Volume 9: Home Chapter 285: Eternal Fire
The Grand Canyon, which starts near Sheteng Valley and ends at the estuary, with a total length of more than 100 kilometers, is a natural flood discharge channel. It is precisely because of the existence of this canyon, which was formed due to crustal movement tens of thousands of years ago, that when the flood occurred last year, the flood destroyed the beet planting base located near Sheteng Valley, and then flowed obediently along the canyon into the sea without endangering the snake tribe below.
But this canyon cannot be used as a regular canal because the direction of the canyon is too difficult and the terrain on both sides of the canyon is too complex... It is OK to divert water for irrigation in some areas, but if you really want to make full use of this canyon and completely transform it, the industrial capacity of the Fire Department must reach the level of a modern country, that is, the steel production is qualified to be calculated in 10,000 tons. (During the golden decade of the Republic of China, which Master Ye Ji boasted about, the steel production was only a few thousand tons, and it was only possible to achieve this output by inheriting the legacy of the Qing Dynasty's Westernization Movement)
The section chosen by Chief Ali as the "battlefield" is a section with relatively flat terrain and a relatively wide riverbed in the valley. When the water level drops in autumn and winter, large areas of the riverbed are exposed and connected to the river bank in the valley. The width on one side can reach sixty or seventy meters. The relatively straight river section is about six hundred meters long.
The width of this area cannot be said to be too narrow, but it is definitely not spacious either, and there are piles of wooden boxes and bulging sacks everywhere... If two groups of thugs rush in to fight, there is enough space. If two armies rush in to start a war, it would be difficult unless one of the commanders on both sides is crazy.
But if the party rushing in is hungry and green-eyed, and there are a lot of beans and wheat scattered around those wooden boxes and sacks that are in the way, and the people busy in the valley are all snake elders and children doing odd jobs, and they see the strangers rushing in and scream and flee to the depths of the canyon in fear - under such circumstances, it would be very difficult to ask the black bear scouts to "have their alarm bells ringing", fearing that there is a trick, and to retreat in a hurry...
At the critical moment, the scout captain still maintained his professionalism and shouted loudly: "Don't worry about the food, catch them!"
The black bear scouts had already rushed to the side of Sack Mountain. Upon hearing the news, they immediately turned around and chased after the frantically fleeing snake elders and children.
The boxes, sacks, overturned carts, kicked-over wheat, cans of water and other debris on the ground slightly hindered the Black Bear Scouts' progress. The Snake Tribe is an orc known for their agility and agility, and the canyon is deep enough, so the Black Bear Scouts could not catch those bastards who were making noises with strange sounds.
After chasing deeper inside, the scout captain felt something was wrong and hurriedly stopped his people - at the bend of the canyon a few hundred meters ahead, hundreds of adult snakes rushed out, waving hoes, sickles, hayforks and the like and charged towards them!
“Get out!”
"Don't touch our food!"
The scout team responsible for exploring the way ahead consisted of only ten people. Although the bear tribe was confident in their military strength, the other side was also capable orcs, with more than ten times their number. The scout captain shouted "retreat" and turned around and led his men to run towards the canyon entrance.
The snake and snow wolf warriors lurking in the dark silently watched the group of black bears running over and over.
Two minutes later.
"The valley where the snake tribe hides their food? Hahaha! The goddess of luck is really on our side !"
Hearing the news brought back by the scouts, General Black Bear laughed happily. The emperor demanded to capture the leader of the grassland tribe. He was previously troubled about how to select the important people from the crowd. Now all the problems have been solved. If he took all the food from the snake tribe and asked them to exchange the leader for food for the tribe to survive the winter, would these guys still be willing to risk giving up the food to keep the leader?
Two minutes later, groups of black bear warriors rushed into the valley like wolves and tigers...
The adult snakes who had driven away the scout team were nervously trying to carry food. When they saw so many enemies rushing in, they all showed despair and stumbled to escape deeper into the canyon again...
Someone was running away in front of him, and he had an absolute advantage in force, so no matter who it was, he would subconsciously chase after them, right? So the first group of black bear warriors who rushed into the canyon chased after the adult snakes without saying a word...
