Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 182: Snow Wolf Tribe’s “Assistance and Guidance” Policy
The day after A Yue's engineering team left, Qing Cao's work team took a boat down the canal.
"Hello, my name is Qingcao. We may spend quite some time together from now on."
"...Hello, my name is Gustav." Elder Gustav stepped forward and shook hands with Qingcao, and his eyes couldn't help but drift towards Qingcao's left arm.
"Oh, this is my cub. Ayun named her Ruhua, which means like a flower." Qingcao showed the little wolf cub in her arms to the elders of the snake tribe and smiled happily...
Well... the room was torn to pieces by a wolf cub that sneaked in. It is understandable that Xiao Yun gave this youngest cub of the Fire Tribe this name in anger...
The little wolf cub Ruhua was trapped in her mother's arms, gasping for breath. She raised her little head and let out a soft "wooo" towards the snake elder.
"Hello, Ruhua." Guster greeted with a smile and reached out to touch Ruhua's little head.
Qingcao threw the wolf cub aside in a heroic manner, rolled up his sleeves and called out to the back: "We're here, hurry up and unload the goods!"
"Okay!" The members of the work team worked hard to carry down the agricultural triangular plows, soybean hole seeders, alfalfa spreaders, hoes, shovels, sickles, potato seeds, sweet potato seeds, red fruit seeds and other materials from the canal boat.
"Let us help too." Elder Gustav waved his hand and went forward to carry a bag of sweet potato seeds.
The prerequisite for letting others do work is to set an example yourself. The Snake Tribe learned this principle of teaching by words and deeds from the Snow Wolf Tribe very quickly.
After the supplies on more than a dozen canal ships were moved to the Snake Tribe's warehouse, Qingcao immediately called a meeting of the Snake Tribe's elders and warriors.
On the grass of the open-air cafeteria, Qingcao smiled confidently at the group of snakes: "If you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your tools. Just like we need to get agricultural machinery first when we farm, if we want the snake tribe to develop well and become bigger and stronger, we must first confirm the leadership system."
What a snow werewolf said to us snakes... To be honest, it was a bit awkward, but it was indeed very comfortable for the snakes to hear.
"Does it mean that the Snake Tribe needs to elect a patriarch?" Gustave asked cautiously.
"Yes, in addition to the tribe leader, I hope there will be a working group similar to the Human Race Council and the Civil Service Minister to connect with people like me who were sent out from the Fire Tribe." Qingcao smiled, " The reason for this suggestion is that one person cannot manage all matters."
The elders looked at each other and no one said anything for a while. Even Gustav looked embarrassed and subconsciously looked at Gregor.
Qingcao's straightforward question... to be honest, it's a bit taboo. After the snake tribe was exiled sixteen years ago, the prestige of the great elder Gregor declined, and the snake tribe split into ten families and lived separately for so many years. Now it is proposed to return the power of the snake tribe to the great elder Gregor. Even Gustav, who has always been a good guy, can't bring himself to say this - even if the people present can agree, will the elders of the other six families be convinced when they come to the grassland?
Seeing the strange silence of the snakes, Qingcao smiled slightly.
Apart from Dahe, she was the first one to learn from Xiao Yun. Although Qingcao was indeed not as talented as Dahe in terms of learning ability and comprehension, he had taught her hand-in-hand for six years and led the work team for more than three years. Even if Qingcao was a pig, she would have soared into the sky if she was left in the wind for so long... Besides, Qingcao was not really a pig.
In a small group of several people, if the leader has the right to allocate resources, even if the "resources" are extremely small and insignificant, there will be fights for the right to speak. What about a snake tribe of thousands of people?
"We need to speed up the work of clearing wasteland and sowing seeds. Everything can be compromised before production begins." Qingcao said with a smile, "How about this, if there is any controversy over the selection of the Snake Tribe leader, then we will put this issue aside for now and discuss the selection of the working group first."
Elder Gustaf really didn't want the selection of the tribe leader to cause discord within the snake tribe, so he quickly spoke up to support it: "That's right. The house that the snake tribe built was built by the Snow Wolf tribe with us. The food we eat and the daily necessities we consume every day were sent by the Snow Wolf tribe. The most important thing is to work hard and produce results to repay the Snow Wolf tribe."
Gregor nodded expressionlessly, and the other three elders also nodded in agreement.
