The gray sky was like a hanging curtain, suppressing everything on the grassland.
"Go, go -" Chaolu rode on his horse, looking at the oppressive sky, and hurriedly drove the cattle and sheep.
Several hounds also barked and jumped knowingly, saving him a lot of energy.
In a short time, more than a hundred sheep were driven back to the sheepfold.
He had no time to spare, so he untied the two cows tied to the wooden stakes and moved them away from the ground where only the grass roots remained.
As for the horses, they had wisely returned to the stables long ago, nestled in the stalls, lay on the hay and stared in confusion.
Chaolu smiled, rode a horse, led two horses, and took the barrel two miles away.
There is a well here, which is covered tightly with stones and built with bricks. The hemp rope on the windlass has become hairy, obviously it has been used a lot.
This is the policy of the imperial court, and it is also to encourage the herdsmen to settle down and facilitate inspection.
After all, no matter what you do on the grassland, you cannot do without water.
In addition to rivers, the existence of well water will cause herdsmen to gather unconsciously, unable to escape the control of the court.
The herdsmen were also quite happy and happy about this.
In the past, when droughts occurred on the grasslands and rivers dried up, cattle and sheep could only die of thirst. But now the existence of wells has saved countless people.
Chaolu also likes it.
He always felt that the river water where people and cattle and sheep drank together was unclean and disgusting. No one knew whether there would be corpses or feces in the upper reaches.
A few years ago, he attended Qianhu Social Studies for half a year, and he knew what the Ming Dynasty was, what the emperor was, and some things outside Qianhu District.
Instead of being like your parents, who were blind and didn't know anything.
"This water is still clean!"
Looking at the gravel at the bottom of the well and the walls made of bricks, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He finally arrived before the well water became turbid.
The barrel was scooped up, then thrown down again and lifted up.
He loaded four barrels, two barrels on each horse's back, and then walked home quickly.
Sure enough, within a short while, drizzle started to fall in the sky.
"It's really going to rain!"
He hurriedly poured a bucket of water into the horse pen, and poured the remaining three buckets into the large water tank, which was only 70% full.
He bought this large water tank from the market. It was half a man tall. He spent 50 cents to buy it. It was very rare.
Use a bowl to scoop water into the iron pot, and then hang it on the fire.
He picked up the hay, scraped it with a sickle a few times, lit it, put it on the fire, and set up two pieces of wood.
Seemingly worried, he put in two more pieces of coal.
"Chaolu!" At this time, a woman's voice came out of the bedroom: "What are you doing?"
"Eji, I'm boiling water. It's raining outside. I'm afraid it will snow soon."
"Oh!" Eji's voice was calm: "It's getting dark soon, you can cook while the fire is on!"
"oh!"
As the eldest son of the family, he was not qualified to study at the age of eighteen, and his family could not afford it.
The second brother went to the Lama Temple, gave ten silver coins, and became a little lama to serve the Buddha.
The third brother was sent to Qianhu Station to herd sheep for Qianhu, or learn riding and archery skills at the same time.
If possible, I will participate in the Naadam Conference in the future and become a Mongolian Jinshi, or I will wait until a certain vassal king comes to the grassland to recruit his own troops and answer the call.
In recent years, the population on the grasslands has increased. Many people like to farm, and some go to Beihai to make a living.
On the grassland, although cattle and sheep are not allowed to cross the boundary, there are no boundaries for herdsmen who come and go freely, as long as they do not eat other people's grass.
At this time, several cheerful dog barks came from outside the door.
Then a middle-aged Mongolian man with a round face, wearing a bamboo hat bought from the Han people, opened the tent wetly.
"Abu!" Chaolu shouted, although he was still cooking hot porridge, cutting a few pieces of meat into the pot, pinching the broken salt from time to time, his mind was restless.
"It's almost winter, and it's raining more and more!"
The man took off his bamboo hat, with a smile on his face: "How has the alfalfa grown since I've been away for a few days?"
"They look great. We can store them all in our cellar, so we don't have to worry about them all winter."
Hearing this, Chaolu came back to his senses and said with a smile: "I can give birth to a few more cubs in the winter and eat goat milk!"
"It doesn't matter the sheep, you should raise more cows!" The man said hurriedly: "I asked around, and a cow can be sold for ten yuan now, which is worth twenty sheep. It is much more valuable!"
Chaolu heard this and nodded in agreement.
