In terms of area, the entire territory of the Black Jie people is not smaller than the six northwestern states, but the population is not as large as that of the Han Empire. The development level of the entire Black Jie tribe is similar to that of the seven Shatu tribes. It is a mixture of relatively backward nomadic and hunting civilizations. The three royal tribes of the Snake God, the Eagle God, and the Mountain God rule the entire Black Jie tribe. The other small and medium-sized tribes of the Black Jie people are more or less dependent on these three royal tribes.
In the history of the Black Jie people, about three hundred years ago, there was a brief unification and the Modan Dynasty was established. It was an attempt by the Black Jie people to move from a tribal form to a national form. However, this unification did not last long, only a few decades. With the death of Amiba, a great leader of the Black Jie people, the Black Jie people split again and the Modan Dynasty collapsed. Now the three royal tribes of the Black Jie people are actually descendants of Amiba's three different maternal bloodlines.
The glory of the ancestors is something people yearn for, so even though the Black Jie people are no longer unified, the three major royal tribes still regard themselves as the rulers of the Black Jie people. Each of them has inherited the title given by Amoeba and calls themselves the King of Modan. Within the three major royal tribes, many rules and traditions from the establishment of the Modan Dynasty are also retained. It is precisely because of this that in a backward tribal system, the title of prince exists.
In the past, the three descendants of the Black Jie people fought to the death for the ruling power of the Modan Dynasty, which actually led to the division and collapse of the Modan Dynasty, and the entire Black Jie people returned to their previous state. Today, although there is no war between the three royal tribes, unification is still an impossible task.
Yan Liqiang's target is the Snake God Tribe.
Over the past 100 years, it was this Snake God Tribe that launched the most wars against the Han Empire, invading the northwest and Gulang grasslands time and time again. This tribe was also the most aggressive of the three royal tribes of the Black Jie people.
The Snake God Tribe is very powerful and has the largest population. It is the most powerful of the three royal tribes of the Black Jie people. If the entire Snake God Tribe completes the highest level of war mobilization, all the small and medium-sized tribes dependent on the Snake God Tribe will be mobilized, and it is said that it can organize an army of millions. Of course, it is hard to say how much combat effectiveness this million-strong army has. In the past hundred years, the Snake God Tribe has organized two eastward expeditions claiming to be a million-strong army and invaded the Han Empire. In order to deal with the invasion of the Black Jie people, the six northwestern states of the Han Empire organized troops to go to the border to fight the Black Jie people. The highest number of troops reached more than 300,000. With a troop ratio of three to one, the Black Jie people did not gain much advantage over the Han Empire in their two eastward expeditions. It was only within the Black Jie people that the Snake God Tribe made a lot of noise about these two eastward expeditions, claiming that they were going to fulfill Amiba's unfinished wish of conquering the Han Empire.
The reason why Yan Liqiang dared to target the Snake God Tribe this time was for only one reason - time difference!
The Snake God Tribe still doesn't know that the army led by Temiba has been completely wiped out, and they have no defense or preparation. Even if the Snake God Tribe is powerful, it takes time to complete the war mobilization, which cannot be completed in ten days or half a month. Especially this time, among the army led by Temiba, nearly half of the more than 100,000 soldiers are directly from the elite forces of the Snake God Tribe. Now that these people are finished, the entire Snake God Tribe is absolutely unprecedentedly weak and completely defenseless.
After swiftly and efficiently annihilating the 10,000 Black Jie army that had managed to escape to the west of Qiyun Mountain, Yan Liqiang led his cavalry archers and the subordinates of Situ Feixing and others, like sharp blades, and marched straight to the Snake God Tribe's lair - the most vast plain on the southwest side of Qiyun Mountain - the Mera Plain. Half of the entire Mera Plain is covered with forests, and the remaining half is flat land. It has a mild climate all year round and abundant rainfall. It is the most fertile land on the southeast foot of Qiyun Mountain. The strength of the Snake God Tribe comes from the nurturing of this plain.
All the Black Jie people that the army encountered along the way were killed, and all the Black Jie villages, large and small, that were seen along the way were left to the knights and militia who followed the army into the Black Jie territory. In this situation, even if someone saw Yan Liqiang and his army and wanted to report the news, it would be difficult for them to get ahead of them.
This is the tactic of blitzkrieg, and it all comes down to one word—fast! The blitzkrieg in World War II that Yan Liqiang knew in his previous life was originally developed from the tactics of cavalry. Guderian's blitzkrieg, in the final analysis, was just replacing the cavalry with a mechanized corps, and replacing the horses with tanks and armored vehicles...
The army marched non-stop all night long, with only a short rest in between. In the early morning of the next day, the army had traveled thousands of miles across the Qiyun Mountains and most of the Mera Plain, and suddenly arrived at the core area of the Mera Plain.
…
There was still a faint glow of stars and the moon in the sky, the sun had not yet risen, and there was only a small river ahead, making a gurgling sound of flowing water. Looking from afar, in Yan Liqiang's eyes, the so-called Snake God Tribe was like the slums and refugee camps he had seen in his previous life, a mess, except that it was particularly large. As far as the eye could see, the plain ahead was dotted with low, dilapidated houses, densely packed and cramped, like the beehives and anthills scattered on the plain, primitive and simple.