Seeing that the Snake Tribe had reached a consensus, Qingcao said solemnly, "The relationship between the Snake Tribe and the Snow Wolf Tribe is not one of giving and receiving, but of cooperation and mutual assistance, and joint development. The materials that everyone consumes now, as well as the manpower and material support needed in the future production process, are advance loans to the Snake Tribe with the unanimous agreement of the Fire Tribe's working meeting group. The loan will be settled at the end of the year, and 5% interest will be charged. So please don't worry about it, friends from the Snake Tribe. We are equal partners and a family that settles accounts clearly. There is no need to talk about whether there will be a return or not."
"Yes, yes..." The elders were a little embarrassed. It was really... a little difficult for the Snow Wolf Clan to adapt to the overly straightforward tribe.
Qingcao smiled and said, "The Snake Department's working group is responsible for the following aspects. First, it is to connect with the working group we sent to support the construction of the Snake Department. I mentioned this before. Second, it is to coordinate the personnel and resource allocation for the production and construction work of the Snake Department this year. For example, in the first phase of agricultural contracting, we suggest planning four production teams of cooperatively contracted farms and an earthworm breeding base. Which personnel will join which work project requires the participation of the Snake Department's working group in the arrangement ."
These sound no different from the usual tribal practices, and the elders are still quite stable for now.
"Next, the Snake Tribe Working Group needs to submit to the Fire Tribe Working Group the detailed rules for the implementation of various materials for this year's support loans, such as daily consumption of various types of daily necessities, and wear and tear of farm tools and machinery during work. It is necessary to keep clear records. It is best to submit a written report every ten days to avoid problems with the supply of daily necessities for the Snake Tribe." Qingcao smiled and counted with his fingers. "Secondly, it is the monthly salary settlement of the 1,439 tribesmen of the Snake Tribe. According to the labor-capital settlement regulations of the Fire Tribe Working Group, workers of different types of work and different workloads must be paid according to their work. The reference standard should be linked to the workload and the value to the development of the tribe. It cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach; accurate calculations must be made before the first month's salary is uniformly distributed, and the interests of workers must not be harmed."
Elders: “…(o言o)”
Warriors & Walkers: “???”
"Next is the canteen supply and marketing budget. The Snake Department's canteen was previously run by Ashu's food store, but from now on we have to run the canteen ourselves. The consumption and expenses of the Snake Tribe members during the construction of the living area belong to the Snake Department's total debt. After the Snake Tribe members join the workforce, the canteen will still belong to the Snake Department's public units, but the expenses will no longer be recorded in the general ledger. There must be an independent account book. Before the first salary settlement, everyone has negative consumption, so this account must be settled by the Snake Department working group..."
The Snake Department currently does not have the conditions to set up a welfare department. It only needs to calculate the canteen's account. Qingcao took out the food material account book of the Snake Department's consumption in the previous 26 days and reported a bunch of numbers. He then divided it by the number of days to calculate the average daily consumption of wheat flour, soybean oil, lard, rabbit meat, vermicelli, various seasonings, vegetables... and so on. Finally, he concluded: "The consumption of food materials for the next month will be temporarily continued from the current account book, but everyone's taste is not always static. The working group needs to make careful adjustments at any time. In addition, I personally do not recommend that the consumption of vegetables continue to be obtained from the Fire Department. We can open up vegetable fields ourselves to save costs... and the saved costs belong to the collective property of the Snake Department, and the working group also needs to calculate them clearly and implement them on the account book."
After proposing the self-sufficiency of vegetables, Qingcao also proposed several suggestions for saving the snake department's borrowing expenses. He took earthworm farming as an example, a low-cost production project that does not require an increase in the amount of loans, and extended it to the breeding industry for the purpose of self-sufficiency.
"The above is the scope of responsibility of the Snake Tribe's working group. It is responsible to the Fire and Flame Tribe and the 1,439 members of the Snake Tribe. It aims to make the Snake Tribe catch up with the Fire and Flame Tribe in production and construction. It mobilizes and organizes all members to participate in the work and manages everyone's accounts for the Snake Tribe." Qingcao said with a smile, "Farming is inseparable from a hoe. Similarly, the working group is also an indispensable tool for the development of the Snake Tribe. The Fire and Flame Tribe's working group is composed of Ayun, all the clan leaders, and all the management. Only with the efforts of so many people can the annual work plan be completed and no major mistakes be made. So my personal suggestion is that the Snake Tribe's working group should be expanded as much as possible. Without enough people, nothing can be done."
A group of snakes: "..."
