Chapter 63: Li Hongshen, a Man of Ideas

Chapter 63: Li Hongshen, the Man with Ideas

“If you want breadfruit trees, sure, I’ll give you some. My sister helped me get them—she’s a grade above me. Back then, Donglin was her territory. She traded for these from the outskirts, hurried back here, and buried them underground. When I arrived, it was easy for me to dig them up.”

“Easy, huh? And she made such a special effort... I wish I had a sister like that,” someone sighed, the words making Li Hongshen restless, unable to keep from voicing his thoughts. He admitted he was feeling envious; this was a classic case of benefiting from the work of those who came before, and it happened right before his eyes. He truly coveted it.

The seeds of the breadfruit tree were unlike those of other fruit trees, which usually housed their seeds inside their fruit. Breadfruit produced one special fruit each time it bore, and if left unpicked, the fruit would fall to the ground, burst open, and launch its seed far away, so as not to compete with the parent tree for resources.

Li Hongshen looked at the three unique fruits in his hands and carefully placed them in a wooden box, padded with straw and burlap to prevent them from bursting during transport.

Li Bingbing didn’t ask Li Hongshen for payment, insisting that the breadfruit was a gift. Li Hongshen, however, had intended to trade something in return, knowing that favors are not easily repaid.

Yet Li Bingbing said she didn’t lack other resources—breadfruit trees were only special during the early stages of entering the wilderness. Once deep in the Hundred Thousand Mile Mountains, they’d be easy to obtain and not especially valuable.

Still, Li Hongshen acknowledged the favor. Having breadfruit trees would make his hunting party safer and more convenient, no longer needing to risk their lives cooking meals in the wild.

Taking gifts and enjoying hospitality left him feeling obliged; now it was time to work, and he had to do it well, do it beautifully.

A few storm eagles took flight in succession, heading straight for the camp of the wild tribe. This time, Zhao Yun was the aerial scout. Although he lacked Li Li’s experience, he’d done it two or three times before and was now a seasoned aerial reconnaissance hand.

This time, Li Hongshen chose not to employ elaborate strategies or segmentation tactics as he had previously—after all, they were stationed in another lord’s lands.

Lingering too long was inappropriate, and logistics and coordination were far less straightforward than in his own territory.

So, once he confirmed the situation, he decided to charge straight in, making no attempt to hide, leading his warriors and some support from Li Bingbing directly toward the wild tribe.

Under his command, the storm eagles began a series of dive attacks, drawing the defenders’ attention, sowing chaos and pressure among them.

Unexpectedly, everything went smoothly. There were no hunting parties out, no sentries on duty. When Li Hongshen led his people into the camp, the tribe members were all standing with bone spears, watching the storm eagles warily.

“Who are you?” someone finally spotted Li Hongshen’s group and shouted, drawing everyone’s attention and demanding an answer.

But this surprised Li Hongshen greatly, for he heard them speaking the universal language, the lingua franca of the main world, usually only spoken by tribes with lords. Indigenous tribes shouldn’t know it.

This made Li Hongshen cautious, fearing something unforeseen.

“What tribe are you? Who is your lord?” he asked.

His question stirred a commotion among them.

“Could it be an evil lord?”

“Damn, they’ve found us at last. According to our ancestors’ records, we’ll suffer terribly. What should we do?”

“Attack! Don’t let any of them escape. After we deal with them, we’ll destroy the tribe to the west too. As long as we kill them, no one will know we’re here.”

Listening to their loud discussions, Li Hongshen felt ignored. If he could, he’d have drawn black lines above his head to show his mood.

But their lack of vigilance helped him piece together their origins. Relieved, he turned to Zhao Yun.

“Go, take them down. Don’t hurt them too badly—these will be our people in the future.”

Li Hongshen crouched beside a warrior half-sitting on the ground, upper body slumped against a stone block. His backside had dented the earth, and his head had cracked the stone.

Li Hongshen stepped forward, poured out some clean water in front of the battered warrior, and gently patted his bruised, swollen head.

“Hey, wake up. Are you alright?”

“Zhao Yun, and the rest of you, look at yourselves. I told you not to use excessive force. Now look—a field of bodies! You look so ruthless, you know? The world is so beautiful, yet you’re so violent. That’s not good, not good at all.”

“Sophia, I’m terribly sorry—my men are too rough. I hope they didn’t frighten you. I’ll have them tidy up. I won’t touch anything inside; you can handle the collecting yourselves.”

With that, Li Hongshen had his warriors bind the fallen resisters and toss them onto an ox cart, while the rest of the tribe was rounded up and driven out.

He led his party out of Donglin, not stopping by the empty tribe or seeking out Li Bingbing.

Only now did he realize why Li Bingbing had so readily given him breadfruit. He’d been subtly played, and it left him rather annoyed. No matter how careful he was, he’d still fallen for it.

Zhang Wuji’s mother was right: the prettier the woman, the less you can trust her. Something was clearly off with this wild tribe—everyone spoke the universal language. Their ancestors either defeated a lord or came from another lord’s domain.

This made Li Hongshen suspicious. Optimistically, maybe the tribe was simply prosperous in the past, like the Mammoth Witch tribe. Perhaps their ancestors had miraculously fought their way out of the Hundred Thousand Mile Mountains, settled here, and eventually clashed with Li Bingbing, prompting Li Hongshen to resolve the conflict.

Slightly worse, he might have encountered escaped subjects, rebels who had overthrown their lord, and continued resisting, eventually driven to this place. Then Li Bingbing, seeing Li Hongshen’s talent, decided to hand these troublemakers over to him.

Worst of all, he could be caught up in a high-born feud, the so-called rivalry between sisters. This wild tribe might have been deliberately sent by Li Bingbing’s elder sister to hinder her development. The breadfruit was meant to feed them, given the centuries-long gap in their ages and the wilderness’s development.

Though the worst-case scenario seemed far-fetched, Li Hongshen couldn’t help but dwell on it. In novels, things always go this way.

Dear readers, don’t be stingy with your votes—they’re a great encouragement for a new author.

(End of chapter)