Chapter 59: The life of the people in the extreme north
Regarding the grassland, Dong Shuheng was not prepared to change the current class relationship. He was prepared to slowly start from the bottom.
Through economic activities, the life style of grassland herdsmen is slowly changed, and their dependence on the nobles on the grassland is changed.
Then also use economic activities to change the nobles on the grasslands.
For example, the Tushetu Khan Ministry has begun to cooperate with the Renaissance Army in business.
They established settlements and markets, and in winter all the herdsmen would drive their livestock back to their settled grazing lands.
There are some built houses and livestock pens here. This not only improves the lives of herdsmen, but also reduces the death of livestock from frostbite.
Dong Shuheng also asked people to encircle some land on the grassland and establish state-owned pastures. Some state-owned pastures will specialize in growing forage.
These pastures are traded to herders during the winter.
So that herdsmen who lack forage in winter can overcome the difficulties.
Although this is just a small move, it has greatly improved the herdsmen's immunity to the weather.
There are fixed rituals during the alliance, and these matters are arranged by the officials of the Lifanyuan.
The tribes on the grassland are truly in awe of the powerful combat power of the Renaissance Army, and the ceremony only adds a layer of sacredness to them.
The guard regiment and instructor's cavalry regiment that Dong Shuheng brought with him this time were all the elites in the army.
And they all finished changing their costumes.
The weather was already slightly cold, so these people all wore military green woolen military coats. The two rows of brass buttons on the chest made them look very energetic.
The Type 54 lances were slung across their backs. Each of them also had a saber in a scabbard on their waist. The scabbard was decorated with a golden dragon pattern.
There are also some small howitzers towing behind the horses.
There are dozens of carriages in the team, which are loaded with large-capacity rotating machine guns.
When Dong Shuheng arrived, the security regiment took over Cullen's defense work.
The cavalry regiment of the instructor division was stationed outside Cullen City.
It can be said that there is no armed force on the grassland that can threaten Dong Shuheng's safety.
Everyone retreated, and now only Dong Shuheng and the old monk were left in the hall.
The old monk was slightly chubby, and the skin under his smooth head was very shiny.
Believers on the grassland call it Buddha's Light. Dong Shuheng knew that this was because the old monk took good care of himself.
"Master, how do you feel about being under the rule of the Fuxing Army now?" Dong Shuheng changed his formal attitude and asked casually.
"The President is worthy of being the reincarnation of the Bodhisattva of Salvation. The lives of the grassland herdsmen have improved a lot. I, the Buddha, are compassionate and must be grateful for the blessings the President has brought to the people of this world." The great monk said solemnly.
"Master, I am not good at practicing meditation. I have something to discuss with you. Most of the northernmost land has been recovered by our army, and the climate there is even worse. I hope that the master can send his disciples to go north to build Buddhist temples and promote Buddhism."
The old monk's eyes lit up when he heard this. Originally, the Fuxing Army had promised to allow him to preach in the north and expand the Yellow Sect's missionary area.
When I heard Dong Shuheng say this, I naturally agreed happily.
Dong Shuheng has already considered this matter.
The Yellow Sect in Mobei has achieved great results in taming the grassland people.
There are also many indigenous people in Siberia. Dong Shuheng also wants to assimilate these people.
However, the living conditions of these fishing and hunting ethnic groups are even worse, and their living areas are more scattered.
Because it is more difficult to obtain food through fishing and hunting than through grazing.
The Renaissance Army is now just learning from the methods of the Tsarist Russians and establishing some strongholds in the upper reaches of the river.
Then trade with these fishing and hunting peoples.
These people will only appear briefly during the summer trading season.
Their tribes are all small in size, some have hundreds of people, some only have a few people.
They usually exchange their furs for some tools, such as knives, arrows, fishing nets, etc.
Many tribes even still use stone tools.
Their ability to survive is very weak, and a tribe may be wiped out just because they cannot catch prey a few times.
Dong Shuheng hopes that he can bring some changes to these tribes.
In addition to absorbing some hunters into the Arctic Task Force, these people learned combat skills under the leadership of Lushou.
They made great contributions to the Ba'ath Army's game with Tsarist Russia in the Arctic region.
Similarly, the Renaissance Army also used military pay to support these people and their families.
In order to firmly control the Far North, someone must settle there.
Without the support of a certain number of settlements, it is difficult to firmly control these lands.
But it is still difficult to just immigrate there. Further north, it is difficult for the Han people to survive.
The frozen soil there is impossible to cultivate.
The indigenous people who originally lived there had the hunting skills passed down from generation to generation.
Although the Han people were able to catch prey there, they were unable to withstand the harsh environment there.
The Rob family are indigenous people living in the Arctic region.
In the eighth and ninth months of the lunar calendar, the weather in the Arctic is already very cold.
Rob's family of three and three other aboriginal families, a total of more than a dozen people, live on a tributary of the lower reaches of the Iniese River. The place where they live has reached the Arctic Circle.
In winter, Rob and his companions will even go to the northern seaside to hunt polar bears.
Polar bear skins can not only be used as bedding for them to sleep on, but can also be exchanged for many things.
Just two months ago, when the weather was the warmest, Rob and his companions went upstream to trade with the Rakshasa people.
But this time they didn't see a Rakshasa with white skin and a high nose.
It was a group of people with black hair and black eyes like them.
These people claim to be Chinese.
Rob brought some seal skins, deer skins and a white bear skin.
There was a middle-aged man wearing a dog-skin hat in the stronghold who was interested in the white bear skin. He took out a lot of things and asked Rob to choose from them in exchange for this white bear skin.
