Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 113 Mountain Farmer's Envoy

Plant a millet in spring and harvest ten thousand in autumn.

As the autumn harvest began in Shannong County, Beijiwu took advantage of everyone's busy schedule to inspect the Tongzhou Saiwai Market.

Outside Tongzhou are mountains. If you travel about 70 or 80 li northwest along the mountain path pioneered by nomadic peoples, you will reach a village where nomadic peoples graze their horses and sheep.

Beijiwu rode over on horseback, slowly gazing at the endless hillsides and green fields ahead.

There are thousands of tents of all sizes on the hillside ahead, and many simple-looking mud-brick houses stand on the mountainside.

Large numbers of cattle and sheep grazed leisurely in the distance, while warhorses grazed on the low hillsides not far away, and herdsmen walked on the ground and ran across the grassland.

Arctic Warrior headed towards the densely populated settlement in sight. It didn't look far, but it actually took half an hour to get there.

As you descend from the mountain, the terrain in this area is characterized by undulating mountains, with sparse arable land concentrated in the basin and river valley regions.

The entire region still lacks greenery. Most of the area behind the mountains, including Tongzhou, is an extension of the Loess Plateau. At this time, the area north of Tongzhou, where Beijiwu is located, is a sandy area of ​​the Mongolian Plateau.

Overall, the land is very barren, and there are not many places suitable for cultivation. Four or five million acres of good land is already the limit. Even if the rest is developed, it can only utilize areas with poor water resources.

In the event of consecutive years of severe drought, farmland in those areas must be abandoned immediately, and every effort must be made to ensure that basic farmland can feed everyone.

The area in front of us looks large, but it is actually extremely barren.

They migrated here in June and now it's September, the harvest season. In just three months, if these cattle, sheep, and horses hadn't been scattered around for a while, they probably would have eaten the land bare long ago.

Now, in September, during the autumn harvest, these people are allowed to gather here in order to facilitate the autumn trade.

Beijiwu rode his horse closer to the Tatar settlement, but now the Tatars no longer had the final say here.

After descending from the ridge and traversing mountains and valleys, Beijiwu arrived at the pastoral area, where the nearest tent was less than three miles away.

After walking straight for a few minutes, several herdsmen on horseback came running over.

"who are you?"

The herdsmen spoke to the Arctic warriors in Tatar.

Arctic Martial didn't understand his language, so he pointed directly to the largest tent in front of him.

Before the others could react, Beijiwu continued on horseback.

Five braided herders looked at Beijiwu's mountain farmer's clothes and his short hair.

After exchanging glances, an old man said, "He's from the Shannong ethnic group. Go and call Hatun over!"

A young man immediately said, "Okay!"

The young man rode his horse quickly back to the tribe, while the others followed behind Arctic Warrior, watching him.

Arctic Martial could sense the gaze behind him, but he didn't react.

As you approach the densely packed area of ​​tents, the number of people increases.

Some women with thick waists and round faces, their heads covered, looked at Beijiwu, the young man riding a brown horse.

The herder woman is preparing wool for trading, emptying bales of wool to dry and clean it.

These tasks are done by older women; there don't seem to be many men in the entire tribe.

Once the Arctic Martial officially entered the nomadic people's living area, people quickly got the news and came to see this guest from the south.

After a burly, obese man led his men over and saw the man on horseback clearly, he broke out in a cold sweat and immediately knelt on the ground.

"Chieftain! Kneel down! He is the chieftain! Everyone kneel down! Kneel down!"

The man loudly urged those around him to kneel down, speaking in a language that only Arctic Martial Arts couldn't understand.

The leader of a tribe is the Khan, and the chieftain is a title that belongs to a specific person.

At the man's shout, the men and women nearby quickly knelt down before the chief of the mountain farmers.

The children didn't understand, but the adults nearby pulled them down to kneel down.

Beijiwu rode his horse across the middle of the road. The warhorse seemed unwilling to step on the cotton, until Beijiwu gently touched its belly with his shoe, after which it obediently stepped on the cotton that was in the way.

The people nearby breathed a sigh of relief; the clan leader had no intention of going on a killing spree.

