Since Zhao Xin left the camp, Sheng Haizhou has been busy every day without touching the ground.
Basically, he got up at dawn every day, took Rikichi and the other six people to exercise and practice swordsmanship. Almost an hour later, Shino, Manzo's wife and several other women had already prepared breakfast.
Due to the sufficient food in the camp and Zhao Xin's instructions before leaving, breakfast these days consists of white rice.
Originally, when these people were in the island country, they had two meals a day. They had a dry meal in the morning and then went to work in the fields; they had a light meal in the evening.
Zhao Xin's requirement was to eat three meals a day, so Sheng Haizhou's arrangement was to eat rice in the morning and noon, and cook porridge in the evening. This decision surprised many refugees, especially the 137 people who came later.
Because they are farmers, many people do not have the concept of lunch.
After more than three hundred refugees had eaten breakfast, Katsu Kaishu, Toshiyoshi, Manzo, Heita, Kuzo, Shigesuke, and Kokichi began their daily evaluation meeting.
Because of the submissiveness of the refugees, Sheng Haizhou could only let the other six "warriors" lead a group of refugees to carry out different tasks.
For example, Li Ji was the first to follow Zhao Xin, so he was responsible for the distribution and collection of all materials in the camp. When everyone returned to the camp after work every day, they needed to return the tools they received in the morning, and Li Ji would lead people to inspect them and check whether they were damaged.
Shino and Wan Zao's wife led more than 20 women who were responsible for cooking, and these people were also managed by Liji.
Wan Zao leads more than thirty stronger men and women, who are responsible for digging and filling the explosion-proof wall every day. This work is very difficult, especially in the cold weather. Sometimes, when digging with a pickaxe, there is only a few inches deep.
It is a pit, so the progress is very slow. The refugees called the iron basket that Zhao Xin brought, which is made of steel bars on the outside and an explosion-proof wall like a cloth bag filled with soil on the inside, called the "iron basket wall."
Heita and Jiuzang led a dozen other men to collect tools from Liji every day and cut down the trees around the camp. Many elderly people and children followed behind, picking up the branches after felling and using them for heating and cooking in the camp stove.
Mosuke and Torayoshi led the other men and were responsible for the security around the camp to prevent wild beast attacks.
In routine evaluation meetings, the main purpose is to report on the completion of yesterday's work and what to do today.
Since Zhao Xin left no timing tools before he left, the people in the camp could only arrange each day according to the rising and setting times of the sun.
At this time, we are in the "second warmest period" in meteorology, and the daytime temperature is only about minus 10 degrees. With the blessing of autumn clothes and labor protection coats, many refugees even feel that this winter is not cold at all.
At noon on the thirtieth day after Zhao Xin left, Sheng Haishu was sitting in the tent after lunch, calculating the consumption and balance of food, when Huji ran into the tent panting.
"Here, here comes a man, leading a horse. Coming from the east."
"Who?" Upon hearing this, Sheng Haizhou quickly put down the booklet and brush in his hand, stood up and asked.
"I don't know, I guess they are the people the adults mentioned."
"Kurkaqi people?" Sheng Haizhou remembered clearly what Zhao Xin'e told about the situation around Bear Island.
"I can't tell, Lord Katsu, please go and have a look." Huji couldn't help but said, pulling Katsu Kaishu out and walking out.
Katsu Kaishu broke away from Kokichi's pull, leaned over, picked up his coat, put it on, and left the tent.
The weather was a bit gloomy at this time, and the cold wind blew on his face like a knife, making Sheng Haizhou shiver.
Huji led the way, and Sheng Haizhou followed all the way to the "Iron Basket Wall" in the northeast of the camp.
The blast-proof wall here has not yet been filled with earth and rocks, but the steel frames are neatly arranged one by one, and the khaki bags have been packed. The bottom of the blast-proof wall was hastily filled with earth and rocks by Wan Zao and his group.
Block burial.
Before Huji could reach out to point, Sheng Haizhou had already seen a tall man with an animal skin wrapped around a shabby robe two hundred steps away, leading a horse and walking towards the camp. The man's
It seemed to be carrying something right away, but it was hard to see clearly from a distance.
"Go and ask Pingtao to come over." Sheng Haizhou told a refugee next to him.
After hearing this, the refugee hurriedly ran to the west side of the camp. Heita and Jiuzang were cutting wood in the west today, and they would probably have to wait a while before they could come over.
