Alien Knights

In the camp of the Froststone Tribe, tobacco has always been a product for curing diseases and tribal sacrifices, and the shaman Minnie has always been in charge of it.

Minnie was a little surprised to hear that Todd wanted to get all the stored tobacco leaves.

In her opinion, apart from medicine and incense, this pungent, fishy dry grass leaves are only used by a few people as refreshing snacks, so they are rarely used. But the other party agreed to Todd's request and promised to donate all the tobacco to him.

Todd followed Minnie to the forest outside the camp. Surrounded by flowers and shrubs, he saw a tangled tree root.

Minnie tapped on the root of the tree with her cane, and the seemingly solid and unshakable plant suddenly slowly sank down, revealing a small hole that only one person could pass through.

With a look of surprise on his face, Todd bent down and got into the cave, only to find that the cave is connected to a naturally formed underground cave, which is quite different.

Minnie walked forward for more than twenty meters, and the wind in the cave was getting stronger and stronger. Finally, she took Todd to a wide stone platform.

There are many shelves made of wooden branches on the stone platform, which are full of air-dried tobacco.

Todd looked at the shelf and didn't come back to his senses for a while: "So many?!"

The old shaman Minnie smiled mysteriously, and pointed to the gap under the stone platform.

Todd squatted down, looked intently, and couldn't help but gasped.

Under the stone platform, there are more than 20 well-sealed earthen jars.

"Could it be that there are all...?"

Minnie nodded: "Although many people don't like these bitter leaves, they are miraculously effective in relieving pain and refreshing people after they are dried. During the years I was in Froststone, I didn't have any hobbies. The only thing I like to do is to collect bitter leaves from different years."

Todd rubbed his hands excitedly, and said happily, "You've done me a big favor! I thought that there was very little stock of this kind of leaf in the tribe, and it would take another year to plant it before mass production can be achieved... It seems that the snuff production line can start construction directly!"

"Snuff?" Minnie sounded very interested in this new thing: "It sounds like something you suck through your nose."

"That's right, if you process these tobacco leaves into powder and add some attachments, you can smoke them directly with your nose." Speaking of this, Todd turned his attention to the old shaman: "Minnie, I plan to let you be in charge of snuff manufacturing, how about it?"

"Me?" The old woman sounded quite surprised: "I am the shaman of the tribe, so let the young people do this kind of thing."

Todd shook his head and said: "Because you are a tribal shaman, no one is more suitable for this position than you in the research of plants and herbs. Don't worry, although I can't remember the recipe for making snuff, I still know some basic production processes. This will help you complete the trial of snuff as soon as possible."

Minnie still looked hesitant.

"After the snuff is finished, I allow you to take the share for your own use first!"

After hearing Todd's words, Minnie smiled for the first time on her wrinkled face.

Having decided on the candidate for the supervisor of snuff production, Todd returned to the camp in a particularly comfortable mood, planning to take some time to look at the camp's defense facilities.

Before he could take a few steps, a quarrel caught his attention.

Two people who looked like tribal leaders, with warriors from their respective tribes, stood on both sides clearly and faced each other.

"You greedy bastards! As I said, the grassland to the east of Broken Log Stone is where our tribe grazes!" A tall and thin tribal leader shouted at another short, fat leader.

The other person was not to be outdone: "Despicable and shameless guy! What you say stinks like your fart! Why do you say that you are only allowed to graze on that grassland?!"

"In my tribe, there are five warriors who participated in the defense battle of Froststone. Two of them lost their lives because of this battle! In terms of credit, we should naturally have the right to graze that piece of land!" The tall and thin leader said proudly, patting his chest.

Another person immediately expressed his objection: "Our tribe followed Fried, braved the biting cold wind, crossed mountains and ridges, and transported countless weapons and armor from the far south. Our tribe lost four sleds and seven people died! How dare you compete with me here?!"

From the quarrel between the two tribes, it quickly rose to pushing and shoving, and finally turned into a fight.

Fortunately, Kasper arrived in time with the soldiers maintaining order, separated the two tribes, and prevented a possible internal strife.

