Volume 4: How big is the heart, how vast is the earth Chapter 99 The Snow Wolf Tribe Chooses to Create
Selina and others stayed in the tribe for about twenty days. During this period, the Snow Bird, a unique "carrier pigeon" of the Snow Elves and a large bird in the form of ice crystals transformed by magic, came three times to convey the opinions of the Snow Elves' Imperial Army Headquarters and brought supplies for trading. They were rich and could take away any cargo, no matter how heavy it was, with their space bracelet. Xiao Yun was very envious. After exchanging three tons of porcelain, 100,000 kilograms of vinegar, and more than 2,000 kilograms of sauces, Sergeant Selina took the recovered Yarlin and Gilbert, and dragged the reluctant Xiu and Ed, and set out on the journey home.
After seeing off this group of "wealth gods", Xiao Yun immediately organized an engineering team to coat the vegetable greenhouses with aluminum silicate… During the long winter of at least four months each year, it is enough to grow a crop of high-starch crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes, and also to grow seedlings for spring sowing. The greenhouse is undoubtedly the first priority, without a doubt.
The "delivery room" dedicated to pregnant and giving birth livestock must also have a share. The livestock in the pen can give birth at least twice a year, and it is possible to give birth in winter. This aspect of work cannot be neglected.
Any surplus will be allocated to the breeding farms of grassroots clan leaders...
In the end, Xiao Yun had the little aluminum powder that he had saved blown into fibers by the Balkron workers, and woven into thermal blankets, which he distributed to the soldiers who had to go out on patrol in the snow and the work teams that were going to transport coal and iron ore... Xiao Yun arranged all the three tons of roughly processed aluminum powder in clear locations, without leaving a single bit.
After finishing this, Xiao Yun continued to work on firing the kiln and preparing porcelain for trading after the spring. The tasks of brewing vinegar, soy sauce and sauces can be handed over to the working team. He has not yet trained a successor for porcelain firing... The snow wolves cannot do such delicate work, so people have to be drawn from the cat tribe. Qingyan, who can lead a small team, is too busy to do so. Yugu and Rosemary have not graduated yet, so he cannot let go of this task.
As for Leopard Xia, well... this guy is indeed very ambitious, but his temper has not been mellowed yet. Xiao Yun is very worried that if he lets him do it, he will probably "issue orders once he has power", and after he has finally taught him a good lesson, he will go back to his old ways.
"In which century are the most valuable people all talented people?" Xiao Yun sighed, rolled up his sleeves and led a group of cats to play in the mud...
While Xiao Yun was happily playing in the mud with the cats, in the Samal Snow Mountain, Sergeant Selina from the Fourth Corps of the Second Division of the Imperial Army was recalled to the royal city to meet the Elf King.
"My king."
Sergeant Selina was a little excited to return to her old duty place. She calmed down a little when she saw the king himself in the castle on the top floor of the royal city. She saluted respectfully with her hand on her chest.
"Selena, was it your team that found the green dragon Balk?" The Elf King, who was sitting behind the desk, put down the Travels of the Bard Continent in his hand and cast a calm gaze on his former bodyguard.
"Yes." Selina didn't expect the Elf King to remember her name. The excitement that she had just suppressed surfaced again. "Lord Balk has been staying in the tribe of the remnants of the Cursed Land. I have observed him for 23 days. Lord Balk has been getting along well with the tribe and has not oppressed or coerced the remnants of the tribe."
The Elf King clasped his hands lightly in front of his abdomen and was silent for a moment before speaking: "What kind of person is the leader of the Fire Tribe that has contact with the forest elves?"
"Huoyan, the snow wolf, is a serious, calm and upright chief. I have met him four times. Although I have not had the opportunity to meet him, I can see that he is a wise man who is highly respected by his people and cares about them very much." Selina said without hesitation, "As the chief, Huoyan sets an example by treating weak races well. I think this is the main reason why the Huoyan tribe can ignore racial barriers and take in green dragons, as well as humans, cats, gray dwarves, and goblins."
