Volume 3: Fellow villagers, let’s farm together~ Chapter 74: Ambitious Cat Tribe
Xiao Yun did not give the leopard a chance to tell the "truth". After making some jokes, he left the activity room and closed the door... The two guys inside had weird noses and faces, and they couldn't move anyway, so he was not afraid that they would continue fighting.
Dormitory No. 6 where the caracals lived, after the four cubs went to live with the green dragon, only seven caracals were left living here. The big bunk bed that could accommodate sixteen or seventeen adult snow werewolves was particularly spacious for them. They could use half of it for sleeping, and the other half could be used to store a lot of semi-finished woolen products they had woven. The three cats who came to "visit" were naturally arranged to live with them.
Xiao Yun did not enter the room. He stood at the door and called Qiu out. He pulled Qiu aside and muttered to him for a long time before letting Qiu go back to sleep. He stood there stroking his chin, thinking.
"I intentionally didn't bring along any tribesmen who have seen the Minotaur. This spotted leopard is indeed extraordinary!"
The leopard said such words after waking up. Xiao Yun knew with his knees that the real purpose of this guy's trip was definitely not for Qingyan. Thinking about the saintly habits of the Minotaur, it was not difficult for Xiao Yun to come to the conclusion: this poor leopard came here for refuge under the instructions of the Minotaur.
The minotaurs knew exactly how much land the Huoyan tribe had cultivated. After all, they got the seeds from them. Yuan Longping also taught the farming techniques to them very clearly without keeping anything secret. They knew that the Huoyan tribe had enough food to feed more than 30 cats.
After guessing this fact, Xiao Yun was a little unhappy about the intention of these minotaur brothers to drag him into grassland charity work. But when he thought about how the minotaur were willing to confront the tiger tribe in order to keep the secret for the Fire Tribe, Xiao Yun couldn't despise these true saints - if the minotaur were more selfish, the Fire Tribe would be in trouble sooner than the cat tribe.
Besides, Xiao Yun dislikes "doing charity"... At least at this stage when there is an urgent need to gather population, he will definitely not dislike it!
So what Xiao Yun was actually annoyed about was: "These idiots didn't do a good deed earlier, but they started talking after more than 300 people were gone. What are they doing? They only remembered to buy stocks after the stocks started to fall, and they only started to produce milk after the children died——"
Fortunately, this bunch of idiots managed to bring someone who impressed Xiao Yun, which somewhat dampened his anger... Turning his gaze towards the mobile home, Xiao Yun's eyes sparkled.
According to the Minotaur's thinking, he must persuade this spotted leopard to quietly bring the remaining tribesmen to surrender, but what about this guy? He is unwilling to follow the Minotaur's routine, and instead wants to turn "surrender" into "cooperation", using the intelligence given to him by the Minotaur, and perhaps something else as a bargaining chip for "cooperation" - he can consider these things in adversity, no wonder Qingyan can't compete with him!
“Hehe…” In the darkness, a certain wolf cub was rubbing its hands together, its eyes shining, and the wolf ears on its head were faintly showing a tendency to turn into the sharp horns of a little devil. “I’m not afraid of your cleverness, I’m just afraid of your lack of cleverness, hehehehe…”
I would rather fight with a smart person than talk to a fool. Compared to challenging the impossible-to-pass concrete-headed BOSS like the Fire Clan Chief, this Summer Training of the Leopard is much easier~
Leopard Xiat lay in bed for two days in agony. During this time, Qiu brought him thick broth and fluffy and soft steamed buns several times. He ate them silently and continued to lie on the strangely warm concrete floor to rest after eating. During this period, there was an endless stream of snow wolves who came to visit Qingyan and brought him various snacks. Xia did not show any abnormality, and he seemed to be silent, as if he was a transparent man, and seemed to care nothing about Qingyan's popularity in the snow wolf tribe.
When he finally got up and walked slowly to the door, a look of surprise appeared on his tight poker face. He was unconscious when Qingcao came in. This was the first time he saw the Snow Wolf Tribe clearly: more, neater, and larger buildings than the Tauren Tribe. The square was as flat as the interior, with only a few strange marks (the cement was not applied well). Is this really the Snow Wolf Tribe that is famous for being dirty, poor, and messy? !
