Chapter 207: Feather Tribe City-states
As a military group from a civilized region, after arriving at the border of another force’s territory, the level of civilization manifested is inversely proportional to the probability of “plunder” behavior occurring.
Nomadic raiders violating the border often strip and plunder the occupied areas clean; whereas for an army corps with higher productivity, when profit can be gained through product trade, plundering becomes extremely inefficient.
For example, when Great Ming can exchange iron pots for local fine horses and gold, they disdain plundering.
Trade allows the upper class who control wealth in the region to willingly offer gold coins, and the more cooperation between both sides, the more pleasant it is; plundering, on the other hand, makes the combat forces under one’s command clash with paupers, the more clashes, the more intense the contradictions, and the higher the cost. This principle was also used in the 21st century, where a certain lighthouse went overseas to rob and directly bankrupted itself.
Xuan Chong rode a horse to inspect the wheat fields here, finding that cereal crops were sparsely mixed with weeds; this even made the clawed people vassal army followers who came along point and comment: “Feathered People are too lazy, the barnyard grass is almost splitting the crops fifty-fifty, and they don’t even weed it.”
As for Yao People, they saw it even more profoundly, noting that there were no irrigation channels around the fields. Meanwhile, Wu Zhantie poked the soil with a knife and reported to Xuan Chong: “Sir, the soil here is all shallow tilled; they are wasting the land.”
Xuan Chong naturally knew that the farming level here was backward, basically at the Bronze Age slash-and-burn cultivation level; not to mention advanced technology like curved-plow farming, even the task of digging pits to bury rotten straw in the ground to increase fertility probably no one does.
After all, it’s serfs doing this pure physical labor, and they neither will nor have the willingness for intensive farming. (Intensive farming produces a bit more grain, but it all still goes to the masters? Refer to Zhao Cheng now doing reclamation, yet farmers are more willing to sell rabbit skin.)
Xuan Chong calculated the economic situation of these city-states: purely gathered together for the interests of sea trade, for the city-state lords, as long as there is enough grain to eat, it’s fine.
Da Yao’s internal clans are oriented toward “controlling land” to determine farming policies.
While city-state lords consider “farming as the secondary product of slaves,” just like “alcohol is the secondary product of grain.”
Whether I want “alcohol” depends on whether alcohol sells well; similarly, “whether to have grain” depends on whether grain sells well.
When discussing Da Yao’s local clan issues, “land annexation” cannot be avoided. But while “annexing land,” agricultural production technology is also expanding in an involutionary manner. On Da Yao’s side, “ethnic groups that can’t farm” are not worthy of surviving on the land.
The current agricultural production technology on the Feathered Tribe kingdom’s territory, if placed in Da Yao, couldn’t hold out for three generations before being annexed. Nothing else, just that fewer offspring can be sustained per unit of land, your clan has fewer people, and you can’t compete for water and land against the side with more people.
The Mediterranean-style Feathered People’s single city-state has a total population not exceeding ten thousand. In Da Yao, this is merely the population scale of a small county. (Slaves are like pigs ready for slaughter, not counted as people.)
The city-state strategic orientation is “generating wealth,” as for what to do if there isn’t enough grain to eat?
This brings up the Eastern and Western pattern. The routine grain crisis where “in a bad harvest year, grain prices in a certain place skyrocket to hundreds of times” often—and precisely—occurs in farming civilizations with developed agricultural technology. Whereas in ocean civilizations with underdeveloped agricultural technology, such crises are instead smaller!
Specifically, refer to Xuan Chong’s solution in Bo Prefecture to resolve Da Yao’s grain crisis, which is “slavery”: just designate a portion of people as slaves, and let the majority default that this minority deserves to starve!
Back then, Xuan Chong settled in Bo Prefecture only to solve the difficulties of the first year, so he did this.
By the second and third years, with conscription of labor corvée, and even when going to war with Northern Yan Land, to reduce internal contradictions, he gave all slaves a promotion path: with work and merit, they were immediately allocated military reclamation land to set them free, and Bo Prefecture’s population began growing in the “Eastern farming mode.”
But in these ocean city-states, “slavery” is the norm! That is to say, there is an invisible population ceiling. Anyone exceeding this ceiling will be consumed off.
