We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Chapter 1076 Encountering Strangers

After their conversation, the group continued their journey deeper into the mountains.

As you go deeper, the surrounding scenery begins to change.

The once dense primeval forest, which blocked out the sky, began to thin out, replaced by more traces of being cut and scorched, as well as patches of messy secondary forest and shrubs.

The air, which was originally filled with the pure scent of the mountains and forests, has now begun to mix with the smells of human settlements—the smoke from burning firewood and the odor of livestock manure.

Li Che could occasionally see simple bamboo huts built with thick bamboo and thatch on the hillsides hidden by trees.

It's crooked and looks like it was built with no special techniques, as if a strong wind could blow it over.

Some bamboo houses were roughly surrounded by thorns, which served as a boundary marker.

Most of these buildings were empty, but in a few places, one could vaguely see dark faces flashing by behind bamboo curtains.

Without Wei Xiang needing to remind him, Li Che understood that they had officially entered the area where the Liao people were active.

The atmosphere in the ranks became noticeably tense. The soldiers, who had been simply holding their swords and spears, began to gradually form ranks.

Some soldiers untied the long objects from their backs, quickly tore open the oiled paper wrappings, revealing the well-maintained flintlock rifles inside.

Then, he skillfully checked the bolt, compacted the gunpowder, and loaded the lead bullets.

Wei Xiang, who was standing to the side, was terrified. Although he had long heard of the Qing army's sharp firearms, he still felt uneasy seeing so many muskets being displayed at such close range.

He couldn't help but spur his horse closer to Li Che and lower his voice, saying, "Your Majesty, this place is densely forested with many dead branches and leaves. Although firearms are powerful, if they accidentally ignite the vegetation, they could cause a wildfire."

"If we were trapped in the mountains, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

Upon hearing this, Li Che turned his head and smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry, Minister Wei, we only brought muskets on this trip, not cannons, nor do we have any hand grenades that can explode violently."

"The sparks from a flintlock musket are limited and won't ignite a wildfire; I know that."

It's not like in the movies where a single shot can blow up a fuel tank.

In reality, bullets are difficult to ignite even with gasoline. Unless it's arson, gunfights are unlikely to cause wildfires.

Although Li Che spoke with certainty, how could Wei Xiang truly be at ease?

He had heard some Shu soldiers mention that when the Qing army and the Shu army joined forces to attack the Qiang and Man allied forces last year, they lured the enemy into a lush river valley.

Then they bombarded the valley with artillery all night long. It is said that the valley was burned white the next day, and all the enemy soldiers were reduced to ashes.

The scene was circulated in great detail and became the most vivid and fearful memory of the Qing army's firearms for officials in Sichuan.

Just as Wei Xiang was feeling extremely uneasy, the soldier leading the way suddenly gave a low shout:

"Something's happening! In the bushes on the left!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire team instantly went into battle mode.

After a soft rustling sound of armor plates, the soldiers immediately raised their muskets, swords and spears facing outwards, forming a tight defensive circle.

The three fierce generals beside Li Che, Qiu Bai, Ying Bu, and Hu Qiang, reacted almost simultaneously, reining in their horses and standing in front of and to the flanks of Li Che, drawing their weapons and looking towards the bushes on the left.

Even Li Che himself had already taken the hard bow off his back with one hand and reached for the quiver with the other, his movements so fast that only a blur remained.

Wei Xiang was so frightened that his heart almost stopped, and he gripped the reins tightly.

At that moment, he felt as if he were the only superfluous one.

He involuntarily raised his head and looked in the direction the crowd was wary of.

To the left front of the group, a dense thicket of bushes began to shake violently, its branches and leaves rustling.

Just when everyone thought some ferocious beast would rush out, several figures tumbled and crawled out from behind the bushes.

Those were a few 'people'... if they could still be called people.

They were all elderly men with hunched backs, extremely thin, and the clothes covering their bodies were barely visible as patchwork of tree bark and animal hides.

His skin was dark and rough, covered with wrinkles and dirt, almost the same color as the mountains and forests.

His hair and beard were tangled and matted, covered in grass clippings and mud, and he was clutching a few muddy wild fruits tightly in his hand.

Clearly, the elderly men were terrified by the sudden appearance of the army. They collapsed to the ground, making incomprehensible "hoarse" sounds and waving their arms wildly.

They speak very quickly, with strange and difficult syllables, accompanied by heavy guttural sounds and inhalations.

Even Wei Xiang, an official who prided himself on being fluent in the local dialect, was completely bewildered and could only barely make out a few fragmented words.

Looking at these inhuman and ghostly figures, Li Che realized they were exactly like the savages he remembered.

He frowned and asked, "Minister Wei, what did they say?"

Wei Xiang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He wiped the cold sweat from his brow, carefully discerning the other person's jumbled syllables, and shook his head helplessly: "Your Majesty, they are not speaking the language of any Liao tribe I know. They are either from a very remote, isolated small tribe, or..."

He paused, looking at the cloudy eyes of the old men: "Either they are no longer of sound mind and can only make instinctive noises."

Li Che remained noncommittal, glancing sideways at one of his personal guards.

The guards understood and cautiously led the two men forward. They first used their scabbards to gently push aside the old men's wildly waving arms, and then quickly searched their bodies.

Then he took out a few pieces of hard bread from his food bag and placed them on the ground in front of them.

The old men were taken aback at first, then pounced on the flatbread like hungry wolves, gripping it tightly in their hands and stuffing it into their mouths without even looking at it, choking until their eyes rolled back but refusing to let go.

Seeing this scene, Wei Xiang's face first showed a hint of instinctive disdain, and he whispered to Li Che, "Your Majesty, most of these people with such appearances are 'stupid officials'."

“In some tribes there is an old custom that useless people are not supported. Once a tribesman grows old and loses the ability to hunt, farm and weave, he is regarded as a burden and driven out of the tribe to fend for himself.”

"To abandon the elderly and fail to care for them is contrary to human ethics and is the behavior of beasts!"

Wei Xiang was also a Confucian scholar, and for Confucianists, this kind of 'filial impiety' was simply the greatest sin in the world.

However, looking at the few figures huddled on the ground, Wei Xiang felt a pang of pity.

He sighed and continued, "However... in truth, it's not necessarily all because they are inherently cruel."

“The mountains in southern Sichuan are barren. Salt wells, slightly better hunting grounds, and arable slopes are mostly occupied by a few larger, more established tribes. These smaller tribes already have a hard time surviving, and when food is scarce... it is a helpless situation.”

“If the old are not abandoned, the strong will also have difficulty surviving, and the entire tribe may become extinct.”

Li Che asked, "Do those 'familiar' tribes that have been assimilated for a long time have such despicable customs?"

Wei Xiang nodded, then shook his head, his expression complicated: "There is no such thing among the Shu Liao tribe. They mostly live near the salt wells. The work of boiling salt is extremely arduous. Many salt workers are often not even middle-aged when their muscles and bones are damaged, they suffer from tuberculosis, and many are blind and have rotten skin."

"In other words, they won't even live to old age, so what's the point of talking about abandoning them?"