Volume 1: Farming Chapter 30 Healthy Eating is Very Important
The Tauren already had a rough concept of water conservancy. They lived in the high triangular area above the river. They dug two upper and lower ditches to draw water from the river to the fields and around the tribe for irrigation. They also had the idea of using ponds to store water.
In the lower south part of the tribe, less than two kilometers away in the entire southwest and southeast, there are large tracts of swamp forests. Further south, the rushing water of the Earth River that nourishes the entire southern grassland has washed out all kinds of bizarre terrain to form river banks and mudflats that stretch as far as the eye can see. Whenever the weather turns warmer, a large number of migratory birds will inhabit the vast mudflats. This seemingly magnificent mudflat may become the bottom of the river on a flooded summer day. Under the soft mud may be a deep underground water pool that has existed for thousands of years, a place that even the Tauren dare not approach.
The swamp surrounded by woodland was far more dangerous than the flooded mud swamp outside the Snow Werewolf Tribe, and was used as a natural barrier by the Tauren. When Xiao Yun brought Qin and a group of Tauren women to the swamp to collect mud, Saladin's wife Qin smiled and pulled Xiao Yun, gently but firmly not allowing Xiao Yun to get close to the swamp.
The women of the Tauren can indeed be described as gentle, although they are all of particularly large build, their skin is as thick and tough as cowhide, and their appearance is terrifying... but compared to the female Snow Werewolves, they are indeed very intelligent and delicate, possessing the unique maternal radiance of women, and their thick fingers are also quite flexible - the Tauren weave their own linen, and every adult female Tauren has weaving skills, and is good at retting flax and spinning.
In addition, female Tauren are extremely strong and powerful... They can do everything that males can do, and they are more patient than males.
More than ten meters away from the swamp, the hard frozen soil on the surface was dug up to obtain the thick black mud that had been fermented for who knows how many years. It was mixed with the loess dug out from the fields, added with wheat straw and rice straw (the Minotaur grow both wheat and rice), and water was added to mix it. The air in the soil was stepped out, and the soil was stepped until it was very fine. It was then thrown into a wooden brick mold to form a brick, poured out, and placed in an open place to dry.
While waiting for the mud bricks to dry, Xiao Yun taught Qin and the Tauren women she led how to choose a location to build a house, how to dig foundations, how to mix earth and cement, and how to use auxiliary lines to ensure that the mud brick walls were built straight. This communication process was easier than teaching the grass and the river. Although it was a bit hurtful to their self-esteem, the Tauren did seem to be smarter than the Snow Werewolves... There was nothing they could do about it. They had already entered an agricultural civilization, and agricultural civilization required more planning than nomadic civilization. If they had acted recklessly and given up treatment, they would have starved to death long ago.
Because the average tonnage of the Tauren is even more exaggerated than that of the Minotaur, the weight of the women is estimated to be over 120KG, and the tonnage of the men is at least 150KG. The mud brick kang cannot withstand their damage, so Xiao Yun taught them how to build a fireplace indoors with mud bricks. The area where the Tauren live has more abundant water resources and large tracts of woodland, so they don't have to worry about fuel issues and don't have to be as frugal as the snow werewolves.
In a week, a model house with mud brick walls, complete doors and windows, a fireplace (this time Xiao Yun remembered to add a chimney), and a roof made of wood and straw was built. The whole Tauren tribe was shocked...
Mud brick houses are always warmer than wooden houses. After the fire burning in the fireplace increased the indoor temperature, the Tauren, young and old, who came to watch the fun walked back and forth indoors and outdoors curiously, feeling the stark difference in temperature inside and outside the house. Each of them had an extremely ferocious expression of excitement on their face. Many of them played the piano on the spot, hoping to learn the technique of building this kind of mud brick house. They didn't mind the rather unbearable appearance of the mud brick house at all - the so-called beautiful wooden house full of romance is cold in winter and hot in summer, and everyone who has lived there knows why.
Xiao Yun was pushed to the outside by the minotaurs' buttocks. At first, he was worried that the minotaurs would rush up and hit the wall that had not yet dried. After climbing onto the minotaurs' shoulders, he saw that everyone was very careful and didn't dare to touch them, so he felt relieved.