"This alfalfa is really good. In the past, it would have been enough to raise a hundred sheep on this land of several thousand acres. Now, looking at it, we can raise twice as much."
The man said happily: "Next year we will raise ten more cows and sell them to you to get a wife!"
Although alfalfa is suitable for grassland growth, it has never been popularized on a large scale and has always been planted in the Central Plains.
Because for herders, the land is vast and sparsely populated, and there is green grass everywhere, so there is no need to waste manpower growing alfalfa.
However, with the Ming Dynasty's conquest of the grasslands and the restriction of one thousand-household districts and one hundred-household districts, the herdsmen were forced to settle in places where they roamed.
Most herdsmen only have winter resting pastures and autumn grazing pastures, so the space is compressed.
There were three factors that allowed them to settle.
Silage allows forage to ferment, which is enough to keep cattle and sheep through the winter, making overwintering pasture less scarce.
Alfalfa greatly increases the amount of low-quality pasture grass and can feed more cattle and sheep.
The Lama Temple makes faith the anchor point of the herdsmen and has to be centered around it.
Of course, the comfort of settled settlement is better than that of nomads, and it is also convenient to exchange materials and so on. It is also more and more popular among herdsmen.
Hearing this, Chaolu was overjoyed: "Abu, have you made up your mind?"
"Zhu Le is generous. The Zhu family is your natal family. They are easy to talk to and the women are also practical and capable. You only need three cows and ten sheep to marry them!"
The man sighed: "It is getting more and more expensive to marry a woman now. In the first two years, two cows were enough. Why do we need sheep?"
"So I have to book it for you in advance, otherwise it will still go up!"
"We will get married next fall, and our Raihatud family will have a baby the year after that!"
"Abu, it's Lai Jia!"
Before Chao Feng could speak, he only heard an interruption.
Immediately, a young figure walked in, with joy on his face: "Brother, congratulations!"
"What Lai family? I only know the Lai Hatud family!"
The big man shook his head, then scooped up a bowl of soup and tasted it. He seemed to think it was too bland, so he added some salt.
"Hude, my brother, you are back!" Chaolu hugged happily, very happy for the return of his younger brother.
"Yes, I was afraid that you would be tired from harvesting alfalfa, so I came back to help. My second brother also asked me to bring some sesame oil to the Lama Temple. This is to be offered in front of the Bodhisattva."
Hu De smiled and said: "If you add it to the food, it can protect our family's longevity and health!"
"Amitabha!" At this time, Abu was extremely respectful. He held ten in both hands and slowly brought the sesame oil over and placed it in the most conspicuous position.
"This is the most precious thing in our family. We only eat it when guests come!"
Hu Deze said: "Abu, from now on we can just talk about it at home. Outside, we should say that our surname is Lai!"
"I know--" the old man trailed off with a rather stubborn tone.
Hu De had no choice but to do so.
The so-called surnames, like those in Xizang, did not exist in Mongolia at first. Only nobles could have their own surnames.
For example, the Jin family of Bo'er, a prominent golden family.
Even ordinary people just add the names of their fathers and their own names to form a name.
But for the imperial court, this was irregular and inconvenient.
Therefore, Mongolia has long carried out large-scale surname granting, or in other words, Chinese translation.
For example, the surname of Bo'er Zhijin is translated as Bao, Bao, Bao, Bo, Qi, Luo and Bo; the surname of Qiyan is translated as Qi, Qi, Chen and Qin.
Wu Liangliang is Wu, Wu, Yu and Wei.
The bigger the surname, the more surnames can be translated into Chinese, thus dividing the Mongolian nobles and tribes.
The Borjijin clan was not allowed to take it without permission. Only nobles approved by the imperial court could take it.
Ordinary Mongolians naturally choose the Mongolian surname selected for them by the court and the corresponding Chinese surname.
The reason why it's not just a Chinese surname is entirely because ordinary herders don't understand Chinese characters at all, and they can't remember them even if I tell them.
Mongolian surnames are different. They are easy to remember in spoken language.
Of course, on the household registration card, there is only a Chinese surname.
For the Mongols, this is no less than a social change.
The herdsmen at the bottom have their own surnames and have truly become independent individuals, no longer dependent on the nobles.
Having a surname may not seem like much, but it is a way to dismantle the Mongolian tribal system and lay down its foundation.
There are hundreds of herdsmen, all of whom have different surnames, and their cohesion will be greatly reduced, and the possibility of nobles inciting them to rebel will also be greatly reduced.
