In the grassland province, the cold wind howls on the vast grassland, and the goose-feather-like snow drifts between the sky and the earth along with the cold wind, forming the white-haired wind that is most feared by the herdsmen on the grassland.
In the past, whenever the white-haired wind blew, a large number of cattle and sheep would freeze to death, directly making it difficult for the grassland herdsmen to survive in the coming year.
Therefore, when there is usually a white-haired wind, the grassland tribes will gather together to plunder the Central Plains in the south. If they do not plunder some food, they will not be able to survive at all in the coming year and will starve to death.
The cattle and sheep on the grassland are not only the property of the herdsmen, but they are also their rations. In winter, too many cattle and sheep freeze to death at once, which means that there will be no food rations in the coming year.
Therefore, herdsmen are most afraid of white-haired winds, especially white-haired winds that last for many days. It is even more terrifying. Sometimes, it will even freeze all the cattle and sheep to death.
Herder Batu opened a corner of his yurt. The heavy snow had almost blocked the door. The snow was one meter thick, making traveling extremely difficult.
"It hasn't stopped yet, it's already been a day and a night!"
Batu was so worried that he didn't bother shoveling the snow and hurriedly went out to check on the cattle and sheep at home.
When Batu saw the cattle and sheep that were almost all frozen to death, his eyes could not help but widen. It was so miserable. All the cattle and sheep were deeply covered by the heavy snow. They had to crawl away from the thick snow.
It snowed and found that the cattle and sheep were frozen.
As for the shed that provided the cattle and sheep with a toss, they had already flown to nowhere. The wind was too strong last night.
"It's all gone, it's all gone!"
While Batu crawled away from the snow to see if there were any living cattle or sheep, his eyes were blood red. All the cattle and sheep were dead. What would happen next year?
Although there is no need to worry about starving to death now, with the inclusion of the grassland province into the territory of the Ming Empire, the emperor has always been concerned about the grassland herdsmen. There is almost no big difference between the grassland province and the Ming Pass, and everything can be bought.
Food is not a problem either, it is cheap and of good quality.
In fact, today's grassland herdsmen have undergone great changes. One of the biggest changes is the diet structure. In the past, they could only eat beef, mutton, fruits and vegetables, tea and salt, all of which were scarce.
Therefore, many times, the herdsmen on the grassland lack vitamins and cannot pull out the big penis. In fact, it is not possible to eat beef and mutton every day.
With the integration into the Ming Dynasty, a large amount of vegetables, fruits, salt, tea, grains, etc. poured into the grassland, which greatly enriched the diet structure of the grassland people. Although they already eat a lot of beef and mutton, they also gradually added rice, wheat, corn, etc.
As a staple food, vegetable and fruit tea has gradually entered thousands of households, becoming an indispensable daily necessities for herdsmen.
Even if all the cattle and sheep freeze to death, there is no need to worry about starvation in the coming year. A little money is enough to buy food for a family to live for a year.
It's just that the cattle and sheep are also the wealth of the herdsmen. They all froze to death this time, and it was such a winter, so they couldn't sell them. The price must have been very, very low, so the loss was very huge.
"Baa~baa~"
When he reached the middle area, Batu finally heard the sound of sheep bleating. Suddenly, his whole body seemed to come to life and he hurried over.
It turns out that there are still more than a dozen sheep alive in the middle, including several lambs. Because these sheep are in the center, the temperature is the highest, so they can survive.
"It's okay, it's okay, you finally left some seeds for me."
Batu was overjoyed and quickly moved the dozen sheep to his yurt, regardless of whether they were dirty or not. If these dozen sheep froze to death, there would really be no sheep left.
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The white-haired wind continued. For several days, the sky and the earth were filled with howling cold winds and blizzards. When the weather cleared up, the white-haired wind passed.
Batu quickly used a carriage to take the dead cattle and sheep in his family to a nearby town to sell them. The dead cattle and sheep could still be sold for some money.
This is also a benefit now.
In the past, cattle and sheep that froze to death in winter could only be eaten, but too many froze to death at once, and even if they could be eaten, they would not be able to finish them all. By the time spring comes, the meat would have rotted away.
This is the most painful place for herdsmen.
It’s different now. There are trains on the grassland leading to the Beijing-Tianjin area of the Ming Dynasty. There are also cement roads connecting various small towns. Dead cattle and sheep can be sold for money, and then taken directly to the Beijing-Tianjin area by train, and even
So the whole Ming Dynasty was sold.
The thick snow makes it extremely difficult for carriages to travel, but fortunately in winter, when everyone sets up camp, they will choose places closer to small towns or cement roads.
If something happens, you can go to the nearest town for help in time.