"Tauren are still the best." After getting down from the bull's horns, Xiao Yun sighed again... If he had traveled through time to a Tauren tribe, it would have saved him a lot of trouble.
Niu Jiao looked at him with a silly smile: "Ayun, you are really amazing. You can teach the minotaurs to build houses. In the past, the minotaurs taught us how to grow beans, but we have never taught the minotaurs."
Xiao Yun looked at Niu Jiao lovingly for three seconds, raised his hand and patted his strong arm: "Okay... I can't leave you guys behind."
Niu Jiao: “???”
At this time, Saladin used his butt to push away the tribesmen who were watching from the three layers inside and outside, squeezed out a gap and rushed out of the crowd. When he saw Xiao Yun, he immediately rushed over and spread his arms.
"——Shit!" Xiao Yun had a bad feeling and took a side step to escape.
Suddenly, Saladin grabbed him with his thick and long arms, hugged him like a doll, and hit his shoulders and back with his big hands like a palm leaf fan, and a series of muffled sounds of bang, bang rang out...
"Cow, cow horns--" Xiao Yun struggled and stretched out his hand to his tribesmen for help.
Niu Jiao stood there with his hands on his hips, smiling, showing him two rows of big white teeth with canine teeth.
"Alpaca——" Xiao Yun spat out a mouthful of blood, not knowing whether it was because of the bull's horns or because of Saladin.
Saladin let go of Xiao Yun and spared his life only after he almost beat him to death. He grabbed Xiao Yun's shoulders with his big, thick palm and patted his chest with the other hand: "Ayun, you are our Tauren's eternal friend." After a few days' rest, the elder's language ability seemed to have recovered.
"..." Xiao Yun weakly spat out half a mouthful of blood. Brother, being your friend is really a dangerous job.
The grassland people need food, clothing and housing as the three major necessities. Xiao Yun solved the housing problem of the Minotaur in one fell swoop by exchanging iron tools with the Minotaur, and was able to win the Minotaur's friendship for sure... The fire pit like a ground stove in the wooden house (a pit dug on the ground in the middle of the house with a fire burning in it) has a great fire risk. The Minotaur worked hard to dig hundreds of meters of deep canals to bring water from the river to the tribe because they had the painful experience of fires caused by burning fires for heating; the warmer mud brick houses and fireplaces that can safely make fires have greatly improved the Minotaur's living experience.
Then, Qin also processed the mud brick house... She laid a layer of wooden boards inside and outside the walls, which made it more beautiful - walls covered with only a layer of mud and cement were indeed a bit ugly, but the Tauren had no shortage of wood or tools for processing wood, so they could pursue visual enjoyment.
Xiao Yun, who has become a guest of honor among the Minotaur and is more popular than his own family leader Huo Yan, is still faced with the problem of continuing to rely on the Minotaur for free food and drinks... Qingyan has not returned yet.
However, there are really not many options that can be offered in terms of technical exchanges. The Tauren have experience in breeding and selecting seeds, and they also know how to dig black mud from swamps and mud from riverbanks to fertilize the fields. The food they grow is not only enough to feed more than 200 big eaters in the tribe, but also can provide support from time to time to deal with several neighboring tribes that are begging for money, as well as the residents of the underground world who come to beg from time to time... Unless Xiao Yun can dig up a fertilizer mine or immerse himself in researching natural pesticides here with the Tauren, he really can't provide help in farming.
As his thoughts came and went, Xiao Yun turned his attention to the minotaur's diet.
Thanks to their awareness of water conservation, the Taurens can grow rice and wheat as their staple food, but they don’t seem to be particular about food… They still eat wheat mixed with a small amount of rice, and wheat rice, which modern people regard as a health-preserving food, is really unpalatable! It’s so unpalatable! It gets stuck in the throat and the neck, and only those who eat it know!
The Tauren also have a mill made of two stones, and they can make pasta... But what kind of pasta is this? It's just wheat flour with bran, mixed with water, kneaded into a dough, and then baked and eaten...
…There may be people who claim that natural unleavened bread can be used to maintain health. However, if you lock that person up and make him eat unleavened bread three times a day, he will definitely call the police.
