According to the Xing family army that manages the border area of Huangmoguan, the number of oxen provided is more precious than gold. The green cattle live a life completely within the system, working from nine to five, with fixed quantities and locations, and are provided with good food and drink. They pursue sustainable development for fear of tiring the cattle.
Compared with cows, people seem worthless. They work hard in the wasteland all day long. The key point is that they are not oppressed. They also act on a voluntary basis and do what they can. They report as many acres of wasteland as they can, and then distribute the land to each household after the household registration is settled.
Land is the root of the common people. When they flee famine to a strange place, even if they have no food to eat or no water to drink, they will be happy to have even just one acre of their own land.
So when my parents were asked whether the task of reclaiming 30 acres of wasteland was heavy, they both said in unison that they could do it.
There are only twelve people in their family, and with Cao'er and her son, there are only fourteen people in total. Excluding the children who are half-grown laborers, and herself whose labor output is barely comparable to that of a piece of wood, there are only seven people who can actually be used.
Mowing the thirty acres of wasteland made him want to die. If he was not afraid of his nephew and niece laughing at him, he would have wanted to lie down in the shack and wail a few times after finishing his work every day to feel comfortable. His body was sore and painful, and he was exhausted to the point of being torn apart.
Back when he was in the office, he envied the migrant workers toiling outside under the scorching sun. Physical labor was fine, but the mental work couldn't keep him awake. His dreams were filled with project plans and scenes of his bosses and clients shaking their heads and saying no. Now he's ruined. He'd rather brainstorm than toil in the fields.
In the past, "I'm almost dead!" was just an adjective, but now "I'm almost dead!" has almost become a noun.
Now the grass on the wasteland has been cut and all the large and small stones have been picked out. All that remains is to plow out the 30 acres of wasteland.
We have the plow and the water source, but the key is that we don’t have any cows!
Now Lin Rui has set his sights on the cattle and sheep of other races. For this purpose, he specially harnessed his own ox cart and prepared to try his luck at the market to see if there was anyone who could help him rent cattle of other races.
The relationship between the foreign tribes in the Huangmoguan area and the Huangmoguan guarded by the Xing family army was not good. The foreign tribes were nomadic people who lived by following water sources and grass. Every winter, they suffered the most from the lack of salt and food. When they could not survive, they robbed others, so the people living at the border of Huangmoguan suffered.
Before the arrival of the Xing Family Army, every winter there would be incidents of foreigners crossing the river to the border of Linjing, burning, killing and looting. After the Xing Family Army arrived, they guarded the three checkpoints and beat the foreigners so badly that they could not get in. If it were not for the imperial court dragging its feet and delaying the delivery of food and grass, how could the brave and warlike Xing Family Army have lost two checkpoints and retreated to Huangmo Pass!
However, the Xing family army still opened a market for the people of other ethnic groups, where both sides could exchange what they had.
The furs, beef, mutton, and milk of the foreigners can all be traded in the market. For these foreigners, the things they can trade are very few, but the materials that can be traded inside the pass are dazzling. Tea and salt are not to be mentioned, which are necessities of life for nomadic peoples. Millet and corn are also hot commodities, not to mention exquisite cloth and porcelain, which are so valuable that even if the foreigners sell all their herds of cattle and sheep at home, they still cannot buy them all.
This time, Lin Rui planned to try his luck at the market to see if he could get a new cow.
It's not feasible to buy it with silver. The silver he had exchanged for glass tea sets in Linjing City was all used to buy rice and grain in Longting County. Otherwise, their family would not have been able to survive all the way to Huangmo Pass without any illness or disaster. Didn't you see how exhausted my uncle, my third uncle, and the village head's family were!
In the border market where barter is common, it really doesn't matter whether there is silver or not. As long as Lin Rui has what the other party wants, that's enough!
Sanliang sat in the front driving the ox cart. Influenced by Lin Changxi, he was very caring towards the big blue ox driving the cart. He was reluctant to whip it and only used his mouth to make sounds to stimulate the cart to move forward.
Fortunately, they were lucky. The reclaimed land they were allocated was only a few miles away from the trading market. The people who drew lots to be farther away were directly assigned to reclaim land dozens of kilometers away, which is enough to show how long this border line is.
The border market was bustling with activity, as if the various natural and man-made disasters that occurred in the Central Plains had nothing to do with them. Many stall owners were still making hot food, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, dumplings, and the white steam from the boiling soup on the noodle stalls was swirling in the air. The stall owners selling the border's unique millet flour pancakes were shouting loudly, creating a scene of down-to-earth life.
Sanliang looked at the stalls with shining eyes. Lin Rui patted him and said, "Want to eat?"
Sanliang nodded honestly: "I do."
Lin Rui looked at the place where the alien race stored their goods and comforted San Liang: "Bear with it, and we'll talk about it after we finish our business."
"Okay, master." He nodded three or two times. Even if he was very hungry, he would control his appetite and not cause trouble to his master.
Heita is from the Dirong tribe. This year was a bad year. It snowed heavily before winter came. Not only did many cattle and sheep freeze to death, but even several of their tents collapsed. The children of several brothers' families were crowded in the same tent with them, and they couldn't even stretch their legs when they slept at night.
After repairing the tent, they found that five or six cattle and sheep had died overnight. This made everyone sad, because these were the lives of their tribe. For them, fresh beef and mutton on the table was definitely not a good thing. Most of them would go bad before they had time to dry. After being processed, people could eat as much as they wanted, but a person's stomach was so small, how much could they eat!
The rest was constantly heated up and eaten with every meal, so that when food became scarce the entire tribe would continue to starve.
He is now selling two of his family's cows, hoping that they can be traded for some cotton, cotton cloth, millet, salt, etc. Of course, it would be even better if he could exchange them for some wine. The winter in the grassland is so cold that people can be frozen to death, and it would be really hard to endure without a sip of wine.
Their tribe is not as warlike as other tribes. Moreover, the Xing Family Army, which has caused headaches for many Khans, is guarding the border of Huangmo Pass. The Xing Family Army has been ordered by the first emperor of the Lin Dynasty since its establishment. The Lin Dynasty may not be there, but the Xing Family Army must protect the border and cannot let foreign cavalry hurt our people and trample on the mountains and rivers of the Central Plains.
The nomadic people of Huangmoguan were once so prosperous. Wherever they went, there was no grass growing. Every year, the border people of Huangmoguan grew crops like lambs to be slaughtered, waiting for them to come south to rob them in winter.
Since the arrival of the Xing family army, they have been beaten from a warlike tribe to autism, and now they are living a miserable life in their own tribe.
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