CHAPTER 432: CHAPTER 310 DISASTER

"Of course." Bricks nodded affirmatively.

"I have another... another proposal." Temagis spoke again, but his voice was somewhat stuttering: "I just don’t know... don’t know if it’s appropriate to say it?"

Bricks was not unfamiliar with Temagis’ hesitant demeanor. Although Temagis had always been a decisive Great Chief in the past, this defeat seemed to have dealt him a significant blow. For the past two days in the camp, he had been visibly dispirited.

"If you have any proposal, just speak it out, and let’s discuss it together." Maitilis comforted calmly.

"Well... I think we could try to seek peace with the Nix people." Once he spoke, Temagis decided to let go: "When I was retreating on the battlefield, I saw from a distance many of our tribal warriors surrounded and then captured by the Nix people. I think your situation might be similar to mine. With only so few warriors returning from thousands, it’s unlikely all were killed by the Nix; most probably became prisoners...

Previously, when Segestica went to war with the Nix people, they suffered consecutive defeats. Andres was injured and died, the tribe was in chaos, and it wasn’t until Cabdes signed a truce with the Nix, ransoming back many Segestica prisoners, that the tribe slowly regained some strength...

Since we currently lack the capability to defeat the Nix people, why not follow Cabdes’ example, send an envoy to negotiate with the Nix, sign a truce, and find a way to ransom back our captured tribesmen, perhaps even pay a price to make the Nix withdraw from the Segestica territory."

Maitilis and Bricks were greatly moved by these words. In fact, during the tribal alliance meeting held earlier at the Maziyi Main Camp, Cabdes had mentioned the truce agreement between Segestica and the Nix. The tribal alliance had even delayed their offensive against the Nix because of it, but they hadn’t considered it for two reasons: firstly, they were focused on eliminating Nix, so they didn’t delve into the details behind this truce; secondly, their territory wasn’t under significant threat from Nix at the time.

However, Temagis, having stayed a few more days with the army in Segestica Territory, understood the situation there over the past year and had publicly expressed disdain for Cabdes’ cowardice. But now, with the tables turned, he was considering adopting Cabdes’ approach to save his heavily damaged tribe.

"The Nix people currently hold the upper hand, will they agree to a truce, release our warriors, and withdraw from Segestica territory?" Maitilis suppressed his excitement and cautiously reminded.

"The Nix won’t agree easily; we will certainly pay a considerable price... But as long as we can save so many captured warriors of ours, I think the tribesmen throughout the entire tribe will not only accept it but will also be willing to bear it..." Originally the initiator of the attack against the Nix—Bricks, after being reminded, thought for a while and had to say: "This way, not only can we reduce our losses in this war and let the tribe quickly recover its vitality, but we can also have more time to carefully prepare against the Nix."

"If that’s the case, I agree to negotiate a truce with the Nix." Maitilis went along with him: "However, we still need to wait for Demikas and Pagiras to return and obtain their consent before we can send an envoy in the name of the tribal alliance."

Just as Maitilis finished speaking, the tent was lifted, and the Guard Captain came in: "Great Chief, we’ve found Great Chief Demikas and Great Chief Pagiras!"

Bricks suddenly stood up, exclaiming with joy: "Where are they now?!"

No wonder Bricks was so agitated. As this year’s rotating Great Chief of the Panloni tribal alliance, he had proposed the war against the Nix, resulting in a disastrous defeat. He was certainly responsible, and if Demikas and Pagiras died in this war, he would be even more unable to account to the other tribes.

Standing outside the tent, Pulikas saw the tent suddenly open, and the three Great Chiefs Bricks, Maitilis, and Temagis hurried out of the camp.

Pulikas instructed Ankasus and the attendants to wait on the spot, following curiously.

On the west side of the camp is the Kupa River, with a simple river port on the east bank newly built by the Brochi people to transport food for the allied forces’ main body. Now several small boats were docked in the port, and some people were being helped out of the port by Brochi Warriors...

Each one of them had messy hair and beards, pale faces and sunken cheeks, emphasizing their high cheekbones, showing an expression of exhaustion and powerlessness, their eyes dull and lifeless, as if they had one foot in the grave...