Only after Arctic Wu had gone far away did the people nearby dare to look up and gaze at the horse's tail a few dozen meters away.

"Is he the clan chief?"

People nearby asked in hushed tones.

The man who had just shouted immediately replied, "It's the clan leader! He can kill ten thousand men all by himself! He's the bravest man in the world!"

Beijiwu soon met the person in charge here, a young woman in her twenties.

The woman recognized Beijiwu and immediately knelt down with her maid.

"Clan leader!"

The Arctic cavalryman, mounted on his horse, glanced around and asked, "Ataihai, why are there so few people here?"

Adaihai is the current Khan's wife, in charge of managing this area, and often rides to Tongzhou City, which is seventy or eighty miles away, to handle matters.

"Reporting to the chieftain, the merchants have all gathered at the Nongjiakou market. Because the Khan is attacking the tribes to the west, there are not many merchants traveling this route."

Beijiwu nodded. "I came here to take a look. Since there's nothing going on here, I'll go to Nongjiakou. If anyone's causing trouble, I can take care of them."

Adaihai immediately said, "Chieftain, you must be tired from your journey. Please come into the tent and rest."

Arctic Martial smiled and said, "Do you still have the custom of inviting outside men in to breed? You can give it up. Chaotic relationships between men and women will only bring unhealthy diseases." "混帐" in "混帐的混帐" is an insult, meaning bastard or mixed-race child.

In the resource-poor grassland tribes, there are not many things to offer guests, and since some men cannot get women pregnant, they do not mind if their wives have another child.

Using artificial insemination is quite common in families who need children.

Ataihai did indeed have this intention and was willing to personally host Arctic Martial.

However, Beijiwu really had no interest in these women and refused to lend them to him.

“Yes, Chieftain,” Adaihai said respectfully. “I will obey the Chieftain’s will, just as I accept the mountain farmers’ custom of not marrying their own children. But I want to ask the Chieftain, what should I do after the Khan dies?”

“I will have no right to govern the tribe unless I become the wife of the next Khan.”

Adaihai and many others believe that the people of Shannong are straightforward and honest, saying what they mean and asking questions directly. They are generous and unpretentious.

Arctic Wu is indeed that kind of person.

The problem that had plagued the Adai Sea for more than three months seemed so insignificant in Arctic Wu.

"You will become the first Mountain Farmer's Envoy. From then on, you will be recognized by the Mountain Farmers and will be able to trade within their territory, lead your people to exchange with their cities, and pay tribute to me annually and have the opportunity to meet me."

"This honor will be passed down from you to the wives of each Khan. If a wife dies, it will be passed on to the next wife until a new Khan appears, at which time it will be bestowed upon the wife of the new Khan."

"The Mountain Farmer's Envoy will not be replaced with the Khan. The position will be passed down among the Khan's wives. However, as long as the first Mountain Farmer's Envoy is alive, the successors can only help learn and become one of the members, not the leader."

"From now on, you will act as a respected elder and an envoy for tribute trade with the mountain farmers, coordinating the relationship between the two tribes."

Although this identity as a mountain farmer's envoy is still not as useful as the traditional identity of a mistress, after all, the relationship between husband and wife and the identity of the Khan's woman makes it easier to continue the power.

However, under the strict rules of the mountain farmers, Adaihai accepted their goodwill.

“Yes, Chieftain.” Adaihai continued, “Recently, someone has been stealing our children and selling them to people in Tongzhou. I spoke with the chiliarch there, and they said that once they knew about it, they would no longer interfere.”

Beijiwu said directly, "Take the mother who lost her child to the city to find out who bought your child. Once I've confirmed there's no problem, I'll kill them. I'll handle this personally, but we'll talk about it after I return from Nongjiakou. Is there anything else?"

This made things much easier for Adaihai, as he had found a capable master, which was a great benefit to the entire tribe.

"The feed is not good this year. The grain and feed for winter are much worse. We hope to sell some cattle and sheep to exchange for grain and save on feed."

Beijiwu readily agreed, "Sure, how many cattle and sheep do you plan to sell?"

