Volume 9: Home Chapter 294: Releasing Prisoners of War
"Fire... City?"
Kai, the forest elf warrior, stood blankly on the bridge, looking at the former Fire Tribe and the current Fire City standing not far away.
On this side of the river, there are endless farmlands, and on the other side of the river, there are also large fields. In May, the wind on the grassland is hot, and at the end of the farmland that undulates like waves, there are buildings lined up in a row, seemingly endless.
Kai was still very young, far from the age where his memory would deteriorate, so after he confirmed that he was in the right place, he rubbed his eyes vigorously...
——What’s going on!
This place was not like this last time I was here!!
Kai roared silently in his heart, and his handsome face became a little ferocious... When he came here last time, this place was at most a neat and large village. In the blink of an eye (less than ten years is really just a blink of an eye for forest elves), these grassland people actually built a city bigger than Ananas? !
"Don't block the road." Hailin kicked Kai away rudely, walked past Kai with a look of disgust, and said, "This bridge is not very wide, can't you let people walk on it?"
"Hai Lin! Why didn't you ever tell me that the Fire Tribe and Fire City had become like this?!" Kai didn't bother to get angry, he patted his butt and chased after him down the bridge.
"What? I come here every year and I don't think it's changed much." Hailin said indifferently, "It's you who don't want to come. It's only after so many years that you can't recognize it."
"you--"
A farm production team was pulling large and small agricultural machinery towards their own responsibility fields. They saw the forest elves from a distance, and the leader, the Snow Wolf, raised his hand and greeted them enthusiastically: "Come on, La Hailin!"
"Yes! I'm here again!" Hailin waved with a smile.
This production team turned north and walked away. Not long after, another production team arrived and also greeted the forest elves who came here every year at this time from afar: "Hi, Hailin!"
"Hi, are you busy?" Hailin waved her hands vigorously.
On the way from the bridge to the square in the city of Huoyan City, the forest elves who came to buy supplies encountered four or five production teams. The snow wolves in each team knew Hailin, and some even invited Hailin to their homes...
Kai silently distanced himself from Hailin and looked at his good friend with a vigilant look.
"Why? You don't think I'm a traitor to Ananas, do you?" Hailin knew this guy very well. She squinted her eyes and said, "If you want to worry about this, why not consider 'informing' on Evelyn and your teacher, Elder Meili. Evelyn spends at least ten months a year on the grassland, and yet Elder Meili nominated her to take over the seat in the Elders' Council."
Among the elf warriors in the team, someone couldn't help but puff out.
Kai coughed fakely, turned his head to look at the sky, and pretended nothing had happened.
Not long after the forest elves' team entered the square, Snowflake, who was responsible for internal and external transactions of bulk goods, rushed over.
After Elder Gwendolyn abdicated, Evelyn prudently gave up the "purchasing rights". Elder Meili did not persuade her to continue taking over, and of course, she did not hold on to the business with the grassland people, but directly transferred it to the army and asked General Crest to arrange people to handle the goods - just running errands. Elder Meili did not dare to interfere with such a large business, let alone General Crest.
Since they were all old acquaintances, there was no need to be too particular. Without saying anything, Xuehua took Kai and the others to the warehouse area to "shop"...
"The soy sauce is the same as before. I've prepared eight million kilograms for you, and three million kilograms for vinegar. I've prepared five hundred jars of the sweet and sour ketchup you requested last year. They're all here. The bean paste is in the warehouse over there. After you finish filling the vermicelli, go over there and fill up the sauce."
"This batch of fish floss is of very good quality... huh? There is definitely no rabbit meat mixed in. Rabbit meat is very difficult to fry into meat floss, okay? Who made up this rumor?"
"This is pork jerky vacuum-packed in thick plastic. As usual, if you return the plastic, we can give you a 9.5% discount. Please wash it and return it. Don't return it smelly like before!"
"The price of dried meat has not increased and the profit is too low, so we didn't make it this year. This mutton strip is quite good. We used a lot of spices to process it..."
