Zhao Hao finally led his cavalry from the east of the grassland to the settlement of the salt department, this time, they harvested more than the previous trip, the livestock with the salt department more than doubled, and the livestock in his hands was as many as more than 100,000 heads.

This is a good thing, but it is also a headache, because livestock needs to be guarded and raised, and the more livestock, the more people are needed.

At this time, there are more than 400,000 livestock from the Salt Department and the Black Stone Tribe, and all the people from the Salt Tribes and the Black Stone Department can recruit all the people who can be recruited by the Salt Tribe, it seems that it is still a little insufficient to guard and release so many livestock.

And that's not the most headache, the biggest headache is that winter is just around the corner.

In winter, livestock cannot be kept in captivity, which means that the people of the Salt and Black Rock tribes must build a lot of sheepfolds, cattle pens and stables, and prepare enough hay, otherwise the animals may freeze or starve to death in the winter.

Seeing the grass on the grassland gradually withering and yellowing, Zhao Hao couldn't help frowning, seeing that it was about to enter winter, and they had just begun to prepare forage.

At this time, almost all the tribesmen of the Black Stone Department and the Salt Department were threshing grass, regardless of whether there were livestock at home or not, as long as they had time, they were all threshing grass.

If there are livestock at home, it is used to beat grass for their livestock to spend the winter, and those who do not have livestock at home are to beat grass for meat for the winter, at this time, a basket of grass has even risen to the price of about a pound of meat, a person, a dozen baskets of grass a day, in exchange for enough meat to eat for three or four days, that is to say, even if the people of the Black Stone tribe have no livestock at home, as long as they take advantage of the more than a month before the winter to the grassland to grass, a winter of meat can be easily stored.

The problem is that even if all the people from the Black Stone Department come to threshk grass, the grass they beat will still not be enough for more than 400,000 livestock to eat for the winter!

Moreover, the sheepfolds, cattle pens and stables used by these animals for the winter have not yet been settled.

This is seriously understaffed, what should I do?

Zhao Hao directly called Ah Hua, Ah Shan and the other five people directly to him, and asked with a smile: "How are you preparing the forage for the winter?" Is it enough for your own livestock? ”

It's like a joke.

The five of them were all confused, everyone was stunned for a while, and Ah Shancai, who had the best relationship with Zhao Hao, said embarrassedly: "This, I just came back, and I haven't started preparing forage yet, it seems that I can only exchange meat for meat." ”

Ah Shan's family is alone, he couldn't even eat a full meal before, since following Zhao Hao, the change can be described as earth-shaking, not to mention meat, he has eaten the meat of foreign beasts I don't know how many full meals.

At this time, he already had more than 100 cows, sheep and horses in his hands, and he would definitely not be able to prepare the forage for the winter alone.

Zhao Hao nodded slightly, and then continued to ask, "Then do you think you can get enough forage by taking meat?" ”

This seems to be difficult.

Ah Shan was a little annoyed and said: "Now everyone is collecting forage, I'm afraid I can't collect much if I want to!" ”

That's right.

Zhao Hao suddenly said in a shocking voice: "Then don't accept it yet, you guys, gather all your subordinates and go to do something." ”

Yes!

You can't collect the forage at this time, and you still have to run errands?

All five were dumbfounded.

Fortunately, Zhao Hao then explained: "Do you think, are there many tribes who are still worried about food for the winter at this time?" If we find those tribes and tell them that as long as we agree to join our salt department, not only can we get a share of livestock, but also can we earn meat by collecting grass, and as long as we cut some grass every day, we can ensure that we don't go hungry all winter, will there be many people from the tribe who join our salt department? ”

This means that they are going to annex other tribes again!

It's not the first time that the Salt Department has done this, and that's how the Qinghe Department was annexed.

This seems like a good idea!

You know, two years ago, the salt department was also worried about food for the winter, and at that time, almost everyone starved to death every winter.

It can be said that except for the salt department and the black stone department, there are almost no tribes that don't have to worry about food for the winter at this time!

However, it doesn't seem so easy to get people to leave everything behind for food and join the salt department.

Ah Shan thought for a while, and then hesitated and said, "I think, they should agree." ”

If you don't agree, you have to agree, all the tribes around the steppe will sooner or later be merged into the Ministry of Salt!

Zhao Hao smiled confidently, and then waved his hand: "You immediately gather your men and horses, and divide them into a team of 100 people, and then, from the edge of the grassland, along the river into the wild jungle, all the way to the past, for two days, if you can't find any trace of the tribe within two days, then quickly turn around, change the river, and continue to find." ”

There are many rivers in this grassland, but except for the big river that is a few miles wide in the east, the others are basically small rivers with a width of about a few tens of meters.

At this time, the general tribes live by water, although it cannot be said that there are tribes near every river, but the probability of finding other tribes along the river into the jungle is still very high.

When Ah Shan and the others heard this, they immediately responded with excitement on their faces, and then ran to gather their subordinates.

How many tribes are there around this grassland?

To be honest, this even Cangwu doesn't know, because there is no road here, if you want to go to other tribes, it is very troublesome, not to mention the time it takes to cross the mountains and mountains, and you may encounter fierce beasts or even foreign beasts on the way, so at this time, there are generally few exchanges between tribes, and the Black Stone Department, which only knows the surrounding tribes about a month away, is out of this range, and they are not clear.

This month's journey refers to the distance traveled in a month on foot over the mountains and mountains, and if it is on the grassland, it is probably equivalent to a two-day journey on horseback.

After dividing their men into fifteen hundred-man squads, Ah Shan searched along the river at the edge of the steppe into the wild jungle.

Not to mention, this method is really good, three days later, a team reported and found a small tribe of more than 100 people.

Zhao Hao was not in a hurry to annex this small tribe, because more than a hundred people were still too few for the Salt Department and the Black Stone Tribe, and if they wanted to prepare enough forage for the winter, build enough sheepfolds, cattle pens and stables, at least thousands of new clansmen were needed to join.

At this time, it was only about a month before the beginning of winter, and he didn't have time to annex this kind of small tribe of only more than a hundred people, and if he wanted to annex it, he would have to annex a small tribe of more than two or three hundred people, so that he could "find" thousands of new tribesmen before the winter.

Fifteen hundred-person squads, the search speed is still quite amazing, in five days, they found eight tribes, these eight tribes, the smallest number of people is only a few dozen, the largest number of people is four or five hundred.

Zhao Hao thought about it for a while, but decided to personally lead the team and try to annex the small tribe of four or five hundred people, and the other seven teams that found the target took meat to try to see if they were willing to join the Ministry of Salt, if not, then let them starve for a winter!

As for the remaining team of seven hundred, let them continue to look for it.