Chapter 400: Division

As for spoils of war, as long as you don't speak of them yourself, no one will know. Of course, this only applies to the ruling class; if you are at the bottom, even the best things will not be your share. For people of the status of Lanzai and Gongxia, even if Baoxi knew they had taken the arrowheads themselves, he would not pursue it too much. After all, he needs to maintain the hearts of the people, and he also needs support.

Of course, generally speaking, the two of them still need to hand over a portion to Baoxi, otherwise it would seem like they are not taking Baoxi seriously, which is a great taboo. But now, Gongxia and Lanzai have been so overwhelmed by the sudden acquisition of so many iron arrowheads that they haven't thought that far ahead at all, only thinking about how to divide them.

After the two walked into the shack, they sat cross-legged facing each other. Gongxia placed all the arrows on the ground, then casually poked at the arrows and said, "These arrows were all discovered by us first, so I must take the larger share. Do you have any objections?"

Lanzai's hand also rested on the arrows, and he said in a muffled voice, "That's impossible. These arrows were all taken from my Soldiers' bodies. So many of my men died, and you just happened to discover them. If you hadn't discovered them, I would have found them sooner or later. I'll give you a few out of consideration for your help in picking up the arrows."

Gongxia revealed a cold expression: "Lanzai, don't go too far. If I hadn't said anything and taken them all myself, would you even have a share? I'm giving you ten, which is already taking care of you, yet you actually want the larger share!"

Lanzai did not give an inch: "Gongxia, if you say that, do you think the soldiers I have outside will agree?"

"They aren't worth a fart. You have Soldiers, but do you think I don't? You lost so many people just after arriving; when the Tribal Chief comes, how will you explain yourself!"

Lanzai was just about to retort, but the two seemed to think of something at the same time, and their momentum instantly dropped by a large margin. Lanzai spoke weakly: "Tell me, how much should we leave for the Tribal Chief?"

Gongxia was no longer aggressive either, resting his chin on his hand to consider, but his gaze remained fixed on the arrows on the ground. Afterward, he tentatively said, "How about we don't give him any at all? If neither of us says anything, he won't know. Since Huaxia can use so many Iron Arrowheads now, it means they must have even more. When we find more later, we can just give him all of those. We can only take these out now; otherwise, we'd have to keep them hidden."

Lanzai thought for a moment and felt that what Gongxia said made sense. The main thing was that he was reluctant to part with these Iron Arrowheads. He had already touched them and felt that the iron used for these arrowheads was even better than his own big sword. If he could melt these arrowheads down and cast a better Long Sword or an axe, that would be truly good.

The topic returned to how to distribute them. Both had their own reasons and neither wanted to yield. Finally, they decided to simply split them equally so that neither would take advantage. Then they set a rule: next time, whoever finds them first gets them, regardless of whose Soldier they were pulled from.

Both sides accepted the rule, and then they began to divide them one by one. In the end, there was one left over. The two looked at each other, and both wanted to take it.

Then Lanzai suggested: "How about for this one, we test our strength? Whoever wins gets it, how about that?"

Gongxia looked at Lanzai's large frame, then estimated his own, feeling it was not inferior at all, so he accepted the challenge with full confidence.

The two finally thought of a method: they pulled a piece of wood out of the shack, each held one end, drew a line on the ground with their fingers, and then began to pull with force. Whoever's hand crossed the line first would lose.

The two prepared their postures and then began to exert force at the same time. The veins on their arms bulged, and their faces and even their buttocks were straining. Neither side was willing to give up, even though they felt increasingly exhausted, they just wouldn't quit.

Gongxia felt he couldn't hold on first. His buttocks began to shift, and his body had a tendency to lean forward. But looking at Lanzai, he was still at ease. Gongxia decided there was no hope of winning, so he simply let go. The result was that Lanzai fell straight backward, his head hitting the wood of the shack, and a wooden splinter pierced directly into his shoulder.

Lanzai had no joy in winning the contest; instead, he was full of rage because he felt Gongxia had been playing with him, and his shoulder felt a burning pain.

"Gongxia! What do you mean by this? Playing with me?"

Lanzai couldn't hold back and roared loudly, shaking even the roof of the shack so that a layer of dust drifted down.

The Soldiers outside had just thrown their comrades' corpses into the river when they heard this sound, and all were startled. However, everyone immediately recovered and looked at each other; it seemed they had already discussed certain things. To them, Lanzai's roar was just a conflict caused by an uneven division of spoils.

Gongxia said with a grin: "Don't be angry. It's not that I'm not as strong as you, but my hand was hurting badly, which is why I accidentally let go. Now this arrowhead belongs to you; you have more than I do now."

Lanzai looked at Gongxia with anger, but could only say: "You... you...", and then he couldn't vent any more anger.

Seeing Lanzai silenced, and since he hadn't suffered any real loss himself, Gongxia left the small shack with his own arrows, grinning. He had occupied a shack for himself next door; it was impossible for him to squeeze in and rest with others.

After returning to his shack, Gongxia began to remove the arrowheads one by one, throwing the arrow shafts into the fire to burn. He kept the arrowheads in his own animal-skin pouch, carrying them close to his body.

It was only then that he began to think about a difference between Huaxia's arrows and theirs: the arrow shafts had feathers glued to them.

He had originally pulled the arrows because of these feathers, but everything in his mind had been completely drawn away by the Iron Arrowheads. Now he was finally thinking about what use these feathers actually had.

In any case, it couldn't be for looks. Judging from the power of the arrows, they were far more formidable than their Suiren clan's Bow and Arrow. The arrowhead was just a bonus; he estimated that even if their bows used Huaxia's arrows, the power shouldn't be this great.

And this arrow definitely had some significance. The arrow shaft was straight and smooth, and the wood chosen was hard enough. As for what role these feathers played, he really couldn't figure it out.

If he showed them to the Tribal Chief, he might have some ideas, but now that the good things had been hidden by them, it was naturally impossible to keep the arrow shafts. He would let the Tribal Chief see them the next time they found Huaxia's arrows.

Or, he could try gluing feathers onto their Suiren clan's arrows to see the effect. If it could increase the power, that would be another great achievement.

Gongxia thought this, absolutely certain it was foolproof.