Chasing in the front and behind, in less than five minutes, nearly three thousand black bears rushed into the canyon.
The riverbank on one side of the valley was not particularly wide, but it was long enough. Even with two or three thousand people rushing in, it was not too crowded. Many people scattered around to shuffle the piles of wooden boxes and sacks. When they opened a box that had not been sealed yet, they saw a box full of plump beans, and they all smiled happily...
The moment the last black bear warrior entered the canyon, a sneaky head wearing a vine camouflage hat popped out at the cracked entrance of the mountain wall.
This head... is still a human head.
The owner of the head, Sal, was a member of the workers' representatives of the MSG factory and participated in the operation as a worker representative. His mission was to detonate the engineering explosives pipes buried at the entrance to block the enemy's retreat.
The natural rock barriers of the canyon are too thick, and the explosive pipes are buried deep and close to the inside of the canyon (the walls inside the canyon are smooth and not high enough, only more than ten meters, and the flaws can be seen with the naked eye, making it unsuitable for chiseling the buried pipes). The fuse can only be pulled to the outer wall, and it is necessary to ignite it nearby and evacuate quickly; originally this task was assigned to a snake warrior, and Thrall volunteered to take it over... The snake warrior can be used as combat force to fight in the valley, he does not have that combat ability, but he can do something like lighting a fire.
He took out a homemade match from the Fire Department, struck it on his pants and lit it. After the fuse burned, Sal grabbed the vine rope hidden in the vines and slid down, counting down nervously, "Ten, nine, eight..."
After being raised by the Snow Werewolves in the Fire Tribe for several years and working in the MSG factory for several years, Thrall quickly gained weight in middle age after being well fed and had a fat belly. But he had to work after all, especially after returning to his hometown, he brought his relatives and friends to work in the MSG factory. He had to set a good example for them, and while gaining weight, his physical strength and physique also became much stronger.
In two seconds, he slid down the solid rock wall that was more than ten meters high, threw away the vine rope and ran away. When he counted down to "two", he threw himself forward with all his strength, covered his ears with his hands, and opened his mouth wide.
Well... this set of movements was naturally taught by the person in charge of detonation in the engineering team...
Sal counted faster in his mind due to nervousness, but he didn't hear the explosion when he reached one. His body stiffened for a moment, and he was about to turn around when he heard a muffled "BOOM!!"
In the canyon, General Black Bear was happily checking the sacks of wheat when suddenly there was a loud explosion, which made his brain buzz and the ground shook. The dizzy General Black Bear lost his balance and fell on the piles of sacks.
“?!” General Black Bear opened his mouth and found that he could not make any sound. He propped up his arms in doubt and looked around, and found that the soldiers around him were also staggering.
General Black Bear began to yell loudly, but his hearing was temporarily destroyed by the sound waves of the explosion and he could not hear what he was shouting at all. He struggled to get up and looked towards the entrance of the canyon with horror. The entrance that could accommodate three carriages running side by side had disappeared and was completely buried by broken rocks!
What was even more tragic was that there was a pile of sacks near the valley entrance, and a group of Black Bear warriors were surrounding them to open the sacks. Now, the group of warriors had simply disappeared...
A little further from the valley entrance, more than a dozen people were lying straight. Some were crushed by the collapsed rocks and looked dead. Some were lucky enough not to be hit by the rocks, but they were motionless and their lives or deaths were unknown...
"Fell into a trap?!" This thought popped up in General Black Bear's drowsy and vaguely aching mind. He quickly turned to look deep into the canyon, in the direction his soldiers were chasing.
General Black Bear, who calmed down the fastest, was the first to discover a cruel fact... Looking through the crowd of people staggering around, he saw a snake tribe member emerge from behind a rock in the slightly sloping riverbed, pull out a thick tubular object as long as an arm, and throw it towards the pile of sacks at the bend of the canyon.
With a whoosh, the pile of sacks that had been quietly blocking a small section of the road suddenly started to burn like crazy...
"-- Get away, get away from those sacks!" General Black Bear, whose eardrum was injured, shouted in fear, but unfortunately he was not the only one whose hearing was temporarily affected by the sound waves of the explosion. Many bear warriors who had just stood up just looked around with a dazed look on their faces, or ran around like headless flies, unaware of the approaching crisis.
