Chapter 300: Herdsmen Jiang Family
Yunzhou has lost all its green since autumn, and all people eat are cabbage and potatoes.
The fresh vegetables from Baolinju were no longer supplied to the garrison, but were sold at Tianxianglou at high prices.
Suijinwei can only buy vegetables from the town, which are usually bean sprouts and vegetable seedlings grown by farmers in their own cellars.
After unloading the truck, Song Liyun also mentioned that she wanted to go to the herdsmen's house to collect the furs.
Gao Xiaoqi, who sent them here, had already mentioned the matter of collecting furs. The person who came was the famous Manager Song, and with Captain Luo's instructions, Shitan Fort also cooperated.
There are three or four herdsmen families living near Shitanbao. Each family drives their sheep out of the mountain pass and grazes them outside. They usually live in dugouts outside.
They had to wait until the mountain was covered with snow before they could drive the sheep back.
There was no road leading out of the military fort, so the cart was parked inside the fort. The soldiers of Shitan Fort were on patrol on horseback, and they happened to take Song Liyun and the other two to look for the herdsmen.
Outside Shitanbao is the Gobi Desert, where dry grass of varying heights sways in the wind. Sheep walk among them, gnawing on the moist grass roots between the cracks in the rocks.
The appearance of Song Liyun and others immediately attracted the barking of the herdsmen's dogs, and the herdsmen who were busy working hurried over.
The soldier leading the way shooed away the dogs and shouted to a hunched old man wrapped in a sheepskin robe, "Old Jiang, this is Miss Song. She's here to buy mutton and furs. Sell all the stock you have at home!"
When Old Jiang heard about buying sheepskins, he shook his head repeatedly: "No, I have to prepare a dowry for my daughter this year, and the skins at home need to be taken to her parents-in-law's house."
The sergeant suddenly realized: "Oh! I forgot, Jiang Xiaoni is already fifteen years old."
As they were talking, a girl with dirty clothes and a red and black face came out shyly and saluted the soldier.
It was obvious that they were very familiar with each other.
Old Jiangtou’s family doesn’t have any furs, but other families should have some, just not in this place.
The soldier handed Song Liyun and the other two to Old Jiangtou, asking him not to be negligent, and then went to patrol the front.
Old Jiang's family didn't have any furs, so he took Song Liyun and Song Dekui a few miles away and bought some sheepskins from two other herdsmen's homes.
Of course Song Liyun was not satisfied with these things.
That's not her goal either.
The sheepskins are tied into bundles and it’s getting dark!
Song Liyun did not return to Shitan Fort, but stayed in the stone cave of Lao Jiangtou's house for one night.
There are ten people in Old Jiang's family. In addition to the old couple, there are two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren. Fifteen-year-old Jiang Xiaoni is the youngest daughter and is about to become a bride.
The herdsmen lived a very simple life, and Song Liyun did not eat or drink for free. She took out a small bag of cornmeal and a small bag of salt as expenses.
Food and salt are good things.
Old Mrs. Jiang was originally a little unhappy about having two more mouths to feed at home, but when she saw Song Liyun gave her food and salt, her expression suddenly turned from gloomy to bright.
Not only did he put some milk skin on the table, he also immediately asked his two daughters-in-law to take out the lamb legs that had been stored for a long time and stew them. He also put black dried vegetable pancakes in the pot and soaked them in the lamb soup later.
At night, when the Jiang family's son came back from herding sheep, he was a little surprised to see two strangers suddenly appear in his house, especially to see a girl appear in this wilderness.
It was not until Old Jiangtou told them that Song Liyun was the manager Song of Tianxiang Tower in Qili County that they suddenly realized.
The herdsmen needed to meet with the soldiers of Shitan Fort frequently, so naturally they heard about the fact that someone from a garrison had to travel dozens of miles to eat.
Hearing the soldiers talking about the delicious barbecue and the big plates of soft pancakes, the Jiang family couldn't help but drool. It was a rare opportunity for them to eat such things.
When he met Manager Song at this time, he naturally asked about Qili County, Tianxiang Tower, and the big dinner.
Song Liyun was a little amused and helpless. Wasn't it just a few days of eating buffet? Was it worth talking about it for so long?
The main reason is the shortage of food on the grassland.
She had no time to think about business now, she had to patiently tell the Jiang family about Qili County and Tianxianglou.
"Tianxianglou has to sell five sheep every day now, and they're running out of mutton. That's why I came out to see if there's any mutton to be delivered."
When the Jiang family heard that Tianxianglou sold five sheep a day, they were shocked. His family had a total of seventy or eighty sheep, which was not enough for Tianxianglou to sell in a month.
Song Liyun's statement was relatively conservative.
In addition to mutton, Tianxianglou also buys beef jerky, and some dry goods shops in the capital have come to negotiate with Tianxianglou about purchasing goods.
Everyone in the Jiang family had no doubt about Song Liyun's statement.
The soldiers in the fort eat a whole cow in one meal.
After talking about Tianxiang Tower, Song Liyun began to inquire about things on the grassland.
In the afternoon, she heard from Jiang Xiaoni that a small Di tribe consisting of five families had moved to the Gobi Desert outside Shitan Fort.
Jiang Xiaoni’s future husband’s family is the patriarch of one of them.
Just now when Song Liyun was talking about Qili County, Song Dekui had not interrupted her, but now he became excited and asked directly: How can people from the Wu Dynasty and the Di people intermarry?
Song Liyun was also a little curious. Although the border people of the Wu Dynasty did not hate the Di Lu people to the core, they were mortal enemies. How could they marry without any grudges? Her own marriage still had to be kept secret until now.
You don’t know until you ask, and you’ll be shocked when you ask. Both of Old Jiangtou’s daughters-in-law are from the Di tribe.
Song Liyun then understood that these herdsmen did not understand what inbreeding was. They only knew that marrying their daughters to a close relative would anger the gods and result in the birth of monsters.
This is also common knowledge widely circulated on the grassland.
The Di people are also not allowed to marry within the tribe.
Therefore, on sparsely populated borders, as long as there is no direct conflict between the herders on both sides, intermarriage is actually very frequent, and it is also a way to maintain local peace.
Through the two sons of the Jiang family, Song Liyun finally heard what happened on the grassland.
The tribe that moved to Hungry Wolf Beach came from the Mida River Valley.
I heard that it has become a battlefield.
The Mida Valley, where the tribes originally spent the winter, is now in chaos.
The newly emerged Wuda tribe was gathering tribes, and the sense of crisis made the Donglun tribe also rush to expand its population.
There have been several small fights between the two sides. Although there has not been a real big battle, everyone can see that they are sharpening their knives and competing in courage and strength.
This is a sign of the coming war.
Some small tribes who did not want to be involved in the fighting avoided it and had to risk migrating from their wintering places.
Jiang Xiaoni's husband's tribe consists of only five families, with a total of more than 30 people, and they raise dozens of cows and hundreds of sheep.
They were too weak and were looked down upon by both tribes. They did not dare to stay near the Mida River Valley, nor did they want to be annexed by other tribes during the chaos, so they moved closer to the Wu Dynasty.
This way they can exchange for some daily necessities and find marriage partners for the children in the tribe.
These small tribes with little combat power were close to the defense line of the Zhenbei Army. As long as they notified the garrison in advance, stayed there honestly, and paid a few live sheep and felt blankets as taxes, they would generally not be expelled.
Song Dekui was very interested in the affairs of the grassland tribes and kept asking how much betrothal gift was needed to marry a grassland girl and how to become a son-in-law.
Is there any girl in the tribe who can marry a skinny man like him?
(End of this chapter)
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