Snowflake led a group of forest elves to clear out two large rows of warehouses, and finally came to the cooked food processing workshop at the back of the warehouse area.
Xuehua confidently pushed open the door of the workshop and pointed inside proudly: "This year's rabbit cubes are definitely tastier than in previous years, because we are more skilled this year and the processing is particularly meticulous. The rabbit meat is boneless, so even elderly people with bad teeth will have no problem eating it!"
Kai put his head on Hailin's shoulder and looked inside. Just one glance made him stunned.
In the cooked food processing workshop which was converted from two warehouses, next to several "production lines" made of tables, the bear tribe members wearing long-sleeved aprons and white cotton masks were standing neatly, processing rabbit meat skillfully.
At the front end of one of the "production lines", a bear tribe member took out a skinned, gutted, and chopped-off rabbit from a large bamboo basket and threw it onto the chopping board. He first chopped off the rabbit's head and swept it with a machete into the empty basket next to him. Then he chopped the rabbit into eight equal-sized pieces with a few quick cuts. When he was done, he swept the wide machete again and pushed the chopped rabbit meat to the next person, while he continued to take rabbits out of the large basket.
The second person kept two pieces for himself and pushed the rest to the third person. He used the boning knife in his hand to flexibly and accurately pick out the bones and bone residue from the meat, and then put the deboned meat into the basket beside him.
The third person is also only responsible for two pieces, and the rest is pushed to the fourth person...
It only takes a few minutes for a rabbit to be turned into boneless meat from head to tail. At this time, the second rabbit has been processed for the most part, and the third rabbit is also on the assembly line...
When the basket is full of deboned rabbit meat, someone will come and take it away, take it to the other side to soak it in water for cleaning, marinate it, and cook it in a pot... Each step is handled by a different person, and each bear only needs to be familiar with the steps he is responsible for, and they can do it very quickly; after the elves stood at the door for a short "visit", they saw several large pots of spicy rabbit cubes that were cooked cold and eaten cold were taken down from the stove and poured into ceramic basins to cool...
Kai: “…(o言o)”
Kai turned his head and looked at Xuehua: "Fish floss, pork jerky, mutton strips, these things are all processed by the bear tribe?!"
"Yeah, anyway, the technical content is not high. We can break it down into different steps and let them practice for a few days to get started. Otherwise, how could this year's output be so much higher than last year's?" Snowflake laughed, "You know what, the bear tribe also has great talent as a chef, only slightly worse than us snow wolves. Even the cat tribe is not as good as them at this."
All the forest elves: "..."
Hailin wiped the sweat off her forehead and said, "In that case...we'll take as many cold rabbits as we can get."
The elves don't really like spicy food, but selling it to the dwarf kingdom is also a huge profit...
"No, I can only sell you half." Xuehua smiled and waved her hand, "Half is more than last year. Don't worry, the other half has been reserved."
"Are you going to sell it to the Dark Iron Dwarves?" Helin asked alertly.
"No, don't you sell them to the Dark Iron Dwarves?" Snowflake asked back.
"How much can you sell it to us?" Hailin immediately changed the subject.
Xuehua readily took him to see the goods...
As the weather gets warmer, the shelf life of the cold rabbits is shortened. Snow Flower, the finance minister of Fire City, who got carried away by the bear tribe's labor input and produced too much cold rabbits, is in a hurry to sell these things that can't be kept for too long...
After filling the space with props brought by the Forest Elf Shopping Team, both parties breathed a sigh of relief and then entered the normal reception process, which meant serving delicious food!
"It feels like your cafeteria is expanded every time I come here." Sitting in the newly built cafeteria, Hailin patted the newly installed tables and chairs and smiled.
"This is the last expansion. The next time we build something, we'll build a small food store like the one Ah Shu runs." Xuehua said with a smile, "Everyone always comes to the same place to eat. There's no room during peak hours. When there's no one, it's a waste to have so many canteens empty."
"You should open a store in Ananas. You can only enjoy the authentic spicy and sour flavor when you are on duty at the port. It's terrible if you miss it at other times." Hailin said half-jokingly.
