Don't disturb my farming Chapter 59...Wait a minute!
The remaining snow on the ground had not yet melted, but the Snow Wolf Tribe had already launched a vigorous campaign to reclaim the land.
Dozens of one-ton pure iron triangular shareboard plows pulled deep plow lines on the land on the south bank of the river. The fine steel plowshares that had been forged through thousands of hammerings penetrated deeply into the hard soil layer due to their own weight leaning back from the plow body. When the plow body was pulled, the rough, burnt soil layer was dug up and overturned by the neatly arranged plowshares. The withered and blackened ground surface turned into a uniform dark black color as the plow body was dragged along, as if it had been painted with a brush.
The sturdy crooked oxen can pull the heavy plow, and so can the snow werewolves that transform into wolves. Large areas of land that have been abandoned for years are turned over, clods of earth and weeds are cut and broken, and insect eggs and grass seeds hidden in the soil are ruthlessly turned out to be baptized by the cold wind in late winter and early spring.
"If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools." Xiao Yun stood by the river, looking around the land reclamation site with a refreshed look. The labor force was less and the efficiency was much higher than last year. "It's also good that we can't find the tractor technology tree to develop a moldboard plow. Looking at the situation, our manpower is more than enough to open up this land."
Before burning the wasteland, everyone had already picked up the rocks on the exposed surface of the south bank. Now they were all piled up on the river bank. The Grassroots Chief sat on the ground and panted. Hearing this, he wiped his sweat and said, "But our soil is not fertile enough. We can't apply as much fertilizer here as we did on the original fields."
"It doesn't matter. Even if we plant a lot but get a little, we won't lose much. We need to plow the land well, add basal fertilizer, and repair the canals that need to be repaired. The rest is up to fate." Xiao Yun said. With such good black soil and such convenient water resources, even if we can't cultivate it carefully, we can always get 1,500 kilograms of alfalfa per mu, and the soybeans can't be lower than last year. Alfalfa and soybeans can fertilize the fields. After planting for a year or two, this piece of raw land will become cultivated land. At that time, we can plant wheat or divert water nearby to cultivate paddy fields. It won't be a loss.
Adult werewolves pushed the crooked oxen to pull the plows or went up to pull the plows themselves, and the cubs followed behind to pick up the gravel that had been turned over. A few gray dwarves also came to the scene on standby, and they could go forward to repair any plow that had problems... After all, the plow body was cast in a "small workshop" and the plow blades were hand-cast, so there was no way to expect standardization or precision. The five plow blades lined up on a moldboard plow might have screws with different numbers...
The group that were resting by the river bank recovered their breath and came down to replace their tribesmen. Hongye turned into a wolf and jumped over to replace the ox horn that was sticking out its tongue.
There is no division of labor during the busy farming season. All those who have the ability to work have to contribute. Even the four of Cao Gen who raise earthworms have to take turns. Naturally, Niu Jiao has to leave his beloved kitchen.
Not all the ground on the south bank is very flat. While the area near the river is being cleared and leveled, on the other side, Lan Guo's engineering team is working with the gray dwarves to flatten the hills of varying heights and fill in the gullies created by the water.
Since the goblins and caracals could not help with such heavy physical labor, they took on the responsibility of cooking and delivering meals to the tribe. When the time came, this group of little guys, with an average height of 1.4 meters, worked together to carry iron pots and ceramic bowls across the simple wooden bridge to deliver the meals.
With the accumulated experience from last year, this year's land reclamation work was generally quite smooth. The most troublesome thing was that when we were transporting the plow across the river, we found that the wooden bridge built last year could not support it, so we had to rely on the Snow Wolves to carry the plow across the river...
It took about half a month to open up a total of 320 large fields (about 3,200 acres) on the south bank. The remaining snow melted completely, and the weeds in the fields sprouted crisp tender shoots. Even though we couldn't tell the solar terms without a calendar, feeling the temperature rising to more than ten degrees, we knew that spring ploughing was about to officially begin.
Alfalfa must be sown early. Last year, Xiao Yun reserved three large fields (30 acres) of alfalfa to plant until it bloomed and bore fruit. The seeds saved from harvesting the pods came in handy now. The snow wolves and gray dwarves applied base fertilizer to the newly opened alfalfa fields, and the sowing work was done by the caracals and gray dwarves. The snow wolves once again carried the heavy plow back to the north bank and deep plowed the fields that had been planted for a year.
Xiao Yun worked non-stop to count the fields on the north bank and estimate the seeds. He took time out of his busy schedule to find Hongye and Ashan and told them to go to the Tauren tribe to ask for rice seeds.