Let’s talk about Mr. Zhao Xinzhao’s “Seven Dwarfs”. Phew! Among the Seven Samurai, apart from Katsu Kaishu, only Ping Tai had worked as a shop assistant before. He often dealt with customers and had seen some of the market.
Sheng Haizhou himself didn't know how to deal with these aborigines, because this was the first time they encountered them. Moreover, Sheng Haizhou felt that as Mr. Zhao's "old Chinese", how could he go up to negotiate in person?
The man stopped when he was twenty steps away from the outer wall of the camp. He shouted several times and waved to Sheng Haizhou. Only then did Sheng Haizhou see the man on his horse.
The one carrying it was a deer.
At this time, Torayoshi and Mosuke were extremely nervous, and half of the knives in their hands had been pulled out. The other refugees were even more nervous, and they all tightened their grip on the wooden sticks in their hands; the ends of these wooden sticks were sharpened with axes, and
It was trimmed so smoothly that it was used as a spear by the refugees.
When Sheng Haizhou watched the aboriginal people waving in his direction, he was extremely nervous, but he knew that he could not show it in front of these refugees. As for what the aboriginal people were shouting in his direction, he couldn't listen at all.
Understand.
He looked back and saw that Ping Tai hadn't come over yet. He gritted his teeth and thought for a moment, then raised his hand and waved to that person.
The man saw Sheng Haizhou waving, so he turned back to hold the horse's rein and walked a few steps forward.
Now there was trouble. Torayoshi, Mosuke and several refugees immediately shouted at the man to stop and not move forward. But Mosuke nervously pulled out the knife, and the sharp blade was particularly eye-catching.
As soon as the man saw someone drawing a knife, he immediately stopped, then started to step back, and then stood back to his original position.
Just when the situation was tense, Sheng Haizhou heard the sound of running footsteps behind him. When he looked back, he saw that it was Pingtai and the refugees he had sent before.
Pingtai was sweating on his forehead, but his breathing was very steady. It seemed that these days of hard training had significantly improved his physical fitness.
"Lord Katsu, what happened?" Pingtai asked Katsu Haizhou as he looked at the aborigines not far away.
"He seems to be a local. Your Excellency has mentioned to me before that these people are called Kurkhachi people. I don't know the reason for his coming. I just came to discuss it with you."
After listening to Katsu Kaishu's story, Heita walked to the camp wall and carefully looked at the man twenty steps away. After looking at it for a while, he turned around and said to Katsu Kaishu, "It doesn't look like he's here to grab something." After thinking about it,
After a while, he handed the knife to Sheng Haizhou's hand and continued to say to the people around him: "Don't move, I'll go take a look."
Sheng Haizhou put his hand on Pingtai's shoulder and said to him: "Pingtai, be careful."
Pingtai nodded to everyone, and then walked out through the gap in the blast wall.
When Pingtai slowly walked ten steps away from the man, he stopped. Only then did he see clearly that the horse led by the man was carrying a deer; on one side of the saddle, there was also a deer hanging on the saddle.
There was a quiver, which seemed to contain five or six arrows; and in addition to carrying a large bow, the man also had a short knife on his waist, and the scabbard was also made of animal skin.
"KULAKAQI?" Heita tentatively asked the man.
(In Japanese, the retroflex sound "R" does not exist as a phoneme. Since you have never heard it, you can't speak it. Therefore, islanders who have not been trained in other languages cannot pronounce retroflex at all.
The sound can only be replaced by the "L" sound.)
When the man opposite saw that Pingtai knew Kurgazi, he nodded excitedly, patted the deer on the horse a few times, and pointed at Pingtai's coat and said something.
Heita still didn't understand at all. He thought for a moment, then pointed at himself and said: "HIETA (the Japanese pronunciation of Heita)." After saying that, he saw that the person didn't seem to understand, so he pointed at himself and said it twice.
The Kurkhaqi man opposite seemed to understand. He raised his finger and pointed at himself and said: "Yalha."
"Yariha?" Pingtai asked, pointing at the other party.
"Yarha." The Kurkhaqi man repeated it again, then nodded happily, and then waved to Pingtai, asking him to come over.
"Yariha." Heita thought this was the other person's name. Well, before these refugees learned the allegro tongue twister, they couldn't roll their tongues.
