Daqin Fusu: It is difficult to start the battle

Chapter 324
Nanhai County, a farm more than 20 miles west of Panyu County.

Chen Mao, whose complexion was burnt by the southern scorching sun, was jumping and cursing.

Without him, a group of petty officials from Panyu County who went to Guilin County to buy cattle were cheated by the local Yue people.

Well, it's not really cheated.

Mainly because of the language barrier, and the fact that the Yue people did not have the habit of farming cattle, the buffalo bought by the Qin officials were not suitable for farming in the field at all, and were only used to raise cattle for milk and meat.

In fact, not only buffaloes, but also cattle in the north, which are also divided into vegetable cattle and farm cattle.

The difference lies in whether the bull's back can stand or not.

There are bones on the backbone of farm cattle, but vegetable cattle do not. The former needs to be reported to the government, and it is illegal to slaughter without permission... Well, the kind that the people will not sue the officials.

The latter is raised for meat, and has the same nature as pigs and sheep.

Well, many people say that Liangshan heroes eat beef to highlight their intentional violation of the law, which is pure nonsense.

Not to mention anything else, the ethos of killing cattle and eating cattle is definitely far away from the Han and Tang Dynasties!
After all, "the price of a cow is only five or seven thousand, the meat of a cow is no less than three or two hundred catties, and the value of meat is one hundred yuan per catty."

Calculated in this way, killing a cow can be sold for 20000-30000 yuan, while a live cow is only worth 5000 to 7000 yuan; Can be sold separately for profit.

That's why Huang Tingjian said, "The wine is full of pride, but I still want to be fattened"...

And the big counselor who is particularly concerned about making a small amount of money, sees that it is better to be sparse, and directly starts to collect beef tax...

It was not until the Qing Dynasty that this prohibition was reappreciated, and what was more, the scope of the prohibition on slaughter was extended to all livestock, which is quite a bit like a vegetarian in later generations.

"Should be killed, should be killed, should be killed!" Chen Mao cursed angrily in circles.

Beside him, more than a dozen buffaloes lay lazily on the ground, chewing the cud, and occasionally flicking their tails to drive away the flies on their bodies.

Hearing Chen Mao's furious scolding, Ziying silently withdrew one foot from stepping into the farm, then quietly turned and left.

He came here because he wanted Chen Mao to go to the pier to see Rare.

The first newly converted galleys have returned from the sea, laden with slaves and many strange plants and seeds.

It's just that Ziying understands that if he walks in now, Chen Maofei may drag him to find Ren Xiao to argue with him. After all, these small officials were all sent by Ren Xiao.

Well, their evaluations are all 'smart and capable'... Ren Xiao said.

Under the suspicious eyes of the attendants around, Ziying tiptoed onto the horse, then turned the horse's head and left the farm as if flying.

…………

The wharf of Panyu County is full of large ships waiting to be unloaded.

Ziying jumped off the horse and looked around to find any traces of Ren Xiao, but his eyes were attracted by the mechanical crane standing on the pier.

It's only been a few days, is there such a thing here?Tsk tsk... Ziying opened his mouth, showing an unexpected expression.

Before that, the wharves in Panyu, like those in other parts of Daqin, were mainly loaded and unloaded by manpower.

It is to put a slanted wooden board on the deck of the ship, so that the stevedores can walk onto the ship along the wooden board, then resist or lift the cargo on the ship, walk off the wooden board, and pile it on the dock to continue the previous work.

Tired and inefficient, the most important thing is that there are not so many people.

With the mechanical boom, you only need to pack the goods in a square box and use the movable pulley to reduce the tension. Only a few people can equal the work efficiency of a dozen people.

At the beginning, this kind of thing was only found in the wharves around Xianyang City such as Weishui and Luoshui.

Well, on the banks of the Bashui River in the Lantian Industrial Zone, there is also a row of such mechanical cranes erected to unload raw materials such as coal and iron transported from the mine.

Oh, by the way, His Majesty said that this is called Daqin Heavy Industry 1.0... Ziying put his palm on his forehead, cut off the interference of the sun, and quickly found Ren Xiao's trace.

"Meet the county lieutenant."

"I've seen your son."

Ziying turned around and leaned on the railing of the pier, watching the slaves stepping off the galley. Among them, men accounted for the vast majority, the rest were children, and there were very few women.

He took a closer look, and besides having their heads shaved, most of these slaves had scars all over their bodies. Judging from the marks, they didn't seem to be caused by whipping, but were injured by sharp objects.

"Are these all prisoners of war?" Ziying turned his head and asked.

Ren Xiao waved his hand, a captain ran over, saluted and said, "Well, these servants are all prisoners of war..."

He looked at Ziying, who was frowning slightly, and said, "But we didn't catch them. We exchanged these from the local tribes."

Ziying nodded slightly, and asked: "Didn't it mean that the Yue tribe on the Indochina Peninsula has no more ministers? Looking at the continuous posture, there are at least tens of thousands of people!"

The captain replied with a smile: "Young master has good eyesight. This time, we have replaced more than 1 servants, and most of them have a little knowledge of farming skills!"

Facing Ziying's and Ren Xiao's surprised eyes, he smiled and said, "Since the introduction of jib sails and gaff sails, ships can not only sail against the wind, but also simplify the oarsman's position in the modified cabin structure. There are more supplies, and there are more ministers pretending..."

"So our voyage only took one-third of the time of the last time. We sailed to the southernmost tip of the peninsula, and then circled to the western end of the peninsula to make a deal with the Yue tribe there."

"And I heard from the locals that if you cross the land occupied by the Jietu people in the west, you can see another sea. On the mainland to the west, there are many tribes with large populations but not very capable of fighting!"

"Many prisoners of war this time were exchanged from the west of the peninsula. The locals like Daqin's silk and lacquerware very much..."

After speaking, he let out a long sigh, regretting that he was not well prepared this time and could not go further.

Ziying and Ren Xiao looked at each other, and immediately took out a map from his arms, which was a rough topographic map of Southeast Asia drawn by Fusu when he left Xianyang City.

"Well, the narrow land you mentioned should be the Malay Peninsula... From the map drawn by His Majesty, if you sail south, you will see a strait, and then cross the strait, which is another sea they say... ..."

"A tribe that can't fight... Uh, is this an elephant?"

ps: The information about farming cattle and vegetable cattle comes from "Zhuyeting Miscellaneous Notes", the author Yao Yuanzhi from the Qing Dynasty, Jinshi in the 13th year of Jiaqing, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment in the 18th year of Daoguang, and Zuodu Yushi of the Metropolitan Procuratorate in the [-]th year.

Regarding the information about eating beef, the source is "The Evolution of the Law of Slaughtering Cows in Ancient China and the Exploration of the Causes of Its Rise and Fall".

(End of this chapter)