Yunzhou has lost its green color since the beginning of autumn, and all people eat is cabbage and potatoes.
The fresh vegetables from Baolinju are no longer supplied to the health clinic, but are sold at Tianxiang Building at a high price.
Suijinwei can only buy vegetables from the town, which are usually bean sprouts and vegetable seedlings grown by farmers in their own cellars.
After unloading the truck, Song Liyun also mentioned going to a herdsman's house to collect fur goods.
Gao Xiaoqi, who sent them here, had already spoken about collecting the fur goods. The person coming was the famous Manager Song, and Luo Baihu had given instructions, so Shitanbao also cooperated.
There are three or four families of herdsmen near Shitanbao, and each family drives their sheep out of the mountain pass to graze outside. They also usually make nests in the ground and live outside.
They had to wait until heavy snow closed the mountains before driving the sheep back.
There was no way to drive the cart out of the military fort. The cart was parked inside the fort, and the sergeants from Shitan Fort were patrolling on horseback. They happened to take Song Liyun and two others to look for the herdsmen.
Outside the Shitan Fort is the Gobi Desert, with dead grass of varying heights swaying in the wind, and sheep walking among them, nibbling on the moist grass roots between the rocks.
The appearance of Song Liyun and others immediately caused the herdsmen's dogs to bark wildly, and the herdsmen who were busy at work hurried over.
The sergeant leading the way drove back the dogs and shouted loudly to an old man wrapped in a sheepskin robe with a stooped body: "Old Jiangtou, this is Miss Song, who is here to collect mutton skins. Take out all the inventory at home and sell it."
!”
When Lao Jiangtou heard that he was buying sheepskins, he shook his head repeatedly: "No, I want to prepare a dowry for my daughter this year, and the skins at home will be taken to her in-laws' house."
The sergeant suddenly realized: "Oh! I forgot, Jiang Xiaoni is already fifteen years old."
While he was talking, a girl with a somewhat dirty dress and a red face came out shyly and saluted the sergeant.
Apparently they are very familiar with each other.
Lao Jiangtou's family doesn't have any leather goods. Other families should have some, but not in this place.
The sergeant handed Song Liyun and Lao Jiangtou over to Lao Jiangtou and told him not to neglect them, and then he would go on patrol at the front.
Lao Jiangtou's family had no fur goods, so he took Song Liyun and Song Dekui out for a few miles and bought a few sheepskins from two other herdsmen's houses.
Of course Song Liyun was not satisfied with these things.
This is not her goal either.
The sheepskins are bundled into bundles, and it’s getting dark soon!
Song Liyun did not return to Shitanbao, but stayed at Lao Jiangtou's Shidiwo for the night.
There are ten people in Lao Jiangtou's family. In addition to the old couple, they also have two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren. The fifteen-year-old Jiang Xiaoni is the youngest daughter and is about to become a bride.
The herdsmen's life was very simple, and Song Liyun did not eat or drink for free. He took out a small bag of corn noodles and a small bag of salt as expenses.
Grain and salt are good things.
Mrs. Jiang was originally a little unhappy about having two extra mouths to eat at home, but when she saw Song Liyun giving her food and salt, her expression suddenly turned gloomy.
Not only did he put some milk skin on the table, but he also immediately asked the two daughters-in-law to stew the mutton legs that had been stored for a long time. They also put dark dried vegetable noodles in the pot and soaked them in mutton soup for a while.
In the evening, when the Jiang family's son, who was out tending sheep, came back, he was a little surprised to see two strangers suddenly in the house, especially a girl appearing in the wilderness.
They suddenly realized it when Lao Jiangtou said that Song Liyun was the manager of Tianxiang Tower in Qili County.
The herdsmen needed to meet with the sergeants of Shitan Fort frequently, so naturally they heard about a man from the guard station traveling dozens of miles to eat.
The Jiang family couldn't help but drool when the sergeants mentioned the fragrant barbecue and large plates of soft cakes. It was a rare opportunity for them to eat such things.
When I saw Manager Song at this time, I naturally had to ask about Qili County, Tianxiang Tower, and the big dinner.
Song Liyun was a little dumbfounded. Wasn't it worth talking about for so long just after eating the buffet for a few days?
The main reason is the lack of food on the grassland.
Now that she had no time to think about business, she had to patiently tell the Jiang family about Qili County and Tianxiang Tower.
"Now Tianxianglou sells five sheep every day. Seeing that there is not enough mutton to sell, I went out to see if there was any mutton to send."
The Jiang family were shocked when they heard that Tianxianglou sold five sheep a day. His family had a total of seventy or eighty sheep, which was not enough for Tianxianglou to sell in one month.
Song Liyun said it more conservatively.
In addition to sheep, Tianxianglou also buys beef jerky, and a dry goods shop in Fucheng has already come to discuss Tianxianglou's purchase.
Everyone in the Jiang family has no doubt about Song Liyun's statement.
The way the soldiers at the fort eat is like eating a cow for one meal.
After talking about Tianxiang Tower, Song Liyun began to ask about things on the grassland.
In the afternoon, she heard from Jiang Xiaoni that a small Di tribe consisting of five families had moved to the Gobi Desert outside Shitan Fort.
Jiang Xiaoni's future husband's family will be the patriarch of it.
When Song Liyun was talking about Qili County just now, Song Dekui didn't interrupt. At this time, he became excited and asked directly: How can people from the Wu Dynasty and the Di people intermarry?
Song Liyun was also a little curious. Although the border people of the Wu Dynasty did not hate the Dilu people to the core, they were sworn in. How could they get married without any grudges? Even now, they still have to hide their marriage.
You wouldn’t know if you didn’t ask, but you’d be shocked if you asked, and you’ll find out that the two daughters-in-law of Lao Jiangtou’s family are from the Di ethnic group.
Only then did Song Liyun realize that these herdsmen did not understand what consanguineous marriage was. They only knew that their daughters marrying close to close relatives would anger the gods and give birth to monsters.
This is also common knowledge spread widely in the grassland.
The Di people are also not allowed to marry within the tribe.
Therefore, on sparsely populated borders, as long as there are no direct conflicts between herdsmen on both sides, intermarriage is actually very frequent, and it is also a way to maintain local peace.
Through the two sons of the Jiang family, Song Liyun finally heard what happened on the grassland.
The tribes who moved to Hungry Wolf Beach came from Mida Valley.
I heard that there is already a battlefield there.
The Mida Valley, where various tribes used to spend the winter, is now in chaos.
The newly rising Uda tribe is gathering tribes, and the sense of crisis makes the Donglun tribe also rush to expand its population.
There have been several small fights between the two parties. Although there is no real battle, everyone can see that they are sharpening their swords and competing for courage and force.
This is a sign of the coming war.
Some small tribes who did not want to be involved in the fighting avoided it and had to risk their lives and migrate from their wintering places.
Jiang Xiaonifu's family has only five tribes, with a total of more than 30 people, herding dozens of cattle and hundreds of sheep.
They were too weak and were looked down upon by both tribes. They did not dare to stay near the Mida Valley and did not want to be annexed by other tribes, so they came closer to the Wu Dynasty.
In this way, you can exchange for some daily necessities, and you can also find marriage partners for the children in the tribe.
These small tribes with little combat effectiveness are close to the Zhenbei Army's defense line. As long as they notify the guard station in advance, stay calm, and pay a few live sheep and felt blankets as taxes, they will generally not be expelled.
Song Dekui was very interested in the affairs of the grassland tribes and asked how much dowry it would take to marry a grassland girl and how he could become a son-in-law.
Can a skinny man like him marry a girl from the tribe?