"We will exchange pottery with them. We don't need a lot of seeds, just a few hundred acres of rice seeds will be enough."
Xiao Yun handed Hongye two sets of painted pottery bowls and pottery cups that he had painted during his free time in winter, and reminded her, "Remember to ask the minotaur about the details of growing rice. The more detailed the better. Remember it well and come back... I know how to grow wheat, but I don't know how to grow rice. Also, ask the minotaur if there is any way to kill the pests in the fields without harming the crops. If the minotaur has a way to kill the pests, ask them for advice and learn it if you can."
Hongye nodded. She couldn’t rely on Ashan for this matter. She had to work hard.
Xiao Yun thought for a moment, and then said, "If you need it, go find Qin, the wife of the Minotaur Sage Saladin, and teach her how to use the alkaline water extracted from wood ash to make dough..."
Hongye blinked and said with a sudden inspiration: "If the minotaurs are in trouble, then don't bother with their chieftain, the wise man, and go find Qin."
Xiao Yun gave a thumbs up. As expected of Hongye, his comprehension ability was perfect!
After seeing Hongye and Ashan off, Xiao Yun continued to devote himself to endless work - Lan Guo's ability to work on his own did relieve a lot of his pressure, but now there are more people and more things to do in the tribe, so he is still busier than last year.
Hongye and Ashan traveled light and brought back the rice seeds in half a month... Hongye stayed in the Tauren tribe for five days to learn the rice planting techniques of the Tauren. They also brought back the pest control techniques of the Tauren - a vine that looks similar to the commonly used vine grass, but has a ring-shaped pattern of the same color on the skin, and blooms small yellow flowers in spring, summer and autumn.
"Qin said this is called snake vine. Collect the petals of this snake vine, dry them, grind them into powder, and soak them in water. Soak a handful in a large bucket of water, and spray them on the fields to get rid of some insects." Hongye, with a frosted face, drank half a pot of soup in one breath. After she recovered her breath, she quickly poured out what she remembered. "Saladin said that rice seeds should be planted later than wheat, and planted when the weather is warm. Before planting, the seeds should be dried first, and then a piece of land should be chosen as a nursery when the daylight is long as a seedbed for seedlings... Frogs should be caught in the rice fields, and a gray, ugly bird with a round and flat mouth should be found in places with mudflats, and raised in the rice fields..."
Xiao Yun quickly took a charcoal pencil and wrote down Hongye's hard-earned experience. The more he wrote, the more he felt something was wrong - why did it sound so familiar? Could the minotaurs and the Chinese be interdimensional relatives?
Hongye talked for more than half an hour, pouring out all the knowledge she had memorized for five days. She suddenly seemed to be exhausted and had to lean on Ashan to sit up straight.
Xiao Yun put away the scroll that recorded his experience and turned back to look at the snake vine: "Did Qin tell me where to find this kind of vine?"
Before Hongye could say anything, Ashan said, "We encountered this on the way to the seaside to boil salt. It was the place where the water had soaked all the trees, but the surface of the water was still very beautiful. There was a huge area around it!"
Xiao Yun didn't react for a moment.
Hongye straightened her arms to support her body: "I said Ayun didn't remember either. We don't remember seeing this kind of snake vine."
"It's true. A Yue even caught a snake there, and that night A Yun roasted snake meat for us to eat!" A Shan slapped his thigh anxiously.
Xiao Yun only vaguely remembered the incident when he heard about snake meat. He did remember that there was a large patch of yellow flowers where Ah Yue caught the snake. He took a look at it at the time, but found that it was neither chrysanthemum nor rapeseed, so he ignored it... Now when he thinks about it again, he can't remember whether the yellow flowers were on the vines or grew in clusters.
"Uncle, do you really remember? The yellow flowers there grow on this snake vine?"
"Oh, it's this kind of flower growing on the vine, and it's exactly the same as this one!" Ashan was very angry and slapped his thigh again.
Xiao Yun and Hong Ye looked at each other, then at A Shan. Both of them had very strange expressions... A Shan was definitely not someone who would talk nonsense, but how could he remember it so well after just a quick glance? !
"Well...Uncle, do you remember the rice-growing experience that Saladin taught Hongye?" Xiao Yun asked tentatively.
"How can I remember such a long story!" Ashan said confidently.
"Uh...should rice seeds be sown earlier or later than wheat?" Xiao Yun pretended to ask Hongye, his eyes looking at Ashan.