Elder Gregor was completely stunned. As the chief elder, he had personally managed the snake tribe at its peak, and even when he was down and out, he was still proud of "the old days". But after listening to Qingcao's words, he felt that he had done nothing in the past and had been eating for free all day...
Gustav was full of doubts about his snake life and began to reflect on what he was doing as the elder of the python tribe for so many years...
The other three elders were trembling with fear. A few minutes ago, they thought that five elders were too many people to manage together...
"Then... let's try it together first?" Elder Gustav wiped his sweat silently, looked at the warriors and travelers with different expressions, and asked inquiringly.
"..." The warriors and walkers looked at each other in bewilderment. If they could not afford to lose face, they would have the urge to desert. Qingcao was talking about something that snakes could do? What's wrong with the Snow Wolf Tribe?
Qingcao smiled; this reaction was exactly what she needed… Before coming, Ayun had specifically looked for her and given her instructions for a long time, all of which were about how the Snow Wolf Tribe should “help and guide” the Snake Tribe and eliminate the problems of feudal power division and bullying within the Snake Tribe. The Fire Department had organized several studies on the materials brought back from the previous trip to St. Bridges, and everyone was aware of the destructive effects of feudal power division on collective development. Since the Snake Tribe was their own younger brother, for the sake of long-term sustainable development, even if the Snow Wolf Tribe would not directly interfere in the Snake Tribe’s internal affairs, it would inevitably influence the Snake Tribe’s upper structure in a subtle way.
Nodding vigorously, Qingcao encouraged enthusiastically: "No one knows everything at the beginning, we can learn while working!"
“Heh, heh…” The elders’ mouths twitched. From the Far East to the Southern Continent, they had never seen a tribe managed this way. They just, didn’t really understand you Snow Werewolves…
The snake tribe is very close to the elf port, and the area within dozens of miles is frequented by adventurers. Not to mention magical beasts, there are few wild beasts and fierce beasts. Naturally, there is no need to form a special patrol team. "Benefiting" from the reputation of the snake tribe, there are no adventurers who dare to invade the snake tribe, at least for now. The safety problem was solved unexpectedly, and I don’t know whether it is lucky or unlucky...
In short, as the strongest ranger in the tribe, Harris had no excuse to escape by patrolling. After the Green Grass Working Team was in place and the Snake Tribe's labor force was reorganized, Harris was assigned to one of the four agricultural production teams, carrying a hoe and becoming a glorious Snake farmer...
"This is a topographic map from the Snake Tribe to the Fire Tribe along the canal."
On the west bank of the canal, about ten kilometers away from the Snake Tribe and close to a plain near the Grand Canyon, the second agricultural production team, consisting of more than 140 snake tribe members and 15 snow wolves, was giving a speech to the leaders of the twelve production teams.
The names of snow wolves are generally very casual, and Chengfeng's name is unique among the snow wolves... Of course, the origin of the name of this snow wolf who just came of age does not carry any blessing meaning. It is simply because his mother saw the flying dandelion seeds when naming him, so she gave him such a good-looking and equally casual name.
“The areas too far from the canal are not drawn because we haven’t explored that far.”
Chengfeng, who has a square face and big eyes and looks a bit serious, looks a bit like the Fire Chief. He is indeed related to the Fire Chief by blood... According to the maternal genealogy, Chengfeng's mother is the Fire Chief's cousin. Of course, the Snow Wolf Clan doesn't even care about direct blood relatives across generations, so the relationship between Chengfeng and the Fire Chief is similar to that of ordinary clan members.
"The key point is this piece down below." Chengfeng half-crouched and drew a circle on the parchment map spread on the ground. "Based on our exploration last year, the land from this piece to this piece is suitable for farming. For our second production team, the focus of land reclamation will be on this piece of land."
"There are no mounds around this piece of land, and there are not many rocks in the soil, which is very suitable for farming. But this generation of thorny shrubs and vines is particularly large. You see, just dig the ground and you can find such a thick root system." Chengfeng used his claws to dig the ground next to him a few times and scraped off the grass. He pulled out an unknown rhizome that was more than half a meter long and as thick as his wrist from the slightly moist soil. He pulled it hard again, and the rhizome covered with roots brought out a lot of soil and turned over the grass into pieces, but it was very resilient and did not break.
"We need to make use of this land and create a farm for our second production team. The first enemy we need to deal with is these wild plants." Chengfeng clapped his hands and looked at everyone seriously. "Our job today is to dig a firebreak around this land and burn it piece by piece to remove the surface vegetation first. Is there any problem?"
