Chapter 171: Oxen Ploughing the Fields
After dealing with the Mantis Tribe, winter has quietly arrived.
After the heavy snow closed the mountains, the Teng tribe continued to live the same way as every previous winter. Ordinary tribesmen worked hard to make various tools, while the warriors went fishing and hunting in winter to add some food to the tribe.
It is worth mentioning that because food was relatively sufficient, Jiang Xuan selected some skilled tourists outside the vine wall and asked them to join the vine tribe to polish stone tools, make weapons, sew animal skins, etc. for the tribe.
As for those tourists who had no skills, Jiang Xuan also left them a way to survive, which was to work for the Teng tribe.
Polishing stone and bone tools is a very time-consuming task, and making enough tools for the entire tribe requires a huge amount of time.
Therefore, Jiang Xuan distributed some stones and bones to the tourists, asking them to polish them day and night, and then exchange them for some food or animal skins so that they would not starve or freeze to death.
At the same time, Jiang Xuan allowed these tourists to trade with the Teng tribe.
For example, some tourists are lucky enough to find better stones or animal bones in the forest.
Then they could take out these stones and animal bones and exchange them with the Teng Tribe for food, animal skins, and even salt.
By being hired and trading, some tourists with strong strength and good luck can survive this winter.
As for those tourists who are weak and unlucky, they will be eliminated by nature.
Because even if they work hard and obtain some survival resources, they are likely to be snatched away by stronger people.
This is the sadness of being weak.
No matter how well or badly people live, time always passes by little by little at its own pace.
In the blink of an eye, the cold and painful winter passed.
There are many people who sleep forever in winter, and there are also many people who survive the winter and welcome the spring.
…
It was the beginning of January, the fifth year since the establishment of the Teng Tribe.
"The sun is coming out!"
“We finally made it!”
When the long-lost sun warmed the earth again and the ice and snow began to melt, the tourists outside the vine wall jumped up excitedly.
Winter is desperate. It is very difficult to find some food under the heavy snow.
It’s different in spring. Even if you eat grass roots, wild vegetables, and insects, you can always find a way to survive.
In Teng Tribe, Jiang Xuan carved a line of words on the new bamboo slips he made in winter: The fifth year in Teng Tribe, January 1st, sunny.
"It's the fifth year!"
After Jiang Xuan finished carving, he felt very emotional.
When he first came to this world, faced with various traps, he didn't know how to survive.
But in the blink of an eye, four or five years had passed.
Although he encountered various difficulties and dangers, he survived them all.
The Teng tribe has grown from the original five people to more than 2,000 people now, and is still growing.
“Squeak…”
Jiang Xuan opened the door of the house and looked at the sunshine in the yard, feeling refreshed.
"Eer..."
Tangyuan walked out of the giant bird's nest in the bamboo shed and flapped its wings excitedly, but it blew the snow in the yard everywhere.
In another bamboo shed, the black rhinoceros Crescent was lying in its nest. It shook off the snowflakes that flew onto its head, snorted helplessly, and exhaled two streams of hot air from its nostrils.
In terms of size, it cannot compare to Tangyuan, and in terms of fighting power, it cannot compare to Tangyuan. Therefore, even if it is dissatisfied, it can only endure it.
Tangyuan held his head high and didn't even look at the crescent moon.
It skillfully opened the courtyard gate, then went out through the gate that had been widened several times, trotted all the way to the open space in front of the altar, and took off directly.
It can't wait to find fresh prey.
"Yueya, come on, let's go out for a walk too."
Jiang Xuan called out to her and Yueya immediately stood up from her nest, shook off her fur, then walked to Jiang Xuan and knelt down on her knees to make it easy for Jiang Xuan to sit on her.
After Jiang Xuan sat down, Yueya stood up again and took Jiang Xuan outside.
At this time, although the sun has risen, only a small part of the ice and snow has melted, and many bamboos bent or broken by the heavy snow can be seen everywhere.
Fortunately, the Teng tribe had already cleared a very wide path in the bamboo forest, otherwise it would have been difficult to get out.
Outside the bamboo forest, most of the members of the Teng tribe came out to bask in the sun.
Jiang Xuan walked to the house on the left side of the tribe and saw Uncaria and Poria, with Fuling holding their child in her arms.
Jiang Xuan jumped off Yueya's back, walked to Fuling and looked at the child she was holding.
"Wow, little Tiandong is growing up so fast!"
In just over four months, Tiandong grew from a wrinkled little baby into a round, chubby baby.
A round face, long eyelashes, big eyes, a cute little nose, a rosy little mouth, and chubby lotus root-like hands, very cute.
Fuling smiled and said, "Thanks to the tribe's abundant food, we eat well."
The Teng tribe treats pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and babies with preferential treatment. Even in winter, they will try their best to let them eat more winter-caught fish, fresh animal meat and other foods.
