Volume 3: Fellow villagers, let’s farm together~ Chapter 80: Seeing the Essence Through Phenomena
The Fire Tribe is about 400 kilometers away from the Tauren Tribe in a straight line. Note that it is a straight-line distance. You have to take detours when walking there, because although the general terrain of the grassland is flat, there are many rivers, streams, springs, and swamps. No matter how stubborn you are, you can't make it all the way there.
In winter, when the snow freezes, the road becomes much smoother because everything is covered by a two-meter-deep layer of snow... Especially in late winter, the snow on the surface is still soft, but the bottom is as hard as rammed earth, and you can cross rivers and swamps directly...
Well, of course, you still have to go around the woods if you encounter one, especially don't get close to big trees, otherwise even if you are two meters tall you will be welded by the snow pits around the trees, and you won't be able to get out without anyone to rescue you.
The speed of a Russian dog sled can reach 30 kilometers per hour. If the snow werewolves pull the sled, the average speed is 70 kilometers per hour, which is also less tiring than running at ordinary times. They set out before dawn. Mumu pulled for the whole morning and Xiao Yun pulled for the whole afternoon. When it got dark, the group saw the tribe where the minotaurs lived.
The enthusiastic minotaurs immediately led the group of people who were frozen into idiots into a mud brick house with a kang. Qin, who had a very good relationship with Xiao Yun, brought hot water and food to welcome everyone, especially the food. They also knew that the snow werewolves would be very hungry after being transformed for so long, so they cut the smoked jerky into pieces and cooked two large pots, added bean sprouts, green vegetables grown in the room with floor heating, leeks, and pickled radish slices, and fed Xiao Yun and Mu Mu, who were so hungry that their stomachs were full.
After Xiao Yun recovered his breath and wiped his mouth, he took out a large jar of maltose and a small glass bottle of honey from the sled... It's not that he was stingy, the bees rely on honey to survive the winter, and his family doesn't have much surplus food.
The focus is on malt sugar. The Tauren grow a lot of rice, and after teaching them how to build houses, malt can be produced in winter. As the saying goes, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. Xiao Yun came to teach them how to make sugar... He himself was embarrassed to take advantage of the Tauren, so he couldn't stand the Tauren using cheap sugar to feed the caravan at the expense of wool.
"So that's how it is, sugar can be made with rice and malt!" Qin cupped her hands happily and immediately went to gather all the Tauren women in the tribe and asked Xiao Yun to teach them how to make sugar - Xiao Yun said he had something else to do and couldn't stay here for too long, so of course it would be best to have more people come to learn together, so that there would always be someone who could learn and make sugar successfully.
Sugar is hard currency. Homemade maltose is sweet but not greasy, and unlike the sugar sold by the caravan, it does not contain many impurities. After trying the maltose in the jar, Xiao Yun was once again trapped in the vast sea of tauren women...
After the women happily went back to their homes to ferment malt, Xiao Yun finally freed himself to lie down and take a nap... Fortunately, he had cleverly taught the minotaur how to build a house and a kang. If he had still been forced to sleep on the cold floor in this kind of weather, it would have been the end of him.
The next day, Xiao Yun, who came specially in the middle of winter to teach the sugar-making skills, was personally received by the clan leader Hall. There was a kang and a fireplace in the clan leader Hall's house. Sitting in front of the fireplace burning cow dung and drinking warm goat milk was quite a pleasant experience.
Then Xiao Yun stared at the cow dung burning in the fireplace for more than half a minute... He had burned cow dung in his own tribe before, so why did it feel weird to burn it here?
Chief Hall's smile was ferocious but kind. Qin, who was sitting beside him, translated with a smile: "Chief Hall said that he is very grateful that the Snow Wolf people did not forget to care about us in the cold winter, but it is indeed dangerous to go out in this weather."
Xiao Yun... to be honest, he still couldn't accept the Tauren's communication style. He put on a professional smile and said, "Actually, I mainly wanted to come out to see how other Snow Wolf tribes are doing during the winter. Our tribe has only moved here for less than two years, and our understanding of the surrounding areas is limited to the grassroots tribes not far from our tribe. So I wanted to ask Chief Hall about the surrounding situation."
