In the blink of an eye, it was September. Yan Liqiang had been living in Gulang Grassland for nearly two months...
Today we wandered on the grassland for another day but still gained nothing. At night, when it got dark, we found a place to stay.
As if to make up for the bad luck of the past few days, an abandoned and damaged ox cart was found where everyone settled. There was some hay on the cart and two broken tents nearby. It seemed that these things had been abandoned here for a long time.
Seeing the damaged ox cart, Xu Meng used the big knife on his back to split the cart in half. Zuo Yuquan went to shoot a wild sheep and brought it back, washing and cleaning it in a nearby stream. Late at night, they lit a fire, put the whole sheep on it, and a group of people gathered around the fire and roasted the mutton.
After entering the Gulan Grassland, the crowd had basically no chance to make a fire or eat hot food. Every day they just ate the dried meat and fried rice they brought with them. Seeing that they could eat roasted lamb tonight, everyone was happy.
The fresh mutton was roasted on the fire. After a while, the aroma of the meat could be smelled. Then everyone cut the mutton with a dagger and sprinkled a little salt on it. Although the method was simple, it was a rare delicacy for Yan Liqiang and his friends.
The firelight reflected on everyone's faces. Zhao Bing was wiping his sword, Jia Lang was swallowing his saliva while looking at the roasted mutton, Mao Taishun was turning the mutton and roasting it attentively, Zuo Yuquan was staring at the fire, thinking, and Xu Meng was concentrating on adding firewood to the fire...
Scalding fat began to flow down from the roasted lamb and dripped onto the firewood pile, making a sizzling sound. The flames on the fire pile also danced like elves as the fat fell, becoming extremely active.
Jia Lang couldn't help it, so he pulled out his dagger, cut a small piece of mutton from the sheep's rump, blew on it twice, and hurriedly put it into his mouth. He cried out in pain because of the burn.
"Hahaha, wait a little longer. Now only the outside is cooked. There's still blood inside. It's still raw..." Mao Taishun laughed and turned the roasted mutton over again, smacking his lips. "In another half an hour, this mutton will be delicious, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Oh, Brother Wang is back from looking for thorny fruits..."
As Mao Taishun was speaking, Yan Liqiang had already walked over from a distance, holding a number of small fruits the size of bayberries in his hands. The fruits were green all over and looked very cute. This is also one of the specialties of the Gulang grassland, and can only be eaten after mid-to-late August every year. Yan Liqiang had never noticed this little thing growing in the grass before. He discovered it last month. After taking a bite, he liked it. The grass thorn fruit is sour and sweet, and feels a bit like the blueberries that Yan Liqiang had eaten in his previous life, and has a bit of the taste of berries. It is very delicious. These days, whenever Yan Liqiang takes a break, he will go find some grass thorn fruit.
Except for Jia Lang, no one else ate the small things growing in the grass. When Yan Liqiang came back, he gave Jia Lang some, and then sat beside the fire, roasting it while eating the fruit he had found!
The sky is full of stars tonight, and there is an endless prairie under my feet. It is the time of clear and cool autumn weather. On a day like this, roasting mutton on the prairie and eating natural wild fruits full of anthocyanins, if there is no war, this kid is really good!
As Yan Liqiang was eating, he had this thought in his mind: one of his little dreams in his previous life was to drive a motorhome and take his family to the grasslands of Australia for a camping trip one day. He heard that the starry sky in Australia is very beautiful...
Zuo Yuquan glanced at Yan Liqiang who was eating, and then spoke, "Have you noticed that in the past half month or so, we have almost completely stopped encountering small groups of Shatu people and Heijie people..."
"Hehe, those Shatu people and Heijie people have been scared out of their wits. How dare they come and offer their heads at this time..." Xu Meng laughed, "The group of Shatu people we encountered the day before yesterday was relatively small, but there were still more than 300 of them. We had a hard time snatching four heads, which were not enough to share..."
"Well, since the battle at the Salt Lake, I also feel that there are fewer and fewer Black Jie and Shatu people. Those small tribes of Shatu people who are still migrating are gone. They were robbed clean. Last month, I could still encounter a few teams of Shatu cavalry who dared to go to the Salt Lake to steal salt, but in more than half a month, I haven't encountered any..." Mao Taishun also frowned, "I think it's probably not going to work for us to do small fights like this. The last few times we went back to the interior, those rangers started to form teams and act as a team. The least they had was about a hundred people. Teams like ours are becoming fewer and fewer. We can't even chew on bones with meat. I think if we go back this time, we should also consider forming a team with others..."