Todd, who saw from the beginning to the end, was full of doubts, and found Ackerman who was busy distributing supplies in the camp, and asked him about the situation of the tribal conflict.

When it comes to this, Ackerman has a lot of bitter water to pour out.

"Boss! You don't know how difficult this group of tribal leaders is!" Ackerman pointed to the piles of supplies and sighed: "During the war, this group of people can still be united in the face of the enemy, but when the enemy retreats, they start to seek benefits for their respective tribes."

Ackerman pointed his fingers and counted in detail: "Equipment, water sources, grass, and even the order of seating can all be reasons for fighting between tribes."

After listening to Ackerman's grievances, a worried Todd returned to the small building.

Rachel, who was instructing the barbarians to repair the hole in the wall, saw Todd's expression when he returned, so he confessed a few words to Deirdre, walked up to the second floor, and waited quietly at the stairs.

A moment later, Todd walked up the stairs, saw Rachel who was in full swing, and said with a wry smile, "You should have guessed what I want to say..."

"Now you should know that I'm not lying, right?" Rachel gently brushed her hair and said expressionlessly: "The situation of the Froststone tribe is far more complicated than that of Muxi City."

Rachel walked into the bedroom on the second floor, poured a cup of snake fruit tea for herself and Todd, and pointed out the crux of the matter: "The biggest problem in the Froststone camp right now is that these tribes don't have the concept of a country at all."

"In the eyes of the leaders of those tribes, the relationship between them is cooperation and alliance. Even with you as the nominal leader, they will still put the interests of the tribe first." Rachel took a sip of snake fruit tea lightly: "When foreign enemies invade, they may still fight side by side, but once the pressure from the outside disappears, endless quarrels will follow in order to compete for the spoils of war."

Todd sat opposite Rachel: "This may also be the reason why the southern barbarians have not had a country for thousands of years."

Rachel put down the teacup, nodded and added: "The southern barbarians follow the scriptures of the gods, and there are very few iron and blood methods between tribes. This is also the reason why it is difficult for a barbarian to have a country founder."

Todd then asked: "According to what you mean, if you want to integrate these tribes into a country, you must use iron and blood pressure?"

Rachel gently drew a circle on the cup with his finger: "The founding king of Ulster used the hatred among several tribes to instigate them to kill each other, and through a false peace negotiation, all the leaders who came to the meeting were slaughtered, and finally the tribal system was completely destroyed, and the establishment of the country was completed."

Todd shook his head slightly and said: "I have read the history you mentioned, but the premise is that the Ulster tribe was already the most powerful force in the northern border at that time. The monarch can completely ignore the external enemies and achieve the goal of strangling the tribal leader through internal friction. But don't forget, it is different here in the Froststone Camp. We still have two powerful enemies, Ulster and Connaught. If internal friction at this time, although the tribe may eventually be wiped out and the kingdom established, it will also give our enemies a chance to take advantage of it."

Rachel pretended to be listening attentively: "If the iron-blood method doesn't work, how can we integrate so many tribes into one country?"

Todd raised his head, looked at the ceiling, and said slowly, "Let me think, let me think."

Rachel picked up the teacup again, looked at the scenery outside the window, and said "inadvertently", "I heard that those barbarians called you a 'half god'..."

Todd explained: "That's right, this title comes from the legends of the North. It is said that those humans who can transform into giant war beasts are the children of gods and mortals... Wait a minute, demigods...?"

Rachel glanced at Todd, but said nothing.

Todd stood up, walked around the room twice, and finally said to Rachel hesitantly: "I thought of a way, but it's a bit..."

The latter laughed: "When you first established the Muxi Knights, you were revered as the "Holy Son" by believers. It stands to reason that you should be very experienced in the path of the Holy Spirit. Why are you hesitating at this time?"

Todd was a little embarrassed: "It seems that you have thought of it a long time ago."

"Not only did I think of using the method of "God's descent" to integrate all the tribes and establish a barbarian kingdom." Rachel straightened her body, with a slight smile on her mouth: "I also found an assistant early on to help you build the stage of belief in the descending of the gods."

"who?"

"Deirdre."