Chapter 311 Farming
After listening to Garys' advice, Yusuf chose to leave Anatolia and return directly on the same route after selling a batch of goods.
However, what surprised Garys was that before Yousuf left, he handed over the goods he had not sold out, as well as some camels. "Sir, I have been taught a lot by you these days, and you have always been taking care of the business in my family. What's more, if it weren't for you, I might have either died in an earthquake. Or was arrested by those Turkic people. "
"I have nothing to help you, but when I think of your plan, I plan to achieve something on the land of Rom, I will never leave you no matter what. Make money."
Gerris frowned and wanted to refuse again.
But Yousuf emphasized again: "Sir, Anatolia is now in chaos, and I am traveling with so many valuable goods, which makes people feel bad. I am a light car here. On the contrary, it is easy to return to Antioch safely."
As he said this, Yusuf also specially asked him to take out a box from his camel and hand it to Gerris.
At the same time, Yusuf's face also showed a look of reluctance.
After opening the box, Garys naturally understood why the other party was like this.
The box contains some medicines, some are very expensive, so expensive that the kingdom needs to be subject to heavy taxes, which can be called magical medicines in this era.
Yousuf was willing to give it to Garys directly, which shows the other party's sincerity.
Faced with this situation, Garys did not continue to refuse, but asked Yousuf to get paper and pen and write a few letters for the other party to pass it on his behalf.
After noting the recipients in the letter, Yusuf was quite surprised, and then realized that it was all his chance.
After all, whether it is Isabella, or Artjos... these names are famous in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and are great figures that he could not reach in the past.
It was only his uncle who could talk to the other party from time to time.
Geris's request to send him a letter was by no means a humiliation, but his honor and his luck.
Geris was also feeling a little lost when Yusuf left with the rest of the camels in the caravan and the other guys.
For him, all this was a new beginning.
Of course it was different from before. At that time, Gerris was in a desperate situation and had no choice.
And now, he knew that in the distance, there was a country waiting for him to go back, and there was a family there.
When he thought that his daughter was disregarded, he couldn't help but smile, hoping that when the other party received his reply, he would not hang a small pearl on the corner of his eyes.
…
The Uktu tribe, an unknown small tribe name, has somehow been preserved to this day as nomads continue to move westward.
The long-term displaced and the excellent agricultural conditions in the Anatolian region prompted the Uktu tribe to choose to change to a semi-settled state.
The area around this area of several dozen kilometers is their territory, and it was rewarded by the Sultan of Rom.
Of course, this radius of dozens of kilometers does not mean that they are the lords of this land, but that they only have the authority to grazle.
In order to avoid conflicts between them and other Turkic tribes.
In addition, there are also pastures for them to spend the winter in the south.
Unlike the Mediterranean climate in the Levant region, the hinterland of Anatolia, which is the location of the Uktu tribe, is essentially a temperate continental climate, which is the same as China's The northwest is similar, which means that there is more rainfall in summer and less rainfall in winter.
But in terms of rainfall, the rainfall in Anatolia is essentially roughly close to Hebei, China, and can reach the level of Shandong in the marginal areas.
So it is a good choice whether it is grazing or farming.
Of course, it is also due to the problem of rainfall that they need to distinguish the difference between winter and summer pastures.
The place where Arslan and others are now closer to the north and close to the summer ranch, but it is not the real summer ranch.
The Turks who stayed in this settlement mainly took care of the fields and kept some not many sheep on weekdays.
Except for the time when the Sudan summoned the troops some time ago, twenty young people from their tribe came to respond, there was nothing worth caring about on weekdays.
However, not long ago, Arslan suddenly came back alone and brought a caravan, which made everyone in the tribe happy for a long time.
Unlike the relatively stable farming society, the economic structure of the Turkic tribe has long relied on nomadism and pastoralism, and its experience in participating in market transactions is relatively weak.
Most tribes are actually not familiar with the economic activities such as the circulation, price, and exchange of agricultural products, and are not familiar with the merchants around them. In the past, when they go to buy things, God knows how much they will be slaughtered.
This problem is of course not just the Anatolians of this era, but has been repeated on the Mongolian Plateau in later generations.
This time, Yusuf's caravan came to sell the goods. The price was so low that many people in the tribe felt a little embarrassed. They even took the initiative to increase the price, hoping that Yusuf would make some profit, so they hoped that the other party would return the next year. Can come again.
And after that, another relatively less caring but very strange thing was that there was actually someone in Yousuf's caravan who was willing to stay and run a "shop" here. .
Shop? What is this?
As a Turkic nomadic tribe that had just begun to settle, their usual economic activities mainly revolved around animal husbandry, material exchange with caravans, and other nomads.
In the past, most of them were after the autumn harvest, before winter, merchants and caravans brought goods from cities and other regions, and came here to hold markets, with some scattered transactions in units of year or quarter.
These bazaars are usually not fixed stores, but mobile trading sites, similar to temporary markets, and it can be said that the concept of the store is not important.
But after the nomads understood that the store was selling supplies here for a long time, they also showed joy.
After all, this means that many families who can't afford to buy supplies for a while are unable to afford money. Even if they missed Yousuf's caravan, they can still buy needles, threads and iron in the next few days. Pot...etc.
Of course, because of the pitiful trading volume of the Uktu department.
Although Gerris set up a small shop here, he basically doesn't squat in the store and become the boss.
If you want to buy something from him, you can either get it at night or you have to make an appointment in advance.
In the daytime, he can be said to be elusive. If a customer wants to find him, he will close the door eight times in ten times.
After Gerris figured out the surrounding geographical situation, he found the elders of the tribe and asked if he could buy a piece of land and plant some vegetables.
