The Rio Grande surges for 3,000 kilometers from northwest to southeast, traversing most of central and western North America. On both sides of this fifth longest river in North America, numerous water systems extend, flowing and nurturing hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of grassland, home to millions of people.
There are countless bison and deer, as well as hundreds of hunting tribes, large and small.
In the mouths of the Coaveque tribes at the far downstream, it is the mother-like "Bravo River". In the mouths of the Concho tribes slightly downstream, it is also the "Concho River" that gave birth to tribes. And this river
The 2,000-kilometer long river downstream of the river was the natural border that later separated the United States and Mexico.
On this "borderline" of later generations, the most famous thing is the endless black gold, the amazing reserves of industrial blood, and the shallow oil and natural gas! Of course, in this era, the so-called "shallow" oil is also
With a depth of hundreds of meters, it was inaccessible in the world before the industrial revolution. However, geological sedimentary zones rich in oil will naturally not lack coal. In fact, giant coal mines with tens of billions of tons are open-pit or shallow
Layers of layers are accumulated on both sides of the lower reaches of the Rio Grande River system, waiting for the day they are found and excavated...
When the Red Crow tribe swept across both sides of the river and gathered an unprecedented safari tribe alliance of astonishing scale, the two most serious issues on the northern continent were placed in front of the chiefs of the tribal alliance: fuel and food!
If there is no fuel, the tens of thousands of tribes gathered together will not be able to survive the terrible cold wave, and the population is likely to be halved in one winter. And if there is no food, the 80,000 to 90,000 hunting tribes will not only lose a large number of people, but also be unable to gather in a small area.
On the land, they must be dispersed into small tribes of thousands, thousands, or even hundreds of people, and once again dispersed to various places on both sides of the river!
"Ancestors in the sky! Without fuel and food, no matter how much tribal population Alan conquered and gathered, they would all be dispersed in a terrible cold wave... In this vast and endless northern continent, there is never a shortage of people who dare to fight, kill, and are not afraid.
The safari tribe who died in the battle...what they really lacked was the chance to survive in the cold wave, and something to fill their stomachs and warm their bodies!...And as long as there was food to eat and people to make fires, the tribe's reputation would spread.
Just keep recruiting people..."
Red Crow City by the Warrior Lake is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more wooden buildings, gradually showing a bit of a city-state atmosphere. And in the center of the entire settlement that looks like a large tribal camp, there is a chief's wooden house that is not too tall.
Guarding the door was a row of rather strict chief's personal guards holding spears and wearing leather armor. Half of these personal guards looked like dogs descended from the wilderness, and the other half had faces from various grassland tribes. There were four or five more.
, like the Prepechas, or even the Huastecs...
In the chief's wooden house, the old chief Amosi and several of his close associates were sitting cross-legged by the fire pit, holding clay pots in their hands, and eating something together. And if you looked closely, you could see that several of them were wearing buffalo leather armor, with their waists
He carried a copper axe, and a black bear or coyote skin on his hip. As for the four walls of the wooden house, there were bows and arrows and bronze spears hung by everyone, as well as bears, wolves, and human skulls as trophies.
"Ancestor! Alan is too capable of fighting, and too impatient! She gathered so many miserable northern tribes, and even selected warriors to form an elite hundred-man team... How can she support herself? Alas!...
"
After hearing the news brought back by Alan's messenger from eight hundred miles away from the north, Amosi sighed heavily. Under the light of the bonfire, the wrinkles on his face became a little more wrinkled. Although he was only about forty years old, he looked
As old as fifty or sixty years old.
"Hmm... cassava, fish and bean porridge, Ah Caojian, come to the door to drink porridge! I'll call you if anything happens."
"Yes! Old Chief!..."
Ah Caojian lay on the ground respectfully, kowtowed, and then carefully carried the precious can of cassava porridge to the door of the wooden house. He was a warrior from the Bossaros tribe. After being defeated by Alan a few years ago, he collected
For the sake of the bodyguard, the name was also changed from "Caojian" to "Acaojian", which represents the change of clan affiliation. Like him, there are currently forty or fifty Alan bodyguard warriors from the conquered tribes. But this time
After completely conquering the tribes of Koahuik, the number of personal guards is expected to double...
"Hmm...the tribes of Koahuik, the Bravo River, vast pastures, and countless herds of bison...it sounds like a good place with rich water and soil! I just don't know if it can be cultivated around that big river to support the tribes
of cassava?…”
Amosi pondered, took a sip of hot cassava porridge, and looked at his personal guard Asu inquiringly. Cassava porridge is very filling, and can be added with various miscellaneous wild vegetables, meat and insects, and one meal can last half a day.
During the first harvest, the yield of this strange crop shocked Amoxi, who was accustomed to poverty in the wasteland, to the point where his jaw dropped in disbelief!