The architecture of the Black Jie people is very distinctive. The houses where the poor live are all low, mushroom-like, short and dilapidated huts built of wood. The rich live relatively better, but it is rare to see buildings with more than two floors. Just behind the slums and refugee camps, there is a group of buildings that look very special. It is also the only place on the entire plain where you can see buildings with more than two floors and attics.
An army of more than 50,000 stood solemnly behind Yan Liqiang. The rhino horses were sweating profusely, their fur was soaked, and they were breathing heavily. Running all night had almost reached the limit of their physical strength. Many of them had fallen down along the way, but the riders still changed horses and continued to follow the team.
For those riding on horseback, although they were a little tired after a night of traveling, the scene before them made everyone immersed in great excitement. Although it was a little unbelievable, the scene before them was the strongest stimulant. The entire Snake God Tribe appeared in front of them like a naked woman, and she was sleeping with her eyes closed.
The most recent battle took place just half an hour ago, when more than 50,000 cavalrymen surrounded a Black Jie camp that they had seen along the way. There were only more than 5,000 Black Jie people in that camp, and they were not vigilant at all. Until the entire camp was surrounded by the army, many Black Jie people in the camp were still sleeping like pigs, unaware of the disaster that was about to happen.
In the end, as expected, no Black Jie survived in that camp. A few who managed to escape the camp and rode towards this side to report the news were eventually killed by the arrows of the horse archers.
Afterwards, the army continued to charge forward and arrived here. The blood on the swords of many people in the team had not yet dried...
"We... We really fought our way here..." Situ Feixing swallowed his saliva and said in a somewhat strange tone. Before crossing Qiyun Mountain, he felt that this seemed impossible and that this operation might be a life-or-death struggle. But when he really got here, he felt that everything seemed much easier than he had imagined. The cavalry's speed advantage was fully demonstrated last night. The Black Jie people's messenger might still be behind them, but they had already rushed here...
A group of people gathered around Yan Liqiang, looking at the scene in front of them, their eyes shining. Several leaders of the outlaws couldn't help licking their lips and muttering to themselves about some big deal.
"Yes, we are here!" Yan Liqiang looked at the scene in the distance, took a deep breath, and pointed at the large area of buildings in the distance that looked a little special. The buildings were high up and had a special style. They were completely separated from the slum-like area and looked very special. "Hesai, is that where the nobles of the Snake God Tribe live?"
Hearing Yan Liqiang's question, a black Jie man beside Situ Feixing nodded, looked at the building that stood out from the crowd with hatred, and then answered in Chinese with a slightly strange accent, "Yes, sir, that is the Serpent God Palace!"
Among the Black Jie people, the living conditions of many lower classes and small tribes are so bad that they are even worse than those of slaves. There are hundreds of black bandits in the team of Yipianyun. These black bandits are the Black Jie people who escaped because they could not survive in the Black Jie tribe for various reasons. Finally, they defected to Situ Feixing and became "black traitors". The Black Jie who was leading Situ Feixing along the way was the leader of the black bandits in Yipianyun, named Hesai. Hesai was originally the son of the patriarch of a small tribe affiliated with the Snake God tribe, but because his wife was too beautiful, she was noticed by the son of a big figure in the Snake God tribe during an accidental affair. Then disaster came to the small tribe where Hesai was. His wife was robbed, his parents and family members were killed, and the entire tribe was annexed. Hesai, who survived by chance, was hunted down and then became a black bandit under Yipianyun. Hesai had a deep hatred for the Snake God tribe!
"Haha, that's also called a palace, interesting!" Yan Liqiang smiled slightly, "Why is the Snake God Palace built so far away from the gathering area of the Snake God Tribe? The two sides are at least more than 20 miles apart..."
"Because for the people living in the palace of the snake god, those who live here are all untouchables and inferiors. They cannot live so close to the untouchables, nor can they drink water from the same river as the untouchables. They cannot even touch things that the untouchables have touched. This is the teaching of the great god Mopo..."
"Your Great God Mopo is right. If he hadn't taught us this, we would be hard to deal with now!" Yan Liqiang narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Situ Feixing. "I will take people to the Snake God Palace later. You take half of the troops and stay on that plain. You will be responsible for blocking the connection between the Snake God Palace and the Snake God Tribe area. Don't let anyone reinforce the Snake God Palace. When daybreak comes, the rangers and militia behind us will arrive one after another..."
"yes!"
As the two were talking, hundreds of Black Jie cavalrymen came out from the woods behind the river. They seemed to be a patrol of the Snake God Tribe. They saw the large group of people and horses parked on the river side from a distance and thought they were their own people. They shouted twice from a distance and then rushed over without hesitation. They waited until the distance between the two sides was less than a hundred meters. With the help of the light from the sky, they saw the true appearance of Yan Liqiang and his army, and then they suddenly panicked, screamed, and wanted to turn around and run away...
Hundreds of arrows flew over, completely covering the area of the patrol team. The patrol team of hundreds of people instantly turned into hedgehogs by the river...
"Let's go..." Yan Liqiang squeezed his horse's belly, and Caiyun Zhuiyue rushed out first...
The water in the stream was a little cold and not deep, not even reaching the belly of the rhinoceros horse. As Yan Liqiang rushed out, the whole stream began to boil in an instant. The rhinoceros horses rushed into the river one after another, splashing water and rolling waves. In a short moment, the 50,000-strong army crossed the stream in front of them and rushed towards the Snake God Tribe.
The roar of iron hooves shook the earth, completely breaking the tranquility of the Snake God Tribe...
(End of this chapter)