Volume 9: Home Chapter 306: First Encounter with Fire City
What has driven Rex to keep is his unforgettable memory of the two meals that Yang Mao made for him... When Rex, who had drawn the scout lot again, saw the group of white-haired wolf-eared giants rushing up from the bottom of the mountain, he was so excited that he forgot everything else. He didn't care whether others recognized him or whether he recognized these snow werewolves. He opened his arms enthusiastically and rushed forward -
Then he was taken down.
The Snow Wolf Warrior who rushed to the front, expressionlessly and without blinking, reached out and grabbed one of Rex's arms and half of his shoulder. He twisted his waist and used force with his hands to push Rex to the ground, and shouted loudly: "I have captured the enemy!"
Rex: “???”
The lions who followed Rex around: "???"
The lion tribe was also a fighting tribe. In the days of the tiger king, they were as famous as the bear tribe, second only to the snow wolf tribe. They stopped immediately and looked at each other in confusion... It was not that they did not want to save Rex, but after pinning Rex down, these snow wolves did not make any other moves, neither moving forward nor retreating, neither continuing to attack nor making a sound, but staring at them with a very strange and hot look...
At this time, Elder Kuku finally caught up with them, raised his hands and shouted from a distance: "Surrender, we surrender!"
Xiaohua, who was holding Rex, quickly lifted him up from the ground. While brushing the snow off his clothes, she said with a smile, "Hello, friend. You must have worked hard on the journey. I am Xiaohua, a general of the Snow Wolf Clan. What should I call you? Come, I'll carry your package for you. Come to our base and have a rest~"
Rex: “???”
The other Snow Wolf Warriors also stepped forward enthusiastically, happily greeting all the new "captives", hugging them regardless of whether they knew them or not, helping with luggage, and taking the initiative to walk in front to help lead the way and clear roadblocks...
Gloria, the general of the Lion Clan, and the elder of the Fox Clan came up one after another (the elder of the Wing Clan was ill), and met with General Xiaohua who led the army to "receive" them. After getting to know each other for a while, they walked down the mountain together warmly...
Upon hearing that half of the Winged Tribe had been frozen sick, the Snow Wolf Man's general immediately asked several soldiers carrying boxes to come over, took out alchemical potions and gave each of the seriously ill Winged Tribe a sip to keep them alive, and then asked a group of soldiers to transform into wolves, carry the Winged Tribe back to the base at the foot of the mountain to rest...
When the four-tribe coalition army walked out of the York Mountains and stepped onto the edge of the cursed land, the gate of the original tiger tribe stronghold facing them was opened. The enthusiastic grassland people had already quickly set up a row of large stoves and cooked spicy noodles and mutton soup to drive away the cold...
Sitting in the renovated stone house with a burning fireplace, and drinking a big bowl of spicy soup given by the snow werewolves, the four-tribe coalition from the Far East, whether they had seen the snow werewolves before or not, all smiled as if they had seen their family members... The lion tribe guys were not bragging, and the elders (generals) were not lying, the grassland people's food was really delicious!
After drinking the soup to drive away the cold and huddling in the warm house to relieve the chill, the Snow Wolf Warriors brought in the main meal - sauerkraut, potato and pork vermicelli stew! Twenty pigs that were buried in the snow and broken into two pieces were chopped into pieces and stewed with potatoes, and then vermicelli, sour cowpeas, dried radish and bean sprouts were added to the stew. There was plenty of it!
After the meal, the four tribes' coalition army looked at the Snow Wolf Man not as a relative , but as a lover...
The "captives" who surrendered at the first sight rested for a day in the former Tiger Tribe stronghold. The next day, they boarded the sleds prepared by the Snow Wolf Tribe and sang songs while heading to the Fire City in a relaxed manner...
Primo sent a letter to ask the four tribes to set out after winter, intending to use wolves to pull sleds to save them time crossing the grassland. After all, this batch of people would definitely not be all warriors, and letting the coalition, which mostly consists of ordinary orcs, cross the cursed land would still be at risk of casualties~! Especially in the coalition, there are also Winged Tribes whose physique is worse than that of humans.
When the huge sled caravan passed by the Tauren tribe, Xiaohua and his companions went to ask for some winter vegetables...The only vegetables they brought were potatoes, sour cowpeas, dried radishes and bean sprouts, and they were almost tired of eating them every day.
Ten days later, the coalition forces of the four tribes arrived at Huoyan City.
"That's the Fire City!" Elder Kuku, sitting on the sled, saw from afar a large group of buildings of similar height in the snowy land connected to the sky. The scale was even larger and more orderly than the Ice and Snow King City and Moon Bear City he had seen. He stood up curiously and asked, "There are so many houses. Do you grassland people all live together?"
"No, there are only about 10,000 people living in Huoyan City." Xiaohua, who had been pulling the sled for the whole morning, now sat on the sled and said with a smile, "Including the newly joined bear tribe, there are nearly 70,000 people in Huoyan City. With so many people living together, there is no one to farm the land or do the work elsewhere. Most of the goblins and gray dwarves are in the new hilly area, the snake tribe is in the snake tribe near the sea, the cat tribe is divided into three farms, and some of the bear tribe is also next to the cat farm. The centaurs, humans and us snow wolves mainly live in Huoyan City, and some of our people are in the beet planting base and the new hilly area."
"Humans? There are still humans in your Fire City?" Lion general Gloria was shocked.
"There are very few humans. The number of humans who joined our Fire City is even smaller than that of the Centaurs. They are a group of female workers in textile factories. They don't want return to the human kingdom, so they stayed here after we established our country." Xiaohua explained with a smile.