The elders in the tribe were confused when they heard about purchasing land, and they only realized after a while.
For them, the concept of land private ownership at this stage has not yet been clarified. Although there is a division of pastures, pastures and farmland are two different things and cannot be generalized.
After thinking for a while, the elders gathered a circle of people who remained in the settlement. After a not-to-trouble discussion, these people agreed to give Gerris a piece of land to let him farm.
But the condition is that when Gerris farms, he also needs to teach the young people in their tribe.
In the afternoon of July, the sun burns the rolling loess hills, and the scattered wheat fields not far away are surging with green waves in the dry and hot wind.
Geris stood firmly on this farmland without waving his hoe with no effort. The iron hoe is not heavy, but with wooden poles, it weighs nearly six or seven pounds, which is much heavier than the long sword.
However, such a heavy hoe was as light as a feather when waving it in Garys's hand.
When it hit the ground, it was as if it was about to chisel the earth.
Every time I hit, I went to the ground very deep.
Arslan on the side was a little stunned. It was really his waves to reveal the depth of the soil, which was just a matter of time for Gerris.
This morning, it took only a few hours for the land to turn over together, and two acres of land had already been opened on Garys.
Even those oxen are not as capable as Garys!
Faced with the gap between the two sides, Arslan not only did not give up, but instead increased his efforts to start hoeing.
However, this increased effort not long after, he became panting. The gap with Gerris not only did not decrease, but was widened.
"Pay attention to breathing, pay attention to breathing, empty your brain, don't think too much."
Seeing Arslan's actions, Gerris couldn't help but persuade him a few more words.
No mistakes, one song, one content, one in 6, one book, one bar, one reading!
Although Arslan has made adjustments, it is not very useful. After all, he has only planted a few days ago and has never suffered such hardship in the past.
When he was so tired, Gerris stopped hoeing the ground and took him to sit aside and drank water. "In the end, you will stay." Aarslan, who was beside him, didn't speak silently, but just sighed.
"Is this hoe wrong?"
Geris requires that the land must be deep into at least one vertical palm depth. For a barren mountain, this depth of earth is enough to make every young man, in the first place. Blood blisters were grinding out in one day.
Even young people who once claimed to have cultivated the land, after three consecutive days of high-intensity cultivation, they found a reason not to participate in Garys' farm work.
Only Arslan has been persisting until now.
Of course, Arslan also noticed that something was wrong with the hoe in his hand until now.
You should know that the quality of iron farm tools these days is actually quite poor. Once damaged, it will delay the farm work because it is difficult to find a blacksmith.
He and Garys's hoe were still sharp enough to cut through ordinary leather armor after several days of high-strength use.
A few days ago, after Gerris got the land, he brought a few young people in the settlement to reclaim the land.
At the beginning, everyone was still very excited. After all, Garys took the initiative to take out a few iron hoes from the store for everyone to use.
Iron hoes are amazing these days, and they are naturally lighter than wooden hoes.
Moreover, the hoe that Gerris took out was not an ordinary iron hoe, but a farm tool made of sandwich steel.
This is a treasure that has been passed down from generation to generation in the agricultural tool world. After all, his hoe , not only light, but also hardness and sharpness that young people have never seen before. It is sharp and tougher than the spearheads or daggers in their respective homes.
When knocking on a human head, it may be no different from a war hammer.
Because of worrying that young people are greedy, Gerris never mentioned the truth, but just taught them how to hoe the ground.
But even with the novel farm tools, Gerris's requirement for reclaiming the land was exhausted.
To this day, there is only one Arslan who can sit here and chat with Gerris and discuss the farm tools in their hands.
Faced with Arslan's proactive question, Gerris didn't hide it. After all, Arslan was able to persist until now, which was recognized by him.
And then with just one sentence, he made Arslan doubt his life.
"The hoe is made of steel..."
Arslan understood that after the production of the agricultural tools, he couldn't help but feel awe of it.
When he was in Transjordan at first, Malwan made sandwich steel farm tools at his suggestion.
However, at that time, due to the limitations of production processes, material costs and even labor issues, Malwan turned to produce juice-watering farm tools.
That is, casting cast iron juice on the cooked iron tire to improve the sharpness of the farm tool.
The sickle produced by that process is quite neat to cut wheat.
But due to the main body of the cooked iron, although the toughness of the agricultural tools is improved, the more the pig iron part is worn out, it will become less and less convenient to use it.
It will be even more troublesome if you use it as a hoe.
Sandwich steel farm tools do not have this problem. Since the inner layer is steel, it is extremely sharp after polishing, which is much more durable than cooked iron.
Which iron provides a certain protection, allowing the thin steel sheet in the middle to last for a long time.
"...Do you know, this is farming? Your tribe used to find a place, just flip through the soil, sprinkle seeds, and wait for autumn to harvest. Then what is farming? "
"Of course, not only that. If your tribe really wants to farm, then there are still some learnings!"
Facing Gerris's words, Arslan chose to remain silent.
Turkish tribes have long been accustomed to the natural replacement of grassland resources. When faced with changes in land and climate, they can migrate to more suitable places.
But after settling down, they had to face many problems.
Some are natural disasters, some are man-made disasters, they have not considered it before.
Natural disasters such as drought, floods or frost can lead to poor harvests in farmland.
Excessive cultivation of the land, poor soil, and improper seed selection will make it difficult for them to grow enough food.
If it weren't for their current main business, or if they were grazing, they would have had a more tragic food crisis.
"Speaking of this, Arslan, don't you like farming?"
Geris asked, in his impression, Arslan's face turned out to be when he mentioned farming before. More or less, they are a little unhappy.
(This chapter ends)