Chapter 298 – If We Won’t Succeed, Then We’ll Die With Honor
After the group went out of the tent, Buffon immediately spoke and laughed, “Wales, you ungrateful brat, you had such good liquor but you only took it out and gifted it to father. Although father likes to drink, he just doesn’t drink any ordinary wine. For him to say that the wine is good, it certainly wouldn’t be bad. Did little Hai really make it?”
Wales smiled and replied, “Of course he did, what do you think. Hehe, I remember someone saying that me giving uncle milk wine is a joke? How about not drinking for now?”
Buffon immediately played the fool, “Someone did? Who said it?” With his appearance, in addition to his huge dog head, n.o.body could really tell if he was joking or not.
Wales and the group laughed, then they immediately arranged for some wine to be delivered to Buzeer. They sent a large bag, about 50 jin of wine, after which they headed towards the area next to Buzeer’s. There were already several fires built, along with argali being roasted.
Zhao Hai can tell that Wales was very popular with the Mastiffs as they would greet him with smiles on their faces. Wales would also greet those people and would crack jokes from time to time.
And these Mastiffs, when regards to their fifth prince Buffon, didn’t have any att.i.tude of reverence, as they would often tease Buffon. Zhao Hai could see that the Mastiffs liked Buffon, you can say that Buffon is very popular with his clansmen.
Several people arrived at the campfire, immediately a few drunkards encircled the fire. Obviously, they were freeloading, but Buffon didn’t catch them, he ridiculed a few of them, making some go home and get a few snacks.
The drunkards didn’t say anything, they ran back home and soon they came back with some beastmen specialties such as milk skin, cheese and so on.
Wales, however, had a large amount of vegetables brought out by Zhao Hai. This made the beastmen wide-eyed, one must know that vegetables were very rare in the prairie.
It was at this time that the argali had finished roasting, the milk wine that Zhao Hai brought started to be poured. The result didn’t even needed to wait for the mutton to be eaten up, the vegetables that Zhao Hai brought were obliterated, there were many drunks sprawled under the table, they have drank the wine too quickly, they have became drunk.
But what surprised Zhao Hai the most was Buffon, this guy was like a bottomless barrel. During his first drink, his face still had a hint of red, even his tongue had stretched out, but after a few cups he acutally recovered. Cup after cup of liquor went to his stomach, Zhao Hai went speechless.
Moreover, this guy didn’t even eat mutton, he seemed to become a herbivore, he plugged his mouth with vegetables enough for Wales to reprimand him. But he didn’t listen, he just went on his own way.
Zhao Hai was somewhat envious of Buffon. By this time, Zhao Hai already had a general view of the Mastiffs. They were the most simple type of beastman, they like the strong, they display their happiness and anger outwardly, they stick to their own way of doing things, never caring for other’s criticism. Such race is worth a merit.
The feast made Zhao Hai very happy because the Mastiffs were very accommodating. When Zhao Hai finished eating, they went to the tent prepared for them. The tent had a fire pit inside, they can come in and rest anytime.
With this heartfelt arrangement of the Mastiffs, Zhao Hai and Laura were very thankful, but they still went to the s.p.a.ce to rest. This time, in order to help Wales, Zhao Hai’s supplies had been reduced significantly. There weren’t many argali left in his s.p.a.ce, moreover, he also brought out a lot of grain, vegetables and fruit oil. Fortunately these products were produced by the s.p.a.ce, otherwise he’d be helpless.
Now that things have gotten to this point, Zhao Hai couldn’t retreat. His investment was not small, if Wales were to fail, his losses would be ma.s.sive.
However, Zhao Hai didn’t think about these anymore, all he wanted right now was to help Wales get his revenge. Zhao Hai didn’t know that the Beheading Blood Oath had slowly influenced him, but this effect isn’t any disadvantageous to Zhao Hai.
The next morning, after breakfast, Wales went to see Buzeer, Zhao Hai didn’t go with him. He knew that the reason Wales wanted to meet the chieftain this time was to discuss the matter of his counterattack.
