Volume 4: How big is the heart, how vast is the earth Chapter 120 Hygiene Issues
Every year during the harvest season, Xiao Yun would suffer a small blow, and this year was no exception.
What makes Xiao Yun's heart break the most is the rice. This grain is indeed a fine grain, but it is so delicate that you can't say anything. Not only is it troublesome to take care of it, but the yield is also very low. The yield per mu has always been between 320 and 370. It is obvious that the day when the tribe can eat white rice all year round is still a long way off...
Wheat is doing quite well. In the past two years, we have worked hard on selecting improved varieties and disinfecting wheat seeds before sowing (fish pond disinfectant powder is also suitable for disinfecting wheat seeds before sowing). The yield per mu has exceeded the cursed 400 kilograms and reached an average of 450 kilograms. Of course, there is another more important reason for the yield breakthrough. The earthworm manure has caught up. The grassroots patriarch has brought out a dozen experienced breeders, each of whom is responsible for 20 mu of earthworm beds (3 to 5 mu is enough for humans). The earthworm manure produced even needs to be transported by square-headed hand-pushed shovels made by gray dwarves...
The yield of alfalfa did not increase but decreased. Xiao Yun was quite calm about this. There were a lot more workers this year, but most of them were novices. Apart from other things, the losses during the harvest period were greater than in previous years. Anyway, there were many acres of alfalfa planted, and the yield would naturally return when the raw land was planted into mature land next year.
Sweet potatoes and potatoes are a bit troublesome. Although the rain this year did not cause a disaster, it was indeed more flooded than last year. The accumulated water in the fields could not be drained, and some roots were rotten. After two crops, the average yield per mu was about 5,000 kilograms, which was a level lower than last year... Fortunately, there were more people and more land opened, otherwise the production of vermicelli would be affected.
In addition, the production of pepper trees, peppers, wild taro, vegetables and other crops has also decreased to varying degrees. The market is supported by extensive planting and thin harvests...
So how wide is this “wide”?
Last year, the tribe had only 7,000 acres of land, but this year it has grown to 31,000 acres. The river in front of the tribe flows upstream, and both sides are covered with fields. Even at the speed of the Snow Werewolf, it takes half an hour to walk to the farthest alfalfa field...
Even if there is a slight reduction in production, the harvest is still full and spicy! It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter!
Holding a large brush and dipping it in lime, Xiao Yun painted a row of large characters "Warehouse-37" on the wall of the warehouse. He stepped back to admire his fairly neat handwriting and nodded with satisfaction: "Well, not bad, very standard. I'm the only one who can write so big and so neatly."
Yang Mao, who was carrying the bucket of lime slurry, looked at Xiao Yun strangely and pointed to the lower part of the number 7: "It's obviously crooked here. It's tilted in the wrong direction."
"Don't worry about these details..." Xiao Yun turned around and pulled Yangmao away, "The warehouses have been numbered. Now let's go and number the greenhouses as well. Number the earthworm shed and the planting shed separately to avoid making mistakes..."
"The earthworm shed has a straw roof and tiles, and the planting shed has a glass roof. How could I possibly make a mistake?"
"…What's wrong with you, kid? Who taught you to be so arrogant?!"
"Ayun, you are only two years older than me!"
"It's always bigger than you!"
"Then I'm taller than you?"
Xiao Yun: “…” This naughty kid!
As soon as we walked out of the warehouse area, we met a team that was dragging acorns back from the forest.
The tribe now has no shortage of pig feed. Alfalfa and sweet potato vines are enough to feed the herd of domesticated wild boars, which has grown to more than 900 heads. But there is no reason to refuse the free feed, so after the harvest, Xiao Yun still has to arrange people to drag back the acorns... After all, there are hundreds of thousands of pounds! Pork fed with acorns tastes better!
"Dashui, don't put the acorns into the warehouse. Send them directly to the pig farm. The old pigpen has been converted into a feed storage facility. It will be more convenient to feed the pigs there." Xiao Yun shouted.
Dashui touched his head and said, "Eh? If I want to grind it into powder, don't I have to bring it back to grind it?"
"No need to, just throw it to the pigs." Xiao Yun waved his hand, "In the past, we were so particular because pig feed was in short supply. Now there is no need."
"Okay." Dashui waved back and drove the cows around the corner...
After all, the strength and endurance of the snow wolves could not compare with those of the oxen. After Xiao Yun put a nose ring on the newly grown four-year-old strong ox, everyone became more and more adept at utilizing the ox's power.
