stepped into Hu Yanzhuo's tent. He noticed that the carpet in the tent of the head of the tribe was damaged, which also reflected the current predicament of the Huyan tribe from one side.

A group of people sat around the fire. Yu Jiang was naturally not qualified to enter. He and his soldiers were placed in several rotten tents. There was naturally no fire burning dung inside. Outside, rows of Huyan warriors hugged them tightly.

"Come, drink some mare's milk first to warm your body." Hu Yanzhuo greeted everyone warmly in the tent. After all, Helan Jie was the first person from other Xiongnu tribes he had seen in many years.

"Chief Huyan, your life is really not very good!" Niu Ben sighed after taking a sip of mare's milk.

Hu Yanzhuo's expression suddenly dimmed, "Yes, if we can survive this winter, in the spring tomorrow, the livestock will give birth to many cubs, and we can find more food, and life may get better."

"Has Chief Hu Yan ever considered leaving here?" Niu Ben asked.

"Leave? Where can we go? This place is now the world of the Qin people. Only Almaty is still ours. Maybe even this last resting place will soon be lost. We have nowhere to go and can only live one day at a time." Hu Yanzhuo said.

"Come with us, back to the Han Dynasty." Helanjie put down the kumis in his hand, "There, you will be properly settled, you will be allocated pastures, there will be new tents, and more livestock. Your life will get better day by day. In the Han Dynasty, there will be no war, let alone hunger."

"The Han Dynasty!" Hu Yanzhuo murmured.

"Yes, Han, Chief Huyan, the Xiongnu survivors who did not leave are now living in Han. They are living very well. Helan Xiong, the chief of our Helan tribe, is now the commander of the Third Military Region of Han, commanding hundreds of thousands of people. The commander's sister, Helan Yan, is the princess of Han. I am Helan Jie, and now I am also a lieutenant general of the Han Kingdom, commanding thousands of cavalry. The Xiongnu people in Han can be officials or do business. Those who are still willing to graze will be given pastures, and their children can go to school. They are all living very well." Helan Jie said in one breath.

Listening to Helan Jie's words, Hu Yanzhuo widened his eyes and seemed a little stupid. (To be continued...)