Selina, who saw with her own eyes the leader of the Fire Flame holding the caracal cub and feeding it, was very determined... Well, it's not her fault. Unless you have long-term close contact, Fire Flame's big square face and dull behavior pattern are indeed quite deceptive...
The Elf King nodded. The fact that he could win such an evaluation from Selina showed that this tribe of Snow Wolf survivors was indeed unique. But even so, the Elf King still wanted to ask Selina, an eyewitness, more in-depth questions. He did not want to see a second tiger tribe appear in the cursed land.
"My king, I believe that this Snow Wolf Tribe will not become a Tiger Tribe. They do not capture slaves nor rely on slavery to build the tribe. From what I have seen with my own eyes, everyone, including the Fire Chief and the borrowed green dragon, has to undertake a certain amount of work every day, from morning to night without a break, without exception."
Selina laughed heartily and relaxedly at the Elf King's doubts, and did not hide her admiration for the Flame Tribe. "The Snow Wolf people believe that their own hands are more reliable than anything else, and they do so. To be honest, this trip has given us a great shock. This Snow Wolf tribe, which originally had only more than 30 people, actually built houses and reclaimed farmland in the cursed land with their own hands. After taking in the remnants of other tribes, they are more aware of expanding their homeland and repairing the rivers that may destroy their homes..."
After recounting what she had seen and heard in the Fire Tribe, Selina sighed, "The Snow Werewolves who had lost their heritage did not give up hope. They chose to explore a new path of development on their own to pursue the revival of their tribe. Having seen the home they built bit by bit with their own hands, I have no doubt that they have regarded the Cursed Land, no, the grassland, as their hometown, and have regarded the construction of their hometown as the most reliable way to revival."
The Elf King couldn't help but chuckle. This young warrior was still at an age where he had clear likes and dislikes, but he expressed his attitude so obviously... If it were an older, more slick person, he wouldn't say such confident words.
"Thank you for your hard work, Selena. Go talk to your old friends." The Elf King said kindly. He was happy to see young people show drive. Selena was not yet old enough to be responsible for her own words and deeds.
"Yes, I will take my leave."
In the quiet study, the Elf King picked up the Bard's Travels in the Continent again and turned the page with the bookmark stuck on it with his fingers.
The author of this travelogue is Leo Sylvester, a plains elf from the continent of Bradrick. After filtering out the meaningless rhetoric in the travelogue, the only substantive content left is a brief description of the trade between the forest elves and the sea people. The human kingdom that plays a role in shipping in the trade is only mentioned briefly, not to mention the Snow Wolf Fire Tribe that is unknown and no one cares about it.
"Snow Wolf Tribe... huh..." The Elf King tapped his fingers on the smooth lacquered desk, his slightly narrow eyes slightly narrowed.
This plain in the north of Bloomfield continent, sandwiched between the Samar Snow Mountains, the Elf Forest, and the York Mountains, has existed as a buffer zone for thousands of years. The Snow Elves and Forest Elves have no intention of attacking excess territory. Although the Orc Empire has the intention, it does not dare to rashly provoke the two elven tribes at the same time.
This stalemate was broken five hundred years ago when a large-scale war broke out in the southern part of the continent. After the powerful human, the only human demigod in Bloomfield for thousands of years chose to be buried here, the Elf King took the lead in naming this place "Cursed Land"; as an expression of respect for the human demigod, and also as a mockery of the human race... The human race that desecrated the top powerhouse was as ridiculous as the dark elves cursing their birthplace. Even the Beast King gave up his covetousness for this land. After all, when the blood awakened the Lich King who was carrying the curse of the race and sinking into the darkness, the price was unbearable even for the Orc Empire.
Out of respect for the powerful ones at the same level, the Elf King will not allow such shameful blasphemy to happen again.
This is a view shared by many tribes in the northern continent. Even peaceful people like the Tauren will adopt a fighting stance when the greed of the Tiger Tribe starts to get out of control.
