Dang dang dang!
Three dull bell sounds pierced through the Gu Yuan Tribe's space. The originally quiet tribe became noisy after the bell sounds.
Today was the day the Gu Yuan Tribe would hold a tribal meeting. It was also the first time Xiao Chen had officially gathered all the tribe's stewards together since he became the tribe leader. Hence, in order to leave a good impression on Xiao Chen, all the stewards had already gathered in the tribe's central meeting hall.
The tribe's meeting hall followed the tall and rough style of this continent as usual. It was fifty to sixty feet tall and dozens of feet deep. It looked like several boulders were put together carelessly.
In the hall, hundreds of stone chairs were lined up on both sides, surrounding a tall green chair in the center.
Currently, Xiao Chen could be said to be the most popular person in the tribe. After the sisters who were rescued had described Xiao Chen's legendary story to every corner of the tribe.
In addition to his decisiveness in punishing the traitor, and his act of not punishing the innocent, old, and young, he had won the support of the majority of the tribe.
Tribe Leader Xiao had traveled thousands of miles to attack the Black Mountain. The brave warriors had fought a bloody battle to defeat the army of a thousand. He had secretly taught the people to prepare for a rainy day and capture the traitor. He had a tender heart and cared for the old and young. This was how the people of the Gu Yuan Tribe described their new tribe leader.
The Gu Yuan Tribe was an alliance tribe with many surnames. It wasn't just the Gu Yuan Tribe. On the Ancient Barrens continent, most tribes were formed by tribes with many surnames. Take the Gu Yuan Tribe for example. The entire tribe had more than thirty surnames. However, after more than eight hundred years of inheritance and reproduction, the entire tribe had married and merged together.
"The tribe leader is here."
Someone shouted, and the people who were chatting with each other and bragging all found their seats, sitting upright and still.
Xiao Chen was wearing a military uniform. His face, which had yet to fade, carried the dignity of a superior. He strode in from the entrance and walked straight to the main seat in the middle of the hall. Of course, he didn't let anyone sit down.
The group of people below looked at Xiao Chen, who was sitting in the main seat, and could not help but sigh. The Gu Yuan Tribe was about to enter the era of Xiao Chen!
With Xiao Chen's Blood Refining Realm cultivation, his position as the Patriarch was already as stable as Mount Tai. In addition, his ruthless execution of hundreds of traitors had greatly deterred some of the troublemakers.
"Greetings, Patriarch!"
Seeing Xiao Chen sitting on the main seat, everyone stood up and shouted at the same time. Their voices could be said to have pierced through the sky, circling the hall three times without stopping.
After the ceremony, everyone took their seats. Dozens of pairs of eyes stared at Xiao Chen at the same time, waiting for him to speak.
Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Xiao Chen did not feel the slightest bit timid. After living for more than half a year, he had already integrated into this world. Coupled with his status as the top expert of the entire tribe, this was where his confidence came from.
In this world where martial strength was supreme, having strength was equivalent to having authority. He looked up at the people below. They could be said to be the cornerstone of the entire tribe. After all, the future development of the Gu Yuan Tribe would not be able to rely on Xiao Chen alone.
"Everyone, Xiao Chen has just ascended to the position of Patriarch. I'm afraid that I won't be able to protect the 800 years of foundation of our ancestors and the tens of thousands of old and young people in the tribe. I hope that everyone will do their best to assist me. Xiao Chen thanks everyone here."
"No, no, no. Patriarch, you're too kind. Everything is due to the Patriarch's efforts. Our meager strength is not worth mentioning."
Xiao Chen did not care about everyone's flattery. He knew that most of them were only flattering him for his strength. Even if he was a ferocious beast, he could still dominate the forest with his strength.
"As everyone knows, yesterday we got rid of a group of traitors in the tribe. For the past year, the tribe has been in a foul atmosphere because of them. The people are in mourning, so I need to investigate the current situation of the tribe."
Xiao Chen's words were a little cold, causing everyone to subconsciously tighten their clothes. After all, the blood of the traitors outside had yet to dry. They were afraid that this young Patriarch would find some reason to kill them.
Not long after Xiao Chen finished speaking, a rather old tribesman stood up shakily. He was the supervisor in charge of the tribe's livelihood, Xiao Qin. Speaking of which, he was related to Xiao Chen by blood.
"Reporting to Patriarch, our Gu Yuan Tribe currently has a population of 13,107 people. Among them, 5,323 are adult males, 4,826 are healthy women, 1,126 are children, and 1,832 are old and weak. Also, the Patriarch said a few days ago that we're expanding the size of the Tribe Guardian Army. The original 800 Tribe Guardian Army has now increased to 1,500."
After Xiao Qin clearly reported the situation of the Gu Yuan Tribe to Xiao Chen, another person stood up and said, "Because the tribe has been squeezed by the surrounding tribes for the past year, the food that the tribe has stored can barely last us for about three months, and …"
…
"Where's the armory manager? How many weapons and equipment does our tribe have?"
Xiao Chen interrupted them impatiently when he saw everyone talking about all aspects of the tribe.
