Chapter 797 Wild Duck Station and Pine Forest Station (Three in One)
There is a stream here. If you walk down the stream for about ten miles, you will see a large lake with a water surface of about four or five miles.
It is formed by the collection of many streams of water.
It is most difficult to build roads in such a place. Because of the streams, bridges need to be built in some places.
In fact, if the road is stretched into a straight line, the Bronze Expressway will basically pass through this wild lake.
Of course, such a project cannot be completed by the current Qingque tribe.
Even if it can be completed, Han Cheng will not lead the people in the tribe to do this thankless task.
In order to bypass this lake and the two relatively large rivers that flowed into the lake, after surveying, Han Cheng finally made the decision to move the road nearly ten miles to the south of the lake.
Even this did not completely avoid the stream.
However, compared to the lake and the two relatively wide rivers, the amount of work to move the road here has been reduced by an unknown amount.
Han Cheng is not thinking about building bridges now.
Compared with normal road construction, things like building bridges are much more troublesome.
However, according to the current manpower and material resources of the Qingque tribe, it is not a problem to build some stone bridges with short spans.
What Han Cheng is thinking about now is accommodation, or setting up a post station here.
The nature of the Bronze Expressway connecting the main tribe of Qingque and the residential area of Tongshan determines its important role in the future.
Han Cheng made a rough measurement of this finalized route when he went to the Tongshan residential area. After cutting and straightening it, it was nearly one hundred and seventy miles.
It would be impossible to cover such a long distance in one day before the horse appeared.
As a result, it became very necessary to build a post station on this road.
In the past and now, people in the tribe, including trading teams that travel frequently, always carry tents, ropes and other things with them when they go out.
When camping at night, set up a tent and use ropes to circle a relatively safe area around the tent.
This way of camping is much safer than the way most tribes of this era camped directly in the wild without shelter or obstruction.
But from the perspective of Han Cheng, a later generation, this way of camping is not very safe.
And in addition to the factor of unsafety, there are many other inconvenient factors.
Not to mention the rest, just carrying tents, ropes and other things with you takes up a lot of space and is quite tiring.
In addition, after arriving at the camping site every day, the tent is set up and ropes are laid around it, and the tent is dismantled early the next morning...
Thinking about these things makes people feel troublesome.
When the people of the trade team go out to trade, they need to travel to many places. It is unrealistic to build fixed resting places along the way.
It is precisely because of this that although Han Cheng previously felt that building temporary camps using tents and ropes was not only unsafe but also troublesome, he never made any suggestions to build something like a post station.
But now, the same thing becomes different when placed on the Bronze Expressway.
In the future, the transportation volume in the Tongshan residential area will definitely be relatively large, and unlike the road they take when they go out to trade, this road is fixed. Under such circumstances, you can consider building a post station on this road.
thing.
This place, which was just named Wild Duck Bridge by Han Cheng, is about sixty miles away from the Tongshan residential area.
It is almost at the third node of the Bronze Expressway.
By building a station here and at another third of the node, the entire Bronze Expressway can be artificially divided into three sections.
Walking on a flat road instead of walking over mountains and ridges like before, it is not a problem to travel sixty miles from morning to night.
As for an emergency, a person riding a donkey and taking two donkeys with him can walk up to 120 times a day without any problem.
In this way, both those who are pulling donkey carts and those who are riding donkeys to report emergencies can have a place to stay on the road.
It is very reasonable to divide the entire Bronze Expressway into three sections roughly evenly with two stations.
Of course, the post station envisioned by Han Cheng was very different from the traditional inn station where specialized people were stationed, feeding horses, and providing food and accommodation.
The biggest difference is that after they were built, the two stations did not have people specially guarded here.
Its most important function is just to allow the people of the Qingque tribe who travel between the main Qingque tribe and the Tongshan residential area to have a safe and comfortable place to stay, without having to go through the same trouble as now.
In time, some stoves can be built here for people coming and going to make fires and cook.
You can even store a small amount of food in some dark rooms and use it as relief food for people coming and going.
Some people have consumed the food, and when they come next time, they will bring some food to make up for it.
As for whether there is no one to guard here and whether it will be damaged by others, in this era, there is no need to think too much.
If any tribe really discovered these two inns and lived in them, this...
For the Qingque Tribe, this is not only not a bad thing, but on the contrary, it is also a very good thing.