Adaihai quickly said, "Fifty thousand sheep! We also got another batch of cattle and sheep from other tribes this year, and we also have more than two thousand extra women that we can't use, so we'll sell them too."

The slave trade was common in that era, but people had different attitudes toward theft and plunder.

It is natural to be conquered when you are weaker than others, but stealing and selling other people's children is a shameful act.

Beiji Wu also sold more than 10,000 prisoners from this tribe to the imperial court and made them pay the ransom themselves, so he didn't think much of it.

“Sure, you can have people drive 50,000 sheep from beyond the Great Wall to the Great Wall Guard at Nongjiakou. The Guyuan Grassland there can support 50,000 sheep, and my tribe also manages the pastures there.”

"As for the grain, it's simple. I'll buy 50,000 sheep for 5,000 taels of silver, and 2,000 female slaves for 1 tael of silver each, for a total of 7,000 taels. What do you think?"

The price of 0.1 taels for a sheep is already very fair.

Although it can usually sell for 0.3 taels, that's the normal situation.

Due to the risks involved, the price of stolen sheep is about one-third to one-half of the normal market price and depends on designated channels.

During years of famine, the price of sheep can drop to one-tenth of its usual price.

Now, with goods piling up and unable to be sold, and a year of famine and a lack of fodder, the people of Adaihai cannot feed or sell their 50,000 sheep.

The mountain farmers themselves have more than 100,000 sheep. As long as they don't eat mutton every day, they don't need to use up all those live sheep, and they don't need to buy any.

In ancient nomadic economies, the value of sheep was highly dependent on the stability of food supply; during years of famine, "live sheep were not as valuable as dead grain."

Adaihai is far more familiar with the tribe's situation and its current needs than the average woman.

"Chief, you've given too much! I'm willing to exchange it for 30,000 catties of wool!"

Upon hearing this, Beijiwu smiled and said, "Good, it's a pleasure to cooperate. Although the severe drought in the Northwest this year has caused grain prices to rise considerably, grain prices in Shannong County are very stable. One tael of silver can buy three shi of millet."

"This year I planted four million mu of grain. The wheat alone is enough for me to eat for two years. There are also beans, vegetables, beef and mutton to eat. So I will use 1.5 million mu of millet to store up for next year's food and drink. I will also use more than 500,000 shi of millet produced from 500,000 mu of land."

"If your tribe doesn't have enough food, you can borrow some from me. Next year, in addition to the original amount of food, you can return one sheep for every ten bushels of food you borrow."

"You can buy iron pots and iron knives as you like. Production has increased recently. If you don't have the money, you can buy them on credit. The interest rate is the same as the quantity."

An interest rate of nearly one-tenth of the annual income is already very generous to the people of the grassland tribes.

A thousand catties of grain is enough for a herding family to last until the lambs grow up the following year. Iron knives and iron pots are also necessities for the herders. More importantly, Arctic Wu will also buy wool and mutton from here, and will also make the herders work for him to earn money.

Adaihai had been kneeling on the ground for several minutes. After Beijiwu rode away, he got up and called all the tribesmen, telling them about the benevolence and generosity of the Shannong tribe.

He was powerful, upright, and decisive in killing entire families without hesitation. He was generous and easygoing, and never hesitated to be wary of the Hu people.

Men and women throughout the tribe enjoy trading with the Shan Nong tribe without fear of being cheated. If they are cheated, they can communicate directly with the tribe leader, Bei Ji Wu.

The title of "Guanhua Wang" bestowed by the Wen Dynasty was not only used by the Borjigin clan for a while before they stopped using it and no longer claimed to be a "Guanhua Wang," but even the herdsmen below did not like the "Guanhua Wang" bestowed by the Han people and preferred their neighboring mountain farmers.

The Hu people and Han people fought for hundreds of years, accumulating generations of hatred and distrust.

The Hu people did not trust the Han people, and the Han people did not trust the Hu people.

On the contrary, the mountain farmers had no enemies or bad deeds, and with their strong military, agriculture and political inclusiveness, they quickly attracted the allegiance of both the Hu and Han peoples.

The three meals a day alone are enough to attract countless people.

(End of this chapter)