"...The Snow Wolf Clan who chose the path of 'creation' may be able to add a little vitality to 'his' burial place." The Elf King muttered to himself and closed the travel journal. "Well... I should wait until the snow melts before telling Austin that his son is safe. If he gets the news so quickly, he may guess that his son is not far away from him."
The Elf King, who is over 800 years old, is half as young as the green dragon Austin. But when talking about this green dragon, even someone as well-educated as the Elf King finds it difficult to show respect.
In the middle of the grassland, the tiger royal court.
Yale, a tiger warrior who lived east of the royal court, walked out of his house, frowned and looked up at the large snowflakes falling from the sky.
"The snow that just stopped late last night has started again." Yale exhaled, and a large cloud of white mist spewed out from his mouth. He tightened his fur coat, closed the wooden door, and stepped into the knee-deep snow.
The streets of Wangting were deserted in the winter, with shops closed and no visitors coming and going. When Yale was about to turn the corner, he saw someone walking in that direction.
Seeing this group of people clearly, Yale frowned even deeper... This team of slaves seemed to have just completed the task of requisitioning the royal tent. They were very thinly dressed, and the shivering cats did not have a complete piece of animal skin on their bodies. Their lips were white due to the cold.
Yale stopped and watched the group of slaves being led out of the city by the overseer. Some of them staggered and fell accidentally, and the overseer swung his whip at them.
With a "pop", the slave quickly got up and followed the queue without saying a word.
Yale withdrew his gaze and strode towards the city.
When the guards on duty in the king's tent are resting, some of them will return to their own rooms, while some are too lazy to go home and stay in the tavern outside the king's tent to kill time.
Yale lifted the heavy door curtain and pushed open the wooden door. The turbid air mixed with the smell of alcohol rushed in his face, making him frown.
"Yale! Over here!" The soldier Kun, who was sitting against the wall in the tavern, unexpectedly saw his friend and quickly raised his hand to greet him.
"You're a rare guest. Would you like some? The dwarven strong rum is perfect for drinking in this kind of weather." Smilingly, Kun pulled his friend to sit down and handed him a bottle with the cork still on.
"No, I have to go back to accompany my little boy in a while, and it's not appropriate to be drunk." Yale waved his hand, and before Kun could complain about his lack of interest, he continued, "I have applied to the military camp for a rotation in the east, so I may have to leave in a while."
"Didn't you just get your turn to rest? Why are you in such a hurry to be transferred back?" Kun asked in surprise, "Why are you in such a hurry? Is there something wrong, or is someone targeting you?"
"No..." Yale shook his head and hesitated before saying, "I just...can't get used to the idle days in the royal court. I always feel uncomfortable if I don't do anything."
"Then why don't you apply to the military tent for duty in the royal court? At least if you stay in the royal court, you can see your little cub every day." Kun was puzzled.
Yale smiled nonchalantly: "My little cub is almost as tall as me, and you guys are taking care of him, so I'm not worried about him."
"Okay, now that you've made up your mind. What about Yaheng? Will he go with you?"
"Yaheng still wants to stay in the royal court, and it's time for him to find a partner to get in heat with." Yale smiled.
"Then let's not talk about him. Come, have some jerky. The cat slaves are really good at doing these delicate jobs. Even those picky elves are full of praise for our jerky."
When Yale heard the word "slave", his eyebrows jumped. He forced himself to suppress the discomfort in his heart and picked up a piece of dried meat and stuffed it into his mouth.
After sitting and chatting with Kun for a while, Yale couldn't stand the stuffy heat in the pub anymore, so he found an excuse to leave.
Walking onto the empty street again, the tiger warrior Yale's brows, which had just relaxed a short while ago, tightened again.
In the past, or two years ago, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with life in the royal court, but after serving in the east for two years and coming back, he discovered… those things that he had turned a blind eye to before, now seemed strange to him.
The life span of the orcs is about the same, and the maximum life span is about 200 years old. Of course, it is not easy to live to the life span in an environment like the grassland. Even for the tigers with relatively better conditions, their bones can no longer withstand the cold wind in winter after they are over 100 years old.
