The Wolf Tribe's Plans

Just as the Tiger Tribe was making its move, several oil lamps had already been lit in the council hall of the former Great Boulder Tribe. The flames cast a warm yellow glow on the walls, illuminating the faces of those speaking. In the corner, a brazier held several thick logs, occasionally emitting short crackles, as if someone had gently tapped the wood from a distance. The flames licked the edges of the Mucai, slowly climbing along the grain, baking fine cracks into the dried bark. Several old animal hides were spread on the ground... The horns were worn smooth from countless footsteps, as if many had walked on them many times. The fur had been worn down, leaving only the bare surface of the hide, gleaming with a dull sheen under the oil lamp. Several earthenware bowls sat on the long table, the water inside already cold. The surface was as still as a mirror that had been left unused for a long time, reflecting the flame of the oil lamp like a small patch of light gathered into the clay. The air was filled with the mixed smell of animal hides, hay, and grease, a unique odor of this room, like an old garment worn repeatedly, its edges worn into familiar shapes.

Xueya sat in the main seat, wearing a dark black linen robe with the collar open, revealing a greyish-white undershirt underneath. The collar of the undershirt was worn soft from washing, and the edges were slightly rolled up. A wide leather belt was tied around his waist, from which hung a short knife. The edge of the scabbard was worn smooth and gleamed darkly in the lamplight. His hair was tied back with a leather cord, with a few stray strands falling from his ears and landing near his cheekbones. They swayed slightly as he tilted his head, sometimes brushing against the line running from his brow bone on his left cheek. The old scar at the corner of his mouth was reopened by the wind. It stood out starkly in the firelight, its edges a lighter shade than the surrounding skin, like an old mark smoothed by time, its depth only revealed in sidelight. His hands rested on the table, fingers interlaced, fingertips pressed against the knuckles of his other hand, as if using that gesture to steady his breathing. His gaze swept across the faces of everyone present, as if confirming in his own way that everyone was listening, that every pair of eyes was fixed in the same direction.

Xueshou sat to his right, wearing a dark gray linen robe with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his muscular forearm. A light-colored old scar, as if left by something sharp, had long since healed, leaving only a thin line slightly lighter than the surrounding skin, like a worn-down needle. He was more robust than Xueya, and the chair creaked slightly as he sat down, as if weighed down, the legs sinking slightly into the ground. He leaned forward, his elbows resting on the table, palms down on the wooden surface, as if using his posture to support his words, as if waiting for a suitable opening to speak. "Hold it." His gaze swept across the table before settling on Xueya's face. His voice held a fervent urgency, as if he'd finally found an outlet after days of suppression. "Brother, although we lost some men during the attack on the Valley Tribe, thankfully you noticed something was wrong early on and led a retreat from the front lines. Later, when reinforcements from the Fire Tribe arrived, you quickly led a retreat as well, and even made a fortune off the Bear Tribe. As a result, we not only suffered no losses, but actually made a huge profit. Those bronze weapons and leather armor will last us for quite some time. I've had the weapons sorted by type—long swords for long swords, short swords for short swords—and the leather armor arranged by size, so they won't be mixed up when we need them."

The Duzhu sat to Xueya's left, dressed in a dark brown linen robe, the collar pulled tight and the cuffs tied with thin rope, as if she were used to wrapping herself up completely. Her hair was wrapped in a dark cloth, revealing a face weathered by the sun and sand, the lines of her cheekbones and jawline particularly sharp in the firelight. Her face was expressionless, but her gaze kept shifting between Xueya and Xueshou, as if she were measuring the intervals between their words, confirming that the distance between each point was even. She waited for Xueshou to finish speaking before speaking in a soft voice. He spoke with a haughty air, each word carefully considered before being uttered, like rewinding a carefully checked rope back onto its proper axis. "Yes, with those bronze weapons and leather armor, we quickly expanded our forces to over eight thousand. This gave us considerable strength. Moreover, these soldiers are all cavalry; if anything goes wrong, we can break out at any time. Mobility is on our side; they can't catch us. We're faster than them on open ground, and more agile along riverbanks."

Yexiao sat at the other end of the long table, near the door. Today he wore a dark linen robe, the collar turned up, as if to block the wind and heat rising from the room. The hem of the robe draped over the chair and hung down the legs. He was thinner than Xueshou, and his posture was more relaxed. He leaned back in his chair, his hands crossed in front of his abdomen, his fingers occasionally tapping lightly on the knuckles of his other hand. When he spoke, his voice was soft, as if adding a slow prelude to his words, letting them linger in his throat before entering the air on the table. "Yes, I didn't expect the Fire Tribe's strength to grow so quickly. Even the Tiger Tribe, the overlord of the Fish River for many years, is no match for the Fire Tribe. The first time, you could say the Fire Tribe won by luck, but the second time, even with the Tiger Tribe prepared, they were still defeated head-on by the Fire Tribe. This shows that the Fire Tribe's strength has become very powerful, so powerful that the Tiger Tribe had to use all its strength to deal with them. They are no longer the Fire Tribe we knew before."

Xueya listened, his fingers slowly clenching and unclenching on the table before he spoke, his voice low, "After the Tiger Tribe has been defeated by the Fire Tribe repeatedly, they will surely realize the Fire Tribe's power and threat. Their internal conflicts will be temporarily put aside, and they will band together."

Yexiao sat up straighter, shifting his weight forward to create space behind him. His voice, when he spoke, carried a calculated caution, like bending a stretched thread back to its proper length. "The Tiger Tribe has been the dominant force in the Fish River for many years; their resources must be abundant. Their temporary alliance is undoubtedly intended to convert these resources into weaponry to fight the Fire Tribe. What should we, the Wolf Tribe, do, caught in the middle? The Fire Tribe is gathering surrounding tribes, and the Tiger Tribe is expanding its ranks. Our position in the middle will inevitably attract attention from both sides sooner or later. If they both attack at the same time, we won't be able to defend ourselves against either."