"Late sowing." Ashan said, "Sowing rice seeds when the weather is warm, airing the seeds before planting, picking out those with incomplete grains, and choosing a nursery bed in a place with good light..." He said a lot, repeating some parts in more detail than Hongye. After he finished speaking, he looked at Hongye and said, "Did Saladin say this at the time ?"
Hongye looked at him with a dull face.
Xiao Yun also looked at him blankly.
"Uncle, if we have six steamed buns and you and Hongye share them, how many steamed buns can each of you get?" Xiao Yun swallowed.
"Hmm..." Ashan lowered his head and counted on his fingers.
"Uncle, do you remember when we were in the Tauren tribe last year, you and Hongye chased Charles back. What clothes was he wearing at that time?" Xiao Yun asked again.
"It was a squirrel skin coat with a belt at the collar, and rabbit skin pants. The rabbit skin was not processed well and had several holes in it. Later, you, Ayun, threw them into the fire and burned them." Ashan reported it immediately.
Xiao Yun & Hong Ye: "..."
"Ashan, Qingyan gave you two wild fruits, I asked you for one, and you gave one to Ayun. How many wild fruits do you have left?" Hongye asked.
"Uh..." Ashan lowered his head and counted on his fingers.
"..." Hongye turned to Xiao Yun with a dazed face.
"..." Xiao Yun had no expression on his face.
"You have such a good relationship with my uncle, but you don't know anything about his characteristics?" Xiao Yun looked at Hongye in disbelief.
"...If you insist, does it count if Ashan can recognize the prey he failed to catch after a few years?" Hongye said with a twitch of his mouth.
…Both of them were speechless.
Xiao Yun pinched his thigh. What was the point of them planning so hard and making Hongye squat there to memorize for five days?
"I've given you all the fruits. I don't have any more." Ashan spread his hands innocently and looked at the two of them.
Xiao Yun felt a mouthful of blood stuck in his throat... My dear uncle, my dear uncle! I can't be angry, I can't hate him for not being able to make up for his shortcomings!
Skipping Ashan's memory talent, which seemed powerful at first glance but seemed useless, Xiao Yun selected a team from the busy farming army to harvest the insect-killing snake vine. According to Qin's instructions, the flowers of this snake vine are harvested in batches, and can be harvested in spring, summer and autumn. They bloom once every thirty days, and the effect is the same whether they are withered or in bud. They are highly toxic and will itch and hurt if they come into direct contact with the skin. Eating a flower raw can kill a human being... They must be harvested and dried with leather gloves. A handful of dried flowers can be used to spray an acre of land with water.
Qiu, Qingyan, A Yue and A Shan took on this important task... Qiu and Qingyan were responsible for picking flowers, A Yue, who was more conservative, was the bodyguard, and A Shan was responsible for leading the way and serving as a bodyguard.
Well, cat's claws are more flexible than wolf's claws. If the other adult caracals were not warriors, Xiao Yun would have wanted to send more caracals over.
Carrying five days' worth of food, the four people set off on their journey with no one to see them off - everyone else was so busy that they really didn't have the time to play a farewell game.
Ashan transformed and took the three of them on board. After a day of jogging, they found the yellow flower field... Ashan may not be considered to have intelligence, but he still has fighting instincts and hunting instincts. If he knows the direction, he will not get lost and can instinctively find the nearest way.
This patch of yellow flowers was quite overbearing. The snake vines growing close to the ground occupied the growth space of other plants. No green could be seen wherever there were yellow flowers. Ashan put the three people down, changed back into human form, took out the snake vine sample in the leather bag and compared it with the vines growing close to the ground with yellow flowers, with his chest puffed out.
A Yue, Qing Yan, and Qiu: “???”
"I told you there are snake vines everywhere here!" said Ashan.
"Ah, what else?" The three looked confused.
Ashan: “…” He was very discouraged. He silently put on his shorts and trousers, put on leather gloves made from caracal cubs, picked up the leather bag, and picked yellow flowers with the three others.
The yellow flowers of the snake vine have no fragrance. Although they bloomed quite luxuriantly, they did not attract bees or butterflies. Instead, there were many snakes of all sizes shuttling back and forth between the vines. When picking flowers, Ah Yue remembered the snake meat that Ah Yun had roasted last year. When a snake swam to her feet, she caught it, twisted off its head, and threw it outside where the luggage was piled.
Qiu, who was the most skillful, was the first to pick up all the fruits. When he came out to change bags, he was almost shocked. He turned around and shouted, "Don't catch any more, Yue. There are already so many. You can't take any more back."
