Chapter 496: Falcon and Pigeon

While making preparations, the Huaxia Soldier opened the cage he was holding in his arms, took out the falcon, wrote "everything is going smoothly, currently returning" on a piece of paper, and tied it to the falcon's leg.

He threw the falcon into the sky and whistled twice; although the falcon could not fully understand some things, it knew it should fly back along the path it came, so it left at an extremely fast speed, and the people of the Sixia tribe did not notice anything.

Judging by the sun, the Huaxia Soldier felt that Sixia had been dawdling for nearly two hours, but there was no help for it; they could only wait. After all, they were about to become allies, not subordinates. Otherwise, he would have kicked them out long ago and lectured them on why they were so slow and dragging their feet with everything.

After waiting with great difficulty for Sixia to finish packing, the Huaxia Soldier scanned the area and said speechlessly, "Why didn't you bring your tents and animal skins for covering? Did you think we could arrive in half a day? We have to spend at least one night out here. If you walk slowly while carrying the Sulfur, you might have to sleep in the open for two nights before we arrive."

Sixia was stunned on the spot, then apologized repeatedly and went to find people to dismantle the tents. Fearing he would leave something behind again, the Huaxia person hurriedly reminded him, "Bring enough Dry Rations for these few days too. We don't have any extra to give you. If you don't bring any, just wait to go hungry."

Sixia kept agreeing as he walked away.

Just like that, after another hour of fussing, Sixia finally said he was completely packed. The Huaxia Soldier stopped caring; if problems arose on the road, it would be their own business.

Yishang and the others had already been waiting on the Boat for two days. They were not too anxious yet, but they could not sit still in the cabin, so they wandered on the deck under the guise of getting some fresh air.

Suddenly, a falcon landed on the Boat and let out a cry. Yishang immediately turned his head, walked over, pointed his horizontal arm at the falcon, and whistled with his other hand in his mouth.

The falcon flew over obediently, landed on Yishang's arm which was wearing an arm guard, and tilted its head to look at Yishang. While untying the letter tube, Yishang told a Soldier to go get some meat.

A good bird that completes its mission must be rewarded. Of course, pigeons do not need this, and falcons must be fed cooked meat, not raw meat; otherwise, the falcon's wild nature would be hard to control once fed. The wild nature must be kept within a certain range and not be too much.

Yishang held the falcon, sat down on a chair on the deck, crossed his legs, opened the letter tube with one hand, and poured out the letter. The news inside made Yishang breathe a sigh of relief. There was nothing to be anxious about now; he just had to wait for them to bring the people of the Sixia tribe over. No one could forge Huaxia's letters, so Yishang believed it without a doubt.

After Yishang finished reading, the Soldier with the meat arrived just in time. The falcon looked excited at the strips of meat the Soldier was holding. Yishang handed the letter to that Soldier, telling him to pass it to Liangji on the other boat, then took the meat strip, which was about the size of his little finger, and fed it to the falcon.

The falcon swallowed it in a few bites, and Yishang let it continue standing on his arm while he stroked the falcon's head and basked in the warm spring sun.

In the Large Ship they had newly built, they had forward-sightedly designed a small compartment for the falcons and pigeons to live in. Although the space was small, it prevented them from being kept in narrow cages all the time, which could lead to accidents during long journeys.

However, although the pigeons had a compartment, they were still in cages, though their overall space for observation and movement was larger. The falcons did not need to be in cages; they had nests and small branches, and they could do as they pleased—sleep if they wanted, fly if they wanted. Moreover, if it was ensured that no special circumstances would occur, the falcons could be let out in turns to get some air because they could return on their own. But these pigeons were not reliable; they were set to fly directly back to the old nest in Huaxia City or the breeding base in Lema City once released.

Another reason was that falcons were more precious. Huaxia's falcons had only developed to about four hundred in number, which was related to the falcon's long growth and breeding cycle. Unlike pigeons, which bred desperately all year round, causing Huaxia to not cherish pigeons at all; pigeons only had two uses: delivering letters and being eaten.

After the Huaxia Soldiers set off with the people of the Sixia tribe, they arrived at the place where they had docked the boats. The Huaxia Soldiers boarded the boats one after another, preparing to go downstream with the current, while the people of the Sixia tribe had to walk along the bank.

To show respect, the Huaxia Soldiers still made room for Sixia, letting him board the boat as well. Sixia boarded the boat slowly with joy and panic; as long as the boat swayed even a little, he would immediately squat down and hook his fingers onto anything he could grab.

The Huaxia Soldiers could not laugh directly and had to endure it with difficulty, thinking that they would laugh secretly after the people of the Sixia tribe fell asleep at night. After all, laughing now would be bad for the relationship between the two tribes. Although the Sixia tribe probably wouldn't have any objections, the Soldiers all believed that this matter could not go wrong in the slightest, otherwise they would be sinners of Huaxia.

They did not travel far that day before it began to get dark. The Huaxia group used wooden planks to send Sixia back to the shore, letting him go command his own tribesmen to set up camp, while they took out firewood and began to set up pots and cook on the not-so-spacious deck.

They had come with five small boats this time, with six people on each boat. It was not actually crowded; it was even quite spacious, and even when sleeping at night, they could squeeze into the boat covers.

However, for the sake of safety, they still took turns keeping watch at night. If they could not determine the time, they would take the initiative to wake up the next person to replace them when they could no longer hold on, rather than waiting for the next person to come and replace them. Everyone was very polite; as long as they could hold on, they would hold on a little longer. This was not considered a hardship anyway; when Baifeng traveled, the current was doing the work, and they weren't exerting themselves. If they were too sleepy, they could also catch up on sleep during the day.

Because the nights were still very cold, the boat covers were thoughtfully equipped with leather curtains. When they were lowered during sleep, they could block the cold wind, and as long as everyone was wrapped up warmly inside, they could not feel the cold at all.

In contrast, for the Sixia tribe, just setting up their shabby tents took a long time, and they kept failing to light a fire. It was only when Huaxia couldn't stand it anymore that they threw them a burning piece of firewood. There were people keeping watch at night, but whether they were asleep or not, that could not be determined.