Although Xu Chen was excited, he also knew that now was not a good time to take action.
It is midsummer now, and in a few days it will be May, the rainiest month. Waging a long-distance war under such harsh weather conditions is not much different from seeking death.
Therefore, the seizure of this salt mine can only be carried out after autumn.
He temporarily set this time in August, that is, after completing large-scale farmland harvesting, to offer a big gift for the upcoming celebration of the witchcraft conference and the first anniversary of the founding of Pakistan.
Xu Chen then carefully asked some questions about the process of Yu Gong's discovery of salt mines and the general situation of the local area. Mo Ye carefully explained all the information he had learned from the Yu Gong clan.
In fact, the whole process was not much different from what Xu Chen had speculated.
Since the discovery of salt mines among the Mongolians, he has told the Mongolians to contact more barbarians through the Southern Barbarian tribes and inquire about more salt mines. However, the Mongols were too weak, and the barbarians also suffered heavy casualties and lost almost all their capable hunters.
After that, contact with other barbarians was lost, so this inquiry has not made any progress.
And watching the Mongolian people make money through salt mines and develop prosperously in these years, His Majesty the Witch King would also go to the Mongolian hot springs with a group of witches from time to time to inspect the salt mines, which brought the aura of blessings from countless gods to the Mongolian people.
All the tribes in the alliance, including the great witch of the Yu Gong clan, were envious and jealous, and coupled with Xu Chen's constant reminders, all the tribes of the Yu Gong clan had actually been expanding their territories far away in recent years to explore the whereabouts of the salt mines.
Not long ago, on the eve of Mother's Day, the Xiu tribe hunters finally got good news. They exchanged pottery for rock salt from a strange barbarian tribe more than ten days away from their own tribe.
But when they sent the good news to the Yugong clan, the great shaman of the Yugong clan happened to be taking people to the Ba clan to attend the Mother's Day sacrifice.
But the hunter officer of the Yu Gong clan felt that this was a huge opportunity, so before he had time to notify the Yu Gong clan's great shaman, he led a group of fully armed hunters to the Xiu clan, and then rushed towards this strange barbarian tribe regardless of difficulties and obstacles. However,
They did not find the salt mine before they clashed with the barbarians. Many barbarians whose force values were too different were killed on the spot. However, after losing the leadership of the barbarians, the hunter team of the Yu Gong clan was unable to find the barbarian territory and salt mines.
After searching for the specific location for several days, we encountered repeated sneak attacks by barbarians, and after several people were killed and injured, we could only retreat with hatred.
Then the news was sent to Gonghuo Basin.
After the great shaman of the Yu Gong clan returned, he also wanted to find this salt mine as soon as possible, so he mobilized nearly two hundred people from the affiliated tribes to attack the barbarian territory again.
When Mo left, the army had not returned yet, so he followed the Yu Gong tribe to visit the Xiu tribe, but the situation was not good because the environment was harsh and the climate was hot, and there were no familiar guides. The same was true for the Yu Gong tribe's coalition forces.
No trace of the barbarian gathering place or salt mine was found. Due to attacks by diseases and venomous snakes and beasts, the coalition forces suffered heavy losses and had begun to retreat.
So after Mo Zai asked for the general direction and location of the salt mine, he drew a map and hurried back.
After hearing Mo's report, Xu Chen was even more convinced of his plan. Summer was not a good time for war... The return of the Yu Gong clan's nearly 200-strong coalition this time gave him more warnings.
Just like Lei led his troops to assist the Five Ghost Tribe in conquering the Moten Tribe, the large number of manpower losses was not actually caused by the battlefield, but caused by the venomous snakes and beasts and the harsh living environment in this barbaric era.
Although we don’t know how many casualties the Yugong clan suffered during these two military expeditions, the losses must have been considerable.
Therefore, Xu Chen hurriedly returned to the palace and wrote a letter, stamped with his seal of the Witch King, and asked Mo to take people to the Yu Gong clan, and ordered the Yu Gong wizard to temporarily withdraw his troops. After autumn, the royal city will select the best from each tribe.
Elite hunters went to conquer the barbarians and find the salt mines.
In order to appease Yu Gongwu, Xu Chen also asked Mo to bring more than ten pieces of painted pottery as an early reward for their discovery of the salt mine.
So when Mo just arrived home, he just drank a few sips of cold water, ate a few bites of cold steamed buns in a hurry, and then set off on the boat again with a group of hunters.
"This is the most hard-working and hard-working comrade of the Ba people!"
Standing on the third floor attic of the palace dormitory, facing the window and watching the big ship sailing down the tumbling Jicang River, Xu Chen couldn't help but sigh.
…
The witches of the Yugong clan received Xu Chen's order and naturally did not dare to disobey it. They quickly withdrew the coalition forces, and the fight for the salt mine came to an end for the time being.
In the blink of an eye, it has entered May, and it is also the most violent thunderstorm season of the year. One or even several heavy rains will fall almost every day. Outdoor farming production management has almost come to a standstill. Even all kilns and workshops have stopped working.
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The large and small streams and rivers in the Gonghuo Basin all swelled, and the low-lying areas on the riverbanks all turned into large and small lakes, like mirrors embedded in the vast riverbank grasslands.
The Jicang River also surged several feet, and the river surface reached its widest state in a year. The turbid water was as mighty as a big river.
The Wulong River, which is dozens of miles away, is churning with turbid waves like dragons and snakes running wildly, and the tide is like thunder, shaking the sky and the earth. It is completely impossible to get close to it, and it is frightening to look at it from a distance.
Especially near the mouth of the Jicang River and the Wulong River, almost all the dozens of miles of riverbank used for hunting competitions in the past have been submerged, forming a turbid ocean several miles wide, with huge turbid waves and a large number of trees, thorns and various animals.