After taking Yangmao to number the buildings in the greenhouse area and leaving her to check on her bean sprouts, Xiao Yun took the brush and bucket to the canal, cleaned them and put them away, then ran to check the roof status of the newly built dormitory.
The engineering team is now divided into two busy groups. The main force led by Lan Guo is outside repairing the road to the coal-producing area, and the team led by A Yue is building houses in the tribe, digging sewers, and repairing the trampled paths around the tribe. Both sides have started working at the same time, which has brought great pressure to the goblin quarrying team, Ashan's brick factory, and the cement factory of Chief Huoyan... Uncle Ashan has been locked in the brick factory for several months without going out, and Chief Huoyan can't even take care of his hobby of secretly saving snacks.
But as the saying goes, human potential is forced out. Xiao Yun feels that his Uncle Ashan and Chief Huoyan, who are both silly and cute, have become much smarter in the past six months, and even their temperaments have changed a little... So not only is he not planning to slow down the progress of the project as the weather gets cooler, he also plans to build a large house with floor heating before it snows.
"How big do you want it to be?" After hearing what Xiao Yun said, A Yue didn't even complain about being too busy, but took over the task very straightforwardly.
"It will be the size of a warehouse, about three and a half meters high, and will be built on the land behind the current mobile home." Xiao Yun liked Ah Yue's spirit of daring to take on responsibilities. "Wasn't that originally Thrall's mushroom house? The mushroom house was moved to the greenhouse area, and the place has been empty. We should make use of it to build a larger room. Now our activity room for work meetings is no longer able to accommodate everyone. The new room will be the tribe's meeting room in the future, and any formal activities can be held in it."
Ah Yue had been busy building houses for half a year and was already very experienced. After thinking for a while, she said, "If we want to build such a wide house, we may not be able to find suitable beams and pillars to support the roof."
Nowadays, tiles are more commonly used for roofing in tribes. Tiles are heavier than glass, and the steel frames used in vegetable greenhouses cannot be used indoors where there are frequent activities of people.
"I have discussed this with Baru. Baru is trying to make steel bars. With the steel bars, he can make precast cement slabs, which will eliminate the need for beams and columns to cover the roof." Xiao Yun said.
The gray dwarves have their own complete set of smelting technology, but their process system was formed by long-term enslavement by the dark elves, and they are seriously biased. Take the textile industry as an example. They can make opening machines and textile machines for loosening natural fibers, but they don’t know how to make carding machines for combing animal fibers. Xiao Yun had to rack his brains to recall the drum carding machine. The gray dwarves also have the formula of hard alloys for gem processing and wood processing. They can make the molds for drawing iron wire and steel wire by themselves, but when Xiao Yun proposed to use it as steel bars for concrete buildings and cement prefabricated panels, Baru looked confused in front of him...
Fortunately, Xiao Yun did not plan to build any high-rise buildings on the vast grassland. The required steel bars only needed to be able to withstand a certain degree of tensile stress and have a barely acceptable bonding ability with concrete. This would not be difficult to develop. After Baru understood this, he patted his chest and accepted the task.
A Yue nodded readily in agreement. Xiao Yun patted his arm with satisfaction, turned around and ran towards the livestock area again.
As soon as he saw Xiao Yun appear, Qing Yan, who had just had a chance to catch his breath after a busy day, jumped up, pointed his finger forward, and said with a look of rejection on his face, "I have enough things to do here! I can't take any more tasks!"
"Hey~ young man, don't be so impulsive. Am I trying to cause trouble for you every time I come to you?" Xiao Yun disagreed.
"You are!" Qingyan said firmly.
"..." Xiao Yun changed his tactics, and smiled as he stepped forward to move Qing Yan's claws away. "Don't say that. Qing Yan, you are very reliable, so everyone is confident in giving you more tasks~"
Qingyan's face changed and he turned around and tried to run.
"Where are you running to!" Xiao Yun pounced and grabbed Qingyan's arms from behind. After all, he was a young man from the Snow Wolf Clan in his twenties. How could he lose in terms of strength?
"Don't think I won't beat you just because you're a cub!" Qingyan struggled hard.
"Why do you have to make a move when you can't even talk properly?"
"I'm going to beat someone up, I really am going to beat someone up!"
"Shut up, you are not a warrior yet!"
"Now you are willing to admit that I am a warrior!"
A group of Snow Wolf cubs passed by pushing a cart full of cow dung, and they laughed at the two people who rolled to the ground.
"Ayun is here to play with Qingyan again?"