Xiao Yun didn't have time to slowly figure out the technology to make a water-powered mill to grind fine wheat flour for the minotaur, but it was simple and easy to teach the minotaur to make fermented pasta. While building the mud brick house, he took a pottery jar to hold dried cheese to make yeast liquid, asked Qin for some wheat flour, kneaded it into the yeast liquid, fermented it, and then kneaded it into small balls of yeast. Now, he had to eat for a few more days to see how effective the yeast was.
The mud brick house had to be left for a few days to dry thoroughly before it could be put into use. Qin and Saladin still lived in the original wooden house. When Xiao Yun brought yeast to the door and said he wanted to teach Qin how to make better pasta, Qin once again showed the ferocious and shocked expression that everyone knew...
...Well, there's nothing we can do. The Snow Wolf is famous for not being picky about food and eating everything. Their food culture is close to zero. No wonder the Tauren, who calls himself a "grassland gourmet", is shocked...
Xiao Yun didn't waste any words. He taught Qin how to use yeast to ferment the dough, and how to use wood to make a square steamer that could be placed on top of a pottery pot to steam the dough. Then he steamed a pot of fluffy dough...
On earth, the Chinese are the first and longest people to use steam to cook food. In the Song Dynasty, there were mature steamed pasta snacks sold on the streets, while the Western world ate pasta baked in the oven until modern times. In modern times, many sheepdogs criticize steaming and elevate baked food, but the reality is... the superiority of steamed pasta is far beyond that of baked pasta. In an era of backward medical conditions, high-temperature steam can completely sterilize pasta, so baked pasta loses miserably.
Qin, who had eaten steamed dough cakes for many years, changed her expression when she pinched the soft steamed cake. She blew on it and took a bite of it, and the expression on Qin's face became even more interesting.
One issue that modern people tend to overlook when talking about time travel is dental health. Why was it so difficult for common people in ancient times to become adult beauties? Because common people ate relatively coarse food that hurt teeth. Over a long period of time, their teeth were severely worn out, and their facial features and jaws were inevitably deformed... No matter how naturally beautiful a person is, they can't beat an unbalanced face and a crooked chin, right?
In the backward era without dentists, if your tooth was rotten, there was no place to go for root canal treatment. In other words, you either had to find a way to extract the rotten tooth or just suffer...
The grassland tribes are in the same predicament. No matter how healthy the snow wolves and minotaurs are, they cannot use their strong physique to save a mouthful of rotten teeth, especially the minotaurs who rely on high-starch and high-sugar vegetarian food. Not to mention the elderly, even young and strong women like Qin will occasionally have trouble eating wheat rice and chewing bread because their teeth are unable to do so.
The steamed buns were made by fermenting the wheat flour to fully bring out its wheat aroma. They had a natural sweet taste and did not feel hard or tough like baked buns. Qin ate the buns in a few bites and immediately looked at Xiao Yun, who provided the fermentation and steaming technology, with a sharp gaze. She slowly opened her arms...
"Here we go again!" Xiao Yun immediately wanted to get up and run away.
It was still not warm, and before he could stand up, Jyn's arm had already grabbed his head and pressed him into her chest, which was as strong as her pectoral muscles and only slightly softer than Saladin's. She slapped his shoulders and back with a palm that was not much less powerful than Saladin's...
"...Puff!" Xiao Yun tried to hold back, but still couldn't help the sweetness in his throat...
Then, he was carried by the overjoyed Qin to go to every household to spread the homemade yeast and fermentation technology...
The chief knew the importance of keeping a trump card for his own tribe. While staying in the Tauren tribe to eat and drink for free, he would not let his tribesmen leave his sight to deal with the Taurens except for the horns. After all, Ashan knew how to make pottery, and Hongye and Ayue were often coaxed by Ayun to help. Even if both parties had no intention, who knew when they would lose control of their mouths and reveal the development plan of their own tribe?
Well, Niu Jiao really didn’t need to worry about anything, so he was very free. When everyone else was locked up, he was playing around in the Tauren tribe...