Jiang Xuan held Tian Dong's little hand and said, "Grow up quickly and become a brave and powerful warrior in the future!"
At this moment, Xiao Tiandong grinned, an innocent smile that would make people feel better.
Uncaria Rhododendron on the side also laughed. Since becoming a father, he has become much more mature and more steady in his work.
Jiang Xuan teased the child for a while, then continued to patrol the tribe on Yueya.
When he walked outside the stone workshop, he unexpectedly found that many members of the planting team were there, and everyone looked quite excited.
What is this doing? Jiang Xuan was puzzled, so he got off Yueya's back and prepared to go in and take a look.
At this moment, the people inside ran out one after another.
“It’s coming out!”
Everyone gathered around the old man Black Stone, their eyes focused on a tool in his hand.
Jiang Xuan took one look at the instrument and couldn't take his eyes away.
"The curved plow! It's really been made!"
What the old man Heishi was holding was a curved plow made of wood and stone.
The plowshare is made of naturally curved wood, and the plow tip and plow bed are also made of fine wood.
The plowshare and plow wall are made of fine stone.
Among them, the most important plowshare is made of high-quality stone, which is extremely hard and not easy to damage.
Although this curved plow looks simple, it has actually been made for a long time and has been improved countless times.
If it really works, then the productivity of the current production method of the Teng tribe will be greatly improved! After Jiang Xuan arrived, the onlookers made way for Jiang Xuan to enter.
Everyone has great respect for the leader.
After Jiang Xuan entered, he saw Gan Song squatting on the ground, stroking the curved plow like a baby, with very gentle movements.
"Is the manufacturing completed?" Jiang Xuan looked at the old man Heishi.
"It's done." Old Man Black Stone nodded affirmatively.
"However, we have to wait until the snow melts and take the cows to the fields to try it out to see if it can be used."
Jiang Xuan nodded and said, "Then let's wait until the snow melts and try it out. If it works, your stone tool workshop will have made a great contribution, and the reward you deserve will not be reduced at all."
The Black Stone Elder said humbly, "Thank you, Chief."
On the ground, Gan Song didn't even want to say a word, all he had eyes for was the curved plow.
He was looking forward to seeing whether this thing could bring about huge changes to the planting team as the leader said.
The people in the planting team, including other onlookers, were also talking excitedly. Everyone wanted to know what effect this thing would have.
…
Five days later, the temperature gradually rose and most of the thick snow on the ground melted.
“Clatter…”
In the Feiyu River, the water began to rush again, and because a large amount of ice and snow melted, the water level even rose a lot.
In the fields, with the sunshine, the soil has become moist and soft, and it is now possible to experiment with oxen plowing.
"Moo..."
Dajiao personally brought the most obedient cow, and Old Man Heishi took the curved plow with a rope installed and harnessed it to the cow.
The planting team sent out a soldier with the most farming experience, who walked excitedly behind the cow with a bamboo whip in his hand.
Jiang Xuan, Chi Shao, and many members of the Teng tribe gathered beside the fields to watch this historic scene.
"You must succeed, you must succeed!"
Gan Song stood nervously by. If he had only one hand, he would have conducted this experiment himself.
Jiang Xuan walked up to the soldier in charge of plowing the field and taught him how to use the curved plow.
"Hold the plow with your left hand, hold the bamboo whip and the ox rope in your right hand, yes, hold them well."
Under Jiang Xuan's guidance, the soldier of the planting team nervously held the plow, held the bamboo whip, and pulled the cow rope.
"Okay, now drive the cow forward."
"Hey, go!"
Under Jiang Xuan's instructions, the soldier swung the bamboo whip, but it did not hit the cow's butt.
Because this cow was tamed by the magical vine, it is very obedient and does not need its nose pierced or be whipped hard.
"Moo!"
The tall ox growled, then lowered its head and dragged the curved plow forward.
At the shoulder position of the ox, there is a curved piece of wood with strong ropes tied at both ends, connecting it to the curved plow.
When the ox moves forward, the curved plow will be pulled by it.
“Squeak…”
When the ox took two steps, the plow blade was driven into the soil and continued to move forward.
The soil was first dug up by the plow, and when it hit the curved plow wall, it immediately fell to the left.
As the cows continued to move forward, a row of turned soil was left in the field, which was not only deep but also very even.
When the cow reached the edge of the field, Jiang Xuan walked over again and instructed the soldier to swing the plow tail over first, and then pull the rope to make the cow turn.
This step is a little difficult. The warrior and the cow cooperated four or five times before they finally learned how to turn.
Time passes by little by little.
The cooperation between the soldiers and the oxen went from stumbling in the beginning to developing a tacit understanding later on. The speed of plowing continued to increase, and rows of soil were turned over quickly.
When the field was completely plowed and the oxen pulled the curved plow ashore, everyone on the scene cheered.