As for how to raise the “ceiling” a bit higher, that is, to expand the farmland near the city-state, such as improving agricultural technology. The commercial seafaring elites living in the city-state who can’t distinguish grains are powerless.
Xuan Chong: This is the situation in the Rome era. A brilliant civilization built on a weak farming system.
If Xuan Chong now launches an attack on this civilization, plundering its food and grass and supplies, all its high-rise buildings in the city-state will collapse with a crash, and it won’t recover even after decades or centuries. No matter what civilization, the foundation of settlements is grain supply.
After Eastern massacres of cities, as long as dozens of households are left, production can recover postwar, and they can reproduce. Ten-odd years later, the war-torn cities can flourish again.
Xuan Chong: Just like in the Imperial Era game, as long as there is enough time, one farmer can build a town, and after building one town, five farmers automatically respawn.
However, in this Mediterranean-style civilization, many humanistic common senses are different from Da Yao’s side. Leading to quite a few embarrassments.
When Wu Family Army non-commissioned officers found those hunched Feathered Tribe serfs hiding in thatched huts. According to Da Yao’s rules, they were to be captured as guides.
However, these slaves even lacked language ability. When Xuan Chong’s troops tried to communicate with them, through repeated gesturing on both sides, the serfs finally conveyed: want water, want food.
Then after giving them water and food, “slurp slurp,” after finishing eating, they just sat motionless, and talking to them was like playing the lute to a cow.
Even when Wu Family Army soldiers took out gold and silver, the slaves were not interested, or rather, they didn’t recognize the value. Only hearing the whip crack would make the slaves perk up and stand. This made Xuan Chong’s soldiers laugh in exasperation.
Xuan Chong finally had his men release the slaves, confirming: to trade, they could only find the city-state lords of the region, or! Attack into the city-state.
The Feathered Tribe kingdom is lucky now to have encountered Xuan Chong, rather than some irregular force routed by Da Yao’s military strength; otherwise, it would really wield the Scourge of God, and one whip down would beat the entire civilization back into regression.
…Vermilion Bird’s Claw…
Xuan Chong’s corps temporarily stationed at the Northern border line, dispatching personnel to purchase grain supplies with all sorts of things like “gold,” “silver,” “silk,” “porcelain,” etc., while observing the situation here.
Xuan Chong’s blade edge chased chaos here, because the Evil Moon in the Sky’s space descended here.
Soon, the large army among these city-state clusters found some Feathered People who were clearly refugees; translated by Forest Feather Tribe guides, the refugees stated: “On the east side coast, a Feathered Tribe city-state called Wind Corner was invaded, the invasion came from the ocean.”
The refugee Feathered People, after being brought into the camp, were always trembling in fear; however, upon seeing Nine Phoenix flapping wings in the camp and many Guiche, the Feathered People seemed to suddenly understand something, immediately knelt down, and amid chirping, took out a crystal.
In front of Wu Family Army soldiers, a scholar-like person among the refugees was gesturing at the crystal. After translation, it was learned a curtain was needed, and then on the curtain, Wu Family Army soldiers saw the reflected content in the crystal.
On the turbulent ocean, horned people who looked very manic and barbaric rode black tattered ships across the waves, wielding huge fish bone weapons to impact the white city wall. Standing on a city wall with a griffin symbol, Feathered Tribe soldiers kept shooting arrows, but the wooden city wall was still blasted into fragments.
Xuan Chong finished watching this crystal, interested in its content, and also in how this scholar among the Feathered Tribe refugees obtained this crystal and handed it to him! — Xuan Chong’s thoughts couldn’t help but diverge.
This situation of “eastern Feathered Tribe city-state suffering slave rebellion” was not recorded by this refugee scholar himself, but given to them by a prophet; and instructed them to flee north, where at that time an upper-state corps coming from “Central Plains Da Yao all the way south” would arrive here, establish an alliance with the Feathered Tribe, and resolve the disaster caused by chaos.
Xuan Chong had the refugee describe the prophet’s appearance. Fortunately, there were many art students among the refugees, who quickly sketched it out. This guy! Xuan Chong recognized him; this Feathered Tribe prophet called Cang Meng was an old acquaintance (gnashing teeth).