After seven or eight days of eating and sleeping, even the obedient Ah Shan couldn't stand it anymore. He ran around in the small courtyard for a long time and then rushed back to the house and looked at the tribe leader pitifully: "I really can't stand the boredom anymore. Why don't we go out and hunt?"
The patriarch looked at him expressionlessly, then turned his gaze out the window, still staring at the place where the gray dwarves lived.
"Ouch~~" Ah Shan was helpless and rolled on the ground...
"Don't shout. It's because you always make this kind of noise that the gray dwarves over there are always afraid to come out." The patriarch said with disdain.
Boredom makes people think too much. Ah Shan's brain was so full of energy that he quickly got up and asked, "Are we waiting for the gray dwarves to leave the Tauren tribe and then capture them?"
"Uh... no, we are waiting for Qingyan." The clan leader looked reluctant. Ashan actually became a little smarter, catching the clan leader off guard.
Hongye, who had no bone arrows to sharpen, came over silently, folded his arms across his chest, looked out the window for a while, and then looked at the patriarch.
——You and Ayun like to stay at the window and look over there when you have nothing to do, so you are indeed plotting something?
Hongye stared at the patriarch silently with deep eyes.
The patriarch silently looked away.
"Why do we want to catch the gray dwarves?" A Yue, who was also bored, spoke up.
The clan leader… The clan leader was so worried that he was scratching his head. Ah Yun, everyone has seen it, how can I hide it? !
By the way, with the snow werewolf as a neighbor, the gray dwarves next door were really scared.
People who make a living on the prairie know that they should try to maintain friendship with the Tauren. After all, if your tribe encounters an accident and is about to starve to death, only the generous Tauren will be willing to give life-saving food. The gray dwarves, who came up from the underground world, can gain a foothold on the prairie and avoid starvation or being captured as slaves, because they have more or less received help from the Tauren.
The tribes on the grassland look down on the weak and easily perishable human slaves, but the gray dwarves who are relatively easy to feed will take action against them - especially the tiger tribe. As the owners of the grassland royal tent, the tiger tribe regards all outsiders who are not allowed to enter as their slave reserves... If a gray dwarf accidentally enters the tiger tribe's territory, he will basically not be free for the rest of his life.
In addition to the tiger tribe, larger cat tribes and even large-scale human caravans would capture the gray dwarves as slaves... They had to avoid the tiger tribe, cat tribe, and areas where human caravans might pass through, so you can imagine how narrow the living space of the gray dwarves was. It was impossible to own pastures, and grazing was impossible. If they wanted to survive on the grassland, the gray dwarves could only hide and mine minerals, smelt farm tools, and then trade with the tauren.
It’s sad to talk about such living conditions, but it’s much better than the underground world - the war between the Dwarf King and the Dark Elf Mistress in the underground world lasted for hundreds of years, and the small tribes of Gray Dwarves and Black Dwarves would be cannon fodder no matter which side caught them.
This group of gray dwarves came to the Tauren tribe to complete the transaction after the snow melted but the ground was still frozen in order to avoid other tribes. They never expected to meet snow werewolves in such an unpopular trading period... So this group of gray dwarves did not dare to leave the Tauren tribe even after exchanging food. They hid every day and waited for the snow werewolves to leave first. This group of gray dwarves had never dealt with snow werewolves, but they could not prepare for the snow werewolves' reputation for fighting power... Their ferocity was second only to that of the tiger tribe, and it would be strange if the gray dwarves were not afraid of them.
"Baru, haven't those snow werewolves left yet?"
Baru, the gray dwarf who was leaning against the window with half of his head sticking out, turned around and saw Charles, the youngest of the tribe, sitting up, holding his stomach and looking at him with a pale face.
Compared with other peoples of the grassland, the gray dwarves are quite small, with an average height of about 1.4 to 1.5 meters. They are quite strong horizontally, but their size disadvantage is irreversible. Not to mention compared with the snow werewolves, even small cats can easily beat them.
"Charles, is your stomach still uncomfortable?" Baru left the window and walked to where the tribesmen were sleeping on the floor. He squatted down and looked at them with concern.