More snakes appeared from their hiding places on the riverbed - the snakes were a race that was extremely good at camouflage, ambush and concealment, and the bears had not been in the valley long and had not noticed them at all - they took out tubular objects that looked strange and not dangerous in the eyes of the bears, and threw them at the piles of wooden boxes or sacks nearby.
After completing the throwing work, the snakes slid into the river water which was relatively shallow and calm in autumn and winter...
The valley that was on fire everywhere suddenly erupted with countless panicked screams. People with hearing loss did not know how to control the volume, and the incessant howling of ghosts and wolves made the snow werewolves lying in ambush on the rock walls on both sides of the canyon grimaced and hurriedly stuffed the cotton balls they had used to plug their ears into their ears.
The Bear Tribe was not as disliked by the Magic Goddess as the Snow Wolf Tribe. Although they believed themselves to be strong enough and were unwilling to become full-time spellcasters, some Bear warriors could use magic. A Bear Sergeant covered his ears with one hand and made a casting gesture with the other hand towards the burning sacks. A strong wind was summoned, whistling and sweeping away.
The fire...was not affected at all.
"???" The bear officer who knew wind magic widened his eyes.
Several more Bear Clan non-commissioned officers cast magic, either mobilizing river water or rolling up mud on the riverbed, trying to extinguish the fire.
The fire...is still very strong. Even though it gets a little smaller when the river water pours down on it, it just won't go out.
On the side of the rock wall, Ah Tian, who was lying in ambush with his partner, sneered sarcastically: "Hey, if even professional spellcasters can't put out the fire, I don't believe you can!"
Others don’t know what the tubular object thrown out by the snake tribe is, but A Tian knows it very well - he is a man who has been squatting on the Grand Canal construction site for more than a year!
The magic mineral powder combustion tube suggested by Ayun and developed by Mr. Sean is an eternal fire that cannot be extinguished even if you hit it with ice cubes!
Well... this so-called "eternal fire" is actually thermite...
I won't go into detail about the dangerous goods involved. In short, the thing in the tube is actually a mixture of iron oxide powder, which generates aluminum oxide and elemental iron with the help of an oxidant. The thermal reaction can release a high temperature of up to 3,000 degrees, which can burn through steel plates. This dangerous thing is also self-supplied with oxidant to help combustion. Unless the oxidant in the tube is used up, it can't be extinguished! Even a great magician can't put a space cover on it to isolate the oxygen!
The fire magicians among the spellcasters of "J" stopped pursuing big fireballs, super big fireballs, super natural disaster fireball meteor showers after using the "Eternal Fire", and fell in love with mathematics, physics and chemistry!
Unable to put out the fire, the bear tribe fell into complete chaos. Some rushed into the river, while others tried to climb the steep and slippery rock walls.
Now it was time for the Snake and Snow Wolf warriors to perform. The Snake warriors who had already swam to the other side and the Snow Wolf warriors who were hiding on the rock walls on both sides of the canyon came out one after another. Those who knew how to use bows and arrows drew their bows, while those who didn't used crossbows - the latter also did not require much technical skills, as there were people who could make Snake warriors by hand, and it would be even easier to build a batch in the new hilly area.
The black bear warriors who were in the water or trying to climb up became targets one after another, and those officers who knew how to use magic were not in a good situation either; when an officer just used the wind to lift himself up to a high altitude, Xiaohua threw away the crossbow that she didn't like to play with, tore open her clothes and turned into big wolves, roaring and jumping down from the top of the rock wall, biting the bear officer who was trying to cast a spell in mid-air, and dragged him into the river together...
"Why are you so impatient?" A Tian muttered with a helpless look, put down his longbow, went around to an area with less burning materials, jumped down, and went to support his partner.
After being bombed, burned, and showered with arrows, the Bear Clan troops became a mess in just a dozen minutes. The soldiers couldn't find their generals, and the generals couldn't find their soldiers. When the Snow Wolf Clan warriors saw Xiaohua and A Tian go down, they also jumped down one after another...
