Succession and Deployment

Jianshi and Yan led the Fire Tribe's fleet from the Little Fish River Mouth Outpost outpost. After ten days of sailing, they finally arrived at the Valley River Mouth Outpost outpost that morning. From afar, Yan could see that the outpost had expanded since their last visit, with a longer boardwalk. The newly laid planks gleamed a pale yellow in the afternoon sun, and in some places, the traces of fresh planing were still visible, the grain of the wood clearly discernible. The wooden stakes used to tie the mooring ropes along the outpost had been replaced with thicker round logs, the bark stripped clean, revealing smooth wood surfaces with shallow marks left from repeated friction by the ropes. Several rows of newly built warehouses stood on the shore, their thatched roofs varying in color, some already darkened by the sun, others still a fresh golden yellow, appearing from a distance like rows of different hues pieced together. There were many more people on the outpost than usual.

Jia Li had already received the news and was waiting at the dock with his men. He stood at the front, wearing a dark gray linen robe with frayed edges at the collar and cuffs, but it was clean and spotless. A hemp rope was tied around his waist, and he wore straw sandals with the edges of the soles covered in dry mud. His face was darker than when they last met, and the skin on his cheekbones was rough from the river wind, like a piece of old leather that had been repeatedly rubbed. His eye sockets were slightly sunken, and there was a faint layer of dark circles under his eyes, as if they were the marks left by not sleeping well these past few days. But his spirit was still there, and his posture was steady, his back straight. His gaze fell on the sails of the boats that were coming ashore, scanning them one by one. Behind him stood several leaders, all dressed in clean clothes, craning their necks to look at the river. Some were standing on tiptoe, and some were shielding their eyes from the light with their hands.

The ship docked, the gangplank was set up, and Jianshi and Yan disembarked. Jia Li took two steps forward, stopped in front of Jianshi, clasped his hands in a salute, and made a short, crisp sound as his palms closed. His voice carried a sense of relief, as if he had finally waited for them to arrive. "Chief, Young Chief, you've finally come. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief." As he spoke, he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand; there was no sweat there, just a habitual wipe. Then he continued, the relief in his voice slowly turning into a weariness that had been suppressed for a long time and was finally being released. "These past few months, I've been managing this huge mess, working non-stop from morning till night. Even when I lie down at night, I'm still thinking about what needs to be done tomorrow. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, my mind still going over the day's accounts, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. If you hadn't come, my hair would have turned white."

Jian Shi returned the greeting with a Jianshi and palm salute, his gaze lingering on Jia Li's face for a moment. He noticed Jia Li had lost a lot of weight, and the lines on his cheekbones were more defined than when they last met. He spoke, his voice softening with a sense of confirmation, his pace slower than usual. "Chief Jia Li, you've worked hard these past few months. I see you've lost a lot of weight, your eyes are sunken. You've been handling everything here alone these past few months; it hasn't been easy. I've brought most of the necessary supplies and personnel. From now on, the Valley Tribe will be the management center of our Fire Tribe. We'll hand over the reins for a while, then you should get some rest and recover your health." He paused, spreading his palms in front of him, as if preparing a conclusion for his next words. "Next year, I plan to send Yan to handle the Wolf Tribe's affairs. You'll need to assist him. You've worked in the Valley Tribe for so long; you know the situation well. I'm confident that Yan will have you helping him with the Wolf Tribe."

After listening, Jia Li nodded. His voice was lower than before, but it carried a genuine sincerity that only came with being freed from constraints. "Okay, now there are more and more people in the Valley Tribe, and more and more things to do. I'm finding it increasingly difficult to handle everything. Sometimes I have to run around to several places a day, from the dock to the camp, from the camp to the fields, my feet barely touching the ground. Although there are quite a few people here, everyone has their own work to do. I simply can't manage this whole mess by myself. Fortunately, you guys came, so I can finally get some rest." He paused, his finger pointing... He tapped lightly on his side, his knuckles making a soft sound on his trouser leg, as if finding a place to end his next words. Then he continued, his voice carrying a deeper weight, and his pace slowing. "The Wolf Tribe and our Pottery Salt Tribe have a blood feud. Back when they were still upstream on the Fish River, they raided our Pottery Salt Tribe. Fortunately, I drove them back, but the Wolf Tribe killed many of our people. Later, they were driven away by the Fire Tribe and went to the Great Boulder Tribe, where they wreaked havoc in many places. Every member of our Pottery Salt Tribe hates the Wolf Tribe."