"Yeah, Ayun only plays with adults~"
Qingyan, who was being held down by a cub with brute force and couldn't really fight back, slapped the ground angrily: "You guys! Who saw that I was playing with him!!"
...Wait a moment.
Xiao Yun sat upright with his legs crossed, and said earnestly: "You are a person who has too much paranoia. What kind of relationship do we have? It's the relationship of sleeping on the same kang for several years. I can cheat others but I can't cheat you!"
Qingyan sat cross-legged opposite him, with his arms folded across his chest, looking at him expressionlessly.
"I'm really not here to add tasks to you this time, but to discuss with you a very important matter that concerns the future development of our tribe." Xiao Yun forcibly ignored Qingyan's attitude of non-violent non-cooperation and said seriously.
"Ah." Qingyan responded casually.
Xiao Yun took it as his agreement and said with a smile: "First of all, I consider that you have been taking care of the children in the tribe for several years, and it is time for you to be freed..."
A vein popped up on Qingyan's forehead instantly, and he had the urge to beat the guy to death on the spot - in this guy's mind, all the anxiety, torment, pressure and torture he had endured in the past few years was just raising a child?!
"We'll discuss this at the work meeting later. I'm letting you know in advance. In the spring of next year, after the spring ploughing is over, I plan to move the gray dwarf industrial zone to the hills." Xiao Yun said seriously, "Originally, we planned to move after the road was repaired, but you know the current situation in the tribe. Although we have a lot more manpower, it's still not enough. It still takes a lot of manpower to transport coal and iron ore. It would be better to carry out the smelting work in the hills to ease our transportation pressure. We don't need that many people to transport only coal for daily use and smelted steel."
Qingyan's heart moved, and he couldn't help but look at Xiao Yun's face. Based on his understanding of Xiao Yun, he had almost guessed what Xiao Yun was planning at this point.
Xiao Yun was very satisfied with Qing Yan's understanding: "It's not enough to just let the gray dwarves go there. We must move some people there. The candidates are still to be discussed. My idea is to let Hongye take the lead. You can work with Hongye to build a new tribal residential area in the hills. This is very challenging. You have to start from scratch. Qingyan, do you want to be responsible for this?"
Qingyan's breathing suddenly became a little rapid...
Xiao Yun said that he was taking care of the children in the tribe, which annoyed Qingyan but he had to accept it... Most of the Snow Wolf cubs were taken care of by him, and he did the odd jobs that the work team didn't have to take care of, from raising cattle and sheep to feeding pigs to raising rabbits, and occasionally helping the work team. His good friend Qiuqiu was already running a woolen mill on his own, but he was still so awkward. It would be hard to say that Qingyan didn't have any thoughts in his mind.
The tribe now has a population of over a thousand. According to the custom on the grassland, it is indeed time to move some people to other places. The tribe's model of growing forage and raising livestock does not require dispersal due to grassland issues, but it is necessary to move some people to open up new areas that maintain close ties with the tribe. This is obviously an opportunity for Qingyan to stand on his own.
When Xiao Yun saw Qingyan begin to fall into deep thought, he knew that his heart was moved - all races are similar. After satisfying the most basic survival needs, they will naturally pursue higher needs for respect and self-actualization. Qingyan led and arranged a large secondary labor force team in the tribe, second only to the engineering team, and was able to gain everyone's respect, but this was not enough for intelligent creatures with gradually rising levels of needs.
Regardless of greed or desire, when people step onto a higher step, they will inevitably see the scenery farther away.
"Ayun...how should this new area be developed?" Qingyan thought about it again and again, but still couldn't refuse. He even couldn't help asking the question that concerned him most...He didn't want to be forgotten by Ayun because he went out to build a new area. He was not so stupid that he couldn't see that the development direction of the tribe was largely influenced by Ayun's will.
Xiao Yun laughed, "Qingyan, you know that the Tiger Tribe has a royal court. We are also developing on the grassland, but we are not going to learn from the Tiger Tribe. We don't have any royal court. We are just like the elves and humans, and we are going to build a city that belongs to us grassland people. The current tribe is the first city, and the hilly new district you are going to is the second city. The only difference is the division of labor. The tribe is fully committed to farming and production, and your new district should focus on smelting and manufacturing. The steel and tools used for tribal construction will be provided by the new district, and the food and supplies needed by the new district will be provided by the tribe."
"It doesn't mean that sending people out to build a new district is the same as splitting into two sides. We are still a family and there is no way we can split up. You can't be independent if you want to. I'll break your legs!"