Cats are all very clean. Even if they don’t have the habit of cutting their hair, they will try their best to make it straight. If it weren’t for the long journey, Lu Xia and his tribesmen’s hair wouldn’t be so messy… In Xia’s opinion, the cat tribe must be neater than the snow wolf tribe, but, this - these snow wolves not only take good care of themselves, their tribe doesn’t look much worse than the tiger tribe’s royal court? !
Xia calmed himself and put his bare feet on the ground outside the door. The flat ground was not very harsh on his feet, but just a little cold... Xia knew that this was because he had lost too much blood and was more afraid of the cold. He turned his head to look around. Xia's body shook and he almost lost his grip on the door frame.
To the left of the portal of the mobile home, in the spacious open-air square, there were piles of green vegetables, radishes and cabbages covered in dirt. The quantity was so large that it was not inferior to the harvest scene seen when begging for food from the Tauren tribe.
"...No wonder they have no shortage of vegetables. Just as the Minotaur said, they can also farm..." Xia's face turned pale and he couldn't help feeling uneasy. The premise for the transaction he envisioned was that the Snow Wolf tribe would need them, but now it seems...the value of the "chips" needs to be considered.
Xia knew what kind of life the people who had fled to other tribes were living in on this grassland. Although they were not treated as slaves, their status was definitely not much better. For the sake of his people, Xia could only and must try his best to fight for them.
"That cub didn't come to see me at all. Was he not interested in what I said, or didn't he know it was important? No, the person that Chief Hall specifically mentioned shouldn't be an ordinary snow wolf. He clearly knew that the porcelain produced by their tribe had been targeted by the tiger tribe—"
Xia, who was slowly walking towards the pile of vegetables, suddenly stopped.
"Could it be...he is waiting for me to bow my head?"
Xia's face became paler and paler, and there was sweat at the roots of his golden hair that was cut into uneven shapes.
"That's right... since this cub can see through my purpose, he can naturally see my weakness..." Xia's heart was in turmoil, and his palms clenched into fists subconsciously, "So there is no need for him to be impatient, because it's not them who can't wait... but me."
Such knowledge made Xia feel a little embarrassed. He was a warrior of the leopard clan, second only to the tiger clan in the cat clan. Even though he had fallen into his current situation and had to accept the kind guidance of the minotaurs and move away from the central grassland, Xia still had the pride of the leopard clan in his heart that he could not let go.
After standing there silently for a moment, Xia turned around and went back to the mobile home.
Qingyan's injuries had also healed a lot, and he had turned back into human form. He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed to rest. Xia walked in and out without opening his eyes, clearly unwilling to pay attention.
Xia Momo walked to Qingyan, sat down, stared at Qingyan with his eyes closed for a long time, and spoke in a hoarse voice: "Qingyan."
Qingyan didn't move.
"I know you hate what I did in the past. But you should also know that I had to do it for the tribe."
This was the first time in Xia's life that he bowed his head to explain to someone. It was extremely difficult before he opened his mouth, but once the words came out, it was not as painful as he thought.
Qingyan opened his eyes, and the golden vertical pupils unique to cats looked at him coldly.
"There are still thirty-six people left in the tribe, including me." Xia let out a long breath and met Qingyan's gaze. "I know you hate me, and I can leave. But for the rest of the tribe, I hope you can take care of them."
Qingyan showed a strange, somewhat sad expression, closed his eyes and turned his face away, and spoke after a while: "I really don't know when you became like this, Xia. At this time, why do have to say such disgusting things?"
He turned back and glared at Xia fiercely: "You bowing to me is a great sacrifice for you, do you think so? Don't be ridiculous - you just think it's better to bow to me than to the Snow Wolf Man, right? Then you threw all the things you didn't want to do to me to do, and you still think you value me and trust me, right? When will you stop treating others as fools! ”
Xia's expression instantly became uglier: "You..."
