studiobondurri Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Lu Yu, Tai Lie, and their group rushed to the vicinity of the Blackwater Tribe and converged with the Matai people responsible for surveillance here.
Lu Yu asked, “How’s it going?”
The Matai person reported what he had observed today, “I found the house of that fat Chief, it’s the largest wooden house. That fat guy didn’t come out much today, and people brought food to him.”
Lu Yu nodded, “That’s good.”
The Matai person continued, “They also sent out several teams for hunting today. Not only that, I overheard someone saying they ordered their slaves to collect more wild fruits and chop more trees. It seems like they’re urgently storing these things.”
Lu Yu paused and asked, “Do you know the reason?”
The Matai person shook his head, “That person didn’t say.”
Lu Yu had a feeling that something was not simple about this.
Shan Pu looked at the contemplative Lu Yu with furrowed brows, waved his hand casually, and said, “Forget it, let’s just take care of them together. Let’s see what else they can do.”
Lu Yu was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, “That’s true.”
Everyone checked their equipment and headed towards the Blackwater Tribe.
Gradually, they saw the camp of the Blackwater Tribe.
“What are those people doing?” Shan Pu suddenly pointed in a certain direction and asked in a low voice.
Lu Yu followed his direction and saw a group of ragged people kneeling on the ground, with some people holding branches walking towards them.
The Matai person who was keeping watch explained, “Those are the slaves of the Blackwater Tribe. The Blackwater Tribe treats their slaves extremely harshly, demanding a lot of food from them every day. If they can’t provide enough, they’ll whip them, even the elderly and children.”
Shan Pu exclaimed angrily, “This is too much!”
Shan Pu knew what “slaves” meant, but he had always lived in the united and friendly Matai tribe, where he had never seen such things.
Seeing those people wielding whips, Shan Pu turned to Tai Lie indignantly, “Chief, since we’re here to attack anyway, let’s help them too.”
Tai Lie nodded.
Shan Pu’s eyes lit up.
He patted Tai Lie on the shoulder and said, “Let’s exchange weapons! I want to try your deer skin gloves.”
Tai Lie silently took off the gloves and handed them to him.
Shan Pu took the gloves and put them on, then handed his dagger to Tai Lie. He then dashed towards the Blackwater Tribe, “Chief, I’ll go first!”
After saying that, he ran off like the wind.
Tai Lie said to the remaining people, “Get ready to go.”
He turned to Lu Yu, his expression serious, “Don’t move from here. Wait for us to finish and come get you.”
Lu Yu nodded, “Got it, hurry up. Shan Pu is alone.”
After all the Matai people had left, Lu Yu took out his homemade grass cloak, carefully hid behind the bushes, and observed the situation ahead.
But these people were outsiders after all, so he didn’t want to let them live in the village directly.
So he came up with another method.
Allocate a camp behind the village for them to live in, and then “collect protection fees.”
“You can choose whether to go or not. If you go with us, we will provide protection for you. When wild beasts come, we will help you fend them off. But at the same time, you need to help us collect materials,” Lu Yu explained.
Shu Tai asked curiously, “What materials?”
Lu Yu smiled, “Just some simple stones and branches, etc. I’ll explain more to you later. In addition, your harvest is all yours, you don’t need to hand it over. If you want to eat meat, you can also use these materials to exchange for it.”
The earnest listeners couldn’t believe it. How could a tribe only ask for these common stones and branches everywhere and help them fend off wild beasts? And saying they could exchange these things for meat?
It must be a scam; there couldn’t be such a good tribe.
Actually, there’s something even better, but Lu Yu decided not to mention it for now.
According to his idea, if these people behaved themselves and could get along friendly, he could teach them how to obtain food.
The reason these primitive people lacked food was twofold: it was difficult to hunt wild beasts, and they didn’t know what was edible. Some people had died from eating poisonous fruits in the jungle out of desperation, so they dared not eat those plants casually anymore.
Lu Yu could teach them how to collect edible wild vegetables and fruits, and he could also teach them how to catch fish. These people probably found fish as fishy and unappetizing as the Matai people did, but with Lu Yu’s guidance, he guaranteed they would want to eat it after trying it.
Lu Yu was actually somewhat helpless.
Although the Matai people were strong, they were still too few.
If they could cooperate and help each other with these people, coupled with the development of gathering and fishing industries, then, in the future, behind the Matai tribe, there would be a solid backing. Their small village would also upgrade rapidly and continuously, eventually becoming an indestructible war fortress!
Thinking of some images of war fortresses he had seen in modern times, Lu Yu couldn’t contain his excitement. He cleared his throat and asked as calmly as possible, “So, who wants to go?”
The air fell silent.
“I’ll go!” Shu Tai jumped up, raising his arm, his eyes shining brightly as he shouted loudly.
His grandfather quickly grabbed him, “Xiao Tai...”
Shu Tai put down his arm and looked at his grandfather seriously, “Grandpa, even if it’s fake, can it be worse than the Blackwater Tribe? And with the abilities of these people, if they really wanted to harm us, they wouldn’t need to say so much; they could just do it.”
He’s right!
The slaves around them responded one after another upon hearing his words.
Now that the Blackwater Tribe was finished, where else could they go? They might as well take a look. Maybe, just maybe, what this person said is true...
A small cluster of hope and anticipationignited in the hearts of the slaves, and they no longer hesitated.
“I’ll go!”
“I’ll go too!”
“Please take me along!”
—
Lu Yu smiled, “Then let’s set off!”