The right person to ask for help on this matter is the Tauren... The Hall tribe is the Tauren tribe closest to the southwest corner of the grassland. No one knows better than them how many races live in this area and how many tribes each race has - because every year or every other year these tribes come to them to extort money.
For example, now Saladin did not stay in the tribe, but took people out to deliver food to a small cat tribe... The advantage of being no more than a hundred kilometers away from the Tauren tribe is that even if the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled cannot go out, the Tauren will still deliver the food if someone comes to report the news.
Chief Hall understood what Xiao Yun meant and stared at him in confusion. Qin's expression was also a little strange.
Xiao Yun stared at the two of them for a while before realizing that the Minotaur's saint was not a brainless saint. They would also be on guard against the tiger tribe's behavior. He slapped his thigh and said, "Hey, it's not what you think. We, the Snow Wolf tribe, are not the Tiger tribe. We will not attack others!"
Anyway, the Hall Tribe knew very well that the Fire Flame Tribe had started farming, so Xiao Yun did not hide it from them and briefly reported the development strategy of the Fire Flame Tribe: In simple terms, the Snow Wolf Tribe also wanted to develop like the Tauren and gather more tribesmen to farm together.
If the Snow Wolf tribe adopts a nomadic lifestyle, the tribe can't feed many mouths. If they switch to farming, not only will there be enough food, but it will also be more than enough. For example, this year's harvest of 700,000 kilograms of wheat, 500,000 kilograms of soybeans, and 50,000 kilograms of rice can support twice as many people, so the Fire Tribe hopes to contact those tribes that are not doing so well...
Of course, it is unreliable to ask others to merge with you right away. This is no different from the practice of the white people on Earth who rushed to the mainland with guns and shouted "open the door, free trade" as bandits. So Xiao Yun proposed not to merge before the trust between the two sides reaches a certain level, but to help each other in other ways. For example, the Fire Flame Tribe took advantage of its geographical location close to the sea to trade with a new human caravan, and solved the food shortage problem of some Snow Wolf tribes by hiring manpower with food.
As for trying to catch some more gray dwarves or something like that... Xiao Yun wisely didn't mention it. The Taurens from other Snow Wolf tribes were so wary of this, so he'd better not do anything stupid - the reason he was able to take Baru and the others away smoothly back then was because Hongye and Ashan rescued Charles, otherwise the Tauren wouldn't have been pretending to be invisible all this time.
Xiao Yun had never looked down upon this bunch of stupid people. He first stated his ultimate goal, and then explained the relatively gentle and non-confrontational compromise communication and contact method to achieve this goal. Chief Hall's expression soon eased.
"Chief Hall said that we can help you contact the Snow Wolf Tribe in the western region." Qin stared at Hall for a while and translated diligently, "We hope that there will always be peace between the tribes west of the grassland, and no tribal-scale conflicts will occur."
These words were still relatively mild, but after Xiao Yun listened to Qin's translation, an image of a cow-headed monk wearing a cassock, holding a Zen staff in his left hand and a rapier in his right hand appeared in his mind. He looked majestic and had angry eyes: Amitabha, if there is no peace, you will go to hell!
...With the stubbornness of these bull-heads who dared to challenge the tiger tribe head-on and forced the tiger tribe to take a step back, Xiao Yun had no doubt that these guys could do it...
Peaceful development is what Xiao Yun needs most at the moment. The Tauren have expressed their desire for peace in such a clear-cut manner, so how could Xiao Yun not quickly follow suit? He immediately hit it off with Chief Hall - he didn't care what Chief Hall's intentions were, as long as he had decided to raise the Tauren's banner of peace!
If there is a conflict with anyone, Xiao Yun will definitely drag the Minotaur out first... ahem, he will definitely tie his own position together with the Minotaur's peaceful position.
So Chief Hall sent two Tauren warriors to lead the way and take them to visit the surrounding Snow Wolf tribes - to lead the way and also to monitor. Chief Hall did not fully believe in the purpose of these people contacting other Snow Wolf tribes, and the two brothers sent were each stronger than the other.
Moreover, the Snow Wolf Man pulled the sled, and the Tauren could also pull the sled. There were also some food and frozen cabbage piled on the sled, which was also to bring warmth...
