“That’s right.” General Yang was a bit embarrassed when he thought about this. “In the past, the investigation stated that these tribes are all under one person. It’s like our current kingdom, but they didn’t have cities and instead it’s called settlement.”

Minister Yang nodded and added, “However, we have started to consider the possibility that these tribes comes from different places and are not actually under one rule. While this chance might be small, but it’s not without possibility. After all, we don’t know the specific situation of the north.”

Intelligence is key.

But their previous situation didn’t allow them to investigate deeply about the situation at the northern tribe.

This made General Yang ashamed while Minister Yang had only come here because of Fei Yang Kingdom’s attack and busy dealing with the matter of this army turning into Fei Yang Kingdom.

It was not completely stable yet.

Somehow, they forgot to replenish the intelligence about the northern tribe…

Well, it was more like they kept the previous assumption and no one went to collect the intelligence.

“Right.” Song Yun Xiang nodded and then asked, “Are you saying that the previous intelligence might not be correct?”

“Yes.” Minister Yang nodded. “When you come here in the past, we didn’t try to investigate further because of the repairs and many other things we have to do. Now that we can focus on the northern tribe, I sent some people to scout forward.”

After the attack from the northern tribe, many cities were basically looted and half destroyed. Many people died, the food were gone, and there was nothing that they could do.

The situation was really miserable and many people couldn’t withstand it.

Because of this, some people directly become bandits and robbed others. They wanted to survive and in the situation where there were only a few people who have food… the cruel competition for food and resources basically started.

Many times, there were various conflicts in the city over they years.

The soldiers could only come forward to help them.

General Yang had watched that kind of battles several times over the years and always felt that the situation was not good. It took them months to repair the cities and also eliminated the few people who became bandits.

But in the next year, there would be more people who become bandits.

Why?

Because they can’t eat enough.

In such extreme environment, there were many people who simply could not survive. And the resources that could ensure their survival were taken away from them, so they could only resort to such means.

Some people would rather die.

But some others would fight, even if it meant crossing their own bottom line.

There were many things that happened in the situation where food was not enough and there was barely any rule that constrained them.

“I see,” Song Yun Xiang nodded. He thought that the information they gave to him was something they found out through constant watching but as it turned out, their knowledge was limited. “Have you never thought about building outpost to watch over the northern tribe?”

“There are already outpost, but in winter… it’s too cold.” General Yang shook his head.

The cold temperature was not very suitable for them. The further they head to the north, the colder it would be.

Some people could withstand it but some others couldn’t.

Most of the soldiers would have their fighting capabilities reduced significantly under this situation, so they didn’t have that much hope. There would be scouts from time to time, but the number was limited.

These scouts were only responsible for telling them when there was an army from the northern tribe that came over.

As for other things?

None.

“I know their fighting habits and skills, but I think that this is not the most important thing right now.” Song Yun Xiang looked at Minister Yang. “Have the scouts returned?”

“Yes.” Minister Yang nodded. “They returned some time ago but only half of them returned.”

Half?

Song Yun Xiang narrowed his eyes. “Did they get attacked?”

“No.” Minister Yang shook his head.

“Then…”

“To be exact, I don’t know where the other half of the scouts are and how they were doing,” Minister Yang said slowly. “The half that returned only headed a few miles forward and returned after not finding anything. The other half continued further but none of them returned.”

None returned.

When Song Yun Xiang heard this, his expression turned solemn. Because he knew that this meant whoever was out there should have set up some things. Whatever it is, it should have helped to eliminate these scouts.

The scouts were also not going on their own but on small groups.

What did the northern tribe prepared?

As his brain turned, Song Yun Xiang caught the other key words.

“Wait, you said that they didn’t find anything. Does it mean that you can’t find their camp?” Song Yun Xiang asked.

The northern tribe did live as nomads, but when it was winter, they would set up their camp nearer the border with their kingdom. This was because the cold temperature at the north would be harsher and the resources were even less.

If they wanted to attack, they would choose areas nearby.

In this way, they could easily transport the resources they snatched.

Of course, even if it was called nearby, it was still a distance that needed to be covered through a few incense stick of time with cavalry.

Speaking about cavalry, most of the northern tribe soldiers were cavalries. They also had a lot of good horses that could make Fei Yang Kingdom ashamed.

The main reason Fei Yang Kingdom was called as barbarians was because they copied the cavalry from the northern tribe. But if they had to compare the horses’ quality, then Fei Yang Kingdom would have to raise a white flag.

It was simply impossible to compare.

Moreover, those horses in the northern tribe was more cold resistant and so on.