“It worked, it worked!”
Gan Song waved his fists excitedly, his face flushed with excitement.
Jiang Xuan was also very happy. Finally, he no longer had to rely on manpower to plow the fields.
Old Man Heishi breathed a sigh of relief. The curved plow had been in the making for a long time and now it had been a success. All his hard work had finally paid off.
The soldier in charge of plowing the land felt as if he was dreaming when he saw the land had been completely turned over.
He squatted on the ground, grabbed a piece of soil, and said in disbelief: "It's so fast, really fast, much faster than when we used the bone hoe to dig."
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Of course. The cooperation of the curved plow and the ox is much faster than several people digging together."
"In the future, we will make more curved plows and domesticate more cattle. This way, we can cultivate more fields and produce more food."
Jiang Xuan's words made everyone excited again, and they were looking forward to that day.
“Keep plowing.”
The soldier in charge of the plow calmed down and drove the cows to another field.
There is no shortcut to mastering the technique of plowing the fields with oxen. You just need to spend a lot of time and effort to practice.
Soon, another field of crops was filled with people.
Everyone watched with great interest the magical ox pulling the plow and the rapid turning of the soil.
Naturally, Gan Song couldn't let only one person learn, so he arranged several soldiers to take turns learning.
Later, as more curved plows were manufactured and more oxen that could pull the plows were trained, the farming teams would be able to cultivate larger fields and produce more grain.
…
In the southern wilderness, northwest of the Vine Tribe, there is the Frog Tribe.
“The snow has finally melted!”
Huo Meng stood outside the simple wooden house, basking in the sun, tears streaming down his face.
Although the Frog Tribe had tried their best to stockpile food before the snow fell, they still fell into a food shortage crisis because the winter was too long.
This winter, more than a dozen members of the Frog Tribe starved to death, including seven or eight newborns.
After getting used to the snowless winters in the Western Wilds, the snow-covered Southern Wilds caused them great pain and torture.
Fortunately, they finally made it through.
"Go find food!"
After calming down, Huo Meng roared loudly, and all the members of the tribe came out.
They were hungry, skinny and in desperate need of food.
Right now, although the snow has melted, many animals and insects are still hibernating.
Given the strength of the Frog Tribe, they would definitely not be able to eat their fill by just hunting.
Therefore, they ate whatever they could find.
Small birds and wild animals that do not hibernate, insects that hibernate under stones and rotten bark, as well as grass roots and unrotten nuts.
Even though they ate a lot of different and poor quality food, they still couldn't fill their stomachs.
The hunger will continue for a while until all things flourish, grass sprouts, and all the hibernating animals and insects come out, and then they will have a chance to eat their fill.
At night, Huo Meng, whose hunger was slightly relieved, found the witch and discussed the future of the tribe with him.
Inside the wooden house, Huo Meng and Wu sat next to the fire pit.
"Although we have migrated to the Southern Wilds, our population is already seriously insufficient. If we encounter a slightly greater danger, our tribe may..."
Huo Meng's eyes were somewhat melancholy. Although he did not finish his words, both of them understood his meaning.
Wu was silent for a moment, then asked, "What are you going to do?"
Huo Meng said, "Before last winter, the Mantis Tribe was destroyed by the Vine Tribe. I even personally took people to see the huge stone with the Vine Tribe totem pattern painted on it."
"The Mantis Tribe is very strong. During the migration, we saw several small tribes being wiped out by them. But the Vine Tribe is stronger, so they were able to wipe out the Mantis Tribe."
Huo Meng paused for a moment, with a look of hesitation and struggle on his face, but he finally made up his mind.
He took a deep breath, looked at the witch, and said, "I think that finding the Vine Tribe and becoming their affiliated tribe will help the Frog Tribe grow stronger again."
"impossible!"
Wu stood up excitedly, and with his shaking fingers he pointed at Huo Meng and shouted, "You are betraying the tribe and the Frog God!"
"The Frog God has left us, Wu, wake up!"
Huo Meng also stood up, very excited.
"As the warriors of the Frog Tribe die one by one, the number of giant frogs is also decreasing. If there is no protection from the Vine Tribe, I will die, and you will die too. Sooner or later, the Frog Tribe will be destroyed!"
Wu wanted to say something, but when he opened his mouth, he couldn't utter a word, and he had no way to refute.
Huo Meng also knew that he was too excited. He sat down again and whispered, "Wu, face the reality. Our Frog Tribe is no longer the Frog Tribe it used to be."
"As a subsidiary tribe of the Vine Tribe, we still have a chance to grow stronger, and the Frog Tribe can remain intact. If we continue like this, I don't see any hope."
Wu also sat down slowly, with a very painful expression on his face, but he did not refute, and could not refute.
Thanks to “book friend 20220415223422533” for the reward.
(End of this chapter)
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