Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 106 Strategist

Old He was amazed at Xiao Xia's communication skills. He even found it hard to believe that a man who had just come out of the country for the first time in his life and whose head was filled with the information that the Jie people during the Five Barbarians period ate human flesh could get along well with a Jie tribal leader he met for the first time in such a short period of time.

Not only did he speak Jie language well, he could even eat the kind of food that would make Han people want to vomit, even though he later vomited everything next to him when he made an excuse to go take a shit.

After peeing, Lao He looked back and saw Xia Lin still vomiting, so he went up to him and asked, "How is it? Can you still hold it?"

"damn it."

There was no way he could bear it or not. The first word of scolding was enough to fully reflect Xia Lin's current mood. He wiped his mouth, took out half a pancake from his arms and forced himself to eat it. Only then did his expression look better.

"It's so disgusting, the taste." Xia Lin shook his head: "Really, even a dog would shake his head if you gave it to him."

"But you were enjoying your meal just now, and you praised the food. I saw you gave a thumbs up."

Xia Lin smiled and sighed, "The first thing a qualified diplomat should do is to be tolerant. This doesn't necessarily mean to be tolerant of the other party's arrogant attitude, but to be tolerant of living habits that are completely different from one's own. What we call tolerance is respect in their eyes. Maybe they don't know what respect means, but just like when you give someone a sip of your hometown liquor and they praise it highly, you will naturally feel that this person can become a friend."

After saying this, he shook his head again: "Some people are Confucianists, some are Legalists, and I... well, I should be considered a strategist."

How could Lao He know this? He was half illiterate and had lived his whole life relying on experience and hard work. But this sounded very impressive to him, so he decisively gave Xia Lin a thumbs up: "Really impressive."

"Thank you." Xia Lin glanced at Lao He, probably knowing that he only knew half of the answer: "It's time to go back."

When they returned to the big tent, the host happily pulled Xia Lin to sing and dance, then opened the cans he had brought and distributed them to the representatives from each household.

They had all eaten vegetables, and although the north wind was blowing and the grass was falling, there was still spring. But they had basically never eaten fruit. People's taste buds were naturally able to experience sweet and salty tastes, but it was a luxury for people here to have a bite of salt, not to mention sweetness which was even more scarce than salt.

It is no exaggeration to say that it was the first time that Xia Lin saw someone sucking off the lid of a canned food. The soup, residue and even the seeds in a loquat could be chewed up and swallowed by them.

It's too bitter, this place is really too bitter, so bitter that they would treat the slightest bit of sweetness as a treasure. Some people would leave half of it and put it away, probably to take it back home for their wives and children to have a bite.

Before coming here, Xia Lin thought they would stay in a ranch homestay like when he went to Inner Mongolia, and light a bonfire at night and eat and drink together. But the reality is that they don't even have fuel to light a fire, let alone play guitar. The reason why their food is disgusting is that most of it is not cooked, but air-dried...

The air-dried beef I bought on PDD tastes good because it has salt, sugar, star anise, cumin, and chili in it. But the air-dried beef here has only the whistling wind of the prairie, and you can smell the smell of cow dung after chewing it.

"It's like this. I came here this time just to do business with you. We are merchants from the south, and most of what we brought this time are specialties from the south. We hope to exchange with you for some things from the grassland, such as animal skins, oils, etc. We have a lot of supplies, and we don't plan to take them back, so the goods will be relatively cheap. If you can't exchange for the time being, I can provide a new way of exchange."

Xia Lin suddenly spoke to the heads of the families present when he was celebrating. After successfully attracting everyone's attention, he stood up and clapped his hands: "I heard that other merchants were selling very expensive things, and I can see that your conditions are not good either. So since we are destined to meet this time, I decided to give you a batch of things for free."

"Free gift?"

The people present and Lao He were all stunned. Their eyes were filled with disbelief, while Xia Lin nodded and said, "It's not really free."

The people on the grassland have limited cultural level. They can understand the meaning of "giving it away for free", but this is "really giving it away for free and not really giving it away for free". So is it really giving it away for free?
So everyone's eyes were filled with doubt, and many people even secretly decided that if this Han Chinese was lying, they would chop him up on the spot and put him in the pot to cook with the beef. Oh, and the delicious vegetables, too.

At this time, Xia Lin coughed and said, "It's like this. You can ask people from other tribes to come and exchange supplies. For every 20 items exchanged, I will keep one for you. Don't worry, the caravan is very large. 20 for one is enough for your food and clothing. And you can also exchange them yourself. I will keep the supplies for you at the ratio of 20 for one."

