wild trail

Chapter 323
While talking, Zhou Heizi took Chen Bai to his residence.

A spacious house was built in the simple fenced yard, and the roof was covered with thick snow. Chen Bai was worried that the house would be crushed by such thick snow.

Following Zhou Heizi down the steps, Chen Bai noticed that many ditches had been dug near the house in the deep pit, and he guessed that they should be used for drainage.

Entering the house, the warm breath blows over the face, the temperature here is completely different from the outside world, Zhou Heizi warmly invites Chen Bai to sit on the kang covered with straw mats.

Touching the warm earth kang, Chen Bai couldn't help but wonder, "Why is it so warm here?"

Hearing this, Zhou Heizi couldn't help laughing and said: "Major Chen thought he had never seen this kang before. It is said that His Majesty invented this thing. At the beginning, General Shi told His Majesty about the cold winter here, and I don't know how His Majesty came up with it." What a good way, after handing over the construction method of the heated kang to the Ministry of Industry, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry came here to teach us how to build the heated kang."

Saying that, Zhou Heizi dragged Chen Bai into another room.

This room is very messy, with a pile of sundries placed in a mess, a stove is built against the wall, and an iron pot above it is constantly steaming.

"This room is the place where I usually cook. I am a soldier, and the birds in our place don't come to shit. Unlike in the army, there are special cooks. Here you can only cook what you want. You see, this stove is connected with the kang in that house, and it also burns coals. It is very convenient to light a fire on weekdays not only for heating but also for hot water for cooking.” Zhou Heizi introduced warmly.

Chen Bai was amazed when he heard it, and looked back and forth between the stove and the kang, wishing to be overwhelmed by Wang Lang's fantastic idea, walked to the stove, carefully picked up the iron pot, and looked at the burning fire in the stove. The glowing red coal was very excited in his heart, he felt that he had fallen in love with this place.

After visiting the house, the two of them sat on the warm kang, Zhou Heizi heated up some meat on the stove, and made some simple food, which was regarded as a cleansing for Chen Bai.

Zhou Heizi took a sip of the wine, a warm current flowed into his stomach, and he felt warm all over his body. He looked at Chen Bai and said, "Major Chen, this house will be reserved for you in the future. I will come back tomorrow." It's Fish City."

Hearing this, Chen Bai asked in surprise, "Warrior Zhou, why are you leaving in such a hurry?"

"I have been in this place for a year, and I only took over here temporarily. I have stayed here long ago. Someone has been sent to notify us. We have to go back when we know that a new official has taken office. It is said that His Majesty the Emperor If we want to expand to the west, most of us soldiers will be transferred back." Zhou Heizi said slowly, with a hint of excitement showing in his expression.

Chen Bai understood what Zhou Heizi was thinking, held up his wine glass, and said, "This is a good thing. Conquering the barbarians and expanding the territory, as long as such feats are successfully completed, Wuchang Zhou will inevitably be rewarded after returning. This official position can be promoted one more time, Chen is here to wish Brother Zhou a victory and return."

Zhou Heizi grinned immediately when he heard the words, and said: "As expected, Village Chief Chen has been educated, and he speaks more pleasantly than others. Let's drink this glass of wine. I also wish Village Chief Chen the best of luck." You can realize your dreams here.”

Chen Bai smiled and said, "Come on! Do it."

The two quickly drank a jar of wine with a simple meal while pushing and changing glasses. They were both so drunk that they passed out. Chen Bai didn't wake up until noon the next day.

Seeing that Zhou Heizi was not by his side, Chen Bai yawned and went out of the house. The biting cold suddenly woke him up. He returned to the house and put on his bearskin jacket and felt much better.

At this moment, the two guards came over together, and after seeing Chen Bai, they said, "I've seen Village Chief Chen."

Chen Bai nodded and said, "You two had a good rest yesterday, do you have a suitable place to live?"

One person replied: "It's okay to rest, the residence is in the dormitory where those soldiers lived before, it's just that P slept on the heated kang all night, and his throat feels uncomfortable when he wakes up in the morning,"

Hearing what he said, Chen Bai also felt a little uncomfortable in his throat, coughed twice, cleared his throat and said, "By the way, have you seen Wuchang Zhou?"

