Chapter 1554: A Beast Never Seen Before

"Boshui flows and swirls, hewing wood to spear fish..."

A noisy sound suddenly rang out, giving Hun a great fright. He thought the enemy had discovered him and hurriedly pressed his body lower, but upon listening carefully, it seemed they were just loudly chanting something, as if performing a sacrifice by the Boshui.

The horse did not react much, but because Hun had pressed his body low, it mistook this for a command to accelerate and ran a bit faster. Hun hurriedly pulled the reins, chose a safer position, and stopped.

The training of a horse is not as simple as just being able to be ridden or understanding commands, because horses are meant for the battlefield, not simply to be used as a mount.

Therefore, the training modes for horses are very diverse; some were explained by Baifeng, but more were discovered and explored by them during the actual training process.

For example, because a horse is, after all, a herbivore and its status in the food chain is not high, it needs to be on guard against beasts at all times. As long as there is any large movement, it will immediately panic and may even kick its hooves backward.

This situation is, of course, unacceptable, as it is too dangerous for the rider. Therefore, in daily life, it is necessary to constantly startle them, letting them gradually get used to all kinds of sudden, unexpected movements and become numb to all sorts of strange sounds, thereby ensuring they will not be easily frightened.

Even things like Bombs are often used on them. After all, when fighting a war, Bombs are necessary. One must let the horses get used to this sound and the flash of light in advance. For this, Huaxia paid a high price; just the Bombs used were quite numerous. After all, sometimes training is not done collectively, but rather a specific horse is trained individually, and a Bomb is set off for the sake of a single horse.

Then there are beasts; horses are naturally afraid of things like wolves and tigers. To prevent the horses from panicking and losing control when encountering them in the wild, people are specifically made to wear various animal skins to play the part of beasts.

After scaring them a few times, they then coordinate with people to repel and "kill" the beasts, letting the horses know that they are very powerful and do not need to fear them. Thus, the warhorses of Huaxia are all very confident.

And as Huaxia says, the cost of raising horses is very high. This high cost lies not only in feeding, but more so in training, which requires a large investment of manpower and material resources. Therefore, the cost is high, and horses must be raised to the best standard, otherwise, it is a waste of effort.

After Hun paused his steps, he took out the Telescope to continue watching. This time, he was observing from the flank, so he could clearly see Xingtian being carried high up. Such an arrogant person must be the only one in a tribe.

Hun had heard enough descriptions of Xingtian; it was nothing more than his body being extremely sturdy and extremely tall. The one being carried there seemed to match that, and in any case, it was likely not Shennong.

He had also heard of some images of Shennong; in any case, he would certainly not grow to be this sturdy, nor was he good at war, much less at governing a tribe. Otherwise, how could he have governed a powerful Shennong Clan into its current state?

What Hun had heard most about this generation of Shennong was his irritable temper, his suspicious nature, and that he was difficult to approach and difficult to rely on.

After Hun confirmed that this was Xingtian's troop, he began to observe the size of the troop. He could only rely on the length of the troop to judge how many people there were; it was completely impossible to count them one by one.

He focused more on the men who looked like they could serve as combat power, that is, the Soldiers who could fight, and also their Weapon configuration—whether there were more metal weapons or stone ones.

But looking at it now, their metal weapons were truly numerous. Almost the entire front of the troop was equipped with what appeared to be metal weapons, and their physiques were also relatively robust.

And once reaching the rear, those carrying metal weapons looked like only a scattered few, and most were carrying something on their backs, with no free hands to hold weapons.

Judging by their state, they were also exhausted and weak. In Xingtian's tribe, these were inevitably the lower-class ones, belonging to the laborers; they would have to be placed in the back when going to the battlefield.

And further back were even thinner and weaker people, and it also began to be dominated by women. The number of women increased even more; it looked like there was almost no difference between them and Slaves, and it was possible they were indeed Slaves.

The total number of people was definitely over ten thousand. Hun already had a rough number in his mind and could go back to report. Thus, he was no longer so sneaky; he quickly turned the horse's head, moved to a position parallel to Xingtian's tribe, and advanced rapidly.

"Hey? What kind of beast is that? How come its back looks so high, and it's so tall?"

"What? What? Where?"

The Soldiers of Xingtian's tribe walking on the outermost side discovered the figure of Hun as he rode past, but because he was so tall and his speed was so fast, they never even thought about it being a person.

"What is it? What are you making noise about?"

Xingtian opened his eyes, and the sunlight, like millet, fell through the gaps in his grass ring onto his dark face: "What is making you so noisy?"

"Tribal Chief! I just saw a beast, it grew very large, and its speed was especially fast!"

Xingtian did not care: "Just a beast, what is so strange about that?"

"Tribal Chief, the one just now was different. It ran especially fast, and it seemed to have a big hump growing on its back. I have never seen such a beast."

Now Xingtian became interested: "What kind of beast is it that the Soldiers of my Xingtian tribe have not seen? Are you sure you saw it? If it really exists, then go find it and see if you can catch it."

Those few Soldiers looked at each other and prepared to act. They immediately left the troop and said to Xingtian: "Tribal Chief, we will catch it and bring it back for you to eat its meat."

Xingtian waved his hand: "Go, my Soldiers."

Xingtian had always been very good to his own people, especially his excellent Soldiers, and the rewards he gave were also very sufficient. Just like how Shennong treated him, he always believed that as long as the Soldiers were brave and good at fighting, they should be rewarded.

Under such a philosophy and his unsparing rewards, his best Soldiers almost all used metal weapons and ate the best food.

Most of the Shennong Clan's metal weapons were in his hands, and he had distributed them to his Soldiers; only a very small portion remained in his hands, as he would still need to reward them in the future.

The ones Shennong kept were equipped for the Soldiers by his side. Of course, he kept more now because there was no one left to use them; the Shennong Clan no longer had many Soldiers he could command, and his own tribe was still producing copper in small but steady amounts.