"Ha, there's a chance." Xuehua laughed it off... She couldn't just say that the floating population in Ananas wasn't as large as the Elf Port and the Dungeon, and not every local was willing to eat heavy flavors. If she really opened a food store there, it would be hard to make back the transportation costs.
After enjoying a delicious meal carefully prepared by a serious chef, a group of elves came out of the cafeteria holding their stomachs... and saw a large group of cubs rushing past.
I'm not exaggerating. When the orc cubs gather in groups, they really have the momentum of a tsunami that can drown everything... Even the snowflakes take the initiative to stand against the wall and leave the main road to these cubs.
Snow wolf cubs biting each other while running, cat cubs moving flexibly, gray dwarf cubs hugging each other tightly, goblin cubs sitting on the backs of centaurs and riding on the shoulders of tauren... huh? !
"Minotaur?!" Kai was shocked. "Minotaur has also come to Fire City?"
"I didn't come. I just helped the minotaurs take care of their cubs while we were running the school." Snowflake explained with a smile.
"School?!" Kai thought he had heard it wrong.
"It's normal, right? Don't you forest elves have a place to educate young elves?" Snowflake asked curiously, "I heard from Evelyn that you Ananas also have a school for young elves, right?"
Kai: “Uh…”
Could he say that it was very strange that the grassland tribes that he still thought were barbaric and backward and ate raw meat and drank blood also had schools...
Hailin stepped on Kai's toes with an expressionless face, turned her head and glared at him fiercely.
Kai quickly retracted his rude expression.
At least several hundred kids ran from north to south for a long time, and suddenly a few short screams were heard, and the kids who had just run past ran back in panic...
Elves: "??? "
"stop!"
With a loud shout, the chaotic little guys actually... stopped obediently.
Even the particularly naughty little Snow Wolf cubs stood still, not daring to move...
Kai felt that the voice just now was very familiar. He took two steps forward and looked. Sure enough, the devil cub who made him have a complicated mentality towards the grassland tribe was striding towards him!
Xiao Yun walked to the front of the cubs with an expressionless face, and swept his majestic eyes over the cubs: "Who took the lead in skipping class today?"
Immediately, several cat cubs looked at the same person.
Moss, who tried to hide behind the calf's head but failed, raised his head stiffly and smiled at Xiao Yun in a flattering manner.
"Haha..." Xiao Yun smiled, and the next moment he pounced into the cubs like a wolf, pulled out the moss with one hand, and pinned him down and spanked him hard on the spot, "Skipping class! Skipping class! And encouraging others to skip class as well!"
“Snap! Snap! Snap!”
“Awooooo ...
Behind the group of cubs, the calves all had shocked expressions on their faces.
"We're skipping class?!"
"Didn't you ask us to help with something?"
Hearing this, Xiao Yun beat him even harder: "How dare you lie to me and skip class! Lie to me and skip class! Lie to me and skip class!!"
"Wow wow wow Ayun I don't dare to be spicy~~"
To the forest elves blocking the roadside wall: “…” cold face.jpg.
Xiao Yun whipped Moss so hard that he cried, then stood up and tucked the woolly skin, the first skin of the entire tribe, under his arm. He waved to the elves as a greeting, and then drove hundreds of little guys towards the school.
The first public school was built in the north of the tribe, at the original warrior training ground. It consisted of six rows of back-to-back buildings with a total of fifty classrooms. It was a school for the cubs during the day and provided adult remedial classes at night.
The cubs’ teacher is an outstanding student in the cram school…and the headmaster is also the leader of the Fire Clan.
Xiao Yun drove the little brats back to the classroom, turned around, and complained to the Fire Chieftain with a smile: "Don't spoil them too much, Fire Chieftain, especially Moss. She dared to lead the classmates to rush to the school gate. You dared to catch her from the crowd and spank her hard. Beat her a few times. Do you think she will be honest?"
The Fire Clan leader scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "I will definitely stop her next time."