Deep in the canyon, the group of bear warriors who were charging in the front also realized that something was wrong after hearing the vibration from the rear. The sergeant who led the charge hurriedly called on the soldiers to retreat. As a result... before they could reunite with the main force, their retreat was blocked by the raging fire that filled the entire bend...
There was no choice but for the sergeant who led the charge to lead hundreds of the most belligerent men to continue charging deeper into the canyon, hoping to capture the snake tribe first, and then... they ran head-on into a wolf cavalry brigade consisting of twenty pairs of snow wolf tribe mates.
On the narrow river bank, what does it feel like for the infantry to face the wolf cavalry battalion charging in formation? It feels like being slapped in the face by the wolf's claws...
The people in front were either grabbed by the wolf's mouth and thrown into the sky, or had their faces pressed to the ground by the wolf's claws, or were stabbed through by the snow werewolf warrior on the wolf's back with a spear. The people behind had no way to retreat, some rushed forward with mad roars, and some jumped into the river without hesitation.
The bear tribe is a race that can adapt to any battlefield, but no matter how adaptable they are, the bears that have entered the river cannot be flexible enough to avoid the crossbows that the snow wolves on the shore are holding steadily...
The resistance lasted only about half an hour. After most of the Black Bear warriors and even the non-commissioned officers were knocked down or captured, the remaining Bear warriors were tired, hungry, frightened and terrified. When the other side shouted, "Squat down and hold your head, surrender and you won't be killed," they squatted down obediently.
The situation on the battlefield ahead was under control, and Xiaohua, who was having a great time fighting, howled like a wolf towards the sky. Soon, a large number of snakes squatting deep in the canyon rushed out carrying medicine boxes, thick ropes, shovels, buckets and other tools to help clean up the battlefield.
Clean up the fuel piles disguised as grain piles and put out the remaining sparks; carefully tie up the surrendered enemies one by one into dumplings, and also tie up the wounded who did not surrender or were unable to surrender into dumplings; count the number of people in your own family, treat the wounded, and count the number of prisoners...
After all the busy work, when the Grand Canyon returned to calm, the moon had already risen high in the sky.
After finally finishing the post-war statistics, the members of the South District Command and the officers of the participating warrior teams held a meeting around the campfire. The Grassroots Chief took out the list of his own wounded and his face turned pale after just one glance: "Sixteen snake warriors were injured, all of them were injured while rushing into the river to fight with the enemy. Harris, what's wrong with you? Didn't we say that we should let the enemies in the river consume their physical strength before capturing them?"
Harris hung his head and dared not say a word. He also had a bandage on his arm. He himself was one of the injured who rushed into the water to beat people up... and was bitten on the arm by a mad black bear that was riddled with arrows.
"Two Snow Wolf warriors were injured. One sprained his ankle after jumping down, and the other was so excited in the fight that he rushed into the pile of fuel that had not yet been burned out?!" The grassroots chief's voice suddenly rose eight tones, and obvious blue veins appeared on his forehead.
Xiaohua put her hands together on her thighs, looked straight ahead, and knelt very straight...
A Tian looked sad: "I was too anxious at the time and didn't look after everyone. I'm sorry, Grassroots Clan Leader. It's all my fault."
"...How serious are the burn victims?" The grassroots chief was also angry with the two of them.
"Well... only the fur was burnt off and a part of the nose was burnt." A Tian was annoyed. The snow wolf's weakness was the nose. If other parts of his body were burned, the most he would get was a burn and some fur would fall off. But that guy just put his face against the fire. Who could he complain to?
The grassroots chief was also very annoyed. He quietly put aside the statistics of his own casualties and picked up the enemy's casualties statistics that would make everyone happy.
"Three hundred and twenty-two complete or relatively complete corpses, one hundred and sixty-seven seriously injured, five hundred and eighty-one slightly injured, and a total of two thousand four hundred and ninety-five prisoners..." The Grassroots Chief couldn't help wanting to laugh when he was halfway through reading. The corners of his mouth curled up halfway before he realized that he had to hold it back and forced his mouth to straighten into a straight line. "Well, it's not bad. We captured enough prisoners, which is worthy of our hard work in preparing for the war during this period of time."