Pingtai took a few steps forward hesitantly, only to see Yalha walking towards him and stopping in front of him.
"Hey! Be careful." Everyone behind the camp wall exclaimed.
Pingtai did not step back. He carefully looked up and down at the very strong Kurkhaqi man in front of him. This guy was as strong as a cow, with broad shoulders, thick finger joints, and very thick legs. He wore a pair of shoes on his feet.
Big boots made of animal skins, stuffed with thatch (Ula grass); the jacket and trousers are both made of cloth, but the robe on the upper body is also a little worn; on the head is a big furry hat.
It looks very warm.
Then Pingtai turned sideways and looked at the deer on horseback. A pair of huge antlers came into view. Pingtai counted them in his mind, and there were as many as eight. The deer looked very strong, gray-brown.
The deer's fur is very thick, and a trace of white down is exposed on the deer's belly.
At this time, the head of the deer on horseback was drooped to one side. Pingtai saw a hole as thick as a finger on its neck, which looked like it had been shot with an arrow. There was not much blood flowing out of the wound, and it was already frozen.
Living.
On the opposite side, Yalha looked down at Pingtai. He stared at Pingtai's cotton-padded clothes. Then he reached out and gently touched Pingtai's shoulder. He rubbed it a few times, and his eyes shone. Then he pointed.
Pingtai's cotton-padded clothes turned around and pointed at the deer on the horse, mumbling something in his mouth.
It was such a cold day that Pingta was so frightened that beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. After watching the opponent's series of actions in a daze, he probably understood what he meant. Then he turned around and shouted to Katsu Kaishu: "Sir Katsu
, I think he wants to exchange the deer for our cotton-padded clothes."
It was only then that everyone behind the wall let out a long sigh. It turned out that they needed to change things. Some of the refugees were so nervous that they almost peed.
Sheng Haizhou thought for a while, and he felt that it would be better not to have any conflicts before the adults came back. He could only stabilize the opponent temporarily, and then wait for the adults to report back and then see how to deal with it.
So he shouted to Pingtai: "Tell him to wait a moment, I will go find Li Ji."
After hearing this, Pingtai immediately gestured at the other party for a long time, indicating to wait a moment.
Yaerha seemed to understand what Pingtai meant, and then patted his chest to express his relief.
Pingtai turned around and shouted to Sheng Haizhou: "Bring me a cotton coat first."
Sheng Haizhou immediately turned around to look for Li Ji. After taking only two steps, he saw Li Ji leading a few people out from behind a tent. Li Ji held a knife in his hand, and the others were about to rush up with shovels and picks.
Sheng Haizhou quickly stepped forward to stop him.
He grabbed Liji and told Pingtai the situation. After listening, Liji asked directly: "What if the adults come back and ask about it?"
"Of course, tell the truth." Sheng Haizhou said firmly. "Don't worry, I will bear all the responsibilities."
Liji thought for a while and realized that he had no good solution. He was also afraid if he really had to draw his sword and attack the guy. So he had to agree with Sheng Haizhou and first walked to the camp wall to take a look at the figure of the Kurkaqi man.
, then turned around and went back to get the cotton-padded clothes.
After a while, Li Ji came back holding a worn cotton coat.
"Why is it old?" Sheng Haizhou saw that the cuffs of the cotton-padded coat were somewhat worn and the front was a little dirty.
"What's wrong with the old one? Isn't this also good? The clothes are not torn." Liji's tone was very tough. He was not afraid of winning Haizhou.
Katsu Kaishu had no choice but to return to the wall with the clothes, and waved at Heita with the clothes.
Pingtai saw that the clothes had been brought, so he first gestured to Yalha and asked him to wait. Then he turned around and walked back to the wall to get the clothes, then handed them to Yalha with both hands.
Yalha happily took the cotton-padded clothes and looked them over in his hands. He found that the fabric used in the cotton-padded clothes had never been seen before, and it felt very smooth; and the padding of the clothes was very thick, and it should have been put in place.
There was a lot of cotton; what surprised him most was that the stitches on the clothes were so tight and tight, both inside and out, that not even an exposed thread could be seen.
However, the style of this dress is really strange. Not to mention the material of the buttons, he has never seen it before. There are two diagonal pockets on the outside, and there is also a pocket on the inner lining. Moreover, this dress is folded from top to bottom, not
A common side-breasted style among the Manchu people.