Near the oasis where the Earl of North Border's Mansion resides, there are Barbarian tribes. However, they are no longer pure Barbarian tribes, much like wolves on the grasslands that have been tamed into domestic dogs.
When the First Earl of North Border began his watch over the northern frontiers, he took the chieftains of four Barbarian tribes as his adopted sons, granting them the surname "Li." Generation after generation, their descendants were considered the Earl's "adopted sons."
Thus, history recorded instances where a newly ennobled Earl of Shatuo North Border, barely in his twenties, would sit in the seat of honor while four white-haired chieftains prostrated themselves before him, calling him "Adoptive Father."
During times of war, the four surrendered tribes would be conscripted, their able-bodied men forming Barbarian cavalry to assist the North Border Army. From the perspective of other Barbarians, they were traitors.