Qingyan: “…”
It is not sustainable to build a tribe as a single city. Any city needs satellite cities. The hilly new area, which is mainly engaged in smelting and manufacturing, is the first satellite city that Xiao Yun uses as a test site. Hongye is very reliable and Qingyan has strong organizational skills. Xiao Yun feels more at ease to let these two go.
Qingyan stood up angrily and was about to leave. Xiao Yun quickly held him back: "It was just a joke. Why are you getting more and more irritable?"
"It's you!" Qingyan said angrily.
"Okay, okay, we still have to discuss who will take over and continue to take care of the children after you leave. What do you think of Fishbone?"
"I……"
“Ayun——!”
Xiao Yun and Qing Yan turned around at the same time and were surprised to find that it was Xiaohua who was stumbling towards them.
"Xiaohua, you're back?" Xiao Yun greeted them in surprise.
Xiaohua was covered in dust and looked haggard. The sun cloth she was wearing was extremely dirty. She was also extremely tired. After finding Xiao Yun, she sat down on the ground and gasped for breath.
"Not yet. The main group is still far away. The Grassroots Chief asked me to come back early to report the news." After panting for a long time, Xiaohua, whose lips were cracked, finally recovered and said anxiously, "So many people died on the road!"
"What?!" Xiao Yun was shocked.
The busiest time of the year had passed, and the work team had more or less been able to spare some people. Together with the warriors from the five tribes who had arrived one after another, Xiao Yun quickly assembled a support team of more than a hundred people, carrying supplies, medicines, and alchemical potions, and hurried in the direction where the transport team was returning.
Xiaohua was exhausted after running for more than ten hours, but she refused to rest and forced herself to join the team. After resting for a few hours on Xiao Yunhua's wolf, Xiaohua sat up and talked to Xiao Yun for a long time, which made Xiao Yun understand the situation of the transport team.
The trip went smoothly. With the help of the cautious Hongye and Maomao, as well as the mature and steady grassroots chief, they encountered no danger along the way . On the way back, they successfully brought back seven central Snow Wolf tribes.
However, I didn't expect that the problem occurred in the second half of the return journey, or to be more precise, after the temperature dropped.
There is a large temperature difference between day and night on the grassland. When the temperature began to drop at night, the disabled cats and gray dwarves in the team suffered recurrence of old injuries, infections, fever, etc., and nearly half of them died in just one month.
The grassroots chief was frightened and concentrated the warm supplies on the disabled, and only then was he able to save the remaining people.
However, since the temperature dropped to zero degrees at night ten days ago, people in the team began to fall ill again. People continued to suffer from fever, general fatigue, difficulty breathing, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and died one after another!
Xiao Yun broke out in a sweat after listening to this... Xiao Hua was very horrified when she described those people who gradually weakened and died, because she didn't understand why people would become fragile just because their body temperature increased, and why they died inexplicably even though they were not hurt. Xiao Yun probably knew what was going on - they were not used to the local climate and water!
It is not right to say that it is due to acclimatization. The more correct term should be food poisoning. If you are not able to maintain good hygiene habits when you are outside, drinking raw water, and coming into contact with germs and bacteria, you will experience symptoms similar to food poisoning. If you cannot relieve it in time, you will gradually become weak and even die.
People who have lived in the Fire Tribe are forced to improve their personal hygiene, know how to keep themselves clean, and will not easily drink raw water, so they naturally don't worry about this problem; but the Snow Wolf Tribe from the central part has never been exposed to the microbial environment in the southwest, and it takes an adaptation process. Add to that the cooling, the lack of vitamins in the food, and the lack of hygiene, and it would be strange if nothing went wrong...
It took the Huoyan tribe several years to migrate to the southwestern border. The slow migration process also gave the Huoyan tribe time to adapt. If the Huoyan tribe had not stopped along the way, but had clearly set its sights on running towards the southwestern border, then the original owner would probably not have lived long enough for Xiao Yun to travel through time...
Xiao Yun wanted to sigh to the sky... As the saying goes, there is always a loophole. He considered a lot of aspects, but he just didn't think of the problem of adapting to the environment!
It would be strange if nothing went wrong with such a large group of unhygienic snow wolves traveling together, accompanied by large herds of cattle and sheep!
Fortunately, he took into consideration that the newcomers would need to be shaved and disinfected sooner or later, so he brought a special shaving knife and a bag of disinfectant powder...
