Chapter 128 Winter Ranch Yunqi was on a mission from Muxue to...
Yunqi went on this trip on the orders of Muxue to try to build a greenhouse in the Mobei grassland.
The completion of the Yanzhidi Commune not only made the farmers happy, but also increased textile production. Muxue couldn't help but think of the herdsmen on the Mobei grassland.
The winter in Mobei, especially on the grassland, was even colder than here. Even someone like her would feel cold during the winter in Kulun, and the winter for ordinary herdsmen must be even more difficult.
Mu Xue sent someone to summon Wang Xiangqing, the leader of Dashengkui, and asked him to bring an experienced director over.
After several years of operation, Dashengkui has become a different business from other companies on the grasslands. Especially after the taijis of each banner were in debt, the board of directors went to the area to understand the economic and population situation, and then decided how much debt should be paid this year. In the process of settling accounts, they also knew how many herdsmen there were in the banner and what the livestock situation was like this year. They were familiar with the situation like local clerks.
Upon receiving the princess's order, Wang Xiangqing immediately took the directors and related accounts and rode his horse hurriedly to the princess's residence.
The gatekeeper told the eunuch, who had received the news earlier, and led the people into the palace. Because they were servants, they were not received in the meeting hall, that is, Jingyi Hall, but only led to the flower hall in the east courtyard. When the two entered the flower hall, they immediately kowtowed and greeted.
Muxue asked them to stand up and talk, and asked them in detail about the situation in winter.
In order to cope with the severe cold winter, herders usually move in autumn and early winter, driving their livestock and taking their families to the leeward winter pastures to set up felt tents.
This is a custom, and it is also a necessity due to the environment. If cattle and sheep graze in one place all the time, the land will not be able to bear it. However, it is cold in Mobei, and even if you move the herds ahead of time, you will inevitably encounter heavy snow. The road is very difficult to walk on, and frostbite is common.
"If you encounter a severe winter, young and strong herdsmen are better off, but the elderly and young infants have a hard time. Every spring, we hear that the elderly can't survive and return to heaven. When we went to check the accounts, we asked someone to ask, and it was common for people to freeze to death in winter, and some livestock also froze to death."
The director told the whole situation in detail.
Mu Xue frowned after hearing this.
After asking a few more questions about Dashengkui's situation, Wang Xiangqing briefly recounted: "Thanks to the great blessing of the master, Dashengkui has now been to all the banners in Mobei to do business. In spring and summer, many "houses" are sent to each banner, and branch counters are set up in Kulun and Maimaicheng. According to the master's instructions, most of the accumulated profits are rolled into the business. At the beginning of this year, the accounts were calculated and the profits were quite good. Should we give some dividends to the master?"
"I'm not worried. I'm not short of money." Mu Xue said.
Although there were more than ten people to serve and take care of the little princess, Dorji was eager to cover all the expenses. The annual salary of the prince issued by the court was directly sent to the princess's mansion, not to Kulun. Every time Dorji came to stay, he would bring a lot of gold, silver, soft jewelry, and gems, which was very generous.
As the leader of the Tushetu Khanate and the son-in-law of Muxue, he could be said to "follow his wife and have meat to eat", and his income was rising. This was inevitable. The business and trade promoted by Muxue had the most impact on the Tushetu Khanate, and both the trade with the mainland and the Russian Empire were extremely active.
Not only Dorji, but also Taiji Beile of Tushetu Khanate and even the wealthy herders had better economic conditions than other tribes in northern Mobei. This was most obvious during the Nadam Festival, when the warriors from Tushetu Khanate wore newly made Mongolian robes and turquoise and coral stones. People from other tribes looked at them with envy. Sometimes they would say something sour, "What's so good about it? It's just relying on your wife."
After hearing this, Dorji said proudly: "Then who told me that I have such a good wife? If not, then keep your tail between your legs."
Whenever he saw beautiful gems, delicious food, or fun things, he would think of sending some to Muxue. Half of the rooms in their bedroom were decorated with bright colors. Even though Dorji had been away for several months, Muxue could still see his traces when she looked up.
She herself did not have any hobbies that cost money, and with the dividends from Fan's, the interest from the pawnshop in the capital, and the rent from Yanzhidi, the value of the property in the warehouse was increasing rapidly, so she was not in a hurry to get the dividends from Dashengkui.
Although they were both businesses, Mu Xue still made a distinction in her mind. Fan Ji was the imperial merchant. In addition to doing things for her, he also led the business outside the Northeast Pass in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The only one that truly belonged to her was Dashengkui. So she didn't easily share the interest from Dashengkui, and still let them take it to continue to expand the business.
However, the current situation is special, Mu Xue said to Wang Xiangqing: "Well, you can temporarily take out one thousand taels of silver as a reserve, maybe it will be useful."
What was it for? She planned to use it as maintenance fee for the grassland greenhouse.
Similar to the commune in Yanzhidi, a winter gathering point is set up on the grassland so that the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled in need can live there together for the winter. The young and middle-aged people will still move to the winter pastures, and then move to new pastures when they return in spring.
She shared this idea with Dorji.
"Princess, you are kind-hearted. This greenhouse sounds like it can really benefit the people of Mobei." Dorji thought for a moment and said, "I will support you if you want to do this. Why don't you set up a site in Kulun first?"
Mu Xue said: "I thought, in order to save some money, maybe we could build a greenhouse closer to the post station."
In the cold winter, the number of merchants passing through the post station will be greatly reduced, but the postmen who should guard the post station are still there. It is empty anyway. If the felt tents outside the post station can be used and some felt tents can be built as warm sheds, the construction and maintenance costs will be reduced. Another advantage is that it is easier for her to manage and control. It is easy to do in Kulun, but if it is in other banners, it is inevitable to coordinate with the local Zasak.
