Chapter 291 Setting the Mountain on Fire
A new day begins with a burst of rooster crow.
Frederick was about to open his eyes when he felt something pressing on him, which felt smooth and smooth.
If Ayesha hadn't arrived in time, this jet-black python would have become Frederick's breakfast.
“I’m very sorry!” Ayesha apologized repeatedly, “Charcoal doesn’t know why, but she likes the smell of soap since she was a child.”
Frederick looked at the black python with thick calves and seven or eight meters long hiding behind Aisha like a child, and felt like a bad person.
The houses in the town are all wooden houses and mud houses, which are as simple as the ones that Wesson led the newly arrived refugees to live in. Even King Bila is the same.
Now that there was a girl in Bela's house who was in confinement, it was inconvenient for Frederick to live there, so he lived in the woodshed next to it. After tidying up, it could be regarded as a single room.
Nowadays, people in the town can’t expect to use soap as before when taking a bath. Everyone uses plant ash mixed with water to take a bath. Only Frederick had a few bars of soap in his backpack, which he used when taking a bath before going to bed last night. once.
The woodshed is not far from Aisha's home. Unexpectedly, when her snake came out to eat mice in the middle of the night, she discovered a smell that she liked and had not seen for a long time.
Only now did Frederick know that Ayesha was an animal trainer and the town's veterinarian.
Of course he wouldn't care about such a trivial matter, and Ayesha continued to make breakfast to entertain the distinguished guests.
Bila's policy agenda has deep traces of Weissen State. For example, Aisha's two children under five years old, like the children in the town, eat one egg every day.
Frederick's breakfast was the same as theirs, a bowl of boiled peas with half a dried bird the size of a quail.
Ayesha said to him apologetically: "In the past, I would have arranged a sumptuous banquet to entertain the Duke, but now we only have this. I also know that eating too many beans is not good. I am very sorry. .”
Frederick did not eat the meat, but cut it in half and gave it to Aisha's two children. At the same time, he said: "It doesn't matter, I can understand your difficulty. If it hadn't been for Bila and other scholars in Weissenburg I’m settled in the city, maybe I can’t even eat these now.”
“It’s really not good to eat too many beans. Let me try to make vermicelli with peas. Bila has eaten them before, so I probably can’t make them.”
Ayesha thanked him politely and collected the remaining bones from the children into a small jar.
After breakfast, the Spring Square in the center of the town became lively.
There is a unique place here. This mountain is lower than the surrounding mountains. An artesian spring can be opened on the top of the mountain. The two-meter-square spring pool under several wooden sheds is the source of water for everyone in this country. The water became irrigation water.
There is a stone pool of about ten meters in the center of the town square. Starting today, Hai Jiaqi and his apprentices are treating people all over the country.
Frederick strolled around casually, and finally went to the chicken farm on the edge of the town with Rosanna to pick up eggs.
The chicken farm here is very similar to the one in Wesson. There is also a special house for raising maggots to feed the chickens. In addition to worms, the chickens also eat grass and grass seeds cut from the mountains. There is no incubator. High-tech equipment.
After picking up eggs, Frederick went for a walk outside the town. There were many beans, vegetables, and pumpkins planted on the surrounding hillsides.
The pumpkins in the field are as big as volleyballs. Judging from the output, it is estimated that people in the town will not starve to death.
There were many people working in the farmland, mainly women and old people. Robbie was weeding the pumpkin patch, and Frederick went over to chat with him.
“I bought these seeds from Wesson.” Robbie said a little embarrassed, “I bought them and planted them in my garden. When I escaped, I was afraid that there would be nothing to eat on the way, so I took them with me. A few. We tried to plant them after we settled here, but unfortunately they couldn’t grow them. They became smaller and smaller.”
Wesson’s pumpkin wheels were much smaller, and his confidence was hit.
Frederick shook his head and said: "There is nothing we can do about it. The seeds sold in Weisen State are all magically strengthened, and the yield will be reduced in the second year. Also, don't plant continuously, you can Beans should be planted alternately every two years. "There is an advantage to having small pumpkins. Build a grape trellis and let the pumpkins climb up. Leave two of the strongest vines on one pumpkin. As a result, the melons hang down and are easy to pick, and they are not afraid of birds. .”
Robbie wrote down everything Frederick said and decided to try it later. The temperature here is high all year round, so you can plant it all year round.
Frederick asked curiously: "Aren't you ready for the rainy season? Isn't it good to plant at this time?"
Robbie said: "It doesn't matter, the rainy season here is every three days. It rains heavily every four days. You can build a shed first and then tear it down when it grows up.”
Frederick just let him go. The locals know better how to grow things locally. .
Robbie then said to Frederick: "We will burn the mountains to the east when it gets hot at noon."
Frederick had nothing to say about them artificially creating soil erosion to fill the swamp, but it seemed feasible in theory, so he didn't say anything more.
If it fails, there is no shortage of such forest fires in the forest anyway.
He remembered another thing. There was indeed a landslide accident in Wesson a few years ago. The cause of the landslide was introduced in the newspaper at that time. It is estimated that Billa found inspiration from there.
At noon, Robbie and more than 20 people set off on donkeys. They took the mountain road around the swamp and arrived at the foot of the eastern mountain.
The wind picked up at noon, blowing from the south, and the wind was not light. Frederick felt that they had known it would be windy.
"Let's go here." Robbie jumped off the donkey, "Create a safe zone first, otherwise we may not be able to go back."
Half of them are soldiers, and it's easy to chop down trees and grass. , and a safety zone half the size of a football field was quickly cleared.
Someone moved many jars and jars and poured the kerosene inside on the trees that were piled up in random directions.
Then a few magicians started chanting, and a few moments later a series of fireballs hit the place where the oil had been poured, and flames quickly emerged.
It just rained here a few days ago, and the mountains and forests are still very moist. If you want to start a fire, the starting point of the fire is very important. It needs enough heat to dry out the surrounding water, and then the fire can further expand.
The wind was strong today. The big trees on the top of the mountain were blown this way and that, and the branches at the foot of the mountain were also swaying.
Thick white smoke filled the mountains and forests. Under the influence of the wind and the magicians who kept throwing fireballs, the flames grew bigger and bigger. Soon they became as tall as a person and gradually grew stronger.
The frightened cries of birds and beasts are constantly coming from the mountains. To them, the smoke of fireworks is the footsteps of death, and they can run away as far as they can.
At night, the entire sky was burned red by wildfires, and looking from this side of the town to the other side looked like hell.
The thick smoke was like substance, overwhelming the sky. The ash of vegetation falling on the town looked like snow. Everyone used cloth to cover their mouths and noses.
Frederick sat on the wooden wall and watched quietly as one big tree after another fell in the fire.
Hai Jiaqi told him during dinner that setting fire to mountains is not uncommon in the forest, and slash-and-burn farming is common in places lacking flat land. When the trees and shrubs on the hillside are burned out, crops will be planted for two or three years. When the fertility of the land is no longer enough, they will be abandoned. In the second year, the wasteland will be covered with shrubs. After two or three years, the trees will become smaller. In a few years, the crops will grow again. Can be burned once.
The fire only ended the next morning, and the originally lush mountain forest had turned into a mixture of charred black and ash.
Many people brought tools and bags to collect charcoal, including the women who came to the town not long ago.
(End of this chapter)