"If you hadn't arrogantly abandoned Qiu and his companions, who you thought were useless, and caused the people in your tribe to no longer trust you, what would you have done next? Let me guess... You aspire to have a status like the Tiger King. You would want to gather the cat tribe together to build a grassland city similar to the royal court. Isn't that what your ambition is? For the sake of your people? Ha, you just envy the Tiger King. You are just an ambitious bastard who wants to pursue a status similar to the Tiger King by relying on your power as a leopard warrior!"
Xia suddenly rushed forward and punched Qingyan. Qingyan raised his arm to block his fist, and swung with his other hand to knock Xia to the ground.
"Did I get it right? Are you angry out of shame?" Qingyan stood up with the help of the wall. "I've told you a long time ago not to treat others as fools. I can see through you, do you think others can't? Your actions that claim to be for the good of the tribe can only deceive the minotaurs who have no ill will towards anyone!"
"Then tell me what to do!" Xia jumped up and hit back with his fist, roaring uncontrollably, "Besides talking big, what can you do? Our tribe is only ten days away from the king's tent. Is it wrong for me to want to make the tribe stronger? Didn't you see what happened to those tribes that were wiped out with just an excuse? Being weak is the biggest fault on the grassland!"
Qingyan rushed forward and pushed Xia down: "You bastard!"
...about half an hour later.
Xiao Yun looked around at the two people lying flat again, and the corner of his mouth twitched: "So... the two of you can move and immediately seize the opportunity to fight again? Without leaving it overnight?"
The two big cats with bruised faces and noses faced the wall, not moving or speaking.
"Okay..." Xiao Yun held his forehead with his hand, "Qingyan, I will carry you back to the dormitory, and let him live here."
"Wait." Xia propped himself up and sat up. Halfway through, his face changed. He covered his stomach with his hands and didn't say anything for a long time.
"Young man, don't be so impulsive. Wait until you're healed before you talk about anything." Xiao Yun waved at him and squatted down to carry Qingyan .
Xia looked at him blankly: "..."
Seeing that Xiao Yun was about to leave, Xia quickly said, "Wait a minute, I have something to say!"
"Don't be anxious, don't be anxious. Have a good rest. I'll come back later." Xiao Yun waved his hand and ran away quickly carrying Qingyan.
Xia stretched out Erkang's hand: "..."
Qingyan carried Xiao Yun on his shoulders and was silent for a while: "Ayun, did you leave him alone on purpose?"
"Hehehe... Why would I do something like letting an injured person consume his brain cells? Qingyan, don't think too much about it. Get your body back in shape quickly so you can go back to work." Xiao Yun said with a smile.
Qingyan: “…” If you hadn’t added that last sentence, I would have been really touched by you.
After being carried by Xiao Yun to the No. 2 dormitory and placed on the kang, Qing Yan couldn't help but say, "Actually, he wasn't like this before... When we were cubs, we saw the tiger tribe escorting the looted slaves passing by our tribe. They bypassed the minotaurs but didn't avoid the cat tribe... After that, Xia changed..."
"So you can't compete with him. First, you are not as ruthless as him. Second, you are soft-hearted before him." Xiao Yun pressed Qingyan's head onto the reed-filled pillow. "Okay, take care of your injury. I know what to do."
How can I not leave him alone?
When engaging in psychological warfare with such a scheming and clever person, the most taboo thing is to talk too much and make mistakes!
If you don't express your opinion, he won't be sure of your attitude and can only lower his expectations as time goes by; if you compare yourself to others, they will see your bottom line and will get angry. At this time, if you want to hire someone, you can only accept it with a pinch of your nose. How stupid is that!
If the other party was alive and well outside now, Xiao Yun would definitely not dare to delay like this. If he really ran away somewhere else, the loss would be huge. Now he is lying on the edge of the bowl and he can put the food into the bowl with just a flick of his finger. Why should he be anxious? Time is on his side, okay!
So... Xiao Yun was "delayed" for more than twenty hours before he appeared in front of Xia again. During this period, the only person who entered the mobile home was Qiu, who was in a complicated mood and didn't want to say anything to Xia. The leopard, who was almost getting impatient, didn't hear any news.
"Chief Hall told me the reason why the Snow Wolf Tribe's heritage was cut off."