In the good land around Warrior Lake, the yield of one acre of cassava is almost equal to that of four acres of corn fields planted by Huastec serfs! Amosi even had a strong impulse to change the tribe's red crow flag to
The red cassava flag was only stopped by the angry old priest Zuma...
"Boss, on the island of Cuba, the yield of cassava can be five to six hundred kilograms per acre... and in the current area of Warrior Lake, the yield is less than five hundred kilograms. As for Flint Lake, which is four hundred miles further north, the yield is less than five hundred kilograms.
It’s dozens of pounds less than here…”
"As a crop, the yield of cassava obviously decreases as you go north, and fertile land with sufficient water is required. And the Bison Lake where Chief Alan is located is four hundred miles further north than Flint Lake... I estimate that as long as there is no cold wave,
, cassava can still be grown, but the yield may be at most three or four hundred catties?…”
The personal guard Asu blinked his eyes plainly, thought about it carefully for a while with his fingers, and gave an uncertain number.
Azu was originally a Prepecha sailor who accompanied Chihuaco to explore Cuba. On his return journey, he was cut off by the Totonac people. He was injured when he escaped from the encirclement and fled to the Red Crow Coast. He was forcibly kept by the Red Crow tribe.
As for the two or three Prepecha sailors who stayed here like him, they are all getting married and having children here, and they have all become Amosi's valued confidants. In fact, his name "Asu" is
Amosi gave it to him personally, which means "a personal guard who belongs to the same clan as the chief and is good at growing cassava"!
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Well, the further north you go, the colder the weather is, and the less cassava is produced... Three to four hundred kilograms is pretty good!"
Amosi nodded slightly, with a happy smile on his face. He patted Asu on the shoulder hard, with that kind of closeness from the heart, just like patting a close nephew!
"Ancestors, it's like a dream! Before you brought the cassava, the Huastec serfs' mixed corn, pumpkin and bean fields could yield about 70 kilograms of corn, beans, and less than 200 kilograms of pumpkins per acre... But the wasteland tribe did not
I know how to farm, but the fields I cultivate can only yield 40 to 50 jins of corn and beans, and about 100 jins of pumpkins..."
"Pumpkin is not very hungry. Everyone is grumbling with hunger, and they have no strength to give birth to a baby. Every year, two to three thousand serfs and thousands of tribesmen and weaklings have to starve to death... Then in the summer, they go south to capture Dingkou..."
"But after cassava is brought, everything is hopeful! This crop, which is poisonous to people and is as small as a tree, can actually produce one acre of land as much as the previous four acres! ... It is really a blessing from our ancestors! The more cassava is planted, the more it can be grown.
The more they eat, the more hungry they will be... As long as there is enough food, the Huastec serfs will not have to starve to death, the elders of the tribe will be able to survive, and everyone will be able to give birth to babies... It seems that a good life with enough food is really coming.
Coming!…”
After hearing that he could eat enough and not starve to death, the personal guard Asu also smiled happily. He rubbed his face vigorously and smiled with some longing.
"Boss, we have been expanding our planting for more than three years. Currently, there are about 3,000 acres of cassava fields by Warrior Lake... But there are at least tens of thousands acres of fertile land around the lake... We will divide the stalks this spring.
Expand planting, and strive to plant 20,000 acres at a time! Only when this expansion is completed, our powerful Red Crow tribe can truly have enough to eat!..."
"Ancestor, 20,000 acres?!... Okay! That's great!... Huh! All the land will be cultivated this year, and the warriors of the tribe will no longer go south to plunder! The Huastec people in the Tampen River area are migrating south one after another.
, joining the Silver Crow Tribe Alliance in the south is getting farther and farther away, and it is becoming more and more difficult to grab..."
"Ha, why not give up the Otter City that the Mexica people have been asking for! As a trading city-state between our Red Crow Tribe, the Aztec Qingqiu Tribe and the Huastec Silver Crow Alliance, we can exchange for some pottery and tools that the tribes need.
And weapons...well, cassava is much easier to grow than corn. Even a clumsy wasteland warrior can still get busy!..."
Amosi grinned, thinking about the tribal plan for next year, and the wrinkles on his face loosened a lot. Indeed, compared with high-yielding wheat and corn, the biggest feature of cassava is not its high yield, but its cultivation technology.
Field management requirements are not high!
Cassava's stems, leaves, leaves and roots are highly toxic and are naturally resistant to diseases, insect pests and bird damage. The edible roots are buried underground and can withstand common coastal hurricanes and floods. Its field competitiveness is also better than that of many hybrid crops.
Grass can survive as long as it is planted and sprouts...
In fact, cassava is easy to grow and has high yields. It is simply the light of agriculture for tropical tribes! When cassava was introduced to tropical Africa in the 16th century, it quickly triggered a surge in the population of tropical Africa, and also contributed to the triangular trade that followed.
Provided an endless supply of captives...
"Phew! Before he died, the old clan leader Kakaro said that the hope of the clan lies in the east. That was really right!..."
