Chapter 375: The Lurking Lieshan Clan

Limu was both angry and anxious, but he had no other choice; that patch of field was already beyond saving. Fortunately, most of the wheat ears had already been harvested and placed in the open space, otherwise, the losses would have been even more severe.

He had already cleared a very wide open space on his side, and it was basically impossible for the fire to spread across it. However, as a precaution to prevent sparks from igniting their area again, Limu still had people continue to widen the open space.

Finally, the fire reached the open area, and with nothing left to burn, it gradually extinguished. However, the entire stretch of red embers remained very eye-catching in the night.

Among those burned in the fire, only a few let out weak cries of agony, but Limu did not pay much attention to them. Their life or death was up to them; if they could live, they would live, and if they couldn't, he had no way to help. They had absolutely no concept of medical treatment.

Consequently, Limu split off a portion of his men to use soil to cover and extinguish the last of the sparks, while the others acted as if nothing had happened and continued to harvest.

By the time dawn broke, everyone was so exhausted they could barely walk, yet the unharvested farmland still seemed endless. At this moment, everyone's mindset had changed; from initially feeling they had an endless supply of grain, they were now only thinking about why there was an endless amount of work.

Limu was also in the harvesting team, and only when he himself could barely hold on did he let everyone stop to rest, eat something, and wait for the next team from the tribe to arrive for a shift change.

But everyone was so sleepy they didn't even have the energy to eat. Many people held empty bowls in their hands and fell asleep on the ground before they could even line up for food. Limu persisted until he drank a few mouthfuls of paste porridge before he passed out.

Fortunately, the team of over two thousand people led by Xuanyuan himself arrived in time, which allowed for a smooth shift change.

Seeing his tribesmen collapsed all over the ground, Xuanyuan did not disturb them, but simply arranged for people to continue harvesting the wheat ears. However, he also saw a patch of scorched earth and felt a sense of foreboding in his heart. Upon walking over to look, the ground was covered in grass ash, and there were many people lying in the field who had been burned beyond recognition; not a single one was alive.

Xuanyuan did not know what exactly had happened, but he figured it shouldn't have been an enemy. Thus, he called over a few people to carry the bodies out, and then, imitating Baifeng's method, had them dig a pit and bury the bodies.

Walking through the burned field, Xuanyuan would kick up a cloud of dust with every step. However, he also discovered something different; after digging through the ashes, he found that they were actually mice that had been burned to death.

After a Soldier notified Xuanyuan, Xuanyuan had already learned that there were thieves stealing wheat ears, and Limu had deduced that they were likely things like jumping mice. The mouse Xuanyuan picked up had an extremely long tail, but it wasn't very large itself; this was the thief, the jumping rabbit, or rather, the jumping mouse.

Xuanyuan searched slowly and found that the number of jumping mice burned to death was quite large. He had the few people who had just finished digging the pit and burying the tribesmen start searching from the edge of the field, picking out all the burned jumping mice. Even if they were small, they were still meat, and they could boil a few pots of meat soup for everyone later. Moreover, the area of this burned land was not small, and he estimated they could find many.

By the time they were busy until nearly the afternoon, people woke up one after another, mainly because they were woken up by hunger. They held their bowls and went to the pots to look for food they hadn't had time to eat.

Seeing that the time was about right, Xuanyuan went over and woke Limu. Limu opened his heavy eyelids, and seeing that the Tribal Chief had come, he had to force himself to stand up.

Xuanyuan first asked Limu about what had happened to the burned field. Limu told him everything exactly as it happened, but he also said that a fairly large portion of the wheat ears had been placed in the open space and were not burned, so the loss was not too great.

At this point, it was useless for Xuanyuan to be angry; after all, the people who caused the trouble were already dead. Now, all they had to do was hurry and finish harvesting the remaining grain.

Although there were no jumping mice, squirrels, or rats stealing during the day, there were countless sparrows, pigeons, and other birds openly robbing the fields. They would fly into the fields with a flutter, peck a few times, and then fly away with a flutter after discovering danger.

Xuanyuan was also wondering if Baifeng was currently facing these same difficulties.

If Baifeng knew of Xuanyuan's question, he would naturally tell him clearly: of course he was. It was just that they also had large woven nets waiting for those birds. Although they couldn't catch too many, catching a net full was enough to make up for a fairly large portion of their losses.

This time, the Xuanyuan Tribe had brought enough people, totaling nearly four thousand. The entire plain was filled with the endless grain they had planted. They were currently harvesting wheat, but there were other grains that were also about to mature. Another major crop was planted in the great marsh next to their tribe. This plain, which had only been occupied for a few years, was planted only with these dry-land crops.

Xuanyuan had these people work in rotations, staggering their shifts to avoid the situation of continuous, round-the-clock work until they collapsed. If the enemy came to attack at this time, wouldn't they become sitting ducks? Xuanyuan knew that the Lieshan Clan had already set their sights on these farmlands of theirs. Even though this place was far from their main base, who could resist the temptation of food?

The facts were indeed so; scouts from the Lieshan Clan were hiding in the distant woods, observing. The unobstructed plain allowed them to see the activities of the Xuanyuan Tribe.

They had originally intended to steal at night, stealing as much as they could, and then setting a fire when they left, leaving nothing for Xuanyuan.

But when they took advantage of the moonlight being obscured by clouds and gradually crept over, they heard that there were still people working in the fields. After years of war, they already knew they couldn't beat the Xuanyuan Tribe, so for the sake of safety, they had to retreat first and prepare to find another opportunity.

But just as they retreated, they saw flames shooting into the sky. They thought one of their warriors had already gone to set the fire, but after taking a headcount, all two hundred of them were there, not a single one missing. This left them very confused.

However, they didn't dwell on it. They were only the advance scouting force. Their goal was to steal if they could, destroy if they could, and monitor when they could do nothing else. The real main force was not far away—a large team of over ten thousand people. This time, it could be said they had staked everything they had.

The Lieshan Clan had long had their eyes on this place. After all, Xuanyuan had started farming as soon as he occupied it. The persistent Lieshan Clan had investigated many times and discovered the difference in this patch of grass: it was all planted by people, edible grass seeds.

For the Lieshan Clan, the future depended on whether this year's battle could be successful. If they snatched it, they would have the capital to continue; if they couldn't snatch it, destroying it all would also be a success for them. Without the support of grain, the Xuanyuan Tribe would have no way to attack them in the short term.