Qingyan didn't dare to waste time on the journey any further. He wrapped himself in animal skins and sat together with Mumu and Qiu. Xiao Yun pulled the sled and followed the sled of the tauren warrior in front of him, running in the snow. Even though Xiao Yun was not a warrior, he could see that the tauren were indeed extremely powerful. How could the tauren who couldn't transform, with his thick thighs and funny big hooves, run faster on two legs than him, a transformed snow werewolf?
It turns out that the Snow Wolf Clan’s disadvantage in speed is no joke!
Ten days later, Xiao Yun and his companions, whose faces were thickened by the wind, returned to the tribe. They rested for two days before they recovered - the fat layer that they had built up after two years of eating and drinking was completely lost in these ten days. They suffered a lot!
Of course, this suffering was not in vain. Xiao Yun had a rough idea of the topography of the southwest corner of the grassland. The iconic landmarks that could not be covered by heavy snow were also drawn on the scroll. The most important thing was that he was no longer completely in the dark about the southwest corner of the grassland:
In the relatively barren southwest corner of the grassland, in addition to their own tribe, there are six other Snow Wolf tribes. The nearest tribe is actually 40 kilometers northeast of the Grassroots Tribe, but because the area is usually covered with vast swamps and forests, it is impassable in spring, summer and autumn, so the two sides have lived side by side for so many years without knowing that they have a neighbor...
In the southwestern corner of the grassland, which is as large as at least half of the province, the scattered Snow Wolf tribes are as inconspicuous as the few sesame seeds that unscrupulous merchants stingily throw on the big cake to make up the number. The largest tribe has a hundred people, and the smallest has sixty or seventy. Because they have been operating in this area for a long time, they are not as impoverished as the Fire Tribe two years ago. At least they have the scale of the original grassroots tribes - there is no need to worry about eating well, at least they will not starve to death and new babies can be born.
One of the tribes even took in a dozen goblins, who lived quite well thanks to their ability to find tuber food and the large forests surrounding the tribe. When Xiao Yun and his companions arrived at the tribe's home under the guidance of the Tauren, the tribe treated them to the sweet potatoes that they had "raised" around the forest... Xiao Yun speculated that the goblins must have discovered the naturally grown sweet potato vines that had sprouted from the guano of large birds, and the goblins, blessed by the snow werewolves, had intentionally cultivated these severely degraded sweet potatoes, relying on the humus layer provided by the forest... However, they had no awareness of drainage and fertilization, so the crops were rotten in some places, and the starch content was quite high.
No matter how these tribes were living, the salt and jars of maltose on Xiao Yun's sled were the most popular gifts. After throwing out the gifts and offering to hire some warriors with food next year, these tribes agreed quite readily - the Tauren were still worried that they would be cheated, and the generally stupid and cute Snow Werewolves were simply unaware... This made Xiao Yun feel very complicated.
If the tribe living in the south closest to the sea was not them, and if Carlisle and his companions encountered another Snow Wolf tribe after landing, Xiao Yun was really worried that some Snow Wolf people would be foolishly deceived by that funny knight Dan Claudy and run away to a foreign country to be someone else's mount... It really makes me angry just thinking about it! !
After finishing this matter, the tribe returned to the state of overall literacy and learning progress. In addition to Balk who was locked in the chemistry experiment, Hongye and Yu were also added to the group who needed to make up for the extra time - the hired warriors and the warriors of the tribe would have to rely on these two to lead them when they go out in the future, so how could they not teach them to be smarter!
Therefore, after Hongye and Yu read the story written by Xiao Yun on the bark paper with others , Xiao Yun would take them over to teach them the "story" behind the story - Lan Guo, Cao Gen, Qing Yan, Da Shui and Qing Cao would accompany them as auditors.
"Uh... Snow White wants to run away because if she doesn't run away she will be bullied by the queen? " Yu stuttered.
"No, this is just a superficial story. We can't just look at the surface. We have to see the essence through the phenomenon. Maomao, think about it carefully again." Xiao Yun shook his head.
The sweat on Yu's forehead trickled down his temples. He held it in for a long time before he said, "So... Snow White doesn't want to be used by the Queen?"
"Well, there's something. Let's continue." Xiao Yun pointed.