"Aren't the humans in the Southern Continent? The climate in the Southern Continent is much better than that in the Northern Continent, right? Why wouldn't they want to go back?" The sickly Winged Clan elder recovered a little, and now he was wearing a coat borrowed from the Snow Wolf Man and snuggling among several Tea Bears to keep warm, and asked curiously.
Xiaohua scratched her head and said, "I can't really explain this, but Shelda, Maggie and the others have never mentioned wanting to go back to their hometown in these years... Winnie goes back every two years, and her family is still there."
Xiaohua certainly couldn't understand the complex emotions of hatred and resentment towards their hometowns felt by Shelda, Maggie and other street prostitutes who were once controlled by the Thieves Brotherhood. It was not surprising that those female workers who were forced to sell themselves even if they had families, or even were used as money-making tools by their families, had no attachment to their so-called hometowns after gaining their freedom... Not all former street prostitutes were as lucky as Winnie. Although her family was unable to protect her, they at least really treated her as a family member.
As for Thrall… Although this guy did not take the initiative to become a resident of Fire City, and would go back to Bolton Territory with his relatives and friends every year to spend the winter, all the Snow Wolf people regarded him as "our Thrall". The label of "Grassland Man" on this guy could never be torn off.
The generals and elders of the four tribes exchanged glances, and when they looked towards the Fire City again, the slight uneasiness in their hearts disappeared - it was hard for them not to feel timid when seeing such a magnificent city. Just by taking a rough look from one direction, they could estimate that this Fire City was at least as big as two, no, three or even four Lion Cities. Who could say for sure whether the grassland people who owned such a prosperous city would look down on them, the orcs from the Far East?
But the grassland people are willing to open their arms to accept goblins, gray dwarves and even humans who are not orcs. With such a broad mind, the grassland people will certainly not be as narrow-minded as they worry.
The huge sled group attracted the attention of the Fire City patrol, and the patrol team composed of cats and centaurs soon came over.
The cats sitting on the Centaur saw A-Tian pulling the sled in the front from afar, and immediately waved happily: "You are back! A-Tian!"
Xiaohua jumped from the sled onto her partner's back and shouted to the patrol, "Notify Ayun that we have brought back our friends from the Far East! Also, tell Shelda and the others to be ready to receive patients with frostbite!"
The accommodation that Huoyan City prepared for the Far Eastern Allied Forces was the Cat Tribe resettlement area that had been used to hold Bear Tribe captives. It had been renovated, new tiles had been installed, the dust in the house had been cleaned, and even coal briquettes and daily necessities had been moved in, ready for the guests to move in. However, these houses were still a little more rudimentary than proper dormitories. Xiaohua had seen the situation of the Winged Tribe, and decided early in the morning to let the Winged Tribe live in their dormitories before the large group of female workers returned in the spring. When it came to taking care of the patients, the human Shelda and others were more careful than the orcs.
Xiao Yun, who was scaring the kids in the cub school with a fierce look on his face, heard the patrol's report. He immediately left the frightened kids behind and ran towards the square.
When he arrived, the sled had already stopped in the square. All the free people in the tribe came out to help, carefully moving the Winged People, who looked even more slender and fragile than humans, to the female workers' dormitory.
"Mr. Ayun!" Elder Kuku saw Xiao Yun and came forward happily.
"Elder Kuku!" Xiao Yun was even happier to see him. He was extremely curious about this Tea Bear Elder at the Frank Banquet, but he couldn't get too close to him because there were so many people around. Now that he was in his own territory, he didn't have to worry at all and immediately rushed over to "put his hands on" the man... pulling his ears, scratching his belly, and so on.
Elder Kuku: “…”
The fox clan elder and white fox sage Aloi originally wanted to go up and get close to Xiao Yun, but when he saw this situation, he immediately stopped.
"This is General Gloria of the Lion Clan." Xiaohua knew how much Xiao Yun cared about the Tea Bear Clan two years ago, so she was not surprised...
Only then did Xiao Yun let go of the embarrassed Tea Bear...
After exchanging a few words with the three coalition generals, Xiao Yun, who knew that winning people's hearts was the most important thing, unnoticedly brought the four to the female workers' dormitory area and let them "witness" how the grassland people considerately and carefully took care of the patients among them - as soon as the Winged People moved into the house, they could lie on the warm kang with clean mattresses, and the nimble female workers would immediately find their own clothes for these Winged People to change into... The Winged People's slender physique had no problem wearing their clothes.
Xiao Yun even specially asked Shelda, the oldest and most patient female worker, to personally take care of the Wing Clan elders...
After winning over the hearts and minds of the people, and seeing the relieved looks on the faces of Elder Kuku, Elder Aloy, and Gloria, Xiao Yun did not move and asked Sanye to sit on the kang. In front of several Winged Tribe patients whose faces were beginning to turn red, he talked to the four elders about the treatment the grassland people gave them: assigning positions according to labor, providing food and lodging, providing on-the-job training, and paying salaries according to work contributions...
"As you all know, many of the bear tribe members who have joined us still have families in the Far East. They are also worried that their families' lives will be affected by their absence." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "We originally planned to find a way to send their salaries back to their relatives, but it is really inconvenient for our people to openly set foot in the Far East, or even enter the territory of the bear tribe. In this regard, I hope you can help think of a solution."
Elder Kuku's eyes lit up: "Can we use our tribesmen's salary to buy things and send them back?"
"Of course!" Xiao Yun said without hesitation. He hoped that the money would not flow out!