These are just Han Cheng's early plans for the two stations.
Later, when the number of people in the tribe gradually increases and the surrounding land is no longer enough for farming, you can consider 'immigrating' to these two stations.
Then, with these two stations as the center, we will develop towards the surrounding areas, reclaim land and grow food.
And here, about ten miles to the north, there is a large lake, and there are some rivers around it. While developing planting industry, fishery can also be developed.
It is foreseeable that these two inns, one is close to the Tongshan residential area and the other is close to the Qingque main tribe, and they are both located on the Bronze Expressway. As long as there are enough manpower, they will definitely be able to develop in the future.
Maybe later on, along the entire Bronze Expressway and on both sides of the road, it is not impossible to develop an economic belt along the road!
Sure enough, if you want to get rich, you must first build roads!
Looking at the mallards swimming in the water, diving from time to time, and then popping up in another place, Han Cheng was in a good mood. He thought of the saying that was widely circulated in later generations and believed it.
After thinking about these things, Han Cheng took off the leather bag he carried with him from his back, took out the large map inside which showed the roughly known terrain from the main Qingque tribe to the Tongshan residential area, and used
On the Bronze Expressway marked by the red line, I found the location of this place and put a dot on it.
And a simple small house was painted around it, with the words "Wild Duck Station" written on it.
By this time, Mao had already led people to set up the camp for accommodation.
For people who travel frequently in trade teams, they are already very familiar with building such a camp by relying on things like tents and ropes.
And when the camp was set up and the cooking fire was lit, Shang, who had gone out with some other people, also came back.
Shang was holding two mallards that had been shot with bows and arrows in his hands, and a dozen green-skinned mallard eggs were found in the pockets of several others.
The two wild ducks were happily plucked by Han Cheng, then put on sticks and grilled over the charcoal fire.
As for the ten wild duck eggs, which were much larger than the eggs in the tribe, Han Cheng did not let anyone eat them.
Instead, I pulled out a lot of grass and put it into an empty clay pot. After padding it softly, I put the wild duck eggs in it.
If you want to quickly have a group of wild ducks in the tribe and cultivate these wild ducks, it is impossible to rely solely on the three little guys caught last time. It is too slow.
Han Cheng planned to take these wild duck eggs back for incubation and get a batch of ducklings.
Regarding the problem of how to hatch duck eggs into ducklings without adult ducks in the tribe, Han Cheng was not worried at all.
It is true that there are no adult ducks in the tribe, but there are many adult chickens in the tribe.
After we go back, we can just let the chickens hatch the ducklings.
Letting chickens hatch duck eggs may sound a bit ridiculous, but in fact it is not at all.
When Han Cheng was a child, he saw an old hen leading a group of children who were obviously not his, looking for food more than once.
In fact, not only duck eggs can be hatched by chickens, but even goose eggs that need to be hatched for a longer period of time can also be hatched by chickens.
Because chickens are very stubborn, once they want to start hatching chicks, the incubation period will not end unless the eggs under them are hatched.
In other words, the length of its incubation period depends entirely on whether something hatches.
In later generations, some people thought that it took too long for chickens to hatch eggs. After the chickens entered the hatching period, they went directly to the town to buy the chicks they had hatched.
At night, you secretly put the chicks under the old hen that is about to hatch the eggs. Early the next morning, the old hen will end the incubation period and happily take the chicks that have suddenly appeared.
Looking for food everywhere is no different from treating one's own children.
After the two roast ducks were roasted, Han Cheng tore off one duck leg and let everyone share the rest.
It was not marinated in advance and lacked various sauces. Of course, the taste was not as good as the roast duck sold in later generations, but in the end I still had roast duck.
The next day, Han Cheng did not lead the people to set off from here immediately. Instead, he divided people into several groups and spread out to look for wild duck eggs in the grass.
Autumn is coming soon at this time, and most of the wild ducks have finished laying eggs and incubating eggs, and have successfully become duck mothers.
But the most indispensable thing in the world is accidents. With so many wild ducks, there are always some who will encounter some egg thieves when hatching eggs. As a result, there are no eggs to hatch, and the hatching period ends early.
Then after a period of adjustment, the eggs are laid again for hatching.
The ugly duckling in the well-known story "The Ugly Duckling" encountered an accident when its parents were incubating the previous round of eggs.