It wasn’t until Bricks and the others approached and expressed their concerns and asked after the first two people that Pulikas realized these two were Great Chiefs Pagiras and Demikas. He had seen them before, but now they seemed like different people, completely unrecognizable.

Later, he learned from the Brochi Warriors that these two Great Chiefs ended up in this state because, after losing the battle to the Nix, although the army they led didn’t suffer huge losses, they fled in panic southeastward under the fierce pursuit of the Nix Soldiers and ended up in dense woodland hills.

It was already evening, and as night fell, the army had no tools to start fires, let alone carry food. The two Great Chiefs lost control of their troops and, rather than leading, they followed increasingly panicked warriors wandering aimlessly in the mountains. By dawn, they found themselves deep in the hills, disoriented, having lost many warriors.

The Pannonians were not skilled in mountain living, especially these major northern tribes bordering on the Boyi, coupled with their complete unfamiliarity with the terrain here, relying only on the sun to find direction. Afraid to move west and encounter the Nix Army, they could only march east.

Without food, they resorted to slaughtering horses and eating raw meat to stave off hunger; lacking bedding, they slept in their clothes, enduring mosquito and insect bites; the journey across mountains was unbearable. In the first couple of days, the group barely managed to cope, but once all the horses were slaughtered, and no food remained, they faced the greatest danger—starvation.

The soldiers had no choice but to hunt and forage for food, but with their massive numbers of several thousand, the forest animals had already hidden far away. Forced to expand their hunting range, many who left never returned. The two Great Chiefs had to order: No one is to leave the group; everyone must endure hunger and strive to get out of the mountains and find the Brochi people for salvation!

Thus, the Pannonian soldiers tightened their belts, stumbling forward. Extreme hunger drove them to eat anything they encountered in the following days—insects, fungi, worms... even roots, with many poisoned, suffering diarrhea, collapsing along the way.

Eventually, they reached the banks of the Kupa River and followed the river, finding the Brochi village. By then, their troop of over ten thousand had dwindled to just over 2,000 scattered and scraggly people. Some perished along the way, some got lost in the hills, and some were left behind due to illness... In the following days, the Brochi people retraced their steps to search and rescue the survivors.

In the same days, as Pagiras and Demikas gradually recovered, they began blaming Bricks, saying, "Not only did he flee first during the battle, causing a general defeat, but he also selfishly failed to extend timely aid to us stranded in the mountains. As the rotating Great Chief of the tribal alliance, his actions were not only incompetent but he must bear primary responsibility for the significant losses of other tribes."

Bricks repeatedly defended himself: The Nix focused their forces on attacking the left flank of the formation he was responsible for; his warriors suffered heavy casualties, the flank was outflanked, and he had to retreat. His retreat was swift (after retreating to the captured village, Bricks led the 2,000 stationed warriors back along the route they advanced, as those temporary camps still had leftover food, so his troops weren’t hungry, taking only three days to return to Brochi Territory), which was also to quickly return and gather resources to aid other troops, so he soon led a team back to support the troops led by Maitilis, who were still wandering on the way; only because Pagiras and Demikas led their troop to wander aimlessly in the hills did he fail to find them, but he never gave up searching...

The Great Chiefs argued incessantly, and the warriors were busy rescuing their lost compatriots in the western hills and mountains. Tattered, emaciated stragglers steadily made their way back to the camp... However, concerning the "rescue of Segestica," the tribal alliance meeting had yet to provide a clear conclusion. Pulikas was anxious but had no way out.

However, in the camp, he unexpectedly found over 2,000 Segestica people, including nearly 500 warriors. These were the residents of Segestica’s fourth village along the Kupa River, who, upon hearing the news of their army’s terrible defeat by the Kupa, feared the Nix would take advantage of the victory and attack, so they fled to Brochi Territory under the leadership of their leader Jitias and alongside Great Chief Temagis of Desitia.

They initially intended to temporarily avoid the situation and return home once the allied forces triumphed, but after encountering Bricks in the camp, who had already returned, they learned of the "disastrous defeat of the allied forces" and dared not return home, so they settled temporarily in the camp.