This time’s meeting of Wales and Buzeer can be said to have a huge impact for the future of the Herculean Bulls. If the Mastiffs were to help, Wales would have a seventy percent chance of success, otherwise he’d only have fifty percent.
Of course, Wales wouldn’t ask for troops from Buzeer, instead, he wanted to request the deployment of the Mastiff’s 9th rank expert as help. This was what Wales and Buzeer had agreed on before, Wales was asking whether Buzeer could comply.
Whether it were humans or beastmen, the deployment of 9th rank experts were not a small matter. So even if Wales had a good relations.h.i.+p with Buzeer, the latter wouldn’t dare say that he had full a.s.surance.
Zhao Hai and Yale sat quietly inside Wales’ tent, they were waiting for the final news. As long as the Mastiffs agreed, the only thing left is to plan for the attack.
Shortly before noon, Wales finally came back, as soon as his face entered the tent and saw Zhao Hai, he laughed, “They agreed, Uncle Buzeer agreed, their 9th rank elder also agreed. Little Hai, thank you, if you hadn’t brought in the information, I’m afraid their elder wouldn’t agree.
Zhao Hai and Yale cheered, they jumped, they knew that the only thing left is to grasp victory.
Seeing the group being happy, Buffon said, “This is a happy occasion, right? We should drink a few cups!”
The group turned around, they didn’t know when Buffon arrived in front of their tent. He grinned at them, Wales rushed out and grabbed Buffon, he laughed and said, “Drinking two cups isn’t enough, me must drink two pots!”
Buffon laughed as well, he did not fare well the previous evening, he had to be lifted to his tent. But he was really happy, because the wine was too tasty.
After a moment, Wales finally calmed down. He looked at Buffon, “Thank you, Buffon. I know you’ve done a lot of work this time, thank you.”
Buffon chuckled, “This is actually also in consideration for our Mastiff tribe, just think what would happen if you Herculean Bulls were to be replaced by the Fighting Bulls as the royal clan of the Cow-headed race. The Fighting Bulls had no connections nor relations to us. It would not be good for us to make them the royal clan of the Cow-headed race, thus we’ll certainly support you.”
Wales smiled faintly, of course he knew that Buffon was only saying this to comfort him. Regardless of who the royal clan of the Cow-headed race were, it wouldn’t actually matter to the Mastiffs. If you were to compare the overall strengths of the two races, the Mastiffs were many folds stronger than the Cows.
After taking care of this matter, Wales did not spend too long at the camp. The next day, they immediately set out early to return, this time they hurriedly traveled and at that night they arrived at the Herculean Bull camp.
Upon arriving, Wales immediately busied himself on planning for the counterattack. They also had more argali killed and made into rations.
Although Zhao Hai can follow them and provide grain at any time, it was impossible for beastmen to be unable to eat meat, especially during war, so they still prepared rations.
But this time, the way they prepared rations were not the same as before. Before when they prepared their rations, they would have the mutton air-dried, then it would be boiled during consumption. This time they didn’t air-dry their meat as they just did not have the time to do so. After they had the argali killed, they immediately boiled their meat, then gave them to Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai was a huge mobile warehouse, if they didn’t make use of him, then they’d be fools.
At the same time, Zhao Hai gave Ares[1] orders to make more milk wine. He is even prepared to use his fruit wine supply if Wales were to lack milk wine, it isn’t good to run out of wine.
For the beastmen, not being able to drink during winter is the same as taking their lives. And another reason Wales did such a large scale slaughter of argali to turn in rations is also to use their skin as supplies for warmth. The winter in Beastman Prairie is too cold, and this time, they didn’t have any other materials, Zhao Hai also had ran out of materials. So the only solution is to kill the argali and use their sheepskin to keep warm.
Zhao Hai did not oppose their decision. The beastmen had their own way of living. He cannot intrude upon their ways. Zhao Hai can only help Wales with the means he already had.