"Warrior Zhou has already left early in the morning. Before leaving, let us tell you that the personnel information of Guiyu Sancun is in the drawer of the desk." One person said.

Chen Bai secretly said: "I didn't expect Heizi to be so thoughtful this week, and this leaves me a lot of time to understand the situation."

"You two have already eaten, if you haven't, come in and have some together!" Chen Bai warmly invited.

The guard shook his head and said: "We've already eaten, Village Chief Chen, Wu Chief Zhou and the others left. Now this village belongs to Yusan Village. Apart from the two of us, there are only three other militiamen. The defense force is too weak. .”

Although Chen Bai had no military knowledge, he only had two soldiers and three amateur militiamen guarding the huge village. He was a little apprehensive and realized that this was a very serious problem.

"Did Wuchang Zhou leave anything behind before he left, such as weapons and armor!" Chen Bai asked.

"We have seen that there are only three waist knives, more than ten spears, two sets of bows, some arrows, and one bed crossbow in the soldiers' dormitory." A guard replied.

Chen Bai nodded. These weapons should be enough to protect the village, so he said: "You two try the level of the three militiamen, and if you do, give them weapons and let them assist you."

After hearing this, the two agreed to Chen Bai's suggestion.

"Tomorrow, I will summon the name of the village. I should get acquainted with these people when I first arrive here. You and those militiamen should maintain order!" Chen Bai said slowly.

"Cunchang Chief, don't worry, we can leave this little matter to us!" the guard assured, patting his chest.

Chen Bai smiled and said, "Then you two have worked hard."

Saying goodbye to the two, Chen Bai took a piece of ice from the water tank, put it in an iron pot to melt it, and immediately felt refreshed after washing his face.

After grabbing something to eat casually, he took out the booklet Zhou Heizi left that recorded the villagers' information.

Looking at the crooked handwriting, Chen Bai couldn't help but smile.

"The list of villagers in the three villages!" Chen Bai muttered to himself looking at the words on the cover.

Open the pamphlet, it records the population of each household, it is very detailed, gender and whether there are any children are written very clearly, it not only records the personnel information, but also records the year taxation.

Since there is no farming here in the north, taxes are replaced by local products of equivalent value. For example, a household's tax this year is replaced by three animal skins.

After reading these, Chen Bai got a little understanding of the situation here. After putting away the booklet, Chen Bai put on his bearskin jacket and went out of the room.

Since there are no such people who have just opened up the wisdom of the people, basically there is no concept of stealing, so it can be said that every family does not close their doors at night.

Chen Bai walked around the village. The villagers knew that there was a new village chief. After seeing this strange young man, they all guessed his identity. Although he was a bit cautious, he still smiled politely at him.

The village is not big, except for the houses, there is no arable land. In the courtyard of each house, there are strings of frozen meat. Chen Bai thinks this is their winter ration, and this cold weather is the only The biggest advantage is that the meat is not easy to perish.

In order to better understand the situation of the local people, Chen Bai walked into the courtyard of a family and shouted, "Is anyone at home?"

Inside the earthen house, a white man with a messy beard came out, looked at Chen Bai, and said cautiously, "You are the new village chief!"

Chen Bai nodded, and said, "I'm the new village chief. My surname is Chen and my name is Bai. I want to know about your situation. Excuse me."

"Don't bother, don't bother, let Village Chief Chen come in and sit for a while!" The villager greeted warmly.

Chen Bai cupped his hands and followed him into the house. The villager's house was similar to the one he lived in. There was a woman with two children in the house. She was a little nervous when seeing outsiders coming, and stood aside restrainedly.

"This is the new Village Chief Chen, go and bring some hot water." The man ordered in a language that Chen Bai couldn't understand.

The woman heard the words and asked the two children to play by themselves, and went to work in the kitchen by herself.

"This is my wife. She doesn't know how to speak Daxia's language. Don't mind, Village Chief Chen." The man explained.

Chen Bai nodded and said, "I don't know what your family does for a living."

"Our side is different from the south. I heard people who have been to the south say that grain is grown there. The weather in the north is cold, so no grain can be grown. We can only hunt and collect some wild game and sell it to the trading station in exchange for grain." The man slowly Said.

