Chapter 1574: Cannot Find Them

Zhang had long since left the Western Development Group, but their team was fully armed, carrying falcons and military dogs. Their main force had been wandering aimlessly across the Wasteland for a month, yet they still had nothing to show for it; even seeing a single dropping of sheep dung would have been something, but they simply could not find a single person.

The area here was vast and sparsely populated, and the Wulengebu did not have a centralized place of residence, so finding them was truly too difficult—so difficult that Zhang did not even want to look anymore, thinking it would be better to just find a place to station themselves and wait for the Wulengebu to deliver themselves to their doorstep.

Just like that, they searched for over a month in the places they could explore where their food supply could hold out, and only then prepared to return to the Western Development Group to replenish their food; otherwise, with so many people, they would likely starve to death on this Wasteland.

Meanwhile, Wulian, the warrior sent out by the Wulengebu Tribal Chief Yegaer who could take down a wolf pack, brought some Soldiers he had brought from the tribe at Shenhu, then united with several small tribes around his destination, barely scraping together over six thousand people, and prepared to go find Huaxia to take revenge.

They were still the same as before, herding while searching for Huaxia, but it was clear they were putting their focus on herding; after all, fighting meant people would die, but herding did not. The Wulengebu liked war and were good at it, but they did not like fighting a larger force with a smaller one; they preferred fighting a smaller force with a larger one, bullying the weak with the strong, preferably the kind of ambush on the road where they could snatch everything at once.

Although Wulian was sent by the Tribal Chief and was nominally in command of these tribes, the Tribal Chiefs of these tribes did not really listen to Wulian; after all, Heaven is high and the Emperor is far away, and this was their own tribe, so how could just anyone who came along manage them?

"Laozi doesn't care who sent you, it's useless. We listen to the Tribal Chief's words; you aren't a Tribal Chief, so why should we listen to you?" The only person they were willing to obey who was sent from Shenhu could only be one: Bosa. No matter which Bosa it was, as long as their position was Bosa, they were naturally willing to listen, because Bosa represented divine authority.

In short, Wulian's actions were exceptionally unsuccessful and obstructed at every turn. He spent a lot of time just to get these tribes in contact and organized, but no one was willing to listen to him. Everyone's unified stance was: "We don't know where Huaxia is, so how do we fight? Wouldn't it be better to herd first and fight when we encounter Huaxia?"

Now that these tribes had been united for only a short time, the idea of separating again to herd individually had already emerged, because they were a nomadic people, but they were not wealthy enough to eat meat every day; digging for food from the soil was the norm, and they also had to hunt. Once too many people gathered in one place, it would lead to a major problem: food shortages.

Everyone herded separately, each occupying a piece of land to support their own several hundred or over a thousand people, and with what they found in the soil and the livestock they herded, they would at least not starve to death. In the current situation, I fear that if this continues for much longer, they will face food shortages, because it is still a long way from autumn, and food is actually relatively scarce; things like Grass Seed have not yet ripened.

Compared to spring, there were not as many wild vegetables, and they already found it hard to eat the wild vegetables and Grass of this season; even when boiled, they were not necessarily chewable.

Some wild vegetables, after eating them, would make one very itchy and break out in rashes as soon as one was exposed to the sun, but they had to eat them or they would starve to death. It was under these circumstances that they struggled to herd.

In this era, no one could live very easily, except for Huaxia. However, once Huaxia encountered a relatively large natural disaster, it would also cause an exceptionally large impact given their current situation. Although they were generally wealthy and had food reserves that could last for two years, it would inevitably affect the long-term development of Huaxia; the territory was small, and their ability to resist risks was still insufficient.

Not to mention these nomadic peoples; they had merely found a relatively suitable means of survival and found it difficult to truly grow strong. If they encountered a White Disaster in Winter, then survival would also be a major problem.

For the past few days, Wulian had been doubting his life. He did not know if he should continue to persevere and complete this task. Unfortunately, he had no other way; the Tribal Chiefs of several tribes had almost explicitly stated that they were going to separate, unless Wulian could now find a way to ensure that so many people would not have to worry about their food supply, in which case they naturally would not separate.

There was one other way, which was to find Huaxia. As long as they found Huaxia, he would not need to say anything himself; the Tribal Chiefs of those tribes would definitely be tempted and would all want to take Huaxia down.

But the first method was clearly unfeasible. If he had that ability, could he still be like this? He would have long since been a Tribal Chief, the kind of Tribal Chief who could develop the Wulengebu to be extremely powerful!

Therefore, he could only take his chances. Finding Huaxia was a matter of urgency. If he could not find them, he and the Soldiers he brought would likely find it difficult to return and report back. Either he would just stay behind and not go back; living in any tribe was survival, and although it was not as good as the days at Shenhu, at least he would not have to worry about being held accountable, right?

Yegaer had actually forgotten about this Huaxia business for the past few days, because their Yutu Festival was declared to have begun the moment the first migrating fish appeared.

Following the sacrificial process, Bosa boarded a small Boat, took people to cast an ox and a sheep into the center of Shenhu, and held a series of rituals to comfort the gods and explain their intention to use the migrating fish here.

After all the rituals were finished, they began the carnival that belonged to the Wulengebu. Dense schools of large fish would even block the river channel leading to Dahu; fish could be seen everywhere along the lake, and if you reached out your hand, you could touch a fish.

Moreover, the fish were all very large, and you could not see a single small fish. You would doubt whether what you were seeing was fish in the water or water in the fish, because the density was simply too great.

And this was precisely the survival method of the Wulengebu; one Yutu Festival could allow all the tribes along the edge of Shenhu to not worry about food for half a year.

They would go from the initial carnival to gradually becoming numb, because they were catching fish every day and could see fish every day; they could spear them with sticks and catch them with rope nets.

But they could not catch them with fishing lines, because the fish at this time almost did not eat anything. This was also what made the Wulengebu feel it was miraculous. When all the miraculous things were added together, did it not just prove that this lake had divine traces?