The battle of Salt Lake more than a month ago can be regarded as a brilliant victory since the order to kill the Hu people was issued, which shook the Gulang grassland and Qiyun County. In that battle, a group of rangers and militia organized a team of more than 10,000 people and wiped out more than 6,000 Black Jie defenders in Salt Lake, leaving no one behind. All the Black Jie defenders had their heads chopped off. Those who rushed out of the Black Jie camp to support the Salt Lake troops were ambushed halfway, and only half of the more than 20,000 troops escaped.
In that battle, Yan Liqiang and his men followed the main force and were at the end of the team. Six of them chopped off four heads. Although the harvest was not great, everyone was very excited. It was also after that battle that the situation on the Gulang grassland became clearer. The Black Jie and Shatu people were completely separated, and the people of the seven Shatu tribes suddenly lost their supply of salt.
In the past month, as more and more rangers and militias poured into the Gulang grassland, small-scale groups of Shatu and Heijie people almost disappeared. Finding a few lone Shatu and Heijie people on the grassland is even more difficult than finding a giant panda on the grassland.
“Look at the rangers on the Gulang grassland now. There are even more of them than the wild wolves we have encountered. We have encountered more than ten waves of them today. I think it’s not going to work for us to fight alone like this…” The taciturn Zhao Bing also stopped what he was doing and said something.
"The Black Jie and Shatu people are now banding together. The Black Jie are all gathered in the main camp, and the seven Shatu tribes are all gathered in the Xingxing Lake area. We are few in number, and if we want to continue eating meat, I think we can only band together with others!" Zuo Yuquan said, and then looked at Yan Liqiang's face who was concentrating on eating wild fruits, "What do you think, Brother Wang..."
As soon as Zuo Yuquan finished speaking, everyone's eyes were suddenly focused on Yan Liqiang's face.
Yan Liqiang glanced at everyone, put down the fruit in his hand, and said calmly, "Well, I agree with everyone wanting to form a group with others, and you don't need to ask for my opinion. This time when I go back, I will separate from everyone. I originally wanted to tell everyone about this when I get back, but since you asked at this time, I will just tell everyone first..."
Everyone looked at Yan Liqiang in surprise.
"Brother Wang, do you have enough brains? Didn't Brother Wang say last time that he would stay in Gulang Grassland for another three months? It's only been two months now..." Mao Taishun asked.
Yan Liqiang smiled apologetically, "It doesn't matter how many heads I have. I have some personal matters to attend to in the next month, so I won't be able to join you all!"
After hearing what Yan Liqiang said, the people gathered around the fire looked at each other.
Xu Meng looked at Yan Liqiang, and patted Yan Liqiang's shoulder with a big hand. He looked straight at Yan Liqiang and said in a muffled voice, "I, Xu, am a rough man and I can't speak. I only have one thing to say. If Brother Wang still regards me, Xu Meng, as a brother and wants to kill someone, I, Xu Meng, will accompany Brother Wang through mountains of swords and seas of fire..."
"Count me in too!" Zhao Bing continued.
"And me!" Mao Taishun also looked at Yan Liqiang seriously.
"Count me in, uh..." Jia Lang also said, patting his chest. He almost choked on the fruit in his mouth because he spoke too quickly.
Zuo Yuquan also looked at Yan Liqiang seriously, "Brother Wang, if you have any troubles, just speak up. We brothers will accompany you to go through it together!"
During the nearly two months that the group had been together, every time there was a battle, Yan Liqiang was always at the front, the bravest, killing the most enemies, but never competing for credit, and was always there to protect everyone. Although everyone didn't say anything, they all knew it in their hearts. Not only had they already quietly regarded Yan Liqiang as the core figure of the team, but they also regarded Yan Liqiang as a friend and brother they could trust their lives to.
"I remember the friendship of all my brothers, but this time my case is really not dangerous. It's just a private matter. There's no need to trouble you!" Yan Liqiang said with a smile.
After hearing Yan Liqiang say that it was a private matter, everyone stopped asking any further questions.