"It's two days away from Guiyu City. I don't see any animals pulling carts here. How do you bring the grain back?"

"There are no livestock, but the craftsmen in Guiyu City have made a car that can be used in the snow. We rely on this to transport food back. The villagers usually enter the city once every half a month. Wild animals on the road There are many, only a few villagers can go together. On the way from here to Guiyu City, a rest house was built, and people who entered the city spent the night there."

While talking, the woman boiled water, took two washed earthenware bowls, and poured boiling water for the two of them.

Chen Bai smiled at the woman, took the bowl and put it aside, and said to the man, "Can you buy enough food just by hunting? Is the beast so easy to catch?"

"Cunchang Chief Chen doesn't know. If we had been invited before, we really couldn't deal with these beasts, but since Wu Chief Zhou came, in order to solve this problem, he lent us the surplus weapons in the army. It is enough to rent spears there. Seven or eight people go out once, as long as they catch a bear, it is enough to exchange them for a lot of food. I heard that people in the south like bear paws and bear skins very much. There are many bears in this forest, which is enough for us. hunted."

Listening to the man's talk, Chen Bai subconsciously looked at the bearskin jacket on his body, thinking that he had spent more than 500 copper coins to buy this dress, so he understood what the man said.

"Aside from hunting, what sources of income do you have?" Chen Bai asked.

The man nodded and said: "Of course there are. Half of the people in the village rely on hunting for a living, and the rest don't want to take the risk of hunting, so they go to work in the coal mines. Although the income is not as high as hunting, it is very stable. , the money earned is enough to live on.”

"Is the coal mine near here?" Chen Bai asked.

"The coal mine is still some distance from here. It takes about half a day to go east from here. Those miners come back about once every four or five days."

Speaking of this, the man hesitated for a while, and said to Chen Bai: "Mr. Chen, there was news in the summer that the trading station in Guiyu City would send people to various villages to buy goods and sell supplies. We don't need to go to the city to sell them ourselves." Yes, but there is no news so far, can the village chief talk to the higher-ups."

Chen Bai thought for a while, and felt that it was indeed a good thing to send someone to purchase the goods, so he nodded and said, "I know about this matter. I will go to the city after the Chinese New Year and I will mention it to the higher authorities."

Hearing this, the man said happily, "This is great, if they can come, it will be much more convenient for us."

During the conversation with this person, Chen Bai learned about the establishment of Guiyu City and the process of the various tribes in the north becoming Xia people, and he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion.

After almost half a day, after understanding the situation, Chen Bai stood up and said, "Thank you for your introduction, may I ask what your name is?"

"Most people in our village are surnamed Zhao. I heard that they come from the surname of General Zhao. Because I have a long beard, I am called Zhao Huzi." The man explained slowly.

Chen Bai nodded and said, "Thank you, Brother Zhao, I still have some things to do and I won't leave any more, so I'll take my leave!"

Zhao Huzi kept Chen Bai for a while, but seeing that he really didn't intend to last long, he had no choice but to send him out of the house himself.

After Chen Bai returned to his residence, he took out a neat stack of paper from his luggage, unfolded it carefully, and threw the food on the table. With the help of the faint light of the candle, he learned about the day's visit. information is recorded.

In the early morning, after every household had breakfast, as the village bell rang "Dangdangdang", the villagers walked out of the house in surprise and gathered towards the small square in the village.

In Xia Kingdom, as soon as the bell rings, you must put down what you are doing and come to gather immediately. These people naturally know this truth.

Not long after, as the villagers slowly gathered, Chen Bai walked up to the high platform and said, "I have called everyone here today. In addition to getting to know you, I will talk about my duties as the new village chief. Now I am Da Xia. , All the cities and villages have appointed officials. From now on, in the next five years, Guiyu Sancun will be managed by me. The rules set by Wuchang Zhou will continue to be maintained. Apart from these, the villagers get married and have children. If you die, you have to come to me to report, and if you have any difficulties in the future, you can come to me."

　Tweet book: Reborn as the emperor of Nanming, traveled through the Yongli Emperor, fought side by side with Li Dingguo and Zheng Chenggong, killed the Tartars, and recovered the rivers and mountains.
　　Another seedling of primitive society "New Era of Primitive Society" is well written, you can read it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)