"It's okay, Qiuqiu, we can roast it and eat it." A Yue said.
"..." Qiu had a blank expression on his face. So his name was forcibly changed, right?... But Dashui at least had the same name as the cub, he didn't have the same name as anyone else!
The bag he brought was half full, and it was getting dark. He found a place to block the wind, built a fire, and set up an iron pot. Ah Yue actually gutted the snake he caught, cut it into pieces, pierced it with a wooden stick, and roasted it by the fire...
When spending the night in the wild, not everyone can sleep so soundly. Someone has to stay to keep watch. After A Yue and the other two fell asleep, A Shan put on his longbow and walked out of the temporary camp to patrol the surrounding area.
There are wandering magical beasts on the grassland. Some top-level magical beasts, such as the Snow Wolf, have to flee at the sight of them. They have to guard the camp and wait for those wandering magical beasts to approach before waking up others, but it will be too late then.
There are large patches of snake vines nearby. There are not many insects around, and naturally there are no disturbing insect chirping sounds. Apart from the sound of his own footsteps, the only sound in the world is the occasional roar of beasts coming from the distant jungle, which makes Ashan look back to the west from time to time... If this place was near the tribe, he would definitely run around there to see if he could catch a big one.
While patrolling slowly in the second half of the night, Ashan suddenly heard an extremely subtle sound, as if there were iron objects colliding.
“…Huh?”
Ashan squatted down and listened carefully. A gust of wind came from the southeast. This time he clearly heard the sound of "clang" of metal clashing.
Most of the merchant ship weapons picked up at the seaside last year were destroyed, and now a small part is still standing. Ashan had a long sword tied to his belt, which was broken and turned into a dagger. He was very familiar with this voice, and he immediately squatted down, hid in the grass, tiptoed on the ground, and dived briskly in the direction where the sound came from.
The further southeast they went, the more frequent the sounds of metal clashing became. When Ashan quietly climbed up a mound, hid behind a rock and looked down, he was surprised to find that there were actually quite a few people!
Human!
Fellows of Thrall!
Upon closer inspection, these people did not look much like Thrall. They were fatter and stronger than Thrall, and were dressed much better than Thrall.
...Well, what Thrall wore was provided by the Snow Werewolves. If you say it's rustic and ugly, then it's true...
From a distance of five or six hundred meters, Ashan, who had good eyesight, saw two groups of humans fighting each other; one side was wearing neat metal armor and had a large number of people, while the other side was wearing all kinds of clothes and had very few people. However, the side with fewer people seemed to be the one with the advantage, and was suppressing the side with more people.
Ashan looked curiously for a while. It seemed that the humans with more people could not hold on any longer and began to retreat. A protected person in shiny clothes seemed to shout something loudly, and a group of people retreated hastily to a distance.
Those humans who were wearing all kinds of clothes stood there, and when the large group of people walked away, they also left in a hurry.
The two groups of humans left in the opposite direction of their temporary camp. Ashan lay there motionless, waiting until both sides were out of sight before jumping out and running to the place where they were fighting.
The vegetation was trampled into a mess, and there were many bloodstains on the ground and weeds. Ashan sniffed, showed his claws, bent down and dug the soil to cover the bloodstains... At night, the smell of blood would be carried far away by the wind. What if it attracted some troublesome big guys!
After volunteering to clean up the battlefield, Ashan continued his patrol. After dawn, he handed over the shift to Ayue, and then found a place near Huanghuayuan to lie down and sleep.
After collecting for the day, the bags they brought were mostly full. After another day of collecting, they could pack up and return to the tribe. When it got dark, they returned to the temporary camp with big rocks to block the wind. A Yue continued to roast snake meat, Qing Yan and Qiu rubbed each other's waists, and A Shan took out the enoki mushrooms wrapped in leaves and added them to the pot. Suddenly, the four warriors who were busy with their own things turned their heads and looked in the same direction.
"Human smell?" Qingyan said with a sniff.
"There's also a faint smell of blood," Qiu frowned.
Ah Shan found that the smell seemed to be those people he saw last night, so he quickly grabbed the longbow and jumped up: "Qingyan and I will go over and take a look, Ah Yue, you and Qiuqiu watch the things."
"Huh?" A Yue was stunned.
"I was patrolling last night and saw two groups of humans fighting in the southeast. This was one of them. They were armed and very fierce." Ashan explained. The snow wolves rarely encountered humans except for caravans, so there was naturally no hatred, but Ashan remembered that they would fight each other and blood would be shed.