Upon hearing this, Xueya's lips twitched slightly, a small smile that barely unfolded before vanishing. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms in front of his abdomen, and spoke with a steadfast, polished quality. "Don't worry, everyone. Our Wolf Tribe survived with only a few hundred warriors before, and now we have over eight thousand cavalry. Even if the Tiger Tribe and Fire Tribe want to do anything to us, they'll have to face our fists first. Let's train our warriors first. We still have plenty of supplies, enough to last for a while. We'll make a decision after those two tribes start fighting. By then, their attention will be on each other, and they won't have time to watch us. What we need to do is train our troops to be ready for battle before they start fighting."

After Xueya finished speaking, Duzhu nodded slightly. Her fingers pressed and released on the edge of the table in front of her, as if to confirm that her next question had been answered and that the temperature and texture of the table had not changed unexpectedly. Then, she spoke, her gaze never leaving Xueya. Her voice was not loud, but it carried a worry that had been weighing on her mind for some time, as if she had repeatedly pondered the question before finally letting it fall onto the table, "Right now, our Wolf Tribe is a semi-subordinate tribe of the Tiger Tribe. What if the Tiger Tribe sends us to the front lines to wear us down? If they want us to send troops, we can't refuse; if we do, we have to be at the forefront." As she spoke, her fingers paused on the edge of the table.

Xueya's gaze lingered on Duzhu's face for a moment, as if confirming how long she had pondered before asking that question, how long the thread had been tangled in her hand before being released. He lowered his voice, as if shifting from official business to a more human tone. "The Tiger Tribe is currently at a disadvantage, suffering significant losses. Even if their weaponry and strength improve, and they want to wage war against the Fire Tribe, they wouldn't dare force us to do anything." He paused, his fingers slowly tracing patterns on his knee, his fingertips moving along the fabric of his trousers, as if using his sense of touch to confirm he was still in place. "The most likely scenario is that they'll offer us some benefits, trying to win us over to fight the Fire Tribe." He paused on the word "win us over." "What we need to do now is improve our own strength. Before they fight each other, we need to expand our warrior force to around ten thousand." He paused on "ten thousand," as if letting the number linger on the table a little longer. "Only when we have well-trained warriors will we have more leverage. Then, no matter what conditions they offer, we'll have a choice."

Yexiao sat at the other end of the long table, his gaze lingering on Xueya's words after they were spoken, as if he were mentally absorbing them into his memory, retracing their path to ensure they hadn't strayed from their intended direction. His voice held a calculated caution as he spoke, "Chief, the Fire Tribe is developing far too rapidly. Our Wolf Tribe is already considered fast-growing, yet we still can't keep up with the Fire Tribe's pace. At this rate, when will we be able to exact our Fire Tribe?"

Xueya was silent for a moment. His gaze fell on the edges of the wooden tablets on the table, as if he were mentally reviewing the information, tracing the length of each engraving, confirming the depth and direction of the edges. His finger slowly traced a line on the table, as if measuring its length and direction, from the Tiger Tribe to the Fire Tribe, from the middle reaches of the Fish River to its lower reaches, from the Wolf Tribe to the Long River. He paused at the end of the line, his fingertip lingering on the table for a moment longer. Then he spoke, his voice lower than before, as if someone were loosening a taut line, letting it fall back onto a more relaxed arc. "The Fire Tribe's growth rate is truly beyond our imagination. But don't give up. Once we get there, we might still have a chance to take revenge on the Fire Tribe. The Fire Tribe has a lot of technology. If we also obtain technology and people on the Long River, our Wolf Tribe's opportunity will come."

As he spoke, his palm remained flat on the table, as if adding a boundary to his words to prevent them from veering off course before leaving the table, "For now, everyone should focus on training the soldiers. We'll talk about the rest later. Let's take it one step at a time, but make sure each step is solid before moving on to the next."

Everyone nodded. Xueshou's gaze lingered on Xueya's face for a moment, then he nodded as well, withdrawing his hand from the table and placing it back on his knee, as if confirming in his own way that the words had been accepted, that the loosened rope was being wound back onto its axis. Duzhu's gaze shifted from Xueya's face to the table. Yexiao leaned back in his chair, his gaze lingering on Xueya's face for a moment, then he nodded slightly.

Xueya's gaze swept across the faces of those nodding, then he stood up, walked to the door, and pushed open the council chamber door. The hinges made a low, grinding sound as they turned, as if it hadn't been pushed open so thoroughly in a long time. The wind outside rushed in through the cracks, carrying the chill of early spring and the damp scent of the distant fields where the earth was being turned over. It crossed the threshold, stretched a short distance along the table, brushed against the oil lamp's flame, and then dispersed. He stood in the doorway, his gaze fixed on the outline of the distant fields, as if he were looking at a road yet to begin, watching the direction in which that road would narrow in the twilight.

Xueshou, Duzhu, and Yexiao also stood up one after another. They paused at the doorway, following Xueya's gaze to look at the distant horizon shrouded in twilight. Their eyes lingered on that line for a moment. Xueya stood at the doorway for a while, the wind blowing against his side, ruffling the hem of his clothes and the stray hairs falling from his ears. His fingers rested on the edge of the doorframe, his fingertips against the wooden surface, confirming that the circumference of the pivot was sufficient to withstand all the slack before the next tightening. Then he turned around, closed the door again, and walked along the corridor towards the camp, his steps neither fast nor slow, each step firmly planted on the ground, letting it settle, flatten, and disappear into the familiar nighttime path with each step. The campfire still burned in the distance, and his figure walked a straight path without turning between the firelight and the twilight.