Next to him, the tribal chief, Hassan, placed some lamb meat into the metal pot hanging over the firepit. The lamb meat was already cooked, so he was just reheating it in the pot.
He said respectfully to Yan Liuyuan, “Master, the people from that large tribe who want to go to the Central Plains to plunder for food are doing so to establish their dominance. The khan will definitely not let it rest after you summoned that eagle from the sky to blind his envoy.”
Yan Liuyuan laughed. “Hassan, you don’t have to worry about that. I’m just worried that he won’t dare to come.”
“I understand.” Hassan did not say anything more. After a while, he fished out the mutton from the pot and took out his small knife to cut it into slices.
As his master did not like eating big chunks of meat, he had to carefully cut it into smaller pieces.
If he submitted to Yan Liuyuan due to fear at the beginning, he was now truly worshipping Yan Liuyuan as a god.
The people in the Northern Plains believed in gods. This had always been the case since ancient times. The feats displayed by Yan Liuyuan so far were making him look like a true god to these people.
Even if he weren’t a god, he was definitely close to being one.
Hassan believed the gods would protect the tribe. Some livestock had gotten lost due to the blizzard, but his master told him the livestock would return by themselves. In the end, it started gusting strongly that afternoon and all the livestock started coming back.
All of these events left Hassan deeply in awe and admiration.
Yan Liuyuan picked up a piece of mutton and placed it into his mouth. After swallowing it with great difficulty, he said to Hassan, “Don’t y’all have vegetables here in the plains?”
Back when they were at Stronghold 88, Yan Liuyuan often enjoyed listening to Ren Xiaosu share some stories he read in books.
Ren Xiaosu told him that before The Cataclysm, not everyone living in the North was nomadic. Many of those who lived there also lived in cities, and their diet was not much different from that of Southerners, with it consisting of vegetables and fruits as well.
It was just that most of it was either harvested through agriculture or imported in.
Now that the Northern Plains no longer imported food from the Central Plains, it would have to depend on luck if they could even get any fruits to eat. Only wild fruits could be found in the grasslands.
Hassan replied, “Master, it’s mainly because it’s winter now. It isn’t easy to find those things. When spring comes, I can take our tribespeople out to look for other kinds of food.”
“It looks like it really will be necessary to make a trip to the Central Plains.” Yan Liuyuan sighed.
“Master, are you from the Central Plains?” Hassan asked.
“No.” Yan Liuyuan shook his head. “But the place I used to live is similar to the Central Plains. We ate rice and wore coats too. There aren’t many herdsmen there since most people practice farming.”
“Does Master also want to build those magnificent city walls here in the plains?” Hassan gestured animatedly as he said, “I’ve seen them from a distance before and they’re towering. The people living inside must not be afraid of wild animals. They can even drive those beasts here to the Northern Plains.”
Yan Liuyuan walked out of the tent and rubbed his cheeks with a handful of snow from the outside. “Hassan, we can’t build strongholds in the North. Also, I don’t like that kinda thing either.”
Hassan wondered, “Master doesn’t like strongholds?”
“Of course not,” Yan Liuyuan said. “Those Central Plains people who are hiding in the strongholds have already lost their sense of the outside world. The world is ever-changing, but they’re the only ones not making any progress. And they even divide their own people into different classes.”
Hassan understood that his master disliked strongholds.
Yan Liuyuan continued, “Furthermore, if the nomadic tribes are set on being against the Central Plains people, they mustn’t live in a fixed location. When the Central Plains people start getting wary of us and decide to conquer the grasslands, their artillery can easily destroy any stronghold. The nomads’ advantage is the terrain of the grasslands. When the Central Plains people come attacking, they’ll have to build forward operating bases as they advance along the rivers. But we can move freely. Once they advance deep enough, we’ll have a chance to fight back against them.”
Hassan smiled and said, “Master is so knowledgeable.”
“I’m just throwing it out there.” Yan Liuyuan said with a smile, “I just don’t like stronghold residents.”
At this moment, Xiaoyu, who was wearing a pelt cloak like the herdsmen, walked out of the tent. She was holding a bowl of milk in her hand. “Liuyuan, come and have some goat milk. You can’t keep eating so little.”
But as soon as she finished speaking, the howling of wolves sounded in the distance on the grasslands. Yan Liuyuan laughed. “They’re finally here. Let’s go, Hassan, I’ll take you to see something interesting.”
After that, Hassan had the tribesmen bring over the horses. He knelt on one knee and used his thigh as a pedestal for Yan Liuyuan to mount the horse.
The group of several dozen rode off in the direction of the wolves’ howls. Even now, the tribesmen still had a lingering fear of the wolves. However, Yan Liuyuan had reassured them many times the wolves would not hurt their own people or eat their livestock indiscriminately.
After riding for a while, Hassan stared blankly at the grassland in front of him. It looked like blood had been spilled here.
He recognized one of the men the wolves had surrounded as the Commander-in-Chief of the Right,[1] a warrior of that large tribe who was skilled in warfare.
It looked like these were the troops sent by the large tribe to encircle Hassan’s tribe. However, the several thousand-strong army was ambushed by the wolves in the grassland before they could even lay eyes on Yan Liuyuan.
These people thought firearms could scare away the wolves, but the wolves were much more ferocious than they had ever seen.
In just half an hour, the several thousand-strong army was wiped out, leaving the Commander-in-Chief of the Right, whose name was Golmud, and his associates still battling the wolf pack.
However, the reason he could survive until now was not that he could fight well, but because Yan Liuyuan had told the Wolf King to keep the person in charge alive.
When the Wolf King saw Yan Liuyuan coming, it stopped attacking them. Then it led the wolves and surrounded the enemy, leaving them to shout angrily inside the circle all they wanted.
Golmud was panting heavily within the wolf pack. He looked at Yan Liuyuan through the wolf pack and said fiercely, “You’re this tribe’s new chief?”
Yan Liuyuan, who was sitting on the back of a large, powerful horse, looked at him with great interest. “Did your khan receive the message that I asked your envoy to send him?”
“How dare you make such big claims when you’re just a brat who’s wet behind the ears?” Golmud said with a sneer, “You want control of the entire plains? You’re not capable yet.”
“It seems like this is the attitude of your khan.” Yan Liuyuan said nonchalantly, “In that case, I can only resort to more radical methods.”
With that, the wolves ended their encirclement and pounced forward to bite all of the remaining enemies to death. After that, they were even going to start gnawing on the corpses of these people.
This was an exceptionally bloody and brutal sight to behold. It was just like a tyrant punishing his enemies.
But Xiaoyu suddenly looked at Yan Liuyuan from next to him and said, “Liuyuan, you can have the wolves kill them, but you can’t let the wolves eat them. If your brother were here, he wouldn’t allow you to do this.”
Yan Liuyuan sat on his horse and remained silent for a long while. Then he gave a wave of his hand to disperse the wolves. “Go onto the plains to look for your own food. You aren’t allowed to eat these people.”
The Wolf King obeyed his order and promptly left.
[1] Commander-in-Chief of the Right, a rank at the level of the 24 imperial leaders called the Ten Thousand Horsemen. Nomadic leaders formed a dualistic system of political organization with the left and right wings divided on a regional basis, with left being east and right being west.
