Chapter 1613: Siege and Reinforcement of Changyang Mountain

Xingtian and Shennong were making intensive preparations on the mountain. Although it was called Changyang Mountain, its location was actually a stretch of rolling hills covering a fairly wide area, rather than a single mountain.

In terms of terrain, it was not very high; it simply rose above the surface, appearing as a piece of high ground.

In this situation, Xingtian had no way to station people everywhere because they had few men, the area was relatively wide, and the terrain offered no advantage. He understood that with so few people and such low-lying terrain, their advantage was not very great.

He could only place his focus on the place where Shennong resided, where the altar for the Shennong Clan's sacrifices still stood. Shennong and the Shennong Clan's sacrificial site were the core of their entire Shennong Clan. As long as these two could be preserved, the Shennong Clan could still continue.

It could even be said that Shennong could be absent, but the sacrifices could not be severed. Shennong had many children; any one of them could succeed him, or someone could be pulled from the tribes of Yanju, Zhurong, or Xiqi to serve as the new Shennong, because they all belonged to the Shennong lineage and were orthodox; the bloodline inheritance would not go wrong.

As long as Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe could not attack and take it, even if they had few people left, the Shennong Clan would not be considered destroyed.

Several days later, the surrounding tribes successively received the message sent by the Tribal Chief Shennong requesting reinforcements.

The tribal chiefs knew that the Shennong Clan was currently facing internal and external troubles, but they thought the situation was still controllable, never imagining it had already reached such a terrifying point.

Those tribal chiefs who had not personally led troops out to battle looked at the few remaining Soldiers in their tribes and could not help but feel worried. What could this handful of people do if they went?

If they were facing an opponent that even the Xingtian Tribe could not defeat, then even if they all added together, they would likely only be able to put up a meager resistance.

If their Soldiers were all in the tribe and had not gone out, they could indeed consider giving full support, but how many people were available in the tribe now?

Zhurong asked the messenger: "Xingtian says there is no time, so how much longer until Huaxia and Xuanyuan reach Changyang Mountain?"

The messenger had also been traveling day and night and was already exhausted, but he had managed to deliver the message. Facing Zhurong's inquiry, he answered honestly: "Tribal Chief Xingtian said they are right behind them and will be able to catch up in a few days."

Zhurong asked again: "Then how long has it been since Xingtian returned?"

"It has already been three days!"

"It's ruined!" Zhurong secretly thought to himself that it was bad, because in three days, even if he gathered his tribesmen now and arranged the subsequent matters, half a day would pass, and then traveling there would take another three days; by then, the Huaxia and Xuanyuan tribes would likely have already captured Changyang Mountain.

Although Zhurong quite disliked this current Shennong and had suffered deeply because of him, this was still the Tribal Chief of their Shennong Clan. If the Shennong Clan were truly destroyed, it would not be a good thing for him, because he did not know what kind of attitude Huaxia and Xuanyuan had toward tribes like theirs—whether they would accept them peacefully or directly treat them as Slaves and spoils of war.

If it were the former, it would be fine, because he knew Xuanyuan also came from the Shennong Clan, and the ancestors they sacrificed to were the same, so it would not be a total destruction of the Shennong Clan. But if it were the latter, the situation they would face would be even worse than being under Shennong.

How to choose? Zhurong was extremely anxious, and the other tribal chiefs were facing the same problem.

"Tribal Chief Zhurong! Hurry and make arrangements! If we don't go now, it will be too late!"

Facing the urging, Zhurong remained unmoved. He was weighing the pros and cons and guessing the greatest possibility: even if he gathered all the men now, how much use could they be?

There were not many people in his own tribe who could be considered Soldiers now. They still had to be responsible for hunting and working to maintain the survival of the tribesmen, and they lived relatively scattered; even if they were all gathered, they would only be able to set out tomorrow. But once they left, where would the food come from?

The annual expeditions had already consumed all the food they had stored. The Soldiers currently suppressing other tribes were likely already going hungry. If he demanded both men and food here, would his own tribesmen not survive?

In desperation, Zhurong decided to only take the Soldiers from the villages clustered around his camp, but to only take a few hundred people to make a gesture.

If Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe had already captured Changyang Mountain, then he could negotiate when he arrived this time, allowing himself to join them smoothly without needing to start a war.

If that did not work, he would let the other tribesmen flee quickly. By taking fewer Soldiers himself, more Soldiers would remain in the tribe, making it easier to find a new place to survive later.

If they were in the middle of attacking, he would not be afraid, as he would consume fewer Soldiers. If Shennong asked why, he would naturally have an excuse to deflect, as his other Soldiers had already gone elsewhere, all fighting for the Shennong Clan.

Therefore, while the messenger was puzzled, Zhurong only gathered three hundred-plus Soldiers and, carrying very little food, prepared to set out. Before leaving, he had already arranged his affairs: if he could not return, his son would succeed him, and if his younger brother could return safely from the south, he would be the Tribal Chief.

After arriving at Changyang Mountain, he would send someone back to report the situation. Once it was said that negotiations had failed, they were to take everything they could carry and flee to find his brother. After joining the other Zhurong Tribe Soldiers, they would look for a new place to survive and would no longer need to continue fighting for Shennong.

The messenger asked why Zhurong was only bringing so few Soldiers, saying it was completely insufficient. Zhurong used the excuse he had prepared for Shennong to deal with the messenger; Zhurong was not afraid of this messenger, he just did not want to cause extra trouble.

Among the surrounding tribes, only the Xiqi Tribe was the most honest, because their Tribal Chief was away. The person left in charge listened very closely to the messenger's words and immediately pulled out all the Soldiers of the entire tribe, regardless of whether the tribe would have food to eat or whether they had decent Weapons. In any case, they pulled out over a thousand people at once, though they could completely be called a rabble.

As for the Ting'ao Tribe, upon hearing this news, the Tribal Chief's first reaction was to have someone kill the messenger directly and act as if he had never seen him. He did not want to sacrifice his entire tribe to protect a Shennong Clan that was already about to perish, especially since he had long heard from Jiang Yuwang and the others how Huaxia and the Xuanyuan Tribe would treat tribes like theirs.