Seeing that she had already made up her mind, Dorji stopped asking and rode away with the little princess.
Muxue called Yunqi and others and had a detailed discussion with them.
"It is only used as a place for the elderly and children who need it in the cold winter. It needs to be reviewed, so not everyone can come." Mu Xue said seriously, "Be sure to remember that you are not allowed to disturb the normal migration of winter pastures. If there are people who are willing to come, they can stay temporarily after review. If not, forget it. Anyway, it relies on the post station, so there won't be much loss."
"Please rest assured, Princess. We will keep this in mind."
Mu Xue nodded: "In addition, you can also think about it when you go, and prepare for the rainy day. What should you do if you encounter a snowstorm or a cold wave. The weather in the winter these past two years has not been that bad, but you can't tell. If necessary, ask the prince consort's subordinates for advice, practice, and come up with a plan. Whether it is the grassland or the field, you must prepare an emergency response plan."
Yunqi and the others kept her words in mind and discussed many key points in private. They also went to Monk and the others to ask in detail how they had dealt with severe cold in the past and compiled their experiences into a book.
Seeing how serious they were, Monk also became serious and told them what he knew. Seeing that they took out pens and papers to write down everything, he asked, "Why do you think of asking this?"
"We are collecting the methods of treatment under the order of the princess." Xiao Luan instructed people to record and explained to him, "The princess sympathizes with the people of both places and thought that if there is an unexpected event or a natural disaster, there will be a precedent to deal with it."
After hearing this, Mengke was deeply moved. On the way back to Kulun with Dorji, he kept saying: "The princess really cares about the people, both Manchu, Mongolian and Han."
Originally, he had thought that after the princess arrived in Guihua City, she would no longer think about the things on the Mobei grassland. Now it seems that he was just judging others by his own petty mind.
Dorji held the reins and raised his lips: "She has always been so kind."
This is one of the reasons why he loves her. Although Mu Xue would say that she doesn't want to care about worldly affairs and used to shrink like a snail, once she has the opportunity, she will try her best to make some small efforts to make the lives of the people around her or the people under her rule a little better.
What Dorji hoped for was that his people could live better and the tribe could prosper. This coincided with Muxue's personality, and taught him how not to love her.
The wind from the grassland blew towards him, gently blowing on his face. Dorji raised his head and looked at the blue sky quietly. The direction of this wind was towards naturalization, just like his heart.
Dorji was stunned for a moment, then spurred his horse and rode forward.
In the deep grasslands of summer and autumn, the post station is particularly lively inside and outside. Many camels and horses are tied to the mud wall, and many sheep brought by merchants are lying in the simple sheepfold. Merchants drink tea in the post station gatehouse, listen to the official newspaper, and chat about the market. As they chat, they go to the warm shed near the post station.
"It looks like it's almost done," a businessman said, "I heard it's free. Why can't it be free now that I live here?"
"You are not old, nor a shepherd, how can you do it? Don't you say that just thinking is not enough? You also need to test it?"
"Dashengkui has allocated some money for charity, so he can do whatever he wants."
…
Amid the discussion, several warm felt houses were built. They were all the same size, with thick mud walls all around and round felt tents on top, covered with thick felt. They were the kind of warm felt houses that only herdsmen with better conditions would build.
Living in such a felt house in winter is better than the felt tents that many poor herdsmen temporarily set up in the winter pastures.
The news that the greenhouse was recruiting eligible elderly and children also spread as Dashengkui's small caravans went deep into various banners.
Compared with individual businessmen who simply calculate profits and want to gain more advantages, the herdsmen are more cautious.
"It's said that this allows the elderly and very young children to spend the winter in the warm shed without having to move."
Shepherd Gerile frowned and said, "The cattle and sheep on the grassland follow the grass, and people follow the cattle and sheep. This is an old rule. What about a warm shed for the winter? I've never heard of such a thing."
The person chatting with him also agreed: "That's right, the elderly and children also followed us to move together before, it's more decent for the family to live together. Even if it doesn't cost money... humph, if we go, wouldn't it seem like we are taking advantage and our family is very poor."
The afterglow of the setting sun shone on the grassland. Geerile pulled together the old sheepskin coat he had inherited from his grandfather. Because he had worn it for too long, it looked like black sheepskin, but it was actually white.
He drove the sheep towards his felt tent in silence.
After locking up the sheep and walking to the felt tent, he heard a violent coughing.
When he went in, he saw his old mother coughing non-stop, the skin on her hands was as dry as dead branches, while his wife was busy pouring her milk tea.
Geerile immediately stepped forward, took off his sheepskin coat and put it on his mother. He caught a glimpse of the utensils for making fried rice next to him.
"Eji should have a good rest and stop doing this." Geerile complained.
"It's okay, ahem..." The mother's cloudy eyes still looked at him gently, and said, "We will move to another place in a few days. I'll prepare the food first. Otherwise, it's snowing and we have to travel quickly. I'm afraid you will be hungry."
"I'm not a child anymore, and I'm still hungry." Geerile complained softly.
He sat down next to his old mother and was silent for a while. He picked up a few pieces of dry dung and stuffed them into the fire pit, and the small fire became slightly brighter.
He tilted his head and saw the tiny bit of firelight shining on his old mother's wrinkled face.
His mother was old and could no longer drive sheep. Last winter, she couldn't sleep all night because of the cold weather. She coughed so hard that she couldn't sleep. But he had no choice but to cover his mother with blankets.
He finally said very softly: "Eji, the post station is building a greenhouse, which they say will save the elderly and children from having to move in winter. You..."
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