The same is true for Batu. The place where he camped was very close to the cement road. After clearing a road, he could get onto the cement road quickly. On the cement road, there were also people from the government using snowplows to clear the thick snow on the cement road.
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The snow plow driven by the powerful internal combustion engine is very powerful. In just a few trips, all the thick snow was shoveled away, allowing the road to be restored.
When Batu drove a carriage with a carriage of dead cattle and sheep to the nearest town, he discovered that the town was already overcrowded. There were too many herdsmen coming here to sell frozen dead cattle and sheep.
Cars and carts of frozen cattle and sheep were pulled to the small town. Every herdsman looked sad to each other. Their situation was similar to that of Batu. Almost all the cattle and sheep in their homes were frozen to death.
Only a small part has been brought over now, and there are still a large number of frozen cattle and sheep waiting to be sold.
"Come, come, collect the frozen cattle and sheep!"
"The big cows are frozen to death for 3 taels of silver each. The middle cows are worth 2 taels of silver each. The calves are worth 1 tael of silver each. The sheep are worth 1 tael of silver. Five sheep are selling them. Come here quickly."
At this time, there were businessmen with several large trucks and tin speakers shouting constantly.
Upon hearing the businessman's words, many herdsmen immediately gathered around and scrambled to sell their cattle and sheep.
Although this price is very, very cheap, you must know that in normal times, an adult cow costs at least ten taels of silver, and a sheep costs at least six to seven hundred cents.
But now, the price is completely shattered. At 3 taels of silver for a bull, the price is really too low.
But there is no way, these are frozen cattle and sheep, not alive. Secondly, there are not many cattle and sheep that have been frozen to death on the grassland. It is already very good to be able to get this price.
This is also thanks to the developed transportation in Ming Dynasty. There are trains that can connect to various places in Ming Dynasty, so these frozen cattle and sheep can be transported by train to various places in Ming Dynasty for sale.
In the past, no one would have collected even 1 tael of silver, because even if it was collected, it could not be shipped out or sold, and it would only slowly rot in the hands.
Soon, Batu sold the cattle and sheep that were transported this time, exchanged some money, and then went to the town to buy some grain, tea and other things.
In this small town, carloads of frozen cattle and sheep were quickly transported by trucks and roads to the nearest city with trains, and then transported by train to the Beijing-Tianjin area and various parts of the Ming Dynasty.
Scenes like this happen in every corner of the grassland.
This winter is really too cold.
The temperature on the grassland has dropped to forty or fifty degrees below zero. Coupled with the terrifying white-haired wind, a large number of cattle and sheep were frozen to death, and even herders were frozen to death. The entire vast grassland suffered heavy losses.
Train after train of frozen cattle, sheep, and horses were constantly being pulled from the grasslands to various parts of the Ming Dynasty, which also allowed the people of the Ming Dynasty to buy the cheapest beef and mutton in history for the first time.
At this moment, it is not just the grassland provinces that are experiencing severe cold.
Black Earth Province also encountered unprecedented cold weather.
At Li Da's breeding farm in Dafeng Town, Black Earth Province, at this moment, Li Da and Li Carpenter were also looking sad. Unprecedented cold weather and heavy snowfall were coming.
As a direct result, some buildings in the breeding farm were crushed by heavy snow, and a large number of cattle, sheep, and pigs raised inside were frozen to death. Only a few buildings did not collapse, but many of the cattle, sheep, and pigs inside were still frozen to death.
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"What a sin!"
Carpenter Li looked at the large number of cattle, sheep and pigs that were frozen to death, and his whole heart felt extremely heartbroken.
It has been a few years since he came to Heitu Province. He has always lived in his eldest son's home and helped raise cattle, sheep and pigs. He watched the business expand little by little.
Who knew that this snowstorm would suddenly bring us back to before liberation.
"Dad, add more hay to the remaining cattle, sheep and pigs."
"I'm going to shovel the snow off the roof. If this continues, all these cows, sheep, and pigs will freeze to death!"
Li Da, however, could no longer care about his heartache and quickly got busy while giving instructions.
This breeding farm, which was built after years of hard work here in Black Earth Province, has finally expanded in scale, but it has encountered such severe cold weather.
This winter this year is really too cold.
I really suffered heavy losses this time. More than two-thirds of the cattle, sheep, and pigs were frozen to death. The key is that more than half of the houses on the farm have collapsed. It took a lot of money to build these houses. Now it’s really
It's all wasted.
"We shouldn't have saved money in the first place and just built it with reinforced concrete. That way it would be strong and not fall down in a heavy snowfall."
"No one expected that this winter would be so cold, accompanied by such terrible heavy snow."
While he was busy cleaning up, Li Daxin was filled with regret.