This was not to say that these things were not important, but the Gu Yuan Tribe was facing a great enemy. Xiao Chen believed that Xiong Li of the Black Mountain Tribe would definitely do his best to take revenge on the Gu Yuan Tribe. This day was not far away. Only by fully preparing the army and surviving the current crisis could the Gu Yuan Tribe truly walk out from the days when the old Patriarch had passed away and enter the era of Xiao Chen!
Seeing that Xiao Chen was a little impatient, everyone simultaneously stopped talking. Big Beard Lin Shan's unique hoarse voice resounded as he said, "Chief, our tribe has lost a lot of equipment in the past year. Especially after that group of beasts secretly sold them to other tribes, it became even more unbearable. Currently, our tribe has a total of fifty sets of low-grade leather armor, nine hundred sets of low-grade armor, twenty sets of low-grade war bows, and a total of one thousand and three hundred low-grade spears and sabers."
Bang!
Hearing Lin Shan's narration, a wave of anger suddenly rose in Xiao Chen's heart. He stood up involuntarily and slammed his palm on the armrest of the stone chair. "Bastards!
These strenuous and fearful dogs deserve to die. They deserve to be cut into pieces. "
The Clan Leader's thunderous rage instantly caused the temperature in the hall to drop below zero. His furious roar caused everyone to become as quiet as cicadas in the winter. All of them lowered their heads, afraid that the young Clan Leader would be the one to provoke them.
As the saying goes, one's position changes one's disposition, and one's upbringing changes one's physique. A person's authority was greatly related to their status, environment, and strength. Now that Xiao Chen was a Blood Refining Realm cultivator, he could be said to be the strongest person in the Gu Yuan Tribe. With great authority in his hands, he could decide the life and death of tens of thousands of people with a single word. How could anyone not be afraid?
Perhaps they couldn't be compared to those high-grade tribes, but the Gu Yuan Tribe had a heritage of over 800 years. At the end of the day, they still had some foundation. However, now that it was passed down to Xiao Chen, they had lost a lot of weapons. All that was left were these broken pieces, and there were even fewer graded weapons.
In the Ancient Barrens continent, weapons were divided into low-grade, middle-grade, and high-grade, just like how tribes were graded. Every graded weapon was extremely precious. Take the Gu Yuan Tribe for example. They would definitely not produce more than a hundred graded weapons every year. This was not only because of the difficulty of producing them, but also because of the rarity of the materials.
Seeing everyone's attitude, Xiao Chen took a deep breath and forcefully suppressed the unhappiness in his heart. It seemed like he could only rely on other aspects to make up for the lack of weapons. "If that's the case, I'll immediately distribute all these resources after the tribe meeting. Let the Guardian Warriors get used to the weapons as soon as possible."
Through these days of observation, Xiao Chen realized that the management level of the Gu Yuan Tribe was quite chaotic. The various departments were intertwined and complicated, and there was a lot of duplication between their functions.
In order to seize the power of the tribe and prevent others from disobeying him, he had to reappoint the management. Previously, Xiao Chen didn't have the strength or the reputation, so he put it aside. Now was the time to cut the Gordian knot.
Thinking of this, Xiao Chen interrupted their noisy quarrel and said, "Everyone, quiet down. Listen to me. Yesterday, the tribe cleaned up a batch of traitors, so there are some empty positions. Furthermore, there are some duplicates in the positions, so we need to rearrange them."
Without caring about the others' expressions, Xiao Chen immediately said, "From now on, Tie Shi will be the tribe's Great Elder and be in charge of the tribe's power transfer. Lin Shan will be the Second Elder and be in charge of the tribe's defense. Xiao Qin will be the tribe's Internal Affairs Elder and be in charge of the tribe's livelihood. Mu Qing will replace the Elder as the Witch Doctor and be in charge of the tribe's medical matters. Ding Shan will be the Commander of the Guardian Warriors and be in charge of the expedition. The Guardian Warriors will be divided into two, with Lin Shan and Ding Shan in charge. They will protect the tribe during peacetime, but they will be combined during wartime. They will follow the tribe leader to conquer other tribes.
Without asking for anyone's opinion, Xiao Chen changed the tribe's blood on his own. All the key positions were given to his confidants. Sometimes, nepotism was a necessary way to quickly seize power and gather strength.
Xiao Chen's actions could be said to have caused an uproar among the clansmen present. Although there was not much change in the management in the middle, with this change, those with discerning eyes could see that Xiao Chen had grasped the important positions tightly in his hands. This really caused some of the people's expressions to become somewhat unsightly. It was only because they were afraid of Xiao Chen's strength that they did not dare to resist.
Xiao Chen snorted coldly in his heart at these people who were panicking and not knowing what to do. "Grass that sits on the fence won't have a good ending. Instead of fighting for the tribe when the tribe is in trouble, you just wait for the tribe to change and fall with the wind. Hmph!
It won't be so easy. "
It was easy to imagine what kind of waves Xiao Chen's actions would cause in the tribe. Under Xiao Chen's incomparably strong attitude, the higher-ups of the tribe finished the tribe meeting. As for how some were happy and some were sad, there was no need for outsiders to know.