Chapter 263: Extra Meal Tonight (Please vote and subscribe)
Wild wheat is not uncommon in nature, but it needs to be found in specific places, just like rice cannot grow in dry land, it must be found in swamps or ponds, and the same is true for wheat.
There are many forage grasses on the grassland that are suitable for cattle, horses and sheep, such as alfalfa, ryegrass, barley grass, or highland barley, which is barley. This wheat plant is actually the most common on the grassland. It is the same reason that what grows in what place is what specialty.
The scattered yellow ear plants in front of You Fu are definitely wheat. After all, it can be judged from the thin and sharp awns on the wheat ears, but it is not known whether it is barley or wheat. Even Luo Chong does not know this.
There is basically no difference between barley and wheat. Luo Chong only knows that barley is also called Qingke. Like wheat, it can be ground into flour, but barley flour is not suitable for fermentation. It can only make some unpaste food, such as unpaste cakes, noodles, dumpling skins and the like. It is not like wheat that can be steamed buns and steamed dumplings. The palatability is much worse. It
doesn't matter if you don't know it or can't tell it apart. Wait until a crop is grown and then grind it into flour to test it. If it can be fermented, it is wheat, and if it can't be fermented, it is Qingke. It is the simplest and dumbest method, but it is very practical.
In the Mid-Autumn Festival, the wheat has already ripened. Maybe this is the second crop of wheat this year. You Fu carefully picked a wheat ear, picked off the seeds on it, observed it carefully, and pinched it. It is softer than rice. If you have more strength, you can directly flatten it.
He picked a few more grains and put them in his mouth to chew. Of course, it is not delicious, but it is definitely not poisonous. Cows, horses and sheep often eat it, and they have never been poisoned to death.
There wasn't much wild wheat, and Youfu was reluctant to cook a pot to try. He could only light a fire to roast a wheat ear. Roasting wheat directly was indeed delicious. Youfu just confirmed that it was edible, and that was enough. He was very confident that as long as he got it in Luo Chong's hands, Luo Chong would be able to develop more ways to eat it.
The group stayed here for two hours, collected a lot of wheat ears, and finally filled two sacks, weighing about dozens of kilograms. Because he had the experience of sending plants to the Han tribe, Youfu also dug a few whole plants and planted them in a pottery pot, ready to take them back for Luo Chong to take a good look.
After collecting these wild wheats, the team continued to move forward, and finally met a nomadic tribe that Ling was familiar with, the Niugu tribe, when it was almost evening.
The leader was a middle-aged man named Altai, who was very familiar with Ling, but because of his red eyes, Altai did not absorb him into his tribe. However, Altai still admired this young and capable young man very much, and the two sides began to trade under Ling's introduction.
At the same time, the Azuka eagle, which had flown for two days, finally returned to the Han tribe. Just in the evening when the tribesmen were finishing work, Ying Rui saw the returning eagle and called it down. He saw a roll of animal skin tied to the eagle's leg. After opening it, there were Chinese characters. Ying Rui knew that it was a letter, so he quickly took the animal skin letter to Luo Chong.
"Chief, chief, You Fu and his friends have sent a letter. Please take a look at what is written on it. I can't understand it." Ying Rui shouted at Luo Chong while running, and immediately attracted Luo Chong's attention.
"What? You Fu and his friends have sent a letter? Bring it to me."
Hearing the letter from You Fu, Luo Chong's heart skipped a beat. There is an old saying that no news is the best news. They have been gone for more than a month. What happened must they have told him, but it must not be a letter for help.
Luo Chong nervously took the animal skin. Before he even read the words on it, he was attracted by it. It was a sheep skin. Luo Chong had never seen sheep here before. Now You Fu sent a sheep skin over. Does it mean that they have found sheep and obtained some through trading?
Sure enough, after opening the animal skin, lines of scribbled large characters came into view. Although there were many typos, it did not affect Luo Chong's understanding. The writing was still okay.
The content of the letter is as follows:
Chief, we have traveled south for more than a month and arrived at a large plain. There are no mountains around, and there is a freshwater lake with a lot of water, and you can't see the edge. There are many fish and birds in the lake, and there are big beasts
with long tusks and wolves by the lake. The plain is larger than the lake, and the edge is unknown. There are grass all over the ground. There are tribes living there. They can ride horses, have bows and arrows, and raise many cattle, horses and sheep. We traded, pottery for cattle and sheep, and white salt for horses. We got 50 cattle, 550 sheep, and 350 horses. Half of the goods are left. We want to trade with another tribe and go back after the exchange.
I specially inform the chief to prepare more fodder for the winter and animal sheds. - Youfu.
Luo Chong looked at the letter with many typos, the language was not fluent, and the handwriting was worse than that of an elementary school student, but his hands holding the animal skins could not stop shaking. He was really too excited. He didn't expect Youfu and his people to find the grassland, meet the nomadic tribe, and successfully trade so many livestock. This was something Luo Chong never expected.
Fortunately, he let Youfu, who liked to run around, go. Otherwise, there would not be such a huge harvest. It was a great achievement to exchange some pottery made of mud for the livestock that the Han tribe urgently needed.
With these cattle and horses, the Han tribe would be able to cultivate more fields. With fields, there would be more food. Only by accumulating food could the Han tribe continue to expand its scale and have the capital to build more cities.
Many high-level people who stayed in the tribe heard Yingrui's shouting and knew that Youfu, who was away, had sent a letter. They all came to join in the fun. This was the first time they used Chinese characters to transmit messages over a long distance. They also discovered the most critical way to use Chinese characters. It turned out that learning Chinese characters had this use.
Rat Witch, Rat Da, Elder, Yingrui, Zhishang, all gathered around Luo Chong, watching Luo Chong open his mouth wide and stare at the Chinese characters on it in a daze. Both hands were shaking, and they immediately had bad thoughts in their hearts. Wouldn't this be the first time that the message he sent was bad news? !
"Chief, what does it say? Are they in danger? Do you want to send people to help? I am willing to lead people there. If anyone dares to attack our Han tribe, I will take people to kill him." Shu Da said fiercely.
"Ah?! No, it's good news, great news. Youfu and his people found a very large grassland. There is a tribe there that is good at raising cattle, horses and sheep. Youfu used the goods he brought to exchange for a lot of livestock with the tribe there. There are nearly a thousand cattle, horses and sheep in total. Our tribe will never lack cattle and horses for work and sheep for meat in the future."
Luo Chong pointed at the words on it happily and said loudly to the tribesmen that this was very exciting good news.
"Really, that's great. Chief, let us see it quickly and read the words on it to us."
Several people surrounded Luo Chong and put their heads close to the letter, hoping to confirm that what Luo Chong just said was true. The Han tribe got so many cattle and horses. It was really great news as Luo Chong said.
"Hahahaha, we are so happy today. Come on, hang this animal skin under the flagpole and let all the tribesmen know the news so that everyone can be happy together. Pass on my order and have an extra meal tonight," Luo Chong shouted happily.
(End of this chapter)
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