As soon as he saw Xiao Yun, Xia, fearing that this cub would leave him alone again, quickly put forward his valuable chips.
"Oh?" Xiao Yun's expression remained unchanged.
"..." Xia himself was well aware that the party who showed his chips first would be in a passive position in the negotiation, but Xiao Yun's estimation was correct, time was not on his side, and Xia really could not afford to delay.
Xia recounted the origins of the cats, tigers, and snow wolves on the grassland as recorded in the Tauren's tribal heritage. He thought that the snow wolf cub sitting opposite him would never be able to remain calm, but he did not expect that the other's expression did not change at all, not even his eyebrows moved.
Uh... Xiao Yun, who seemed as steady as an old dog, was of course shocked. But he was not shocked enough to make him lose his composure.
What's wrong with the royal family of the former Orc Empire? Don't they know that a phoenix is no better than a chicken? The bloodline of the imperial nobles and imperial warriors is even more meaningless. The so-called ancestral glory is only useful when bragging to strangers who call each other brothers at the drinking table.
What shocked him was that he finally understood why the Snow Werewolves were so stupid and cute—all the elders died, and there were only cubs who could struggle to survive. Of course, there was no knowledge to pass on—and, it turned out that this piece of painful grassland had a nickname of "Cursed Land"... A place where roaming monsters roamed everywhere and only the extremely strong races could not survive was a cursed land! And there was also the stubborn neighbors of the elves who could not be provoked!
"So that's how it is. The real masters of the grassland are the minotaurs and centaurs." Xiao Yun slowly revealed a fake surprised expression, and said with a touched look, "I have never dealt with centaurs, but the minotaurs are really good people. They gave us a place to live and were willing to let us beg... and they were willing to help us live."
Xia: “…”Who told you this!
"So what is Chief Xia's plan? Will he also migrate to the southwest corner of the grassland like our Snow Wolf Clan?" Xiao Yun said in a simple and pure manner.
summer:"……"
"In fact, life here is not bad. Although it is troublesome to trade materials, it is not impossible to survive." Xiao Yun said in a friendly manner, "You brought sheep with you? It just so happens that there is no one occupying the grassland near the Earth River about 200 miles to the north. You can go there."
Xia had no choice but to speak: "When we came here, Chief Hall asked me to bring a message, telling your people not to look for them in the next two years. They are not sure whether the Tiger Tribe has given up."
"I see..." Xiao Yun showed a heavy expression at the right time, "I didn't expect that the porcelain we presented to the Tauren would cause so much trouble. We should really pay attention to it... I understand. Our tribe will try not to go to the central region in the next two years."
summer:"……"
Xiao Yun blinked innocently.
Xia lowered his head and closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and said: "I have a...premeditated request, I hope...I hope that your tribe can let us stay."
Xiao Yun smiled silently, "You little bastard, you are still naive when it comes to scheming!"
Don't you just want to make the Snow Wolf Tribe your ally, eat and drink from us, and maintain the integrity and independence of the Cat Tribe? If someone else was the tribe leader, I would have agreed, but it's not the case with you - after all, you are the first grassland person who knows some political tactics, you have to give him some "respect"!
If that doesn't work, you can take a step back and let Qingyan be the nominal chief, and then step down on the pretext of considering the tribe members' sacrifices so as to truly win over the people's hearts. This is a good trick, but firstly, Qingyan won't cooperate with you, and secondly, we won't give you this opportunity!
On the surface, Xiao Yun was very considerate and said happily: "If you are willing to live with us, that would be even better. I have said that our Snow Wolf Clan welcomes the Cat Clan." After a pause, he pretended to be very considerate of the other party and said, "Well, I will discuss with Qiuqiu later and let the caracals take your people and arrange for them to follow the caracals to adapt to the life in the tribe as soon as possible. Do you think this is safe?"
Xia…what else could Xia say? He didn't even have the energy to get angry…this cub had completely blocked his path. As the head of the tribe, if Xia still couldn't figure out the cub's intentions, then his life would be in vain. If the cat tribe wanted to enter the Snow Wolf tribe, they could only be "scattered sand", not "a whole".