Bodies were rolled down the river, wrapped in their bodies. Occasionally, huge black shadows tumbling and swimming in the river could be seen, as well as strange roars like howls.
These black shadows and strange screams are as scary as devils to the savages of all tribes.
At this time of year, waterway traffic is completely cut off, and even large wooden boats that can carry thirty people dare not travel easily.
The pontoon bridge on the Jicang River was dismantled in April, and now the two sides of the river are completely cut off.
The weather was hot and heavy rains continued, and Xu Chen also started his annual life of idleness in the palace.
I usually go out in the morning and evening when it's cool, inspect the decoration of some government buildings in the royal city, go to the military camp to take a cultural class, and every now and then I go to the Temple Witch College to participate in teaching teaching and teach some Chinese herbal medicine that I learned from the old professor of the geology team before traveling.
knowledge, and at the request of the little witch, music and art classes were also offered... The murals in the temple and the Witch King's Palace were revealed, which not only shocked the people of all tribes, but also made Xu Chen's reputation and
His prestige has skyrocketed again, reaching the point where people can admire him with admiration.
Every time Xu Chen comes to the witch academy, a group of eleven or twelve-year-old witch students will squat on the ground and salute to express their awe, and at the same time they will cheer with excitement. They are also very interested in the content of Xu Chen's teachings and are very enthusiastic about learning.
high.
Most of the students from the witch college will return to various tribes to serve as basic doctors, teachers and other professions in the future, guiding and helping each tribe develop better.
In fact, Xu Chen also has a school in the southwest living area planned by Wangcheng, which is mainly used to train officials. However, the construction of this school will not start until this fall, and it will not be officially put into use next year.
To promote the rapid development of human civilization, cultural education is particularly important.
As long as you are healthy and active, you can basically have enough food and clothing.
But without a smart mind and sufficient knowledge, this kind of food and clothing will always be at the lowest level, unable to withstand any storm at all.
Tribes in Pakistan have successively got rid of the lowest living needs of food and clothing and begun to move towards higher-level survival needs. The previous low-quality development model can no longer meet the needs of life. A large number of talents with certain knowledge and culture must be provided to continue to promote Pakistan.
high-quality development of the country as a whole.
The length of the tools is unknown, the quantity of the harvest is unknown, the population of a tribe cannot even be counted, and the transactions are confusing. This chaotic state must be put an end to.
In this life, Xu Chen did not plan to see Ba enter an industrial society, but he hoped that in his lifetime, he could see the royal city appear in a picture similar to what it should have been in the prosperous days of the Han and Tang Dynasties, with abundant people and ports, a prosperous country and strong people, bustling traffic, and peace and tranquility.
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To achieve this goal, education must reach a certain level, and at least the governance capabilities of officials and the creative capabilities of craftsmen must be improved.
Therefore, Xu Chen's main focus on weekdays is almost entirely on education in the military camp and witchcraft college.
As for other messy things, of course I won't do them if I can.
At most, after heavy rains, I would occasionally ride to the Cicha tribe's territory to inspect the growth of rice.
After the renovation of drainage and irrigation ditches and the heightening and reinforcement of field banks in April, the waterlogging situation in rice fields improved a lot. However, after May, the heavy rains intensified, rivers and ponds swelled, and many low-lying rice fields were still repeatedly flooded.
Fortunately, rice has already passed the heading and flowering period in April, so the short-term flooding will not have much impact, but the reduction in production in these rice fields is a foregone conclusion.
Xu Chen is also constantly observing the water accumulation in these low-lying areas to accumulate data for the second round of large-scale paddy field reconstruction in the following autumn and winter.
In areas that are repeatedly flooded, he will arrange for people to put up poles to mark the water level. In addition, he will also mark the flooded ditch areas. After the autumn harvest, he will start planning new rice fields based on these marks.
According to his plan, before the spring of next year, the tribes near the royal city will cultivate and build at least 3,000 acres of rice fields.
Although the number does not seem to be much, the amount of work is not small, because the paddy fields not only need to be divided by ditches and dams, but also have to be treated very flat. Transforming one acre of paddy fields is at least equivalent to the labor of cultivating three acres of dry land.
Fortunately, the seven major ethnic groups that have moved to the vicinity of the royal city now include more than forty tribes, large and small. On average, each tribe has an area of less than 100 acres. Three or four months is enough to complete the project.
The most important thing is that after the construction and development of the royal city in the past two years, the roads and ditches connecting the various tribes have been integrally formed. The ditches connecting the paddy fields and large and small ponds do not need to be rebuilt in large numbers, greatly reducing the amount of engineering work.
At present, tens of thousands of acres of farmland are distributed near the royal city. Almost all the areas that can be cultivated have been reclaimed. There is not much room for the expansion of dry land. However, there are actually a large number of low-lying and pond areas. If they are transformed into paddy fields,
The area is more than twice that of dry land.
In other words, in the future, the Gonghuo Basin will be mainly planted with rice, and dryland crops such as wheat and beans will gradually become auxiliary foods.
Especially wild beans, although they can supplement protein, the sown area and yield will be greatly reduced because the yield is too low.
In order to plan the reclamation of paddy fields in advance, Xu Chen asked the tribe chiefs and military officers to carefully arrange people to observe the hydrological changes of various benchmarks, ponds and ditches, and asked Pu and Jia to inspect and register every few days.
By the end of May, when the most violent rain began to subside slightly, all the data had been collected. He then took advantage of the cool time to inspect the tribes and provide on-site guidance to each tribe based on the hydrological records recorded in the observations.
Start making planning marks...
Muchenke reminds you: Remember to collect after reading this