Chapter 141: Spring Plowing in Progress

The spring breeze has truly begun to blow; the Baifeng tribe no longer waits. The entire population has begun to cultivate the land. Each person is assigned a plot and begins to turn the soil incessantly with their tools.

Those dozen or so oxen must also take the field, but while they did not resist when the collars were put on, they were extremely unwilling when the yokes were attached, jumping wildly and kicking their hooves, wanting to break free from their restraints. But after eating grain for so long, now that it is time to work, could they really be allowed to run off?

Baifeng used the nose-ring method; an iron rod was gently poked through the oxen's noses, and then bent into a ring shape. The oxen struggled at first, but the pain in their noses quickly made them stop.

Perhaps docility is also their sin; if their temperaments were as irritable as other oxen, Baifeng would not have thought to make them plow the fields, let alone fit them with nose rings, and they would not have to suffer this hardship.

Once they had adapted to the nose rings and they were no longer bleeding, he tried attaching the yokes again. As soon as they resisted, he would pull the rope on the nose ring, and no matter how strong they were, they now had to obediently endure it.

Of course, to protect the oxen, he would not pull on the nose ring the entire time. A muzzle would be placed on their heads. There is a line of poetry that says, "When will the Golden Bridle be worn?" A bridle is a metal mesh muzzle placed over the mouth to prevent a horse from lowering its head to eat Grass while on the move.

The ox muzzle, however, has no iron; it is simply a few cloth straps that bind the head and neck tightly, with a rein underneath. This way, a person can lead them from the front with the rein, guide the direction, and issue commands to move forward or stop.

If it is a seasoned ox, once the work is mastered, it does not even need to be led; the person holding the plow behind only needs to shout a command, and it knows how to walk on its own.

The oxen were on the field, but they were still difficult to use and disobedient. The people holding the plowshares behind were also inexperienced; either the plow was too shallow, or it was too deep for the oxen to pull, or the oxen would suddenly throw a tantrum and run, leaving the person behind unable to chase or stop. They had no choice but to let go and let the oxen drag the plow all over the field. It was only luck that the oxen were fine; if the plow had accidentally hit their legs, let alone returning to the herd to rest, they would have become Dry Rations for the spring plowing on the spot.

Of the dozen or so oxen, three were ultimately impossible to use; they were either prone to madness or dead-set on being stubborn. Their noses bled incessantly, and they simply would not move. Thus, they were abandoned, and their nose rings were removed, though they were kept separately for a few days first until the wounds on their noses healed before being returned to the herd, otherwise, they would frighten the herd.

But there was simply too much land to plow. After a day of plowing, the people could not move, and the oxen were exhausted. Only now did Baifeng realize how precious plow oxen are; they are many times faster than humans at plowing, and they turn the soil much deeper.

Seeing that they were soaked with sweat, but the spring afternoon breeze was very cold, he found cloth to wipe their sweat and draped cloth over their backs to protect them from the wind. At this point, even if they had opinions or wanted to throw a tantrum, they had no strength left.

At noon and night, the fodder given to them was the best, and their grain was increased significantly. Other animal fats were mixed into the grass, and more salt was added to their water. In a sense, they were treated even better than the people.

The tribespeople were so tired by dinner that they could barely lift their arms. Fortunately, Baifeng had specifically left a dozen people to cook; otherwise, if everyone had gone to the fields, they would not even have had the strength to cook.

After eating, they had neither the thought nor the strength for procreation; they fell into a deep sleep as soon as they entered their rooms. Baifeng was the same; he had not shirked his duties while plowing and had exerted great effort.

The next day, his arms still ached, and there was still an endless expanse of land left unplowed. Baifeng felt somewhat desperate. Watching the tribespeople replace the plow oxen to pull the plowshares, moving forward in the fields with bent backs, Baifeng felt a heavy heart. Although everyone had no complaints about this and looked forward to a Harvest from this land.

However, Baifeng still wanted to lighten everyone's burden, but the best way was still the plow oxen. The number of plow oxen this year was only this many; next year it would be easier, Baifeng comforted himself.

But Baifeng thought of Xiaoniu and decided to see if he could make it work as well; at least it listened to him.

So, Baifeng found the conspicuous Xiaoniu in the herd. With a light gesture, it wobbled over. It did not know why Baifeng was calling it, but it knew Baifeng would not harm it.

Seeing Xiaoniu being called away, the herd just looked up once and then ignored it, continuing to lower their heads to eat Grass. Baifeng pushed Xiaoniu with his hand, letting it follow him.

Just after Baifeng and Xiaoniu left, a sturdy bull in the herd no longer controlled its desires or hid itself, and began to chase the cows frantically. However, it did not succeed; no matter how strong it was, even if Xiaoniu was not there, it was not qualified to do such things.

The bull was somewhat annoyed, so it took its anger out on the calves that were not being looked after by their mothers. By the time the mothers discovered it and rushed over, several calves had already been knocked down and trampled by the bull.

After the mothers arrived, the bull pretended nothing had happened and went back to eat Grass. The mothers knew they could not beat it, but they could protect their calves. Fortunately, the few calves were not seriously injured, though they were limping slightly after getting up.

No one discovered this scene. Baifeng had already brought Xiaoniu to the field and put the collar and yoke on it. There was no need for a nose ring or a muzzle; he only needed to shout, and Xiaoniu would pull with its own strength. This was what a good plow ox should look like. Once they bred a few more generations, the future plow oxen would be much easier to use.

Baifeng wondered if he should bring the calves over to watch. For Xiaoniu to learn how to plow, having an old ox to lead it was very important. A good temperament was only one aspect, but if the other plow oxen did not have nose rings to pull them, they would have gone on strike long ago. A day of high-intensity work, no matter how much strength an ox has, is hard to endure.

In legend, Yushun trained elephants to plow at Lishan, using elephants to plow the fields. Baifeng felt this must have been an isolated case, just like him and Xiaoniu; starting to raise them from a young age should be possible, but training an adult elephant would likely be impossible.

Some women who did not have as much physical strength were specifically left behind to cook, and some others had to balance the responsibility of looking after children. The tribe already had over thirty infants; the oldest could just barely walk, and the youngest were still in swaddling clothes.

Although no one paid much attention to the care of children at this time, and parents would just toss their children on the ground and take their tools to work, Baifeng was still uneasy and insisted that someone must be left to look after them.

They ate a simple meal in the morning, and at noon, they ate lunch directly in the fields. The women carried large buckets containing the lunch, letting everyone serve themselves, eating as much as they could.

Cooking for hundreds of people was not easy. They appeared not to have to go to the fields, but they were equally busy every moment. Just delivering food to the tribespeople scattered everywhere was also a physically demanding task.