When Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin arrived at this small town in the northwest, they did not bother hiding the fact they had money. In fact, they even deliberately acted like they were extremely extravagant.
When they expressed they needed a place to spend the night, a family even vacated their own house for them to stay in. After that, the entire family moved into their relatives’ place, all because they could earn quite a bit of money from Ren Xiaosu.
When the neighbors saw that the two of them were very easygoing, they immediately brought over food for Ren Xiaosu and Yang Xiaojin. They even killed one of the chickens they reared and braised it before sending it over.
Ren Xiaosu did not reject anything at all. He accepted whatever was given to them at the door, paid for it, and carried the food into the house for Yang Xiaojin to eat.
As a matter of fact, the chicken stew made with local chickens was quite delicious.
After closing the door, Yang Xiaojin said while eating the chicken stew, “Are you trying to show them you’re rich? And then wait for them to make a move on you before killing all of the bandits here?”
Ren Xiaosu looked out through a gap in the door. Many of the refugees in town were quietly discussing them not far away from the house. Ren Xiaosu said, “You saw it too. There’s so many of them here. If we went on a killing spree at the entrance, wouldn’t most of them start fleeing? We’re not gonna run all over the mountains just to catch them, right? There’s only two of us, so it’d be great if we could catch just a fifth of them.”
Yang Xiaojin asked with a half-smile, “Didn’t we agree to say we’re siblings? Why did you suddenly change your mind?”
“I was just thinking that we don’t look like siblings at all. What if we end up getting exposed by claiming that we’re siblings?” Ren Xiaosu muttered.
Yang Xiaojin raised an eyebrow. So it seemed like he was implying that they looked more like a married couple? “By the way, I haven’t agreed to anything.”
Ren Xiaosu looked at her. “I went to Qinghe University and stood up for you. You said the guy you like doesn’t lead a pampered life, so I killed all those thugs before announcing to the students that I’m the guy you like.”
“Wait.” This was the first time Yang Xiaojin was hearing about this. She was stunned for some time before saying, “I only said that by the by. Obviously, you were the one who liked me first.”
Ren Xiaosu smiled good-naturedly and said, “It’s all the same.”
Yang Xiaojin realized Ren Xiaosu was often quite shameless, but that was only in speech. His actions were as cowardly as ever.
“They don’t really know what the situation is with us at the moment, so it’s unlikely they’ll make a move for the time being.” Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “But I keep getting the feeling that this town is a little strange. They don’t look like bandits at all.”
But then, another group of people came back from outside the town. All of the townspeople rushed over. “Lei-zi, I heard that you gathered some people and headed to the North to do business with the nomads. How was it? Did you make a profit?”
Su Lei smiled and patted the fur hides he was carrying on his shoulder. “Look here, whaddaya see?”
When some of the refugees saw the glossy fur hides, their eyes turned green with envy. Some of them wanted to feel it, but Su Lei and the others moved out of their way.
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Su Lei joked, “These are the goods that our investor, a lord from the grasslands, have given us on credit. You can’t afford to pay if you damage it.”
Although Ren Xiaosu had his door closed, he could hear everything going on outside. “The grasslands? Xiaojin, do you know anything about the grasslands? I’ve never been there before.”
“It’s quite chaotic in the grasslands. The nomadic tribes are always fighting and killing among themselves. Sometimes, they head south to the vicinity of Stronghold 176 to plunder the factories or the refugees, but they rarely head any farther south than that,” Yang Xiaojin replied after thinking for a bit. “However, the tribes in the grasslands have not been to the Central Plains in several years, so almost everyone has forgotten about them. And there aren’t any strong military forces in the grasslands. I think they’re still stuck in the era of melee weapons. The firearms they have are only in the hands of a few people, so there’s nothing to fear.”
“Then why didn’t the Central Plains take them out?” Ren Xiaosu wondered. From Yang Xiaojin’s description, it seemed like the combat strength of the steppe nomads was very weak.
“It’s not easy to fight them.” Yang Xiaojin shook her head. “Disregarding the issue of acclimatization and not knowing the terrain well enough, the main issue is that the cows, goats, and horses over there have evolved to become very powerful. If they come to the Central Plains, we might still be able to fight them. But if the Central Plains people go north, the consortiums can’t catch them if they decide to hide. Unless some consortium is willing to go all the way against them, it’s difficult to achieve victory.”
Ren Xiaosu understood now. On one hand, it was because the nomadic tribes were very mobile. The armored brigade of the Central Plains could only travel at an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour at most, but the nomadic tribes could easily beat them anytime. So it would still be very easy to escape if they wanted to.
On the other hand, the grasslands did not have many resources, with the greatest resource being their livestock and meat. Since there was no threat from the grasslands, there was no need for anyone to mobilize so many people to target the Northern Plains. It would not be good if the other organizations were to take advantage of the situation and invade whoever started a campaign against the nomadic tribes.
“However,” Yang Xiaojin changed the subject and said, “the Central Plains has always imposed sanctions on the Northern Plains and prohibited anyone from selling arms to them in case any new problems arise.”
Ren Xiaosu wondered, “I can understand that, but they don’t have tanks or armored vehicles anyway, so even if they can get their hands on some guns, they can’t cause much trouble, right? Don’t people say the era of firearms and explosives signaled the end of cavalry?”
“No, a lot of people misunderstand that.” Yang Xiaojin explained, “Actually, in the history of mankind, a small part of the top ten most powerful empires were all cavalry empires that existed during the era of firearms. They dragged along artillery with them to attack cities and conquer lands, and their enemies could not do anything about it. Later, cavalry was only eliminated because the mobility of horses had become inferior to modern technology. But if the horses had also evolved, no one would know the outcome of a battle before it was fought.”
Just as Yang Xiaojin had said, if the nomads had access to firearms and explosives now, it would still be uncertain if anyone could defeat them. Therefore, there was no point in continuing to discuss this.
Then they heard someone outside say, “Lei-zi, it looks like the goods that y’all bought with your hard-earned money have all been sold?”
Su Lei laughed and said, “But of course. The lord from the grasslands was very generous too.”
“Since that’s the case, why don’t you bring everyone along to earn money together?” A shrill voice shouted, “It’s not easy being a bandit anymore, so we might as well follow you to do business.”
However, Su Lei laughed and said, “Li Mazi, what did you tell me when I asked you to join us? Didn’t you say that doing business with the nomads was unreliable? You even said that they were poor and barbaric people. It’s a little too late to join us now, isn’t it?”
“Lei-zi, you can’t talk like that. We grew up together in the same town, so don’t you think you should lift us up as well?”
Su Lei replied calmly, “No.”
He had finally found an opportunity after putting in so much hard work, so Su Lei was not going to allow anyone in town to ruin his business.
Suddenly, that shrill voice asked, “Eh, where’s Wang Ergou? Didn’t he go with y’all? Why isn’t he back?”