Yale is sixty-six years old this year. He is the young and strong man in the tiger tribe. His muscles are as solid as rocks and his physique is comparable to that of the Minotaur. He can still contribute thirty years of "youth" to the Tiger King. He has never doubted this in his previous life and was proud of it.
But now... after meeting those foreign adventurers, Yale's belief began to waver - if the Tiger Tribe returned to the Far East as they wished, what about the grassland? Would he never come back to the grassland where he was born and raised?
Does the hometown that the adventurers yearn to return to have the same meaning as the "Far East hometown" that the tiger tribe longs to return to but has never seen since he was born?
Yale couldn't find the answer to this question, and he couldn't even reveal his doubts to others because he had discovered that other tribesmen besides himself didn't seem to have doubts about such a simple question. This made him feel scared. He was afraid that he was the only one who was different from others.
This fear reached its peak when he returned to the royal court that he thought he was so familiar with... He found that the slaves coming in and out looked particularly glaring, making him feel uncomfortable.
This feeling made Yale even more afraid of his own uncontrollable thoughts. The Tiger Tribe began capturing slaves more than 40 years ago, and relied on these slaves to grow large tracts of pasture, feed countless cattle and sheep, and build a unique royal court on the grassland. He should have been accustomed to all this a long time ago, so why did he feel something was wrong now?
The uncontrollable panic made Yale, a strong tiger warrior, anxious and unable to sleep all night.
Yale remembered something... decades ago, when he was still a cub, he seemed to have made friends with the cat clan.
What happened to that cub friend?
Yale couldn't remember anything at all. He even forgot the name of his cat friend or what he looked like.
Where did that friend go?
Is he, or she, still alive?
There were more and more questions in his mind, and Yale could not answer them. He walked silently through the deserted streets, leaving a row of lonely footprints in the snow.
There were not many Tiger warriors like Yale who took the initiative to apply for transfer to the eastern part of the country. The transfer order came down ten days later. When Yale packed his bag and prepared to leave, the quartermaster of the camp came to him.
The quartermaster did not come alone. He brought a convoy, dozens of cat and centaur slaves, and two soldiers who were transferred to the east for guard duty with Yale.
"The salt, cloth, and dried meat on the carts are for the military supply of the eastern camp." The quartermaster handed Yale the parchment paper with the quantity of supplies written on it. "The beans on the carts at the back are for feeding the slaves. One handful for the cats and three handfuls for the centaurs. Don't untie the ropes on the centaurs' necks and hooves on the way, no matter what excuses they make... These two young men have never left the royal court, so you have to keep an eye on them along the way, Yale."
Yale nodded silently, holding the list of supplies in his fingers, and glanced at the dozens of numb cat slaves following the convoy with complicated eyes, and subconsciously gritted his teeth.
The two young warriors followed Yale's lead and respected him as a young and strong warrior who had carried out many missions. They followed him all the way and asked curiously about the situation in the eastern camp. Yale managed to cope with it for two days. On the third day, he could not help it and asked the cat slaves whose feet were frozen to climb onto the truck and sit down. He also cooked hot soup with the dried meat distributed to them for the slaves.
"If someone gets sick and dies from the cold on the way, the loss will be the property of the royal court." Yale explained to the two young soldiers' doubts.
"So that's how it is. That's right. It's hard to catch slaves nowadays. One less slave is one less." The young tiger warrior had no doubt about it and agreed greatly, thinking that Yale was indeed very experienced.
Yale just smiled and didn't explain.
In the heavy snow, the sled pulled by the Centaurs was moving at a fairly good speed. However, the hot-tempered Centaurs were not as cooperative as the cats. They would cause trouble as long as they had a little strength along the way. No wonder the quartermaster was not confident in letting young people lead the convoy.
After stumbling along for half a month, when the eastern camp at the end of the horizon could be seen with the naked eye, the snowflakes falling on the fingertips were only as big as beans, and a few rays of sunlight appeared through the thick clouds.
