Chapter 1204: Winter in Dayeze (Part 1)

Under the shroud of heavy snow, the War Chief and his party finally arrived at Dayeze; they had truly walked from spring into winter.

They had left the Jiuli at the very beginning of spring and walked on and on; they had originally expected to return to the Jiuli by the end of summer, which was also the time when food was most abundant.

Wild fruits were plentiful, Grass Seed was everywhere, and wild beasts were at their fattest; there was no worry about food at all, so even if they hadn't brought provisions, they didn't need to fear starving on the road during that season.

Yet who could have imagined it? They had only planned to go to the nearby Xuanyuan Tribe, but ended up taking a stroll through Huaxia, and even left Ayuduo behind in Huaxia.

However, the harvest from this trip was very, very substantial; not to mention the things they saw and heard in Huaxia, or the verbal trade agreements promised by Huaxia, even the Silk and paper that Huaxia gifted them were enough to justify taking this risk.

Although Dayeze in winter is very dangerous, their troop was not afraid, because they were all the strongest and best Soldiers; it was just that as they were about to enter Dayeze, a large Jin Hu snatched one of their Soldiers away in the night.

It wasn't until they woke up in the morning that they discovered it, the massive paw prints being the proof.

This was purely due to negligence by those on night watch; furthermore, the large Jin Hu looked exceptionally big, yet walked almost without a sound, and since human vision is naturally poor at night and nearly blind, it was easy to have their camp raided.

Whenever they could stay in a cave, they would stay in a cave as much as possible; only when they truly couldn't find a cave would they think about staying in a Tent, or camping out, which meant taking a great risk.

Why humans need to sleep at night, and must sleep in a pitch-black, relatively small room to feel secure, is something inherent in their genes; humans adapted to cave-dwelling life, which is how they were able to continue their genes, otherwise humans would have gone extinct long ago.

After humans came down from the trees to the ground, they had to find relatively safe places to spend the dangerous nights, and caves were the safest places.

Only after fire appeared and was skillfully mastered and utilized by humans could they leave caves to a certain extent, allowing them to explore further away from the cave where they lived without needing to return to their cave immediately at night.

This also provided a certain foundation for the long-term development and continuation of humanity; if there were no fire, humans would be just like monkeys now, living in only one area for thousands or tens of thousands of years, never meeting their relatives.

Golden monkeys have many species—Sichuan golden monkeys, Yunnan golden monkeys, Guizhou golden monkeys, etc. —they are all relatives, but they never meet; there is also the giant panda, which is also very standard, divided into two types, and they haven't met each other for tens of thousands of years.

If they had fire and could master it, perhaps they would be able to go everywhere to visit their relatives.

There is no calendar now, so everyone unanimously agrees that as long as the water freezes and it starts to snow, then winter has arrived.

Huaxia is slightly better off; they can determine a relatively accurate date by observing the changes in the length of the sun's shadow to say that winter begins on a certain day, and that day is sunny and pleasant.

It is currently only the end of autumn; Baifeng himself deduces that if following the Solar Term, it should be around Cold Dew, but perhaps a bit later; it is thoroughly the tail end of autumn.

However, Dayeze is very far north, a place that is naturally long in winter and short in summer, so their saying that winter has arrived is not wrong; after all, in later generations, the entire Northeast region would also be starting to provide heating, and the probability of snow is also very high.

The cold wave that affected Yishang and the others also attacked the Jiuli without distinction, and coupled with the influence of the Coriolis force, the wind could naturally blow to Dayeze.

Even the Sanmiao Tribe, where winter is very short, had already felt the chill; this was completely unexpected for them, as what fell from Heaven was not rain, but ice, and as soon as the rain fell, the leaves were frozen with a layer.

The Shaman inquired of the Thunder God Gesuo through divination, and the answer the Thunder God gave them was that this was a very major disaster, and they must resist with one heart and mind to survive safely.

The people of the Sanmiao Tribe did not know what the ice rain falling from Heaven meant, but now that winter had suddenly arrived and it was exceptionally cold, many tribespeople had already begun to fall ill, and the Miao Father could not treat them all.

Not knowing what kind of disaster this was, they could only collect firewood and food comprehensively, and then deal with the changes; they had no other way to resist the disaster.

At the same time, the Shaman also began to continuously sacrifice to the Thunder God, hoping that the Thunder God, as well as the ancestors who served the Thunder God, could protect their tribe and help them survive this disaster.

The Shaman also sent people to Dayeze to find Chiyou, to tell him about this disaster that was happening and the revelation given by the Thunder God, and hoped that Chiyou could help the Sanmiao Tribe overcome this difficulty.

Chiyou had no feelings at all about this early snow, only sighing that the snow was falling so heavily, while also feeling a bit worried about his son and daughter; they had been at the Xuanyuan Tribe for so long, from spring to winter, and still hadn't returned.

Everyone already had a thought in their hearts; originally everyone was still waiting, after all, winter hadn't arrived, so there was still hope that the War Chief and his party would return, just a bit late; now that winter had arrived, everyone almost stopped holding onto any hope.

Pengtu persuaded Chiyou: "Leader, the War Chief and his party have been gone for a whole cold and hot season, and now the heavy snow has fallen, they cannot return; why not hold a sacrifice for them after the heavy snow ends?"

"After all, he is the War Chief, and there are so many Soldiers; we must hold a sacrifice so that their souls can return; also, when the next spring comes, we must ask the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe what they actually did, and why the people are gone."

"If the Xuanyuan Tribe dares to make a move against our Jiuli, then we will attack them and let Xuanyuan also try what the consequences will be for provoking our Jiuli."

"Moreover, they are currently at war with the Shennong Clan, so they certainly don't have that many Soldiers to resist us, and this is a good opportunity."

On the side, Chiyou's other sons, such as Daye, Wen, Ping, and others, felt a little bit of secret joy in their hearts, because they had one less competitor, and the War Chief was the strongest one, the one most valued by their father.

Now that it was almost impossible for the War Chief to return, some accident must have happened; they felt secret joy in their hearts, but they were also angry, for after all, the War Chief was one of their Jiuli people, and there were so many Jiuli Soldiers, how could they just die so unclearly?