"Uh... the nobles in the kingdom support Snow White. Even if the queen usurps the throne, she cannot be deprived of her inheritance rights... so... so..."
"So if Snow White is under the control of the queen, then the nobles who support her may be won over by the queen in the name of justice before she succeeds to the throne. She cannot compromise and can only fight hard." Hongye reminded.
Xiao Yun looked over with a sharp gaze and said, "Hongye, you can't influence him. Let him think for himself. What he comes up with is his."
Hongye closed her mouth.
Yu had a sad face, his eyes were dull, and his whole body was empty... The few people who were listening in on the class were also frowning and thinking hard. Although Ayun would not ask them questions, they couldn't help but think about how they would answer if they were the ones being asked the questions.
Xiao Yun had no choice but to remind him again: "Hongye's answer has her reasons. Although you can't copy her answer, you can refer to her ideas. There are always multiple ways to solve a problem. Before actually trying, we can't say that there is a standard answer to solving a problem-"
"Hmm..." Yu swallowed hard. As a warrior who could spend his life patrolling and hunting diligently, being forced to learn the absurd "understanding" of depth and intensity was simply a death sentence for him. "In that case... uh, is it because the noble supporters of the kingdom support the old king and Snow White, and the queen murdered the old king? In order to gain as much support as possible, Snow White must support her... If Snow White compromises, it means she has acquiesced to the queen's ruling status?"
"That's right—" Xiao Yun clapped his hands. "The key to the royal family's ruling power lies in the royal family. The queen does not naturally have the legal right to rule. Only when the royal family supports the queen can the queen sit on the throne. This is not a family dispute between a stepdaughter and a stepmother, but a life-and-death contest about the right to rule. Therefore, as Snow White, who has received a royal elite education since childhood, she cannot compromise on this position..."
In Xiao Yun's magic adaptation of the story of "Snow White", the escaped Snow White did not run to the forest to be taken care of by the seven dwarfs, but took the opportunity of holding a birthday party to invite seven nobles, and with the help of the seven nobles, she moved away from the castle that the queen controlled...
What follows is a struggle between the princess who wants to use the seven nobles to fight for power with the queen, the nobles who want to curry favor with the next ruler and use this to ascend to the throne, and the queen who wants to kill the princess...
Xiao Yun, who uses a modified dark fairy tale to forcibly instill the worldview that human nature is evil into his people, does not shy away from the essence of the power struggle at all. He wishes he could explain to everyone how sharp the double-edged sword of power is.
"Let's take an analogy. If Chief Huoyan suddenly died, and before he died, Huoyan designated Hongye as the successor, but you, Mao Mao, are supported by the grassroots chiefs and are eligible to compete for the next chief, then Hongye must compete with you... Then, who of you two can take the position? The support of the tribe members is particularly important. How do you get their support?"
With a "puff" sound, the grassroots chief who was listening in burst into laughter.
"Hongye said that I would uphold the principles of the Fire Chief and listen to Ayun, that is, my advice, so that the tribe would continue to be strong and grow. And Mao Mao would say, I am ten years older than you, and I also know the importance of Ayun, that is, my advice. After I die, I will transfer the position of chief to Ayun."
"At this moment, in my opinion, that is, in Ayun's opinion, there is actually not much difference between Maomao and Hongye taking over the position of the Fire Tribe. It was also Maomao who proposed that he might die ten years earlier than Hongye..."
Hongye and Yu were stunned...
Xiao Yun analyzed the situation and changed the subject: "... However, there is another problem that cannot be avoided. Both of you can speak very nicely when you are trying to gain support, but what will happen after you two succeed as clan leaders and outlast the grassroots clan leaders who are already older and have the same say as you? If you are greedy for power, after the grassroots clan leader dies, you choose your own people to take over, or simply become the sole clan leader yourself. At this time, no one can restrict your power, and you can completely kick away the person who affects your authority, that is, me..."
Hongye and Yu were sweating profusely, and the horrified eyes of the people who were listening kept turning to them.
"How can I, who has just come of age, compete with one of you who has already controlled the tribe for many years? I have two choices now. One is to find a way to kill you, and the other is to take away some of the tribesmen who trust me and start a new tribe. Anyway, I am still young, and I still have time to build a new, prosperous tribe in ten years..."