"...On the way here, I shouldn't have eaten the carrion left by the wild beasts just because I was so hungry." Charles frowned , cold sweat dripping down his cheeks. "I think I can't hold on any longer, Baloo, so let me leave first. We can't let the minotaurs drive you all out just because there is a patient among us... If the snow wolf people chase me, you can leave in another direction."
Baru fell silent. Charles had been suffering from diarrhea for several days and could no longer hide it from the Minotaur. If everyone was driven out by the Minotaur because of Charles, Baru had no confidence that he could lead his people to escape the capture of the Snow Werewolves. After all... when they came to the grassland, the goblins they met by chance had warned them not to easily provoke the Snow Werewolves, who were more powerful than the cats.
Charles is Baru's nephew, and Baru is unwilling to abandon him no matter what, but... turning his gaze to the other tribesmen in the house who were looking over, Baru really couldn't bring himself to ask everyone to take risks for his nephew.
This tribe of gray dwarves who escaped from the underground world to the grasslands has experienced sacrificing compatriots to protect more tribesmen too many times. Charles himself proposed the sacrifice, and the leader Baru could not object, and naturally the other tribesmen would not say much.
Charles struggled to get up, put on his bag, said goodbye to his tribesmen one by one, and slowly walked out of the house where he had been stuffy for several days, leaning on a walking stick made of tree branches.
The Tauren all went to work, and only some young Tauren cubs were playing in the tribe. Charles walked out of the yard, looked back at the wooden house where he had lived for several days, waved to his fellow tribesmen again, retracted his gaze, and walked firmly out of the tribe.
Fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea, pus and blood in the excrement... these symptoms made Charles slowly despair after the initial fear. He knew that the rotten meat he ate without controlling his mouth would cost him his life this time. Before he completely lost his ability to move, he had to go as far away as possible, delay the greedy snow werewolves a little longer, and buy more escape space for his people.
Baru only took two glances at Charles who was walking out and forced himself to look away, urging his people to pack up their bags and the food they were going to take back as quietly and quietly as possible... Those snow wolves also valued their friendship with the Tauren and would not take action too close to the Tauren tribe. This was his only chance to lead his people to escape.
"Huh? A gray dwarf came out!"
"Why is there only one person?"
"Hey, he went outside?"
Inside the wooden house where the snow wolves were staying, the other snow wolves stared at each other in confusion.
"Why does he look unhealthy? Is he sick?" Ashan guessed.
"Why would the gray dwarves let the sick people come out on their own?" A Yue asked in confusion.
"Oh, he really went out, alone!" Ah Shan was surprised, "How could this be? Could it be that the gray dwarves drove him away because he was sick?"
"Huh?!" Ah Yue looked at Ah Shan in disbelief, then at the tribe leader, "They actually drove away a sick member of the tribe? Are the gray dwarves such a race?!"
The chief stared seriously at the lonely gray dwarf who had walked out of the Tauren tribe and turned into a smaller dot. He then looked at his tribesmen and said in a deep voice, "It seems that this group of gray dwarves have abandoned their people."
Hongye clenched her cheeks, while Ashan and Ayue showed annoyed and puzzled expressions. Abandoning fellow tribesmen was extremely unacceptable to the Snow Wolf people, especially those who were unhealthy and had lost the ability to protect themselves. What was the difference between this and killing fellow tribesmen?
The chief said seriously: "Since they abandoned the tribesmen, then we will pick them up. Our tribe even managed to support Thrall. Gray dwarves are stronger than humans, so of course we can support him as well."
"I'll bring him back. The gray dwarves don't want him, but we want him." Hongye said angrily, without even walking out the door, she jumped out of the window.
"I'll go too." Ashan followed.
Baru, who was deeply saddened by the departure of his nephew, suddenly saw two snow wolves rushing out like the wind, passing in front of the yard where they lived, glaring at them with vicious eyes. He was so scared that his body went limp and he almost slipped. Fortunately, the two snow wolves did not cause them trouble but left quickly, which allowed Baru to barely stand firm. However, the next second, when he saw the direction the two snow wolves were running, he lost the strength to hold on and fell to the ground.
"It's over... These snow wolves didn't give us a chance to escape... Charles' sacrifice was meaningless..."