"No!" the twelve team leaders said in unison.
"Well, let's divide the area first. The first group will be responsible for burning this area, the second group... the third group..."
Because of his certain reputation among the tribesmen, Harris was forced to become the leader of the sixth group. After the captain assigned the areas, Harris quietly led his team members to the responsible areas.
"Harris, how wide should the firebreak be?"
"That length should be enough for two people to lie down."
"Harris, there's a tree over here!"
"Cut it off."
"Harris, what should we do about the thorn bushes here?"
"Dig it out, dig it out!"
The area of land to be reclaimed by the second production team was at least six or seven square kilometers. Just burning the land was hard work. Not long after the work started, Harris's voice unconsciously became much louder...
The burning of the wasteland is completed in the morning, and in the afternoon, the stones in the burned land are cleared, thorn roots are dug out, and the roots of vines exposed on the surface are cut off.
Working from lunch break until dark, the nearly 160 people in Production Team 2 were so tired that their backs and waists ached, but they finally completed the surface cleaning work.
The next day, the land was officially plowed. Fifteen heavy triangular plows, each weighing more than one thousand pounds, were dragged to the reclaimed area. Fifteen snow werewolves, including Chengfeng, turned into wolves to pull the plows. The thick and long plow blades were deeply inserted into the soil layer to cut through the soil and weed residues and vine roots. The plow shovels followed closely behind to turn the soil up and down, and the snakes followed behind to clean up the roots that were turned out after being cut vertically.
"No wonder the Snow Wolves can farm on the grassland. If it were any other race, I don't know how much effort it would take just to plow the grassland." Harris stared in horror at the Snow Wolves with incredible traction pulling heavy plows, cutting and turning over countless roots in the soil, and wiped his sweat silently.
The wasteland must be plowed at least three times before it can be put into use. With such a large piece of difficult-to-plow land, even if the Snow Wolves are energetic, they will be out of breath after plowing it a few times. When the Snow Wolves are resting, it is the Snake Clan's turn to plow the land themselves.
"There's no way we can drag this!" Several snakes worked together to pull the heavy plow, but after a short while they were defeated and their hands and feet became weak.
"Aren't you snakes also orcs? Why do you use beast-shaped drags?" shouted Chengfeng who was sitting in the back to rest.
"Uh..." The snake tribe looked at each other in bewilderment. They didn't have the unrestrained habits of the snow wolf tribe...
"Let me try." Seeing this situation, Harris had no choice but to bite the bullet and set an example himself.
"Okay, okay." Chengfeng and the other snow wolves looked over with great interest. They were quite curious after hearing from the people in A Yue's engineering team that the snake tribe didn't like to transform and they hadn't seen one in almost a month of working together.
Harris took off his clothes, folded them and put them aside, took a deep breath, and the human figure turned into a shadow, replaced by a nearly ten-meter-long, bucket-thick, golden and black-striped rat snake (Black-browed Rat Snake, a large non-venomous snake).
"Oh! It's pretty good looking!" Chengfeng looked serious, but he was still a young man after all. He was excited all of a sudden, jumped up and ran forward, curiously touching Harris's beautiful snake skin with golden and black stripes, "I thought your beast form was so ugly, why don't you snakes like to transform?"
Harris, who took the lead in transformation, was a little nervous to be honest. The snow werewolf's unconventional reaction made him feel relieved. He looked at Chengfeng with his cold snake eyes but with warmth, and swam over excitedly to pull the plow.
The plow body was dragged and moved slowly forward. After a while, the plow blade touched the underground roots and stopped.
Snow Wolf Tribe: “???”
Snake tribe: “…”
Harris struggled for a while, swaying his body, and then turned his head back, spitting out his tongue and speaking in a human voice, which was full of embarrassment: "No... I don't have enough grip on my abdomen..."
Snow Wolf Tribe: “…”
The snakes all turned their heads away...
Chengfeng walked forward silently, raised his hand to pat Harris's shoulder to comfort him, but found that he had nowhere to start, so he could only pat the snake's head: "It's okay... Every race has its strengths and weaknesses... We can just do the plowing." After a pause, he added, "Your beast form is pretty good. You can transform whenever you want. We are all beastmen, so there is no need to worry too much."
In the evening, Qingcao, who had prepared a lesson plan for two-digit addition and subtraction, was ready to let the snake tribe receive the math class that the snow wolf tribe loved. As soon as he came out of the house he was staying in, he saw a big red and black snake swimming past the door.
