Chapter 145: Outbound

The jujube tree has a very long dormant period; it is almost as if the peach and apricot trees have already finished blooming and withered before the jujube trees even sprout new buds. When they arrived at the jujube forest, it was still deathly silent, without a hint of green.

Everyone chose to dig up those jujube trees that were about two people tall, especially those in denser areas. Trees of this size are easier to dig up; being younger, their roots are relatively smaller, so the survival rate is high. Furthermore, they have only been bearing fruit for a few years, making them most suitable for transplanting. If one were to dig up larger trees and they failed to survive, it would be a loss instead.

The very large jujube tree in the middle had a trunk that would take two or three people to encircle, but it was too old and no longer bore fruit. Baifeng felt it was quite a pity.

Looking at the finger-thick saplings on the ground that had perhaps grown for a year or two, Baifeng had an idea: to graft new branches onto this old tree. Regardless of whether it would survive, there was no loss in trying.

However, they had not brought any tools. To prune and then graft such a large tree, one could not do without a saw. The iron shovels and knives they had brought were completely useless for this.

Moreover, they had only pulled over thirty handcarts. If the transplanted trees were to survive, a lot of soil had to be left on the roots, so only one tree could be loaded into each cart. Besides, jujube trees have thorns, so loading them was quite troublesome. This meant they would have to come back again tomorrow; otherwise, what would such a small number of jujube trees be good for?

Peach and apricot trees are different. Peach trees grow slowly and are relatively short, while apricot trees grow particularly fast. One only needs to dig up a small sapling, and it will bear fruit in two years, so several saplings can be loaded into one cart, and one trip is enough to plant them.

Taking advantage of the dusk, they chose a location far from the city wall and dug tree pits in the Wasteland to plant the jujube saplings. The silt was very thick and should be able to support their growth. As for the saline-alkali soil underneath, whether they could continue to grow would depend on their own ability.

The next day, they continued to the jujube forest. Baifeng brought a saw. After arriving, he had the agile tribesmen directly decapitate the old jujube tree, then saw off all the older branches, leaving only the ones that looked relatively new.

Then, at the decapitated section, he sawed a slit into the cross-section. He selected a suitable new sapling, cut it at an angle, and inserted it into the slit, then plastered the cut surface with mud.

Other sections were grafted with new branches in the same way. The tribesmen did not know why this was done, but they already trusted the Tribal Chief deeply and felt that the Tribal Chief must have his reasons for doing so, so they looked forward to seeing new changes in this jujube tree.

They spent another day digging up some apricot and peach trees to plant on the plain. Now, the Baifeng tribe nominally had over two hundred fruit trees; it was just a matter of how many would survive in the end and what the harvest would be after a year.

After a few days of clear weather, a light, drizzling rain suddenly fell, and the next day it cleared up again. Greenery appeared on the Wasteland at a speed visible to the naked eye. The first to emerge was wormwood; it could be eaten, but it did not taste good and made the tongue feel a bit numb.

The tribe's vegetable sources were mostly in Sui's vegetable garden, and the output there could basically satisfy the needs of the entire tribe, so wild vegetables were merely a supplement. However, in early spring, one really could only eat wild vegetables.

But Baifeng still had people collect a great deal of wormwood, then dry it and hand it over to the physician for storage. Now, the number of newborns in the tribe was constantly increasing. Life was better, food was sufficient, and under Baifeng's care and mandatory requirements, there had been no cases of newborn mortality in the tribe. However, neonatal jaundice was very common, and wormwood soup was needed to treat it.

As the temperature rose, it was time to plant Wheat, Millet, and Sorghum. Rice also had to start being raised in nurseries. To facilitate the seedling process, several large warehouses were specifically cleared out, wooden racks were tied up, and following the method from last year, the selected Rice seeds were sprinkled layer by layer, then watered.

There was too much land this year. After planting several dry fields, everyone felt even more tired than after a full day of training. It was not yet time to plant in Sui's vegetable garden, and Baifeng had no way to enrich the variety of vegetables, unless he had the ability to walk off right now to open up the Silk Road, or cross the Siberian Wasteland and go through the frozen Bering Strait to dig for potatoes in the Americas.

With the major affairs of the tribe completed, Baifeng could also rest assured to prepare for war. He was essentially a lover of peace; if he could develop together with other tribes through discussion, he would be completely willing. But this was still the savage era, and they would not reason with you.

For the development of the tribe, Baifeng had no choice but to take the initiative to attack and annex other tribes, allowing his own tribe to grow rapidly into a tribe of thousands or even tens of thousands of people.

The Vanguard Team, including men and women, totaled over three hundred people; the Bow and Blade Team had over one hundred; and there were dozens of Scouts. Baifeng left behind half of the Vanguard Team's Soldiers to guard the home, and he did not even bring those responsible for logistics. He just let everyone bring their own portable, filling flatbreads and dried meat, roughly a five-day supply, and then left the tribe, intending to randomly find a tribe to attack.

They did not know what tribes were nearby, only walking in the direction of the Dahe. Following a water source would surely lead to the discovery of human traces.

The Scouts were in teams of a few, responsible for guarding both sides from a distance, while a portion of the people scouted the path ahead. The main force marched in the middle at a steady pace.

Along the way, if they encountered suitable prey, they would also hunt it. After all, they could not rely entirely on the Dry Rations they carried. They had only estimated a round trip of five to six days at the fastest; if they were delayed in the middle, they could not just go without eating.

However, there was no need to worry about the water problem at all. Would they worry about having no water to drink by the river? Moreover, although they did not bring logistics, it did not mean they did not have cooking tools.

The famous Marching Pot—they had carried over a dozen of them. This thing could even be used as a Shield on their backs, and everyone scrambled to carry them; no one would say it looked like a turtle and mock them.

However, they searched for two consecutive days without finding any traces of human activity. It seemed that within this two-day travel radius, there was only the Baifeng tribe. Then, according to custom, as everyone walked, they would insert a piece of wood on the road and place a stone underneath to mark that this was the territory of their Baifeng tribe. Although Baifeng knew this was of no damn use, he had no objection to making his nominal territory larger.

Because they had not found any clues, everyone had become a bit slack and relaxed, completely lacking the tension they had when they first set out. After all, they had leaped from a wandering tribe that had lost its home to people who could take the initiative to attack other tribes; this change in status made them feel a bit dazed.