Yale, who was walking in front of the motorcade, looked up at the not-so-warm sunlight that shyly fell on the snow and exhaled softly: "Winter is about to pass..."
"Winter is almost over." Xiao Yun walked out of the firewood room and wiped the sweat off his forehead. "From the first snow to today... a full 100 days? Counting the days it took for the snow to melt, this year's winter is still relatively short."
Snow Leopard Rosemary followed out with weak legs, staring at the sky with bloodshot eyes. He had no interest in expressing his feelings, so he quickly retracted his gaze and stared at Xiao Yun with dead fish eyes: "Ayun, can I go to sleep? I'm so sleepy."
"Go to sleep, let's talk about it after the kiln is opened. Look how seriously Yugu works, why are you so skinny?" Xiao Yun grabbed Rosemary's collar in annoyance and dragged him to check the cooling of the kiln... A few years ago, he couldn't do this because he didn't have the altitude. In the past two years, he has eaten well and his height has increased rapidly. He is now as tall as Ashan's uncle. It is so easy and comfortable for him to carry a cat.
Well... it's a pity that after Xiao Yun reached the same height as Uncle Ashan, he stopped growing taller, and his height was once again overtaken by the youngest boy Yangmao... It seems that he will never grow into the intimidating muscular brothers like Hongye and the others.
The yield rate of this batch of porcelain was not bad, with less than 20% of it burned out. After opening the kiln and counting the porcelain and putting them into storage, Xiao Yun let go of the yawning Rosemary and let him go back to sleep. He then went into Balk's laboratory and continued to spin like a top.
After all, he did not study agriculture and did not know much about phosphate fertilizer. He did not know how many detours he had taken before he could barely produce sulfuric acid in the laboratory: pyrite was boiled and roasted to obtain flue gas containing sulfur dioxide, the flue gas was purified to remove dust and then dried and reacted with oxygen to produce sulfur trioxide, and finally the produced sulfur trioxide was combined with water vapor and condensed to obtain the finished product... This process is easy to say but so difficult to do that Xiao Yun lost a lot of hair.
In any case, with sulfuric acid, phosphate rock can be reacted into calcium phosphate. Even if current conditions do not allow for mass production, at least you need to know how this process works and what equipment is needed.
After taking the first step, the next logical step is of course to make nitric acid... The efficiency of making phosphate fertilizer with sulfuric acid alone is too low. If you want to make the most of phosphate rock, you have to make nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. The Norwegians, who first achieved industrialized production of nitric acid on Earth, used the arc production method. With Balk a self-propelled dragon worker, it would be a waste if they didn't make full use of it...
As for whether Balk is willing to contribute to the Snow Wolf Tribe's farming cause and become the indispensable first step on the technology tree, this is not his free choice - as long as Balk shows a negative attitude of slacking off, Xiao Yun will have two golden sentences waiting for him, one is "Your father misses you so much", and the other is "Carlisle, find us some natural rubber and I will make a big toy for you to play with", using both coercion and inducement, it's very appropriate~
It was another hard fight in the laboratory. Balke was sitting on the kang counting his leg hairs boredly, while Xiao Yun, who had not slept for thirty hours, was smiling excitedly as he held a small glass bottle filled with transparent liquid in his hands.
"Ayun , why are you doing this again? Haven't you done it once before? What's the use of this thing?"
"Of course this alone is useless. It would be much more useful if sulfuric acid and this were added ." Xiao Yun squinted his eyes. "Don't underestimate this stuff. It's more corrosive than your saliva. You can't beat your father in a fight. Just throw a few dozen bottles at him and he'll be done for."
"Huh?!" Balk's eyes suddenly lit up.
"I'm just kidding. It would be a waste to use something with such a complicated production process to fight. Get up and come over to continue the next step."
Balk's mouth twitched: "...Ayun, do you have any misunderstandings about the dragon slaying event that is enough to shock all races?"
Xiao Yun turned around, raised his chin, and looked at the stupid dragon with an idiotic look in his eyes: "So? What does this have to do with you who can only be the one being slaughtered?"
Balk: “…”