Immediately, he had someone ask them where this “prophet” ran off to? Playing remote control with him.
Of course, if possible, Xuan Chong wanted to dox this guy, then drive a mecha to invite him over for tea.
But the result was, these refugees blankly said: after the “prophet” delivered the message to them, he left.
After questioning yielded no results, Xuan Chong couldn’t help complaining: Damn, are you cosplaying Tai Bai Jin Xing? (Journey to the West, the chapter exterminating France, Tai Bai Jin Xing comforted the monks the same way.)
Xuan Chong suddenly had the thought, “I’ll just turn back now and see how embarrassed you get.”
But after thinking it over, Xuan Chong asked the system: “System, this guy keeps bouncing around in front of me, is there a ‘major hidden danger’?”
System: “He’s just an NPC, you don’t need to worry.”
(On the distant other side, Cang Meng was communicating with the outer god he worshiped in his dream. His pupils were pure gold at this time. According to the ancient records passed down through generations in his family, as long as he followed the outer god’s requirements, the Feather Tribe kingdom would not be extinguished.)
Xuan Chong rubbed his temples: “So, you know this NPC will come to issue a quest?” (Southern expedition, it’s a system-issued quest)
The system remained silent.
Xuan Chong probed: “Class is almost over for me, right?”
System: “Yes, but drag the class a little.”
Xuan Chong opened his mouth, originally wanting to complain about “reporting the teaching director,” but after thinking about it, he decided not to say such childish words.
Up to now in this transmigration, he had unknowingly learned too much, his brain felt very heavy, and now he just wanted to wrap up the things he needed to do.
“What have I done in this transmigration?” Xuan Chong summarized in class.
1: Blood Labor matched Blood Reward, he proved through operating the dynasty’s enfeoffed forces that the dynasty’s end-year decline was “virtue not matching position.” But this question can be “proven,” but there’s no universal “solution.”
2: Productivity progress lies in gathering abundant resources and exploring resource diversity. For a force to thrive, it must expand outward for communication and internally distribute resources from the upper layer to the middle and lower layers, encouraging all sectors to develop and utilize resources!
If it stays complacent, it can only end up like the Southern Border Tribes, ultimately clinging to ancestral secret formulas that seem “most efficient” and “highest mastery,” falling behind the world in all aspects.
Narration: On one hand emphasizing its unique innovative ability, on the other allowing the top layer to monopolize resources and isolating middle and lower layer communication. That’s the negative example.
……
On the Feather Tribe forces’ side, the central great city-state, Storm City.
Its flag is in a vortex state, clearly taking a natural phenomenon like “hurricane” as a totem for worship.
In this city-state’s Feather Tribe hall, the city-state’s king was looking at the information from the North beacon towers. The Feather Tribe’s arcane masters used the Water Mirror Technique to show the city-state’s king this Northern troop that emerged from the inland black forest.
The king and nobles were utterly shocked that such a “massive” (over a thousand men) troop appeared in the North. In Feather Tribe legends, the Northern Sea of Trees is filled with endless “green dead souls.”
The Feather Tribe king stared intently at the Northern Sea of Trees, confirming that the mysterious foreign land merchant caravan to the North belonged to that powerful Great Empire discovered by Northern scouts, and fell deep into thought.
Previously, their merchant caravans rode Floating Sky Boats to bypass sea turbulence, and after a long voyage contacted the Northern silk kingdom. The mutual admiration produced was because the distance between them was far enough.
When the Northern behemoth broke through the land intervals and really came nearby, the Feather Tribe couldn’t help feeling some “love dragons in name only.”
Obviously, the Yao Army appearing here as foreign people, it was normal to suspect their intentions. In Storm Kingdom’s council hall, the Feather Tribe nobles quickly came up with an idea.
A Feather Tribe noble pointed to the East on the map: “But now our main enemy to the East is that group of demonized Horned People, so they (finger moved to Xuan Chong’s Northern camp) might become our potential allies.”
Several hours later, the Wu Family Army envoy waiting outside the Feather Tribe city-state arrived at this Feather Tribe city-state hall. Unlike the Da Yao General’s Mansion and Da Yao Emperor’s court architecture, Da Yao uses smooth tiles or polished jade as steps, while the Feather Tribe uses waxed wood made into wooden floors.
