Chapter 1409: Focusing on Grazing

The Western Development Group is now a lush expanse of green, but if you look closely, you will find that strips of flat land have been dug into the hillsides; they might barely count as terraced fields, but they are truly very narrow.

The reason for this is that the time has been too short for proper cultivation and preparation, but ever since Ce returned and said he wanted to build the Western Development Group into a city focused on animal husbandry, everyone's already low enthusiasm for farming dropped even further.

After all, the population of the Western Development Group contains very few Huaxia people; as long as they are not Huaxia, they do not understand the importance of farming, nor do they know how much Grass Seed those grasses can actually produce.

Guarding so many livestock that are constantly breeding, no matter how you look at it, it seems like an endless supply of food; it is only out of obligation and trust in their Leader that they are forced to clear land and labor to prepare for planting.

Now that they know their own positioning, everyone is naturally unwilling to put their minds into farming, thinking only of how to make their herds of cattle and sheep grow stronger, and how to protect their livestock in such a wilderness.

Ce also shifted his strategy in time, focusing on grazing, but that does not mean agriculture is completely abandoned; the fields have already been cleared, so they must be planted, and farmland is also a major guarantee—you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, let alone the things you rely on to survive.

It is just that the focus is no longer on farming, so the people responsible for farming are naturally not the men who serve as the strong labor force, but the women.

Men need to go to distant places to graze, guard the cattle and sheep, drive away and hunt wild beasts, and keep watch at night; women do not need to graze, they only need to farm a small amount of land and then go gather wild vegetables.

There are only two types of crops planted: Wheat and soybeans. Wheat is suitable for planting on hillsides where there is relatively no standing water and the soil is dry, and Wheat is also a staple food.

Rice cannot be planted; for one, the temperature is not high enough, and for another, the places suitable for planting Rice are also the places where the water and grass are most lush; the best land must be reserved for growing Grass for the cattle and sheep to eat. They are not short of that bit of Rice, but the cattle and sheep need that lush water and grass.

The yield of soybeans is high, this is beyond doubt; of course, it is also because soybeans can be used as feed. Transporting feed from Huaxia to the Western Development Group has an outrageously high cost; just transporting the grain for people to eat results in enough loss, and the time cost is also high, so it is impossible to waste transport capacity to send feed.

With so many cattle and sheep, the feed sent in one trip is not enough for those cattle and sheep to eat for two days, so there is absolutely no need, but if they grow soybeans themselves, they can make their own feed; although the quantity is still small, it is much more cost-effective than transporting it back and forth from Huaxia.

It is mainly for Winter, when livestock cannot go out and can only eat dry grass, which is exactly when they lose weight. Feeding them concentrated feed, or even Soybean Oil, can keep the cattle and sheep from losing weight. Furthermore, cows that have just given birth can also use this concentrated feed to recover quickly; this is the reason for planting soybeans in the Western Development Group.

Because the infrastructure is already good enough, they do not need to waste any energy on construction this year, though a little manpower must still be spared for the construction of the Tile Kiln, Cement Kiln, and Brick and Tile Kiln, but relatively speaking, it is already much better than last year.

When Huaxia sent grain in the spring, they also brought many good things to the Western Development Group, including the promised Glass, which at least allowed the residences of the main figures to have glass windows, making the rooms less damp and brighter, which is better for office work.

Then there is Xiaohe; originally, as an ordinary herdsman, he naturally could not enjoy any good treatment, but now that he has Nobility, his living conditions have soared directly. The house he lives in is larger and was newly built for him, and it is all fitted with Glass, making his house the brightest and best in the entire Western Development Group.

Even Ce's residence cannot compare, because Ce is just a temporary leader, belonging to the type sent to the grassroots level. He has no home in the Western Development Group; his home is in Huaxia. According to his age, he should also be getting married, but the Western Development Group really has no one he can look upon with favor, so he can only wait and see.

Wuzhong, on the other hand, seems to have found someone he likes. Wuzhong still prefers those who are a bit more robust; his aesthetic is relatively traditional, but there is nothing wrong with this—everyone has their own preferences.

Moreover, Wuzhong is not inferior at all and is much more popular than Ce, not to mention Wuzhong's status as a Noble. Ce is only half a step higher than Wuzhong in terms of position, but Wuzhong's status is higher. Even if Ce has obtained Nobility, as long as it is not a Marquis, he still cannot compare to Wuzhong; after all, the gold content of Wuzhong's father's Nobility is far too high.

Xiaohe, a common herdsman, naturally received the favor and pursuit of women after obtaining Nobility. Even in a situation where the one-family-one-household model is basically established, women still keep secretly running to Xiaohe's house. The results of Ce's repeated education have only been that the women have restrained themselves slightly.

Fortunately, the men and Xiaohe can be reasoned with—the men keep a tighter watch on their women, and Xiaohe keeps his pants zipped tighter; otherwise, one day, some man might disregard Xiaohe's status and punch him, which would be hard to handle, as Xiaohe would be in the wrong first, and the law would not favor him.

It is very difficult to enforce the law in such an environment, and coupled with the lack of a specialized law enforcement agency, the presence of the law here is a bit low; one can only pin hopes on the next generation and these young people who have successfully obtained official positions through study and education.

Let them lead by example and pay attention at all times; as long as more people are being managed, there will surely be good changes over time.

And this incident finally ended with Xiaohe gaining another wife; Xiaohe still grazes every day, while also paying more attention to the cats he keeps.

Xiaohe's cats are different from the one Baifeng keeps; perhaps because they have siblings, they practice their hunting skills faster because playing is training, and they also have no obvious intention of wanting to leave home after growing up. They have already treated Xiaohe's home as their own.

If their mother does not drive them away to let them find their own territory, they are naturally unwilling to leave the place they are familiar with, leave a place where food is not lacking, to go to a strange territory to make a living; they all identify with Xiaohe as their "mother."

Coupled with long-term contact with humans, they are also carefree in the Western Development Group and are not afraid of people at all, but they just don't like being touched or held by anyone other than Xiaohe, and they might even scratch or bite people.

Knowing that the cats are still full of wild nature, everyone does not touch the cats casually, but just coexists peacefully.