There were no cattle or sheep to slow them down, and after running for about twenty hours, they saw a huge herd of cattle and sheep. Xiao Yun led the team in to meet up with the grassroots chief, put down the supplies on his back, and without saying a word, ordered his men to light a fire and took out his razor, which was sharpened to a shining light.
Grassroots Chief: “…”
The Centaur Sail and his tribesmen were in charge of looking after the cattle and sheep. When he saw a large group of white wolves entering the team, Sail could not hide his curiosity. He asked his tribesmen to keep an eye on them for him and ran back to see what was going on.
As soon as he entered the tent, Sayre was shocked to find that the dying Snow Wolf patients were being carried out of the tent and placed on the straw mats in the open area. A group of strange Snow Wolf people ferociously took off the patients' clothes, shaved the hair on their heads, and then took out a hot and wet cloth roll from the iron pot and rubbed it on the patients' bodies fiercely...
After traveling together for several months, Sayre had developed some feelings for the Snow Wolf Clan, so he quickly took a few steps forward to see what those strange Snow Wolf people were up to. Due to the Centaur's height advantage, before he squeezed into the crowd, he was shocked to see his friend, the Snow Wolf Clan warrior Ayi...
If it weren't for Ayi's iconic broken arm, Sai Er would have almost failed to recognize his old friend. Ayi's head was shaved clean, and his dark skin was rubbed white. He was being held by the grassroots tribe leader and fed medicine...
"…He has new wounds on his body. He has no hygiene at all. The skin around the wounds is all black. It would be strange if the wounds didn't get infected again. There are also a lot of lice in his hair. How can he keep them well ? The longer he waits, the worse it will get."
Seer looked in the direction of the voice and found that the person speaking was a young cub with his sleeves rolled up. He was mumbling something to the grassroots chief while throwing a pile of messy white hair into the fire.
"Is this related to anything?" The grassroots chief was surprised.
"If you have a good body and good resistance, and the temperature is not too low, of course you don't have to worry. Now that the temperature has dropped, if you have a poor resistance and don't pay attention to hygiene, the cubs, the elderly, and those who have been injured will easily get sick." Xiao Yun picked up the razor, pressed down the head of the next snow wolf, and shaved off a large piece of hair. "This one has an old wound. You couldn't see it just now because it was not cleaned. Now look, there is a big scar on the belly."
"Oh, I wish I had known this earlier!" The grassroots chief gave Ayi some medicine, took the clean suncloth clothes folded aside and put them on Ayi, looking extremely annoyed.
"It's not your fault. I didn't think of reminding you of this." Xiao Yun stuffed the shaved hair into the stove made of stones, pinched his chin and fed medicine to people, "There's another person here to help with the dressing. Who has time?"
"Me, me!" A Yan had been standing there for a long time, scratching his head. When he heard the call, he immediately raised his hand.
"You... Damn it! A Yan! How come you are so dirty? I almost couldn't recognize you. Stop making trouble and go wash yourself first."
"...I just didn't wash my hands these days." A Yan finally noticed his own black claws and put his hands behind his back embarrassedly.
"Stop talking nonsense and go wash your hands while there is plenty of hot water!" Xiao Yun shouted.
Ah Yan squatted aside dejectedly...
Saier outside the crowd: "..."
The hundreds of people who responded, together with Caogen Hongye and others, quickly washed dozens of patients, fed them medicine, dressed them, and arranged them to recuperate in clean and ventilated tents. The uninfected Snow Wolves watched the whole process with curiosity. They saw that the breathing of those who were washed and drank medicine began to ease, and some even woke up and said a few words. They were very surprised...
Xiao Yun settled the patients, turned around and looked at the dark faces with sharp eyes, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly: "Okay, the rest of the people come over one by one to shave their heads, disinfect them, and wash them!"
A cub squatting in the front row was stunned. He instinctively realized that something was wrong and stood up to run, but Xiao Yun caught him nearby: "Come on, you first, cubs first."
"Ah - I don't want it!" The cub was anxious. Although it was fun to see others being rubbed hard, he didn't want to experience it himself.
"I want it!" How could Xiao Yun tolerate a bunch of black mud men with the heads of the Beggars' Sect hanging around in front of him? He held down the younger cub without any explanation and drew his razor.
Some of the surrounding Snow Wolf tribe members finally understood what was going on and quietly got up and tried to escape.
"Catch them!" Xiao Yun shouted.
Hongye, Yu and others who were used to receiving orders rushed over subconsciously.
“Ahhhh!”
“Ahhhh!”
“Don’t run!”
“……” The Centaur Cel silently stepped back a few steps, and then a few more steps.
