The Lufan Tribe lay seventy li east of the Gaolin Tribe, in a region where rolling hills met wilderness. The terrain rose and fell unevenly, low slopes stretching one after another, the ground strewn with gravel and grass, dotted here and there with short thickets.
The land was not especially rich in water or pasture, yet because it stood on the fringe of the Xiongnu eastern heartland, it had become a vital link between the Gaolin Tribe and the Xiongnu interior.
This was a peculiar tribe.
The remnants of the Linhu tribes had been defeated by the Zhao Army under King Wuling of Zhao. Their strength had been badly depleted, and with nowhere left to turn, they submitted to the Xiongnu. Though they retained the Linhu people's innate talent for mounted archery, they had never shaken off the label of a "subordinate tribe."
Their chief, Lufan Bi Lie, had been granted the low-ranking office of "Bi" by the Xiongnu and oversaw all matters great and small within the tribe. He seemed to possess autonomy, but in truth remained under the restraint of the Xiongnu royal court.
Perhaps it was the humiliation of their defeat by the Zhao Army long ago, or perhaps it was the Xiongnu's years of contempt after their submission. Either way, the entire Lufan Tribe hated the Zhao State's army to the bone. That hatred had long since been carved into every tribesman's marrow.
For years, even though they were far from the Zhao State border, Lufan Bi Lie would regularly organize the tribe's elite warriors to secretly circle around and raid the Zhao State frontier, venting the poison in their hearts.
It was precisely because of this shared hatred that the Lufan Tribe was far more united than other small and mid-sized tribes. Every tribesman was