Chapter 134: The People on Patrol

Baifeng was lost in the act of digging through the Snow bit by bit, clearing a path to the rooms of the other tribespeople; it was impossible to shovel away all the Snow, so this was all he could do for now. He had to ensure that everyone wasn't buried and suffocated in the Snow, and he also had to make sure everyone had enough food and firewood to make it through these next few days.

By the time Baifeng had almost finished digging the path to the next tribesperson's room, Xiong and his wives also came out. To increase efficiency, the group split into several paths and spread out to dig, which would allow them to find all the tribespeople faster.

In fact, most people were likely still conscious; those whose doors opened inward, like Baifeng's, could also open their doors, but they lacked initiative and had no experience in dealing with such a snow disaster, so they could only wait for the Snow to stop or for someone in charge to give orders.

The group with the most independent consciousness and initiative had long since collapsed from exhaustion and were not necessarily awake, so the burden fell entirely on Baifeng.

More and more tribespeople were being rescued, and more people were working together, so the paths to everyone's room doors were soon cleared, though they were just like trenches, and the Snow was constantly collapsing downward.

Porridge was constantly being boiled in Xiong's room, one pot after another; under Baifeng's arrangement, Sui also began to boil porridge for the tribespeople. When facing a disaster, abundant food is the best sedative, even if everyone knows the tribe's food supply is still quite sufficient.

The old small earthen houses were somewhat overwhelmed, and the roofs were creaking, so those living inside were all moved out to squeeze in with others temporarily until this Snow melted.

A portion of the grain in the warehouse was taken out and distributed to everyone, giving them enough for five days per person to avoid the situation where it might keep snowing like this in the coming days, and someone might not be able to come to the rescue at any time; it was better to have their own supplies. Firewood was also distributed in sufficient quantities.

However, coal made up the majority; they would burn coal during the day as it was durable and had a strong heat, and burn firewood at night to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Right now, the heated brick beds couldn't be lit as they were all buried; if there was enough time later, they could clear the back of their own houses themselves and then they would be able to burn them, but there was no time in the tribe to clear them.

The people were rescued, and now it was time to look at the chickens and the cattle, but on the way, someone reminded him that the Soldiers patrolling on the city wall were still there and hadn't been relieved. Baifeng looked incredulous, his eyes wide: "Patrolling in this kind of weather?"

They said it was a rule set by the Tribal Chief that they had to go out and stand guard regardless of the weather, but the few people who were supposed to rotate couldn't get out of their doors, so they hadn't been relieved; when they opened their doors, they were busy clearing Snow and forgot, and only just remembered now.

Baifeng glared angrily at those few people who were supposed to rotate; he wanted to scold them, but he really couldn't bring himself to do it. He could only let out an angry breath, then beckoned everyone to dig toward the city wall, hoping only that they wouldn't be too rigid and would definitely go stay in the fort to warm themselves by the fire.

Digging quickly to the foot of the city wall, Baifeng saw smoke still rising from the fort, and his heart was half at ease; at least the fire was still burning, so the chances of those few people being alive were much greater.

The city wall couldn't hold such thick Snow, so it had all fallen to the foot of the wall; the depth of the Snow at the foot of the wall was already higher than a person. Once the path was cleared, Baifeng hurriedly stepped on the Snow and rushed up.

There was no one on the city wall and no footprints of activity. Pushing open the door to the fort, in the cold space, there was only a small pile of fire, and the firewood was about to run out; six Soldiers were huddled together, shivering.

Baifeng was so cold that even his tears wouldn't flow, but when those Soldiers saw Baifeng arrive, they all stood up tremblingly, shaking their bodies and bowing their heads to admit their mistake to Baifeng, saying they were really too cold to bear it, which was why they came here to hide and weren't patrolling.

Baifeng didn't blame them, just patted each of their shoulders, was silent for a few seconds, and asked if the others were hiding in the other fort. He didn't say anything else, letting them go back quickly to rest, eat something to warm their bodies, and go to sleep; they hadn't eaten or slept for nearly a day and a night, and their bodies were reaching their limits.

The scene in the other fort was much the same. Baifeng arranged for them to go back to rest, then silently descended the city wall. He didn't arrange for anyone else to stand guard; if there was anything that could come to attack or raid them in this kind of weather, Baifeng would accept it, because that would be completely beyond the scope of Nature, and if they really fought, Baifeng and his people might not necessarily win.

However, this also exposed that their guard regulations had major loopholes and were very unreasonable; once a complex matter arose, the problems were all exposed, and they would have to change them after going back.

Having reached the city wall, he had to go see the cattle herd. The cattle pen was already piled full of Snow; they also had to push the Snow away to make a path so they could reach the shed where the cattle lay. Hearing human voices, the cattle herd began to call out incessantly.

Because of the Snow, the cattle herd hadn't been given any Grass all day today; the cattle were still hungry, and there was no fire, nor was there such tight shelter as their rooms. The condition of the cattle herd was much worse than that of the tribespeople, but the sound meant they weren't dead.

Reaching the shed, only the innermost part of the shed had no Snow on it; dozens of cattle were lying down huddled together for warmth. A glance across seemed to show that none had died, and so many cattle made the shed seem not so cold.

However, even though so many people had come over, not a single cow intended to stand up; they only called out more intensely. The white Xiaoniu was surrounded in the very center.

Looking at their hollow, shriveled bellies, and seeing that not a single cow was ruminating, Baifeng quickly had the tribespeople responsible for caring for the cattle go and pull the fodder over. However, even after it was brought, because it was too cold, not a single cow was willing to get up and leave its warm spot.

Baifeng couldn't force them either; anyway, if they weren't eating, it meant they wouldn't starve to death for a while, so he should prioritize keeping them warm first.

It was a pipe dream to want to build walls for them now, but there was still a lot of dry Grass, so he widened the snow path a bit more, used carts to pull over a lot of dry Grass, piled it outside to block the wind, and laid a very thick layer on the ground as well.

After a psychological struggle, the cattle on the edge chose to get up and leave their original positions, running onto the dry Grass to lie down, then opening their mouths to eat the Grass they could reach.

In a while, they should all have a reaction one by one, but it was still too cold, so he used Bricks to build a few simple stoves, burning coal inside; anyway, the air was very well-ventilated, so there was no fear of poisoning at all.

However, this required leaving a few people to watch, not only to add firewood but also to watch and keep the cattle from getting too close to avoid being burned.

Taking a look at Xiaoniu and seeing that it was not uneasy at all, he left those few people who were supposed to be on duty to watch, and Baifeng took people to see the chickens.

They didn't have to stand guard all the time; if the Snow was too thick, they could return on their own without waiting, just throwing more coal when they left.

Baifeng estimated that the chicken coop might be in a more serious state; after all, the chicken coop was built very low, and by now it might have buried the chicken shed entirely.