Chapter 465: Verifying Intelligence

Xiong took the Military Tally and, without a moment's delay, went to arrange the troops. Very quickly, a reconnaissance force of three hundred Soldiers was assembled. Led by Lu, they headed toward the territory of the Suiren Clan to investigate. Their primary target now was the region bordering the Huaxia territory; further or deeper areas were not their objective, because even if they occupied them, they would be difficult to manage and would eventually be snatched back by the Suiren Clan. However, if they could capture people, it would still be worth striving for.

As for the other large forces, the garrison troops needed a certain amount of time to be ready, as they were not on standby in the military camp all day. Although Xiong felt it would be better to raise more Soldiers and fight a battle with a surplus of resources, the order was that there could only be ten thousand. He could have fewer people, but not more.

Lu was now a mature commander. The team he led traveled light, prioritizing the gathering of information and avoiding direct confrontation as much as possible.

Baifeng was still slowly returning to the city. The temperature was very low now, and the Snow had hardly melted, but fortunately, he did not encounter any other difficulties or obstacles along the way.

After the Xuanyuan Tribe received that batch of scrap Iron traded by Huaxia, they immediately began to remelt it just like making Bronze Ware, then cast Weapons. Unfortunately, they used furnaces for smelting Bronze to burn it for several days, but they were unable to melt it, only burning off some dregs.

At this moment, they also understood why Huaxia was willing to trade so much Iron with them; it turned out that they had long ago determined that the Xuanyuan Tribe did not have the ability to turn this Iron into Weapons.

In fact, they had thought before about casting the farm tools traded from Huaxia into Weapons, but Xuanyuan believed it was unnecessary because they were not short of those few Weapons, and those farm tools could also be used as Weapons, so they had never tried melting the Iron.

Now they were at a loss and could only wait for Xuanyuan to return to think of a way. However, Xuanyuan had been gone for so long that no one knew exactly when he would be able to return, or what kind of things he would be able to bring back.

Because of Xuanyuan's departure, the Xuanyuan Tribe also temporarily drew in their range of activity and was completely unaware of the changes that had occurred with the Suiren Clan and the Lieshan Clan.

Lu and his men successfully arrived on the former land of the Suiren Clan. Now they were very cautious and did not move as quickly as they did on their own land, as they were, after all, in a completely unfamiliar place.

However, they searched for a day and did not find the existence of any Suiren Clan Village, nor did they find any traces of human activity.

At this time, on the land not far from the direction of Huaxia, there were over ten thousand people, occupied by several tribes. They had all separated from the Suiren Clan. They had not yet engaged in war or attacks against each other. For them, the most important thing at the moment was the food problem; this was a difficulty faced by every tribe that had split off.

As for defecting to Huaxia, they had never even had such a thought; if they had, they would have implemented it long ago. Leaving the Suiren Clan was also driven by power—who wouldn't want to truly possess a tribe of their own? There was also a portion who had originally been conquered by the Suiren Clan and had no recognition of them; now that they had a chance to escape, they naturally did so without hesitation.

They also did not know that Huaxia had already received the news and was scouting in their direction.

Every morning, the Soldiers of these tribes would enter the forest to hunt, all moving in Small Teams. They also had a tacit understanding with each other; the teams of each tribe would intentionally keep their distance and not interfere with one another.

After searching for half a day, the people led by Lu finally made a discovery. A Small Team of more than twenty people appeared in their field of vision, and their behavior showed they were hunting.

Through hand signals, Lu directed a encirclement composed of one hundred people to gradually close in. By the time those people discovered it, it was already too late. They had basically never participated in the war against Huaxia, and they had only heard about Huaxia's combat power from others. But those who could repel thirty thousand people in a few days were definitely not weak Soldiers, and furthermore, the people surrounding them were several times their number.

Seeing this, after being forced together, these people put down their Weapons and obediently surrendered. Lu walked through the encirclement and saw these people squatting on the ground, asking, "Are you people of the Suiren Clan, or have you already separated from the Suiren Clan?"

Those people immediately answered in a jumble: "We are of the Suiren Clan..."

"We are not the Suiren Clan; we are of the Chenshui Tribe."

As a result, their own stories were not even unified. They looked at each other with resentment and then knew they were done for.

Lu gave a cold snort: "Which tribe are you actually from? Don't tell me people from two tribes can act together!"

At this, no one dared to speak. They wanted to wait for someone else to stick their neck out.

Seeing no one speak, Lu pointed at a Soldier who had said he was from the Suiren Clan, had someone drag him up, and interrogated him separately: "Which tribe are you from?"

That person's eyes darted left and right quickly, then he said in a low voice: "I... I am from the Suiren Clan."

Lu looked at the cowering others: "Is what he said the truth?"

Those people remained indifferent; not a single person spoke.

Lu said angrily: "You only need to say 'yes' or 'no'. If you don't want to talk, then nod or shake your head. You can do that, right? I'll ask one last time: are you or are you not from the Suiren Clan?"

After those people hurriedly looked at each other, they shook their heads repeatedly.

Thereupon, Lu did not hesitate, drew his Knife, and stabbed it into the heart of the man who had lied to him in one motion. After kicking him to the ground, he held up the still-dripping Knife and said sternly: "I'll give you one last chance. Tell me the truth: which tribe are you actually from? If you don't say it, you'll end up like him. Understand?"

This time, the stories of those people were completely unified; they all said they were a tribe called the Chenshui Tribe.

Lu had never heard of this tribe, but this also indirectly confirmed the news of the Suiren Clan's split.

Subsequently, after careful questioning, these people confirmed the matter of the Suiren Clan's split, but they were also unclear about the extent of the split because they were all people at the bottom. However, they also provided some useful information: that four tribes had come to this area, totaling over ten thousand people, and they still kept a certain distance from each other. Where they were now was the territory of the Chenshui Tribe, which was considered the weakest of the four tribes, with only a little over a thousand people.

For the sake of the veracity of the information, Lu decided to go to the direction these people mentioned to capture more people and clarify the information, specifically to the point of how many people were in each tribe.

In order for them to move quickly and not expose their tracks, Lu ordered all these people to be dragged to a large pit they had discovered on their way, killed them all and threw them inside, then continued to advance.