Hiding his reluctance, Xia reluctantly nodded. The most urgent thing now was to settle the tribesmen who were waiting for news outside, and the rest... could be done later when the opportunity arose.
Xiao Yun smiled kindly. Such an ambitious big cat was also very good at entertaining people!
After both parties "reached a consensus", Xiao Yun immediately arranged for someone to accompany the other three cat tribesmen to pick up the people waiting for news. Xiao Yun himself took Xia to meet the "management" of the tribe - as a warrior, Xia would definitely enter the decision-making level, but he could only join as a warrior, a tribe leader or something... Well, there were also tribe leaders who were mascots in the tribe, so he would be treated the same way as Huo Yan.
So Xia, under Xiao Yun's guidance, met Huo Yan, Cao Gen, the goblin old Shamen, and the gray dwarf Baru...
When Xia realized that Xiao Yun was treating him as the "head" of the clan, he was a little excited. Xiao Yun took him to see Dahe, Qingcao, Languo, Yu...
Yu is a warrior after all, while Dahe Qingcao are just ordinary people. Their walking posture and gait do not look like they are trained. Lan Guo is even a cripple...
Xia, the strongest leopard warrior, felt what it was like to have a pain in the balls for the first time in his life.
Before he could think of a way to express his dissatisfaction, Xiao Yun took him to see Green Dragon again...
Well, Xia Shi couldn't think of any safe way to express his dissatisfaction.
In fact, Xiao Yun did not let the visiting Green Dragon blend into the "collective". The tasks assigned to Balke were either to be the main force of air transport, to work alone, or to go out on patrol with the soldiers, so that the Green Dragon always maintained the status of a guest. If the leopard's emotions had not been revealed a little too obviously, he would not have bothered to drag Balke out.
The thirty-two cats who had been waiting outside for several days were brought into the tribe. The caracals came out to welcome the cats, applied insect powder, cut their long hair, cooked animal skins and made clothes, etc. During this period, Xia had no chance to show up at all, and unknowingly completed the first split in the integrity of the cat tribe.
Next, eight warriors out of the thirty-five cat tribe members, led by Qiu, participated in the first decision-making meeting to discuss the settlement of the cat tribe and work arrangements.
As the tribe leader, Xia sat among the six warriors he brought with him. He looked at Qingyan with a stern face on his left, and at Qiu, a manul warrior who was patiently explaining the living habits of the tribe to the cat warriors on his right. His facial muscles became more and more stiff.
By the time the cub Ayun stood up and explained the allocation of the new cat labor force in front of the seated warriors, clan leaders, and racial representatives (goblins and gray dwarves), Xia was no longer able to make any expression.
Yes, the Snow Wolf Clan is impeccable in treating ordinary tribesmen and warriors. They will arrange suitable positions for everyone and will carefully and patiently help the cat tribe who have come from afar to adapt to their new life as quickly as possible. At the same time, they will also suppress the power restrictions of the chieftain to the extreme in all aspects without blind spots.
Xia's hands on his knees unconsciously clenched into fists... This was not what he wanted. However, at the moment, he seemed to have no choice - find an excuse to forcibly take the tribesmen away and take them to another place? Then his reputation among the tribesmen would drop to a terrible low! Perhaps these last eight warriors would no longer follow him!
Xia began to regret why he did not pay enough attention to Chief Hall's reminder at that time... If he had known that there were such terrible cubs in the Snow Wolf Tribe, he would never have come all the way here.
Xiao Yun saw the unwillingness in Xia's eyes from the corner of his eyes, and looked away indifferently, continuing to explain the adjustment and new arrangements of the work team. He did not hate the ambitious, but this ambitious must dance within the rules he made. There is no order without rules. Even if the ambitious driven by selfishness is smart and capable, it is useless if he cannot obey the collective rules.
Qiuqiu, whose fighting ability was not outstanding due to his race, knew to protect the cubs in the tribe. But what about Xia? As the strongest leopard warrior, eight of the 35 tribesmen who followed him were warriors, but there was no cub at all. What did this mean?
This shows that this leopard warrior, who is born with a certain understanding of political tactics, needs to be severely suppressed and trained before he can be used!