Otherwise, the swans born in spring will have basically grown up by autumn and can move south with the large army. There will never be an ugly duckling that has not yet shed its feathers.
Although the peak period for wild ducks to hatch eggs had passed at this time, the number of wild ducks was too large. After a careful search under Han Cheng's order, everyone in the Qingque tribe found nearly twenty more duck eggs here.
Then they continued walking back under the leadership of Han Cheng.
These nearly thirty wild duck eggs will be able to hatch out some ducklings in due time.
The reason why Han Cheng had such low expectations for the hatchability of these duck eggs was because there must be many duck eggs among them, the ones that had been hatched by wild ducks for a while.
In this way, if the egg stops hatching midway, the duckling being hatched inside will definitely stop developing and then die...
This time I don't have to do things like explore the terrain when I go back. I can concentrate on my journey and the speed will naturally become faster.
Two days later at noon, Han Cheng and the others stopped at a place.
There are tracts of pine trees growing here, some of which are difficult for several people to hug.
However, the overall terrain is relatively flat, and it is more suitable to reclaim wasteland when the time comes.
This is another three-point node above Qingque Expressway.
The team stopped under Han Cheng's order. Han Cheng wandered around here for a long time, then found a more suitable place here and made a mark with stones. When the time comes, a post station will be built here.
After setting up the sign, the location was found and marked on the map. A simple small house was drawn on the side as above, and the words "Pine Forest Station" were written on it.
After finishing these things, the sun had already reached the middle of the western sky. Upon seeing this, Han Cheng simply issued an order to set up camp and rest here tonight.
And he and some people were digging through the thick pine needles here, looking for pine nuts, and bringing back some gifts...
Fourteen or five miles away from the end of the old road of the Qingque tribe, a group of people were holding tools and building the road in full swing.
Nowadays, as the road continues to extend further and further away from the quarry, it becomes more and more difficult to transport the stone slabs. The paving of the stone road has stopped six days ago.
What is being built now are pure dirt roads.
Because there are so many people working here, there are more than 80 adults working on road construction. In addition, the people of the Qingque tribe are already familiar with tools such as hoe heads and copper shovels, so the road construction work is carried out smoothly.
Soon, in the past two days, the distance reached 700 meters a day!
"One, two, three! Hey~"
Han Cheng, who was walking back along the previously opened route, heard the faint sound of chants from afar, and a smile appeared on his face.
After waiting here for a while, Han Cheng and others accelerated their pace back...
"Son of God! Son of God and the others are back!"
Someone saw Han Cheng coming back from the other side of the road with someone and couldn't help shouting. The next moment, the entire busy construction site became boiling...
After the joy of returning, Han Cheng saw that it was still relatively early and was not in a hurry to go back. After understanding some of the road construction situation, he went back a few miles to meet with Shang, Mao and other members of the trade team.
The site was cleared there, and temporary housing sheds were started to be built, and these people were allowed to live outside when they were ready...
Night in the Qingque Tribe.
The tribe that had become lively because of Han Cheng's return had completely quieted down.
The stars twinkled in the night sky, and in the grass surrounding the tribe, there were high and low chirping of insects, and green fireflies flew slowly under the night, echoing the starlight in the sky.
The entire tribe was shrouded in the tranquility of the night.
In the room, Little Wandou had fallen asleep. Children's naps are always so good.
The orange lights danced gently. Han Cheng leaned sideways and put his ear against Bai Xuemei's growing belly, listening quietly to the sounds coming from inside.
Now, Bai Xuemei is more than five months pregnant, and sometimes she can feel some fetal movement.
Looking at his sleeping son over there, holding his wife in his arms, and feeling the movement of the other little guy still in his belly, Han Cheng felt that his life had been worth it!
The next day, Han Cheng, who was still asleep, was woken up by Xiao Wandou, who had already gotten up and put on his clothes, pinching his nose.
"Dad, look at the little duck!"
Seeing Han Cheng wake up, Xiao Wandou pulled Han Cheng out with excitement.
Children will never understand the hard work of adults day and night. Han Cheng, who still wanted to lie down and sleep again, saw the expectant look on the little guy's face, so he could only give up the idea and yawned and forced himself to get up.
, after a simple wash, the little guy took me to the small duck house to see the little ducks.
Xiao Wandou was very fond of the three little ducks brought back by Han Cheng. During the period when Han Cheng was away, he often took pandas to catch grasshoppers and feed them to them.