"It's not enough to just stop him. You have to beat him. If you don't beat him, Moss will be able to lead others astray." Xiao Yun said earnestly, "This little bastard has been spoiled to the point of not knowing how high the heavens are and how deep the earth is. He dares to cause any disaster. If we don't teach him a lesson soon, it will be too late..."
Before Ruhua was born, Moss was the youngest cub in the tribe, and was spoiled by everyone for several years. Later, Moss joined Evelyn's magic application team to work and earn pocket money, and was spoiled by Evelyn and the cat magicians. When Xiao Yun found out, this guy had become a bully among the cubs, and even Yangmao couldn't control her.
Ruhua is also very naughty, and her mother Qingcao occasionally shows "motherly love". Without direct education from her parents, Moss is completely heading towards the direction of destroying the world...
Xiao Yun spent a long time earnestly convincing the Fire Chief about the importance of "love as strong as a mountain". Only after the Fire Chief solemnly promised to discipline these naughty children with love as strong as a mountain collapse and earth splitting did Xiao Yun let him go...
Holding his forehead, Xiao Yun left the school and headed straight for his original destination: the Bear Clan Prisoner-of-War Camp.
After half a year of training and transformation, nearly 70% of the 3,300-plus bear prisoners have transformed into qualified industrial workers, working diligently in various low-tech processing fields in Huoyan City. They can consciously abide by the rules and go to work and get off work on time every day without the need for soldiers to guard them.
The remaining thousand or so people were not so easy to use. Either they missed their hometown and their loved ones and had low enthusiasm for work, or they practiced "non-violent non-cooperation" and took every opportunity to slack off when there were no soldiers guarding them, or they had a strong hatred for the grassland tribes and wanted to escape - after the weather turned warmer, the latter showed particularly fierce resistance.
As soon as Xiao Yun entered the prisoner-of-war camp, A Yan, who was in charge of guarding him, came up to him and complained, "I'm so annoyed, A Yun. I don't want to lead these unmotivated guys anymore. Can you let me do something else? I can even go and repair the roads. I don't want to stay here anymore!"
"Huh? You mean, you look down on road construction?" Xiao Yun narrowed his eyes.
"No, no, absolutely not. I mean I want to build roads, really." A Yan quickly defended herself.
"Haha." Xiao Yun didn't bother with him and walked in. "Okay, I'm here to solve this matter this time. Please invite the three generals over, and we'll do this..."
Half an hour later, White Bear General Wood with gauze wrapped around his arm, Moon Bear General Basel who was not injured but had shackles on his hands and feet, and Black Bear General who was tied up like a dumpling, were "invited" into the empty barracks one after another.
Seeing Xiao Yun sitting on the kang and looking at them, Wood's face darkened. Basel and General Black Bear glared at him fiercely, as if they wanted to eat Xiao Yun alive.
Since they found out that their own people and soldiers were "bewitched" by these grassland people, and were bought by the grassland people's small favors as if they were possessed, the three generals who were originally living a decadent life became increasingly irritable...
After a long winter, the three generals were horrified and desperate to find that more than half of the soldiers were obedient to the grassland people and were willing to work honestly and diligently for the grassland people even if they were not detained. So they planned several riots... and then, all of them failed.
The reason for the failure was that someone from our own team reported it.
When the sage Ayun entered the prisoner-of-war camp to check on the progress of the work, General Black Bear rushed forward with a dozen of his cronies, trying to control him and threaten the grassland people. However, they were spontaneously blocked by the nearby bear tribe... General Black Bear almost choked and was so angry that he died.
As more and more soldiers were deceived and arranged to leave the prisoner-of-war camp in batches and live among the grassland people, some of the non-commissioned officers under General Black Bear also "rebeled"...
After half a year, the three generals gradually realized that the "betrayal" of their people was all due to the instigation of the wise man Ayun. Their hatred for the guards was completely focused on Xiao Yun. It is no exaggeration to say that if they could exchange their lives for Xiao Yun's death, the three generals might be willing to do it...
Facing the three people's hateful gazes, Xiao Yun smiled slightly: "Don't get so excited when you see me, three people. Too much emotional fluctuation is not good for your health. We don't have the habit of abusing prisoners of war. If you get sick from anger, it will be a disgrace to us."
