Chapter 144: Let's Plant Some Trees

The fish that died during winter did not have too great an impact on the fish pond; the number of fish was still quite considerable. Now that the fish breeding season was also about to arrive, once the breeding season passed, Baifeng planned to catch some of the largest black carp in the pond to give the smaller fish more room to survive.

Moreover, he had learned his lesson; in the future, before the fish pond froze over, he must catch a round of the grown fish to avoid unnecessary losses.

Leaving the fish pond, Baifeng did not know where he should go. Someone looked after the cattle herd every day, and because Xiaoniu was injured, he often had to go check on it, so he also knew that there were no major problems with the herd at the moment.

The vegetable garden was now Sui's exclusive domain. When they were clearing the land, Sui was right there beside them, digging the vegetable garden herself. Although she could not eat all the vegetables grown in a vegetable garden over a dozen mu in size by herself, and would eventually have to distribute them to the tribespeople to eat, she felt a great sense of satisfaction and pride in this matter, because some food was distributed from her hands, and she also gained the power to allocate food.

Baifeng was very clear about Sui's little thoughts, but he never interfered, and even supported her in doing so, because this could indeed raise Sui's status and gradually strip away the attributes of women as goods or property.

The city wall, which had been continuously built up, was already very tall, and their city was still constantly expanding. Furthermore, if they wanted to plant crops, the farmland still had to be enclosed within the city. Those who were not participating in training continued to expand the city wall during the winter, because there was not enough wasteland left to clear inside their previous city wall.

Opening a few large gates in the old city wall that had already been built, one would walk out into newly cleared farmland, and then they would continue to build the city wall along the edge of the new farmland. The city walls built during the winter were only a few dozen centimeters high now, but no one was in a hurry, because they had been able to build such high city walls in two years, and these new city walls would sooner or later be built higher as well.

As for safety issues, there was no need to worry; they could hide inside the tall old city wall. To reduce losses, the farmland between the new city wall and the old city wall was all dry land, used for planting millet and sorghum. The staple food of the tribespeople, rice and wheat, was still planted in the previous farmland.

Walking out of the main gate, the silt on the Wasteland had basically dried out. Baifeng drew his Knife and stabbed it in, discovering that the silt was still quite thick; if it were used for farming, it would also be a good choice.

It was just that they already had enough farmland, and they couldn't take care of any more. However, crops like hemp did not need any human care at all, so scattering them here was perfectly fine. Last year, even on saline-alkali land, they had scattered them just the same, and the hemp's growth was also very good.

This year they could continue to scatter more; the tribe's Hemp Cloth was almost used up, and hemp was something that was never enough.

But Baifeng felt that the empty Wasteland was still a bit monotonous; it would be better to plant some trees. With this silt, they should still be able to survive.

Now the trees were still in their dormant period, which was the perfect time for transplanting. Last year, they discovered that there were many small saplings under that jujube forest and peach and apricot forest; they could just be transplanted over. It wouldn't take many years for them to grow to the point of bearing fruit. They could also pick some larger ones to transplant, which would just happen to reduce the density of the trees in the original area, allowing them to grow and bear fruit better.

Baifeng acted on a whim and got straight to work. By this time, the tribespeople had rested for a day and should have recovered quite a bit. Of course, it didn't require too many people; only those sturdier Soldiers were needed to go.

Baifeng walked quickly to call for people. It was still early, and they could dig up a batch and bring them back before evening today. Everyone was long used to the Tribal Chief's habit of casually cutting into their holidays, and besides, the Tribal Chief himself was doing the work personally, so what did they have to complain about? Furthermore, what the Tribal Chief intended to do was not for himself alone, but for the sake of the entire tribe.

Thus, everyone pulled the Handcarts, carried shovels, and set foot once again on that road that had almost cost them their lives last year. Everyone had lingering fears walking this familiar road; if it hadn't been for the Tribal Chief's decisive action to cut the axles and abandon the wheels, they really wouldn't have been able to return.

However, everyone was very curious about why the carts could run faster than on flat ground even after the wheels were cut off. Everyone urged Duanxiu to go ask, because Duanxiu often stayed by Baifeng's side and had a teacher-student relationship, making him closer than ordinary tribespeople. He usually asked Baifeng many questions, so everyone felt it was more appropriate for Duanxiu to ask Baifeng this. Duanxiu did not hesitate at all and went to ask.

Baifeng would not feel annoyed by the questions Duanxiu asked, nor would he brush him off; he truly fulfilled the duties of a teacher.

Although the question Duanxiu asked had nothing to do with Traditional Chinese Medicine, Baifeng still decided to explain it well to everyone. After all, these theories were very important for everyone's daily life, and if a situation like last winter happened again, it was also a life-saving technique.

It was just that there was no Snow now, so it was not easy to explain, but the soil was still loose, so Baifeng explained to everyone what pressure was on the soil.

Of course, Baifeng would not say the two words "pressure" directly; if he explained it to them, they would only be more confused. He simply let them see what would happen.

There were many broken pieces of wood in the forest. Baifeng casually found a wooden stake the length of an arm and a small branch the length of an arm. He brought the two things together and said, "Come, come, come." Everyone quickly parked the carts, ran over, and formed a circle to watch.

Baifeng first inserted the small branch into the ground; it went in quite a long way with ease, until it was about enough. Then Baifeng took the wooden stake of the same length and placed it on the ground; no matter how he pushed, it wouldn't go in. Finally, he stood on the wooden stake and stepped on it hard, but it didn't seem to go in much at all.

"This is why I had you remove the wheels. The cart body alone will travel more easily on the Snow. The wheel is like this small branch, and the cart body is equivalent to this wooden stake. The wider it is, the less likely it is to sink in. Your Knife is the same principle. If you place the Knife flat to cut meat, can it cut? Or is it that you use the thin blade to cut meat faster?"

Everyone let out a long "Oh" in unison, indicating that they understood. Baifeng didn't know if they really understood or just pretended to, but he had said enough anyway. If he were to explain any further, they probably wouldn't have time to go dig up trees.

They hadn't walked far before they encountered a relatively large puddle, as big as a basketball court, but it was very shallow; it must have been Snow water that had accumulated after melting.

Baifeng pulled Duanxiu over and pointed at the pool: "Look here, do you think you could cross it if you tied a branch to your foot, or if you tied a wooden board to your foot?"

Duanxiu scratched his head: "Why can't I build a Bamboo Raft?"

Baifeng patted him: "Do you think a Bamboo Raft should be like a wooden board or like a branch?"

At this, Duanxiu's eyes lit up instantly. Baifeng knew that he had finally truly understood what he was talking about.