Chapter 450: Preparing to Return to the City

The people of the Suiren Clan were carrying Baoxi and running frantically; they no longer cared about anything now, as long as they could escape back, while the team of Huangpin and the others was likewise forgotten.

After dawdling for several days, Huangpin finally returned to the campsite they had used for hiding; this place was very close to that main road. Huangpin's idea was that it would be better to scout the road during the early morning and evening hours, believing that Huaxia would not appear at such times.

His proposal received the support of all the Soldiers; of course, it would have been even better if they could avoid going and just think of a reasonable excuse here to report back to the tribe, but Huangpin dared not do such a thing, because attacking Huaxia was the foundation of his status, and if he messed around like that, he would be the one to suffer in the end.

In order to better hide their tracks, they did not bring many people, and Huangpin could only lead the men to scout personally; if one were left alone in these mountains and forests, the danger would be no less than going to scout the road.

On the evening of the day they arrived at the campsite, Huangpin led his men to begin the operation; he still came to the place where he had hidden, then climbed over the fence onto the main road. Almost everyone except Huangpin was stepping on such a road surface for the first time, and for a moment, they all felt it was incredible; some even squatted on the ground, using their fingernails to scrape the surface, wanting to see what exactly it was.

This time they walked a very long distance, but still did not see the end; however, there were indeed many rut marks on the road, which made Huangpin firmly believe that this road connected to another city of Huaxia, but these rut marks also indicated that there were a great many Huaxia Soldiers traveling back and forth on this road every day.

Before the sky was about to turn completely dark, they quickly returned to the camp and then rested.

The facts were indeed as Huangpin had guessed: if Huaxia had no important business, they would not travel in the early morning or evening. Now, in the morning, there would be thin ice and frost on the road, which easily led to accidents; ox hooves would slip and carts would overturn. They would not put themselves in danger just to save that little bit of time; they would always wait for the sun to rise and the road surface to dry before moving.

The team of Xiong and the others was about to reach the Kexiaozhan; their hearts were now filled with hope and motivation, and they were no longer so stingy with food, starting to become generous.

After arriving at the Kexiaozhan, the Huaxia Soldiers all cheered, but the others did not know what was going on. Seeing a row of dilapidated wooden houses, their hearts cooled by more than half; they were very afraid that this was Huaxia.

The Huaxia Soldiers did not notice the unease of those people, just happily setting up camp next to the Kexiaozhan, and then thinking about going into the houses to see if there would be any special harvest; after all, when they set out, they had obtained some meat inside.

But the team from New City told them there was nothing inside, only bat droppings; they had also looked inside when they set out. Xiong's team did not believe it and opened them to look anyway, but the result was no different from what the New City team said. They did see a lot of big rats, though; if Baifeng hadn't instructed them long ago not to think about eating rat meat unless it was an absolute last resort, they would have caught those huge rats with super-long tails and treated them as meat.

The emotions of those people from the Twelve Clans only gradually stabilized after seeing at close range that these wooden houses had long been abandoned and that there were no traces of large-scale human life around; the closer they got to Huaxia, the more uneasy they felt in their hearts, as they were about to live in a completely unfamiliar large tribe.

Finally, Twelve could not help it anymore and asked Xiong carefully while eating: "Leader, can you tell us how big Huaxia really is? On the road, I asked, and you said it was meaningless to say because it wasn't certain if we could even live to go back. Now that Huaxia is right before our eyes, can you tell us now?"

Xiong chuckled: "Of course I can tell you now."

Then Xiong did not hide anything at all and said with his loud voice: "Our Huaxia is not a tribe; a long time ago, we already established a country. We are now the Huaxia State. Our King is named Baifeng. Our Huaxia has a population of tens of thousands; like us, there are thousands of Soldiers who don't need to go out hunting, don't need to look for food, and are specifically tasked with protecting the country and fighting. There is so much grain that we can't finish it all, and it's all used to feed the livestock."

"What? What is livestock? It's like the oxen, sheep, and chickens we raise. Oh right, and horses. Look at this row of houses here; it was built back then because we wanted to catch wild horses alive. At that time, hundreds of people didn't have to worry about anything else; the state provided food and supplies just to let them catch wild horses. After they were caught, these houses were abandoned; when we came last time, they had become wild boar dens."

Twelve was so shocked by Xiong's few short sentences that he forgot to eat, and more and more people gathered around; even the people from the two clans following behind, who were not from the Twelve Clans, also gathered around.

Twelve asked in an incredulous tone: "Do you mean to say that like our oxen here, Huaxia has even more, and there are other wild beasts being raised too?"

Xiong was very proud: "That goes without saying. There are so many oxen in Huaxia that they can't even be counted; some are used for plowing fields, some for pulling carts, and some are used for Soldiers to ride in battle, but more are specifically raised for meat. Anyway, don't overthink it; in Huaxia, you don't need to worry about not having enough grain to eat, but rather worry about having too much grain that it goes moldy."

A chorus of "Wow" went up all around, and then they began to fantasize about being able to eat until they were so full they couldn't walk, but they couldn't imagine what it felt like to be full, because they had never been full since they were born, not even having had their fill of milk.

Only Xiong touched his belly with emotion, feeling his increasingly loose Leather Armor, and felt that he should have a good, fat Winter after returning to build up his own flesh.

At this time, he also remembered his few children, so he asked the Soldiers of New City: "Do you know what the situation is with my few sons now? Are they causing trouble again, especially Shaoyin; how is he doing now?"

The Soldiers of New City said to Xiong with a grin: "Team Leader Xiong, you know we have been in New City, so news is a bit blocked; we don't know the specific details, but we have heard some general things. Erhu and the others are all obediently going to school, and Shaoyin hasn't been bullied either. Some time ago, the Tribal Chief, in order to counter the Suiren Clan, specifically issued a topic for everyone to answer. Shaoyin's answer was the best; he was originally going to be rewarded, but because Shaoyin was still serving his sentence, it was dropped, but he definitely left an impression on the King."

Because Xiong had been removed from his post, he now only served as the leader of this team; he used to be considered the superior of this New City team. When they saw Xiong, they called him Secretary Xiong, but Xiong insisted on changing the address to Team Leader Xiong.

Xiong had now also become approachable; hearing that his sons were all doing well, he let out a sigh of relief, and at the same time, he understood that Baifeng's help was indispensable in all of this.