General Black Bear took a breath, the words of greeting rising to his tongue.
"We feel bad that you guys are not having a good time here. So, we plan to send you out of Huoyan City and let you return to the Far East." Xiao Yun said with a smile.
General Black Bear choked on his own saliva, and his greeting failed.
"Let us go back?" Moon Bear General Basel's face was full of disbelief.
"Yes." Xiao Yun nodded. "You can bring along the tribesmen who are willing to go back with you. Those who want to leave can take all their property with them. For those who don't have any money left, we will also give them travel expenses out of humanitarianism."
The three generals stared at him intently, and even Basel didn't dare to speak casually, for fear that Xiao Yun was teasing them.
Xiao Yun did not explain. After explaining the "repatriation policy", he took out a notebook and asked the three generals to report the names of the tribesmen they wanted to take away. Then he asked A Yan and the others to go to each barracks and ask them to bring over all the bear heads who also wanted to leave...
Two days later.
The three generals and more than 600 bear warriors, each carrying a change of clothes, bedding, and dry food, with more or less money bags hanging around their waists, were "courtesy escorted out of the country" by a group of snow wolf warriors. After escorting them out of the farm-covered area of Fire City, the soldiers guarding them watched them walk a long way away and still waved their hands, shouting farewell blessings such as "be careful on your journey" and "take care of yourself"...
General Black Bear kept looking back until he could no longer see the "farewell" Snow Wolf Men. He was still a little dazed: "Are you really going to let us go?"
The expression on Bazel's face was as if he was dreaming. He looked back every time he walked a distance, and he was very confused and puzzled. He didn't understand why the grassland people who had detained them for so long would let them go so readily...
Wood, who was very frugal with words, exhaled lightly and said in a deep voice: "In any case, we are free."
"That's right, we are free." General Black Bear calmed himself down, raised his arms and waved them vigorously, "Let's go home!"
"Go home!" The bear warriors woke up and shouted in unison.
Wood silently glanced at the excited and cheering soldiers, moved his lips, but ultimately said nothing.
The snow wolves were very "considerate" and sent them to the route they took last year. Although a winter and a spring had passed, these bear-headed people who were good at identifying directions and remembering roads could still remember the path they had taken and happily headed eastward according to their memory.
A week later.
Coming to the birch forest where they had suffered a great loss before, Bazel and Wood were filled with emotion. This time, there were no cats squatting around them to play "bear fishing". After a rough inspection, the three generals decided to rest here for the night and get enough rest to continue their journey tomorrow.
Dig out the firebreak, collect firewood, light the fire with the matches given by the snow wolf, set up the iron pot, throw the vermicelli given by the snow wolf into the pot to cook, and add the refined salt, hot sauce and seasonings given by the snow wolf.
After a hearty meal of delicious spicy sweet potato noodles, the bear-headed guys each took out the biscuits given by the snow werewolves from their backpacks and chewed them slowly around the campfire - half a year was enough time for them to develop the habit of eating a snack after a meal.
"Actually... these grassland people aren't that bad." Bazel suddenly sighed, "If it weren't for... that's all."
Wood, who was sitting nearby, knew what Bazel did not say. If the Snow Wolf Tribe, the Cat Tribe or the Far East Orc Tribe, then it was not impossible for them to become friends with the Bear Tribe.
After eating the biscuits, Wood licked his fingers silently. He couldn't be in the mood to lament the antagonistic relationship with the grassland people like Basel did. During this period of time, he had been worried about how to explain to his tribesmen after returning to the Far East.
"Who is it?!" General Black Bear shouted loudly, suddenly grabbed the scimitar beside him and jumped up.
Wood & Bazel were a beat slower, but after they realized what was happening, they jumped up immediately and looked warily into the depths of the birch forest.
In the darkness, several bear tribe members dressed in familiar scout uniforms slowly walked out.
The three generals looked horrified, and the bear warriors around them also had extremely shocked expressions.
This——the same race ? !