Zhao Hai actually thought of having Wales enter his s.p.a.ce then transport them to an area not far from the Fighting Bulls and release them there. The Fighting Bulls certainly wouldn’t expect such sudden attack.
However, he gave up on this idea, he knew it wouldn’t work because his secret would be completely exposed. He’ll certainly be the target of all major forces on the continent, then he couldn’t show his face on the continent for the rest of his life.
Green didn’t oppose Zhao Hai’s decision to help Wales. This is because they thought that the prairie could become another escape route for them.
Currently in the Aksu Empire, they didn’t dare show themselves too much. And if one day other people would discover the situation of the Black Wastelands, they must find another place to settle down.[2]
Although there was the Carrion Swamp’s Flower City, it was a dead end. If they go there, they would have to live there for the entirety of their lives. And if Zhao Hai were to die, they certainly wouldn’t have any way of getting out. They could only wait for their deaths there, so that place was not the best place of retreat.
But in the Beastman Prairie is different, the relations.h.i.+p between humans and beastmen were generally not good. Even if Zhao Hai made a huge sin in human territory, the beastmen here can still accept him.
However, the beastmen were also not so dull. You must be accepted by the beastmen first to be able to settle here. Now that Zhao Hai is helping Wales, his integration to the prairie had already started. As long as he becomes an inseparable brother to Wales, the other beastmen would definitely accept him, thus providing Zhao Hai another burrow to escape to.
For one thing, in business terms, Zhao Hai was currently investing. If he were to succeed, he’s have returns of a hundredfold or even a thousandfold. If he were to fail, he’d only lose some resources that the s.p.a.ce can just replace given some time. Looking at this, why wouldn’t he support Wales?
After obtaining Green’s approval, Zhao Hai can go all out in helping, other than making Wales aware of his s.p.a.ce. As long as he has the ability to help Wales, Zhao Hai wouldn’t be stingy.
During this time, the Herculean Bulls’ camp was very busy. This time they are putting all of their manpower into preparing for their all out counterattack. If they were to fail this time, then the Herculean Bulls would vanish from the Beastman Prairie.
Zhao Hai looked at the people busying themselves in the camp. He can feel the resolve and vigor in the bodies of these people, even if they fail, then they’d have died for an honorable cause. Many times have Zhao Hai heard these words, but only few can only achieve it. But this time, Zhao Hai is convinced that the Herculean Bulls would achieve it. They have no other escape routes to come back to, they already killed all of their argali, effectively cutting off all paths to retreat.
Argali for the beastmen is equivalent to land for humans or a shop for merchants. But this time, the Herculean Bulls had killed all argali, just like a farmer selling off his own land. If they do not succeed, they’d have no possessions left in this world, they could only become slaves, or even just die.
Zhao Hai knew that such group is to be feared. In China there was a saying, ‘An army burning with righteous indignation is bound to win"[3]. Now, these warriors of the Herculean Bulls have become underdogs, they have lost their homeland which they have settled in for generations, they have lost their family members, lost their own pride, they had almost lost all hope. Now they place all of their strengths towards a single matter, which was revenge! Claim back all that belonged to them, or otherwise die!
Laura had also noted the actions of the Herculean Bulls. She did not say anything, she only followed Meg and helped whenever she could. In any case, they had already thrown in their lot with Wales, if they cannot help Wales win this war, then they could just get out of the prairie.
Half a month after Wales returned from the Mastiff camp, the prairie’s winter came. Overnight, the prairie plunged into winter with its piercing cold wind, the gra.s.s turned yellow in one night. This is also the first time Zhao Hai encountered the fierce prairie winter.
Laura didn’t dare exit their tent, it was too cold. Laura felt that as soon as they go out, they would immediately freeze to death.
However, Wales’ reaction was just normal. They immediately donned their winter clothes, it seemed like the winter had no effect on them.
1. That pleb from the large horned bull clan.
2. I think this refers to the fact that they managed to make the wastelands fertile again bit by bit.
3. āi bīng bì shèng