This is a conspiracy and the general trend.
Although Hude only attended Qianhusuo's private school, he had been familiar with it for many years and had a profound influence on Confucianism.
In his opinion, the so-called Mongolian surname is just superfluous, and it is best for the family to use the real Chinese surname.
How despicable is the surname of a barbarian...
In the evening, the family gathered in front of the hanging pot, eating the hot meat and tasting the few pieces of minced meat inside.
After the meal, everyone had a cup of warm milk tea to relax everyone.
Only Hude didn't like milk tea. He drank the elegant tea, which made his parents, especially Abu, hum a few words:
"Look at your appearance. If you weren't wearing a robe, I would have thought you were a Han!"
"Abu, this tea is the best. You are wasting your time because you don't know what the real taste is!" Hu De said with regret on his face.
The man is too lazy to deal with this traitor.
The next day, the whole family went into battle and picked up their machetes to cut the alfalfa.
More than ten acres of alfalfa is enough for their family of four to work for more than ten days.
Abu hammered his waist, looked at the thin sun in the sky, and then looked at the sharp sickle in his hand:
"If I had had this thing back then, our tribe would have risen a long time ago, and maybe I would have really become the leader of the aristocracy!"
"Now, just like the Han people, we still have to work in the fields. It's a pity!"
"Abu, stop dreaming!" Hud said without giving any face, "These happy days have never happened before. When those nobles are here, can you drink milk tea? You can't even drink milk wine!"
"Asshole!"
The father and son bickered, but they worked very quickly.
Just when the sun was at its peak, a scattered team suddenly ran over.
They were riding horses, wearing straw hats on their heads, carrying machetes at their waists, and their clothes were quite shabby.
The father and son immediately became alert, and the hounds started barking.
The leader dismounted his horse in advance without any weapons, showing his sincerity:
"We are grasshoppers!"
"What is a Cao Ke?" Chaolu was stunned.
"I'm here to help you harvest alfalfa." The man shouted:
"It will take at least half a month to collect your more than ten acres of alfalfa, but with us helping you, it can be completed in two or three days!"
Seeing that his father and brother were confused, Hude explained:
“In recent years, there have been more and more people growing alfalfa, and many idle people have come together to help others harvest forage and earn pocket money!”
"The closer you are to the Han people, the more they are."
"There were also those who had malicious intentions, and then they were eliminated!"
"How much is the reward?" At this time, Old Abu frowned.
"One penny per person!"
"too expensive!"
The two negotiated the price for a while and finally reached an agreement by providing food and drink and ten pounds of wool per person.
Herdsmen have more wool than money, so they are more interested in exchanging things for things rather than paying money directly.
In this way, seven or eight new troops were obtained, and by the afternoon of the next day, all the forage had been harvested.
And this group of grasshoppers also left happily carrying wool on their backs.
They were originally a group of people who lived at home, or were preparing to participate in the Naadam Conference, and were recruited by the lord to make money in their spare time and reduce family pressure.
But when Hu De asked, two or three people said directly:
"I want to save money to become a monk in a lamasery!"
Hude was surprised: "There are no women in the lamasery to become a monk!"
"You don't have to do heavy work in the Lama Temple, and you can pray for your family. Occasionally, you can go out to work for nobles and make money..."
Hud was silent.
On the grassland, the Gelug sect is practiced and has strict religious rules, and they are not allowed to have sex with women.
But in the eyes of some people, this is just a small regret. They can just get married early and leave children.
When the time comes to become a monk and become a lama, not only will your status be higher, but you will also be able to earn more money to support your family. It is much better than being a soldier or competing in the Naadam Convention.
If you perform well, you will become a monk in the temple and have a high status.
It is really very attractive to those second sons who cannot inherit the family property.
Chao Lu slapped his waist and looked at his slightly absent-minded brother: "What's wrong?"
"Brother, these people are crazy!" Hu De shook his head and said: "I don't want to serve the country with all my loyalty, I just want to become a monk and go to the nearest place."
"Joining the world and becoming an official is the best choice!"
In Confucian values, becoming a monk is a move to avoid reality and is unfilial.
The reduction in the number of people is also detrimental to the family.
"That's what you think!" Chaolu shook his head and said with a smile:
"I just want to inherit the family business, get a wife and have children!"
Hud fell into deep thought:
"More and more people want to be lamas, and this grassland has become unrecognizable..."