I haven't seen them for a while. Compared with when Han Cheng left, these little ducks have grown up a lot, and their growth is very gratifying.
"Good job, boy!"
Han Cheng stretched out his hand to rub the head of Little Pea, who was wearing crotchless pants and squatting beside him to watch the little duck, and praised him seriously.
Little Pea suddenly beamed and smiled.
Xiao Wandou was even more excited after receiving the praise, and pulled Han Chengcheng out to catch grasshoppers and feed them to the ducklings.
Han Cheng turned around and called Bai Xuemei, asking her to go out too.
Bai Xuemei is already pregnant and needs to hang around a little more.
Han Cheng held Bai Xuemei in one hand and Xiao Wandou, who always wanted to run fast, with the other hand. Followed by Fu Jiang, who was wagging his tail, the family of three and a dog walked together towards the outside of the courtyard gate.
Before they even walked out of the yard, the round panda rolled over like a ball and joined the group going out.
"Yoyo..."
Of course, such an occasion is indispensable without Uncle Lu, the leader of the Qingque tribe in the animal world.
This guy used his antlers to push the people away from the deer pen, and when he came out, he didn't forget to use his hind legs to gently close the door with a hoof.
Then he took elegant steps and took full advantage of his long legs. He quickly caught up with Han Cheng and rested his chin on Han Cheng's shoulder from behind, walking forward very lazily.
It had been a while since he had seen this unscrupulous guy like Uncle Lu, and Han Cheng missed him very much, so he tilted his head and rubbed Uncle Lu's long face.
However, his longing did not last long and developed into extreme dislike.
Because Uncle Lu took advantage of Han Cheng not paying attention and stuck out his rough tongue and slapped Han Cheng on the face.
Looking at the two-legged beast who was wiping his saliva with his hand and glaring at him with a look of disgust, Uncle Lu, who had his face pinched twice by Han Cheng, did not feel any discomfort at all. Instead, he stretched his neck and raised his mouth.
The skin was lifted up, revealing big yellow teeth, with a twitchy look on his face...
Throwing the few strings of grasshoppers and small peas he had caught into the duck house, looking at a little duck that was choked by a big grasshopper and stretching its neck, Han Cheng suddenly remembered the nearly thirty wild ducks he had brought back.
duck eggs.
These things need to find chickens quickly and start hatching!
Han Cheng miscalculated.
Originally, he thought that with so many chickens in the tribe, one or two would be in the incubation stage, and these duck eggs would not have to worry about hatching at all.
However, the result was that there was not even a single chicken in the nest!
This made Han Cheng very melancholy.
If there are no chickens in the nest, ducklings will not be hatched, and ducklings will not be hatched. The development and growth of the duck flock in the tribe will be slow. If you want to eat roast duck and salted duck eggs in the future, you will have to wait longer...
It was at this time that the old rooster who always liked to hang out with the hens and looked like sisters to the hens came into Han Cheng's eyes.
This is the castrated rooster.
There is nothing to say, this great and arduous task can only be handed over to this guy.
After a while, the panicked rooster was caught by Han Cheng under the gaze of other panicked chickens.
After finishing half a bowl of fruit wine, the rooster, who had been frightened just now, suddenly became quiet. The cock's comb was so red.
Han Cheng placed the drunken rooster in a henhouse made of adobe bricks and golden millet stalks. After catching it with a bamboo sieve, he began to take the duck eggs out of the clay pot.
Twenty-eight duck eggs are quite a pile there.
Generally, it is difficult for a chicken to hatch twenty or thirty eggs at once, let alone duck eggs that are much larger than chicken eggs!
The twenty-eight duck eggs in front of me, this rooster obviously cannot hatch at once.
Is it possible to cast off another rooster and let them hatch together?
After Han Cheng thought about it, he still did not do this cruel thing. Instead, he got half a basin of warm water and put the duck eggs into the basin.
After some duck eggs were put into the basin, they slowly sank to the bottom of the water, while some floated on the water.
Han Cheng took out the eleven floating duck eggs and put them aside. There was no need to hatch these anymore, and no ducklings would be hatched if they were hatched again.
Take out the remaining seventeen duck eggs, wipe them dry with linen cloth, and place them one by one under the body of the drunken rooster.
When this rooster wakes up, he will go further and further on his way to becoming a glorious mother duck...
