“Hahaha, I finally see Baishishan Pass again…” Looking at Baishishan Pass in the distance, Jia Lang, who was riding on the rhinoceros horse, breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on the faces of the other people who were accompanying him.
At this time, it had been three days since Yan Liqiang and his men wiped out the small Shatu tribe.
Yan Liqiang and his men had a fruitful harvest on this trip. Although there were only six of them, they captured quite a few Shatu people's heads, more than a hundred in total, and more than twenty rhinoceros horses, as well as a lot of gold and silver. With these things, they naturally wanted to come back and exchange those heads for pasture contracts. In addition, Xu Meng was injured again and it was inconvenient for him to move, so they naturally came back.
Yan Liqiang and his men rode on rhinoceros horses and drove ox carts. On the ox carts were sacks filled with Shatu people's heads, just like a cart of watermelons. The heads had been treated with antiseptic treatment, otherwise they would have been very dangerous in such weather.
Along with Yan Liqiang and his men, Zhao Tianyi, Master Lu and their men also returned with the heads and a large amount of trophies. In addition to the heads, this group also brought back more than 3,000 rhinoceros horses and more than 2,000 cattle from the Gulang grassland. The group rode horses and drove ox carts, and returned to Baishishan Pass with the horses and cattle, shouting all the way.
Originally, that small tribe raised tens of thousands of sheep, but at this time, there was no way to drive those sheep back, so they had to be abandoned.
Whenever Yan Liqiang thought of the scene of tens of thousands of sheep abandoned on the grassland without anyone claiming them, he was shocked. In his previous life, it was a luxury to have a roasted whole lamb with friends, but in this life, he casually threw away tens of thousands of sheep...
It was not just Yan Liqiang and his men who did this. At this time, almost all the teams that entered the Gulang grassland did the same thing - they brought back the heads, gold, silver, and cattle and horses that were easy to drive. As for the sheep, they really had no way to bring them back, so they had to give them up. So now the sheep on the Gulang grassland could be caught at will.
Fully armed teams kept rushing out of Baishi Pass, including groups of rangers and militias with dozens or even hundreds of people. When those people passed by Yan Liqiang and his team, they looked at the things piled on the ox carts of Yan Liqiang and his team, as well as the large number of rhinoceros horses and cows, with their eyes shining and full of envy.
"This team was very successful. They chopped off so many heads at once. I'm afraid there must be no less than two or three thousand..."
"Those rhinoceros horses can be sold for a lot of money..."
"Damn, tens of thousands of acres of grassland, I've made a fortune..."
For those who rush to the Gulang grassland excitedly, there is no need for slogans or propaganda or mobilization. They just need to see that someone can bring these things back from the Gulang grassland and make a fortune, and get money and land. This is the strongest motivation.
"Brother, let me ask you, where did you get these heads from?" A group of more than 200 militiamen stopped when they were crossing each other. The leader of the militia seemed to see that Yan Liqiang looked like an honest man, so he asked Yan Liqiang directly.
"I got it from the territory of the seven Shatu tribes..." Yan Liqiang told the truth.
The man glanced at the heads in the sacks on the ox carts, his eyes gleaming, "You guys have wiped out a small tribe of Shatu people, right? I heard that the small tribes of Shatu people on the Gulang grassland are now gathering together and migrating westwards?"
"Yes, if you want to go, you have to move quickly. If you are slow, you may not be able to easily encounter those smaller tribes..."
"Thank you!" The person who asked the question bowed to Zhao Tianyi, then left quickly with his men.
"Haha, Brother Wang, you are very patient!" After seeing the team leave, Zuo Yuquan said to Yan Liqiang with a smile.
Yan Liqiang smiled and said, "It only takes a few words. If we can help them avoid taking detours, then that's it. These people can be considered our comrades-in-arms!"
"Comrade, well said!" Mao Taishun also laughed. He looked at Baishi Pass in the distance and was in a good mood. "After we deal with our spoils, let's go to Yingwei County tonight and find a restaurant to drink together!"
"Okay, okay, it's settled!" Even Zhao Bing's cold face showed a hint of a smile at this time.
In fact, there was no need to go to Baishi Pass, as there were already waves of horse dealers and cattle dealers coming to ask if the group wanted to sell the rhinoceros horses and cattle they brought. At this moment, the grassland within thirty miles outside Baishi Pass was full of horse farms and cattle farms. The number of Han people coming and going was no less than that in Yingwei County. This place had been completely occupied by the Han people. The largest horse farm outside the pass was the Qiyun Military Horse Farm under the Qiyun Protectorate. At this moment, there were tens of thousands of rhinoceros horses stockpiled in the military horse farm.
Yan Liqiang and his men had been prepared for this. When the horse dealers came to inquire, they saw that the price was right, so they directly sold the rhinoceros horses they had seized. Zhao Tianyi and Master Lu did the same, but Master Lu only sold half of the rhinoceros horses he had seized. He wanted to ask someone to send the other half to Bo'an County in Lanzhou to show off. In Master Lu's words, this was the first time in Bo'an County that someone had been able to snatch something from the Shatu people in all those years. It was a first. Once he sent those horses and gold and silver back, it would definitely cause a sensation. When he returned to Bo'an County in the future, he would have a great reputation...
Compared to the sale of cattle and horses, the most important process of exchanging the heads of the Shatu people for pasture and land was extremely smooth.
The group transported the heads to a remote valley in Qiyun Mountain, five miles away from Baishiguan. There, soldiers from Baishiguan and special personnel from the Protectorate were counting the heads of the Black Jie and Shatu people. Because the Black Jie and Shatu people were easy to identify by their appearance, there was no need to worry about anyone tampering with them.
The teams and rangers returning from Gulang Grassland all gathered there to exchange their heads for grassland farm contracts.
The process of counting heads is not actually pleasant, but the scene is shocking enough, even bloody and eerie. The piles of heads are thrown on the ground like piles of stones and counted one by one.
Different people and different teams brought their chopped heads, poured them out of the bags, and piled them on the ground. The people who were counting came to count and confirm. Then someone cut off an ear from all the heads and threw them into a big pit dug in the valley, sprinkled lime on them and buried them. The reason why one ear was cut off from the heads was because they were afraid that someone would dig them out after they were buried and claim the credit. Naturally, heads without ears would not be counted.
After counting the heads here, the contract for the grassland and public land can be issued on the spot based on the number of heads. It is a completely one-stop service!
After finishing all this, Yan Liqiang and his companions said goodbye to Zhao Tianyi and Lu Gongzi. The six of them returned to Baishi Pass, each carrying a contract and gold and silver. That night, they drank heavily in a restaurant in Yingwei County to celebrate the great harvest of their first trip to Gulang Grassland...
(End of this chapter)