Chapter 668 - A record of eliminating bandits (2/2)

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?”