This method of recruiting people was easy to understand. They understood it as soon as they heard it. When they looked at the chief of their tribe, he nodded to indicate that it was okay. Since everyone agreed, it would be easy to handle. Just recruit people!
The first to start was naturally their original tribe, but fifty-seven vehicles was a very large caravan, and they had no way of exchanging all of them. With their scarce supplies, they even had half of one vehicle left.

But for that one twentieth, these men mounted their horses and began to scatter like dandelions. Some went out in the morning and came back with a group of people in the evening, some came back the next day or the day after, and some even brought their entire small tribe here, with the number ranging from dozens to one or two hundred, including soup and water.

This is the advantage of nomadic people. They don’t need a fixed residence. If anything happens, they can just move their homes here.

This went on for more than ten days, and the area that was originally a small tribe had gathered seven or eight tribes, and even other tribes were migrating here.

Xia Lin was really busy exchanging things, and because this place was not far from Yanmen Pass, only about less than two hundred miles away, Lao He even brought another convoy after he brought the things back a few days ago, which was specifically for transporting some rations, fuel and other things.

Facing the mountains of supplies, Lao He said to Miss Tang: "He is really amazing. In the past, we were exhausted every time we did business with the grasslands. But this time, he was so good that not only did he get those tribes to come by themselves, but he also exchanged so many things. The most important thing is that he is so cheerful. The things have almost been exchanged, and he asked me to come back to purchase another batch of goods. He also said that all the profits from now on will be yours."

Miss Tang was also surprised. She was curious and asked why Xia Daosheng could always turn decay into magic. If it weren't for the ancestral precepts that forbade her to leave the country, she would definitely go with that guy to see what kind of ability he had to turn decay into magic and make the barbaric and backward barbarians so obedient.

Old He was uneducated and couldn't explain anything, and even his gestures and words couldn't make him clear. This instead aroused Miss Tang's curiosity to the maximum, so this time she ordered a big shopkeeper in the family to go with Old He to take a look, to see if Xia Daosheng really had three heads and six arms.

At this moment, Xia Daosheng, who was already hanging out among the tribes, had put on grassland fur clothes and was singing and dancing around the campfire with the lovely grassland girls.

With fuel, seasoning and some salt, winter without hunger is coming. Xia Lin took advantage of the good weather and the high temperature to gather the chiefs of several tribes and teach them how to grow crops on the grassland. He then compiled the pictures and distributed them to the tribes.

Of course, there are also seeds, which are free and not worth much anyway. The main ones are some fruits and vegetables suitable for growing in the north, and they are also taught how to turn the soil, compost, burn the wasteland, etc.

And these barbarians really regarded Xia Lin as their mentor. This was not an exaggeration at all. Xia Lin had taught many students, but no matter how good the students were, they were not as good as these barbarians. It was no exaggeration to say that they would even pick up small stones to simulate planting, and the planting depth and density would be strictly carried out according to the atlas. If they were a little careless, the chief would beat them.

It was precisely because of Xia Lin's patience and his rigorous and humble attitude that hundreds of small tribes were quickly attracted to gather in this place, causing the soldiers at Yanmen Pass to be on high alert for fear that these barbarians would suddenly attack.

But fortunately, they really just sing and dance when they get together...

On the 30th day after arriving at the grassland, there was a snowstorm and the temperature was very low. There was no way to have a bonfire party, but Xia Lin, who could not sit still, began to give lessons to these barbarians in the tent. The tribesmen took out the tallow lamps they usually did not want to use and illuminated the tent. Xia Lin taught them some basic medical knowledge bit by bit, such as how to save themselves in the wild, how to deal with common problems, care for pregnant women, and first aid for newborns.

Xiao Xia was familiar with all this. He had spent some time in Africa before, and watched the doctors who came to Africa teach the locals in this way. Now it seemed like a reincarnation...

In fact, many people in the caravan were puzzled by Xia Lin's behavior. In their eyes, Xia Lin was no different from aiding the enemy. But now these barbarians all called Xia Lin "Han Bodhisattva".

The time came to the forty-seventh day. All the officers and soldiers of Yanmen Pass stayed up all night, because at this time of year in previous years, as long as the weather was cold, there would be barbarians blocking the pass. They would attack the pass with desperate means, with tens of thousands of people at a time. If they were not careful, the gate would be knocked open, and then there would be a horrific massacre.

But from that night till dawn, there was nothing outside except desolate wasteland and endless snow. No smoke rose from other checkpoints. Guo Ying, the commander of Yanmen Pass, stood on the city wall and looked into the distance, but he did not see any barbarian soldiers gathering. There were only convoys coming in and out, connected end to end for dozens of miles.

What came in was a large amount of fodder, leather, meat, and fat, and what went out was rations, quota salt, farm tools, etc.

"Yeah?" Guo Ying scratched his head: "This year is hell."

(End of this chapter)