As he spoke, his fingers slowly clenched and unclenched at his sides, as if using that movement to press back what had been suppressed for a long time. Then he raised his head, his gaze falling on the Jianshi face, his voice steadyer than before. "I'm more than happy to be assigned to assist the young chief in eliminating the Wolf Tribe. Chief, rest assured, I will assist the young chief in dealing with the Wolf Tribe more quickly. I know roughly how many of them there are, how they deploy their sentries, and I've been accumulating this information for quite some time, but I haven't had a chance to use it. I've had people scout out their routes around the Great Boulder Tribe several times. I remember which roads are for carts and which are for pedestrians."

After listening, Jianshi nodded in satisfaction, his gaze lingering on Jia Li's face for a moment. His voice wasn't loud, but every word carried a certainty born of confirmation. "Good. You know more about the Wolf Tribe than we do, in greater detail. When Yan goes to deal with the Wolf Tribe, tell him everything you know: which roads are accessible, which crossings are safe, when their sentry posts change, the direction of their granaries. This information is more useful on the battlefield than bringing hundreds more soldiers." As he spoke, he pressed his palm in front of him, as if giving a gesture to that... The matter was now settled. He turned and pointed to the fleet behind him, his finger tracing an arc in the air from one end of the fleet to the other. "After I send people off the ships, have them settled in. Once everyone is off the ships, have some men unload all the supplies and store them in the warehouse. The supplies include grain, tools, medicine, and a batch of bronze parts. Everything must be sorted and not mixed together. Put the grain in the granary, the tools in the tool storehouse, the medicine in a separate, dry room, and the bronze parts in the warehouse next to the armory."

Jia Li nodded in agreement and immediately turned to give a few instructions to the leaders behind him. His gestures were crisp and efficient; he drew a few lines in the air with his fingers, and the leaders dispersed, leading their men towards the dock. Some went to organize manpower to receive the disembarking passengers, some went to the warehouse to clear space for supplies, and some ran towards the camp to notify them to vacate houses. Jia Li watched them walk away before turning back to Jianshi, his voice more steady than before. "Chief, I have gathered the Greater Qing Tribe members who were temporarily housed in the Valley Tribe and organized them into groups by family. They are all waiting in the open space by the dock. As soon as all the people and supplies on the ship have disembarked, we can arrange for them to board."

Jianshi nodded, shifting his gaze from Jia Li's face to the waiting queue at the dock before returning it. "Okay, any new developments from the Tiger Tribe and Wolf Tribe to the north lately? You're closer, so your information should be more readily available than ours."

Jia Li straightened up, his slightly forward-leaning posture returning to normal. His gaze shifted from the Jianshi face to the downstream direction of the dock, as if scanning the course of the river with his eyes. He tapped his fingers lightly at his side, then spoke, his voice low but clear, as if laying out pieces of information gathered from various places. "Under the continuous attacks and harassment from our strongholds at the Great Green River Mouth Outpost and the Bear River Mouth Outpost, the Wolf Tribe's patrol and operational space has been continuously compressed. Recently, several conflicts have occurred, and the Wolf Tribe has lost several hundred men. Now, the Wolf Tribe only has a little over seven thousand warriors left, more than two thousand fewer than at its peak. Under our continued harassment, their grain production has also decreased somewhat. The fields on both sides of the Great Rock River have been destroyed twice by our people. They replanted once, only to destroy them again. The harvest is much less than in previous years. However, the Wolf Tribe doesn't care much about the plight of their subordinate tribes. They still harvest enough grain. They concentrate all the grain in their own warehouses, and the people of the subordinate tribes can only get some scraps. They are neither full nor starving."