"Hey, you are..." Qingcao sniffed, "From this smell, are you Dominic from the Wind Riding Team?"
"Qingcao, can you recognize me in this look?" Red-chained snake Dominic asked excitedly.
"Don't they taste the same? It would be strange if you couldn't recognize them." Qingcao gave him a strange look. "You're quite tall. Do you mind if I step over your back?"
"I don't mind!" Dominic hissed happily.
Qingcao stepped over Dominic without a care in the world... and turned back to shout as he left, "Please inform Chengfeng to come to my place after dinner to get the lesson plan for the night class."
"Okay!" Dominic raised his tail and wagged it.
It was not that hard for the orcs to live in human form, but occasionally returning to beast form did help them stretch their bodies and relax. With the people of the Riding Wind Team taking the lead, the other snakes saw that the Snow Wolves really didn't care about their snake form at all, so many big snakes happily coiled up appeared in the study class that night.
The study groups in the snake department were not divided separately, all were counted according to work units...er, positions. Chengfeng picked up the bark paper for the exercises and was about to hand them out when he suddenly felt something was wrong; he stared at the big snakes and found the problem.
"… Let's change back to the normal state during class. How can we do the homework without hands?"
Harris didn't turn into a snake. Seeing this, he was about to persuade his tribesmen, but then he heard Dominy from the same team speak up actively: "We can write with our tails!"
Chengfeng stared at the tip of Dominic's flexible tail for a while: "...That's fine."
Addition and subtraction of two-digit numbers did not bother the Snow Wolf Tribe for long at first, and it was naturally no problem for the Snake Tribe, whose average IQ was higher. After Chengfeng finished his lecture, he observed with great interest the Snake Tribe that were holding charcoal pencils with their tails... It must be said that although the tips of these guys' tails were not as useful as their hands, they were indeed able to write simple equations.
It is not difficult to learn elementary arithmetic, but it is quite difficult to learn the characters of the Snow Wolf Tribe. In order to avoid hurting the learning enthusiasm of the Snake Tribe, Qingcao, who is in charge of the "help and guide" of the Snake Tribe, decided to learn from Ayun's teaching model: first use stories to arouse everyone's interest, and then start teaching.
——Niu Jiao made up his mind to learn to read just to be able to tell his own story. This is an advanced experience that has been proven to be feasible~!
Chengfeng collected the math papers, checked to make sure everyone had finished the questions correctly, and was very satisfied. He then picked up the lesson plan for the literacy class prepared by Qingcao and the handwritten storybooks by everyone in the tribe, cleared his throat, and said, "Next, we will start the literacy class. The function of words is to accurately convey content. Before we start literacy, let's feel the charm of words. First, let me read you a short story."
Yesterday's evening class only taught literacy and addition and subtraction within ten digits, and then everyone dispersed and went to sleep. When the snakes heard that the Snow Wolf Tribe's cultural class also included storytelling, they immediately perked up.
"A human couple joined an adventurer team and went to the underground world for adventure. The team camped outside the Dark Forest in the underground world. The wife caught a cold and stayed in the camp to rest. The husband went into the Dark Forest with his companions and never came back. The wife was very worried about her husband's safety and waited for three days. Finally, the people in the group returned to the camp..."
"Everyone who came back had injuries on their bodies. The wife anxiously asked them why her husband didn't come back with her. The companions sadly told her that her husband was captured by a monster and they had managed to escape with great difficulty. The companions comforted the wife and told her that they would not give up on her husband and that they came back this time just to pack their luggage and equipment and go deep into the dark forest to rescue him."
"The wife quickly packed her luggage and set off with her companions... Unexpectedly, her husband rushed out of the dark forest alone! When he saw his wife and her companions, his face changed drastically and he screamed: Get away from them! They were all killed by the monsters, and I was the only one who escaped!"
Cheng Feng finished the story with great excitement, and looked at everyone with shining eyes: "Everyone, tell me, which side should the wife believe?"
The frightened snakes huddled together: "..."
Even Harris unconsciously hugged Dominic, who was closest to him, and swallowed hard after hearing the words. The whole snake didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Isn't this a study class? How can there be such a story?!"
In another room, Qingcao said with a smile: "Learning characters is to be able to understand stories written in characters. Isn't it interesting?"
Gustav, who had four elders hanging on him and was the strongest and felt the most secure, said: "…"
...I really don’t understand you snow wolves.