Da Yao interiors do not use gemstones for decoration. Because there are whole jade carvings on the beams and pillars, and the main door is multiple door panels reaching three zhang high to the hall roof! When these door panels are fully opened, outside light shines straight in, making gemstones seem like grains of rice in comparison.
But in the Feather Tribe’s “wooden box”-like palace, the gemstones inlaid in the dome shone brilliantly.
Xuan Chong claimed to be Da Yao’s General Who Pacifies the South, so the accompanying scholar envoy from the military claimed to be Da Yao’s envoy, presenting the state letter in the posture of a superior state. And stated that their purpose was to punish the armed forces dropped by the Evil Moon.
The Feather Tribe king was very interested in this, how did Central Plains Da Yao from tens of thousands of li away target the demonic disaster manufactured here by the “Evil Moon”?
Storm City king: “Evil Moon is a heavenly disaster, you are an earthly army corps, how can you crusade against heavenly demons?”
Da Yao’s envoy: “Our general is a man from heaven.”
Subsequently, under the Feather Tribe’s great fear, both sides reached a military agreement.
…No disgrace to the mission…
About what kind of boasts his envoy made in the Feather Tribe court? Xuan Chong himself couldn’t know the full details.
On the bamboo slips describing the diplomatic situation, the envoy was very subtle and profound. But by performance standards, the envoy he sent was very good.
The Feather Tribe prince brought a corps to welcome him, the Feather Tribe prince’s corps totaled two hundred men, including twelve war chariots assembled from ornate wooden planks covered with large metal sheets gleaming gold. This was starkly different from Da Yao’s vehicles and horses coated plainly with paint.
Of course, in the eyes of Feather Tribe soldiers, they wouldn’t underestimate the Yao Army just because their military gear wasn’t shiny enough. First, in numbers, Xuan Chong’s troop strength was much greater. The Yao Army wasn’t ornate, but the clanging iron armor when walking wasn’t comparable to Feather People’s leather armor or even wooden armor. (Just like gold coins, put in an unremarkable cloth bag, clanging, more attractive than a fancy feathered hat.)
Xuan Chong communicated with this prince named Aoxin, dispelling misunderstandings. Both sides were willing to form a military alliance for now to jointly resolve the abnormal invasion from the West.
Both sides exchanged swords, forming a military alliance, this scene was recorded by the Feather Tribe’s painters.
In Xuan Chong army corps’ camp, a ten-zhang-long airbag Floating Sky Boat floated up over the Wu Family position. On the sky boat, the observer, Ang Ri acting as the military’s Sitian Cheng, was recording the starry phases in the sky.
As several important stars broke free from the Evil Moon’s interference, shining brightly in the starry sky, Ang Ri carved the stars onto the jade bi he brought, and used twenty-four characters to describe the constellation’s appearance time and azimuth in its star region.
After the Feather Tribe side finished drawing the image, they saw the Da Yao Army drawing starlight from the sky into white jade.
After Feather Tribe prince Aoxin confirmed this situation, he restructured his impression of the Yao Army.
Before this, although the Yao Army corps had dense iron armor, it wasn’t ornate enough and discarded art. In Feather Tribe culture’s context of “rejecting art equals embracing barbarism,” the Yao Army was actually a dark powerful troop.
But the Feather Tribe makes an exception for one “dark” culture, and that’s the stars.
When the white jade received Yao Calculation power in the black night and shone brightly, this Feather Tribe prince developed special interest in Da Yao’s artistic domain of this jade. To the point that the Evil Moon in the sky rippled with some purple light.
And just as Aoxin was staring, Xuan Chong walked to his side, patted his shoulder, shattering the purple light. He said to him: “Could you briefly describe the current battlefield situation in detail?”
Xuan Chong led him into the military tent. On the undulating sand table, Aoxin saw his own city-state and the besieged Griffon City, as well as the Yao Army’s main camp, all on it.
As the dynamic diagram on the silk book appeared, Aoxin was attracted to Da Yao’s war culture, because they still recorded the same battle maps on parchment.
During the communication, Xuan Chong confirmed multiple passable paths on the sand table, then dispatched scouts to verify the passability of these paths on site.