He paused, tapping his fingers lightly on his side, as if preparing a conclusion for his next words, before continuing, "The Tiger Tribe hasn't been actively causing trouble for the Greater Qing Tribe lately; they've just been monitoring us. They maintain about seven or eight boats near the Great Luwei Tribe, patrolling the river twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Their route is basically fixed: they depart from the Great Luwei Tribe's dock, travel upstream for a short distance, and then turn back. The tens of thousands of tribespeople they've absorbed on the Long River are being kept under strict surveillance. Scouts have reported that several incidents of unrest or escape have been severely suppressed. I heard that once, several hundred people tried to escape together, but the Tiger Tribe caught them, killed many, and the rest were all imprisoned and subjected to heavy labor, receiving only a thin porridge a day. The Tiger Tribe will likely need a considerable amount of time and effort to fully absorb these tens of thousands of people. Those people were coerced into coming here; they're resentful, don't work hard, and are poorly treated. They'll try to escape at the first opportunity."

After listening, Jianshi nodded, tapping his fingers lightly on his side, the knuckles making a soft sound as they touched his trouser leg. He spoke in a low but clear voice, his pace even. "Our strategy against the Wolf Tribe is effective. We need to keep wearing Wolf Tribe down. This will only weaken them further. They have over seven thousand now; in a few more months, they'll be lucky to have five thousand left. When they're down to five thousand, we'll overwhelm them all at once, and they'll have no choice but to run." He paused, his fingers tapping again, then continued, his voice carrying a newfound certainty. "The people the Tiger Tribe absorbed on the Long River didn't join voluntarily. Absorbing tens of thousands of them won't be a quick process. Those people harbor resentment and won't work hard. The Tiger Tribe will have to spend a Dali watching them, leaving them less energy to deal with us. This is very advantageous for our Fire Tribe. They'll be tied up with those people and won't be able to focus on us. By the time they've absorbed them all, we'll be ready."

The two chatted for a while about the defense arrangements for the Valley Tribe and the upcoming allocation of supplies. Jia Li explained the number of warehouses and the grain reserves currently in the Valley Tribe, while Jianshi briefly outlined the plans after the relocation of the management center. When he mentioned the expansion of the dock, he gestured on the table with his finger; when he talked about the allocation of warehouses, he drew several lines on the table with his palm; and when he mentioned the rotation of defense duties, he tapped the table lightly with his finger. Jia Li listened attentively, occasionally asking a question or two, which Jianshi answered one by one. After everything that needed to be explained was finished, all the personnel on the fleet had disembarked, and the Greater Qing Tribe personnel temporarily settled in the Valley Tribe had also gradually boarded the ships. The figures on the dock began to thin out, and the warriors on the ships were tidying up the ropes and gangplanks on the deck, preparing for the next leg of the voyage.

Jianshi checked that it was almost done, then turned to Yan and said, "You lead the fleet and set off. Take the people of the Greater Qing Tribe to the Fire Creek River Mouth Outpost and hand them over to Jianya. After that, stop at Little Fish River Mouth and bring your mother and Qingsui to the Valley Tribe. By then, Qingsui will be more than three months pregnant, so traveling by boat won't be a problem." He paused, tapping his fingers lightly on his side, as if adding a conclusion to his next words. "Be careful on the road. When you reach Fire Creek River Mouth, give my regards to Jianya and tell him not to worry too much. Once things are settled here, I'll invite him over for a drink."

Yan nodded, clasped his hands in a fist salute to his father, then turned and walked onto the Chuantou. He stood at the bow, waved to the dock, and shouted into the cabin, "Set sail!" The sound of the ox horn rang out, deep and long, carrying far across the river. The fleet slowly left the Valley River Mouth dock, heading upstream along the Fish River towards the Big Horse River Mouth Outpost. The sails billowed again in the afternoon sun, the white sails making a series of short, sharp slapping sounds as they unfurled in the wind, gradually being drowned out by the sound of the water. Yan stood at the Chuantou, his gaze fixed on the water ahead. On the square river, Gubang stood beside him, watching the retreating camps and fields on both banks. His fingers rested on the edge of the gunwale, his fingertips against the surface of the wooden planks, gently adjusting his grip with the rocking of the boat. Daya leaned against the stern, holding a wooden tablet, checking the order of the next outposts before nodding towards Yan to indicate that everything was in order. Jianshi and Jia Li stood on the dock, watching the fleet gradually disappear into the distance until the last boat was cut off by a bend in the river, before turning and heading back towards the camp.