Amosi thought about it for a long time, then turned around and looked at his equally old confidant Moqi with a smile. The two of them walked all the way through the most difficult wilderness, recalling the bloody storms of the past ten years and the hard-earned achievements.
In peaceful days, everyone smiles with emotion after the vicissitudes of life.
"Mozzi, the experience of more than ten years is like a strong wind from the divine sky, blowing the cardinal into a flying eagle, and then blowing the flying eagle into a big tree... It is really unimaginable in my dreams!..."
"Ah? Amo, what are you talking about?..."
"Ha! I mean, at the beginning, our Red Crow tribe only had two or three thousand people. We could move around the wilderness like red crows... But when Chief Chichika died in the battle, the Red Crow tribe took the
When more than 10,000 Guaquili people moved eastward, they were like red crows turning into flying eagles, crossing the vast wilderness mountains and arriving at this warm swamp grassland and seaside... As for now, more than 100,000 people,
Even the Red Crow Alliance of 200,000 people has transformed from a soaring eagle into a stable tree, firmly occupying this warm fertile land by the water, and can no longer move around unscrupulously... This
This is also the reason why I want to change the tribe’s totem from the red crow to the cassava... We can no longer fly!..."
Speaking of this, Amosi looked emotional, shook his head slightly, and his eyes were very complicated. The pressure of tribal expansion and population explosion was weighing heavily on the shoulders of this middle-aged chief, making him older and more...
Come with wisdom.
"Mo Qi, thank you for your hard work, please go to the north! This girl Alan is very capable, has a big temper, and has greater ambitions. She is like a flying eagle in her heart, staring at the vast sky all the time. If she doesn't pay attention, she will
She flew too far!...But, she flew too far, but no matter whether her wings could hold up or not, someone had to call her back..."
"There are not many old people in the tribe who can call her back now! You have watched her grow up, and you are considered her uncle. Go to the north and call her back! ...There are so many safari Koavek
The tribe needs such a vast hunting ground to survive. But regardless of her, she gathered them all into her hands... At present, she relies on seizures and stored grains. Although she can still feed her, she will definitely not be able to feed her next year!... She can't, still be here.
People can eat people just like they do in the wasteland, right? So what’s the use of gathering here?…”
"Well, ancestors! Move as many Koaweik tribes as possible southward, settle some by the Flint Lake, and another group by the Warrior Lake... Then let the old people who know how to farm take them with them, and let them farm for me!...
Whether it’s cassava, corn, beans or pumpkins, farming is always much better than hunting!… But we must hurry up and not miss the time for spring plowing…”
"Hey! Calculate carefully, there are so many tribes to feed! We still have to save a lot of food and firewood in advance... Otherwise, the ordinary small cold wave can barely withstand it, and when the big cold wave that really destroys everything comes... we have to abandon the old and the weak.
Abandoning their homes, more than 100,000 famine-stricken people went south to seek survival... We have experienced that kind of tragic southward journey once in our lives, and that was enough... I really don’t want to have to encounter it a second time!..."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Amo, I understand! Stop talking about it... I will leave after eating and bring the girl and the tribe back!"
The elder confidant Mo Qi nodded solemnly, finished the last remaining porridge in the clay pot, turned it around with his fingers, twirled his fingers, and then stood up suddenly. He had a big bow on his back and a short spear in his hand.
, turned his head before leaving the account, looked at the old man who was still chattering, and said with a smile.
"In the past few years, you have become more and more nagging, as if you are possessed by the soul of the old clan leader Kakaro! ... Don't worry too much, the life of the Red Crow tribe will get better and better! ... As for the
If there is a natural disaster and there is no other way, just grab your bows and spears and go south to grab them!..."
"We have been fighting from east to west and from north to south for so many years. Except for the Mexican army, no tribe has ever been able to stop us! ...And the Mexicans are fighting in the mountains in the south. They can't attack any tribal alliance in the clouds.
On our side... As for the Silver Crow Alliance of the Huastec people, although they are a little far away, they can't stop them if they really want to go south and attack them!..."
"Amo, when you become the chief, your heart becomes softer!...Chief Chichika back then was not like you...dead people? What are dead people? All tribes in the wilderness and grasslands are used to seeing dead people.
…Okay! I won’t mutter about it anymore. You continue to eat, and don’t hit me with the clay pot. If it breaks my heart, you will still be the one who feels bad..."
Confidant Mo Qi shook his head with a smile, opened the door of the leather tent, and walked out of the warm wooden house. In the cold wind, the densely packed tribal huts spread out in circles, and many of them had the fragrance of grain.
Smoke. On the bank of Warrior Lake in the south, the endless cassava fields are swaying with branches and leaves that are not too short. And those cassava roots buried underground are like the hope hidden in the fertile soil, full of vitality in spring!
"The ancestors buried in the wasteland! Have you seen it?...The warm spring by the sea, the spring of the Red Crow tribe, has arrived!..."
This chapter has been completed!