The grassroots chief was forcing himself to remain calm, but no one else cared about it, including Chief Ali, Snake elder Greg, Gustav and other members of the South District Command, all of them were smiling very frankly.
Gustav, the elder of the python clan, said something rather cruel with a festive look on his face: "It would cost too much medicine to treat so many seriously injured people. It would be better to kill them. Alchemical potions are quite expensive. It would be better to save them for our own people."
Harris, the captain of the Serpent Clan's warriors, immediately nodded in agreement: "Yes, there is no point in saving those with missing arms and legs. Even if we exchange them with the Beast King, he will not be willing to pay a high price for a useless warrior."
The Grassroots Clan leader shook his head when he heard this: "You guys, that's not how you calculate it. It's not about whether rescuing these 100+ seriously injured soldiers is valuable, but rescuing these seriously injured soldiers is a kind of value in itself."
Elder Gustav obviously didn't agree with this. It wasn't that he wasn't smart enough, but the historical hatred between the Snake Tribe and the Black Bear Tribe was there... But he didn't think he could convince the grassroots clan leader, so he turned his attention to the Great Elder Gregor.
The idea of the great elder Gregor was much more cruel than that of Gustav. He wished that all the black bear captives would be executed...
Unfortunately, the Snake Tribe is only a part of the grassland tribes, and the will of the Snake Tribe does not represent the will of all grassland tribes. If it weren't for the efforts of many tribes and parties in this battle, and if the Snake Tribe only relied on itself, it would definitely be defeated by this black bear army of nearly 3,000 people and even the Snake Tribe could not be saved... Elder Gregor, who has always been sober, would not be confused at this time. He ignored Gustav's expectant eyes and waited calmly for the next words of the grassroots chief.
The grassroots tribe leader could understand the hatred that the snake tribe felt towards the black bear tribe, and she herself was the same. If Ayun had not had a special talk with her at the beginning, she would not have been able to accept the tiger tribe so easily... Every time the grassroots tribe leader saw the mutilated bodies of Ayi and Amo, she would feel uncomfortable for several days!
This time, the grassroots chief directly used Ah Yun's words to persuade the snake tribe: "We are a large family of many tribes on the grassland. We are all very weak when we are separated. We must unite closely to compete with those powerful tribes for survival qualifications and win respect and recognition."
"Therefore, we, the grassland tribes, must always adhere to our survival and fundamental principles. We are tolerant, accept diversity, and love peace. We will only swing our fists to defend our homeland and drive out invading enemies. We will not take the initiative to attack anyone who is not hostile to us or has not done us any harm."
"From the moment the surrendered enemy lays down their weapons and stops being hostile to us, we should respect and protect their basic right to survival. As long as they have not caused serious harm to our grassland tribes, or the degree of harm has not reached the basic principle of 'killing people should be put to death, injuring people should be punished', we should not arbitrarily deprive others of their lives."
"After all..." The grassroots chief paused, looked at everyone with a deep gaze, and said in a deep voice, "We have suffered enough from others who think they are wrong and can deprive others of their lives at will, and who think they are weak and can bully others at will. We must never do this ourselves. We must adhere to our ideas and principles. Each of us has the obligation and responsibility to create such a living environment with laws and rules to follow for our fellow tribesmen and our descendants. For such a great persistence, we cannot be willful!"
These words are a bit harsh, but they can resonate with everyone sitting here... Whether it's the Snow Wolf Tribe or the Snake Tribe, who hasn't suffered the same loss?
The Grassroots Chief gave everyone some time to think. Seeing that Elder Gustav's frown slowly relaxed and he seemed to have accepted his statement, he smiled and said, "The captives we captured do have the subjective intention to infringe on our life and property safety, but they have not had time to carry out the act. So after they stop invading and have no chance to infringe, we naturally need to protect their basic right to survival. Before they leave the grassland, we should provide them with the opportunity to exchange their labor for food and shelter so that they can survive this winter."
"But everyone knows that it is very difficult to persuade others. It is not easy to get others to accept your ideas. It takes a long time to show and express yourself in practice before you can gain their understanding, recognition and support. So, isn't our willingness to treat their seriously injured and protect their right to survival the best way to convey our wishes?"