The reason why Yan Liqiang left the crowd this time was because after nearly two months of fighting, Yan Liqiang felt that he was almost suffocated. In every battle, he suppressed his strength. It was okay once or twice, but after a long time, this kind of battle with deliberately suppressed strength was simply maddening. However, even in this "suffocating" state, Yan Liqiang clearly felt that his cultivation barrier was loosening like the lid of a pressure cooker with a fire burning underneath the blocked pores, and there were signs of a breakthrough. In the past half month, he encountered fewer and fewer battles, and Yan Liqiang estimated that the time was about right, and he wanted to go alone to take on some more dangerous challenges and fights and break through the cultivation barriers.
It would be too dangerous for Jia Lang, Xu Meng and others to follow in such a fight and they would definitely risk their lives. That was why Yan Liqiang decided to leave the group on his own initiative, not wanting them to take the risk with him.
“Well, this time when I go back, I also… I also almost want to stop…” Jia Lang’s words suddenly shifted everyone’s attention to him again.
"What's the matter, Jia Lang, you don't want to do it anymore?" Mao Taishun asked.
"Yeah!" Jia Lang nodded and smiled shyly. "I now have more than 200 acres of grassland, nearly 300 acres, and I have made 5,000 to 6,000 taels of money, which is enough. Ordinary people can't make that much money in their lifetime. If I follow others in the future, although I can continue to make some money, I estimate that there will be fewer opportunities. Not everyone will be able to survive a battle, just like when we fought in the Salt Lake. The number of people in the future battles will increase, and the scale will become larger and larger. My small skills are not suitable for the future battles, and I don't want to listen to other people's blind orders, so I plan to go back to my hometown first, move my father's ashes to Qiyun County, and then settle down in Qiyun County, find a woman to marry, and have a few children. After the grassland is settled, I will raise some sheep, make money from wool, and live a stable life as a landlord for a few years. If there is a chance, I will practice hard in seclusion and strive to reach a higher level of cultivation. When I have a child, I will let the child learn kung fu from an early age, and strive to be more promising than me in the future. Then I will have no regrets in my life..."
No one could say anything about Jia Lang's choice.
Xu Meng scratched his head. "After hearing what Jia Lang said, I also feel that I am a little greedy! I didn't expect that I could chop off so many heads this time. This should be enough. To be honest, we were lucky the first time. We encountered that small tribe, and then someone came to rescue us. We killed them back and chopped off a few more heads. The heads after that are really getting harder and harder..."
"I think Jia Lang's choice is not bad. We really made a lot of money this time..." Zhao Bing also spoke.
Zuo Yuquan squinted his eyes and looked at the burning fire. "You are all right. It is indeed not easy to chop off the heads of those Shatu people and Heijie people, but we still have one last chance. If we give up like this, I think it would be a pity..."
"What opportunity?" Xu Meng asked curiously.
"How long do you think the seven tribes of Shatu and the Black Jie people can hold out on the Gulang grassland?"
“This... I don’t think the terror can last much longer... Let alone other things... If we drag on for another year or two, even without the Qiyun Protectorate sending out more troops, the heads of those Black Jie and Shatu people will be chopped off. Last time when we went back to the pass, we heard that the head of that damn prince of the Black Jie people was chopped off by the masters of the four major sects. Although later we heard that it was only the substitute of that damn prince that was chopped off, the head of the Black Jie commander is not at ease in their camp, so it is only a matter of time before the camp is breached..." Mao Taishun said experiencedly.
"Brother Mao is right. The opportunity I'm talking about is just waiting for the Black Jie and Shatu people to break into their camp. According to my guess, based on the current situation on the Gulang grassland, it won't be long before the Qiyun Protectorate will officially send troops to the Gulang grassland. By that time, we just need to follow the large army and fight a safe battle. There won't be much danger. When the camp is broken, we can take the opportunity to make a profit and easily chop off a few heads before calling it a day. This trade of exchanging heads for grassland only comes once in thousands of years. If we really miss this opportunity, there will be no more..."
Zuo Yuquan's words made those who were about to stop hesitate.
At this moment, Yan Liqiang's ears moved, and he suddenly turned his head to look into the distance, "Someone is coming..."
Zuo Yuquan and a few others turned their heads, and after a few seconds, they saw some shadowy figures of people and horses appearing on the grassland in the distance. There seemed to be about twenty or thirty of them. When they saw the fire here, they rushed towards this side.
When they got closer, they saw that those people were not Shatu people or Heijie people, but seemed to be a group of rangers. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but they did not dare to be careless, and they all held their weapons in their hands...
(End of this chapter)