Luxurious Lineup

It turned out that every morning for the past two months, whenever the livestock pen was opened, Rou Rou and Hui Shan would run out and frolic for a while. Once, they happened to catch the brick kiln burning, and steam billowed from its top. Even the snow piled around it melted. Rou Rou wandered over to the kiln out of curiosity, then fell completely in love with the place. If it had not needed to return to the pen to eat grass, it probably would have stayed there forever.

From then on, whenever it was let out in the morning, Rou Rou would first stroll around the brick kiln to see whether it was burning that day. If the kiln was still warm, it would lie there for the entire day and only return to the pen at dinnertime.

But today, Rou Rou was not so lucky. Big Mouse, who had originally planned to conduct diplomacy, had led a group of underlings on a journey lasting more than half a day. After finally reaching the Small River, they had expected to see who was making the fire. Instead, when they arrived, there was not a single person in sight. All they saw was a small, round mound of earth by the river belching thick black smoke, with "a huge chunk of meat" lying beside it.

Back then, to make filling the kiln with water easier, Luo Chong had built the brick kiln half underground. The wooden barrel used for burning happened to be belowground, so Big Mouse failed to notice it. Instead, he made Rou Rou, lying beside the kiln roof, his target.

Big Mouse could not figure out why the little mound was smoking, nor did he want to. He had not seen any people, only Rou Rou lying there to keep warm. If they did not attack now, what the hell were they waiting for?

They had come out hunting in the first place. Diplomacy was merely something they would do along the way. Now they had not found a single person, but had spotted such a huge animal. How could they not be tempted?

Big Mouse therefore led his men across the Small River at a spot where the ice was thicker and quietly launched an attack on Rou Rou.

But could ears as large as Rou Rou's possibly be mere decoration? It had noticed them while they were crossing the river. They were strangers it had never seen before, so it stretched out its trunk and let out a furious roar. Not only did that fail to scare them off, it drew more than a dozen spears from the other side, frightening it into fleeing desperately toward the cave.

Big Mouse and his group pursued it relentlessly. Just as they reached the area near the cave and threw their second volley of spears, they saw Luo Chong leading a group of people out of the cave. Big Mouse and the others froze on the spot.

When the members of the Han Tribe heard their chieftain shout for them to grab their weapons, seventy or eighty people—men and women, old and young alike—came running out. Every adult, regardless of sex, and even children around ten years old rushed out. Each carried a weapon, and they charged forward with roaring cries, directly surrounding Big Mouse and his men.

Big Mouse's mouth fell open. Before him stood a ferocious-looking crowd. At the front was a young man with a cold expression, a golden crown and Golden Hairpin on his head, holding a white-shafted golden spear and glaring at him.

The lineup behind him was even more dazzling. Fifty gleaming Iron Shovels—no, Bronze Shovels. Raised into the air, they looked like dozens of mirrors, their golden-orange surfaces flashing so brightly that no one could keep their eyes open.

Bronze shovels were tools, true, but they were also formidable close-combat weapons. They could slice, shovel, smash, or hack—an indispensable weapon for migrant workers in a mass brawl.

Following half a body-length behind Luo Chong were Big Strength, Stone, and Six-Finger. Each had grabbed a fire axe—uh, a Copper Axe. Even those without Bronze Weapons had a White-shafted Long Spear apiece.

Never mind what their actual combat strength was. Just this luxurious lineup alone was enough to scare Big Mouse and his men stiff.

Tsk, there really isn't enough bronze. Otherwise, I could experience what it feels like to have the entire city clad in golden armor. Looking at the scene before him, Luo Chong could not help showing off inwardly.

Rou Rou saw that its boss had taken control of the situation. It came scampering back and stood behind Luo Chong. Taking advantage of its master's authority, it stretched out its trunk and roared at Big Mouse inside the encirclement, leaving Luo Chong's ears buzzing.

Luo Chong patted its trunk, signaling it to be quiet, then turned to Big Mouse and said, "This elephant belongs to us. Who are you people?"

Big Mouse was somewhat dumbfounded. Though he could not understand what Luo Chong was saying, he could still understand Luo Chong's meaning. This enormous, fat monster belonged to this tribe. After all, Luo Chong looked very familiar with the beast. He had not expected this neighboring tribe to be able to control such a huge monster, nor had he expected it to have so many people. They looked powerful.

But what surprised him even more was that Hui Shan, who was even larger than Rou Rou, had heard the commotion and run out of the livestock pen. It came to stand beside Rou Rou, curiously watching the people who had been surrounded.

Big Mouse and his underlings nearly pissed themselves. What the hell? There's another one?

Seeing their stunned expressions, Luo Chong frowned and said to the Elder beside him, "Elder, go ask them who they are and why they came here."

Communicating with people who did not speak Han language was troublesome. They had to use gestures as well. But Luo Chong was currently holding his Golden Spear and posing; how could he spare a hand for that?

The Elder accepted the order. He stepped forward and launched into a mixture of speech and gestures toward Big Mouse, translating Luo Chong's words and introducing Luo Chong as the Chieftain.

Big Mouse had not become a chieftain by being useless. He naturally understood the principle that a wise man did not fight when the odds were against him. He hurriedly ordered his men to lower their weapons. In truth, they did not have many spears left anyway; they had thrown most of them while attacking Rou Rou.

After hearing the Elder's questions, Big Mouse lowered his head slightly toward Luo Chong in apology. Then, through a combination of gestures and speech, he explained that they were a tribe from the other side of the river. They had seen smoke constantly rising from this side and had come to take a look. Then they had seen Rou Rou. They had not known it was a monster belonging to the Han Tribe, nor had they seen anyone, so they had attacked it. He hoped Luo Chong would let them go.

Luo Chong understood Big Mouse's meaning, but he hesitated. These people had already fallen into his hands, so he naturally could not release them easily. Luo Chong was desperately short of people right now. But if he kept them, they certainly would not share his goals. They could only be used as captives—as slaves.

Yet slaves like these were hardly reassuring to use. He would have to find people to watch them, which would instead reduce the Han Tribe's labor force. It would be a losing bargain. What was more, there was an unfamiliar tribe behind them. What if it was stronger than the Han Tribe and came seeking revenge?

While Luo Chong hesitated over whether to release them, Big Mouse was no fool. Though they could not understand each other's language, the eyes were the windows to the soul. He had already seen several flashes of ruthlessness in Luo Chong's eyes. Luo Chong clearly intended them no good.

Big Mouse hurriedly stepped forward and tried to smooth things over. With a sincere smile on his face, he pointed at the smoking brick kiln beside the Small River and asked, "Did you light that fire? Are you roasting food? If you have plenty of food, our tribe can trade some things for it."

As he spoke, Big Mouse secretly glanced at the two huge "chunks of meat" behind Luo Chong. If his tribe could obtain even one of them, it would be enough to feed the entire tribe for a month.

Trade? Luo Chong had not expected Big Mouse to say that. If he truly had something Luo Chong wanted, it was not impossible. After all, even if he kept these people, Luo Chong currently had neither a place nor surplus provisions to support them, and he would have to waste manpower watching them.

"What do you have that you can trade? If it's useless, we won't make the exchange."

Luo Chong asked tentatively, then had the Elder translate.

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