Rob took five boning knives. In order to test their sharpness, Rob found a piece of wood and whittled them.
These knives are indeed much easier to use than stone knives.
In the future, with this knife, Rob's wife will no longer have to work so hard when dividing meat and skinning prey.
Rob also picked up three sleeping bags made of down, which I heard contained seabird feathers.
He got in and tried it out. The outer skin of the sleeping bag was very soft and the inside was very warm. The main thing was that it was very light. When moving the camp, it could be rolled up and hung on the back without taking up any space on the sled.
Rob regretted why he had plucked out the feathers of the seabirds he had caught before and threw them away.
He took another roll of cotton cloth, and the man told him that it could be used to make close-fitting clothes. Wearing fur directly on the body would be a bit irritating.
In this case, he took some more needles and threads. His wife would use bone needles to sew leather robes. With this kind of needles and threads, the leather robes would be sewn more tightly.
You can also ask your wife to use needlework and cloth to make underwear for Little Shitou and herself.
Then he took another pair of scissors.
The more he looked at it, the more useful the tools here became.
He felt that he had taken too much.
But the Chinese man in gorgeous clothes indicated that he could continue to choose. So he took another iron kettle and two iron pots with ears.
He thought about it and took a hammer and a lot of nails so that he wouldn't have to use bone nails when repairing the sled in the future.
Finally, he stopped taking things. The Chinese gave him some plant seeds and told him that he could put them in food and cook them.
Rob didn't refuse, but they had never eaten these things.
Their food mainly consists of various meats, fish, venison, and seal meat, which they like. At most, they only collect some berries.
This transaction was Rob's most rewarding experience.
In the past, when trading with the Rakshasa people, they could only exchange for a few things.
They also take a large part of the furs traded as taxes.
After returning to his camp, Rob began a busy life.
They must store enough food before winter comes.
Rob has been fishing with his friends recently.
At this time the salmon begin to return to the sea.
Rob and his companions set up obstacles on the river.
The school of fish was blocked.
In the past, they used branches to set up obstacles.
But this time they have fishing nets.
The fishing nets acquired from the Chinese were made of strong twine.
Abu and his companions laid the fishing net across the river. Fish were jumping around in front of the net.
Abu stood in the knee-deep river water with a harpoon, constantly plucking these fat and tender salmon, and then stringing them on a long leather rope in his mouth.
After a while, dozens of big fish were skewered. Now he was going to take these fish to the shore.
Each of these fish weighed five or six kilograms. If there were more fish, he wouldn't be able to drag them.
His wife was on the shore handling the fish with a knife that Rob bought.
Rob tipped the fish off the rope.
His wife first dabbed the eyes of each fish with plant ash.
This is an ancient ritual. They believe that prey has souls just like people.
In this way, the souls of fish can rest in peace, so that they can protect hunters from getting more prey.
This is actually somewhat similar to shamanism on the early grasslands.
Of course, maybe these people migrated from the grasslands in the early days.
Because they obviously also have black hair, black eyes, and yellow skin.
Rob took the rope and continued to insert the fish.
Rob's wife performed a simple ritual and began to handle the fish.
She used a sharp knife to cut off two pieces of fish along the backbone of the fish.
Then cut off the fattest part of the belly of the fish separately, which is the food for the little stone.
These fish that return to the sea in autumn have all laid eggs.
Tribal people only fish in autumn, never in spring when fish return to spawn.
At this time, Rob's son Xiao Shitou ran to his mother and asked for food.
Just now he was imitating his father's example of planting fish in the shallows by the river. He has been exercising since he was a child.
Rob's wife picked up a plump fish belly and threw it into Little Shitou's mouth.
Little Shitou did not leave after eating. He stared at the fish's glasses.
This is their best snack. Rob's wife dug out a few fish eyes with a knife and gave them to the children.
The little stone threw the fish eyes into his mouth, and when he bit it with his teeth, the fish eyes popped open, just like eating nuts.
In fact, raw fish eyes are not delicious, but fish eyes are as rich in vitamins as the internal organs of seals, and are an important source of vitamins for tribes in the far north.
They know they have to eat these things or they will get sick.
With the tools he exchanged, Rob's fishing speed became much faster.
In the evening, several families from the tribe sat together for a meal.
They are very satisfied with this year's harvest.
The women put water and fish meat into the pot, and added some seeds brought back by Rob.
A pot of sweet fish porridge is ready.
A group of people share food in wooden bowls. The life of the tribesmen is very simple. As long as they can eat enough, they don't have too many needs.
Don't even store too much food.
They had caught enough fish today. Rob and his companions removed the fishing nets so that the fish could return to the sea smoothly.
At night, Rob's family of three got into a tent made of seal skin.
In the winter they live in igloos.
Now they can only sleep in a tent. There is a polar bear skin on the ground in the tent.
Rob saw Xiao Shitou sleeping and secretly got into his wife's sleeping bag.
They have caught a lot of fish these days. My wife has dried a lot of dried fish, which is enough for them to eat all winter.
Starting tomorrow, Rob is going to go out and see if he can hunt some bigger prey and get some furs, otherwise there will be nothing to trade next year.
The seeds of that plant are delicious and easy to store. He plans to replace more next year. This way he won't have to support dried fish and poster meat in winter.
As for now, he thought that the food was enough and it was time to make a little brother or sister for the little stone.
What Rob didn't know was that far to the south, a young man was planning their future.
Perhaps their lives are already changing now, not in the future.
ps: Please give me a monthly ticket, it’s the last month of this year. Dear readers, the New Year is coming soon!