A Yue recalled the capture of the elven merchant ship at the seaside last year, and nodded to A Shan to show that he understood.
Qingyan jumped up and ran after Ashan, curiously: "Why are there humans here? Caravans don't go this way? Did they fight?"
"Well, there was blood over there, and I was the one who went to bury it." Ashan said.
"They don't cover up the smell of blood? Are they seriously injured?" Qingyan was surprised. Unless they were seriously injured and powerless, who would expose the smell of blood?
"It doesn't look like he was seriously injured? I don't understand either." Ashan asked puzzledly.
Ashan was very fast, and Qingyan was even faster. The two ran one after the other for more than two minutes, passing through a small sparse forest, and then they ran into humans walking towards their temporary camp.
The group of people were still a hundred meters away from the grove, and seemed to be hesitating whether to go through or go around. They looked up suddenly and found two fruit men, one black and one white... uh, half-fruit men, rushing out of the woods. Several short exclamations rang out immediately.
"T-this is an elf? No, not an elf, but a cat?!"
The woman in the team, who was wearing a long robe, riding boots and a strange pointed hat, shouted in surprise and joy: "Great, we found the grassland tribe!"
"Wait, it seems that only one of them is from the cat tribe." The man wearing half-body armor and carrying a shield stretched out his hand to stop his companion, and his puzzled eyes swept back and forth between Ashan and Qingyan, "The black one is from the cat tribe, and the white one... the ears of the cat tribe don't seem to be like this?"
As soon as Ashan and Qingyan came out, they found that these humans were not hostile, but the smell of blood on them was indeed very strong. They looked at each other in confusion... If it was a caravan, it would be fine, they all knew how to deal with caravans, but these humans obviously didn't bring a convoy to load goods.
At this time, the man with a shield on his back, who was about the same height and build as Ashan, stepped forward and waved at the two men. "Hello, we are mercenaries hired by the merchant group to find new trade routes on the grassland. We have no hostility. Can we talk to you?"
Ah Shan put down his hand holding the longbow and tilted his head: "What do you want to do?"
"We are looking for the grassland tribe. Of course, we are definitely not the enemy. The people who hired us hope that we can find a grassland tribe willing to trade." The man smiled harmlessly and took a half step forward cautiously. "Can I come closer to talk to you? I'll come alone."
Ashan looked at Qingyan blankly.
"..." Qingyan knew that Ah Shan was slow to understand things, so he had to take over. "Okay."
The human man walked a few steps forward with a smile on his face and approached the two. Although he acted very naturally, Qingyan still found that this guy's body was intentionally leaning towards him, with his left elbow slightly facing outward, as if he was on guard against Ashan...
"My name is Dan Claudy, and I'm the leader of this mercenary group. We're here to help our employer find a grassland tribe to trade with." Dan smiled sincerely and enthusiastically, "Our employer is a very reputable merchant group in the human kingdom, and can provide more abundant goods than the current grassland caravans... But the bad thing is that apart from the current grassland caravans, almost no humans have ever set foot in the heart of the grassland, so we are unfortunately lost... I'm so sorry, can I ask your names?"
Qingyan stared at the man for a long time, then looked at the other humans waiting behind him who were constantly peeking over here, and felt that this group of people - didn't seem to pose any threat!
Military force? It is impossible for such a small number of humans to threaten the Snow Wolf Tribe!
Brain power? A certain cub flashed through his mind... Even the green dragon was defeated, Qingyan really didn't think these people could gain any advantage.
After thinking for a while, Qingyan nodded and pointed at himself: "My name is Qingyan, from the Black Panther Clan." He pointed at Ashan who looked confused, "Ashan, a Snow Werewolf."
"Snow werewolf!" Dan Claudy's face changed drastically, he was extremely shocked and horrified, his eyes immediately glued to Ashan.
Ashan & Qingyan: “???”
Then Qingyan saw that this man had become shorter for no reason, his back was bent, his chest was hunched, and he was servile and fawning. He had a cunning and fawning smile on his face. He took out an exquisite bag embroidered with gold thread from his half-body armor several times before he pulled it out. He held it under Ashan's nose with both hands. His eyes seemed to want to skin and bone Ashan and eat him up. He did not hide his naked desire at all: "My name is Dan Claudy, a knight of the kingdom, the first heir of the Claudy family, young, rich, and strong... Mr. Ashan, are you willing to be a knight's lifelong partner? I swear, I will treat you more dearly than my wife, my children, and my father!"
Ah Shan: “???”
Qingyan: “…” Wait a minute!