Hongye and Yu's faces turned pale, and the frightened eyes of the people who were listening fell on Xiao Yun.
"At this time, a new problem has arisen." Xiao Yun's expression remained unchanged, and he continued to evolve his hypothetical situation. "If I murder you like the queen, obviously, this matter of life and death will cause a stir in the tribe. No matter how well I cover up, there will still be some people who don't trust me, become alienated from me, or even fear me. With people's hearts scattered, even if everyone is still willing to listen to me in the future, the execution efficiency will be reduced, and it will even be difficult to execute the things I arrange, because it is impossible for everyone to unreservedly believe in me who will kill you without hesitation in order to fight for power. Everyone will worry that I will dislike them at any time and harm them."
“……”The grassroots chief was simply stunned!
"If I take a group of people away and start a new tribe, that would be the best option for me. However, our tribe would be split and our strength would be diluted. Both those who stay and those who leave would be weaker than ever before, and their ability to resist risks and attacks would drop by more than half. If an external force intervenes at this time, both sides would be at the mercy of others because of our reduced strength."
"The conclusion is that when those of us who have the opportunity to compete and pursue power become selfish, no matter how carefully we make choices, as long as we consider the issue only for ourselves and our own interests, our actions will inevitably cause harm to everyone in the tribe."
The entire audience trembled...
"Back to the story itself, the queen wanted to seize the old king's ruling position and murdered him, which shocked the whole country and alienated some nobles. Snow White was unwilling to hand over power and fought with the queen, which caused the nobles in the kingdom to split again... At the end of the story, forces from other countries intervened, supported Snow White and killed the evil queen. It seemed to be a very perfect ending, but... Was Snow White's ruling power still pure at this time? Her country was intervened by other countries, and her prestige did not even come from the support of the people, but from the support of other countries. Is this a good thing for the people?"
"No." Hongye and Yu said in unison and raised their hands to wipe the sweat off their face.
Xiao Yun smiled slightly: "So, as a collective, as a whole, whether it is our tribe or the kingdom in the story, if we want to grow bigger and stronger, we must be united and take the interests of the collective as the first priority. Everything else must give way. This must be our common will. These words are not only shouted to us as managers and the people we lead, but also to ourselves. Because people like us, who are relatively more capable and have greater destructive power to the collective, once our selfishness outweighs our public spirit, then no matter how beautiful our words are or how great our contributions have been, we will become the most harmful pests to the tribe as a whole."
"So we need to understand how scary the power struggles in the outside world are, how destructive they are, and learn to understand them thoroughly. This is not only to prevent our tribe from suffering losses when dealing with external forces and to see through the essence of those surface phenomena, but also to warn ourselves not to do such stupid things."
These words made everyone, who were frightened out of their wits, nod their heads in unison... Although what Ayun said was so much, so profound, and so complicated, and they still needed some time to fully understand it, everyone could feel Ayun's sincerity.
Looking at the people who were trying hard to absorb new knowledge, Xiao Yun felt relieved. Not being afraid to talk about power and human nature is the truly sincere way of getting along with others. Taboos and avoidance can make people not say it verbally, but they cannot make people not do it in private. Everyone has selfishness, and not acknowledging the existence of selfishness is deceiving oneself. The correct approach is to limit selfishness to a range with less influence and destructive power.
Xiao Yun has seen too many wrong examples on Earth... Parents who are clueless want their children to be innocent and pure, but also want their children to have built-in cheats to avoid bad guys and not get hurt; they want their children to listen to them, but don't want their children to be easily cheated by outsiders, and the result is that their children are driven crazy; men who are as realistic as can be, who are into prostitution and cheating, hope that women are all simple and stupid love-brains, and when they find that women are not so easily fooled and still have to be realistic, these men pretend to be hurt and say something like "the stupidest thing about me is that I believe there is love in the world" - Xiao Yun doesn't even want to complain about these crappy things, and paying more attention to them will reduce his IQ.
Winter has already passed for a hundred days. In another thirty or forty days, the heavy snow should stop. Before the snow stops, Xiao Yun has to hurry up and train all the silly tribesmen... They must not be easily coaxed away! The people outside are all pigs!
